An interesting story on NPR (one of the most emailed stories for February), about how play has changed in recent history, and the affect that those changes have had.
Beloved wife and I have been discussing the quality of play and the impact of “glowing screens”, (e.g., DS Lite, GameCube, Computer, DVDs).
I just watched this video, which I found on WIRED’s GeekDad Blog.
This reminds me a lot of game that was like The Purple Crayon, but I can’t recall the name. NatureBoy was playing it just the other, though; I’ll ask him after his sleep-over is, well, over. [edit: the game is “Crayon Physics“; NB remembered instantly]
I mentioned to NB earlier this week that it might be fun to have a sleep-over some time during February vacation. He took that to mean last night, and invited three friends over. They have had a good time, and I think they’re awake now. They were chatting, giggling and game-boying until pretty late. We’ll see how the rest of the day goes.
CraftyMomma headed down to school early. I’m hoping the roads aren’t too bad.
It’s been a busy week, and now that we’re having an ice storm, I’m holed-up at home and have a chance to write a couple of posts. Last weekend, Beloved Wife was a whirlwind of productivity as she prepared for her week of academics.
NatureBoy and I stayed out of her way by playing two games of BattleLore, by Days of Wonder.
Beloved Wife got this game for me last Solstice (2006), but I haven’t played it very often because it takes a long time to set up, and then quite a while to play. We had plenty of time, though, and we played through the third and fourth scenarios from the adventure book.
NatureBoy’s record of victory is still unbroken [sigh]. We decided that it’s a fun game and we should play it more often. Maybe with a little practice, I’ll be able to win one every now and then. Also, we haven’t had a chance to play with the Lore component, yet. So there’s more to explore in this cool game.
A good time was had by all. In fact, Beloved Wife decided that we should make our reservations for Carnage 2008 before we left on Sunday.
NatureBoy and I got into all the games we pre-registered for (pre-reg early!), so we were very happy. I tried to follow the advice to try things you don’t normally play. Mixing that with NatureBoy’s interests, here’s what our schedule was like:
| Friday, 1-5 pm | Into the mouth of Milu; a d20 modern game about ancient powers on an erupting Hawaiian island. |
| Saturday, 8 am-12 pm | Avatar: the Last Airbender; a fudge-based game set in the world of Avatar. |
| Saturday, 1-5 pm | Giant Monster Smash; miniatures combat where Godzilla and his gang fight to save/smash a city |
| Sunday, 1-3 pm | P.R.A.W.N.; a LARP in a pool. |
So we arrived and found the Lake Morey Resort with no trouble.
We registered, got our schedules, t-shirts and Leis, and then checked into our hotel room. We left Beloved Wife to settle in and get some studying done while NatureBoy and I played our first game.
Mouth of Milu was held in a dark room with some sheet-good panels over a billiard table. In the center of the table was a large color map of Hawai’i. NB and I had never played a d20 modern game before, but most of it was familiar. The story involved some business people, some scientists, and a couple local helicopter pilots. I played the young female administrative assistant to a rich business tycoon. NatureBoy’s character was a physicist and astronomer, and a bit of an eccentric.
The story was pretty interesting and well-paced. It really focused on one character, which was a little disappointing. NB felt kind of frustrated at not having a significant role, but he played it well. Days later, one of the other players mentioned to me that they had been impressed by NB’s maturity and his good role playing and understanding of the rules. Well done, NatureBoy! Also, I was glad to have played in one of the theme games, this convention’s theme being "Hang 10." And Dr. Nik was a great GM.
We went out for Chinese food after the game. With directions from the front desk, we found a place north on route 5, in downtown Bradford [edit – House of Chan’s, 184 Main St.]. The was hot, flavorful food, generous servings, and lots of local color. We had enough leftovers to reheat for dinner on Saturday. We went back to the hotel and watched a few episodes from the first disk of Avatar: the Last Airbender – Book 3. It was good to get into the mood for the first game on Saturday.
BW had class, and was glad to have a shorter commute from Fairlee to Claremont, N.H., while NB and I headed off to our morning game.
The Avatar game was run by Bradford Younie, using his Fudge variant system Now Playing. NatureBoy played Toph, I played Aang, and the other player took Katara. The story was ok, with the crew seeking out a rumored surviving airbender and then escaping from Azula, Mei, and Ty Lee. NB enjoyed describing Toph’s earth-bending. I didn’t find the story engaging though. But it was our first Fudge game, and Brad let us all keep the fudge dice we used.
We went back to our room and grabbed a quick cold lunch, watched a couple more episodes of Avatar, and then set off to Giant Monster Smash.
This was the game the NB seemed to be most excited about. And what’s not to like! Giant Monster Smash uses Godzilla and other monster and robot dolls as miniatures in trying to control a city and destroy enemy monsters. The rules are based on WarMachine rules.
The GMs were super-prepared, with character sheets and rules/scoring sheets, color-coded dice in plastic dice cups, dry-erase markers, everything ran very smoothly and was lots of fun.
For dinner, we ate our left-over Chinese food, which had been reheated by Beloved Wife using a hot pot and clever application of hot water, foil and zipper-close bags. We took a trip to the dealer room to browse, where BW found a t-shirt she liked that said "you’re not the DM of me!" and NB found a set of dice for his collection. We also took NB to the rather small pool for an evening swim.
We didn’t have a game scheduled for Sunday morning, so we took a trip to the Borders in West Lebanon, because NB was interested in a book on drawing anime (in the style of Avatar). We surveyed the available books, and one about drawing robots caught his fancy instead.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by the King Arthur Flour store in Norwich. I then suggested we take the ‘scenic route’ back by following route 5 instead of taking I-91. However, I (we) missed the turn Route 5 takes out of Norwich village, and we went straight. This took us to South Strafford, and signs pointing to Sharon. Luckily, we had enough time to get back to Norwich, where we promptly got on the interstate.
After a quick lunch, NatureBoy and I got our stuff and headed to the swimming pool for our first official LARP, P.R.A.W.N. In this game, the players all are fish in a tank. There are two rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, hands that come from the outside sometimes feed us and sometimes take a fish away.
There weren’t many players, so the storylines were somewhat limited. But we had fun swimming after food (plastic hearts safety-pinned to styrofoam balls) and attacking other fish. Hey, it’s a fish-eat-fish world. Even BW got recruited to play the role of a cat, going around the edge of the pool, trying to catch a curious tank resident.
NB was a little disappointed when the game ended early, but they had run through the plot elements that were viable with the players we had.
One of the things that made this game convention so nice was that Beloved Wife came with us. Having meals together and having family time was a great balance to the intensity of the gaming sessions. Thanks for coming, CraftyMomma!
So, before Carnage, NatureBoy came down with a pretty bad congested cold. He coughed lots, and felt lousy. So we kept him home from school for several days. On the second day, I decided to take him to the pediatrician, just to rule out anything serious. It turned out that he tested positive for strep. So he was home from school for yet another day while the antibiotic kicked in, and then the following day was Carnage. Well, his cough continued, though it got gradually better over the weekend of the convention.
We got home from Carnage quite tired, and then our washing machine died. Beloved Wife, having inherited the fix-it gene from her shop-teacher father, had the washer on its side the following morning and had identified the problem.
It didn’t look like something we could fix easily or cheaply. So we needed to get a new washer.
I started to get sick in the middle of the week, and NB sprouted a spotty rash.
BW took him back to the pediatrician, who said it was a systemic reaction to the amoxicillin (i.e., not an allergic reaction), but we needed to stop giving him the med. And I came home from work early, because I felt horrible.
Over the weekend, NatureBoy’s rash continued to spread and get more uncomfortable.
I have gotten more tired and congested. Thankfully, BW has stayed healthy. Earlier this week, she was able to identify a Whirlpool washer at Costco that looked like a good bet. Yesterday, I juiced myself up with some cold meds, and with the help of BW’s parents, we got the washer home.
BW managed most of the install herself, and we spent the evening catching up on laundry, and watching DVDs.
Today, NB has gone off to school. BW went with him to give some benadryl meds to the school nurse, and touch base with his teachers so they don’t flip when they see the rash. She also contacted the pediatrician, who said that this is definitely allergic, increased the benadryl dosage.
I’m still feeling crappy, so I’m home, too. I got to sleep until 7:30 this morning. I wish I felt better and could have enjoyed it. Mostly I’ve been couch surfing, drinking lots of tea, blowing my nose… I hate being sick.
As part of our back-to-school changes, we developed a chore chart, with NB rotating through several new responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is cooking dinner. For his first meal, he made mac & cheese from a recipe. He did great, had a good time, and invited Grandma and Grandpa over to share.
I was working on another chore at the time, and when he had put the dishes in the oven to bake, he called me into the kitchen. “Poppa, aren’t you proud of me? Go wahs your hands and give me a hug!”
In response to a post on GeekDad, I posted the following reflection:
D&D changed my life, too, though it has had a more profound effect on me as an adult and father.
When I was a kid, I had the basic set, then the expert set, then the AD&D books. The fact that I had no one to play with didn’t keep me from spending lots of time making dungeons and characters.
I finally got to play D&D with some friends in college. We had great fun for a few weeks, and then we stopped.
Life happened; jobs, marriage, a child. Every couple of years — during a cleaning spree, usually — I would find some of my old books and leaf through them. Then back into the box of other child treasures they would go.
About three years ago, I saw the 3.5 basic set in Barnes & Noble and brought it home to my then eight-year-old. I ran a session for him and my good-sport wife, and he was hooked. That same evening, he decided to run a session for us, which he managed pretty well.
Since then, he’s committed most of the Players Handbook and DM’s Guide to memory, and we’ve played together in several different groups and in one-on-one games. I even ran a campaign for kids at the local library.
Now my son is eleven, and when he first read the 4th Edition announcement, he was upset. “Oh no! I bet they’ll get rid of the grapple rules. I love the grapple rules!”
I have also joined several adult gaming groups over the past couple years, and made a bunch of new friends. My wife is still a great sport, since discussion of D&D topics happens daily. And though she’s not a RPG fan, she loves card and board games.
Here’s to Dungeons & Dragons!
I’m still kind of in awe of how much D&D has meant to me and to us. I should also thank my parents, who got me that purple box set way back when.
I may have gone off the deep end, but
When I first headed off to college, I took with me a Remmington electric shaver. It had a screen that covered an array of blades — arranged like fins on a radiator — the vibrated back and forth. I gave me a quick shave but did a heck of a number to my face.
Toward the end of my overly-long college career, I went back to shaving with foam and disposables. I also read somewhere about shaving with the grain and finishing with a rinse of cold water to close of my pores. This advice and the various Gillette Sensor models have been the mainstay of my shaving kit for fifteen years or more.
I’ve been plagued, however, with in-grown whiskers, and I have been looking for possible problems with my technique. I while back, I caught the Queer Eye suggestion about “double-stroking.” But making a single pass hasn’t made the problem go away.
Then I found Corey Greenberg’s Shaveblog; funny, sometimes bawdy, and very helpful. [note: I’d rate it PG-13]. So I took a leap and got Corey’s recommended shave kit (mostly).
I got a Merkur double-edged razor, proraso cream, Wee Scott brush, and some blades that were available at Lee’s Safety Razors. I’ve been using the rig for a little over a week, and I really like it. I’ve found that I’m looking forward to shaving, ’cause I get to use all my toys. I’m a little unsure about the blades. I thought they were supposed to last for a week’s worth of shaving. But I’ve been getting maybe four days before they start to feel harsh. They have numbers on both surfaces, so I tried flipping the blade and giving it another go, but it didn’t help.
As an after shave moisturizer, I’ve been using a combination of Rosehip and Almond oil, with a few drops of tee tree and lavender essential oils. Beloved Wife loves it for her legs, too. I think I’ll put some of the other products that Corey recommends on my Solstice wish-list. It’s always nice to have options.
NatureBoy lavishing attention on a pampered guinea pig.
Coconut settled right down on the stool and basked in the loving attention.
Lifehacker linked to a simple Excel Gantt Chart template. It’s a clean, simple design that doesn’t do any calculations or magic.
The designer, David Seah, has a lot of interesting tools that he’s put together, as well as thoughtful posts on his site. I find the Emergent Task Planner a very cool thing. I’ll have to give it a try. I hope he makes the current version available as a PDF. Here, David discusses of an earlier version, with usage suggestions.
Poppa VT 