Number One

And now, some information about the blog in a fake question and answer format!

Okay, so why a blog?
Eh.. All the cool kids were doing it, I guess..  And since I noticed I was making (or typed and then decided against posting) huge huge responses for the comment sections, I figured I had a few things I wanted to say, so I’d say ’em without buggering up somebody elses’ comments. Plus, you know. That whole getting to stay in contact with people thing. I don’t expect I’ll be posting a lot about myself, though. More about what I do.

Soooo… What’s going to be the content, then?
Well.. Probably a lot about WoW, as it’s a big part of my free time just now.  Toons, current events, etcetera. Also I want to post some artwork that I do occasionally, much of which is Wow-related as well, though I hope to shift things more towards my current projects at some point.  I’ll be talking about those aforementioed projects as well, hopefully to drum up some interest and maybe a little support. Oh and I’d like to share some music. I love music. Occasionalliy it’ll just be stuff I like, other times it’ll be bizzare or terrible. Hopefully you’ll experience some new stuff, and hopefully you won’t hate all of it.

Projects what now?
Oh fine. Basically one of my hobbies is making homebrew games. (No they are not computer games)
I have 2 current projects at the moment.

One is a hybrid strategy/RPG involving Steampunk-style sky pirates. It’s meant to be played 1-turn-a-day over a forum, though conceivably it would be possible to do it via pen and paper as well. Once it gets to a more finalized form I’ll know for sure. But as it lies it’s a mixture of hand-to-hand and ship-to-ship combat systems, both with a strong strategic base (moreso for the air combat) Basically ‘crews’ of players are required to cooperate to run a ship as a team, from the Captain who calls the shots to the gunners blasting away at enemy vessels to the Mechineers struggling to keep the engines running or trying to supercharge the boiler while rousties haul ammo or cargo where it needs to go.

The ship system rules allow for airships to be designed entirely from scratch, and a ship’s stats and attributes are derived directly from the style of it’s construction. I’m very happy with the system as it stands now.

Currently I’m working on developing and balancing the hand-to-hand combat system and fixing some problems with stat weights for the different classes and character generation. I also need to develop armor, weapons and items for our air pirates. Yarr.

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The other is a more traditional pen-n-paper Fantasy RPG, built for speed and ease of play. It borrows heavily from a lot of sources but since it’s more of a ‘for fun’ project I’m not too terribly concerned with derivation, I’m just trying to make it as entertaining as possible. One of the things I like about it is it’s character system, which (I think) allows for a lot of versatility. There are no classes per se, so you’re free to try out abilities, spells and attributes in any combination that pleases you. (Though there are some logical limitations) Also there is no ‘level’ system, you grow and advance your character by using the points you accumulate through combat or being awesome (I like to reward players for playing in entertaining or creative ways, actual roleplaying, etc.) to straight up buy attributes and stats for them.

It all works on paper (so far) but it needs playtesting. Currently I’m working on adding more abilities, spells and talents, A lot of work remains to be done on items, monsters, etcetera. At the moment this project (Called SDS – Super Dungeon Smasher …No it’s not a very serious game) is on the back burner since I’m more interested in my skypirates at the moment.

Wow that was long.. Okay, why Gravedust as a name?
Honestly? I came up with it on a whim for a fake website for an HTML class in college. I wound up liking it, so I held onto it.

Right, so.. Anything you want to share about yourself.
Naaaah. If it’s important I figure it’ll come out by itself.

Wanna share some music?
Sure! 🙂

Please enjoy.