Moving…

Not the website, but rather my physical site.  I’m downsizing to a smaller place.  What’s that got to do with gaming?  Let me explain.

Moving to a smaller place means less space for games.  So for a man with 4 bookcases worth of games, what do you do?  Downsize.  I’m first selling off a bunch of my older games to some friends and then onto eBay.  After that some of the games will go into storage until I figure out what to display.  Right now, I’m giving my self one shelf to put games on.  That’s right, one shelf.

Consider this, right now the only game I’m playing is D&D Encounters on Wednesday nights.  No 4th Ed campaigns no nothing else.  So why do I have all these books out?  Who am I showing them too when no-one is coming over to play a game?  So here’s my thought; beyond my Miniatures for D&D I’m just putting out my Essentials stuff.  My core 4E books are staying in the box and going to be accessible if I need them but overall, they are going into storage.  Why should I put them out when they are not the books I’m using or that WOTC seem to be supporting?  The latest supplements refer me to the Essentials books as the “need to play” component.

Now, that said, there will be some shelf space for Settlers, Killer Bunnies, and Nuts too.  These are party games and when friends do come over type of things.  But on an RPG front, Essentials seems to be it until we sort out the space.

That said, keep an eye out on ebay in a few for game auctions from “justifiedorg” ..

Extreme Couponing – the D&D edition

First let me say this, I do shop at my FLGS.

But I do also shop at my local Border’s (even after 3 closing in the area I still have a couple to shop at in a short to decent drive range).  I am a member of Border’s Rewards Plus, and enjoy the fact I get a coupon for anywhere from 30-40% off one item almost every week.  This past weekend, they sent out a 40% off coupon, and also were kind enough to tell me I had built up $5.00 of Border’s bucks.

I signed up for and am now DMing a session of D&D Encounters at my FLGS, on Wednesdays, so I wanted to pick up the “Deluxe DM Screen”.  I did have the one out of the DM’s Kit, but wasn’t sure what the difference was, so I wanted to grab the “deluxe” one.  This retails for $9.95, so I used the coupon and Borders Bucks on it, mixed in with the extra 10% I get with the Rewards Plus (which came off after the Border’s Bucks and the original discount).

My end cost after tax?  94 cents.

And I’m glad I did.  After looking over the “deluxe” screen, I’m disappointed. Yes it is heavier stock, and has a neat picture on the back.  BUT NOTHING IS NEW.  It is the same table info as the one in the DM’s Kit.  And in that I got tokens at least.  Oh well, add it to my list of the “10″ items for Essentials that I have bought.

World of Darkness (retrospect)

Many moons ago, not supermoons (but there probably have been a few of those between then and now), one of our favorite games to play was Vampire the Masquerade.  We had Mage and Werewolf to add to our mix, and make our World of Darkness come alive.  There were other supplements at the time but we only used so much to keep our stories from wandering too far.  We moved from tabletop RPG to LARP, and my friend Ogg and I ran this along side of several other Storytellers for years (one of those Storytellers went on to great gaming duties, I won’t drop his name here though).

Our campaign was named after one of our favorite bands in a sense, it was “Justified”.  (I’ve used Justified in many forms of the years, from my website (http://www.justified.org) to my Twitter ID.)  That was probably 12 to 15 years ago now maybe even more.  We had our big story arc that ended and we turned over the reigns of the campaign to another couple Storytellers and went into the back ground.  The problem was we never returned from that background.

Until now.

I’ve started to make a new collection of the newer World of Darkness books, my brain has started to formulate stories, and characters.  Reading my way through these new rules will be the task next, fleshing out the outlines for the campaign, coming up with the lay of the land as it maybe.  Then to accumulate the players.  This looks like it will be a Skype game, some of my old players are in Ohio, some in Colorado.  Mix in a few new ones and we have a game.

I’ll start plotting and posting updates on the campaign as I have them.  Nothing that will give away the subtlety of the plot.

Welcome back WoD, I’ve missed you.

iPad2 vs iOS 4.3

I’ve been craving an iPad. I even have it allocated into my budget next month.

Something big enough for me to see, something to read my books on without the need to expand everything to two words on the iPhone4 screen. Something I can play games on, something to take to gaming and use, something ..

After yesterday’s display to introduce the iPad2, I don’t think I need one any more. I still WANT one, but I don’t NEED one.

The reason why? iOS 4.3 .. and hot spot access. For another $20 a month, I can now have a 3G data access for my laptop where ever I go. Sure it’s not the same. Sure it’s not an iPad, but it’s a full fledged screen with PDF, eBook and full application access. I can tether the iPhone4 or use the hot spot. This has changed my opinion on my purchasing of my next tech item. I have a small “iPad”, it’s my iPhone4.. I have my book reader, it’s my laptop. I have my access where ever and when ever.

As of today, I want an Macbook Pro or Air .. and my iPhone4 with iOS4.3

Death of D&D Mini’s

With the death of D&D Mini’s announced, I’ve started to add some links over on the side of the site to metal mini manufacturers.  I’ve started with 3, Reaper (the big kid on the block), Iron Wind Metals (I used to do some work for them) and a friends company, Center Stage Mini’s.

I’ll be out hunting for some more sites to add as we go.  Small or large, I’ll post them so we gamers can find our supply of miniatures for gaming.  I”m not going to post sites that sell singles for plastic D&D mini’s just metal figs for use with D&D is my goal.

Recent Purchases

I’ve been a bit quiet on the #DND scene lately, work and real life have a tendency to do that to you.  So wanted to get a note down on some of the stuff I’ve recently purchased for my gaming life.

WOTC:
Players Handbook Races: Tiefling
Players Handbook Races: Dragonborn
Vor Rukoth
Dark Sun Campaign Setting

Open Design:
Midgard Campaign Setting – Standard Patronage

Slowly I’ll make my way thru each of these and do some First Impressions.  Currently I’m reading MouseGuard RPG and Open Grave Sourcebook.  While not together, I am starting to process in my head an adventure to be written.  Which system?  I won’t say yet.  You’ll have to wait and see.

D&DVT seems to be moving along.  I am waiting for another round of #dndhomeenc on that system and then will put a few notes about both up.

DNDXP may not now happen for me.  Real world loss of a car (everyone is safe) will result in a few extra costs that may hinder my ability to go.  I’m still going to try for GenghisCon in February out in Denver.  Crossing my fingers for both.

Tron Legacy – First Impressions

(SPOILERS INCLUDED)

I’ve been waiting 25+ years for this movie. I could say I was let down, but at the same time I was not. What I CAN say, is “Tron 3.0, please?”. There is so much that could be done with this world “The Grid”, that it’s not even funny. The addition of the algorithms and their genocide, the perversion of the Utopia, a whole series can be done for the 20 years between movies. The hunt for Flynn, the rise of CLU, more on the breaking of TRON. And after, we have what happens to Flynn and TRON. Does CLU mutate the form that is Flynn? SO many questions.

I’ll start now with actually going over the movie. I was very pleased with the advancement of the 3D in this film, so much better than “Alice” by Tim Burton. The director and producers didn’t use 3D just to use 3D, they used it to emphasis what needed to be done, and left parts as 2D. My only complaint is the 3D glasses make things a little darker to see, now I can see that being used to the advantage of the film maker, but at the same time when something needs to be brighter, they have to crank it up a touch in the actual image. The digital effect for a younger Jeff Bridges as many have said, in need of some work still. There were several scenes that just looked rubbery (for digital effect that’s saying something). The sound track? BUY IT NOW! This Daft Punk driven electronica is great to listen to (I’m doing it now as I type this). If all of their stuff sounds like this, I’m buying some new albums for my CD collection.

Our story was a bit far ranging for today’s movie, but they did make a good pace of it. A little more could have been done on the interactions between the characters and how / who some of them were. I’m hoping that some of that will make the DVD. Castor is one of those characters, whats between him and CLU? How does a bar with strippers effectively work into CLU’s perfect world? This is why I’m curious, I can deal with some sleaze in Utopia .

LOVE THE RECOGNIZERS! Can I have one please? That new 3D model just rocks hard, the light cycles while an upgraded image, had nothing compared to the Recognizer’s. I’m going to go look at the toy store once Christmas and the blood spilling of returns is done with, to look at the new toy line. I’ve held off so far, just had seen it once while in Target. Now I have a better idea of what I want, just have to see if they made them.

Okay, overall opinion of the film:
Effects are for the most part spot on (see young Jeff Bridges for not being on)
Music, awesome
Story, a little quick for so much in it
Grade: B+ / A-