Jamais Jochim
Bio
I'm the guy who knows every last fact about Spider-man and if I don't I'll track it down. I love bad movies, enjoy table-top gaming, and probably would drive you crazy if you weren't ready for it.
Stories (269)
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Improvised Weapons
You're not always going to have access to weapons when you need them. Sometimes you'll leave your gear at home or be caught in a situation that wasn't as peaceful as you thought it was. This means that you need to need to find a weapon if possible as quickly as possible. However, it's likely that there are no weapons and you will need to improvise something. Fortunately, most environments have some sort of way for you to defend yourself if you just look closely enough.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Lifehack
Worst Advice for Self-Publishers
For some people, this is going to be an eye-opening experience as they find out that the cherished advice that they've been giving out like water to everyone is either bad or totally worthless; a lot of advice is great until it's put into practice. The problem is that bad advice backed by a lot of confidence can cause a lot of problems, especially if the advice is based more on ignorance than actual experience. With that in mind, here is some common "advice" that you would do well to ignore.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Writers
Roughhousing to Effect
Self-defense is all about responding without hesitation to solve a specific problem. Anything that introduces a hesitation into the system is likely to cause that chain to slow down and even collapse; in a fight, this means that acting with hesitation can cause you to lose, possibly suffering injury as a result. One of those things that women are socialized into is that they should not confront others physically, and in fact any form of roughhousing is "unacceptable." This creates a potential liability in a fight.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Lifehack
Self-Publication for Dummies
For too many authors the steps of self-publication are a mystery. While there are plenty of books on the subject, most are unsure of where to begin. This is actually easy: Finish the bleeding manuscript first. While there are some exceptions to this, it helps to have a finished manuscript in hand before you even think about publishing. However, once you have a manuscript in hand, you can now debate publishing it. Whether you choose to pay a group of freelancers, use a hybrid publisher, or (Heaven forbid!) do it all yourself (or some combination of the above), the steps are pretty much the same.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Writers
The Convention and Your Business
The standard convention is a great place for businessmen of all stripes to meet and discuss all aspects of the related business. While this makes them the ideal place for businessmen to network, a lot of people have no real idea how to do so; most of them are more interested in the business itself than the social aspects of it. This means that while they can run the business well, they may not always be taking full advantage of opportunities that fall their way. This applies especially when it comes to social situations such as conventions where they are more interested in selling their product and attending the panels and workshops than they are shaking hands.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Writers
Runnning A Money-Making Booth
Writers hate dealing with people. This is probably why they don't do so well when it comes to business matters: Business involves dealing with people up close and personal. Going to conventions only focuses on that issue as it requires the writer to deal with lots of people over the space of hours for a day or two. The biggest problem most authors have is that they lack confidence when it comes to dealing with people; however, with a little prep, it's easy to build some confidence, making convention survival that much easier.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Writers
Marketing For Writers 101
For a lot of writers, marketing is one of those things that everyone hates. We tend to be an introverted lot, and marketing is just something that needs an extroverted mentality. We're good at tasks that require an individual to do things on their own, like researching, world-building, and even writing; we like going down some weird rabbit holes. Introspection and projecting what we find is our bread and butter, but sometimes we need to poke our heads out of the hole and interact with others.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Writers
So Your Players Want to Run A Tavern
At some point, your players are going to want to run a tavern. This is inevitable. They may be inspired by Dragonlance, possibly their favorite detective novel, but somewhere along the line they're going to want to try their hand at running a bar. It looks simple, it's a great way to find adventure, and it ensures that you have all of the ale you can drink; all told, this is not a bad way to spend some downtime. However, this does not mean the referee cannot use the tavern against them.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Gamers
The DMPC Can Be Your Best Friend
In most campaigns, the DMPC is looked down on. The basic concept Is that the referee runs a party character; that is, a character who is fully integrated into the party and is just one of the PCs. Usually, this is a problem because the DMPC has access to information that the other PCs don't and takes advantage of that information, gets all of the best loot, and generally gets favored treatment. This makes the character a problem for the campaign, especially as he tends to tread on the toes of the PCs.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Gamers
How To Build a Better Trap
In most games, the design of traps can be sort of a weird idea and so you don't see them implemented as much as they should be. The problem is that players see them as a way for the referee to cheat and so they react negatively every time a referee uses one, usually in glares of death at the referee; this usually ruins part of the glee that the referee had in getting one over on the schmucks…er…players. However, a well-designed trap can help win back some favors, so a good referee should always be trying out some new things on his players. Here are some ideas on how traps work.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Gamers
Using Puzzle Traps to Effect
One of the most irritating traps can be puzzle traps. Few traps can slow down a party more effectively while providing some excuse to use those rarely used mental skills some characters hoard. However, they tend to rely too heavily on random rolls, making them the least favorite traps of players who have learned to avoid rolls whenever possible. It doesn't help that some players prefer to fight rather than think so cerebral challenges just aren't their thing. This can make them some of the most onerous traps for some and the most exciting for others.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Gamers
Making Your Dungeon Ecology Work
Even in video games, one of the biggest problems that dungeon designers face is dealing with the ecology of each dungeon level. Worse, some have problems integrating the individual levels into the dungeon as a whole. There are simple ways that a GM can create a simple ecology and use it to make for better dungeons.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Gamers
