Kickstarter Project Shoutout: Xia: Legends of a Drift System

Kickstarter is a fantastic site where people can seek funding for projects, and today, I would like to give a shout out to a Kickstarter project I’m backing.  It’s a board game called Xia: Legends of a Drift System.

Xia: Legends of a Drift System

I heard about this project through my friend, Brennen Hilgendorf, I thought it sounded awesome, so I hopped online and checked it out.  I was impressed with what I saw, so I decided to back it.  I love all kinds of games; video games, board games, card games, RPGs, etc., and when I read up on Xia, and saw some of the videos about it, I flipped.  It has all the things I love about games in general.  Xia has the open world feeling of a sandbox game, the adventitious spirit of an RPG, the strategy of a board game all rolled into one.

This is the description of the game from the Kickstarter page:

Xia is a 3-4 player sandbox style competitive space adventure.  Each player starts as a lowly but hopeful captain of a small starship.

Players fly their ships about the system, completing a variety of missions, exploring new sectors and battling other ships.  Navigating hazardous environments, players choose to mine, salvage, or trade valuable cargo.  Captains vie with each other for Titles, riches, and most importantly Fame.

The most adaptive, risk taking, and creative players will excel.  One captain will rise above the others, surpassing mortality by becoming Legend!

In this game, you’re the captain of a ship trying to gain fame, and you can play however you’d like to achieve that goal.  If you want to be a bounty hunter, a law abiding tradesman, a fearless explorer, or a miner just trying to get by, you can.  You traverse through space in the ship that you’ve outfitted according to how you want to play.  You can have have a lot of firepower and shields for protection, or you can have a lot of speed to get around faster, or save lot of room in your ship for cargo to transport.

3D printed prototypes, not final versions

You can outfit your ship.

There are many ways to win the game, you can pick up missions, collect bounties, explore space, and trade with other planets, all the while you’re trying to become the most famous captain in the system.

Because of the nature of the tiled game board, the game could be played thousands of times, and the board will never look the same way twice.  Players extend the board as they move their ships and explore space, and so the board will grow in the directions the players move.

Explore space!

I have chosen to back this game because I think it will be a ton of fun; the kind of game I could play over and over again with friends and family.  I’m really looking forward eventually getting my hands on it and playing it.

Now, at the time of this post, Xia: Legends of a Drift System is fully funded, however, there is still some time to back this project.  If you back it, you can get the game earlier and cheaper than anyone else.  Also, there are still a bunch of stretch goals that can be obtained, which will add more stuff  to the game when it’s released.  The more backers, the more stretch goals can be unlocked, which benefits everyone who gets the game.

If you like games, I suggest backing Xia!  Click this link if you’d like to check out Xia’s Kickstarter page:  

I have created an image that can be used for Facebook Cover Photos to generate more excitement for Xia.  Feel free to use it on your own Facebook page:

Use this for your Facebook Cover Photo. It’s designed so your profile picture doesn’t obscure the words.

Until next time, keep it real!

Writer’s Block

I currently have writer’s block.

Writer’s block…uh….  Crap!  What’s the word I wanted to use?

You have all these ideas in your head, all these things you want to do in your story or wherever it is that you’re writing.  I’m not working on a story at the moment, in my current case, it’s table top RPG class mechanics that I’m having trouble with.  However, it’s writing all the same, and I’m stuck.  It feels the same as it does for a story.  You try to look ahead and say, “Okay, I’ve got this,” but all you see in front of you is a wall of smog…like New Jersey.

I hate writer’s block!

SUCKS!  That’s the word I was looking for!  Yes.  Writer’s block sucks.

How do you handle writer’s block?

Star Trek: Into Darkness

I love Star Trek!

I love it so much that yesterday I got in to see a sneak peek of Star Trek: Into Darkness!  I went with a bunch of buddies.  One of those buddies, Mike, has a blog called Four Point Reviews, and he and I discussed this movie afterward, and we agreed on all points.

He wrote a Four Point Review and shared his thoughts.  And since he and I agree, I’ll just give you the link to his review, and you’ll know how I feel about it.  He also gives a shout out to yours truly.

http://fourpointreview.com/2013/05/16/star-trek-into-darkness-review/

Without giving anything away, I believe that this movie was fantastic, and though not as great as The Wrath of Khan, it’s up there as one of my favorite Star Trek films

KHAN!

If you’re a Trek fan, or even if you’re not, go see Star Trek: Into Darkness!

I give if 4 1/2 Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a 9/10!

NaNoWriMo Day 30: Until Next Year…

It’s been a month.

It’s been a hard month!

But in the course of this month, I was able to write a complete novel at over 63,000 words, and had a little time in the end to start some editing on it.

But now NaNoWriMo is over.

Now I must wait for next year.

But that’s the thing, I really don’t.  I love to write, and I’m still trying to get my novel published, so I have something to look forward to; working on an established novel, maybe fixing up some past NaNo novels, maybe even start some new ones.  There’s more worlds to be created, and more stories to tell.

NaNoWriMo is a great way for me to challenge myself, but if I limit my writing to only November, then I’m not really working on bettering myself, am I?  I would just be in it for the rush of the time crunch challenge.  I love NaNo, but I want to be a writer, not just a Wrimo.  I love both, but I want to write year round, not just during one, crazy month.

Until next year, when this frenzy begins again,

And until my next blog post,

Andrew Ronzino, a Writer

NaNoWriMo Day 29: Victory Ride on the Carousel

Only one more day of NaNoWriMo remains, and what have I been doing?  Writing, of course!  Well, not much…only a little bit.  I’m done writing the novel itself, however, I figured that I would use the days of NaNo I have left to start fixing it up.  Normally, editing is frowned upon during NaNo because it wastes the time you could spend writing down the story, but I finished my novel with days to spare, so I started to fix it up a bit.  So far, I’ve added an extra 200+ words, and have fixed a lot of errors.

It’s been a joy to write Deus Ex Machina, and I’ve been having a blast going back through it and seeing the beginning again.  It’s cool because I know where the story leads to, I know what the characters are about to go through, and it’s thrilling to start working on making the story better.

Tonight was the last night of the Grandville write-ins, and just like last year, we celebrated our victories and participation with a ride on the mall’s carousel!  And just like last year, we got Santa to wave at us from his chair.  It was a great time, and I can’t wait to do it again next year.  I already have ideas floating around in my head.

Until tomorrow’s final post,

Andrew Ronzino, a Grown Man Who Rides the Carousel

P.S. Shout out to all my Wrimo friends!

NaNoWriMo Day 28: To Be Continued…

You may be wondering what I’m planning on doing with Deus Ex Machina now that it’s finished.  Well, to answer that, I need to tell you how it ends.

The story ends on a cliffhanger.  That’s right, my NaNoWriMo project ends on a “to be continued…”.  I’m actually thinking that this novel is the first of two or three that will complete the story of Saul Deus.  Deus Ex Machina ends with the chance that the villains may know what Saul is after, and there needs to be a race to get there first, because the outcome of the world may hinge on who reaches a man by the name of Jim Kleverland first.  It may cause or prevent war, and may also cause a giant leap in technology…or it may not, only time will tell, and there isn’t much time left.

Now, I don’t know if I will continue the story with next year’s NaNo project, I may work on something completely new and different.  However, now that I have the first part of the story written, I can go back any time and finish it.  I’m excited to see where this story leads.

Stay tuned, because there’s two more days of NaNoWriMo left.

Until tomorrow,

Andrew Ronzino, a Fan of Trilogies

NaNoWriMo Day 27: The Final Excerpt

Well, there are still a few days of NaNoWriMo left, and I’ll be using them to finish up here, there’s a few more things I would like to share about my novel with you.  But for today, I’ll be giving you one final excerpt from Deus Ex Machina.  If you would like to go back and see the other three excerpts, you can do so by clicking the following links:

Excerpt one, excerpt two, and excerpt three!

And again, please keep in mind that this is all a rough first draft.  The only editing I have done to it was a simple check over to make sure it’s at least readable.  Enjoy:

“Well?” Xandria said with the air of impatience.

Saul ignored her as he walked into the back room and pored himself a glass of water. He downed it in one long go. He refilled the glass, sipped it, then walked back into the store and looked at the ladies. He took a deep breath and said, “Well, I was right.”

“About what?” Tanya asked as she put the part she had been playing around with down on the counter.

“It’s not a True Automaton.” It felt bad to say it. When he laid his eyes on the machine for the first time, he wanted it to be what it looked like because that would mean his father was more brilliant than he realized growing up.

“Oh?” Xandria said, her eyebrows raised.

Saul nodded his head. “I wanted it to be, I really did. But after examining it, I’m certain that it’s not.” He walked back into the workroom and grabbed another rag, he could still feel the oils on his hands. He took his left arm out of the sling and started to try to wipe his hands clean, trying not to wince at the pain from the bullet wound. “It’s an impressive piece of clockwork, that cannot be denied. In fact, I would venture a guess that it is the most elaborate and complete attempt at making a True Automaton. I could very well see it functioning like one.”

Xandria put the book down and shared a glance with Tanya, then said, “But…?”

Saul smiled, she had caught his drift. “But there’s no power source. There is nothing inside of it that could power the machine up; nothing that will get the cogs moving. No doubt my father was trying to work on that issue when he died, but the truth remains: there is no power.” He drank some more water and spoke as he put his arm back into the sling. “Besides, the fact that there is no way to power a True Automaton, something as complex as what’s down there, without a big power source is still true.

“Now, I did find towards the back, just in front of the clockwork spine, a small steam furnace, kind of like one that would power a steam torch system. It has tubing that runs throughout the entire machine, almost like veins for blood. It’s obviously meant for high pressure steam that would get the thing going, but like I said before, the steam wouldn’t be enough. There needs to be a power source to run the steam, which might, might, power the machine properly.

“I found an empty spot in the chest that my father left open for a power supply, but I think he passed away before he could finish. However, I doubt he could have found something that could safely power it for extended time so that it would be considered self-sustaining. As for the second part of the myth of the True Automaton, that it would need to be able to think for itself, that we wouldn’t be able to test until we got it moving, which we can’t do because of the lack of power.

“In other words, it’s not a True Automaton. It’s an advanced piece of clockwork that was a good attempt at best.”

Tanya stood up. “You sound disappointed.”

“I am,” Saul admitted. “I wanted my father to have succeeded.”

Xandria picked the book back up and handed it to him. “Saul, you better take a look at this.”

He took the book “Why? What is it?” He flipped it open. It looked like it was written in Latin.

“It’s a journal written by your father.”

She sounded like she was nearing tears, not out of sorrow, but out of excitement, like she couldn’t stand holding back what she wanted to say any longer, and Saul wondered why. “My father never kept any journals written in Latin.”

She took the book back from him. “This one is. Saul, it’s all his notes on the True Automaton. Everything. He had been working on this in secret for years, I think even before the king of England contacted him. I didn’t know your father knew Latin.”

“Yeah,” Saul said. “He learned it when he was in college. I learned a little, but never enough to get by. You know Latin, Xan?”

She nodded. “Yes. I know it fluently. I’ve been reading this. Saul, I think he got around the power problem.”

“What do you mean? Xan, it can’t be done!”

A small tear was running down her face. “Your father did it, Saul. He knew a way to make it work.” She has a smile on her face. “On one of the pages towards the end of his entries. He mentions that he was still having a problem with a power source. But then an idea came to him, he didn’t need more power, he needed a way to keep the power that he did have going. A continuous flow of power rather than one big power supply. Saul, how much like the human body is the machine?”

Saul wondered where she was going with all of this. So he humored her. “Well, I’m not a doctor, but near as I can tell it’s a good analog for the human body. It’s not anatomically perfect, no genitalia to speak of,” he gave her a sly smile, and she chuckled. “But as far as I know all the basics are there, torso, arms, legs, head, steam blood-like system, a brain, a spine. I would say that for clockwork, it’s about as close to a person as someone can get.”

Xandria nodded her head and said with suppressed excitement that was coming out in pure emotion, “And what does the human body need to live, Saul?”

“A lot more than that, I know that much. Where are you going with this, Xandria?”

She opened the book again. “What is the one thing your father always talked about?”

He was getting annoyed at the game of cat and mouse with her thoughts. “Xan, cut to the chase, please!”

She stepped closer to him. “Saul, what did you father say when people had a knack for clockwork? What did he always tell you that you had?”

Saul thought for only a split second. “He would say that they had the clockwork heartbeat.”

“That’s right! The clockwork heartbeat. He even named his book after his philosophy about clockwork. People need to have a clockwork heartbeat.” She opened the book and pointed to a line of text. “It says, ‘cordi, per quod agit vapor‘. That means, ‘heart that drives the steam’. He’s talking about the Automaton here, Saul.”

Saul stood there, trying to grasp what Xandria had figured out.

She continued. “The Automaton needs what every human body needs, Saul. It needs a heart! Not a power source that acts as a heart, it needs an actual heart. A clockwork heart to bring life to a clockwork man.”

-Excerpt from Deus Ex Machina; Chapter 32, by Andrew Ronzino

There you have it, I hoped you liked it.

Until my next entry,

Andrew Ronzino, a True Automaton

NaNoWriMo Day 26: Victory!

On November 1st, I started on a journey to write a novel in 30 days.  26 days have gone by since then, and what started as a simple story of a clockwork engineer has turned into the vomit draft of a full length steampunk novel!  50,000 words was the number to hit, and I not only hit it, but passed it.  Readers of The Paradigm, I have written a novel in under 30 days!

I declare this year’s NaNoWriMo a complete victory!

Deus Ex Machina is finished, it’s only a rough draft, but at least it’s written down.  It was difficult at times; I hit some rough patches and had to push through some problems, but I pulled through, thanks to my family, friends, and my readers.  Thank you for all the encouragement!  And look, I have this year’s winner’s certificate:

I’m very happy with this year’s NaNoWriMo.  I’ve enjoyed writing the novel, and I believe that I have gained some experience from doing so.  There are still a few days of NaNo left, and my journal will be continuing.  I’ll have the final excerpt for you to read, and I would like to explain my plans for Deus Ex Machina in the future, so keep an eye out for that.  I may also use these last few days as time to go back through the novel and start fixing it up a bit, so by the time December 1st rolls around, the stats below may be out of date, we shall see.

The Stats for Deus Ex Machina

Here are the final stats on my 2012 NaNoWriMo project:

Title: Deus Ex Machina

Words: 63,641

Chapters: 35

Pages: 192 (that’s in Open Office, double spaced, 12 point New Times Roman font)

Again, I want to thank everyone who encouraged me through this month, and to all my readers, thank you for hanging in there!

Until next time,

Andrew Ronzino, A Guy Who Wrote a Novel in Under 30 Days

NaNoWriMo Day 25: POV

I’m so close to the end I can taste it!  I don’t have much more to write, so I’m anticipating that I’ll be finished with the novel tomorrow, no promises though, there’s always the chance that I may write more.  But the end is near, of that I’m certain.

I would like to use this entry to discuss the point of view of Deus Ex Machina.  Like I’ve said before, I like to use NaNoWriMo as a way to challenge myself in my writing.  So, I try to do different things than normal.  This year, I tried a different sub-genre of science fiction that I don’t normally write, steampunk.  It’s been great so far, and I dare say I like writing it, and I’m going to keep trying it in the future.  Last year, I tried something different with point of view, but this year I went back to my favored POV for stories.

Personally, my favorite type of point of view is multiple third person, both to read and write.  I like the options that third person offers, especially when you can get more than one viewpoint character in.  Now, there’s a major difference between multiple third person, omniscient, and “head hopping”.  Head hopping is poor technique and can be quite confusing with random switches of viewpoint character with no rhyme or reason…within the same chapter.  However, when the viewpoint character is switched from time to time, and at the right moments (often at a chapter change or a good page break), it can be a fantastic POV.  And it remains my favorite POV to use, and the one I have chosen for this novel.

I considered using first person, and even third person limited (like I did last year with Written in Silence), but after much thought, I chose to go with multiple third person for this story.  I think it works best for it.

There are three viewpoint characters in Deus Ex Machina.  Saul is the protagonist, so he gets most of the novel to himself, however, from time to time, I switch it to either Xandria or Tanya to get their take on the events, or to show their feelings.  I think getting their view on things really adds to the story.

It’s been a growing experience even though it’s a POV I’m familiar with.  I’ve been finding it hard to decide when it’s necessary to switch between Saul, Xandria, and Tanya.  So far, I’ve been satisfied with the way it’s turned out.

Current word count for Deus Ex Machina: 62,511/50,000!

Until (hopefully) victory,

Andrew Ronzino, Batman

NaNoWriMo Day 24: Wittman & Eastwin

I have some news, today I reached 60,000 words!  I’ve gotten a lot farther than I expected to, so I’m very happy.

I would like to go into some details on the antagonists of Deus Ex Machina.  I’ve already talked about Saul, Xandria, Tanya, and a bit about the surprise group of villains, the Black Cats, but I have yet to talk about the British up to this point.  This year, I’m doing something a little different.  The character of Saul Deus is a bit racist, he hates British people.  Because of that, he views them as the bad guys, but as the story goes on, it comes out that their intentions may be good, despite their actions, and that the Black Cats, who work for Germany, are the real villains.  However, it’s not that black and white.  Both England and Germany want any information that Saul has on a True Automaton, but they take different routs to get it.  So, there is no clear “bad guy” in this story, because Saul doesn’t know if the so called “antagonists” of the story are telling the truth or not.  Let me tell you about them….

Wittman & Eastwin

Francis Wittman and Charles Eastwin are representatives of the crown of England, his royal highness, King George.  On orders of the king, Wittman and Eastwin have come to America to speak to Saul Deus and learn everything he knows about George Deus’ (Saul’s father) work on the mythical True Automaton.  As it turns out, the king prior to George, King Edward, paid George Deus a lot of money to create a True Automaton, but three years after being commissioned, Mr. Deus canceled the job after hearing why England wanted one.  Eventually Mr. Deus died, and so did King Edward.  King George remembered the commission, and wanted everything that he thinks belongs to him, in other words, everything related to the True Automaton that George Deus was building.

As the story goes on, we find out that war had been brewing between Germany and England, and Wittman and Eastwin tell Saul that because of this war, George Deus was commissioned to build the True Automaton to help protect England from German attack.  However, Germany also wants the True Automaton, so they send the Black Cats after the same information.

Germany will do anything to possess the information

England is being noble about it, but intends to get their hands on it no matter what.

Eastwin is a short, skinny man with a pencil thin mustache, a fine suit, and a bowler hat.  He is very serious and doesn’t like to joke around.  Wittman is a tall, large man with a clean shaven face, a fine suit, and a bowler hat.  He’s a little more jolly than his partner, but he can be threatening when he needs to be.  He has a phlegmy sort of a voice, and often has trouble getting out of his seat.

They seem to be willing to steal information, but not put Saul Deus’ life in danger to acquire the information they seek.  Some goons that the Brits (as Saul likes to call them, no offense to any British people) hired to look for a key in Saul’s house, kidnaps Saul and Xandria.  The British men let them go after talking to them for a bit, explaining that the thugs weren’t supposed to kidnap them, but rather steal the key and leave.  Eventually, Saul begins to believe that the crown of England wants him alive for some reason that is unknown to him.

Saul is left to wonder if Wittman and Eastwin are being truthful, or if they’re lying.  He can’t figure it out.  In his mind, they are the villains simply because they’re British, but are they really?  Is Germany the real villains here?  Or is England just better at hiding their true plans?

* * *

Wittman and Eastwin are meant to be the faces of England in this story, and no one, especially Saul Deus, is sure whether or not they are sincere.  I purposely keep the true antagonist vague, I think it adds to the story knowing that there are two groups of people after the information Saul has.  Wittman and Eastwin are fun characters, and I’ve enjoyed every scene they’re in.

Current word count for Deus Ex Machina: 60,432/50,000!

Until next evening,

Andrew Ronzino, A Guy Who Does Not Hate British People