Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your with your friends and family! Have a great day!

Vampire Murder Dinner Game

Okay, so this one is a sort of unique post. Usually I'm talking about something to do with my work and writing. However, this time, I've got an idea for you guys, for a cheap, simple, yet incredibly fun dinner game.

I call it simply the Vampire Mystery Game.

This is a brand of game similiar to other 'Murder Mystery' games, and is meant to be played at a dinner party of between 10 and 20 people. However, once you have the basics of how this game works, you can adapt it for larger or smaller groups.

For background, I actually developed this game to occupy the minds of my nieces and nephews, and it worked really well. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that it would be fun for adults too, and a few of the more complex parts of the game could be fully realized at dinner parties. So, with that said, I introduce you to the Vampire Mystery Game.

The first step in the Vampire Mystery Game is to choose what guest attendee is your Vampire. You might want to set out notes at the different sitting places for your guests, which will discretely tell your guests whether they are Vampires or Humans. Also, tell them to keep their verdict a secret. However as the game becomes more active, and players learn how to play, you will have Vampires claiming they are Vampires, if only to confuse investigators.

During the meal, you should explain, in full, the rules of the game. Essentially the game has two objectives, to turn all humans to vampires, or to kill all vampires. How will this be done, read below.

After the meal is completed, and you are ready to begin the game, you will divide the group into 'houses'. You designate a several rooms in your house as 'houses'. You will want to make sure that each of these rooms is outfitted to give the 'home-owners' something to do. Magazines, board games, drinks, deserts, television. You will also make sure that there is a water gun, or maybe a nerf gun in the room, which is the only defense the house has.

Then, you, the game moderator, go each house, one after another, and release the house for their 'investigation' for 10 minutes. During this time, they must wear hats, to signify that they are investigating. They may go to the other houses, and ask questions about who the vampire could be. Indeed the humans must work together, to weed out the possible vampires. When a human thinks he has an accusation, he may accuse someone of being a vampire (only at the end of his investigation). If he accuses someone of being a vampire, they must reveal whether they are a vampire or not. If they are the vampire, the vampire dies (removed from the game). He must tell you, the GM, if he had made others into vampires. If not, is tale ends there. If the person accused is not a vampire, the accuser goes to jail. Those in jail can answer questions, but may not participate in the investigation.

During the investigation, the vampires, disquised as humans, can pretend to take part in the investigation. If they get close enough to a person to touch them, they must then whisper to them that the 'tagged' person has become a vampire. A new vampire must keep their new identity secret, and continue with investigations, trying to turn others into vampires, until there are no humans left who aren't in jail. A vampire can only 'create' other vampires during their investigation turn, not when others come to their house.

Also, a person at their house, can shoot someone in their house, most likely to defend from whom they think is a vampire. When they shoot someone, the person must admit whether they are a vampire or not. If the person is a vampire, the vampire dies, and must tell the Game Moderator of other vampires it 'created'. If the person who is shot is not a vampire, the shooter goes to jail.

The humans win if they kill all the vampires. The humans lose if all humans become vampires or end up in jail.

Pretty simple game, right? Sounds pretty fun?

Tell me what you think!

Whew

Still hard at work on my newest Zombie book. So my posting will be less for the next few weeks, at least, until something comes to my mind to write about! Thats usually how it goes, right?

Maybe I'll post a preview chapter up here for you guys in a few days.

New Vampiric Mythopeia

Okay, if your familiar with the term Mythopeia, skip this first paragraph. If your not, its pretty simple concept to grasp, but fairly hard to trully comprehend. A mythopiea, as described by JRR Tolkien, is the collected information that goes into building a setting, but can also include the references that go into the creation of that setting. However the Mythopeia is so much more complex.

That being said, I created a new concept for Vampiric Lore. Why? Because I had been planning this for sometime, and unfortunately, I have come to another small writer's block. So I am going give you some background on the Vampiric Mythos I've created.

My Vampires are called Scythian Vampires. The, like other Vampires, need to feed on blood, but once they do feed, they can choose to pass on the Scynthian Virus, though they don't have to.

When a person contracts the disease, a select few (in a definate minority, usually 40% or less) will fight off the disease initially. However those that succumb to the disease slink into unconsciousness, in less than 4 hours. However, to the outside world, the person appears to be dead. Even to a trained medical professional, its hard to tell that these people are still alive, and only one who has seen this affliction before will know its signs. These signs include a temporary loss of coagulation in the blood stream of the infected, a pale color to the skin, and all veins appear blue in color.

Then the second stage comes. This usually comes anywhere from 8 hours to a couple of days, the infected rises again. In the vast majority of cases, the infected rises as a bloodbeast, an uncontrollable cannibal thirsting for the blood of any living person. It must feed off of at least a quart of blood per day in order to survive, but this won't prevent it from gourging itself, and it can consume up to 20 quarts in a single day. The creature is barely conscious, but it will communicate with others of its kind and even take orders from Scynthian Vampires. When these creatures bite, they automatically transfer the Bloodburn Virus, which only creasts Bloodbeasts. They have no control over this, though, the creatues typically do too much harm for their victims to rise successfully as Bloodbeasts. However, the Bloodbeasts lose interest in thier prey as soon as the virus imbeds itself in their victims.

A select few will rise from the second stage no as Bloodbeasts, but as Scynthian Vampires. Given dark gifts of strength, intelligence, and speed they need one quart of blood per day to survive. However, as they consume more blood, they grow in power.

Both Bloodbeasts and Scynthian Vampires are adverse to the Sunlight. Bloodbeasts are sensitive to light, and will not go out into it, unless under fear of pain or death. However, despite disorientation that the light gives them, Bloodbeasts don't lose much power. Scynthian Vampires, however, are not only sensitive to the light, but they lose much of their power while in the light, and are thus incredibly vulnerable. It doesn't kill them, so they will move through it if need be.

What do ya'll think? Zombie-like Bloodbeasts and the Scythian Vampiric Masterminds, right?

Shopping a Literary Agent

Oh, my. This is a first for me. Just recently, my manuscript has picked up the pace, and I mean big time. I had previously defined the concept I wanted, and now Im making progress defined in my guideline. What Im hoping, is to have a book between 80,000 and 100,000 words. These books will be much cheaper to manufacture, and will definatly be cheaper for the consumer, helping to build my name.

Hopefully, this might give me the Royalties I need to sustain myself as well as further promote my own personal line. I easily recognize this might be the easiest way to get my work out to the masses, and conversely, allow me to build my own business.

So, to that end, Im considering contacting a Literary Agent. Any suggestions for what I should look for?

Your comments will be greatly appreciated!

Crimson Star Freebies!

Yup! Its that time again! Time for me to give you, my readers, more free stuff! Beyond just my rants and raves that I put here. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Today's freebie is the Emperor's Arcane. Just a little bit of a rules segment, for you D&D and RPG players. It modifies the D20 system, so that you have a point-based spell casting system, instead of the traditional Vancian system that is used. Its a simple system once you get used to how it works.

Click Here

I hope this will hold yall over until I can get the first issue of Knight Spectre out. Maybe Ill call it Knight Spectre X...for marketing sake. God, Im hilarious. Can you stand it? I know I barely can.

Anyhow, if you like that product, you will probably like my other book, Sedallia: Land of Sails. It sells in PDF format for only $2.99, so click the button below to pick it up!

Sedallia Campaign Setting

Also, leave comments of what you think bout my book!

Emperor's Take: Paranormal Activity

Hey everyone. This one was a bit overdue, as everyone was talking about this new movie, paranormal activity. So I decided to see it, and review it, if only because I seem to have an extended period of writer's block, mostly due to other events happening in my life right now.

Okay, firstly, you have to remember, the movie was made for $11,000 USD, which is really good, considering that I've seen some movies made for $30,000 which definitely didn't look as professional as this. Admittedly, however, the budget requirements of this production weren't as much as others. Either way though, my hat is off to them, if this is the case.

So whats the plot you ask? A couple in a relationship have only recently moved in together. However, the girl brings with her, an entity not of this world. It starts off with simple lights being left on, or keys moved around, but soon progresses to full-out terror. I won't give anymore, but its definitely a worthwhile story, with a scary twist at the end.

However, for all of it's hype, I found the movie lacking. It wasn't frightening to me, and I felt that the scares were too predictable. And you dint need a huge budget to write a unique script. But despite all this, my hat is off to them for what marketing success they did have.

So whats my verdict? Should you see it? Currently there is nothing better in the market right now for scary movies, though that might change quickly, so if you are going to see something, you might as well see this. However, if you can hold off, you might as well see it on DVD or HBO.

One of the things I really liked about the movie was the use of the Gonzo POV for the film. It reminded me of Quarantine, and this is a great way to immerse someone into the plot. Its definately a great ride for someone who is interested in hauntings or possession.