A big honkin' Happy Birthday to _patches_ ... may all your farts be funny today.

I've been on a bit of a break, only really popping my head in to RP every now and then. As you can imagine, retail work's pretty harsh around this time of year, and my desire to get other stuff done has been pretty... low.

I'd expect to resume actual work on getting forums up sometime in Jan, though as always there could be some delays.

Did some rambling over on DA, in my journal. Figured it'd work there best...

In other news, the Christmas buildup's hitting me like a brick to the head, as usual in the retail field. I'll live through it, again as usual. I've had customers leave notes with management about how I managed to get three people what they need seemingly at the same time... again, as usual. >.>' Seems I manage to pull something like that off every holiday season, still remember the time I felt like a tour guide for a group of people... making a little path through the store saying "calendars are over here... now, the asprin's just down this way... and you wanted the boxers? Stick with me, they're further down this way... oh, cocoa? Yeah, that's on our way, come on, join the fun just a few more aisles!"

Eeesh.

Quick notice: there's been a GM update on the Lucent/Scorch/Immortal Brigade/Lucidia fiasco. Posting here so it doesn't clog everyone's home page. The post's here: http://databank.livejournal.com/355336.html

Responding to the actions in chat, where in response to Scorch's claims of torture Vessar spirited her away to protect her from further violence against her person, at the same time upsetting Lucidian authorities who had insisted she remain behind. The following press release came from Lucent on the matter, sometimes ahead of Lucidia's notices, sometimes behind: http://gaspar-logan.livejournal.com/635.html

( read on! )

An addendum to the prior post - Watch involvement doesn't have to happen, remember. It's an "if you call" thing for most minor things. Larger things, though, might be something that should get their attention - like a very large explosion, that sort of thing. I'd say it'd be something to OOCly hash out, like a Watch player asking if people would want an official response.

Alright, after an issue in chat, a few things got hashed out OOCly. [edit]Side-note: those involved had charges dropped on self-defense causes.[/edit]

Firstly, as that's what I got to first, for your ID card handles all points of registration and identification. There's a code on it that can be scanned to firstly verify it from the state archives. That's what many bouncers will do when presented with something they think might be a fake, as readers that will retrieve basic data are relatively cheap. For the hospitals, this is tied into your medical records as well, and they can use some bio/magical/psionic metrics to determine who someone is if they don't have this card. The same idea works with your rap sheet for the Watch - what you've been involved with, and the results, will show up if you have your ID or not.

This record, at the "bouncer and higher" level, has all forms you publically admit to having, and an emblem on the physical card itself indicating that you are a shapeshifter. For the police, it's a wider matter so they can tell that, yes, you are that giant t-rex.

Secondly, on the courts - they're seperate from the Watch, which is why I've asked Watch players to let me know on arrests. Many player characters don't make it to trial, at least from what's come in so far. Obvious cases of self-defense are dropped by the prosecution arm of the courts, as an example, and options to a trial are presented if the charges allow.

And yes, I'm staying away from exacting definitions of what constitutes murder, or self-defense, or so forth... as I don't really want a role-playing system that takes a lawyer to read the rules on.

Okay, annual "do you want a Christmas card?" post. I'm putting this up publically, all comments screened. Gimme an address, and I'll do my best to send you a card.

If you want my address, please indicate either a similar LJ entry, e-mail, just that you want it noted to you, or some other method of contact that I can send it with; I'm not posting it here at the moment.

I've mentioned before that the Watch isn't involved so much as a military as it is an extended and more potent police force. The biggest reason is that Lucidia City State (LCS) is unable to deploy their technological and/or magical superiority upon their neighbors, but can fairly easily mop the floor with the lower-technology weaponry of their hostile neighbors. Thus, a standing traditional army is of limited concern to them, more important is a keenly aware defensive group that is continually occupied to some degree, but not so much that they cannot remobilize to defend the city. Thus, the Watch, and its focus and doctrine of citizen protection and service.

Wait, you ask... why can't they take the fight to them? Simple... to do so, they (used to a high tech Affinity) would have to fight within the low-to-mid tech Affinity that most neighbors have, meaning outfitting an entire force for that technology level, training them, and being able to charge an enemy in their own homeland with their children at their backs and with easily defended terrain. Their enemies have large populations with very crafty generals... chances of victory would be slim to none.

So, that's part of how Affinities impact the world of Lucidia. I'll probably come up with some more... effective word for it, but most people just call it "the world".

Basically, a place has some level of Affinity for a certain concept of tech, magic, psi, or such else. High tech Affinity doesn't mean it has "an Affinity for high tech", but rather it has a high Affinity for tech. No tech Affinity would mean that even the basic concepts of technology would have a hard time - levers wouldn't give quite as much mechanical advantage, knives wouldn't cut as well, and so forth. "Natural" things aren't impacted as much, as this is based primarily on the concept: how an abstract dreamer (remember... dream relm) percieves it.

Changing course from what I've spoken of privately... if your origin is of magic, tech, or what-not but you don't actively need it to live... you'll just be increasingly lethargic and limited in abilities in a low or no Affinity area for that concept. If you actively need it to exist, though... that's where we're starting to talk "comas to lethal".

Okay, I'm here pimping two artists that you may not know about... Both are very wonderful people, both are open to commissions.

The first (by virtue of me having known her longer) is the highly talented and very wonderful Onnaevilsmith who's presently taking commissions with information here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1039713/
I don't know if she's still open for her Christmas badges, last I saw she still had a few slots left. Can't hurt you to ask! (she might hit me, but it's a chance I'll take). An amazing example of these of Krinele

The second, who just finished two very wonderful flat-colored pieces for me, is Tatious~ She's doing a hundred these for the obscenely low price of $15, and... yeah. If you decide to commission her from my journal, please let her know you came from me. If you'd like to see what she's done with my girls, take a look at Molly & Krin. Oh, and of course you can talk regular commissions with her too~

Thanks for reading... I hope that these two exceptionally talented young ladies can get the business they're looking for!

Continuation of prior entry, on the laws and policies for Lucidia City-State.

( Cut for length.. )

Here's the news. As some of you have noticed, there's a Lucidia City Watch that polices (and protects as a military) Lucidia City and the area surrounding it. So far I know of two characters that the people I've approached about being startup Watch officers have created, Officer Ovenbird and Miyia Amynta. However, we need a good playbook on what laws are in force, policies for how to enforce the laws, and the minutia of general procedures.

For this, I want input from my players. For the Watch to succeed as an in-character answer to in-character problems, we're going to need popular support from the players as understanding that this is part of their role-play. I envision them as a force to provide (semi)realistic results from actions, a sense of continuity and development, and a way of potentially starting some good in-depth role-playing adventures. To put that in a nutshell, I want their actions to result in something that's still enjoyable to play out, rather than just "oh, time in the slammer". Things like community service, either domestic or... abroad if the need arises.

So thoughts on some general stuff? Age for access to restricted substances (alcohol, opiates, tobacco, etc.) for instance, handling of creatures that produce the stuff (as it's already come up), Watch pursuit regulations, food labeling requirements (warnings of magical effects on candy would be included), potion making regulations, vigalante laws...

You get the drift. If we can come up with some good IC reasons for the lot of this, I think we'll end up with something that we can largely agree is a good idea.

So... stupid me forgot to book hotel for ACen right away.

I've got one at the Embassy Suites now, as the Hyatt was booked solid.

Xai, Foxen, I've got you two down as roommates. Who else, as I'm not taking more than four in the room.

I've switched the javascript over to an external .js file, and set the loading of the edit buttons into the body's onload functionality for the page - if you have javascript enabled, it'll take over in place of the default "type a line number in here" bit.

Some things that happen:
"+L" drops in a link field, which have many uses. You can omit the description and just have a basic "speaks for itself" link that's easy to manage, with automagical "(2, 3, 4, ...)" lines for when you have more than one reference link.
In the header for the link field, "+L" will add a new link to the existing field... so if you have a field for "Key Art", use the button to the right of that title to add another seperate piece of artwork.
Take Krin's profile as an example. I can use the up/down buttons next to each individual picture's title to move them up and down as I'd like, and the "+L" next to Key Pictures or Cards to add another picture to that field.

As well, you can omit the title, artist, and any URL's to get it to display just the description you type in. You could use this, as an example, to help organize different combat skills or powers.

I don't have a converter button, yet... which would translate a single text field into a description for a single link field which you could then expand upon. It wouldn't be particularly problematic, just... people would probably expect it to break it up intelligently, and javascript is not known for adaptable intelligence.

Okay, the javascript is letting you make a new text field on the fly, though a planned update will have an "insert before" link available too for individual rows. However, right now I'm working on some more core functionality that... isn't editable at the moment. A few examples are up in Krin's profile... and I think I have it rigged that it'll update it properly when fed the information. The next phase is "simply" to put that into the editor, and make it so it can create the new lines, support them in templates, that sort of thing.

This will be obnoxious as all &$*@, that is all.

Or major, if you're one of the many, many people who've said that the profile editor's kinda annoying to sort fields with.

I've implemented optional javascript (currently working in firefox, not in IE [needs bug testing, but it works...] [[okay, got a good alternative set]]) that turns the "at position:[box]" deal into more convenient up/down buttons, which will likely eventually become images. Just click the button at the top of the page saying "Enable JS for testing" to try it out.

Eventually, this will become the default behaviour of the body's "onload" event, causing it to automatically load up/down buttons for those whose browsers are set to enable javascript.

Coming soon: adding fields with javascript, and link fields.

Well, sheesh. Subject not fully related to actual question... for oldest friend, going to go with, as Xai has been calling him today, Monsieur Piffendent, a/k/a knightof_silver, a/k/a Psycho Fox (of WAR). His birthday was the 4th, yay.

Besides him, for people I still talk to... then there'd be Xai - currently oceandezignz, and Oni (mazokuoni). Rest of y'all are acuaintances.

Timing wise... well... yeah. Once a year for actually seeing each other, by and large, then chatting daily on messengers. This group of close friends has stayed largely the same since '05ish, when I kinda lost daily contact with Karol, so... yeah, I'd say it's pretty sedate who I will actually call a friend.

Now, pardon me while I snip off a few tags from this.

Okay, I've done some thinking, and come up with some general rules for developing that should help make things go faster. First and foremost: advanced functionality will require javascript.
What this means:
In profiles, adding new lines on the fly will be javascript... as will adding any "link" fields, such as those presently seen in Krinele's profile. Editing them, or adding any from a template, will be a little bit supported without, but don't bank on being able to add fifty different pictures by different artists.
For threads, basic posting won't require js, but if you're GM'ing you'll probably want it to get the most out of things. Basically, for it to chop down your options to something streamlined and auto-adjusting, you'll need javascript. The form will be just too long and complicated otherwise, with little notes of "only chose this line for character X only", etc. As well, things like setting foreground and background color when first posting or replying to a thread, rather than editing, will be a javascript-only dealie for the same reason.

Oh, and as someone's asked for this... present mods:
Myself (duh...)
DM Kocher (our entry area/free-for-all RP forum that doesn't exist yet mod)
Bob (I have no idea where I want to shove him, but dammit I want him to work, maybe just a general moderator thingy)
Xai (as-yet nonexistant and really frightening me forum for creative endeavours... this thing's a whole different ballgame, folks)
Benny (like Bob, I value his judgement enough to want him to be able to have a say when he needs to, but don't know if I'll assign him anything specific...)

And... that's actually it that I know of for participating mods. By virtue of being the GM of Litanaea, Xenix has/will have some moderator privledges there... though not as much as someone with mod rights. I'm really not sure about running this as a "one mod, one forum" type thing, I'd rather just have a bunch of people who respect each other well enough to work together, and can step in where they need to without worrying about stepping on anyone's toes.

Okay, the ACen group's paid for. Huzzah. Thanks all who could jump in this early, and if there's a bunch who want to register before the second cutoff (up to Jan 15), then someone else will need to be the group leader/payer. Mostly what it takes is someone willing to pick up everyone's badge, and pay for them up-front then accept money however the group's okay with.

For those curious, doing the math gets me the following values:
Full weekend price: $38
Child weekend price: $8

For those in my group - I can accept check, money order, paypal, and actually prefer cash-at-con... unless you have to bail, in which case check, money order, or paypal's prefered.

Cheers, peeps~

As we've hit the magic ten, I'll be going ahead and closing down the group in about an hour (1:30 Pacific time) - basically just before I leave for work I'll pay for it. Cheers, get a registration in soon if you want the present rate ($38!)

Again, the group number is: CBH0DRJ-1CWLME6-5W