Welcome to the Wolves Den, wherein you'll find the sometimes bizarre creations of yours truly. News: 25AUG06 - Lord, but it's been forever since I last updated my news. Life is being busy, as usual. Another relocation, and I'm now, theoretically working on all three of my design projects. Right now, Mage Blade is stuck somewhere in the life-path character generation system and in the magic system. ReCoil is in the initial stages of a rewrite (ie. where I figure out what was wrong with the previous version. Rats has been updated with various rules and a few more explanations on how to do certain things. Add to this another semester of school and a part-time/full-time job, and you've got a busy Lance. 20SEP05 - Summer vacation, relocation of residence and beginning a new semester have kept me from working much on my games and keeping the site up to date, but I'm finally beginning to get back on track. One of the major things that's helped get my creative juices flowing again is the 2005 Ronnies for which I created Rats in the Walls, my newest foray into the independent game design field. I've run one session of playtest, and I really think the game's got some potential for some intense, hateful stories. Within the week, I'll know how I fared in the Ronnies. The Games page has been updated with an entry for Rats in the Walls, and a new folder on the forum was created as well. 23FEB05 - Finally took the plunge and bought a domain name and some genuine webspace. In addition to moving the site to an address that does not include "cox.net" I've added forums for discussion of my games, and pretty much anything else I feel like. This will include my attempts at semi-professional computer game design, my many wild-ass theories, fiction and table top games in general. Feel free to create an account and join in on any discussions you feel like. 01FEB05 - Mage Blade is coming along slowly, but it is coming along. My main focus right now deals with the new meta-system, which is the system for how rewards are earned, and what rewards can do. In most basic terms, you are reward for setting goals, and accomplishing them. Your rewards are in the form of character advancement, and the ability to set new goals to accomplish. The idea is to encourage the players to be proactive, and allow them to decide what they want to see their characters accomplish over time. Getting into the nitty-gritty details is a built-in system for determining the pacing of the story, because it's also got a very definitive endgame mechanic. Mage Blade isn't intended to be a game where you'll play the same characters for twenty years of weekly gaming, and I believe this system accomplishes my aims nicely. Once I have a good idea for how this system will work, I'll turn my focus to the resolution system, and the setting. 17JAN05 - Still focusing on Mage Blade. My recent distractions in the form of various MMORPGs have fallen away, and I'm thinking much more seriously about development. Right now I'm re-evaluating my design goals, and trying to determine what needs to be stripped away from the old system to make way for the new. Anyone wishing to toss some input my way can view the old document in webpage form here. A large part of what's there is already on it's way out, but what I'd like from anyone kind enough to comment is an idea of what systems are interesting, and what you think should stay and go. In the meantime, keep an eye out for my eventual re-emergence into Indie Game Design. Also note that the style has changed slightly once more, in preparation for my biting the bullet, and moving this site to a golly-gee-for-real paid site. I'll keep this site up to date until the move. 01SEP04 - Recently flip-flopped my development priorities, putting ReCoil on the shelf, and going back to Mage Blade. While there is still a lot more to do on Mage Blade than needs to be done on ReCoil, and Mage Blade is an overall more ambitious and bigger project, it is in many ways simpler. ReCoil was in many ways an attempt to branch out, reach out of the box and see what my design potential is. Unfortunately, I think it was too much outside the box for now, so I'm putting it away until later on. Additionally, Mage Blade has been cropping up in my thoughts more often lately, so something tells me it's time to go back and revisit my first game. ReCoil is still available for download in it's current incarnation, and any playtest feedback would still be appreciated. 27MAR04 - Updated the website with a new look, and relocated it to a different location.