Anne

I've been reading Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass". Not just "Song of Myself", but the whole book. Let me tell you, there's some pretty racy stuff in there. It's good though. It's a cross between poetry and prose that I really like.

Here's one bit that I'm posting for all my bando buddies:
"With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums,
I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for conquer'd and slain persons."

Not much else is happening. I'm slowly developing a D&D campaign- a homebrew thing, as I'm too lazy to read up on Faerun and the other pre-made worlds. I think it's easier, and more convenient, to make it up as necessary.

I am kicking butt and taking names in Mafia Wars. Liz, Greg- join my mob! Please?
Anyways, I'll catch you all later!
~Anne

Frank: Kick'em while they're down

Apparently insulting and berating is the language of the blog. I miss one post, after seven months of problem-free posting, and I'm berated in two separate posts and several comments.
If you want any hope of this blog continuing, change your tune. I'm ready to stop posting, and I'm not the only one. This was an experiment, a challenge, to see if we could make it one year, posting once a week as brothers and sisters. And it's getting close to the point where we can safely say, we can't.
I'm sick of being insulted because of my political and religious beliefs. I thought it would end once the election was over, but it keeps coming up. I could bring up a certain sunburn post every week, but I don't. So thanks again, Greg, for insulting my decision to exercise my right as an American citizen.
I'm proud of being Catholic. I acknowledge the Crusades seem barbaric and horrific to our modern sensibilities, but I do not mock the belief and sincerity of the Catholics who gave their lives for their faith. At least they weren't afraid to stand with the Church.

I want to see the rules for the blog revised. This current system sucks. The day posting is not flexible enough for people with changing schedules. My work schedule changes from week to week, as does my social commitments. Last Thursday, I spent the day playing D&D at Mark's and then playing video games till 2 in the morning. I would have gladly shared that with everyone on the blog, but it was now Friday, and I was forbidden to post. I can't condense my week into one entry, I don't remember all the cool and exciting stuff I did last Friday, or Sunday. I'd rather post as cool and exciting things happen. Or we need a solid deadline for each day, the post has to be up by 1 PM, or something. Since we can write ahead of time, and set it up to post later, there's no reason we can't make it so every post comes at 1 PM every day. Then it would make checking the blog much easier on the non-posters, since you would know exactly when the new post would be up by. The blog must adapt to the needs of the people running it, not the other way around.
That's it for me for this week. I'll probably post next week. Depends on a lot of variables.

The Warlord goes Woot Woot

Well, I'm starting to get a feel for DnD 4th ed. I'm playing Bonn, the inspiring Warlord... I've given all of my powers snappy catch phases. My favorite is still "Suck it up buttercup" for my healing "Inspiring Word" class power.

I picked up In a Wicked Age. It's and indie game. A sword and sorcery themed game featuring the oracle as a main source of plot generation. It also has a system of negotiation which I'm curious about. I'm just starting to read it. I'll tell you all more later.


My musical selection this week is a reflection on the end of the year and a look forward. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin

Phrank: Starship Troopers and Katamari Damacy

Well, it's been a relatively uneventful week. Minus the severe thunderstorm warning and tornado warning yesterday. I played through Katamari Damacy again, it's still a lot of fun, and I opened up two of the eternal maps, it's always nice to roll around without a time limit.

I watched the entirety of Starship Troopers today, better movie than I remembered it being. Not quite as good as the Roughnecks tv show, but still pretty good. I always liked the premise, humanity fighting for survival against the bugs from outer space.

In other news, my D&D books shipped today, they should arrive on the 29th, which is pretty cool. Work is going well, still in training and all that.

I'm going back to school on August 24th, which is pretty exciting. Unfortunately the captain's retreat to start training is to go paintballing, and not going back to Six Flags. So I'll probably just skip it and figure out something better to do. Anne's birthday is this Saturday, congrats. Lisa's engagement tea party is this Sunday. I'm pretty tired, so I'm gonna wrap this up.
1. Anne's punishment should be to post with a hyperlink in each sentence, so a minimum of 5 links OR she can't veto the next challenge issued by someone other than Anne.
2. Greg, how am I supposed to play Phoenix Wright when you take the DS away? If you really want me to play it, then tell you it sucks, I need to at least borrow the game, if not the DS as well.

Phrank: A busy week!

A ton of commenting this week, that's always good. We're up to 13 on the week, which is pretty good. Bill, based on the comments on your late post, the majority of siblings (Elizabeth, myself and Greg all approved the punishment) so you have to pony up for Dell's. Nobody failed Anne's challenge, so let's just drop it. I do like Bill's idea that when we mess up, we submit ideas for a punishment, since it's practically a punishment to have to think one up.

After reading the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide, I have decided that I really like 4th edition D&D. The wizard class has finally been properly balanced to other classes. Also, it looks like a much more intuitive system than 3.5. I think I'll enjoy 4th edition as much as I did 2nd, 3.5 has been interesting, but I don't care for it overall. Also, the DMG makes being a Dungeon master a lot easier than previous editions. I managed to convince Lisa to give D&D a try, so maybe if she likes it, she'll decide to come join the group based out of Mark's house.

Here's the newest Zero Punctuation, on Lego Indy Jones.

What is your THAC0?

I was considering to write about The Quark and the Jaguar or Godel-Escher-Bach. If I had, this would have been a heady discourse which splits hairs to make a point. I changed last night after I got a chance to play Dungeon and Dragons... The new 4th edition (4e) ! So... the book I'm writing about is:

The Official Advanced Dungeon and Dragon Dungeon Master's Guide
(Also known as the DMG) Written by Gary Gygax... For those too lazy to read his wiki article, Gygax was the godfather of the modern Role Playing Game (RPG). While my personal copy is from the 11th printing from 1988, the original copywrite is 1979. For those keeping score, I'm talking about a book that is as old as I am.

I grew up playing DND... I've seen several editions of the game and printings. In terms of the DMG, this version is still my favorite. Its still the best edition based on the content that in the book. The specific rules may have changed, but the content that is in this book is still incredible. Other editions just feel incomplete... Parts are missing and they've started to show up in other products...

And there's parts of the book which haven't been reprinted. The Ancient Artifact rules? Only here. For the Diablo Fans out there, if you follow the trail of influence back to the source, you'll find this book and the information in here.

Look, I'm a professional Game Developer. DND is critical foundation to what we do. We have whole industries of companies that have developed because of this one game. I'm better at my job because of what I've learned form this book and how I've used it.

So, now 30 years of DND, we've got the 4th Edition (4e) of the game now. Last night I got a chance to build a character and through combat... I've got some mixed feelings about the game. It plays well and it's fun... but I'm walking away from game asking is this really DND? I'm not sure. It feels more table top version of a computer game than it feels like DND.

Here's what's up in detail:
The basic attack was the meat and potatoes of the older editions. In 4e, you get at-will-powers, encounter-powers, and daily-powers... These are written specificly for combat... in fact all of these powers are combat skills. What's happened to social interaction, using your skills and powers to affect an NPC? All of the classes have these powers. These powers bogged down play cause everyone was trying to figure out what they have an how to use them. This was a common sight in 2e or 3e for spell casters. But for fighters? What is worse is that some these low level (read: you can have them on starting characters) at-will-powers are basic attacks with some extra effects. It makes using a basic attack pointless when you have a souped up special attach you can use over and over. That's what bothers me... It's a core change to the game, and I'm still not sure about it. Are we seeing the old classic evolving in response to computer games? Perhaps... but I want to play some more 4e before I'll say what's going on.

In other news, Jess and I have been playing punch buggy. The score is
Greg : one --- Jess : much more