Updates: Champions, Chill, Cyberpunk, Dark Conspiracy

I'm covering all my bases here, so don't expect all of this at once or anytime in particular (unfortunately, probably not any time real soon on a lot of it), but here's what's going down over to the site, proper:

Champions

The legal department is almost live. I'm building things in the right order accidentally, meaning I published an article which isn't linked to by anything already published, so no one else can get to it. It contains links to pretty much every other page in the folder. If I continue to publish the pages in this fashion, the entire department will be presented when the index page is published. This will all happen very soon, as I'm finishing the Legal Content right now.

More of Megacity is on the way, but the above is a major Champions roll-out and I have other matters to which I must attend, so it will be presented as I get to it. The information is already done; I just have to determine layout and so forth.

Cyberpunk

No ETA. There are now several Cyberpunk dictionaries online and the coding on this stuff is deep... Unless I can find a workaround, it's going to take a lot of time. I may publish one page at a time, but it leaves a lot of dead links and those are never good.

Chill

New Vincent material - introductory Vincent material - is on the way. It is being held-up by graphics issues. What I may start doing is blocking-in the artwork when it isn't ready - that way, I only need place the actual images once they're done, as opposed to republishing the entire page/project. Anyway, it is on the way.

Dark Conspiracy

I got sidetracked here because of the move. In the meanwhile, I started a new project. At first it was because I couldn't find the Dark Conspiracy books, but then it was more of a personal thing. I have the books and all and know what needs to be done, it's just a matter of getting back into it - it's a sprawling mess, to be honest. The organization is taking some time to stumble through - doubly so because I can't find an easier way to do things - as are the images. However, I think it's all worth it.

I need to update the pages already in-place so everything is congruent, but because Dark Conspiracy is so big, it gets to be the first department I "map"-out before actually working on it. That is, I'm going to use index cards to layout the entire thing, from directory to page. It's kind of a hassle.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Reshaping

I noticed there is some traffic going to the old RPG blog. This is because I left the links live in some of the departments I haven't been able to get to yet, namely Champions. Specifically, visitors are going to the Megacity posts. I'm just writing this to let you know those posts are being dismantled so I can format them for the Web and present them traditionally (as HTML pages).

Because The Weirding is so text-heavy, I'd originally thought using a blog as a CMS (Content Management System) was an easier route than going it traditionally, but it turned out to be far more work (and far less effective) than it was worth. That's also the reason I decided against using an actual CMS package: it's just too much work. While I'm sure it would look nice and there are many other reasons it is a good approach, the only way I can be sure I control every aspect of the content and presentation is by doing it traditionally.

With everything I have to deal with IRL, and how long it takes me to complete even a single page (current conditions aside), I do not have time to learn a new system - and those CMS have steep learning curves! This little blog/CMS/HTML attempt has cost me months, but I don't regret it; I know I could tweak things and develop a working system from the disparate components, but why bother? Of course, it means an even longer wait for content that's technically ready to be published, but it will be worth it.

Champions fans have reason to rejoice, though: because the Champions material is already done, it's going to be one of the first things published. I am still working on organization and layout/design issues which have forced me to rewrite (/recode) a lot of the material already "finished" (otherwise it would already be available) but it is still further along than most of the other departments, so I'm able to knock it out sooner.

Right now, my schedule allows me at least one hour each day to work on the site, in addition to the weekends, on which I can usually focus on the site alone. At this pace, it takes about a week to complete one page, though images take far longer. Due to Champions' subject matter and my predilection for drawing it, it is taking longer than most of the other departments - of course, that means it will be pretty damned hip once it's actually available. So, if you figure-in the fact that most of the written material is complete, but Champions has a lot of images (which take a long time to finish), it means Champions is about as far along as everything else...

One of the reasons I really wanted a system like this to work is so you could leave comments and hopefully add to, and modify, the material. I am working on developing an alternate approach for handling that. Individual articles may still be posted (they'll now be posted here, on The Wording, instead of elsewhere), though most of the posts here will actually concern "meta-" and IRL discussion - such as this one.

I am leaving the links live for now, but they will redirect to the new pages once those are complete.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

FAQ: Vincent - Chill Campaign Cityscape

The Vincent campaign setting for Chill contains many elements considered Mature and is recommended only for readers 17+. These elements include, but may not be limited to:

• Strong Language - Profanity and explicit references to sexuality, violence, alcohol, or drug use
• Strong Lyrics - Profanity and explicit references to sex, violence, alcohol, or drug use in music
• Strong Sexual Content - Graphic depiction of sexual behavior, possibly including nudity
• Suggestive Themes - Mild provocative references or materials
• Tobacco Reference - Reference to and/or images of tobacco products
• Use of Drugs - The consumption or use of illegal drugs
• Use of Alcohol - The consumption of alcoholic beverages
• Use of Tobacco - The consumption of tobacco products
• Violence - Scenes involving aggressive conflict

Vincent is purely fictional; none of the characters, scenes, situations, or locations are real nor are they based on real people. Any resemblance to real places, people, or things are purely coincidental. Chill deals with themes and subject matter many may consider controversial, including religion and the Occult. The Weirding offers materials for use in a roleplaying game environment and does not promote interest in the Occult. This is neither a religious nor subversive work. Chill 3.0 is copyright OtherWorld Creations and is used by permission. OtherWorld Creations is not responsible for content presented on The Weirding. All artwork and design is copyright, C Harris Lynn, 2009. Vincent is provided for use with all Chill products for free. It may be modified, repackaged, and redistributed at will online; Vincent cannot be transferred to any offline media by any means, including print, CD, film, or any other methods which permanently alters the status of the material as "living documents."

© C Harris Lynn, 2009