Sharing a review of 5th edition of D&D
Tag Archives: Games
Oh my time is in serious danger…
A few months ago I lost quite a bit of productive time at home to a computer game, Kerbal Space Program. The game is very low cost to buy, and if you have a science or engineering bent it’s worse than blue meth. Just a couple of weeks ago I broke my addiction to the game.
Now my strength of will is being tested again.
A couple of years ago my wife I received as a Christmas gift a card game ‘Dominion.’ It is a funny game, easy to play, nicely social, and subtle enough that the ease of play disguises a tricky and challenging game to master. We quickly fell in love with it, and it is a cornerstone of our board and card gaming nights.
Behold the demon temptation that is Dominion on Line. Not as fun as playing around a table with friends, but still dangerously easy and apparently free to play.
Oh can I roll a 20 on my Will save?
Game Review: Star Trek The Deck Building Game; The Original Series
Before I get into the meat of this first post in over a month, let me give you a brief look into my life lately.
The reason I have not been posting is threefold.
1) Day Job: I’ve been working 6 days a week for three months now and it has taken a real toll on my energies when I arrive home. 5 days a week at 11 hours at the day job and then a half-day on Saturdays. This is good money-wide and while I am still a temp there things look good for transitioning to a regular full time position.
2) Writing: Despite the enormous number of hours poured into the paying job, I have also been very productive on my non-paying writing job. The re-write of my SF adventure novel hit 70,000 words and I figure I have another 30 to 35 thousand to go.
3) Kerbal Space Program: This I blame on my nephew, or is it nephew-in-law? Is there such a thing? Anyway he mentioned this program in a facebook post, I downloaded the Demo and good god this is crack for science/engineering types. I used to play a lot of first person shooters on my Xbox 360. That was perfect. I could fire up the machine and play for just 15-30 minutes and get in several games. Kerbal? Hours sucked away designing spacecraft and then trying to figure out why they blow up.
So on to the mini-review. Continue reading
well, this was different
I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-11
Constitution-10
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-13
Charisma-14
Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
A Dungeons & Dragons Rant
I’ve been playing role-paying games for quite a few years. My best friend in boot-camp introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons back in 1979. (To be precise it was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.) I was hooked from the first game, and I still play to this day.
The game has changed a lot over the years, AD&D, gave way to 2nd Edition AD&D, then 3rd edition D&D, then that got patched by 3.5 D&D (What I currently play), that got superseded for some by 4th edition D&D, setting of the nuclear war of edition wars, and soon we’ll see yet another iteration.
For sometime I have been pondering how the changes in the rules have change how we, or at least how I play the game. I’m not speaking of the mechanics, what dice you roll and how you determine success or failure in the game, but rather how the worlds and adventures are constructed and from that what the feel of the games become. Continue reading
Vacation is over
My week off from work has ended and now it is time to man the desk again. I had sucha good time at ChiCon 7 that I can return to work in a snappy happy mood.
Another General Posting
The frequent eye strain headaches have made the desire to sit and compose blog posts rather rare of late. After spending 8 hours at the computer for my day job I am disinclined to spend much more at home. Even bumping up the font only helps so much. However on Wednesday I had my annual eye exam, discovered that the axis of my astigmatism had shifted quite a bit. So while my visual acuity is about the same, I still require new lens. They have been ordered, 7-10 days which is like something from the last century, and when I get them I should be back to my old happy self.
Having just finished the Book of Job, I’m about halfway through my reading of the Old Testament. God has finished making he transition to a spirit above and encompassing the world, quite a change from the wrestling guy in Genesis or the dude who appeared, wrapped in smoke and flame like a Balrog, above magic boxes. I’m not sure if I will finish this read, it has been sucking up a lot of my time and I really shouldn’t waste too much.
Today, 5/25/12, the Dragon spacecraft docked with the International Space station, opening a new era for spaceflight. Space X is going where only governments have gone before, and while I cheer this achievement should we consider where other corporations might go if given the chance? Is this is herald of a bright off-world future or the sign that the cyberpunks might have been right?
Paging Dr. McCoy, your hypo is ready. Speaking as someone who despises the needle, I can’t even watch one on the movie screen, I truly cheer this invention.
The three day weekend is nearly upon us. I have plans, but hardly anything extravagant. Sadly I will not be going to BayCon this year. It was a choice between BayCon and WorldCon and in that contest WorldCon always wins. So tonight will be D&D, where I am a player. We’re in the middle of a fight, outnumber and fighting under hampered conditions. So far the gamemaster has been holding back, but we’ll see if this is the last game for my Arabic Paladin, Alladin. Tomorrow and Sunday will be board and card gaming with friends and my sweetie-wife, must resist buying the Game of Thrones board game, and on Monday I will be going toDisneyland. Sadly by myself, my dear friend who was going to go is under the weather health wise and that has caused quite a bit of financial stress. I already had paid for my ticket, so alone I go. I shall have fun in his honor.
I took my birthday off
My birthday being yesterday, I stayed home from my day job, wrote not one god damn word. Played video games, ate pizza, and watched movies. All in all not a bad way to spend my birthday while my sweetie-wife tooled around town between her job and various appointments.
About 9:30 she called me from her job to let me know there was a little ‘some thing’ in the closet for me. She directed me to an open Amazon shipping box in the walk-in closet and told me I’d find a little thing in there. (She had already gotten me a NOOK for my birthday. A NOOK I am thoroughly enjoying.)
So what was the little ‘thing?’ a blu-ray copy of John Carpenter’s The Thing. I spent the morning watching it and listening to the audio commentary by Carpenter and star Kurt Russell. A good film and a good commentary track.
In the evening I went to the Mysterious Galaxy Writers’ Group meeting, where we hashed out a few ideas for group structure and future plans.
Once I got home I had a bowl of ice cream and watched most of a documentary on exploitation films made in thePhilippines, I’ll finish that up tonight.
Quite appropriate for my birthday it looks like my recent spat of headache may be a symptom that I need a new eyeglass prescription. I have an exam set-up for next week.
Friday Fun
Note, this it is not friday Funnies. Today I want to share a new show with you. You can’t find it on your regular TV channels, but on YouTube, where there’s a wonderful channel called Geek and Sundry.
After the cut is Episode 1 of a show produced and hosted by Wil Wheaton called ‘Tabletop.”
It’s a show where celebrities join Wil around a table and play a board game. It’s about 30 min long and frankly I really loved it.
Continue reading
Nook tablet vs. Apple iPad
I purchased a couple of years ago an ebook reader, the EZReader Pro. It worked fine, but I discoverfd I adopted too soon and the device while perfectly functional doesn’t meet all the needs I have for a good portable reader.
I know that one day I want to get myself a tablet, the question is which one? Continue reading