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Messages - n8sumsion

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Everything Else / Re: Random career question......
« on: March 21, 2008, 05:16:16 PM »
I guess I'll give this question a go...

1. What did I want to be when I was little?
Well, aside from a super-hero or an X-Wing pilot, I really wanted to be an astronaut. My grandfather worked for NASA and I thought that would be really cool.

When I finally got to college, I thought I really wanted to be an architect (my great-uncle who was an architect drove this awesome Jaguar XKE convertible, and I wanted one of those too). Then I took some mechanical drafting classes and decided that wasn't for me.

So then I switched to being an English Major, and did that for nearly 2 years. Now, truly no offense is intended to any English Majors in the forums, but I had an epiphany one day in class. I was looking around at the students in whatever literature class I was attending, and they were spouting off their interpretations of what such-and-such author intended his story to mean, and most were pretentiously irritating, and I realized that, when I graduated with my degree, these were going to be my peers in the workforce. And I decided I couldn't tolerate that. So I dropped out and redirected myself again...

I finally decided on Graphic Design and got myself in the video game industry.

2. What do Iwant to be?
I'm doing what I want to be doing, making video games. I eventually hope to get enough willpower and motivation in me to sit down, write a book and get it published.

3. What am I doing?
Designing video games for Walt Disney.

4. What am I going to be?
Hopefully, I'll do this for some time to come. You never know in this industry, it's a little volatile, but I want to keep doing what I'm doing for as long as I can.

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Role-Playing Games / Re: RPGs and cheating
« on: March 17, 2008, 05:41:13 PM »
Generally the groups I played with didn't need policing on their dice rolls. I trusted them to make their rolls, and I felt fairly confident they would police themselves if necessary. I never ran into a player that wanted to hide their dice rolls.

As the GM, I fudged my rolls all the time. They served as a good framework to give me options, but I generally went with whatever would provide the most excitement and propel the story forward. That said, I would be consistent in my fudging. I wouldn't arbitrarily assign a number to a roll one time and have some completely different target the next time for the same thing. But if a player was trying something particularly heroic, I might be more willing to let them get away with it, regardless of what the enemy happened to roll.

I think the key, though, is that even though the players knew I was fudging my rolls from time to time, they trusted me. They knew I wasn't out to get them as the GM. My primary goal was to weave an entertaining story with their participation, and if at the end of the day we all had a blast, that was the most important thing.

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I got all of my in-laws hooked on Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Bohnanza, Ticket to Ride and others. We have a great time playing them (and personally, how can you go wrong with a game where you can legitimately say, "I have wood for sheep"?) I like just about anything from the Days of Wonder guys (Pirate's Cove, Mystery of the Abbey, Ticket to Ride). Tikal is fun. Bang! is a blast too.

4
Music / Re: What are you Listening to?
« on: March 06, 2008, 06:04:44 PM »
MPlease, thanks for mentioning Abney Park. I checked them out because of your comment, and I'm really really liking them. Looks like I'll have to pay more attention to this thread in the future!

5
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: March 05, 2008, 07:20:49 PM »
I loved The Knight and The Wizard by Gene Wolfe. Great books!

I just finished reading World War Z by Max Brooks. I was very impressed with it.

Next up is Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. (I'm on the bus or train about 2 hours a day, so I get a lot of reading in.

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Role-Playing Games / Re: Farewell Gary Gygax
« on: March 05, 2008, 07:13:44 PM »
This made me very sad. I still remember buying the original boxed set when I was 8 years old, in preparation for spending a few weeks at my great-grandma's house over the summer. I spent much of that time pouring over the books learning how to play. This memory also made me realize that I have been playing role-playing games for 30 years now. Many of my best memories from "back in the day" are of me and my friends playing various games for hours on end. I doubt I'd be making games for a living now had I not been introduced to D&D at a young age.

Thanks for the good times, Gary!

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Movies and TV / Re: 2008 Oscar Predictions
« on: February 25, 2008, 07:10:17 PM »
Well, by my count I got 7/10. Not the winner, certainly, but not dead last either. I enjoyed the oscars this year, I actually agreed with most of the choices. Now I actually have to get out and see some of the films.

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Movies and TV / Re: 2008 Oscar Predictions
« on: February 20, 2008, 07:22:17 PM »
I've got to make my totally un-informed guesses too. Although I feel I usually have a better shot at this than March Madness NCAA predictions...

1. Picture - No Country for Old Men.
2. Director - No Country for Old Men.
3. Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis.
4. Best Actress - Julie Christie.
5. Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem.
6. Best Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton.
7. Art - Sweeny Todd.
8. Cinematography - The Assassination...
9. Adapted - No Country for Old Men.
10. Original - Michael Clayton.

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Video Games / Re: Lost Odyssey
« on: February 20, 2008, 07:16:23 PM »
I've been watching some guys at work play this one. Visually, it's very impressive. I've added it to my growing stack of games I must play soon. I just finished Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the PS3 - awesome game. And I'm currently playing Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4. (Still on my pile of games to play: Conan, Lost Planet, Super Mario Galaxy, Oblivion, Super Paper Mario, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess... They're all just calling to me and I don't have time to play them).

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Video Games / Any Weewar Players on TWG?
« on: January 29, 2008, 01:13:50 AM »
Are there any Weewar players here? www.weewar.com

Weewar is a great little browser-based strategy game. You really ought to check it out. If you're ever interested in a game (and frankly, your odds of beating me are probably very high), look me up. My player name is Shubby.


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Video Games / Pirates of the Burning Sea
« on: January 25, 2008, 08:55:08 PM »
Anyone picked this up yet? I'm always interested in a good new MMO. I was wondering if this is an alternative to WoW... or should I keep raiding Karazhan for a while longer?

I think the concept looks interesting, if there's enough there to keep you engaged. I loved Sid Meier's Pirates, and I'm wondering if this MMO brings anything more to the table.

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Site News / Re: Re-Introduce yourself - right on!
« on: January 25, 2008, 06:55:27 PM »
I thought it might be good to re-introduce myself. I haven't been on the site for a couple of years, and am just recently returning to the forums. Who knows, maybe I'll stick around this time. This is basically what I wrote the first time I introduced myself, but I've updated it to be more current.

My name is Nathan Sumsion. I'm a graduate from USU in Graphic Design, and for the past 10 years I've been a video game designer in Salt Lake, Germany, and North Carolina. I've worked on Dead Head Fred, Disney's Meet the Robinsons, Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet, Spy Vs. Spy, Robotech: Invasion, Far Cry, Legends of Wrestling 2, Circus Maximus, and Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000. Currently I'm living in Salt Lake City, working for Avalanche Software / Disney Interactive.

I'm married with 3 kids, the oldest boy is almost 5. My wife hit level 70 in World of Warcraft before I did, and now her entire family is playing. Her mom was actually the first in the family to have her alt hit 70 also. So they put up with my gaming ways.

I've played role-playing games for the past... uh, 28 years I guess. Favorites are D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, World of Darkness, and basically anything I could find a group of people willing to play with me. Currently I'm also really in to German boardgames and other ways to waste my time.

Big horror movie and sci-fi movie nut. Former comic junkie (my budget couldn't keep up with the habit once my son was born), but I work with enough guys who still collect that I can usually read over their shoulders on lunch breaks.

It goes without saying I'm a big video game player. Currently playing World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, Guitar Hero 3, Zelda Phantom Hourglass.

Looking forward to reading regularly in the forums.

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