Skald Saga

2010 Goal Update

2010-05-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

To recap my goals are this year are,

Pay off computer before August. (That's when I'm hit with deferred interests charges.)
Pay off Citi Card and close account. (Timely doesn't really matter because I don't owe a whole lot and should have it paid off in a few months.)
Put $200 in savings each month.
Get Freelance Design Website up and running. End of the Year.
Get Gaming Company Website up and running. End of the Year.
Finish First Game Idea. (Does not have to be published, just finished.) This one isn't a very good SMART Goal because it is too vague, but I'm keeping it on the list.

Pay off computer. In Progress
Made payment, on track.

Put $200 in savings In Progress
Direct Deposit, no withdraws. On track.

Get Freelance Design Website running. In Progress
Get Gaming Company Website running. In Progress
No action at this time.

Finish First Game idea. In Progress
No action at this time.

Pay off Citi Card. COMPLETED
Made last payment. Getting ready to call and cancel card.

2010 Goal Update

2010-04-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

To recap my goals are this year are,

Pay off computer before August. (That's when I'm hit with deferred interests charges.)
Pay off Citi Card and close account. (Timely doesn't really matter because I don't owe a whole lot and should have it paid off in a few months.)
Put $200 in savings each month.
Get Freelance Design Website up and running. End of the Year.
Get Gaming Company Website up and running. End of the Year.
Finish First Game Idea. (Does not have to be published, just finished.) This one isn't a very good SMART Goal because it is too vague, but I'm keeping it on the list.

Pay off computer. In Progress
Made HUGE payment, very much on track, may have it paid off early.

Pay off Citi Card. COMPLETED
Made last payment. Getting ready to call and cancel card.

Put $200 in savings In Progress
Direct Deposit, 1 loan to myself, paid loan off on next paycheck. On track.

Get Freelance Design Website running. In Progress
Get Gaming Company Website running. In Progress
No action at this time.

Finish First Game idea. In Progress
No action at this time.

New definition of Freedom

2010-03-25T19:51:00.006-07:00

free·dom [free-duhm]

–noun

1. the state of being free from the burden of having to make a decision.

2010 Goal Update

2010-03-01T19:00:00.004-07:00

To recap my goals are this year are,

Pay off computer before August. (That's when I'm hit with deferred interests charges.)
Pay off Citi Card and close account. (Timely doesn't really matter because I don't owe a whole lot and should have it paid off in a few months.)
Put $200 in savings each month.
Get Freelance Design Website up and running. End of the Year.
Get Gaming Company Website up and running. End of the Year.
Finish First Game Idea. (Does not have to be published, just finished.) This one isn't a very good SMART Goal because it is too vague, but I'm keeping it on the list.

Pay off computer. In Progress
Made payment, on track.

Pay off Citi Card. In Progress
Made payment, on track. Made last payment to Care Card so extra will go into this. Should have it paid off next month.

Put $200 in savings In Progress
Direct Deposit, not withdraws, on track.

Get Freelance Design Website running. In Progress
Get Gaming Company Website running. In Progress
No action at this time.

Finish First Game idea. In Progress
Did a playtest this month. Went really real still need more playtesting. Status NA.

January Goal Update

2010-01-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

To recap my goals are this year are,

Pay off computer before August. (That's when I'm hit with deferred interests charges.)
Pay off Citi Card and close account. (Timely doesn't really matter because I don't owe a whole lot and should have it paid off in a few months.)
Put $200 in savings each month.
Get Freelance Design Website up and running. End of the Year.
Get Gaming Company Website up and running. End of the Year.
Finish First Game Idea. (Does not have to be published, just finished.) This one isn't a very good SMART Goal because it is too vague, but I'm keeping it on the list.

Pay off computer. In Progress

Made payment, on track.

Pay off Citi Card. In Progress

Made payment, on track.

Put $200 in savings In Progress

Direct Deposit, not withdraws, on track.

Get Freelance Design Website running. In Progress

Get Gaming Company Website running. In Progress

Purchase and installed software for both goals, on track.

Finish First Game idea. In Progress

Still in idea phase, status NA.

Happy New Decade!!!!

2010-01-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

I quit doing doing New Year Resolutions a long time ago. I never saw the point. Resolutions sounds like wishful thinking. For those that still do this, I wish you the best of luck in resolutions. For me it just doesn't work.

Instead, I come up with goals I wish to accomplish each year. Goals for me are more definite. they can be measured and evaluated. Over the past few weeks I have looked at last years goals and will be post this years goals.

Last year's goals

• Pay off last credit card. Failed

Had Varsity Gold stayed in business I believe I would have accomplished this goal. Being unemployed for two months can cause a person to drastically re-evaluate ones financial obligations. I managed to stay current with making monthly payments, but failed to pay it off.

• Put $150 into savings. Sort of

During my unemployment I had to tap into my savings to cover living expenses. After becoming employed again I resumed putting money back into my savings. This time at $200 a month. The extra covered the two months I did not put in and then some. But I did not cover the money I withdrew during my unemployment.

• Purchase new computer. Accomplished

I wasn't able to purchase it without credit, but I did purchase a new computer. Originally I was wanting it for my own freelancing, but I got the computer for school.

2010's Goals

I am using the S.M.A.R.T. model for my goals.

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Realistic

T - Timely

• Pay off computer before August. (That's when I'm hit with deferred interests charges.)

• Pay off Citi Card and close account. (Timely doesn't really matter because I don't owe a whole lot and should have it paid off in a few months.)

• Put $200 in savings each month.

• Get Freelance Design Website up and running. End of the Year.

• Get Gaming Company Website up and running. End of the Year.

• Finish First Game Idea. (Does not have to be published, just finished.) This one isn't a very good SMART Goal because it is too vague, but I'm keeping it on the list.

Happy New Year and Good Luck with your Goals and Resolutions,

Who was the idiot that though that was a good idea?

2010-01-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

So recently there have been a lot of single posts on woman's facebook pages. This single word is a color, nothing more, nothing less. A color. Great I'll bite, I like a good mystery. I play around trying to figure it out. No more clues, ok, boring moving on.

A couple days later I hear a news report about it on the radio. The color is suppose to be the color of the bra the woman is wearing at that moment. OK, mystery solved. Now I look like the idiot that posted color in reply to my friends page. Ha ha ha you got me, I'm wearing a cerulean bra. Not first time I've looked like an idiot and I am sure it will not be the last. Life would be boring if it were. I hope someone got a good laugh out it. If not, I'm disappointed.

Come to find out, it some viral campaign for breast cancer awareness. Cool, I'm down with preventing cancer of any form. Wait a second?!? A viral campaign where you post cryptic messages on your facebook page. Basically one big inside joke? No one knows the meaning behind it, except for the few select people that are in on the joke. So remind me, how this bring about awareness?

Awareness it to make people who are unaware of a problem or situation aware. The people posting the single color on their facebook pages are aware of breast cancer. They post their bra color, and never explain the meaning behind it. Those not in the know, like me (before the radio report) who happens to be aware of breast cancer the dangers of it, are never informed of it meaning. Which also means those unaware of breast cancer will also never be made aware breast cancer. Fun idea, poor implementation as the point of the color posts, make people aware of breast cancer, did not make people aware.

As an aside, if anyone wants to see me in the cerulean bra, e-mail me and I might just send you a picture. ; )

Children of the Mirror: The Introduction

2009-12-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

A few years back John Wick posted on his Live Journal page an idea for a horror based superheroes game call Children of the Mirror. (I'd post a link here except it's for friends only.) Since I love Superheroes and Horror stories I doubly loved the idea. It was just an idea and didn't go anywhere as Mr. Wick was busy with writing and publishing Houses of the Blooded. You can check out more John's works here.

After reading his post, I had a story idea and started writing. The inspiration died and other ideas moved to the forefront. But I saved a copy of John's post to my gmail files. Recently I was going through some of those files, throwing away old files I don't need any more, when I came across the Children of the Mirror. Not only did I have another idea for a story, but this time a campaign. Since it is just a story idea I don't need to know how the systems works, which is good because John didn't go into any details other then character creation and how it uses a deck of playing cards instead of dice. So if I ever get to run this I will probably have to create my own rules system, unless I get a chance to talk to John about it.

I am hoping that I can post some of my ideas here. Stay tuned.

Wishing you a very Merry Political Christmas

2009-12-25T20:00:00.005-07:00

Dems celebrate in victory, as Repubs claim the fight is not over. Either way the "Historic" passage of the Democrats Health Care Bill passed the Senate in a 60-39 vote early on Christmas Eve. After hearing that the senate passed the bill, President Obama was quoted as saying,

“If passed, this will be the most important piece of social policy since the Social Security Act in the 1930s, and the most important reform of our health care system since Medicare passed in the 1960s.”

Really Mr. President? You want to equate the Dems Health Care "Reform" to Social Security and Medicare? With Social Security, a program that most people believe will not be there when they reach retirement age, and according to an article in the U.S. News & World Report back in May claims that Social Security will be spending more then it brings in by 2016 and will be bankrupt by 2037. And Medicare, which according to the same article is in a much worse financial situation.

With the most recent HINI Flu scare, we saw how the government handled that. First it took forever to get the vaccine out to the public, then there was the shortage, and lastly the recall of the vaccine. Do you really want your government handling all of your health care needs? Especially if the H1N1 is any indication on how they will handle it. Is our health care system perfect? No, not even close, but that is because we have too much government intervention already. Handing over total control will only make it worse.

I know this may sound strange, but I blame the Republicans for this. During the eight years under Bush, the Republicans passed all of their partisan bills that costs the American people billions of dollars (if not trillions), while the Democrats were given crumbs. Now the roles are reversed and it's time for the Dems to pass their partisan bills and live high on the hog while the Repubs scrounge for table scraps. But who really suffers? We all do, in higher taxes, higher debt and higher inflation with no end in sight. All because we thought the other evil was not as evil as the current evil. As I've said before, evil is still evil no matter which way you look at it. When will it all end? When we the American population all realize that we can't trust either the Repubs or the Dems. Vote out those life long career politicians and get get a third, a forth and maybe even a fifth and sixth party involved. Get the media outlets to work for us again, holding politicians accountable, and quit toeing the party line.

Hey There Cthulhu

2009-11-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Artist's Way

2009-07-10T21:18:00.004-07:00

This Sunday, I will be officially starting a 12 week spiritual journey to higher creativity as outlined in Julia Cameron's Book, The Artist Way.

Ever since a friend of mine told me about the book I wanted to do it. I picked the book up for my birthday. Happy Birthday Me! I've started reading through it and started feeling scared, a little intimidated by it. But excited too. I told all my artist friends about it and even some non-artist friends too. But it wasn't until a couple weeks ago a friend of mine, Thank You! (you know who you are.) Pinned me down, and made pick a date. July 12, 2009. Encouraged me to "Leap" and realize "the net would appear."

I have my Notebook ready for my morning writings. Which I know will be a challenge for me. I am so not a morning person. I figure I will go through 3 notebooks during the 12 week journey. I have signed the contract and I'm ready. I will return to posting regular Wednesday Quotes. They will be using quotes The Artist's Way.

My bags are pack. I love you all. I'll see you when I get back. I'll remember to take lots of pictures and sent a post card or two.

Later,

Luther

I'm on a Boat

2009-07-09T23:06:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Me

2009-05-30T15:40:00.001-07:00

134,727 People
34 years ago I entered the world and 134,727 people said "Ahh shit there goes the planet, I'm out of here." Including Runner Steve Prefontaine.

Oh and my Birthday celebrates the anniversary of Joan Arc being burned at the stake. That was 578 years today. I wonder if anyone brought marshmallows?

Lacuna Part 1. The Creation of the Mystery & the Girl from Blue City (2nd attempt)

2009-04-26T11:50:00.004-07:00

Last Friday I did not have a Houses Cabal game because we were playing Lacuna. One of the Houses player wanted to run a one shot of this game and we all thought it would be fun.

If you don't know what Lacuna is, and you probably don't, it is a role-playing designed by Jared Sorenson. The setting is Blue City, a bizarre ever changing world set in the minds of the collective sub-conscious of over 6 billion people. A dream world where nothing is what is seems to be.

You play Agents awaken and trained by the company to be inserted into Blue City to hunt down and do away with rogue elements casing harm within Blue City. You have no memory prior to being waken up. So this means no backstory, no past drama in your life. You aren't even allowed to pick your own name. One is randomly decided for you. As well as your age and sex (determined by the sex of the player). At first I found this annoying. I like elements of backstory and angst ridden pasts. It's what makes the characters more real, more believable and frankly fun to play. To me this is the most important aspect of the character, any character. It creates depth, motivations, emotions, and it was all taken away from me. But then I told myself, You are playing Agent Smith, not Neo. Agents don't have emotions, they don't have motivations. They have the mission and that is all.

The next element of the game is your HP (Hit Points). There is no HP in Lacuna. That's no big deal, a lot of RPG's don't have HP. But they have sort of damage system. Lacuna doesn't have damage per se, because have you even taken damage in a dream? I know I haven't. I've hit my head while sleep waking as I dreamed. But it wasn't the dream that hurt me. Here's the catch, and I LOVE this, Heart rate. Your heart rate is your HP. The longer you stay within Blue City, the more you do in there, the higher your heart rate goes. If you reach your Max Heart rate, well, bad stuff happens to you. I love this because it creates the mood of being up against the clock. That if you don't hurry, you will fail your mission and you may even die. But the act of hurrying up causes your heart rate to increase faster. Thus amplifying the urgency. To me this was the coolest element of the game.

Next is the setting. We didn't get to explore the setting a whole lot, because we were too preoccupied with trying to complete are mission. At first I found the setting a little annoying. Any time you tried to do something, something that interacted with Blue City. Something as simple as trying to get into a car. You have to roll. The act of rolling causes your Heart Rate to increase. The number you got on your dice roll caused your HR to go up that much. So if I roll a 7 to try to get in that car over there. My HR goes up by 7. Oh and failed to get into the car. You need a 11 for all rolls to be successful. But lets say you are successful in that roll. That means your HR still increases. Instead of 7 lets say I rolled a 12. My HR would go up by 12. If by doing nothing in that hopes that the plot finds you, nothing happens. You have to do something to drive the plot. Now I said I love the HR system, and I do. What I found annoying is the simple stuff, the stuff that we normally take for granted in other games are not simple and requirer rolls. We quickly found out that there are no simple actions. But there are no complex actions either. There is only actions. And the physics that rule our world don't exist either. I coined the phrase, "Dream Logic", at the game. Dream logic is the logic is being able to do what you normally can't do in the real world. I could open a door enter a room and then exit the room from the same door and that door doesn't necessarily lead me back to the previous room I was in. I could state that I enter the room in completely different part of town. And I would be there, provided I succeeded my roll. In the real world this is not logical, but in Blue City this is completely logical, hence, Dream Logic. Once I figured this out, the game became a lot more fun.

There are few more elements to the game, but I won't go over them. They are more crunch bits to the setting. All in All I really liked the game. I don't know if I would like for a campaign, but as a one short it was a lot of fun and would play it again if given the chance.

Food for Gamers 2

2009-04-13T21:31:00.003-07:00

Last Friday for the Houses of the Blooded Cabal game, I thought I'd forgo the chips, cookies, or other sugary snacks that I normally bring for something a little more Ven. So I'm walking around the grocery store, racking my brain for something simple yet tasty and hors d’œuvre like to get. When I walk past the deli section and see some sliced pepperoni. Then I think of a n old favorite of mine. Salami and cream cream.

Ingredients
• A package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• Sliced Salami

Directions
1. Spread some cream cheese on a slice of Salami.
2. Roll Salami
3. Eat

Another tasty, yet simple treat. You can do all the work, or you can just put everything out on a plate and let everyone spread their own. Which is what I did. If I was hosting a special Gaming session or a LARP, I might prepare the snack ahead of time. But the way I did it lets the player decide how much cream cheese they want, and tastes may vary.

So at the game, I was the only eating them at first. Which is fine, I love them so I didn't care. But then at a break the other players asked what I was eating. At first they all thought I was crazy, and they maybe right, just not about what I was eating. Everyone had to try it and they were surprised at how good it was. They all said something to the fact that, "I would never have guessed that salami and cream cheese would go together." So if your looking for something different, give it a try if you haven't already. You might be surprised.

Food for Gamers

2009-03-02T14:39:00.003-07:00

A couple of weeks ago for the Houses of the Blooded Cabal game, I brought 2 loafs of Beer Bread, (Guinness Bread), to the game. (I'll post the recipe later.) But now I want to try other simple breads. Here's the next one.

7-Up Bread
Ingredients
• 3 cups self rising flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 7 ounces soda pop (7-up brand, at room temperature)

Directions
1. Mix ingredients together and form into a loaf.
2. Place in greased bread pan.
3. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Ya, it's that simple.
I actually want to try this with Strawberry soda or other fruit-type sodas.
It's very similar to the Guinness Beer Bread I made, which I also want to try with Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat Ale and a Raspberry Ale, I heard about.

Once I'm finished, I'll post the results.

Wōden's Wisdom Wednesday

2009-02-25T19:42:00.003-07:00

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
~Thomas Jefferson

I know I haven't posted in awhile, I'll explain in my next post.

Wōden's Wisdom Wednesday

2009-01-14T13:01:00.004-07:00

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
~Narrator
William Gibson's book "Neuromancer"

Ok, so not really a quote that inspires wisdom, but I really loved the way this book starts out.

Wōden's Wisdom Wednesday

2009-01-07T13:30:00.003-07:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
~Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

This quote was inspired, because this year, not only am I continuing taking whistle lessons, but I am also taking bagpipes lesson.

Wōden's Wisdom Wednesday

2008-12-24T12:54:00.001-07:00

"Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, 'I don't believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me.' Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people."
~ Ferris Bueller,
played by Matthew Broderick
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

Apples to Apples, The Drinking Game

2008-12-23T09:28:00.006-07:00

Apples to Apples (Traditional version)
In the game Apples to Apples, everyone draws 7 Noun cards. They are red cards. Then one person acts as the Judge and lays down a green card. The green card has an adjective on it. Then everyone lays face down one of their red cards. The Judge then reads all the cards and picks the one that bests describes the green card. Or the Judge can pick the worst one, funniest one, stupidest one, etc. Either way a good time is had by all. The new round starts with a new judge. Usually you go around the table clock-wise. Play until some collects 7 cards (I think, when we play it we go around the table until we are tired and whoever has the most cards win).

A couple of weeks ago I was down in Tucson for my Cousin’s graduation party from U of A. We turns this fun party game into a drinking game.

Apples to Apples (The Drinking Game)
The game is played as described above. Except the Judge picks a drink before laying down the adjective card (Green). Maybe it's a shot, or a drink from whatever your drinking, or chugs a beer for X amount of seconds, etc. What ever the judge wants. After the Judge lays down the green card, players lay down a noun card (Red) and if the Judge picks your card, then you have to drink whatever drink the judge announced a the start of the round.

This adds a new element of the game, mostly you want your card to get picked, but if it means have to take a shot of something you don't like, maybe you'll want to throw away a card you don't think will get picked and hope that the next round has more favorable drink.

Also, always remember to drink responsibly.

Wōden's Wisdom Wednesday

2008-12-17T18:36:00.003-07:00

Odin, Norse god of wisdom, war, battle, and death. Also magic, poetry, prophecy, victory, and the hunt. Also know as Wōden and Wodan. It is also were we get the word Wednesday. From the old Norse Oðinsdagr or "Odin's day".

Since Odin or Wōden is associated with wisdom, and because I like alliteration, I've come up Wōden's Wisdom Wednesdays. Basically a quote I really like that imparts a bit of wisdom.

Today's quote will be a repeat of yesterdays quote. Because I think it bears repeating.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
~ C. S. Lewis

Feeling very cynical right now...

2008-12-16T20:43:00.004-07:00

but here's a quote I found and I really like it.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
~ C. S. Lewis

Pissed Off Right Now

2008-12-11T19:13:00.003-07:00

Watch this video and try to tell me there are no innocent victims in the war on drugs and that the system works.

Aren't the police to protect and serve?
Who are they trying to protect and serve, not you or me.
Oh, but this can't happen to you or me, right?
I'm sure Yolanda thought that too.

Political Corruption, the Game

2008-12-11T12:33:00.006-07:00

It seemed like this year there was more political corruption stories then normal. Maybe it's because it was an election year, or politicians think they can get away with anything and are doing more and more corrupt things. Either way, I will be following the political corruption stories a little more closely in the up coming new year. Here's how...

(Announcer voice)
Are you ready for America's favorite pastime next to baseball? That's right kiddies, it's time for the...

The Political Corruption Game (Working Title)

(Applause and cue game show music)

Here's how it works. When a politician gets caught with his or her pants down, that politician's party gets points. The number of points depend on how high of a position that person holds.

If it's just an accusation it's worth 5 points. Like Sarah Palin's Troopergate. There was an accusation and an investigation, but that was all. No charges brought against her. The Republicans would have gotten 5 points.

If the person resigns, is charged, impeached or otherwise removed from office, it's worth more points.

50 points if it's the President.
40 points if it's a member of Congress, both House and Senate.
30 points if it's a presidential cabinet member, executive departments, or federal agencies.
20 points for State officials.
10 points for Local officials.

The Eliot Spizter prostitution scandal would have been worth 20 points because he resigned, he was the Governor of New York. So the Democrats would have gotten 20 points.

Bonus points may be awarded if the politician is particularly annoying, arrogant or says stupid stuff. 1-5 points can be earned in this way depending on how arrogant, stupid or annoy they are.

Let's meet the teams. First we have the,

Democratic Blue Donkeys
The Democrats are no stranger to corruption. Dating back to when the Democrats were the Democratic-Republician party with Thomas Jefferson and the Sally Hemings controversy. To present day heavy hitter Bill Clinton. Who racked up an impressive 125 points during his 8 years in the White house.

Republican Red Elephants
The Republicans are also no strangers to corruption. But they don't have as impressive of a history. But that's because there party didn't get it's official start until 1853, but quickly rose in the ranks. No doubt with the help of unethical conduct. The Republicans too have their stars. Most notably Richard Nixon with the Watergate scandal followed by his resignation. But a new breed of Republicans like Senator Larry Craig from Idaho and Senator Ted Steven from Alaska are making them a team not to be taken lightly.

So without further ado...
Let the games begin, and may the best... errr, worst party win.

Game will officially start on January 20 2009.

Games I'm currently playing

2008-12-10T15:31:00.005-07:00

I was thinking about it last night, I go through these hills and valleys of games. Lates of games, then one or two. Back to lots, then back a couple. So where do I stand right now?

7th Sea - Game Master (Wednesdays, semimonthly or so)
Houses of the Blooded - Narrator (whenever we can)
Legend of the Five Rings (or L5R) - Player, Kitsuki Norio (Wednesdays semimonthly or so)
D&D 4th Ed. - Player, TBD (Sundays, whenever we can) note: it looks like this one maybe dead. Not ready to call it.
Houses of the Blooded - Player, Vadim Mwrr (Fridays, Cabal game for Living Shanri) Note: Have not officially started, but really excited about it.
Hunter: The Vigil - Player, Comic book Horror writer & Folklore, early Lit teacher. Note: game has not started yet. It may only be a one shot too.

So it looks like I'm on a hill. Loving life. Game on.

Rainbows

2008-12-01T12:07:00.005-07:00

Last Wednesday it rained and when it rains sometimes you get rainbows.
Here are some pictures I snagged while driving to meet a friend.

Don't try this at home. Professional driver on a closed course.
(ok, maybe not, but still don't try this.)

Halloween

2008-11-27T10:16:00.004-07:00

Halloween is kind of a big deal at work. I've been with the company for over 8 years and each year it gets bigger and bigger and this year was no exception. It started with everyone dressing up as usual. Then people would decorate their desk to go along with their costume. To each department coming up with a theme and decorating the department and the people of the department dressing accordingly to the theme. Usually they try to keep the theme a secret for as long as they can. It's been like that for at least the last 3-4 years. This years the Art Department's theme was Alice in Wonderland. For maximum effect we decided to us the Walt Disney version and not the original version by Lewis Carroll's. Kind of a bummer, because the book version was way more creepy and fitting for Halloween. But our goal was to win the Best Decorated Department Award and we wanted to make sure everyone was blown away by our theme. Since everyone has probably seen Alice in Wonderland at some point in their life, we decided to use that as our outline. The idea was as you walked through the department, we would tell the story of Alice in Wonderland. Starting with the Rabbit hole. One of things I wanted to do with the telling of the story was incorporating all the senses. Taste, Touch, Sight, Smell, Hearing.
Sight is easy, The decorations will do that. All of the graphics we printed. All of the stuff we made. The dry ice in tea pots to make it look like steam.
Hearing was the next thing. I took sound clips from the movie and had them playing. As you walked into the rabbit hole you would hear the strange sounds Alice heard as she fell. Next room was the Flower Forest with the Flowers singing Golden Afternoon. And finally the Tea party with Unbirthday music.
Taste was next. Since Alice eats and drinks stuff in the movie and she either grows or shrinks depending on what she is eating or drinking. We had like cruppets made and little cups of Kool-Aid for people to eat and drink. I would have like to had tea to drink at the Tea party but that would probably had not been safe with the dry ice. I would have hated to see someone get burned on the ice.
Touch was a little harder. But I guess all the props could be touched.
Smell all I could come up with was brewing tea and coffee.

Since we were on a limited budget and limited space some of the story had to be cut. So we focused on the high points. Entering the Rabbit Hole. Alice's journey in what I called the Flower forest. Of course the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. The hedge maze ending at the Queen of Heart's Castle.

Here are the photo's, finally, of the Art Department's Alice in Wonderland.
(Keep in mind I had to use the flash, otherwise you would not see much.)

So with out further ado...

With Flash

Without Flash

...and the fruits of our labor pays off. This year we finally won the Prize of Best Decorated Department.

Clouds

2008-11-26T11:29:00.015-07:00

Since it's a rainy day today, I thought I'd post some pictures of Clouds I took.

Enjoy,

The next 3 where taken on November 9th when I was helping the Phoenix Orienteering Club run their event out at Lake Pleasant. It rained later that day, only a little bit, but this was the development of that storm.

Road Trip: Colorado and Nebraska

2008-11-26T09:42:00.009-07:00

Thursday Sept. 25th
After sleeping in the Saturn Vue at a rest stop, I got up early Thursday morning and hit the road. Made it into Colorado just at Sunrise.

Here's an old Church at Colorado Springs. It reminds me of the old church I remember from the Mid-West. After some searching I found out it is St. Mary Catholic Cathedral on W. Kiowa St.

A hill I thought was interesting.

Cool windmill.

Into Nebraska

Pretty Watertower at the Town of York. See the corn filed? There will be more of these.

Here's a couple of photo's of Windmill blades. I can only assume they are headed to Iowa. There is a Large Wind Mill Farm near Pomeroy Iowa. Maybe it's headed there.

The photo's doesn't really illustrate just how long they are. They are longer then a normal truck container. At least 1.5x larger, maybe twice as long.

Up next Iowa

HotB: The Senate (Session Recap)(Part 1)

2008-11-25T16:17:00.002-07:00

During the Party
As the party continues on at Baron Vaydalon Yvarai’s Castle Sambol. Lady Trisnoira enters with Baroness Sabina Mwrr’s husband. Lady Trisnoira strides up to Lady Sabina and shows her husband. “Do you want this back?” Lady Trisnoira asks.

“Are you done with him already?”

“I am, but there are others who might want him, others that will not treat him as well as I have. As a courtesy to you, I am giving you the option to reclaim him first.”

“Very well, you may leave him.”

“As you wish,” Lady Trisnoira says as she lets go of (the Husband). “Remember this favor I did for you.” She finishes before leaving.

Somewhere in Castle Greytower
Lady Lura Steele, loyal wife to Chayan Mwrr, moves through the castle without making a sound. She slides into the private chamber of her husband unseen. She moves closure to her husband until he notices her. She sends him a warming smile, “Love, do you trust me?”

The question catches Chayan off guard, but he answers without hesitation. “I do.”

“If I were to ask something of you, would you give it to me without question?”

“Of course.”

Lura smiles grows as she asks, “I need one poison.”

There’s a moment of hesitation, but Chayan gives in to his wife’s request. “It is yours.”

“Thank you my lord.” She says with a slight bow before departing the room.

Meanwhile at Shay-Gaul Castle
Shay-Gaul castle is the residence to Baroness Namantha Steel and Garith Adrente. The sounds of heavy footfalls echo of the walls of the castle as a servant frantically search through the castle’s halls in search of his mistress. Upon finding her, he stops, composes himself before speaking.

“My Lady, The Count is here.”

“He is? Well send him in.”

“Ahhh… yes my lady… he has already let himself in. He’s here to see Lord Garith. My Lady.”

“Well go fetch him.”

“Yes, my lady.” The servant then rushes off in search of Lord Garith.

Garith walks through the halls of Shay-Gaul as he is towel off the sweat he earned from exercising in the yard. The Count is waiting him in the armory as Garith enters.

“Your Excellency good to see you again. What brings you to your estate?”

“Cousin! Good to see you too. Hunting, I was hoping we could go hunting this fine day.”

“Very Well, I will have the staff prepare the horses.”

Elsewhere in the castle
“You wanted to see me my lady?”

“Yes Matrim I do. The Count is visiting us this day.”

“Yes, my lady, I am aware of that.”

“Do you know what he wants?”

Yes, my lady. He is here to go hunting with your Husband.”

“Thank you Matrim.”

“Shall I keep an eye on them, to make sure nothing untoward happens to them?”

“Yes, that would be great.”

“Excellent idea my lady, I shall be off at once.” Matrim Steele, cousin and spymaster to Namantha, departs without making sound.

Later that day
“My lady, the Count and your Husband have returned safely.”

“Oh good. Was there anything else Matrim?”

“Yes my lady. It appears that the Count suspects his wife is plotting against him.”

Back at Castle Sambol
A servant of Castle Sambol nervously seeks out his master, Baron Vaydalon Yvarai. “Sir, there is a visitor at our door.”

“Well send him in.”

“Aye sir, it is just, he is here to see your wife sir.”

“Who is it?”

“It is Baron Barde Steiner, sir.”

“If she is willing to see visitors then send him in.”

“Aye sir.” The servant says before exiting the room.

In Calio Mwrr’s, wife to Vaydalon Yvarai, private chambers
“Oh Lord Barde, so good to see you.” Lady Calio manages to weakly whispers out.

“Yes, my lady. I only wish it was under better circumstances.” There’s a pause as Lady Calio quietly nods in agreement. “Here, I have an ointment I had my apothecary make for you. It will help with your healing.” Barde says as he sets down a jar of a white creamy substance.

“I’m sure it will, thank you, you are too kind.”

“You are welcome. I should leave you to your rest.” Barde says as he shots her a smile before departing.

To the City
Men dressed in black, trimmed in silver, carrying spears shows up at the doors of characters. They carry a letter from the senate that states they are to appear before the senate and the men in black are to assure their safe arrival. The journey to Davfanna Aldrena, the center of Shanri, home of the senate, is easy going. There was little trouble on the way. There are many topics up for debate and discussion this summer. One of them is the case of Count Maurevel Thorne vs. Baron Barde Steiner over the matter of the burnt down Opera House. Lilyth Thorne, aunt to the Count presents her evidence that Barde was working with a fellow bear to burn down the Opera House. Baron Vaydalon Yvarai presents testimony that Baron Barde doesn’t use sorcery. Baron Chayan Mwrr testified earlier that sorcery was used.

Then Lady No stands up. “I know who did it, and I have proof.”

There’s a murmuring of speculative chatter that spreads around the senate. Once order is re-established, Lady No continues. “Baron Throsh has secret chamber in his castle. In that chamber is a cloak. With a prick of the finger, anyone wearing the cloak can be made to look like anyone else. When you see the cloak and the wounds to Throsh, you will know the truth that Baron Throsh and Baron Barde were working together.”

The senate rules to place the case on hold until the evidence is presented and sends out the Vashna, the guards and investigators of the senate to Baron Throsh’s castle to retrieve the cloak and Baron Throsh.

When the Vashna returns, they present the cloak and evidence that Baron Throsh was not present at his castle. The staff was also present as evidence. They testified that their lord was angry about some news he received and departed in a hurry. He did say where he was going or when he would be back. (Lady No actually has Throsh chained up in her castle.) After all the evidence and testimony was presented and the debate concluded, the senate voted and found Barde and Throsh guilty of using sorcery in the destruction of someone else property. The jury gives them the punishment of having to wear the black for a year and a day and forfeiture of their lands.

Things true about Throsh’s lands.

They are on a peninsula
They are blocked in by Vaydalon’s lands

Things true about Barde’s Lands

Way up north
Poorly defended
Loyalty of one
Rank 1 personal guard

Narrator’s Notes: We lost Baron Throsh this week. The player decided that the game did not fit his style of role-playing and bowed out of the game. It was a shame really, I liked his character and had fun things planned for him. Since Throsh is not longer a PC and now a NPC, he got thrown under the bus in this session. Sorry Throsh. But starting a romance with Lady No is probably the last thing anyone does, and you were no exception.

This is where it ends. With blood and pain and revenge.
But it began with love.
This is how everything begins and this is how everything ends.
~The Great and Terrible Life of Shara Yvarai

Summer Glau (1 of 3)

2008-11-24T15:48:00.007-07:00

I've been wanting to get back into illustrating.
I've also been watching the new Terminator series on Fox, The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I found this image and used it for my practice.

Here's the pencils I did.

I have two more in various stages of completion.

When I get more time I my explain the steps I took to go from Photo to Illustration.

This is the Finished product.

Fantasy Football: Week 10 & 11 Reflections

2008-11-19T15:26:00.001-07:00

Week 10 & Week 11
I can't catch a break. Jones-Drew scored 3 TD's and usually when that happens you have a good week. I had an alright week scoring 46 points. But the team I played in week 10 scored 61. The previous week they scored 33 and this week scored 39. So I caught them on a good week. Just my luck. Maybe week 11 will be better. It was, sort of. My two RB scored 2 TD's each, and I ended up with 53 points. Except the team I played scored 71, DUHHHH!!!!! Looking back at their week 9 and week 10 scores. 40 and 39. Again the team I played has a big week. I've looked at the last 7 years our league has been done on-line. Out of those 7 years, One year, I was 13th (out of 16) most scored against. Twice, most scored against. Twice 3rd most scored against. Twice, somewhere in the middle (8th and 9th). So how did I do in those 7 years. Twice I was at the bottom (14th and 15th). Deserve to lose in those years. Once in the middle, 9th in points scored. Once, Highest point score. (That year I was 8th most scored against.) Last 3, 5th, 6th and 7th. So usually I have alright years, but because of bad scheduling I get screwed. This year is no different. In those 7 years, I made the playoff 4 times, and should have made the playoff one more time. There is good chance that I will not make the playoffs this year again, but I'm hopeful. If I win out and the chips fall the way I need them too, I can get in based on record. I also have a chance to get in on points scored, provided I continue to have good weeks and Cats gets in on record.

47.438 Average points scored for the Week.
47.091 Average points scored for the Season.
45.636 Average points I've scored for the season.
9th Highest Scorer over-all, and I've reclaimed the titled of Highest Scored against.

New found respect for President-Elect Obama

2008-11-13T19:51:00.006-07:00

One hand I was glad to see Obama elected. Not that I felt he was the best man for the job, because I don't. (Not that I felt McCain was any better.) But because it was another example that in America you can do whatever it is you want too. Not because you are entitled to it, but because you worked hard at it. Over the years I become disillusioned with both Republicans and Democrats. There are some views I agree with Republicans on. Just as there are some views I agree with Democratic on. Both parties have infringed upon our God given rights. And neither try to undo what the other have done.
Mostly I've become cynical to our democratic process. I hear all the politicians promising great things and then once they get elected they do whatever it is they want to do and forget all the promises they made to get there. I'm sure Barack Obama will be no different, but before I bag on him, I have to to give credit were credit is due. He's a geek. Read the article below and see why.
5 Lessons We Hope Obama Learned from Spider-Man

... and the pursuit of happiness

2008-11-11T21:33:00.007-07:00

(Noticed this on John Wick's Live Journal, had to re-post.)

Wow, I don't think I could have said it better myself.

Third Parties

2008-11-04T14:53:00.004-07:00

Could Third-Party Candidates Be Spoilers This Time?

... Given the current political environment, third parties really should have had a better year. After all, many of the things Americans find most objectionable about the past eight years, from the first authorization to go to war in Iraq to the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are by-products of the two-party system. To third parties, bipartisanship looks a lot like collusion. And certainly on at least a few key issues, from immigration reform to support for Israel, the two candidates' positions are not that dissimilar. ...

I won't tell you who I voted for, but I will say I voted for a third party candidate. That paragraph pretty much sums up my feelings.

Q. How do you know if a politician has a bad idea?
A. Both Republicans and Democrats support it.

HotB: Demo at Game Depot

2008-11-04T11:14:00.006-07:00

Last Saturday I ran a Houses of the Blooded demo at Game Depot in Tempe. It went really well. I had 4 players that all seemed interested in the game after the demo. Some had read about it and were unsure about spending the money on it. I think they will be more likely to purchase after having played the game and seeing the book.

I got to touch on Sorcery, how wagers work, the Senate, vassals, and general ven culture. To sum up the adventure, I had the players all play barons under Duchess Mira Yvarai, a character from our playtesting. One of the players was wronged by an enemy of Mira. I had the player roll wisdom risks to establish facts about who was wronged and how and what to do about it. The adventure then wrote itself. In the end, Revenge was settled. But all the players owe Count Kether a favor. One player owes Kether his votes in the senate. It wasn't said, but had we had more time the other players would have owed him the same thing.

All in all, I was very pleased with how things ran. I plan on running another one in the future.

Ambition and morality never sleep in the same bed.

Fantasy Football: Week 8 & 9 Reflections

2008-11-04T10:46:00.003-07:00

Week 8
Another bad week. Only scored 28 points. None of my Running Backs or Wide Receivers scored a TD. There was no high point other then I then I missed an opportunity to pick up a win. My opponent only scored 34 points. I was a TD and a couple extra yards from winning my game.

46.688 Average points scored for the Week.
47.008 Average points scored for the Season.
43.25 Average points I've scored for the season.

Week 9
After a couple of bad weeks I finally had a good week. I scored 57 points and gained some ground in the points race. With 5 games left, I am 1 game behind in making it on record. The team ahead of me is in my division so I can easily make up that ground. him. I am 59 points behind the team that would get in on points if the playoffs started next week. I still have a chance to get in on points but I can't have weeks like I did in weeks 7 & 8. As always I'm frustrated with my quarterback. He only played half the game, but he managed to run a TD in. But had he stayed in the whole game I could have gotten more points out of him. You can't score on the bench. And for a player I drafted in the 3rd round I need to get more points out of him then what I'm getting.

44.438 Average points scored for the Week.
46.972 Average points scored for the Season.
44.778 Average points I've scored for the season.
11th Highest Scorer over-all, 2nd Highest Scored against.

Lil O'Reilly

2008-10-28T21:52:00.003-07:00

WE"LL DO IT LIVE!!!

Reality Jumps the Shark

2008-10-23T14:05:00.005-07:00

Tuesday night I was channel surfing, "Weeeeeee", and as I was flipping through the channels I stop on MTV. "Oh Shit, Wave!" CRRRAASSSSHH! And what do my eyes behold, but Paris Hilton and her Reality TV show Paris Hilton's My New BFF. Now I'm not a big fan of "Reality TV" I though Survivor was a cool idea until I watched the first episode and thought, "Well that sucked." Here I thought it was about people, oh I don't know, having to survive in the wilderness. It's not about surviving in the traditional sense. It's about being a lying, sneaky, bastard and being able to get away with it. You don't have to have some silly gimmick like throwing people into the middle of some jungle to play that game. Hell, they could have locked them all in a gymnasium and called it High School for Grown Ups and would have pretty much achieved the same thing. Or just get 7 people to play the game Diplomacy.

Anyway I got off on a rant, sorry. Back to Paris. So her new show is about her search for a new Best Friend and I can't for the life me understand why anyone would want to be her friend. But then I can't stand; Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Hannah Montana or is it Miley Cyrus?, just to name a few. When ever their names pop up in some news story (as if you can call that news) I usually have to ask myself, "and why do I care?" What's with the media thinking I give two flips about these train wrecks of pop culture. I understand why they pop up on Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood. But they've even polluted what I thought was respectable media outlets like CNN, ABC, Fox News. Now I have to turn to BBCA World News if I want real news. Normally I'd change the channel when I see something like this. I was so flabbergasted, I was like a deer caught in headlights. I was stunned, paralyzed and forced to watch what flashed before me. Paris Hilton has her own reality show? "You have got to be freakin' kidding me?" Well she does, and it just shows how shallow she really is. She has people who are kissing her ass, while trying to sabotage the other contestants (if you can even call them that), all for the chance to be her friend. I think I'd rather be the BFF to a leper or a rabid ferret with a cocaine addiction. Now I'd like to tell you all I changed the channel and never looked back. But I didn't. I ended up watching Scrubs on WGN but had to switch back now and then to make sure what I saw was real. Ironically the theme for the episode was about who was real and who was fake. After some kind of contest, Paris brought in someone to question all the contests, and then rated them on who was the most real and who was the most fake. Then at the end someone went home. I don't know who I could only stomach a few seconds of it at a time. I think if I had top secret information, someone could get me to talk by just forcing me to watch this show. Just when I think "Reality TV" has jumped the shark, they surprise me with something so stupid, so outrages, I just have to hang my head shame and weep that I'm part of the human species. Can I de-evolve back into an ape or something?

Fantasy Football: Week 7 Reflections

2008-10-22T13:33:00.002-07:00

Week 7
Well I had a bad week this week. Bad in team performance, bad in luck. A couple bright spots. My QB throw 2 TD may had through 3 had the Steelers didn't take him out because they were so far ahead. Hines Ward Scored for me, other then that none of my running backs or receivers found the end zone. Defense got me 3 turn overs and 2 sacks. Kicker got me one freakin' point. That's the bad performance. Now the bad luck I played the highest scoring team this week. Go figure, sounds about right since I am the highest scored against team. It could be worse, I could have scored 64 points and lost by 3 like what happened to Greek Gods.

Next week I play the 5-2 Slobberknockers.

46.625 Average points scored for the Week.
47.375 Average points scored for the Season.
45.429 Average points I've scored for the season.
11th Highest Scorer over-all, Highest Scored against.

Rule 1 of Gaming

2008-10-16T15:37:00.004-07:00

I'm currently reading the Runaways trade paperback comic. I'm up to Volume 3: The Good Die Young. Towards the end, when the kids discover who was the traitor in their midst, this panel comes up. I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the bed.

Perhaps you have to be a gamer to find the humor in it. I thought is was perfect and completely true. That I had to share.

If you haven't read the series, I highly recommend it. The writing is excellent. It's written by Brian K. Vaughan. If you know anything about comics that should tell you something.

It's about 6 kids who discover that their parents are part of a secret society of villains. They runaway after witnessing a murder of girl as part of an annual ritualistic sacrifice that their parents must make. They also learn that as they reach puberty that they have superhuman powers. They form a rag-tag superhero group that vows to go after their parents and bring them to justice.

Even if your not a comic fan but want a good coming of age story, you'll like it.

A+

Ecstasy of Gold (what I'm listening to right now)

2008-10-15T10:50:00.001-07:00

I loved this tune the first time I heard Metallica use it for the opening to one of their concerts. I didn't know what it was at the time, but still I loved it. Years later when Metallica released their S & M album, there it was. Ecstasy of Gold. I was in love again.

Sunday I was watching football, if you can call the Dallas/Arizona game football, but thats for another time. Cut to a commercial break. I leave the room to check on my fantasy team. I come back and what do I hear but the intro of a piano followed by a melancholy violin that leads into a haunting female vocals accompanying by a myriad of other instruments. I'm intrigued at what I'm hearing. I sit and watch the commercial as if I'm watching a movie. The music builds and adds to the suspense to the story the commercial is telling. A story of two kids as they grow up playing football. Ending with a bone crushing tackle. The two kids, now adults, meet on the football field in the NFL. A wonderfully done commercial, dare I say moving. But ever since I heard and then saw the commercial I can't get the song out of my head. I've listen to it repetitively like a morphine addict continually pressing the button to get his next dose. I've listen to the original motion picture score version from the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I've listen to Metallica's version. I've listen to Philharmonic Orchestra versions. I listen to Yo-Yo Ma's version on the cello. I watched people on Youtube play their versions of it. I can't get enough of this tune and the more I listen to it, the more I crave it.

Damn you Nike.

Or should I be thanking you for reintroducing me to this wonderful piece.

Edit: Here's the commercial.

Fantasy Football: Week 6 Reflections

2008-10-14T16:45:00.001-07:00

Week 6
Despite having 4 of normal starters on Bye weeks and starting 2 zeros, I managed to have good week. In fact I won my game 49 to 45. I'll start with the zeros. I started Matt Leinart at Quarterback and D.J. Hackett at Wide Receiver. Leinart is the Arizona Cardinals backup quarterback and didn't get to play. I started him because the Quarterback I had picked up to start for Roethlisberger during his bye week was injured last week and didn't practice this week and was scratch for Sunday's game. So I was hoping that Kurt Warner would get hurt and I might get some points out of Leinart. That didn't happen so, a big Goose egg. Hackett was also hurt last week and didn't play this week. All my other Wide Receivers were on Bye weeks too. Another goose egg. I used my waiver move to pick up a defense. I figured I'd get the most points out of them. They got me 3 points. So who came through for me. My running backs. Maurice Jones-Drew. 2 TD's and almost 150 yards. Frank Gore had another good week. Over 100 yards and a TD. My kicker David Akers had a good week. 4 field goals and 4 extra points. Although it was against my Niners, which was painful to watch. My other 2 receivers, Camarillo and Driver got me a few points for yards.

So I am now 3 and 3 with 8 more games to go. I've scored 285 points for the season.
Next Week I'm up against S & S Express. They are 2 and 4 and have scored 236 points for the season.

45.125 Average points scored for the Week.
47.5 Average points scored for the Season.
47.5 Average points I've scored for the season.
7th Highest Scorer over-all, 2nd Highest Scored against.
39.333 Average points S & S Express scored for the season.

Arizona Ballot Intitive: Proposition 100

2008-10-11T08:03:00.004-07:00

This post is in response to a friends post. You can read her post here. As I said in her comments sections of her blog, but I think it bears repeating. I know her to be a Intelligent and well educated person and I respect her opinions. I just happen to disagree with her on this one. That doesn't mean I think she is wrong and I am right. It just means I have a different opinion.

So onto the rebuttal.
Prop. 100 - Protect Our Homes (As pulled from AZ Republic)

Would amend the state Constitution to prohibit the creation of a real-estate transfer tax.

A yes vote would constitutionally bar the state, or any county, city or government entity from collecting a new tax or fee on the sale, purchase or transfer of a home or other property.

A no vote would leave open the possibility of such as tax or fee.

Excerpts from my friends Blog Post. I will be making references to it and don't what it to look like I'm quote mining or taking things out of context.

I am voting no on this amendment - I don't believe this is grounds for a constitutional amendment, and I am agreement with the Arizona Education Association, which states: "It is clear that Arizona is too reliant on taxes that do not produce consistent revenue in tough economic times. The current down turn in the economy has caused the state a $2.2 billion deficit, and Arizona does not have a viable solution. PROP 100 will change the constitution of Arizona to protect real estate corporations and developers. Changing our constitution to protect wealthy special interests will cripple our state's ability to support the needs of a growing state. The Arizona Education Association opposes this initiative because it will have long-term damaging effects on public education. A vote in opposition is a step toward a stronger economy and high-quality services, including great public schools and universities, quality transportation, and health care needed in the 21st century knowledge-based economy, and funded by a sound and equitable system of taxation."

The $2.2 billion deficit is a non issue in this matter. I'm not aware of any tax like this in the works, so if the prop fails to pass that doesn't mean our deficit problem would be fixed. Even if there was title transfer tax, that doesn't make it right. If I make bad financial decisions, I can't go to my boss and force them to pay me more money. That's what the politicians would be trying to do. The deficit problem was caused by the legislators not being able to budget properly. They saw all the revenue coming in with resent real estate boom and budgeted like it was going to continue indefinitely, despite advise that the real estate bubble was going to burst. Instead of preparing for the downward trend they ignored it and got us in our current mess. So instead of being responsible and budget like you or I would have to do, they would want us to fork over more money to bail them out. You and I have to live within our budget, Arizona should have to as well.

Prop. 100 may protect developers and real estate corps. but they are in the minority. Mostly it protects the home owners of Arizona. I don't know the statistics and if anyone can find them, I'd be willing to revise my position, but I'm sure the number of families that owns a single home out numbers all the homes real estate corps and developers own. By taxing the sale or transfer of titles, this hurts families more then the real estate corps. and developers. Also it could drive the value of houses down. Here's how. Say you're looking to buy a $200K house, you find one you like within your price range. You manage to come up with the down payment and financing you need. But there is this transfer tax. Lets say it's only 1% (maybe low, maybe high, I don't know, but it makes working with numbers easy), so now you need to come up with an additional $2,000 for your $200K house. Either you pony up the extra money or you try to get the seller to drop the price of the house by $2,000. $2,000 my not seem like a lot of money when it comes to a house, but it could be a deal breaker and that benefits no one. So either you are forced to pay more then the value of your house. Or the seller has to drop the price of his house. When people look at houses they look at the prices of houses recently sold in the area as a guild before making any offers. If most of the house in the area sold under there value to cover the tax, property values drops.

It's not just a tax on the sale but on the transfer of title. So if you leave a house to your children, your children are taxed. And if they can't pay the tax and are forced to sell it to cover the tax. Then the same tax gets reassessed to the new purchaser. Also any time a family looks to upgrade or downgrade their house, they are taxed on the purchase of the new home and the sell of their old home. The corps. aren't affected much because they will just adjust their prices to cover the taxes.

The Arizona Education Assoc. statement about "long-term damaging effect on public education" is just fallacious. It is just scare tactic, an appeal to your emotions, a tactic that politicians love to use. No where does it say that any title change tax would go towards education, health care, transportation, or other states services that we think to be beneficial. A title change tax could be a blank check for the legislators to spend as they see fit. To be used on special projects that benefit them. Since they mismanaged the budget already, I don't see them managing it any better with more money. I have a friend who retired this year after 35+ years as a juvenile probation officer. She has a nice pension now but while she worked there, she did not get a raise in years, aside from the occasional cost of living adjustment. (Which didn't really adjust to the raise in cost of living.) The department also had more and more budget cuts, and hiring freezes. Even during the real estate boom when Arizona saw an increase in revenue from property taxes. You would think that some of that money would go towards helping troubled kids. Help that might prevent them from becoming career criminals and hopefully transform them into honest, respectable citizens. But getting funding, even federal grants, for these children was difficult to say the least. I don't doubt that Education in Arizona is underfunded, but I don't believe that is why we are ranked last when it comes to education. Funding helps, but money is not the solution. Letting schools do what is they do by getting out of their way would go along way to improving our schools system. How can people you've never met, probably didn't even vote for, know what's best for your children's education then you and your school?

True Blood: A TV Review

2008-10-10T12:06:00.006-07:00

True Blood
Sundays
8:30pm
HBO

So I heard about this show from a friend that was all excited about except for the fact that she does not have HBO. Being a fan horror stories, films, thrillers etc. (not necessarily Vampires) I figured I'd give it a try. True Blood stars Anna Paquin, which is the only name I recognize. For those that my not know who she is, she played Rogue in the X-Men Movies. In True Blood she plays Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress at a bar in a small Louisiana town. She also has telepathic abilities, which the show never explains how or why she has them. She can hear peoples thoughts, although she tries to turn it off when around people she's close to. She falls for a vampire that enters the bar she works at one night. She's all excited because it's the towns first vampire. Because she can hear peoples thoughts she over hears some bar patrons planning to steal the vampires blood. Ok, I should probably explain somethings about vampires in True Blood. Vampires openly walk the streets ever since they "came out of the coffin". Scientist have created synthetic blood so vampires don't have to feed off of humans any more. They still like to from time to time, they just don't need to. So there's the whole discrimination, fear element with the humans that don't understand the vampires. Vampire blood also has special drug like effects. So there's a black market has sprung up. They changed the lore around vampires a bit. Things that have killed vampires in other shows or movies don't necessarily work. And other wards that work on other mystical creatures like werewolves also work on vampires. So now that your caught up, these patrons attack the vampire and pin him down with a silver chain. Sookie comes to the aid of the vampire and saves him before they can drain him of his blood. This is were she starts to fall for him. I guess it's the whole forbidden fruit thing because did I mention that Sookie is a pretty reglious person. This sets up an interesting dynamic between the two. Sort of attracted yet repulsed all at the same time.

Acting is ok. Some of the characters aren't very believable, like Sookie's, sleeps with anything that has boobs and a pulse, brother. And the gay fry cook at the bar Sookie works at. After watching three episodes it didn't pull me in enough to keep me watching. It definitely has potential, but the story seemed to be progressing too slowly. It's kind of like the writers aren't sure where they want to go next. In the end Anna Paquin would be the only reason I'd continue to watch.

C-

Road Trip: Arizona and New Mexico

2008-10-07T17:49:00.024-07:00

Wednesday Sept. 24th
I pick up my rental car from Budget. It was a new red Saturn Vue and had only 750 miles on it. It had many more after I was finished. Around 1pm I left my house for Iowa. Over 1700 miles. On the first day I traveled over 700 miles, making it to the Colorado New Mexico border before bedding down for a few hours of sleep.

On the Road 5
Originally uploaded by Skald_Saga

About 20 minutes outside of Flagstaff I ran into a bit of traffic. Apparently there was an accident on the freeway and caused traffic to stop. We sat for about 10 minutes before traffic started moving again. This gave me a chance to play around with my camera.

AZ NM Border 2
Originally uploaded by Skald_Saga

Near the New Mexico border I pulled over to take a few more photos. You can see all of my photos at my Flickr page including the photo merge I did from 5 separate photos. Some of the photos were taken while I was driving. They actually came out better then I had expected. Look for the reflection of the camera in some of the photos.

AZ NM Border 1
Originally uploaded by Skald_Saga

AZ NM Border 3
Originally uploaded by Skald_Saga

Photo take of the sign welcoming me to New Mexico.

AZ NM Border 9
Originally uploaded by Skald_Saga

Fantasy Football: Week 4 and Week 5 Reflections

2008-10-07T11:59:00.001-07:00

Week 4
Despite having an off week, I won my game 35 to 28.
None of my players scored a TD and the only position that did anything useful was my defense scoring a TD off a fumble recovery. My QB, Roethlisberger did nothing the first half, but managed to have an respectable finish with 1 TD pass and had is best game of the year (which isn't saying much) with 191 yards. But me managed to say in the entire game. Wide receivers sucked I got a 2 points out of the whole bunch. My running backs did a little better. Frank Gore had a decent game, running/receiving for over 100 yards and catching a 2 point conversion, but was kept form scoring a TD. Jones-Drew had only 49 yards. Had a another good game from my kicker David Akers of Philadelphia.
Picked up Greg Camarillo of Miami in waivers.
Since I won my game, my Niners lost, so we are both 2-2
Averages for week 4.
Average points scored in week 4, 49.188
Average weekly points scored for the year, 47.578

Week 5
Lost to Pool Boy 47 to 62. Currently 2-3.
I'm frustrated with my Quarterbacks. I'm losing faith in Roethlisberger. He is always injured and has not had decent week. He was up against another tough defensive team vs. the pass. Brian Griese of Tampa Bay has been look good at times. Had a really good week a couple weeks ago and is up against an easier defensive team. Although I don't think he is the better QB, I played him instead of Roethlisberger. Ben was listed as questionable even though I figured he'd play. And his tough match-up on the road, and the fact I'm sick of watching him suck it up as my bench guy does better I pulled him. I've come to realize I'm cursed. It doesn't matter who I start, they will suck. Griese struggled against Denver. He only had 88 yards and then got knocked out of the game from a blind sided hit. Next week Is Ben Roethlisberger's bye week so I may not even have a starting QB. My Defense is also off so I was planning on using waivers to pick up one. But now I'm wondering if Garcia will now be starting for Tampa Bay next week. Since I benched Ben, he had a great game, finally got over the 200 yard mark by throwing for 300 yards and throwing 3 TD's. If I would have started him I would have gotten 15 points out of him. Instead I got 1 point from Griese. Still would have lost my game, but it would have only been by 1 point. My Defense last week was my savior, but this week did nothing against the Cardinals. COME ON??? it's the Cardinals. WTF. Grrrr. My Receivers decided to show up this week got a TD from each of them as well as a TD from both my Running backs. Expected a little more out of my kicker, he missed a 50 yard field goal, but other then that kicked 2 extra points and 23 yard field goal. That netted me 5 points. Had he hit the 50 yarder, would have gotten an additional 5 points for that one.
Averages for week 5.
Average points scored in week 5, 49.563
Average weekly points scored for the year, 47.975

My Niners also lost so that breaks the streak of they win when I lose and vice versa.
Up next week, the 3-2 GridIron Doom. Total points scored by Doom, 267.
Expecting a bad week. I have 4 of my regular starters on Bye weeks and the players I had expected to replace them are banged up and may not start.

Road Trip

2008-10-06T14:29:00.003-07:00

Objects in the mirror
Originally uploaded by skald_Saga

Two weeks ago I left for trip to visit my folks. So if you haven't heard from me in a while that was why. "No internet makes Jack a dull boy." I will be detailing my trip here going state by state sharing some of the photos I took and reflections I had along the way.

A Ritual of Blood

2008-10-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

Blood Ritual: Blooding the Soldiers
A Soldier is only as good as the training he's received. And a soldier with no real combat experience is no soldier. This ritual is known by very few ven. Only the Mwrr family knows it and they don't give it out freely. The ritual is designed to give soldiers the combat experience they will need if they are to protect and/or conquer for their Liege. It is Bloody, it is effective, and sometimes, it is deadly. When a noble ven conscripts a personal guard or secret army, the sorcerer will go out with the army on the eve of their first battle. The battle is usually against a soft target, one that can be easily defeated. The target doesn't even have to be against another guard or army. As I said it is designed to give experience not to conquer. The sorcerer cuts himself and bleeds into a large bowl. The soldiers then wash their hands in the blood as the sorcerer performs the ritual. As the blood is still wet on their hands, they charge into battle.

Blooding the Soldiers Ritual
A ven can only learn this ritual by using a story adventure. If they succeed in the story adventure, then they may spend a season action to learn the ritual. Once he knows the ritual the sorcerer swears never to reveal it to anyone. Well anyone that is not Blood of the Serpent, more specifically, anyone not of the Mwrr family. This ritual may only be used on green soldiers, soldiers that have not seen combat. Otherwise it doesn't work. Only PC or NPC characters may perform it. Ranked Vassals may not know this ritual. When the Ritual is performed the sorcerer cuts himself and takes at least a rank 2 injury. The Personal Guard or Secret Army then washes their hands in the blood as the sorcerer performs the rest of the ritual. The Personal Guard or Secret Army then gains a number of dice equal to the rank of the injure on their very next attack. So if the sorcerer give himself a rank 5 injure, the guard or army gains 5 dice to use during the attack. After the attack, whether successful or not, the Personal Guard or Secret Army becomes a rank 1 Band Vassal. Although they have 1 free bonus dice to use on all actions that correspond to their duties. This bonus dice lasts a number of seasons equal to the rank of the injury the sorcerer received, minus one. So the sorcerer that gave himself a rank 5 injury, the Personal Guard or Secret Army would have the bonus dice for 4 Seasons. Were as if the sorcerer only gave himself the minimum rank 2 injury, then the Personal Guard or Secret Army would only have the bonus dice for 1 season. Also the injury the sorcerer gave himself in order to perform this ritual doesn't heal at the normal rate. It takes 1 season per rank. So even the rank 2 injure that normally would heal in 2 days takes 2 seasons to completely heal.

I'm not completely satisfied so I'll be still working on the details. I think I will run it by the folks at the HotB Forums.

Blood makes the soil rich!
Blood makes the soil rich!
Blood makes the soil rich!

Character Profile: Jade

2008-10-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

Jade
System: D&D 3rd Edition, Homebrew world.
Status: Deceased.
Mary Sue Test Score:
38,
36-55 points: Mary-Sue. Your character needs some work in order to be believable. But despair not; you should still be able to salvage her with a little effort. Don't give up.

29
22-29 Some definite Sue-like tendencies here. A little polishing might be in order to put original fiction and RPG characters back into the balance, especially if Kirking is involved. Fanfiction characters should probably have some work done.

About Jade
Jade's family were refugees during one on the many Ork Wars when she was still a baby. As they traveled away from the war torn areas, their caravan was attacked. Jade's father tried to defend the caravan as Jade's mother tried to escape with Jade. She managed to make it into a nearby woods, but the ork raiders were close on her heels. She hid Jade in the bushes before running deep into the woods. Drawing the orks away from her baby. The orks eventually caught up to her and killed her. Most of the others in the caravan were also killed in the raid. Including her father. The orks took what they wanted and left.

A group of monks were traveling to a pick up their monthly supplies from a nearby village when they came across the remains of the pillaged caravan. They searched for survivors but found none. During their search, one of the monks heard the crying of a baby in the woods. They went and searched the woods and found a baby hidden in the bushes. They took her back to their monastery and named her Jade after her green eyes. Even though she was a girl in cloister of male monks, they raised her as one their own.

When she became of age, she ventured out to discover the world as Monks are instructed to do. After several years they return to the Monastery to recount their experience. This is were the adventures starts. She meets up with a group other adventurers and after many non-connected stories, starts to dream of her home at the monastery. But then the Orks rise up again. They have turned their attention to the Elves. Normally the Elves can take care of themselves. They are skilled with magic as well as with bows and swords. But the orks are also using magic. Something they've never used before. They are also using strategies and tactics instead of just trying to overwhelm their enemy in brute force and superior numbers. The war wages on and it looks like the elves will be eventually defended. The group of adventurers that Jade was traveling with offer to help the elves. On the eve of the Elves last stand, the battle that will determine the fate of the elven race. Jade and her party prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. The battle was long and fierce. Their were huge casualties on both sides. Jade single handily kill many orks before she was finally overwhelmed by the orks. Jade died that day on the field of battle, but the elves won the day. They finally had turned the tide in the ork invasion. We discovered the source of the ork magic and how to defeat it. The elves would eventually drive the orks out of the Elven lands. Jade's body was returned to the monastery she grew up in and the monks made a special memorial to her for her sacrifice.

Next Character Profile will be Gunther, the character that inspired me to create this blog.

Character Profile Update

2008-09-22T10:34:00.005-07:00

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

2008-09-22T09:54:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-16T09:31:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-13T15:32:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-12T13:24:00.008-07:00

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

2008-09-10T16:58:00.004-07:00

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

2008-09-09T11:25:00.005-07:00

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

2008-09-02T17:14:00.004-07:00

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

2008-09-02T16:43:00.002-07:00

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.

HotB: The Little Party (Session Recap)

2008-08-26T17:58:00.003-07:00

Finishing up at the Opera
Before the smoke could clear from the burnt Opera House. Rumors of a Fox, dressed in disguise, had reviewed the opera. The reviewer said that the opera was a bold critique of operas in general. The themes cliché as well as the characters involved. “Over used and played out.” The first part of the review goes into great details of all the flaws of the opera, including how long it was. But then the review goes and praises the writer of the opera with his daring surprise ending of burning down the opera house in a symbolic jester that calls for new themes and new character as the high art of opera is reborn. Hence the reason the opera but on during spring. There are many that agree and others that disagree. Those that disagree simply state that the opera was horrible and it was a tragedy the opera house burned down, for it was very fine opera house. Many stand around a debate the points the reviewer brought up.

Lady No and Lord Throsh are off in a quite corner talking. Lady No gives Lord Throsh his first task. A Baron had insulted her. She wants him to apologies for that insult. Throsh asks who this person is. She relies with “Baron Tane Yvarai”. Lord Throsh then goes off to find the offending Baron. Lady No smiles an unsettling smile as she watches Lord Throsh walk away.

Baron Tane Yvarai: Three Things true

There was no insult to Lady No
His lands are in trouble
One of the finest Craftsmen in all of Shanri

Meanwhile, a servant approached Lord Chayan Mwrr. The servant informs him that Lilyth Thorne, Aunt and seneschal to the Count, requested that he “humbly” meets with her at the grotto. The servant departs and Lord Chayan goes to meet with the Aunt.

At the grotto, the Aunt is there with her personal guard. She greets Chayan and informs him that someone not invited to the opera was present. She believes that person was responsible for starting the fire. Lord Chayan informs her that someone not invited was indeed present for the opera and then informs her of his bear friend from the academy. Lord Chayan also tells her that he doesn’t believe he had anything to do with the fire. She says she will take that in to consideration and immediately calls over her personal guards to apprehend the man.

Lilyth Thorne: Three things true

Count's Seneschal
Hushed rumors that she is actual older then Autumn
Been offered a Barony but turned it down

While all of this was going on, Baron Vaydalon Yvarai, was trading with Baron Zhern Steele.

Baron Vaydalon Yvarai: Three Things true

Has a Serpent Wife
Has the aspect “I know you, Don’t I?”
Name means Pampered Prince

Baron Zhern Steele: Three Things true

Vassal to Count Zajkara Mwrr
Has many Farms
Creepy in Tall, Thin, Pale kind of way

Count Zajkara Mwrr: Three Things true

Count Maurevel pissed him off at the last senate meeting
Blooded of the Serpent
Lady Trisnoira was his Swordsman

Once his trading was done, he goes around to invite select members to little gathering he will be throwing later.

In the middle of a Lord Tane’s story Lord Throsh storms in and accuses Lord Tane of insulting Lady No. Lord Tane says he has no idea what this ball-less, Savage, brute is talking and that whatever trollop he was hanging out with, surely deserved it. Lord Throsh then attacks the man. The fight is over quickly, Lord Throsh breaks Lord Tane’s leg, breaks his nose, before he apologies for the insult to Lady No. Lord Throsh, having satisfied the lover’s task, turns and walks back to receive his alta from Lady No. But before he can claim it, the guards show up and ask Lord Throsh why he was striking one of Count’s guests. Lord Throsh and Lord Tane are brought before the Count. The Count asks Lord Tane if the matter was settled. Which he begrudgingly affirms. The Count and his guard leave. Lady No shows up and give Lord Throsh a kiss on the back of the hand. Lord Throsh then goes to give her a big passionate kiss. But she pulls back and ask Throsh if that is task for her? He says it is and she submits to Throsh desires.

Back to Lord Chayan and the Aunt.
The guards rush the Bear before the Count. He pleads that he was not responsible. The Aunt shows and testifies that he seen back stage. She then brings forth the entire backstage crew.

“I saw him.” a lady says.

“I saw him too.” a man says.

“I saw him, he tipped over a candle.” another lady says.

“Yes, it was him” a third lady says.

One by one all of the crew give statement that he was the one responsible for starting the fire.

Lord Vaydalon speaks up and suggests he wear the black and carry the spear for someone.

The Count asks if anyone has knowledge of Baron Barde Steiner, the bear friend to Chayan, whereabouts during the opera. It was discovered that he was sitting next to Lord Vaydalon’s wife and was beside her during entire performance. She is enamored with him. There was someone impersonating Lord Barde and it was the hidden fox.

Lord Vaydalon steps forth and says he vouches for Lord Barde. “He was with my wife the entire time.”

The Count asks Lord Vaydalon if he was with Lord Barde the entire time. Which he says no but he was in sight of his wife the entire time. The Count asks Lord Vaydalon’s wife if she vouches for Lord Barde. She looks to Lord Vaydalon before answering yes.

Lord Chayan steps forth and announces that there is sorcery that can make someone look like some else.

At this Lady No speaks as if she is intrigued with this type of sorcery “You mean there is sorcery that makes someone look like someone else?”

The Count then says that he has heard that the greater Suaven Ashalim Avendi has blessed some of his followers with the ability to make one look and speak as someone else.

Lord Chayan then says we have three examples of someone looking like someone else, perhaps this man is innocent of these charges.

During this the Aunt is keeping her composer but it is evident that she could strangle her liege. It is as if she eye scream “I gave you the perfect out and you screwed it up.” She suggest that maybe this matter should be brought before the senate. The Count agrees and the Aunt asks Lord Vaydalon, his wife, and Lord Chayan if they are willing to testify before the senate. The Count lets Lord Barde go with the caveat that he also testify before the senate, with the knowledge that he can be tried in absentia and it may be looked as an omission of guilt if he does not show up. Lord Barde again professes his innocence and says he will be there.

A gathering, or a little party.
When Lord Vaydolan returns to his castle. He is greeted outside by one of his servants. The man rushes up and begs his pardon, “Please don’t kill me sir.” After a round of questions the servant say the Lady Agatha is visiting, and she has her maid and that is all. After giving the servant a few orders, Lord Vaydalon goes to see the Countess.

She is sitting in one of the rooms with her maid. She is drinking a tea that produces an acrid smell. She is dressed all in white, sitting in a special chair just made for her. She looks up to meet Lord Vaydalon eyes. Her eyes are golden in color. She states she wants to speak with the others. Lord Vaydalon informs her that he will be having a little party and they will be there. Although she seems to already know that.

Lord Vaydalon then departs and prepares for gathering.

The night before the gathering Lady No comes to Lord Throsh she begins to kiss him passionately. As the passions builds to a point were he could stand it no longer. She bits him on the lips and pulls back. A small amount of blood could be tasted in his mouth. She asks him if he is ready for his next tasks. He says he is. She smiles, and pulls out a red collar and leash. “Wear this.” she says.

Begrudgingly Lord Throsh accepts, and puts the collar on.

Lord Vaydalon greets everyone as they arrive. He then informs them that Lady Agatha wishes to speak to them.

As they enter the room where Lady Agatha is in, they see she in a white dress. Thin whites hairs start to cover her skin. The speaks softly as she says “At the end of the year, I believe I will enter the eternal dream and my husband will inherit my lands. I fear... no, I know that he will be unable to hold onto them. He lacks the cunning to see that his own Aunt is working to take them from him. If he loses his lands, you will lose yours.”

“Why would she be so ambitious, she already turned down a Barony.” Lord Vaydalon asks.

Lady Agatha relies, “She doesn’t want a barony, she wants a County. If was not for me he would not have been able to keep his lands.”

Lord Vaydalon and the others agree to work together to make sure that the Count keeps his lands, if Lady Agatha helps them before she enters solace.

The maid then says that the Countess needs her rest and then leads the counts out of the room.

Lady Agatha: Additional things true

Blooded of the Elk

The Maid: two things true

Blooded of the Fox
Spring Character

After the meeting, there is dinner and Lord Vaydalon announces he has an unveiling. Dinner is served, a fine meal. Lord Throsh reaches for some of the food, and Lady No slaps his hand and scolds him for not asking first.

After dinner, Lord Vaydalon announces that he has started on an Opera House in dedication to the Opera House destroyed by the fire.

Lady Trisnoira enters, with Sabina’s husband and offers him back to her.
And promptly departs, but not until after Lord Vaydalon talk to her about possible recruitment.

Sometime passes when one of Lord Vaydalon’s flower arrangers shows up. He informs him that someone’s personal guard has shown up on Lord Vaydalon’s lands.

They all explore out to meet this incoming guard, with the exception of Lady No and Lord Throsh. Who stay out of range of the personal guard. Vaydalon noticed they were half staffed and Lady Namatha noticed they haven’t seen them yet.

The personal guard were near Lord Vaydalon’s plains. His roadmen were quelling trouble there.

Lord Vaydalon attempts to get the assistance of Lord Throsh from Lady No, but she refuses to let any him do anything that might cause harm to himself. Although Throsh is itching to get involved

As the personal guard advances, they noticed that their hands are covered in blood.

The battle was quick, and not as deadly as one would expect. One of the guards were nearly killed, Lord Vaydalon received a light wound. The personal guard says that if they lay down their weapons they will yield the field of battle to them. If not, the next injury will be fatal. Lord Vaydalon ask them who sent them, but they would not say. Lord Vaydalon and the others did cautiously laid down their weapons. The personal guard bows and takes a guarded retreat from the plains.

Lord Throsh anger grows as watches the battle, knowing that if was down there he could have made a difference.

Lady No turns to him and says “You did good.”

Lord Throsh asks, “At what, watching?”

“Being Obedient.” Lady No replied.

After the battle they returned to Sambol Castle. Lord Chayan remembers hearing of a ritual called Blooding the Soldiers. The ritual is very old and very few people know if it. The ritual is designed to train guards and armies. They are sent out on a conquest, not to conquer but to gain combat experience.

Once back Lord Vaydalon’s wife returns, she is covered in blood. She has a near fatal wound. But insists she is fine and demands to be left alone. Lord Vaydalon learns that the personal guard that they just fought were his, and believes that his serpent wife may have something to do with the bloodied hands.

You will never know your own Strength until you test it.

Why I'm NOT voting for McCain

2008-08-19T17:56:00.007-07:00

From JohnMcCain.com blog

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others."

Now the article was in response to an attack by the Daily Kos. I think McCAin and those in his camp have every right to do so. But come on, what does D&D or those who play the game have to do with McCain or Obama? Nothing, it's just another example of an ad hominem attack that politicians like to use. The writer of the article, not McCain mind you, but Michael Goldfarb, wanted to paint a picture that all supporters of Obama are like that of the stereotypical geek. The comic book reading, 30 year old that never kissed a girl, lives at home with their mother, play D&D and dresses up like characters from Star Trek. And if you support Obama then you too are like that. He could have attacked the facts in question, but he didn't. He attacked the people who play D&D and tried to paint them all as Obama supporters. First of all I'm in no way an Obama supporter. I do not live in my mother's basement, but I've played and currently play D&D. And by lumping me in with the Obama supporter is an insult to me and all other D&D players that aren't mindless partisan hacks that toe the party line.

Now I'm probably not going to vote for Obama either. Although if Obama came out and said he plays D&D, I'd consider voting for him.
:)

HotB: In game Terms for Ranks

2008-08-19T10:54:00.014-07:00

So I was thinking, in most game they have terms that don't translate well with the real world. If I ask you "How strong are you?" You might say not very or average, or some other adjective. Well in game talks it easy to fall into using stats. The how strong are question might be answered with, "I have a strength of 16." In some game systems a 16 Strength would be good where another game system it would be bad. And unless you know the differences, the defining of a 16 strength is meaningless. During a game it's necessary to use these terms. Like when a character gets hit with a weapon. You take 25 Flesh wounds, or you lose 25 Hit points. Now the Storyteller, Dungeon Master, Game Master or whatever name you use to describe the person running the game. Could keep track of these numbers and let the player guess how serious the wounds are, but that's a lot of work. I tried it once. Usually the problem most notably comes into play with magic items. How do you say you have a +3 Sword of Slaying without saying +3. Well a group I played with awhile ago had a way.

"A quick-and-dirty numerological nomenclature for the arcane, using badly remembered Latin, probably improperly conjugated:
+1 Defixus Elementum (Elementary, or first, enchantment)
+2 Defixus Itarum (Second enchantment)
+3 Defixus Tertium (Third enchantment)
+4 Defixus Quartum (Fourth enchantment)
+5 Defixus Dominor (Supreme, or royal, enchantment)
Thus, "The sword has all the signs of an Itarum enchantment" would indicate a +2 sword."

Houses of the Blooded is no different. Everything has a Rank. My Spouse has a Rank. My nifty sword has a rank. My lands have ranks. The higher the rank the better the thing is. I was thinking about using those terms from that group for the Houses game I'm running. So a Rank 2 Bloodsword would be Itarum Bloodsword or Defixus Itarum Bloodsword. I am also think of using other terms for injuries, works of art, vassals. Anything that has a rank, will have a description to it. So I don't refer to my Rank 2 Spy Network, but my Adept Spy Network. Novice Staff, (Rank 1).

Injuries

Rank 1: Light Injury or Flesh wound
Rank 2: Moderate Injury or Minor wound
Rank 3: Serious Injury or Major wound
Rank 4: Critical Injury or Crippling wound
Rank 5: Potentially Fatal Injury or Near Mortal wound

Vassal Ranks

Rank 1: Novice
Rank 2: Adept
Rank 3: Expert
NPC's: Master

Lands

Rank 1:
Rank 2:
Rank 3:

Items of Quality or Works of Art

Rank 1:
Rank 2:
Rank 3:
Rank 4:
Rank 5:

Parties

Rank 1:
Rank 2:
Rank 3:
Rank 4:
Rank 5:

I'm still working on these last ones.

HotB: The Spring Opera (Session Recap)

2008-08-08T10:51:00.018-07:00

What could be more Ven then an Opera, Insults, Duels and Romance? I guess if revenge was thrown into the mix but we would want to overdo it on the first session, now would we.

Since the players Count plays an important rule in this adventure, we should start there.

Here are the things we established as true about the Count.

The Count Maurevel Thorne

He is Blooded of the Falcon
He is very young (Spring)
His wife is much older (Winter)
Namatha’s (Renee) Husband are Cousins
Had a Regent that just died
There is Political upheaval in the Counts Realm
Cunning is his weakness
Has the aspect Womanizer
Was illegitimately Blooded
He is quick to solve problems with a duel.
Has a Puzzle House
Is very idealistic
Is infatuated with Sabina (Quin’s character)

The Spring Opera
Spring is dawning. The last chills of winter die away as new life is brought forth to the land of Shanri. Final farewells have been said to those that enter solace. To the survivors of the hardships of winter, spring offers the chance of rebirth, renewal and it’s a time for love. And what better way to celebrate this then this new life then with an Opera. Our young barons were invited to an Opera. That was all they knew, they had to figure out the rest. He is what they discovered.

The Aunt of the Count invited them
Someone is spying on Sabina (Quin)
The Opera is toted as “A Stirring Love Tragedy”
“The Wife” is one of the main characters
The Opera Really Sucks (Of course the Players don’t know this yet, but it’s true.
I saw a rehearsal of it and it really does suck.)
The Opera House is near the Senate
The Count wrote the Opera
It is a rank 3 Opera

So the stage is set, the players all arrive in their finest attire. Some have brought their Spouses and/or vassals. Some brought gifts for the Count. (I was running it like a party, meeting, that resources could be exchanged for free. And bringing gifts to a party is good form. Style.) As they enter the Opera House the Count’s Herald who had traveled the land promoting the Opera greets them all. They are escorted to their private opera boxes, and shown to the banquet area. As vassals to the Count the players were given nicer boxes then others. The boxes have screens that can drawn shut so that the Opera way still be viewed, but offers privacy from scanning eyes that may wish to see what is going on in the private boxes.

In the banquet area people have gathered to discuss news, and rumors of what the Opera will be about.

Chayan Mwrr (Matt) scans the room looking for someone he may know. He runs into an old friend from the academy. His friend is Blooded of the bear, and he was not invited.

Baron Chayan Mwrr: Three things true

Fascinated with Sorcery
Lands are mostly Swamps and Mountains
Weakness is Cunning (IIRC)

Namatha Steele roams around the room trying to gather information. She noticed that the Counts wife was not in attendance, because she was not invited.

Baroness Namatha Steele: Three things true

Weakness is Courage
Name means the unexpected
Has the aspect: “I Pull the Strings”

Lady Sabina wanders around the room listening for gossip. She hears that the reason the Counts wife was not invited was because the Aunt doesn’t like Agatha (The wife) because she has been taken too much control in the handling of the Counts lands. The Aunt wants to play regent and is looking for a new wife for the Count.

Lady Agatha: Three things true

Is a winter Character
Always seen wearing white
Reveres the greater Suaven Manna Renay

Baroness Sabina Mwrr: Three things true

Has the Aspect: Just a pretty face
Has some of the most plentiful plains in all of Shanri
Weakness is Prowess

Throsh Burghe (Ramses) goes to the banquet table and starts to eat. While he was there a Lady approaches him and asks if he plans on eating the entire spread. Throsh invites the Lady to join him. She asks what is good to eat. He replies that everything is good and then hands her a greasy turkey leg. She hands it to one of her servants to pick the meat of the bone for her. Throsh turns his attention back to the food and when he does, the Lady calls him a “Savage Brute” and starts to walk away. Throsh over hears the insult, and calls her out and directs an insult back to her. She turns to Throsh and asks him, “Did you mean what it?” Throsh replies, “Did you?” She says, “I did!” Throsh calls her a “Filthy Whore”. She calls him a “Smelly, Savage Brute.” Throsh replies with “Snobby, Filthy Whore”. The lady smiles as she calls him a “Ball-less, Smelly, Savage Brute.”
Throsh yells, “Enough!” Everyone gasps, and look to the competitors, and start to snicker and laugh at Throsh. (Throsh was tagged with a rank 3 insult).

Baron Throsh Burghe: Three things true

All brawn, no beauty
Is a Summer character
Killed his wife

Lady No: Three things true

She is a poison teddy bear
She has three dead husbands, currently looking for a fourth
She has some kind of relationship with Zsanosz, Count Kether

Namatha and Sabina notice a twinkle in Lady No’s eye that she is infatuated with Lord Throsh. Lady No wants Throsh as her next Husband.

Lord Chayan walks up to his friend, The Bear greets him, and Chayan asks how he got in. The bear replies “through the door”. The bear tells Chayan that if hasn’t gotten any food he might want to before it’s all gone. Chayan asks he was going to eat it all. The bear say, “No, but a cousin of his was there.” The bear then asks where Chayan’s seats are located and says he may join him later.

Just then bells start ringing, signaling that the Opera will be start soon. Namatha and her husband make it to their box first. As the people begin heading to their seats, the musicians start to warm up their instruments. Namatha looks to see who else has made it to their boxes. She notices a lady in the Count’s box, it’s not his Aunt, it’s Lady No.

Throsh and Chayan hang out at the food table a little longer. Sabina gives Chayan some suggestions as to what to eat. As the last remaining people from the banquet hall deport, Sabina starts box hopping to see what invites she can get. She bumps into Lady No, and she invites Sabina to her box. Unbeknownst to Sabina, Lady No is spying on her.

When Sabina has finished her rounds of she finds Lady No in the Counts box and sits down with them. She instantly starts to question the Count about the Opera.

Then another series of bells ring to signal the Opera is start soon. Servants run around dosing candles. The last of the people have taken their seats. The Count is beaming with pride as his work finally gets to be revealed. From the very first opening music, everyone can tell that the Opera will be bad. Sabina winces, and then addresses the box in general if the Opera is any good, stating she is still learning to appreciate this high Art. Oh course they all agree that it is quite good, but she can read there faces and learns that they are all lying.

Namatha leans over and starts kissing her husband as she draws the screen shut.

Throsh falls asleep and starts snoring.

Chayan leans over and whispers something into his wife ear. They draw the screen shut to their private box and they sneak backstage.

Lady Steele (Chayan’s Wife): Three things true

Blooded of the Elk
Very Cunning
Very Loyal to Chayan

Lady Sabina and Lady No talk about Throsh during the Opera. As they notice the privacy screen to Lady Sabina opens. They see the Aunt and Sabina’s Husband holding each other in warm embrace. The Aunt is trying to bump off Sabina’s husband.

The Opera continues for what could have been 3 operas. While backstage, Chayan and his wife go and try on some of the costumes. On their way back to the costumes, Chayan accidentally knocks over a candle and starts a fire.

Back in Count’s box, Sabina asks if there is a fire scene in the Opera. The count says, “No, but perhaps I should add one.” He calls over his Valet and tells him to take down some notes. The Valet questions the Count at the suggestion of adding a scene to the Opera. He exclaims, “The Opera is on fire!” Sabina replies, “It is!” and runs out of the box. Smoke starts to billow out from backstage, everyone notices the Opera House is on fire and starts to run out. The Count protests everyone not to leave. That once the fire is put out the Opera can resume.

During the mass Exodus, Throsh charges out of the Opera House, pushing past everyone in his way. He makes it out of the Opera House safely, injuring several people on his way out, Lady No being one of them (rank 1 Injury).

Chayan’s Wife leads Chayan out of the Opera House and no one saw them backstage. He makes out without injury, but she takes an injury.

After running out the Counts box, Sabina goes to find her husband. She finds him in their box with the Aunt and another woman are fighting over him. Sabina hides in the corner and watches what happens.

Sabina’s Husband: Three things true

He buys the act
Blooded of the Fox
Sucker for a Pretty Face

Lady Trisnoira Adrente (The Other Woman): Three things true +1

Wolf all the way
One of the best swordswoman in the entire senator
Brother has taken her lands, is here looking for Allies so she can take them back
And is an alley to Throsh.

Lady Trisnoira sees the fire as she argues with the Aunt. Lady Trisnoira picks up Sabina’s husband and throws him over her shoulder as she tells that Aunt that we can continue this outside.

The Count continues to insist that once this (the Fire) minor inconvenience is dealt with, the Opera can continue and is insisting that everyone stay. Even as the Opera House burns, Lady No turns to the Count and says “Excuse me you Grace, I was injured.”
The Count looks at her and gasps, “You were? By who?”
Lady No says, “By one of your Vassals.”
“Which one?” the Count asks.
“Throsh, he nearly ran me over.” She says with passion in her voice. “I demand satisfaction.”

Lady Namatha overhears the conversation between Lady No and the Count. She sends her husband over to Throsh to be his second.

Namatha’s husband walks up to Throsh and says, “Your excellence, it has been brought to my attention that you will be needing a second.”
“Really? For what?” Throsh asks.
“Lady No demands satisfaction, you apparently injured her on the way out.”
“That filthy slut.”

The Count orders Throsh over.
“Yes, my Liege.”
“It has been brought to my attention that you injured one of my guests here.”
“She was in my way...” Throsh starts to explain.
“An injury to one of my guests is an injury to me.” The count explains. “Do you apologies?”
“Apologies for the injury, but not to her.”
The Count turns to Lady No and asks her if she accepts this apology.
“How could I? He has not apologized, he apologized for the action but not to me.”
Throsh starts to argue with Lady No when the Count stops him.

The Count gathers an impromptu senate. The senate agrees that both sides have valid claims of injury and a duel is announced.

Seconds are chosen. Letters of Apologies are written and handed to the opposing your side. They both refuses to sign the letters and the duel is allowed to proceed. The duel was declared to the blood.

Lady No and Throsh take the field. They stare each other down for a moment. Then Lady No attacks. She cut him across the face. (Throsh takes a Rank 1 Injury) She then moves inside his sword and kiss him on the mouth. Throsh stands there stunned but kisses her back. They embrace each other for a moment, until she whisper in his ear, “Duels are such silly matters, let goes someplace quiet.”

Throsh agrees, and Lady No turns to the Count, “Thank you, I am quite satisfied.” she says with a smile. She takes Throsh by the hand and leads him off.

Fade to black.

Love poisons the heart. Makes us weak. Makes us sick.
And the only cure for our malady is that which caused it in the first place.
~The Great and Terrible Life of Shara Yvarai

Houses of the Blooded: First Impressions

2008-08-02T00:38:00.008-07:00

I'm still floating on my gaming high. But I wanted to jot down some initial thoughts. A full recap will come later.

I ran my first Houses of the Blooded game, and it went REALLY REALLY WELL. I wish I could take all the credit, but I can't. I can't even take most of the credit. My players deserve the credit, they were the ones that ran the story. They did a fantastic job.

We first took care of Season actions. Then I showed them the contract they all would have to sign, IN BLOOD (not real blood mind you). Then I told them they are all Barons under a Count. Then I ask them to tell me who their Count is?

When that was finished we started the story. All I had prepared for the story was, "You all have been invited to an Opera" and let them take it from there. I was a little concerned at first because everything they were saying was great, but I wasn't sure where to take it. I need to shake things up. So I did. I explored some of the rules we never got to during the playtest. My players keep contributing, making things worse on themselves and the story progressed until they had written it into a nice neat little ending.

Three times I tried to introduce the Character I created, and three times, my players wanted her to be someone else. Which is fine, it worked out better that way. I did get to introduce her in the end. But it was Lady No that stole the spot light. It's hard to out shine Lady No.
(Lady No is a character we encountered in the Playtesting with John.) I had told myself that, "I would not introduce any character that John used from our playtest sessions." That was the only rule I placed on myself. Note: I did not say "I would not use any character from our playtest sessions with John." That was deliberate. If my players want to introduce them, I don't have a problem using them. The reason I didn't want to introduce them is the same reason I don't read fan-fic. No one can write the character like the originator of that character. Same rule applies. But sometimes a world just isn't the same without a particular character in it. Like Drizzt from Forgotten Realms or Tasslehoff from Dragonlance. My players wanted Lady No so they got her. I only hope I lived up to their expectations. I think I did.

This is where it ends.
With blood and pain and revenge.
But it began with love.
This is how everything begins and this is how everything ends.
~The Great and Terrible Life of Shara Yvarai

Yet another tragic, unnecessary casualty in the War on Drugs.

2008-08-01T11:48:00.006-07:00

:(
Police Raid Berwyn Heights Mayor's Home, Kill His 2 Dogs.

Luckily this time to one was hurt, unfortunately the same can't be said for the dogs.

Mayor Cheye Calvo was not arrested in the raid, which was carried out about 7 p.m. by the Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers.

So Mayor was not arrested, but I wonder, if he wasn't the Mayor, would he be so lucky?

As the police came in, Calvo said, they shot his 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, Payton, near the front door and then his 4-year-old dog, Chase, also a black Lab, as the dog ran into a back room. Walking through his house yesterday, Calvo pointed out a bullet hole in the drywall where the younger dog had been shot.

"...as the dog ran into a back room."
This clearly points out the use of DEADLY FORCE. *Note the sarcasm.*

Spokesmen for the Sheriff's Office and Prince George's police expressed regret yesterday that the mayor's dogs were killed. But they defended the way the raid was carried out, saying it was proper for a case involving such a large amount of drugs.

Of course he defends the raid, if he didn't he and his men could be held accountable. But if you or I brake down one of our neighbors door, shoot their dogs, and then say OOPS, sorry we got the wrong house. We would be locked up for braking and entering, destruction of property, discharging a firearm within city limits and probably a hand full of other charges. But because they have badges they get a pass.

And you think that it CAN'T happen to you because you don't use drugs. Well I'm sure the Mayor of Berwyn Heights thought the same thing.

Return of the Blooded

2008-07-31T13:28:00.012-07:00

Firday, July 25th
I started a New Houses of the Blooded game. I've also decide to do ALL posts for my Houses games in BLOOD RED. MUHWAAAA. We started off by making Characters. More on the Characters to come. This Friday we will be meeting for the Blood Contract, Season Action and an Opera.

I created a character that will be a NPC unless someone else wishes to be the Narrator.

Lady Trisnoira Adrente
(Daughter of the Blade)

Three Things True about her.

One of the finest Swordswomen of the Senate
Carries her Mother's (Blood) Sword
She is looking for Allies so she can take back the Lands her brother took from her after their Father entered Solace.

You will have to wait if you want learn more about her.

Carry a sword.
A quick apology stings less than a quick duel,
and leaves fewer scars.

Birthday Gift Spoiler

2008-07-21T18:16:00.003-07:00

NBC announced that for my birthday next year they will be giving me, drum roll please, Jay Leno's retirement.

May 29th, a day early but I'm not complaining, will be Jay's last show. As a fan of the late night television, Jay as a sub for Johnny, he was alright at best. But as the full time replacement has always been an disappointment to me. His jokes, well jokes are suppose to be funny. Although I am a big fan of the self-deprecating humor, but his chin jokes have been played out. His other bits have either been done before or are like his jokes not funny. As an interviewer, he is bland and asks inane questions and when he has nowhere to go, directs conversation back to his enormously large chin. YES I GET IT JAY, YOUR CHIN IS BIG! Move on.

Although to be fair I haven't watched Jay in years, so it may have changed, but somehow I doubt it. Either way, I may start watching the Tonight show again.

I haven't decided if I'm going to watch the last episode. If I do, it will only be so I can always remember how sucky it was.

Thanks NBC, it was long time coming.

Project Targe: Step 1, Preparation

2008-07-16T14:04:00.007-07:00

I found this set of instruction over at Tandy Leather Factory. Its FREE so get it and make one too! I will be making some modifications to it the instructions. I will notate the changes I make.

Currently I am in the process of getting the tools and materials I will need together. Here is the list of materials needed, as per the PDF.

Materials Needed: (Red indicates stuff I will need to get.)
• 1 ea. 6-7 oz. tooling leather, appr. 25" dia.
• 1 ea. 4-5 oz. tooling leather, appr. 25" dia. (Will go with Hair On Cowhide or Rabbit fur)
• 2 ea. 6-7 oz. leather strips, 2" x 15"
• 1 ea. 3/4" plywood, 24" in dia. (May go with 1/2 plywood)
• 4 ea. 1-1/2", 1/4 x 20 carriage bolts
• 4 ea. 1/4 x 20 nuts
• Upholstery Tacks #1403-10
• Swivel Knife and Blade
• Adjustable V-Gouge #8082
• 5/16" Round Punch #3777-12
• Craftool Stamps: B198, B936, A114,
A104, A104-2, S724 & F910
• Tanner’s Bond¨ Contact Cement #2530-01
• Tandy’s Antique Leather Stain #22071
• Tandy Satin Shene #22009

Since I'm kind of short on cash at the moment. I will be buying the stuff I need, when I need it. For the most part I can get started with the tooling of the design. That will be the next post.

Picture is taken from the Tandy Leather Factory's website. It only used to illustrate what the finished project should look like.

Project: Targe

2008-07-15T10:13:00.003-07:00

If the Arizona Renaissance Festival just around the corner. While it's still 6 months away, but with the way this year has flown by it feels like its just around the corner. Anyway, it looks like the pirates will not be out there this year. This was do to the Jack Sparrow phenomena. Basically everyone and their grandmother are pirates. Mind you I like pirates just as much as the next person, assuming the next person isn't a ninja. But when your shtick is a pirate, errr, Honest Merchant Sailor, it makes you a bit superfluous. So instead a new troup will be out there in place of the Honest Merchant Sailors. The working title is "Plague of Scots". Over the past few years, there have been fewer and fewer Scotsmen. Except for Croft and the ocassional Scot here and there, (I'm not including Clan MacFrat, they don't count) there are no Scots. The troup was to be a Dance/Street Improv troup, but we don't have enough committied dancers/musicians to pull off the Dance part of the Troup. So we will be a Street Improv Troup with the occasional dance. Until we can get our numbers up.

So now that you know the backstory onto Project: Targe. For those may not know what a Targe is, it is a round shield, about 24" in diameter, made of wood, usually covered with leather. Also known as a Buckler or Hand Shield. I will be making one, hopefully in time for the 2009 year Arizona Renaissance Festival when the Plague of Scots make their debut. I will be documenting the process here.

Enjoy.

The Highwayman (Poem)

2008-05-22T12:35:00.006-07:00

It was my senior year of high school, and there I sat in my World Literature Class. We were reading many different poems from many different author. Most were boring, bland or I just didn't get. Unless it was Edgar Allen Poe, I really didn't care. Except, this one. I don't know why, but for some reason, it spoke to me. It tugged at my heartstrings. Every now and then I like to, or sometimes need to reread it. To conjure that emotion I felt my senior year when I first read it. In class we talked about rhythm, phrases, and literature speak, all the the stuff that I still don't get. I'm sure there is some of that that lends itself to the work. But for me its on a subconscious level. For me the words painted a haunting yet beautiful picture. Images that tell a story.

In Loreen McKennitt album, The Book of Secrets she puts this poem to music and completely captures the mood of the poem.

So for those that haven't read it here it is.

The Highwayman
By Alfred Noyes

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle--
His rapier hilt a-twinkle--
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened--his face was white and peaked--
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter--
The landlord's black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching--
Marching--marching--
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side;
There was Death at every window,
And Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."

She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.

Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still.

Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight--
Her musket shattered the moonlight--
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death.

He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

And still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Remember, Remember...

2008-05-20T17:52:00.004-07:00

http://gbarto.com/sept11.html

Remember, remember… (all three stanzas)
Remember, remember 11 September
Suicide demons’ dark plot
We see no reasons
Why suicide demons’
Evil should ever be forgot

Remember, remember 11 September
Murderous monsters in flight
Reject their dark game
And let Liberty’s flame
Burn prouder and ever more bright

Remember, remember 11 September
When madness and malice took wing
Face darkness and fear
With this memory clear
And everywhere let Freedom ring!

I like this, it reminds me of the old saying by Benjamin Franklin.

"Anyone who trades Liberty for Security,
deserves neither Liberty nor Security."

To Protect and Serve?

2008-05-19T17:00:00.002-07:00

Just another example of how the government has ruined
someone's life.

Read the Story here.

You can also check out a webpage for Tracy.
Justice For Tracy

Shhhhh.... I have a dirty little secert ;)

2008-05-07T17:36:00.001-07:00

I want to say about 6 months ago, after a Saturday night of drinking. I woke up Sunday afternoon all hung over and dehydrated. I rolled over and grabbed a can of Pepsi and a bottle of water from my mini-frig and picked up the TV remote and turned on the tely. To my surprise the Soap Opera channel was on, not the History or Comedy or One the 9 million movie Channels I normal would have had on when I watch TV last. I guess during the night I had rolled on the DirectTV remote and switch channels in my sleep. It's rare, but it's happened before, usually it switched to some channel that doesn't exist or one we don't subscribe to. But this time it was on SOAP. A cute perky yet manipulative Blonde was being all catty with another cute perky Blonde. "Ohhh, Cat fight! This ought to be good" I thought. Well, like most soaps it went nowhere, just veiled threats and the characters departed. "Ok where's the remote?" I looked around my bed, "it should be here somewhere? Oh there it is, on the floor beside my bed." Normally I'd get up and switch the channels, but today, I was really lazy, and besides there are cute blondes, so it's not all that bad. Well it turns out the show was General Hospital and was replaying a weeks worth of episodes. Now I've heard of General Hospital, just as I've heard of dozen other Soap Operas. Growing up, my mom watched All My Children, The Young and the Restless and maybe a couple others, I was usually too busy playing outside to care. In high School my sister would watch Y&R, and when she was life guarding, she would ask me to tell her what was going on. Her mistake, I would start to tell her what was going on, but I would never say who I was talking about. I would always say "That one Guy, You know the old one"

"You mean Victor?" She'd ask.

"Ya, I think. But anyways, he was talking to that one girl..." Before I could even get to the title screen, I had her all confused and she would get fed up and leave. It was good thing because after the title screen I was already bored to tears and had left the room.

So, I watched the rest of Mondays episode. I know it was Mondays show because in the bottom right corner of the screen was Monday written over a larger GH. The episode ended with some Mob enforcer taking to his boss about some guy they killed. WOW, the mobs in Soap Operas, and cute blondes. Oh and the Cute, Manipulative Blonde one, has an even cuter sister. And there's a character that a computer geek, that refers to himself as "The Jackal" and has nicknames for all the characters. I kind of like this character, a geek and an outcast.

So anyway I spend most of the day watching all five episodes getting something to eat and showering during one the shows, it doesn't matter the plot moves at a snails pace you could miss a month and after one episode be all caught up. I have to admit, I kind of like General Hospital.

Well the next week goes by, I have no desire to watch GH, or any other soap for that matter. It's not that I didn't want to watch GH. I just didn't have time, and didn't really care about it. I enjoyed my time with the people of Port Charles, but I was on to other things. Another week goes by still not watching GH. A couple months have passed, its around Christmas time now and there is nothing on TV. I'm killing time at my folks house. GH was on. Started watching, sure enough, after an episode I was all caught up. The people of Port Charles, are stricken with fear because of the TMK, or Text Message Killer. There some fancy shmancy ball that everyone who's anyone will be at. The ball goes on for 3 weeks, In GH time, one evening, but it took the writers 3 weeks to cover a 5-6 hour event.

So now I'm watching GH weekly. But I've noticed that I'm not watching like most people watch Soaps, or the reason I think most people that watch soaps. I could care less about the people and who they trying to screw over or screwing. I'm looking for what I've been calling Triangles. Sometime there Love Triangles but not always. Here's an example, Person A loves Person B. And Person B loves Person A. But Person A's best friend is Person C, but Person C HATES Person B. And Person C is secretly in love with Person A. Here all over the place, triangles and there are easy to spot if your looking for them. But I'm not just looking for Triangles, but looking at how those triangles effect everyone else and their triangles. Person, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, etc. Basically looking at the art of storytelling a Soap Opera. And seeing how I can incorporate that style in my games. (Insert evil Laugh)

Duhn-juh n Krawl

2008-05-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

The other night we gathered for another Eberron game to finish the Dungeon Crawl we started about a month ago. Since I play a Noble who has been raised in the posh life-style. I decided to take a different approach to the adventure. Everything is new to him, he doesn't understand that something is waiting to eat or kill him around every corner, so he has a very carefree attitude towards exploring. In the session, Matt's character, Erik is walking down the tunnel, sword and shield in hand anticipating an attack at any moment. Lord Emrys casually walks with him, was a cup of tea in one hand and a bruschetta in the other hand as he shouts back to his servant Petrof. Basically making every mistake an explorer could make.

We finished the Dungeon Crawl. I only almost-died once. I had survived the first adventure, WHOO-HOO, but not because I wasn't trying. And we managed to get 425 gold and a couple of pearls. Not bad for a evening of monster killing.

Mead update

2008-04-10T12:14:00.004-07:00

Last night we check the Mead. She's still fermenting. A bubble in the fermenter lock about every 25-30 seconds. We took a reading with the hydrometer. We got a reading of 1.032. So to figure the Alcohol, we subtract the O.G. (1.104) with the gravity, (1.032), and multiply that by 105.

1.104 - 1.032 = 0.072
0.072 x 105 = 7.56 percent alcohol.

According to The Complete Joy of Home Brewing Book by Charlie Papazian and the recipe we (mostly) used falls close to the 8.95%-11.25% range.

Orienteering

2008-04-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know what Orienteering is, it's the skill and sport of Navigating the Land with a map and Compass.

Last weekend I decided not to stay at home and rest like I said I would but instead, decided to go and help out the Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club with their land navigation class. Twice a year, usually in the end of March/first of April and End of October, they have a Land Nav Class. So if you are ever lost in the wilderness, (which I have been) and you have a map and compass (which I didn't have when I was lost, so it really wouldn't have helped me out) you get find your way back to civilization. At any rate, if you love the outdoors and don't like sticking to trails like me, I highly recommend learning Map and compass skills.

Here are some pretty pictures I took while out Orienteering.

Desert Thistle
First is lovely picture of a Desert Thistle. I know thistles are weeds but it's still pretty plant.

Field of Wild flowers and cactus.

Tomatio (sp)
I'm not sure how you spell it, but this plant was shown to us by one of the students. She had tons of knowledge on plants said this plant's fruit is eatable. I did eat some of the berries and I'm still alive, yeah! The berries are the size of small jelly beans and if cut open have small seeds like tomatoes and has a taste very similar to tomatoes. Although I don't like tomatoes, and I could detect a hint of tomato flavoring, but it had more appealing taste.

Birds Nest in Cactus

Roblas Butte

Picketpost Mountain

And now for a little learning lesson on Orienteering.

Boxed Y
A Boxed Y is is term for a reentrant junctions. First a reentrant is the valleys of hills. Look at the picture below, and try to visualize where water would travel if it were raining hard enough to cause flash flooding.

Rivers and creeks are also examples of reentrant, but they are usually referred to as rivers and creeks. But if there was no water in the rivers and creeks then you have a reentrant. A reentrant junction is where two reentrants meet.

I've drawn where the reentrant junction are at.

On a Topographical Map all land features looks something like this. Land features are drawn in brown. Keep in mind this is not the same hill in the previous photos.

Can you see all the valleys? They are the represented by all the V's. The hills are more U shaped lines.

Now if you were to draw the reentrant junctions you have Y's like the the previous photo showed. The name Boxed Y comes from the way the contour lines box in the reentrant junctions.

Hope this helps a little and you found it entertaining.

ARF Recap

2008-04-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

2008 marked the fifth year I worked the Arizona Renaissance Festival. This year was the 20th Anniversary of the Arizona Renaissance Festival. As always it was fun, and probably the best weather we had for an entire run. At least since I started working there. We had no rainy day, a couple overcast and cold days. No snowy days like last year. No days canceled like the last two years. A couple days were on the rather warm side but no hot days.

I was out there with the Lion Share, an improve troupe of ~~Pirates~~ Honest Merchant Sailors. We were up to our normal shenanigans like Robbing the taxes, Invading the Royal Pavilion, Blowing up bridges, Kidnapping the Lord Mayor and the Lady Lord Mayor. Swag Stacking, and getting patrons to walk the plank.

Swag staking is a game we play with a bunch of swag, or booty, (pause so you can giggle at the word booty).... Ok it's a bunch of junk; cups, candle sticks, plates, other various pieces of metal that we stack on top of one another in an effort to see how tall we can get it. The record was 24 pieces of swag. The record was set by 2 kids, 7-8ish, up in Flagstaff during Ren in the Pines. This year we set the record to 29 pieces of swag after 2 other kids set a new record of 27. We were determine to beat the record after the kids set to 27 with dumb luck using no reason to pieces they selected to place on top of the previous piece.

This year we were part of the open gate show. We started the show. It starts with us stumbling drunk towards the gate singing what do you do with a drunken sailor as loud as we can and then demand to be let in. Then we remember we have the keys to the village that we won from the Lord Mayor in a game cards the previous night. But none of the keys work. Then Dittle runs us off. We return with a bigger key. Two kegs of gunpowder. Then as boy is trying to lit the fuse Dittle comes back and calls for the Lord Mayor and we run off. We then dress boy up as a princess and sneak in with the Royal procession only to kicked out as opening canon goes off.

Toll Free Troll Bridge
Another bit we did, not a new idea mind you, but still it's fun. We sit on a bridge and wait for patron to cross the bridge, then you stop them and get them to pay a toll. The toll was One Pirate joke. If they don't know one help them with it. We start off by saying, "What's a Pirate's favorite..." Then wait for them or ask them to fill in the blank with a noun. After they say something, we say "We don't know, what is a Pirate's favorite (insert patrons noun)" Then they usually laugh because we just caught them not knowing the punchline. But it doesn't matter whatever they say, whether in makes sense or not We laugh like its the funniest thing we ever heard and tell them they may pass. If I had a dime for every time I heard the one about the pirate walking into the bar with a ships wheel hanging around pelvic area. Well I'd be a rich man. For those that don't know the punch line, it's driving me nuts.

With the recent success of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean there are too many pirates. Everyone wants to be a pirate, and well we kind of are redundant. So next year, the Lions Share Pirates maybe a dance troupe. Assuming we get enough musicians and dancers.

Why I'm a libertarian with a small-l

2008-04-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

The core belief of libertarianism is Liberty and Freedom, the non-initiation of force. The belief that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want, as long as you do not harm anyone. For the most part the Libertarian Party believes this as well. There is even a pledge you must take before you become an official party member. The Pledge is,

"I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I DO NOT BELIEVE IN OR ADVOCATE THE INITIATION OF FORCE AS A MEANS OF ACHIEVING POLITICAL OR SOCIAL GOALS."

Sounds good so far, then why am I not a party member. Well first of all I don't like collectivist terms like; Democrat, Republican, Caucasian, Black or African-American, American, Islamic, Christian, etc. I don't like labels, and I don't what to be group in with them. I don't even like to call myself a small-l libertarian. But our culture is fixated with labels, collecting and classify people. To me this dehumanizes all of us. When I go to vote, I want to vote for a person not a party. So I read all I can on the people running and then I vote for the person I think is best suited to keep my freedoms free (which few we have left now). Granted I tend to vote for more Libertarians then not when they're running for a position, but I'm not voting for the party. I'd like to see the party system be done away with, or at least the R, D, L, I, next to peoples names be done away with. Even if all it does is make the Republicans and Democrat Party-line voters do at least some research as to who's in the party they support.

Second I see the Libertarian Party as somewhat of contradiction. Here you have a party that doesn't believe in the initiation of force, working within the government system. Government by it's very nature is initiation of force. If you don't believe me quit paying your taxes, it's your money isn't it? Quit registering your vehicle, you bought it, it's yours, right? Quit obeying laws that don't harm others, where's the crime, who was hurt? See how long it takes before the government sends men after you, men with guns I might add, to take away your freedom by throwing you in jail or prison. Government is force. If I might paraphrase Mao Zedong

Government extends from the barrel of the gun.

Lastly, but it sort of ties into the previous reason. Last week, Mike Gravel announced that he was joining the Libertarian party. So I went over to the Libertarian party website to see what they had to say about this and they seem to be in support of this. There is even a quote from the Libertarian Party Executive Director, Shane Cory.

"We're honored to have a former member of the United States Senate join our ranks,"

Now I agree with Mike on the War on Irag, War on Drugs, Same-sex Marriage, and some of his other issues. But Mike Gravel is not a Libertarian. IMO, he is a socialist. He believes in Taxes (a different form a taxation, but a tax is a tax), Universal Healthcare, Social Security, Government Education. If he was a Libertarian he would not believe in use of force to steal your money (taxes) so he could give it to a failing government Education, a socialist government run Healthcare System, a bankrupt government Social Security program. Let me keep my money, all of it and let me decide how to spend it on; Education, Healthcare and my own Retirement. And let me do it in a FREE Market, free of government control and regulation. Thats what a Libertarian would advocate. Since the Libertarian Party is endorsing him, this tells me, the Libertarian Party is no better then the Democratic or Republican Party. And their non-initiation of force pledge is meaningless.

Gaming recap

2008-04-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

Last week I had 2 games, first the Eberron game, and then the second mini-session of my 7th Sea game.

Eberron
The Eberron game was fun, we talked about our place in the world, each given a reason to be on the same road together all traveling to King-Crossing. But other then that no reason to work together. The weather turns bad and we all took shelter in a near by ruin that just happen to be revealed by a resent lightning strike. Another lighting strike shakes the earth and causes a door to blast open. We were attacked by panicked rats. After the rats were gone we still had no reason to work together nor given an incentive to investigate the ruins. But knowing that our GM probably had nothing for us unless we investigate the ruins, Matt and I start to poke around. We enter a room and attacked by some lesser outside. After it was killed we discover a ring and continued to investigate the ruins. This is were we ended for the night.

The adventure was a module, so it is very generic, which is fine. I guess I was hoping for more intrigue then just a dungeon crawl. We will see what happens next.

7th Sea
The 2nd-session of my new 7th Sea game picked up with our characters on the run from the Musketeers. I felt the session went really good, and I'm just about ready to introduce the B-Story as they work through the A-Story. Basically How I want to run the game is like this,

A-Story Starts < - > A-Story Middle < - > A-Story Climax
. . . . . . . B-Story Starts < - > B-Story Middle < - > B-Story Climax
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-Story Starts < - > C-Story Middle < - > C-Story Climax

So at any time 3 separate story arcs are going on at the same time. With the touch of Soap-Opera drama thrown into the mix.

Eberron

2008-03-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Although I said I never would, I've decided to get back into playing D&D. It came about because sometimes gaming a game system you don't particularly like is better then no gaming at all. Although I am still looking for another game and working on getting my 7th Sea campaign up and running. Awhile ago I met with the GM. We talked about the Campaign, system and other stuff. Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about my character. I proudly introduce you to Lord Emrys ir Teutorigs, Esquire. He is a noble from Aundair. Raised with the all the luxuries that the Nobles enjoy. But he also has seen the corruption that the Nobles inflict upon the people that serve them. With the help of his best friend and personal valet, Carwyn, they set out to fix the system from within during the day and remove those that oppose the change they are fighting for at night. Emrys works as a Barrister for those that can't defend themselves and works to change the laws that he feels are unjust. Sort of a cross between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Robin Hood.

Because of Class system that D&D uses it's hard to create the character I wanted, but I think I manage to figure it out. My plan is to take the Rogue class until I can take the Master Inquisitive prestige class from the Eberron Campaign setting. After that I was thinking of taking the Duelist prestige class from the DMG. With the Rogue class I get tons of points to put towards skills. It also fits for the Batman/Vigillante part of his character.

Faber est suae quisque fortunae "Every man is the artisan of his own fortune"
This is the Motto of the Teutorigs Family. There Family chest is Red and Black Checkered field Shield, with a Standing Lion on the left of the shield and Dragonhawk on the Right of the Shield. Below the Shield is an Olive Branch and a Bunch of Grapes.

Tomorrow we will be gaming our first game. More to come...

Super Bowl XLII

2008-02-04T13:30:00.001-07:00

With the World watch the 18-0 Patriots and the underdog Giants battle out who will be this World Champions, I tuned in as well. I didn't care which team won, but was rooting for the Giants mostly because they were the underdogs. I probably would have supported the Patriots if it wasn't for the video taping scandal that happened early in the year and how New England handled themselves after it. It would have been nice to for someone to finally shut up the 72 Dolphins. But we'd probably have to hear about it from the 07 Pat's for the 25+ years how they had the perfect seasons and had to play more games then the 72 Dolphins. Although it was hard to root for Eli "Crying" Manning. But I have to hand it to him. He played one hell of a game and it came down to the wire. The best play was the pass from Eli Manning to David Tyree with about a minute left in the game. Eli some how manages to escape getting sacked and just throws up a Hail Maryesk pass and Tyree manages to pull it in, in a miraculous catch.

Even though Eli was awarded the MVP trophy I think it was the Giants Defense that deserved the award. They Sacked Tom Brady, another QB I don't like, 5 times, hurried and/or knocked him down a dozen or more times and forced a fumble. They keep the #1 Ranked Offense scrambling. They never let the Pats get into a rhythm. That allowed the Giants to stay in the game and up set the favored Patriots 17-14.

But the main reason I watch the Super Bowl was the Commercials. The Super Bowl has well know history of airing some of the best commercials. The last few years I have been disappointed, and was hoping for some good commercials again. Most were alright, some just sucked, which is ashame because of how much money they spend on them. Se here are my top 3 Super Bowl XLII Commercials.

#3 Pepsi Max Nod Ad
Watch for Chris Kattan at the end of the commercial. If it wasn't for him I doubt it would of made it on the list. Although Night at the Roxbury is not one of SNL's best movies made from a 2 min sketch. It is one of my favorite movies because there are jokes in there that I feel the writers put in there just for me.

#2Cars.com Glondor
Both Cars.com commercials where good but this one I though was better.

#1 the T Mobile Charles Barkley Top 5
Be careful what you wish for.

New Art

2007-11-14T16:49:00.001-07:00

Not sure who did the original B/W.

Here's the Color.

Mmmmm, Fermented Honey

2007-11-10T04:31:00.000-07:00

Something I've wanted to do but never got around to do was make mead. (What kind of Skald would I be if I didn't know how to make Mead.) So last night I finally did it. Yesterday after work I went to a local homebrew place picked up the essential supplies. Then went and picked up the honey and other items we needed. Then went to a friends house and started brewing. After we sanitized the equipment, pasteurized the honey and mixed everything together a few hours had past. We needed the temp. of the must to be 80º. And being the impatient type that I am, it was cooling fast enough. So it was moved to a tub with cold water and late packed with ice. Finally around 4 AM it reach the desired temp. The yeast was added and went home to go to bed.

The following are notes I took.

Mead
Makes 5 Gallons
15 lbs. of Mrs. Crockett's Country Hill Honey
4 Gallons of water
2 tsp Irish Moss
1 tsp Gypsum
1 tsp Stale hops
1 capsule of servomyces

Heated 2 gallons of water as honey was mixed in. When temp. reached 170 remove pot from and mixed in Irish Moss, Gypsum, Stale Hops, and servomyces. After 5 mins rack must into carboy with 2 gallons of water and aerated. When the temp dropped to 80 added yeast. (Which was about 4 am) Getting the must to drop to 80 degrees was a long wait. We placed carboy into tub and filled the tub with cold water and pack ice around carboy. Later more ice was added and a towel soaked with cold water was place to help with the cooling process. Next time we will place 2 gallons of ice instead of water.

11/10/07 Pitched yeast. O.G. 1.1045

One Small step towards Liberty

2007-10-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. Before today I have never donated anything to a political canidate. Mostly because I didn't have the time or money. I'm not in a different boat. I still don't the have the time or money, but this is the ONLY canidate that speaks the message that I believe in. FREEDOM from Big Govnerment. (Yes, I'm looking at you Republicans that speak of small government but have expanded the government more then LBJ) Freedom to pursue the things that makes me happy. So even though I don't have the money to spend, I gave all I could and will have do without a little happiness for a while. Because Ron Paul is America's last hope for Freedom and Liberty.

Game 1 NLDS DBacks vs Cubs

2007-10-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Post Season Baseball Begins
Thanks to my Uncle, we went to the DBacks game last night. It was good game with the DBacks winning 3-1. The score was 0-0 through the third inner until Stephen Drew #6 hit a home run in the fourth. Then in the 6th with bases loaded, 2 outs, when R. Theriot of Chicago hit a single to the 3rd basesman. The DBacks had a chance to end the inning but pitcher Brandon Webb #17 didn't cover 3rd base, where the 3rd out could have been made. All the runners advanced, allowing D. Lee to tie the score. The DBacks took the lead with a homer in the 7th inner by Mark Reynolds #27. Later in the 7th with Chris Snyder #19 on 3rd, Pinch hitter Conor Jackson #16 hit a sacrifice fly allowing Snyder to score. The DBacks went on to hold the lead and win. Although in the 9th with two outs, Relief Pitcher José Valverde #47 walked pinch hitter D. Ward of Chicago. Next up, A. Soriano of Chicago. Probably Chicago's best hitter. But managed to close the inning with Sorino hitting to the 2nd baseman, and him tagging 2nd base forcing the 3rd out.

CGS Coloring Contest

2007-09-18T16:04:00.001-07:00

Here's the finished coloring of DC Comic's Countdown 36 cover, as part of the coloring contest over at the
Comic Geek Speak Forums.

Summer Actions

2007-09-11T18:53:00.002-07:00

Harvest
The summer harvest was good and plentiful. The hunters in Leszek Forest cut down the finest trees. Again, both Grego and Brynnmor Farms had good crop production. Doino Plains were in full production of their Wined Spices. The miners in the Morywyn Mountains delivered the finest stones. The village turned over some fine spears for the Valru Guard. Kalisa introduced me to our Spy Master, Senka Yvarai. As I introduced her to Decebal Thorne, the former Headman of Leszek Forest as our new Master of the Roads. Both were given there yearly payment of food up front.

Planning
For the Autumn harvest I gave orders for Miners to collect more metals for the sword Duchess Mira will be crafting. Some of the finest woods from the harvest were given to Crina village to produce a fine walking staff. Grego farms were asked to grow crops and Brynnmor was asked to spine wool. Leszek Forests will be cutting down more trees for regional upgrade. Doino Plains will produce more of their famous Wined Spice.

Trouble
The headmen of two regions reported trouble. Crina Village and Doino Plains.

Actions
Kalisa was sent out to Quell the trouble in the Village. As Decebal was sent to quell the trouble in Doino Plains. Alvosis continued to train my wife and the Valru Guard. The Shades and Senka increased Security of the Veles. With my research done, I left for Morgana Castle to start process of crafting the sword. When I returned I started train Alvosis.

Some of the Wined Spices were given to Alvosis, the Shades for their loyal service. The spears were also given to Valru Guard.

Spring Actions

2007-09-11T18:26:00.001-07:00

Harvest
The spring harvest was good and plentiful. The hunters in Leszek Forest trapped and/or hunted many animals. It will keep the food stores full for some time. Both Grego and Brynnmor Farms had good crop production. Doino Plains were in full production of their Wined Spices. The miners in the Morywyn Mountains filled their carts with metals.

Planning
For the next season I gave orders for Miners to change to cutting stone for upgrades to the region. The some of the metal was handed over to Crina village to produce spears for the Valru Guard. Both farms were asked to grow crops again. The men of Leszek Forests were ask to cut down and plant trees. Doino Plains were ask to produce more of their famous Wined Spice.

Trouble
The headmen of the regions were happy to report no trouble was reported.

Actions
Since I took control of the Veles Province, I have made many improvements and stabilized the region. But there is still many progresses that need to be made. I asked my wife, Kalisa, to hire a Master Spy. Alvosis, my senechal, was asked to train my wife and train my personal guard, the Valru Guard. The Shades, my spynetwork, increased Security of the Veles. I took to finding a Master of the Roads. Last year I performed that duty, my I was asked by Duchess Mira Yvarai to be her Master of the Roads. She is my Duchess, I am her vassal, so I could not turn down the privilege to be her Road Man.
In exchange for my service, she will craft me a sword. I have research I need to do before the sword can be created.

Food was paid to The Shades, Alvosis, and the Valru Guard.

Yet another

2007-09-06T16:41:00.001-07:00

Image pulled from
Comic Geek Speak Forums.

More Works

2007-09-06T10:28:00.001-07:00

Original
Line Art taken from a friend's RPG supplement from I.C.E. Rolemaster's Pirate's book.

Final Color

Signatures & Other Works

2007-09-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Baron Iver Thorne
Here is an image I've colored as an image to represent my Houses character. To give credit where credit is do, the line drawing was taken from Larry Elmore's website. It was taken from a couple of his drawing and I combined the two. The colors where then done in Photoshop as a practice of my coloring technique. The Forest was a Google image that I applied some effects too.

Houses Signature

7th Sea Signature
Both signatures where inspired by the AEG signatures available at the AEG Forums for L5R. I was jealous that they didn't have any 7th Sea Signature so I made my own.

Every Gamer must have one.

2007-09-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

Make a Rubik's Cube Out of Dice

Spring Story II

2007-08-29T19:47:00.002-07:00

Spring
In the morning the Duchess Mira Yvari (Played by Renee) joined us. We continued following the tracks. The tracks lead out of Gregor's Mountain and into one Count Kether's regions. The tracks lead to a village, Eriksburgor.
Things we know about the Village
Known for Silk
Direct trade route to Count Kether's Castle
Village is small

As we are on a bluff that over looks the village a carriage pulled by fine ponies exits the forest. They stop at the largest building of the village and a large man comes out to greet the carriage. Two people step out of the carriage a man and a woman. They enter the building.

We make our way into the village and the large man too greets us. He is Grunholt the headman of the village. He welcomes us to stay and rest. As he talks he makes wild exaggerated jesters. We explain the nature of our visit and Timus was called over to see to our needs as Grunholt flabbgasterly runs to make inquires.

We enter the building we see the woman from the earlier carriage. She’s Lady Shara Yvari from the Far, Far East and cousin to Duchess Mira. As we talk with Lady Shara, Crav comes in to the common room.
Things we know about Crav
Lady Shara's Swordsman
Bald and Shaved
Big as a Bear
Mountain Man

We speak with Lady Shara until Grunholt returns. He asks if the tracks were strange. The tracks were strange. The men were on horseback. Grunholt, Lysandra, and Crav for the stables. As the go to the stable Grunholt explains they breed horse for Count Kether. Pievu, the stable keeper, was called for. Pievu is short, and has little blue eyes. Crav and Lysandra examine the stables. The last stable was missing a horse. After further questioning and examining, they discover the missing horse was a mare, a bay coloring with star marking on her forehead and was here two days ago. Pievu was discovered to be lying about the horse presence earlier today. Pievu was then taken back to main house for further questioning. It was revealed that Pievu was lying and that Grunholt has the horse. Lady Shara looks to the headman and plainly says "Your in trouble." Grunholt confesses to having the horse. He was going to tell Count Kether that the horse was stolen. The man that took the horse was wearing a mask and threatened to kill everyone in the village if Grunholt report this to Count Kether. After he left, all the cattle started to bleed. The Masked Man was tall, strong and had the regalness of the blooded. When asked, Count Kether was described as Dark, Tall and Handsome, you don't want him to ever touch sort of way. After some discussion we decided to leave for Count Kether's castle.

Count Kether's Castle
Because of our hasty departure, we arrived to Count Kether's place well after dark. Torches light the path as we ride. Count Kether's Castle was built on top of the remains of the ruins of the Sorcerer-Kings. The castle gate rises and we enter into the courtyard. Which was designed for killing. Ernst, Count Kether’s Seneschal, greeted us. Ernst speaks with a high voice and informs us we are early for the party that is to take place to tomorrow night, but will arrange rooms for us in the east wing of the castle. We are shown to our room and give time to eat and wash up before meeting with Count Kether. During this time there was a knock at our door. There’s a young lady at the door, after some stammering, the young lady manages to invite us to a meeting with Lady Niassa. As the young lady leaves, Lady Shara enters. The Duchess MIra and Lady Shara discuss fashion that is to be worn at the party when a loud BANG interrupts the meeting. Our impulsive nature urges us to go investigate the noise, but Count Kether’s guards stop us. We tried to talk our away past the guards or at best look past them, when Ernst finds us. He informs us that Count Kether was ready to see us and we were escorted to a sitting room. After some time passes, Count Kether enters. Pleasantries were exchanged, an explanation as to the nature of the meeting was given. A quill was called for and brought in.
Grunholt was then asked to write, “My name is Tomas” .

Grunholt writes, “My name is… Grunholt”

He was then asked to write, “I am not responsible for the horse’s theft.”

Grunholt writes, “I am… responsible for the horse’s theft.”

Kether then asks Grunholt to write, “I do not know who threatened the village.”

Grunholt writes, “I… know who threatened the village.”

Grunholt was then asked to write the name of the man.

Grunholt writes, “Duke Dannon.”

After Grunholt was finish writing, Count Kether draws his sword and kills Grunholt. Count Kether then picks up the quill, asks Gregor to pay close attention, and then writes, “I am not responsible for poisoning your lands.”

Gregor replies with, “We now know who our common enemy is.”

Count Kether then places the quill back into the box and the Seneschal departs. Count Kether then says that he has a guest has violated his hospitality but wishes to speak with us tomorrow about the letter sent to Gregor. Count Kether then stands and leaves. Ernst then sees us back to our rooms. Before Ernst leaves, Duchess Mira tells him that we were ready to see Lady Niassa. To which Ernst gives her a surprised look and says, “Lady Niassa is not here.”

The Duchess insists that she must be, because she had spoken to her lady. Ernst assures her that she isn't and then departs. As we prepare to bed down for the night. Alyss, Lady Niassa's lady was found hiding in the wardrobe. She asks for our help in hiding her. Alyss says, Count Kether has kidnapped her brother. He is being used as leverage so that Alyss will spy on Lady Niassa. Alyss plans on killing Count Kether before Lady Niassa arrives to the party. As we are discussing what to do with Alyss, there comes a knock at the door. It's Kether's guards and they are asking to search the rooms. When Alyss hears this she takes off running. Gregor's gives chase, but loses her. As Alyss was sneaking away, she runs into Lady Shara. Lady Shara exclaims "Alyss!" which causes the guards to run after Alyss. The guards catch her and beat her up and drag her away. Lady Shara was on her way to speak with us. Our conversation causes us to explore the castle further.

Secret Library
Lady Shara leads us to the library. Entering was a bit unnerving but we manage to summon up the courage to enter. As we explore the library Iver finds a book from the Sorcerer-King containing ritual that very few ven know about. Lysandra finds a hidden door and opens it. Hidden behind the door was a corridor, which has a slight decline and leads into a room. The room was filled with iron instruments. Each item was about 2 feet long and was used as a torturing devise. It's humming because it's been used recently. The item seems to be drawn towards the black table in the room. Just then Count Kether enters the room. He then locks us in the room as he leaves with Lady Shara. Lady Lysandra tries the door, its locked. Gregor looks for another hidden door. He finds one, the black table moves to reveal a ladder leading down and Count Kether doesn't know about it. We all climb down and Lady Lysandra covers the entrance. As she does, the table catches on something making it difficult to reopen. Then the humming instruments of torture fall silent. About midway down, the ladder stops. After some jumping down, some falling, we all make it too the bottom. Some better off then others. The room at the bottom was cooled and wet. A small stream of water flows down the path the leads up and out of here. Before heading up the path we tried healing ourselves as best as possible. The path twists and turns as we walk up the path. It leads to wrought iron spiral staircase that end at a landing. We are once again in Count Kether’s castles, standing in a corridor. As we walk down the corridor we see tiny pinholes. The pinholes look into a bedroom. We continue down the corridor peering through each new set of pinholes. As we move further we hear voices, the voices of Count Kether and Lady Shara. We peer into another pinhole and we see them in a bedroom.

”Do I please you my Lord?” Lady Shara asks

”More then that vacuous slutty whore.” Count Kether replies.

Lady Shara smiles, ”You are far too kind my Lord.”

”Put it away.”

Lady Shara flirts and teases him, ”Very well.”, she then pulls back a hood. Lady Shara appearance changes to that of Lady No.
3 Things we know about Lady No
Multiple Widow
Small, Petite, & Demure (So cute you just want hug her)
Houses of the Elk

Duchess Mira gasps then quickly covers her mouth. Count Kether and Lady No look towards the wall. Lady Lysandra takes the torch and quickly runs down the corridor leaving the rest of us in darkness.

”Did you hear that?” Count Kether asks Lady No.

”I did.”

Lady No then gets up and walks towards the wall. She then turns back to Count Kether. ”My Lord, is there a secret panel here?”

”There are many secrets panels in my castle. The Sorcerer-Kings have left me with a cache of secrets.”

Lady No asks how the secret panel works. As Count Kether explains how it works, Gregor and Drustan run away without being heard by Lady No. Iver uses his Greater Suaven ability to make him look like one of Kether’s guards. Lady Mira comes and stands next to him. As the panel opens Lady No stumbles. Iver goes to help but was quickly dismissed. Count Kether is called over. After some questioning he orders Iver to take the Duchess to the tower. As Iver escorts the Duchess to the tower, he rounds a corner, breaks off from the route, and backtracks towards where the others hopefully will be. As the others argued as too what their next move will be. Iver, still looking as a guard, rounds the corner. Lady Lysandra jumps on him. The disguise he was wearing fades to reveal Iver’s true appearance. Lady Lysandra stands in shock, then apologies and helps him up as the Duchess finishes rounding the corner.

FIRE
Back together again, we plotted about either going and rescuing Alyss or escaping. We decided to set fire to Count Kether’s bedroom as a distraction for our escape. On our way out, we enter the courtyard. Across from the courtyard are the stables. We tell the stable boy that Count Kether wants to release the horses so they will not be harmed but the fire. The stable boy releases the horses as Gregor raised the gate. Once outside the castle, Iver shot an arrow to close the gate as the others collected the horses. We then rode towards Lady Niassa’s lands to tell her that Count Kether has Alyss.

Spring Story I

2007-08-27T12:04:00.001-07:00

Spring
Our story starts in the spring. Baron Gregor Steele (Played by Matt) received a letter from Count Kether stating it was a matter of great importance and we all should come. But Gregor was also having troubles in his lands. So we decided to go and investigate the trouble on our way to Count Kether's. We were also invited to Lady Peacocks Late Spring Social. Baron Iver Thorne (Played by Me) sent his wife with his Seneschal and Personal Guard in his place. Some of the others sent their spouse as well.
3 Things about Lady Peacock
Blooded of the Elk
Called Lady Peacock because of her Outrages Dress
Has the Aspect of "I know everyone"
Also has the Aspect of "Matchmaker"

Trouble in Astrel Farms
Baron Gregor was having trouble in multiple regions but we could only visit one. So we went to his farms. We meant with Jack Coffin, the Head Man of Astrel Farms.
3 Things about Jack Coffin
Not Blooded
Tall
Walks with a Limp
Bald
Has a dog

Jack showed us the fields. When he placed a spade into the ground blood come out of the soil like the earth was bleeding from a cut.
Things about know about the blooded earth
Soil was cursed with a Vendetta ritual
Bad sorcery (Illegal)
To undo the curse you must salt the earth
Someone in towns knows who is behind this curse
Conclusion: Someone is after Gregor's land

As the people were looking onward, one fellow, Levlin, was trying not to be seen. His suspicious actions caused us to question him. When we asked him to come forward he ran. Baroness, Lysandra chased him as Baron Iver shot Levlin in the leg with an arrow. Baroness Lysandra Burghe (Played by Quin) dragged Levlin back and presented him to Baron Gregor. When questioned he revealed these truths.
Things we know about Levlin
Man dressed in black wearing masks
Gave Levlin and his brother pretty things, (Glass Beads, Worthless, From Kether's Lands)
Gave them vials of Blood to pore onto the fields
Men spoke like the Blooded, "Regal countenance"
Levlin and his Brother could not refuse them (Not sorcery, but supernatural)
Brother was killed by Orks 2 weeks ago

Levlin then salted the fields, Baron Drustan Mwrr (Played by Pam) helped with the task. Baron Gregor should mercy to Levlin, which cause the loyalty in the region to go up. Jack was then order to keep an eye on Levlin.

Track to the North
Baron Gregor's Roadman, Brian and his men found tracks to the North. The tracks lead into the "Bad Lands" and then into Baron Gregor's Mountains. The tracks then double backed and turned to the east as they lead out of Gregor's land. Wyr, Drustan's Swordsman, found us a good place to camp.
3 Things about Wyr
Autumn
Blooded
In love with Baron Drustan's Wife

Houses of the Blooded

2007-08-27T11:45:00.002-07:00

My gaming group and I have been part of the play testing for John Wick's new game "Houses of the Blooded". We've had 3 stories so far and it's been a blast. I will be recapping all the action here. You can learn more about Houses at , www.housesoftheblooded.com Or click on the above image.

Found this HI-Larious

2007-07-27T12:36:00.001-07:00

Found this over at indexed Check it out.

End of a Journy. Start of a New...

2007-07-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Nearly 6 months ago a gaming campaign that was going on for years came to an end. I had been with the game for nearly 4 years, and the game had started a year or so before I started. We didn't know this, at the time. We all thought it was going to continue. You see our friend, the GM, who runs the game, missed another session. No call, no explanation, no nothing. You have 5 gamers all sitting around waiting for him to show up so that we can indulge in our addiction. Well after a couple of hours, we decided to call it a night.(And many unanswered phone calls to his cell phone) These stand-ups happen with some regularity, and if he didn't spin such a good story, we would have dropped the game years ago. Although lately it was happening with more regularity, and when he did show up, it seemed as if he was just calling it in. The excitement of running a game had left him. Call it burnout. I understand that, but all we'd ask is that he be honest with us. Then, he dropped off the face of the earth. We all know the game had come to an end. Although we didn't want to admit it, but the writing on the wall and was all plain to see. Another disappointing conclusion to yet another unfinished campaign. This one had potential, if there was a campaign that would reach it's finally, this was the one, but in the end it too finished unresolved.

A couple months ago, I was talking with another player. We were talking about how annoyed we were about not knowing the ending. I confided in her that the only reason I was still playing was because I wanted to know what happened to her character, Izzie. Her character was the star after all. The character I was playing had left the game to do his own thing. So I was without a character, and not wanting to leave the group, I started playing another character. The new character that was fun to play, but one I wasn't emotionally attached to it. After thinking about it for a few days, I decided I could pick up where our GM left off and at least finish the last adventure. When I proposed this to my friend, she was excited about the possibility. Asked if I was serious, and I said I was. About a month ago I ran the conclusion to the last adventure. Things when really well and added a little taste of things to come. After the session, I asked if they wanted to continue. And the response was yes.

After months of nothing (our last gaming session was on 1/20), we have revived it, and the story continues on...

Legend of Zelda Medley

2007-07-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

Fun Stuff

2007-04-30T14:20:00.000-07:00