Promoting a cause, Gaming & Links

  Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an Advance Copy of Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines.
I'm a sucker for a good cause.

Gaming: Looking for some old school D&D fun? Here are some classic adventures, available for download.

I ran a 4th edition (D&D for those who aren't in the gaming community) last night at a FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store). I got there late, thanks to missing my bus. I started as quickly as possible as the mod looked like one that would run a little long. I was right, but managed to wrap things up 4.5 hours later, more or less.

I managed to bloody someone every combat, so I did my job. I challenged the PCs and gave them a fun game. We were well into the second combat when the warlock (woman seated next to me), finally managed to hit something. She needed some help, but she connected. I led a round of applause for her. It drew the attention of the other tables, especially the one in the next room that was playing the same adventure.

Crafts: Autobiographical tapestry (I bet you never thought you'd hear those words applied to anything this century)

Websites I found interesting:
I drool over this house
She posts a Gaelic phrase everyday on Twitter, & now she's offering a song on her blog
Know someone who loves photography? Then maybe you should get this book, Who Shot That?, about the photographers taht shot some of the most iconic photographs.
I watched this video & I'm still not sure that I believe it. It's mostly in German, but words are pretty much unnecessary. It's about 9 minutes long.
This is a really neat (& fairly easy) way to do watercolor stencils. She did a portrait, but I could see trying other scenes, too.

Tatting: Today's the day; I meet Anitra & we leave for Palmetto Tat Days. I'm all packed and my GPS and phone are charged. I just need to pack my laptop. Gee, wonder why I haven't done that yet? :roll eyes:

I probably overpacked on thread and underpacked on shuttles. I will probably buy some at the vendors. No shock there.

Gaming: The game that I ran went well. It turned out that I only needed one section of the DMG*; the skill challenge part. Everything else was in the adventure. If you've read the PHB**, you can run the game. The DMG has some good info on how to run a game; which is great if you're inexperienced.'

Weather: The news is all about Hurricane Hanna. Hopefully, it won't hit here, or the convention, hard. Actually, I hope it doesn't hit anywhere hard but you know what I mean. Frankly, Hanna is only category 1. That just doesn't scare me. Ike, who's 4, that scares me a little.

I'm sure that there was more that I wanted to talk about but I'm a little distracted right now. Maybe I'll remember and post more later.

*Dungeon Masters Guide
** Players HandBook

I didn't do much yesterday, not really. Today it was my very first game of D&D 4e and Living Forgotten Realms. It was interesting. It is very, very different than 3e or 3.5e. In its favor, it is very team-oriented. Which is great, unless you have 6 individuals playing.

I played a half-elf fey-pact Warlock, from Aglarond. That improved misty step was incredibly useful, especially at getting out of the way of foes and traps. The adventure was a definite challenge. It was 6 hours of playing time and 840 experience (it's usually 3 adventures to level, and it's 1000 experience to 2^nd level).

Tomorrow, I'm running my first game of Living Forgotten Realms. I haven't even read the DMG yet, much less the Monster Manual. Tomorrow morning, I'll read the adventure and then run it in the afternoon.

I bought The Runner's Companion supplement book for Shadowrun. Mostly, I bought it for the character quiz. I'd really like to play Shadowrun again.

And next weekend I'm going to Palmetto Tat Days. Let the panicking begin. I haven't done anything to prepare. Eeeeeeeek!

TV: watched Adventure of English. I am such a geek, but it's soooo good.

Light supper last night, just me. Chris was over at his parents helping them move something & of course they fed him. I watched the first episode of Primeval. It looks like a pretty good show.

A few nights ago, I caught part of a later episode, which Chris was watching, while cleaning up the kitchen after supper. (for anyone who’s thinking ‘sexist, the man’s watching tv while the woman works in the kitchen,’ it’s not. It’s whoever didn’t cook, cleans up the kitchen).

Today’s my supervisor’s birthday. We went out to eat at a local eatery. It was a very good burger (I’m donating blood today & need the extra iron) and the sweet potato fries….yum. He doesn’t know that he’s getting a cake, too. It’s surprisingly hard to find birthday cake candles. I found some very colorful ones. Since we don’t have one for every year, we’re doing one color for the number of decades & another color for the single years.

Today, they had a fresh market thing here. I got some locally grown produce, some bean sprouts, a lemon, and a very small apple pie. I also got a reusable bag to carry it. I also will be getting a recipe for a collard dip. I don’t like collards. It’s very un-Southern of me but I just can’t stand them. This dip, very like a spinach dip, I liked.

I finished making the 3^rd 4e character this morning. I need to go back and decide what region to make her home region. I don’t want to make all my characters from the same area. My 1^st two are already from Aglarond.

I’ll be playing a game, maybe 2, of 4e this weekend. So I will finally get to try out the game. I missed the sample game that Chris ran; I think that I was still in Colorado. Or at least in Illinois.

Someone really startled me this morning. It’s raining a bit and I was crossing a side street when I saw, out from under the umbrella, a car swerve, almost like it was about to hit me and pulled aside. It turned out, it was just someone trying to get directions. Luckily, I knew where to find his destination and could point him the right way. And as he drove off, he apologized for scaring me.

Health: I have not been getting enough sleep. I keep going to bed way too late for me. Of course, then I’m exhausted on the weekend. Big surprise, huh.

Gaming: I'’ve created 2 characters in 4e D&D. One’s a half-elf fey-pact warlock & the other is a
dragonborn cleric, both from Aglarond. Rosemary found out something though, so I had to
correct the cleric’s deity. I had her worshipping Bahamut but the dragonborn don'’t really believe that Bahamut is good, they don’t trust him. So one, even one raised by elves, probably wouldn'’t worship him either.

After reading the rituals section (final chapter), I have decided the cleric’s 2nd feat (2nd level). It will have to be skill training. Because as it stands, there’s only one ritual that she can cast at 1st level. There are not any others that she can cast but there is only one 1st level spell that uses Heal, none that use Religion; of the rest, one uses Nature & the rest use Arcane. Guess what skill she’ll get training in at 2nd level. Did you guess Arcane? I knew you would. And you’'d be right.

I think I'’ll make up one character of each ‘type’; defender, leader, striker &
controller. I already have 1 leader & 1 striker. That way, if/when I play Living
Forgotten Realms, I can bring whatever type is needed to the table.

Weather: It's RAINING! Actually it's storming off & on. So far, I've managed to avoid getting soaked. I know at least two people who haven't, avoided getting soaked that is. Hopefully it will soak into the ground and start restoring some of the water table.

tatting: My watch chain broke. I tried to tat a new fob but the thread broke. It's an older thread, that plus my tight tatting and the very large ring was a recipe for disaster.

Work: spreadsheets, spreadsheets, spreadsheets. I am so sick of spreadsheets.

I got very little done today. That's no real surprise. I was so tired, just no energy.

My amazon order came early. It's the stuff that I ordered to get free delivery on Mom's present. I wasn't expecting it 'til Tuesday. That's kind of nice.

I finished creating one 4e character, a half-elf warlock. She might even done correctly. Maybe.