Character Profile Update

During my last character profile post, I featured Bran. Well, I'm sad to report, Bran is dead.

A moment of silence please...



I'm disappointed by this, not because he is dead. I've had many characters die. I'm disappointed because of the circumstances of this death. First it was TPK, or Total Party Kill, meaning that we all died. Second, we were rolling badly. I was rolling alright for most part. But even I wasn't rolling great. Third, we were not working well as a team. Bran is really only effect if he has someone to work off of. And when I was trying to work off the Ranger in our group. He'd move or do something to mess it up. I never really had a chance to work off our Paladin. Lastly, I acted out of character too much. Lets face it Bran is only interested in Bran. He gave his only heal potion to one of the other characters to save his life when it could have been used to save his life later. He came back when he could have escaped. Granted it is a game and some level of not playing true to your character is expected. I couldn't just let the other get killed, but Bran could have. That last one was my fault. Our DM (Dungeon Master) thought it was cool monster to get killed by, and it may have been. But to me it was just some blue slime monster, meh, the White dragon we faced in the first adventure would have been a much cooler monster to get killed by.

Ultimately their death came down to rolls. Story be damned. This is the reason why I was disappointed with his death. Bran had a great story potential, a great chance for character growth, and now we will never know how he would have developed. His death was meaningless, empty, boring, unheroic. D&D says it wants you to play heroes, it says so in the Players Handbook,

"The thirty levels of your career are divided into three tiers: the heroic tier (1st level through 10th level),...

In the heroic tier, your character is already a hero, set apart from the common people by your natural talents, learned skills, and some hint of a greater destiny that lies before you."

but has a mechanic that puts the control of the characters death into a series of dice rolls. To me this is the greatest flaw of the system. But that's for another time. Nobody wants to read a story, or see a movie, about the character dies way before his time. The same is true for our characters in our story. There was no growth to our characters. Our characters did not develop or change from the experiences they faced. Because there was no time for them to grow. That is the true tragedy of their deaths. It would be like going to a movie and sitting though the first half hour of the story and then watch as the main characters are killed off and never having it explained why it was relevant to the story or why we should care that the characters were dead or to explain how there deaths effect those around them. The movie just continues on as if nothing had happen. Think about Lord of the Rings books. What if Frodo and the other hobbits died when they first encountered the Ringwraiths in the forest? The book ends at that point, with no explanation as to what happens to middle earth. That's what Bran's death feels like.

Our DM said he was sorry he killed us all. And he probably is. But he is also the one in control of the story. Which means there are things he can do to change the outcome.

Like, the monster suddenly has fewer hit points, (Bran got in at least one good hit before going down. That could have ended the fight. It's not like we were keeping track of the monsters hit points.)

He could have given us more action points. (Action points are little rewards the players get to do cool stuff; like having more attacks, maybe use an addition healing???, or re-roll a bad dice roll. I don't know all the uses but they make you cooler.) I'm not sure how many we were suppose to get, but it just seemed like we weren't getting them as often as we did in the first adventure.

Then there is always Deus Ex Machina. (from the Latin, meaning "god from a/the machine". It's a plot devise were an external source, like a god, intervenes when the situation has turned hopeless.) I'm not a big fan of this technique but it's still an option and would have been a better outcome then a TPK. We had a Paladin and just as Bran goes down, the Paladin's god shows up and heals him a bit. The Paladin saves our asses. But now we (or at least the paladin) owes the god a favor. During the whole first adventure, Bran was giving the Paladin shit about his "New found faith" saying stuff like, "Where's your god now?", or " If he's so great why doesn't he just smite this goblin down." All the stuff a skeptical atheist would say to a christian. That would have been an eye opening experience for Bran, definitely one that would have changes his perspective of the gods.

Fantasy Football: Week 3 Reflections

Had an ok week this week. I lost 40 to 45+ versus the Wolfpack. He has to 2 more players going for tonights game. I am out of players, so chalk up another loss. After 3 weeks I'm 1-2. But on a good note, my San Fran Niners beat the Detroits Lions. They are now 2-1. WOOT. I've also noticed a pattern emerging. Niners lost week 1, I won. Niners win week 2 and 3, I lost week 2 and 3. So if I lose, Niners win. If this is true, then I an more then happy to take one for the team and lose my remaining games, if the Niners win all of there remaining games.

Ben Roethlisberger, my QB, disappointed me again. I only got 2 points out of him. Don't know what to do with him at this point. I picked up Brian Griese for Big Ben's bye week. But now I wonder if I shouldn't start him instead. I think I will have to monitor match-ups. Griese throw 2 TD's and passed for over 400 yards. Ben has yet to throw for over 200 yards.

All of my running backs did good. I decided to go with Frank Gore and bench Maurice Jones-Drew for Julius Jones. Both Jones and Gore had good weeks. Both got over 100 yards and a Touchdown. Jones-Drew also did good again the Colts. He finally got a over 100 yards and scored a TD.

Wide Receivers, since Roethlisberger had a bad game, Hines Ward also had a bad week. Donald Driver got about what I expected. I had to use D.J. Hackett because Justin Gage had a groin injury. But I got a point out of him, which was more then I expected.

Kicker and Defense I got 10 points from the 2 of them. Less then I had hoped.

Going into Monday Night Football, the weekly average is 41 points. So not too bad, staying in the points hunt. But the average will go up after tonight.

Edit:
With Monday Night Football over, I lost my game, 65 to 40. Average for the week was 47.625. Average for the year is 47.042. I dropped to the 7th highest point scorer in the league. Still in the top half. Hope I have a good week next week. Interesting note, the division I'm in is leading in total points scored. We have averaged 49.667 points over the first 3 weeks. That's not good for me. But we are out of Division play. So we be going against those weaker teams. Hopefully I can get those wins I'll need. Also I'm leading in most points scored against. Not the stat you want to lead in.

Next week I'm up against the 905 Lions. They are 2-1, scored a total of 153 points. So we are about even in that regards. I've scored a total of 154 points.

Fantasy Football: Week 2 Reflections

Had another good week despite losing 58 to 66 versus Tigers.

I figured it would be a tough week, but I still felt confident. I was up against Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings of Green Bay. GB was up against the Lousy Detroit Lion so I figured they'd put up good numbers. And they did. Rodgers scored 16 points throwing 3 TD's. Luckily none of them went to Jennings, but he did have 167 yards.
I was also up against Adrian Peterson from Minnesota. He too had a good week running for 180 yards but again I caught a brake because he did not get into the end zone. What I did not expect was Calvin Johnson scoring 2 TD's.

I kept my line up the same. Although I did think about pulling D.J. Hackett for Justin Gage because Hackett was against the tough Bears Defense and Gage was against a weaker Cincinnati defense. If I had followed my instinct, I would have tied my game, but would have lost in the tie breaker. Sometimes you just can't catch a break. This is the most frustrating thing about fantasy Football. The luck of the draw. I was 4th highest point scorer of the week and played the 3rd highest point scorer. There was a team that scored 39 points and won their game. Grrrr, I tell you, grrrr. The average points scored this week was 49.69. Average for the year 46.75.

My Running backs, Frank Gore and Maurice Jones-Drew had ok weeks. Both managed to score, but got under a hundred yards. My receivers Donald Driver and Hines Ward also had ok weeks. They too also grabbed a TD but also failed to get over hundred yards. D.J. Hackett sucked failing to get a TD and only had 22 yards. I think this week I will pull him for Justin Gage. Ben Roethlisberger, my Quarterback got me 6 points. I was hoping for more. 10 more would have been great. Another good week for my defense considering. An excellent week from my kicker David Akers.

Next week we have the Wolfpack.

Character Profile: Bran

Bran
System: D&D 4th Edition
Status: Alive, Currently playing.
Mary Sue Test Score: 18, 19
A notable question that came up during the test that made me laugh. "Does the character use a katana or any other Asian weapon?" I laugh because Bran is a thief, extortionist, member of the Thieves Guild "Organised Crime", generally not a nice guy. One of the weapons available to him per the D&D 4th ed. rules are shurikens, or throwing stars. You know those weapons ninjas like to use in movies. Well a player suggested I pick some up and I laugh and told him I'm not Japanese.

About Bran
Bran is Irish or Welsh for raven. In celtic mythology ravens are considered an omen of death or war. This also fits into the world we are playing in. The Raven Queen, or the goddess of Death is the deity he reveres. She is like the ferryman in Greek mythology, basically responsible for making sure the souls of the dead make it to their final destination in the after life. Bran is not really a religious man, more of a deist. But he does look to the Raven Queen, although not for guidance or help or anything really. He serves her mostly because he feels he owes a debt to her. During his life of crime he met a woman and fell in love with her. Ríona was her name. She always dreamed of leaving the city for country life. She was born in the country and lived there as a child. But rough time came to her family and they had to more to the city to find work. Bran promised her that one day he would leave his life of crime and they would retire to the country. One day he managed to save enough to make that dream come true. He purchased a ring for his love. Sold all of his accounts, arranged to purchase a plot of land outside the city and raced home to tell his love the good news. But when he got home, he found the place a disaster. It had been ransacked, and he heard muffled cries coming from the bedroom. He charged into the bedroom were 3 men had beaten Ríona. One was raping her and the other two had waited for Bran. They surprised him, knocked him to the ground and beat him until they though he was dead. When he woke hours later. He discover the dead and violated body of his love. All of their valuables stolen. The ring for his love, the money he was going to use to purchase a little plot of land in the country, all gone. He managed to scrape together enough money to bury Ríona. Before they placed her into the ground, he placed his last two copper coins in her hands. And then said a pray to the Raven Queen. "Guide her safely to her new home. For I will be reunited with her shortly, but first I have affairs here I must attend to." He then turned and departed. Never to return her grave site. He returned to his life of crime with a new purpose. To revenge the death of his love. The only keepsake of her he carries is the pendant Ríona wore ever since she was a child. It's cheap, made of copper and tin. But it's priceless in his eyes. He took out a loan to have a stiletto specially made. The pommel has an engraved image of raven's head. The stiletto's sole purpose is to kill those that raped and murder his love. And he will not rest until blood is spilt.

Next week we will have Jade.

Character Profile: Introductions

Every now and then I will take a look at either a current character or past character I have or had in one of the many games I've played over the years.

First I will take the *Mary Sue litmus test. Then I will record the score here. Then I will describe the character, his or her actions and any stories I may have about the character. I'll try to limit the game mechanics talk to a minimum when taking about the character so that if you're not familiar with the setting or mechanic of the setting you can maybe enjoy the character as much as I have.

*For those that don't know what a Mary Sue character is, it is a character that is flawed plot-wise. Something about it makes it unbelievable in some way.

From wikipedia

Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized and clichéd mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

So for my first character Profile, it will be Bran.

To be continued...

Boston Tea Party

After the betrayal of the Libertarian Party nominating Bob Barr. Probably the most un-liberty of Libertarian, I no longer can support the Libertarian Party. So today I was looking at Presidential nominees, hoping to find someone that I can in good conscious vote for. I think I've found a new political party to get behind. The Boston Tea Party. First of all I love the name. It inspires the images of the Founding Father revolting against the tyranny of King George. Second I love their party platform.

"The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose."

That's it, plan and simple, an entire platform summed up in one sentence. I love it nearly as much as the Libertarian Party Oath. Too bad the Libertarian Party can even live up to their own oath.

Unfortunately I will not be able to vote for my candidate, Charles Jay. Because the Dems and Republicans have made it hard for 3rd party candidates even get on ballots. As for as I can tell, Jay is not on the ballot in Arizona. Since Ross Perot '92 Presidential bid, the Dems and Republicans have made it even harder. We are told that voting is the most important thing we can do. But then limit our voting options? So what your telling me is Vote, as long as its for a Republican or a Democrat. Sorry, I don't either options. I think you both are two sides to the same coin. Others say to vote for one the one that is the lesser of two evils. I'm sorry I can't vote for evil, because either way it's a vote for evil. So I will excersice my right to vote. Even if it's one that some will say is a wasted vote. Either way my conscious will be clear and will continue to vote, until that right gets taken away as so many of other rights have. When that happens, then what do we do?

Boston Tea Party Wiki page.

“If I can't dance - I don't want to be part of your revolution”
~ Emma Goldman

Fantasy Football: Week 1 Reflections

Last Sunday I drafted my Fantasy Football Team. This week the NFL Football Season officially started this week and so my FFL season started as well.

MY Team consists of 16 Player.
Quarterbacks
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
Matt Leinart, Arizona Cardinals
Troy Smith, Baltimore Ravens

Running Backs
Frank Gore, San Francisco 49ers
Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars
Kevin Faulk, New England Patriots
Julius Jones, Seattle Seahawks
Maurice Morris, Seattle Seahawks
Dominic Rhodes, Indianapolis Colts

Wide Receivers
Donald Driver, Green Bay Packers
D.J. Hackett, Carolina Panthers
Hines Ward, Pittsburgh Steelers
Justin Gage, Tennessee Titans

Kickers
David Akers, Philadelphia Eagles
Kris Brown, Houston Texans

Defense
Buffalo Bills

Starters were;
Ben Roethlisberger (QB)
Frank Gore (RB)
Maurice Jones-Drew (RB)
Donald Driver (WR)
D.J. Hackett (WR)
Hines Ward (WR)
David Akers (K)
Buffalo (Def)

I had a good week 1 over all, scoring 56 points. The Average for the week was 43.8 points. Last year average was 48.1. Winning my game over Easy Money, 56 to 50. I also was the highest points scorer for my division, and the 5th highest overall. I'm off to good start but it's week 1, I still have at least 13 more games. Hopefully 17.

Big Ben gave me 8 points. Not bad, but was hoping for a little more. I was expecting 10-15 points. He did throw 2 TD's, which both went to Hines Ward which helped. Hopefully he can do better next week.

At Running back Gore had good week for me. Running for over 150 yards and a TD despite losing to Arizona. I fear it will be a long season for my Niners. :(
M. Jones-Drew on the other hand had an off week running for only 50 yards. But his O-line was banged up a bit and they were up against a pretty good defense.

At wide receiver, Hines Ward had a really good week with 2 TD's. I don't expect this every week, but it's a good start. D.J. Hackett only got 48 yards. 2 yards short of another point. He was just back from an injury and against the San Diego Defense. I expect his numbers to improve next week. Donald Drive only got me me 1 point with 38 yards off 4 reception. Granted a 68 yard TD that got called back because of penalty.

I pretty much got what I expected out of my kicker. My Defense did better then I expected with 2 turnovers and 5 sacks. I hope that becomes a trend.

Next Week I'm up against the Tigers. They lost their game to the Wolfpack, 38 to 44.

Triathlon

So I've put it into my head that I want to run a Triathlon again. I do a few in the early 2000's. I know Tempe has one in May sometime so I'm going to start training for it. I've been swimming at the gym quite regularly. I'm up to swimming 500-600 meters before I stat getting tired. Now if I can just motivate myself to run.

Critter Irony

Saturday as I was doing some cleaning, cleaning my room, feeding my tarantula and cleaning their tanks, feeding my butterflies, etc. When I got stung by a scorpion. So I have pet tarantula's but I don't have pet scorpions, but our neighborhood has always had a scorpion problem, so it's no surprise I got stung. But I find it ironic that during the time I was cleaning the tarantula tanks - one particular tarantula is really feisty - I didn't get bit or even struck at. But a walk to the kitchen for paper towels, a scorpion gets me, and it got me good. I've was stung by scorpion once before, so I thought I knew what to expect. This was ten times worse. It was hiding under the toe jam of our kitchen counters. When I stepped on it got me right on the balls of my foot just behind the middle toe. I though I had stepped on a tack or a needle. But then the burning started, and I knew that I wasn't a tack. When I looked under the counter, I saw the light brown critter. Within seconds I could feel the pins and needles feeling like when your foot or arm falls asleep. I finished what I was doing, washed my foot and flushed the little bugger down the toilet. I then took some benadryl, got a bag of ice and placed it on my foot and rested for about an hour. For the first few hours I felt a little jittery. My foot felt warm witht he pins and needles and there was a tiny little red dot where it stung me. Other then that no redness or swelling. That was different from last time. The numbness increased. My entire foot up to the ankle felt like it was a sleep. It didn't hurt unless I tried to walk. After a few hours of resting, got caught up on GH btw, the warm feeling was gon but not the numbness. I could rest any longer, I needed to do something, so I decided to run some errands. Driving was interesting. Have you ever driven when you can't feel the pedals?

The pain was gone after the first 12 hours or so. The numbness lasted a couple of days. My middle toe still feels swollen and numb. It doesn't look swollen, just feels swollen. Other then that I'm complete back to normal.