Quit Destroying the World

Recently the persistent world I play on has seen the return of an old DM. Many As One (MaO) was a popular DM with some players. Now he’s back and I have mixed feelings. Like all DMs on FRC he has strong and weak points. If there’s one thing you can count on when MaO runs a plot, it’s that failure to stop the bad guy will result in the end of the world as we know it.

To be completely fair, he’s not the only one. Several other DMs are firmly in the epic end of the world plot corner. “Why is this a problem anyway?” you may ask. Who doesn’t like a nice high stakes adventure? It gets the blood pumping, right?

Well… not after the fourth time in a row, no it doesn’t. For several reasons.

First, it overshadows every other DM plot that doesn’t involve the end of the world/galaxy/universe/plane of existence as we know it. I have personal experience with this. I came up with a plot in which political intrigue played a big role. The plot didn’t involve the end of the world, just some minor but important local changes. The plot was dropped and/or put on permanent hold because….

A VAST ARMY OF DEMONS AND ORCS WERE INVADING WITH THE GOAL OF DESTROYING THE WORLD!!

Suddenly, a minor political intrigue centered around one small country wasn’t all that important, and players blew off the plot to join this other one. The main features of the world ending plot were wave after wave of monsters, treasure, magic items, and wave after wave of monsters. Note that this was not one of MaO’s plots.

Second, if the PCs fail, someone else (an NPC) will have to step in and save the world, because you can’t really let the universe be destroyed. Nor can you allow the kind of sweeping changes that failure might entail even if the world doesn’t explode. Guess what? The players know this, too.

Third, if you save the universe and all you get is a lousy T-shirt, there’s a big let down. Seriously, if the PCs win and save the universe, what reward can you give that fits what they did and still allows them to play? They just saved the freaking universe and you’re giving them a magic cloak? Really? No kingdom of their own? No entire planet or demi-plane full of nubile, grateful, semi-clad and horny members of the appropriate gender? No elevation to demi-god status complete with worshippers and temple bureaucracy in place? Dude… they saved the world/universe/plane of existence/whatever.

Fourth, during these plots, the local starting village is usually overrun by units of the mad halfling’s evil teddy bear/vampire army. Now, characters can’t go there and adventure, and nowhere else has areas appropriate to their level. Not everyone will have the opportunity to get involved in these plots, especially lower level characters, but they have to deal with the bad side of it. In three of four world ending plots I can think of off the top of my head (which actually occurred in this world) the starting area was overrun by the bad guys and effectively became off limits to certain PCs who were in no way involved in the plot.

What’s the lesson here? Quit trying to end the world! Your plots can be interesting and draw in players without threatening everything they know and love. In fact, you should probably not do them at all unless you involve the whole DM team. We’ve had no less than four major, server wide, world ending plots in a row on FRC and I’ve heard PCs literally yawn and say “Again?” when a major bad guy surfaces and threatens to destroy the world. There’s a major loss of suspension of disbelief.

My advice? Find a way to scale it down. If you want to challenge a group of adventurers, have another group move in and start supplanting them, for example. Have a small local bad guy do something a group can oppose. Alternatively, have a small group of good guys move in and start to make things difficult for the local Team Evil.

You can keep it small scale and still keep it interesting. Just make sure something is at stake that a particular group of player characters value.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!!!

A very happy birthday to the love of my life.

I know I’m not good at doing birthday stuff, but I love you and hope you have a very happy birthday.

~ Atlas of Calendria for the Year 2010 ~

~ Atlas of Calendria for the Year 2010 ~.

An extremely cool site for those of you who like maps or calendars. A very unique and original idea.

Tired? Yes. Cranky? Yes. Why? 4 a.m. game session.

Playing Neverwinter Nights (the original, better version) on the FRC PW. I’m the head of a player guild and we have some Australian members who never get to join in our semi-regular get togethers in game. So, this time I scheduled it for 4 a.m., which turns out to be a normal time for them. Anyway, I finished my Friday night gaming session around midnight, and had to get up for the 4 a.m. session, which I would never have done without the sadistic very helpful aid of my wife, who made sure I got up in time to get a cup of coffee and log on.

I think I’m still getting over that. It’s not like when I was a kid and staying up all night didn’t affect me at all. I suppose it wasn’t so bad then because I could always just sleep in, whereas these days I never get to sleep in. Ever. No really, never ever do I get to sleep in. Weekdays, weekends, no difference.

It was an interesting experience, but I doubt I’ll be doing it for a while.

Too Big To Fail?

Too Big To Fail.

I’ve heard this phrase a few times, referring to some banks and auto-makers and I thought it was something of an indicator of a way of thinking. A collectivist, statist mode of thought where organizations are more important than individuals (pretty much the definition of collectivism, anyway).

In my perfect world, no company is too big to fail. No “industry” is too big to fail. Why? Because of a simple law. This is not a law made by governments, because if they had their way, I think they would want to repeal it. The law I’m referring to is, of course, the Law of Supply and Demand. As long as there is a demand, someone will supply it.

Example: A major car maker goes out of business. Almost happened, but government intervention prevented it by making all of the rest of us pay them. Why are they going out of business? They can’t compete. Someone else makes it better, faster, cheaper, with better quality. Or, they are bad managers. They use all their profits to line their pockets with golden parachutes and sweet bonuses even when the company is doing badly. Really, it doesn’t matter. The point is, they should be allowed to go out of business.

Will the demand for cars suddenly drop now that our hypothetical car company goes out of business? No. People will still want cars, and the same number of people will want cars. The demand won’t drop, because there’s no reason for it to drop. So, now you have the same demand, but the supply dropped significantly. What will happen?

Prices will go up? Possibly.

Production by remaining car-makers will go up? Probably. They want a some of that stranded demand.

Ex-employees of the defunct car-maker will start up their own companies? Probably. I think it’s entirely reasonable to think some of these smart engineers and managers will start their own companies and make cars they always wanted to make but couldn’t.

Ex-employees will be hired by the remaining companies to help meet the demand? Probably.

So, what’s happened when we let the company fail? Some people are out of work. Well, 10% of Americans are already out of work. New companies start up, requiring workers. Other car-makers increase production, requiring workers. If I seem callous about job losses, I’m not. I’ve been laid off more than once, so I know what it’s like. I thought it was the end of the world, but it wasn’t. Sometimes I did better than I did before, other times I did worse.

My point is, it won’t be the end of the world. People will still make cars. People will still buy houses. People will still want all the things they’ve always wanted. The difference will be that the ones providing them are now the ones who can deliver better, cheaper, faster, or with higher quality.

Is that so bad?

It’s over

We got the phone call over dinner that Tiberius is dead. He was doing alright earlier in the afternoon, but died in between their visits.

Please Don’t Leave

I felt a warm gentle fire once.
At first a small warm spot
It spread to cover me with love
Gave me a capacity I didn’t know of.

You moved around hesitantly, little paw
feeling ahead over any gap.
Not quite seeing what was in front of you.
Your eyes were broken but we loved you so very much
We laughed at your little paw feling ahead of you
Not cruel laughter, it was the laughter of love
How much we loved you, doing your silly little things.

Now you’re sick, lying down, trying to breathe
You don’t understand, you just miss your mother’s touch
You miss snuggling with your sister. Now you think
about a far land where you were once happy.

She comes to see you every day. Warm, soft hands
show how much you are loved. I hope this is what you
think about. We miss you so much, lying alone
with no one you know around you. My heart breaks for my little one.

It was you, little one, your warmth
You who expanded my capacity for love
That irrational math that fills a space even as you pour it out and empty it.

Please, little one. Please don’t leave.
I know this life is painful, but I love you
and I’m so very selfish
Please come and sit on my lap again.
Purr and make me warm and calm.
I’ll love you back, I promise. Just like
I did when you were here before.

Hopes Dashed

Hopes dashed. I went to the vet to pick up Tiberius and she brought me in to an exam room to talk about his case. Last night and into today he’s been developing something called FIP. It stands for Feline Infectious Peritonitis, and turns out it is even deadlier than Feline Distemper. He’s going to stay in the hospital over the weekend, and we’ll have the results of blood tests. But, he may not survive until Monday. I was forlorn when I heard this. I went home quickly to give Anne some time to visit.

They close at noon today because of the New Year holiday. I stayed home and tried to keep my mind on other things. I finally broke down and cried when Anne got home. I was so distraught. They will give us daily calls on this status. Anne said he was doing worst now. She gave him one chance in a hundred. We’re now not even sure he’ll make it until Monday. I went back to work but I’m not really able to do anything constructive. I don’t know what to write about now, either.

For now we wait and hope some more.

Good news!!

The last day of the year is today and our good news is that Tiberius can come home today. It’s been a long and tiring road from the emergency animal hospital to here and now. I just got off the phone to our vet’s office and they said he was being cleaned up to go home.

We kept Tiberius at the emergency hospital over the holiday weekend. I told them I wanted to move forward with treating him because even though he was in grave condition and it looked like he wouldn’t survive, I thought he deserved the chance. The hospital began treating him (grudgingly in my opinion). Over the course of that weekend, Anne went to visit him very night. I think her visits had a very positive effect on him.

By Monday morning, he was still alive and I had to pick him up and transfer him to another vet for regular care. The hospital is only for off hours and holidays and weekends. I picked him up and took him over to the Park Mall Animal Clinic. When I was checking Tiberius out I mentioned I was going to take him to the Park Mall Clinic or to Hank’s Animal Hospital. The lady at the desk said that they often sent transfers over to Park Mall, so that’s where I told them to fax the records.

I drove Tiberius to the Park Mall clinic and asked if they accepted CareCredit. The receptionist told me they only took cash or checks, so I had to take Tiberius home to get the checkbook. While I was there, I called Hanks Animal Hospital and found out they took CareCredit. I went back to Park Mall and got my paperwork with apologies and took him right over to Hanks. While he was home briefly, Morgan (of course) opened the carrier and I was really surprised to see Tiberius just walk out on his own. This was when I started to have real hope that he might recover.

Trip to the Emergency Animal Clinic

I guess it wouldn’t be the holidays without an emergency visit to the vet. Tiberius is pretty sick and rather than wait until Monday, I had to take him in to the emergency clinic today.

… Just saw the vet and it’s bad. Tiberius is dying and we have to see how bad he is and whether he has any chance. I’m not going to just abandon him, even though the vet things it’s a hopeless case and we should euthanize him now. They’re going to do some lab tests and then we’ll see where we are.

… Lab tests confirm he has Feline Distemper. We’re going to give him treatment. That means supporting him while he fights off the virus and trying to make sure he doesn’t get something else, because that is what usually kills cats with Distemper, the secondary diseases they can get when their immune system is knocked out.

I wasn’t happy with the attitude of the vets. It seemed like they were just going to give up on him, and were hinting that he needed to be put down even before they ran bloodwork. The technicians were much more compassionate. But i suppose that’s the usual way of things. Nurses are usually more empathetic than doctors, in my experience.