Tires and Wheels- What's the difference.

Tires and Wheels

Know the Difference between the two!

A simple guide to what these two items are and how to figure out what they are.

I, Robert Rankin, have been around the automotive wheel industry since I was a child. My father, Terry Rankin, is the man behind "Terry's Wheels"www.terryswheels.com has been working hard to explain what is what to the retail market. I've decided to make it a very easy to determine what is what! 

Tires: The Rubber Ring filled with air that runs on the road!

Wheels: The Stylized Metal Barreled frame inside the rubber- 

The Grim Lingering Death of MMO Franchises

Tabletop and Freeform RPG Writer, Robert Rankin, takes a stab at one of the most profitable "Cash Grabs" in the Electronic Gaming Market and it's slow decline 

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If you are an electronic gamer of any kind at some point you have "Paid to Play". There is a myriad of games that range between Massive Multiplayer Sidescroller Platformers like Maple Story to 2.5D Third Person Combat weird named games like Tale of Zolonia. Listing them would be fluff so I will cut to the chase. Sometime between 1998 and now people began to see the flaw in "Pay to Play" games. After dumping money on buying the game you are made to pay for "Support and Community" and of course the "Franchise theme". As a "Business Model" you will come out on top as long as you are selling a specific number of core units then an amount of Subscribers from those initial purchases while keeping your support and community paid for and money to developing more content for people to indulge (buy) in. The problem is something we call "Market Over-saturation" where too much of a similar product make choices limited to "Franchise Standing/Gameplay/Community" for "User Opinion and rating with sales" which thins the market by means of diversification. Customers like a LOT of things and unless your game has its own niche it will be seen as "Another clone" and unlike Tabletop and card games you have a business model set on fishing a specific dollar amount from every user every month which can be stressing when you have to sustain the programmers, customer support, artist, and marketing.

Once initial sales wear off and you depend on subscriptions (Trust me, I ran a subscription based website so I know ALL about having to deal with customer retention) so your content must stay fresh and offer a unique experience. The issue is the "Grindfest" which all these MMOs have become. Eventually, you will need to be ready to spend hours and hours doing the same thing to "Build up a character". You're sure to find yourself caught up in a "Instance" or "raid" or "world boss" until it gets repetitive. Therein lies the crux!

Modern day "Cash Haul" games are falling into the First Person Shooters category with massive battles and combat realism. MMOs popularity dwindle while million dollar projects fade into obscurity. Without adapting to the market many companies are seeing no light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and it's a sad state when you watch a trend begin to die.

How to watch Tenchi Muyo!

How to watch Tenchi Muyo!

Time to get down to business, TENCHI STYLE!

First you must understand "Tenchi Muyo!" is an adaption from a serial Manga. You will NEVER get the whole story from the anime. That being said we must also consider that in their Storyline Universe "Lady Tokimi" resets the timeline with various alternating factors, thus, making each story different shows/possibilities from the SAME universe. They do NOT all intersect but SOME do! To make it easier I've categorized the following with relevance to the CORE Continuity and Numbered as per their significance. *Demarks importance of the anime on contrast to the others "Spinnoffs":

1. *Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki- The Core storyline/Continuity and closest adaptation from the original Manga. We are introduced to Tenchi and the main cast along with the main conflict and story of the show.
2. *Tenchi Muyo! GXP- The Core Storyline/continuity takes a break for a "Pseudo-Second Generation" as the Main Character, Tenchi's cousin is abducted and is drafted into the Space police and embarks on adventures through the TM Universe.
3. *Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA-  This is the COMPLETION of the Original manga adaption with Tenchi and the gang. Characters introduced from GXP make a return appearance and their "Secondary Roles" become "Significant Primary Roles"
4. Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar- Taking place years AFTER the events of the OVA with Tenchi's half-brother. Though the it does leave a few allusions to the ORIGINAL Storyline/Continuity it acts as a "Stand Alone" in a Spinoff-like manner.
5. *Tenchi Universe- This is a "Core Retelling" of the Manga. Antagonists have been changed and added to give the story a "Broader Universal Depth". The quality is different while the direction was along similar lines (but not the same). This series is a MUST WATCH due to the Cartoon Network Popularization of this anime.
6. Tenchi in Tokyo- This is a Spinnoff with the same characters from the OVA and TU. The story resumes at the point of Tenchi moving to Tokyo and handling school while the girls handle his moving and a NEW enemy.
7. Magical Girl Pretty Sammy/Pretty Sammy Magical Girl Club- Another Spinnoff with a focus on the "Magical Girl Pretty Sammy" idea. Though it has NOTHING to do with the original show the popularization of it gave it stand-alone status in Japan.
8. Tenchi Muyo! Movies- Often Spinn-Offs set in either "Tenchi Muyo!" or "Tenchi Universe" that don't have much effect on the main storylines (or made after they were finished).
9. Various other Cross-Over shows- Not named here but there are a few. Check them out at your own PERIL!

Mixed Industry Houseparties, Meetings, Conventions and Get-Togethers

And the trolls that ruin them...

So, the author of this blog, Robert A. G. Rankin often endures all kinds of weirdness at social gatherings. From strange flirtations that go nowhere to "Fangasuming" and the off chance someone remembers him from long ago and brings up his ex (which is glossed over quickly). Questions are often answered and the off chance to help someone by correcting them comes to pass and often everyone is better off from it. This past two months though the amount of "Social Distress" has reached a peak for this Writer/Comedian/Jack of Trades and he has come to a realization about the following kinds of people... and to LABEL them!

The Troll: These folks are full of angst, wanton judgement, and the off snide remark about how they are superior in some way while double-talking and feigning a friendly facade. Often they have some form of attachment to one of the "Channel" based post-imageboards or some form of "Hack-End" Youtube page that they ego-stroke with content of reviews with people while "The Troll" makes fun of the people they're reviewing. In conclusion, we all KNOW the trolls because we've all handled them.

The Nutjob: These people often think they're funny without any real substance. Maybe it's a mental disorder, maybe they've been told they're funny, maybe mommy told them they were special.. but they ARE very much the guy/gal/androgynous weirdo who tries to Mystery Science Movie Theater every Movies playing, Conversations, and anything else they can "Side Comment" on. Often they have NO filter or their brains are stuck in the realm of a sexual deviancy. You will know them as "OH GOD HENTAI IS AWESOME! HENTAI HENTAI HENTAAAAI!" sort. Some people may appear to be "The Nutjob" but they can move onto other subjects and topics... thus showing that everyone can be a little nutty.

The Ogre: Brash, Unkind, Self-Centered, and often loathsome of other people with "Real Life Problems". These folks will butt into a conversation with a "I'm better than the subject at hand" content or warp conversations to a soap-box of "My view is superior and RIGHT because I say so!". They are often parodied in modern media as "The NRA Crowd", "Republicans", and "Conservatives" but this is a gross misconception because you can witness it among anyone with a "Self Bloated" attitude. Simple discussions on any subject BECOME a debate. Rather than correcting people and providing evidence to how the correction improves the situation they will roll out the "You're wrong because that's stupid" or "I'm right and your wrong because I've been there and you haven't despite your prior knowledge and experience there is no possible way you can change the facts I give you!" kind of education. You encounter these folks in positions of power due to bullying or favoritism where people confuse Leadership with being an asshole.

The Darling: Man or Woman "The Darling" appears and tries to impress EVERYONE. They often come off as ego-stroked baby-men/women with a superiority/victim complex. They have nothing beyond money-bought effort to show the world. Often people will crowd around them until the gloss and glamour fades from their minds and they decide to find something genuinely interesting. "The Darling" often avoids the other party wreckers while insisting that their own drama should be heard by EVERYONE when the bottom line is the issues they bring to the forefront is their OWN fault!

Chris-Chan or Christian Chandler. All of the above.

To usher in another age in RPG Authoring with an Indi Industry Retrospective

A brief prose on returning to the world a dying art of Game Mastery...

The Author of Eon Legacy, Mobile Suit Gundam: New Age, and Nightmare Factor Project gives us a look at how he intends to bring "Role Playing Games" into a new golden age.

First off I'd like to say "I've been playing Role Playing Games since I was almost eleven." and with that being said I can say I've owned many games with different systems. All the D2 through D20, Card Play, Live Action, Numbertable, and Dungeons and Dragon's clones you can sink your teeth into. I've gone from Apex System to Zero Die Rollers and I've even made a few systems. The problem many have is the "Endless Cycle of Expansion" or the "One's not a hit but the next may be." in the "Table Top/Mixed Platform Genre" without making profit or even taking off.

This is basically what happens when you aptly trip into one of the traps called the Five Pitfalls:

1. Have a devoted following and moderate Fanbase without a strong Base/Core/Flagship Rulebook that leaves an open end for TONS of Gimmick expansion content*.
2.  Narrowed Marketing.
3. Small Target Audience.
4. Consider a "Alternative" to other games**.
5.  Multiple or ALL of the above.

Let's explain "1" by saying the following "When a customer has a specific desire to play something they do NOT want to by "Parts of a game as a whole" as opposed to "The whole thing". They get that ENOUGH of that with Video Games that come with game finishing/breaking/making DLC/Seasonal Passes/Subscriptions. When someone goes to buy a book (E-Book or Hardcopy) they are intending to get the game rolling. If you HAVE to do "Expansion Modules" make them companions to the "Base/Core/Flagship" that cost a fraction. Thematic works are fine but when you have to introduce revisions of game mechanics you're basically negating the work from prior installments." that being said we have seen a format set by the BIG Companies (Wizards of the Coast, Palladium, White Wolf) that toss out a base Sourcebook then a Players Guide, a Monster Encyclopedia, and half a dozen or so Special Rules Expansions. If you start with a solid and complete Soucebook you can offer a fair price, include content for Players and Storytellers, and have the Players get the ball rolling RIGHT off the bat.

Secondly, 2, is pretty self explained. If all you do is a single pronged approach you will not get sales. You need to be out there. Social. Seen. You need to show people that you are a human being with something to give to them. In the end you don't have to but if you want to move forward in an industry dominated by companies that can throw adverts up on Youtube, Buzzfeed, tumblr, and ALL those sites along with canvas conventions you better be ready to NOT get anywhere.

Third but not lastly , 3, that stands to reason that if your entire game is sexy ninja catgirls fighting giant robots in bikinis (the robots are wearing the bikinis) then you're only targeting that niche demographic. I am sorry to say this but the next "Fantasy Incarnation" of your own spin on an "Age of Magic" type world may not be ideal. It's like a pot luck where you HAVE to remember that if someone is bringing hot dogs and hamburgers someone should bring the buns and someone else should bring the trimmings. Saying you're game is a "New spin on an old idea" may be great but in many cases it may not float and neither will the robots with bikinis.

Next let me cover "4" by saying "Other games/publishers are not your competition. They are SOURCE content. They are your BROTHERS AT ARMS. Competition is OTHER entertainment media. Video Games, Card Games, Board Games, Television shows, Movies, Novels... though those can be great materials for inspiration they are what you want to take attention from. You want to offer a product at a fraction of what a Digital Media Game equivalent that can give more play time, interaction, and a feeling of continuity than say "Beat the game in 5 hours on hard". As a storyteller having a TON of books for resources are GREAT and everyone SHOULD make their own House Rules but there are many "By the book" who will "Buy EVERY Book" but what happens when the whole world costs... well:
Core Sourcebook: $26.oo-35.oo (150-200pgs)*
Player Book: $23-30 (80pgs)
Monster Book: $23-35 (60-120pgs)
Expansions: $15-25 (20pgs)
Revisions 1-3x: $23-30 (100pgs)
Gimmick Tools: $10-20 ea (Maps, Minitures, Templates, Dice, ect)
* Rates considered an adjusted standard for most games.

So what we have for MOST games out there is JUST to get started:
$89.oo (Not including tax/shipping)

That's for the Player Book, Monster book, GM Core Rulebook, Dice and a few Minis (At the MINIMUM PRICE). That's JUST to get started. Now to some people "Well, it's a 100 bucks just to get started..cheaper than a Mini Combat game and easier to get started than some LARPs. but what they are missing out on is the fact that everyone that plays should probably get a copy..and those WITH money will buy EVERYTHING they can to "Buffalo the GM" by "Metagaming" which leads to a whole other can of wyrms.

So all of this comes down to "What do we do?" and the solution comes easier said than done:
Consolidate, Design, Market, Sell, Expand, Profit.
All the while avoiding the Five Pitfalls.
Some people have told me "You can't make money without spending money." and to that I say "Don't quit your day job." because no matter how many books you crank out and how many "New Games" you make you want to have something to fall back on until you can pull 10x your day-job income and get expansion sales rolling into NEW hands for months at a time.

Imagination is fading at a rapid rate. 7 year-olds are playing Black Ops and never hearing about "Where the Wild things are" or "Goosebumps" or "Scary Stories". It is OUR jobs as writers to bring focus on innovation and the imagination back. It's ALWAYS been that way. Gorge Orwell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and so on all did what WE intend to do with our games. Inspire, give hope, give an escape, give awe and wonder... together we can do this by beating out the big companies and establishing our prices to be both fair for our readers and for us without having to "Bread Crumb" bait people like so many struggle to do!

A Tabletop Gundam Role Playing Game for a New Era with M.S. Gundam: New Age

Or a "New Age" one would say...

The vast body of knowledge of game design and Anime Mecha Fandom will rise in America again!!!

In the mid 90's America got a big dose of "Mobile Suit: Gundam" in the for of Cartoon Network's Toonami. Though the Sci Fi Channel had aired a few Episodes of Macross and other "Mecha" features it was Gundam W (ing) that set the stage for the "Sudden Gundam Craze in America" that had Anime Conventions and even Anime/Manga stores pop up with a HUGE number of Sales for "Mecha Models". Popularity waned in the following years. Though "Gundam" and other mecha still gets Translated and distributed across English Speaking Territories the ONLY things that keep fans going are the off-chance releases of video games and the various Macross/Battletech or Homebrew Inspired RPGs. Most of these games run of a d20 system or some form of Palladium's game design but what if someone came up with a new system? A System that is built around the action of Mobile Suits and Gundams? 

It just so happens that an Unofficial game has been designed and bare-bone structured since 1998. Robert Rankin, the Author behind the soon to be popularized Eon Legacy, has been testing and hosting sessions with various veteran Table Top and Traditional Role Players for years now. With the perfect mix of dice rolling, Table-top relative location placement, streamlined numbers, and Mobile Suit Lore/Tech Mobile Suit: New Age has potential to reawaken popularity and fans! Though the game itself is still in the "Waiting Room" phase with Bandai as of today, 12/1/2013 the potential is resting in their hands. With the potential to sell a SMALL yet handy Sourcebook (Estimated 130 pages WITH art) and Mobile Suit Miniatures (1-2 Inches ideally) there stands to be a LOT of potential for both a Franchise to return, collectibles to be made (many of them already exist just check E-bay). Imagine if Bandai and Sunrise were to Greenlight this game? The application of technology, save for a little gimmick tweaking here and there, across every Gundam Universe would beget desires to collect all and any miniature that suits the Mobile Suit Master (Game Master) and players. You can check out some already produced Minis here Online but if you want the Gundam RPG that feels authentic you may want to call Bandai America/Bandai and Sunrise and tell them "You want Mobile Suit Gundam: New Age Tabletop!" and give them this blog link because until it's official the guy writing it won't be "Mass Distributing" nor "Reselling" nor "Public Domain-ing" it any time soon! The good news is you can ask him ALL about it on his Facebook Page!

"Gundam", "Mobile Suit" are © Sunrise and Bandai.

Update: Some have asked for a "Sample" of the game. So here is the standard requirements for a session-
~Pencil
~Paper (Character Sheets)
~Glossy Dry Erase Board/Cardboard 3x3 or 4x4 (All depends on size of combat area)
~Collected Dice: 4d6 (Needed for Hit/Miss/Dodge, Damage, and Combat Feats), 1d4, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 1d20
~Mobile Suit Miniatures (at MOST 2.5 inches high used as Placeholders in the Combat Area for relative positions, ranges and facing placement) or some form of chess or mini.
~M.S. "Mobile Suit": New Age Guidebook Materials

Political Correctness is Bullshit!!!

Why in the modern world "Political Correctness" establishes a double standard and makes everyone some form of offender.

A no BS honest opinion of what this "Modern Standard" is doing to push "Modern Thinking" into a  "New Taboo".

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that the clothes you are wearing THIS INSTANCE is offending SOMEONE...SOMEWHERE...else. Be it a man exposing the bottom of his shoe to the world (Some places in the middle east) or a woman showing ANY skin (you can connect the dots) these people are in violation of what the WORLD in general has dubbed taboo or "Politically Incorrect". Now keep imagining, don't stop, you are a minority (Religion, Race, Age, Culture, weight group, book club) and the Majority don't agree with how you live/practice/worship/eat (as long as no one is getting hurt in any way as to not infringe on your civil rights). Now imagine if the law and General Public Practice (Not the government but the people) is to Shame/Shun/Humiliate/Leave Dog Mess on your car hood/protest violently/Fire you/or worse because of your opinions. Don't stop imagining! Now imagine YOU part of the MAJORITY and you've been raised to think "People who do this and that are BAD! They will make you BAD! They will make your children BAD!" and you, being the GOOD person that you are, rally behind fighting these STRANGE and DIFFERENT.. BAD people must be stopped! For goodness sake! They eat red meat/plant matter/worship a different invisible friend/wear hats/have different skin despite all being from the same core genome... AMERICA!

The rule is something along the lines of "If the majority of the world frowns upon it, it's WRONG and shouldn't be said". The writer of this little opinion comes from is the United States of America which is SUPPOSED to be "The Model Western Free World" but the issue is not about Freedom but censorship of opinion due to "Offending Majorities and minorities". This stuff has become so rampant that people mocking modern day idiots, psychopaths and mishaps get punished by..wait for it...

Idiots en mass.

For doing nothing more than stating ones opinion and/or expressing themselves. We have to agree, some opinions are wrong, stupid, or just down right gross but the founding fathers of the United States intended for people to express their fears, woes, concerns, hatreds and likes. If you decide that someone's opinion is wrong or bad you can simply say it. Not everyone was "Raised" the same. Not everyone "Gets the stigma". Some people are raised the same and get the stigma and want to THROW their opinion in your face and that's what MOST of pop culture Media Entertainment consists of. We ALLOW people to stand by their race/color/creed to mock our own for some kind of Circular Logic based on history decades/centuries ago yet we don't hold the SAME people to the STANDARDS that we are meant to hold? If you want a few examples just look at our last two presidents or look at how WE respond to the terrorist attacks with Halloween costumes and they respond to that with BURNING THE FLAG AND AMERICAN HUMAN EFFIGIES.. oh but it's TOTALLY COOL FAMILY GUY DOES IT! What?

We can divert from the "Race/Culture" part of it because BLAZING SADDLES does it best. Let's talk about Political Correctness in the GENDER WORLD. We all know the statistics about women and men, structure for labor and structure for pain thresholds. Since man could shape clay and smear shit paintings on walls he has drawn or given the "Ideal shape of the now" for all to see. From Kings and Queens, Emperors and Empresses to Presidents and Prime Minsters... the jobs and responsibility works for both genders and BOTH are very able to do TERRIBLE things. What people are NOT acknowledging is the fact that in a MODERN TIME Dad can take care of the same things mom can and mom can do the same as dad.. or they can both work together on the same things. The problem comes into the scene when one or the other gender can't express themselves. Men in the modern world are seen as "The Breadwinner" or "Provider" where as women are still seen as home-maker. Case in point.. EVERY FIRST LADY (except maybe Hillary, she's still wearing the pants and got Bill's balls in a vice). Don't get me wrong there are MANY progressive women out there that are fighting HARD to change the view from "Baby Machine" to "GODDESS" and they NEED to be given our acknowledgement.... but the MAJORITY, sadly, are for keeping the world in order and free of chaos or powerful female figures because the "GOD'S A MAN AND THE SIN OF EVE CAST US ALL FROM PARADISE" mentality.

I should be allowed to say "That idiot is wrong and here is why!" and not have a bunch of fuckheads scream "You're a RACIST" when a valid point is made. When did America become Nazi Germany (Hitler's Germany, no correlation with modern day Germany and the territories within*) for saying facts I get a David's Star slapped on my chest and no one will hire me for making fun of the Status Quo? That's what it's like today... Where will it go? When will it STOP? How far will it turn back the use of "Minority Cards" and "Doublestandards"? Only time will tell once everyone SEES it.