I've been working on getting things together for a while, finally i found some software that lets me do what I want as far as creating webs. I'm still at a loss for other kinds of diagrams, but its a nice little start. The software is called Freemind by the way.

Anyway, As you can see from this nice little graphic, all of my world ideas are cleanly layed out with focuses on four aspects of the wastes: Technology, Music and reality distortion (magic), Remnants of Civilization and Energy

Robots in the Wastes

The Wastes
----------
People wander the wastes looking for something, looking for permanence, looking for the life bringers. The land formally known as the Americas, now referred to unanimously as 'the wastes'. People drift together, and then apart, a single person, a child, a group, a tribe being tossed about like debris amongst waves on the shore. Great nations fell a long time ago.

Lifestyle
---------
People have found ways to travel across the wastes, stay one step ahead of disaster. Plenty of caravans cross between the shore townships. Nothing is perminant. Families are born and survive on the road.

Set Pieces
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The Antelope - They sprint across the wastes looking for parts so they can build more antelope. Most have manipulators in their undercarriages, lasers in their heads. They're pack animals -- er, machines.

The Spire - An old radio tower converted into a center of power, lashed together by sheets of steel from fences, buildings and road signs. Storms converge around the tower.

The Tunnels - Once long abandoned, scraps of humanity now inhabit them, spreading the message like a cancer across the desert lands. Most of them are barely human anymore, made 'better' by hacked together machine parts.

Techno - Sun-deprived skin and an attitude to match, she stands on top of the world, pumping out jams, building her collective army, preparing to overtake the west coast.

The Foreigners - A Set of caravan riders, lead by an engineer, Mick Jones. They pieced together a fairly large family and look for a place to call their own. Collectively, they have an engineer, several musical types, resources enough for themselves but not the party.

West Coast - The Last Stand, a city of light propped up on the dead body of LA. It stands alone as a safe haven, towering as an unwavering pinnacle of human accomplishment, and if it weren’t for its broad light ejecting into the night sky, you'd barely even notice it. Born within the confines of West Coast, you would never know the world outside its walls, and born outside, you would never know of its contents. West Coast is Schrodinger’s box.

Player party - You're to help the foreigners find a home. Some of you are remnants, some engineers, some gunners, and all of you are compelled to find a place for your people.

Remnants - Automatons or conversions who've adopted true intelligence. Many emulate human expression to make up for what they feel they've lost.

Setting

A Swirling cloud cracking and sparking taps the tower its surrounding with electric light. A Deep thundering bass sends ripplets out from far below the debris. Tickets and leaflets brush by on the ground.

"Techno: Experience the girl who changed the way we trance"

The stranger tipped up his hat with one barrel. "Looks like this is the place."

There is a Ninja on the Train

The good inspector pulls the pistol from his holster and holds it up in wait. The scroll case dangles from a leather cord under his long gray jacket. The train clacks along the breaks in the track. He moves to holster his pistol when a crash rings out from the booth next to his. The car fills with a thick black choking smoke, the inspector falls to one knee, coughing. He feels for the scroll case -- Its gone. "Damn. Double Damn, The Captain will have my head on a platter. Louseau! Louseau you damn Frenchman, where have you got to!"

The smoke billows up from the ball in the next car, he picks it up, burning hot as it is, and chucks it back out the broken window. Ahead of him, he makes out a faint figure climbing up the side of the train. The inspector open fires. Shrieks of passengers crying out in shock. The mustachioed Frenchman appears at his side. "No time for a drink; Get the luggage!" The Good inspector sprints out the door, climbing to the roof of the train where a foot greets his face in a most unpleasant, down-right dastardly manner. His right arm hooks around the ladder rung and his left whips forward with his pistol, firing blindly upwards. The wind rushes and swirls in the gap between cars, he swings freely, feeling sick before he pulls himself up.

The boiler, he's heading for the engine! Sure enough, the masked figure was making its way toward the lumber car, and the boiler. He'd blow it up! "Down Right Unacceptable!" He got his wits about him and fired off two more, long, narrowly missing "Damn this wind". The ninja shot forth, sparks flying at the inspector, catching his left hand, sending the service pistol flying.

Sizing up an enemy in 4th Edition

There are three ways to aproach an enemy

Intelectually, Charismatically, or Head and Wall aproach

Knowing is Half the battle - In this case, A skill challenge would lower the to-hit dc on the enemy. The more you know about the enemy, the easier it is to take them down.

Cast Doubt - Taunting and engaging the enemy prior to combat can lower attack mods and their confidence (if they have some kind of willpower defense), but every hit they inflict restores their confidence -- and their attack mods.

Head and Wall - Engage the enemy before it has a chance to make preparations, attack the problem head on. Attacks can make the enemy lose their weapons, become more vulnerable to disarm, more likely to surrender, enemies tend to be more spread apart.

System Update and a Neat Idea

Combat was changed to Aggression, although I may still use CDSM as the working title. Not sure yet. This was to facilitate ideas of general application rather than pigeonholing players into physical combat.

Idea - Spell Weaving

Mage characters have always fascinated me, I've wanted to do something cool with this for a long time. I'm thinking something that keeps the system identity in mind.

I also played Magicka recently, so my mind is buzzing with possibilities. I don't necessarily want to stick with elements tho, so lets take a few simple ideas and start tinkering with them.

Lets say that spells have certain characteristics. We'll start with 'Rope', a simple skill that allows the player to make, manipulate and utilize rope with a wave of the finger. Lets mix this with 'Wall', an ability to build or take down a wall in front of you. You now have a wall that you can move and manipulate. Add 'Projectile' and you can start trapping people in little boxes. This is how magic becomes dangerous.

Say we have a 'dimention door' mixed with 'projectile', you can send someone to another plane in a bolt. Say you also have a 'bag of holding', you can imprison people beyond time and space at your leisure.

This isn't finished and its certainly not usable. I like the idea of mixing things tho, it seems very magelike.

A Basis for a System -- Fancy $5 Words

CDSM

Combat
Defense
Social
Mobility

The basis for stat creation.

Warning I Have yet to make most of this coherent Warning

Pick 4 things about your character.

Refer to CDSM if you get stuck
Branch these into two scopes

Individual VS Worldview
OR
Self Vs Others
OR
Self Image VS Societal Image

THEN

Assign 4 categories to identify how the general relationships between these stats functions.

Then undefine these relationships. -- This check is to have a base idea on how they work under certain circumstances. -- Know that these relationships are reset via situation. The purpose we do this at all is to establish a base and to identify that our stats are appropriately balanced and even.

Setting up substats identifies scope and magnitude. This relates directly to the Signal Skill program used for aspergers patients, specifically in identifying goal. This is where we establish if we want to get along or feel better, rather if we want to focus on internal traits or external traits. In building these we are defining the ways that the character interacts with the world and how they address the situation that they are presented with. This also sends a message to the player with how they should act in the given situation, giving a personalized approach toward immersion and allowing player/character distance to become smaller.

The proxy is required for context of interaction and proof of stability. The label of CDSM coordinates mechanical functionality and provides balance and context of the stat. Provides definition of the character and the system in which the character resides.

Also! Dependent on the actions that the player attempts, the effects and outcomes are judged on a case to case basis so there is no coverall or go to situation (ex Combat) for any given problem, but the player is forced to assess the most logical option in frame because we see that combat is not special, it is inherit to the system and subject to its rules just like anything else.

From here, we need to identify types of interactions, at least as the gm is concerned. These interactions do not directly align with the CDSM model but are the basis for a game much like a skill challenge in Dungeons and Dragons 4th.