That thread about me recently

[JonSetanta]

I'm not used to such attention. Just wanted to let that out.

I did 'drama' in high school, some plays, little shows here n there with independant groups during college, music routines, etc... but nothing like this.

This is literary critique, man; your soul is in a blender. I try to take it casually but cmon... my very best fluff is 'out there' and although Frank did mention some about the non-game mechanics, I wish more peope would comment on my non-game rules writing than just calling it "stupid".
There's more to D&D than numbers.

In my family, anyone that does anything supremely original and 'out there' is shot down with criticism.... The bad kind.
Constantly.
So in my mind there's a constant self-limiter, preventing anything 'outlandish' from ever showing, lest I get nagged about 'Do you ever stop and think of the consequences?' or 'Don't be such a god damned smartass' and 'Get off your high horse'.
That's in my head at all times. Nothing I do is without premeditation. I take few risks.
I fail academically most of my life in some areas, excell in others; evens out to a mediocre average.
I seek to vanish, to avoid crowds, yet people always notice me. They say I'm exotic, and unique, which isn't a good thing when trying to go unnoticed in public or in a classroom.

I answered a question during a presentation for hospital volunteers, of which I am one, and all the girls turn slowly to see who or what just spoke. The whole fucking room.
My hairs raise but I don't feel embarassed. Just.. uh.. what's the word... fear.

And this, the exposure of recent written work to direct professional attention, is big and new to me.

[MrWaeseL]

You are really digging your own grave with this post. Pity is not something you should strive for. Have some pride, man.

[shirak]

Dude,

If you want to suck, suck royally. If you have to do something, do it with style.

Frankly, I didn't much like your fluff. Then again, I dislike Fey in general and feel D&D would be better without them. But, you know what? You don't have to listen to my opinion on your fluff. This is your own work, you chose to share it, if I don't like it I can damn well shut up and not use it. Never let the opinions of others rule your life man. It's your fucking life.

[Bigode]

Waesel and shirak have it. Also:

- being craptastic in some areas, and excelling in others is not average; I'm used to seeing people being craptastic in everything; besides, do you think Einstein knew half a thing about, say, anthropology? Probably not, he awesome at something, and a total failure at a lot of others, for the sum total of somebody that was anything mediocre. What I mean is: everyone who wants to actually be good at something has to drop something else behind anyway;

- after all, you wanna excel, and I suppose one of the things you wanna excel in is RPG writing, right? Well, you're in a place that gathers experts (including professional authors) - that's about the best opportunity you'd have. That's why I stick around, even without sharing the personal gaming tastes that are most common here; to give an example, even though I could've played with Tome material, Frank looked at my material and gave me insightful feedback that I'll take into consideration for the things I make. And he did the same for you, so, get used to attention here, as it'll only be for the best;

- as for other people's attention, tell them to suck it as many times as needed; of course you're an exotic beast - you seem to have a brain!

So, fey aren't my biggest interests, but I'm dearly interested in attempts to make monstrous cultures unique and believable (one of the major reasons why I recommend reading the Tomes to everyone, even knowing most of the guys I play with don't share the power level assumptions too; also, I point Frank's Culture Focus series - linked just the last one; search "culture focus", only by the titles, to find all others if you're interested too), so I'll try to get around to making fun of you too soon.


shirak: then you could've sucked it up and not mentioned the cleric in my gish thread. Namely, of course I knew it existed (and didn't like it); no offense taken, OTOH.

[Crissa]

It happens, man. Don't sweat it.

Do you think I'd be here if I shirked any time I brought an idea to Frank and he called it 'bad'?

-Crissa

[shirak]

Bigode: If I were an Indian, my totem would be Coyote. i can't help but needle others. So, yeah, I knew you knew Clerics existed, I was pretty sure that was not what you meant but posting that was fun. Pretty silly of me, i agree, but we all have our faults, neh?

Sigma: Here's what i want you to do. Go see a shonen anime. Any one will do. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, hells even not-so-good ol' Dragonball will do. If several hours of seeing people chase their dream and not give up can't fix you up, I don't know what will.

[MrWaeseL]

Sigma: Here's what i want you to do. Go see a shonen anime. Any one will do. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, hells even not-so-good ol' Dragonball will do. If several hours of seeing people chase their dream and not give up can't fix you up, I don't know what will.

The cure for social anxiety is watching anime?

Sigma, get out of your house and interact with strangers to build confidence.

[JonSetanta]

EDIT: personal info removed

[shirak]

1186499163[/unixtime]]shirak, mine's a Crow. And I do read (fansubbed) "japanese comics" like OnePiece, Naruto, Bastrd!! etc (no Bleach, thankz) and yes they do have abundance of confidence for every main character, but that's comics. I'm human, we're human (I think) and life has ups n downs. Can't emulate a fictional character entirely; that leads to the Bad Kind of Nerd-dom, the Anime CosPlayers. *shiver*

Now, that is the root of your problem. if you find any excuse not to go ahead and chase your dream, you won't ever chase them. Remember, the fight between Takame no Mihawk and Roronoa Zoro? "That is called losing" as the guy said. Don't do that. Turn around, look the enemy in the eye and take all he has to offer. Then rise up and keep going!

It's tough, I know. But if Ikki Tousen has taught us anything, it's that if you're stupid enough you can do anything.


Weasel: Yup. Worked for me!

[JonSetanta]

EDIT: personal info removed. Note that sustained heavy painkillers after surgery may cause altered mind-states.

[Cielingcat]

That, is why you fail.

[JonSetanta]

Fuck that gnome... he could have grappled Dooku with telekinesis but used his saber instead.
That's unwise.
Therefore, his advice, or perhaps Dagoba-snake-stew induced rantings, invalid.


EDIT: Oh, and I'm done posting this thread. Got my thoughts out in public, that's all I wanted to share. Now yall know something about me, enjoy.
Right now I'm reading Tome of Fiends as my side hurts (right below large intestine, right side, where sutures still bind) and can't sleep, but luckily I have some ideas; True Fey, Sprite 3 levels, Noble PrC-type (clan specific), Elf and Goblinoid racial feats (very few)...

[Count Arioch the 28th]

I have a criticism. Your posts are too long, for the most part.

If you can't wrap up your thoughts in a three or four sentence paragraph, then it isn't concise enough.

[Cielingcat]

tl;dr

[MrWaeseL]

1186607384[/unixtime]]I have a criticism. Your posts are too long, for the most part.

If you can't wrap up your thoughts in a three or four sentence paragraph, then it isn't concise enough.

Cut him a break, he just had a complete meltdown

[JonSetanta]

Cielingcat: ts;gb

Too Short; Got Bored

I read abnormally fast so an essay-post is nothing to me. Well not nothing, but more like a magazine column. A quick tidbit.
Maybe that's why I sometimes disregard post length, for better or for worse
I'll take that advice, Count. Thanks

Maybe the Waesel has it correct, I dunno. Not complete, although there are plenty crazy people that collect the mental coherence to spam forums repeatedly, I don't consider myself one of them.
Up at night every hour or two, groggy in the day, meds do stupid things. I'm backing off the Tylenol now that I can, which seems to allow me at least some modicum of controling my sleep cycle...

Bigode recommended to write while awake, and I'll stick to that. Might limit ease of gathering creative ideas and slow down the speed at which I can produce game material (since I'm half asleep writing at night anyways) but hopefully it will increase in quality? haha

[Fuzzy_logic]

Dude, Sigma, I sympathize -- I have to take two drafts of my posts now because they were always too long-winded. But this isn't about reading speed.

I rea,d unless the material is complex enough to slow me down, mroe than 100 pages an hour. I say this not because it's remarkable but because it's not. Not here, anyway. Yes, that's faster than a lot of people, but here at the Gaming Den, I suspect that most of us are quick readers.

Here's the thing: no matter how fast we read, a post that's twice as long as it should be takes twice as long to read as it needs to. And that's just not cool.

[Rob_Knotts]

sigma, one thing you need to understand is that negative criticism and hostility are not unusual responses on gaming boards, it's pretty much the default situation. Many, many, many gamers have a natural contempt for any new idea that isn't thier own. I'd like to think the 'Den is different, but I haven't been around here long enough to be convinced of that, and I've seen enough shallow negativity on related boards to make me worry about this one.

Second, there were two things in your post about fey that undermined reader's opinions. First, you dared people to attack you for your ideas. Second, your attitude in presenting new fey material was that you created it because you wanted to see fey done RIGHT(tm):

What's my main inspiration, some wonder? The driving insanity?
Brian Froud.
And the fact that WOTC yet still shafts us on Fey to this very day.

This was neither self-effacement, nor some sort of thematic high-ground, it was outright hubris. You were literally asking for negative responses, and encouraging contempt by claiming your approach was obviously superior to what's been generally accepted.

We all want to see you keep posting new material, but from now on try saying this out loud before hitting "submit":

This is my idea.
This is why I came up with it.
What do you think?

And after that, if you think that there's any histrionics or opinion commentary that doesn't seem to make your post more convincing, you're right - you don't need it, leave it out, it'll only get in the way

[JonSetanta]

Fuzzy_Logic: Yep it's difficult anticipating what's read on the other end. A practice in 'theory of mind'!

Rob_Knotts: ... huh? Dared to attack? Or an attempt at heartfelt dialogue, as opposed to stodgy formalities.
I'm working on new material bit by bit, taking more time now and to have quality improve for the next mass-posting, but it's not responses that I ever fear. It's lack of responses.
Frank's initiative in setting up a whole thread for critiqueing (a day before I was going to set up a thread on the same subject) caught me off guard; it's not the content of the suggestions that threw me off balance as much as the timing and fact that I even got attention. That's what I love about TGD; everyone here is an individual, rather than a random poster out of thousands.
Replies have been far less negative and much more to-the-point so much so that I've been able to understand and put to use (or reconsider and opt not) nearly all comments on my project. That doesn't happen often.
Other than that I have trouble understanding what you imply, but that's OK since I get the general idea, and must disagree as stated above.