City of Doors

Worth Posting

2007-08-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

So I was running to the mall at 8:45, to buy the WoW board game on impulse. I got there, and the gaming store was shut down (like, to be remodeled or made into not a game store).

However, I did manage to overhear a conversation, as we walked by Victoria's Secret....

9yr old girl: "Mommy, what's Victoria's Secret?"
Mom: [In evil, angry voice] "A place your father likes to go"

It was worth going to the mall for just that. I almost fell over.

FYI: I Lived

2007-06-18T22:34:00.000-04:00

A little late, and I missed posting some of my later journals, but I'm home. No bullet wounds, stabing, ect. Missing journals may be released with the special edition DVD.

Very glad to be back.

Tuesday

2007-06-13T01:23:00.000-04:00

Today was exciting because Manuel was around to work with us, so I got a lot done. He hit the same problem I was having with the DNS errors, but he’s tapping into his network of people to find some solutions. I’m finding out from working with him that while he doesn’t have superior knowledge in all subjects, he knows who to get in touch with for answers, and that’s just as good (if not better).

It was raining on the way home, so I got pretty wet. Busses and Subways can get really stuffy when their packed full of wet people. Class was nice because it’s held in an air conditioned room. I should also mention that the movie we watched was really good, “Real Women have Curves”.

PS: Yes, the Weapons Museum took up most of my time, and Science Museums are defiantly about the touching.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

2007-06-11T21:56:00.000-04:00

Saturday

This morning was a lot of fun. We spend a few hours at Ayuda, a community organization, helping setup and run a family day. Beyond the mundane moving tables and picking up the streets (it was a block party), we got to help distribute food and run activities. I spent a lot of time running the big blowup jump cage thing. It was fun interacting with all the local kids, and then the rest of the day was readings and food.

Sunday

Today I got the chance to meet up with a friend of mine from Messiah, Michael Craig, and go visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I was proud of myself for being able to find the train station where he got off at, and then get us to the museum, but I suppose that’s another story. There was a bike race going on right at the museum, so there was extra activity going on outside.

Once inside, we spend a lot of time at the swords and armor in one exhibit. The rest of the time was split between European and Asian art (including the tea house exhibit). Highly enjoyable overall. On the return trip, I saw the same con artist running the same act on the subway as before. Needless to say, I didn’t fall for the same trick twice.

Monday

Going to Open Borders today, our group was able to navigate the subway with a new level of mastery. This mostly came out as being able to emerge from the subway on the right side of the street to get the connecting bus, but it made the difference between missing and getting our bus.

We’ve also been finding that our bus on the return trip doesn’t come often, and walking is quicker. It’s quite a few blocks, through a pretty poor neighborhood, so we see a lot of sad sights. For as much of the culture as we we’re exposed to on public transportation, there is still something to be said about walking places.

Tuesday

2007-06-06T12:56:00.000-04:00

The first part of today was pretty standard. Lunch was all right, and I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary on the way to my community service. The full time volunteers were in a meeting with some board members the whole time we were there, which limited what we could get done, since we had some questions. Regardless, I was still able to get some stuff done. (read as, we were dumped onto this organization who doesn't really have the time to train and manage us because they were contacted the day before we got there, and now we're more of a burden then anything else)

Today’s interesting event was on the subway ride home. Between two stops, someone got up and started rattling off a speech, asking for donations. They were (apparently) from some homeless aid foundation type thing, and asking for donations (15 cents) and signatures. The signatures were supposedly to help get funding from the city.

I thought that his pitch was pretty good, so I gave him the spare change in my pocket (16 cents) and signed his paper. Most people in the car gave something, many people dropping dollars into his manila envelope.

When we got off the subway, Adam told me that the guy was a con artist. I had suspicions, but didn’t think that the small amount I gave was a big loss. As we talked about it, I realized how that kind of an operation could be really successful. The people have a captive audience, first off. Second, as soon as one person gives, there is peer pressure for others to donate. And finally the whole thing took less then three minuets, in which I would guess he made ten dollars. He could easily keep working his way up and down the cars, and never have the same people in a train twice.

So I lost a little bit of money, its something that I won’t likely do again. I know that donating money is always best done to a reputable organization (Red Cross, for example), but this guy really had me going (he rolled a 20). In any case, 16 cents isn’t bad for a learning experience.

Monday

2007-06-05T11:45:00.000-04:00

This morning I got up and ready, preparing to go back into the city for another day of community service. Subways are now pretty comfortable for me, except for the smell. I still do take a while to figure out which way I need to go, and which direction is north and south.

At the place where we wait for the bus, there is a guy who sells pirated CDs and DVDs. He’s there every day working out of a CD case and a laptop. I’ve now got his pitch memorized, “CDs…DVDs…watch em’ before you buy em’, CD’s…listen before you buy em”. In other bus news, I’m finding that busses are largely unreliable in general, and many of the people who lived in Philly that we have gotten a chance to talk to don’t take them typically.

At work, I spend the majority of the time in the computer lab trying to unify their network. I don’t know if I have the technical ability at this point to do it. Usually with a day or two of brute force and applying the things I do know, I can figure out how something computer-related works, and fix it. Creating and administrating a network using DNS under Windows server 2003 and Windows 2000 might just be above me. Its not all that bad, since I’ve got a better handle on things in general for when I have to go start installing the software they needed on the computers, which I’ll probably ask to start on Tuesday.

--------------------Not included in journal-------------------

Monday’s class was a disaster. We had the Philly Messiah administrator come in, and we got into dialog with our teacher about problems that we were having. I know some girls specifically who feel very uncomfortable about going into Kensington and the badlands in small, all-girl groups (2-4 people). That being said, there are some bigger guys who don’t feel safe going into Kensington for their service. Others complained about the lack of orientation we got to the city, especially for people who have lived in rural areas their whole life.

What we got told, is that Messiah can’t be at every street corner and tell us about every danger, so they aren’t going to even try. The admin and teachers all life in the area, so they know what’s safe and what isn’t, though their twenty-some years of experience. Many of us are clueless to bad areas, and don’t want to “learn through experience” (being mugged, attacked, ect). We were also told that we will simply have to be on our guard at all times, on the street, in our building, and in our rooms. In general, people had their concerns ignored, and were told that constant fear is something you have to suck up.

This all went on for an hour and a half. The guest speaker then got up (who thought she was going to have the full three hour class). She was a white women from a white background, who now lived in the city, and was going to speak to us on the topic of racial justice. While our primary teacher (who has yet to teach a class period) is only subtly anti-white, this woman made a girl cry out of embarrassment for how terrible our race is. Her message was that white people have been / are so terrible, that we must live solely for the purpose of racial reconciliation. From her handout…

“Give serious thought to where you will live long term. It is probably the most spiritual decision you ever make. If you move into an area of people just like you, you will likely be committing spiritual suicide. If you move into an area of diversity where these issues will be in front of you every day (and will be affecting your own family, neighborhood, and friends), you will likely stay engaged in the process.”

She went on to call out how spiritually dead people are that live in the suburbs, have their kids home schooled, and live around people like them.

At one point, one of my classmates asked how he should react to people of other cultures when they are racist against whites when we try to respectfully approach them, either to talk or to give aid. One thing we all thought about was the author who read on Saturday, who was constantly going “gringo gringo gringo” and saying that all whites are terrible, rich people who oppress others.

The teacher first asked how old he was (22). She then tearfully told him that he was an embarrassment to her, and that in seventy years he would never know the magnitude of injustice done to Latino Americans and blacks. She told him that he was being defensive, and lots of other things that came from a highly warped sense of what he asked. Every student in the class stood up to defend him, but it was students vs. our teacher and guest speaker. They didn’t listen, or change their message, same as with the girl who was crying our of embarrassment for being white.

The whole class was terrible – ignored concerns, then white-bashing. As a group, we’re about one more bad experience from not going to class. I really won’t abide having my race attacked by my superiors, and our concerns being brushed off.

On the bright side, a bunch of us went and played soccer on the turf field after class, to get some anger out. It was a really good time.

Sunday - Short

2007-06-05T11:40:00.000-04:00

Sunday's only plans were church in the morning. They gave us a list of churches, and we signed up in small groups. My group went to St. Veronica’s Catholic Church. It was a little hard getting there based on the directions we were given, but it happened. This is more that most groups could say, as their directions got them hopelessly lost and made them turn back. Some groups were even given directions that used busses that don’t run on weekends.

The rest of the evening was spend on homework and hanging out with people. The roof on this building is always really cool and breezy compared to everything the rest of the city.

Saturday - What a Joke

2007-06-03T14:47:00.001-04:00

I'm adding comments to what I wrote in my journal, they are in bold. This is a bit of a rant; you have been warned.

-----

Today didn’t feel very successful to me, quite honestly. Today was a absolute joke, and waisted our time. I had high hopes for some of the activities planned, and things didn’t turn out so well.

We were up early, and traveled across the city to help a health center set up for some street festival. What ended up happening, was that we stood around at the wrong place for awhile, before being directed to their (fully setup) booth. We helped them blow up balloons (29 of us), and then stood around holding the balloons while they found tape. I think we ended up having more balloons popped then setup. When it became apparent that we weren’t really needed, we were told to go wonder around the partially setup street festival for a half hour. I visited a pawn shop, and ended up buying some 2$ old CDs. Net culture of this stop, zero.

Our group leaders have been terrible about planning anything more then a day in advance, or doing any type of research. Some of the people's community service organizations were contacted the day we got here, and others were under the impression that we were all Latin Americans and could speak Spanish.

The next stop was a Latino community, one street in particular. Getting their took forever, since the buses were messed up in the area around the street closures we were coming from. It also doesn't help when we try to thirty+ people onto a single bus. This happens whenever we try to travel, its like a flash mob. Public busses aren't ment to handle that kind of load. When we did get where we were going, there was a few interesting things. I got a shaved ice from a street vendor, who operated out of a cart with a block of ice and an assortment of flavorings in bottles. It was really good (more so because of the extreme heat in Philly) , and from what we learned quite common in the area. After that though, we were suppose to visit stores in the area. I got one quick peak into a “Botanica”, which was a mystical-type store, but we were rushed off to lunch. The trouble we had getting their only left us with enough time to secure food and get to the park where we were going. There wasn't anything interesting here in the first place, I'm convinced it was just suppose to be filler.

We brought our food into the middle of a park in the heart of a Latino American park to eat. I was quite uncomfortable doing this, as every person their was staring at the spectacle of 30+ white college age students strolling into the middle of their park. I just didn’t feel welcome, and quite frankly that was all right with me – I sort of felt like we were invading their space. Everywhere we go as a large group, we are a traveling circus. Everyone stares, and nobody wants us there. We are invaders in their territory. Regardless, the food we got was delicious. It was a mix of fried chicken/beef/bread/cheese pastry like things, none of which I remember the names.

After lunch, we went to a place called “the Lighthouse”, which was a community center. There was a traveling exhibit there we were being brought to. It was two rooms, a child’s room and a jail cell, and had projectors on each wall. The show was a dialogue between an incarcerated father and his son. It was suppose to be touching and deep. I thought it was pretty bad. Really Bad. It didn’t have any sort of flow, each piece of dialogue was completely disconnected, and the actors even were in different cloths in different parts. The high point was when we got to sit around in the A/C afterwards, while waiting to leave for our next thing. Again, wasting time because they thought the exhibit was longer.

Finally, we ended up at a small gallery. The first thing we looked at was a mural outside. The people working on it thought we were coming to help out, which we weren’t. See the theme? None of this is really being planned. We all felt like jerks being like - yup, we're here. Nope, not going to paint. That was awkward, and we ended up getting bought ice cream by our leader (Ryan) while we waiting for the book reading inside to start. "Oops, things didn't go well. Lets buy them ice cream and hope they forget about all of today".

I don’t even know how to describe the author. Crude, and a ranting lunatic. He began by reading out of one of his books, which detailed the story of a Latin American teenage witch, who chooses a punk rock “bozo” to get her pregnant. She brings him through a portal in the projects to the beach of Puerto Rico, so that her tribe can provide magical “male enhancement”, since he is white (and therefore lacking, compared to her kin). I’m saying this all quite nicely, but the book itself was extremely crude. Really crude. In ways I won't even allude to.

After reading, he began to talk about the state of the world, and injustices done to Latinos. Somewhere along the line, it turned into a shameless Bush-bashing rant. This culminated when he read from a poem, that went something along the lines of “Bush you monkey-faced ****er, I hope you ****ing drown in your own **** , you *******. He also managed to work in that he doesn’t believe in God, creationism is BS, evolution has been proven, and voting is futile.

I don’t know how we ended up with this author, but our teacher has since issued an apology. After that, many of us just left, and that was it for the day. Our teacher even had the audacity to go up and whisper to him that this was a Christan college mid-read, like this was something she could correct. She did no research before planning this, reading any one page in his book would have clued her off. She was embarrassed, and I can't wait to see what she says on Monday.

To sum up the day, we blew up balloons, walked around aimlessly twice, ate food in a place we weren’t welcome, saw a poorly done exhibit, were expected to be painters and weren’t, and got offended in numerous ways. Totally worthless. This whole thing seems like it was pulled together the day before we got there. I'm waiting to hear that the 785$ we spent to come here was embezzled, and that if we just go home they'll issue us our credits.

Friday

2007-06-02T01:09:00.000-04:00

Friday was highly uneventful. As I was off from work and class, I mostly did homework and hung around. There was the option to go to old town for "first friday", but I opted out because of impending rain.

Tomorrow seems to be highly busy, should be interesting.

Day Two

2007-05-31T22:02:00.000-04:00

Rest of Day 1: Had class / dinner, and all was well and unexciting. Stayed up late talking to Amy and playing video games.

Day Two: I slept in till 10, knowing that my sleep schedule would need serious revamping before reentering work world. When I got up, I worked on assigned readings, and went to lunch at noonish.

When I left after lunch to begin the treck over to my community service < http://www.openbordersproject.org/English/ >, the first thing I noticed was how incredibly hot it is. Heat in the city is different from heat in PA. Since we have no A/C at the campus housing (or at Open Borders), I’m learning that the hard way.

My job for today was going to be mainly examining their computer setup and seeing what I could do to improve things. One goal that Manuel mentioned, was that he would like to see their network setup unified with one computer at the head.

From what I saw…

*Short Version* - Things were a mess, and it would be hard.

*Long/Technical Version* - Its about a dozen Windows 2000 with varying software, and a Windows 2003 Server machine. All the computers were on different Workgroups and Domains, and there were multiple naming conventions for the machines themselves. I haven’t worked with server software all that much, and have had nothing but DNS errors in my attempts today. It looks like with a lot of work and effort, I can get it done (hopefully)

-Also, it doesn’t help that I only try to run two computers at a time, out of fear of creating an oven. Computers in already hot, closed environments is not good.

When their was about an hour left, we all were pulled to go help one of the regular volunteers distribute flyers about upcoming classes, to the neighborhood. We went and visited some restaurants, health clinics, and a free library. I was interested by the fact that the health clinic had areas for all aspects of personal care, from nurse stations to dental work. I suppose it makes things easy for people without much time to keep healthy(er) by things being all together.

We then ended up back at our housing, I had dinner, and then class. After class seems like the new time I’ll be writing my journals, yesterday was an exception because I had time free up in the middle of the day. Tomorrow I don’t have class, and we don’t have to go into work since they told us it’s a ghost town on Fridays, and there are other times in the morning, ect. that they would rather us come in. My new plan is to do the weekends homework in one fel swoop. That will free up time on Sunday for a visit from Amy (hopefully), as the only planed activity for Sunday is church.

Philly - First Full Day ( Wed, 5/30)

2007-05-30T16:24:00.001-04:00

Intro - I'm in Philly for May Term. We have to keep weekly journals, of which I plan on writing some each day. For those that may be interested, I've decided to post them. They are written with requirements of the class in mind, so if they don't seem totally organic, I'm sorry.

--------------------------

Today is the first full day in Philly. I slept in, and then finished up my readings we were assigned last night. The book we were assigned was a little dense, but it looks like it gets better. The other two handout/excerpts were more readable, and it looks like much of our course readings are going to be in that kind of format.

After homework is lunch, and I while I was prepared to go carefully spend some diamond dollars at the SAC, things got switched between our last meeting at Messiah (before finals) and getting here. We now have all our meals at the cafeteria across the street. This is really nice, since we don’t have to worry about overspending on healthier food, and its a lot closer.

For my afternoon community service, I selected to volunteer at the Open Borders project, a nonprofit that is focused on empowering the community (namely Latino American) through education and technology. There are two other students who are going there with me, Jenna and Adam. Adam is a PR/Advertising major, and Jenna is math. I should mention that they both “graduated” already, so this is their final class work.

To get to the Open Borders office, we had to take a subway, then hop a bus, then walk. We did all these things last night to go to a restaurant, but our leaders guided us through it. The three of us were on our own for today. The subway part didn’t concern me too much – things were well labeled, it was cleaner then I thought it would be, and I was in a group. The cars themselves weren’t crowded either. I don’t think I even need to say that I’m by far the minority around here, but that didn’t seem to bother me. Of course, the little group of Messiah students stuck together and really didn’t interact with anyone else, so it’s not like we tried to leave our comfort zone either.

I was a little amazed about the kinds of advertisements on the subway. Every other one was “Are you addicted to painkillers/cocaine/ect, and interested in being part of a study?”. I had never thought about how the medial world collected people to test treatments/therapies on drug users. I’m still not sure how this kind of advertising fits in with the ethical/moral teaching I’ve gotten at Messiah, and I’ll probably write more on that later.

The bus part was more hairy. While Adam had lived in Phili for a summer, he didn’t once take the bus, which left us all struggling to understand what was going on. The bus was crowded, stopped frequently, and I felt a lot less safe. The safety concerns were mostly that the bus driver acted as king of the road, and while he may be, it’s not something I’m use to.

We ended up getting off before we needed to and walking further, but the walk was kind of nice. Nothing in our building is air conditioned, but walking in the shade with a breeze was refreshing. I felt like I had to watch my feet though, because of the massive amounts of trash and broken glass. Some places were worse then others, and I can’t help but wonder if anything is, or ever will be, done about it. I suppose that its just part of the landscape.

The Open Border’s project itself was a small nonprofit, staffed by four volunteers. They have a small computer lab and a classroom, along with some office space. Manuel is the director, I believe. He is from Guatemala (I think), but speaks very good English. The other assistant who was in there is Tessa, a Caucasian girl who works with curriculum development. She seems very smart, and I wonder how she came to work there. They are both very nice, and we talked about the skills we have to offer them. It looks like I’ll be getting their lab setup for a workshop for younger kids and teens that will involve recording stories and music, and putting it to pictures and presentations. I think he mentioned wanting to setup an internet radio station for the kids stories which is recorded there. Mostly all these things are covered by training I’ve gotten at Messiah, either through classes or my work-study.

I was happily surprised when I heard that most of the software I would be installing and setting up was open source – Audacity, LAME, cDex, ect. I use most of this myself, but didn’t make the connection how high quality free software is necessary for this kind of low/no budget setup (as opposed to a nice alternative for cheep college students).

When we finished up the orientation there, we decided to skip the bus and walk back to the subway station. One thing I frequently noticed was people selling food off grills and self-bottled drinks outside their homes. I know it can’t be legal, but it seemed to be generally accepted. Same thing for people who drive four wheelers on the streets. There is also a theme of small grocery stores, check cashing locations, and fast food. I probably notice these things more because they support stereotypes I’m coming into this situation with, but I’m trying to see things besides them. That’s probably something that will come more in time as I’m here longer.

I think I took a lot of things in today but still don’t know how I feel about all of them.. Things I miss chiefly include my wife, cats, quiet, and the color green. Things I’m learning to appreciate are desk fans, ice water, and shade. Grantham seems far away right now

(edit: Phili -> Philly)

Über-Creepy

2007-02-11T14:58:00.000-05:00

Andrew's game last night was awesome. Awesome enough to blog about.

Dragon Encounters One.

2007-02-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

I love Dragons.

Not only are they half the title of the freaking game, they rock. Treasure hordes, breath weapons, 6+ natural attacks, huge AC, sweet saves all around, smart, wise, fun lairs... the list goes on.

I'm starting to find that the dragon encounters I plan for my party are completely capable of being run alone. Here's the first that they've run.

Dragon one, Aethelraz the Blighter (Adult Black Dragon)
He's got a swamp based cave, with assassin vines and shreakers for guards. The purple fungus are easily ignored, unless you come within their huge reach and take ability damage. Multiple caverns linked underwater take full advangate of the swim speed and allow quick retreats for regrouping, as well as having a hoard thats only accessable from underwater, and at a distance that would drownd most adventurers. As for Aethelraz himself, he's pimped out with Draconomicon feats such as spreading breath (to clear out swarms of low power melee creatures) and recover breath (for frequent use of breath weapon). His one weakness is lack of flight space inside the cavern.

The next dragon is likely going to be fought tonight or next week, so I'll post about that one then.

Boiling Hamster in Coffee Pot

2007-01-27T20:31:00.000-05:00

That's right.
Boiling Hamster in Coffee Pot .

I think this is my claim to fame. Amy had a dream about this specific action, so we googled it.

-nothing-

So, I'm taking advantage in the gap in the market for "Boiling Hamster in Coffee Pot" searches by blogging about it.

So should I start with...
-T-Shirts
-A You-Tube Video
-A Wikipedia Entry
-A Catalogue of the 5 Fetish sites that will pop up about this in the time it take me to write it.
-A "Save the Hamsters" Fund

Look for this to be Big.

Holiday Wrap-Up

2007-01-08T21:10:00.000-05:00

Pre Break - Saw everyone at between-semester get together, Got exploded into oblivion by godly sandwich.

-Christmas Break P1, Down to Florida.
Spend a day in Disney, saw updated Pirates of Carribean Ride- Gets my stamp of approval (New anamtronics (sp?) are scary-lifelike).
-Did Christmas related things with family.

Christmas Break P2, New Years Par-tay.
-People at our house. DDR, Karoke Revolution, Munchkin, Starcraft, Explosives, Lazer Chess.
-Tim B. Makes a guest appearence, starting on the 30th and lasting till the 2nd, where we get his g/f to play D&D first time. I lose two consecutive stadium matches to them.
-Yeah. A Par - Tay. Get over it.

Christmas Break P3 - Vacation from Vacation
-Hanging around house, some D&D, bit of WoW. General relax and housework.

Now that thats all covered, I can get back to posting random stuff on whims.

Amazing

2006-12-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

I had an amazing moment this afternoon I need to share.

Ok, So i'm in a 300 level E-Commerse Class. There is this one girl, Laura, who is manly, obnoxious, not all that bright, and of course in my group. We go through the whole semester with me and the other guy having to re-do all her group work so we can get decent grades (she was too busy with powder-puff football and seeing friends). She is also totally inanimate and reads from the computer screen directly for presentations.

Side Note: this professor, who works at the naval supply base, asks for a resume during the course of the class. She wants to get me an interview.

On last wednesday we handed in our final projects - a paper (20 pages) outlining a business we could start and including all sorts of stuff we learned in the class. Last monday, before its due, she is boasting about how she has the paper done (early) and can't wait to present Wednesday (the first of two days we were presenting on her paper). She presents wednesday, does terribly. Her idea is terrible. Her presentation is terrible. Terrible. She is also angry about hearing that some kids in the class got offered jobs.

I present today (pretty good If I do say), and then we all get our papers back. 99/100. One point off for missing a citation. I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Also - My professor has just told me that she's hiring.

*OK, Back to the important part*

I'm leaving lottie, and I run into this girl. She asks, very upset, what I got on the paper. I confidently say "a ninty-nine". Bam. She completely asked for it. In her face. She pales, huffs, and walks off telling me that she's going to have to have a talk with the professor about her grade.

It was awesome. I would have done the paper just for that conversation alone.

Rulebooks

2006-11-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

( Inspired by a nice post at http://shadowajax.blogspot.com/ )

I love rulebooks. The Complete Series, the Environment books (Frostburn, Sandstorm), the Races books, Monster Manuals... the only limit for me is financial.

I dislike campaign settings - Forgotten Realms, Ebberon, ect.

Now let me explain -

I think it’s important to have standards in the D&D world. I believe that it’s important for players to have a published source where they can read about the deities. So much of the game mechanics relies on the rules as they are printed. Clerics, paladins, and druids rely on a complete deity system. The prevalence of monsters and monster types is also important. A core ranger element is favored enemy, and if there is no undead in a world, or aberrations are so rare they are unheard of, then it’s important to know this. A rogue does infinitely better in a world filled with people (who have vital organs) then a world of oozes and golems.

Games that I run assume the “traditional” core D&D world. Pelor to Nerull. Aboloth to Zombie. Deities exist as printed, and all monster manual creatures are assumed to exist in some number. I like to keep my alterations to the rule system short and upfront, clarifying small things like critical hits and variant rules. My players can explore character possibilities and backgrounds assuming these settings.

That aside, I don’t like a pre-published world like Forgotten Realms. Characters and players, in my mind, should expect a new and wondrous world, but one in which they are familiar with the limits and conditions. I also can't stand the geographical constraints.

There have been games in the past (pre- being at Messiah) that I’ve been in a world so non-core, and not clearly explained, that I was able to be less creative and not enjoy the game fully. It was like groping around in a world that existed only in my DM’s head. I couldn’t see through their eyes. I didn’t know where the boundaries were, or even what to ask about. I know that they had a perfect view of their world, but it wasn’t communicated.

Now all this said, I’ve had a great time playing in Andrew’s Campaign. It is (very) well documented, and I know how the world works. It’s not what I’m use to, but its understandable and enjoyable. I know that Francis is the deity, that core material is acceptable, and what house rules are in play. I can see this world, and therefore interact with it.

My campaign is set in a world contrived entirely by yours truly. I’m not perfect, and I know there are times when my players don’t see my world as I do. They can’t ever see what I can, but I can work towards making them understand it. My wiki is one push for this, our collective binder of maps and log of adventures is another.

What are rulebooks to me? – They are published material that a group of people have equal access to, and equal sight of. They let me work the world in a way that has been found to be fair (though not the only way). My players know that new published material has a very good chance of having a place in my campaign if they show it to me, and this lets them dream and play characters that they enjoy, while allowing me to expand my world even further.

…

Yeah... I’ll stop now.

This is a Political Blog

2006-11-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

I voted. You better have.

Or else Capt. America will kick your ass.

Being not in this country isn't a good excuse, unless you plan on staying there. (which sounds better and better every day...)

} //end rant

} //end political blog

Gestalt Uber Party

2006-10-27T14:48:00.000-04:00

In my alloted daydreaming time (Economics 110), I pondered today the best possible four person gestalt adventuring party.

For those not in the know, gestalt characters take two different classes at the same time. For each level, they take the better of all features. A (Fighter/Cleric)1 Therefore has a d10 HD, 4+Int Skills, Good Fort and Will saves, A bonus Fighter Feet, +1 BAB, and Cleric Spellcasting. This is not the same as a multiclass Fighter1/Cleric1 (2nd Level Character). The gestalt character doesn't get a d8 HD + a d10 HD, only the better of the two.

So, without delay...
Fighter/Cleric
Self-Healing Heavy-Armor Meat Shield, Preped with Divine Buffs. Probably Dwarven. Stats: CON, WIS. Possible (unlikely) levels in Dwarven Defender, if PHB2 feats don't warent high levels of fighter.

Wizard/Cleric
Super Arcane Blasting / Divine Anything, Unarmored. Gets tons of use from Metamagic Feats. Can Heal and Buff. Stats: INT/WIS/CHA (Cha for Turning and Diplomacy). Probably Halfling. Also go for the supreme uber and start taking mystic thurge levels to raise both at once, and take levels in Archmage and Hirophant (See DMG).

Druid/Ranger
Back-up Healing, Summoning, Archery, Druid Buffs, Shapeshifting utility, and Nature Guide. Medium Armor. Stats: DEX, WIS. Definatly Elven.

Rogue/Barbarian
Super Melee Damage with 2-Hander and sneek attack. Light armor compliments both classes. Trapfinder and Scout. Probably Human (To make up for no fighter feats). Possible Multiclass into Assassin from rogue.

--Soo... What do you think? I'm curious to see other people's ideas on their own 4 (or 3) person group.

Legacy of Alzor Wiki

2006-10-25T09:29:00.000-04:00

Check it out.

www.legacyofalzor.pbwiki.com

Its my newest project, and I'm hoping to end up with a very well developed world. Its partially limited to avoid spoilers, but it will grow as the party adventures (and I have to flesh it out more and more).

I have given everyone in my party editing privledges, so I'm hoping that it will have multiple viewpoints on subjects.

-Chad

*watches and waits for the Rhys-Avon wiki to explode into existance with 10,000+ pages*

DMing Styles

2006-09-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

The first game of D&D I played was run by Will Koch, in Amy's Basement. It was my freshman year of high school, 3rd Edition D&D, and we were first level.

I remember a floating platform with something breakable on it that we were trying to get down... fighting choakers, and eventually throwing a rock at an arrowhawk. This prompted running around the room grabbing something of importance it was guarding before it ate us all. I was playing the freshly created Yakra the Dwarf (fighter, of course). It was high magic, high fantasy, and allowed for the occasional fantastic act to occur when someone had a brilliant/crazy idea. Plot was minimal, and the world only existed as far as it was relevant to that nights (and they were all one shot deals) events. There were no mats, no minis - It was all in our head.

This was the flavor of the games I played in high school, from both Will and another local DM. It should also be noted that Will had a cape he wore when he DM'ed.

Five years later, my players are in a high magic, high fantasy world of heroic and fantastic deeds. I don't wear a cape, but I wouldn't be opposed to it.

My point to this is, DM's learn their styles much from the games we have played in. The games I've run have evolved and shaped to my specific style - We use a grided mat and minis, I have diagrams and printed papers to hand out. The world is relatively well developed (Not nearly as some that I've read about in some Blogs *cough*). I use the 3.5 rule system faithfully, with only a handful of clarifications and limited house rules.

(This is going somewhere...)

Last year I had the privilege of playing in Andrew's campaign. It was the first game run by someone outside of that group from Jersey, and a wholly different experience. **Opinion Alert**. It was extremely plot driven in an Über-Developed background, relatively low magic, and deviated from the 3.5 ruleset in ways I cannot even begin to describe (not saying thats bad). We used gridded mats, and had the occasional 3-d model of an area. Pictures of NPC's were shown on a laptop, and got extensive recaps in PDF format.

As of Saturday night, I'm now involved in a campaign run by Michael C. (who's first D&D experience was at the hands of Andrew). It was...
-Plot/RP Driven
-Well Developed Background
-Low-ish Magic
-Numerous Changes/Alterations to the 3.5 Ruleset
-3-d Model of our first dungeon site.

Seeing the pattern? This is a fine thing to happen, its always nice to see someone imitate something you do (sincerest form of flattery or something). Amy is even in the pre-process of planning a mini-series, and I have a strong feeling from talking to her that it will be in a mix of my style and her old liking for Myst games.

From what I gather from Captain Shar (sp?)'s blog, there is much of the same going on there as Andrew's campaign (DM created classes and new rules, for example).

What does this all come down to? Think about your knowledge and feelings about D&D. Think about how shaped they are by your DM's and the people you play with. Now - Go try playing with different people. I'm looking forward to playing in Michael's game, eventually Andrew's again, and possibly Shar's(?), for not only the purpose of fun, but for learning about what my game isn't, and what other options D&D offers for groups.

You Are Missed

2006-09-05T12:42:00.000-04:00

...except Amy, Michael Craig, and Mackenzie. I still see you around.

The rest of you all have gone off to exciting new places. Messiah is suddenly gotten more boring (possible?). I suppose then that you'll need blog-news about whats going on at Messiah. Now I know that posting news on a Blog is totally radical and never-before-done, but bear with me.

-Its been really rainy. Bleh.
-Anime Club has started successfully under the reign of Brice and I. Some 20+ people at the first meeting.
-This welcome week's theme was "Branching Out". Newbling shirts were blue on grey, workers shirts were blue on hot orange.
-Michael C. is going to be running a D&D campaign, which currently has signed up myself, Amy, Rosie+Michael (who are engaged, btw).
-There is a distinct lack of masked superhero's.

So yeah.

It's Over [Summer]

2006-08-23T21:42:00.000-04:00

I'm done at LAM for the most part, still plan on working some during my Tuesdays, in which I have -0- Classes. But that means i'm back at ITS...

Reasons Why ITS will be cooler this year (From my side of things).

1. You MUST use our Symantec Antivirus. I don' t want to figure out why your Panda/AVG/Trend/McFee doesn't work. Symantec is fine.

2. NO personal wireless routers. Messiah Wireless in all the dorms. We will shut you down if you use one of your own. I don't want to configure your router (No two behave the same).

3. Get your switch at ITS! For a refundable deposit, you can get a switch of your own. It is guarenteed to work. The Hub/Ithinkitsaswitch/Cable-Modem/Block-of-Cheese that you brough from home isn't, and we don't have to figure out why.

4. Windows ME and 98 aren't supported. I can't say enough bad things about ME, it is simply the reason any computer doesn't work that has it installed.

5. Impulse is in place. We aren't dealing with a new, unfamilier piece of software that controls everyones precious access to AIM and MySpace (Which, from what I hear, is the fourth basic need).

Places where Karma will bite me for the above reasons...

1. Messiah's Wireless Network. It will go down, because of dumb people. Other dumb people will complain, and stop co-operating. This is a vicious cycle.

2. MC-Square. I don't like it, and no one else at ITS does. This was not a decision we made, but I expect to deal with calls all year about its suckatude.

3. WPA (Wireless Connections with Encryption). This is somewhat difficult to set up. Its not entirely intuitve, but we have explicit directions on how to do it. They will be ignored.

4. Anoynomus people posting comments. Learn to spell, or get off my blog. And don't repost agreeing with your self. Yes, You (But not you...)

D&D + Concerts = Fun

2006-07-30T11:25:00.000-04:00

Yeah, the blog every Tuesday thing didn't work. On the upside- exciting things have happened since I last wrote.

A few weeks back a bunch of our friends (not including Matt, I-Can't-read-my-work-schedule) got together at Sean M's parent's cabin in the Pocono’s, for a massive three day D&D party. There were twelve of us in all, divided into two parties of five. This weekend's twist was that we were given three pre-rolled sets of stats(in order), and had to choose our character off that. We also didn't know our group composition before we went up, and didn't know if we were going to be placed in the campaign of lawful characters, or chaotic characters. To top it off, we were promised a showdown of group vs. group at the end. The dungeon exploration was great. I played a swashbuckler3/rogue3 chain fighter (something I always told myself I'd never play...), and had a blast. I think everyone's only regret was not getting to go out and do some of the stuff in the area (there was a small fair going on, there's a gigantic general store, the AT is close by).

After playing, those of us able to get off work Monday stayed over Sunday night and went to Dorney park in the morning. It had been a while since I was there last, and it was a good time. Waterpark was blistering hot. I was severely disappointed by the new roller coaster, Hydra - The Revenge (It was built where Hercules was... har har). It's a sitting down in a seat, metal coaster, that focused mainly on low-speed corkscrews. Meh.

This last Friday, Amy and I went to the Giant Center in Hershey to see Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows in concert. It was awesome. GGD played all the important songs, Name, Slide, Iris, Broadway, Black Balloon, with little variation and only some moderately decent stage presence. CC on the other hand, was fantastic. They were in and out of songs doing all sorts of cool changes, and stopping in the middle of some to explain the meanings or tell a story about it.

Giant Center, by the way, is a really nice/clean place to see concerts. I wholeheartedly endorse it.

thUsday Blog at Work

2006-06-29T14:56:00.000-04:00

Because thUsday sounds like tuesday... on which there was no post.

No D&D this week, with people on overlapping vacations/trips. This comming week is going to have mostly logistics, but that will include making a communtal notebook of everything thats happened - including NPC names, Promices made (and forgotten), Deeds commited, Quotes (in and out of game), and so forth. It will be open to anyone to write in, and kept by me. Should help jog me on everything thats happened and keep a better record of things as they happen. This should help me to continue the story I stopped awhile ago. I'll let you all know how this goes, I might start doing it for any campains I run.

Work is starting to get hectic. Orders for 1100+ computers in, and starting to get parts in and have them build in earnest.

Interesting thing I'm finding. On occassion, i have to fdisk a computer. Fdisking deletes everything on the hard drive, very quickly and efficiently. Its run off a bootable 3.5' floppy in DOS, and takes only a few seconds in all. When I do it, I feel like i'm putting down a computer. Strange. (don't take this seriously) *shrug*.

Other News: I'm getting to Main Tank various parts of Molten Core for Loki. I came in as one of their better equiped warriors, and thats helping accelerate my position. I've pwned Lucifron, Gehnass, numerous Molten Gians and even Destroyers. Even when I'm off-tanking, we chain pull (pull the next monster when still fighting the first), so i'm doing that. The guild has even crafted me an Ony Scale Cloak, and an Epic Dark Iron (Fire Resistence) Helm free of charge.

Interesting thing about this possition in a guild - you get your own group of healers. I play wow, and am supported by at least four other people. I can yell out things like "Heals on Yakra !" or "I need 30 min buffs" and people listen. I get spoken orders from the raid leader when I'm off-tanking, and If I die from lack of heals, people get chastised / yelled at. Someone who doesn't play wow should totally do a study on the structure of guilds.

20-6 Blog at Work

2006-06-20T12:21:00.000-04:00

Captain Shar wins. Blogging on Tuesday Continues.

Two Eventful Event-like things this week-

First was Friday, when my PC's went up against an Adult Black Dragon, pimped out with Draconomicon Feats. It was an epic battle in his three-chambered partially-submerged underground cavern, taking us well past midnight. There was no player deaths, allthough this was mostly due to some extensive, well-thought out application of protection from energy (84 point acid damage soak) and resistence from energy (10). Even so, my Dragon once got off a full attack sequence, landed every attack, and delt something around 70 points of tail-slap/wing/wing/claw/claw/bite goodness. There was some diagonal/3-D flanking off the roof of the low-cavern, sending skeletons as test-dummies at the cavern, enraged-mushroom-eating badgers, and the traditional phat lewt at the end (including an unhatched black dragon egg...).

Also, had a get together last night at my house for games and pizza. Amy and I invited some (of many) people we haven't gotten to see much/at all this summer, including Matt, Dan, Rosie and Michael, and Patrick. I think we had a three hour apples to apples game, followed by muchkin. The munchkin game was climatic/anti-climatic. I almost won in a battle against Squidzilla (after anilating my own sword), Santa, and Ancient Crabs. I was uber-ly geared, but it proved three points innsufficient against being backstabed/trampled/poisoned/cursed/ect. Matt won the next round - this is the anti-climax. He was a Lv9 Cleric with -NO- Gear. He draws an undead horse (lv 4), and kills it without opposition.
/facepalm.

/logout

Tuesday Blog at Work

2006-06-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

I think blogging at work is a trendy thing to do, espically in the tech field.

Long time no update - couple things have happened since... (in decending order)
-Got Married
-Started New Job
-Finished Sophmore Year / Finals
-Joined New World of Warcraft Guild (I can hear Andrew's eyes rolling / sigh)

Marriage is wonderful. Its an Institution that I'm glad to be a part of, and highly recommend. Everything leading up to the wedding part is a little rough, more planning and shades of white and candy bowls then I care for, but I'm glad mine went off so well and everyone I talked to had a good time.

This summer I'm working at LAM again - only now I have a pay raise and Minions (non-sacrifical type... /cry) thanks to seniority. Slow start to the year, but things are really going to get rolling soon.

Grades for Spring semester came in, happy to say I'm still a member of the honors program / attendent of messiah (these are one in the same...)

And the last new piece of info, switched WoW guilds. Our guild leader got in a spat with some people, and made off with our entire bank. People /gquit, we couldn't get through half the end game content we had worked towards, ect. Now i'm in "Loki", and starting to have alot more fun doing even more advanced stuff (working through Blackwing Lair).

Now Going Back To Work

----Bonus----
Poll: Will I blog again next Tuesday?

How I Beat the Internets

2006-04-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

First, I Checked to see if the internet was at 127.0.0.1. It wasn't, so it had to be out. I typed "internet" in to google, and hit "I'm feeling lucky". It brought me here, but Michigan is far away, So I went to Murry Library. Sure enough, internet was discovered in the lab in the basement, as well as all the Public Access Stations. I pressed " ~ " to open a console, and typed,

name=zelda
power overwhelming
idkfa

It involved lots of hadokens, laser-beam dodging, duct tape, and malicious code coming from a 3.5 inch floppy with a skull and crossbones on it.

It dropped
http://wow.blupp.net/item.php?id=216656
http://wow.blupp.net/item.php?id=216666
http://wow.blupp.net/item.php?id=216668

I Leveled too. Sweet, huh?

(I'll share some of the 10536236 points I got if you can name where those three codes came from, specifically, and what they do)

Hard at Work

2006-03-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

I don't know what supernatural event occured, but there have been -NO- computers at ITS Recently. We've even cleaned all the shelves and workstations. I've been here almost three hours, and theres been one phone call, and one person who brought in a computer (It's scanning, will be done before i'm out). It's even lunchtime, and i've got the door open and the "Open" sign on.

I'm a little worried that this is a calm before the storm. I'm not complaining otherwise. I hear blogging from work is all the rage.

When I get back to my room, i'll post the Disenchanting rules I developed. I've always thought it a little harsh that wizards had to take on XP Costs and lag behind in levels, when they were crafting items for other people. Read On.

Afterthought- Is this non-activity because I beat the internet?

Explination for Absence

2006-03-22T01:25:00.000-05:00

I beat the Internet. The End Guy is Hard.

Proud of Myself

2006-02-16T23:44:00.000-05:00

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and donâ��t enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

Serenity (Firefly)

100%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

94%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

88%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

81%

SG-1 (Stargate)

81%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

81%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

75%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

69%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

56%

Moya (Farscape)

56%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

56%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

44%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

House Rules

2006-02-15T00:26:00.000-05:00

Here's a list of the house rules I usually go by, in a hilarious attempt at looking like patch notes.

Character Generation
-Stats. Roll 4d6, Drop Lowest Die. Do this seven times, drop lowest score. This gives you a set of six scores. Repeat this three times. Choose whichever of the three sets you like most.
-Rolling For Hit Points. If you don't like your roll, reroll using the next size dice down (Taking that roll, even if its worse). You can do this as many times as you want, shrinking the die each time (d12 -> d10 -> d8 -> d6 - > d4), and taking the result of the newest dice roll

Classes
- With an appropriate backstory, your first level class can be your favored class. I don't think that just because your a gnome, being a bard comes easier. Being raised as a druid your whole life makes being a druid easier, regardless of race.
-Rogues. They are proficient with a sap. I don't know why this isn't in there.

Items
Spiked Chains - I don't generally have them in my games. This is Why.

Combat
-Critical Hits. If a Natural 20 is rolled, and another Natural 20 is rolled to confirm the critical hit, another roll is made to confirm an increase in the crit multiplier. This can theoretically keep going on forever, but chances drop very quickly when increasing the powers of 20.
-Critical Misses. On a Natural 1, the attack is an auto-miss. This is represented with a stumble in combat. The attacker suffers a -4 on further attacks this round (if applicable), and a -4 to AC untill their next round.

General
-When Sleeping, Characters gain HP equal to their level + their CON modifier.

Out of Game
-Let me know when using any materials outside the three core rulebooks.
-Tell me of any intentions to pursue a prestige class way ahead of time, so efforts to attain one are not wasted.
-On every players birthday, or the first session afterwards, I give players a birthday "wish". They tell me what their characters wishes are, and I grant it to them within the parameters of the wish spell, as I see fit. (One player wanted to be a necromancer, and got a staff containing raise dead and desicrate - Another wanted to be able to sustain more hits, and got a inheritent bonus to CON (+1).

I'm open to more sugguestions, and I'll update this as I remember/make more.

J-Term is Over

2006-01-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

I think I ended this J-term in the best way possible.

Wailing on my PC's. Like a ninja.

Fireballs, Fireball Traps, Break-Away Floors, Area Dispell Magic. Confusion on the Just-Buffed Invisible Barbarian. Poisoned Blade Traps. I'm very impressed they made it out - And by out, I meen into a safe-esque room for the time being, with all approptiate limbs attached (though not without ability damage).

I definatly like combat encounter nights. The last one we had, I remember hearing about how some players had mulled it over all week how they were going to spearhead their attack, only that time it was dark dwarfs guarding "dragon treasure". Plot nights are good for advancement, and it gives the RP/Characters-with-depth a time to come out, but frantic destruction raining from the skies and cleaving enemies in two is very important as well.

The fact that I get to make mid/high level parties and equip them as I see fit also kinda like getting to PC, which I've only recently gotten the chance to do again (thanks be to andrew/francis).

This Week's Skill Focus - Changing your Mind

2006-01-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

"How are we going to get past the guard?"
"I think that merchant is charging us too much..."
"Is Gnar acting too friendly towards that pale, cloaked figure?"

Skills and Abilities that can change your mind about things.
(Read that again)

Topic one, When the DM tells you what to think.

There are situations in which a DM is allowed to tell a Player what the Characters thoughts are. As this is a game about the interaction of PC's with the world, and not a DM's Puppet show, these situations are rare, but important.

-Charm Person
The cornered enemy wizard, out of options, casts a spell on the party's fighter.
"Wait, this man is no enemy. Hurt him, and face my sword !"

PC's are generally Humanoids, and therefore prime targets for this first level Bard/Wizard/Sorcerer Spell. While under the effects of a Charm Person spell, a PC must act in accordance with the spell - You treat the caster as a trusted friend and ally. They have no control on your actions, but can attempt to give orders by winning an opposed Charisma check. Orders that are suicidal or obviously harmful are always ignored. Why is this spell so feared then? The enemy of my friend is my enemy. With very few exceptions, continued hostilities of the party will result in the charmed person acting in defiance of their friend, using the best of their (violent abilities), just as you would protect a party member. While a DM usually allows a person to continue playing the character (speaking, rolling for, ect) for the duration of the spell, it is reasonable to take this control away if the Player is not acting in accordance with the spell.

Dominate Person-
"The vampire stares deeply into your soul, and suddenly you are nothing but a spectator as you watch your friends fall under your blade"

Domination is where DM interaction comes in the heaviest. If successful, this spell forms a telepathic link between the Character and the caster, for 1/DAY per level. The caster has near-complete control over the character, coming in the form of basic commands. Commands against the subjects nature get individual saves, albeit with a +2 Bonus. This includes actions such as telling a good character to burn an orphanage down, or telling an evil character to work in a soup kitchen. Again, suicidal actions are not carried out. The behavior modification this spell causes is somewhat easy to notice (DC 15 Sense Motive).

Coming from personal experience, I've found that it is possible for a player to retain control over the character for the duration of the spell, but they must be willing to do what is necessary. A person who gets into the mindset that their character is out to kill the other party members and does so well can prove fun, if not interesting for the DM. On the other hand, a rules-lawyering munchkin may try to convince the DM of their own will "Well, I didn't kill the helpless PC lying next to me, even though I was commanded to attack them all, because I thought it was more important to chase down the person running away". Its for reasons like this that a dominate character is often played by a DM, to avoid even the slightest accusation or questionable action.

Interaction between Characters

Diplomacy
Let's get this out of the way. It only works on NPC's. First line of the description. You cannot use it to convince your fellow player that he should take a smaller share of the loot, or allow you to speak on behalf of everyone to the king. In the case of a negotiation, an NPC might roll it vs. a PC, but this is to determine how well things went, such as in a court case.

Bluff and Sense Motive

Not nearly enough has been said about these two skills in their descriptions. Read the above descriptions for their exact, PHB definitions, but I'd like to give my input/clarifications. Forgive me if the two inter-mix.

Bluff does not equate to "Make someone believe what you say". This constitutes an Epic Use of Bluff, and is outside the realm of possibility of most PCs. As soon as your trying to convince someone to do something they could be put at risk for, in the least, you give them a +5 or +10 bonus on their sense motive. If its a completely outlandish request, a +20 bonus to their roll is awarded.

The Spell Glibness is a grey area. It provides a +30 Bonus to Bluff checks, for a full 10/min per level. This allows an experienced bard or rogue to beat nearly any Sense Motive roll. Well, what does loosing that roll mean?

You can't convince someone that the sky is green, or that they are a llama. You can't get them to give you the keys to their shop, or that they should die on your behalf.

Bluff allows you to lie convincingly, but it does not alter the persons reality.

On the sense motive side-
Sense motive gets bonuses based on how far of a stretch the bluff is (see the table under bluff). Now, for example, if the sense motive bonus is +10 because its asking the person to take a risk, a success of less then 10 on the sense motive roll does not indicate that the person knows you are bluffing, only that they are reluctant to go along with the plan/idea/suggestion. A success of ten (in this case) or more shows that the person knows they were being bluffed to.
-Now, I had to read that a bunch of times to make sure its right, so here's an example.

Jane the Rogue is seen by a Guard Alex walking out of the store with a price-tag still on a +2 Sword of Goblin-Bane. He stops her, and asks if she paid for that. Jane knows that she slipped out of the store with the stolen sword, but tries to convince Alex otherwise.
"Oh, I just forgot to remove the price tag from this. My mistake, it won't happen again"
This bluff is a little hard to believe, and puts Alex the Guard at a little risk (The reputation of the guard as a crime-preventing body"

Jane Rolls a Bluff Check, 13 + 6 (Her Bluff Bonus) = 19
Alex Rolls a Sense Motive Check,
12 (His Die Roll) + 4 (Sense Motive) + 5 (Bonus from the Hard to believe Bluff) = 21

Alex succeeds, but by less then 5 (The bonus from the Bluff). He doesn't think she's lying, but not enough to just let her go. He insists that she come back into the store with him to talk to the shopkeeper. Sucks to be Jane. Now, if he had rolled a 19 (+4, +5) = 28, and beat her by more then 5, Alex would have known she was lying and hand-cuffed her on the spot.

Getting back to inter-party reactions.

Sense motive and Bluff are kept to a minimum within the party in games that I run. Many times that people want to roll sense motive, I deny it to them. If you have no reason to believe that the Merchant's name isn't John, then you can't disbelieve him. If you go into town knowing that there is a merchant operating under an alias for a thief’s guild, then things are different. If a party member wants to try to conceal the fact that they found a single gem on a enemy corpse they looted, and another party member finds it highly suspicious that the prince's son was carrying no wealth, rolls are in order. If its one gem out of 30, then not so much. I also discourage any sort of duplicity within the party, but know that this isn't always possible. My suggestion - don't do things that would require you to lie to the party if possible, it divides both players and characters, and countless campaigns all over have ended with a party split "over irreconcilable differences". Don't take this as a suggestion to all play Lawful Good characters, or ones with spotless records, only that anything that is a part of your character will come out at some point and you have to be prepared to deal with that. Rarely will people trust someone who they know is hiding something, and parties are built on trust. ( Or loot... there are those built on loot...)

--Highly Important--
Such rolls as these are to be made by the DM, out of the sight of players. A player who rolls a 1 on a sense motive check is almost certain to believe the opposite of what you tell them, and often times can be bitter. I don't think anyone is so good at playing rolls that meta-knowledge such as this can be ignored completely. DM's rolling for the players, (applying bonuses when necessary), is important for keeping things uncertain. The same applies to searching for traps/treasure. A Character should be just as confident in there not being traps when the player rolls a 20, as when they roll a 3 - There is no sense of "darn, i searched that room really poorly" in-game.

This is not an Entirely d20-Centric Blog. For Example...

2006-01-20T14:32:00.000-05:00

My mind wonders during the half-hour break between classes. Today's result : I think that I like service based jobs, but not sub-serviant jobs.

First job - Working at a haunted hay-ride, two consecutive octobers (Justin Guarini signed my paychecks). It was providing a service, namely scaring teenage boys and girl-scout troops (my favorites). These people were at the mercy of us actors/monsters, as they were pulled along - We were in control, even though it was for their entertainment.

Next job, working at Rita's Italian Ice for a summer. Terrible. Not only were there tons of rules/regulations to live up to on the inside (weight in ounces of ice-cream per cone, for example) , but customers were in an ideal position to complain and make my life harder in general. There were two ways a sale went - problematic, and lacking in problems "I don't understand your menu / I want a product you don't have / This product doesn't live up to my standards". People don't respect fast-food servers. I don't really remember getting positive feedback, other then <$1.00 tips of people who didn't want their change. Pay was junk too.

Moving on - working as a bus boy at a small restaraunt. I enjoyed the atmosphere, my boss and co-workers. People who came in to eat knew that customer > bus boy, but didn't treat you poorly because of it. Money was great, and customers left large amounts of positive feedback consistently in the form of tips. More often then not, you were thanked for boxing up leftovers and clearing plates. On this note - Tip well. Please. If the waiter didn't forget you existed, brought you warm food and cold drinks, they deserve it. The difference between a 15% tip and a 20% tip on a $40 meal is only two dollars, and a 20% plus tips really makes people's days.

Now - I'm at ITS. Things can go both ways. When people complain and are dissatisfied, its 99% not our fault, some piece of server hardware died (and is in the process of being fixed) ect. When they are really thankful, and a precious handful of them are, it makes things worth it. We're serving people, but in the end, we have the power.

D&D - Chapter 1.0

2006-01-19T23:44:00.000-05:00

The Scene: A dusty stone room, with no windows, one door, and heatless magical torches.

The Six party members awaken one by one, rising from a slab of marble, wearing a white robe covered in dust. Behind them, are carved busts of themselves. Looking around, there are cobwebs in the corners, and rotted chests at the feet of their "beds". It slowly sinks in that this is a tomb, but no sooner then they start to dig through the chests containing ornamental copies of their personal equipment, spiders are drawn into the room by the movement. One bow string breaks of dry rot, and the leather armor falls to pieces, but the metal-hefted weapons prove enough to smash the spiders.

Upon opening the large double doors out of the room, they are confronted with zombie arms reaching out from behind metal bars, though it seems as if they will pass by unh"armed". Annah steps forward first, but has a sinking feeling as her first step out of the room depresses a pressure plate in the floor which raises the bars containing the zombies. Another Skirmish, and the group of adventurers are badly wounded. It would seem that the traps meant to keep others out, are keeping them In...

A little more exploration yields two points of interest. A lava pool which proves tricky to cross, and a mosaic on the wall. The picture is of six hands holding up a "v" shaped piece of land, flat on top, and tapering down. It is obvious by a minor jump of logic that the slender elf fingers, thick half-giant paws, and human hands that they are meant to belong to the group. One tile in particular sticks out, which when pressed, opened up a secret passageway behind the mural. They come out the other side, and are besieged by kobalds who have taken up residence in the cave-like area. Their slings and spears nearly finish the party off, but they are able to limp off. At the end of the cave there is a small-opening in a wooden barricade, and fresh-air blowing in. Thog went for the path of least of least resistance, and proceeded to smash themselves a door. While effective, this damaged the wooden supports holding up the ceiling. Seconds (6) after the party tumbled out into a inclined street, the cavern behind them collapsed entirely. While the street was also underground, it was populated with people and pack animals moving in both directions. As the party began to gain their bearings, they were approached by a man who introduced himself as Alister, who insisted that they all follow him (calling each by name, only getting one or two people confused)... What was this place?

D&D - Chapter 0.1

2006-01-19T16:19:00.000-05:00

The Scene: The Wizard Alzor's Estate, a large piece of land on the edge of a small hamlet.

Over the course of a few years, the kindly wizard expanded his research, as well as his assistents. Alurana and Lilith contributed what they could with their magical powers, but their inborn powers did not mesh well with the bookwork nessessary for spell research. Thog, the half-giant, did more heavy lifting then the rest of the people combined, with the possible exception of Annah (who lifted coin-purses and rival wizards research). Draknor and Talia did research and erronds as well, with Talia doing service at the Church of St. Cuthbert on weekends.

One Thursday, Alzor announced that they were to all travel to the sea to perform an experement on which he had placed a great deal of effort into preparing. The nature of this was hidden, but they were all perplexed by the strange iron barrel and double barred chest in the back of the wagon that they rode in.

Days passed, and they did eventually reach the sea. The barrel turned out to be some type of gnomish submersuble, which was loaded onto a small ship along with the chest. When they got outside sight from land, they seven of them were loaded into the submersible and dumped into the sea. On the way down Alzor explained his great plan.

Using the six artifact weapons in the chest, Alzor was going to attempt to raise from the sea a landmass on which to build a city that would bear his name, the first floating city, and one that would be outside the controll of the greedy baron's who divided up every inch of dry-land. The Party members then each drew a weapon...
Thog drew a Quarterstaff
Alurana Drew a Longsword
Draknor Drew a Large Shield
Talia Drew a Short Sword
Annah Drew a Dagger
Lilith Drew a Mace

They were then enchanted to breath under water and to ward off the crushing pressure, and sent off in four dirrections, Alurana and Draknor, and Talia and Annah in pairs. When the first pulse of Alzor's ritual reached them, they were to drive the weapons into the ground.

It was no more then a few minuets before a green ring of energy passed by them, and they drove down the weapons down. Magical Energy crackled through them like a bolt of lightning, and then everything went black...

Campaigning

2006-01-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

It's important to know that more then one D&D game is going on in/around Messiah College. (The Subject of a MORPG - Messiah's Organization of Role Players and Gamers - Is another post entirely).

First of all, I think that there are way more people/D&D groups around campus then anyone things. I'm constantly finding out about a friend of a friend who DM's for a group of twelve, because they only have one person who DM's and he can't run two games.

Secondly, I think that the reason the myth of D&D as being satanic has been so long-lived, is because people who play it are so secretive. "What are you up to tonight?" "uhh... hanging out with some friends...nothing really". I'm not suggesting that we all shout it from the mountain tops, but be honest about it if someone asks. What is it your doing? Interactive storytelling, using dice to determine the outcome. That happens to be called D&D in my case, but the same system is used for other settings such as Star Wars. I haven't heard that Star Wars is Evil, so it can't be the role-playing aspect. Nor can it be the fantasy setting, since LoTR has shown that Fantasy can be both popular and have Christian Undertones.

And the last reason that I'll be talking about my game, is because it makes for great posting material.

Geek Status

2006-01-19T08:33:00.000-05:00

39.25049%

Dang Close to The Next Rank...

I'm Late for Work

Andrew Made Me Do It

2006-01-19T00:53:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Sigil, the City of Doors.

In other news, Chad got a Blog. Details to Follow.