Howdy folks,

Well, Jared's old interview that I did for indie rpg day at Mystic Ages is up on the frontpage -- I'd love someone to post some comments about Jared's sordid shower-based lifestyle..

But on to other things,

I've given up on the Wild. Great idea -- but alas, I never could seem to capture what I wanted. Still, I stayed true to the source and wrote what I could. The version four is the more coherent -- it is closer to what I wanted. In fact, there still might be something good there. Let me know what you folks think. The game is SO minimalist -- I didn't know if I was just trying to shoot for some sort of freeform animal game or what. I never did really enjoy the games which are based around writing a paragraph and picking out the traits -- but in many ways, that is what I came up.

The bottom line was -- I was designing a game about heroic animals and rarely, if ever, does an animals strength or speed come in play? Rather, it is their courage, heart, determination, and love that matters. Maybe something similar to Zak's Shadows would have worked?

Anyway, you can download the last three versions if you wish:
the wild

And here is Jared's interview:
www.mysticages.com

Merry Christmas,
Nathan Hill
nathan@mysticages.com

So I have too much time on my hands:

Animals in the City

This is a terrible, rough html file -- but it features the Shadows-esque mechanic now. The reason why I think this works in some ways -- you establish the fact that the animals are always going to succeed. In "Homeward Bound", the younger pup dog sees the porcupine and decides to investigate, hoping to find food (if I remember correctly). The dog would have rolled a high OBSTACLE die -- so another obstacle is added -- "it gets porcupine quills in its face" -- but because of its whimpering, a hunter finds the dog and helps it (getting it closer to his master). It ends up getting food from the hunter!

So that is my thought -- in Babe, we knew the pig was going to get to go to the sheepherding show, but it took one conflict bad (OBSTACLE die). The pig runs away, believing he is only worthy as food (running away and getting sick is his new obstacle). The farmer finds him and realizes how special this pig is. He puts more faith in the pig, nursing him back to health. The pig continues toward his goal. Also, later in the movie, the pig tries to command the sheep, but bam obstacle die -- to command the sheep, he must get the secret password. And so on and so forth...

Am I right? Or am I full of crap?

I like this, but it needs to be refined. And Zak, I apologize for blatantly ripping your butt off. I bow before you. :)

Thanks,
Nathan