Need to look up a rule but don’t have access to your sourcebooks? It turns out that Paizo publishes a reference document that contains only the “Open Game Content” as specified in the Open Game License. It’s available at http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/.

It’d be cool if, eventually, I’m able to translate that to markdown for better internal reference and whatnot, but you can refer to the reference document for any rules questions. I certainly will.

I have this persistent desire to play Pathfinder with some friends. A while back I set up a separate ikiwiki repository for it, but decided today that I wanted to handle it as just a section of this main wiki.

I considered just copying what little content I already had from one wiki to the other; but a little reflection led me to try to just merge the two repositories.

First, I just moved everything in the RPG wiki to the /rpg directory in that repository. Then I added the rpg repository as a remote for the primary repository. git fetch rpg && git merge rpg/master. Done.

Git is awesome.

I want to get a play-by-post Pathfinder game going. Maybe doing it online will make it easier to play consistently. Maybe I’ll be able to get Jordan to play too.

I’ve got ideas for most of the issues that will come up in this forum. I already have a proof of concept for the actual play posts that should work pretty well, and have worked up a quick stylesheet to make the default comments interface less annoying for this use case. I figure that we can eventually archive the stream (manually at first, but automatically eventually) and possibly even keep a (collaboratively-edited, in the wiki spirit) prosaic writeup of what happened in the campaign.

(Note to self: I need to check what happens to comment numbers if previous comments are removed. If it fills in the missing numbers, that could make it difficult to archive the stream to a single point. I can think of a couple workarounds, but it’d be better if the comment numbers stayed unique within a stream.)

I need a die roller that converts die text like [[!dieroll 1d6+1]] to <span class="dieroll" title="1d6+1">5</span>, rendering like 5. That way our die rolls will be consistent and fair.

I might also want the roller to sign the roll with an encrypted key. It will need to include the date of the roll, too. Maybe “1d6+1 @ 1 January 2010 12:00 => 5”.

Or maybe it can just log the die rolls server-side.

Really, though, nothing would be standing in the way, now that the post interface is ready, of us starting, baring the creation of characters and campaign notes.

Speaking of campaign notes: I need a way to protect sections of the wiki from player eyes, probably in a /users/$user/private area or similar.

Andi and I beat Myst V last night. It certainly wasn’t bad; but like old-man Atrus at the end, it hobbled to the series conclusion.

In fact, the ending was the worst part: so terribly over-dramatic; and, as always, Yeesha just wouldn’t shut up.

Some of the puzzles were pretty good, but because most of them centered on the use of the slates, they tended to feel samey. The abysmal interface and level of environment interactivity didn’t help matters either; virtually the entire world was static, with only puzzle elements offering any manipulatability.

Still, it was good to have some Myst to play. I might eventually even get around to the expansion ages for Uru… but that would mean playing through all of Uru again.

Maybe I’ll do Grim Fandango first.

Despite an increasing catalog of experience, I am always surprised to find people who don’t share the same pervasive familiarity with game mechanics that I do. I’ve tended to play and discuss games with other people who play and discuss games. Most of the assumptions that are safe enough in such a circle aren’t as universal as we think.

When was the last time that you had to explain that jumping on enemies kills them? Or that you could go down pipes? Let alone what it means to circle strafe.

I recently (re-)listened to Active Time Babble episode V, which consists mostly of a discussion of the definition of the genre “RPG.” As is usually the case with this particular topic, there was no real definitive conclusion; but I think I might have stumbled on one for myself:

A role-playing game models the development of character skill as distinct from player skill such that the manipulation of this model is the primary expression of player skill.

I’m enjoying Chrono Cross quite a bit so far. The battle system is quite different from what I’m used to from a jrpg; and even though it seemed shallow at first, my first mildly difficult boss battle made me delve a bit deeper into it: the ability to take multiple actions per “turn,” as well as the ability to change the active character at will, let me use the “defend” command more than I usually do (that being ever).

I was afraid that Retronauts had spoiled a major plot point for me; but while I’m still aware of the general concept, I’m no longer certain of the details. I suppose that will leave me with a bit of surprise. (I don’t want to spoil the plot for anyone else, though, so I’ll leave it at that.)

The accents are already starting to get to me, though. Kid’s “Australian” isn’t too bad, but every time the “French” clown character comes out I can’t help but groan. I think my top request for a remake would be to subtle-down the dialog, even before upresing the rendering.

I was unable to play Radical Dreamers on my DS. Absurdly enough, even the minimal audio-visual effects were too much for SnemulDS. No matter: moving to the Wii meant that Andi and I could play it together (more comfortably, anyway).

We’ve played through two scenarios so far. The game is amazing (in a “games are art,” hippie kind of way). Its presence in the Chrono series does a lot to justify the series’ classification as a classic, being so unique.

Andi was skeptical at first, but after about an hour of play time (halfway through the first scenario) she was remarking about how good it was; how it draws you in. This morning, she was the motivator behind going after another scenario.

I look forward to finding the rest of the endings, and am even more excited for Chrono Cross. (I might get it as early as Saturday!)

After three days, including time spent at home, on the bus, and in the Mall of Arabia, I finally finished the final dungeon and sequence in Spirit Tracks. I’ve got to say, Spirit Tracks is awesome. I was excited for the game, yet still it exceeded those expectations. The dungeons were great, the final (tool) item is creative and fun, it was longer than I expected (but redeeming itself by making each step better than the last). It’s not just good compared to Phantom Hourglass. It’s not even just a good portable Zelda. This is a great Zelda game in the context of Zelda games, at least in the modern (post-OOT) scope of the series.

It’s all in the characterization of characters. The main cast is emotive, sympathetic, and believable. There’s some typical wackiness, but it’s never embarrassingly over the top. It’s just good fun, and it goes on for a good long time.

All that, and I’ve only purchased one train upgrade. I understand that there’s a good quantity of sidequest content to search down. I’ll probably take a break for a bit (it took me longer to get through this than it should have) but I can see tracking down the treasures and beefing up the train, just ’cause.

Next up: Chrono Cross. I very quickly judged the game as stupid years ago, but I anticipate being wrong about it. While I wait for a friend to bring it from the states for me, though, I might try out Away: Shuffle Dungeon for a bit.

Andi and I just finished dominating New Super Mario Bros. Wii. (I will curse level 9-7 for years to come.) We managed to get 100%, and I even purchased all of the hint videos at Peach’s castle for good measure.

The payoff was a bit disappointing, though: a quick message of congratulations is all we received after obsessively clearing every exit (including the warp canons). Oh well, I suppose.

In any case, that’s one more game off of my games I am playing list, even if it wasn’t the one I intended to finish next. (I’m stuck on the Nu Master. Hopefully someday soon I’ll work up the patience to beat him.)

Either that, or I’ll switch impatiently back and forth between the two DS Zelda games I have on tab, too.