Welcome to 2011, have a nice stay.

This post is going to be a little long, so be warned.  I will attempt to make sure it is laid out better and includes an index...well sort of.

• Festive Niceties
• To the New People!!! (clapping)
• General Goals for 2011
• -  More Writing
• -  Some Formatting
• -  Editing
• -  Art...Lots and Lots of Art
• Getting that much needed HELP!!!
• Clicky Clicky Meow Meow

Festive Niceties

Happy New Year and THANK GAWD it is all in days past.  Now I do like Christmas, New Years, and my birthday all being in the same month.  But at the same time a LOATH them also.  This is just because I can never get anything done in December.  It can be a very frustrating time as I am sure you all know.

So with that said, I am happy to have had those great days and the months festivities.  But I am also ecstatic to be done with them so I can order my mental blocks and get back to writing.  As short lived as that may actually be.

To the New People!!! (clapping)

Wow...I actually have some people visiting.  This makes me happy because for a long time I thought I was going a little crazy.  I mean I had a blog, but no one was reading it.  It was like talking to my self with out a mirror.  I am just glad I did not comment on my own posts...I think then something would be wrong...(Shifty looks around the room).

So thank you very much for visiting and for your continued visitation in the future.  May this blog be worthy of further persons visiting, reading, commenting, clicking, etc.  After all my goal with Manifest Destiny is to try and foster a community.  And that community starts right here, god save us all.

Writing Goals for 2011

On to the meat and potato's of things.  There is allot done, but there is allot to do still.  This fact does not escape me and I know therewill be allot to do for a very long time.  Well...the core book will be done in a reasonable amount of unspecified time.  But then there is more...much much more.  For now, I must stay focused on the task at hand.

More WritingAhh the fun stuff sitting all day while peering at a screen typing away.  There are still some fine points that I need to hammer out before things are close to where I would like them.  I need to finish the section on addiction.  I need to create and refine the section on skill based techniques.

Plus poisons, equipment, and...allot of things that escape me right now.  Oh and examples and fluff also.  Mmmm...love the fluff.  But all in all things have not gone to bad.

The above may look daunting, but compared to the 170+ pages I have already written.  What is left is really not that much.  But it is just getting those portions of my mind to cooperate long enough to do them.  I shall get through it though and that will be that.

Some Formatting
The book needs to be formatted.  That is plane and simple.  Pages need to be split, front pages need to be laid out.  Spaces for charts and images need to be put in to make sure everything fit in nicely.  And to do it all I will need to find some one that can consistently assist on that.  That or I chop my attention into small one inch cubes...but that never works.  The cubes just sprout legs and run off.

Editing
Editing is also of vital concern.  I know my faults and my limitations.  And one of them is that my spelling sucks and we will not even go into grammar.  But fortunately I did find a willing party to do this for a price.  So the editing will get done and will be good.

Art...Lots and Lots of Art
And then there is art.  Art is necessary and there will need to be allot of it.  Currently I am looking at needing about 120 to 150 individual images.  Now that may seam like allot, but consider your average RPG book.  If you look there is either a piece of art or a chart on each page.

Assuming that I have 170 pages of usable material right now and about 30-40 charts you get an approximate amount of art needed.  This helps to understand how much art is actually needed.  And this varies between full page images and small quarter or eighth page images that are used to help space things and break up the text walls that are present now.

This will also take the time of others.  The time of my self to make sure things are right.  And money, a small mountain of money.  When doesn't it right?  Well that or I have to deal with people doing it on the side and then things get very very iffy.  So...money it is.

Fortunately I have found one person so far that is interested in the task at hand.  And I am hopeful that when things progress I will be able to find others.

Getting that much needed HELP!!!

Help is an important thing right now.  I have been doing this on my own for a while...several years now and it can be hard.  Never underestimate how much a single person can make things better.  So, if you have read the above and think you have something you can contribute...I am all eyes.  I would be all ears but unless you send me a audio message...I can not hear text all that well.

If you have a thought, and idea, a musing that can assist, drop a comment.  If you have an idea for a monster, poison, spell, or item power just drop a comment.  My goal is not to make the game about me and mine.  It is to create something bigger then what my mind can devise.

Clicky Clicky Meow Meow

For now, in lieu of a donations tag on this blog I have ads.  If I get enough traffic and clicks on them I will get money.  That money will be in turn used to pay for all the stuff that needs money.  Now it is not as daunting as one may assume.

Right now I have $5 in add revenue sitting around.  Editing is going to run me about $1 per page.  So right now if I got a check in the mail, I could have five pages edited.  Images are going to range between $20 to probably a couple hundred depending on what is being drawn.  First are the little things and them we go up.

But the simple thing is that my efforts will be ad driven for a while.  So if you feel you want to help...you know where to put your mouse.  Sorry...no naked lady adds...not that kind of blog any way.  But there are some good game adds...League of Legends is a particularly interesting game if you get it as an ad.

So that is that...my text wall is done and I thank you for reading it all if you did.  I promise to keep these to a minimum, may be once a year.  In any case thank you again for visiting and taking a little interest in this game and I hope you find it inspiring, enjoyable, and entertaining as I write it and move to release it.

Making a better Item

There was a time long ago in in the old world when magical items were immutable.  Once enchanted with function, they would never change from that.  This is how it was for hundred of years till a better method was needed.  Not because the items were not powerful, but because their creation was so dangerous.

To make an item imbued with magic required a long and complex ritual with rare materials and chaotic forces.  The risk of this process was that a item could be made of such devastating power and evil nature that it would destroy all that took part in the ritual.  And would then have to be hunted down and destroyed as it would call to the basest beings to protect it.

But in time this changed, with research into the weapons carried on Star Jammer class space ships being the key.  To make the weapons more versatile, their effect focus's were separated from how mana got to them.  This allowed the foci to be removed and a new one put into the gun changing how it worked.  Originally only used on larger capitol weapons other took note.

With the coming of the great war many were put to work on ways to get an advantage.  The Kudu researcher Glinbak Hardnut had been looking at ways to make magical items easier to make.  One day he came across plans for the next generation of space born weapon and had an epiphany.  If they can separate the focus of power from the gun...why could he not do it for a personal item?

Years went by and his efforts moved forward.  Eventually getting government funding and all the perks that go with it, Glinback did it.  He made a safer, easier, and more versatile magical item.

The legacy of Glinback Hardnut is that all magical items are broken into two parts.  The first is the conduit and the second is the focus.  The conduit is the item its self, bound to the character the conduit creates a stable path for the characters mana to be accessed.  But on it's own it has no power.

Foci are the lense for the characters mana.  They give the mana form and function.  Changing the chaotic nature of mana into a stable effect.  Foci can be slotted into any conduit item, drawing mana from the user, though the item, and into the focus.  Then imbuing the effects back into the item and the user.

This allowed a user to change foci at will, to alter his items with out having to carry twenty tons of spare equipment.  Just a small pouch with foci was all that was needed, and it was safe.  Foci them selves did not have power, so the item and the focus could be made safely with out needing to expose the creators to the chaos of the energies being harnessed.

In time this lead to new innovation in magic items.  Mana batteries called Universal Mana Crystals (UMC's), hand weapons that could accelerate a metal slug or launch a bolt of lightning.  Vehicles of any type one can imagine.  And even the great floating citadels of power on the planet Elttaes.

History of Magical Items, Abridged
Revised by Jacob Vanders, Human Historical Corp

Long time no post

Well, it has been a while since I last said anything. My goal was to post things on here regularly. But when life gets in the way...that can be difficult. But there is news and I am going to place that here.

U have been motivated again to work on the RPG again. I am right now rewriting and expanding/clarifying the combat section. There were allot of holes that no one was telling me about. It was not till I talked to a complete RPG virgin that I realized there was allot that was needed there. And really in other sections.

So, I am going to get back to it. I am about half way done with the rewrite before anything like fluff or charts. But when I am done some things will be cleaned up, expanded, and more concise.

Whipping out the Mojo, School of Water

The second primal element, water is every where. It is in the air, in the ground, and can be found in even the most desolate places. Water is the destroyer and the life bringer, and while a crushing torrent can destroy and move even the largest of stones. It's power to heal and refresh the body and mind are undeniable.

Resting your head...

Since my post was so small, I thought I would add some more for today. I spent a good portion of the day writing about inns with in Manifest Destiny. Many of the RPGs I have played always used inns and taverns as just a place to eat, sleep, and talk to a contact. But in this rpg, they are more. After the cataclysm, the inn has become the social hub of those towns that survived.

Inns are larger then many are used to. Able to accommodate hundreds of people at a time. They do not have separate rooms as we understand, instead they are more like a military barracks. Especially since the colonization is being done in a military manner.

The in will be the players home. They will sleep there, they will eat there, they will look for work and get to know the locals there. They may even help the inn keeper or find a good night in the arms of a bar maid there. ;-) The inn is the social center of the MD world...and as such deserves the time I put into their descriptions.

Whipping out the Mojo, School of Fire

There are numerous schools of spell casting in this rpg. The first is the school of Fire. Fire is the cleansing flame, destroyer and renewer alike. The school of fire can be used to light a fire, cleans a poison, heal the body, or incinerate an enemy.

The Cataclysm

The Cataclysm is the defining event of the new world. The culmination of stupid choices, ignorance, extraplanar magics, and a dragon. When it was all said and done, the Cataclysm wiped the new world of more then eighty percent of it's population.

The cataclysm was triggered by the dragon Valinthax as a way to reset the universe and stop it's impending collapse. But in doing so, a rift was opened and fire rained down from the container dimension that all universes exist in. This was necessary to purge the destabilizing energies from the universe, and they had to be replaced with something to maintain the balance.

Basically neutral to any universe, the energy that entered had one unfortunate effect. As it entered the universe it crystallized, having to conform to the physical laws of the reality. These crystals, when they impacted the ground, created an energy field that would suck the souls out of those in proximity to the crystal. What remained were nothing but shambling husks, left to the collective will of the spirits locked in the crystals.

The crystal zombies started to drag those not killed by the crystals to them. One touch would cause the persons soul to be absorbed into the crystal. In a short time, the major cities and many of the larger towns were nothing but cinders and the walking dead. This is the cataclysm, and it freed the new world from the grasp from the old one. It may be hell...but at least people are free to be what they want.

All Quiet on the Neural Front

Well...not much to say today. Due to a financial crunch I did not have the time to write anything in the RPG. This happens from time to time and it is a pain. Things conspire against me it seams. Money gets tight, the car decides it will flick on the engine warning light. My son is graduating tomorrow from Kindergarten and my three year old daughter just wants to be loved all day long.

I am not saying all these are bad things...but they do tend to eat my time and available neural run time till I am left writing this at 12:27am. So hey, I am not REALLY supposed to say this. But if you wana help me out then take a look and click something adish. OR, spread the word of what I am doing. More readers means more clicky things...and I can tell my loving wife I made more off this then 5 cents.

Oh great...and now my DSL is flaking out. Shoot...I am going to sleep. Nite!!

That pesky grind stone again...

Well I am back to writing the story and history elements of the RPG again. There is allot of explanation, at least in my own head, about why things break from tradition. One such area is in the use of mana to create effective weapon enhancements.

In MD I wanted to break away from the usual +4 long sword or uber death and go some where else. Items (armor, weapons, trinkets, more) will be conduits for energy or mana. The player then can place in the item a focus that gives the item powers and effects that are greater then the base item.

So why do this? Well first this is the natural evolution of what other games had started with gem slotting and such. but more then that, it give the player power and options. A player can carry a series of small light foci, expendable or not, and in situations fop them out and put new ones in to alter the effectiveness of the item.

This also allows the player to go shopping for powers. And instead of having to offer useless items that weigh a ton, more useful base items or foci can be offered as rewards. In the end, I think this and the story behind it will help to set this role playing game apart from the rest.

So, back to the writing...there is more to do and more to get out of my head. Any one have a melon baller?

Nose to the Grind Stone...

This one will be short. I have been working on the story elements of the RPG. Kind of slow and plodding work but once they are all down, be they part of the book or not, they will be the ground work for more elements of the game universe. This to me is an important thing.

Admittedly, knowing what the queen ate one day is not that much of a big deal. But knowing where that snazzy armor came from or the history behind a physical modification could help you the player of GM to create a richer gaming experience. After all, the more of the reality you know about, the better your adventures can be...right?

So, I plod on with the writing. I do hope that every one will enjoy it. I know that some times I come into something that I enjoy...and it is in my head. Now if only I could just spoon it out of there a little faster.

Whipping out the Mojo...

Previously when I talked about the use of mana, I also discussed the basics of how spells work. But in this section I would like to cover that a little more and actually kick off a series of pieces I will do about magic in manifest destiny. First up are spell basics.

As you may know, in Manifest Destiny, any one can use magic. From children to bums, there is no limitation on who can channel mana into the world. This is because mana and magic is so common that it is a part of every day life. This is not to say there are not those that dedicate their lives to it, there are. But most people have a few spells they use to make life easier.

Second, spells are skills. They grow as the player uses them. This allows the character to do more with them, no only increasing their power, but being able to manipulate them on a fundamental level. For instance, most area effect spells are stupid and will damage friend and foe alike. But if you train the spell enough, you can manipulate it to only damage your enemies and not your friends. This increases the potential of spells because depending on the way to manipulate the spell, the more useful individual spells will become.

Third, spells are cast using mana dice and not an attribute roll. This is because your not testing to see if you can cast the spell. But to see if the spell survives the trip to it's destination. This is called the focus test, and if you don't have enough focus, the spell is not going to make it. I have done this just because other magic systems seamed so arbitrary. This is more based on science since if the energy, mana, of the spell is not cohesive, it will not be able to get to where it is going and dissipate.

Finally, there are many schools of magic and they tend to overlap. In fact there are three healing spells right now one in each school of Fire, Divine, and Demonic. But each also operates in a different manner. The Divine Healing spell accelerates the natural process and closes wounds by accelerating healing. The Fire Healing spell is one of cleansing, burning away the harmful stuff and using their ashes to aid the target of the spell to heal. While the Demonic variation just forces the body to accept the damage as if it was natural and had always been there. Why else do you think a demons minions are ugly and looks stapled together.

These are the basics of magic in MD. But there is more, next time I will discuss the schools of magic. But that will be in a week, tomorrow, I am not to sure what I will come up with though...so stay tuned cause we will all be surprised.

A little bit of Color...

Sorry for not posting something yesturday, but things have been hectic and I could not get to this or anything really. But for those interested in something that I will be looking to get into the book, then I give you this. I hope you enjoy it.

How could this have happened? We were foolish, we did not listen to them, to him. That damn dragon told us this would happen and now...they are all dead. Faster, yes faster then we thought...and now trapped. It's just me, a couple guards and what is left of the staff. God they are coming, I can hear them trying to get through the door.

Why didn't we listen, why didn't we hear. Did we think we were so much better then a dragon? The arrogance we showed him. But it is done now, the cataclysm has come. The fire is raining from the rift. The people, oh god the people...men, women, even children...all of them are dead. Their very essences turned into those damn crystals. But their bodies...they move, they rise, they walk and thirst. Not for flesh but for life, that is why they are trying to get in.

They want to drag us away, to present us to the crystals. If we touch one, we will be nothing, trapped in it, our bodies looking for more to feed it's tainted power. Oh god, they are getting through the doors. There are to many...why didn't we lis..t.....

- Chronicles of the Cataclysm

- Written by Jeramie Drebin, Human observer of Regent Othelo Valdamark

Building the Habit...

Well, in an effort to keep things going and build up a steady habit of writing. I am going to discuss one of MD's side projects. This is kind of in the same line as the business, since it is the expanding of the game into other genre's.

As I may have said before, I have filled or almost filled three notebooks by this point. One day about a month ago, I started to play another MMO style game called Navy Field. Not really the best of games, but it is addictive and it is also a play for free title.

As I played, something in the back of my mind started rolling and out came a fourth notebook. If your interested, this one is a black covered wire bound. The others are blue, red, and one of the less expensive black and white string bound types. Any way I started writing in it and twenty three pages later, I have the ground work of a table top strategy game based in space.

I have been wondering what to do with it since it is based on and in the Manifest Destiny universe. It takes place with in the age of war where five of the player races are duking it out in an interstellar war. There is allot of possibility in it, and with some massaging and polish, it can become one of the MD product line.

But I would be very interested in hearing opinions about this idea. Space based table top strategy games are a little rare from my experience. And there really is allot of room for them in table top and computers. I am open to suggestions.

Business and Pleasure

I am writing this RPG for a simple goal, to make some money. Now I am not expecting to make millions. I would like to make enough to comfortable with, more then that goes into the real of creating a broader business and pullin in full time people. But for now, I have to still get the Main book out as I note where it will go. And may be pull in some extra help willing to have their name in it over cold hard cash. Hey...stop laughing...I'm serious.

So the question is, where am I going to go and how will I get this to the seathing masses just waiting to plunk down twenty to thirty dollars for a new game? I will tell you. I am planning two initial books and to distribute them thought both PDF sales and physical copies.

The two books for the RPG are really the same. The first book is the full core rules and all of the fluf. It is everything that people expect from a core rule book. Pictues, story, hooks and ideas for the GM, the whole base system. The second book is a striped down version. This is a travel book, it has just the rules and space for some notation. No fluf, no pictures, no character creation...just everything you need to play the game.

I am doing this because if one or to people have the core book, why then does every one need a copy. Books are heavy things, and carrying them around can break your back. Why carry around seventy pages of story and character creation stuff when you have a character and do not need to story...right?

As for getting the RPG out there, I plan to publish through lulu.com. Their rates are good and I do not have to sell my soul to get things published. I can even offer a quality product that will not fall appart after you flip the page five times. Value keeps people comming back...and I want to offer value. IF you buy the core rules, why souldn't you get the PDF of the same book while you wait for your book?

If you buy the core rules, why shouldn't you be able to choose the redacted rule book instead as a PDF bundle. Heck, if you buy the main book, why not get the redacted book for less as a bundle. Are they separate producs, yes they are. But the goal is value.

There is allot more to this, and as you can see value is a key word to my efforts. So right now I am going to plan out my days for this blog so that you know when I will be talking about what...a little structure never hurt anybody. But needless to say, I am a gamer. And I plan to to offer great value for your hard earned dollars. It is what I would expect my self.

A place in two Universes

Manifest Destiny takes place in two separate universes. The first universe, called the old world, is where the player comes from. While the second universe, the new world, is where the player will end up living. Bot universes present a unique opportunity for the role playing game experience.

The New World is the focus of the core RPG rule book. The player lives a life, becomes a colonist, and then is tossed through a portal to end up in the new world. Never to return to the old world and all she knew. This give you the opportunity to really break from the mold. As there are no archetypes, there is no real establishment, and the character can choose a path to do what ever. Be a raider, a thief, an enforcer, a hero, a guard, pretty much anything the player and the GM can come to agreement on.

The Old World is a place of established rules, of laws and cooperate task masters. Where the rich have the money, and the poor, if they get to rowdy, are hucked through a gaping hole in space and time. The governments of the old world are puppets and the wealthy keep it that way. This is really where your coming from, or being evicted from in Manifest Destiny.

I realized both areas are fertile soil for ideas. This has lead to my planning opportunities for players to play in these areas once I have completed my core book. Rules for table top battles in both space and on the ground. A game where you player a runner, attempting to escape forced colonization while committing criminal acts for the highest bidder. There is just allot of room for things in this two universe idea. That is why I did it...we are imaginative people. Why not use it.

Manifest your Destiny

So the very first post of the blog.  What to say.  This has been something of a long trek for me.  I have been working on this RPG for some time and have been whittling closer and closer day by day.  But things always get in the way.  Finances, reality, virtual reality (Games), and so forth.  But still I continue.  So why don't I just talk about the game in this one.  If any one actually visits that is.

I have been playing RPG's for nearly twenty years now, since I was eleven.  I have always found them to be interesting.  Some times more then computer games have been.  The problem is no system really ever had the right balance to me.  And so a few years ago I got a notepad and started writing.  It is a tradition in this genre I guess.

Manifest Destiny is a game about possibility.  Based in a distant time, humanity has left the physical plane leaving technology in place that make magic possible.  This opened a whole world of possibilities for the children of humanity.  Those beings who we humans had a hand in making, be it purposefully or by accident.  In time Humanities children found a path to another universe.  This is where the player hangs his hat.  Not in the old world...but as a colonist, separated from the rules and shackles of society past.

The game its self is a D12 based system.  Attributes set the number of dice you roll and skills add bonuses to those rolls.  I endeavored to make the system simple...may be at times to simple as people some times miss the point.  But all in all there is consistency.  All of the math is additive, so bonuses go to rolls, while hindrances go to the target number.  The die is the random factor of luck.  And yes, something can be so easy, that there is no need for luck at all.  It has been my goal to break out of tradition though and so my magic system, initiative, and rounds are a little more experimental.

I will not get into magic and the rest now.  But as it stands, this is what I am working on.  I am also working to get an editor so that I can keep my mind where it wants to be.  Working at odd angles and in the shadows of reality.

Currently, I am also working on better race descriptions...my first ones were simple.  But as the image in my mind grew, so have the races the player will know and hopefully love.  So back to the grind and I hope that some one actually reads this.

Note: When writing on the fly, like in a blog, my spelling and gramar tends to get left on the side of the road.  This is one reason why I have been working on getting an editor.  So please...no roasting me alive about it.