Topic: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Started by: philreed
Started on: 6/19/2004
Board: Connections
On 6/19/2004 at 2:22pm, philreed wrote:
Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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
On 6/21/2004 at 8:04pm, Jason L Blair wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Am I missing something? All I see is a snippet of prose.
On 6/21/2004 at 8:39pm, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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
On 6/21/2004 at 11:02pm, Matt wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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
On 6/21/2004 at 11:06pm, Jürgen Mayer wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
From Phil's site:
It's a stand-alone RPG. New system.
On 6/22/2004 at 8:50pm, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Jonathan Walton wrote: 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.
On 6/22/2004 at 8:53pm, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Matt wrote: 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.
On 6/22/2004 at 9:31pm, Bob Goat wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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
On 6/22/2004 at 9:42pm, Matt wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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. ;-)
On 6/23/2004 at 4:16am, Andrew Martin wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Matt wrote: 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.
On 6/23/2004 at 2:54pm, Bob Goat wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Also, if you are using Dreamweaver MX 2004 it has an error check function that finds most if not all of the errors.
Keith
On 6/23/2004 at 3:26pm, Tobias wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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:
<IMG SRC="http://www.philipjreed.com/images/motocaustcover.jpg" />
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.
On 6/23/2004 at 9:05pm, Matt wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
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
On 6/23/2004 at 9:54pm, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Matt wrote: Heh, and wouldn't you know it, after all that discussion the problem actually seems to be CSS z-index stacking related.
I wrote: I've looked at his code and can't figure out why exactly, unless it's something in his stylesheet...
Ha! I knew it!
On 6/23/2004 at 10:07pm, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Matt wrote: 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 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.
On 6/26/2004 at 10:24am, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
t's gonna be a few more days, folks. I rewrote one section and have to flesh out my outline for the last 25% of the book. Actual writing left to do is only about 5,000 words and that's all detail work.
It is looking really good, though. The decision to go color and B&W is giving us an awesome looking product.
Anyway, back to work.
On 6/27/2004 at 1:08pm, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
I sent out the first 28 pages for playtest and review last night. If you wanted to help look Motocaust over please contact me with your e-mail address.
On 6/28/2004 at 12:48am, smokewolf wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Who done the artwork? I love his style. Might be able to use him for some future Swing projects.
On 6/28/2004 at 1:33am, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
smokewolf wrote: Who done the artwork? I love his style. Might be able to use him for some future Swing projects.
Christopher Shy. I have to warn you, he's extremely expensive.
On 6/28/2004 at 8:46am, Matt wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
Phil, I'd love to help with playtesting. Drop me a mail at matt at realms.co.uk
-Matt
On 7/1/2004 at 6:17pm, smokewolf wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
When and how would you like to receive playtest responces? PM? or to this thread? Do you want them now or will you ask for them at a specific time and date?
Also do you have a particular form you want filled out? or do you just want something personal from us?
Sorry to ask so many questions.
On 7/2/2004 at 10:52am, philreed wrote:
RE: Playtesters Needed for Motocaust
smokewolf wrote: When and how would you like to receive playtest responces? PM? or to this thread? Do you want them now or will you ask for them at a specific time and date?
Also do you have a particular form you want filled out? or do you just want something personal from us?
Sorry to ask so many questions.
E-mail would be best. I've been sent a lot of great feedback over the last week (so much that I'm revising the game quite a bit). I'd love to hear your feedback.
On 7/16/2004 at 5:46pm, philreed wrote:
MotoCaust Available Now!!!!
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2986&
Thank you to all of the playtesters!