Solar Echoes website back up!

I just discovered this morning that my website at http://www.SolarEchoes.com was down. I called my webhosting and apparently their system migration late Novemeber messed it up, but I have no idea how long it's been down for. It's back up now, supposedly. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hanging out in VR

A good friend of mine got Sony's PSVR at Christmas time, and last night we were finally able to get together online in virtual reality. We met in the game Arizona Sunshine, and it was surreal seeing his avatar standing there using his voice. We joked and talked as he figured out how to move around and manipulate items with his hands, and there were some funny moments when he tried to put a hat on his head—the hat first dropped in front of him to his feet, and when he tried again, he reached too far behind his head it dropped behind him. After adjusting to VR a bit more, we headed out into the desert canyon, shooting zombies together and scrounging for ammo by searching abandoned cars. Ammo was limited, and we found that it helped to call out which zombies we were targeting so we didn't both waste ammo shooting the same one full of holes. There were some scary moments when a large group of zombies started heading towards us, running from different directions. One even got up in my face as I scrambled to reload my gun, and my friend was unable to help because he was dealing with his own zombie horde. The scariest moment, though, was when we tried opening a car and it set off a car alarm—tons of zombies came running. We took shelter in a nearby sheriff's building, and left the door propped open slightly so we could shoot the zombies outside as they came near. After finally splattering the last zombie's head to pieces, my friend said he had to call it quits because he was getting nauseous from moving around in VR. It happened to me when I first started playing VR last year, so we agreed we'd do a little at a time as he developed his “VR Legs.” It takes a little practice, but now I'm running and jumping in VR with no nausea, staying in virtual reality worlds sometimes for 2 to 3 hours at a time! It was tons of fun hanging out in virtual reality with my friend, and I look forward to more social VR experiences in the future!

Play Solar Echoes with friends and family during the holidays!

If family or friends are in town and you're trying to find things to do, why not try a game of Solar Echoes with them? Everything you need to play and jump right in is included in Operation: Flash Strike, a learn-by-play mission for beginners. My own father chose to play a flirty, female Reln character that conned the bad guys. Who will your relatives choose to be? 

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/211232/FREE-Solar-Echoes-Demo-Operation-Flash-Strike

Merry Christmas!

Technology and Psychology (part 5)

One thing technology has afforded us all is the ability to gather our own information, rather than have to absorb it through established “news” organizations. We now have the freedom to do our own research and we are exposed to more opinions than ever before. Has this made us more open-minded? It has at least given us the power to question what is told to us. The news media, a teacher, a parent, or a friend—no longer do any of them hold complete sway over us. There are countless opinions out there on the internet, and most of them are totally unfiltered. This can be a very good thing, but it can also be very dangerous to an undiscerning mind. Fake information, lies, and subversive ideology can send even the well-educated off in the wrong direction. “He seemed like such a nice guy...” and yet it is later discovered that the former nice guy was spending his time on websites with terrorist propaganda. Information can start or stop wars. Information can free or oppress. And we have the internet, a total wildscape of ideas. If not for access to information, though, a nation might be controlled by an oppressive government that tells them they are living better lives than anyone else in the world. George Orwell, Ayn Rand, Ray Bradbury, and many others have warned of information control, because it can alter and shape our psychology.

Technology and Psychology (part 4)

Studies have shown that teens are actually feeling lonelier than ever, thanks to social media. Has it impacted their ability to relate to others in a more natural, face-to-face, personal way? When was the last time you saw a kid talking on the phone with one of their friends? Supposedly, only 10% of communication between people is from the actual content of their words—90% is from the tone of a person's voice and from body language. If that is accurate, then the 10% we're all communicating with online is an extremely poor method of relating to another person. How many times have you had to clarify something that you emailed or texted, and explaining it in person cleared up the misunderstanding? What happens, though, when people start to communicate this way more than by talking? What happens when families sit together but stare at their smartphones and ignore each other? Are we becoming less comfortable talking with people and more disconnected relationally? One teenager indicated to me he'd prefer to text someone and get to know them that way before having to talk much in person. Texting is quickly replacing normal conversation, and we're all communicating digitally more and more frequently. Maybe Elon Musk is right: we're already cyborgs!

Technology and Psychology (part 3)

Technology has also affected the way we make our decisions. With email, texting, and social media, it's easy to share a concern or dilemma with others, and we often find ourselves seeking feedback on possible choices before making a decision. Have we lost our sense of self a little among all the noise of our online acquaintances? Do we feel, perhaps, slightly less capable of making decisions when it's so much easier to just bounce things off those faceless others who are all too ready to share what they think we ought to do? With easy access to social media, we feel less accountable for our choices by relying on the feedback of others, but have we now become more dependent on others? And why are we even sharing the minutia of our lives with these online voices? Some have said that social media has created a generation that is more needy, where self-worth is sought online. Receiving a response to a post in social media becomes an affirming experience, and having a lot of followers begins to instill an over-inflated ego. When people are posting daily, mundane activities and sharing this information with friends and complete strangers, is it simply because of boredom, or is it fueled by a need to feel significant? How is this affecting people in the real world, socially?

Technology and Psychology (part 2)

Another way technology has changed us involves how it affects our courage. For example, I used to get worried when I had to travel frequently outside my home state. I often had to travel to places I'd never been, and with just a paper map and some instructions scribbled or printed on paper, I'd set out to places far from "civilization," meaning areas where I didn't see street lights, gas stations, or any population at all. Instead, there were endless expanses of open land, long, empty roads, and not a single car passing me for miles. Honestly, sometimes I was a little worried: what if my car breaks down or I run out of gas? Yet these days, if we have our smart phone with us and a good GPS app, we're quite willing to just drive off somewhere and go exploring. Help is only a phone call away, and we can always tell our GPS to take us home when we admit we've gotten a little lost! Also, we're letting our children go places alone a lot more freely, because it's easier to contact them with smartphones. For the really paranoid parents (or those of conniving teens!) there's always a smartphone GPS tracker to keep an eye on your kid's location at all times!

Technology and Psychology

We all know it's true: technology changes the way we live. It also changes the way we think, but how much? Often it is said that the internet has caused us to have shorter attention spans, and when watching someone surf the net, that would seem to be a reasonable conclusion. Yet what might actually be true is that we are more capable of sorting, prioritizing, and absorbing information than we've ever been before. With smart phones and almost instant internet access wherever we go, we have become much more adept at analyzing and cross-referencing. As an example, I was Christmas shopping today and my phone was out, helping me check reviews and prices of the products I saw in stores. Ultimately, over half the gifts on my list became items I decided to buy online instead because of better prices or available inventory. Technology has enabled us to make more informed decisions, even when shopping!

Operation: Broken Citadel now available!

It's release day! An exciting new mission for scifi tabletop RPG gamers, Operation: Broken Citadel involves surviving a crumbling space station, squad combat, hacking, starship battles, and more. Available at RPGnow.com DriveThruRPG.com here:

Operation: Broken Citadel at RPGnow.com 

Only 1 more day...

1 more day until disaster strikes on a Union Guard space station. A few of the gamers that played this mission at the Chessiecon and Shorehammer conventions were given early release access with a discount to this mission, and several of them have already downloaded it for a first look. Special thanks goes out to everyone that helped beta-test this mission; you'll see that I've responded to your feedback and suggestions with some of the changes I made. I'm excited for this to be available to everyone, and I hope you all have lots of fun playing it with your friends! But, can you survive?

Operations Void Runner and Broken Citadel

Last summer I wrote Operation: Void Hunter as the first part of a larger story arc. The second part of the story arc, Operation: Broken Citadel, releases Saturday, and continues with some of the same themes and characters, but involves an entirely new set of challenges and events. I have banner ads that I run once in a while on RPGnow.com, and I decided to design the ad for Broken Citadel along the same lines as my design for Void Hunter—I like to show some of the major players involved in the story, without giving too much away. If you've played Void Hunter, you may recognize the feisty female character pictured in the Broken Citadel ad! I hope you like the artwork: there's a combination of art by John Fell, Sarah Carter, and me (my planets are getting better, I think?) Enjoy!

The Dynamic Map of Broken Citadel

As I began writing the Broken Citadel mission, I quickly realized the need for a large space station map. Visualizing where they characters would move became increasingly difficult until I had a map to reference. Considering that the space station will be crumbling around the characters as they run through it to find a way out to safety, I also needed a way to better illustrate this visually to players. I came up with the idea of using map icons of the different disaster events that would happen around their characters. Electrical explosions, fire, falling objects, and even hull ruptures that sucked air and debris towards them and out into the vacuum of space were all events that the characters would face, so I made a variety of map icons for each. As characters move through the space station, the GM will roll to find out where these events will occur in close proximity to the team, sometimes even landing right on a character! These events create excitement and compel urgency towards getting off the space station; it's likely that more than a few of the characters will be injured as they traverse this dangerous environment!

A Peek at Operation Broken Citadel

"Suddenly you hear a deep, dull boom echoing from somewhere in the station and then feel a massive vibration ripple across the metal floor. Loud alarms begin to blare and red emergency lights flash. As you look down the hallway, you see panicked groups of agents and staff running in fear through the corridors."

It's Star Wars Week!

Unless you've been off in a galaxy far, far away you are probably excited about the new Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, that releases this Friday! I'm planning to see it a week later when I'm finally on vacation, but in honor of this much-loved space opera, I've set the release date for a new Solar Echoes product on Saturday. If you like space operas, then this is a weekend to be excited about! Experience the next installment of the Star Wars saga in the theater, and if you're still in a space opera mood, team up with a group of friends playing alien agents and work together to survive a crumbling space station in Operation: Broken Citadel. Here's a quick description of the upcoming mission:

When the Union Guard space station Citadel suddenly suffers extreme damage, everyone is in a panic, rushing for escape pods and nearby starships. As you and your team struggle to survive the deadly catastrophe and escape with your lives, will you be able to save the one agent that might know what really happened? What choices will you make and who will you choose to save? While the station begins to break apart and its orbit gradually decays, your only chance of survival might be fleeing to the planet below--a planet that has long since been abandoned. What dangers will you face there, and can you last long enough for help to arrive? And where are all the other survivors?

Shorehammer: Saturday and Sunday highlights

After Saturday's missions, I led a discussion on Game Mastering and mission design, and there was a good crowd of interested gamers. I'm not much of a public speaker, but I think I was able to cover some helpful points and it was great to see everyone get into the discussion after I'd wrapped up my presentation. We bounced around with various topics, sharing our experiences and advice regarding topics such as handling unruly players and fudging die rolls to keep the game fun. After my talk, the convention organizer, Scott, led an entertaining and comical discussion about 8^th edition, and though I'm unfamiliar with the Warhammer system, his sense of humor had everyone laughing so often that I wondered if he should consider a career in stand-up comedy. When Sunday arrived, the Armies on Parade entries were judged in various categories (most creative, best painted, etc.) and the now famous “Nutcrusher” tournament was underway. Meanwhile, I ran one last game for the convention with a couple new players and some of the team from Saturday's Void Hunter mission, continuing into the new sequel, Broken Citadel (funny highlight in second paragraph below.) Finally, the convention was wrapped up with a fun awards ceremony, complete with flashing lights, rock music, and a flamboyant costumed host, “Pimpcron,” handing out awards with his tiny son dressed in an oversized blazer. Shorehammer was an awesome convention!

Before I conclude, I wanted to thank TJ, a new player to Solar Echoes, for being a good sport! We were near the last half hour of the game, and though there were many moments worth sharing, the best was regarding TJ's unfortunate Chiraktis: when this insectoid agent left cover and stopped in an open area, he was gunned down by 3 elite Reln focus-firing on him using assault rifles. The others on the team wanted to rescue him but were wise not to leave cover. One of the players had a great idea, and fired his magnetic tether gun to try to attach it to something metal on the Chiraktis's belt to reel him back into cover so they could heal him. Unfortunately, that player rolled badly, so the magnetic tether attached to a thermal grenade on the Chiraktis's belt. The player decided to try reeling him in carefully anyway, but...he heard a small metal “plink” as the grenade pin was accidentally pulled out by the magnet. Poor Chiraktis! We were all laughing when we wondered what would happen to a Chiraktis in a fiery explosion, and imagined it might look something like a popping piece of popcorn. Thanks TJ, for being cool about the accidental demise of your Chiraktis! (We can clone him later, the UG has him on file ;)

Memorable Solar Echoes highlights at Shorehammer

A few of my favorite memorable highlights from the missions I ran on Saturday will probably be stories the players remember well, too. One player had a very angry confrontation with a shady Krissethi “guide” who managed to escape his threatening grasp by using his “Dirty Fighting” technique, leaving the player's character speaking in soprano for a while. Later in the deadly forests on planet Sa'mesh, another player decided that he would ignore the advice of their guide to watch out for deadly parasitic fish in the river, believing that because his Omul character was a good swimmer, he could easily cross to the other side. That didn't go well for him, and if not for the quickness of that same guide, the unconscious Omul may have been beyond saving, floating away downstream in the fast river waters. One of my favorite moments was when the group saw an adorable, fluffy alien lifeform waddling comically by the shore. They were inclined to get closer, but one of them astutely decided to observe the guide's behavior first, and noticed her eyes were wide with fear and she was remaining absolutely still. The rest of the team quickly mimicked this behavior and thankfully survived the encounter as the cuddly creature eventually wandered away harmlessly. When they later encountered a monstrous lifeform that was truly beyond their capabilities, they wisely fled and were even able to perform a difficult computer hack under pressure when the creature cornered them, barely escaping in time to safety!

Operation Void Hunter at RPGnow.com 

Video on Facebook

A video is up on Facebook at the Shorehammer convention site, where a gamedesigner describes the Solar Echoes game. Check it out:

https://www.facebook.com/shorehammer/videos/556767527998623/

Shorehammer 2017, Saturday Dec. 2

Saturday seemed like the biggest day at Shorehammer to me, because there were three Highlander Games and a “Brutality Skirmish” Tournament in the early evening. The game tables were full, with Warhammer players hovering over the detailed war-torn terrain models, moving their armies carefully across the battlefields while measuring exact ranges and rolling dice to determine the fate of their troops. During all this, I ran Solar Echoes games in the other room with those that had free time—some that had finished their Warhammer games, others that were family members of the warriors in the other room, and some that were vendors that had some free time because everyone else was so involved in the massive battles being fought. I ran a demo mission for new players, and later, some old friends from last year and a few other new players joined me for Operation: Void Hunter. My plan was to run Void Hunter to prepare them for the new Operation: Broken Citadel mission I wanted to run on Sunday, a mission that is a continuation of the Void Hunter story. I had everyone level their characters up to level 3 so they could handle Void Hunter, and we had a lot of fun. There were some very memorable moments in this mission...

Shorehammer 2017, Friday Dec. 1

It was an epic weekend at the Shorehammer 2017 convention in Ocean City! I arrived Friday afternoon and groups of gamers were already there playing Warhammer at the tables filled with a massive selection of warzones. This year, there was twice the enrollment as last year, and the amazing amount of painted terrain and battlemats was impressive to see. It wasn't more than a few minutes after I'd set up for Solar Echoes in another room that I had interested players, and a couple gamers sat down to begin character creation almost immediately. We got a game going shortly after, and I had a small group of players going on their first mission as Union Guard agents. We had a ton of fun, and the team did an amazing job at achieving all of their mission objectives, scoring the most experience points possible for the Operation: Flash Strike mission, which is a free demo mission. I'll share more pictures of Shorehammer this week. Scott put together an awesome convention again this year—thanks for inviting me to be a part of it again!