So, to the bots out there not listening… That’s enough.

Free time has all been spent developing Gaeana, rather than editing down recordings for the podcast. However, the two will coincide in the future… most of the Alpha testing sessions for Blu20 and Gaeana were recorded and will be posted in the future.

Thanks for your continued patience, and make sure to check out www.Gaeana.com for information on my major project!

The Blu20 system is progressing well. There have been countless modifications to the Perfect20 source. In fact, the material has nearly doubled its original size with the new additions, corrections and changes. Many things in Perfect20 were assumed — such as combat maneuvers including attacks of opportunity. I saw this as an opportunity to pare-down some aspects of the d20 system which were either complicated or illogical. We’ll see how things go…

I’m very happy with the current changes. I’ve given the project a name. Blu20. Maybe not the most original, but it suits my purpose. In fact, I’ve even created its logo (or at least the first draft). Attached to this post is the logo, in GIF format.

I’ll post more details about the system… what it is and what it will become… soon.

To explain what I mean by core story, I will quote from a very good writeup done by Ryan Dancy of the core story of D&D (available at http://mearls.livejournal.com/97101.html?thread=661581#t661581). He said:

The “core story” of D&D is:
A party of adventurers assemble to seek fame and fortune. They leave civilization for a location of extreme danger. They fight monsters and overcome obstacles and acquire new abilities and items of power. Afterwards they return to civilization and sell the phat loot. Next week, they do it all over again.
Furthermore, he expanded that idea to Star Wars:

The core story for the Star Wars RPG is:
“A team of heroes goes to a space-based location, infiltrates it, and accomplishes a goal before fleeing to safety.”
(Note: This is a central component of Star Wars Episodes I, III, IV, and VI!)

With this in mind, I realized what I really liked about Gaeana. It is an opportunity to see things as they could be. Every time I sit down with a pen, or at a keyboard, I learn something new. ‘Of course sil are cold-blooded, they’re reptiles. Plus, as they have developed verbal communication, they obviously came from a social instinct. That would mean they needed to work in concert… possibly to survive predation and compete with larger predators.’

Then I considered what I really like in a story… drama and mystery. I must confess, I am a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan. His writing of personal terror can keep you anxious throughout the story and beyond.

Here’s what I came up with. The core story of Gaeana is:

A group of adventurers set out to obtain greater wisdom and understanding. Their quest is a constant struggle. Each answer merely reveals another question. Their ultimate goal is the elusive truth.

This sets up all the classic points of stories I enjoy — mystery, discovery and drama. There may be some horror thrown into the mix, but that’s just because I love to make an audience squirm.
Thoughts, comments? The above is a rough-draft only conceived yesterday.

Don’t miss the “flying scorpions”… you’ll see!

Recorded: 2005/09/20
Edited: 2006/05/08

That’s when I realized, maybe I’m missing a vital point in the development of Gaeana… I need to really define the setting. I want to make it truly three-dimensional.

Right now for those of you who aren’t in a gaming group playing in the setting, you really have no clue what Gaeana is all about…

Here’s the lowdown…

A couple years ago I was introduced to a band called the Minstrels of Mayhem (ahem!). They travel the Renaissance festival circuit and perform all over the USA. Their music, specifically some of the songs written by Andy M. Stewart, really touched me. The timeless realization that the true moments of life exist beyond the boundaries between culture, age and time.

Being a fan of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and H. P. Lovecraft, as well as co-operative fiction stories played out using Dungeons & Dragons, World of Darkness, GURPS and Call of Cthulhu, I soon found myself placing the concepts of these stories within a framework of my own devising. At first the concepts were rudimentary, and admittedly much of the world still is. However, Gaeana began as a framework upon which emotionally-charged stories and in-depth examinations of “what if” are hung.

I never realized then that it would develop as it has.

Today you will find little actual information in the Gaeana web site. Much of it I’m still attempting to distill to a point it is intelligible to those outside of my skull. However, here are the highlights of where we’re going:

1. Gaeana is a terrestrial world in a star system light years from Earth; Thanks to the miracles of modern astronomical technology we realize that the existance of such worlds is not only possible, but incredibly probible.
2. Gaeana is a world finding itself in the midst of social and environmental upheaval. Humans (which, in addition to many other lifeforms, exist on Gaeana thanks to panspermea) settled in vast regions of land on two continents. Some now realize they are not the only intelligent species on the planet. In fact, when Barinpointe was established at the Southern corner of Tosh, it was only with the help of the Toka that the visitors were able to thrive.
3. Much of the world is unexplored, at least by humans. Stories center on the lives of those in Asea, Tosh and Vosik. However, to much of the population — even of those places — their “world” extends only a few kilometers. Many of us take for granted the knowledge of what lies outside of our town, city, state or country. However, rewind time only a couple hundred years and that common understanding would not be nearly as common — or as complete.
4. Gaeana exists as an opportunity to explore what could be. The more we learn of our universe, the more we realize that the laws of physics and nature are varied (at least in part) in different areas of the universe. When we expand our vistas to ideas such as string theory, we realize we may be part of a multiverse. What glorious possibilities and wonders could await us! Gaeana is just one of those possibilities. What could happen to us? If things occurred differently in the past, or if we continue down our current path and drastically alter our current world’s survivability, we could see things like those occurring in Gaeana.

I have much more to pontificate on; however, this shall suffice for now. I hope this shares some indication of where we’re going… and what one may anticipate… from Gaeana

Enjoy!