Ken Newquist

Off the Bookshelf: Lathe of Heaven, Wizard’s First Rule, The Subtle Knife, The Golden Globe

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Summer is in roasting and roaring its way across the United States, which means its time for me get cracking on my summer reading list. As I discussed in Radio Active #69, this summer I’ve decided that rather than buy a new armload of books, I’d delve deep into the Nuketown library and dig out … Read more

Advice on building a Second Life Island?

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So I find myself in the position of needing to buy and help build up a Second Life island for the day job. I’m excited in about it insomuch as it’s a new project, and something I’ve never done before. Plus, hey, it’s almost virtual reality. Granted, it would have been far, far cooler if the college had gone ga-ga for World of Warcraft instead, but hey, I’ll take my virtual worlds where I can find them.

In the meantime though, I find myself having to work through questions I don’t really know the answers to. Specifically:

  1. Preferred Grid Location: I know we want our island to be on the public grid, but where on the public grid? Is it better to be off by yourself? Should you be next to another college? Or the New Media Consortium? Or does it not really matter, because people will be ‘porting in, not wandering the wilds of SL looking for college islands to explore?
  2. What island shape do we want? Is one type of island better to build on than another? For example, we’re thinking of either the “donut” shape, which is an oval island with a lake in the middle, or a mountainous shape, which sticks an mountain on one side of the island. Which is easier to build on?

My 2008 Summer Reading List

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Here’s my summer reading list, as discussed in Radio Active #69, broken out for easy reference (by me). Print Novels The Last Colony by John Scalzi – A novel of intergalactic intrigue featuring the main characters from Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and Ghost Brigades Quicksilver by Neil Stephenson – adventures in science during the Age … Read more

Game Day: Fueling the D&D 4E Storm with Planetorn

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After a week’s hiatus so I could play with the kids on an island, our Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition playtest campaign gets back underway tonight. The campaign’s officially moved to “active” status, and now has its own campaign home page in the GriffWiki. For those late to the show, we’re using Planetorn as a … Read more

Geek on an Island

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Waves rush in toward a stony shore.

I’m back from the island. No, not the Island but rather, an island on Lake Champlain on which our family friends own a cabin. We headed up there last week for a five days of sun, water and mosquitos, and while I can’t say it was particularly relaxing, it was a lot of fun. First, … Read more

Living in the Datacloud

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As I write this, I’m in a Holiday Inn in New Hampshire. I don’t have a laptop with me, but I’ve got a stack of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition books next to me, and a review due Sunday night. A few years ago, I’d have been doomed, but now I’ve got access to the … Read more

Game Day: The D&D 4th Edition Campaign Launches

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Today’s the official start of our Dungeons & Dragons 4th mini-campaign, Planetorn. It’s our testbed for 4th edition, and I expect the campaign to run about five to eight sessions, or until the end of the summer, which ever comes first. Since this is the first night of the campaign I don’t have time for … Read more

D&D 4E Annotated Playtest: Goblin Smackdown

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My gaming group held our first 4th edition playtest this week, pitting a group of first-level characters against a wandering band of goblins. The battle took place among a couple of low hills, with the adventurers surprising a band of goblins eating roasted dog around a guttering campfire. There was no role-playing component to the … Read more