8/18/14
It seems like every large subject I have to yammer on about
ends up as a Podcast, so I guess you’ll just have to settle for a heaping
spoonful of…
RANDOM CRAP!
- We’ve done like 10 hours’ worth of Podcast material in the
last 10 days or so. All if it very
different, and all of it turned out really well in my humble opinion. It is all over the place as far as content,
humor, and seriousness. So what I’m
saying is there is something for everyone between Antagonist Relations, Heel
Turn Radio, & the Insecurity Blanket Podcast.
- Thank you to the Nick World Order for all the free RPG/free
Comic Book swag. That was awfully
incredible of you sir.
- Congrats to Magic Mike on the engagement!
- The streaming service for the WWE Network was awful last
night. It is frustrating to sit and have
them constantly shilling $9.99 and then have my service buffering constantly
and the feed cut out twice. That being
said we were really down on the ‘Product’ prior to the show’s start; however it
was a very entertaining show, shockingly so.
Oh and that main event was every Jern hater’s wet dream. Watching Bork Lazer SMASH for 20 plus minutes
and have Super-Cena get in literally 5 moves the entire match while taking
about 20 suplexes was epic. As quiet as
we were last year with frustration at the screwing of Daniel Bryan we were just
as smugly satisfied and quiet at the beat down ‘The Beast’ gave ‘The
Champ’. And that made all the buffering
worthwhile.
- Oh and congrats to Master Kedrin 4.0, new L.E.W.G.I. member
for tying for the win in PPV picks.
- Speaking of L.E.W.G.I., Sunday was our 1 year
L.E.W.G.I.-versary. I said this on the
Podcast, I hugged my brethren mightily, and I even took it to ‘teh Fazebookz’
and shouted it out loud; THANK YOU! It
has been a year of meeting new people, forming new Friendships, enjoying more
wrestling than a bunch of rambunctious adults should be allowed, eating more
great grub than I need, and having more discussions about things that I truly
adore than I thought possible. James
& his Magical Beard and I discussed a few weeks ago while roasting
succulent meats over a flame about how life is odd in that people come and go
out of it, but that when you find your group of people it really is something
spectacular. In the last year and a half
or so I’ve found my ‘Peeps’, and it has been amazing. So thank you to my L.E.W.G.I. ‘Family’, and
know that this is only the beginning.
- I buzzed through Tim Pratt’s “Reign Of Stars” (**** out of
5) over the last few days. This is a
follow-up to City Of The Fallen Sky and picks up where we left Skiver and
Alaeron post that adventure. The reality
is I dig Skiver and Alaeron as characters.
From Alaeron’s hyper focus and almost Autistic Spectrum Disorder mind,
to Skiver’s devious, lecherous, but remarkably loyal outlook they are just two
characters I thoroughly enjoy reading about, very similar to my enjoyment of
Radovan and Count Jeggare. While I don’t
think that this tale is quite as immersive as the previous entry in the series,
you just can’t help but be enthralled because Mr. Pratt has crafted such damn
likable and intriguing characters. This
time we go knee deep into the land of Numeria and the intrigues of the Technic
League. This is where Alaeron fled
pre-City Of The Fallen Sky, and we finally see the consequences of that
decision. As a non-Pathfinder player I
found Numeria and its dichotomy of barbarism and stolen technology to be
fascinating and to me a bit reminiscent of the Hawkmoon stories by Michael Moorcock. The politicking is the main focus as the
book, which is a strange bait and switch as I expected more of an exploration
tale like we received in the first tale and less of the machinations of the
League, and the caper that takes place towards the end. This book is a hodge podge of a story that
works, not just because of the main two characters, but because Tim Pratt knows
how to make you want to turn the next page.
And then the next page. AND then
the next page. So if you are looking for
some fun fantasy reading that is more than a bit different than the norm make
sure you take the time to read City Of The Fallen Sky and its follow-up Reign
Of Stars.
- Last Friday night was 1st Group’s trip into the
Iron Mountain. Zack really shouldered
the load as I was just fried. I was
fried to the point I couldn’t really even complete sentences and had a meltdown
after everyone left. When I go to long
with that little sleep I eventually hit a wall and I did, and I hit it really
hard. I slept more though the last few
days and while I’m nowhere near 100% I am far better than I was. Now I just need to get back on a regular
schedule. Anywho, no one cares about
that crap, you guys (all ten of you) want to know how D&D went. Well a few months back Zack showed me this
giant Robot encounter he had constructed and it was beautiful. There was a simplicity about it that made it
deadly, but easy to manage. However we
couldn’t just give them a one encounter evening, so we also put together a
devious hallway full of really great traps which added a TON of tension to the
session and really challenged the PC’s.
I know it was a source of consternation for some, but I thought it
stretched them to the limit, made them be inventive, and in the end added to
the game. Sandwiching these two
encounters were two heavy Role Playing Encounters. The first had to do with introducing Jimini
Xmas, James’ Bard, to the group, dealing with the fallout of Larry Charmin,
Gene’s PC, finally coming into contact with his mortal enemy Hugo Burlington,
and handling the politicking of the Baroness.
I thought it went well; it started off poorly as without me being
totally there mentally the PC’s went a little bit wild. That will happen. There is a LOT of personalities in that room,
not to mention 8 players, who will push and who have an agenda of their
own. When I am on my game I excel at
handling that, when I am in that mental state where I can even pronounce words,
not so much. However, we got through,
had some fun, and moved forward. The
final social encounter came out of strange circumstances. Zack and I had really planned for the Elder
Wyrm, Gorgel, or the Baroness to go through the portal to shut it and therefor
take the massive Shard, and ascend to Godhood.
And yes, I know THE Karl, I said it seemed like it was at least 35 Shards,
and that 35 is not 50. C’mon THE Karl,
that kills people! Anywho, I am going to
blame it on lack of focus and sleep, rather than my ability to remember how to
count. It was 50 Shards, RETCON! Magic Mike’s Genasi Mage, Oxalic, has
ascended to Godhood. I think the best
part about it is he did it completely selflessly, he did it perfectly in
character, and he did it without even thinking about the potential of what he
would become. I also dug it because it
completely crap housed our preconceptions of how the session would end, and we
rolled with it beautifully. Cassandra
said something interesting on our way to ‘The Cloud’ on Saturday morning. She said Zack excels at putting the DANGER in
the game, he builds encounters that challenge PC’s in new and different ways,
he teaches the game as he runs, and he does it all easily. In contrast I tell stories. I bring the DRAMA to the game, I challenge
PC’s to get immersed in the game, and I challenge you to have fun. Together we make a pretty amazing tandem. I thought it one of the highest compliments I
have been paid as part of a DM duo. In
the end we adjusted Gorgel took the city, Larry Charmin cashed in his ‘favor’
and Hugo Burlington died horribly, earning the PC’s enemies in his son, Ernesto
Burlington, and the now outcast Baroness, and the PC’s headed home. In doing so they headed right into the teeth
of the 2nd Barony Wars. You
see Zack and I have plotted out the broad strokes of what 1st Group
will be doing in its final 8 sessions and I for one am beyond pumped. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people
to enjoy the D&D story telling experience with, and I don’t think there is
ANYONE out there that compliments my running style and tall tale telling like
Zack. So a hearty THANK YOU to Group 1,
I can’t wait to see where the next 8 sessions take us.
- I have almost entirely abandoned the DVR for YOUTube and The
Chris Gethard Show right now. This will
make the transition when we dump our cable/satellite provider all the more
easy. Currently it is all I want to
watch.
- Casual Doug is one of my favorite people in the world. Oh and thank you to La Randita for the Honey
Mead! YES!
- Dungeon Saga has shot past $400,000.00 with just over ten
days to go. I can’t state enough that if
you dig Dungeon Crawl board games then you should go spend your hard earned
‘chedda’ on this Mantic product. What
you get for the initial buy-in of $100 is pretty damn amazing, but with all the
‘Add-ons’ and then the other kits you can grab of miniatures on the dirt cheap
you could easily double that hundo and walk out with what really is a game PLUS
so much more. They haven’t given us
quite as much about the Advanced Rules as I’d like, but as a company that
ALWAYS seems to exceed expectations and puts the onus on not just getting the
most bang for their buck, but in being a part of a growing company I expect us
to get the ability to make our own characters, bring in miniatures from other
games (not even just Mantic either), and for to truly get something magical
here. Ronnie and the Boyz have yet to
leave me disappointed since they started Mantic so jump on board now so you
don’t have to wish you did later.
- Speaking of spending, DCM apparently has another Kickstarter
on the horizon, WWE 2k15 may have finally got its damnable claws in me, and
there are new Pre-paints from both D&D and Pathfinder on the way. My dollars have been stretched pretty thing
so it looks like I might be laying off some of these purchases for a while. At first this made me sort of sad, but the
reality is I have yet to get any of my 5E books yet (F’ you Amazon), Deadzone
has another wave in the mail, Bones II should be coming in October, my DCM
minis are supposedly coming soon, and there a TON of other folks’ B-days on the
horizon. I have more than enough on my
disposable income plate without going mad buy crazy.
- Oh and we had two massive scary explosions in our life, one a house that blew up in our neighborhood and one a tire on the way to St. Cloud Sat. that almost a car to hit us. And on the way home tonight there was a 'Jumper' on the bridge. Life is weird.
- And thank you to Diamond Dave and Mighty Mike for
inadvertently reminding me why we own and play games.
I think that’s all I got.
Anytime King!
ReplyDeleteAnd that is why you are Diamond!
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