It turns out that I’m not the only DM of Doom out there.  I have used that name so many times for so long on the net that I had forgotten all of the sites where I had used it.  So to weed out the “others” I threw in my name as an extra search string.

For example, I happened upon this little nugget this evening… http://tabstudio.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/aftermath/ .  It caught my eye (not only because it contained both my name and DM of Doom, but because I recognized the site as my ex-wife’s.  Did I expect to see anything good when I foolwed the link?  Well, no.  Am I surprised?  Slightly.  Allow me to explain:

Number one:  From the get-go of the post, anyone who knows her (or the situation, the “reason” for the post) knows who I am.  At the very least, the phrase “the ex husbuand” gets the idea across.   Clarifying that with my actual name?  Unneccesary given the stated purpose and audience.  Further clarification with the handle?  Overkill.  Makes me wonder, “why?”

Best I can come up with is a vindictive streak.  Seems like a fairly immature attempt to discredit me, by name, to anyone who might decide to search me up on the net.

Does she have good cause to be upset?  Sure.  Anyone who’s gone through a divorce is likely to feel slighted.  Have I “vented” about the situation online?  Yes.  I have not, however, named names, guaranteeing that anyone looking her up online will get a full dose of distilled frustration that reflects only my side of the story.  To me, there’s a distinction there. 

If any of my friends or former associates want to hear my side, feel free to ask.  I’ll tell you from the get-go that my story is indeed my side of the story and that I fully realize that reality likely lies somewhere between mine and the ex-wife’s distinct viewpoints.  I’m not going to post it up to the world as the only truth to the tale.

Number two:  Whether or not anyone in Florida chooses to believe me or not, I am actually happy to hear that they are doing well.  While the picture has been painted that I was an evil person, seeking their ruin, that is not the case.  Just because a marital situation becomes unteneble, does not necessarily mean that all the love is gone.  I still with for the best for them and I’m glad that the wounds of my departure are healing.

Number three:  Clarification is needed.  Given that at least some of the people asking how things are for them are also folks (I assume) that I knew and have fallen out of contact with me (I doubt that they’d ask her for my e-mail or that she’d pass it along), I think that a slightly more neutral perspective could be given. 

From her post:

When the ex husband, Todd Hersey, aka the ‘DMofDoom’, who lived in his 34 year old’s fantasy world or, copious time sleeping in the bed working his bi-polar moods decided fly away after a day of (lol) deep contemplation in order to be with his mom in Ohio.

Well, the three of us initially thought the outcome would be vastly different then what in reality it has become. We now after time and counseling realize that Todd ’s planned departure started long before we were aware and, we feel nothing would have changed the course of his mental illness and his choices

Without Todd sucking joy and money out of my business and life. Supporting his bad teeth, child support, addictive habits, huge medical insurance, Dr’s visits and prescription costs all with his grand 30 hour work week ( seems to be all the time he could muster up).
 

OK.  I guess I’ll go point-by-point for clarity’s sake. 

The bipolar factor is hugely overstated, both here, elsewhere, and during the course of the ralationship.  Am I bipolar? Yes.  Is it the main cause of the issues?  Not as presented here.  The role of my manic depression certainly touched upon our relationship, but not to the degree described or the cause of the break-up.  Obviously it’s more complex than that, but if you want me to break into the intricacies of it ask me yourself.  I’m not going to get into in on a public blog.

“Flying away after a day…to be with his mom in Ohio”.  Wow.  I suppose that to a degree I can see where she could get that idea, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the truth.  I decided to pack my bags when I was told point blank that she felt the relationship should end and told the kids I was leaving.  I went to Ohio because I had no where else to go.  (I actually ended up staying with my sister, but that’s jsut splitting hairs at this point.)

“We now after time and counseling realize that Todd ’s planned departure started long before we were aware “  Again, no.  While the next paragraph in her post refers to doctors visits, it is not clarified that those visits were to a dactor with a Ph.D. in Psychiatry, and that the reason I went was to try to sort out our marriage.  There’s no mention of my asking her to come with me, to try and get help to make the relationship work, and her denial to participate.  I was trying to make it work.  It wasn’t until that final fateful day when I became clear that there would be no compromise and that it was over that I packed to go.

“nothing would have changed the course of his mental illness and his choices”  I have to disagree.  When I spoke with the Psych about the situations going on in our relationship, he gave viable counsel and was interested in seeing her as well, to help up get our relationship back together.  The man has a PhD in psychiatry and years of experience.  I would not dare be so arrogant as to think that I know better or more than he does when it comes to mental health, counseling, etc.  I was alone in that thinking.  It’s a bit of an obvious paradox for her to tell me to seek therapy, then discredit that therapy because it does not fit with what she wished he would have said.  It sent a clear message to me that she was not concerned with my well-being as much as she was with getting me to act the way she desired me to.  So, to sum up, had her reactions and responses to “my mental illeness” and therapy been more caring and conducive to healing our marriage, I would have made very different choices.

“Supporting his bad teeth, child support, addictive habits, huge medical insurance, Dr’s visits and prescription costs “  Um, I paid my own child support, from my paycheck, from money I earned from working.  That expense has no relevance to “sucking up” her money.  Addictive habits?  Makes me sound like I had a crystal meth habit or something.  I smoke about a pack of cigrattes and drink about a 2 liter of Mt. Dew a day.  End of addiction list.  Total cost per day?  About 5 bucks.  Huge medical insurance.  I wonder if she’s referring to the medical insurace I had that covered both of her children, because it was cheaper to put them on my policy than hers.  Hmmm.  Doctors vists and perscriptions…see above.  And in the cases of addictive habits, doctors costs, and perscriptions?  Let’s just say that both pot AND kettle are both uniformly black.

30-hour work week.  Yes.  I will not deny that operating a landscaping company in one of the more populated areas of illegal immigrant workers taking away our customers left me with maintaining only 4 or 5 properties.  And I will concede that  keeping them up-to-date at a level that I was able to perform with my level of experience and knowledge took about 30 hours a week.  No argument there.

If anyone wants to discuss anything furthur, get in touch.  I’m not going to go any further here, in public.

NOOOOOOOOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

You get the idea.

So what or who do I owe my newfound inspiration and drive?  Howard Tayler, creator, artist, and author of Schlock Mercenary .  It’s an awesome space opera web comic that I would recommend to everyone.  He (and two of his fellows) have started a podcast called Writing Excuses which is a short but informative cast that is about authoring genre fiction.  It is delightful.

So that got the ball rolling again for me.  As an incidental effect, it got me interested in listening to podcasts.  As an estate gardener (read: glorified lawn boy) by trade, I often have long periods of quiet time while weeding, trimming, or whatever, that I can use to listen to my mp3 player.

So, one night while surfing about, I decided to look into what other podcasts there might be available on the subject.  I found several, but one that caught my eye (ear?) at first was Fictionright.com by Alan and Rebecca Lickiss. They not only discuss and give pointers to writers, but also give an exercise to try at the end of each program. I think what I’d like to do is this: as I listen to each one, I would like to post here my attempts at the exercises. Though it seems like I’d giving myself homework, I think it will do me good just to start writing again, regardless of subject matter, just as a means of practice and to get the creative juices flowing again. I haven’t listened to all of their past podcasts yet, but I’ll start with chapter (episode) one keep going until I catch up as time allows.

Another one that I found was The WritingCast, which is a similar type cast by Ivy Reisner.  She too gives “prompts” to go with each episode, and I’d like to use those as inspiration as well.

Ironic that my renewed interest for the written word comes from the spoken word, but I owe them thanks regardless.

First, let’s get our “facts” straight, by means of links to what I would consider reliable sources on the topic. 

The first place to look should be Wizards’ own site.  The next best place to take it all in could very well be YouTube.com.  In a series of videos, you can see the presentation that Wizards gave at GenCon, and some behind the scenes interviews.  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  etc.  Of course, it may be possible that they are a bit biased, as it is their product that they are pimping. 

EN World has an entire page dedicated to the latest scoop on 4e that though admittedly not a direct source from Wizards, does give many insights and “insider info” to consider.

Since we won’t see it until May of 08, everything is based on speculation, even the stuff coming from WotC  because it’s so far off who knows what they’ll change their mind about.

From my perspective, it’s a  double-edged sword either way (nevermind the pun). Here’s my quick and dirty:

Cons:

1. All of the old books are going to be out of date. Sure, we can do some converting, but that just adds to prep time.
2. The rules seem to be slated to be “dumbed down”. I’m all down for simplicity, but not so simple that there’s no challenge.
3. Reduction of core classes and addition of “defined roles”. To me, one of the things that made versions 3.X better than the ones before it are the variety of character types and customization of the same.
4. Fourth edition will not be Open in the sense it is now. Players may submit items to Wizards’ site (and then they can use it as if it were their own), and companies can produce lisenced supplements, but that implies that they pay for it. No more freebies.
5. It just plain leaves a bad taste in my mouth. From the beginning of the GenCon presentation, it seems way too marketing oriented

Pros

1. No one says we have to “upgrade” to 4. There is plenty of 3.5 stuff out there, and from what I hear, while v4 isn’t OGL, all the other companies can still produce 3.5 compatible stuff (which, I imagine they will).
2. Dungeon and Dragon Magazines will be online editions. This is something I had always sort of wished for.
3. The addition of other online resources. If the DM aids and other programs they speak of become a reality (and are worth a crap) then I feel this will be a great stride in the right direction. Has anyone else been frustrated with the limitations of “e-Tools”?
4. They might just surprise us. Like I said above, no one has any susbtantial information concerning specifics. Maybe the changes will be for the better. I liked 3rd ed better than 2nd. and I liked that better than 1st.

We’ll just have to wait and see…That’s all I’ve got for now.

Check it out!  The Family sat down on Saturday for a game of one-on-ones, me vs. Tracy, and Becca vs. Stef.  And I actually won a game of Warmachine.  It was an excellent game, very well matched and exciting.  She used her units to swarm Eiryss right from the get-go.  I retaliated with Ball- and Chain-Lightning spells to take them out.  Near the end, I was ready to concede the game to her (she had pounded my Lancers to scrap and killed all of the Mechaniks), but she insisited we play it out.  And I managed to pull it together and win.  Yipee!

Mind you, I understand to some degree the importance of this work in the historical sense.  At the time it was written, it was a warning to us all that if we care about our world and its future, this is what we want to avoid. 

Sadly, in my opinion, it would seem that we don’t care, as this is what our world is turning toward.  The telescreens that made the readers of the 50′s to the present paranoid, are here in the form of government-sanctioned wiretaps.  The activities of the Ministry of Love?  Sounds a lot like what went down with the war prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.  Frightening.

If you want to get depressed and feel shitty about how the world is and what hell it’s going to, don’t read 1984, read the newspaper.

As an extra special bonus prize, I have uploaded my own GM Screen, also in Excel.  It consists of a three-panel Player’s side (with all of the info players are likely to need) and a series of six panels for the Dungeonmaster.  I recommend laminating the player panels as single sided pages, and the DM panels as double-sided pages.  The way I use them is in a double-sided three-panel pocket screen, (like this) with the player sides facing out. The DM sides (being double sided) are reversible, depending if you are planning an adventure or playing the game.

I hope you enjoy!

EDIT:  Due to sad circumstances, the files no longer exist on the server linked to above.  For this I apologize.  Also, I no longer maintain this blog.  However, I DO maintain this one, and if you contact me there, I can get the files to you…

Before I get into the “8 rounds in seven days” breakdown, I’ll let you in on the army lists:

And it played a little something like this:

Round 1:  Everyone moved out of their deployment zones, Stef wiped out all of my Long Gunners with Breath of Corruption Spells (via skarlock & arc nodes).

Round 2:  I trashed a Defiler, a Nightwretch, a Manhunter, and a unit of Daughters of the Flame.  Stef took out one of my Gunners.  Tracy killed Eiryss, and Becca killed one of my Jouneymen, his Charger, and one of Tracy’s Choir units.

Round 3:  I destroyed a Slayer and a Pistol Wraith, and Nemo used his feat to wonderful effect.  Stefen thrashed one of my Lancers and used Goreshade’s feat to bring in a unit of Bane Thralls.  Tracy detonated a Wrack by pulling focus from it, used both of her warcasters’ feats, and smashed a Reaper to smithereens.  Becca took out my other Journeyman, my Ironclad, and Nemo.  The Old Witch used her feat, and sadly Becca lost her Widowmakers to the Harbinger’s Godhead.

Round 4:  I killed one of Tracy’s Seneschals, but my Mechanic chief died from the Godhead nonsense.  Tracy went ‘jack slapping crazy and destroyed a Lancer, a Leviathan, and a Deathripper and also took out a Pistol Wraith.  Becca offed by other Charger.

Round 5:  Tracy killed Gorten, Goreshade, and a Kodiak.  Becca killed Tracy’s other Seneschal, her Castigator, and her Devout.  She also used Sorscha’s feat.

Round 6:  Stefen took out the Avatar of Menoth, Kreoss, a Repenter, and Herne and Jonne.  Tracy finished off the Doom reavers.

Round 7:  Stef takes out my (inert) Gunner.  Tracy drops the Scrapjack, Becca takes out a repenter and her Exemplars.

Round 8:  Stef claims victory points by beating the crap out of my inert Driller, Tracy kills the Old Witch, and Becca responds by killing her Harbinger.

At this point, Tracy and I have no models left.  I have 8 victory points, Tracy has 38.  Stef has 22 (42 if he wipes out the rest of Becca’s force).  Becca has 36 victory points (which would jump to 41 if she wiped out everything else on the board.)

We decide that statistically speaking, Stef is going to win, and in any case, we were OVER IT.  A family’s gotta sleep!

Tracy has her take on the game (and a photo of the game in progress) over at her place.

Because anyone can buy a plushie d4, but can you make one?

Some folks might wonder, “Todd, since you don’t ever seem to win, doesn’t that discourage you?”  And to that I say no.  I enjoy the game.  I like playing and having fun with the family.  Don’t get me wrong, winning is fun and I do try to win.  But as corny as it may sound, any game that was fun is a game that I win.

Plus, I view it as a challenge.  As long as I’m able to learn from my mistakes, improve my tactics, and keep a good attitude, I’m not gonna do anything less than play like I got a pair!

Recently, in my TSR in a d20 World post, I reviewed the delightful Dungeon Master’s Design Kit.  I also alluded to the fact that I have translated it to D&D 3.5 and put it all in Excel.  This is true.  It was/is undocumented, which limits its use by those who do not have the original, and may also throw off those not familiar with the ways in which it was brought forward to the latest edition of the rules.

I’m working on it as we speak, hang in there, I’ll let you know when I’m done and where you can get it.

So without any further word-mincing, here we go:

Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide

Paul Jaquays and William W. Connors

I believe that this is a book quite similar to the new Hero Builder’s Guidebook in that some find it useful, and others find it a waste of paper.  I used to belong the the latter camp, but after a re-read after WotC took over, I find I have changed my mind.  Here’s why:

When this book first came out in 1990, I had already been role playing for years, and Dungeon/Game Mastering for almost as long.  This book, for the most part, is a book of tips and tricks on how to be a better DM, campaign creation, generating adventures, etc.  I took a quick flip through and figured, “Heck, I already know most of this stuff!”  And, for the most I was right.  I grew up on 1st edition and had a good DM to learn from. 

Later, while going looking for an out of print D&D item on eBay, I saw this book.  It was cheap and being sold by the same person who had what I was originally looking for so I got it.  

After perusing its contents, I can tell you that if you are a relatively new DM, this book can help you.  If you are an experienced DM, this book can refresh your memory and inspire you. 

The next item I find really useful is actually the one I was looking for on eBay when I found the book above:

Dungeon Master’s Design Kit

Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston

This is the product for you if you are the kind of DM who:

•  likes to have your adventures neat and tidy
•  like things that help you get inspired to “fill in the blanks”
•  doesn’t often have time to plan out adventures to their fullest potential

This “book” is actually three booklets wrapped in a cardstock jacket.  I’m going to take them “out of order” in my explanations. 

Book II:  Forms, is exactly what its title implies.  Full page forms (with filled in examples) to record and aid in the creation of:

Book I:  Adventure Design, essentially is a how-to manual on how to best use the forms.  While that may seem like overkill, “how hard can it be to fill in forms?”, there is a lot of useful info in there.

Book III, Adventure Cookbook, is a collection of ideas to help a DM with writer’s block or is pressed for time.  It provides adventure ideas (and appropriate charts if you want random generation) for the following:

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t advocate using the book to cook up your adventures entirely at random.  But the examples in this book can help stir your imagination or fill in blanks.  And even if you skip this book, the forms really do help a DM keep his stuff together and efficiently at that.

Now obviously, this book was designed for 1st edition.  All the forms still have references to THAC0 and so forth.  I found the forms so useful that I recreated them in Microsoft Excel, updated for the 3.5 d20 rules.  They are not very well documented, but once they are, I will get them uploaded to the web, and I’ll post a link.

And the old school book I find most useful was the one that was required in the day:

Dungeon Masters Guide

First Edition

Gary Gygax

Anyone who made the transition from 1st edition to 2nd will remember looking through the “new” DMG and realizing that they left a whole lot out.  Some of it never got put back in, some of it got put back in but it was better the old way, and I guess some of it should have gone away.

I’m here to talk about what’s in the DMG of yesteryear that can help you today.  Highlights of what I like:

• Chances of contracting disease or parasites (other than from monsters or spells)
• Moral and Loyalty rules
• Effects of Alcohol
• Insanities
• Quick Traits for NPCs
• Random Dungeon Generation
• Random Wilderness Terrain
• Random City and Town Encounters
• Gambling
• Tricks
• Dungeon Dressing
• Herbs, Spices, and their uses
• Ways to desribe magical substances

The bulk of this info is in the appendices.  I swear it’s a treasure trove of goodness for any DM.  If you have AEG’s Toolbox then you can get some of the same information.  But this one is just a classic that takes be back, even flipping randomly through the pages fires up my imagination.

If you have access to any of these, you should check them out, I feel that they will help you greatly.

The armies went like this:

As you can see, my army is set up slightly more for ranged combat than hers.  This worked well for me at first.  I took out her entire unit of Exemplars before she even got a swing in.  Eiryss was inside a house, sniping through a window, waiting for the Harbinger to get close enough to hit. 

As the game progressed (rnd 3 or so), she got the Harbinger close enough to use her feat.  With a roll of ten on the damage roll, every stinking one of my models took 24-ARM damage.  I was instantaneously dropped to Stryker, two seriously hurt Chargers, and Jonne.  Of course, one of the Chargers was in the Journeyman’s battlegroup and went inactive at that point.  Jonne failed his command check and fled. 

She flew in with her Daughters of the Flame, surrounded Stryker, and assassinated his ass in short order.

Like I said, I enjoyed the game even though I got stomped.  I have no qualms with either of our gameplay.

The accursed Harbinger, however, I have beef with for the following:

• FOC 10!?!
• A weapon that auto-hits
• A feat that is almost guaranteed to wipe out every unit of one damage models in one fell swoop
• Making every model in 10″ of her fearless

I could deal with that, but not with a 107 point price tag.  Way too cheap in my opinion.  Someone in development should have tweaked that before printing out cards…

If you can think of ways that the Harbinger is fair, please comment and let me know.  I would really appreciate being able to not dispise my wife’s chief warcaster.

Number Four on our countdown: 

Unearthed Arcana

Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman 

Wizards of the Coast

List Price: $34.95

Anyone who has perused the contents of this classic collection of optional rules can tell you that it has a wide variety of useful information.  Some of it is really neat, some of it is really weird, some of it takes the game backwards to a 1st edition feel.  As a DM you may not use all of the alternate rules, (your campaign could be mighty strange if it did…) but I assure you, there’s something in there for you.  My reccomendations:  the variant character classes (psg 47-64), craft points (pgs 97-100), and character background (pgs 100-108).

Number three:

Hero Builder’s Guidebook

Ryan Dancey, David Noonan, and John D. Rateliff

Wizards of the Coast

List Price: $14.95

OK, I’ll wait until you stop laughing/gawking in disbelief/etc.  But I really am serious. 

Though often hailed as one of the most unnecessary Dungeons and Dragons WotC releases, this book contains (what I consider) vital gaming information.  Are there a ton of new feats/spells/prestige classes/equipment/etc.?  No.  Is it a very good resource, exploring the nuances of character race, class, background, and alignment?  Definately.  Sometimes I think we get so excited about game mechanics that we forget that it’s a roleplaying game.  Likewise, I know that those of us that have been playing “forever” often forget that new players could use some source material that won’t overwhelm them with rules.

“But,” you may ask, “I thought this was a list of books for DMs.”  True.  Educating your newbies is part of your job.  Aside from that, though, the book is still very useful.  My highlights:  the personal history tables (pgs 38-47), the alignment test (pgs 48-51), and the one most everyone knows and appreciates, the appendix of names (pgs 61-64).

Swinging in at number two on my personal list of favorites in print is:

The Monster’s Handbook

Legends & Lairs Series

Wil Upchurch, Greg Benage, and Mike Mearls

Fantasy Flight Games

List price: $24.95

For those who may not be familiar with this tome, it is a resource for enhancing and maximizing the usefulness of the monsters in your game. It is broken down into chapters on Monster tactics, modification, and then into chapters covering monster types (abberations, dragons, fey, etc.)

You may have the Monster Manuals I-V, the Fiend Folio, etc., and wonder, “Why do I need another monster book?”

First, this book give valuable insight on how to play the monsters you have to their fullest potential. Tactical tips, notes on equipment that the creatures might use, feats, skills, classes, and other ways to use “stock” monsters in new ways is one of the key focus points of the book.

Secondly, the book gives clear mechanics for upgrading monsters. Yes, we know from the MM and DMG that we can boost them by advancing HD, adding class levels, and/or adding templates, but this book gives ways to directly tweak the monsters and effectively recalculate Challenge Ratings accordingly. It also contains new templates (the Deep Fey template is great for bringing some forest mischief into the dungeon), new feats for each monster type (Lighning Blink lets a Beholder “blink” his central eye, allowing it to use his eyestalks in the same direction as it’s anti-magic gaze), and new special attacks and defenses.

With these tools at your disposal, even the archtypical orc guarding a chest in a 10′ by 10′ room can surprise your players.

If you want a taste of what I’m talking about, the bonus chapter covering Magical Beasts is found (free) in the downloads section of their website.

And finally, the book I find almost a valuable as the Dungeon Masters Guide,

d20 Toolbox

Dawn Ibach and Jeff Ibach

Alderac Entertainment Group

List Price: $26.95 (and worth every penny)

Charts, and tables, encounters, OH MY!

This book is one of the most definitive compilation of tables I have ever seen for any roleplaying game, all of which roll off of a d20.

• You want to know what the weather is like, Table 1-5: Weather Patterns or 1-6: Weather Conditions.

• You need full stat blocks for the town cleric, but don’t have time to generate him? Check out Table 3-105: Clerical NPCs.

• How about the contents of the wizard’s lab the party just ransacked? Tables 2-71 through 2-88.

• The rogue is picking pockets again? Ten tables of potential finds.

• Tavern names? Check.

• Available mercenary contracts? Page 136.

• Stomach contents of large creatures? Ewww, but yes.

• You get the idea…

All of these and more, split into three main sections: wilderness, dungeon, and urban. The table of contents lets the DM in a hurry glance down the page, zip straight to what he wants, and roll or choose what he’s after.

I use it to fill in empty areas, get names when I’m on the spot, or just flip through for cool ideas and inspiration. I’ve even used it to generate entire random dungeons when everyone is dying to play and I have nothing at all together.

Do yourself a favor. Find this book. Buy this book. It will save you more times than you could imagine.

At it’s most basic level it is an army builder, but that is only the beginning.  Its database covers all of Privateer Press’ models for both Warmachine and Hordes (though, not being a Hordes player I can’t really tell you much about that side of things with any level of credibility.) 

It does not provide stats, but it does have point costs, field allowances, and victory points for each model/unit.  A simple drag and drop interface lets you build your army and the program ensures that your list is valid and legal.  The print feature allows you to print your army list (obviously) with all points costs shown, and it will also print out pages with damage blocks and grids for your ‘jacks and other multiwound figures.

The program will also track your collection.  Drag and drop the models you own from all factions into you collection and save.  Then, once you make an army list, the program can show you exactly how many models you are missing.  It can even tell you the “retail” value of your army and how much you’ll need to spend to “fill it in” with the models you’re missing.  (Retail is based on MSRP, in US Dollars, no tax, etc.)

You can also copy your army list to the clipboard as plain text or as BBCode.  Great for posting your lists to the web.

Best of all, its absoutely free!  If you play Warmachine (or Hordes) you owe it to yourself to check this program out.

So you want to be a Game Master… « The Game Master Foundation

Becca went out first, when Stef softened up her `Caster and then Tracy finished her off.

Tracy was next to go, thanks to good ol’ Gorten’s double barrel attack.

After Stef and I scrambled for victory points by offing the inert jacks left behind, the end totals went like this:

Stefen: 14      Me: 13     Tracy: 10     Becca: 2

Left on the field when I conceded to Stefen’s superiority were: Deneghra, Gorten, an inert Charger, and one Gunner, with no head or movement left.

All in all, a GREAT game, enjoyed by all!

Recently, Becca aquired some Khador and wanted to get in on the fun.  And last night Tracy decided to take a break from the paintage and join in.

The breakdowns:

The game has gone rather well (and is technically still going, set aside in the garage until we can get back to it).  Tracy struck an early blow against me with a craftily placed mage-killer and her damnable disruption bolts into Gorten.  Stef started an early slaughter on Becca’s Doom Reavers (which probably shouldn’t have run headlong into Stef’s pair of Helljacks).  It went downhill from there.  I managed to take out Eiryss and the Skarlock, but as of now, I’m down to a badly damaged gunner and Gorten himself.  Tracy is winning victory-points-wise.

We’ll see what happens, but I’m pretty sure I’m not winning this one.

Just started, but at ECL 6?  Yeah.  I figure that since their other characters are all 25+ level, they had enough playing experience to start off higher than 1st level.

It was kind of a quickly thrown together sort of deal, so I had to resort to (GASP!) a pre-written adventure.  One quick peek around Wizards’ adventure archive normally does the trick, and sure enough I got this guy.

It worked out pretty well.  They fought a horde of Orcs in the (sort-of) ruined keep, cut deals with the trolls, (even though one tried to turn on them and had to be burnt) and freed the Winter Wolf (in exchange for its helping them kill the turncoat troll).  They have yet to fully explore the keep, or the mine beyond.  I wonder what they’ll find there…

A cool place that I stumbled upon today.

Today begins the paths to Principles of Accounting and Applied Ethics.  There’s a one-two-uppercut combo for both sides of your brain if ever I heard one.

My thoughts:

After reviewing the syllabi of the above mentioned courses, the workload of this semester looks like it will make up for the, shall we say, “ease” of last semester’s undertakings.

I had taken accounting “back in the day” when I started college the first time at Belmont Tech.  I did OK, but hated it, and don’t remember a damn thing about it now.  Thus, a bit intimidating.  However, looking at ANGEL (the college’s online learning system) it seems that I have a quality teacher, good materials, and most importantly, an instructor who knows how to use the ANGEL system efficiently and in an effective manner.  I have had online courses with professors who did not have this all-important quality, and it makes all the difference.  I am not afraid of my accounting class, based solely on this information.

Ethics.  Hmm.  While not in the “priest” category of ethical folk, I consider myself to be an above averagely ethical man.  While I am not going to blow this course off as an easy A, it doesn’t scare me that much either.

Humorous side note:  Part of the introductory portion of the course was to review and be quizzed on the college’s academic honesty policy.  I followed (or rather, tried to follow) the link to the AHP page, but it was a broken link.  No worries, I thought, don’t cheat, don’t copy, don’t plagarize, etc., how hard can the quiz be?

You are allowed to take the quiz TEN times, but you must get a 100% to continue in the course.  10 questions, true/false.

It took me three tries, due to wording, lateness of the hour, and carelessness on my part.  Three tries on an Academic Honesty Policy quiz, as a prerequisite for an Ethics course!   Classic!

The concept:  A display-style base, whereupon you can place a heavy ‘jack, up to three light ‘jacks, and a warcaster.  So it has 5 “plateaus” among a rocky outcrop, 1 sized for the a large base, and the rest sized for medium bases.  I’m going to fashion a “reducer” piece to go on one of the plateaus to make it proper for a small base.  I’m also going to create a blank, that can turn one of the mediums into a rock, for battle groups with only two light ‘jacks.

Provided this works out, it will be perfect for displaying a battlegroup that’s been assembled and painted straight from the box.  They all have a caster and a heavy ‘jack, some have two lights and others three, hence the “blank”.  I’m going to make a silicone mold, so I can cast them in resin.

Depending on how they’re painted/based, it should work for all the factions.  Rocky with some greenery for Cygnar, Snowed for Khador, Sandy for Menoth, add some skulls and such for Cryx.

Maybe I can sell em on eBay or off the site.  Speaking of which, I need to post in rants after I finish here…

The pizza was Papa Johns’ Meat Lovers, by the way.  (And the Dew has been flowing liberally, of course.)

The chamber was well over a hundred meters long, yet only five or six meters wide.  No windows could be found on the walls, and the only doors were to be found on the far walls.  The ceiling sagged low over the writers’ heads, adding to the claustrophobic atmosphere.  Flickering fluorescent tubes ran the length of the room on either wall, broken at random intervals only by the occasional supply closet or spartan toilet facilities.

To begin at one end and examine the faces of the authors at work would be a study in the effects of lifelong servitude to the written word.  The ages varied from barely in their teens to nearly a century old.  Yet only the smallest traces of distinction in care-worn wisdom varied in their demeanor.  Their faces craggy and unshaven, the eyes sunken, hands stained with inks. Yet amidst the sameness, certain sparks of individual traits emerge.  Here a poet softly sings as he writes.  There a youthful author of fantasy silently reads the work he just produced, his lips moving in sync with the dialogue.  One sits amid a pile of crumpled parchment, seeking the perfect metaphor and accepting no substitutes. Another scrawls frantically onto the page, as if his life depended upon setting the words in motion.  He stops only to ponder his next lines.  As he does, his eyes dart suspiciously from side to side and across the room.  Satisfied that he is alone in his revelations, he returns to the page, ink spattering on hands, table, and parchment alike.  The passion for my words is obvious.  I double-task, writing a bit on one set of pages, and then quickly shift to another set.  I swap one set to the bottom of the stack in paranoid fear whenever I pause.A favored few wore yellow ribbons draped over their shoulders.  These authors had written such elegant works the days previous that they were afforded special privileges.  They would be exempted from the peer review after the shift and would each receive an extra half ration at mealtime. Taking slow strides behind the authors seated along the long tables are the suppliers.  The lead broker, distributing and sharpening pencils, the inkboys, refilling inkwells as a waiter tops off water glasses, and the parchmen, resupplying all in need with fresh paper.  Theirs is not a specialty job, but a momentary diversion from writer’s block and a means to return circulation to their lower halves.

Milling about with slightly more purpose were the Readers.  Well-muscled men, armed with clubs and wearing a thick leathery armor studded with steel plates that had long since lost their metallic sheen.  They circled the room, occasionally peering over the shoulder of an author before moving along.  The writers have a defined tendency to intensify their work as a Reader approaches, tensing with varying levels of concern when one reviews his work.

They know all too well what happens when a Reader finds a disconcerting passage.  The pleas for mercy still resound in their ears, as does the image of the last fellow author dragged away to the far door.  Even if the Reader had not confiscated the offensive work, no nearby writer with any level of self-preservation would have tried to look.

The passage of time brought passages of art.

Hours later, from below, a resounding gong could be heard echoing through the chamber.  The next shift was being awakened.  In the next hour, they would be dressed, fed, and ready for their positions at the long tables to write.  For the authors above, they would spend this time in peer review and cleanup before they headed down to the communal sleeping area.

The authors understood the value of peer review time.  Not the value it held to them personally, or to the author whose work they reviewed, but its value to the Editor.  The Editor was acknowledged as the most highly educated and wise man in service to the Emperor.  Such was his wisdom that he knew that the best way to discover the best works and cull the dross was to have the authors themselves rate each other’s work. 

His wisdom also extended to the realization of conspiracies in such an environment, and the means by which to suppress such intolerable behavior.  Thus, it was that there was no speaking in the writing room or the sleeping quarters; it also justified an enforced system of random placement in each.  The peer review provided an additional deterrent; each manuscript was signed not only by the originator, but also by the reviewer.

The yellow-ribboned authors collect their pages and turn them in to the nearest Reader.  They collect waste bins and collect the wads of crumpled paper and broken pencils from the tables and floor.

Meanwhile the Readers go from author to author, directing the means by which their day’s work is to be swapped for the review.  Some pass to the left, some to the right, and some across the table.  I write my final thoughts and shift this page to the bottom of my stack.

A reader approaches my table and gives directions for the swaps.  I receive a pile from my neighbor to my left, passing mine to the author opposite and to the right.

His work seems to be a continuing narrative of an ancient hero, traveling through swamplands to reach the lair of some great beast.  I skim through it lightly, but my attention is on the fellow reading my work.

I know that the first few pages are tame: light poetry and haiku.  Even the quality is nothing to raise an eyebrow at, things I would have crumpled and tossed had I not needed them to cover my real writings.

Ah, I see he has come to the true work.  He glances quickly at me in confusion; I hastily lower my head.

I peer up over my glasses to read his expressions.  He is visibly uncomfortable.  I know what will come soon, yet I care not.  We are slaves here, with stories to tell, this story.  He reaches the final page and responds exactly as I predicted any of my surrounding authors would have, with a gasp of horror.  Even now, I can see that the terror in his eyes is only partially due to the content of my piece, but also due to how he involuntarily played into his scripted role.

Fast on the heels of his gasp, two Readers storm our table.   One snatches the manuscript from his hands, the other places a firm grip on my shoulder.  After a cursory glimpse over the last two pages, the Reader crosses around to my side of the table and I am hauled to my feet.

As I am dragged away, I can see that the Readers, in their haste, have forgotten my last page on the table.  If my last passage brings me death, then that is the passage from this world I choose.  I will share the passage with the others as they take me to my end…

“Free writing!”