Needless to say, I wasn't amused. Now I have had some viruses before (despite the fact that I keep up to date anti-virus software running on my PC) and I have dealt with them. I consider myself fairly computer literate, and work on computers (voicemail or messaging servers) in my professional capacity. So let me just say that this particular "scareware" is a genuine pain in my backside and after several hours research and trying different tactics to get rid of the damn thing ... I am genuinely angry. Not an emotion that I am accustomed to or enjoy.
I am online now writing this, because I had put a LINUX partition on my computer a while back so I could play with it and LINUX is working fine. I am at this stage seriously considering scrapping my Windows Partition all together, reformatting the thing and just sticking to LINUX.
Thing is, my computer is an older model and because of this the build of LINUX that I am using is a sort of a LINUX lite called "Puppy Linux." I haven't been able to get Open Office to work with it and so I am using the included writing package called "Abiword" none of my current projects are compatible with this and so I am starting something new.
I have been meaning to update 5x5 for a while now. I've gotten more positive feedback on 5x5 than on any of my other RPG projects, so I think I'd like to revisit it. Xceptional uses the 5x5 die roll, but it isn't the simple toolkit that 5x5 is ... it's really a completely different beast and that beast has not received the attention that 5x5 has, so clearly I missed the mark there. So, I am going back to 5x5 and am going to attempt an update and clean-up of those rules that tries not to change things over much.
This is a test for me too ... to see if I can do the things I want to do solely in LINUX and leave Windows and awful things like "scareware" behind me. So I am going to start putting together an updated 5x5 and see what comes of it and if working on a completely LINUX driven PC will do the job for me. I hope that it does for the sake of my sanity and piece of mind ... this whole virus thing really shook me up.
Regards,
Jeff Moore
So the likelihood that I will dump Windows completely for LINUX just jumped up exponentially. I just got Open Office working on my Puppy Linux build. Funny thing is I had tried to make that work a few months ago and wasn't getting anywhere with it, today I took a stab and got it working with no problems at all. Weird... but I am happy about it.
ReplyDeleteJeff
What about XFCE and/or Xubuntu? if your computer is only able to run puppy linux, it must be quite old indeed!
ReplyDeleteThe virus you got is a pain, I had it too. It actually installs a number of processes on your machine and if you kill off what you think is the main process, then a subsidiary starts it back up. You need to install a special tool to get rid of them. It's an XP problem, sadly.
ReplyDeleteAs for Xceptional, I've got a review half written that I will sodding well complete this week!
Welcome to the dark side! I have been a full time Linux (Ubuntu) user for >4 years now.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we both might have found something we will enjoy. You Limux, me HiLo Heroes! Thanks for sharing your game designs. I will check the others out as time permits.
TB
Awesome! Let me know what you think of Hi/Lo Heroes. I am using Puppy 5.0 and I have been able to get all the stuff I want to work. I am very happy with this light-weight and easy to use distribution and have no complaints. I don't believe that I will miss Windows at all.
ReplyDeleteJeff
Well, I took a minute (actually about 15 +/- because I had to look up what powers modified what rolls, etc.) and stated up a newly bitten Peter Parker. This should go MUCH quicker in the future as I commit the Powers to memory.
ReplyDeleteWith only 2 Powers to start with going RAW, he had to be in the discovery phase of his on screen career in my mind. I posted him on my M&M blog. I think tonight, I will roll up a random opponent and see how he does. Maybe some Thugs, so I can advance him a bit. I am curious to how often/fast the character will get doubles and how long it will take him to advance.
I also wonder if calling each Training advancement a PL would suffice in some balancing / referencing. So if I was to just add some additional powers to my Walk Crawling / Danger Sense 'basic Spidie', I could call it one Level Advancement (LA, TA or PL) in shorthand for each Training Advancement. That way I could quickly see that a more developed Spiderman was a tad bit more 'Powered' than a stock character when I add Swing Line and some form of Mundane ranged attack for his web shooters.
Thoughts?
TB
Makes sense to me. No reason not to track every "level-up" although the game doesn't have levels as such it would be super simple to add a place to track power level on the character sheet. You could just put a hash mark next to the word "Training" on the character sheet every time a character leveled up. That would be easy enough to reference at a glance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interest in Hi/Lo Heroes. I am going to your page to check out your Spiderman build. I am really excited about it.
Regards,
Jeff
Thanks for the comments on my blog. It is a rather new endeavor, but it is growing rather quickly. Specially with the discovery of HiLo Heroes.
ReplyDeleteI did run across a question and it may be answered in the text, but if I have a career for a character (such as with Spidey) that uses the Evade/H die and I have an Evade Power, does that Evade Power's +1 also apply to the skill roll? Basically would Spiderman's Danger Sense help his Hobby Career: Investigative Reporter as he is written now?
Thanks in advance,
TB
The rules text does not make any allowance for using a power modifier when making a skill check. However I could see a player making an argument for such an allowance and the GM agreeing to this. It makes sense. It's not in the rules but I believe that rules are guidelines and such guidelines are open to the modifications and house ruling of the play group. In fact I consider it high praise when a group considers my game good enough to adapt with house rules. The best systems should be mailable enough to be tweaked and twisted by the folks playing them. It's part of the fun and taking ownership of the game.
ReplyDeleteJeff