Re: (TFT) Yet another computer...

["maou_tsaou1@netzero.net" <maou_tsaou1@netzero.net>]

The FRENCH baby!
Look it up.

That phrase has entered my gaming lexicon in the past few years.

It was a player who hit me with it first.

I'z DEEP into trying to include real world data into my gameworlds at the time, and I had gotten into the habit of telling my players to "Look it up" a lot.

Really, a LOT!

Well Ken sees it coming one day and beats me to the punch.
"The FRENCH baby!"
I blinked at the force of the interruption.
"Look it up."

It got a BIG laugh, and became appended to "look it up" from then on.

Well I asked him about it, long after the fact, and all he could recall of the source was that he'd been watching the Bernie Mac Show that day.
It made sense of the delivery, but there my knowledge stayed till a few minuets ago.
As I sat down to type this, guess what comes on?

The Bernie Mac Show 2004
'The Five Stages of Bryanna'

Wanda;
     "Who eats cake during wartime?"

Bernie;
     "The FRENCH baby!"
... <Wanda gives Bernie a stern look >
     "Look it up."

So I've got the source.
Funny, it's an episode based on the 5 stages of the acceptance of death.
I've got that too.
Based off a Tenacious D bit.

The 5 Stages of the Death of a Gamer

Stage one; Anger

"That @$$4*!# didn't show up again?"

Stage two; Denial

"Yeah, the baby keeps him busy lately, but he'll be back."

Stage three; Door to Door Game Mastering.

"Well of COURSE we'll go play at your house! What could go wrong with a half dozen half drunk nerds throwing dice at each other around the twins?"

Stage four; Temp Job

"Well screw all those guys! Once I finish writing MY game..."

Stage five; Acceptance

"Does ANYBODY wanna use ANY of this stuff?"

Miss ya Ken.




Okay, so in that spirit...



The Expandable Cottage

In one version of the sum of possibilities there sits upon a lonely crest overlooking a broad, lush valley a small and modest looking dwelling.
It's a ramshackle collage of several different building styles, with a number of wings projecting from the main structure in the manner of a popular wilderness lodge.
Indeed, among the valley people's oldest members, there are still a few that provided labours for the third story addition, and even a couple that actually claim to have SEEN the homes occupant.
They tell stories of a tall and distinguished old man, who had been old even in their grandfathers time, occasionally appearing down in the valley, often in noble or mysterious company, and spending large sums of money.
They say that the old man was/is some kind of ship captain, and that their grandfathers told of young valley men who had gone on voyages led by the old man and returned fabulously wealthy.
If they returned at all that is.

But the last claim of a sighting of the old man was well over half a century ago and the few old fools who talk of such things these days also require assistance feeding themselves.
The general opinion of most folk is that a fella the old folks call old has gotta be dead by now.

Still, no one from the valley goes to Heinlein Mountain (Henline Mountain here, data between close realities tends to get garbled 'gossip' style).
Well that's not quite true, adventurous youngsters out for a thrill, or hunters after prey, will pass through the area but nobody hangs around long.
Everyone in the valley has to maintain their homes, shingles blow off, boards rot..., but NOT the old mans home.
The place never changes.

Speculation as to the nature of the maintenance varies widely, "but I'd hear hammers in the dark. What? They don't use nails?" but the overall strange nature of the situation keeps the villagers away, and the mountains keep most of them in the valley, making the little house something of a local "secret".

"Proceed on Oregon 22 to a sign 23 miles east of I-5 identifying the Little North Santiam Road to Elkhorn.
Turn north and after 14 miles begin traveling on a gravel rather than paved surface. (read as the end of road travel for carts and wagons)
Go about another mile to the junction of S-80 and S-81 and keep left on rural Road S-81.
One mile beyond this fork a sign on the rocky slope above the north (left) side of the road identifies the beginning of the trail.
Park here."

"Traverse up the scree for several yards and enter woods.
For the next 1.5 miles the trail switchbacks irregularly up through forrest, and sometimes more open slopes, alternating between the west and east sides of the ridge.You'll have constantly varied scenery and vistas - this is no slog through unchainging forest.
Early on you have views of the Elkhorn valley to the west and beyond to Mary's Peak in the Coast Range.
Come to a steep slope on the east side of the ridge and contour below a rock band.
Drop slightly then begin climbing, switchback and trasverse up to a narrow, open crest of rock rubble.
Climb along the ridge in a few switchbacks then travel along the southwest slope.
At the final switchback a faint path heads left for several yards to a view of some pinnacles.
Follow the main trail a short distance to a crest, turn right and walk to the viewpoint.
The trail to the north at the crest is the abandoned route to the peak of Henline 
Mountain.

It's also the way to the house.

By appearance, the place looks like a mountain lodge, which it kinda is actually.
Owing to the difficulty involved in getting building materiel to remote locations, these places will start as a small log cabin, built from the local timber.
If the place becomes profitable, additions are made.

Cutting the trees both provides material for construction, as well as provides a clearing for the property.
The average separation between trees is about four and a half feet, which is close enough to 4.3 for me to say 1 tree per hex center.
So VERY roughly 80 trees per BattleMap.

But what kind of trees?
Oh yeah, the pacific northwest.
Well, I have some interesting information about the 6 recognized north american Types of  Forests.
I won't bore you with all the types here just now, but if you've got north america down, your doing well for a planet.
North america has about four times the species as europe.
Anyway, I can go with either The West Coast Forrest, or The Mountain Forrest and as I put this on a peek well over 4000 feet up, I'll go with Mountain Forest.

The Mountain Forrest
The mountain forest of the west has less rainfall because moisture from the Pacific is barred by the Cascades and Coast Ranges. Prominent species are ponderosa pine, western white pines, sugar pine, Englemann spruce, and Douglas fir.
(Remember, I can see the coast from here. Plopping a larger Coast tree here are there is appropriate.)

If anyone wants a Tree page on the Wiki or something, then I've got it in spades.
Else if, just some notes and data that could prove useful.

Ponderosa Pine; Desirable lumber (the Lost Forest 9000 acres 40 miles out in the desert) prized for many uses, especially for furniture and millwork, including parts inside homes such as walls, cabinets, window frames, stairs, and doors.
9' d world largest
250' tall world tallest

Sugar and White pine; Goes into the more expensive lumber uses such as window and door frames, pattern stock, cabinet work, and for knotty logs, interior paneling.
Lower grades for boxes and crates.
Sugars are the largest pines in the world, upwards of 200' in height, and the cones, also worlds largest, are edible.
The bark produces a resin when scared that is QUITE sweet and QUITE cathartic.
1pt exp per taste at first encounter until -5exp @ third taste.
Bonus points for entertaining roleplay (+5ish).
Additional penalties for crude or vulgar roleplay.

Fair = 70 to 90 pST per in.
White Pine            25lbs per ft^2
Ponderosa Pine        28


Douglas Fir; Averaging 150 to 200 feet in height, the Douglas Fir is largely considered to be the most important timber tree in the world.
Examples have been authenticated nearing 50 feet in diameter at a height of 4 and a half feet, or practically at hexheight.
(Anything over 30'd (about 600 years old) is uncommon due to periodic fire.)
Can exceed 300' in height, some at less than 20'd.


Strong = 90 to 110 pST per in.
Douglas Fir           34lbs. per ft^2


Spruce is odd stuff.
Think musical instruments and such...


So the first structure on the site, constructed over 550 years, or 27 generations before this description of it, was a typical story-and-a-half log cabin of the period (pioneer like) about twenty by thirty feet in size.
The ground floor was divided with one third as a bedroom for the pater and mater familuas and two thirds as living space with a cooking fireplace of local stone at the end of the room. In the opposite corner was a steep stairway or ladder up to the half-story upstairs, itself divided into two bedroom spaces sharing the chimney wall, and a landing/storage area/ spare room.
This is still typical of most rural housing in the valley to the time I describe this.
Only the four square-hewn logs forming the original half-story remain visible at the bottom 3 feet of the now finished "second story" which was the last addition put on about five generations ago.
This makes The Hall a 20' by 30' space walled in actual logs however.
At  ~9'd, (I'll do a log cabin page if'n anybody cares) each log would take in the neighborhood of  900pts of damage to get in breach range.
The remaining additions are Post and Beam framed additions of equal size to the north, south, and east, with a natural stone and mortar addition of the same dimensions as the rest on the west side of the house, housing the obvious entrance in its south face.

The lumber is fir.
2" (~200dam) by 4" (~400dam or pST) frames, sheeted with a inside/outside layer of quarter inch thick (~25 pST x2) planks.
About 3, 30' logs per tree @ about 9"d = 14 logs per side or about 5 trees each wall.
As this wasn't farmed lumber, but stands, lumber grade timber occurs in densities of about 4 trees per BattleMap.
5 BattleMaps cleared for the walls, with an additional 2 (ish) for the additional structure leaves a clearing of seven BattleMaps, or a Mega-BattleMap.
A clearing roughly 100' by 100' for the original 30' by 20' structure.
The clearing is currently about 50,000 square feet, or 5 times larger, but some of this area extends down the trail and is not symmetrical.
(I'll slap a map on a web page I suppose)

I'll talk more about this type of thing (especially the masonry) in Building.
Think SimCity.

Okay
Design issues here.

I've put the thing in this form after last nights run.
I THINK they've got the idea now (but might come out left handed) but this configuration does two things to give them better clues to what's going on.
First, it ties the entrance to the exit, and second, it presents the structure (sans basement and sub basement) as unfolded.
Seeing the wings laid out like this should give a strong clue, especially coupled with the window views, as to what's going on.


So let's go in.
As mentioned, the front door is (now) situated on the east wing Study on the south faced wall.
This is a masonry wall of the local basalt, dressed as large, rough cut field stone, (from the sub-basement construction). (Rubble Masonry)
The 10 foot tall walls start around 3' thick, tapering off to about 2' thick at the top.
The doorway is framed in 1' by 1' beams (~1200 pST) attached to the walls via 3/4" iron bars.

(Website stuff for joinery info, a picture's worth a thousand words, and an icon is worth a thousand pictures...)
(I'd rather trust someone who ANALIZES metallic structure than the crummy info I've got for Iron so we'll see about its pST. Important for locks and such, i.e. if nobody can break it (no Pomphrey brother in the group) then ya got to pick it...)

The opening itself measures 3 1/2' by 7' and is enclosed by a door of 3" thick, quarter sawn planking, Z-framed in Iron, front and back, joined by what appear to be large bolts or rivets (1/2"d) through the middle of each plank.
The hinges join at the Iron frame as well, and are of a similar size to the bolts.
These are joined to the wall with the same Iron rods used at other points along the frame.
Some sort of metallic flap, (letter slot) is placed at eye level in the door.
Underneath is a shiny brass plaque with the following words etched in a flowery script;

"Enter here as family, friend, or foe and receive my hospitality."

Before I give the 8 rooms here's some stuff on The Arch Mage.

Alexander H. G. Mn'orn is a Mnoren.

What happened to the Mnoren?
Well, PART of the issue boils down to the analogy between a cancer of the cells of a body, and the revolt of the citizens of a country.
Inevitably, they were forced to face the dichotomies within themselves and the war in heaven was joined.
Regardless of ones view of the propaganda surrounding those long distant events, the next step took everybody by surprise.

Regardless of the omnipotent air projected by the first Mnoren to openly declare themselves, the group as a whole proved to be a timid lot, taking few risks and even then quite calculated ones.

For the next concept, see the Prof's remarks about "spiking" the controls in "The Number of the Beast".

So the Mnoren are off actually fighting each other in various storyworlds, vying for what I call "Order or Chaos".

Al and the Mn'orn family work for Order in the continuum, against other Mnoren family's like the N'orn.

So it's like this.

On the Mnoren Scale, these guys are involved in manipulating "cusp events" in the "Timeline".

If the players are involved in a cusp event, their success or failure to complete Death Test for example, then at the Mnoren Scale they get to replay old events.

In "God Kings" for example, the climax event on the Timeline is the building of your first city.
In a game like Civ, that's often in the first turn (20 years I think).
A Mnoren fight might be over weather or not the starting square gets a shield.
Or, more to the point, how something is written.
Think law for fiction.
They seem to be concerned with stuff like LOR currently...

Anyway, seeing as these guys went to i-time the if and when of their return is anybody's guess, but when he WAS hanging around this plane (page < grins >) he used this place much like the Prof's Cabin or the family farmhouse, but with elements of Gay Deceiver thrown in obviously.
Basically a rest and recoup location, ergo the low profile.

So in through the front door drops Figures in the Foyer, a.k.a. Sub-basement.

The room follows the layout for a cabin above, complete with field stone masonry lining the basalt walls.
The players "feel" they've entered from the center of the south wall, placing the entry slightly to the left of the 20' by 20' living area, arranged much like a kind of doctors office waiting room.
I feel obligated to point out immediately that there's no longer a door in the south wall.

"Where's the door?" is usually the first question asked.

I've got to come up with something better than "I don't know" I think.
That one seems to frustrate some players beyond "entertainment".

The stairway leads to (by "guest" rotation) the Hall.

This is the original cabin with the walls removed.
The area around the fireplace (all one chimney, and yes I know...) is arranged like a classic "English" Library, with thickly upholstered wing chairs and leather sofas forming a semi circular area around the fire, complete with a huge bearskin rug.
"Guests" will cause the fire to be lit upon arrival.
Invited "guests" will be offered drinks by the house, via the Armour in this time of no "staff".

The rough-hewn walls are draped in rich tapestries, and a sumptuous suit of full plate armor stands next to the north doorway.

There are standard sized doors in the center of each wall and the narrow downstairs become a narrow spiral upstairs on this level.

The rest of the Hall space is left open.
The Mage used this space for entertainment, dinner parties and dances for a dozen or so guests, or similar gatherings, including his gaming sessions.

The west facing Guest Quarters are partitioned with an entryway and Powder Room to the inside third of the space, and a twenty by twenty bedroom with a picture window offering a view of the Coast Range centered on Mary's Peak across the west valley.

The north facing Dining Room offers a view of the 'Bull of the Woods' area.
The room is dominated by two 4' wide, 20' long tables, and the picture window here is half again as big as the other windows.

The East facing Study looks on Mt. Jefferson and Battle Axe (advent #4).
The northwest corner is lined with book cases, running from the west entrance to the end of the north wall.
A small writing table stands in the middle of the north side of the room.
The other half of the space is occupied with a worktable.
Various tools line the walls between the doors in the south (exit) and west walls.

The Office is a general Mad Scientist set up, with a dozen different strange and archaic projects, ranging from strange electronics to art, in various stages of completion scattered willy-nilly in no apparent order.
(Website pic)
There's even a loop cut for a Telescope through the roof.

The Larder is just that, a simple storage room, though partitioned for dry and cold storage, and even a wine rack, cut into the cold stone of the north wall, as well as some material in bulk.

I'll provide the GDPQ and the magic stuff (windows, chimney, etc.) in the next day or two.

This also requires MUCH more fleshing out.
Not TOO bad for a half-days work though nie?

So the more I think upon it, the more I feel compelled to ask, "Who are the little people?"
Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Little People Who Manage Mans Internal Theater"

He trained his to perform dramatic plays for him that he wrote down as stories.
Look for the story of the Jeckel and Hyde story...

Some cognitists now give the analogy that self-consciousness is something like the mitochondria telling each other the story of Jay.
Or something like that...

Blah

< sings >

Home...
Home again...
I like to be here with my friends...

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