7/21/14
I debated internally about whether or not to go into a long
winded diatribe of frustration regarding things going on the place that signs a
paycheck for me every two weeks. There
has been some decision making of late that really speaks to the motivation, thought
process, and direction of the employment quagmire I find myself immersed
in. However the more I contemplated it
the more I decided none of you care, it won’t change anything, and frankly I’m
not surprised so I’m just going to avoid it all together.
Instead I decided to just let my mind run free and throw out
a blog chock full of….
RANDOM CRAP!
- The whole kerfuffle between the Vikings and Kris
Kluwe has left me feeling pretty gross.
To listen to people half-heartedly defend someone who is a bigot bothers
me. To see Kluwe wait on this until it
was advantageous bothers me as well.
This is one of those rare cases where I truly hope two wrongs make a
right. I hope that the Vikings have to
pay out a massive settlement that then goes help LBGT rights, I hope Kluwe has
to own up to his own hypocrisy and then goes away, but what I hope more than
anything is that more public figures get the message that what you say has
resonance. You have a right to an
opinion, but when in a professional environment keep your crazy beliefs to
yourself.
- Tiny peppers are the best peppers.
- The bottom of my right foot is all sorts of
messed up. I’m not sure how, but it got
really dry, and yet the left didn’t, and cracked. This then sort of shredded and got packed with
gunk. It is cleaned out, not infected,
but damn if it doesn’t hurt like nothing else.
It is raw, aggravated, and extremely uncomfortable. It feels like my foot is simultaneously on
fire and throbbing. Cassandra has been a
life saver helping me take care of this.
I don’t know what I would ever do without her. Thanks sweetie!
- F’ You UPS for your incompetent service. You’ve had just about two weeks to deliver
two items. I had hoped to have them by
Sat. at the LATEST, but you screwed that up.
This amazes me since the items were IN Minneapolis last Tuesday and then
for some gawds forsaken reason they were sent to Wisconsin and now to
Iowa. That makes NO sense. None.
This is why I avoid doing business with you at all costs. GIVE ME MY PACKAGES!
- I’m completely obsessed with Civilization
Revolution on Xbox 360 right now. And
the Chinese are my mortal enemies in almost every game. That means next game I’m playing as Mao!
- We have got to find different jobs ASAP. A litany of strange e-mails regarding the cost
of properly training people to effectively do their jobs this morning has me
even more convinced than ever.
- Weird Al’s new song ‘Handy’ is the official
theme song of THE Karl. I have spoken.
- Painting is on the agenda this week. I really want to sit down either tomorrow
night or Wednesday night and hammer out 3 to 5 miniatures. I think that’s a reasonable expectation.
- Last Thursday was 3rd Group D&D
and the wrap up of the Heroic Tier for them.
We were sans Startlin’ Spence as he had familial commitment. I tried to throw some serious combat
situations at the PC’s and really feel like I did, but it ended up being more
about the threat of what could occur than what did, as the PC’s stopped the
summoning of the Aspect Of Orcus. They
used some skillful teamwork, some well-timed Action points, and some fantastic
planning to get the job done. They
didn’t get all the Shards they wanted as the Alchemical Golem, Klaus, stole one
for his master, ‘His Most Benevolent Steward Of Humanity’ Karlot Benidit III. I took to heart a lot of the things that I
heard at CONvergence and tried to begin implementing them. I jumped the PC’s three levels, because I
truly feel like they deserved it. The
PC’s will each be designing a district in Ebonbone where they will have their
‘power base’. I’m treating Ebonbone like
a city ever shifting in the shadow, a living tendril of darkness and
intrigue. They all are going to be
creating a 7th Level underling as well. The next session will be these underlings
attempting to slay their main political rival Uwain. I’m hoping to either co-run that night with
Zack or at the very least get a TON of his input. I’m still planning on using Microscope to do
some world/city building here in the near future once I can get the right
amount of interest in playing. It just
isn’t a game you can play without interest and investment. I’m trying to ask my PC’s to do more of the
world building, an idea from the Apocalypse World games. I want to know what they see as logically
being there. I also dropped a crap load
of Shards on the group, allowed for a three month time passage, and let them
refine them into something useful. The
thing is every time I get to play with any group that I have I am awed by how
much fun they have become. Truly I have
stumbled into a literal treasure trove of fantastic players. Last Thursday thoroughly reminded me of that
fact. The possibly ‘sad’ reality though
is that in all four of my games is I’m only going to run 4E for about 9 to 10
more sessions. Then I’m taking things to
5E. I hope I don’t lose players over
this, but I’ve finally come to that decision.
I like the feel for the game I’m getting, the prep time is shorter, I
can customize it on the fly, and the math balance won’t be such a pain in my
Ginger kiester. I’m figuring I’ll drop a
100 year jump in time on the setting, allow those interested to help craft
those hundred years with Microscope, and go from there. The idea is by that time some of the PC’s
will be my new Pantheon of deities, some will have died I’m sure, some players
will have left, and we’ll all be ready to start anew at 1st
Level. I’m hoping the players see it as
an opportunity to start seeing what they want as the ending to their PC’s
story. I’m also hoping they weave it
into the world itself and make it something truly memorable.
- Thank you to Magic Mike for the Hawkman T-shirt. It was beyond generous and too cool for
school!
- One last D&D side note, I think when I ‘reboot’ to 5E I want to
keep similar vibes to the groups. I want
to keep a Pirate themed game, a Kung Fu/Asian style game, a strange fantasy
sci-fi pulp game, and one group that are Evil.
I’m not married to that line up, but having four different vibes really
helps the games feel fresh and different to me.
I think with 5E we are also seeing a ‘shrinking’ of the world so smaller
threats are much more dangerous. In 4E
if you ran into Goblins at 1st Level you just went kill crazy
rampage on them. As a DM I had to send
them en masse, but even then they were just really cannon fodder without some
fiddling. With 5E there is a significant
throwback to old D&D where the Goblin tribe in the woods is a TRUE threat
at 1st Level to wipe out your village. So I’m going to have to shrink my world
threat level to meet that new expectation.
In doing that I think it’ll make combat much more fun and dangerous
while VASTLY increasing the ‘game space’ for role playing and character
development.
- MONSTERHEARTS! That is all, I
just feel like I have to scream that at least on a weekly basis.
- Thank you to THE Karl, Master Kedrin 4.0, and the lovely and
multi-talented Cassandra for a Saturday night full of games, ‘quality meats’,
silly hats, beverages, and most importantly a LOT of laughs. I don’t think I have a better time with
anyone else.
- I finally got my hands on the expansion for Lords Of Waterdeep. Now I just need to play the GD game. ‘Casual’ Doug, Geneious, anyone else?
- Speaking of Gaming, I want to have a Board Game Day in August. It’ll be like a 12pm to whenever day in the
basement. Hopefully by that time we’ll
have the new couches. I’m intrigued to
see how the seating will change.
- So much D&D prep to do.
- It sounds as if the Insecurity Blanket Podcast on Anxiety will happen
in a week or two once the panel can hammer out their schedules. I am really looking forward to sitting down
with the three of them and talking about how paralyzing and limiting anxiety
can be, and how finding effective coping mechanisms is difficult, but
worthwhile. In the meantime I might try
and throw together a Podcast on something.
I’m not sure what, but I’ve been compiling a list of stuff that I’d like
to talk about. Perhaps I’ll put out the
Podcast Signal on the FB’s this week and see if I can get some takers.
- With the new D&D miniatures, the next Pathfinder set, and the
Mantic Dwarf King’s Hold Kickstarter on the horizon I’m trying to figure out
who I’m going to have to kill in order to pay for these things.
- I am beyond sleep deprived.
I think that’s all I got.
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