random thoughts, plans, ideas, status

After finally ending the SLenderman RP with much thanks to those involved, I've kind of been off-world alot the past few weeks.  RL has been busy, with it being summer and all, a majority of my evenings, friends in the real world have been dragging me along to assorted activities, and with the fact summer's winding down and that usually signifies business slacking off for me on the graphic art side of things (I can never figure out why most my jobs end up being in the summer) I'm going to be looking for a 'regular' job to get me through the fall winter, and spring until things pic up again.
Partially why I was with Miss Hermit in wanting to conclude it soon and slightly annoyed when Pocket went and gave himself a coma at first, though now it looks more like it was to kick off his own RP with Tenk and Molly, wich I don't mind as much.
Gizzy's back, sort of, I guess her connection's touch and go at her new place, I've only been able to atch her in-world twice though, once for the RP involving her new doll skin, (personally I liked the more automoton look myself, but that's just me), and during the clockhaven beach party. 
I've opend the Ordo Aspconditus group for anyone to join now, and finally got the logo from Langain, who's also returned to Babbage, tough in a semi-state, so in a way, the core Ordos are all back (aside from Arwen, who hasn't logged in months).  the OA's basically become what the late Sparrowwood was supposed to be (though I just have a plant and cemetary, and not a whole neighborhood.......yet...)

In other news, I've let my half assed attempt at an in-world shop sail away, my lack of time to be in-world, I logged on to a message the boat slip was in arrears, and, after sitting in my deck mulling it over, decided to pack it in and go back to primarily Xstreet sales. (when Xstreet works), as 500L a week, along with the 1000L for my plot in Babbage, Antarctic Imports really wasn't doing enough to support itself, I mostly blame the fact I have absolutely no idea how to do a store in-world, and made the boat look more like just one of the places people rezz just to add flavor. I did kind of make it a more IC type of place, and aside from the pictures of items on the sides of crates, it really didn't look much like a store.  had more freebees in there than anything else anyway.
I might, if a cheap store rental opens up, attempt it again, but my goal primarily is not to spend any RL money in SL to be honest, though depending how things go this year, I might bite the bullet and switch to a premium account (hey, I get a free house afterall, that likely would see little use)

Once I can get myself in-world more often again, I do have some plans I'd like to do in the near or far future, such as more land (actually would like to someday have an undersea lab, and let my power plant just be a power plant) maybe some day own a hotel myself with very cheap rentals (i had ideas for a haunted house themed hotel, with wandering ghosts, cobwebs and secret chambers)
maybe some day when I have the money, get my own sim and build the Harbor Landing Colony, Antarctic steampunk.  I have plans and ideas, I just lack the financing yet

my idea for an RP about my experiments using the more magic based creatures still on hold as I don't really get what the status on those in Babbage are since the large drama and butthurt over it way back when.  There's aparantly still some supernatural/mythological creatures in the case of Pip and the other short, non-urchin types, but really nothing that would make as much sense to hook into a battery, or that would be that obvious, I would have to kidnap one from Steelhead or Winterfell. plus any other mythological creature I've tried to catch, end up being hired as lab assistants instead (like Miss Darkfold, who I don't think really is in Babbage anymore anyway)

and of course I gave out so many steampunk proton packs during the SLenderman RP, just shows I really don't have what it takes to be a shopkeeper f I'm giving away wares

Thread on starting an RP in Babbage

so the new babbage site, wich I so far like much more than the Ning, has a thread on advice how to get an RP there rolling.

http://cityofnewbabbage.com/drupaltest/node/290#comment-919

I have to say so far I'm pretty happy there have been no posts like "just don't rp or speak in charater anywhere's within 20 meters of me or any shop I may have'
looks like people have finally gotten over their odd OCD on it

a different style of RP, Grendel, the Ordo Apsconditus, and Footman Industries

I am the proprieter and owner of the Footman Industries electric eel plant, the Babbage Square Historic Memorial Cemetary, and the seabound shop, Antarctic Imports.

I'm a big RPer, that, and my interest in steampunk are what brought me to the steamlands in the first place. All the steamlands have their quirks when it comes to RP, some enforced it, some encourage it but don;t require it, and others seem to have a strange bi-polar relationship with it; half enjoying it and loving the plots and stories that spawn across all the assorted NING sites and blogs, others seem to treat it as the worst possible thing imagineable. in these cases, it almost always falls into an uneasy balance, RPers having to be careful who they approach in case said avi flies into a tizzy because they're spoken to in character, hide their meters and only bring them out for heels to the ground combat when certian types are in bed (though with the naval battles, this has improved greatly, I just need to get my RL under control so I can enjoy being a part of them again) , and an almost underground culture of those of us who occasionally enjoy shooting things (a meter will not automatically make a sim a combat sim).

My RP style, I enjoy a more free form RP as opposed to a scripted out play, characters react based on previous events, not what the script says, I also, having been to a few RP sims, that have actually worked and managed to stay successful for years, believe that you can have combat in an RP, meters and the weapons designed for them are so you don't hit innocent bystanders shopping, at least the good ones.
dragging others into your RP....I'm sorry, but that is a ridiculous concept, if someone comes up yelling the martians are attacking, or pirates are at the port, if you don't want to be involved and just want to keep oohing over shoes, then ignore them. If someone is getting real pushy, there's a magic word to prevent being 'pulled in'...no. Most Rper's believe it or not, are not greifers, and are smart enough to take a hint. Yelling and screaming because they dared mention the pirate attack in earshot of you, or speaking IC around you is NOT 'pulling you in'

and another disclaimer, if you have no actual rules or guidelines in place for RP in a sim, then there is no 'way we do it here' I've been proud in the fact that during those days, I never once 'did it their way' as there was no 'their way'. I almost always am in character, even when building, the only exception is occasional late nights when people are hanging out and no one's really IC, I shoot guns, even worn meters, and am currently working out a way for land battles, sort of to coincide with the naval battles, and it's caused no issues.

Now, things have improved since, people have grown up and stopped sniping at others over it. Some people I would not even expect have started to dabble in RP even. And no fires erupted, the earth did not swallow the grid whole, dogs and cats did not live together, no mass hysteria. It seems to be generally accepted now.

Footman Industries, and the Airship Rama before that, were built as places for free RP, where people can go, RP whatever plot they need a decent weird lab/warehouse setting, or a cemetery for. it's my home, but also free for RP. Any land I acquire in the future, will be likewise.
The land the plant and cemetery are on, I allow shooting, as long as you take care who you are shooting, I don't ban people from my land unless they are a douchebag. I do have damage enabled for now, but feel free if you want, to wear a meter, as I possibly will be turning it off after a current RP ends

I also have flight turned off, as myself, I hate flying without vehicles as it's very wonky in SL, the flight animations look stupid frankly, and I have been annoyed by people choosing to 'fly' at 1 meter off the ground, through my sitting room, you want to be in the plant, walk or ride an airship.
Currently there is autoreturn, at about 60 min, primarily due to all the tardises I've had to clean up, but if you need an item rezzed longer for an RP, send me a message and I'll be glad to invite you to the land group, Ordo Absconditus, it's a steamland RP group, that allows you to keep items rezzed in my land, set your home there, and even has an OOC tag if you feel the need for one (some people are very militantly against them for some reason, but I like to have the option rather than go 'we don't like it, so NO ONE can have it!)
My recent shop, Antarctic Imports, is a business yes, but I allow RP there, though I'm not so sure what sort of RP would call for a leaky barge full of odd gadgets for sale.
I also have an alt, Zombie Ohare, who is my general NPC, Monster, Baddie, and when a badger, groundskeeper. If you see him as a monster or ghost, be wary, if you see a badger, meh, he's probably cleaning up the place and handeling my tier

Why I hate avatar flying

This came from a conversation with Miss Gizzy, and the title's a little misleading, while I love flying aircraft around, and have a large collection of blimps, zepplins, airships, fighterplanes, spacecraft, etc. It's the flight feature for my avi I honestly don't like, not because of any IC, RP, it takes me out of the world stuff like some people say (though it does a little, and the flight animations look so stupid, especially those people that insist on flying 1 meter above the ground). it's more because I apparantly can't fly worth crap, I have a very hard time controlling flight, usually overshoot where I want to go, fly into buildings, people, get stuck rocketing into the sky, slam into the ground, or lagg hits and I do the always fun 5,000 mile flyby in a perfectly straight line right off the sim. So that's why, if i'm not in some sort of vehicle, I usually choose to walk instead, sure if it's a little laggy, i might still walk into a wall, or fall into the canals, but at least I have ground to stop me. I'll bite the bullet and hit the fly button if I'm with a group of people who all decide to fly to another location, but can't garantee I'll get there right when everyone else does, or even manage to land in the right spot.
For the most part, I don't think too many others have this problem, aside from laggy moments, so for once it's not something I'm going to blame Lindens for, just my own inability to be like superman in a digitized setting.

now if avatar flight controlled more like an airship, then I'd be in business

a rant: why I stay far away from relay for life

a rant: why I stay far away from relay for life

I've been in the steamlands of SL for roughly about 2 years now. a common event that all the steamland sims do every year is the SL relay for life, raising mone for cancer research. It's not a bad cause, and I'm all for it, I've had relatives with cancer over the years, and I've donated money to other cancer charities, RFL however, I can't stand. The builds are impressive and creative yes, they're great to wander through. it's the obsessiveness. Last year was my first time hearing about it, people talkng about nothing but their 'laps' apparantly walking around a sim, a nice looking sim, but it's not a lap, a lap is when you step away from the computer RL and do it, there's marathon runs, bike rides, even walks that also help a cause. Making an avi run around a sim...not really. then the 'teams', wich i never really understood tbh.
but the biggest turn offs for me last year were the fact that A. it was the only thing at all anyone would talk about, in any SL steampunk community. and B. it was everywhere's, if you simply weren't interested, too bad, because you were going to hear about it reguardless, and for all the tirades I've heard from some people abut 'forcing RP on others', this felt alot like RFL was forced on me.
I know I sound like a huge ass saying all this, I'm not against raising money for cancer, as I said, I've donated to cancer research plenty times in the past. but RFL just annoyed me, when the Babbage NING started making posts about RFL, I just rolled my eyes.

Fortunatly so far, it hasn't been as bad. they've been much more relaxed with it, the ning hasn't been flooded with RFL posts t the point any other topic is buried.
haven't felt like it's been as in your face, and it's even allowed some RP still going on around it.
So we'll see how it goes this year, but the first person to ask me about my 'laps' gets a lightning gun blast to the head.

So that's been my rant, feel free to ignore, but it's my blog, so bleh

Grendel in Second Life

I'm primarily n Second Life for Roleplay (yes, I am one of the evil roleplayers you have heard about),
Building (I enjoy either impossible machines, over the top  weaponry, or big clunky robots), and community (though lately I've been terrible at making it to events, summer's busy for me)
Sex, as much as I admire some of the very attractive female avi's, and did enjoy times watching the caberet at the new champagne rooms, I'm not as much interested in virtual sex itself, but will still try (in Prof. Footman's own creepy awkward way) and flirt, so ladies, don't stop wearing skimpy underthings on my behalf, giggity.
some SL institutons that annoy me and I try to avoid is calling everything a 'build',  if it's a vehicle I will call it so, if it is a build-ing (a house for example) I will add 'ing' to the end.  yes I'm pigheaded at times.
I also try to be n character most of the time, I don't really type with any accents as I'm no good with it and my regular typoes make it hard to understand what I am saying anyway, dropped 'H's mean my H key is sticking, not that I am cockney.  but even when I'm building something, if you talk to me, I mostly type in character, the rare times I use voice though, then I am definatly OOC.  
My only real alt is a Mr. Zombie Ohare, Aka: The Badger, he is my accountant, and when I need an NPC or monster for an RP, he fits the bill.

Despite some speculation, Miss Gizzy Allen is not an alt, we're just good friends and former housemates.


So, that's the nutshell of Grendel Footman

New blog for OOC

I've decided to make this blog for my OOC posts, rather than mix them up with my IC roleplay posts in Babbage.  'll be positng here occasionally, rants, my thoughts on roleplay or some things about Second Life,
maybe occasionally things about my RL.

in RL, I'm not a semi-dead/zombified gentleman scientist/surgeon/inventor/occultist wth a gaping hole in his chest and a brass chamber lodged in, I'm really a somewhat large staured often unsophisticated irish guy who never has gone by my real name (considering legally changing it to Grendel some day) My mother is not a monster however and I still have both arms. I'm a self employed graphic artist and sequential artist (think comic books) who plays videogames, tabletop wargames, swims, drinks heavily, watches anime, goes to conventions, and tinkers with making steampunk modifications I occasionally sell.
I love sci-fi, , steampunk, cyberpunk, DnD, roleplay, comic books, anime, horror, lovecraft, zombies, robots, GIANT robots, airships, trains, the sea, submarines and ships.
Virtual worlds have become a new interest of mine the last few years,  both for their RP oppertunities, (noone RP's in many MMO's) their communities, and the imagination of their creators. I am usually on Second Life, Open Sim, occasionally peer into other virtual worlds, and am often pirating  in Eve Online.

and this sounds like an AA meeting, I will stop now