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Thread: Drifting along with the waves

  1. #1
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Drifting along with the waves

    Well. I'm writing this to get my thoughts down, and because writing it under my AARs would be like me hijacking my own thread. If that's possible?

    I am at this very moment taking a break from studying. I have re-written a chapter for the Tin Isles, and I think it's looking ok. Certainly better than what I had originally written. Having fleshed out minor characters means that I'm going to be changing the chapters that I pre-wrote and even dividing them up to a certain extent, which is actually pretty enjoyable. Its a way for me to see how my writing has become... fuller.. in a short amount of time. Since I did not really start writing with a clear plan it's been nice to come back and add in the sense of purpose that I've been developing as my story itself has developed.

    That being said I am having a harder time with my Shogun 2 piece, although that is probably because I just don't have the time to coordinate two campaigns' worth of story right now. It wouldn't be doing the story justice. Aaand I'm also a little distracted by Attila.

    After the disappointment of Rome 2 I was skeptical of Attila but after watching a few Let's Plays I decided to buy the game and give it a shot and I am very glad I did. The game is just solidly better in my opinion. Yes it's not perfect but it is good. I played a bit as the Saxons, got my arse handed to me as the Ostrogoths when some Romans (I believe it was 5 or 6 legions) decided to chase me for 1,000 miles and finally end my horde (a bit ridiculous and one of my few complaints about the game). And I'm waiting for the DLC to be cheaper. Let's face it, I'm on a budget and $9 for a couple factions isn't worth it in my eyes. Maybe $2-3 but oh well.

    Another "problem" I have is that I feel almost compelled to write about these games. I just love the sense of history from recording all of the events in my games, and I've been like this with many games: Rome (1), Medieval II (especially IB2), Mount and Blade (+mods), Shogun 2, Empire, Skyrim and now Attila. I have to say that Skyrim was a hassle though, at least until I got a journal-writing mod. I think Skyrim AARs are impressive, probably because the game constantly provides so much material all the time. Literally every moment can be written about. I just couldn't get into writing about Rome 2 because I didn't really care about what happened to the people, the generals and dynasties, but with the return of family trees in Atilla I'm interested again. Or maybe it's just the time period. I did play Barbarian invasion a lot more than Vanilla Rome. When I record the events I can look at the individual histories. This general did that, that legion participated in those engagements, and so on. Which brings me to my next statement.

    I'm probably going to end up writing about Attila. Like there's a 97.8% chance that I'll be posting about it. There's a 100% chance that I'll write about at least something since, well, I already have. Lately the late- and post- Roman time frame have just been incredibly interesting to me.

    And now I will be returning to the sad world of studying. I may or may not post an AAR update tonight. Calix meus inebrians

  2. #2
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    So, I just went over and read the Critics' Quill, and it was pretty interesting. I am currently perusing the sections about the development of AARs and it is, to me, quite interesting. The evolution of AARs, as it were, and the evaluation of them has gone through some changes that I was not entirely aware of. In general I was: the development from a "this-is-my-campaign" approach to a "this-is-my-story" approach and whatever lies in between, and it is this in between territory that I was not so aware of. The rise of the "soft narrative" and the way this rise is described is reminiscent of natural selection in the ways I have seen it described sometimes. Perhaps not full on natural selection but more of a directional selection.

    AARs seem to be almost different sub-species that all develop and change along with time.

    Additionally, I found the commentaries on the older ways of sorting and categorizing AARs to be quite interesting as well; I read several of those articles quite a while ago (I was a long-time lurker).

    In any case I thought the articles were interesting and thought provoking and thoroughly enjoyed reading them

  3. #3
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    I believe I may have just committed to doubling or tripling the length of my AAR. Ah, characterization

  4. #4
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    Sometimes I check my posts and see that I posted yesterday but it's stil today

  5. #5
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    Frustrated. I am frustrated. I started a Shogun 2 AAR some months ago, but unfortunately it was too complex for me to handle in the middle of the school year. But though I meant to pick it up and resume my work on it, it would seem that the cyber-kami are striving against me, despite the many hours of gameplay I invested in it/\.

    Well, there are probably fixes left to try but I feel drained after trying for so long (~5-6 hours). I ran into the strangest problem: Fallout New Vegas, Attila, and Shogun all wouldn't work for me, crashing at various states of loading. I managed to get all but Shogun to work, so I do have the consolation that 2/3 are working again...

    Perhaps I will begin an Attila AAR. I have an idea for one already

    ALSO, M2TW is fine, which is a huge relief. Obviously The Tin Isles was a much bigger time investment, and Id' have been sad to lose it. It's going pretty well I think, and I'm happy with how the story is progressing. I was for a moment in danger of Dunawt (my protagonist) becoming a little "too" "good" but thankfully he seized the reigns and has returned to the realm of being human in dangerous and tumultuous times. Perhaps a bit of a Byronic hero, or something. Interestingly, all of my characters have strayed somewhat from the routes that I had originally planned for them. They have developed as the story has, and along with them their motivations and personalities. It's nice on my end to be able to put the characters in a situation and immediately be able to know how each would react.
    Last edited by waveman; June 18, 2015 at 01:33 AM.

  6. #6
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    So. The last month has been quite interesting for me. I've moved out of my apartment on campus and into a house not far from my school/college/university/call-it-what-you-wil, which is quite nice. I'll finally have space again! I had a room with two other roommates my freshman year; I got along well with one and had some rocky times with the second. Last year I had a room to myself but it was very small, and now I have more room than I know what to do with. Yet.

    The down side was the moving process. I packed up all my stuff and dropped half of it off at a friend's house, and brought the rest to the living room of another friend where I ended up living for a month. I was interesting, to say the least, but I at least had two couches to choose from to sleep on: one that folded out into a quasi-mattress and another, much more comfortable one. Now that I've moved into this house I have had even more to deal with: acquiring internet, furniture, shepherding my roommates through the process, the list goes on...

    But its nice to have a place and to not be searching anymore. I know of several people who still are.


    On another note, I have yet again decided to try my hand at modding a TW game and this time I have gotten the farthest yet. I've messed with stats for Rome I and II, Attila, and Shogun 2, but really nothing else. Now, however, I have successfully made some changes to one of the Kingdoms expansion maps, after many hours of work and fiddling with various tools and the like. But unfortunately, despite my great feeling of accomplishment, I must focus more on my studies for I have a final coming up

    My AARs/writing: Link
    Letters for writing: þ, ð æ Æ

  7. #7
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    My rep desription "waveman could carry a coconut by gripping it by the husk" is probably the best thing I've seen all day

    My AARs/writing: Link
    Letters for writing: þ, ð æ Æ

  8. #8
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    I've realized that my greatest challenge when writing is that I've been writing about such large windows of time. I'm really enjoying writing stories that take only hours up to a little over a year, as opposed to campaigns spanning dozens of turns and decades of time in-game

    My AARs/writing: Link
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  9. #9
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Making waves

    Going to use this post to write down funny things

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Because people can maneuver between spears that aren't moving and jabbing all over the place.

    [–]Hydrall_Urakan 19 points 9 hours ago
    Or take an axe and hack them to pieces.



    [–]Stoichin 32 points 9 hours ago
    Found the German








    • juanNovember 30, 2015 at 5:57 pmtbh I think there is no sure way to determine complexity without a human, as complexity itself has many different parts, some which are not necessarily quantitative. therefore there is no exact equation that may be used to describe “complexity.”
      btw i am in the 8th grade in a highly selective high school which has a lower acc rate than harvard univ. but still i dont think my writing, though better than most kids my age, has the level of “college graduate”. just sayin.
      Reply












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    Last edited by waveman; April 07, 2016 at 10:13 PM.

    My AARs/writing: Link
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  10. #10
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Drifting along with the waves

    So....

    I've got quite a few projects up here, some of which I even intend to finish! I am finding, however, a certain lack of motivation in when it comes to several aspects of said projects. One being effort, but over the last year my life has gotten more busy. Classes are getting harder, as are the demands of my life, but I'm also finally beginning to apply proper amounts of effort to my various undertakings. In RL. Thus depleting my time for stuff here, and also my motivation.

    Now, more intrinsically, there's the writing in itself. I do think that I eventually want to write a book, and I now have a few ideas lazily rolling around in my head. Never woulda thought that a year ago, in fact I was still in the throes of moaning about my most recent writing course. (Literature analasys - not my cuppatea, and has almost literally nothing whatsoever to do with my major. I mean, can you imagine a scientist: "Um, yes so here's my data, this microorganism secretes a substance that has been found to reduce the effectiveness of malaria." Review panel: yes, good, but what did the author really mean?" Scientist: "What, I'm the author." Panel: "Well, how about the articles that you drew from for your research?" Scientist: "Ah, it was pretty clearly stated. I mean, you can get a rough idea from the title, or the synopsis. Or, you could read them, but be ready with a good internet connection..." Panel: "Now write a synthesis paper using 12 sources and an annotated bibliography comparing and contrasting their OPINIONS." Scientist: *facepalm* /endrant)

    Ok, well obviously I like writing since I'm here, and hey, my previous class wasn't bad - even enjoyable at times. But I digress.

    Many of these stories I write have a large scope. Not nearly so large as the complex masterpieces that Lugotorix brings us, but years, decades. What eats away at me is the lack of development in my stories, since I tend to take the closer, character-driven approach, which does not lend itself well to following a TW campaign. I mean, it does, but not with how many stories I want, at various times, to write. For example, once I start back up with The Fields of Aquitani , it'll take a lot of work to get the story to completion. I'll enjoy it, but still a lot of work, and that's for 3-5 turns. Most of them being movement. If I took that pace with The Tin Isles, or For Honor or For Glory? I might never finish. At times, I felt that I was blitzing through the story, and at other times I might have been better off just skipping some of it. But hey, Abe Sadayoshi's story is getting interesting again, right?

    TL;DR I look too deeply into my stories. Now look above, I posted a new funny thing

    My AARs/writing: Link
    Letters for writing: þ, ð æ Æ

  11. #11
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: Drifting along with the waves

    Yo.

    So I recently realized that I've been absent around here for a month or so, probably a bit more. I've had a lot going on recently, from midterms to a breakup which went about as well as those things go. My various stories haven't been updated, and I intend to rectify that soon, potentially even this weekend, or even start (yet another) new one! I'm thinking ancient Greece, Persia, or Egypt.... but the idea is still in its infancy.

    All this aside, I believe that I shall have a fairly easy summer coming up. I don't really plan on taking any classes so I should have plenty of time to devote to other pursuits. So hopefully I'll be doing some nice chemistry alongside the mundane portion of my job, getting a nice amount of writing done, potentially some modding, and going sailing/hiking/brewing with my friends

    My AARs/writing: Link
    Letters for writing: þ, ð æ Æ

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