Bloody hardware faults!

My laptop, the new one, has had a crisis yesterday.  The screen started flickering and fading to darkness, and a high-pitched sound like something shorting out began at the same time.  This happened just as I was turning it off after finishing work.  I thought that it was 'shorting' because the power cable wasn't plugged in properly, so I didn't think anything of it.  However, when I turned it back on again at home, exactly the same problem.

I researched it via the other laptop, and found that it was probably the 'screen inverter'. This is a little piece of electronic hardware that sits behind the laptop screen and provides power and stuff for the screen.  I was tempted to take the laptop and screen apart to see if I could fix it myself, but realised this would void the warranty on it, so I'll have to wait until Monday, when I can call Compaq for warranty service.

Annoying. 

Anyway, this afternoon I'm going to go back to the sunbed.  I'm really just getting tired of being white all over again, and I really enjoyed it back when I was tanned.  I looked better and felt better, so I'm starting it again today.  Once I finish this journal entry I'm going into town to have a nice, warm, relaxing, 6-minute sunbed session.  And then I'm going to sit back and relax as I drink a nice, hot, relaxing Chai Latte at Starbucks.   Mmmmm…. weekends.  I love weekends.

Deidre's out playing netball this afternoon, so I'm taking it easy.  I can't play on my laptop, so I'm doing other things instead.  Tonight, there's some friend of Deidre's coming over for dinner, and then they're all going out dancing.  Not sure what I'll do… maybe do some more work on my new game.  This is the final blurb that I've come up with so far:

Do you like a good conspiracy? Were you fascinated by The X Files? Do you believe that aliens and UFOs are out there, and the government is hiding the truth? Then this might be the play-by-email (PBEM) roleplaying game you're looking for, that allows you to have a significant part in saving humanity – or destroying it.

A Brief History

In 1947, mankind first discovered he wasn't alone when a crashed spaceship was found at Roswell, New Mexico. This was the first of many retrieved spaceships and alien life forms.

Majestic-12 was formed by President Truman to gather international evidence of alien life by reviewing data collected by all government, military and intelligence agencies around the world. Information was shared with world leaders on this potential threat. To ensure there wasn't a global panic, leaders throughout the world committed themselves to ensuring that life carried on as normal to the blissfully unaware populations. Majestic-12's purpose evolved to ensure that the secrets were KEPT secret, and governments around the world continued to maintain the secrecy, all of them ultimately answering to Majestic-12.

In 1953, first contact was made between US President Eisenhower and members of an alien race. Eisenhower negotiated a treaty on behalf of humanity. In exchange for advanced technology from the aliens, the aliens would be allowed to take humans for whatever reason – with one stipulation. The humans had to be returned, and they were not to remember anything about their experiences. The aliens agreed.

Over the years, the rules have changed. The aliens have been slowly subverting the treaty, and Majestic-12's attempts to keep the aliens a secret is being made harder by not only the aliens, but by those who want to expose the truth.

Various people have learnt through the years that there are things happening in the world they don't understand. Too many events have questions that can't be answered. There's too many pathways to dead ends, and that raises suspicions. Some of these people have been wealthy and resourceful enough to create their own organisation. They called it 'Foxhound'. They're out there, sniffing out the truth and gathering evidence. Their goal is to enlighten the world to the secrets that are underneath everyone's noses.

Majestic-12 and Foxhound.

Majestic-12 has alien technology at their disposal, and the full weight of the resources of governments around the world. They believe they are doing the right thing – they're involved in a covert war to save humanity from alien invasion, and Foxhound is getting in the way.

Foxhound is a privately funded paramilitary organisation doing their best to learn the truth and enlighten the populations of the world. Their resources are conventional human technology, and whatever alien technology they can scrounge.

The war is uneven, with secrets and surprises, but the fight goes on. If you want to join this secret war, then join up now. The truth is out there, waiting for you to find it.

Join now.

As you can see, if you remember reading my first copy, I've included both groups into the game (Majestic-12 and Foxhound), and I've made them both 'good' groups, both working to benefit humanity, but from opposing points of view.  I'm hoping it will provide some interesting story development.  I've also been doing research and development into various game elements, like organisational charts for Majestic-12 and the US Government, and character information.  I've finished the organisational chart, and halfway through Majestic-12 character information.  My next steps will include some kind of organisational chart for Foxhound, which is a very non-official organisation that's going to be based more on a resistance group than anything else, plus character information for Foxhound, game rules, and a database of information.

Once I have a relatively completed product, I'm going to actually try and get someone to do some professional-looking artwork for me, or even approach some commercial game or roleplaying companies and find out if they want to sponsor / support me in some way, by having my game as part of their conspiracy-related product.  If anyone agrees, I may have to flavour my work to reflect their product or game or whatever, but it could be interesting.

More updates in the future.