The Day The Earth Caught Fire Vs. It Came From Outer Space

* = All you really have to know is; A) His heart does NOT pump Kool-Aid & B) it's WHAT HE DO!









The weekend has come and went. I didn’t really do much of anything & that was sort of brilliant. Friday night we were in ‘The Cloud’ due to me being in town to teach a class. It was alright night, although I apparently missed an interesting argument while using the bathroom. Part of me is glad I missed it due to its nature and those involved. The other part of me, the one that likes to be right and to have the last word is sad that I didn’t get the opportunity to ask them why they were SO happy about the death of a 16 year old. Oh Trayvon Martin Case is there no situation you can’t make uncomfortable?

But before that fun went down, Thursday night was 3rd Group D&D. I had to make some last minute adjustments because there was going to be some significant losses to our party due to scheduling and last minute stuff popping up. At the same time Karl had asked if his 10 year old could play this session due to him being an amazing Dad and getting his Daughter tickets to a concert. I of course was cool with that, because c’mon I was 10 once and if I would have been invited to go play D&D with the ‘Big Kids’ I would have completely FREAKED OUT! Add to that if it would have been D&D with all the cool bells and whistles I now possess then I think I might have gone into a Nerdery Coma that would have lasted till adolescence.

The rest of the players were gracious and we had a 10 year old join our group for a night. SO I had to make some serious adjustments to what I had planned as this is my ‘Evil’ group and I had a serious moral quandary set up for them to tackle. Instead I turned the ‘Evil’ down, upped the combat component, and tried to turn the ‘fun’ WAY up. I thought it went alright. We had an almost immediate encounter with some Shadow Hounds, in which they got completely curb stomped with some fantastic use of At-Will powers. The second Encounter was built around fighting some Quaggoths and a chained Hook Horror. I really felt like I had a good handle on how this one would play out, but I was wrong. Again the Players really had so much frontline power that they decimated me quickly.

This did lead to the only real Role Playing Encounter of the session where they interrogated a Drahjar captive. In my game the Drahjar are Humans who fled into the Underdark a few thousand years ago, since they have been sort of a people without a patron. Many of them have turned to worshipping Lolth or Torog, while others engage in ancestor worship, and still others practice a nasty form of atheism. The only thing that all Drahjar Enclaves can agree upon is the deep seeded need to acquire what they call the ‘Works Of The Ancients’. What it boils down to is the need to find ancient technology, and adapt it to current use. This especially includes sentient constructs like Warforged. 1st Group dealt early on with a Drahjar war party that had tried to get a Forge operational so they could start pumping out troops. They of course stopped this, but it doesn’t mean that this sort of thing isn’t going on constantly. I wanted 3rd Group to have this cursory introduction to these xenophobic, technology obsessed antagonists. As they head into the next session I can’t help but think that about how I plan on inserting them back into the campaign.

Anyway, I decided to learn from my early mistakes in combat and alter the last Encounter on the fly. So the Party came across another large ruin in an enormous cavern. As they headed up Mike noticed that the fetid pool of liquid was not what it seemed, and instead was a group of Grimlocks being hidden by and illusion, from there combat erupted. The original plan was to draw the PC’s into the center of the room, and have this group of Minions show up and pincer them from behind. Lucky for the group they sniffed it out quickly. From there I had the ‘Big Bad’ of the Encounter use a Ring Of Darkness to push a globe out hiding the exact numbers and identity of the PC’s enemies. Eventually more Grimlock Minions poured out with a few Barbarian leaders. This wasn’t meant to do much more than occupy the group while I blasted at them from within the darkness with Mental Lightning. After softening them up they finally dispatched the Grimlocks. Kedders played out a risky gambit and rushed into the darkness getting close enough to my Grell Philosopher that I had to drop the globe and fight. It was the beginning of the end, but not before I was able to use a fantastic set of burst attacks that really slammed the three fighters. I had Mick & Kedders almost dead a few times, but Karl did a great job healing them back up. All the while Mike was blasting me from afar. Add into this Karl Son’s relentlessly smashing me and eventually I dropped much to the joy of the group who had been pushed a bit with that fight.

I’m not sure if it was a ‘good’ session as far as the over arcing ‘plot’ of the Group, BUT it was a lot of fun and I’m pretty sure it made a 10 year old night. I know that I wasn’t enjoying my week, but it seemed SO much brighter after seeing so many grins and so much enthusiasm at my table. So thank you to Kedders, Mike, Karl, & Mick for indulging a kid in his D&D at the ‘Adult’ table, oh and thank your from Karl’s Son as well.

I knocked out a few books in the last week or so. I’ve slowed my reading roll, but I’m sort of diving back in. What better way to do so than with some $1 fantasy novels from ½ Priced Books? First up was The Spine Of The World (*** ½ out of 5) by R.A. Salvatore.

Let me get this out of the way first I’m a Wulfgar guy. I never got the mass fawning over Drizzt, to me Wulfgar was far more relatable than the almost perfect and unstoppable exotic warrior. Apparently Wulfgar did NOT die in an earlier novel when confronting the Yochlol to save his friends in a previous book. Instead he was taken to the Abyss where he was endless and horrible tortured by Drizzt’s enemy Errtu. We’re talking Game Of Thrones level torture here, except instead of the sweet relief of death you are instead constantly raised only to go through it again. This tends to add up and has an effect on a person. And that is where we find Wulfgar, a mentally broken down shell of his former self. He’s operating as a bouncer, a leg breaker, and just general drunken malcontent. To say I was slightly disappointed at the beginning of this tale is an understatement. Not only had Wulfgar lost his love to his best friend, not only had he spent a handful of years being horribly tortured, but now he was barely likeable as a character. That’s the beauty of this book though; it’s the road to redemption. I won’t spoil anything by giving too much away, but we do get to see a character that was very much two dimensional gain that third through his horrible ordeal and his subsequent finding of himself. There is also a massive status quo change by the end of the book that fits that character and the next stage of Salvatore’s overall mega plot of all of his characters. So if you enjoy the cast of characters then this one may take you a second to wrap your head around, but once you do it is an interesting journey you accompany the Barbarian of the Icewind Dales on as he rediscovers just who he is, a hero.

I also plowed through David Cook’s Soliders Of Ice (*** out of 5).

This is an older book in the Harpers series. I’ve only played in the Forgotten Realms for a short duration. I’ve never seen much of the appeal of playing in a world SO full of super characters. Reading through this novel though gave me a slightly different perspective. Our protagonist Martine is a fledgling Harper. The Harpers being a sort of secret society of ‘do gooders’ spread throughout the world. She is charged with shutting a gate to the Elemental Plane Of Ice that has ruptured open. In the meantime this has caused the two local tribes, one Gnoll and one Gnome, in a valley to start to come into conflict. Martine doesn’t prevent this, in fact through a series of unwinnable circumstances she just makes it progressively worse. I thought this was very interesting as Martine came off as a very interesting and ‘real’ character, she didn’t have all the answers in fact she had very few, her plans seemed to only partially work at best, and there were more than a few times where she would have preferred to have cut and run. She was relatable which made some of the twists and turns, while obvious, have more emotional resonance. I also have to say that I LOVED the in depth look at Gnoll life in the pack, as they have always been one of my favorite evil races. Couple that with the Gnomes of the valley being somewhat nasty, especially the ‘Badger Armor’ and I really enjoyed this quick read. Shakespeare it isn’t, but it’s a nice, fun, and quick read.

It was another week so we received another Skull & Shackles preview! I won’t review the Female Ghoul from this set, because I already touched upon the re-paint that will be in the Undead Horde Gravity Feed release. I will say it’s a nice miniature though and you should check it out.

So first up for me in this round is the Sandra Quinn, the Uncommon Medium Pirate. This is a real passive pose miniature, but in a good way. She screams Pirate Captain to me. I like the paint scheme, it’s simple but effective, and that translucent effect on the hand is outstanding. It evokes a real feeling of someone about to cast a spell. In addition this miniature could easily work as an NPC because it doesn’t have the larger than life ‘action pose’. All that being said that face is FUGLY! Perhaps it’s the angle of the photo, but DAMN! I only see one eye, I’m sure the other is supposed to be hidden behind some hair, but even that eye looks bad. She is also suffering from that ‘fat face syndrome’ that a few other minis in this set seem to have. This will still be a MUST BUY for me, but I am hoping with fingers crossed that the face looks better than in this picture.

Next up is the Medium Uncommon Luccaria. This miniature is a perfect example of less is more. The paint scheme is crazy simple, two colors basically a skin tone and black. There is a strange stoop to the sculpt that makes it menacing but at the same time the skin tight clothing makes it decidedly and equally feminine. I also like the duel wielded blades getting across that this is a woman not to be trifled with. Being that it is so minimalistic and that the picture doesn’t do it a lot of justice I still can’t figure out why I like it as much as I do. Oh well, this one is a MUST BUY for me and will be a fantastic Cult Leader in one of my games.

Our third preview is the insanely incredible Large Rare Daughter Of Imerta. That’s right drink that bad boy in! It is a flying Fiend/Cyclops/Harpy! This is one of those strange hybrid beasts that for the most part seems like it would either have to be represented in a small group as an elite cadre of monsters OR as a big nasty beast of legend type. I think that is what I would move towards when and if I grab this wonderful miniature. First up that pose is just fantastic. The tail does a TON to give it a sense of movement in flight. I also like the defiant upper body pose with the mace at the ready and the other fist clenched in righteous fury! Add in her slight smirk and that wonderful eye and you have a winner. This is another paint job that makes the one of Sandra Quinn look poor in comparison. Fantastic job with skin tone, the shading, and just the color choices in general. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find one at a reasonable cost, but if I can this one is a MUST BUY for me.

Last but not least this week is Isabella Locke who is a Rare Medium. I haven’t read through this Adventure Path so a lot of these NPC’s are lost on me as far as who they are, but I recognize this as the woman on one of the six covers whose body is tattooed with a treasure map. If you look carefully you can see it there. It looks like they really made a serious attempt at putting those fine details to make this a perfect art to miniature transition. That being said the face again doesn’t look that good. Maybe it’s just the photos, but it looks bland and the eyes look like one’s I would paint on, just black dots. I’m sorry Wizkids & Paizo, but you’ve set your bar too high on Rares to make that acceptable. I like the rest of the miniature, but not enough for me to forgive this run on bad faces. These last two previews are full of miniatures I will most likely buy because they fit a significant need in collection, but at the same time are disappointing in their preview pictures. This one is a MUST BUY, IF it looks better in hand and IF it’s reasonable on the secondary market. I feel like I’m being harsh on these last two weeks’ worth of miniature reviews, but I think it is more a product of getting better at painting myself and of the previous quality that this team-up as produced, hopefully it’s just terrible pictures.

How about we wrap up this bad boy with some…

RANDOM CRAP!

- Dang Ant when we do get to hang out it just makes me sad we don’t get to hang out more often. In two weeks we are going to DESTROY the food at Asian House!
- Age Of Ultron is the next Avengers movie? I really hope they are just using the title and not the actual storyline.
- Yesterday morning I sat down and watched The Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior (**** out of 5).

I had always read that the Ultimate Warrior is an insane asshat of a human being. After watching that documentary it seems as if that is the nicest thing I could write about him. Holy crap NO one on that DVD had anything nice to say about him whatsoever, especially Ted DiBiase who started out trying to at least being civil, but eventually just seemed to be fully chuggin’ the Haterade. The thing is I can’t disagree with anything they said, the Warrior is a bit of a joke. As Jim Ross so eloquently put, “…all flash and no sizzle…” When your entrance is longer than your matches because you can’t wrestle it doesn’t say a lot for you. Worse yet if you seemingly don’t care, and it sounds like Warrior just didn’t care about anyone but Warrior. The most interesting part for me was listening to Chris Jericho, Christian, & Edge talk about the nostalgia of the Warrior. There was a hint of sarcasm and some joking, but at the same time you could see how this man had affected them in their youth and that was sort of neat. Overall it was an interesting documentary that definitely felt more like a ‘hit piece’ on a guy who is hard to forget.
- 3 Days till Training Camp starts, thank the gawds because a day of Golf chat has left me wanting to eat a bag of insect repellent.
- Dish TV is pretty dang sweet.
- At the end of the week is our 2nd Friday Night SMACKDOWN! I was bored and since the Universe Mode is currently off limits I started putting together my very own World Tag Team Grand Prix.

32 teams, single elimination tournament. I don’t care what brand they are from or even if they are a Free Agent, instead it’s just a tournament to crown the best of the best. I put together a homemade arena for it, which looks pretty decent. I threw together some belts to honor the achievement. And then I randomly put together my bracket. I decided to NOT play any of the first round match-ups by myself because I felt I would influence the course of things, so I just watched. I’m only one match in and it was the Latin Kings made up of Epico, Primo, managed by Hunico against Steenerico, made up of ‘Mr. Wrestling’ Kevin Steen & El Generico. I knew who I was pulling for, and the computer did NOT let me down as Steen & Generico dominated. They finally finished their opponents off when Steen smashed both Epico & Hunico off the apron giving Generico the time to crush Primo with a Falcon Arrow Driver. I’m so pumped for Friday that it’s ridiculous.
- I could use some cuddling or at least a hug.
- I really need to set up a Movie-A-Thon, Trivia Death Match, a Board Game Day, and my next CHIKARA & Miniatures Painting soon.
- Speaking of miniatures painting I was able to knock out three more yesterday. This time it was two Pirate-like Orcs and a Pirate Ogre with a ton of tattoos and some super SWEET pants. Cassandra was able to knock out about half the eyes that I needed done, and hopes to get the rest and the bases done by the end of the week so we can DIP. I’ve got about 2/3rds of my BONES primed, but now I’m out of primer again and need to wash and glue my giant sized miniatures. I’ve realized that I will never get every miniature I own painted. It is impossible, so I’m simply enjoying the time sitting and doing something slightly creative that I’ve learned to thoroughly enjoy.
- The yard really does need mowed and I should grill this week as well. How come neither is appealing to me today?
- I need to figure out what the Podcast equipment will run me so I can go get it bought. I really want to get started on one out of my basement.

I think that’s all I got.

“Ribonucleic acid freak out, the power of prayer.
Long halls of science and all the lunatics committed there.
Robot Lords of Tokyo, SMILE TASTE KITTENS!
Did you not know that the royal hunting grounds are always forbidden?

Are you rolling tape now? Bits and pieces large and small
Sector, vector, eat them all.
It's already in their eyes.
Among the mental ones a messenger will soon arrive.

10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.
10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.

Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don't come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.
Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don't come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.

Ain't nothing you can do about it. Gonna be a big brawl over it
Like them little bitty babies in the king cakes.
Bonnie & Clyde the whole dome,
The shackles of automata will shatter like their bones.

10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.
10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.

Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don't come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.
Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don't come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.

Ribonucleic acid freak out, the power of prayer.
Long halls of science and all the lunatics committed there.
Robot Lords of Tokyo, SMILE TASTE KITTENS!
Did you not know that the royal hunting grounds are always forbidden?

10001110101
Half a mind to double up, baby. Three times is jive.
10001110101
Half a mind to double up, baby. Three times is jive.

Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don't come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.
Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don't come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.”

    * = One more new Venture Brothers on the DVR and then we have to wait however long to the 2nd half of Season 5.  I'm not sure why they've gone to these half seasons, but as a Venture Brothers Zealot I can't even bring myself to bitch about.  All I can do is long for the other half or the 1st half DVD release.