Doctor Larabi Jones of Hamfeset

Doctor Larabi Jones
is an adventurer and romantic
who believes all sorts of nonsense about love and honor.
He lives in a world quite different from our own,
and happens to be invisible
because unlike most people, he keeps his ego
in a napkin in his pocket.
None the wiser,
no one can guess
who he is or what he is about.
Which suits the good doctor
quite well
as he must be
about his business
of healing.

Farmer Giles of Hamfest

Farmer Giles is a Character who has been around for quite some time, but hasn't been seen very often. He lives on the outskirts of Hamfest to the west, just on the other side of Audax Hill with his wife Emily and his three children. It is said that he was a stalwart defence against the enemies of Hamfest during the Ogre War, but he's not inclined to talk much of it. He lives a quiet pastoral life, growing potatoes, tomatoes and beans, as well as being a respected swine herder. Generally friendly, though quiet, he's known far and wide as being a man of his word and fair dealings. People around Hamfest have on occasion rallied to make him Mayor of the town, but he has always declined on account of his great modesty.

The Creativity Machine

My Beta Testing is proving very positive. So far I've only run into a few very minor bugs with the Elthos RPG Web Application, and other than those, no difficulties to speak of. The application is now finally starting to come alive in my hands. The Creativity Machine is now on, and functioning as designed. I'm still, of course, tooling around with her, making improvements as I go. Which I must say, is so much fun, it's difficult to 'splain you. Let it suffice to say, it's a great joy to me. I've always wanted this utility, and now that I have it I couldn't be happier. You see, there's a lot of times when I'll be driving along, or sitting at a restaurant, or some other such, when suddenly something will occur to me ... something amazing... something that I feel really must find a home in my World. And for years and years these ideas might at best get jotted down on a napkin, or bit of paper, and shuffled into a notebook, if lucky. But the organization of my World's details really has always maintained itself primarily in my head. And I've been pretty lucky to remember quite a lot of the adventures, and wrote very good notes along the way. But still, what it means, naturally, is that my World's wonderful history is subject to mismanagement, loss, and error over time. Whatever *did* happen to that magic ring, anyway? ... etc? This sort of question, finally, I will now be able to answer, even many many years in the future when I would normally have forgotten completely. That's one thing that I like about the Web Application.

Another thing I like is that it handles all that rotten no good grunt work that always slowed me down, and quite often got me into trouble. Elthos, meet Jeeves. He's your new ultra-butler. He won't forget (if you don't forget to tell him) anything, and he'll keep quite good notes for you. He has no problem crunching the numbers and doing the heavily lifting for you. And he takes great pride in keep things neat and tidy. No more shall important matters be lost or forgotten. No more shall numeric errors creep secretly into the game and befoul our enjoyment with pernicious Facts. It's so annoying! But *sigh*, thank goodness, that is done with from now on.

I started the Web Application in 2006, and now, it is finally ready. Well ok so that took a while. Especially if I take into account the fact that I started the rule system in 1978, and started the programming of the system in 1994. But nevertheless, I can be proud of this achievement. It is my work of art. And luckily for me it's just the sort of art that I can keep on improving as I go.

Anyway, for those interested, who caught wind of what I'm working on here, and want to participate, I'm looking for a small group of of beta testers. I've send out some select invitations to specific groups I'm associated with, but it's a first come first serve moment and so if you read this and would want to beta test there are a few slots open. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to beta test at: vbwyrde @ yahoo.com

It's late and I should get some sleep. I've been burning the log at both ends for the past six months to get this out by New Years...

:)

A Call for Elthos RPG Online Beta Testers

The Elthos ODS Web Application is for Gamesmasters who want a medium to light weight RPG with computer support that helps them run and maintain their Game Worlds.

I'm looking for a few good Role Players to Beta Test the Elthos RPG, kick around on the "One Die System" Web Application, and report back their findings. The Web Application has two basic functions, World Weaver's Development Studio, and the Gamesmaster's Toolbox, which can be read about in more detail here:

Elthos ODS Web Application.

I am ready to open up slots for Beta Testers, starting with 4 and adding gradually so as to not overwhelm the poor programmer who will be responding to bug reports and feature requests. More Beta Testers will be added over time.

Note: Beta Testers who provide feedback will get a Free 3 Year Membership to the site. All you need to do is provide three or more posts with your observations, suggestions, and/or bug reports on the Elthos RPG Forum and you'll be elegable for the Free 3 Year Membership.

As a Beta Tester you should be willing to take a look at the site, logon to the Elthos ODS Web Application, download the Elthos ODS Rules Book (PDF, 30 pages), build out a bit of your world, roll some characters and arrange them in Adventure Groups, create a campaign or two, an adventure or two, and print out the various character sheets, and adventure materials for a game. I'm mostly interested in how well the Web Application works for Gamesmasters at this point, so that's the focus, but of course any and all feedback is welcome on any aspect of the website and/or Elthos ODS Rules. What interests me the most currently are the Usability and User Friendliness aspects of the Web Application.

If you would like to become a Beta Tester please email me at:

vbwyrde @ yahoo.com

with this information:

- First Name
- Last Name
- The Name of your World
- A brief description of your World

I will then create a proto-World for you to build out for yourself and your players, and send you your user name and password for the system. In the meantime you can take a look at the site here: www.Elthos.com

Happy New Years Elthos!

Just in time for New Years, I have met my personal goal of getting Elthos RPG up and running on the new production server, and polished up for the Closed Beta. I think she looks much nicer today. An artist friend of mine took a peak and made a few simple suggestions that made the site much more elegant to look at. That's great. And the Web Application is working nicely, too.

And so, here's a general call to the RPG Community: I'm looking for a few good testers to join the Elthos RPG website, kick around on the Elthos "One Die System" Web Application, and report back their findings. The Web Application has two basic functions which can be read about here:
Elthos ODS Web Application.

A call for Beta Testers

I would like to open up a few slots for Beta Testers. No more than 4 at this time, sorry. You should be willing to take a look at the site, download the Elthos ODS Rules Book (PDF, 30 pages), build out a bit of your world, roll some characters and arrange then in adventure groups, create a campaign or two, an adventure or four, and print out the various character sheets, and adventure materials for a game.

The Elthos ODS Web Application is for Gamesmasters who want a medium to light weight RPG with computer support that helps them run and maintain their Worlds.

If you would like to become a Beta Tester please email me at
vbwyrde @ yahoo.com

with this information:

First Name
Last Name
The Name of your World
A brief description of your World

I will then create a proto-World for you to build out for yourself and your players, and send you your user name and password for the system. In the meantime you can take a look at the site here: www.Elthos.com

Place-Names And Naming NPCs

Here's something I try to do with the Place-Names in Elthos. I try to give names some meaning. Not over the top heavy handed meaning, but I like names that mean something. So if I'm looking for a name of a forested village on the side of a mountain where there is a nearby stream I'll do a little research and see if I can come up with a name that the locals who created the town might have thought of.

I'll use a website like Krysstal. It provides a whole bunch of name meanings categorized in a variety of ways, such as Place-Names, Surnames and explains a bit about where names come from. It's a pretty good resource.

So my forest town name is "Combederry", which means an oak wood and deep valley.

I like these sorts of names over what I might just randomly come up with because it gives my world a greater sense of being a little bit more real that a mere wisp of my imagination. Though of course, that's what it is, really. :)

Any additional resources for this sort of thing would be greatly appreciated.

Merry Christmas, Elthos

Well, here we are at Christmas and just in time for Santa I managed to switch my web host to a (hopefully) better service over at Webhost4life, and get everything up and running without more than an afternoon's worth of hiccups. Not bad!

Phase II begins!

The Closed Beta, by invitation only, test of the Elthos ODS Web Application! You can read more about it here: Elthos ODS Web Application.

Needless to say, it's all very exciting, isn't it? My first actual real world implementation of Elthos out there in the real world... after all these years. Well, anyway, enough blubbering. I will now set about creating some test worlds for my friends and peers so that they can go kick the tires and see what works and what doesn't work for them. I am expecting that there will be a great diversity of opinions about ye old Elthos, both from a rules perspective, and as a web application. Some people will surely despise it with all the fury of ten thousand suns, decrying it as the worst thing to happen since ... who knows when! But then others I suspect will find it quite useful for themselves and their friends, and be happy and content to have a handy tool to help them GM. But most, of course, will neither love nor hate it, but will wander off with nary a glance at my Great Labor. Which is just as well. It is one of my zen principals not to be overly attached to the results of my labors, but instead to simply focus on the labor at hand. Whether it be loved or hated matters not. Only that I worked at is with great diligence, and that I myself am satisfied that it is most certainly useful... for me.

:)
Mark