Tabula Rasa impressions

Not mine, of course! I’m in the beta but under the NDA. Michael Zenke at MMOGNation, is permitted to post his impressions (something about an exception for the press right now).

And he nails it. There’s only one area he doesn’t cover that I think deserves some discussion, but I’ll save that for when the NDA is lifted for me. In the mean time, if you’re interested, read what he has to say and you’ll know all you need to know.

Add comment August 2nd, 2007

Roleplaying tool: Dialect training “for the casual pretender”

Here’s a fun tool for tabletop roleplaying games and MMORPG players who actually want to do some roleplaying over Ventrilo and Teamspeak. Pulp Gamer is offering a dialect-training CDs. In the past, I’ve looked longingly at the advanced—and expensive—dialect training courses and coaches Hollywood stars use, but I’ve never been able to justify the expense.

Along comes Pulp Gamer, offering two CDs that cover various British English dialects. The first covers “Cockney and the Queen’s English,” which is just what I need for my surly gnome rogue in World of Warcraft. The second tackles “Irish and Scottish.”

Will these CDs help me attain true verisimilitude? I rather doubt it. The sample, for instance, sounds very good but not perfect.

But hey, I don’t want to spend years mastering a throwaway dialect for my upcoming Victorian countryside survival horror campaign. Instead, I want to sound good enough that I can voice several different characters convincingly enough that my players can distinguish them. If I can coax even a few smiles—or widened eyes—the $13.95 I blow on each CD will be well worth it.

While you’re ordering yours, you might want to subscribe to Pulp Gamer’s very good paper game podcast, too. It’s their main product, really, and well worth your time.

Add comment August 2nd, 2007

Great tabletop RPG setting found online: anime weird-west

I stumbled on an interesting campaign setting in a blog dedicated to gaming in the Philippines. The author, pointyman2000, has three posts (here, here, and here) about an anime-inspired weird west setting.

I’m giving this quick shout out for two reasons. First, the setting is a nifty blend of magic, space opera, and the Western genre with rich anime styling. Pointyman2000 gives enough description of his thoughts that I can really start to imagine running some players through an adventure on one The Fronteir.

Second, I think it’s a great example of how to put together a sketch of a tabletop roleplaying game setting description. It covers the setting at the right level of detail to inspire creative game masters, then offers details on a suggested system (he suggests Hero, but I’ll probably do it with my old favorite, GURPS), along with character creation guidelines and a set of delightful villains.

All around, a well done presentation of a promising campaign world. I may just have to add it to my ever-expanding list of campaigns I want to run.

1 comment August 2nd, 2007

Search for Bourne—Day 14

Here’s a complete spoiler of the answer to the day fourteen puzzle in the Ultimate Search for Bourne.

Our briefing tells us Bourne is lying in the video we captured yesterday and recommends getting in touch with Mustapha Nayet, the video expert, through the instant messenger for ideas on how to deal with lies in audio samples.

It’s been a while, so if you don’t remember, you need to use agent handle Mouslelion and passphrase Vive le maroc in the instant messenger to get in touch with Mustapha. When you do, he’ll tell you: “You’ve got the tools. Search for yourself. These keywords may help: Bourne lie detection Treadstone.”

The trick is to enter the phrase bourne lie detection treadstone into Google Image Search (images.google.com). When you do, you’ll see a picture stored at the Dater Notes site called “How to spot a lie.” (The French “mensonge détection” is there, too, with a miraculously identical coffee mug stain. Spoils suspension of disbelief, but I have to admit I’m impressed that Google Image Search found a relevant non-English version based on the English text entered into the search box. It didn’t find a German version, though. I suspect there’s one out there.)

For once, we don’t have to enter the image into the Decryption tool (which doesn’t work at all for some readers). Instead, we have to follow the final advice from the sheet: “Digital studio analysis can expose a marked increase in transients and visual distortion of the waveform due to stress and the constriction of the larynx under duress. Though the lie may pass aural cues of detection, often the best liars can’t escape waveform analysis.”. The video we found yesterday is in the Media section under Videos and is called “Waveform Video.” I had to click the Video button about three times to get it to show up.

Since Jason Bourne helpfully included a visual waveform readout of his spoken message, all we have to do is watch for those phrases in which the waveform becomes agitated and distorted, as illustrated on the “How to spot a lie” sheet. This happens with the phrase: Stay here.

The answer to today’s puzzle is to type Stay here. in the message transmitter and hit Submit.

Since neither of my camera’s caught a shot of Bourne yesterday, including the one that did catch a sighting the day before that, I’m back to just random guessing. Anyone have a better idea for camera placement?

(Edited to correct a minor error in the answer. Thanks, O Great Commenters!)

12 comments August 2nd, 2007