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John Christopher 1922-2012

trask — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:11:42 +0000

Tor.com reported the passing of John Christopher today. This saddens me greatly as I was a tremendous fan of the “Tripods” young adult sci-fi series many years ago. I learned critical life skills like how to evade capture, blow up alien war machines and the best way to infiltrate an alien city masquerading as a slave. And, most importantly, the value of observing your alien master patiently until a weak point appears and then beat the alien scum to death with your bare hands.

Rest in peace sir.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Metamorphosis Alpha Arrives from Lulu

trask — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:28:07 +0000

The Metamorphosis Alpha game itself is all that I expected, pure old-school gaming. This is not really a review, just a report on the whole Lulu experience. Honestly, the production quality is much better than expected. My experience with print-on-demand ranges from acceptable to awful, so the quality of this book is a nice surprise. The color cover is a bit fuzzy, but the interior pages are razor sharp and very clean. Oh, check out the the apocalypse resistant packaging Lulu uses. Metamorphosis Alpha arrived inside a box and shrink-wrapped to another padded piece of cardboard. I think it could survive reentry! A bit much for a 32-page book, but at least it arrived in flawless condition.

If you are a Metamorphosis Alpha fan and want a copy that you will not feel bad about losing in a tsunami of soda, then the Lulu Metamorphosis Alpha edition is a must-have item.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer.

Add 4.5 Gigabytes to Your Dropbox for Free

trask — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:08:06 +0000

Lifehacker has a great post about adding 4.5 gig to your Dropbox by participating in a beta test. It does require a bit of work (uploading 4.5 gig of files for the test), but I already got 2 gig in upgrades in about 2 hours. Warning: this is bandwidth intensive, so if you are on a pay for use plan it may not be for you.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Gen Con 2012 Hotel Update 2–Downtown Rooms Still Available

trask — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:48:35 +0000

Shock! After years of logging in and attacking the housing portal at the moment it goes live to get a decent hotel room, this year was totally different. There are still rooms available at downtown hotels 8 hours after hotel registration began! This is unprecedented in my experience attending Gen Con. So, if you still have not registered and plan on attending there is still hope.

Oh, in case you wonder why I keep posting about this topic is the hotel situation at Gen Con is was a nightmare. Either you fought like the devil for a room downtown or you stayed at some distant hotel that required a car or cabs. Distant hotels are cheaper, but whatever savings you get from staying outside downtown are probably offset by the extra hassle and expense to travel to and park downtown.

That and after a long day of gaming and shopping, a five minute walk back to your hotel is preferable than a long drive.

Trask

A Gencon 2012 Hotel Near-Miss

trask — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:18:20 +0000

Oops. I forgot today was the Gencon 2012 hotel registration day and logged in an hour late. Expecting to get a hotel somewhere in Outer Mongolia, I was pleasantly surprised to get the downtown hotel I desired. I hope this is because the new hotels in Indy finally added enough capacity to meet demand rather than fewer people competing for rooms. So, if you too forgot there is still some hope.

Trask

Metamorphosis Alpha on Lulu.com with Free Shipping

trask — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:27:02 +0000

Long have I desired a copy of “Metamorphosis Alpha” by James M. Ward for my bookshelf, but I am unwilling to pay collector prices. Mostly because I feel stupid because I walked past stacks of this game in book stores back in the early 1980s and never realized its historical significance to gaming. Now, James Ward has reprinted “Metamorphosis Alpha” through Lulu.com for $14.99. Using promo code “whoashipping” gets you free shipping. Sure, it is not an original printing but you will not mind when you spill soda on your copy either. ;-)

See you on the Warden!

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Secrets to Getting a Free 20 Gig Dropbox Account

trask — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:45:36 +0000

Dropbox is the handy online storage tool I wrote about a couple of years ago. I thought it was handy tool for game groups. I used a 2 gigabyte free account for a while, but noticed I was filling it up very quickly and constantly managing space was a hassle. I am also incredibly cheap and did not want to pay for more space. So, I went in to research mode and found every freebie, contest, and referral technique Dropbox currently offers to boost my Dropbox space. A few days later, I am the proud owner of a free 20 gigabyte Dropbox account. Behold the glory.

I had a couple of friends try it and they got the same results. Massive, free boosts to their Dropbox accounts. It worked so well in fact I decided to put it into a document and publish it. Here is the result; “The Gratis Guide to Free Dropbox Space.”

Normally I sell the Gratis Guide for $2.99, but I am attending the Game manufacturers Trade Show in March in Las Vegas and need a fundraiser. ~~So, I am selling the Gratis Guide for .99~~! Sorry, the sale is over, but the e-book on getting free dropbox space is still available. If you enjoy my GAMA Trade Show coverage, please consider picking up this e-book to help offset my expenses.

Oh, if you have a website and are willing to link put this link on your site (Guide to Free Dropbox Space), drop me a line. I will be happy to send you a free copy.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Livingdice Goes Black Tommorow to Protest SOPA

trask — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:10:08 +0000

I may not have much traffic relative to Google and Wikipedia, but I do enjoy the right to publish my rantings freely. That said, the Stop Online Piracy Act is a pathetic attempt by large media companies to control the Internet using Gestapo-like tactics. By the way, I do not use the Nazi analogy lightly. I truly believe SOPA and other legislation is a direct threat to many freedoms we currently enjoy on the Internet.

So, tomorrow Livingdice goes black. You can still get to the content by clicking through the black banner, but I hope you will at least take a moment to consider the value of the Internet in its current state. Get educated. Otherwise the freedoms we all enjoy on the net now will disappear in a swirl of copyright legislation favoring media conglomerates.

Anyone else care to join me? There is a handy WordPress plugin to get the job done with minimal effort.

Trask

GAMA Trade Show 2012 Hotel Alert

trask — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:15:05 +0000

Update: I just checked and the Bally’s site is now showing the correct pricing for GTS 2012. All appears to be well.

I just booked my flight and hotel for the GAMA Trade Show 2012 and noticed something odd. Assuming you are staying at the site of the convention (Bally’s), you can use the convention code (SBGAMA2) to get a $114.00 per night rate. All well and good, but the rate discount does not seem to work when you use the code on the Bally’s website reached from the GTS hotel page. It defaults down to rack rate for the hotel and says no rooms available at that rate for the week of the trade show.

The Calendar of Misinformation

Save yourself some major cash and call Bally’s directly. The reservation agent happily applied the code to my room for the week and I got the $114.00 rate. Otherwise my stay was $199.00 per night! This completes my good deed for the day.

See you in Vegas!

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Vul-Con Trophies Are Amazing!

trask — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:05:57 +0000

Vul-Con, the gaming convention taking place in Phoenix, Arizona on February 25th and 26th posted a shot of the amazing trophies for their main events. Roman swords!

I will be posting more information about Vul-Con as the date draws closer.

Livingdice is a sponsor of this convention, so I will be there in person. Drop by and throw a few slings and arrows at me. Figuratively, of course. ;-)

Trask, The Last Tyromancer