What is a a better term than LAN to describe what we do?

At a “LAN Party” we generally transpose a digital manifestation of our soul into the alternate reality of the chosen game.

Is there some sort of extra planar entity in a rougelike monster compendium that we can model ourselves after. Something that can transplant its soul into different world. that can reset reality when bad things happen. we fear the blue screen of death. We can easily adapt to new surroundings and shapechange from Mario to Chell to a tynanid hivemind.

Escapism comes to mind. We are able to transplant our selves into the new world and participate within its rigid set of rules. with level ups and only completing tasks if they are defined within quests or recorded as achievements.

So when we participate in a LAN we travel together cooperatively in to an alternate reality in which we overcome conflict. While in this reality we posses one of the locals, call them a protagonist and mold them to our will, evolving them as we see fit. At times treating them like lemmings, sometimes 
 developing a relationship.

Does “Astral travel” kind of fit what happens? no not really it seems to involve a passive physical body. But our fingers in particular are definitely not passive when gaming.

The mindcrafter in ADOM sort of fits. I thought he could posses critters as well, but that isn't the case. maybe it was TOME where I did that.

Hard to tell, the new tome is rather small as they are remaking the game. But I did find an old TOME that could be good for LAN, I think the loremasters had Symbiotic powers that allowed them to inhabit recently vacated corpses. Posessor was the class I was looking for. This requires some research. Found the old files here.

Work

This made an interesting read. Definitely not what I was looking for but I agreed with most of it. I try quite hard to never admit to working, as work generally implies not fun (or displacement x vector).
When you find your vocation it will be something you would pay people to let you do. Like fishing or golf, except you get paid to do it. If everybody enjoyed their jobs that much then the world would be a very different place.

Do communities die?

In order to die, you must first live. Life is the period of time between birth and death.

There are several qualities used to determine Life, I think you need most to qualify.
 

1. Homeostasis: Rules and regulations to define how it runs. There is a constitution as well.
2. Organization: President, Secretary, Treasurer; Delegated subcommittees.
3. Metabolism: Consumes the energy of money and paperwork. Excretes more paperwork.
4. Growth: Communities don't grow like snowflakes, they grow like cancer. Government funding can stimulate growth and apathy can make growth retarded.
5. Adaptation: The Laws change and communities can migrate from one country to another. Like Octoberfest migrating from Germany to Australia.
6. Response to stimuli: If the management committee all get food poisoning from bad Natto (is that ever good?) and die, then a new committee can be formed from the remaining members. And since all the new management live in surfer shacks on the beach the meetings now take place by the sea shore and they eat fresh fish cooked in a hangi.
7. Reproduction: Primarily asexually But nowadays with woman's rights sexual reproduction between two organisms is possible. Like there may be too many people in minicolts, so the club spawns an offshoot to increase the size of the football league. Or maybe all the husbands want to have a go at Roller Derby, So they form a new club to compete with their wives.

Seems to me that communities must defiantly be living things. They can be as small as the church of the flying spaghetti monster or as big as AA. They may be as extinct ans the Babylonian's or as new age as the new agers.

Community Theory

Time to get something written.

What is a community? How does it form? How does it grow. Now that I think about it I wonder if a community is alive? What about in this digital world? are online communities real things? What separates communities?

What causes war? How can people actually kill each other? Seems that it is usually justified by saying that they are lesser people and not deserving of what they have. It's for their own good after all. Or maybe they started it first and we are only protecting ourselves.
Anything can be used to draw a line in the sand to differentiate Us from Them

How about computer games? they usually have a lot of war and killing, the overcoming of some dark tower. All in all I rarely play a creative game on the PC where you build things out of lego bricks. I'm just not interested in growing virtual plants, unless they then kill zombies.

How does this all relate? Well computer games are more fun when there is a community to share them with. Be it the developers who will support you and help make sure the game actually works. The other players who try to finish the game first/better than you and then tell you all the cheats and shortcuts. Or maybe the NPCs themselves, yes you can even form a community with them. Especially when there is a Wise Old Mage + Brutish Lout of a Berzerker + Thief who is Quite Debonair  + Princess (who happens to be your love interest, oh she is a healer too).

I saw a list somewhere on how a community forms.
1 a group of people exist (Boat crashes on deserted island)
2 Identify a common goal, (do nor die)
3 Be on your best behaviour, work together to achieve goals (collect food)
4 Relax, be your true self, conflicts arise (U lazy, I got more food)
5 Sub communities develop / community fractures / community consolidates (one of the three)
6 Death (shipwrecked passengers get rescued)

I think I am done for now...

Anoikis the Fabled: Pixi dust Paradise

Anoikis the Fabled: Pixi dust Paradise

I got to play a tabletop game with some teenage boys, it was very well done and seemed much more real that the real world. I wonder how that can be?

Since the Boss of Bandits taught me that heroes are immortal I followed his lead and combined the magic of fire and lightning to share. It seems to me that shooting behind my back is a little too flashy and nobody has acknowledged my prowess with the rifle so I gave up on that. While I did whack a few stray dogs with my hammer it just doesn’t have the same effect as using an axe. I miss Anoikis’s Axes, they had a certain alliteration about them. At any rate I like Lightning because it makes skeletons and fire seems a nice combo, and since a combo sounds more powerful I’ll stick with that.
It seems that the more I use a skill the better I am at it. This is odd. The magic was way better than melee or ranged at the Beginning of my career (despite my training in the martial arts) and now it is way more better (having been further upgraded to More). I’ll need to find some massively mechanically maiming hardware to compete with my mastery of magic.
In fact now I am a Sith Lord, nearly, Just need to eat some more baby chicks to get a fitting aura. My new magic glove allows me to throw enemies back out of melee range. Added to that is a flashy bit of lightning.

I was poking around without my pixi dust and found some bits of a dead dog. Eventually I found the last piece on an alter and put all the rest there too. For a little bit I though I was able to have a pet ghost dog. But it wasn't to be. All Seth the dog wanted was to sleep where a sword was in a mausoleum. Oh well... Maybe I can make my pet dog a dead pet dog? P.S. I named him Saint earlier.


Been a bit of a struggle to keep my diary up to date. there has been a lot of repetitive hole digging that's not really worth mentioning. and a few really interesting places like a musical puzzle in the sand to unlock a golden key. Also I occasionally get attacked by chickens when I sit down to update my journal.

At any rake the most notable thing was that I am now a queen.Although I suppose I was a Princess in the beginning so maybe that shouldn't really be a surprise. I have completely mastered my magic. and although I didn't try to be good I had more gold that I could poke a stick at so I have been very generous. people in the street keep giving me gifts. but they are always material things and I have enough gold to buy them myself if I ever wanted it.
I have bought up nearly every building on the continent. I suppose you could say the land is owned by the crown.
Finding the keys had been a lot more interesting than using them to unlock chests. All the loot I get seems to be less useful weapons or aesthetic. Although it is fun to dig tattoos out of the ground.
Hunting for the gold keys I found a new use for the imaginary pixi dust. I can use it as a breadcrumb trail like Hansel and Gretel when navigating a maze.
While there have been a few moral decisions I've only had a couple of moral dilemmas and they were at the start I think I mentioned them both already. I asked to have a scary blood soaked castle to bring terror to my enemies. but I don't think the decorator has started yet. I've conserved nature. and at the very moment I am making a Balverine preserve.

Do I accept the possibility that zero of my subjects will die in the coming war? Seems fine to me. Interesting side note. When I am adventuring time doesn't pass, there are day night cycles but I have all the time in the world to complete my quests. As soon as I come to do some politics, months disappear.

Turns out that I am a paragon of nobility. for a instant I had wings and looked like an angel. but then I went back to the mortals realm and vanquished the darkness. Wow that was easy I should have done that a long time ago. Now, back to excavating the temple of evil. Once its up and running I'll return to my warband and have some more picnics on the battlefield.

Anoikis the Fabled: Choices choices

Anoikis the Fabled: Choices choices

Finally I am free of the moustache, all the townsfolk already thought I was a comedian. then one of the bandits called me steve, so I shot him and took the moustache off. Evidently my rifle has magic homing bullets and if I shoot in the general vicinity of my opponent the bullet always reaches their heart. Now is that nifty. Also lighting makes skeletons. not living ones. Jiust ornamental. But thats OK I guess.

Hold the phone, I'm Immortal. Some big boss dude is throwing Molotov cocktails at me and I am electrocuting myself and occasionally I fall over but it seems to me that I am immortal.

After some time passed the big fellow got electrocuted slowly. Then he apologized so I helped him up off the ground. I think I made a new friend.

My next quest involves finding some chickens that are more intelligent than townsfolk. I am assured that it will be quite easy. Turns out it was an easy quest and the Chickens really are a lot smarter than all the villagers. Shall I kill them to save these poop people from their chicken overlords? Or shall I defend the chickens as they will surely be able to teach the villages many things.
I think I will allow the chicken to live and prosper. They are much more deserving than these townsfolk who keep wanting to shake my hands for some bizarre reason. This decision seems to have caused the entire structure of the world to collapse. Enough so that I have to power cycle the entire universal system.
Either I went back in time of the chickens escaped again. next time they will not have a second chance...

My next task was to play a play. I got to meet some ghosts that were very nice, I showed some affection then they attacked me, then they stopped and were nice again. I like the ghosts much better than the chickens.

Afterwards I got to watch the play. I didn't really understand what was happening but I felt a bit naked. these people seem to laugh at me. They are nor impressed by my constitution at all. I suppose it looses the effect when its not snowing. Seems I'll quit being a Berzerker for now.

 I lost my imaginary pixi dust. But then I found it again. All I needed to do was climb inside my pocket and play with my model train set (it has no trains) until I find a person with a glowing explanation mark. Then I hit them with the old  One Two Combo and whala. Back on track, walking on pixi dust.

I found a gift inside my pocket too. I was given a choice. Not the normal choice of Gratefully accept/ regretfully decline. My choice was to begrudgingly accept my destiny or Refuse to interact with the world anymore. As I stood there pondering the gift I realised that all my decisions have been like that.

Anoikis the Fabled: Fable III

Anoikis the Fabled. Who am I? Am I an ethereal entity? Yes, yes I am. Can I interact with the environment, no I cannot. It seems I need to Embody something.
Oh look there is a bloke and a Sheela, I suppose I can reside my sole within one of them for a time. Hrm Which one? I think the Sheela looks a bit like a nurse and the bloke doesn't look like a doctor.

So here I am in a female body, and its in a bed, and I'm sleeping with a dog. Hrm I didn't think I was into that sort of thing, maybe I am mistaken.
 The butler woke me up and told me I was lazy, so I wondered around the room and put off getting dressed as long as possible. There was a telescope at the window and some books. but I was too lazy to use any of it.
Eventually I put on some practical clothes and went to meet some bloke. There was a gardener along the way so we held hands and I took him to see the other person.

Apparently we know each other quite well and he is a bit of a general, and so is my dog, my dog must be male.

I hug the bloke a powered up hug. I wonder if I can get a combo hug? and KO him with a hug?

Eventually I got another chance to make a choice. The king called Brother will kill whoever I chose, the friendly general or a group of noisy people. King Brothers doesn't seem very naive so I figure he will kill everybody to spite me. So I said nothing. And he did kill everybody to spite me. Now my butler is unhappy and we are going camping. Yay, camping.

But first I had to go to a pocket plane, apparently my destiny is set in stone and lots of other people have trod the same path. Maybe it is a never ending cycle, maybe this is all a recurring dream of mine and none of it is real?

Continuing deeper into the tomb I found myself wondering if my first fight will be against the mummified remains of the previous heroes that dotted the path. But no just bats. I suppose that fits better than giant rats or slimes. Maybe this path leads to the Arkham Asylum? Although there were only small bats so maybe not.

Conveniently I will never get lost as unlike in Neverwinter where I kept getting lost in hallways I now have a glowing sparkly path to follow. If I meet any wicked witches I will call the path the yellow brick road but for now it is imaginary pixi dust. I don't seem to be able to get rid of it I tried shaking my head and everything. Nobody else seems to notice it.

I wonder if here too I can wear a bikini and ugg boots just like in the kingdom on the Veigars? The first town I visit is in the snow just like the veigars had and they also wear ugg boots. the similarities are endless.

 Never mind some stray dogs that caught fire accidentally in the snow. my next enemy was some undead skeletons. although I did try to talk to them at first they were not very expressive and seemed to cut me in half with a massive cleaver. never mind though I barely felt a thing.

 My mate the fighter got some dude in the pub so drunk that he passed out. Then asked me to steal all his clothes. around the corner there was a bed that I can use. Apparently beds are for sex? This is a strange worlds indeed. At least I have a choice about using the bed, it seems unavoidable that I now have to wear a moustache. Its horrible and black and itchy and not very dignifies and I cant wait to get rid of it. Just like Movember, and this isn't even for a good cause.


1...2...3

Anoikis's Warband 5: De-regularisation

Anoikis's Warband 5: De-regularisation

Lol the female irregulars are regulars at the pub.I wonder if I am an irregular regular too.Maybe just an unusual regular. Pretty sure that I own a pub in every continent and I take every opportunity going to shout people a few drinks.

Hrm. I think it is time for a holiday. Maybe one of the other countries will help me finish of the real sultanate?

Anoikis's Warband 4: Snow for Perl

4 Snow for Perl

It seems to me that I am getting underestimated. I thought by wearing a bikini and uggboots the locals would think I am realy tough. but they seem to look down on me for being a girl. Every time I beseige a castle or town they tell me they will die of old age soon and they have lots of food for me to take. I'll show them, I'll take evey town thats going.

And that is what I did. I climed the ladders I ran up ramps I jumped through crenelations, I used a sword a connon, grenades. meat clevers, military cleavers, arrows, javalins. I came from behond. I jumped on peoples heads. And eventually I prevailed untill there was only one castle left.

Now that I have nearly as many towns as the origional sultinate I am having trouble defending them all. It seems 1 lord on my side is insuficient when they have 19. So I have decided to promote Kat and give her the next title deed. But first I need to model her after myself. Ugg boots and all.

 
I though I may say hello to the last of the veigars before I took their castle. Then they gave me a quest and asked me to be civil with them. Then the last lord wants my second best physician to have a look at his friend? What about me? It isnt fair I've done my best and I'm better than him. Boyar Doru must be sexist. Never the less I decided to help.










In fact that put me in a bit of a benelovent mood. I thik I will leave this castle as the last stronghold of the veigars. I dont feel like a truce though because I still have their king and a few nobles captured. So
 I'll head back to the desert to get a tan.





Well would you look at that. It seems Kat the Cook cas bitten off a bit more than she could chew. I hope she is still wearing the uniform that I gave her.

LOL, she was. She all high and mighty now that she is a lord. I dont know about that. Although it seems my other companions are getting a bit expensive. I suppose I will need to give them their own banner later to save me some cash.

So I have been poking around some more at the tournaments. Chatting to the Lords of the Sand when they are nearby, and whacking them with an axe if they disagree with me.

Axes are interesting. Eventually I found out that when you use an axe people cannot block your strikes, thats why it was working so much better than the dark king's two-handed sword. When taking a castle I seem to get crowded a lot so I have been hunting for the smallest fastest weapond avaliable. Otherwise I keep hitting the walls and my companions take all the experience.
Its also a good idea to have a ranged weapon handy, for when they are just out of reach. But bows keep me too far away from the action so I have been using throwing knives, or axes. Anoikis the axe bringer, I like that.

Here are some other pics of me in seiges:

 He was the last man standing, all his comrades were dead or captured. after a while he jumped.

 Duo skeletal charge. I looked but I didnt find anymore skeletons to recruite.

The seiges are rather drawn out and they get a bit tiring and chaotic at the end. my people are red the enemy is silver.