Happy New Year, 2009

Happy New Year, Everyone!

From The Weirding and
The Rundown, The OddBlog, Weird Ink, and The Cyberculturalist

I hope everyone's 2009 is far better than 2008 (it would be hard for it to not be, no?).

I don't do resolutions because... well, they're silly. Everyone forgets them by the day after, loses them within the first week, and rarely ever really tries to keep them anyway. So, this is more of an agenda - again, no promises are being made here, I just want to tell you some of the stuff I have planned and will be working on/toward in 2009:

• Sitemap
• Finalizing the index page
• Champions
• Finalizing the Dark Conspiracy systems expansion
• Metrodome
• The Simple And Free Engine Core Systems
• Incorporating the graphics
  

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

The Weirding is Best Viewed at 1024x768

I finally just gave-in.

The Weirding is best viewed at 1024x768 resolution. You should not have your browser set to "Zoom Text Only" or you will experience bleed (text, images, and other elements overlapping). If the text and/or other elements are too hard to view as presented, Zoom the entire page.

To change your monitor's settings to 1024x768 resolution in Windows:

• Minimize all active windows and get to the Desktop (the first screen you see when your computer starts up)
• Right-click anywhere and choose Properties or Personalize from the menu (regardless of the name, it should be [close to] the last item in the list)
• Select Display
• Slide the bar until you find 1024x768
  

If your display is anything less (generally 800x600), the page runs off the side of the monitor; if any higher, the text will be too small to read and other presentation problems may arise. I can't help this. I have a specific design in mind for every department, page, and element I include (in addition to the site, itself), and I have to be able to control certain aspects to achieve it; there are just too many variables to include if I don't.

Most websites do not do this because other websites are most concerned with just delivering the content; The Weirding is meant to be an online experience, not just a means for delivery. The content The Weirding delivers loses some of its power and connotation as a mere collection of media and the entire site works cohesively, not just as a presentation or delivery system for the actual content; The Weirding website is the content.

That isn't meant to sound pompous or preposterous: role-playing games, comic books, sequential art, film - these are experiences and part of the experience begins with the presentation. RPG books and supplements themselves help deliver some of the tone, atmosphere, and overall concepts involved and I aim to do that, as well. In fact, as more of the website is unveiled, I will probably offer fontpacks for installation just like we used to.

I am going against a lot of Web-centric doctrines with this design, but you can think of this as online "print" - since I am laying this all out and designing it more or less as it would look, were it a printed product; the Web is the media, print is the medium. I am fully aware that "the Web is not print," but neither is it video nor audio; the Internet is both media and medium (as I keep saying) and a website is at least the presentation of the content it provides. I have to be able to take back control of some elements of design in order to effectively present the content and, in so doing, the website becomes more than merely the host of the content - more than just the means to the end, the website becomes the end itself.

The Weirding is the content - it is the book which holds the pages together, the setting in which the game is played - and it cannot be effective if I cannot take back some of the control webdesigners before me have relinquished. If your browser settings override my design, the website probably won't appear correctly, but because there are something like tens of millions of you and only one of me - and only one Weirding - you're just going to have to make some concessions in this regard.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Holiday Updating

Since The Weirding was first established (2006), it has been tradition to update over the holidays. We start on Halloween and usually continue through to sometime just after New Year's. The reason is simple: I had to be at home to hand-out candy and I was not able to get together with my family that first year. Things were such a hassle throughout 2007 that I wasn't able to get much done, and more or less by happenstance, I got around to another major update that Halloween. It just kind of worked out that way, but I like it and have decided to go with it.

As you can tell here, updates are still underway. You can expect new material, tweaking, and so forth, throughout January. This week, in particular, I am unrolling the Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding content. The introductory material is up now and I hope to have more of the systems expansion up tomorrow. I may get some of the campaign setting (Metrodome) up by/on Christmas - or at least this weekend - but that stuff is so extensive that I'm not making any promises.

Along the way, there is more Champions stuff coming (just a page or two - that's really all I have time for); some of the very earliest stages of the Simple And Free Engine; the blogs are being tweaked; and all of the blogs will continue to be updated. If you are new here, The Weirding blogs comprise much of the site. More than just blogs, each functions as an entire department of the site - Weird Ink is probably the best example of this.

I am having to format every page to show-up browsers set to "Zoom Text Only" magnified once. This annoys me. I already make a lot of concessions for outdated OS, non-Firefox browsers, and older monitors (I would honestly like to set my resolution higher), and more. I am certain the site is ugly under some browsers and for that, I apologize. Like everything else, I can only fix it once I am made aware of it and have the time. If at all possible, The Weirding is best viewed at 1024x768 resolution under Firefox.

The truth is that, between all this tweaking and the graphics work, I simply run out of time daily... Graphics take a lot of work, but if I didn't have to worry with making sure everything shows correctly under different conditions, a whole lot more would already be published.

ANYwho, I've been saying for years now that there was a lot of content; hopefully now, you are starting to realize just how many plates I have spinning!

Merry Christmas!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Dark Conspiracy FAQ

Much of this material originally appeared on Fear the Outside, however it was never polished. I created the material throughout the years and began compiling it in/around 2003, then formatted it in 2004. In 2005, I moved to an area without Web access due to telephone and cable installation problems (which I am told are rampant in that area of Memphis). I was formatting the material offline, then carrying my entire desktop to friends' and family's houses to publish it whenever possible. Obviously, I was publishing what I had whenever I could; all of it was one draft or another - none of it was ever completed. In 2006, I moved again and purchased The Weirding domain. No changes were made to the material which resided on Fear the Outside before this time.

In editing the Metrodome campaign and supplement, I realized exactly how rough these drafts were. The writing was pretty bad, the real story was buried (because I was trying so hard to write well), and many of the terms and concepts had been mangled.

Metrodome is the campaign world I created my Dark Conspiracy games. Originally, when I decided to put it online, I wrote it as a basic dark-future setting "template"; it was to be a generic set with rules and conversion notes for various systems (including Dark Conspiracy, Cyberpunk, Champions, SAFE, Psi Wars, and Over the Edge). In so doing, I had to keep game-specific concepts to a bare minimum. When I nixed the idea and began modifying the information, I had to fix this - which was far easier said than done. A lot of the Dark Conspiracy material on Fear the Outside was almost unusable because of this editing misstep and I had no idea! I also had no idea the formatting had made it unreadable on some computers and browsers.

It goes without saying that the formatting was atrocious.

The material has been entirely rewritten and much of it has never before been published in any form. Technically, the original material should be copyright 1992-2009, but I have no idea when what was developed. I settled for 2004 because that is when I began compiling it for publication in earnest.

I have no idea who owns what rights nor what that means for us. As always, The Weirding presents this as supporting material under US Fair Use guidelines. Metrodome is a completely original campaign setting 100% developed, written, and playtested by myself (and numerous troupes) and completely belongs to me, however I freely share it with everyone and encourage derivative works which add to or modify it, under the Creative Commons copyright agreement. The rules addenda and variations are under Creative Commons copyright and technically belong to no one, as whomever owns the rights cannot claim to have developed them and I cannot claim the rights to the game.

In all cases, Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding adds to the original work from which it is derived and does not present the information necessary to play the game (found in the rulesbook). Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding has no intentions of publishing its materials in print, except under mutual contract by any factions controlling the property. Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding cannot be printed in any written form, and only in digital form online (HTML); please do not reprint Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding online, except in limited cases as allowed for by law (critique/review, discuss, et.al.) - point here, to http://www.theweirding.net/RPG/DC/ instead.

I was contacted by a spokesperson for The Gamers' Conglomerate who invited me to "throw-in" on a new edition. However, after I showed him some of Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding, I never heard back from him! I was told they have the rights to produce a new edition of the game, but their website has seen very little updating since 2006 and there is almost no content. After several attempts at contact, I gave up.

To whomever it concerns, The Weirding and C. Harris Lynn are more than willing to work with TGC and/or any other interested parties with a financial investment in the Dark Conspiracy game and properties. All business arrangements are negotiable; Dark Conspiracy @ The Weirding may be seen as a work "on spec" for these purposes. However, it was developed for publication online under Fair Use laws.

This work may not be redistributed in any form. Derivative works should credit me as the author and refer back to www.theweirding.net/RPG/DC/. Please send information on all derivative works here and I will happily link-back to your site. Commercial entities should contact me here for negotiations.

The Dark Conspiracy game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright 1977 - 2004 Far Future Enterprises. Dark Conspiracy is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprise's copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

FAQ: The Weirding Resolution

Click on any page on The Weirding and you will see a little disclaimer at the top, just under the titlebar, which says "This site best viewed at 1024x768 resolution." This is the resolution at which The Weirding is best viewed; this is why I put it on the page, and placed it so prominently.

I realize that sounds insulting, so let me explain:

More than one person has sent me screen captures of pages on which words and titles were overlapping. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why they were showing up differently on those folks' monitors than on mine. I tried different browsers, OS, resolutions, and more... only to one day accidentally discover that they had chosen the "Zoom" feature in their browser.

Interestingly, I first designed the site to function this way. Check out the 70-30 Interview. That's why the paragraphs are so far apart. But since I had that disclaimer so prominently displayed all over... everywhere, I figured people would understand that, should they experience problems viewing the site, they needed to check their settings! After all, for those of us who can see things at the correct resolution, elements spaced so far apart look... off.

I chose this resolution because it was high enough to support the graphics and elements I wanted to use without being so high that only a portion of the audience could appreciate it as it was meant to be seen. I - and many visitors - have equipment which can support higher resolutions and The Weirding would look better at these settings. Then, I could even space the elements far enough apart so you could Zoom a few times without it looking weird if you didn't. The caveat is that, if I did, you would basically have to Zoom-in to read the text!

At any rate, I just wanted to let you know how that works. If you want to get the most out of The Weirding, you basically need to change your resolution to 1024x768. In a few years, I will redesign to support a higher resolution... I just hope that by then I'm not the only one working on this - or it'll take another 10 years to get that far!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008