That Guy from Dresden Codak apparently rocks

I was recently linked to Aaron Diaz' blog Indistinguishable from Magic, specifically his reboots of X-Men and the Justice League (there's a search bar, be proactive if you like).

Frankly, dude's really smart. I always liked his comic and apparently I had good reason to because he understands the ins and outs of both art and writing better than most humans.

He's also working on a personal project Star Wars: 1999 which would re-envision the Star Wars prequels to be more...not a gaping wound in the continuity which later authors must work like platelets to bridge to.

Point is: go read his words, then head over to ye olde Topatoco and toss some money his way (he's self-supporting).

</advertisement>

The Devil is in the Details

(I'd like to first state that Diablo III is very fun. While there are certain design decisions I disagree with, the game on the whole is fantastic. This is not a critique, it is only thought experiment for my own amusement)

Each of the 5 classes in Diablo III has its own (theoretically) unique resource to manage. However, more could be done to distinguish them. I'd like to go through how the classes currently play, then propose some alternate resources. I'll be paying closest attention to providing each class with its own unique play experience.

Avacyn Restored Bugs Me

This is not to cry that Magic is dead, or that Wizards has ruined the game, or any other such nonsense. I loved Innistrad's flavor AVR hit a lot of those notes perfectly. Soulbond and the "lone monster" mechanics mirror nicely. "Miracle", while awkward, creatres some fun gameplay moments which, when it comes down to it, is why we play the game.

I've played some AVR limited and toyed with the cards in other formats. Here are my concerns:

A Metric for Success

One of my greatest regrets is that I still think in feet, cups, and Fahrenheit. Yes, I am a huge nerd.

Even after realizing how awesome metric is I still maintained that it wasn't worthwhile to switch. It didn't seem to matter what units people learned All the science that matters is done in metric anyways. I swore to raise my children to think in metric just because it's so logical but there seemed no reason to inconvenience the rest of America.

I recently had a change of heart. The metric system is not only logical, it is conducive to the development of scientific thought.

Faithful Looting

We're coming up on the future.

During MTG's second Great Designer Search,entrants answered ten short response questions to see how well they understood WotC's current design philosophy. The following question was posed:

You are instructed to move an ability from one color to another. This ability must be something used in every set (i.e. discard, direct damage, card drawing etc.). You may not choose an ability that has already been color shifted by R&D. What ability do you shift and to what color do you shift it? Explain why you would make that shift.

Apparently an overwhelming majority of finalists argued to move looting (draw a card, then discard a card, a la Merfolk Looter) should be moved from blue to red. R&D listened. Magic sets are made a few years in advance so we wouldn't see the results of that change surface until...well, about now I suppose.