Pada'lagh -- In the Kingdom of Life, the most popular drink and smoke come from the same plant. The Pada'lagh grows on a tree near the western foothills away from the sandy soil of the coast. The trees are tall and bushy, dark green leaves and large red fruit like pomegranates. The tree flowers all summer and the fruit grows in size throughout the winter. In late spring, they ripen splitting open, revealing small seedlings of pink & orange. The seedlings are highly sought for their narcotic nature and the most popular Pada Wine is made from it. The skins of the fruit themselves are harvested, dried and shredded into a weed smoked in pipes.
The groves of Pada'Lagh draw a creature left over from when the otherworldly creatures ruled & haunted the Kingdom of Life -- the panther like monster called the Displacer Beast. It eats the fruit, getting drunk on the seedlings for weeks at a time. Prides of the creatures will eat the contents of an entire grove. The worst thing are the weeks after they have eaten the fruit. Going through withdrawal they start prowling the lands of the Tupari, killing indiscriminately. Thus it is always in the best interest of the Pada'lagh pickers to get their fruit before the displacers show up.
The tupari used to hunt the displacers but in these times when good men are either taken for the armies of the Druids or just ... taken, the Tupari are forced to hire outsiders. Adventurers, mercenaries and sailors needing quick coin often do the work but even they are in short supply these days.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
The first thing I have noticed in the (meta focused) creation of adventures for Zahara Blackthorne, TIefling Warlock seeking to eliminate the pact that was forced on her in childhood, is that I don't use any defined structure. 4E is too focused on the group to take the stock source material. Thus i use my old fallback of encounters which are vamped up. But that leaves a lot lacking, in the 4E world.
So I am endeavoring to create an adventure that follows some define parameters and uses techniques and concepts as laid out in actual rulesets.
I want to create a structured adventure tailored to her character without doing my usual 25% prep, 75% winging it. Part of the creation of this character for her has been the idea of learning the 4E ruleset. Part of doing so will have to be understanding how a standard adventure is created in 4E and then use people's solo gaming suggestions to alter set parameters. I guess the coming/recently arrived 4E DMG2 should assist.
Part the problem in any adventure creation, especially for a solo game, is having it both challenging and focused on the character's goals while also allowing for the DM to have some fun. I so often make the game about giving her some fun and often leave myself out. I need to have some enjoyment out of the game beyond the mere act of playing and established Mary Sue NPCs.
So, so far I need some structure and some DM related fun. The structure comes in a creation of a hook, a good beginning (something snappy that draws her in beyond the contract of the hook), a great climactic ending and interesting filler in between. Seems disingenuous to use the term filler but that is essentially what it is. I am required to provide a series of challenges -- combat, skill and roleplaying -- and each should move her on to the next goal. Mini-goals in each part of the adventure are a good idea. And rather than linear, stepping stones are a better format for an adventure. This is all very basic stuff but I have never been a basic stuff kind of guy.
Now, another thing I need to do is troll the interwebs for more material on solo gaming in 4E. There are some basic assumptions such as what character class is best, what monster roles are best against a single character and the good ol XP buy. Still seems far too crunchy to me, like having play guides for a video game. I want the more intangible material as well, such as balance and pacing. Hopefully someone will have thought about more than the numbers.
Hmm, so this meta talk is not going in the direction i want it to go. This is supposed to be the scratch pad online that will collect all my thoughts that i usually write down. I have to "think out loud" in order to think some things through. Its not meant to be structured as a proper blog post because its not about someone reads it or not. Its for me. But most of what i just said, didn't really need to be said. Not even to my by me.
Oh well, next post !!
Let's hope that it is a Druid doing this and i end up as a lizard man.
huh?
I am bringing back this blog to be the notepad for thoughts on D&D and RPG development, but unlike the the toasted Livejournal, it will be a scratch pad with no need for assembled thought. It will also be hidden from Marmy, the recipient of said games.
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
