Catalyst Castle

In this edition of Words to Live By, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite scriptures from the Bible dealing with responsibility. So many people in the world seem to shirk responsibilities. People don’t want to accept responsibilities, or they try to pass their responsibilities off on others. This can be seen in the general spirit of apathy present in the world today. Back in the day, long before my time, people in general wouldn’t be content to stand by and watch while other people suffered. Today, most people fail to act when they see others in need.

“Do not hold back good from those to whom it is owing, when it happens to be in the power of your hand to do [it].”

-Proverbs 3:27

The principle that I draw from this scripture is that we should not hesitate to act in someone’s behalf if it’s within our power to help. We shouldn’t be content to just take care of ourselves, but we should feel a sense of responsibility to all those around us.

“Therefore, if one knows how to do what is right and yet does not do it, it is a sin for him.”

-James 4:17

This scripture takes it a step further, saying that failing to do what is right, isn’t just failing to do what is right, but is actually doing something wrong. In other words, lack of positive action isn’t just a lack of action, but can in itself be negative action.

I think it’s very important for each of us to personally shoulder our own responsibilities and to look out for the welfare of others. That’s a principle that I really cherish, and one that has had a profound impact on my life and my outlook. It hasn’t always had the degree of influence on my life that I’d like it to have, but I continue trying to apply it every day.

What do you think about the scriptures mentioned above? Have they had any influence on how you view responsibilities? Are there any scriptures that have especially touched your life?

I saw these videos on YouTube the other day, and thought I would share them. A dice manufacturer at GenCon, the biggest gaming convention in the US, explains how dice are made, along with an interesting scientific explanation of so-called "lucky" and "cursed" dice. Ever wonder why you can only roll 9s and 12s all evening, and then when you pick up a different die to roll with you get a 20? Watch the videos below to find out why. Total running time of videos is about 20 minutes.

I had the pleasure of attending a costume party last Sunday evening. It was put on by Joshua and Hannah Frye. The occasion was that Josh is moving to the Miami area, and he wanted one last party with a bunch of his friends. Josh and I used to be good friends when we were around 10-12 years old. Since then we’d grown apart as our interests changed. I hadn’t done anything with him or his family in years, but it was nice of him to think of me on this occasion, and it was cool to hang out with them again.

So, first, the costumes: I went as some kind of medieval nobleman/warrior. Heather went as a medieval forest-ranger/archer. We didn’t exactly plan it that way, but our costumes matched really well. Hannah was Marie Antoinette. Josh was… something. His costume consisted of all black clothing, a black London Fog-style coat, and spiky, gray hair. When pressed for an answer as to who or what he was supposed to be, he finally answered with “Myself, 2 million years from now, when my powers have fully developed.” The rest of the costumes of the 20-or-so guests covered a wide range of characters including Don Quixote, the Invisible Man, a couple of evil clown minions, and a Zombie Caesar.


The evening was never boring, as the Fryes had 3 activities for us to do. The first activity was a Lego building contest. The party guests split into 2 groups. Each group got a bucket of Legos and 10 minutes to build something. 3 judges compared the creations for creativeness, etc. My team won, though it had little to do with me. ^_^

The second activity was an elaborate treasure hunt, which featured several well-written and well-hidden clues. The Fryes definitely have a knack for theatrics. They placed CD players in trees and on roofs playing creepy music to add mood to the night-time, out-door treasure hunt. Some of the clues were pretty challenging to find and to follow. I was very close to actually finding the treasure, but in the end, someone else beat me to it. The treasure turned out to be a wooden chest full of candy. The victors were kind enough to share. Yum!

The third activity was a costume contest. Everyone had gotten the chance to admire each others’ costumes over the course of the evening, and towards the end we all voted on which one we thought was best. Hannah won for her big, fluffy dress, and her elaborate hairdo. It was really well done. Josh told me afterwards that I was the runner-up.

Somewhere in there, there was another “activity” of sorts. While everyone was just standing around chatting, Josh suddenly put the lights out, there was a scream, and when the lights came back on one of the guests was lying on the floor pretending to be dead. Josh then moved around the room, accusing various people of the murder in an inspector-like fashion, until one of the other guests finally admitted to the murder in a dramatic/comical way. I’m not sure if all of this was staged ahead of time (the “culprit” was in on it), or if the idea was to just toss accusations around until someone came up with a funny improv confession. I really don’t know. I should probably ask. But as I write this it gives me the idea to write some simple rules for playing out such a scenario as a rules-light role-playing game. Hmm… Interesting possibilities.

Well, that’s that. It was a fun evening. I hope everything goes well for Josh in Miami, and hopefully I’ll have even more chances to cosplay in the future.

It’s been a while ago now, but I wanted to share some quick thoughts about my most recent trip to Keystone Heights, Florida. On November 8th, I went with about 20 brothers and sisters to help the congregation there cover some of their seldom-worked territory in the recent tract campaign.

Aaron and I worked with Dena O’Brian and a couple of other local sisters in rugged, rural territory. The roads were crazy! We actually had to go up and down hills in Florida! Some of the roads were only made of very loose sand, so Dena had to kick in the 4-wheel drive to get through. When the SUV started fishtailing in the sand it felt like the “Dinosaur” ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It was fun. I didn’t have much success in the territory (I got to speak to a couple of Russellites, which was interesting but unproductive.), but Aaron had a good call on a man with whom he placed a tract, magazines, and a Bible Teach book.

Around noon time, the whole group met back at the O’Brians’ place and had a picknick lunch together. While the rest of the group began the 2-hour drive back to Lake Mary, Aaron and I continued in service for another few hours and then spent the night at Brian and Dena’s place. After attending their meeting the next day and going out for lunch, we headed back home. All-in-all, it was a good weekend.

I read a new manga the other day called Yotsuba&! It's a heartwarming comedy about the day-to-day adventures of a little girl named Yotsuba, as she makes friends with her neighbors, and experiences the world around her. This story comes from Kiyohiko Azuma, the creator of Azumanga Daioh. It isn't as laugh-out-load hilarious, but it has a slightly more endearing touch, and very kid friendly humor.

Yotsuba is a very lovable character. She's very zany, and absurdly naive. A swing is a foreign object to her, and she is quickly confused by an explanation of air conditioners and their impact on global warming. What's adorable is how much joy she finds in the simplest things, like rain.

It’s like her dad says about her: "She can find happiness in everything. Nothing in this world can get her down. Nothing."

Exploring the world through the eyes of such a positive character makes for an uplifting read.

Having played various role-playing games with a variety of people over the years, it’s obvious that not everyone has the same tastes and preferences when it comes to gaming. Most people seem to be looking for specific things when it comes to role-playing, rather they realize it or not. This can create tension or dissatisfaction when different people in the same role-playing group have different ideas of what constitutes fun. I’m writing this article (and one or more follow-up articles) with the purpose of exploring why we play role-playing games. I’m hoping that it will draw out some critical thinking and self reflection from my fellow role-players. By better understanding what we ourselves, and our friends, enjoy about role-playing, maybe we can build a better role-playing group in which all of us can get more enjoyment out of our games.

The first place I looked to for ideas on what to write in this article, is a web community called The Forge. On the forums there, a bunch of avid role-players and role-playing game designers really break down role-playing and make a science of the hobby. I’m not sure that such an analytical approach to role-playing is necessary, or even healthy, but some of their theories have a bearing on what I’m doing here.

In an article on The Forge, entitled “GNS and Other Matters of Role-playing Theory”, RPG designer Ron Edwards discusses, among other things, player agendas in role-playing. The article is very wordy, and features a near-doctorate level vocabulary, but if you have the patience to read the whole thing, I would recommend it. I’ll summarize some of the applicable points here.

Ron Edwards discusses something he calls GNS, which stands for Gamism, Narrativism, and Simulationism. Each of these is a term that refers to a specific mode of play which a particular player may especially enjoy. Saying that a particular player is “Gamist”, for example, just means that they typically enjoy playing in a way that involves Gamism. None of these modes of play is superior to any other, neither are they mutually exclusive. A player might enjoy a mix of play modes, but they will usually gravitate towards one over any other.

Now for an explanation of what these modes of play are:

Narrativism is expressed by the creation, via role-playing, of a story with a recognizable theme. The characters are formal protagonists in the classic Lit 101 sense, and the players are often considered co-authors. The characters, system, setting, situation, and flavor of the game provide the material for narrative conflict (again, in the specialized sense of literary analysis).

Some examples of Narrativist play might include:
Exploring the ethical ramifications of your character’s actions.
Cooperating with the other players to produce a story with real dramatic impact.

Simulationism heightens and focuses “exploration” (imagination in action, or the attention given the imagined elements) as the priority of play. The players may be greatly concerned with the internal logic and experiential consistency of their exploration of the characters, system, setting, situation, and flavor of the game.

Some examples of Simulationist play might include:
Exploring questions pertinent to the game itself, such as “What does it feel like to be an android?”, “What would it be like to fight in a war?”, “What are the nobility of this kingdom like, and how do they influence the fate of the world?”, etc.

Note that two or three of these modes of play may overlap in a particular instance of play. For example, beating the bad guys is obviously a Gamist agenda, but the act or methods of doing so may also move the plot forward in a meaningful way (Narrativism), or shed some new light on the game world (Simulationism).

Remember that, as I’ve pointed out before, these modes of play are also not mutually exclusive. Just because you enjoy beating the bad guys doesn’t mean that you aren’t interested in the story, or in exploring the game world. And just because you’re after a good story doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy besting a rival or an enemy.

Myself, I think I enjoy a variety of modes of play, but I seem to tend to gravitate towards Simulationism. I like to have a rules-system with enough detail to support my character concept in a way that makes them distinct, and outlines their specific quirks and abilities. I also like to really get inside my character’s skin and try to explore both him and his surroundings. As a GM, I love tinkering with the rules and preparing game sessions that will introduce the players to interesting aspects of the game’s setting.

So, please participate by giving this article a careful reading and giving me some feedback on it. What do you think of the GNS model? What do you think of the different modes of play? Is there one that you think you primarily enjoy? Any that you don’t particularly care for? Let me know!

If you look closely, you'll notice I'm running a poll on my blog. It appears at the bottom of the lower sidebar on the right hand side of this page. The poll is about your favorite Star Wars universe era. You can find an explanation of these eras here. The poll will run until the end of the month. This is mostly just to test out the poll feature of this site, but I would also appreciate your feedback.

I know I've mentioned it before, but I have to say again how much I like the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon. It truly revitalizes the Star Wars universe for me. Last weeks episode, "The Downfall of a Droid", is an excellent example of how it does this.

Upbeat techno music is scattered throughout the soundtrack for the episode, giving it a fresh and exciting feel, instead of the dramatic orchestral arrangements of the movies. The battle that Anakin and Ahsoka fight against the IG assassin droids in a narrow ship's hold is both creative and visually dynamic.

Now, don't misunderstand me here. I love the Star Wars movies, especially the original trilogy. However, with all of the expanded universe content that's been produced in the form of books, video games, etc., I feel like Star Wars is getting worn thin. Some EU content manages to capture the charm of the original movies, such as the Thrawn book trilogy. Others try to freshen things up, but in ways that aren't to my taste. The New Jedi Order book series falls into that category. The Clone Wars cartoon, on the other hand, offers a new take on Star Wars without compromising the classic Star Wars style.

You can see 2 minute "dataclip" recaps of all of the cartoon episodes, and full videos of the last couple of episodes at the official website.

Have you seen The Clone Wars cartoon? What do you think of it? How does it compare to the movies and to other EU material?

I've been working some more on reorganizing my room. It's proven to be quite an undertaking, but I'm making definite progress. Yesterday, I pulled out all of my artwork that I've saved over the years, which is a lot, and undertook the task of organizing it. I got some 3 ring binders and sorted my art by genre.

As I did this, it occurred to me that if I ever wanted to share my art with a friend or acquaintance, I don't want them to have to look through a half dozen binders, and hundreds of crappy pictures, just to see a few good ones. The first solution that came to mind was to go through my collection and pick out a few of my better pieces and put them in a separate binder to create a sort of portfolio. Ultimately, though, that would be unsatisfactory. If at some point I get the urge to skim through all of my sci-fi artwork, for example, I'd like to be able to just flip through one binder. If I had some of my sci-fi art in my portfolio binder, though, then I'd have to consult that as well.

Then I thought I could make copies of the pieces I would want to include in a portfolio, that way I could keep the original papers in the appropriate binders. While I'm at it, I might as well do some digital touch ups, and maybe even some digital coloring of my favorite pieces. But Aaron pointed out that people might enjoy seeing the original hand-drawings rather than digitally enhanced versions. That gave me the idea to give each piece in my portfolio 2 pages. 1 page would be the final, digitally enhanced image, and the other page would feature 2 or 3 smaller images of the picture in various stages along with production notes. The final element that made the whole idea come together was when it occured to me that, rather than just putting this all in a binder to share with my friends, I could print it as an art book through Lulu.com, or a similiar print-on-demand service.

What do you think? Would you be interested in seeing a book collecting some of my art with production notes, etc.? Do you have any ideas or suggestions for how I might go about this project?

This post is prompted by a news article I read here. It announced that Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander, two of the original writers and executive producers of Heroes, are no longer working on the show. Apparently they were bumped because the show's ratings are continually dropping off. The article went on to relate the writer's opinion of why the show is failing.

I'm not sure I agree with all of the observations made in the article, but I will say that I have been somewhat dissatisfied with the show since the end of season 1. I'll cut them some slack because season 2 was cut short, and season 3 seems to have some good things going for it. I just thought I would share a few thoughts on what I think Heroes is doing well, and where I think they've made some mistakes.

I think that, for the most part, season 3 is on the right track. Arthur Petrelli makes a compelling new villian, and the whole family in-fighting aspect of the story is interresting. It looks like that will take off even further in next week's episode. I like what they've done with Sylar so far this season. Making Sylar a Petrelli was unexpected, but probably a good move. It makes him a lot more involved in the intricacies of the plot, and they've developed his character in unexpected ways.

The article mentioned above complains about how they've added so many new characters throughout seasons 2 and 3. I don't mind the new characters, but honestly I'd rather see more of the old characters who have sort of dissipeared from the show. I'd like to see more of the Haitian, Micah, and even Molly. What ever happened to Claude Rains?

Another thing that the article complained about was the way the show has moved away from it's "ordinary people with extraordinary abilities" origins, and has become more like the X-Men without leather jumpsuits. I think that's just a natural evolution of the show. As the characters become more accustomed to their powers, they're going to continue to be less and less "normal". I'm not sure that's a bad thing, but it certainly does change the tone of the story.

I think my biggest complaint against Heroes would be the somewhat hit-and-miss writing as of late. It seems that sometimes the writers just simply forget about what's come before. An outstanding example of this is Caitlin. After the plague of season 2 has been adverted, Peter never even attempts to travel to the future to bring her back. Did he really just forget about her that easily? Obviously the writers did. Less obvious examples are future-Peter being killed by a bullet in one episode when he should be invulnerable to that kind of thing, and Sylar missing a very opportune time to use his super-hearing.

I hope the show picks up the slack and continues to run strong for at least a couple more years, but I'm a little uncertain about it right now.

What do you think? How is Heroes doing? What's the good and the bad in your opinion?

Normally I would be making another post about my weekly time log for last week. However, it seems that my activities have pretty much stabilized. Over the last month I've drastically improved my study habits and field service so that theocratic activities are solidly in third place, right under sleep and work, which is right where they need to be. I've adjusted my other activities to accommodate a better spiritual routine, and now I'm just trying to maintain that.

This week I plan to introduce a new activity to my weekly routine. That will be language study. I want to start learning Japanese again. Also, I'll probably be doing more writing now that things are beginning to slow down around here.

Other than that, I don't see my activities changing much, so while I'll still be logging my time, I probably won't be posting updates of those activities on my blog. I might post a summary once a month, like I did here, but not every week.