The End is here.

This story has ended.

Our old Hero System has ended (on 10-10-08) and will not be continued. My blog for the game/character will not be updated and I have added my last post on it with most of what I have posted here.

We next played the Keep on the Shadowfell, a 4th Ed Dungeons & Dragons adventure. The game was well played and our character lived to fight other battles.

We have gained a total of 5 player now and we have begun a new Hero System game. We are at the character building time and the plot will begin to twist soon.

As with any ending, there are beginning.

A new blog for the game has been started. There is very little in it at this time.

I will list below my blog and any others that are started by the other player.

Kross the ????? of the Pakasa/Dumawe
http://gamesandgadgets.org/theblogs/kross/

Perrol the Bard Half-Elf
http://gamesandgadgets.org/theblogs/perrol/

My Character Review

Our 4th Ed D&D game is over. We completed the Keep on the Shadowfell and want to start something different. We are restarting our Hero System back up, now with more players.

With my character being mothballed, I wanted to reflect on the choices I used for the Feats, At-Wills, Encounter, Daily and Utility Powers.

My character was a Ranger and I had fun.



First off are the Feats:

Defensive Mobility: It helped some when the attacker came to me when I was off to the side pelting them with some arrows.
Lethal Hunter: A great benefit with my Hunter's Quarry target.
Elven Precision: It helped when I got to re-roll one of my attacks for Elven Accuracy
Distant Advantage: We leveled up our character for the last battle and did not get a chance to use this at all. With past battle in mind. I think it could be put to good use.

Next would be At-Wills:

Wit the two at will I had, Careful Attack and Twin Strike, I found out I mostly used the Twin Strike attack. You have two chances to attack and most of the time you would hit with one of the attacks. A few time you could hit with both. I could see using Careful Attack with Distant Advantage to get the To Hit bonus up to +4, but never got a chance to try it out.

Next would be Encounter Powers:

The two power that I used were Two-Fanged Strike and Thundertusk Boar Strike. With Two-Fanged Strike it helped out some, it is like Twin Strike, as you attack twice, but has the possibility of a little more damage. Almost all the time I used this power I only hit the one time that boosted the damage a little. This would be a power I would change if I remade the character.

With Thundertusk Boar Strike, it attacks twice. The option of this was that it also pushes the target it it hits. I used this many a time to get the target in the right place.

Next on the list is the Daily Powers:

With Split the Tree daily, you do need to get the two targets near each other for this to work. With the attack, you roll 2 dice and take the best one. Then you roll the high damage on targets. This as help a many a time to deal damaging and killing attacks.

The last item was my Utility Power choice:

The Yield Ground option sounded good in the begining, but only got used once or twice. With Being a arrow chucker, I was off to the side or in the back and when I did get hit it was by ranged attacks. Yield Ground only kicks in on melee attacks. This would be the other item I would change.

My Skill choices worked for the character and I do not see any changes that would have help durring the game.

That a my review of my character choices. Now to put the character sheet into the folder and put the folder onto the booksheld with the other RPG book and papers.

To play games in New York.

With the New York trip next month. I am going over my game that could play 5 or more player (and that does not take too much space in the suitcase).

Here are the games I have that fit the bill:

• The Great Dalmuti (4-8 players)
• James Ernest's Totally Renamed Spy Game (3-6 players)
• Monty Python Fluxx (2-6 players)
• Inn-Fighting, D&D Dice Game (3-6 players)
• Citadels (2-7 players)
• Castle (2-5 players)
• Super Munchkin (3-6 players)
• Wing of War (2-6 players) [ Update: Played the game the other night. A good game, but looks like this I will not bring it. ]
  
• Give Me The Brain (3-8 players)
• Rorschach: The Inkblot Party Game (3-8 players) [ New Game: Looked like a good and fast playing party game to bring on the trip. ]
  

I am also looking what game I could get/purchase (that does not take too much space in the suitcase).

Any suggestions?

Use of a Group Template

This or part of it is for use in a Group Template for our next Hero System game that is to start soon.

Personal Background: Mixed
Character Types: Mixed
Character Jobs/Classes: Mixed

Location: Small City/Large Town

Common Background: In order to gain status (ie Vote, Own Land, Hold Title) in the town/city a length of time is needed to spent in the Town/City Guard. A time of 1 to 2 years till they could leave or reenlist. During this time our group met and worked together.

Possible basic skills learned:
Riding
Streetwise
Area Knowledge: Home Region
Area Knowledge: Home City
Weapon Familiarity: Common Melee Weapons
Weapon Familiarity: Common Missile Weapons

Thinking about the next game.

After our D&D game last Friday night, the topic of the next game came up. Looking for a fantasy game with about a mid-level magic/power range. Looks like we would be making new characters with a power level that has yet to be determined as of yet. Looks like there could be a choice of different races other than human. We will we using the Group Template that has been talked about on the Fear The Boot Podcast. As for the world, it might be some version of the world we played in before or something brand new. Time will tell.

My time at Sakura-Con

It started out on a Thursday after work. Me and Rich headed over to the Convention Center to pick up the weekend pass and have Rich drop off some of his art for the Art Show. We made good time and found a parking spot. We got our weekend badge with around a 20 min wait in line, which went fast with the book I was reading. Headed over to the Art Show room to find they need some help with the stand ups they use to display the art on. It took about 2 hours to get them standing and ready to be used, after that we headed on home to get some rest for the next day.

We got to the Con around 11:30 am on Friday, before the dealer’s room opened. Rich set himself up at Artist Alley while I waited in a line for the Exhibitors' Hall to open. From last year, things were moved around. The Exhibitors' Hall and the Registration were next together, which gave a lot of foot traffic to the Artist Alley which was right outside the two rooms. I did my look around the Exhibitors' Hall and found the isles well spaced and easy to walk thru and with the traffic the con had it was needed. After my rounds in the Exhibitors' Hall, I went and looked around. I found the Main Stage, the Autograph area and the Video Rooms. From the layout of last year, the Video Rooms were above the Main Room (were the Concerts were), not below. So when the Concerts were playing the wall did not vibrate. The day was mostly walking around the main floor area or outside taking pictures of the people in costumes and when I needed to get off my feet, I headed back to the Artist Alley or headed up to the Video Rooms, if there was anything good playing.

Saturday was planed as a full day for me, with getting to the Con about 9:30am and leaving well past midnight. With some more walking, picture taking, sitting, video watching and eating (not all in that order) the day was enjoyed. With night time here, the Main Stage was full of people jamming to the DJ waiting for Smile.dk to play. At one point glow sticks and such were tossed from the stage and I was lucky to get a rebound off the ceiling into my hands. The place was jumping, you could literally feel the music. For a white boy that can not dance, I think I did good. I just copied the people around which was basically jumping up and down, waiving your hands (like you don't care) or doing a fist pump. My feet started to be a pain and I took off to the Video Rooms for some sit down time. After some time I got a text from Rich that it was time to call it a night.

Sunday was another day. If you wanted to be technical it wad the same day, just with five hours of sleep. We got there a little before the Exhibitors' Hall opened. They had pre-registration open for next year for just $30.00 for the full weekend. I grabbed the paperwork and head for the short line. With one person on the window, it took some time, around 30 min if I recall correctly. With the pre-registration done, I went thru the Exhibitors' Hall one last time to see if I missed anything and then did some more walking, picture taking, sitting, video watching with the day ending around 6pm.

For the anime that was showing in the theaters, I wish I had planed a little better to catch some of the ones that I missed. I did catch Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, some Code Geass, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and some Shin-chan.

One thing I can say about the Exhibitors' Hall is keep a eye on what they have available. I picked up a few figures one day and looked for them the next finding they had sold out. Another item I found was at a good price of $6.00. I went back the next day to pick a few more up to find the cost showing was $70.00. Looked like I got a great deal on the one I did picked up. I should have picked up the full set of 4 at the $6.00 cost the first day. Keep your eyes open.

The item that I got a lot of work out of, was the digital camera I got for Christmas. I tried out a few of the setting to find they worked out great for what I needed them for. A few of the pictures came out bad, but that is what the delete button is for.

This was the first time doing the full weekend at Sakura-Con and I had a great time. Took over 400+ pictures. Went over my spending budget (a little) and got a chibi charature done of my self.

. . . and I am doing this again next year.

(Currently uploading the pictures I took at Sakura-Con up to flickr, you can see the growing pictures here.)

My time at Emerald City Comicon

Emerald City Comicon was last weekend. I did not go the full weekend, just Saturday. I car pooled with Rich, a friend from work, that was in the Artest Alley and got my tickets at the door. From last year it seemed bigger and better. I found some items I had been looking for (four Mighty Muggs) and some item I did not know till I spoted them (two art prints: <1> <2>). I spent the day looking around and taking some pictures.
Wil Wheaton was again at Emerald City Comicon. After I got in the door I headed over media guest area. There was a short line of about 6 to 7 people to see, talk, get and have stuff signed. It was my turn. We shaked hands, told him that I did the composite of his Criminal Minds ep that his posted on his blog. I got that picture signed, a picture of him last year, his first book and got a copy of Sunken Treasure (that he signed, as you can see here). He handed them back and good bye. It was not till a few munites later that I relised that I had not paid him for the Sunken Treasure book. I went back from where I exited the line and handed him the money for the book. From Will I got a "Thanks for being honest." from him as I left.
The convention closed and I left. I had fun and I will come back next year.

See my picture set from the convention here.

Next: My weekend at SakuraCon

The choices for the game.

After our D&D game last night, we talked about how we have around 5 or some games till we finish the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure. After D&D we are planing on going back to our HERO game, but now with more players. We have one confirmed player, one player that fit in but due to work plays in about half the game and the last player is new to gaming and still has not found his grove. With the two original players (that includes me) and the one confirmed player we are looking at a minimum of 3 players and a GM.

Questions came up for characters and the game world.

With the characters I saw three options:

1. We keep our characters (powers/level),
2. Make new characters or
3. We power down our characters.

With the game, it was decided we stick with a fantasy setting, but with the story I came up with another three options:

1. We continue the story where we left off with some minor adjustments,
2. We jump ahead in time in the game world and restart the story from there or
3. We start over from scratch.

Time will tell on what we do.

My day at Worldwide D&D Game Day

Saturday was Worldwide D&D Game Day.

I got to the game store about 11am and waited around for a bit for a second GM to appear. The game started about 11:30am with a full table. The first encounter started with the players getting use to the new character classes. Hit were traded and the enemy took most of the damage. We won. Someone from Wizards (that works on D&D Insider) showed up to talk, ask questions and watch our game for a while. He even spotted my dice shirt I had on for the game day done by Wil Wheaton and he asked if I have heard about the current D&D podcast with the D&D game with Wil.
With the second encounter it started out normally till someone started to play with fire in the mill and the grain dust exploded. There was fire everywhere. We finished the encounter off the map.
The third encounter was not as tougth as I thought it would be. The monster was defeated in no time. Speaking of time, it took somewhere around 4 to 5 hours to finish the 2 to 3 hour game that it said it would take.
The game was fun and enjoyable, we even got to keep our minis and some of the others that used in the game.

Chech out some pictures I snaped with my cell phone of our game.

To rebuy or not to rebuy.

A few weeks ago I got a Blu-ray player. With some new movies out, I have picked up the Blu-ray verison of the new movie. The question that I have is, should I rebuy the Blu-ray verison of some of my favorite movies. With my Blu-ray player, it says that it will improve the resolution of a standard, making it a little better.

The one move that I purchased again was WALL-E. The reasons I came up with for the rebuy was:

1. It was on sale.
2. Blu-ray only features.
3. One of my favorite movies.

The main turn off is that you are spending more money for a movie you already have in your collection and it probably have the same features the DVD verison has. If it has "Blu-ray only features" it might catch my eye.

To those who read this, what do you think?

A new start.

Last week I got a new phone, LG-9100, the enV2. The screen size is different from the prev one. The internal only had a small adjustment, while the external was much smaller and had to have adjustment. Here is the current wallpaper I am using. Fell free to use. All I ask, if you can, leave a comment.

Ghost In The Shell - Online Screen (wallpaper)

My current external wallpaper.


Ghost In The Shell - Group (wallpaper)

My current internal wallpaper.

Me and ConQuest

This year ConQuest was not as close as it was last year. I did not know where the place was directly, it took a little longer to find the place. I missed the first game I had planed, it filled up and had already started.

I had a chance to look around and found a miniatures game called Golden Age of Hydroplane Racing. Fun game, played a game, came in second in the race and went around again to see what others were playing. One of the players of Hydroplane Racing game was someone I played a game with last year and after some time talking, some others showed up. It was a lunch time and we ended up at Denny's for some food.

We decided to try our hand out at the next game that I had planed to try which was called Savage Traveller and was hosted by Steve Schonberger using the Savage Worlds system. For the game all I can say was, good try. Steve did not know Savage Worlds too well, he used money as a prop when he did not have to, items need for the game was not provided and mapping when need, did not work. We each ended up playing a few characters each and with the plot, there were these robots that could only be killed by one of our many players. The game ended when it was decided that we could not continue, we packed up and left. It was a little fun with the other players, but not too enjoyable.

The next game I planed on was a Call of Cthulhu game. I was the only played to signed up for it. We gave it some time, but no one else showed. The game was reschedule for 9am Sunday. There was another Call of Cthulhu game going on next door. We moved on over and played the game. For a first time game master, Adam knew his stuff and hosted a great game. It was not till the end game that I recalled I had played this long ago, but this came out with a different out come. The night ended with me heading home to get some sleep.

Sunday started out cold with me deicing the car. The drive was not uneventfully. The entry ramp was icy and had already had one car slide into the side bumpers. Take the ramp slow, my car did skid a little and was able to get around the accident and not add to it. On the freeway there were some slow downs also. Some how a car had ended up on its side, bring the road down to one lane. I got the con at a little after 9am to make the Call of Cthulhu game that was original schedule last night, called Mystic Alliances by Kamal Lombardi. Counting me, there were a total of two players. The game was enjoyable. Could have been planed out a little better. The characters sheet were put together on a copy machine, info was spread out and some times missing. Handout were good, but they had game master info on them. Nowadays computers are widely available, he could have done some typesetting and greatly improved the game feel. This was a home brew game and even had a magic components to it, which I did not even use. Basically a good game.
The last game of the day called The League of Extraordinary Cats by Sophie Lagace using a system called Cat, which we play . . . cats. A great game and enjoyable story. I had held onto my character from last year and was able to play him with a few minor adjustment. A nice item that she continued with was little cat miniatures to get a feel for our characters (and we were able to keep them.)
Overall a good convention. There were not a lot of role playing games (excluding D&D) to chose from, but fun was had.

(Picture will be added soon. Just need to upload them to Flickr.)

ConQuest is near

The game convention will be this next weekend and for the RPG part of it, here are some the possable option that I may go to.

http://www.conquestnw.com/

Time Block H: Sat 9:00AM

HR-119 Web of the Spider Cult

by John Reiher, Jr, Savage Worlds, 4.5 hrs, 4 players, Game, Some gaming, Characters/Armies provided

When you find a dead body in your house, especially one which belongs to a notable explorer, you know it’s not going to be an ordinary day. Web of the Spider Cult takes the heroes from the corridors and galleries of the Boston Museum, to the bayou of Louisiana, and onto the dark jungles of Mexico. There, amid the ruins of a centuries old temple, the adventurers face their greatest enemy so far in their extraordinary adventures.

Time Block K: Sat 2:00PM

KR-253 Savage Traveller

by Steve Schonberger, Savage Worlrds, 7 hrs, 6 players, Game, Kids, Characters/Armies provided

This is an adventure in the Traveller setting, but using Savage Worlds rules. More details will become available closer to the event date. Players need not commmit to the whole time slot.

Time Block M: Sat 7:00PM

MR-113 Mystic Alliances

by Kamal Lombardi, CoC 6th edition, variant setting, 4.5 hrs, 6 players, Game, Kids, Characters/Armies provided

Play teenage COC investigators in this variant setting/ruleset for Call of Cthulu which is set several years in the future, during a time in which Mythos threats are once again on the rise in Seattle.

Time Block S: Sun 11:30AM

SR-122 The League of Extraordinary Cats

by Sophie Lagace, Cat, 4.5 hrs, 6 players, Game, Kids, Characters/Armies provided

When the Cheshire Cat, Duchess, Orlando the Marmalade Cat, Ame Tomoe, Lion-O and Schrödinger's cat team up, is there anything they can't do? A simple game, character creation takes 5 minutes, and new or younger players are welcome.

Books I have read in 2008.

2008 is over and my list is complete. The total of books read is: 32. Which is better than last years total of 19. For those people that count the pages, I have done that for you. The total page count for 2008 is 14,034 pages.

There were some comic books and mangas that were read in between the books and are not listed.

32. Guard Against Dishonour by by Simon R. Green (188pgs)
31. Swords of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher by by Simon R. Green (544pgs)
30. Blue Moon Rising by Simon R. Green (480pgs)
29. A Game Of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (807pgs)
28. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (320pgs)
27. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (784pgs)
26. Fool Moon by Jime Butcher (352pgs)
25. Centaur Aisle by by Piers Anthony (304pgs)
24. Storm Front by Jime Butcher (322pgs)
23. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (438pgs)
22. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (248pgs)
21. Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony (329pgs)
20. Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein (320pgs)
19. On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony (303pgs)
18. The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony (326pgs)
17. A Spell For Chameleon by Piers Anthony (344pgs)
16. The Callahan Chronicals by Spider Robinson (317pg)
15. Unicorn Point by Piers Anthony (337pgs)
14. Robot Adept by Piers Anthony (341pgs)
13. Out Of Phaze by Piers Anthony (309pgs)
12. Race Against Time by Piers Anthony (224pgs)
11. Juxtaposition by Piers Anthony (358pgs)
10. Blue Adept by Piers Anthony (327pgs)
9. Split Infinity by Piers Anthony (354pgs)
8. Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony (216pgs)
7. Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind (792pgs)
6. Temple of the Wind by Terry Goodkind (822pgs)
5. Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind (623pgs)
4. Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind (979pgs)
3. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (820pgs)
2. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (518pgs)
1. Ringworld's Children by Larry Niven (288pgs)

Check out my Goodreads profile for my current books and feel free to sing up and be a friend.

The surprise for me.

With my brother and nephew in town, our family celebrated Christmas by opening our Secret Santa gifts. My brother was my Secret Santa. My surprise was what was give came from my Birthday list and was out of the price range given for the Secret Santa gift exchange. He said he got a good deal. Who is to argue.

What I got was a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5.

Currently reading the manual and taking a few pictures and filling up the internal memery. Next on my list in to get a large memery card for all the picture I must take in the furture.

Today at work.

Last night I found out that the campus (at work) would not open till 10 am due to the snow down pour on Sunday. I slept till about 8am and spotted that I missed a call from my supervisor saying that the campus would not open till 11 am and wanted a call to see if I would be able to make it in. After a walk outside in the new snow, I said no problem. I walked to work with some sliping and sliding along the way and clocked in at 11 am to take some calls (thinking that the training was been canceled). It was not till the end of the shift that I found out training was not canceled, I only thought it was, thinking that my supervisor know that it was canceled. I talked to the trainer and found out that the info can/will be made up later (about half the class was not there).

Snow, Snow and more Snow

Currently it is snowing and has been off and on over the last week. Wensday due to snow and low turn out our training class was calceled and we were told to go back to the phones. As a first, work closed down at about 11:30 am and sent people home due to the snow level. The next day the campus opened at 10 am. Of corse leaving close by I just headed on over at 8 am to be told it was close. You do get a nice work out walking in the snow. After some time I called in to check if they still will be opening at 10 am. I headed on over to find a sign that training was canceled again and headed on over to take some calls. After seting up my computer and taking a small break, I got word that training was back on. Yea. We had about 2/3 of our people show up. We went over business writing, took some time and enjoyed ourself.

Today being Sunday and snowing. I could see work being delayed or the campus could be closed. Time will see.

Its about Bears.

This was sent to me. Its about bears and funny in its own way.

http://www.thingsbearslove.com/

My Christmas List

1. Beyond the Blue Moon (Hawk and Fisher Series #7) by Simon R. Green
   http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&ISBN=0451458052&r=1
2. Wii Play with Wii Remote (~$49.99)
   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000KRXAGE/ref=nosim/coffeeresearch108305-20
   (Currently only have one remote. Would be up for a 3rd Wii Remote Controller.)
   http://www.amazon.com/Wii-Remote-Controller-nintendo/dp/B000IMWK2G/ref=pd_sim_vg_4
3. Dragon Quest IV for the DS
4. Gift Card for Best Buy

Cheap Minis

At Toys R Us found some cheat minis for 4th Ed D&D game. Found Plasma Dragons Battle Realm Booster Pack in the Logo section for $1.98 each for for 8 figures (4 orcs type and 4 knight type with weapons and shields). It took awhile to put together. I ended up getting 2 packs for uses of enemy characters.