This will mean little to most of you, but still I celebrate.
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=90563
Hearts of Iron 3: late 2009.
OH YES!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Roundup
So... I haven't had the blogging bug lately, it seems.
On the running front: things were good for a week or two, then late last week I got de-motivated, and didn't run on thursday, saturday or sunday when I should have. I got back on it this morning with 8 miles, and it was a good run, and I'm glad I did it, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. Just not feeling motivated. I'm really quite lazy at heart, you see.
I need to get my ass in gear and do my session writeup for D&D for this past week.
I got together with Michael and Kelly and ran some Jedi in the Vineyard the other day. I started to do a longish, somewhat detailed writeup, but I got two or three paragraphs in and then got tired of writing and busy at work. In brief: it was pretty cool. I like the "* in the Vineyard" system, but its pretty tricky. I said the other day that every time I run it, it feels as though I've just donned a super shiny and sleek and awesome space suit, and that its about two sizes wrong and stiff in some uncomfortable places, and just needs to be broken in and grown into. Enough analogies. Moving right along.
I have kinda been in a computer gaming funk - like some people are with books, I'm never not in the midst of playing some computer game. I played a few real time strategy titles, before dusting off my copy of Fallout 2 and cranking it up. Such fun! (I'm serious. Fallout 2 rocks.)
I'm sure there are some other things that I'm forgetting about, but that's my roundup for now.
On the running front: things were good for a week or two, then late last week I got de-motivated, and didn't run on thursday, saturday or sunday when I should have. I got back on it this morning with 8 miles, and it was a good run, and I'm glad I did it, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. Just not feeling motivated. I'm really quite lazy at heart, you see.
I need to get my ass in gear and do my session writeup for D&D for this past week.
I got together with Michael and Kelly and ran some Jedi in the Vineyard the other day. I started to do a longish, somewhat detailed writeup, but I got two or three paragraphs in and then got tired of writing and busy at work. In brief: it was pretty cool. I like the "* in the Vineyard" system, but its pretty tricky. I said the other day that every time I run it, it feels as though I've just donned a super shiny and sleek and awesome space suit, and that its about two sizes wrong and stiff in some uncomfortable places, and just needs to be broken in and grown into. Enough analogies. Moving right along.
I have kinda been in a computer gaming funk - like some people are with books, I'm never not in the midst of playing some computer game. I played a few real time strategy titles, before dusting off my copy of Fallout 2 and cranking it up. Such fun! (I'm serious. Fallout 2 rocks.)
I'm sure there are some other things that I'm forgetting about, but that's my roundup for now.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Y'know, I was thinking the same thing
So, blogging is slow going for me lately. I'll have some content again soon I'm sure.
Meanwhile, here's more fuel for my "The Media and Politics are mind numbingly stupid" thing.
(Image from Todd Alcott's livejournal)
So.... McCain is totally right. It is wrong for one nation to invade another. Wait - why does this sound somehow familiar?
(Image from Frostfirezoo)
This is dumb, but not altogether shocking. I'll call it "We Are Winning The Olympics!" spin.
Meanwhile, here's more fuel for my "The Media and Politics are mind numbingly stupid" thing.
(Image from Todd Alcott's livejournal)
So.... McCain is totally right. It is wrong for one nation to invade another. Wait - why does this sound somehow familiar?
(Image from Frostfirezoo)
This is dumb, but not altogether shocking. I'll call it "We Are Winning The Olympics!" spin.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Running Roundup
So, I'm off to a pretty good start with my running.
As I mentioned, I've taken to getting up early and going out for a run.
Last week, in addition to my semi-disastrous 3.5 mile run, I managed a 6 on Tuesday morning, an 8 on Wednesday morning, another 8 on Friday morning and a 4 on Saturday.
I had a long run scheduled for Sunday, and I got up at 6AM and hit the streets in the light ran and cranked out 12 miles in 2:07. I'm pretty pleased.
As I mentioned, I've taken to getting up early and going out for a run.
Last week, in addition to my semi-disastrous 3.5 mile run, I managed a 6 on Tuesday morning, an 8 on Wednesday morning, another 8 on Friday morning and a 4 on Saturday.
I had a long run scheduled for Sunday, and I got up at 6AM and hit the streets in the light ran and cranked out 12 miles in 2:07. I'm pretty pleased.
D&D Session 6: Food for the Vultures/The Road Home
The gamers assembled and soon we were playing!
We transitioned almost immediately to an encounter, as the party continued their journey south and west toward their destination with the villagers in tow. They'd come out of the rugged hills into more gentle terrain. Ahead, they saw carrion birds gathering, and soon came upon a scene of carnage. There was a pile of a dozen or so orcish dead, and another five staked out on the ground and slit open. Most of the dead, and all of those that were staked out had their faces painted with ash and coal to resemble a black skull. A few of the dead had a large red handprint dyed onto their armor. Amidst the dead was a broken banner, baring a large skull. They sent two still-living orcs on to meet Gruumsh, and then saw a party of Red Hand orcs come over the crest of the hill nearby. The largest among them called out "Blood for the Blood Lord!" and they charged into battle. Maddie's paladin was closest to them, with Andrew's thief not too far behind. The paladin charged right up and engaged them, as the rest of the party began to close in. The orcs swarmed around the paladin though, and very nearly brought her to the ground.
So, the Paladin was in the thick of things, but the rest of the party swarmed in and kicked some Orcish ass.
They pressed on, and soon came to a farmestead, not far from the village that they were headed to. They made it to the village, and made arrangements to leave their charges here, to be incorporated into the community. Illgiliant made sure to leave some gold with them to help them out. There was a feast held, and it was revealed that something was stirring in the Shadowdeep, a forest nearby. Recently a family had gone missing from their farmstead not far from the Shadowdeep. Smelling a quest, the party was soon headed in that direction, after Father Kreuz spent a little time healing sickness and illness among the villagers.
They entered the Shadowdeep, and were soon set upon by a greeting party of kobolds. The kobolds were hidden in the dense foliage, and it took a little doing to get out there and engage them. Once they'd dispatched the kobolds, they wanted to know if there was any sign of tracks, to see where the kobolds had come from, hoping to track down the missing family. The kobolds tracks led into a low, narrow tunnel carved into a huge and thick hedge. After a bit of hesitation, the party went hands and knees into the hedge.
They moved along for some time, before coming out and landing right in another ambush. This time, a number of minions and a couple of dual wielding kobolds attacked them. Between Andrew's multiclass Thief/Wizard, and Jason's Dragonborn breath weapon, the minions fell quickly, and soon it was two vs seven, and the remaining kobolds fell.
Moving quickly between encounters, they pressed on toward the center of the forest, and found a circle of huge trees, obviously not just mundane. Within the circle waited a group of heavily armored kobolds. The wind whispered through the trees, and they heard a voice on the wind, "Kill them, my little ones." And the party leapt into combat.
Again, the party wiped out the five armored kobolds pretty much without breaking a sweat. Then the Witch stepped out of the tree. She darted *out* of a tree, across the grass, fired off an attack at the party, and leapt *into* another tree. Smelling a tricky fight, the party began to spread out to the trees in the circle, to try to catch the Witch. As she'd dart from one tree to another, she'd beckon large tree branches to sweep down and smack some of the characters, or she'd whisper on the wind to one of the characters, and that character would turn and strike his or her companions! At one point, she reached out of a tree, grabbed Father Kreuz, and pulled him into the tree. Half a second later, he fell from the branches overhead. The party soon caught her in the open, and worked desperately to keep her from vanishing into the trees again. They swarmed around her, as she fought fiercely against them, turning two of them into trees, and dealing out powerful attacks. When the paladin bloodied her, the entire ring of trees began to flail with their thick branches, striking most of the party and knocking many of them down. Finally, despite the trees healing her wounds, the party brought her down. One of the trees gently lowered its branches and gathered her up. She spoke to the party, telling them that the stars carried portents of the Blood Lord. Also, that the family that they sought went West, with their kidnappers. The kidnappers had bought passage through the Shadowdeep, and she gave them the mace that they'd use to buy their way through. With that, the tree carried her up into its branches and out of sight.
After resting, the party carried on west, and after another few days of travel, they made it to the gates of the three communities that they called home.
Now some notes and thoughts about the game.
During the first encounter I realized that we'd failed to mention whether any resting had occurred between the last session and this one. Quick mechanics: characters can take a short 5 minute rest, which recharges their "encounter" powers, and lets them use healing surges and such to regain lost hit points; or they can take a "long rest" that will regain all healing surges, all hit points, and recharge "daily" powers. They can only take a long rest once per day. After a long rest, action points, which they can accumulate after successive combats, reset to 1, which means that unused action points can go to waste.
A few times before I'd forced long rests on the characters, due simply to in-game time progression and lack of bad guys to fight. This seemed somewhat unfair for the players, so I offered to let them take a mechanical/metagame long rest that would recharge them, but also reset their action points, or to let them take a long rest, that a bunch of people would normally do once per day - but would them them keep their action points, and would not reset their surges or dailies. They liked this, and we're going to run with it.
The other thing that I really noticed in the first encounter, and through the rest of our session, had to do with the balance of characters vs bad guys in a fight. Maddie's paladin ran in, got surrounded, and got pretty beaten down. Obvious point: a character, even a defender, is pretty quick work for the concentrated attention of three or four or more bad guys. This is pretty normal, and I only mention it because I'm picking the mechanics apart. On the other hand, I noticed repeatedly during this session, that the party seemed to make incredibly short work of the opposition. To the point that I am going back and closely looking at encounter setup, trying to make sure that its' appropriately balanced. I won't say that the combats have necessarily been a cake-walk for the party, but at least two combats were over pretty much within two rounds.
I think I've mentioned before how simple monster design is. I love how easy it is to change and tweak beasties. For instance, there are orcs in the monster manual, but none that are 2nd level. So I just took the orc "types" that I wanted, and reworked them for the appropriate level. Took maybe 5 minutes to do. Its easy to create "powers" and abilities and such as well. Instead of using a bunch of stock powers and such for monsters, I'm creating my own with no hassle, just coming up with some cool fluff description, thinking about what I want it to do, doing a quick comparison with similar level stuff for power balance, and I'm done. Again, five or ten minutes max. The Witch that they fought - not in the book. Made her up whole-cloth. And she was a fun fight.
We transitioned almost immediately to an encounter, as the party continued their journey south and west toward their destination with the villagers in tow. They'd come out of the rugged hills into more gentle terrain. Ahead, they saw carrion birds gathering, and soon came upon a scene of carnage. There was a pile of a dozen or so orcish dead, and another five staked out on the ground and slit open. Most of the dead, and all of those that were staked out had their faces painted with ash and coal to resemble a black skull. A few of the dead had a large red handprint dyed onto their armor. Amidst the dead was a broken banner, baring a large skull. They sent two still-living orcs on to meet Gruumsh, and then saw a party of Red Hand orcs come over the crest of the hill nearby. The largest among them called out "Blood for the Blood Lord!" and they charged into battle. Maddie's paladin was closest to them, with Andrew's thief not too far behind. The paladin charged right up and engaged them, as the rest of the party began to close in. The orcs swarmed around the paladin though, and very nearly brought her to the ground.
So, the Paladin was in the thick of things, but the rest of the party swarmed in and kicked some Orcish ass.
They pressed on, and soon came to a farmestead, not far from the village that they were headed to. They made it to the village, and made arrangements to leave their charges here, to be incorporated into the community. Illgiliant made sure to leave some gold with them to help them out. There was a feast held, and it was revealed that something was stirring in the Shadowdeep, a forest nearby. Recently a family had gone missing from their farmstead not far from the Shadowdeep. Smelling a quest, the party was soon headed in that direction, after Father Kreuz spent a little time healing sickness and illness among the villagers.
They entered the Shadowdeep, and were soon set upon by a greeting party of kobolds. The kobolds were hidden in the dense foliage, and it took a little doing to get out there and engage them. Once they'd dispatched the kobolds, they wanted to know if there was any sign of tracks, to see where the kobolds had come from, hoping to track down the missing family. The kobolds tracks led into a low, narrow tunnel carved into a huge and thick hedge. After a bit of hesitation, the party went hands and knees into the hedge.
They moved along for some time, before coming out and landing right in another ambush. This time, a number of minions and a couple of dual wielding kobolds attacked them. Between Andrew's multiclass Thief/Wizard, and Jason's Dragonborn breath weapon, the minions fell quickly, and soon it was two vs seven, and the remaining kobolds fell.
Moving quickly between encounters, they pressed on toward the center of the forest, and found a circle of huge trees, obviously not just mundane. Within the circle waited a group of heavily armored kobolds. The wind whispered through the trees, and they heard a voice on the wind, "Kill them, my little ones." And the party leapt into combat.
Again, the party wiped out the five armored kobolds pretty much without breaking a sweat. Then the Witch stepped out of the tree. She darted *out* of a tree, across the grass, fired off an attack at the party, and leapt *into* another tree. Smelling a tricky fight, the party began to spread out to the trees in the circle, to try to catch the Witch. As she'd dart from one tree to another, she'd beckon large tree branches to sweep down and smack some of the characters, or she'd whisper on the wind to one of the characters, and that character would turn and strike his or her companions! At one point, she reached out of a tree, grabbed Father Kreuz, and pulled him into the tree. Half a second later, he fell from the branches overhead. The party soon caught her in the open, and worked desperately to keep her from vanishing into the trees again. They swarmed around her, as she fought fiercely against them, turning two of them into trees, and dealing out powerful attacks. When the paladin bloodied her, the entire ring of trees began to flail with their thick branches, striking most of the party and knocking many of them down. Finally, despite the trees healing her wounds, the party brought her down. One of the trees gently lowered its branches and gathered her up. She spoke to the party, telling them that the stars carried portents of the Blood Lord. Also, that the family that they sought went West, with their kidnappers. The kidnappers had bought passage through the Shadowdeep, and she gave them the mace that they'd use to buy their way through. With that, the tree carried her up into its branches and out of sight.
After resting, the party carried on west, and after another few days of travel, they made it to the gates of the three communities that they called home.
Now some notes and thoughts about the game.
During the first encounter I realized that we'd failed to mention whether any resting had occurred between the last session and this one. Quick mechanics: characters can take a short 5 minute rest, which recharges their "encounter" powers, and lets them use healing surges and such to regain lost hit points; or they can take a "long rest" that will regain all healing surges, all hit points, and recharge "daily" powers. They can only take a long rest once per day. After a long rest, action points, which they can accumulate after successive combats, reset to 1, which means that unused action points can go to waste.
A few times before I'd forced long rests on the characters, due simply to in-game time progression and lack of bad guys to fight. This seemed somewhat unfair for the players, so I offered to let them take a mechanical/metagame long rest that would recharge them, but also reset their action points, or to let them take a long rest, that a bunch of people would normally do once per day - but would them them keep their action points, and would not reset their surges or dailies. They liked this, and we're going to run with it.
The other thing that I really noticed in the first encounter, and through the rest of our session, had to do with the balance of characters vs bad guys in a fight. Maddie's paladin ran in, got surrounded, and got pretty beaten down. Obvious point: a character, even a defender, is pretty quick work for the concentrated attention of three or four or more bad guys. This is pretty normal, and I only mention it because I'm picking the mechanics apart. On the other hand, I noticed repeatedly during this session, that the party seemed to make incredibly short work of the opposition. To the point that I am going back and closely looking at encounter setup, trying to make sure that its' appropriately balanced. I won't say that the combats have necessarily been a cake-walk for the party, but at least two combats were over pretty much within two rounds.
I think I've mentioned before how simple monster design is. I love how easy it is to change and tweak beasties. For instance, there are orcs in the monster manual, but none that are 2nd level. So I just took the orc "types" that I wanted, and reworked them for the appropriate level. Took maybe 5 minutes to do. Its easy to create "powers" and abilities and such as well. Instead of using a bunch of stock powers and such for monsters, I'm creating my own with no hassle, just coming up with some cool fluff description, thinking about what I want it to do, doing a quick comparison with similar level stuff for power balance, and I'm done. Again, five or ten minutes max. The Witch that they fought - not in the book. Made her up whole-cloth. And she was a fun fight.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
geek god, or mere mortal?
So, this will probably get me lynched. But let me first say that I'm not dissing on your homeboy Joss.
I'm a little surprised at the mass appeal and rabid frothing fanboy-ness of Joss Whedon and everything he touches. I'm a little confused myself. I'm just not sure whether he is in fact as awesome and coated in delicious gooey chocolate, like everyone seems to think, or if somehow, for some reason, he, and all of his works, have been elevated to some geek godhood, that all else pales in comparison too, and is above criticism or skepticism.
I saw Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Good stuff. Funny, clever. I liked it.
But now I can't turn around with seeing someone going on and on about Felicia Day - the romantic interest. Again, I'm not saying that she's undeserving of recognition, she did a great job. I'm just not sure that I recognize the need for her to be as famous as pie.
Then again, maybe I'm just rattling my cage.
I'm a little surprised at the mass appeal and rabid frothing fanboy-ness of Joss Whedon and everything he touches. I'm a little confused myself. I'm just not sure whether he is in fact as awesome and coated in delicious gooey chocolate, like everyone seems to think, or if somehow, for some reason, he, and all of his works, have been elevated to some geek godhood, that all else pales in comparison too, and is above criticism or skepticism.
I saw Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Good stuff. Funny, clever. I liked it.
But now I can't turn around with seeing someone going on and on about Felicia Day - the romantic interest. Again, I'm not saying that she's undeserving of recognition, she did a great job. I'm just not sure that I recognize the need for her to be as famous as pie.
Then again, maybe I'm just rattling my cage.
Running in the Morning
So after my hard-learned lesson, I endeavored to get up early, before 6AM, and go for a good 5 or 6 mile run.
I made it to bed after some hard core rock band drumming last night, around 10:30. I oozed from bed this morning when the alarm rang about 5:40. Got my running gear on and hit the streets. It was just starting to get light out, so I wore my bright yellow reflective vest, figuring that being clipped by an inattentive driver would not be a fun way to start my day. I did a little bit of brief stretching before, but it took about 5 minutes and half a mile for my body to get warmed up and my legs to stop complaining. It felt hot and muggy out, but in truth, it was around 75 degrees.
It was a really good run, I cranked out 6 miles in 57 and a half minutes, without too much difficulty. I'll be curious to see how it affects my energy level today, whether I'll be good all day, or totally crashing around 3pm.
I figure I'll need to keep this up while its ridiculous hot outside, so maybe for a couple of weeks. I'm slightly terrified about the marathon in December, and I desperately want to train adequately. I'm technically already behind, and off to a slow start. I'm going to push it, while being careful not to overdo it. Wish me luck.
I made it to bed after some hard core rock band drumming last night, around 10:30. I oozed from bed this morning when the alarm rang about 5:40. Got my running gear on and hit the streets. It was just starting to get light out, so I wore my bright yellow reflective vest, figuring that being clipped by an inattentive driver would not be a fun way to start my day. I did a little bit of brief stretching before, but it took about 5 minutes and half a mile for my body to get warmed up and my legs to stop complaining. It felt hot and muggy out, but in truth, it was around 75 degrees.
It was a really good run, I cranked out 6 miles in 57 and a half minutes, without too much difficulty. I'll be curious to see how it affects my energy level today, whether I'll be good all day, or totally crashing around 3pm.
I figure I'll need to keep this up while its ridiculous hot outside, so maybe for a couple of weeks. I'm slightly terrified about the marathon in December, and I desperately want to train adequately. I'm technically already behind, and off to a slow start. I'm going to push it, while being careful not to overdo it. Wish me luck.
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