Demolition Man Vs. The Professional

* This is what happens when I have True Blood on the brain and free time...

D&D Saturday was a learning experience. I learned sometimes to get your point across you do have to explain every single detail, never underestimate a player’s desire to be E-V-I-L, & ratchet up the tension HARD. It wasn’t a bad session by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn’t go smoothly. The next time we meet, next month, I’m going to try and really push the pace, continue the precedent I set by not letting the group rest between encounter unless they are smart enough to procure shelter and defend it. I really need to get across that they are hunted people in an occupied city; there is no shelter for them.

If, and it’s a big if, I’ve learned anything from reading some of the better blogs (see the side bar on this very page) it’s that setting a tone can dramatically change your game. So far there has been a theme of “fun” until swords begin to get swung and then there is a tad of desperation underneath as they’ve been darn close to T.P.K. (Total Party Kill) a couple times now. I need to find a way to make sure there is HIGH tension involved in their subsequent flight from Rikus.

The real trick will be if I can do that without killing any of the players OR their companion characters I’ll be amazed.

Sunday afternoon Cassandra and I sat down and watched The Girl Next Door (** ½ out of 5), not a good movie. I really wanted to like it, and in parts it was actually likable and funny, but overall the movie had no vibe to it. Sometimes it took itself seriously and had ‘serious rules’ and other times it was all slapstick. In the end it became an afterschool special and I checked out. It was a shame too because it allowed me to see Timothy Olyphant as a villain, the fact is this guy is great in everything I’ve seen him in. Oh and Elisha Cuthbert is easy on the eyes to say the least. I can’t really recommend this movie, but I can’t tell you to avoid it either, it merely was a ‘meh’ for me. I am however looking forward to the other two movies that we have in the ‘on deck’ circle this week; Gentlemen Broncos & Youth In Revolt. Hopefully they’ll live up the hype in my head.

We were able to wrap up that flick just in time for our Sunday night True Blood with Dave & Liz. What to say, what to say? Well it definitely didn’t end with sex where one of the participants twists the other’s head almost all the way around, so it had that going for it. I’m bored with a lot, and I mean A LOT, of the subsidiary characters, but characters like Eric, Jessica, & Lafayette keep me coming back. I’m interested in seeing how they will resolve the overall plot of war between the King of Mississippi & the Queen of Louisiana, as well as the selling of ‘V’ being found out by the Magistrate. It’s weird to watch a show where you don’t care that much about the main two characters, although I get a TON of joy of listening to Dave shout “SOOKIE” in his best Vampire Bill voice over & over again. Sunday nights are about fun.

You know what I have for you in my pocket?

RANDOM CRAP!

- I know as a guy I should enjoy going to Menards, but I loathe it. I loathe it just like I loathe going to anywhere where the people working don’t give a crap about helping you, and there are to many people in a confined space. I hate going out.
- Emergency Movie-A-Thon on Saturday Night. We’ll be watching the 70’s TV Horror Films we planned on last month. I for one am excited to sit back, enjoy a beverage of ten, and laugh with my peeps.
- I desperately need a haircut.
- I’m halfway through one of the 20 plus books I picked up for a $1 at Half-Priced Books in Apple Valley. It’s a D&D Birthright novel entitled The Stone Throne. Now I have some nice memories of Birthright from college, playing in Gregg campaign, but we didn’t hit the court politics part of that setting as hard as it just being another setting to dungeon crawl through. Truth be told, I like this book so far I like it a lot. That being said there is a palatable sense of dread to it, as I know that an unfortunate dalliance that the main character engaged in that will lead to some horrible consequences. Along with that the ill-fated romance make it a forgone conclusion that it will be a negative of an ending. All that being said it’s been wonderfully engaging, not Tolkien derivative, and it’s given me some ideas regarding some future D&D. Who could ask for more?
- At the same time I’m 60 some pages into Jim Butcher’s first Dresden Files book Stormfront and it’s great. I mean it. I have a hard time putting it down. I’ve listened to the audio book of it, so I already know the gist of what’s occurring and it does absolutely NOTHING to deter me from wanting to devour this book. Good stuff!
- I want to go home, lie down, watch two movies, & go to bed.
- Dave, thank you for the kick ass final book in the Fritz Lieber Lankhmar’s series. Along with Howard’s Sword & Sorcery stuff, i.e. Conan & Kull, I don’t think anyone captures that vibe better than Lieber’s tales of Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser. These are the tales that inspire my imagination.
- With Joe K. freeing up some time next week I am determined to play test the D&D Dungeon Crawl game. We now need two more players. Dave? Cassandra?
- I still maintain that Paul McCartney and Wings KICKS ASS!

And with those prophetic words I’ve got things to do…

“Don't talk to strangers.
Don't swim alone.
Don't take the dicey shortcut.
Don't turn the stone.
Don't tell a secret.
Don't fall behind.
Don't let the Great Race of Yith
supplant your mind.

Don't wrack your memory.
Don't blaze the trail.
Don't pine for primeval jungles.
Don't pierce the veil.
Don't look for answers
years down the road.
Don’t copy down the glyphs that
your visions showed.

Are these dreams a clutch of stifled memories?
Was there something in my mind?

Don't clean the mirror.
Don't be surprised
when your reflection seems like
a pack of lies.
Don't ask the inmates
what it's about.
Don't cry in the library
when you find out.

Are these dreams a clutch of stifled memories?
Was there something in my mind?
There are things they say man was not meant to know.
Is this shadow out of time?”