Tag: goals

Detached from the storm that is the nation at large, I have been doing my part staying away, staying in, staying informed, and staying busy.

That’s helped a lot with September’s goals 😁

September Goal Review

1. 1. 1. BITS GM and Spell Guides
         1. Won. Have both! Protocol/Rules for the GM and 120 spells with mechanics. They’re edited, too! Though, I must readdress part of the spell system that’ll likely scrap the 120 spell. #GameDesign 🙃
      2. BITS Monster / Equipment / Character Creation Guides
         1. Won. The Monster Guide happened to be rolled into the GM guide and some of the adventure. Everything else is looking fine 😎
      3. BITS Adventure
         1. Won. Lost Mines of Phandelver is the Dungeon and Dragons starting adventure and its format was the example for BITS. However, it’s a campaign and possibly too detailed. After studying Mork Borg (content warning), I will remake the guide into single page adventures that can make up a whole campaign. (Setting up the campaign also required me to give the “game” using BITS a name: As Above, So Below.)
      4. 100/5 Pushups/Pullups
         1. Won. Wrecked this one like a boss 💪🏻😎🤳🏻 I hit >60 push-ups in a set, >400 a day, >12 pull-ups a set, >40 a day. With some consultation, I scaled back from “every day” to five days, though three to four seem like the optimal number. The intention was to regain ten pounds, which I have!

October Goal Proposal

Before we begin, a caveat: I’m aiming to take a vacation for a week either hiking the Appalachian Trail (some 90 miles one-way) or climbing a few mountains. However, me being fair-weather, I hold out for a fine seven-to-ten day forecast. If it comes, I’ll be scrapping the third goal for the month!

1. 1. 1. BITS Alpha Edits
         1. Have to address a few more issues with the AASB guides, along with a tightening of the equipment and spellcasting. Will keep edits local / with folks whose skills in game design are proven. (If you’d like to be included, see below!)
      2. BITS Format and Principles
         1. Add some placeholder images for theme to the guides and set aside a document that’ll serve as BITS‘s system bible (what it is attempting and how to go about it).
      3. BITS Beta Edits
         1. Here, the guides will be sent out into the wild for review. Reddit, Twitter, here, and elsewhere. I trust I’m ready for the burn 🔥
      4. Outline
         1. I’ve lived a life and have come across, what I feel, are some Truths. I’ve also immense imaginative stories bouncing around in my head. With this goal, I’m going to outline at least one of them, if not more.

100% winning in September! Work and workout every day leads to results 😃

Here’s to hoping October

If you’d be so kind as to review the BITS ruleset, fill out the form below. (Your email shall only be used to send links – no spam!) I’m indebted to your help in advance! Cheers ~

Another month, another post.

How have your goals been going? 🤔

Mine have been somewhat splendid! But don’t take my word for it 😉 Read ahead for the work, followed by the work ahead in September!

August Goal Review

1. BITS of DnD Draft 1
   1. Won. And what drafts there are! Started with a 40-pager of a ruleset… then threw it out. Now writing a tiered set of guides for players, which brings me to:
2. BITS of DnD Final Draft (For Beta Playtesting)
   1. Failed -ish. I wrote a “core” draft. Trashed it. Now I’m rewriting a simpler, concise set of instructions to guide play. I have a game, but it’s in need of a little more tweaking before blind playtests 😁
3. GD ST Outlines
   1. Failed. In essence, I forgot about it 🤷‍♂️ Instead, I rewatched Avatar: The Last Airbender while tweaking and playtesting BITS at home!
      However, I have an outline of the major events I want to write about. I have a GD ST world of factions and people and technology that will be an anthology… just not yet.
4. Housekeeping
   1. Won. Sis moved, COVID risk mitigated.

September Goal Proposal

1. BITS GM and Spell Guides
   1. Squeeze out information for the Game Moderator (a special player in BITS) and magic (really, a system unto its own) from the +40-pager written in August.
2. BITS Monster / Equipment / Character Creation Guides
   1. Stuff to fight, stuff to fight with, and someone to fight as. Easier reference for anyone who needs it.
3. BITS Adventure
   1. Gotta write an adventure for playtesters to play, right? It will involve a human mob, goblins, some orcs, treasure, caves, castles, and either a dragon, an evil wizard, or both! 🐲
4. 100/5 Pushups/Pullups
   1. I’m 10 pounds down in muscle since before the pandemic. Starting with 100 pushups and 20 pullups in no more than 4 sets every day in the first week, I’ll increase the numbers by 100/5 each week to 400/35 a day.
      What does this have to do with my Financial Independence goals? Well, I need to be healthy in my retirement when I get there, so strength training it is 💪🏻

August missed some achievements, yet I feel very good about where my projects are right now. Great strides have been made, the way forward clear!

FYI – if you’re interested in giving feedback over the BITS system, send me a message. Extra eyes on are always appreciated!

Also, I’ve learned some things this August about “achievement addiction” and “hedonic adaptation”. Both are problems I’m actively addressing. Steps include actively restricting the things I attempt to do every day, limit the number of projects I have going on at once, being satisfied over unoptimized results, and taking time to, well, enjoy life 😶

I’ve scheduled in some “fun for fun’s sake” activities in September and am actively forgoing seeking out attempting to earn more money. Sounds strange, since FI needs cash to stay afloat – I need to update my mental attitude before then so I know how to stop after I’ve earned that achievement!

Anyway, take care of yourself. Act against the wrongs in the world and let no injustice go unchallenged. Cheers through next week ~

Hello hello!

Checking in for July’s progress (and boy, what progress!). As we look ahead to August, I think the momentum will be kept up. Let’s talk:

July Goal Review

1. Invest in Family
   1. Won. Visiting sis and reaching out to family, I’ve learned a lot about them and myself. (Still working on myself!) A
2. Invest in Games
   1. Won. I have a Draft 0 of BITS, specifically BITS of DnD, a conversion of the hit TTRPG, and am onto Draft 1. That, and I playtested various mechanics of a Civil War-themed Risk game – the playtest showed areas where the game wasn’t communicating the right ‘feel’, but I did mathematically deduce what the continent bonus should be in any Risk game (look for a post on that later! Spoiler: the constant for bonus value is .4).
3. Invest in Investments
   1. Won. Read up on The Tao of Warren Buffet and The Intelligent Investor, both excellent and recommended reads. Sold objectively way overvalued TSLA stock, built an automated checklist for stock purchase worthiness, and discovered the glory of ImportHtml in Google Sheets (could give a post on this later if there’s interest). And I bought COBRA insurance! ~woot~ (?)
4. (Wait, what happened to the interview?)
   1. Interviewed, passed the fourth and final round, yet when it was between me and another, the other won out. Oh well 🤷‍♂️ Gave me more time for other goals 😉

August Goal Proposal

I had in mind possibly blitzing a short story a week for four weeks, ~10K words a week, put them in an anthology or some such. While still on my mind, I’ve decided to finish (or get presentable) the thing that’s pestered my mind for two years: BITS. Check it out:

1. BITS of DnD Draft 1
   1. As the title says. Get a presentable document prepared (there are still notes in Draft 0). Once that’s done, I’ll moved to the second goal:
2. BITS of DnD Final Draft (For Beta Playtesting)
   1. By the end of August, I’ll have a playable ruleset that strangers should be able to pickup. This is the draft that can be applied to a general BITS ruleset and collection of design principles applicable for other IPs and games!
3. GD ST Outlines
   1. “GD ST” is a code name for a WIP retelling of a classic IP. My goal is to concoct ‘episodes’ (at least 12, preferably 24) that will be in a one-page outline form each. The outlines will be great for later use, should I begin a ‘short-story-a-month’ or similar scheme to get back to writing 📝
4. Housekeeping
   1. This is particular. Travel is going to happen to someone in the household, so they will become a COVID risk. That, and my sis is moving, so I’m lifting and carrying for that. So, housekeeping! More chores than normal! These things I’ll be spending time on (kind of a cop-out, so should really be one less goal for August as was done for July… oh well 🙃).

July was an overwhelming victory. I’ve demonstrably improved in my financial knowledge and positions, some of my relationships, my game making, and in my understanding of SQL (this is a coding interview thing).

August shall not stop me, nor should it you. If there is help I may provide you in your goals, do reach out. Should you like to help in playtesting, proofreading, or just wanting to check on how things are, I deeply appreciate hearing from you 😊

As always, stay safe, stay healthy, remember that you are and that is excellence. Cheers! 🖖🏻

Hello, all!

Welcome back and welcome to July! Trust you are healthy, getting wealthy, and wiser than you were ❤

June Goal Review

1. BITS
   1. Won. The Body-Interaction-Thought System, my “baby” for running table top role playing games. After a number of playtests, partly converting the Warhammer 40K Deathwatch TTRPG, and uncounted hours of study, I have me a decently solid system. I’ll see about posting an Alpha-version of the system (and notes for converting your favorite games to it) sometime in the coming weeks 🙂
2. Mods
   1. Failed. I have a Civil War Risk mod, but I haven’t figured out the territory bonuses typical for Risk games (eventually this happens). You can see for yourself the map I intend to update and use for finishing this game:

      

3. White Papers
   1. Failed. Have notes. Don’t have papers. 🤷‍♂️
4. Tabletop RPGs
   1. Won. As mentioned, Warhammer 40K Deathwatch and its ilk of like-games has been converted. Simple abstraction, division, and averaging streamline the game to act faster while delivering a similar brutal punch 😎

July Goal Proposal

A caveat before we begin: I’ve been interviewing. Since I take a week to study when faced with these kinds of conversations, time will be taken from goals. I’ll make this up as best I can, though I will limit myself to one fewer goal this month.

1. Invest in Family
   1. After some sudden family loss in June and with the prospect of having to start work again, I need to not let the opportunity to enjoy the company of these others. Though without much measurable outcome, I will seek to visit my sister, keep up the family estate, learn from my parents, and spend oodles of time with Sandy the lovable cat 😍
2. Invest in Games
   1. There’s BITS to polish, there are example BITS games to make, there’s Civil War Risk to finish, and a myriad other games I’ve started but have yet to complete. BITS and the Civil War mod will be my priorities to show off in prototype (hopefully Beta-level) form.

      

3. Invest in Investments
   1. Money is the name of the game. It’s the scorecard for my ultimate goal: Early retirement (or, at least the ability to retire). With the stock market doing excellently, I’ll draft the stocks/funds I’d buy if the market crashes like it did in March. If such is the case, retirement will be coming much, much sooner.

June was tough, though progress was still made. As we spike in COVID cases in the US and my time is temporarily taken by interviews, I will meet July’s challenges full force 👍

You rock. Don’t forget that. Stay safe, wear your mask and keep your distance. All the best to you and yours and your goals. Need any assistance with your work? Keep me posted!