Monday, August 24, 2015

Mythos Machine on the Go

So there I was, huffing and puffing my way around town this morning doing my chores and shopping and stuff.  I stopped off to get some scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast and a cup of coffee.  And of course read the paper.  A story caught my eye.  And gave me a startlingly cool idea for the Yellow Stone Campaign... that frequently happens at the most inconvenient times when I'm on the go.  I used to, if possible, jot down the ideas on a piece of paper, and hope that I don't lose it in the grand shuffle that is my modern life.

Now, thanks to the Mythos Machine, I can use my Smart Phone to log into the application, quickly route over to my adventure, and add the idea right there at the coffee shop table.  No longer do I miss these opportunities to include great ideas in my world.  And once added, they stick.   Later when I get home I can modify and refine the concepts as I see fit.  But the important thing is that the notes get added right then, when I think of them.

The other nifty aspect of the Smart Phone use of the Mythos Machine is that my phone allows me to dictate into the Mythos Machine using speech recognition.   Of course there's the usual misspellings but when I get home I can tidy things up.  The important point is that my notes get entered into the centralized repository for my world when I think of them.   And that's actually a marvelous feature.

On the downside, and there must always be a downside, and I believe it's always good to mention the downside as a reminder that 1) nothing is perfect, and 2) there are things to work on for the sake of continuously improving the quality of the site ... the Mythos Machine is not currently configured for Responsive Design.  So the Smart Phone version, while perfectly functional, is not form factored for the phone's screen.  Thus, it does require some scrolling and zooming in at times.  But frankly, the ability to add my ideas to my world, create new creatures, weapons, armors or equipment, or anything else, on the fly while I'm on the go ... just makes the darn thing incredibly useful to me.

You are welcome to try it yourself for free by creating an Open Beta account at

http://elthos.com

... I look forward to hearing your feedback on it.  If you'd like to learn more about the Elthos RPG Mythos Machine before creating an account (understandably so) please read the FAQ here...

http://elthosrpg.blogspot.com/p/elthos-faq.html

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

A Quick Take on the Elthos Alignment System

I wrote this in response to a comment from Rick Stump here.

I have worked out my own version of the alignment system that deviates a bit from the norm (or AD&D at least). It is point based and the concept is that when characters do something it has both a law/chaos and good/evil aspect. The law/chaos aspect has to do with the legality or civilization or society impact of the action, whereas the good/evil aspect has to do with the motive. Points are assigned based on the action and the motive. So for example, Robin Hood steals from the rich (illegal and therefore chaotic) and gives the the poor (motive is charity). Thus his actin is Chaotic Good. He gets -1 Law-Chaos and +1 Good-Evil, and so Robin Hood is (-1 , +1). As the Character do things in the world, if they have a moral or legal implication I ask them what the motive was and record and sum their total Alignment. Thus as the campaign progresses their Alignments change according to their Character's actions and motives. What I've found is that most Players play their Characters as neutrals, bouncing back and forth between law and chaos and good and evil. It takes actual focus and determination to pursue an alignment path. I also have it that at certain levels (say over 10 L-C, G-E) the Deities begin to take notice of them. An interesting side effect is that Alignment then becomes its own pathway to success (or failure), and low level Characters can still manage to amass Alignment scores that make them "Somebody". It's interesting. I like the way it works. The only problem with it is that it adds another bit of accounting that needs to be done during the course of tallying up Experience. Not a big deal, but then again, its another thing to remember to do. But that's really the only problem I have with it. Other than that, it really does add something a little special to my game. That said, thus far, I have not made extensive use of the Alignment System. I've been so busy working on various aspects of my project at various levels a few things tend to slip through the cracks. The use of the Alignment System has been, therefore, a bit spotty. I should, now that I think of it, get back to using the thing. It's not required, but it's a fun little doodad that I can use in a number of ways throughout the course of the game.

It also ties in, I should add, with my system of Tarot-Astrology which is represented by the backface card of my Elthos Tarot Deck.  At that point the story about Elthos Alignment  gets a bit involved so I think I'll leave that aspect for another day.  This is already getting a bit tltr as it is.  :)

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Rikshaw the Rat Man

If you happen to be down under Yellow Clay then you might happen to chance upon Rikshaw.  He's a nice enough fellow, but you'd best keep an eye on your stuff.