A2W

Summer Rides

2011-08-16T06:40:00.000-05:00

I've been hitting it consistently this summer on my bicycle. Getting out almost every Sunday morning with a new group of cycling friends and occasionally my old crew too. We get rolling early to beat the heat and get back to our families with our afternoons intact. Shedding just over 40 pounds since April has been the biggest catalyst for this resurgence on two wheels. I am faster, stronger and healthier than ever. The weight loss has lead to more cycling and more cycling has lead to more weight loss.

After years of shifting away from road cycling trends (spandex, light bikes and HBMs) I am slowly coming back. Not to say I don't love rando and touring style cycling still, but at 16/17 mph paces it is hard to justify some of it. I have donned my ancient mountain bike racing jersey (2011 to 1999) and need to hook up the computer I bought back in January. It feels good. I am in love with cycling all over again. The now twelve year journey continues.

Below is just a sampling of the rides I've been on this summer...

Total running/riding miles since June: 424 and counting!

Dark is the Sun - August Ed.

2011-08-15T12:03:00.039-05:00

It has been many a moon since my game group visited the desolate waste of Athas. We rolled our dice against the old Gods in June and took off the month of July. So a return to our Dark Sun game was in order this past weekend. Not having played in so long I sent a quick refresher to the group the week before and tried to give my best summary before we got started.

Back in May the group was seeking out the fragments of ancient artifact (Crown of Dust), but had the two pieces they had acquired so far stolen from them. The Templar that pick pocked the artifacts serves a powerful sorcerer king who means to get even more powerful once he controls the crown. Now it is up to the group to stop him. They sought allies in that fight in May and thought they were going to be on the hunt for more on Saturday.

They thought wrong. I added a sixth player (Wayne) to the table for Cthulhu in June with the intention of him staying at the table once I took the DM reigns back. Enter Alek, rogue, explorer and ~~grave robber~~ treasure hunter. I knew it would not be a natural fit to shoehorn him into the faction politics from the last game. So I sought a more natural introduction.

An article by Robert Schwalb that was a supplement to the world of Dark Sun seemed like a perfect fit. Elaadrich, a city referenced on the map of Athas, but never mentioned in the book. Schwalb did a fantastic job of describing a mad king who shuttered his city 800 years ago and only recently opened it's doors. I loved the concept, but for my re-purposing it didn't need to be alive. So I added a plague to the timeline that killed or mutated most of the citizens. Those that were left alive were either docile, but intelligent creatures or feral beast.

After reading various articles on 3D terrain at Roving Band of Misfits last month, I tried my hand at it for Saturday night. The first being a cliff side ambush encounter on the way to the lost city (see the pic above). The second was a confrontation with the mad sorcerer king. Who took the party to be his thieving templars, come back for more of his power. The terrain was a hit and the encounters that took place on them were pretty fun too.

Hits: Getting back to 4E, adding a 6th player, 3D terrain, peach crumble bars

Misses: Forgetting creature powers, encounters that were too safe

The rest is in the pictures...

The Chair

2011-07-19T07:05:00.003-05:00

A beach week post is forth coming, but today I thought I'd share this little snip it. Kaden in 2009 and 2011 on the same chair in Corolla, NC. He is getting big! In 2009 we had to hold him up right, in 2011 we had to ask him to stop dancing and sit down for the picture.

Family Bike Ride

2011-07-11T07:30:00.003-05:00

On the same week that we bought Kaden his first bike I took him across the river to pick up a bike trailer from a friend. It is not the greatest picture in the world, but you can see him in tow above. Post first bike ride he was not immediately sold on riding in the trail. When we showed him were he could put snacks and a drink though he was all in.

When he got up from is nap that same day we pulled our bikes out to the street and hooked up the trail. It was awkward at first. Backing up my bike was a pain. Getting started on a hill was too. Both of which I tried to do from the start. For the first four miles I was super nervous. Feeling out how wide the trail was. Trying to avoid pot holes for two of us and keeping my cadence smooth.

Eventually I got it, but not without a few lingering complaints. My heel sticks back far enough to rub the connector where the trailer attaches to my frame. If I don't want to scuff it on every pass (hint: I don't), then I have to turn my left heel out slightly to avoid it. Which lead to a little bit of knee joint pain post ride. If I can get over the shoe rubbing I will still have to deal with the biggest flaw of the trailer though.

It is like pulling a giant Lego block. Scratch that a square parachute. It is an aerodynamic mess. What feels like the effort of a 16 mph pace ride, but we are really going 12 mph. I have to work my butt off to keep it going. Hills are the worst, clicking down to my middle ring for stuff I could power up at 18-20 normally. I don't think we will ever take it on a 30-40 mile trip, but it was still really fun.

We spun our way over to my parents house first. He got out and visited with them for a while and we were back on the road. Our next stop was Moe's for a light dinner. Kaden was tickled pink that we rode our bikes there and got to sit next to them outside while we ate. Following dinner we stopped a playground and let him get out and burn some energy. Our first ride ended up being a 13 mile out a back test run, that really was a ton of fun. I could use the exercise.

Fourth Cookout

2011-07-08T06:07:00.004-05:00

Most every year we do something small for the fourth. Get together at a friends house. Go see fireworks downtown or just hang out at home. We even went to a movie one year, it was like a ghost town. This year at the last minute (read: 6 days before the 4th) we decided to invite 35 friends and family over. We knew that the turnout would not be that big, but we counted 21 come Monday afternoon.

We cooked up a grill full of barbecue chicken and hot dogs for our guest and had our family and friends bring their favorite dishes. The spread ended up being pretty comprehensive. From coleslaw to pecan bars we had it all. For entertainment Gabriel brought over the Cornhole set he and I built (a post for another day). In total I think there were five games played before the rain came. One of which was a high stakes three car wash bet between my dad and brother. My dad, who had never played before, ended up crushing him.

We skipped fireworks because of the rain and how late they start, but we had already seen them on Friday anyway. Next year we will see about doing our own fireworks for another cookout at our house. We are really enjoying creating traditions and events at our home. Hosting parties is a ton of work, but always worth the effort. Expect more from us in the future.

Kaden's New Bike

2011-07-07T06:35:00.022-05:00

What started two weeks ago as a helmet purchase for his push motorcycle, turned into a full on bike purchase last week. We talk about bikes a lot in our house. Two to four bicycles have been present in his playroom since he was born. He knows not to touch to chains. He likes to see me ride out in the street and he has been talking about getting his own for a month. So on a whim Crystal picked up his first bike on Wednesday last week.

It was late by the time it got to the house and also unassembled. So we sent him off to bed and I attempted to put it together. At minute ten I realized that the fork was bent so badly that no man power was going to set it straight. So I boxed it back up and went to bed. Crystal returned the next day with an assembled bike and a story about the manufacturer packing their bikes poorly.

That evening we went on a bike ride in the neighborhood. I on my bike, Kaden on his and Crystal keeping him straight and offering the occasional push. He pedals surprisingly well. He lacks the leg strength to push through if he stops at an odd angle, but he can string together 5-6 good strokes with regularity. After his first 1/4 mile lap we stopped at the house to raise his seat. That involved pliers and a wrench. He watched vigilantly as I adjust the post to his little height and we were on our way for another quarter.

The next morning Crystal came down stairs to find him in our sun room (his playroom) with his Fisher Price tool set splayed out on the floor. Pliers and wrench in hand, mock adjusting his seat post height.

Dice Cast

2011-06-30T11:47:00.001-05:00

A man's connection to his dice, after any significant time at the game table, is strong. I know my dice like the back of my hand, but can also appreciate the tiny polyhedrons as a medium for art. Kim Hyun has created beautiful art and also some inspiration for a super meta D&D monster.

[Via: Colossal]

Riding with my Bride

2011-06-29T06:14:00.001-05:00

June has been an exceptional month for Tabib cycling. Never before have I been on so many rides with my lovely wife. Prior to Kaden, riding was something Crystal enjoyed, but was not passionate about. We were both overweight too. So were I would push past my plump pounds to get on the road every weekend, she would simply pass. Post Kaden, even if she wanted to ride it was a matter of finding a babysitter.

Now that we are each 13% lighter, exercise has become enjoyable and routine. I am running 3-4 times a week. She is walking and Tae Bo-ing the same amount. So when we get a free weekend morning together, we go for a ride. In June we had the chance to do that three times. Putting in 68 miles for the month. Easily Crystal's most logged ever and also breaking her longest ride, at 32 miles this past Sunday. I was extremely impressed by her the whole ride. I hope we get the chance to break her miles in a month record in July.

Cthulhu Returns - June Ed.

2011-06-28T06:49:00.002-05:00

Following our last Dark Sun game in May I felt a break was in order. My group had been rolling hard on 4e for a year straight. Two of them were brand new to table top gaming and 4e was all they had ever known. It was time for something different. So I asked my GM sensei to step in for a night and run Cthulhu for us. He was kind enough to accept and I spent the next month hyping up the game system to the group.

I loved the last two times I played Call of Cthulhu and have been wanting to go back to it ever since. It is heavy on story and role playing and light on mechanics. Where we all appreciate 5-6 page character sheets and loads of technical rules in 4e it is nice to take a break. One page and a character background given out by the GM means you can really dig in to owning your characters motivations.

I won't go into the details, but our group was a 1920's Boston based gang sent to the Pennsylvania Appalachians to broker a deal for cheap moonshine. What ensued was a journey into madness. Jumping in and out of each other nightmares. Confronting a village bent on sacrificing us to an ancient evil and an escape by the skin of our teeth. It was a kicking good time. Next month we will be back to Dark Sun, but this breather is just what everyone needed. It also worked to inspire me as a GM again. Doubling down on my planning to run the best game I can in July.

Return to the Zoo

2011-06-27T12:07:00.001-05:00

The rest of the zoo pics

Last year when we hit the Richmond Zoo it was wicked hot and Kaden was too young to walk around on his own. For our return trip in 2011 he is a walking, talking, ball of unending energy. He wanted to see every animal, shout a hello to them, attempt to replicate their call, bark or squawk and run to the next pen. The weather was great and the animals were out in force.

He enjoyed the giraffe feeding the most (as seen above), kept wanting to go back the crocodiles "Chomp!" and danced for and with the penguins. The low or high point of the day, depending on what kind of human being you are, was when a camel stole his cup. He instantly broke in to uncontrollable sobs. Out of fear or anger I don't know, but I found myself laughing. I know, I am horrible person. A trip to the crocodiles and loop on the train got him back in a happy mood though.

Pizza and subs, post zoo was in order. Our party of 7 filled up on meats and marinara and then broke up to drive home and nap. It was another successful and enjoyable expedition to our local zoo. Until he does not require a mid day nap we will be skipping the national zoo and I'm just fine with that.

E to the E to the Electronic Three

2011-06-10T09:15:00.018-05:00

Shit has it really been a year since the last E3? It is time then to throw my short form commentary on what seems interesting into the nether. Jesus do they only make sequels now or is that all I care about? Who is the problem here...

Uncharted 3 - The only reason I care about my dusty old PS3 just got another iteration in the story. I will be picking this game up on launch day.

Modern Warfare 3 - Despite second fiddle love for the PC market and Activision crapping all over Infinity Ward's founders I am still playing BLOPs most nights. The MW3 trailers look incredible and Elite looks benign, sign me up.

Battlefield 3 - I want this game to compete with MW3 in the worst way. I skipped Bad Company one and deux, but have a storied past with BF1942 and Vietnam. I want to come home.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Last year I thought Brotherhood would be a money grab. I was wrong, I can admit that. They made an awesome single and multiplayer game. I'm ready to be done with Ezio's story, but they have earned my faith in one last romp.

BioShock: Infinite - I'm hearing game of the show from twitterverse. I would not put it past Ken Levine and company if that were the case, I loved the first one.

Mass Effect 3 - Though not out till 2012 the coverage has only served in me wanting this game more.

WH40k: Space Marine - Every trailer of the actual game play looks like crap, no cover, poor graphics, bland animation. They will need to be swimming in media praise for me to even consider buying this game now. I'm super disappointed.

Wii U - Seriously who is the audience for this? They (Big N) now have a console on par with 360 and PS3, but it is 5 years too late. Getting ports of the big games that will already be available on the two systems I own does not sound appealing. Hasn't the "hardcore" audience moved on? Wait we were left behind.

Pop Culture Cash

2011-05-31T12:36:00.001-05:00

Art that uses United States legal tender as a medium always gets me. So James Charles pop culture figures plastered over the founding fathers is right up my alley. Some awesome work here.

[Via: DudeCraft]

Circle the Wagons

2011-05-27T08:06:00.000-05:00

Since moving to my new job in July I have been indoctrinated into a culture of friendly pranks. Mainly birthday related, but if you leave your computer unlocked and walk away someone might send an email on your behalf. That someone might be me. I am passively on the hunt for the next big thing and came across this master piece. One, I have no clue how that even works and two, where would I get 30-50 shopping carts. The world may never know.

[Via: Super Punch]

BMW 328 Hommage

2011-05-26T09:24:00.001-05:00

Cool concept cars used to be a staple of my tumblr blog before I merged my efforts there with my efforts here. It is time to start getting back to my original intent with this beauty.

[Via: LikeCOOL]

L.A. Noire

2011-05-24T06:46:00.004-05:00

Games that are not on my radar have no expectations to fulfill or hopes to dash. If they come out, like L.A. Noire did, to fantastic reviews, they can easily delight and fascinate me for unexpected weeks. Noire is a game unlike any I have ever played before. Sure it takes it's driving, shooting and melee combat from it's GTA predecessors (not a good thing), but that is where the similarities end. It is a big budget adventure game in an open world.

Less action and more police work. Investigating crime scenes, questioning suspects and putting clues together. Unlike most "police" games that boil down to "shoot the bad guys", Noire has brains and makes you use yours. I described it to my wife as one of her crappy CSI games done with a big budget, awesome graphics and incredible writing. Of note, the facial animations are almost unsettling realistic, they are a must see.

That is not to say it isn't without flaws, for me personally at least. I have a hard time being completely happy with a game when I think I am "doing it wrong". Splinter Cell is a perfect example, I've loved all of the games in the series, but I know there is a way you are supposed to play them. I.e. a stealth ass spy, not Rambo with a 50 caliber. Inevitably I end up stepping into a search light or leaving a body out for another guard to find. The immersion breaks down when I go hauling ass to the next check point knowing the guards won't follow me past a load screen. It gets the job done, but not in the most satisfying way.

I am tamping down the urge to reload and retry scenes in Noire were I get an interview with a suspect or witness completely wrong. Sometimes I could see the blame falling to me. For every time that is the case though there is a confusing question or answer that seems to have no solution. Coming to the game as a flawed human police officer instead of action packed super cop seems to be the best answer to this. Except there is no way to fail, fuck up an interview royally or Columbo that shit and you still move on to the next case. It gets the job done, but not in the most satisfying way.

If you can't fail, then it boils down to performance or star rating. Ultimately that is less satisfying then story changes due to failure or even hard resets to get it right. That is not to say I don't like the game, but without consequence it feels less meaningful. I'm playing it for the acting, story and dialog, and crossing my fingers that Noire is just the tip of the iceberg. This game could be a watershed moment for gaming with the way it is selling and I for one welcome the iterations that might follow.

Four Hour Body: Part Deux

2011-05-23T12:03:00.007-05:00

I hit 24.0 lbs lost and a 5% loss in body fat yesterday morning. Exactly five weeks to the day that we started this experiment (Four Hour Body) and with no changes in exercise. So far it is going really well.The cheat days cause plateaus and even small spikes up, but they are the mental break we need. Not eating fruit went out the door after the first week. I can't quit on apples and bananas, but I'm still avoiding white carbs and sugar.

Mainly it has forced me to pay attention to what I eat and how it effects me. We weigh in everyday and track it religiously via a shared spreadsheet. Tracking our stats and competing on them seem to be the best motivators. Even with forging her own diet path Crystal has lost 15 lbs. She started eating cereal for breakfast and taking a tuna sandwich on wheat for lunch three weeks ago. Both major breaks with the diet as written, but it is still working.

The book states "this diet is not meant to be fun, it is meant to be effect" and that does hold true. It is not fun. Modifying it slightly does make it less effective, but in the long run it makes it sustainable. We are heading toward life style change not a month and done trial at this point. Which is just fine with me. I don't want to fall off the wagon completely because I couldn't chomp on a mango.

Our cooking habits have changed understandably. Well, I should say my cooking habits have changed. My wife is brilliant, funny and attractive, but cooking is not a life skill she picked up. So as before the diet and during it I do all of the cooking. I have been keeping our meals to a few core ingredients and mixing it up with cabinet full of spices:

Meats

Grilled chicken
Steaks
Chicken chili

Vegetables/Legumes

Roasted asparagus
Roasted cauliflower
Grilled zucchini/squash
Canned green beans (a Kaden favorite)
Baked Beans
Great northern beans (see: chicken chili)

Fruits

Apples
Bananas
Mangoes
Grapes
Grilled pineapples

It requires more planning than going out or making something from the freezer, but a big batch of chicken chili can feed us for three nights and only takes three hours to prepare. Our grocery bill has gone up, but that comes with more fresh produce in our diets and sustainable weight loss. Well worth the few dollars more a month.

Portal Turret Replica

2011-05-12T06:11:00.001-05:00

The internet has been a wash with Portal art following the release of the second game. Deservedly so I'd say. The sequel was mind crushingly amazing. It held up to the original surprisingly well. I could go on, but instead have a look at this turret replica instead. "Are you still there?"

[Via: Make]

Easter 2011

2011-05-11T06:11:00.001-05:00

On the heels of the Easter egg hunt the week before the actual holiday, we celebrated the actual holiday. Kaden was old enough this year to get pumped to find eggs and to leave carrots for the Easter Bunny. We started off the festivities at a breakfast, magic show and egg hunt combo meal that the Shriners put on. You know, the old white guys in the little cars at parades who are some how attached to middle eastern culture. Those guys. Crystal's grandfather is one of them and they know how to put on a fun family event.

From there it was lunch, nap time and a quick ride over to my parents for more candy and Easter basket treats. We played in the yard all the way up to dinner time and then sat down for a tasty meal. The rest is in the pictures...

Dark is the Sun - May Ed.

2011-05-10T06:23:00.001-05:00

Long stretches between games can mean ample time to plan and prepare. That or time to procrastinate and rush through planning in the week before game night. I thought I was doing the former this month and it turned out to be the latter.

The story so far has been a hunt around Athas for an artifact of great power "the Crown of Dust". Why the party was looking for it originally was not super clear. Unpaid debts and missing family members tied to the ancient item was all that was driving them. So I added some context. Now a Sorcerer King wants it to destroy their home city with the Crown. So it is either gather the fragments before him or kill him before he finds and assembles it. The group has been set on the path to kill him and now need allies to do so.

Last Minute Changes
I had this game planned since the last time we played. Not on paper mind you, but it was kicking around in my noodle for nearly two months. When I finally got it on paper last week I wasn't happy with it though. So I went into edit mode to try and take it off the rails. By Wednesday I still wasn't happy. So I decided two days before we played, that I would blow out the ending from one possible outcome to three.

All with their own map, monsters and plot points. I got it done, but after the last dice was rolled Friday night I didn't feel like I had done it well. The answer could be not procrastinating, but it could also be spending more time on my encounters. Thankfully the two encounters on deck are already done. Now I can take the next month to sharpen them to a fine point.

Motivation
Being heroes who want to do heroic things isn't always enough. Maybe it should be. Sometimes I can't get a read on what motivates the party though. It could be me doing a poor job of setting up plot hooks for them. This isn't specific to one player or one event, but it is something I need to do a better job of in general. Part of me wants to just say the hell with it and wait for the next campaign to get the hooks right, but I know I can salvage this one. Overall things are going well, it just needs some tweaking.

Friday Games
Ugh, the bane of our group so far has been Friday night games. We learned a while ago not to do them. Everyone has worked a full week and comes in tired and edgy. With families, friends and careers it can be tough to be free on a Saturday though. It can't be helped sometimes. The answer could be postponing to the next free Saturday or planning lighter for these off months. Neither option sounds great.

The rest is in the pictures...

Saturday on Studley

2011-05-09T06:07:00.002-05:00

At this point the country roads of Goochland and rolling hills of Riverside are well tread by Pant's tires. I think I've worn a grove into Patterson Ave to be honest. So when I get to roll on new paths it is always a pleasure. On Saturday I met up with the brothers Brick for a ride north east of our city. We piled into Landon's car and landed at parking lot by Atlee Rd. and Chamberlayne. The lot was nearly empty when we arrived and we were two wheels rolling by 3:20p.

The roads were low on traffic and high on hills. We stuck mostly to our cue sheet despite MapMyRide.com trying to get us lost on two occasions. What finally did us in was poor road planning, not website logic. We had to huff it for a half mile and a massive hill on Mechanicsville Turnpike at the half way point. We noted our mistake for next time and spun back to the car. What we found was a classic car show that had engulfed Landon's Buick. All around us were hot rods and shinned chrome.

The rest is in the pictures...

Egg Hunt 2011

2011-04-29T06:11:00.000-05:00

Kaden and Crystal attended an Easter egg hunt last weekend in south side. I was on that side of town too, but on my bike instead. They had an awesome time and brought the camera along for the trip. The rest is in the pictures.

Handlebar Garden

2011-04-28T06:29:00.001-05:00

Handlebar with a view. I'd go with a mixture of herbs in mine for the utility of cooking with style on a long tour.

[Via: Craft]

Two Years Old

2011-04-27T06:17:00.002-05:00

Kaden turned the big number two earlier this month and we celebrated with a party at the park. We invited friends and family once again, but not the hundred plus from his first birthday party. Lots more kids his age at this one and it was sports themed because it is all he wants to talk about. We laughed, played and munched on cupcakes. It was a great time.

He has grown from an unmoving lump on the ground to a walking, talking and creative little boy in the blink of an eye. Everyday is better than the last as he learns and becomes more curious about the world around him. If the internet will never truly go away as privacy worriers and tin foil hat aficionados claim, then let this be a record. At two years old he:

can count to 10,
knows all of the colors in the rainbow,
can identify a handful of letters,
can sing his ABCs,
can sing roughly 7-8 other songs in their entirety,
can identify a handful of shapes,
is in the 96% for height,
runs, jumps and climbs without fear,
repeats most everything you say (good and bad)
can perform basic functions on our iPhones

The rest is in the pictures.

Four Hour Body

2011-04-26T06:14:00.001-05:00

I have never gone on a diet. In the past I have changed what and how much I eat to lose weight. It has worked to some degree, but without rules I have always slipped. Making excuses to eat too many of the things I know will keep me round. Exercise has always been sporadic for me. Starting and stopping in fits with bike riding filling the gaps.

Three weeks ago I listened to the Nerdist podcast with Tim Ferriss. I'd never heard of him before, but he was an interesting enough guy on his own and wasn't shilling anything out right. He made a name for himself as an angel investor and eventually wrote the Four Hour Workweek in 2007. The follow up to his first book was The Four Hour Body. Which briefly became the topic of conversation on the podcast.

It ended up being compelling enough to try. So I bought the book and hit the grocery store for what I have so far deemed an experiment. Crystal decided to join me in our quest for science and so far so good. After two weeks of "slow carb" diet and no exercise we are down 10 and 13 lbs. respectively. Better than that we are down 2% and 3% body fat, again respectively. The experiment is working so far. Our cravings are gone and we plan to introduce a bit of exercise in the coming weeks.

I don't plan to drone on about this, but there may be a few more post on the topic in the coming months. Results and the like.

Howl's Moving Castle in Paper

2011-04-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

One of, if not our favorite Studio Ghibli film done in paper. It took nine plus months to complete and looks incredible. Note to self, make more papercraft.

[via: Reddit]

Relics of the Dawn - April Ed.

2011-04-11T12:15:00.000-05:00

As a follow up to our epic game night in February, we gathered around the table again in April to throw dice once again. It ended up being the first full table we have ever had in a year plus of playing together. Five plus a DM had us shoulder to shoulder, but having loads of fun. The beer, soda, wings and munchies flowed like wine and we got out of the night without a single death. R.I.P. Alin.

Having crossed the astral sea last game, we picked up our story on the coast of an unknown continent. We were hoping to find the nearest kingdom full of armed allies, but were met by peaceful nomads and an implacable 3,000 year winter instead. The assumption being we would need to pass it to get to the allies we sought. Sounds easy enough right? Throw in a 75 year wendigo mating season and it's a walk in the park.

The first encounter of the night was a wendigo ambush. If they were hungry or seeking potential mates we will never know. We made fairly quick work of them and left for fear of running across more. Afterward our trackers (Kevin and Jason) went snow crazy and then got lost with some skillful dice rolls (1s). Thankfully the rest of the party was willing to bail them out.

Our journey landed us outside of a tower in the middle of the unending snow storm. Seeking a relic that might give us the power to stop the Corpse God and hoping to end the winter we ventured inside. The tower turned out to be that of the elf God of Torture. A pleasant fellow I'm sure. He kept an undead beholder well feed until we chopped it from stalk to stalk. We perused his various torture devices, wondered aloud what a cinnamon stick was (don't look that up) and made our way to his main chamber.

After passing through the doorway we found ourselves trapped with a lich who wanted to chit-chat. We were not willing to trade him his freedom for the end of the winter, so negotiations ended with arrows and steel. Mid-battle we became aware of three figures trapped in a ring of fire in the room. The lich had asked us for a drop of Krumm's (Mike) blood to put in the ring during our conversation. As we were not budging on that his rat assassin (or ratsassin) started to trying to take our blood from us. Jump cut to us crushing the lich and his minions and pushing the ratsassin into the fire.

Lich vanquished, Krumm willingly gave his blood to the fire and was transported into a battle between gods that had been going on for 5,000 years. He killed a god (Tarhan Atan) and ended the winter in one blow. We wrapped up the evening at 3am and I drove home half asleep, but with a grin from ear to ear. It was for sure a top 5 game night and shared with good friends.

Mirado went through another transformation before Saturday. He is now a hybrid ranger cleric. It worked really well and was fun to boot, but I'll cover it in more detail later this week.

The rest is in the pictures...

Years in Retirement

2011-04-08T07:57:00.000-05:00

An average of 10 years alive after retirement is chump change as a portion of my entire life. Time to get busy living, or get busy dieing am I right Andy? I wonder if I can blow my whole 401k in a weekend?

[Via: FlowingData]

Hubless Rear Wheel

2011-04-07T07:55:00.000-05:00

Belt-driven, hubless rear wheel bicycle or Lunartic.

[Via: Make]

The Mortar and the Tubes

2011-03-31T00:09:00.029-05:00

My transition from brick and mortar shopping to e-tailing (what a gross word) has been a long road. One of necessity and convenience rather than principle. It is not without some weight that I shed the local store. Be it chain or small business there has always been at least something worth visiting for. The pros and cons of both are well worn stones that I won't bother shining here.

I rejected comic book stores for cost, lack of customer service and the feeling that they could smell the newness of me. I left in-store computer parts ages ago for cost, variety and return policies. Book stores were easy to dump in the face of sky high mark ups and convenience. A fair amount of my clothing is purchased on the web these days and I merely smile as the scale tips. It is a rare thing that I black list a store or company entirely though. Comcast is was an "asshole" and I have happily had their service for going on 9 years now.

Best Buy is on that list now however. After years of less than stellar service, unsavory return policies and high prices I still occasionally stopped by for an impulse buy. Never for media, they shot themselves in the foot on that long ago. No returns what so ever on opened media. In that vein, it was odd that I found myself at Best Buy to purchase my first Kindle. A device created by the company I buy near 100% of my media from. Gift card in hand, it was too tempting to not get my new e-reader without a two day wait though.

After a week of bliss, disaster struck. I'll save the gory details and say that my Kindle had a run in with a car door at midnight. It was never the same and completely unusable. I called* Amazon to tell them my sob story and got a super friendly person on the phone. They told me about their 30 day return policy. Despite the fault being mine and mine alone, he told I would have to go to Best Buy, but could get a new one.

So off to the brick and mortar I went to get my new gadget replaced. Why I assumed it would be easy I don't know? The reassuring friendly Amazon rep helped, but I should have known better. On my lunch break I walked in past security and bee-lined it to the return desk. I was told it was broken and they couldn't do anything for me. I calmly explained my conversation I had with Amazon. They explained that had I purchased Best Buys replacement plan they would have happily given me a new Kindle. Lacking a time machine, growing frustrated and with no desire to cause a scene, I thanked them and began to walk away.

It was raining, so before I left the return desk the lady behind the counter offered to put my receipt in my Kindle box. It seemed like a nice enough offer so I accepted and turned heel to the door. Nearly out of the store the security guard stopped me to see my receipt. The same receipt that had just been buried deep in the box. I explained in a mildly frustrated tone, that what I had in my hands was mine and that I was just at the return desk.

Him: Still need to see the receipt.
Me: Fine.
Him: Next time get a sticker. (pointing to a roll of pink return stickers)
Me: From who? You were chatting with someone when I walked in the door.
Him: Next time get a sticker.
Me: Was there a sign to tell me that?
Him: Next time get a sticker.
Me: Was there a sign to tell me that?
Him: Next time get a sticker.
Me: Fuck You! (exit stage left)

It was not just a plain old "fuck you", it was layered. What it really meant was "Fuck you and don't worry about next time, there won't be a next time". I am done. No more standing in the rain at 5am on Black Friday. No more random trips just because or running out for something I don't want to wait for shipping on. Best Buy cost more, has shitty service and could give two shits about their customers. Sum up the future buying potential of a customer. Wait not "a customer", this customer, me. Tech-savvy, late 20's and disposable income. Is it worth $139 to lose me. I'd bet more than I have in this life on it.

Now lets take it down a notch. Breathe deep and know that this tale has a happy ending. Two days later I called Amazon again. I explained Best Buys refusal or ignorance in adhering to whatever agreement they had for returns. I told them about the replacement plan to salt the wound further and hoped for a better outcome. The second friendly Amazon representation I had spoken to that week seemed genuinely concerned. He put a replacement Kindle in the mail that day and sent me a prepaid label to send back the damaged one. Moments later I was off the phone, a weight lifted from my shoulders. Excellent customer service saved the day. I've since made 4 separate orders from Amazon and am near finished my first e-book. They already had a customer who liked them. Now they have one for life.

*So you don't call Amazon. You go to their website, put your number in and they call you with in 5 minutes. Why isn't everyone doing this? As a customer I avoid hold times, layered menus and frustration. For their hunt group or call center it is presumably the same experience as the traditional model.

Side by Side

2011-03-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

Looking beyond my one ride in January and February when I never rode, the official kick off to the 2011 riding season was this past weekend. I'd like for 2011 to shape up to be a better riding year than the last. In fact that is my goal that I never accomplish every year. My high-water mark is a month not a year actually. If could get close to September of 2009 every month that would be ideal.

Starting with a 17 mile ride in mid-March is not near where I want to be, but it is something. Something is always a better start than nothing and riding a little with good friends is better than not riding at all. The weather was warm-ish and the hills of Old Gun are great to climb and even better to descend. The rest, though brief, is in the pictures.

Billboard Swings

2011-03-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

Love this concept by Didier Faustino, though I imagine anyone with a fear of heights just broke into a cold sweat upon seeing it.

[Via: Dude Craft]

Phone Movies

2011-03-17T12:07:00.001-05:00

Before we left for Boston I decided I would use the trip to experiment with my new phone. It would be invaluable in getting us around the city. Knowing which T to take without wring our hands at posted maps was awesome. Besides being a map, it was my gaming buddy, got us around PAX and feed us, but I wanted it to make movies too. Like I've said, life in the future is good.

I decided I would capture and edit a short film about our trip. There would be lots to see and do and sharing those experiences through video is more appealing. We own a semi fancy HD camera that has a small body, but taking it in and out of a messenger bag the whole trip is a pain. Having the phone in my pocket to take out and record in an instant is a big draw. I've edited 5-6 movies on the computer in the last year. We are both comfortable with the process, so editing on the phone was really just for geeky curiosity.

The product of that experiment is going to end up in two parts, but you can view the first already. Experiment complete I can now reflect on the experience here. Capturing video with the phone can be a shaky affair naturally. Learning to stand with a good base, pace my breathing and holding the phone with a feather touch all helped. The quality was no where near what our HD cam can capture, but I didn't expect it to be. That is the trade off I am willing to make. Vertical video is out too, as it doesn't play nice with any player on the web. We are a horizontal society.

As for editing, the interface of iMovie is great. Cutting and cropping through gesture and touch work really well. The big issue is performance though. I shot everything in 5-15 second intervals. Opting for lots of jumps to try and share a lot of story. Around two plus minutes of edited video the app slowed to a crawl. Taking a second or more between each action. It is why I ultimately split the video into two days. Now that iMovie is a sunk cost though, it will be nice to have around to make quick edits to short video. I have tasted possibility and I like it. Given the current state though, my desktop will still have to do the heavy lifting for the foreseeable future.

PAX East 2011: Day One

2011-03-15T12:07:00.017-05:00

Bright and early Friday morning we awoke to make what is now an annualized trip to PAX. The flight out of Richmond was uneventful, save a bit of delayed landing due to a storm front moving into Boston. It was that very same storm that pushed our day one plans indoors. Friday was supposed to be our bean town tour, but because of the rain we ended up at PAX a day early.

Before we made it to nerd Mecca though, we grabbed a bite at Caffe Nuovo for breakfast. I had the seafood omelette (yum) and Crystal had waffles with fresh fruit (burnt). Stomachs full we trudged through the rain to our hotel. It was nice, but it was not Mandarin Oriental nice. It was about a fourth of the cost though, so it all worked out. We dropped off our bags, were back down stairs and on the T to the Boston Convention Center in no time. A venue that felt double or even triple the size of last years spot.

The expo floor reflected that increased size. I immediately felt lost in a sea of blinking lights and nerd stink. There was so much to see and do that we ended up taking a break after seeing half of it to play some board games. We picked up Gloom and it only took us about hour to learn and play it. It's a card game that is one part strategy and two parts dark humor story telling. It is something I'd definitely consider buying in the near future.

Back in the expo hall it was on to touring the rest of the games on offer. We still want a Geek Chic table in our dinning room, but will have to wait till we get a new house. Those things are massive and wicked cool. The lines to play Portal 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic were epically long, but I wish I could have tried them. Red Faction looks like it will capture everything I loved about the last game in the series minus a sledge hammer. Machine Gun Jetpack made me want an iPad more than the game itself, but it seems cool in it's own right too.

What can best be described as life sized D&D was a highlight of the show floor for us. A party of six, picked characters in the form of laminated simplified character sheets on lanyards. Crystal was a Warlock and took the Cleric. Each party member had two powers to give you an idea of how simple we are talking. We faced off against 6ft tall cardboard cut out monsters (Strahd). Rolling basketball sized rubber dice to see if we would hit. I think every group conquered the encounter, but ours did so with style. I got the killing blow from a flank.

Board game and expo hall'ed out we grabbed some dinner. Pizza and mountain dew for +5 nerd points and then went to sit in line for the Joystiq Podcast. Last year Crystal had never heard the boys from Joystiq, but walked away really enjoying the mix of humor and game talk. This year was more of the same with Bob Ball cruising the crowd in a dinosaur costume the whole evening before revealing himself (giggle) to read an email.

After Joystiq let out we rushed over to the line for the Giant Bombcast. Crystal enjoyed this panel less and ended up playing Sudoku for most of it. I explained after the fact that Giant Bomb is my go to voice for video game opinions. That their podcast is usually funny too, but it can go long and get really into game talk. After the Bombcast panel we hitched a taxi ride back to the hotel. Hitting the bed hard for some much needed sleep.

Up Next: Boston/PAX Day 2, Sam Adams and the trip we didn't take the the Boston Aquarium

With Phone

2011-03-08T06:04:00.028-05:00

Years of plotting and scheming to get an iPhone in our home never bore fruit. My wife can see right through me when it comes to technology. My techno wants and desires usually change once a month anyway. So she adopted a strategy of waiting out my goldfish brain. As soon as he sees a new shiny, he will forget the old one.

It was effective, but I never got over the iPhone. I certainly had peaks and valleys, but it would come up once every six months without fail. Two now dead iPod Touches didn't quench my desire nor help my cause. How could I be expected to care for a more expensive phone if I left other devices out in the rain. I wouldn't trust me either.

Time passed though and technologies from the turn of the century finally caught up with my lovely bride. She started talking about the virtues of having a smartphone and specifically an iPhone. To check her Facebook on the road or get her email at the mall. Who was this woman? Not wanting to spoil a miracle from above, I just shook my head as if all of these ideas she was offering were new and wondrous to me.

I crossed my fingers near 10,000 times in the lead up to the announcement of the iPhone on Verizon. All of the rumors said it was a sure thing, but I wanted to do my part as well. All that superstition paid off when it was finally announced. Fast forward to February 10th, 2011 and we are the brand new owners of iPhone 4s. Finally out from under the thumbs of our parents phone plans (6 years in the making) and made real the technology I have coveted for so long.

Now a month of iPhone ownership under our collective belts and it is everything I dreamed. For my bride it is everything and more. Her not knowing she actually wanted one until three months ago. We are rolling deep in apps and games and burning through data faster than we are anytime minutes. Life is in the future is good.

Dark is the Sun - March Ed.

2011-03-07T11:10:00.001-05:00

The third evening of our Dark Sun campaign kicked off this past Saturday night. We ate subs as a substitute to "crappy" pizza. We had four iPhones at the table and not one of them snapped a picture. The story of Fire Watch plodded forward.

Motivation
Back in October of 2010 I wrote, in the wrap up of my first D&D campaign, that I wanted to "Establish my villain sooner". I thought I was on the road to doing that with this game, but after Saturday I don't know that I am. I have an NPC the players hate, which I as a DM love. I have a few other evil NPCs that are plotting and scheming, but have not made their presence felt enough yet. Without an imminent threat I find my players lacking the get up and go I want from them. This is something I plan to rectify in the coming game nights.

Four Encounters Too Many
Our game nights usually consist of 4-5 hours of actual play. It can seem long, but considering we only play once a month it is warranted. Knowing this and knowing that encounters, no matter how you shorten them, take a hour or more, it is silly to plan more than three. Apparently I needed that lesson repeated for me as I planned to run four on Saturday. We never got to the fourth encounter, I glossed over it and spent the rest of the evening wrapping up the story elements I wanted to convey. Lesson learned...maybe.

Fatigue
My players and I all seemed to be yawning and glass eyed by the end of Saturday night. Blame too much beer, sickness, lack of sleep or any number of reasons. The result was a general feeling that the game was dragging. Something that really bugged me as I headed to bed post midnight. I awoke feeling sick and even more bummed by the prior nights game. Emails from my players with a positive outlook on the night and my own chance to reflect have since changed that bummed feeling. Now I just want to make the next night even better.

Relics of the Dawn - February Ed.

2011-02-28T11:33:00.007-05:00

We have been trying to string together a night to relaunch Chuck's 4e campaign for far too long. The last time we played was December and the last time we played 4e was this summer. For the second act of his campaign we all agreed that we wanted the whole group to play. That didn't turn out to be the case at the last minute, but we still had a good time at the table.

The passage of time saw us jump from level 9 where we left off this summer to level 11. Picking paragon paths is a great way to kick off the return of a campaign. For my cleric (Mirado) I went with "miracle worker", a path aptly named for the miracles we would need to make it though the night. When you show up and your DM is wearing a "TPK All The Way" shirt, you know you are in for a world of hurt.

Our story picked back up with the party braving the astral sea to seek aid for our home continent's immanent demise. The first encounter we faced featured a seemingly abandoned boat full of Githyanki. They sprung their trap, but we quickly dispatched most of them before their captain surrendered. Finding him to be untrustworthy and at the urging of a prisoner he had taken we kicked him off of his boat and set sail again.

The big set piece of the night was when a ship full of demons caught and attacked our ship. With a seemingly unending supply of flying nasties we determined pretty quickly that our only chance of surviving was to escape. That was made very difficult when said demon ship launched a chained claw that attached itself to our mast. Locked to our enemy we did our best to fend of waves of demons as Alin (Wayne) boarded their ship to break us free.

The result was the loss of our entire crew (all minions), Alin succeeding in breaking us free and breaking the demon ship in half at the same time. Unfortunately for all his heroic efforts Alin didn't make it back to our ship before the other went down. It was not a TPK, but losing a member of our party was sad all the same. As Wayne mentioned shortly after though, "If losing a character at Chuck's table meant I had to leave, I would been playing with another group long ago". Fun times all around and we are looking forward to the next one for sure.

The rest is in the pictures...

Spidey on a Bike

2011-02-21T12:26:00.005-05:00

Mike Joo's collection of iconic characters on bikes is wicked cool. Spidey, Vader, Wonder Woman and Han stand out for me as the best examples. Might just have to snag a print.

From the Street to the Web

2011-02-17T06:56:00.000-05:00

Words I have lived by my whole life. Wired ran an article at the end of January, written by Sudhir Venkatesh, on his work studying the sex trade in New York, New York. What he found was fascinating stuff, makes for a good read and infographics. This stuff fascinates me, it is so foreign as to be near alien. Interesting highlights include...

Technology has played a fundamental role in this change. No self-respecting cosmopolitan man looking for an evening of companionship is going to lean out his car window and call out to a woman at a traffic light. The Internet and the rise of mobile phones have enabled some sex workers to professionalize their trade. Today they can control their image, set their prices, and sidestep some of the pimps, madams, and other intermediaries who once took a share of the revenue.
They (High-End Escorts) might maintain four to six clients—each of whom pays at least $20,000 a year. They often rent an apartment just for sessions.
It’s hard out there for a pimp—especially now. Changes in the sex industry have rendered them superfluous. I met 11 pimps working out of midtown Manhattan in 1999, and all were out of work within four years. One enlisted in the military; two have been homeless. Only one now has a full-time job, working as a janitor in a charter school.
Of the women I talked to, 61 percent said they’ve used craigslist, mostly for advertising. But even before the crackdown on the site’s adult-services section, sex workers were turning to Facebook: 83 percent have a Facebook page, and I estimate that by the end of 2011, Facebook will be the leading on-line recruitment space.

Dark is the Sun - February Ed.

2011-02-16T06:39:00.045-05:00

Round two of our Dark Sun campaign went off without a hitch earlier this month. Unfortunately it did so with one chair empty. Mike could not make it and for the first time since I started running a game for family and friends I played without a player. Outside of figuring out the logistics of a missing Spitfire though the game went great though.

Quiting WoW really allowed me to pour a ton of time into this one. It was mostly a dungeon crawl, but I managed to introduce enough real choice and role playing to not make the whole night feel like one big dice role. I had fun running it and seeing my players wonder aloud if they were breaking my planning. I planned enough to account for most of their actions and even threw out whole encounters if need be.

Players as NPCs
I made the mistake of letting my players dictate the actions of an absent character in this past game. I was not prepared for it in that I did not have crunch for him and did not want to make choices that might effect his story. In the future when I have an empty chair that character is either out of the picture completely or I will let another player run them. I want no hand in it.

Off the Rails
Playing off the rail either requires more planning or the ability to improvise like a pro. As I am still wet behind the ears I am doing it through planning. Not getting attached to my encounters or a completely fixed story is tough, but ultimately makes for a better game. You can't plan for everything though, so I am flexing my improve muscles more and more often. I like where this is all going.

Skill Challenge Free
After stewing over skill challenges in my mind and on the web for a week I decided to bench them for the February game night. I made good use of skills in role play and in combat, but I think I am over official skill challenges. Even skill use without story or combat implication is out. My game and players will be better for it.

MMA Tournaments Work

2011-02-15T08:05:00.002-05:00

They work in the sense that they get me excited for fights I'd usually just read about. Do I care that a former pride fighter I had never heard of (Kharitonov) was going to fight Andrei Arlovski? No, I could careless. The Pitbull and his glass chin are past their collective prime. He is no longer a draw. Throw both of their names in a tournament bracket though and I am engrossed.

Saturday kicked off Strikeforce's heavyweight (225 lbs. plus) grand-prix with a bang. A legend (Fedor) was toppled, not caught (Werdum), but toppled (Silva). The rest of the tournament is shaping up to be just as good. The sum of the parts is what makes it great though. Put those fighters in random cards and it falls apart. Structure them in a bracket and it is must see TV.

Which leads me to the point of all this. When is the UFC going to adopt the grand-prix? Strikeforce seems destine to play second fiddle with graying veterans, celebrity exhibitions and contract hold outs. I want to see the top tier go at it March madness style. There are enough weight classes now (7) that they could space them out enough to not make them meaningless. Two a year would be a big draw and the finalist could get a shot at the title.

Where is the Courage?

2011-02-14T13:03:00.000-05:00

Just the right amount of dark humor to start off my Monday. Reminds me of how much I love the apocalypse Wizard of Oz survivors minis. There has to be a game I can run with these.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

2011-02-08T12:08:00.000-05:00

The closest I ever got to street art myself was paint penning small works in notebooks and *cough* other places in high school. I consumed obscure UK based graffiti mags and even hung around folks who were ballsy enough to throw up bigger pieces. Now ten years removed from that fascination and I still appreciate good street art. So I was more than a little geeked to see Exit Through the Gift Shop.

I had heard of Banksy long ago, critics were raving about the film and friends were recommending it. Done and done. I re-upped my Netflix account and dove in. What I got was surprising. I was not expecting the film to be about someone who had attempted to document the next wave of street art. Attempted may be the wrong word. He certainly documented it, he just never did anything with it. Following his path still gave a unique history of street art over the past ten years, but also an interesting narrative.

Where the film starts and ends are two very different places. I was left churning over the meaning of art. Piecing together parts of the film that could be clues to it being a prank and ultimately enjoying it for what it was. It made me think and I believe that was the point in the first place. It is extremely well made and worth your time to sit down and watch it.

Leaving Yet Again...

2011-01-27T10:15:00.001-05:00

This is definitely not the first time and I can't say with certainty that it will be the last time I quit World of Warcraft. I made the decision this week and oddly enough it wasn't for the reasons I have discussed here or others have elsewhere. All of the things Blizzard did to drop the ball in Cataclysm still hold true. They just weren't enough to make me leave.

There are three reasons I play WoW and they shack out in a pretty simple priority:

Social interaction and friendships.
Challenge and competition of raiding.
Item upgrades.

While Cataclysm heroics may be actively bending us over on the second bullet right now, our guild of friends is still together and there are plenty of purples to be had. In terms of what motivates and drives me to play nothing has really changed. It was the realization of a concern that is always present when my WoW account is active that drove me to this decision.

At the end of Wednesday's raid I got into an argument with a fellow officer that is not important enough to recount here. After thinking about it I realized I was not upset with him, but with the lack of motivation from our raid. Why can't they take this more seriously? That question quickly caused me to wonder why I was so concerned about it. This topic spirals in my mind once or twice a month when I get frustrated with raiding.

It bubbled over last night though. What is my end game? I end up in full purples waiting for the next content patch, only to start the cycle all over again. Sure it is fun, but the last time I took an extend break from this system was in 2008. The opportunity cost for my free time and sanity alone is crushing me. So as I am want to do, I put it in a spreadsheet. The pie charts above are the result (yuck!). They sealed the deal.

I have a back log of movies, books and games to catch up on and my wife could surely use some more time and attention. It could turn out nine months from now that I am bored and want for purples in the worst way, but for now I am done.

Heroic Raid Stacking

2011-01-24T12:27:00.002-05:00

So I get that early raiding in WotLK was easy and that five man heroics were a joke too. I don't have to see it, Dottie. I lived it. My guild absolutely crushed it. So when Blizzard made the decision to ramp up the early difficulty for Cataclysm, some complained, some cheered and I just rolled with the punches.

It is nothing that gear and time can't fix right? For normal modes that does appear to be the case. A month into the expansion and we are at 12 of 12. There were some tough fights for sure. A reanimated Nefarian took us 6 nights and 114 attempts to down. Nothing to wild though. Except when you start heroic raiding.

It is not across the board, but a fair amount of bosses either require that you stack your raid composition or suffer and fail. Look how many druids are in that heroic Nefarian screen shot. I count eleven! Heroic Halfus has been downed by 1,096 guilds as of today (1/24/11). Presumably the easiest boss. Tankspot recommends 3-4 tanks, 8 healers and 12-13 dps. Other strategies call for 4-5 tanks. Where do we get eight healers or five tanks from?

An even better question. Is this what Blizzard intended? We can bring the player not the class all we want. Well not Shamans, but that is not the point. Do we have to recruit new healers for 2-3 fights or suffer through DPS healing in their blue level off spec. Or are we not supposed to be here yet, unless we are willing to go an extra absurd mile? Something about all this feels broken, out of balance and just plain lame.

Steampunk Insects

2011-01-20T07:34:00.002-05:00

I know I have seen these some where before and may have even posted them on my now dead Tumblr, but I still wanted to share them. It would be wicked cool to have one of these on my desk at the home office, albeit wicked creepy too.

[Via: LikeCOOL]

Kusho

2011-01-17T06:10:00.000-05:00

Kusho is water and/or ink that is, for a brief moment, turned into beautiful Japanese calligraphy by artist Shinichi Maruyama, before falling back to earth.

[Via: NPR and Grant]

How I DM: Skill Challenged

2011-01-14T06:35:00.013-05:00

How I DM, is a series of articles that reflect back on my time as a dungeon master over the past year plus. I am currently DMing a Dark Sun 4e campaign for a group of friends and family. Today's article will focus on my use and experience with skill challenges.

I mentioned in the recap of my first Dark Sun game night that I was frustrated with the way skill challenges are presented by WotC. As a DM, who is still learning the ropes, I shied away from using them at first. I wasn't quiet clear on how they would fit into the story. My first attempt at using them was four or five game nights into the Bloodlines of Fate campaign I ran this past summer and fall.

Assuming that the company that puts out the game I run for my players knows what is fun. I ran it word for word like they write it. The group needed to get behind a tavern to stop a weapons deal a cult was brokering. So I presented them with a pass/fail criteria like every module I have seen come out of ~~Dungeon magazine~~. Something to the effect of "you need to make six success rolls before three failures and here are the skills you can use to do that: 2x Stealth, 2x Bluff, etc...". My players were confused. I ended up explaining it two more times before they ever rolled a dice.

It didn't add to the story and felt shoe horned into the evenings other events. Afterward I determined that I must have been doing something wrong. So for the game this past Saturday I took the the approach of wrapping it in story. I started by letting my players know they had 3 days of rations each and that traveling to their destination would take 3 days. Each day I presented a scenario that was coupled with a skill check.

On the first day of your journey you all come across a fork in the path. One way leads into a valley and the other over a craggy slat flat. Go ahead and roll a nature check to determine what you might know about these two terrain types.

If they passed, they add no time to their trip. If they failed they would add a day to the trip and increase the chances of sickness or death by travelling without supplies. I allowed both trained and untrained rolls, but noted that any untrained failures would cancel out successes. It worked fine I guess, but still felt like it was not a part of the game or story. After that night I think I have finally determined where they fit and don't fit at my table.

During Combat
Using multiple skill checks or challenges during combat can build drama, risk and role play into an otherwise boring encounter. The best experience I have had with it are traps that round after round will damage the players until disabled. An arcane based trap that requires 3-4 successful skill checks before it is disabled forces a player to choose between killing creatures or deactivating a constant source of damage. Better yet a trap that works like an alarm system. Allow it to go off long enough and it will bring more enemies to the fray.

During Role Play
This is how I always have understood skill checks. Want to lie to a town guard, skill check. Want information from the town drunk who isn't cooperating, skill check. It plays out naturally on it's on and usually falls to me to be reactive to player decisions. On occasion I have a few planned out ahead of time. E.g. A NPC will lie to the players and not reveal his/her true intentions unless they call him on it. If it takes away from the story or leaves out a crucial piece of information I might lead them to it. They usually are quick enough to ask on their own. "Can I roll insight to see if he is telling the truth".

Crammed Between
The formality of either announcing "this is a skill challenge" or putting book ends on the mechanic by changing tone is what makes them feel out of place. To my mind all of the fun that a formal skill challenge should offer is already covered by skill checks in combat and role play. So why have them at all? The more I think about their inclusion into 4e, the more I think they were added as a way to make sure skills got used. Not to justify the inclusions of skills, but as an easier way to present skill use to first time dungeon masters. It's a poor substitute for just integrating it into regular play.

Dark is the Sun - January Ed.

2011-01-13T07:15:00.001-05:00

So way back in August I decided that I would sunset my 4e home brew game and start up a Dark Sun one. Planning complete, we rolled the first dice of the campaign Saturday (1/8/11) evening. I started my players off with almost an hours worth of role playing before they ever stepped into combat. Which I delegated mostly to the Marauders of the Dune Sea module. In total they got through bunches of role playing and two bigger encounters for the night. All in it was a success.

Story vs. Combat
I have limited time to prepare as a DM and I usually prefer to spend that time building cool encounters and creatures. After a gajillion hours worth of video games I have a good idea of what makes an encounter or mechanic fun and challenging. I have a lot less experience as a storyteller. Using the canned module gave me way more time to focus on my plot and it panned out. I spent at least two weeks before Saturday helping my players work on their back stories and design hooks that would hopefully be meaningful to them. Sure I tweaked the encounters to make them more interesting, but most of my time was spent telling a tale.

Committing to a First Person Voice
I have been building the courage to commit to only using first person voices for the NPCs in my games since I started. I have dabbled to some success with it in the past, but never committed for all of them. I did just that for our first Dark Sun game. I slipped once or twice, but got back on course as soon as I relazed I had. I liked it. It still feels silly, but I think it makes the game better.

Halved Hit Points
Big high level monsters create challenge and put the fear of failure into the players. They also come attached with loads of hit points that can drag an encounter out for hours. Reading about on Robert Schwalb's blog months ago and then seeing it in practice when Ethan DMed sold me on the practice. Beyond bugging my players to keep their turns snappy, this is the biggest improvement to overly long encounters in 4e I have seen so far. Highly recommend it.

Skill Challenges
Maybe it was my own fault, but trying to run skill challenges the way WotC prescribes them is both confusing and boring for players. Achieve 6 successes before 3 failures using the following skill checks: Endurance, Nature...blah blah...BLAH! It doesn't make sense in the context of the story and it destroys any immersion already established. Marauders third encounter called for one. It's intent was to play out the players trip across the desert (Athas), but did so in the manner described above. So I changed it. I tried to wrap it in story and things they came across on their journey. It was not as bad as what I have attempted in the past, but was still the weakest point of the night. I think I am done with them all together.

Wreck Awards 2010

2011-01-11T06:52:00.001-05:00

I did this thing last year, the year before that and the year before that, it is an official annualized tradition now. So without further ado, the Wreck Awards 2010...

Game of the Year: Mass Effect 2
Nothing came close to the story or world that BioWare crafted in their sequel to Mass Effect this year. All of the things that bugged me about the first game were either fixed, removed or sanded to a dull point. No more crappy vehicle combat and no more frustrating inventory management. Everything that could be was streamlined in service of the story they wanted to tell. The combat was more fun and as a shooter it felt less random. Overall it was leaps and bounds ahead of any game this year.
Runner Up: Limbo

Game I should have played: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
What I presumed was going to be a cash grab quick follow up to a great game from 2009 apparently wasn't. I skipped it because I was done with Italy as a location for Assassin's Creed. Where is my feudal Japan game?Oh and multi-player crammed into a great single player experience. Yeah like that will work. It did work and quiet well by most accounts. Crap I really need to play this game.
Runner Up: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Movie of the Year: The Town

I heart a good bank robbery film (See: my unhealthy crush on Point Break) and The Town is that and much more. It was beautifully shot, written and directed. The acting was stand out from all involved and specially Jeremy Renner did an amazing job. A great film a great year for movies. See all the ones I didn't pick below...

Runner(s) Up: Toy Story 3, Inception, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Movie I should have seen: True Grit
Missing Coen brother films is a cardinal sin for me. Unfortunately this one came out a week before the end of the year. Everyone I know has seen it and is raving about it. Getting a free weekend to see it before it is out of theaters is a top priority in the coming weeks. Wish me luck.
Runner Up: Exit Through the Gift Shop

TV show of the Year: Boardwalk Empire
In a year where I though the Walking Dead would be an open and shut favorite for me I was surprised by how much I loved Boardwalk Empire. The twenties are an era rarely visited in modern story telling. That may be for a reason, but this show captured it and made it damn entertaining while doing so. Buscemi's performance is outstanding and the cast around him plays out at the same level and in some cases even better. In total it was the best story I watched this year.
Runners Up: The Walking Dead & Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Podcast of the Year: Smodcast

In a year where I have listened to more podcast than ever this was probably the hardest category to pick. Smodcast is Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier's podcast where they mostly just shoot the shit and comment on interesting news articles. It makes me consistently laugh out loud though. I knew it was going to win my heart when I took 4 episodes to Libya with me this summer and ended up downloading 4 more from the slow as all get out third world wifi at my uncles house. It is that good.

Runner Up: My Brother, My Brother and Me

Comic/Book of the Year: Planetary

Yes a series that ran from 1999 to 2009 is my 2010 book of the year. It is when I read it though that matters. I can't imagine reading only 27 issues over the course of ten years, but the story as a whole delivers. Not being a comics guy in the past some of the references were lost on me early on. Some had to be explained while others took longer that it would for most to get. The package as a whole is stellar though, really glad I got to read it.

Runner Up: Atomic Robo

Recipe of the Year: Talapia Fish Sticks

While probably not the best dish I served up all year it wins with its consistency, healthiness and taste. I'll expound on my original post and say that is still not easy to get an almost two year old to heat a healthy meal. His go to answer is "hot dog" no matter how you ask the question of what he wants to eat. So having this one in my back pocket every week is a the kind of trait that wins you awards. Your invisible placard is in the mail.

Runner Up: Scratch-Made Brownies

Boba Fett vs. 300

2011-01-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

A super slick mash up, that looks relatively simple by design, but also incredibly well made. Drink it in!

[Via: Super Punch]

A Very Hellboy Christmas

2010-12-21T06:10:00.002-05:00

I love Mike Mignola's art, his wicked cool character and Christmas is this week. What more could a boy ask for?

[Via: Hey Oscar Wilde!]

Light Bike

2010-12-16T06:50:00.002-05:00

I heart Christmas!

[Via: LikeCOOL]

Cataclysm Changes

2010-12-15T12:59:00.017-05:00

Not changes that are coming, but given the reins to Blizzard's MMO juggernaut for a day here is what I would change...

1. Flying
The trek from 80-85 went fast, less than 1 day fast and while that was appreciated from a sleep stand point, it made it feel less epic. Part of that was the ability to fly during these levels. I'm sure Blizzard put a ton of work into the 5 new zones they created, but I barely saw most of it. From 5,000 feet, on the back of a Frostwyrm, it all looked pretty boring. It's why I prefer a good steak to being hooked up to a feeding tube. The outcome is the same, but the experiences are polar opposites.

2. 84 to 85

Those levels certainly zipped by, but not at the same clip. If memory servers it took two hours and one million plus xp to hit 81. Alternatively 84 to 85 took six plus hours and nine million plus xp. Why did we only get five levels in this expansion again? So they could cram three levels worth of play time into one zone? It felt cheap. Twilight Highlands was a great zone, but it dragged after I was half way through it. Add the mobs in the zone requiring me to eat and drink after every two kills and it was near grueling.

3. Tol Barad
Like Wintergrasp before it Tol Barad was supposed to be a world PvP zone. Apparently they were unhappy with tenacity though, so the solution was to only allow equal groups into the zone via que. While that will surely make for a balanced experience, it also defeats the initial purpose. On servers were the faction ratio is completely out of whack (2:1 or more) it means plenty of people don't get in. Currently my server is seeing near battleground numbers of players facing off, think sub 15 v. 15. That is not world PvP it is a server only battleground that only a hand full of people get to play in every two hours.

4. Common Raid Lock Out
I have previously expressed some concerns with the shared raid lock out system. To date I had not experienced any issues with it though. Until last night. Blizzard's reasons for changing the system still don't make sense to me. Outside of that their go to example is the 25 man raid that starts the week with 25 players and has to split the raid into two 10 man groups. What about the 25 man raid that only gets 22 people for the first night? Has to bench two of their players to form two ten mans and then can not expand a raid back to 25 players the following night. Our group is effectively locked out of 25 man raiding for the rest of this week. I'm sure the two players that got benched last night and the three that show up tonight are thrilled to be relegated to PUGs or a "C" team for the rest of this week.

5. Early Healing
The biggest play mechanic to change in Cataclysm was healing by far. Damage dealers still hit things hard. Tanks still stand there and get hit. Both at roughly the same pace and with the same pool of resources. Healers got a rude awakening though. Our heals did not scale with our level, they cost bunches of mana and our main challenge is not running out when the fight is only at 50%. Gear helps a ton, from an average ilvl of 329 to 347 I have seen that challenge become much easier. For healers who might not read EJ all the time or are stuck running heroics with the random dungeon finder, life is going to be hard. What will ultimately end up happening is there will be less healers. We are already a slim bunch, but up the barriers to entry and you will see even less players sticking with it.

6. Archaeology

Want another time sink profession that takes forever to finish, but offers ten times the reward that fishing ever did? No, what do you mean no. I'm never getting Tyrande's Favorite Doll, at least not while it would still be useful to me in this tier. Technically this is a bonus profession. With a few more hours or sacks of gold I will have my two main professions to 525. Eventually relegating them to once a week or month efforts. The return on Archaeology will never be that easy. I thought this expansion was about things you shouldn't feel you have to do (see: Common Raid Locks). Well is it or isn't it?

Around the World in 85 Levels

2010-12-14T12:55:00.012-05:00

Way back in September I was under the impression that Cataclysm would drop in November. I was also under the impression that the only way to get it was at a Gamestop at midnight. Both of those turned out to not be true. It ended up coming out last week (Dec 7th), I shifted my pre-order at Gamestop to another game and just bought it directly and digitally from Blizzard. I was still prepared for a three day slog of no sleep though. A near 72 hour leveling binge that would leave me with only fragments of my sanity. That didn't happen either.

This time around things were different. For Cataclysm, Blizzard went with a common release date/time in the US and Europe. So I could not start until 3am EST (12am PST). I was upset about this at first. After finding out I didn't have to go out in the cold at midnight though, I just went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 2:30am refreshed and ready to level. I was 81 before 5am and 82 soon after that. By 5pm on Tuesday I had hit 84 and logged off to be with my family for the evening. I was back on at 9pm and before 3am Wednesday I had hit 85.

So all five levels in less than 24 hours with two breaks to be a husband and father. This was a much different experience than 2008 and a welcome one. Sure my lovely wife gave me the go ahead to do as I wished with my staycation (wowcation?), but not having to beat myself up in doing so was awesome. The rest of the week saw me getting a solid 8 hours of sleep every night. Sure I filled my day with 5 man heroics and daily quest, but I did it on a normal sleep schedule and ate proper meals.

After a weeks time I have already hit superior and grabbed two epics. Tonight is our first 25 man raid. The first two ten man raids did not go so well, but everyones gear is getting better by the day. All I know is Toxitron better drop some bracers.

Just like in 2008, I'll do the numbers...

Days to 85: 1

Purples Replaced: all

New Purples: 2

Coolest New Purple: Earthmender's Boots

Special thanks goes to...

My beautiful wife for being supportive and understanding given my addiction to not just WoW, but all things geeky.
My son, to be honest he never knew what I was doing. I was always there when he was awake, but he is awesome enough to get my thanks anyway.
Chort for leveling with me up to 84, he almost got realm first warrior after I logged off, but missed it by that much.
My brother, for being a champ and heading into work at 5am on Tuesday. He wanted to level, but took care of his real world obligations instead. He still hit 85 by Thursday though.

DC Adventures - December Ed.

2010-12-07T02:07:00.041-05:00

Our second night of DC Adventures kicked off Saturday with two of our players having to bail. Stiff upper lipped, we pushed on without them to fight all manner of threats from the bleed as three instead of five. Since the last time we had played everyone had tweaked their characters to varying degrees. From my point of view, Kilowatt's crunch had mostly stayed the same, but big changes happened with his fluff.

After a brief refresher on what the stats on my character sheet actually meant (I really need to read the rule book) we got started. The brief story summary is a super villain took over a fusion plant in China and was attempting to blow it up to release enough energy to open the bleed. We stopped said villain, turned her over to the Chinese government and returned to our base of operations.

Overall a great night of gaming. I still think the game is overly complicated, but it would only to blame a part of that complaint on it. As I mentioned I still have only skimmed the book. After the game proper was complete we all stuck around to roll Judges in the Judge Dredd RPG based on the Traveller rule set. Just building a character was a lot of fun. I've come to the conclusion that I prefer simple to complex and random rolled to min/maxed. I have Gamma World and Cthulhu to thank for that.

Kilowatt - DC Adventures

2010-12-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

Building a super hero has always been a bit tough for me. Granted I have only done it in City of Heroes prior to this, but it is still a struggle. My issues lie with my lack of comic book background. I grew up on a very slim diet of Spider-Man and X-Men in middle school. In high school I graduated to a handful of Image comics (Spawn, Darkness, Witchblade, etc) and by college I had stopped reading them all together. It may be a blessing or a curse to have so little knowledge of capped and masked men, but here is what I came up with.

James L. Franklin is not of this earth. By all accounts he was a native of what we now know as Earth-40. On June 15th, 1752 during an electrical experiment conducted by Benjamin Franklin a rift was opened in the bleed. The being that passed through had the ability to control electricity at levels that would kill normal humans.

Seeing the potential power this being might offer the fledgling colonies Franklin secreted him away. Eventually providing him with the a new identity, James L. Franklin, and a place in colonial society. Kilowatt’s true origin was only know by a smaller circle of founding fathers.

In 1775 tensions with the British finally boiled over. Kilowatt spent the majority of the American Revolutionary War on covert operations against the British. Playing a pivotal role in many of the Continental Army’s victories. On October 18, 1781 it appears another being from Earth-40 crossed over the bleed, at the battle of Yorktown. Clad in hessian regimentals, the being known as Omniwrit, was at the battlefield to collect Kilowatt. He apparently had been deemed an anomaly in the bleed, to be returned to his Earth of origin.

Their fight was brief, but it ended with Omniwrit incapacitating Kilowatt. Before he could collect his bounty though the battlefield at Yorktown got in the way. The Continental Army recaptured Kilowatt’s body and sent Omniwrit back through the bleed to Earth-40. For nearly 200 years Kilowatt lay in various government facilities in a coma like state. He did not age, nor require food and appeared to be healing himself from the fight with Omniwrit.

In 1952 he awoke without warning and went right back into the role of covert operative for the U.S. government. He spent the majority of his time fighting Russia and her allies up through the late 1980’s. At the end of the cold war he began to bounce from government agency to various super team, never truly finding his place. His most recent assignment is with Epsilon.

My method of character development is moving more toward story first then mechanics. Before our first game night/character building session I already had my origin, but had not cracked the book. It works so far, I'm way more invested this way and I can always work back to it through the numbers.

P.S. I just learned today who Black Bolt is, but the picture above captures what I envisioned Kilowatt looking like to a T.

P.P.S. Fun fact, I based Kilowatt originally as the lightning version of the Human Torch. The "L" in his name stands for Lowell, which is also the Human Torch's middle name.

Lego Armory

2010-12-03T08:59:00.000-05:00

Always a sucker for Lego anything, the life size Lego weapons in this Flikr group really hit the spot. I never posted the wearable Halo helmet made from the Danish bricks, but the two of these would appear to be chocolate and peanut butter.

[Via: Make]

Thanksgiving Rundown

2010-12-01T06:07:00.062-05:00

The four days we get off for Thanksgiving every year are always busy, sleepless and full of stress. They are also a ton of fun. This year was no different...

Wednesday

Not a day off, but Crystal had a half day and took Kaden out to Rockville to see his great grandparents. Kaden played and eventually took a nap. Crystal helped prepare food for the following days festivities.

Thursday
We were up at 7:30 am something I regretted all day. It was with good reason though. We wanted Kaden to get as much time with his cousins as possible. So arriving Rockville at 9 am did just that. The boys played for three hours before lunch, napped and played for two more hours after. The spread was very traditional, turkey and and the fixings. Ladies and kids in the dining room and men and football in the den.

At 5pm we left Rockville and made our way to my parent's place for meal number two. Another traditional spread. Between the two meals I could put together an all star Thanksgiving meal to rival any in the nation I'm sure. Post turkey coma numero deux we played with Kaden till it was time for bed. He stayed over with my parents so Crystal and I could go Black Friday shopping.

Friday
Crystal went to bed Thursday night, but Friday started for me at midnight. I never go to sleep in anticipation of ~~standing in line with strangers at 4am to save 10% off goods I could get online for almost as cheap~~ Black Friday. At this point it is a tradition that has been going on for 6-7 years. My brother and I head to Best Buy together, regardless of the hot hot deals they have. Find something we each want and stand in line from 4am till they open to get it. It is a fun way to hang out and we get to grab breakfast afterward.

In years past I went home to sleep the rest of the day and Crystal has shopped for up to ten hours. This year she cut the shopping short at four hours and took Kaden to play with his cousins one more time. It was great that all three boys got along so well. It makes us wish everyone lived closer together.

Saturday
Up early again to head to Crewe, VA to see even more family Saturday. Everyone napped on the way out and back. I napped a grand total of four times before lunch. Old age and not sleeping are catching up with me it seems. Lunch was at Country Cookin, not my favorite place, but a good excuse to eat Chicken Fried Chicken. I love saying and typing that, eating isn't so bad either.

Sunday
The only slow day among the three. We put up the Christmas tree and watched football while we played in the house all day. We had our normal diner at my parent's place and got ready to go back to work. The rest is in the pictures...

Gamma World

2010-11-24T06:03:00.025-05:00

Saturday night Crystal and I got to be a players in a Gamma World game run by Ethan for his wife, friend (Chris) and us. While I do adore the role of dungeon master, it is always a welcome break to come to the table with nothing but a character sheet, pencil and dice. The random dice roll character generation in Gamma World is fun. As with all character creation though, it takes longer than you would think. Filling in the stats, doing the math and checking/rechecking the book for four people of varying pen and paper experience takes time.

Once the game got rolling though being familiar with D&D 4e was a huge bonus. It meant Ethan only had to walk two people, instead of four, through the mechanics. I sometimes take for granted the complexity of move, minor, standard to the uninitiated. After a few rounds in the first encounter everyone was buzzing through their turns though.

The first encounter reminded me that I see the table from two very different perspectives. As a dungeon master I like to keep my monsters alive as long as possible, seeing them as an challenge to overcome. As a player I get bored if an encounter drags out. This was evident on Saturday night. When we got to the point were the monsters were no longer a threat to us I wanted to move on. Instead we had to slog through an additional three to four rounds necessary to end it.

Ethan recognized the same thing, because he followed that encounter up by halving the hit points of the monsters for the rest of the night. A great adjustment and a technique I will be adopting with some modification in the future. Long encounters mean less variety and role playing for the hours alloted for a gaming. It also means more work, but I am learning to live with that.

My character was a Plant Felinoid named Scratch Furrington. While it was a cool concept to work around nothing about his two origins really manifested themselves in the actual game. My basic melee and range attacks were my go to all night. Something a I'd consider a short coming of the game's mechanics. My origin standard and encounter powers had less plus attack and damage than my basic attacks. The effects they offered (slow and knock prone) were never worth the trade off. This seemed to be true for everyone. Which meant we all could have just as easily been humans with odd weapons (speed limit signs and cans of green beans).

Where the origins felt under powered the Alpha and Omega cards were cool in that offered varying levels of usefulness. Their ever changing nature add a much need variety to the table where the origins dropped the ball. While I only used one of my alpha cards (clutch blind) and none of my omega our group did get a rifle that dropped monsters like the hammer of God (7d8 ftw).

The pick up and play nature of Gamma World was a welcome addition to what is becoming a monthly gaming habit. No matter who I play with, what table it is at or what game system it is, I end up playing once a month. It is nice to know that is always there and I hope Gamma World makes it back into the rotation in the future.

P.S. Best house rule ever, a silly/cheesy catchphrase before your attack grants +1 to said attack. Offered up the best humor of the night. More on that in Ethan's write up of our game night. Who by the way did a fantastic job.

BoomCase

2010-11-17T06:05:00.001-05:00

Oh man, do I wish I had a reason to buy a BoomCase or even better, to try and make my own. Their usefulness to me not withstanding they look amazing.

[Via: LikeCOOL]

Gnarly Handlebars

2010-11-12T13:20:00.002-05:00

Something about the symmetry, the copper bar plugs and the brass knuckles has me digging on this picture.

[Via: LikeCOOL]

Raven Lord

2010-11-10T12:05:00.003-05:00

Squawk! While COD: Black Ops was being a son of a bitch last night, I picked up my first rare drop mount in WoW. The reins of the Raven Lord used to require a druid to even summon the boss that dropped the mount. Patch 4.0.1 changed that though. Now Anzu is just hanging out waiting to be solo farmed. It took me the better part of three weeks. Clearing to and killing Anzu takes about 20 minutes. So roughly six to seven hours, as I skipped it a few days. Not as satisfying as the mounts I've earned (Plagued, Rusted, Frost Wyrm Jr., Frost Wyrm Sr.), but still cool.

Site Watch
Totem Spot sounds like a play on Tank Spot sure. It is in fact a Shaman focused site created by some of the members of the Elitist Jerks shaman forums, WoWInsider columnist and various other sites. EJ has always been my go to resource, but mining quality data from threads that are 50 pages plus can be difficult. Hopefully TS gets support from the EJ and other community and stays around for a while.

DC Adventures

2010-11-09T12:06:00.001-05:00

Trying out new game systems or even modifications of older D&D systems is something I really enjoy. Getting on board this pen and paper train so late has left me with a blunted sense of the past. I don't know the pain and joy that many suffered and relished in for generations. D&D 4e is packaged for the video game era, I understand it's mechanics because I've been chewing on World of Warcraft for going on six years and Diablo before it.

Time machining back to Cthulhu previously and to DC Adventures two weeks ago takes some more mental flexing. I can pick up on the mechanics, it just takes some time as it is less intuitive. D&D 4e still needs some tuning for sure, but I appreciate the refinement that comes from generations of tweaking after exploring old systems.

DC Adventures is a relic from the past. The wording can be confusing and the book is not set up for the uninitiated. It can feel a bit like reading a choose your own adventure book when building a character. Even with all the hang ups of character creation and rules comprehension though, the game is still fun. Granted we haven't actually played yet, but our player vs player experiments from the first night left a good taste. Apparently, like most things, all of the leg work comes in the beginning. Once we actually jumped into the combat the pieces started to fall into place.

Next on the DC Adventures docket. Sharing my character (Kilowatt) and his background here and recapping our first actual adventure/game night once we have it.

P.S. I'm guessing this quick start guide would have been handy to have around two weeks ago.

The Shattering

2010-11-08T06:04:00.000-05:00

The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion is just around the corner. In one month I'll be leveling to 85 with all of my free time. In preparation for the release I decided, like a good fanboy, that I'd read the book that precede it. It is something I wish I could have done before WotLK, but Arthas was not out until five months after the game. While the book did get me excited about facing Arthas, I'd been level 80 for a while and some of the shine had worn off already.

It is no secret that the big baddie of Cataclysm is Deathwing. Most everyone knows that the lands of Azeroth will be getting a face lift care of the Betrayer. What the average WoW player doesn't know is who he is and where he has been. The last mention he got in a game was in 1995, during the second war, covered by Warcraft II and the expansion. Thankfully for us lore nerds we know through the books, about his origin, what parts he played in the past and when he was last seen.

So The Shattering would to pick back up after Day of the Dragon, right? Deathwing escaping, tail between his legs, to live and fight another day. Nope. Apparently he has been healing and planning his return in Deepholm. A fact I had not picked up on yet, save the paragraph in the wiki. My expectation was that The Shattering would be the build up before his return and it was. Just without mentioning Deathwing at all. Isn't this supposed to be about him?

The elements are upset, but we never find out why. Thrall leaves the Horde in the hands of Garrosh Hellscream without any logical reason. The same Garrosh who was suspected of skinning night elves, actually killed Cairne Bloodhoof and is still running the horde. Moira Bronzebeard, a character no one has seen since vanilla, is back to rule the Dwarfs in her father's absence. The same Moira who the horde has been killing since BRD opened it's doors. I guess that wasn't canon.

All that and not one mention of Deathwing. The whole story felt like filler. There were to many plots and not one of them carried any weight. There was not villain to root against or heroes to save the day, it all felt like tire spinning. Sure there are new leaders for the Taurens and Dwarfs, but none of it felt book worthy. Call it 50% my misplaced expectations and 50% Blizzard pulling punches. It was 100% disappointing.

Trick or Treat

2010-11-02T12:14:00.000-05:00

Traditionally Halloween is a one day affair. Put on a costume, ring a few door bells and eat some candy. This year we decided to bump it out to a full three day weekend. Friday night, while I was off rolling dice, Crystal and her Mom took Kaden to a Halloween festival at a local church. There were all kinds of activities, candy and games for him. I got home after it was all done, but from the sounds of it he had a blast.

Saturday morning Kaden had a play date with Jake at Gayton Crossing's Halloween Festival. They both dressed up, as Tigger and a shark respectively. They got to see unicycles, clowns, helicopters and fire engines. While having lunch at Stuffy's they were fascinated by an member of the Henrico County Police that was eating there too. So much so that the office returned and brought them each a police car.

Saturday afternoon we took him up to Innsbrook for another Halloween event. It end up being a bust though, no actives and a smattering of kids and parents just sitting around. We left as fast as we arrived and went to Short Pump to play and walk around instead. Nothing much going on there either, but he rode the train for the first time.

Sunday morning we lounged around the house and carved his pumpkin. We watched football in the afternoon and in the evening all of the family came over. Pizza was ordered and we ate while planning the trick or treating route. Following diner we suited Tigger and the Penguin up and went cruising for candy. The original plan was to hit four houses and come home, but he end up having so much fun we went to twenty-ish instead.

Fun moments included, Kaden refusing to give up his candy bucket no matter how heavy it got. Him saying "Happy Halloween", "Trick or Treat", "Thank you" and "Goodbye" at every house we went to. Getting adult candy at one house (full movie sized box of Reese's Pieces). I knew we were going to enjoy Halloween this year, but I never imagined we would have as much fun as we did.

Dark is the Sun: Planning

2010-10-28T06:08:00.003-05:00

Following my first and mostly successful local D&D 4e adventure, I've decided to try out Dark Sun. It is a campaign setting that was created in the early 90's for AD&D 2e and that was recently rebuilt for 4e this summer. Not that I don't enjoy a homebrewed campaign setting. It's just a ton of work. Planning for a night of BLoF takes about 20 hours. Writing, encounter building, map drawing, token making, etc. Factor in the time spent thinking about how it could all work in greater context of the world and it is a part time job. Hard work, but rewarding.

So I look to Dark Sun to alleviate my DM work load for a patch. It is not just laziness that drew me to a canned campaign setting though. Professional writers who are paid to make magic work on these things. What I have read of Dark Sun so far drips of that effort. The world of Athas is a harsh polar opposite of the standard high fantasy tropes. Up is down, down is up, halflings are cannibals. I'm really looking forward to exploring it with my players.

Not only the world is a change of pace though. Since I get a fresh start as a DM, I am taking the opportunity to apply some knowledge gained through my first adventure and to try out some new things...

Signature Item
Dealing out magic items has been a pain for me in my first campaign. They have no meaning to the characters except stats and the way they obtained them wasn't heroic. So to start out Dark Sun I am asking all of the players to come to the table with an item they already know. The gythka passed down through generations of clutches. The ancient shield pried from the sarcophagus of a dead hero. Give it a name, all the flavor you want and it will grow with you as you level like a heirloom item. See Ethan's blog for more.

Class/Role Changes
Since we are planning to return to their first characters eventually. I'd like my players to pick new classes and roles. It is fun to see how the other half lives and explore new mechanics in the game. So far it's...

Crystal: Striker to Leader
Ethan: Leader to Defender
Mike: Defender to Striker
Chuck: Striker to Controller
Gabriel: Striker to Striker

Party Background
Bringing the adventurers together as a rag tag group of strangers made it easier for the beginner players. Less background and story to remember so they could focus on learning to play the game. Now they all have a dragon kill under their belt and I'd like them to flesh out why their group works together for Dark Sun. I'll shape the game around that and whatever individual story hooks they come up with.

Free Expertise

Signature items will give them some of the stats they need to keep being effective at higher levels and item expertises should give the rest. Making them free means they aren't bogged down by mandatory feats and instead can pick fun ones. Which is what the game is all about.

No Inherent Bonuses
Many DMs are looking to IB for their low magic Dark Sun campaigns as a way to make up for lost attack and damage stats. As my players will be getting signature items and free expertise I don't see the need for them. My campaign won't be low magic, but I will try to do a better job of passing out items that are meaningful.

Short Snorter

2010-10-27T10:40:00.000-05:00

Seeing a dollar bill and the word "Snorter" makes me think of eighties gangster films and bumps of Bolivian marching powder. Thanks for the "cocaine slang" Google. A short snorter is actually far cooler than any Scarface poster or t-shirt. It is a tradition started in Alaska in the 1920's and then carried into World War II. Pilots and flight crews would sign each others bills (not necessarily USD), ultimately creating a history of their time in service. Snorter was slang for a stiff drink and short meant less than full measure. If you could not produce your short snorter, you were buying.

Sounds like a cool practice to extend to cycling. I bet I could be two or three dollars in at this point after ten plus years of signatures.

[Via: Flickr]

Meatspace D&D - October Ed.

2010-10-26T12:46:00.005-05:00

Pictures from October D&D Night

Saturday night was the fifth and final act of Bloodlines of Fate. A goal of a midnight stop brought our group together earlier than normal. Pizza was ordered, cold fermented beverages were poured and dice were warmed. When everyone finally sat down at the table we kicked off with a recap from the last game and then dove back into our story.

When I decided back in April that I would run a local game of D&D, I planned out my first adventure in five acts:

Act 1: Brought the party together and introduce them to a group of bandits known as the Hand of Black.
Act 2: The party investigated the Hand of Black further, took their first trip to a dungeon and found ties between the bandits and a cult.
Act 3: They were summoned by a wealthy patron who accompanied them to kill a meddlesome shaman. The patron was actually a cult member and turned on the party. They killed the cultist and the shaman told them of the cults plan to summon a dead God.
Act 4: Returning to the city they were ambushed by the cult, found the contact the shaman asked them to speak to murdered and arrested a crooked blacksmith who is dealing arms to the bandits.
Act 5: They traveled into the caverns below the city to stop the cult from summoning the dead God. They found a subterranean temple full of traps and killed their first dragon, stopping the cult in the process.

Most of my time and attention has been spent on this adventure arc, but I have three more loosely planned out. Those stories will not see the light of day for a while though. The metaphor of television seasons has been tossed around by my players and rightly so. This was the season finale, but the show has already been picked up for season two. In the mean time they will get a healthy portion of Dark Sun until BLoF returns.

Saturday included my first player death, like death death, not just a quick encounter nap. Thankfully Ethan was a good sport about it. His comrades even fished up his broken body from the bottom of the chasm he was pushed in to. In what I assume will be some attempt to raise him from death at a future date. I'm sure that will end well.

Things to work on:

Establish my villain sooner.
Less railroading, more choices.
Using player fluff in the story more.

The rest is in the pictures!

Update: Resto Shaman 4.0.1

2010-10-15T12:08:00.004-05:00

More thoughts on what I've been reading and playing as of this Tuesday. First a quote from an EJ thread on this very topic:

Most Shaman argue that Deep Healing doesn't have much value in the current state of the game. Incoming damage operates still under the LK model. Damage is really spiky, a missed GCD may result in player deaths and mana is not an issue. Most of the time, this results in players being at nearly 100% health or dead. In both cases, Deep Healing does not offer additional benefits. It will be a lot stronger in Cata, when player health will range between 100% and 0% for a significant amount of time.

My raid experience Wednesday night was cast from this very same die. Granted we only had 20 raiders on a 25 man raid. We had six healers though and lost a tank on all five of the sorry attempts it took us to kill heroic Lord Marrowgar. A fight we have had on farm for months was causing our healers heart burn. As a Shaman, who wears whatever hat my raid needs, I was having a hell of a time keeping the tanks up with my new tools.

Thankfully we are back on break from raiding till the expansion now. Where my new tools will be better suited. For now it is back to my silly Mage. He is crushing it by the way.

Resto Shaman 4.0.1

2010-10-14T12:17:00.002-05:00

Hey remember when this bee log was about World of Warcraft. Forever ago right. Well my trajectory has been up and down since my last post about frozen bone dragons. I quit for the month of September when raiding content finally dried up like a raisin. Wait, that makes it sound sweet and delicious. Uh, think of a better simile that describes no new content for five months. Scratch that, moving on.

I got a wild hair last week to reactivate my account. This was without the knowledge of the changes in patch 4.0.1 by the way or that it would be out this week. I came back with the silly idea to level my Mage to 80 and drop 5,000 gold for epic herbalism flying. My timing was perfect for coming back to re-tune my Shaman. New spells, talents, glyphs, reforging, crunch overload! So I rebuilt him, ran some heroic five mans and healed in ICC 25.

My out of the gate build was 0/2/34, something I drummed up a week before the patch without any research. Last night after raiding for two hours I left and respeced to 2/3/31. My first impressions are as follows:

Chain Heal feels weak for situations where the raid is not grouped up. You might say "duh that is the intent", but prior to the patch it was not the case. The first hit is much weaker now, so in these case the new Healing Wave is actually a better option, from a mana perspective at least. Granted running the new Glyph of Chain Heal doesn't help either.
Healing Surge seems like the go to spell, though I have read it gulps mana at 85. For 80 though I could spam it the whole fight. High cost, fast cast, big heal. Sold!
Riptide used to be a "use on every cooldown spell" and now it seems it is even more valuable. Greater Healing Wave and Healing Wave both seem painfully slow without it. Glyph of Riptide seems to be a better option than it's counterparts too.
Focus Insight seemed like a perfectly worthy 3 points in the 2nd tier last week. That was until I saw first hand and read about just how situational it is. First, you don't get the benefits of the shock if you miss with it. Second, any free GCD you could use to shock could be used to heal. Third, if everyone is topped off and you can DPS you lose the benefits of the bonus healing in over heal.
Telluric Currents, see Focus Insight.

Lots to play with still, mastery, reforging to get mastery, best bang for my buck stats, gemming, etc. More as I play it.

Apples Were Picked

2010-10-12T12:33:00.012-05:00

On the sliding scale of things affluent Caucasian people enjoy, apple picking is pretty high up there. Though it hasn't made the list yet, the crowd at Carter Mountain Sunday told the tale. We fit right into the pigeonhole am I afraid. The last time we picked apples was three years ago, before Kaden and it was a lot of fun. Holding true to the Kaden theory though, it was made even better with a child in tow.

We got on the road at 7:30 am in an attempt to beat the crowd. Two weekends ago and this past weekend was the apple festival at Carter. What that means is more activities and two times the people in attendance. Getting there when it opened was worth it though. No traffic in or out and the trees weren't picked over yet. What would normally require a 10 foot length of polyvinyl chloride, could be accomplished by a 6 foot Dad on his tip toes.

We ended up picking 21 lbs of Fuji and Granny Smith before 10 am. A sweet haul that will end up as pies, crumbles and other treats. Following picking we played in the pumpkins and ate a half dozen apple donuts with cider. Over all a great way to spend a Sunday morning. The rest is in the pictures, this one is my favorite.

ACT Run

2010-10-08T12:03:00.001-05:00

Riding from Laurel Park Shopping Center to Ashland Coffee & Tea is also known as the ABC (Ashland Breakfast Club) route. A ride I've taken more times than I have fingers and toes. Even with my toes exposed. It is also the best ride around town to introduce beginner rides to the hobby. Flat, shaded and at 20 miles it is a good ride for a newbie to brag about. It is also a great welcome back to cycling ride.

This past weekend I took Crystal for her third and Gabriel for his second tour of the ABC. We were two wheels rolling by 8:30am and made it to Ashland Coffee & Tea in just under an hour. The weather was great, a bit of a cold nip, but nothing a jacket couldn't solve. At ACT we chowed on bagels with Cran-Apple spread and sipped on tasty coffee. The weather warmed up a bit for the return lap, but not enough to warrant jacket removal. The end result was two riders who want to try and keep cycling for the foreseeable future. I hope they keep at it. The rest is in the pictures.

Kaden Goes to the Fair

2010-10-06T06:01:00.065-05:00

Attending the State Fair as a thinking, breathing adult of modest education is assault on the mind. Smells of fried treats blend with the aromas of fresh animal droppings. Folks who look like they belong on the freak show stage instead of standing in it's crowd. Paying exorbitant prices for items that are clearly pennies on the dollar as a value proposition. Rides that can be set up in thirty minutes or less, by carnies who are probably smart enough to not ride the rides themselves. Sounds fantastic right?

It is not an activity I have every really enjoyed beyond the age of ten. Adding a child to the equation changes a lot of things though. A lesson I am learning over and over again. This past Saturday we took Kaden out to the fair for the first time and we had a blast. He loves animals, so the first thing we hit was a huge barn full of sheep, chickens and cows oh my. Particularly cute was the piglets he got to pet. Particularly gross was a 32" LCD constantly looping a video of a cow birth. There was bleacher seating in front of said birthing and people were watching it. Gross!

We followed the animals with farm equipment. He loves tractors ever since his great grandparents got him a set. So he had to sit on almost every one we saw. When we finally tore him away we made our way over to a magic show and then to the rides. He absolutely loved the slide and would not stop shouting about the bird/chicken thing. After rides we hit a quick corn dog and elephant ear lunch, then hurried home for a nap. The rest is in the pictures.

52 Lunches

2010-10-05T06:02:00.001-05:00

Blogging for three plus years has affirmed one truth for me. I love writing. I liked writing in college, hated it from K to 12 and now I love it. Part of that love is writing about things I find interesting and the other part is keeping a schedule that hopefully makes me better at it. I have aspirations to one day write a novel, but for now I'm content to just dump the contents of a weekend with the family into a post.

In that vein, I started a blog with Ethan last week. Co-worker, cycling bud, friend and now co-author. 52 Lunches is the beast we spawned together. Writhing and screaming into this plane, it will chronicle 52 weeks of lunches we attend together. All at 52 different restaurants within diving distance of our office. This blog comes on the coattails of a game we started back in February 2010. Each week one of us picks a place to eat and the person who picks also pays. You can never repeat or you lose, what you lost was never clear, but who likes to lose?

Now 32-ish weeks into the old game, we decided to reset and start writing a review of each place we visit. The freeloader gets to write the review. The old places are fair game once more, as well as plenty of new ones. Unfortunately we started off with a stinker. Mimis was a hold over from the original and not a place either of us would recommend. In any case the game is afoot and now you all can follow along.

“The Dungeon Master”

2010-10-04T06:07:00.002-05:00

“The Dungeon Master” is a short story by Sam Lipsyte, that is very much evocative of an era I didn't live through. The arc is about a generation just ten to twenty years older than mine. Their pop culture made familiar to me by TV and movies. Their experiences are the same though. For every generation being a teenager can be tough business. The story tells the tale of a high school D&D group and the troubles they face at and away from their table. It is done with a bit of dark humor and left me wanting way more. That is all I have in the tank to try and get you to read. It is only seven pages and well worth your time. Go!

Update: Ethan brought this short story full circle.

Rebuilding Mirado

2010-10-01T06:03:00.002-05:00

Mirado Descal (pics) is a time traveling, astral plane walking, cleric of the highest order of Sirin. He is also the level 9 cleric I've been playing off and on again for more than a year now. I love when I get to play him and wish I could dust him off with greater frequency. What is really special about him is that he is the only 4e character I've ever had. So keeping him fun to play is something I am constantly revisiting.

Last fall when he was a lowly level 3 I rebuilt him to make up for rookie mistakes. A cleric can either focus on strength. Getting up close and punching zombies and the like in the mouth. Or on wisdom. Hanging back behind the damage sponges, lobbing the lords prayer made tangible. I was going in both directions. Something that can work from a character background, but leaves you vulnerable to crunch woes and boredom.

So as I said, I rebuilt him. I went laser cleric all the way, offensive wisdom based ranged spells. Smiting doers of evil and on a rare occasion throwing out a heal to my party. A year of chucking radiant bolts has been fun. So much so that when Player's Handbook 3 came out, I toyed with the idea of re-rolling a Ruinpriest and didn't. The plan was to have Mirado suffer a crisis of faith and you know just start diggin' on them ruins. I ultimately scrapped the idea, not from a story perspective, but because I really enjoy playing a cleric.

That is not the rebuild the title of this post refers to though. Just this week I broke out the character builder to grow a brand new Mirado from the ground up. I came at it from two perspectives. One, was inspiration from Ethan's Bravelord he plays in my game. For too long my cleric has been a striker in leaders clothing. I don't want to go full on pacifist, but a leader should lead. Where Ethan does his leading by offering his party extra hits, I hope to debuff and buff my party to victory.

Two, was focusing more on healing and my characters background and motivation that would drive that. I took feats and spells that could be a bit overkill in a normal game. Chuck likes to throw us into the fire and watch us try to survive. Leaning on as many healing spells as I can, has benefits from a crunch and fluff perspective. So without further ado, the improved Mirado Descal...

Mirado Descal
Human, Cleric, Level 9
Versatile Expertise: Versatile Expertise (Mace)
Versatile Expertise: Versatile Expertise (Holy Symbol)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 22, Cha 16.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 14.

AC: 21 Fort: 16 Reflex: 16 Will: 24
HP: 62 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 15

TRAINED SKILLS
Insight +15, Religion +8, History +8, Arcana +8, Heal +15

FEATS
Cleric: Ritual Caster
Human: Versatile Expertise
Level 1: Mark of Healing
Level 2: Defensive Healing Word
Level 4: Superior Implement Training (Accurate symbol)
Level 6: Healer's Implement
Level 8: Shielding Word

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Sacred Flame
Channel Divinity: Turn Undead
Cleric at-will 1: Astral Seal
Cleric at-will 1: Gaze of Defiance
Cleric encounter 1: Prophetic Guidance
Cleric daily 1: Beacon of Hope
Cleric utility 2: Shield of Faith
Cleric encounter 3: Hymn of Resurgence
Cleric daily 5: Consecrated Ground
Cleric utility 6: Spirit of Healing
Cleric encounter 7: Searing Light
Cleric daily 9: Dismissal

ITEMS
Ritual Book, Accurate symbol of Hope +2, Belt of Sacrifice (heroic tier), Healer's Brooch +1, Resplendent Gloves (heroic tier), Mace, Healer's Chainmail +1

Iconic Prototypes

2010-09-30T06:39:00.003-05:00

Wired has put together a piece on iconic tech prototypes, above is the super soaker. The coolest looking of the bunch. Even cooler than the image is the story behind it.

Lonnie Johnson was trying to build a better refrigerator, based on a low-cost heat pump that circulated water instead of Freon. But when one of his custom-machined brass nozzles blasted a stream of water across his bathroom, Johnson—by day an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory—realized he had the makings of something way more fun. A shotgun-style air pump and a series of check valves allowed for sniperlike range and accuracy with little exertion. Selling the idea to toy companies, though, was more of an effort.

[Via: Make]

Northside to Riverside

2010-09-29T06:06:00.030-05:00

Saturday marked my first group ride in the Fall for 2010. I hit the streets of Richmond on my own last weekend and put in 27 good miles. Not the same with friends though. I met up with Grant and Landon (The Brothers Brick) at 8am and we were two wheels rolling not 15 minutes later. Headed east from the Northside the first half of our ride was all parts of Richmond I had never seen before.

Fascinating that 28 years of life in this city still brings me to places I have never seen before. Of note was the Oakwood Cemeteries confederate grave site which for some reason I didn't even know existed. Heading out of the East End and into Shockoe Bottom we crossed the river into familiar territory for the rest of the ride. Ending the ride at just under two hours and just under 25 miles.

Our post ride meal was brunch at Bill's Barbecue. A weird place to go at 10:45am, but still as tasty as always. Landon had never eaten there before and was impressed and Grant got a lemonade refill that tasted like it was made with box wine. Yum! The rest is in the pictures.

Pumpkins Were Picked

2010-09-28T06:05:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning we rolled out of the house bright and early at 10am toward the Chesterfield Berry Farm. Our goal was to get Kaden a pumpkin and partake in their Harvest Festival. Once there our first order of business was a hayride over to the pumpkin patch to pick out the large gourd we will be carving later this month. Kaden seemed more occupied with his wristband until the pumpkins actually came into view. Then, as you can see from the picture above, they were all he could talk about.

Pumpkin in hand we went back to the farm proper where Kaden and I faced off against Crystal in a duck race. She won, but it was close. Then it was on to bunnies, chickens, goats and cows. Kaden loves animals so it was a treat to see so many. We followed the animals with paintball target shooting and a ride on a tractor train. At that point we were getting very close to lunch, but decided to brave the corn maze before filling our bellies.

We got lost more than a few times and some of the 35 questions seemed a little unfair, but it was a bunch of fun being in maze that just wasn't hay bails stacked up. Lunch was hot dogs for Kaden and I and BBQ, slaw and beans for Crystal. All for the ridiculously low price of $7 total for the three of us. With a $3 pumpkin and free admission with coupons we spent a grand total of $10 for a whole morning of fun. An event we will definitely be going back to in the future. The rest is in the pictures.

Update: SkullKickers #1

2010-09-27T13:03:00.001-05:00

So in a wicked cool turn of events following my SkullKickers post this morning. I got an email from Jim Zubkavich, the writer of the aforementioned comic. He let me know that they were caught off guard by the surge of interest in the book and that there will be a reprint of issue #1 on Oct 13th. It was a nice suprize to get a personal email from the creator. Little does he know he just made me a reader for the life of the series. Or until he voids that warranty, an event I don't even want to imagine. I hope the series stays true to what issue #0 had on offer. I guess I'll find out on the 13th.

P.S. I'm digging the alternative cover I used on the previous post more than this one, but at this point I'll just be happy to get an issue in my hands despite the cover I prefer.

SkullKickers

2010-09-27T06:15:00.000-05:00

It's a rare occasion for me to make the trip to a comic store these days. It takes a special breed of comic to draw me away from the low cost and fast shipping haven of the internet. Wednesday last week was one such occasion though. I picked up Kaden after work and drove down to my local comic store. We were in search of SkullKickers #1. They were sold out already.

So why am I writing about a comic I have not read yet? The failings of the brick and mortar comic shop aside I can still expound upon the virtues of SkullKickers #0. Their might be a issue #1 preview buried in there too. The spawn of all this was a Penny Arcade post a while back, but reading the prequel sealed the deal. The art is clean and modern and the writing is short and crisp.

If and when I get my hands on #1 I'll be back here to speak more on it.

Thor in Lego

2010-09-24T06:54:00.015-05:00

The things some folks can create in Lego never fail to astound me. When the work they create includes any of my other hobbies, in this case gaming, I can be found mouth agape and mind blown. Now where is the fully transformable Viking?

[Via: Super Punch]

Tetris Final Boss

2010-09-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

[Via: LikeCOOL]

Meatspace D&D - September Ed.

2010-09-22T12:33:00.001-05:00

Less than 30 days from our last game night, my group of adventurers and I got together last Friday for our fourth installment. As a DM I have a poor habit of thinking about my adventure a lot, but not actually putting pen to paper until the week of the game. Which meant I was rushing to get all my prep done down to the last minute. I drew an encounter map at 7:30pm and the players showed up at 8pm. To give you an idea.

Thankfully my players are great and helped pulled off another successful night of D&D 4e. No cardboard and hot glue for this session I'm afraid. Instead I decided to go with three encounters, something I had never done before. Between my over planning and goal of challenging them we usually only get one big encounter for the night. D&D 4e's slow combat does not help either, although ~~I'm~~ we are working on addressing that.

I say "we" because getting through three encounters left us at 11:40pm trying to decide if we should start the last combat portion of our night or wrap it up and go home. We agreed that it would be quick rounds and we'd try to finish in under an hour. It went twenty minutes over that goal, but everyone agreed that all of our encounters in the future should have the same pace. Coupled with some pro tips from Mr. Schwalb I think we could easily hit under the hour mark in the future.

Finally note, I forgot the camera again. Damn the ten thousand things going on in my head the night we play. These post are probably made slightly less boring if I can manage to get some pictures of us to go with them. Next time.

Marvel Cats

2010-09-20T09:55:00.002-05:00

Meme ahoy! I'm totally digging (punny) on the latest by-product of twitter, #mrvlcats. Chewing through that many trended topics can be painful though. Thankfully SuperPunch rounded them all up in one place for your and my consumption.

November 2nd Cometh

2010-09-17T06:08:00.037-05:00

I had a strong feeling that the next WoW expansion would be on the back half of this year. Finding out this week that it was six weeks away was a bit of a surprise though. Actually I just cancelled my account to go on a break. While Blizzard decide to do they same by not offering new raiding content. Scathing commentary from a jilted lover? You bet your buns.

Back to the expansion. My plan has always been to go on a binge the likes of my WotLK vacation in 2008. Mind you that is tempered with a healthy understanding that I do not want to lose my wife and son in the mix. So this time it will be slightly less hardcore, but still hardcore by most normal folks account. A Tuesday release date makes that even easier, as my rule of thumb goes, if my son is around and awake I'm not gaming.

I'll admit this expansion has me less excited than the last. From a lore perspective Deathwing has only existed in books for the most part. They weren't the best WoW fiction on offer, to be fair, but I'm excited by it. Just less than Arthas. Only getting five new levels kind of sucks for the way I play WoW. I stick to one character and attempt to max said character out to the best of my ability and time available. Revamping the whole trip from 1 to 60 doesn't really offer me anything save a bored hour or ten flying around the world months after I've hit 85.

I'll play it none the less though, there are tons of cool things to see and do and I have less time to do them now anyway. So bring on the expansion!

P.S. My local GameStop already sold out of collectors editions, WTF!

Evolving Mississippi River

2010-09-16T06:38:00.008-05:00

If I lived even one hundred miles closer to the Mississippi River I'd want to hang this gorgeous map slash data visualization on a wall in my office. Alas, I will just have to be content ogling it from across the pipes of the internetz.

[Via: FlowingData]

StarCraft 2

2010-09-15T06:03:00.073-05:00

Back in 1998, as a follow up to Diablo, Blizzard released the first RTS I ever played online. The single player actually had a good story, the graphics were simple, but amazing and the CG cut scenes blew me away. I must have watched them near 100 times. The multiplayer was balanced and more intense than any online game I had played prior. It was near video game perfection.

While tons of fun, StarCraft was never a game I excelled at. I always partied up with friends to play coop vs. the CPUs, "comp stomp", or custom map team play. I never played solo. It was intimidating. I did attempt to get better at the game though. A friend even built a custom training map for me once. It could be reset from in game to allow for timing your build order. Eventually I went back to first person shooters and eventually feet first into MMOs. That was many years ago though.

Now StarCraft 2 is finally here, some 12 years later. Wow, really 12 years. It has got to be hero focused, with no base building and fullly rotatable 3D right? Nope! Try a fixed isometric view, with old school game mechanics: base building, micro-ed massive armies, rushing, the whole lot. They essentially took their now classic game and made it like technology advanced, but time didn't. It is great!

This go round all of the friends I used to play with have moved on and not to other video games. Maybe that is something I should reflect on later. This is a video game post though, not a "why is a Adam a 29 year old man child" post. Moving on. I'm playing SC2 with a whole new crowd and even tackling 1v1 matches when I have time. It has been loads of fun so far, but playing solo still gets me ten kinds of worked up. It is partly that I don't like losing, but mostly that my nerves are on edge the entire match. There is so much to do and so many ways to screw up. Winning feels great, but the process is mentally draining.

If you'd like to play or at the very least see my record, your best path to that end is here, through my account profile.

Star Wars Pin-ups

2010-09-14T06:07:00.002-05:00

Artist Feng Zhu, who just so happened to work on Revenge of the Sith, put together this cool collection of propaganda pin-up posters. I'd assume most young men on Empire controlled planets would be drawn into service by these sexy curves and a rancor.

[Via: blastr]

At Natinals Park

2010-09-09T06:06:00.003-05:00

Yeah I know it's Nationals, but seriously if you don't remember this, you should at least know about it. In any case I actually had a killer time with Mike at the Nationals v. Cubs game two weeks ago. They stunk the place up with a 1-9 loss, but the new stadium was awesome to see. Besides I've had to deal with the hurt of pulling for a bad team for a near lifetime now. Big thanks to Mike for inviting me up and driving. The rest is in the pictures.

Cardboard Cameras

2010-09-08T06:02:00.002-05:00

Kiel Johnson's collection of cardboard cameras smacks of creativity produced from readily available materials. A neat concept and what looks like a ton of fun for kids and adults.

[Via: LikeCOOL]

Rethinking My Fashion

2010-09-03T06:07:00.003-05:00

This post should be titled rethinking my clothing choices, both business and casual, in there entirety. Lately I have been expending a fare amount of my leisure time reading and following some fashion blogs. An activity kicked off by my discovery of the videos series entitled Put This On. What spawned out of that was information gathering about men's fashion the likes of which my eyes have ever seen. Below are some of the highlights of said research...

Put This On - The bible for my little trip down fashion lane. Incredibly well done videos, advice, pictures and even the occasional link to a sweet deal. The host (Adam and Jesse) of said blog and videos were both known to me already, which is what lead me down this path in the first place.

Less Gentle Men - A blog by Wale O. (gentleman pictured above) and others. More pictures of looks to aspire to than actual advice, but a fair mix of the two.

The Sartorialist - This blog first required that I look up the meaning of sartorial. Once I got beyond my vocab lesson I got to enjoy pictures that have inspired and shaped the goal of where I want to be with my own fashion.

Too many years of my adult life have been spent schlubbing around in untucked golf shirts and poor fitting ~~khakis~~ chinos. To semi-formal events no less. A few years back I got my business dress partially under control. Dress shirts and dress slacks (suit pants?). Sadly my casual dress did not come along for the ride. It's in need of a major overhaul. So I have a plan...

My Business Docket

Better fitting pants and shirts (a.k.a. find a seemstress)
Better shoes
Better accessories (watch, belt, etc)
Find a nice grey suit
Find

My Casual Docket

Find a nice tan or tweed sport coat
Better fitting shorts
Better fitting chinos
Better shoes
Find button down shirts that are flat at the waist

Mind you this only touches on some of the items I want to address.

Bonus Round...A quote from Tom Ford via LessGentle Men:

“Americans have grown too accustomed to being comfortable. I find a different kind of comfort when I know I look good.”

Chemical Crayons

2010-09-02T05:35:00.001-05:00

A DIY project that added chemical compound labels to crayons, sounds like fun mixed with ultra geeky science and education. I'm digging on this hard.

[Via: Make]

Return to Borderlands

2010-09-01T06:36:00.001-05:00

I find it odd that I never wrote about Borderlands here before, or at least that I could not find a post where I did. I've made a concerted effort to do less product review style post for 2010. Games like Borderlands fall victim to this new direction sadly. Until today of course.

My first play through of the game was back in October of last year, when it was released. I played it on the 360 with Chris to completion and then a little beyond that to get every achievement, but one. It was a great game and I figured I was done with it at that point. I sold it before the first DLC even came out.

Flash forward to two months away from the anniversary of the games release. I've purchased the game and all of the DLC for Steam and I am playing through with a new group of four. It is just as fun as the first time through surprisingly. The four player co op really makes it feel different and the difficulty is well balanced to a group that has all of the classes (us). Last time around I played a solider, a bit more of a utility class. Where as this time I'm playing a hunter, a pure striker in D&D terms and a glass canon for the un-inclined.

We plan to play to the level cap and through all of the DLC, including the one coming this month. Fun times for sure and I'll do a brief follow up once we have cleared it all. Until then..."I'm dancin' I'm dancin!"

Bonus Round...This is my 400th post, see you all at 500.

August Game Night - 4e Finale Edition

2010-08-31T07:13:00.004-05:00

The rest of the August Game Night pics

I've been a player in Chuck's D&D campaign for going on a year plus now. In that time we have faced dragons, walked ethereal planes and crushed hordes of zombies and rats. There has also been much discussion of taking a break from D&D 4e to try our groups collective hand at something else. On the heels of our two shot Cthulhu game we decided that we would either play Rogue Trader or Shadowrun. More on that later. To get to said new game we needed to come to a stopping point, not an end mind you, for the current campaign. A season finale if you will.

Back in April we killed our first dragon, a tough task that took us to the edge of a TPK. Picking back up in August we were fleeing the army that the dragon was leading. The game mechanic for the night was a fast moving cart, in hot pursuit was a cavalry of ratkin (see pic above) and falling off meant instant death (R.I.P. the bull rushed Mind Flayer). We had loads of fun and again skirted the TPK by the narrowest of margins. We ended the night in the only safe haven left on Kohut, tasked by the city's leader with finding help across the sea.

A great way to wrap things up and put them on a break. Next up will be the beginnings of a Shadowrun game run by Jason. The rest of the night is in the pictures...

1942-43 Aircraft Production

2010-08-30T06:35:00.000-05:00

On the heels of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt committed the U.S. to the production of 60,000 warplanes in 1942 and 185,000 for 1943. Monumental numbers by today's standards and even loftier expectations in the 40s. As a promotion to illustrate just how many planes would need to be produced, 4,500 model planes were hung from the high ceilings of Union Station in Chicago. Just wrapping ones mind around the number of planes in the picture above is crazy. Add to that they are only 1/48th of the goal and that they actually take up the space of an actual plane.

[Via: Make]

Bonus Round...An tear worthy quote from a kamikaze pilot's letter to his children via kottke:

Your father will become a god and watch you two closely. Both of you, study hard and help out your mother with work. I can't be your horse to ride, but you two be good friends.

Meatspace D&D - August Ed.

2010-08-27T07:10:00.007-05:00

The rest of the August D&D pics

This past Friday our gaming group got together for our third night of D&D. It had been nearly two months plus since we last played. Everyone still seemed jazzed to drink beer and roll dice though. So I obliged them and prepared my dungeon master (DM) butt off.

As you may note there is a DM in training behind the screen with me in the picture above. Our babysitter plans fell through at the last minute. So Kaden stayed up till 8:30 with the group to participate in the pre-game chatter and dice eating. He even ~~rolled~~ threw a few dice too. A bed time story later and we were kicking off our game. I had two minor encounters, one major and a ton of role playing (RP) in town planned for the evening.

I decided to start the night with some combat. To one, get everyone familiar with their characters again and two because that is where the story left off. Trust me that it was all planned. Post fight the story lead to the aforementioned RP. I always worry that the game might get bogged down in the tedium of spending too much time in town. Thankfully it seemed to go better than my self doubting thought it would. My players were engaged and every event felt like it had purpose. At least that is how I saw it.

Following the RP they marched out of town and into another minor encounter, that was quickly followed by the big fight of the night. Long story short, they went to see a shaman about a ~~horse~~ unnatural blizzard. Nothing is ever that simple though. The shaman was ambushed and the players jumped in to help him. As shaman are want to do, he raised the earth that they all stood on and periodically dropped portions of it into boiling lava. A reckless act for sure, but also a fun game mechanic.

For the pillars of earth, I cut out four pieces of 1" grid paper and arranged them like a jigsaw puzzle of sorts. I then glued them to cardboard and cut them out with a box cutter. The cardboard was to make them more rigged (lead minis are heavy). I then stood them each up on three legs with hot glue and called it a night. They served their purpose for the evening, even with a little bit of balancing here and there.

Overall it was a really fun night and I felt like the work I did to prepare really paid off. Hopefully our next game night happens with in 4 to 5 weeks. Waiting two months was too long. The rest is in the pictures...

Driving is Why You're Fat

2010-08-24T09:20:00.002-05:00

Don't judge me attractive and informative graphic. I know I need to ride my bike more. I just don't have a ton of time and other bad excuses. Get off my back!

[Via: FlowingData]

Gelato Bike

2010-08-23T08:26:00.000-05:00

~~Ice cream~~ Gelato on the back of a bike, yum! I doubt the pants crew and I would make it to our destination with temptation so close. It would have probably melted anyway, so it's fine that we stopped to eat it all five miles into the ride.

[Via: Make]

Gou Miyagi - Skate Video

2010-08-23T06:34:00.001-05:00

Being ten plus years removed from skateboarding there is very little that gets my blood going in that realm any more. Stuff like the video above and Tim and Eric accomplish said task though.