ultranos: ashley from Trace Memory (white-haired girl) sleeping (sleepy)
*tap tap* Is this thing on?

So I haven't exactly been posting lately. I've been reading, but it's a lot easier to read than post and/or comment. Most of why I've been busy is the new job. Working between two labs is crazy, guys. But it's the good kind of busy. Even if it does mean I'm running between campus and hospitals. ("I need to go to Longwood." "What?! Are you okay!?" "What? OH, FOR WORK. I AM GOING TO LONGWOOD FOR WORK. EVERYTHING IS FINE.") 9 and 11-hour days make scheduling ridiculous, as I need to not work overtime or else the admins will get grumpy so I have to do some creative accounting to make sure everything more or less washes out in aggregate. (I don't actually want overtime. My current theory is lying about that will get me what I want in the long run.)

I am also assuming that I'm currently doing an acceptable job as both labs just keep stacking more things in my lap as I've apparently proven competent and more papers to read as I've apparently proven capable of understanding things.

In other news, apparently the fall TV season started or something. I'm out of the loop. Instead, I found myself reading manga again, and fell head-first into Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan. I'm currently describing it as post-post-(post?)-apocalyptic survival horror. Really, though, I was sold when Isayama introduced Mikasa. I will have words with you if you don't like Mikasa. (DMark has already declared he will ragetableflipquit the series if she ends up dying. Along with the rest of us.)

I also picked up from Amazon the RPG sourcebook Don't Rest Your Head on Kindle. It looks to be a neat little system, enough that I shelled out for the PDF supplement book Don't Lose Your Mind directly from Evil Hat. System looks to be strongly focused on roleplaying and narrative, rather than mechanics. The mechanics themselves are extremely simple, but the way they serve to bolster the story for the players/GM is quite elegant. I think I need to try it, perhaps running a one-shot or short campaign. I've got some ideas. I also want to see how it fits my theory of narrative torque in RPGs. (Which also reminds me that I've been meaning to run a Kuro campaign for approximately the last six months. Go me.)

Speaking of games, I spend part of the day playing through a nifty little browser game: A Dark Room. I highly recommend it. It's a great example of minimalist game design, where every mechanic and piece of text serves to contribute to the story and world. It's also great in that it'll run in a browser tab and only demand your attention every once in awhile. You actually need to ignore it and let it run for awhile to finish it (resource generation).

Next time in this space: More game talk? Maybe I'll read a book that's not a text book? WHO KNOWS.
Date/Time: 2013-09-29 14:52 (UTC)Posted by: [personal profile] havocthecat
havocthecat: the lady of shalott (Default)
A Dark Room is fairly addictive. I've been playing it since I read your post last night. So, question? I've cleared out the iron mine and started mining it, and I've been working on clearing out the abandoned town/suburb thingie, where I just found steel. But how do I go about refining the iron I have into steel? I have eight scavenged pieces and clearly need lots more.

Off to check out Don't Rest Your Head. I trust your game recs implicitly.
Date/Time: 2013-09-30 12:38 (UTC)Posted by: [personal profile] havocthecat
havocthecat: the lady of shalott (Default)

Hah, found it! And now I've got the sulphur mine as well. But I have to wait until I get home to do anything else. I'm trying to get the entire map of the dusty path explored, because I found the airship and I'm wanting to explore that too.

Honestly, the minimalist design is what makes it interesting to me. I don't want a big, resources-hogging game all the time. (I love Diablo III, but I play one of those kinds of games at a time, as a rule.)

Well, I bought Don't Rest Your Head. Now to find time to read it. But if you do run it, will you post about it here? I'm curious as to what you'll do.

Date/Time: 2013-10-29 11:42 (UTC)Posted by: [personal profile] synecdochic
synecdochic: torso of a man wearing jeans, hands bound with belt (Default)
Ha! I couldn't remember who'd pointed me at A Dark Room, but I found it again! Thanks so much for the rec; it was genius.
Date/Time: 2013-10-29 15:20 (UTC)Posted by: [personal profile] synecdochic
synecdochic: torso of a man wearing jeans, hands bound with belt (Default)

It really is awesome! And I love how it teaches you to play it as you go.

Profile

ultranos: kino standing, staring ahead (Default)
ultranos

Memoranda from the Usual Suspects

Media List:

Currently Watching:
-- She-Ra(in theory)

Currently Playing:)
--Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
--Astral Chain (Switch)
--itch.io bundle (PC)

Currently Reading:
Fiction
-The Silence of Bones, June Hur

Nonfiction
-none

------------------

"So she's good cop, he's bad cop, you're morally-questionable cop, and I'm set-things-on-fire cop."

"Sounds about right."

--------

"WARNING: When attempting to be clever, make sure you not actually just being stupid."

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"Did you remember to sacrifice the goat before burning the ISO to the DVD-R?"

"Crap! Um, I've got a charred piece of meat here."

"That's called a steak. That's dinner. What about the sacrifices?"

--------

"I escape through quantum-tunneling. What do I need to roll for that?"

--------

"Why is it called a 'Monkeylord'?"

"Because it looks like a spider."

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"I have a moral objection to this problem. It implies microwaving a steak."

--------

"Did you eat the crazy cookies this morning?"

--------

"The GPU goes 4 by 4, hurrah, hurrah."

September 2020

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