The key to what I'm doing is looking backward
Getting back to something approximating my fighting weight
Getting the band back together in that I'm now hanging out and gaming with people I used to well... game with and hang out with back in the day
From here out the plan was to simply continue until I acheive what I wanted to but a couple of things have happend over the last few days
Wizards are reprinting Scourge of the Slavers (1st ed A1-4 plus a bonus adventure and hopefully some stuff that Steve says linked the collected adventures together in the earlier compilation)
They are also reprinting the Realm of Horrors adventures (Tomb of Horrors, Barrier peaks etc) this had me smiling over the weekend (also the celebrity DND game from PAX on Youtube, check em out they're 2hrs plus but they are hilarious but there is some foul language you have been warned - start with 2009)
but last night I found out that some of Gary Gygax's family (plus some others) have bought the TSR name (apparently WOTC abandoned it some time ago) and they are starting up a company that cover sold RPG stuff as well as new games
They're putting out a magazine called Gygax magazine (next month I think) quarterley and the first of their products
I have an idea forming
Until I find out more I don't know where this is going but this is going to be fun
Right gotta go to work now
J
Tuesday 20 November 2012
Sunday 11 November 2012
And again...
Weight still coming off
Job still rubbish but doscovered possible promotion oportunity
Christmas shopping nearly all done
Since I started in May to lose the weight and stuff I've been going through other changes as well all good
It's like waking up
I'm realising that a lot has been going on over the years that I've ignored or let happen and some recent changes and comments I have made have reflected that
I'm pushing for promotion at work
I'm going to several things next year including a weekend away with Rob at a music festival in Cambridge
Got rid of a chunk of the games collection to clear dead wood and to generate Amazon credit for xmas shopping
And aknowledging that I had an issue with the Thursday game that has been spoiling it for me, now after some discussions with the guys on Facebook I am on a break until the new year (my idea) and by then I'll have the changes I think will make reffing easier for me and to make it easier for the players as well - so as far as I am concerned that is that, we'll see how things run in 2013
Now for the rest
Still not drinking - will be back with beer in hand 21.12.12 (the day I break up for 2 weeks and the traditional 'mob get together before xmas')
I am jumping on the Mantic wagon (Local Wargames and boardgame firm in Bulwell) they make good stuff that isn't GW (I have to sell my kidney to get the latest figs) prices and have fantasy, Sci fi (a little 40k) wargames with really good figs and also a 'Blood Bowl' game as well as a board game series
Going to get some of their stuff so I can kick things off in 2013 (still be getting the occasional bit of GW scenery as they're fantastic and mostly not that expensive)
Some other things going on in my new head but some of that I'm keeping to myself and some things aren't fully fleshed out yet
Feeling better and better every day
J
Weight still coming off
Job still rubbish but doscovered possible promotion oportunity
Christmas shopping nearly all done
Since I started in May to lose the weight and stuff I've been going through other changes as well all good
It's like waking up
I'm realising that a lot has been going on over the years that I've ignored or let happen and some recent changes and comments I have made have reflected that
I'm pushing for promotion at work
I'm going to several things next year including a weekend away with Rob at a music festival in Cambridge
Got rid of a chunk of the games collection to clear dead wood and to generate Amazon credit for xmas shopping
And aknowledging that I had an issue with the Thursday game that has been spoiling it for me, now after some discussions with the guys on Facebook I am on a break until the new year (my idea) and by then I'll have the changes I think will make reffing easier for me and to make it easier for the players as well - so as far as I am concerned that is that, we'll see how things run in 2013
Now for the rest
Still not drinking - will be back with beer in hand 21.12.12 (the day I break up for 2 weeks and the traditional 'mob get together before xmas')
I am jumping on the Mantic wagon (Local Wargames and boardgame firm in Bulwell) they make good stuff that isn't GW (I have to sell my kidney to get the latest figs) prices and have fantasy, Sci fi (a little 40k) wargames with really good figs and also a 'Blood Bowl' game as well as a board game series
Going to get some of their stuff so I can kick things off in 2013 (still be getting the occasional bit of GW scenery as they're fantastic and mostly not that expensive)
Some other things going on in my new head but some of that I'm keeping to myself and some things aren't fully fleshed out yet
Feeling better and better every day
J
Saturday 3 November 2012
And here we are again
So thngs that have happened
weight is still coming off - almost certainly going to hit target ( and then some)
Going to put my plans for hitting the gym on hold for a while for a couple of reasons
Firstly I can't really justify it at the moment, I mean I'm still losing weight and I haven't even started on home calesthenics or even walked as far as I can prctically do before or after work - so where is the sens in paying a monthly fee to go to another building across the street to do a load of stuff I can do at home. So got some handles for push ups off Amazon (£6) got that piece of inspiration from Dels Amazon wishlist of all things and Rob is giving me some free weights - Little Room a gym? - and the program goes on
Secondly I'm concerned abouit my knee (the bad one) sometimes it locks or seems to catch and then release which is a little unbalancing also the hernia (both to be checked in the new year regardless as they are in the way)
Work is crap!!!!!!!!
My job is undoable (in the larger sense) an impossible to do I think normally and we don't have apprpriate resources for it anyway - so I plod along every day going through the motions achieving little and trying to ignore the futility of it all
When I started this plan of mine it wa incredible the buzz you get off changing things for the better and seeing people looking at you differently and feeling better more confident
Now it's calmer and I still have the confidence but I'm more measured and every day become more certain that the path I'm on is right
Gaming
I have some issues (insert obvious joke here)
Not with Sundays thats great
It's Thursdays - I sometimes dread the idea of reffing it and sometimes just spend Friday angry because of it
Last Thursday is a fantastic example - I have 5 players 3 of them I have been gaming with for than 20 years and the other 2 for about 10 maybe
3 of the players don't know all of their character abilities they make assumptions about what they can do and when thats shown to be wrong they take a poke at me for pointing it out
In my opinion the GM is supposed to ref the plot, the NPC's (including Monsters) and the fights and ride the rules (changing them when that has to be done
The players are responsible for creating, maintaining and playing the characters they bring to the table
some of these players don't and have on occasion said they expect me to monitor their charactesr for them (once they said they wanted me to take notes for them I said no (actually said more words than that and I think some of them were rude))
So anyway Friday was an angry day - and by lunchtime I'd come to the conclusion that I was going to try and compromise and make things better and if things weren't showing signs of improvement in the next 6 months that was it no more campaign and hanging up my reffing boots
On the way home I thought of something, well 2 things actually, I have been roleplaying for over 31 years now and reffing for most of them, now I may not be a brilliant ref (but I think that good refs should always be insecure about it and my players keep turning up so must be doing something right) but no body has the right to force me to give up something I love as much as this game - so they bloody well won't I won't let them
and secondly I used to write out a 'combat pack' a summary of rules stuff and campaign material that is used as a reference tool - the theory was that people learn by doing and by writing out (yes handwriting) the pack I got a better grasp of the rules and reffed better - now 1 of the thursday nighters doesn't own the rules and some of them just don't read the ones they should do so once more the pack is created (this time on the PC thank God) hopefully this will go some way to fixing the problem
Also if some of these slips of theirs happen and cost them I am not going to be cutting them any slack (we'll see if this kicks things back on track)
Christmas is coming and so is my 43rd year of dodging death on this planet
On the 27th December a sect group of people have been invited to the flat to play Talisman (it's my birthday and I'll play Talisman if I want to) after (about 6ish) I think we are going to the Tap and Tumbler - and I will be in my favorite pub for the evening take over the juke box and partyay and stuff - this will also be the start of me spending mre time at the Tap - I realise that it's not everybodys cup of tea but it is mine and some of the old Tap crowd have started drifting back so once a month I will be 'striking out on my own' to reestablish old ties anyone is more than welcome to join but it will be loud and dark and hopefully like the old days)
as for the flat some shelves are up, I'm going to look at carpet tiles early next year and maybe some redecorating (I am getting alittle sick of white walls everywhere)
oh and got a Kindle Fire HD this week it is by far the coolest thing I have ever owned
That is all
seeya next time
Jules
So thngs that have happened
weight is still coming off - almost certainly going to hit target ( and then some)
Going to put my plans for hitting the gym on hold for a while for a couple of reasons
Firstly I can't really justify it at the moment, I mean I'm still losing weight and I haven't even started on home calesthenics or even walked as far as I can prctically do before or after work - so where is the sens in paying a monthly fee to go to another building across the street to do a load of stuff I can do at home. So got some handles for push ups off Amazon (£6) got that piece of inspiration from Dels Amazon wishlist of all things and Rob is giving me some free weights - Little Room a gym? - and the program goes on
Secondly I'm concerned abouit my knee (the bad one) sometimes it locks or seems to catch and then release which is a little unbalancing also the hernia (both to be checked in the new year regardless as they are in the way)
Work is crap!!!!!!!!
My job is undoable (in the larger sense) an impossible to do I think normally and we don't have apprpriate resources for it anyway - so I plod along every day going through the motions achieving little and trying to ignore the futility of it all
When I started this plan of mine it wa incredible the buzz you get off changing things for the better and seeing people looking at you differently and feeling better more confident
Now it's calmer and I still have the confidence but I'm more measured and every day become more certain that the path I'm on is right
Gaming
I have some issues (insert obvious joke here)
Not with Sundays thats great
It's Thursdays - I sometimes dread the idea of reffing it and sometimes just spend Friday angry because of it
Last Thursday is a fantastic example - I have 5 players 3 of them I have been gaming with for than 20 years and the other 2 for about 10 maybe
3 of the players don't know all of their character abilities they make assumptions about what they can do and when thats shown to be wrong they take a poke at me for pointing it out
In my opinion the GM is supposed to ref the plot, the NPC's (including Monsters) and the fights and ride the rules (changing them when that has to be done
The players are responsible for creating, maintaining and playing the characters they bring to the table
some of these players don't and have on occasion said they expect me to monitor their charactesr for them (once they said they wanted me to take notes for them I said no (actually said more words than that and I think some of them were rude))
So anyway Friday was an angry day - and by lunchtime I'd come to the conclusion that I was going to try and compromise and make things better and if things weren't showing signs of improvement in the next 6 months that was it no more campaign and hanging up my reffing boots
On the way home I thought of something, well 2 things actually, I have been roleplaying for over 31 years now and reffing for most of them, now I may not be a brilliant ref (but I think that good refs should always be insecure about it and my players keep turning up so must be doing something right) but no body has the right to force me to give up something I love as much as this game - so they bloody well won't I won't let them
and secondly I used to write out a 'combat pack' a summary of rules stuff and campaign material that is used as a reference tool - the theory was that people learn by doing and by writing out (yes handwriting) the pack I got a better grasp of the rules and reffed better - now 1 of the thursday nighters doesn't own the rules and some of them just don't read the ones they should do so once more the pack is created (this time on the PC thank God) hopefully this will go some way to fixing the problem
Also if some of these slips of theirs happen and cost them I am not going to be cutting them any slack (we'll see if this kicks things back on track)
Christmas is coming and so is my 43rd year of dodging death on this planet
On the 27th December a sect group of people have been invited to the flat to play Talisman (it's my birthday and I'll play Talisman if I want to) after (about 6ish) I think we are going to the Tap and Tumbler - and I will be in my favorite pub for the evening take over the juke box and partyay and stuff - this will also be the start of me spending mre time at the Tap - I realise that it's not everybodys cup of tea but it is mine and some of the old Tap crowd have started drifting back so once a month I will be 'striking out on my own' to reestablish old ties anyone is more than welcome to join but it will be loud and dark and hopefully like the old days)
as for the flat some shelves are up, I'm going to look at carpet tiles early next year and maybe some redecorating (I am getting alittle sick of white walls everywhere)
oh and got a Kindle Fire HD this week it is by far the coolest thing I have ever owned
That is all
seeya next time
Jules
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