The Grip of Winter

D&D 4th Edition

2008-05-23T16:30:42Z

I have just been reading “Wizards Presents: Races and Classes” and “Wizards Presents Worlds and Monsters”. They are previews of the 4th Edition of D&D. I groaned when I saw them, and opened them with trepidation. After all, how many times must I redesign my world to play the current version of D&D? Now, please take what I say with a bit of common sense – these books are previous of the production and as such things may change. Also, they don’t actually go into the mechanics of the game in any detail, so I have no idea how the game will actually play. However, the way it is going sounds damn good! So good in fact, that I wish it had been out years ago and so I would have done all my redesign to fit with the new concepts and abandoned the old.

Too late for that now though, with no time to do that kind of re-work, and no point what with not having a D&D group to play with. But things like changing the alignment system, changing the way combat is done, changing the way monsters are designed, getting rid of that fucking awful CR system (I hated that aspect of the 3rd edition as soon as I saw it because I thought that it would be unwieldy and frankly shite – and that proved to be the case).

Let me explain by saying what I don’t like about the 3rd Edition.

Due to the crappy CR system, a group of 4 5th level characters gain full experience points for defeating a single CR5 creature. What a load of shite. That CR creature is dead after two rounds if it is lucky... on to the next CR5 creature.... Soon, VERY soon (I worked it out at roughly 13 such encounters), the characters are up to 6th level. It is the proverbial fart in a bucket and you are up a level scenario!!! They are going to change that so that the system is concentrating more on the party fighting groups of monsters, so it will be back to the good old days when as a DM you can gage it easily as to what the party can handle and go for it, rather than trying to work out if your party of 4 5th level characters will get creamed by that CR8 creature you want to use with his CR5 lieutenant and his two CR3 henchmen, and whether or not that will give them so much treasure and experience that they are up half a fucking level.

At high(er) levels characters were just killing machines, dealing out damage after damage and wiping out even the hardest of opponents with ease in a few rounds. The only way this didn’t happen was for the DM to make sure that he or she created a situation of surprise or superior position or some other factor that changed the combat slightly. This got hard work. And boring. Really boring. We played a high level campaign where I was just so frustrated by the ridiculousness of it all (and I am a total bastard of a DM who tries to limit money and magic to a minimum!) that I had to beef up every single adventure in the campaign by fuck-loads so that even in-between sessions of using a published adventure I had shed-loads of work to do to make it challenging. Where and when did they play test this shity CR shite anyway????

Speaking of hard work, being a DM in 3rd edition was tortuously hard work compared to the good old days of 1st edition. Ok, so 1st edition had more inconsistencies than the 3rd edition, but at least it was easier to run. Running multiple creatures at once, each with a dizzying array of things they can do, each taking ages to read though and get right (admittedly I didn’t know the rules as in depth as I once did, but that wasn’t the issue). I didn’t enjoy being a DM running my 3rd edition campaign. I enjoyed it immensely every single time before that, so much so that I prefer DM-ing to playing. The 4th edition is supposed to make it easier and more fun to DM, so let’s hope that is true.

I am a fighter and I can hit you for d8 damage with my longsword but I have this strength and this magic and this fucking spell and this and this so that the damage my longsword does is insignificant to the damage I am adding on so I may as well hit you with my fucking hand bullocks. Fucking d20 pish. I don’t think this will change that much but there is a hint of it in there so hopefully they will improve that silliness.

All in all, I am looking forward to the new system now to see what it is like.

Top ten game designers

2008-03-27T17:14:17Z

from davethebrave

Top ten game designers...

I can't write a top ten game designers. There are two reasons why I can't in all honesty do this. 1) I don't actually have a huge diversity of experience of different RPG's and I don't play computer games very often and board games are crap (other than chess, which is entirely different and "not in scope" of this discussion...ach, fucking work is messing with my head); 2) I can't be arsed.

And I know the point of the list was to list those most deserving of more publicity or recognition for what they did than they got, but I don't know or care about that - I am very deserving of more pay and I get fuck all so I don't give a shit. Who cares?

But if I was going to do a list, it would have these people in it:

1) Gary Gygax would be there, of course, as number 1. All this fantasy you see today - all these books, all these films, all these computer games, are down to the FACT that people like me bought into the whole D&D thing and ran with it. It is my generation that grew up playing that, and my generation that cried out for more as a result. We DEMANDED more, and we are only beginging to see it coming now. At long fucking last. Fuck, when I started playing D&D there was shit on the radio saying we were casting spells and summoning demons!!! There WAS no industry! The greatest fantasy film for many, many years was a comedy ("The Princess Bride" - still a fabulous film and I can quote shed loads of it) but even then it was directed to kids and was an accidental success with adults who were gamers. And NONE of that would have happened if it wasn't for Gary Gygax. Now, you can go on about the shite author that is Tolkien until you are blue in the face, but the people that made fantasy grow were roleplayers, and ALL roleplayers have Gary Gygax to thank, and so all the fantasy genre has him to thank. Weis and Hickman anyone? Huge best selling authors because of D&D and for no other reason. No LoTR film, no fucking mass-market RPG computer games, no reams and reams of fantasy authors being published. And now he's dead and nobody gave a fuck. Not even the briefest of mentions on the news. Gary who? Fuck off.

2)Monty Cook. Planescape was fucking awesome and was the only reason I bought the shite that was the 2nd edition of D&D *shudders*... wish they kept it for 3rd edition... *sigh*. He has some good ideas and continued to do so after he left Wizards of the Coast. I wish he had killed 2nd Edition though. Please, someone erase that childish, moralising pish from my memory... please!

3) Me. I rock. I could have been a game designer - seriously - no bullshit - but who the fuck would have given me the chance and who the fuck gets these jobs anyway? Yes I am jealous. I have reams of my own stuff and that has kept me sane... or at least insane enough that I think I am sane. Woe is me. Who's Woe? Me.

4) There are also guys that created Shadow World for Rolemaster (the 'Jaiman' book lists John D. Ruemmler, but he didn't seem to create all the source material so I dunno). Shadow World for Rolemaster was scary shit and excellent, though in truth not the kind of thing for the kind of DM/GM that needs his or her hand held.

5) Bruce R. Cordell's done some good stuff - the Psionics Handbook was cool, the Underdark is a good rescource, and my personal favourite of his The Illithiad, making surer than sure that my phrase, "Illithids are the DM's best friend" was even truer (though again, pity it was for the shite that was the 2nd edition).

Then I guess I would run out of people who have done a lot or "who did big stuff". I am so out of the loop, as it were, as I am the sadest thing on earth - a roleplayer with no roleplaying going on. So I don't know who has done anything decent as I can't be arsed to read stuff that I will never get a chance to play.

I suppose the creators of 3rd Edition D&D deserve some praise, though it is still dumbed down a lot more than I would like but it has opened up a lot of other things that were not possible with earlier versions so credit where credit is due.

I never played MERP or Call of Cthulhu very much to be honest, never played Vampire or any of the newer games, and can't be arsed with the d20 stuff. So I only have D&D, AD&D, Rolemaster, and the silliness that was Laserburn for a quick laugh and even quicker character death. So the rest would be filled up with creators of individual sourcebooks or scenarios we particularly enjoyed, and to be honest there lies a difficulty because a one off is a one off and a game we enjoyed often has had nothing to do with the writer!

So there you go. A top 5. Or maybe top 4.5, or 3.5, or just a top 3. That will need to be good enough as I need to go and do "exciting" things like food shopping.

Hair dresser on fire!

2008-03-27T10:02:10Z

Haven't been on for ages as I have been really busy both in and out of work. I still am, but I am currently skiving as I can't be arsed. [skiving = "not doing my work that I should be doing"]. I need to go in to the office today (have been working from home for ages) and so I will go at 11:30-ish, do what I need to do, and come straight back again, which should get me back here at maybe 12:30-ish, so not too bad. At least the day is sunny (if cold) and so I should enjoy the ride.... prrr :)

I have far too much work to do. I am stressed... no, actually, truth be told, I should be stressed but at the moment I am in denial so I am relaxed hehe.

Nothing much to say, as usual.

cailleacbhuer @ 2008-03-12T16:41:00

2008-03-12T16:41:55Z

Taken from fatelvis138

Your Score: The Phone Booth

50% Practicality, 35% Mutability, 0% NaziLoving Wuss, 30% Woowoo?

Your time machine is the Phone Booth.

For you, History is fixed and unchanging. But this is a actually very, very good thing. It means that you are free to mess around all you want without worrying about accidentally changing the wrong thing and permanently removing Oreo cookies from all existence. Sure, once in a while you'll be called upon to save the universe or defeat a villain or two, but there's nothing that says you can't do it in the silliest and most amusingly contrived manner you can think of.

Link: The Time Travel Test written by admiral_J

Bored shitless

2008-03-11T17:00:18Z

So, Object Modelling anyone? No, it isn't even as exciting as it sounds. Data Mapping anyone? Ditto to that too.

My brain hurts.
My tendonitus (sp?) has really kicked in to my lower arms.
My fingers hurt will all the scrolling, cutting and pasting and general mouse-work.
And I am bored shitless.

All this to look forward to for the rest of the week and more. All this in my current wage of two-thirds-of-not-enough!

And apart from the word shitless, I didn't even swear. I told you I was bored, didn't I?

At least Scotland beat England in the rugby! Dancer!

completely entertaining, has-to-be-done quiz

2008-02-22T20:41:47Z

Go on, you know you want to - no, you know you have to!

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Policing in Northern Ireland

2008-02-08T13:36:32Z

We got a questionnaire through the door today, all about local policing issues and how we felt the police were doing and the local police community partnerships were doing etc. So, I filled it in.

My main moan in it was the FACT that both the councils and the police actually sanction bigotry in Northern Ireland by actively promoting bigoted anti-catholic parades and turn a blind eye to the bigotry, intimidation, vandalism, and down-right disgrace that are all the flags, paramilitary murals and banners. Sigh.

I did ask myself as I was doing it though, "What's the fucking point?" No one around here will listen. "It's part of the culture". I know. In that respect, it is a filthy culture.

I am expecting the local branch of the Orange Order, the UDA or the UVF (or all three) to carry out my killing any time over the next wee while. Or it might just be a councillor, since they are for the most part one and the same anyway (Orange and paramilitary that is). Or the police themselves. Yeah, wouldn't be at all surprised at that either.

English Exam

2008-02-04T16:23:00Z

Nicked this from blacknarcissus2, though I have no idea why I would do this to myself or indeed why I would post the results, but I did so I have. Ach, go on, have a go!

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

It's just as well it wasn't a spelling test though because that really is my downfall.

cailleacbhuer @ 2008-01-29T14:28:00

2008-01-29T14:28:51Z

Finally go this fucking thing to embed! Yeah.

Nicked this from mr_burrito who is a friend of davethebrave - I thought I would share it with you because I thought it was funny :) [lyrics not work-safe]

A new hosizon - or Windaes Vista - Initial thoughts

2008-01-17T13:05:23Z

Just got a new PC. Spent Fuck-loads of money on it (£930), so that Photoshop and Poser and the like would run properly (read - quickly). Intel Core 2 Quad, NVidia GeForce 8600 GT, and 4 Gig of RAM. Sweet. Only problem??? Fucking Windows is STILL Fucking Shite!

I am "forced" to use said pile of shite for a number of reasons, but mainly due to the hassle of having to switch my external drive and documents over to a Mac-compatible file format. And the price. An iMac is £1400 for a machine that actually doesn't even come close to the specs above (Core 2 Duo, 2Gig RAM, not sure about the graphics). Sigh. I would have loved to go for the Mac and get to FUCK away from Windows but an extra £450 to get a machine that is not as well spec-ed as the one I have is not something to be taken lightly.

So, Windows Vista Home Premium...
Aye.
I have used it for one night only and ALREADY I have had to kill Windows Explorer!!! Why does Windows Explorer (a core part of the operating system) SUCK so much? Why does it hang? Why does it lock files so that you can't move them or delete them and then claim "this file is being used by another program"? Er, no, it is you, you daft fucking piece of shit.

Fancy graphics of Windows Vista - those 3D glass windows things that you can iterate through? "Aero" they call it. Pish and fucking useless. You actually have to go to the taskbar to click on an icon to bring this up in the first place, so why not just click on the program you want from the task bar in the first place and miss out the pretentious, showy bit? No one who actually USES a computer would actually, well, use these time consuming, resource intensive and useless pieces of shit. Fancy graphics for show and nothing else, to impress people who don't know shit about how to navigate a computer properly.

And get this - you can even search for your files right from the folder you are in.... so, I can see a list of my files within the folder and I can use this search facility to find them... can I not just open my fucking eyes and see them? So, a feature for dickwads who chuck all of their files into the same folder because they are too stupid to know how to create new folders and structure them in a sensible, meaningful way, or for even bigger wankers who name their files "new file.doc" or some such.

And the Windows side-bar with "fabulous" gagets like, the clock, or some pointless small slide show, or to tell you if it is raining outside. Great! ...Shite.

The photo gallery seems at first glance to be quite good (download and view your photos, and you can tag them with keywords etc.), but I haven't played with it much, and only seems to look at your photos that are in the "Photos" folder. Fine for the average user who puts everything where Microsoft tells them to put them, but my files are on an external drive and so not in the photos folder so I am not sure if it will even see them... I can view them the same way as you can for XP anyway, so this to me (again) seems like a new piece of software for people who don't know how to use their computers. The tag feature does seem good though, so I am still undecided on this one, and like I said, I haven't played with it much yet.

Don't even get me started on the "security features". AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCKOFFYADAFTCUNTS!

Haven't used Media Center yet, and can't see that I ever will to be honest, though you never know. I have never liked Windows Media Player but version 11 does seem better... still not sure if I will use it though - WinAmp may still be the way to go - time will tell.

And Internet Explorer 7 is awful ! It doesn't allow you to customise the interface properly (like earlier versions did), it still thinks that flash and active-X components need to be highlighted in a big white box and clicked before you can do anything with them (wankers) and it is generally annoying garbage. Firefox all the way - and I will never go back.

Windows Mobile Centre - might be useful to a select 3 or 4 people, but not to me, and I will never use it and frankly see no real use for it. Microsoft does seem to be into developing ideas that are so out of date no one knows why the hell they are there in the first place.

While running NO programs, Windows reports that it is using a whopping 1.3Gig of RAM!!! FUCKME! ALSO, what is worse, is that Microsoft in their wisdom (due to various problems with memory addressing) have decreed that Windows Vista does not actually recognise the fact that you have 4 Gig of RAM - it only recognises and uses 3.25Gig of RAM!!! WHAT? This is the "new, state of the art" operating system from the world's biggest computer software house.

*Sigh.*
At least PhotoShop CS3 looks fabulous and the fact that I have a 22" flat LCD screen makes graphics packages so much easier to use - look at all that screen I have to play with!!!

Thus ends my initial review of Windows Vista. As honest as you'll ever get.

lj

2008-01-10T11:58:37Z

yawn. what is the point of this anyway?

A guid New Year to ane an' a'!

2007-12-31T17:42:33Z

While I really detest christmas with a passion I feel a particularly strong sense of emotion at Hogmanay, and I always try to think of something profound or even vaguely interesting to say, but as usual I never manage it. This year I decided that, as most of you will not have read any of the words I pretend to call poetry I could re-hash some old stuff and no-one will notice!

I wrote this 7 years ago now - in May of all times!!! Anyway, it's shite but then I never claim that anything I write is any good - I just write to get it out of me.

So, without further adieu...

The New Year

Lightning... Cracks through the charged landscape
Darkness rolls in with the rain
Upon the mound of their ancestral home
Dark shadows linger.

The ring... The power hums with each clap of thunder
But still audible the sound of chanting
Thrumming stones round a pit of flame
Welcome elemental fury.

Priestess... Erect in an orgasm of ecstasy
Screaming furiously words arcane
Dance with me and make them burn
The ghosts of yester eve.

From the hill... Come forth the host of the Fairy
To sounds of the pipes of mourning and joy
Sweet lovers to this most ancient land
Come bring in the New Year.

© Keri Robertson - 31st May, 2000

A guid New Year to ane an' a'!
Slàinte mhath!
Ker.

I am a Druid/Wizard, I'd say

2007-12-20T15:17:18Z

Taken from davethebrave
..peeved I am not an elf though :( The rest is reasonable, though I should think my Int score should be a bit higher - 17 I'd say, but yes, Dex is definately my primary stat. :) And I think there should be a few more levels on there... 5th indeed!!! And in the detailed stats, I think they got the evil and good round the wrong way, somehow. However, one thing is shown to be correct - I am definately not a toss-bag paladin!

I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Druid (5th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-17

Constitution-9

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-10

Charisma-13

Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it. Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom from both society's restrictions and a do-gooder's zeal. However, chaotic neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all authority, harmony, and order in society.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus</a></b> (e-mail)

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (18) Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17) True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21) Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25) Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXX (6) Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXX (3) Neutral - XXXXXXX (7) Chaos --- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXX (7) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Evil ---- XXX (3)
Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Dwarf ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Gnome ---- XXXXXX (6) Halfling - XXXXXXXX (8) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Half-Orc - XX (2)
Class:
Barbarian - (-2) Bard ------ (-2) Cleric ---- (-4) Druid ----- XXXXXXXX (8) Fighter --- (0) Monk ------ (-19) Paladin --- (-25) Ranger ---- (0) Rogue ----- (-2) Sorcerer -- (0) Wizard ---- XXXX (4)

Come and see the Bigots

2007-11-29T11:10:27Z

So, Unionists in Northern Ireland don't like the current Irish advertising campaign, saying it "does not reflect unionist culture" in Northern Ireland.

Have a read about what the pricks are talking about doing...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7118103.stm

Woopdy fucking do. WANKERS! Come to Ireland and see some BIGOTED FUCKING CUNTS walking down the street playing songs about being up to their knees in Fenian (read: Catholic Irish) blood! FUCKING FUCKING HELL!

I was outraged that the Unionist council of North Down (where I live) chose to promote the fucking bigoted July parades in their tourism literature for Bangor (the town I live in). Outraged! Now I am fucking angry like fucking angry AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

It really DOES make me wonder - if I had been here during the Troubles maybe I would have been in the IRA - I mean, if they can get away with such BIGOTED SHITE in a "so-called" peaceful society they I dread to think what the average non-Protestant-Unionist thought about how the government, the councils, the police and the army thought about them when the violence was going on. I am angry enough now - during "peace"!!!

Fucking Fuck Fuck!!!!

Some people deserve to be FLAYED ALIVE and fed to insect swarms.

apathy

2007-11-23T13:46:20Z

going to England is boring, anger is an energy

2007-11-16T16:22:49Z

... no offence meant to England, but it is always work-related and it is always boring.
Anyway - hae a guid yin this wickend!

Don't know why I bother though...

Birthday

2007-11-15T20:18:18Z

Happy Birthday
the_demon_lover
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Control

2007-11-02T11:18:14Z

While reading davethebrave's journal yesterday it became apparent that there was a little movie out called "Control" which I just HAD to see.

Unfortunately yesterday was also that last day that I could find anywhere showing it in Northern Ireland, so I quickly put a plan into action for me and the_demon_lover to go and see it at the Odyssey in Belfast, at the silly time of 18:35 (who goes to see a movie at tea time?). Though she is not even a Joy Division fan (the film is about Ian Curtis, lead singer of the band), I wanted her to come with me and see the film, so she did (thank you!x).

http://momentum.control.substance001.com/

The film is shot entirely in black and white, in keeping with the whole Joy Division mythos, and showed Ian Curtis as he struggled to come to terms with his life, his marriage, his lover, his epilepsy, his ultimate depression, and of course, the rise of Joy Division and the demands that were made of him due to their success.

The cast actually play all the musical performances themselves, and they are brilliant – particularly Sam Riley as Curtis. He is scary the way he manages to pull of Curtis' epileptic, trance-like dances and fucking awesome in the way he pours his soul into the songs.

But the movie is way more than a music bio-pic. It is a dark and gritty, emotional and hard, brutal and beautiful. It's a movie for more than Joy Division fans and I would heartily recommend going to see it if you can. Anyone who has ever felt the grip of true depression will be unable to stop shedding a tear, I guarantee it.

Perhaps the most telling thing about the film is that as the music played as the credits rolled, no one got up and left. No one. Admittedly there were not that many people there (!) but you get the point. A mark of respect perhaps, for the man, the band, and the music.

I will leave you with the lyrics of my favourite Joy Division song. It wasn't featured in the film but to me, sums it up nicely none the less.

A change of speed, a change of style.
A change of scene, with no regrets,
A chance to watch, admire the distance,
Still occupied, though you forget.
Different colours, different shades,
Over each, mistakes were made.
I took the blame.
Directionless so plain to see,
A loaded gun won't set you free.
- So you say.

We'll share a drink and step outside,
An angry voice and one who cried,
We'll give you everything and more,
The strains too much, can't take much more.
Oh, I've walked on water, run through fire,
Can't seem to feel it anymore.
It was me, waiting for me,
Hoping for something more.
Me, seeing me this time,
Hoping for something else.

New Dawn Fades – Joy Division.

cailleacbhuer @ 2007-10-22T12:15:00

2007-10-22T11:22:33Z

Dear rest-of-the-world. I am going away to Swindon in England for three days training of pointless shiteness. So have a good week, and all that.

D&D worldbuilding and things like that

2007-10-10T08:57:49Z

This was going to be a reply to davethebrave but it was so long I thought I would bore everyone else with it too! I am good like that :)

RE Worldbuilding:

Currently I have been revisiting a spreadsheet I developed for all the countries in one of the continents, giving figures for things such as urban and rural population, banditry, resources, how big the army is, how good or otherwise their relations are with their neighbours, etc. The idea is to have a fairly comprehensive list so that, as the DM, I have resources at hand to help me give ideas as to what is happening in the world around the characters. It’s all to help me with the fact I don’t like the idea that nothing ever changes in the world except for the scenarios that the characters complete. So I like to give rumours of the area, whether spurious, scandalous or just something people would be concerned about, and most importantly, that have nothing whatsoever to do with the characters.

It used to go something like this: The characters are 2nd level, they hear rumours of a small band of orcs in the hills. The characters go to the hills and kill the orcs, steal their treasure, and look out for the next scenario. For a very long time (years) I have tried my damndest to get away from such linear stories.

So, the same 2nd level characters hear various rumours, such as the one above, plus the fact that there are gnolls raiding caravans in the grasslands to the north; the town guard is recruiting more people supposedly because it is worried about resent sightings of goblin patrols to the south, but the real reason is because of the resent disappearances of two minor councillors within the town; some farmers in the west have been attacked, some reports claiming that they were attacked by strange elves with dark skin; the head priest of the local temple has gone off in a peace-keeping delegation to the neighbour in the east to try to ensure trade continues despite resent attacks on border villages by bandits claiming to be working on the king’s orders to clear out thieves and vagabonds; a minor lord is seeking workers and guards to rebuild an old ruin a few miles into the nearby forest, currently thought to be the home of a strange witch and her sorcerer consort who do not like visitors; there have been some whispers of an underground cult who raise dead to do their bidding, and what with the high priest gone, people are worried… Much more rounded, much more open for the characters. "So, what are you going to do?"

The problem is, I have a job and no time to do any of the thousands of things I would like to be doing or to have done already. I aim too high, I get nothing done. :( And I am not getting any younger, either :(

Sigh.

cailleacbhuer @ 2007-10-09T15:32:00

2007-10-09T14:54:15Z

Haven't posted for ages, but I have nothing of any interest to say (when do I ever, right?).

I could resort to sport. Both Celtic and Rangers did well in Europe, with Scotland still basking in the glow of the national side’s victory over France, in Paris. However, Scotland’s rugby team proved once again that being Scottish and getting your hopes up leads to disaster, so brought us back down to normal. But I am not really a sporty person, so I don’t know what I am talking about. Yawn.

Work still sucks.

TV still sucks as always – I don’t know why but sometimes I like stating the obvious.

We still have loads of tropical fish, which is good. :)

My motorbike is still fabulous… Stating the obvious again!

I got heartily drunk on Saturday night, which was great. I have had loads of headaches over the past wee while so I figured – fuck it, if I am going to have a headache anyway I might as well get pissed – so I did. It’s Tuesday so it’s old news, I know.

In weird Other News – it is sunny here at the moment. It seems like I might be able to have a pleasant ride home for a change, instead of being rained on. Weird. Or is that a big rain cloud I see coming over the water?

I have being doing some D&D "world-building" stuff. I have so much information, ideas and just "stuff" to do that I never do any of it. And I hate the fact that I am a technical analyst in my work life – it makes me do things that I know I don’t want to do but I just can’t help it, dammit! I am just too damn picky, too damn exacting for my own good. Anyway, I think my next plan of attack might be to write out my methods to put out as a sort of tutorial for others less analytical (or should that be anal?) than myself. The only thing is that a lot of the stuff I have done is derived from copyrighted work, so I don’t know if I can do that or not, but I might do it anyway. Or I might not.

Ach well, that killed some time before I go home. Purr, purr.

what all cars should be like...

2007-09-30T17:14:56Z

Couldn't get the damn thing to embed, so here is the URL. Good for a laugh, I thought.

http://bebo.com/watch/3526990988

bubble, bubble

2007-09-26T11:08:48Z

I thought I would post a Good Thing in mirror to my Bad Thing ("I am so bored").

the_demon_lover and I recently got a new big fuck-off fish tank for our new army of tropical fish. Some of you may mock, see if I care, but we both have fun with it and it is cool. Even though we have no money we (perhaps stupidly) bought a new 300 litre fish tank and stuck it on the old trusty credit card. We now officially have absolutely no money at LEAST until the new year, while we pay off the rest of our debt that we keep adding to in an alarming fashion, but hey, once again I digress, as I am want to do. Like Billy Connolly, only not funny.

Our older, smaller (60 ltr) tank is our gothic tank, with a castle and two gargoyles, with black and white stones at the bottom. So, this new fish tank – we made it up in a Celtic/Pictish kind of way, and used only natural slate and stone. We have a dolmen (very hard to build, even in relatively small scale!), two standing stones (one of which I carved Pictish symbols on to) and the_demon_lover had a great idea so we made a wee stone round-house out of slate chippings and silicon glue. It is currently fishless (you have to wait until the correct bacteria and all that jazz have built up in the tank), but it looks mightily cool, even if I do say so myself.

We now have 90 fish I believe, though the_demon_lover may correct me slightly, so it is needed as soon as possible! :)

I think our pets are taking over the zoo, sorry, house. *grin*

I am so bored

2007-09-26T10:41:55Z

Since the turn of the year (at least!), I have had less and less to do in my job. I tried to get voluntary redundancy but to no avail, and I am bored shitless of the shite I have to put up with – mainly the huge discrepancy between my pay and the pay of certain other people in the team, despite my own personal achievements and the additional responsibilities that I took on. Yawn. They are liars and cunts, the lot of them. But I digress. What I was going to say is that now I have loads of work to do and I seriously can’t be arsed doing it, to the point where I come in, open the relevant documents and FME files (a program that converts one form of geographic data into another, amongst other cool techy things like that) and promptly ignore them in the hope that they will go away.

Job-wise, my life is at an impasse. On the plus side I usually get to work from home and since I have been doing basically nothing for nine months it is good to know that I have still been paid for it. On the downside I don’t want to do this shit any more, the people I have to work with are control-freak, know-it-all wankers, we are pursuing a GIS policy that is simply fucking wrong and spending millions while we are at it, and the company as a whole is going down the tubes in so many different ways that I really don’t give a flying fuck about it.

I have said the very same things to my manager, so it is not like they don’t know how I feel. It is just that they don’t give a shit, so why should I in return, give a shit back?

The only good thing about coming in to the office is that I get to ride my bike to work. Feeling the power thrum between my legs is well... no, I’ll leave it at that.

I wish I had done graphic design, or some other arty thing like that. The problem is that I have many talents, they are all just mediocre. I am a creative person. I dream in fantasy. I can draw if I can copy something. I can paint with my art tablet - even if it does take me hours - as long as I have a reference of some sort. PhotoShop is my friend. I can come up with logos. I can do calligraphy and have studied topography and colour theory in passing. I can do web design, CSS, javascript, flash animation and programming. All these ingredients would seem to me to be ideal for a graphic designer. However, I can do all of these things, but I am not great at all of these things. And to top it all off it would seem that I am a lazy bitch. And I would receive no funding to do anything new as I already have a Degree of Irrelevance and a Post Graduate Diploma of No Consequence. Maybe I am too old to study any more anyway.

Work sucks and then you die.

vive la revolution!

2007-09-24T08:35:07Z

Seen this on a video that fatelvis138 posted. Thought the quote was so good I just had to share it with everyone.

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"
Denis Diderot, French philosopher and writer(1713-1784)