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...One small investment for me...

One of the things about writing is that things need to be comfortable. Another is that it should be practical to the situation. at hand. So as I'm concerned, a small investment is likely to yield large results.

What is this small investment, and why does it matter? The investment is a wireless combo keyboard and mouse. I've had wireless keyboards before, and wireless mouse technology, but the advantage of this is both work with the same USB plug. With only two USB ports in my current computer, that's a major improvement.

 This means I am able (if I wish) to operate keyboard, mouse, and something else. The "something else' is always something rare, but when needed, it's great to have.

Also, with both keyboard and mouse combined and wireless, it means I do not have to keep the actual laptop near me to type. This means I can keep the laptop at eye level while typing and moving the mouse at a lower level where my hands are effectively on my lap. Thus everything is where it works for me.

One further advantage is that if I want to put my feet up, I can do so without interfering with the setup, as I am currently testing out now. It's a small victory, but celebrating small victories is itself a small victory for me. 

A few words about the spell design project

Since I have a few words left here, I will update on the Torg Eternity spell design project. I am now in the process of examining all the spells in Torg Eternity and looking at them as if they were being created "on the fly". So far, the chance of any of the published spells looking appetizing for a spell on the fly are remote, but that doesn't bother me. If a player wanted those spells, they would have probably taken them beforehand

What I'm looking for at this stage is how close close they are to what I consider "balanced". This includes the modifiers for trappings. I already know that some spells will not come close, even with the obvious trappings associated with them. Once I know what I need to "overcome" with my design Perks, they will be designed with an attempt to make them balanced against other Perks while still accomplishing the task for which they were designed. 

The goal for trappings is to tie them whenever possible to the Torg Value Chart. Cast time modifiers are already figured out on this basis: The time value of the real casting time is subtracted from the value of one round (5) to determine the modifier. Likewise, the modifier for Self is looking to be -5, based on an initial assessment that a spell that can only affect the caster is only 1/10 as effective as one that could be given to others. Restriction is currently scheduled for taking the time value between castings and again subtracting that from the value of one round (5), as normally a spell can be cast the round after the last one is completed. For initial balancing, I am considering a scene to be equivalent to 1 hour, and an act equivalent to one day.

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