Nationalist Behavioral Norms

In a recent post, I talked about computing a value for nationalism using the trade system, getting a value for each city based upon its proximity to nationalistic sites (capitals, major battles, etc.), but I left myself room for some further disambiguation.

1). I'm using the word "nationalism" as a shorthand to talk about a larger group of things you might call "cultural myths". A cultural myth is a behavior or set of behaviors typically ascribed to some culture. The ideas that German people are efficient and Japanese folks are hardworking and scrupulously polite are both strategic essentialisms (to borrow from Spivak) that help define the "national character" of a place. While in real life these things can be terribly problematic (like the false impression that Christianity or Islam condone the violence done in their name), these kinds of ideas can be tremendously useful in an rpg scenario, where we don't have the ability to model a city full of real and different people. "Cultural myths" is a cleaner term for the intentional racism usually practiced in rpg worlds (goblins are dumb and violent, orcs are soulless killing machines, elves are haughty and/or hippy-dippy, dwarves are greedy, the list goes on and on). The use here is to create a list of expected behaviors against which an individual from a particular society can be measured against - i.e. how much does this person cleave to a particular cultural myth.

2). The system I outlined provides a number between 0 and whatever that measures the strength of a given cultural myth in a specific city (nationalism, again, being one cultural myth). I haven't adopted this yet (it's brand new), but my list of cultural myths might look like this:

Nationalism (Tarluskani Empire)

Nationalism (Southern Kingdoms)

Nationalism (Confederacy)

Nationalism (Nithya Bairnedred)

Nationalism (Arein)

Nationalism (Catacombs)

Nationalism (Ferocia)

Religious ID (OTG)

R. ID (The Order)

R. ID (Splendor of Sahargeen)

R. ID (Fiája)

R. ID (Ancestor Spirits)

R. ID (Twin Gods)

R. ID (Mystery Cults)

Ethnic ID (Southerner)

Ethnic ID (Ferocia)

Ethnic ID (Bairnedred)

Ethnic ID (Archivist)

Ethnic ID (Tarluskani)

Ethnic ID (Confederate)

And so on.

What I'm interested in is not the absolute values of any category. Instead, for each city, I want to know what these values are, relative to each other. For example, let's consider the nationalism of the made-up city of Gazildapop.

Gazildapop has:

Nat (TE): .8	0.8	0.04
Nat (SK): 2.65	2.65	0.14
Nat (Con): 3.9	3.9	0.21
Nat (Nith): 3.6	3.6	0.19
Nat (Are): 2.25	2.25	0.12
Nat (Cat): 4.8	4.8	0.25
Nat (Fer) .85	0.85	0.05

We can then take each number and divide it by the sum of all of the numbers to determine how important that myth is to the overall picture, which looks like the second column above.

The significance is that if I want to know how an NPC in that city might act, I can now roll on the table above to determine to which myth(s) that NPC subscribes. If Gazildapop resides in an area politically controlled by the Tarluskani Empire or Ferocia, it is likely a hotbed of resistance, given the antipathy the city feels for both nations - it's a fairly even mix of Confederates and Nithya and Southern Kingdoms and Areinians, which indicates a high degree of cosmopolitanism - there's likely a sizeable population of each within the city itself, and/or the city has regular and positive dealings with all 4 groups.

This, to me, is an excellent way to get a feel for a fictional city and how it relates to the larger geopolitical climate, as well as providing plenty of information to inspire specific choices made about each site. Determining where monuments to each of these ideologies will be a time-consuming process, but it will vastly enrich my world. One more thing to the to-do list!

Tabletop Soundscapes

The required materials for a tabletop roleplaying game are: paper, pencils, and dice. That's a common formulation. Except, of course, you need a surface upon which one can write. You also need a physical space (that will include that writing surface) in which the game's actors assemble and partake (I'm not going to address online games, like the one I'm in right now). Food is often a part of the rpg experience, as are character miniatures, battlemats, terrain things, beer, computers, books, outlets for those computers, etc.

Having access to a "good" space for tabletop rpgs is a question of privilege - a table in the cafeteria will suffice, but there are a number of factors that are desired, including physical isolation (allowing you to play without casual interruptions by passers-by) and sonic isolation (insulation from non-game-related sounds). The first is fairly straight-forward - everyone understands that playing a tabletop rpg does not work well in an environment full of distractions and interruptions, which leads to us playing in dorm rooms, basements, classrooms late at night, or (most desirably) within the comfort of our own home.

Sound is a fundamental part of the experience - having a sonically static environment facilitates communication as everyone is able to speak at the same volume and be equally heard. The shuffling of character sheets, scratching of graphite, clacking of keys, and clattering of dice underscore the conversational interaction that is the heart of the rpg experience.

This sonic underscore or soundscape interacts our behavior, as we associate specific habits with a specific sonic environment. Imagine the differences between the background sounds of an ER, coffee shop, and office - our impressions of that space, the feelings these spaces trigger in us can be summoned by listening to an audio recording of that place.

Some DMs like to use music's ability to evoke a sense of place consciously, by playing music appropriate to whatever game situation is at-hand. A cursory search for "rpg music" yields a number of sites offering themed tracks (medieval tavern, graveyard, battle music, and so on) to aid the musically-inclined DM in choosing appropriate music.

There are some structural problems with the repertoire given - each track, rather than being the soundscape of whatever environment is referenced, gives a musical representation of that soundscape. If you listen to the "Lost Mine" track, you'll see what I mean. There's very little that's 'mine'-specific, and a whole lot of chromatic brass descents - it sounds like a film score, not the sounds of an actual place. Now, film music is awesome, but it necessarily works to drive tension in the foregrounded activity, building towards a particular moment. In a movie, you can tailor the music to work alongside the events displayed. In a live rpg, though, that kind of synchronization is impossible, and what we're left is an awkward tension build-up communicated by the music that is totally separate from the actual game-playing itself. At best, the players don't notice it. But what usually happens is the music distracts from the experience of playing - it pulls focus from the character's actions (out of the game world) into the real one, a concrete [albeit sonic] reminder that we are engaged in the act of playing the game. This decreases immersion, breaks dramatic tension, and so on. And then, of course, there is the question of what to do when the track ends. Does it loop? Is there a playlist that seamlessly plays a bunch of 'similar' music in a row, at least until the scene changes and we need a new playlist for the new game environment?

The reason for these problems is how the DM conceives of music in their game. While music can evoke a time and place, the players are already doing that in their heads. Those of them who can see mental images have built some visual representation of the described space, those of us who can't have figured something else out. The music does not need to do this work for us. Instead, the function of music during a running is to discipline the rpg soundscape - to maintain a constant sonic environment (changing enough that the static-ness is not a noticeable feature), a series of sounds that underscores every game interaction. Having music (quietly) playing in the background, covering the silences, helps keep players focused because there is now no silence to fill with awkward jokes or tangents that pull players out of the game world.

If the bulk of the music touted as being "for rpgs" is schlock for this kind of work, what can we use? I like to use music that falls into the "ambient" genre - Alva Noto and Brian Eno right now, and more as I acquire it. The tracks are usually sonically-similar (facilitating a more seamless ending of one track and beginning of the next) and don't often feature the kind of volume or rhythm intensification found in most of rpg tracks (which reduces the music/tension conflicts). The downside is that they are entirely electronic music, which can unnerve some people (it can have a strong association with horror films) and can trouble people with expectations that "music" should mirror or reflect the game environment rather than reflect the fact that the game is playing.

But, music can be a valuable DM tool, just as battlemats, custom miniatures, and game props  (they can also be terrible - it depends upon the quality of the product). It's important to know that we have more choices than Yes music and No music.

Subhuman Mental Capacities and Behavior

One of my chief challenges as an actor was attempting to play characters less intelligent than myself. The possibilities that I see, the connections that I make are so instantaneous, so "obvious" that I can't imagine why someone doesn't see them as well. Graduate school has been good for me in that I've come face-to-face with people who are smart in very different ways, and I've been in the position of trying to see what they see so clearly.

The application to tabletop rpgs, as you might have guessed, is in trying to play "stupid" creatures. Playing creatures of average or above average intelligence is not particularly challenging, but trying to think as these creatures requires curtailing one's own cognitive abilities, trying to "unsee" options and connections.

I don't think that's the right way to go about it. Rather, I think a behavioral breakdown is in order, listing the kinds of behavior one might expect to see from creatures of a given intelligence.

The trick to this (and why these breakdowns usually fail to function) is that Intelligence is not the only attribute that needs to factor into this approach. Mindfulness (Wisdom) is also crucial. In my game, Mindfulness represents the character's ability to know themselves and others in a wordless way. This also corresponds to the character's situational awareness, but that's a fringe benefit of this self-attunement. High Mindfulness characters are more quickly aware of when their needs are unmet - they feel a muscle getting tired before it gets pulled, they are aware that they feel some degree of antipathy towards another before they act out, etc. Consequently, Mindfulness informs social interactions, which has a huge impact on behavior (since most critters are not encountered solo).

My scale for attributes works like this: nil, 0, 1, 2, 3,… Nil indicates an absence of that aptitude, an inability on the part of the creature to use the skills associated with it (programmed robots lack Cognition because they do not possess the ability to "think"). 0 indicates a subhuman (at least, below an adult human) level of functionality, and 3 is the human average. I don't really care about transhuman capacities - like I said, that's easier to manage than subhuman abilities, which produces the following matrix, with C for Cognition and M for Mindfulness:

Score	C: Nil	0	1	2	3
M: Nil	No behavior possible	Single-minded pursuit of food. If threatened will attack without hesitation. Can die from overeating, if enough food is available.	Same as left	Same as left	Same as left
0	Takes predetermined when appropriate stimuli occurs (think Venus flytrap, robot).	Fight-or-Flight response: able to perceive obvious threats and react to them. No group interaction.	Fight-or-Flight, minimal predictive powers (if-then, no nested clauses)	Fight-or-Flight, moderate predictive powers (1 nested clause)	Fight or Flight, full predictive powers
1	Same as above	Fight-or-Flight, group interaction: group decides upon actions/goals communally (think school of fish).	Fight-or-Flight, group interaction, social hierarchy: alpha and betas.	Fight-or-Flight, group interaction, social hierachy: alpha, betas, omegas	As left and above
2	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	Fight-or-Flight, group interaction, social hierarchy, territory ownership, as above	As left and above
3	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	As above	Human average

I am not fully happy with this list - I need to go through all of my animals and see where they fit on this matrix and if I am satisfied with this representation of their behavior. I like how this scales from the bottom up, but the top down might seem problematic. This is resolved when we add in considerations of language production. Language allows characters of lesser cognition/mindfulness understand ideas beyond their capability to generate - the 2 cognition bruiser does not understand the intricacies of court politics, but they do understand hierarchies of power and territory interactions, so as long as whoever is explaining stuff to the bruiser is able to translate it into terms the 2/2 bruiser understands, the bruiser can follow what's going on.

Of course, applying this to another game system will be a pain in the butt, as game designers really haven't considered this idea at all. The conventional wisdom is that animals tend to have subhuman Intelligence but human or transhuman Wisdom, which only makes sense when Wisdom is a mystical attribute covering all of the holes presented by the mental attributes themselves (as it governs faith, perception, lie-detection, and saving throws, among other things). My formulation, with Mindfulness, lacks this hodgepodge nature and also requires us as designers and DMs to question the "naturalness" of giving animals average or good Wisdom scores. Something to consider, as I work on the Bestiary.

Nationalism

What does it mean to model nationalism in an RPG context? Certainly this idea goes far beyond anything Gygax or Wizards considered, and a search for D&D and nationalism does not bring you anywhere you want to go.

If I am considering modeling a new concept in my game (i.e. not an extension of something already present but a wholly new idea), if needs to fulfill a couple of basic criteria.

1). It makes the game more engrossing/enriches my world.

2). It does not infringe on anything I already have in place

3). I can expand upon it later.

2 and 3 are solved by default here. 1 is the tricky one. This thought process stems from a comment I left on Alexis' blog about the bard. In it, I commented that rather than create a bunch of bard-specific rules, the bard's abilities let them affect culture and politics, so we need rules about culture and politics (in this case, nationalism is the starting example).

Now, I will be the first to admit that nationalism is a problematic word to apply to the middle ages, really to any European-based civilization until the 19th century. However, the same kinds of identification that occurs in nationalism does appear in different time periods - it'd be religious fervor, devotion to the feudal lord, commitment to the city-state, etc. So, really what this rule needs to represent is the degree to which the populace is strongly attached to whatever thing they hold onto.

Necessarily, this comes in two forms: cultural and personal. Personal is easy - an individual's feelings about the subject of devotion. Cultural represents the degree to which "nationalism" is baked into the customs and behaviors constructed by that culture - it sets the baseline for all of the culture's members, from which their personal values will deviate.

OK, great. But how do we apply that in practice?

Nationalism extends through its display of power - a force that can visibly accomplish things is more valuable/believable than one that can't (or is not seen as effective). So, our model of nationalism is also a model of state power distributed geographically. State power will be concentrated in capitals and around national symbols (sites that display the power of the state or commemorate previous actions (successfully) taken by the state). [I think we can already see the role of a bard in this construct] and radiate outward, losing strength with each iteration (and losing additional strength when applying to a population somehow removed from that of the governing body, racially, religiously, or so on).

Of course, state power is opposed by other cultural myths, concretized in resistance symbols - sites where other narratives hold sway and act against the state narrative.

The next question is to determine how distance affects nationalism. Each site (whether pro-state or anti-state) has a fairly limited geographic spread - affecting only the community that interacts with it on a fairly regular basis. In my 20-mi map, that means a site directly influences its hex and the neighboring ones.

Ideas of nationalism are most important in urban and suburban populations - rural folks are unlikely to harbor strong opinions on the issue because it simply doesn't affect them (they'll be farming no matter who's in charge) - and it makes some sense that nationalism and similar ideas travel along economic routes (as the symbols of nationalism will travel along these pathways as well).

So, we could think of nationalism as an economic good (governed by the trade system) but produced at a variety of locations (not just markets). A reference of nationalism exists wherever:

1): some monument to the state exists (palaces, fortresses, etc.)

2): the state triumphed in a (major) conflict (The Alamo)

a) either within the past 100 years or

b) one of those wars that will go down in the history books (War of the Ring, 30 Years Wars, etc.)

A reference of counternationalism exists wherever:

1): a monument to state excess, corruption, or violence exists (The Alamo)

2): the resistance thwarted outright or delayed state victory, subject to the same constraints as before

Now, 1) and 2) could be conflated into the same place. Each such location contributes either 1 nationalism or 1 counternationalism.

However, the ethnicity and faith of the dominant population affects the value of this reference. If ideology in question does not directly affect the ethnic/religious majority, the reference's value is 1. If it interacts in a positive way, the value increases by 1/3 per relevant factor. If it interacts negatively, the value is halved for each relevant factor. So, the Tarluskani Empire invaded the Southern Kingdoms and outlawed their religion. A site supporting the Tarluskani Empire in the Southern Kingdoms would only provide a nationalism reference of 1/2/2=.25. A resistance site, however, would have a nationalism reference of 1*4/3*4/3=16/9=1.7778.

The ratio of nationalism to counternationalism determines the general attitude of people in the city of interest towards the idea of nationalism/counternationalism. Clearly, if the ratio is some number greater than 1, nationalism rules and if it is close to 0, counternationalism rules (and a value of roughly 1 indicates ambivalence). Pulling some numbers out of a hat:

Nationalistic	Ambivalent	Counternationalistic
Ratio>1.5	1.49>ratio>.51	.5>ratio

Bards, interacting with this system, can increase the references produced by a location by calling popular attention to the site and the nationalist (or counternationalist) monuments/victories there. They could decrease the references produced by spreading a counternarrative discrediting the official (or resistance) story surrounding the site.

Thoughts?

On Experience

When everything your character does improves on level-up, earning experience gets a little funky. Because experience is a single pool which drives leveling up, the question of what activities provide experience becomes crucially important.

The general desire is to restrict experience-gaining activities to ones that are related to the bulk of what improves. This is how we get OD&D's gp=xp system (but only coin gained from "adventuring" activities) or Alexis' ruling that only combat provides experience. The squiggly bit enters as soon as characters are able to perform actions that do not directly contribute towards experience acquisition, like fishing or cobbling, or whatever. How are these skills improved? If tied to level, as most games do, then it seems a little strange (although explainable) that one's battle prowess (or personal wealth) directly improves one's ability to fish or make shoes, but it also would be strange for making shoes to improve either one's fishing abilities or one's combat prowess. On the other hand, if fishing is not tied to level, we've added in a secondary progression mechanic orthogonal to everything else in the game, and now a lot of the skills previously lumped into the old xp framework might better fit into the secondary one, which certainly makes the previously elegant level system much clunkier. Some people like clunk, others don't: YMMV.

One of the goals of my discipline system was to try and clean this up, providing a single mechanic that can reasonably account for both types of experience. As I've now personally seen in Alexis' games, having recourse to Sage Abilities (and the huge implications of choosing one's initial specialization on overall character development) is a huge part of having a fully-fleshed-out character.

I've discussed this before, but I'll summarize. Each discipline (skill) has its own xp track, measured in notches. Certain amounts of notches correlate to significant leaps in ability (rolling 1d4+1d6 instead of 1d6, for example). Notches are gained in one of two ways.

The simplest way is through training: characters pay some amount of money and spend 6 months to gain a notch, with the idea being that after a successful adventure characters will spend their winnings on training and equipment, taking on another adventure in a year's time.

The second way comes from using the discipline in-game: whenever the player rolls a critical result (critical success or critical failure), the player marks it on their sheet.  When the number of these marks equals the number of notches possessed in that discipline, the character gains a notch. There is one problem with this rule: currently, characters require 1 notch to progress from Novice (untrained) to Apprentice (a little trained). Consequently, a player has a 2/6 chance (rolling a 1 or 6 on a d6) to jump a tier and significantly improve the character. I don't like this for two reasons: the first is that this negates much of the advantage of skill-heavy classes - since most characters enter play with perhaps one or two Journeyman disciplines (the tier above Apprentice), some Apprentice, and mostly Novice, the general expertise that I want these skill-heavy trades to have is quickly (and easily) matched by everyone else at the table. The second reason is that the in-world logic doesn't make a ton of sense - it’s the same as saying that someone can, after playing a single game of soccer,  be on equal footing with someone of equal physical ability who has been playing for 6 months - while also removing the usefulness of training.

Because of this, I have ruled that gaining notches in this way cannot allow the character to increase that discipline's tier - criticals still tally, so that after the final notch is gained and the tier is improved the character might gain an additional notch or two, but the actual mechanical benefits do not manifest until the character has trained. While I don't think my players (when I get some…) will like this very much, I do think that they will understand it and not whine too terribly much.

The Bronze

It's out of order, but I wanted to post this after I finished. It's a rough draft (as all the work presented here is in draft format), and I'd love to hear what you think.

In the actual book I have a statblock for each monster, but that's not really the focal point of these posts.

Bronze

            One of the surviving creations of the Azintheen is the race of golden-skinned automatons known as the Bronze. They dwell in the ruins of the Azintheen Empire, protecting them from treasure hunters and lore-seekers alike.

            They do not appear to be alive, and their behavior is often simplistic. As far as I can tell, most simply guard a specific location, driving away or destroy intruders. But withdraw from the protected area and they cease to pursue. Some, like the Maintenance Arachnids, seem to behave in a more complex fashion, and it is possible that even two members of the same species might exhibit different behaviors.

            As constructs, I do not believe that the Bronze require sustenance or rest. While their metal bodies are hard to damage, bludgeoning attacks can decouple their clockwork mechanisms and disrupt their internal circuitry.

Given the heavy Archivist presence in Sha’aryam, the lack of accessible Archivist research on these constructs seems suspect. Regardless, what follows are my own research notes, gleaned from first-hand experience and consulting with so-called “adventurers.”

Chrysoprase Scarab

Scarabs are usually encountered in groups of two to four. While fragile, scarabs are scrappier than one might expect: the central gem[1] in their carapace somehow acts as a ritualist’s wand. Most have lower-level magics, but I’ve seen one single-handedly wipe out a squad of mercenaries. Cheap mercenaries, but the point stands.

[Threat 1]

Cyborg Duke

I did not have the misfortune of seeing this type of construct myself. From horror stories told by my adventuring compatriots, the so-called Cyborg Dukes stand seven feet tall and look like humans encased in a heavy suit of armor, with one notable exception. A shard lies embedded in their chest, and the Cyborg Dukes are able to use its powers freely, without the restraints normally suffered by mortal users.

            They also appear to be fully self-aware and have no sense of mercy.

[Threat 6]

Golem

Alternate names: Bronze Gorilla, Buzzblade

            At first glance, the golem resembles one of the large Sahargeen gorillas made of bronze. The second reveals the gear-like saw where one of its hands should be, whirring so fast as to make a high-pitched whine. The third, provided you have sufficient mercenaries to give you enough time to take a third look, shows the small circular opening in the golem’s chest carapace, presumably the ‘golem heart’ described in some of the surviving literature on Azintheen technology. I decided to not take a fourth look.

[Threat 5]

Maintenance Arachnid

Alternate name: Scuttler

Patrick MacAlan

The best counterexample to the hypothesis that the Bronze simply follow pre-programmed “instructions” is the Maintenance Arachnid. No larger than the palm of one’s hand, these tiny metal spiders travel in large groups through the metal pipes and ventilation shafts in Sha’aryam.

A cursory examination of smashed Maintenance Arachnids revealed tiny diamond blades at the end of each leg.

            Their behavior is quite unpredictable; they are not tied to a fixed geographic location, nor topological feature. Loud noises and disturbances to the pipes or ventilation system seem to attract their interest, but not always.

[Threat 3]

Melech Hakosemim

            The very existence of the Melech Hakosemim is suspect, but I deemed it necessary to include its description on the off chance that it does.

            The Melech Hakosemim appears to be a more powerful version of the Cyborg Duke. While approximately the same size, the Melech Hakosemim’s armor is far thicker and more ornate, and the breastplate bears both shards.

            If the Melech Hakosemim exists, it can be found in Sha’aryam’s lowest levels, although I cannot understand why someone would seek it.

[This is unecessary]

Sentinel

Thinker Alexandrakis Sofia

            These Bronze are the most human-shaped, appearing as a bronze person standing approximately 2 yards tall and wearing plate made out of Azintheen Bronze.

The specimen I witnessed bore a strange cylinder on its right arm, where its hand ought to be. Reports from trusted sources[2] indicate that the creature can fire small iron balls out of the cylinder, like some kind of personal cannon, and it can fire multiple balls without obviously reloading. It is possible that ritual magic of some kind is used to automagically reload the cannon – more study is required.

Lastly, Sentinels appear to be some of the more intelligent Bronze, anticipating ambushes and the like.

[Threat 4]

Sphere-Mounted Arbalest

Alternate name: Bolter

These constructs appear to come in two parts: a 2’ diameter metal sphere atop of which rests a metal crossbow. While an investigation of decommissioned specimens revealed no adhesive or obvious attachment between the two, while active, the arbalest maintains connected.

            When encountered, Sphere-Mounted Arbalests typically patrol access points, firing metal bolts from their auto-loading crossbows. Curiously, while they avoid stairs, I have seen them somehow roll along the metal walls and ceilings.

[Threat 3]

---

[1] Usually chrysoprase, although I believe that I have seen others with other stones.

[2] One of them, named Jack, wore a suit of armor harvested from the body of one of these creatures.

Playing Again

Well, Alexis is running a new set of online campaigns, and I was fortunate enough to get a slot. This is exciting on a number of different fronts: not only am I playing again for the first time in years, but I'm playing with a DM I greatly respect and a respectable group of players. I am also quite excited to see how a lot of the rules Alexis' has mentioned actually work in practice.

This comes at a particularly welcome time as I've stalled a bit on developing things for both this blog and my world - without a game to drive me, my output has slowed to fits and spurts.

One of the things I've been working through is the bestiary project I outlined a while ago.  I was rather unhappy with what I churned out initially and decided to take a somewhat different tact (especially with regard to the voice of Patrick MacAlan. I'm sorry about that.). Because the ultimate goal of the project is to sell it, spacing is an ever-present concern. I've decided on page sizes (6x9, which makes for a very handy book), but this makes space an ever-present concern. Fitting at least two paragraphs from different authors simply requires too much space, so my current mindset is to write out each author's descriptions in full and then quote them to communicate their voice and information without losing all of that space.

Additionally, I've significantly reworked the shard magic spells to incorporate a more science-fantasy vibe, the results of which I'll post later this month.

Lastly, I'm still tinkering with the bardic artwork tables I outlined a while back. What I presented was an excellent first draft, but it fails in two counts. Some of the abilities are not presented within the psycho-magical framework that underpins the whole endeavor, and much of the abilities require a fundamentally Judeo-Christian worldview, something that does not jive with my aggressively multicultural setting. I've finished editing a couple of them, but I want to get the whole series done before posting it.