X Marks the Blog

This was originally posted on my old blog, but I thought I'd repost it here and hopefully you'll find it an interesting diversion from my usual blogs, which will be almost entirely focused on the Cosmothea rpg game design and the game industry, but eventually I'll also spend some time blogging about other fun stuff I've designed over the years.

Ok, this blog is all about the X, but don’t worry, this blog is rate PG (hmm ... did I just lose a large portion of my audience or is anyone even reading this?) Anyway, I was reminded the other day of how the “X” has popped up throughout my life, so I thought it might be fun to explore the X for a moment. Join me, won’t you?

Way back around 1983, 3 years before the Marvel comic book, X-Factor, came out on the market, I created my own complete comic book (with a color cover) that was called X Factor: Dawn of the Greatest Hero. It had nothing in common to the X-men spin off, other than the name, but it was the first time I remember using the X in a big way. Marvel seems very fond of the X as well, making numerous books sporting the X. Even Wolverine’s daughter (actually a modified clone of Wolverine – don’t ask – is called X-23, or something like that). The more I think about it, the more the X has popped up all over the place. I still remember an old audio superhero cassette tape I had as a kid in which somebody fell into a vat of Chemical X! It sounded so mysterious, and while it’s now cliché, I still enjoy using it.

When I created my very first forum name, I wanted it to be Nexus, not NexusX, but the name was taken. Stubborn, I added an X to the end, an example of my abuse of the letter over the years. Why so fixated on the X when there are so many other interesting letters in the alphabet? It all started when I was a kid and saw a pirate map in a movie. We’ve all heard the term “X marks the spot” ... but why use an X to symbolize treasure? Simply because it's an easy letter to write and perhaps the pirates lacked an education? Got me.

To some people, the mysterious X actually stands for Christ. Around the 15th or 16th century, if I’m not mistaken, people were using the X all over Europe to stand for Christ. In Greek, X is the first letter of the word, (Xristos, meaning Christ). Later, thanks to the economy of letters, printers would sometimes shorten Merry Christmas to Merry Xmas and as time passed, people used it for shorthand and like myself saw it as a sign of laziness at best and disrespect at worst. While some may use it for that these days – and certainly the porn industry seems obsessed with the X, the original intent was quite different. X marks the spot, the greatest treasure we could ever hope for (whether we realize it or not). Christ is our treasure, the savior of the world. It’s funny, or sad, that while Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of Jesus’ birthday, we’re the ones who get all the attention and all the gifts. At least now I can say Merry Xmas without feeling guilty! There, I’ve said it, now on to more X goodness...

Ok, I picked the X for NexusX because of Xanadu, not Christ (I didn’t even know about the true definition at the time). Xanadu, as those of you who read my blog know, is the name I gave my first rpg design (now called Cosmothea). So, I got in a habit of putting an X after anything I thought was cool. While writing my novel, Beyond Xanadu, I would put a small x after the file name of a version of a chapter that I wrote to show it was good to go. Inevitably, I’d end up revising the chapter and changing the small x to a big X, then to an X2, X3 and so on. It was getting out of hand! So when I had to modify the name Nexus so I could use it around WOTC forums and elsewhere, I naturally added the X, which always reminded me of my rpg, Xanadu. I also used it in naming my web design files, since my website was named Beyond Xanadu.

X has also been used in place of a signature, as an identifying mark, used for authenticating documents like wills, contracts, etc, by illiterate people, so maybe the aforementioned pirates were in the same vein. Education was not always stressed, and sometimes adults, lacking a proper education, would use an X to sign their name. I think it usually required a witness, since the X was not a very good identifier. Courts would sometimes require the testimony of witnesses that the signer was mentally or physically incapable of signing their name and were there to ensure the validity of the X. Thankfully, these days education is taken more seriously, and I’ve never had to resort to using the X, but I thought I’d throw this bit in since it’s relevant. Hmm ... where else has the X appeared in my life?

Over the past 2 years, the X has raised its head like clockwork in the form of the Xbox. My sons and I have become addicted to Halo in all its incarnations. We've also found Morrowwind and other cool games. While loads of fun, the XBOX has caused a rift in the time continuum, resulting in less time for other things like Cosmothea and DDR (Dungeons and Dragons Reloaded - my version of the classic game we all know and love!) Psychologically, it's easier for them to turn on the TV (itself a time-sucking device for billions of people) and then the XBOX, than it is for them to find where they stashed their character sheets and dice. Then this Xmas (Yay, I can say it now and hold my head high!) the whole family pitched in and bought an XBOX360, which is making the rift even deeper (Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Dead Rising, and others).

I hope they get over it soon, because frankly, I'm climbing the walls with excitement to play some D&D! No matter how exciting an XBOX game is, to me at least, it doesn't hold a candle to sinking my teeth into tabletop roleplaying! After all, I can suspend disbelief in a more powerful way with a character that I've built from the ground up, nurtured and battled with. Ok, Halo 3 is amazingly cool, and I look forward to trying out Oblivion, but that's all on a screen ... nothing beats spending time with friends and family roleplaying - at least not in my book!

Ah, when I decided to redesign my website a couple years ago, I named it Studio X (I had planned on using the site primarily for freelance graphic design, illustration and web design, not just gaming and my drama ministry). A few months went by and on a whim I did several searches on Google one day for a number of names I’ve used in game designs, and also typed in Studio X. I found out that one of my board games used a name that was already out there and also that the makers of Stargate (the movie) made their own rpg (they are just trying to get under my skin – I’d already changed my own rpg from Xanadu to Stargate inspired by a video game called Stargate that is unrelated to the movie and predates it like my own rpg does).

Anyway, if all that wasn’t bad enough, I also found there was an existing Studio X, so I had to change my freelance service to Studio Xanadu. I mean a this point, with X tied to me like a chain, and popping up in so many things I was working on, using Studio X (being a shortened form of Studio Xanadu) just seemed predestined! But alas it was not meant to be. Studio X became Studio Xanadu, but it’s still a cool site with lots of fun stuff, and much more to come if I ever find the time! Has the X popped up in your life somewhere? Share your X secrets! (No porn, please!) One day I hope to spread out and try another letter of the alphabet, but I can’t think of any other letter that has so much impact. I mean – NexusB ... it’s missing something! NexusF ... nope. So NexusX it is! Well, Studio X … er Xanadu is currently under construction or rather in stasis while I work on one of my other sites – QT Games. (Click here to go there).