Today I hit the big "32." Okay, so maybe it isn't all that big but when you have as much gray hair as I have you start to wonder if your calendar is off. ;) On tap for today is some BtS work and then Linda's taking me to dinner in Manayunk at a pub called Kildare's. Hopefully, we can get in a bit of birthday shopping as well. Not sure what gifts to expect from others today but then I usually just buy what I want normally so I can't blame others for not knowing what to get me. And not to slight the holiday--have a great Memorial Day one and all!
Yesterday we got in a few hours of Spycraft under Chuck's able and knowledgeable GMing. Unfortunately, Heather could not attend the session as she had a surprise stay at the hospital for a couple blood clots! They found them after an ultrasound was used to uncover why a vericose vein was bothering her. We're all very pleased that the meds are working and she should be returning home Tuesday. Here's sending some love the Cuthbert's way this weekend.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Beware the Owlbear
As posted in my sister blog, Tricky Owlbear's command group (okay, just Scot and I) met with the accountant and the paperwork is on the way to form our corporation. For the next in the Behind the Spells line, I've decided to do one of the newer spells in D&D's lexicon: Vampiric Touch. Was the spell named for that most infamous of undead or did it acquire that name at some other time? What new ways can this spell be used and what magics has it inspired since its creation? All of these answers and more will be revealed...(It's good to jump back into this fun series!)
Behind the Spells at Paizo.com
It took awhile, but the files for the Behind the Spells series have apparently reached the HQ of Paizo (if you need clarification, they were, until recently, the publisher of Dragon and Dungeon mags). I don't surf over to their site too often, but I might have to now to promote my baby. Have a look: http://paizo.com/store/downloads/roninArts/behindTheSpells
And now I've begun a discussion thread here (because who better to promote them? :) ): http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/products/v5748btpy7y0m
And now I've begun a discussion thread here (because who better to promote them? :) ): http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/products/v5748btpy7y0m
Monday, May 21, 2007
Where'd the Work Go?
As freelancing is at a snail's pace these days, the weekend didn't see much action in that regard. I did, however, get my lawn and my sister's lawn mowed over the two days. Yay me. But back to the freelancing. This has probably been the longest dearth of real writing I've had in years. "What's the deal?" you might ask. I think it has to do with preparing Tricky Owlbear for launch. I did manage to more or less finish BtM: Owlbear this weekend but I'm hesitant to really go scrounging up work with others until I get into a comfortable rhythm with my own company. For a change of pace maybe I'll do another Adventurer Essentials pdf or perhaps even a time travel adventure which I kinda said I'd do to further support Temporality. And of course there's that short story that still needs writing for Dark Quest's upcoming Crown setting. After Scot and I meet with the accountant this week about setting up our corporation, we'll see what's what.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Pizza With Everything
On our "late" nights at work (7pm), we're wont to find dinner of some kind before we close. Yesterday, the boss decided he'd like to split a personal pizza instead of having the turkey sandwiches I proposed (and had brought the fixing's for). Fine, I could do pizza, no problem. I picked up the food from the usual venue and headed back. Now, I should mention that it was quite windy yesterday. Why mention this? Because as I was passing by a parked car, the wind whipped the box out of my hand and it landed on the rear windshield/side of the car!! As it tumbled from my grasp, my right hand came around in a futile effort to stop the box and its contents from spilling. That only succeeded in smashing the poor pizza onto the car. The wind must have whipped open the box top as well (it all happened so fast) because after I quickly gathered the shattered remains of dinner from the vehicle, the smash site was marked by a giant grease stain. There was no sign of tomato sauce of cheese so I thought, "Good enough!" and hurried away from the scene.
I thought the boss would be upset but quite the opposite. After I made the aforementioned turkey sandwiches he was still giggling which then inspired a new round of laughter. We couldn't eat for the crying. He kept saying he could picture someone inside the dentist office across the street saying, "Why did that guy just throw a pizza on my car?!" Best laugh I've had in some time.
I thought the boss would be upset but quite the opposite. After I made the aforementioned turkey sandwiches he was still giggling which then inspired a new round of laughter. We couldn't eat for the crying. He kept saying he could picture someone inside the dentist office across the street saying, "Why did that guy just throw a pizza on my car?!" Best laugh I've had in some time.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Lost Vault of...WTF?
Some time ago, Brad started running a lead-in adventure to Red Hand of Doom. The first adventure is DCC #2: Lost Vault of Thazhar Rho which we finally finished (after 3 or 4 sessions) on Saturday night. Lost Vault has it's share of neat encounters but suffers from a lack of plot coherence and a drawn out ending wherein PCs must fail their Will saves in order to fight the other-wordly demon. Brad runs a good game so I'll not fault him for this pre-written adventure. Let's just say that I hope the next adventure (one of the "Bleeding Edge" line from Green Ronin) before Red Hand is a bit less...chaotic. :) In any case, we had a great time as always and it looks like Sat nights might be better for everyone's schedules than Sunday afternoons. I'd prefer to mix the game times up a little but we'll see what happens.
Mother's Day turned out well. I got some good writing accomplished for Behind the Monsters: Owlbear and my dad cooked a good and large dinner of flounder, chicken, steak, shrimp, cooked potato slices, cucumber salad and finishing with a store bought cheese cake. Yum! I bought my mom an iron stand in which to place seasonal homemade slates for display in the garden. As it turns out, she was planning on buying the very same thing this week once the garden was weeded! The gift was, admittedly, at the store owner's suggestion where I bought it but I can still say that great minds think alike since I did agree to buy it. ;)
Mother's Day turned out well. I got some good writing accomplished for Behind the Monsters: Owlbear and my dad cooked a good and large dinner of flounder, chicken, steak, shrimp, cooked potato slices, cucumber salad and finishing with a store bought cheese cake. Yum! I bought my mom an iron stand in which to place seasonal homemade slates for display in the garden. As it turns out, she was planning on buying the very same thing this week once the garden was weeded! The gift was, admittedly, at the store owner's suggestion where I bought it but I can still say that great minds think alike since I did agree to buy it. ;)
Monday, May 07, 2007
Hiking Weekend
Now that nice weather seems to have settled into my corner of the northeast, it was a great weekend for hiking. Saturday and Sunday saw about 10 miles of hiking total, all around our community's reservoir area. Sat. took me to Pulpit Rock (search the net if you'd like more info about these sites) and Sunday, after an 11th hour cancellation of our module, I took a long haul up to the Pinnacle. Whether you're hiking alone or with others, the experience never fails to bring a sense of serenity (OK, and maybe a few gnats, flies, and mosquito bites).
Serenity proved valuable for the wacky day at work today. First there was a pushy couple who couldn't figure out how their blood pressure monitor worked--turns out you actually have to wrap the velcro strap onto the velcro portion of the cuff, go figure! Second was one of our nicer customers who had put her shirt on inside out. When I noticed the tages below her chin, I said, "Are you going anywhere else this morning?" When she responded to the affirmative, I said, "Well, you should know that your shirt is on inside-out." "Oh," she exclaimed, "Is there anyone else here?" She moved to look toward the front of the store and, seeing no one, proceeded to remove her shirt and place it on the correct way! No cheap thrills here as she was an older and, ahem, larger woman. I admit this incident doesn't top "Testicle Tuesday" but it's certainly blog-worthy. :)
Serenity proved valuable for the wacky day at work today. First there was a pushy couple who couldn't figure out how their blood pressure monitor worked--turns out you actually have to wrap the velcro strap onto the velcro portion of the cuff, go figure! Second was one of our nicer customers who had put her shirt on inside out. When I noticed the tages below her chin, I said, "Are you going anywhere else this morning?" When she responded to the affirmative, I said, "Well, you should know that your shirt is on inside-out." "Oh," she exclaimed, "Is there anyone else here?" She moved to look toward the front of the store and, seeing no one, proceeded to remove her shirt and place it on the correct way! No cheap thrills here as she was an older and, ahem, larger woman. I admit this incident doesn't top "Testicle Tuesday" but it's certainly blog-worthy. :)
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Campaign Fun
Been quiet here lately but sometimes there's just not a whole lot to write here that I think might be worthy. The group did manage to get together for an adventure with our high level FR PCs. This is the campaign that was "ended" some months back when they defeated the plans of Orcus and the meteor throwing device he was using to pummel planets and grow his undead legions. Since then, the PCs have helped to stop a githyanki incursion (spurred by planar tears which occured with the destruction of the ethereal-based tower which controlled the meteor thrower). The PCs also brought about the final destruction of the Crystal of Shadowed Deeds which housed the final essence of Bhaal in our campaign. Last time, the group was called to Suzail for a public festival in their honor but was instead caught up in an elaborate githyanki revenge plot against them.
For Sunday's game, I was torn. We weren't certain we were even playing until later in the week and, as readers of my blog know, I like to have a whole week to plan an adventure. With time at a premium, I went to my collection of premade modules--DCCs in particular. The PCs are between levels 11 and 15 and I decided on DCC4: Bloody Jack's Gold. I had read the adventure once before when I considered writing a sequel to it for Goodman Games. When that fell through, the module was shelved until last Friday. Then my sister and I were invited to my brother's Saturday night (which turned into a late-night Atlantic City trip!) which meant even less time for module prep.
The result? I didn't use the DCC after all. Not only did I not get the chance to re-read it, but running it wouldn't have felt like it belonged in that campaign. After 30 adventures, a campaign definitely acquires its own feel (I'm not sure how to describe it--the PCs and players know what to expect from their companions and the types of monsters and plots just seem "right"). So, after getting back home close to 3am Sat night, I grabbed Mysteries of the Moonsea off the shelf for a quick look. I'm quite happy with the adventure site format in the region books. It didn't take long to settle on "Abarat's Folly", a site where a long-dead elven wizard constructed a tower with portals that, at the time, linked several other elven communities. Seems a cadre of devils from Myth Drannor discovered a way into the tower (but, according to the writeup, could only leave the tower by another portal which a key must be found to).
Plot aside, the area of the tower was quite close to Elventree, a locale already traversed by these PCs and home to a friendly druid NPC as well. There was also something intriguing about the tower itself; it was comprised of some kind of magically enhanced ivory. Even in a sleep-deprived state, my brain drew a connection to my Stargate-esque planar campaign where the PCs there explore the multiverse through glyph gates seemingly made of this same ivory-ish substance.
The easy addition of some leftover ivory slabs and notes (yet to be revealed to the group) from the elven wizard detailing the mysterious race that left the materials there spells a crossover campaign event! I had always planned on (eventually) investigating the glyph gates' origins in the planar game but can now do so with appropriately high level PCs. I suppose the moral of all this is that even the most hastily cobbled together adventure can yield great things. It helps to have a helluva good group of players too. ;)
For Sunday's game, I was torn. We weren't certain we were even playing until later in the week and, as readers of my blog know, I like to have a whole week to plan an adventure. With time at a premium, I went to my collection of premade modules--DCCs in particular. The PCs are between levels 11 and 15 and I decided on DCC4: Bloody Jack's Gold. I had read the adventure once before when I considered writing a sequel to it for Goodman Games. When that fell through, the module was shelved until last Friday. Then my sister and I were invited to my brother's Saturday night (which turned into a late-night Atlantic City trip!) which meant even less time for module prep.
The result? I didn't use the DCC after all. Not only did I not get the chance to re-read it, but running it wouldn't have felt like it belonged in that campaign. After 30 adventures, a campaign definitely acquires its own feel (I'm not sure how to describe it--the PCs and players know what to expect from their companions and the types of monsters and plots just seem "right"). So, after getting back home close to 3am Sat night, I grabbed Mysteries of the Moonsea off the shelf for a quick look. I'm quite happy with the adventure site format in the region books. It didn't take long to settle on "Abarat's Folly", a site where a long-dead elven wizard constructed a tower with portals that, at the time, linked several other elven communities. Seems a cadre of devils from Myth Drannor discovered a way into the tower (but, according to the writeup, could only leave the tower by another portal which a key must be found to).
Plot aside, the area of the tower was quite close to Elventree, a locale already traversed by these PCs and home to a friendly druid NPC as well. There was also something intriguing about the tower itself; it was comprised of some kind of magically enhanced ivory. Even in a sleep-deprived state, my brain drew a connection to my Stargate-esque planar campaign where the PCs there explore the multiverse through glyph gates seemingly made of this same ivory-ish substance.
The easy addition of some leftover ivory slabs and notes (yet to be revealed to the group) from the elven wizard detailing the mysterious race that left the materials there spells a crossover campaign event! I had always planned on (eventually) investigating the glyph gates' origins in the planar game but can now do so with appropriately high level PCs. I suppose the moral of all this is that even the most hastily cobbled together adventure can yield great things. It helps to have a helluva good group of players too. ;)
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