#RPGaDay, a month-long interjection into my regular blog

From http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016

Inspired by http://scmusing.blogspot.com/2016/08/rpgaday-dice-dice-baby.html

As any of my readers can tell, I play tabletop RPGs. And I have done since (dramatic pause) last century!

1st question: August 1: Do you prefer to use real dice, a dice application or program, or use a diceless system? 

I'd have to go real dice. I have gotten dice to 'match' a particular character, like green and brown ones for the earth cleric. Plus, I've played West End Star Wars, Shadowrun and Champions, all of which require literal bricks of d6s; not to mention White Wolf and Legend of the 5 Rings which both needed at least 10 d10s. When I was running Ironclaw at cons, I had a bag of dice to share with players. Each die type (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, no d20) was a different color, to make instruction easier ('you need to roll the blue and the red dice'). Not to mention, I have Fate Dice, too.

I currently have multiple bags of dice. There are several pretty dice, dice I bought because I just felt I needed new dice, specialized dice (see FATE games) and 'emergency dice' because I forgot my dice bag. In addition, some cons and stores have dice made with their logo on one of the faces.

Dice applications or programs don't give the same sensory input. And since I don't usually know the programmers, I don't know whether I can trust their work to be truly random.

I have very rarely played diceless systems, so I don't have a good feel for them. I have played games that used cards to supplement the dice. 

Better Late than Never? Even very late?

I was working on this blog post and I got a cold. Pretty much wrecked my Sunday and I took Monday off to recover. Then I worked a short week as I took some time off work to go see my Mom. One of her sisters is visiting and I wanted to see her, too. Plus, Mom had some paperwork/estate stuff she wanted to settle now, before I'm left to deal with it.

Then, the events at The Pulse in Orlando, Florida. It just wrecked me. I'm cishet (het for heterosexual and cis means my gender experiences match the gender I was assigned at birth) and I feel devastated.  One note about the opening paragraph, it's the largest mass shooting in modern US history (Wounded Knee, for example had 300 dead).

I'm finally to a point, I can write in my blog again.

I went to the demo at the Mordecai House in Raleigh with other tatters. I worked on a bracelet; it was the first time I'd been tatting for awhile, considering my wrist. I made sure to stop and do something else every once in awhile. I've finished and it's a cute, summery one. I need to block it and photograph it.

I had to get a new cellphone. My carrier said it wasn't supporting my phone anymore. So now I have an android. And I have to learn how to use it. And program all my contacts into it. Not fun.

I went to my last Employee Forum meeting as a delegate on June 8, my term ends June 30th. We held the peer recognition awards (I helped review nominations) and at the end, the Kay Wijnberg Hovious Distinguished Delegate awards. To my surprise, I was one of the three people honored. Looking at previous winners, I'm in impressive company.

Friday was my supervisor's last day at work, as he is taking vacation for the next two weeks until his official retirement. We had a big retirement party for him on Wednesday afternoon. There was cake, punch, chips, and M&Ms with his face and name on them.

Friday, we had a little potluck for him in the office. We had cupcakes, chips, dip, cookies, little ham sandwiches, and punch. I'll miss him, he's been a good supervisor.

Saturday was Free RPG Day so I went to a local game store to pick up some of the freebies and play Pathfinder's release. It was another Goblin adventure; We B4 Goblins. It was fun.

I wanted to play the Doctor Who RPG, too, but it turned out that was a miniatures game. Which is not the same as an RPG.

Sunday morning I called my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day.
Here, have some pretty pictures.

Where did the weekend go?

Weekend

Most of Saturday was the Pathfinder game. We did some housekeeping (how much money do we have? What loot are we keeping and who has it) and then continued to explore the structure. We started at the top, so we're working out way down. We had two fights, one of which had a funny incident. If a magic beast has grabbed someone, then both are on the lip of a spiked pit, and the person who has been grabbed misses their save not to fall into the pit, what happens? CD decided to work it as a bullrush variant. Instead of my CMB, he used my character's weight, with gear, to see if both my bard and the foe would be dragged down into the spiked pit. That beastie was strong, and played a quick game of 'dangle the bard.' Then the oracle/paladin teleported my character away and she was safe to cast spells at the beasties from a distance.


Then RW and his family had a Christmas party to attend, so we wrapped up early. MC had to go home to let his dog out and the rest of us went out to supper. We went to our favorite Mexican place in Raleigh. CD and RG used to eat there once a week. Now that RG is working somewhere else, CD goes by himself.


Sunday, it was do some tidying around the house, CD did some laundry, and we played Lord of the Rings Online and caught up on our tv. We're down to about 3 shows on the DVR right now, less than 10%. I need to watch one show on-demand, I'm behind on that one. We're caught up on everything else. We watched a few movies we had recorded, too. We saw Jumper, Super Troopers, and then American Ultra on Netflix.

Movies

• Jumper wasn't bad. It's in media res,which is fine, but it never got resolved. We got a glimpse of the history of jumpers and the people who hunt them, and a hint about why they're hunted. But only a glimpse.
• Super Troopers is kind of stupid and funny, but not 'only 13 years old will laugh at this' funny. And the cast is not 100% white people. It's still absurdly low on the number of women in the cast, but hey, Lynda Carter has a cameo as the governor of Vermont.
• American Ultra was a little better than I expected. It's not an 'omg, you must see this movie' but it's pretty good. There are not very many women in speaking roles, and it wouldn't pass the Beschdel 'test.' But the women are really awesome. 

Games

And CD and I talked about how you could play a character like Mike Howell in an tabletop rpg. It would be a little easier in a flexible system. In Champions for example, you could have a variable skill pool. Need a skill? Bam, you know it.

He came up with a way to do it in D&D (3.0 or 3.5) and Pathfinder. In that one, you have an 11th level character. You write up the 1st level, as a commoner or expert or something. You have, call it, d8 hp for 11 levels. The rest is a mystery. The player would have to know the system pretty well, though. Because they'd have to know what's possible. IE, player goes, "I want to cast Magic Missile." The GM responds, "How many?" The answer determines who many levels of spellcaster you have (1 magic missile means 1st level for example). The player notes down how many levels of that class.

Skills, you can fill in up to 11 on any skill. Know a language, put a point in linguistics. Keep track of how many you spent on what, because as you get classes, that will determine skill points.

Your stats would start at all 10, and you'd spend to buy them up as events occurred. So for that level of sorcerer you gained when you realized you could cast Magic Missile, you have Charisma 11. After you spent all those points you still have 2 stat bumps (4th & 8th level).

Oh, you want to cast Fireball? That's a 3rd level spell, 5th level caster. What class, sorcerer, wizard? Boost the appropriate stat up to 13. How does that affect the skills you've bought? The number of skill points you have so far?

I'd like to take a look and see how it would work in Fate, too. Fate is pretty flexible after all.

We went to the Italian restaurant near us for supper. Their lobster ravioli isn't quite as good as Casa san Carlo but it does have the option of adding shrimp. CD baffled the waitress. They have a tasty chocolate dessert that has a base layer of cheesecake. He asked, 'what kind of cheesecake, New York, Italian, or (some 3rd kind I missed)?' She had to go ask to find out.

Tatting: 

I can't find my green thread for a certain present, but I did find red, white, and green thread. Think I'll be using that one. Jane has posted the intro for the next TIAS. Yay!

website/articles

Have an interesting article on the future of self-driving cars. corrected article link: https://www.lifewire.com/waymo-self-driving-cars-4171314

Here's an article about recent grave digs revealing information which calls into question earlier conclusions about gender roles.

And scientists in Japan have a process to make glass about as strong as steel. And they hope to have it commercialized in 5 years. 

Pictures

Found a 'paper toys' website, and here's a box; print, cut, and fold
from http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

roses are still blooming

Blood Donation

I volunteered at the half-day blood drive. I was in the canteen so I was 2+ hours walking around and standing. This is after I had to run to catch the bus this morning. Once I finished my volunteer stint, I grabbed some food and then off to donate. It took longer than I expected, even with the rapid pass.

Rapid pass is a new thing. You go on-line the day of donation to read the material and fill out the questionnaire ahead of time. You print out the report or email it to yourself. They scan it as part of the pre-donation process, but it saves time.

She had to test my blood twice to see if my iron levels were high enough to donate. I barely made it. But I had plenty of water and the donation itself went pretty quickly. Back to the canteen to grab some food and then back to work.

My knees do hurt tonight. All for a good cause, though. And tomorrow is the garden committee meeting, so I get to leave early.

RolePlaying Game with a child and the rest of my week

Saturday, we played Mermaid Adventures. Our last game was two years ago, much to M's frustration. It was up to her dad to schedule the game and the time passed faster than he had realized. Don't tell M, I'd lost my character sheet and had to make up my octopus spell caster again. M has been wanting to 'play games with Daddy' since she was four. R and I gave her child-focused RPGs for Christmas before she turned 6. She decided she wanted to play Mermaid Adventures. We played two years ago and she really enjoyed it. She enjoyed Saturday's game, too. We may have gotten her bitten by the RPG bug.

I've lost my tatting; both the bracelet I'd finished tatting and my TIAS up to Day 5. Jane has up to Day 7 out and I'm behind. Again.

I'm tatting a heart from a Japanese webpage to keep my tatting fingers busy in the meantime. I'm using Lizbeth seashell in size 20.

My car has been back into and out of the shop again. Maybe this will keep it out for a few months. I would really like to have a fully functioning car for awhile.

I've been playing Pathfinder Online. It's still early enrollment. I've discovered a problem with their graphics. It gives me a headache after a couple hours. And then, while in my character's home town, crafting, three players came up and killed my character. And the local guard (NPC) did nothing. I have no reason to go back into the game. I was just starting to figure out how to fight and how to craft. If it had happened outside a settlement, well, travel is risky. It will take some serious convincing to get me to play again.

Monday, I read someone's blog post about their first troll. And that getting a negative comment on their blog meant their audience had spread, beyond their 'comfort zone'. And that they had expressed an opinion, strongly enough, it grated on someone. It's rather like Jim C. Hines essay about the value of a negative review on his books. I've never gotten a negative comment on my blog. That's because this is a journal rather than an opinion piece.

Siteseeing, Family Matters, and Games I Play

Do you sometimes feel awkward about people in wheelchairs or with service animals? Here's a serious, albeit sarcastic, etiquette guide.

Time to hit the local farmer's market this weekend. They're gathering food for the local food banks.


 I'm still looking for a frame/mat/something to display my heart doily. So far, no luck. I have Saturday, and that's about it. Cross your fingers that I'll find something suitable. Next weekend I'll be busy (no time for craft/etc shopping) and weekend after that the birthday and; State Fair preparations start (and oh, the entry is DUE).

I'm almost finished the cross bookmark that I'm taking to the family reunion on Sunday. There are door prizes and I try to tat something every time that I go. I will be the only representative of my granddaddy's line who'll be there (unless one of my cousins surprises me). My mom is with her older sisters celebrating the 80th birthday of the younger one this weekend. Of course, those cousins will be at their mom's party. My other cousins are out of state.

I volunteered a snowflake for a charity auction. I need to finish that, too. I swear, I didn't think about the deadlines or over extending myself.

The Dresden Files games were so much fun. We entertained ourselves, the Storyteller (or whatever the GM is called in that game) and the other players. There were 2 tables and the players mixed up some, so we didn't play with the same people all three games. In one game, our (C, R & I) sailors made friends with another PC who was very, very rich. He had an aspect (game-relevant descriptor) about 'wants to believe, but doesn't'. It was our PCs who 'broke' that aspect. I don't remember what we did, but I think it was when C's character put a glamour up to hide us as we broke into a house (to look for clues, nothing nefarious). Suddenly, Wayne (the character) couldn't see the other characters. Player sighed, picked up an eraser & started erasing and re-writing. Anyway, while riding in his limo, we suggested that he get a cannon. In the next game (though he was at a different table), he did! Our characters have a small cannon, complete with stone shot. No powder, though.

Oh, our characters? They're all sailors from the Flying Dutchman, stranded on shore leave. My character is the oldest; she's 250+. Yes, she remembers the political upheaval of the 1770's. I could go on, but there's a reason 'No, I don't want to hear about your character' is such a popular button.

I volunteered to run 3 games at Mace. I'm running one Ironclaw (either 1st or 2nd ed), 1 Spirit of the Century and 1 Pathfinder Society. But I'm being mightily tempted to run a 4th game; Hellcats & Hockeysticks. I blame the game's author.