31.1.08

R.I.P. Computer...

Well, I usually don't have a good excuse for not doing something, but I think this one is a keeper. DAMN VIRUSES!!! Yeah, my computer got a virus and had to be put down... and by put down I mean reinstalled. I know, I know, I hear everyone saying, "Bot, don't you have another computer?" Well... yes I do, but I don't like that one and besides, I had all the MOAG files that I was going to research on the main computer AND I did say that I was going to change my day... to what, I don't know.... Enough excuses. I am writing this on my work computer right now and hopefully by tonight I will have found my back up copy of all the MOAG Documents and be able to have Wednesday post up on Thursday... or Friday... or next Wednesday.................... yeah.

Diversity Tommorow, because today is almost over.

I have been gm'ing a campaign that I have put together that is currently outside of the known Moag galaxies. I am using humans and another race that has yet to be mentioned and I think I will be able to spawn hundreds of more campaigns after I write up all the information floating in my head.
To this end I will post information or ideas of Supplemental Campaigns and such that can be used, twisted, and molded to anyones need.
Oh and bear with me if the names sound kinda familiar to existing things. The story is still in its first few drafts.

So to start... once upon a time there was some dude named Osidus. He left the council to gain more power. Shadowwire can fill in the blanks. Eventually many followed him. Two of these followers, who liked the power he wielded, were twin brother and sister. One was called Agronak the other Atrissia. Both had been council members but left to gain more power for themselves. The made their way over to where Osidus had been building up and convinced him to teach them some nasty willpower techniques. Even though Agronak and Atrissia were both strong willpower users, it wasn't until they learned from Osidus that they reached their peak of power. After absorbing most if not all he had to teach them, they departed to claim control of their own galaxies. Agronak went to the Tel'Dabe galaxy and Atrissia went to the Sas'Kett galaxy. Soon they began to get jealous of each other's power and territory and began a rivalry that lasted for hundreds of years. Agronak would eventually lose the battle because he did not use the techniques that allowed them to steal someone's life force or willpower. This was one of the many techniques Osidus taught them. Atrissia would continue to grow in power by sucking the life force out of all the people in her galaxy. No one could resist her and the council had their hands full with Osidus. Agronak took it upon himself to bring Atrissia's reign of evil to an end. For Agronak believed in having power but he considered her actions to be dishonorable for a being of great ability. Atrissia convinced the weaker minded species of Sas'Kett that Agronak would enslave them and destroy their way of life. Before long, Agronak and his Knight-Lords were overwhelmed by enemies, but this did not keep him down. Being a superior warrior and commander, Agronak eventually destroyed the attacking forces and invaded Sas'Kett. Little did he realize that it was all a trap. Atrissia had seduced his Knight-Lords one by one with promises of power and other such things. With his own armies turning against him Agronak retreated to Tel'Dabe where he began to prepare for the inevitable. Before Agronak's death he built five massive temples in which he could imbue his essence and his power. Knowing that Atrissia would live on by using her demonic techniques, Agronak deduced that he would not be the one to defeat her but years later someone would find the temples and unlock his power.

Yeah, this is kinda the back story of how my supplemental stuff fits in with the normal story. And I'm trying to keep the history vague enough so more things can be added or explained by others. So any input is welcome and hoped for.
Oh and if anyone wants some help coming up with more supplement type things let me know.

Hello Mr. Wednesday Post-man? Are you there?



Hello? Are you hiding there under the MOAG Hut? Anyone? Dang. I thought I saw the person responsible for the Wednesday MOAG posting, but apparently I was mistaken. Hopefully the midget ninja squad has nothing to do with this. But let me just say this; We know who YOU are. Yes, YOU. The poor soul who signed up to post a MOAG inspired post every wednesday. We have the documents, and your phone lines have been tapped. Okay, maybe not tapped, but we've definitely listened to every phone call you've made in the last 24 hours. Okay, maybe not every phone call, but we DID listen to every phone call that you made to US. And we took notes! What? You've never called us? Huh. Well then who were we listening to?

29.1.08

Dang Image loader!


Here, Is the map that was supposed to be included. @%$*!

Who said "You cant get there from here"?

I'll bet you thought that I wasnt going to post today! Well you were wrong.
Anyway here is the galactic map of the known Galaxies (couretsy of Daniel Jeffery). Also included, The Galactic Coordinate System.
Galactic coordinates are measured by A: galaxy B: Inclination from galactic center +- ; how far into which hemisphere. C: Degrees from universal North (which is different depending on who your nav computer was built by; Conar, Gargonan, IGSS etc.) universal north on our map is the KMF standard. And finaly distance. Here’s and example. “Acolad Mining station B” 9+1.35:182.454:12491.6The numbers mean (9”galaxy 9” +1.35 “how many degrees positive from galactic center” 182.454 “how many degrees from galactic north” and 12491.6 “how many Parsecs from galactic center”. Galactic center is measured by center of rotation “Koge in this case”. Acolad sector is near earth in Conar space, however I gave you KMF Coordinates. Conar use EDA as Galactic north and only IGSS uses Universal North on their star charts. Gargonan use the same Galactic north as IGSS in most instances, all but galaxy 1 and the IGSS uncharted galaxies. Conversions are a simple mater for the most part. Just enter a starchart into a nav computer and select which coordinate system you prefer. (Actually its not quite that simple and requires someone with a good Astrogation skill.)
Current data indicates that the true position of the Milky Way galactic pole is lg=0.°004±0.°039; bg=89.°427±0.°035, and that the Sun is located approximately 34.56±0.56 pc (112.7±1.8 ly) above the galactic plane [1]. Since the Sun is about 30,000 ly from the galactic center, it is relatively speaking extremely close to the galactic plane.Conar Coordinates: (Earth)H1E 16:+0.189096:332.4105:9091.336
Any questions?

28.1.08

MONDAY MOAG Art. Almost. Okay fine, it's just a sketch.




Welcome to the first installment of MONDAY MOAG ART. I'll be posting new (or updated) artwork specifically dealing with the MOAG universe every monday. I'll also try to add some sort of explanation for the pieces, and possibly some story behind the images.

For today's entry, I have posted a sketch of a Klisk during a traditional hunt. Anyway, I thought it shows the tribal nature of the Klisk, as well as some good drama. Hopefully I can finish it this week and post the finished version next monday, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Anyway, while I apologize for dumping a sketch on you for this, my first MONDAY MOAG ART posts, but please come back again.

25.1.08

The Begining

I will be going up to Cedar next weekend. I need Shadowire to copy as much material as possible before I get there so that I can start to come up with some kind of format for my part of the book.

23.1.08

The Gathering Hordes...

So it seams the upswell of social revolution is in full swing here at the MOAG blog. Freemen are coming from the nether parts of various small burgs and villages. Torches and pitchforks are being handed out at every town hall meeting. Name tags are being prepared, t-shirts printed up, documentaries produced, said documentaries are then scrapped due to the writers strike, and so on.

Well that's all and good, but before we start tipping over cars and lighting couches on fire, I have a simple question to ask: Who are we revolting against? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our dear Most Noble Leader Shadowwire has been reading the blog quite avidly lately, and having received a call from his uber-bunker deep in the mountains of Enoch, he has assured me that all the demands will be met. Quite enthusiastically in fact. While he still claims uber-Lordship over the MOAG universe, he is willing to let others share in the burden of composing the Official Book of Official Rules for the Official Game of MOAG and it's Official Guidelines and Rules, or as we like to call it: OBOROGMOGR. But don't worry. I hear that the local grocery store is not going to sell Krispy Kremes anymore, so we can still revolt against them. Can't we?

And now that we've all gathered for some pillaging, here are some brief responses from the previous flurry of blogging. First off, the proposed weekly schedule was just a suggestion. If you need a different day, then simply tell me. I am officially stating that on Monday I will post new art every week. That doesn't mean that I can't post any other day, just that I'll be posting art on monday. So for those of you who have said you will participate, simply tell us which day you want and then get with Mr. Wire and determine a topic. The topics listed in the example post are by no means final, hence the example part.

Also, let's start labeling our posts people. This will enable readers to search through the site and find posts by topic, as well as chronologically. When you are editing a post, simply look at the bottom right of the Edit HTML box and you will see a very convenient text box labeled: "Labels for this post:" Fill in the text box with the topic of your post. Then you can go to the main page and see that the Topics of Discussion are there at the top on the right side of the page, and you can see all of the topics.

And lastly, We all agree that while our game has certain elements that bear a resemblance to certain intellectual properties that do not belong to us. My purpose in bringing this to everyone's attention was not that I thought they had too much of a resemblance, I just wanted to make sure that when we do finally get MOAG out there, there can be no questioning as to the fact that it is all our creation. So maybe we push the differences a little more, just to make it more clear that the Conar are most definitely NOT the predator, even though they may share some similar characteristics.

Okay, now that we're finally done with that, everybody grab your torches, we're gettin' us some donuts!

Where is Shadowwire on all this?!

I think that Shadowwire is going to be a little surprised when we all start flooding him with information for the book........ oh well!!!

Anyway, good arguments all, and not just for the sake of argument. This is actual discussions, debates and ideas taking form here. AWESOME!!!!

The thing with the Conar is a little more complex then when I first thought... but do they really need the wrist blades? The shocktrooper armor is a lot bigger then your Predator armor. It also looks a lot better (if you ask me.) The light warp gear is a little riske and the hair thing doesn't help, but I think that this is all things that can be changed. What if we gave them tenticles that have more of a flesh tone?

Anyway, the next topic of discussion should be, "How are we going to tell Shadowwire that we are Mutinying?" Just kidding Mr. Wire.

Victory is Mine!

Good.... good... let the hate flow through you and such. But seriously freaking awsome. I love it when a plan comes together.

I really don't have any natural talent in art but I like to dabble in it. So if I come up with anything decent I'll figure out how to scan it and post it.

My thoughts about the willpower arguement are simple and the answer is simple. What Kang said. And damn all those nerdy Star Wars fans (like me) if they don't agree. Willpower is the bomb. It can do much more than the force can and it has an explanation, albeit a very far out explanation, but at least it has one.

Predators are Conar wannabees (even if they arn't) but since infringement is a big deal, I think a haircut and slight weapon/armor variations should be a reasonable enough change for them. Maybe make the hair real? Instead of the tentancle, thing, whatnot. Give them dreadlocks or something fierce, maybe cornrolls. I don't know something, anything but the davey jones look.

As for weapons and armor go, the only thing I can see would be wrist blades and maybe the light warp gear. But all the armor that movie predators wear (if any) is pretty light stuff. Most pictures and descriptions I have seen and heard make the Conar armor sound very hardcore, elite, shocktrooper like. So no problem there. As for the light warp stuff. Any, if not all, decent sci-fi has some sort of cloaking technology. Our's just sounds cooler. So no worries as long as we don't make it a Conar only thing. If we do I think we might have some problems with infringement. Aside from the things I have mentioned the Conar are very, very original and we shouldn't have to change much to make it work.

22.1.08

Okay, Everybody, we're all in!

Alright. We all want the book to come about, and we want it sooner rather than later. So here's my plan. Everyone who would like to participate, take a day of the week, and every week write a well-informed post about the subject. For example, a sample week could look like this:

Monday - Salvaggio will post a new art piece. One that can be used in the book.
Tuesday - Shadowwire will post concerning the rules of character creation
Wednesday - Bot will post about the Conar, giving a brief history or whatever he wants, but something that needs to be written
for the book.
Thursday - Kang will post about weapons and damage
Friday and Saturday are open days.

Now if your name is not on the list, feel free to post on any day, it's just that being separated from the MOAG community there in the homelands, I don't have much experience with the rest of you. Although I am positive that both Savara and Pablo will want to participate, and should by all means. As for the rest of you, feel free to post. In fact, it might be helpful for the newcomers to post questions, that way the next week the group can answer said questions, thus informing everyone of the official answers and also putting said official answers down on "paper".

Anyway, what do you say? I'll take mondays because that will give me the weekend to spend more time on the art, but I'm flexible. Let me know what you think. Also, let's start labeling our posts, and by this I mean putting in a topic in the labels box that shows up on the bottom of the New Post page. So if you post about character creation, then label it characters or something like that.

So let's get this going. I'll try to have something finished for monday. How about the rest of the week?

Masters Of All Galaxies?

Just a side note. I was always under the impression that M.O.A.G. stood for something far more sinister like:

My Old Aching Gonads!!!

Here here!

Touche! If we think of it as a Shadowwire/Selvagio thing, of course the task look overwhelming. It is not just a two person thing. It is an "US" thing. We can generate allot of momentum if we use the combined efforts of us all.

Some minor issues with the "Predator" thing. I don't think it is as big an issue as is being portrayed.

The Will-Power thing? Not an issue at all.

I have a few things to add.
1: Not all will power users are benevolent universe saving heroes. Not all are inter-galactic menaces.
I believe that the Gargonan and Conara species, combined with their complex history of conflict, can be tapped into, to generate a general feeling that will define the overall universe and veer the casual observer away from any thought of Starwars/Predator/whatever may pop into their wee little brains. Minor cosmetic adjustments to the Conara, a quick stop into a plastic surgeon, perhaps a little analgesic cream and Voila! We have a non-predator.

2: Will power/psionic power/magic, is almost expected nowdays in the realm of fantasy/scifi.

3: I was always under the impression that we were going to make "Will-Power," into a separate resource; a not-required but available companion manual for those incline to use it or with to adapt it into their personal campaigns. I don't believe we even need it, in order to publish a successful game. And beside, it will generate more $$$ if it is a separate resource. This will allow those who think the will-power thing is lame notion, (and believe me, there are those weirdos out there,) to ignore that it exists, allowing them to still play in their own little universes, designed just the way they like it.
4:On the, "Just the way you like it" note. I agree with the whole, "give in a little," notion. A successful game is going to require some adaptation. A little give and take on the part of the Shadowire bio-book. Adapt and adjust, take more input and allow for other peoples ideas to overrule your own when it is done for the sake of progress, rather than adhering to your own ideas because that's the way you think of it. That has been my biggest issue with the whole thing actually. Sometimes you have to throw out an idea, even if you are intimately attached to it, in order to let the story live. Some of the best ideas are the ones you have to discard to complete the work. Yes it is beautiful, yes it is grand, yes it is yours and you don't want to see it go, but if it is killing the thing as a whole, it must be let go of. To quote a certain Vulcan, "The needs of the many, out weigh the needs of the few, or the one."

Shadowire, I am in writing mode. Copy everything that is relevant and get it ready for me. I'll be up in to weeks to get it. I'll compile and put together some ideas for you to look over. I think it's time to quite talking about it and just Get 'er done! Better to do it sooner than later and perhaps never.

Brainstorm... a "Very" good idea! I'm on board. Let's do it starting now!

Another Moager?

I would like to introduce another relative of mine. My nephew Juanito who is attending SUU right now. He joins us every Friday for the MOAG Sessions. Welcome him in the usual manner... heckles and jeers!

The Return of Bot or How I Took Salvaggio's Top 10 List and Shreaded it to pieces!!!

The title is a joke Salvaggio!!! Anyway, I must apologize for my lack of being here. I don't really have a good excuse, I just haven't posted for a while. So sorry.

Kk, now... here we go.

Yes Midget Ninja Assassins are absolutely terrifying, Tom Cruise is some sort of demon sent from the underworld, donuts are yummy and the Writers Strike is looking like its trying to go longer then the NHL Player Strike. These points are more valid to me then the next five.

5. Content. The content is there. Wes has a life time of content put into this. Not to mention Kang Pablo Salvaggio and myself (Bot.) The artwork may be a different story all together, but I believe we need to sit down some time and Brain Storm the whole content thing.

4. Copyright Infringement. Yes the Conar look A LOT like the Predators. The only way we can change that is to stop thinking of them as the Predators! All the pictures also look a lot like the Predators. The Force thing is a minor issue and the only trouble we would have is from the Rabid Star Wars fans that don't think anything can come close to Star Wars' Greatness. Apart from that, their is relatively little else that needs to be changed. Yet again, BRAIN STORM SESSION!!!

3. A Captive Audience? I am changing this to Need for a Book. There is a captive audience down here and 2 other GM's here in Cedar City that would love to have a standard book instead of the old standby... which goes something like this. "Hey Wes. Where is the Hit Location Chart?" "In the book........... somewhere." "I looked all through it." "Oh, yeah! I took it out for [insert some random reason here]. It's still on a clipboard." Then the conversation just gets worse after that. Anyway, you get the picture. Finding Weapons, races, rolls for various tasks and a plethora of other things can sometime take from precious play time. Actually, most times... if you're not Shadowwire. The people are coming Salvaggio! With or without a book. I think it might actually be a good idea to split the group we have on Friday Night MOAG Sessions.

2. Time. Time is not the problem. I know that Shadowwire will take this the wrong way, but I am going to say it anyway. Shadowwires control issue is the problem. Let go a little bit! Let me help! Let Pablo help! You have a group of very creative people surrounding you ever Friday night that would love the challenge of putting together bits and pieces of a MOAG book. Let us help! Instead of one person having a minute amount of time you have several persons with a minute amount of time, that equals a little bit of time which might not be a lot, but it's more. Again, BRAIN STORM SESSIONS!!!

1. Money? We don't need no stinking money!!! At least not at this stage. We need to get a layout set up and then a rough form of the book (more complete then the one we have right now) and then we need to get it out to people that can help us on the money end. There are company's out there that would love to take this game and make it into a marketable mega cash machine. All we would have to do is put up our defenses and not let too much control go.

The book is not doomed. In fact it is further from doom then you might think. There is plenty of resources out there that we can tap into. Besides, why the hell am I being the optimistic one??? This is making me feel dirty.

Oh, and don't forget the Midgets... and Tom Cruise... he will strike when you least expect it.

16.1.08

And now, your top 10 reasons "The Book" won't get finished.

Well, I'm taking Pablo's lead here, and going to list, in no particular order, the top 10 reasons why the MOAG book will NOT get finished. Or least be delayed for some time. Now don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the book finished. I have a lot of time invested in the MOAG universe. I want it to get finished, almost as much as Wes does. But both Wes and I know that there are some unfortunate truths that stand in the way of the book coming to a completion. But yes, you are right, we shouldn't say the book won't be finished. But maybe these things will delay the book's completion.

So here's your new title: Top 10 reasons the MOAG book will be delayed.

And here they are in no particular order. Or least likely to "we saw that coming", if your going to get picky.

10. Midgets. You can laugh all you want, but you can't tell me you're not afraid of a death squad of midget ninjas. If you say you're not, then you're lying. Now how will this affect the finishing of the MOAG book? Good question. I don't know really, but you always have to prepare for the worst, so here it is.

9. The Writers strike. If we can't make a MOAG movie, then I don't even see why we're putting a book together in the first place.

8. Tom Cruise. He's crazy, and probably has a patent on all things "science-esque". I mean have you seen him lately? He. Scares. The. @#$%!@!!. Out. Of. Me.

7. Donuts. Hmmmmm, Donuts.

6. Did I mention Midgets? Because we really should be prepared for that sort of thing.

Okay, these last ones are serious reasons. But not that the previous reasons were not serious. I mean, these last five are MORE serious than the previous entries, but just as dangerous. And smarmy.

5. Content. We really aren't ready to put the book together. Wes has a lot of charts and tables in his folder, but we don't have a laid out body of text that will explain everything, and a lot of the game is still floating around in his head, fighting for air with all of the needless counterstrike strategies that clogs the cerebrial vortex. And that's just on his side. We still need plenty more artwork. And frankly, Wes and I are pretty picky about what we're going to put in there, so we wont just take anything.

4. Copyright infringement. If we wanted to go public with this, the first thing we'd need to do is clearly seperate the Conar from the Predator movies, which we've tried to do a bit, but still haven't quite got it right yet. There are other bits and pieces that need tweaking. Will power is an awfully lot like the Force, but I'll admit much better, so we'd have to make sure we weren't just ripping that off. And frankly, you can say that we aren't, but then how come all of us are will power using, sword toting, "gaurdians of the galaxy"? That sounds an awfully lot like a Jedi to me. Now it might not be too big of a deal, I don't really know. Either way, we need to make some changes and make sure the game is ours.

3. A Captive Audience. Right now, we don't have a need for a book. There aren't enough people playing MOAG to require a standardized book of rules be published. I know, I can already hear you say "But Salvaggio, if we had a book, we could then get more people to play". Which might be true, but I don't realy think so. I mean, did we all start playing MOAG because of a picture or a set of rules that Wes had come up with? No, we started playing because the game is fun. So we need to start getting more people playing. If Kang had a group of individuals who wanted to play in St. George, then I can see how it might be in Wes's best interest to put together a book of rules for him to use there, instead of going down to GM once every month or so. So guys, let's get more people playing, and then the need for the book will come.

2. Time. I'm pretty sure I speak for Wes as well as my self, but I don't have the time to dedicate myself to finishing the book. There is a lot of artwork that needs to be done, and I want to do it, but I can't take time off work to finish it. And that leads us to the number one issue...

1. MONEY! CA-CHING! It will cost a fair amount to publish a book, but that's not the money that I'm talking about. The real money issue is this: I get paid good money to perform the Job that I currently hold, therefore I cannot justify the time needed to spend on MOAG where I will recieve no payment. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy working on MOAG artwork whenever I can, but I have to do it in my spare time. And it will stay that way for any of us working on the book, because MOAG won't pay the bills. And trust me, as one who does freelance artwork, the promise of Payment down the road does not make up for empty stomachs and unpaid bills now.

So there you have it. Does that mean the book is doomed? NO. And here is the answer to all of the above issues and how it will solve everything:

Midgets.

Just Kidding, it's really patience. Be patient with Wes and myself as we try to put this all together in our spare time. Help out where ever you can. It's great to see Kang, Bot, and Pablo writing MOAG inspired tales, and we've all talked about helping write species descriptions and whatnot. Well, let's do it. But it will take time, and don't be afraid to pester any of us MOAGers for info or anything we think the book will need.

I want the book to happen, but let's not give up if it's not finished next week.

Anyway, there it is. It might not be pretty, but it had to be said. And now that everybody is aware of the pink elephant in the corner, let's dress up this pig and get it done.

It's ALIVE!!! (Really, I mean it.)



So... my mad scientist skills were put to the test, but I was equal to the task! I have revived my brothers iBook by replacing the hard drive. I would say simply replacing the hard drive, but it was like a 57 step process, and you didn't actually see the hard drive until step 50.

Anyway, I am quite proud of myself to say the least. I've never been very good at fixing electronics, so I'm just as surprised as anyone. Looks like the next couple of days will be spent installing all the latest software and updating the OS to the latest version.

So excuse my maniacal laughter, and enjoy the rest of your evening. Oh. It's like 1:00 AM. Sooo... uh... enjoy your sleepy time then.

14.1.08

The Silence is Sickening.... and partly my fault.

Now that the holidays are over and I have gorged myself on goodies while hiding in my cave, it is time for a new topic of discussion.

So the new topic is...... Ways to get West to finish the MOAG book.

Come on everyone, if we all put our heads together I'm sure West will realize we are plotting against him and somehow finish the MOAG book before his doom is decided.

By the way, super good job on the previous topic of discussion. Those are some cool looking ships.

10.1.08

Well now, It looks like nobody's home...

Hello? Anybody home?

Well now, it seems that we have some issues here. What happened to the regular posts? Where are the snappy comments? Well, I suppose it's just as much my fault as any. But we can't let MOAG die. It tried before, but we came to the rescue. So we know we can do it again.

Anyway, had a great new years. My bro dropped his iBook, and it wouldn't start, so he bought himself a new one. He then sent me the old one, and I'm pretty sure it just needs a new hardrive. So it looks like I'll be getting a laptop for about 80 bucks. A deal if ever there was one. I'm excited. Unfortunately, the IT guy at work can't look at it to help me replace the drive till next week, so I'm anxiously waiting for it to happen.

But other than that, I did make a pilgrimage down south to see Shadowwire and Bot over the holiday. It was great to get together with all of you and can't wait to do it again. You guys do know you can come UP to visit us don't you?

Okay, well I've rambled on long enough. So I've posted the first post of the year (although Shadowwire gets the first comment), so let's keep this baby rolling!

Enjoy some artwork.