Playtesters Needed for Motocaust

[philreed]

I expect to have Motocaust ready for playtest in a week (probably Saturday or Sunday) and, at that time, will be looking for people to have fun driving fast cars and shooting it out with zombie bikers.

If you're interested, please get with me. Playtesters will receive a free copy of the PDF version and their name printed inside it and the limited edition print run.

If you're wondering just what this is, you can see the cover at:

http://www.philipjreed.com/PJR/archives/000696.html

[Jason L Blair]

Am I missing something? All I see is a snippet of prose.

[Jonathan Walton]

For some reason, many of the pictures on Phil's site don't show up in certain browsers.  I've looked at his code and can't figure out why exactly, unless it's something in his stylesheet (which I haven't examined in any detail).  I have the same problem and I'm running IE 6.0.2800....etc.

You can see the cover directly at:
http://www.philipjreed.com/images/motocaustcover.jpg

[Matt Machell]

Hey Phil, is it an RPG or wargame? I assume RPG, but you never know...

Nice cover.

-Matt

PS the missing image may be due to using non-xhtml code in an xhtml page

[Jürgen Mayer]

From Phil's site:

It's a stand-alone RPG. New system.

[philreed]

For some reason, many of the pictures on Phil's site don't show up in certain browsers.  I've looked at his code and can't figure out why exactly, unless it's something in his stylesheet (which I haven't examined in any detail).  I have the same problem and I'm running IE 6.0.2800....etc.

You can see the cover directly at:
http://www.philipjreed.com/images/motocaustcover.jpg

I wish I could locate that problem. Some people have it and some don't. My Macs have no problems with images on my site but the Windows machine sometimes shows images and sometimes doesn't.

Any tech experts out there with the skills to fix this problem? I'm sure I could find some way to compensate you for the time.

[philreed]

Hey Phil, is it an RPG or wargame? I assume RPG, but you never know...

Nice cover.

-Matt

PS the missing image may be due to using non-xhtml code in an xhtml page

Thanks. The interior is looking awesome (I'm glad we settled with doing half of the book in color).

What's xhtml? I really know very little about websites.

[Keith Senkowski]

From w3.org:

XHTML is a family of current and future document types and modules that reproduce, subset, and extend HTML 4 [HTML4]. XHTML family document types are XML based, and ultimately are designed to work in conjunction with XML-based user agents. The details of this family and its evolution are discussed in more detail in [XHTMLMOD].

XHTML 1.0 (this specification) is the first document type in the XHTML family. It is a reformulation of the three HTML 4 document types as applications of XML 1.0 [XML]. It is intended to be used as a language for content that is both XML-conforming and, if some simple guidelines are followed, operates in HTML 4 conforming user agents. Developers who migrate their content to XHTML 1.0 will realize the following benefits:

XHTML documents are XML conforming. As such, they are readily viewed, edited, and validated with standard XML tools.

XHTML documents can be written to operate as well or better than they did before in existing HTML 4-conforming user agents as well as in new, XHTML 1.0 conforming user agents.

XHTML documents can utilize applications (e.g. scripts and applets) that rely upon either the HTML Document Object Model or the XML Document Object Model [DOM].

As the XHTML family evolves, documents conforming to XHTML 1.0 will be more likely to interoperate within and among various XHTML environments.

The XHTML family is the next step in the evolution of the Internet. By migrating to XHTML today, content developers can enter the XML world with all of its attendant benefits, while still remaining confident in their content's backward and future compatibility.

Keith

[Matt Machell]

Or to paraphrase: XHTML is picky, where HTML i not.

The img tag has some non-xhtml attributes (align, IIRC) that may be causing IE to play up. Or it may not. Whenever weird oddities turn up on a website, checking it's valid markup (using validator.w3.org) is always a good start to getting it working.

-Matt

EDIT: Damn, this is going off topic. PM me for web related pedantry. ;-)

[Andrew Martin]

Or to paraphrase: XHTML is picky, where HTML i not.

The img tag has some non-xhtml attributes (align, IIRC) that may be causing IE to play up. Or it may not. Whenever weird oddities turn up on a website, checking it's valid markup (using validator.w3.org) is always a good start to getting it working.

The basic problem is that there's HTML tags mixed in the XHTML page. MS IE correctly declares that there's an error in the XHTML. The easy solution is to remove the XHTML specification at the top of the page. The hard solution is to edit the document to make all tags XHTML compatible.

[Keith Senkowski]

Also, if you are using Dreamweaver MX 2004 it has an error check function that finds most if not all of the errors.

Keith

[Tobias]

To make it a bit more explicit:

---------------
In HTML the <img> tag has no end tag.

In XHTML the <img> tag must be properly closed.

The "align", "border", "hspace", and "vspace" attributes of the image element were deprecated in HTML 4.01.

The "align", "border", "hspace", and "vspace" attributes of the image element are not supported in XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD.
------------

In your case, it's the line

<IMG SRC="http://www.philipjreed.com/images/motocaustcover.jpg" ALIGN=RIGHT HSPACE=5>

That's giving you trouble. Replacing it with:



Will give you XHTML-valid code - and it shows up. Bit not prettily. Your best solution might be to work in a table, or whatever else you're comfortable with in your editor.

As to the playtesting: I'm hoping to introduce a group of players to role-playing this weekend as we head out to a belgian castle - but I cannot guarantee that they'll be up for it. I can try pitching it to them.

Playgroup demographic would be one experienced GM (me) and about 4 total n00bs.

[Matt Machell]

Heh, and wouldn't you know it, after all that discussion the problem actually seems to be CSS z-index stacking related. Let's not get more distracted, though.

Anyway. Phil, to get this thread on track, can you tell us more about the system's approach? I can get some playtesters, but it'd depend on the style of game...

-Matt

[Jonathan Walton]

Heh, and wouldn't you know it, after all that discussion the problem actually seems to be CSS z-index stacking related.

I've looked at his code and can't figure out why exactly, unless it's something in his stylesheet...

Ha!  I knew it!

[philreed]

Anyway. Phil, to get this thread on track, can you tell us more about the system's approach? I can get some playtesters, but it'd depend on the style of game...

If I had to sum of the style of the game I'd say . . .

"In the tradition of early 80s RPGs, Motocaust[/i] presents the most basic of information needed to adventure in this zombie-infested wasteland."

While everything is covered (character creation, vehicle creation, playing the game, world overview, creatures, adventure ideas, sample vehicles) it's all presented with the intention that the GM run the game. As an example, equipment descriptions don't get any more involved than:

"IR Goggles: Requires 2 "D" batteries and has a life of 20 hours."

Dice of all shapes and sizes are needed and combat's structured to be roleplayed (no maps for auto combat).

A lot of the game involves style and flash and accomplishing missions assigned to you by your sponsor. It is possible to complete missions using only speed and driving skill -- you don't have to get into combat.

The game's coming together great and I'm fairly certain I'll be ready to send out the playtest copies over the weekend. Due to the way Christopher and I work, the playtest set will have all of the layout and art already in place. And it's looking great.

[/b]