The Blades of Iberia

[yeloson]

Desire to play Burning Wheel + reading up on Islamic theological scholars + idea at lunch equals:

The Blades of Iberia

Wuxia in Moorish Spain. A brotherhood across all religions. Warriors, scholars, poets, who fight "The Absence" - monsters whose appearance silence all prayers, all holy books are blank, etc. A literal theological problem- if nothing is more powerful than God, what is this force that can do this? The Blades struggle to put an end to it, while the Caliphate struggles with politics and the holy men refuse to acknowledge it's existence (non-existence?).

I'm seeing sword duels running along high walls, theological debates while circling inner gardens, dueling musicians on rooftops at sunset, and crazy style conflict- a period piece Matrix. You could dial up or down the romanticism vs. the struggles of a multicultural society- the native Iberians, Christians, converts, Jews, the Arabs, the Berbers, the East African soldiers, etc. A secret battle against monsters against a backdrop of struggle, politics and war.

I need to find/make more time in life to play this kind of stuff.

Comments

[maschalismos.livejournal.com]

I've not said anything before now but I [heart] your brain and how it works. That game would be the epitome of cool.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about how Brotherhood of the Wolf is basically cracktastic wuxia for a period piece in France, and that Moorish Spain would be a cool place for that kind of stuff.

[the-willow.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

You so need to just set up RPG's as a part-time business. It has to be possible. And then sell the rights for people to right books in that universe if they adhere to a strict canon bible.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

It is possible. Folks I know pull anything from a few hundred to a few thousand a year from rpg publishing.

I've been fiddling with stuff off and on for years, but sadly, my computer with all my layout/graphics stuff melted last year, and until I replace the motherboard, it's all sitting on the harddrive waiting to be used.

(Which also would open up the door for me to do Skype gaming again as well. Le Sigh.)

[sajia.livejournal.com]

You Are So Cool. (I've just friended you, and plan to link my own poetry to the Remyth project).

If the hard drive is okay, you can get a case for $40*

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

and turn it into an external USB drive and work on the files on another system, if you have a working computer that has the memory to handle the files. Depending on the system, this might be cheaper/easier than replacing the motherboard (had to do that once too, wasn't fun.)

(They get a lot more expensive, but I looked at zillions of reviews and the Law of Diminishing Returns seems to kick in pretty quickly. The Coolmax one I got from Tiger Direct is rugged - survived one klutz-attack so far - and also quiet. )

Re: If the hard drive is okay, you can get a case for $40*

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

I wish it was that simple. See, I had a G5 PowerPC, just before mac went over to Intels. It's also got a bunch of extra RAM I bought to power Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

If I go for a new computer that has anything near the power, it's going to be over a $1000 at least. If I replace the motherboard it's like $600.

On the other hand, I'm not going to have that $600 until the summer, at least.

Gargh.

oh, gah

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

"there is no least-worst option" upgrade hell, been there, done that, got the psychic scars - for me it was the point where the cobbled-together frankenbox could no longer be properly upgraded because nobody was making video cards etc that fit the old motherboard, BUT all that ram! all those incremental upgrades! even though objectively, by the *current* standards, they were pretty slow and old and worthless, they still HAD cost X amount - and anyway I didn't have the money to buy a new beast, anyway. ("But they're cheap now!" people would say encouragingly, and I'd be "That's 3 paychecks, how am I supposed to pay the rent?"

Re: oh, gah

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. The last 6 months have been really frustrating dealing with people and trying to explain to them how much money I just don't have right now.

I figure it's worth replacing the motherboard once. Get everything off to a secondary backup drive, and when it gives out, get a cheap Mac Mini or something to pull from the backup drive.

I haven't done a -ton- of incremental upgrades, but it's got enough stuff it's worth pulling for one more go.