Jonathan Drain

Team Fortress stats

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:18:31 GMT

Fun things in this week's Team Fortress 2 stats:

Everyone's playing pyro. By that, I mean about 20%. Interestingly, 16% are playing Engineer, perhaps because all those pyros are making it harder to play Spy.

Heavy outweighs pyro on average kills. Odds are they're simply out-ranging the pyros, but it doesn't help that nobody bothers to heal pyros.

The flare gun is really rubbish. It looks to deal as much damage as the flamethrower, but with a lengthy reload time. It's good for getting the achievement that requires you to hit a hundred people with the flare gun.

Everyone is still playing 2fort. On average, over one year and nine months of 2fort are played every week, or the entire duration of World War II every month.

While Badlands and Granary are the most balanced, Goldrush is heavily weighted in favour of the red team.

Achievements: 58% of players have the "Hard to Kill" achievement, and just under a quarter have played enough to get Hardcore (1,000 kills). The medic achievements are the hardest to get, or perhaps just the least popular: four are actually less common than "With Friends Like these..." (4.5%). Only one player in five has "Surgical Prep", an achievement which requires you to hold the button down for one minute at the start.

They've made a few of the medic achievements easier to get, now. Chief of Staff requires only one million heal points, not ten million, and Medical Breakthrough only requires you to destroy five buildings with one ubered Demoman (two sentries, two dispensers and a teleporter exit).

Markdown sucks

Sat, 03 May 2008 06:20:11 GMT

Markdown interprets all text between two underscores as italic. This would be fine if nobody needed to use underscores. In other words, this:

Popular Apache modules include mod_php and mod_rewrite

shows up like this:

Popular Apache modules include modphp and modrewrite

You can escape underscores, but this defeats Markdown's stated purpose of appearing like natural text.

Team Fortress 2: Medic Achievements

Thu, 01 May 2008 23:36:29 GMT

Team Fortress 2 recently unveiled thirty-nine medic achievements. I'm writing up a list of suggestions on how to get these, as much for myself as anything else.

Easy achievements
A few achievements are trivial, so get these out of the way early on. Play a map with a Setup time, charge an uber before setup for the first achievement and deploy it a few seconds into the round for another (assuming someone on the enemy team deploys an uber at the same time). Joining a game that a friend is already in to give him the uber earns you your third easy achievement. Further, you earn another achievement here if three medics on your team launch their ubers at once - do this soon while everyone's playing medic.

Achievements are available for healing 7000 in one life and healing 10,000 in one life. These are pretty easy if you stay out of combat and heal a sniper on 2fort.

Long-term achievements
There are certain behaviours you should cultivate in order to secure some of the more long-term achievements. Most obviously, heal as much as possible as 1 million points healed earns an achievement. Respond to 200 requests for Medic!, extinguish 100 teammates on fire, and give ubercharges to 10 people on your friends list.

Combat also earns you points. Defeat 50 medics in a bonesaw duel, 20 scouts with the syringe gun, and 5 disguised spies calling 'medic'. Assist in healing to get revenge on a nemesis 20 times for another achievement. Do these at every opportunity to earn the awards.

Class assist
Healing specific classes is vital to earn several achievements. Usually you need to do these within one life (and sometimes within one uber).
Medic: Five kills.
Scout: Three kills while ubered.
Soldier: Five rocket kills while ubered.
Heavy: Twenty kills, with another achievement for two punchouts while ubered.
Engineer: Heal the engy while he repairs his sentry under attack.
Pyro: Ignite five enemies while ubered.
Demoman: Destroy five engineer buildings while ubered.

Situational assists
Some achievements require you to be healing any class, but under specific circumstances.

Heal a teammate as he takes fire from four or more enemies, about to die from landing or earns an achievement of his own (get this one early while the easy achievements are going). Uber a teammate just as he is hit with critical stickybombs (difficult to predict) or is blocking a capture (easy), and switch an uber between two teammates to uber two at once.

Another difficult achievement is to kill assist five enemies on capture points, the tricky part being surviving yourself.

Single combat
In addition to needling twenty scouts and bonesawing fifty scouts, you can earn a few achievements in singular combat. The easiest are to taunt after killing an enemy and make five successful consecutive hits with the bonesaw. More difficult, make five kills while holding the charge on an uber. In addition, kill an enemy spy you've been healing, ideally with the bonesaw.

Difficult achievements
Lastly, some achievements are more difficult than the rest. Score top of the team without killing anyone is pretty tricky, although healing the team's #1 player might help, especially if he quits partway through or you manage to leech off multiple high-scoring players.

The most difficult achievement is described as follows: In a team with no Medics, be the first person to switch to Medic after a teammate calls for 'Medic!', and then heal 500 health.

As we know, this is nigh-impossible because everyone is playing medic.

Technical question

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:46:34 GMT

I have a (presumably perfectly working) LCD screen from an otherwise broken laptop split up for parts. I'm looking to hook this up to a PC somehow to output video.

There are specialist boards on the market, but they're ridiculously pricey. Any ideas?

D&D: Is gridless combat possible?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:53:03 GMT

D&D's tactical movement rules generally assume you're using a squared grid that everyone can consult to remind them of their postion. Since online play has no grid without special software, I'm looking to work out a system of handling tactical combat without any grid. Feel free here to make suggestions.

Problems
Since there's no grid to act as an authority on who stands where, it's easy for desynch to occur between players' ideas of the battle position. It's similar to the problem of blindfold chess, where players each try to hold the entire game in their head. (I imagine that real war has always been plagued with a similar issue.)

Players might simply trust the DM to hold the canonical position in his head to settle disagreement, but the DM is still not infallible. Further, the more complex the combat, the greater the risk of "desynch". Thus, for anything but small combats, any system must be much simpler than the traditional strict grid.

Combat Area
An idea I've borrowed from a fellow DM is separating each combat into two zones - simply, you're either inside the Combat Area, where the fighting takes place, or you're not. Anyone can attack anyone else within this area. A move action allows you to enter the Combat Area or withdraw.

Combat under this system is a lot more chaotic and perhaps realistic. You take attacks from nearby opponents you didn't realise were adjacent to you. However, it raises issues - can you fire from out of the brawl into it? If so, can opponents break off to give chase and enter combat to create multiple Combat Areas? If not, can a wizard use spells without firing into melee? How are flanking, area effects and cover handled?

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:05:18 GMT

I started a Dungeons & Dragons blog back in 2005 as a replacement for an even older campaign website that I can credit for giving me my start writing for the now-defunct Dragon. D20 Source as it's now known has come pretty far, with almost 250 articles in just over two years. It's also interesting to see how many other D&D blogs have sprung up since then, including several here at Livejournal. I'd like to share a few of those with you.

Most of these names should be familiar to D&D players. Monte Cook (montecook), JD Wiker (jediwiker), Ryan Dancey (rsdancey) and Sean K. Reynolds (seankreynolds) are all here on Livejournal. We have the mad ramblings of Wizards of the Coast's Mike Mearls (mearls) and Ari Marmell mouseferatu), and from Paizo Publishing come Erik Mona (lemuriapress) and Mike McArtor (irishninja). We have Kobold Quarterly's Wolfgang Baur (the_monkey_king, open_design) and EP Healy (ephealy), and Green Ronin's Chris Pramas (freeport_pirate). True RPG afficionados will also be familiar with writer Robin D. Laws (robin_d_laws), Dragon magazine artist Kyle Hunter (kylehunter), and Critical Miss editor Jonny Nexus (jonnynexus).

From the blogosphere, meanwhile, we have sites like Stupid Ranger, Treasure Tables, Dungeon Mastering, Jeff's Gameblog, Hack Slash, Game Designer in the Wilderness and Musings of the Chatty DM, to name a few.

Something you notice with "blogs" (as opposed to simply Livejournals) is that we have a lot fewer big names, but (in general) a great deal more content. There's a reason for this. A successful blog is written to be read, not written for its own sake.. It's not worth anyone's effort to read a blog that doesn't hold their interest, and that puts a lot of pressure on RPG bloggers if they want to attract a readership.

Livejournal is the opposite of this, because you're essentially subscribing to people you know, rather than content you want. "People you know" includes friends, friends of friends, and people you've heard of (including minor celebrities, which the RPG industry has quite a few of). You're not on parade like with a blog, which can be advantageous. I think freeport_pirate's blog sums this up with its amusing subtitle, The Completely Personal and Totally Non-Corporate Blog of Chris Pramas.

tl;dr: If a blog is to get popular, it has to have an agenda of attracting new visitors by publishing content that keeps people interested. Livejournal doesn't have this same upkeep cost, leaving people free to discuss opinions and news more openly, although at the cost of potentially reaching less people.

Deep Crow

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:49:43 GMT

My blog's server is currently struggling with a direct link by Penny Arcade, so I've temporarily redirected some of you here. Click here to try anyway or subscribe to the LJ feed at jd20.

Here are the D20 stats on the Deep Crow in the meantime. (Edit: I've also got stats on the stalagmen.)

The following game statistics are inspired by this Penny Arcade strip.

DEEP CROW
This vile feathered creature appears at first a massive, corrupted crow. A disgusting multitude of eyes are mounted above a powerful antlike beak, and four lethal talons ready themselves before a heavy, swinging tail.

This terrifying creature is responsible for night raids on farms that are often mistakenly blamed on dragons or common cattle thieves. Swooping down out of the darkness on massive wings, the powerful bird simply lifts off with livestock in its talons. Its roost is frequently littered with the smashed skeletons of former meals, with recognisable skulls evidencing that the terrible creature has no compunctions about eating human flesh. Growing ever larger with age, truly ancient deep crows are fearsome creatures indeed.

Deep Crow—CR12

Always NE Huge magical beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60ft., low-light vision; Listen +10, Spot +11

AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+8 natural armor, +4 Dex, -2 size); damage reduction 10/magic
hp 102 (12HD)
Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 17
Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +5

Spd fly 60ft. (average)
Melee 4 talons +17 (1d8+6) and bite +15 (2d8+3) and tail slap +15 (2d6+3)
Base Atk +12; Grp +12
Atk Options Snatch, flyby attack

Abilities Str 22, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 9
Feats Alertness, Snatch, Multiattack, Hover, Flyby attack

Environment any mountain or underground
Organization solitary
Treasure none
Advancement 13-24 HD (Huge), 25-36 HD (Gargantuan)

Snatch The deep crow can choose to start a grapple when it hits with its talon or bite attack. If the deep crow gets a hold on a creature of Small size or less, it squeezes each around for automatic talon damage. The deep crow can drop a creature it has snatched as a free action or use a standard action to fling it aside. A flung creature travels 1d6 x 10 feet, and takes 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet traveled. If the deep crow flings a snatched opponent while flying, the opponent takes this amount or falling damage, whichever is greater.

Flyby attack When flying, the deep crow can take a move action (including a dive) and another standard action at any point during the move. The deep crow cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.

Disclaimer: I haven’t playtested this yet. Let me know if you think the challenge rating is off.

Chinese wisdom #2

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:34:10 GMT

<DerKazzch> "All warfare is based on deception.
<DerKazzch> Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
<DerKazzch> when using our forces, we must seem inactive;
<DerKazzch> when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."
<DerKazzch> Apparently Sun Tzu thinks that armies can induce packetloss.

Chinese wisdom

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:25:12 GMT

As the old saying goes, "A journey of 310½ miles begins with a single step."

Protected Storage Tower

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:50:43 GMT

Cost: 7500 Cr.
Power: 4MW/day
Time: 48 days.
This is an improved design of the Storage Tower with an inbuilt Laser Turret to fend off unwelcome visitors. It should be noted that all ore storage devices will be prime targets for enemy attacks, as they are one of the prime requisites of any colony. It would therefore seem wise to protect them. This is done by putting a huge fake plastic gun on the top, and a fairl pathetic real laser turret inside it. This is in the vain hope that any attacking fleet will see the fake weapon, and decide they are outgunned. The reality, of course, is that they see the tiny laser that it fires, and think "oh, it's another one of those realistic plastic guns. I'm off.' Honest. Don't delay buy one today.

Clicking on this building lists the ore stored by category.

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:16:16 GMT

got Sentry Gunner :D

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:42:17 GMT

Trajan is the movie font

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:19:44 GMT

You can't get Sentry Gunner

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:06:53 GMT

The special figures cast for ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS add color to play and make refereeing far easier. Each player might be required to furnish painted figures representing his or her player character and all henchmen and/or hirelings included in the game session. Such distinctively painted figures enable you to immediately recognize each individual involved. Figures can be placed so as to show their order of march, i.e., which characters are in the lead, which are in the middle, and which are bringing up the rear. Furthermore, players are more readily able to visualize their array and plan actions while seeing the reason for your restrictions on their actions.

Monster figures are likewise most helpful, as many things become instantly apparent when a party is arrayed and their monster opponent(s) placed. Furnishing such monsters is probably best undertaken as a joint effort, the whole group contributing towards the purchase of such figurines on a regular basis. Be very careful to purchase castings which are in scale! Out of scale monsters are virtually worthless in many cases. As a rule of thumb, HO scale is 25 mm = 1 actual inch = 6’ in scale height or length or breadth.

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:46:05 GMT

ian is mean to poor amber

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:00:37 GMT

Evanglion only everyone is black

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:26:26 GMT

merry boxing day

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:34:37 GMT

All my straight friends think gay bum sex is really funny.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:39:38 GMT

In sixth grade, my math teacher pretended he WAS God. We were in an older building that we were soon going to be moving out of, and so he decided it would be alright to mess around with the air conditioning vents. One day, during a free period, he intoned through the airvents ''Hello, this is God.'' Kids began looking around, and some looked decidedly nervous. Then he shouted ''You! Right there! Don't think I don't know what you're doing!''. Nearly everyone jumped out of their seats, and one very nervous and shy boy suddenly burst out into tears. Everyone thought it was amusing after we found what was going on; nevertheless, the teacher got in trouble, and was nearly sacked.

everything2, My Religion teacher spoke for God

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:12:14 GMT

mods sticky

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:31:37 GMT

Regardless of exactly how potent absinthe is or isn't, Lehrman says one thing is certain: "If you drink three bottles, you are going to do something stupid."n

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:43:34 GMT

Supposedly, part of the fun of Battle Masters is that it takes several hours to set up the five-foot battle mat and about a hundred minis for a single game, and several hours to play. I worked out a method of playing the game on a smaller board without needing any of the original components, but it's not the same.

Last night

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:06:48 GMT

I met Alan Davies, who informed me quite matter-of-factly that, contrary to common belief, the highest score on QI was 24, held jointly by Spike Milligan and Jack Handey. I didn't believe him, but he was quite adamant. However, despite his uncharacteristic lucidity and seriousness here, I got the sense he was also slightly drunk.

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:11:19 GMT

lol

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:47:48 GMT

Greetings from Amazon.co.uk,

We've noticed that customers who have purchased or rated Di Gi Charat Theater: Leave It to Piyoko: v. 2 (Di Gi Charat Theater (Broccoli Books) (Graphic Novels)) by Hina. have also purchased Encyclopedia of Gangs by Louis Kontos. For this reason, you might like to know that Encyclopedia of Gangs is now available. You can order yours for just £49.94 by following the link below.