Plague_Crafter's Xanga

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:05:21 GMT

Dear Phil,
When running a campaign based around insanity, remember these helpful hints for the future:

1. When deliberately making things not make sense to help fit the genre of The Far Realm or other similar things, only make these things extraneous. If this things affect the party's decision making, they will be likely be incapable of determining what's important and what's not.
2. Your party will not pick up that something is a red herring. They will keep it until level 20, looking for any edge they can get with it.
3. Do not ever let on that something else is smarter than your party. This will make them feel scared and likely make them make rash decisions.
4. When trying to add certain elements that only certain party members know about, make sure that party member is a valid team player prior to making it 'their fact'.
5. Forgo the idea that the party will look at something and rationalize it by saying, "It's not supposed to make sense."
6. Do not punish chaotic decisions. This makes you seem like a railroader. If he breaks open the trough of acid, it won't affect anything else in the dungeon.
7. Point out every detail in rooms, even if the party doesn't ask for them, because if they find it later after they think about it, and you didn't mention it before, you're at fault for not hinting to it.
8. Books are too constricting, improvising will meet your party's needs.
*8. Addendum: So help you God if you improvise something that you haven't fully thought out because it seemed cool at the time
9. Everything in the world can be broken. This includes walls, floors, and ceilings. If given enough time, a party can tunnel out and skip everything.
10. No math, even if it's simple.

[ Will try harder next time. =/ ]

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:55:24 GMT

Am I good enough?

What do you think of me?

[I care.]

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:39:00 GMT

Roll with the punches, right?

[Pick your battles.]

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:35:38 GMT

Anything's better than nothing.
So let's raise our glasses.

[Cheers.]

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:36:32 GMT

Xanga, I came to you thinking I should post because it has been a long time, but to be completely honest, I don't really have anything to say.

I think I preface almost every post with that, and then I say a bunch of stuff anyway. S'weird. Maybe I'll just revert to the way things were when I'd just post about my day and how I thought of things. Let's give that a go.

I woke up today. Somewhere around 2:30PM, I think. Got a...little too long shower. Felt good, so I let it be. Rolled my way upstairs and threw some dirty clothes on. Played Disciples pretty much from the moment I went back downstairs until I left for some lunch. I decided the Empire is my favorite race to play. They're all awesome, and grimdark, and baroque, and fun in their own way, but I like the Empire's ideals and aesthetics the best, methinks. Hopped in the car, gave Kurt a customary bye-five and ran to Chipotle. Chicken fajita with everything on it and a sparkling grapefruit, like usual. Ran back, found Kurt on the couch with the TV, same as I left him, sat down, proceeded to continue playing Disciples and eating my Chipotle like a nerd with a fork. Some other people arrived for the later DnD we'd be playing, Kurt and Tommy retreated to play Alpha Centauri, I followed Gameboy in hand. Pokemon Yellow. Feeling classy, fuck yeah Parasect. Hung out with 'em, watched their game go to shit, had a good time. McNerney showed up, it was time to DM some good times. We sat down and had us a session, the room smelled of the saurkraut they'd made a second ago and we're eating. Cracked open some Dews, got our sheets and threw some dice around. The party is on a Demiplane named The Last Resort ruled by some Fey Druids from badass town with badass flags and the spell, 'Badass' whose DC to resist is 2badass. They went on their four part quest to return home, and attempted to steal a Titan's champion belt from him while he slept. He awoke, and was jovial to have guests. They sat down to dinner and talked him up, not sure what to expect from this strangely calm and unsettling god-like man. Halfway through dinner while the party attempts to entertain him, he flies off the handle and misinterprets what they say as insulting. Smashes his fist through the middle of the table which breaks in a billion directions and hurts everyone. Draws his warhammer and shouts like Macho Man Randy Savage. He is quite insane. Not like, super powered or something, but actually insane. Believes the PC's are a pod of rampaging land-whales. No joke. He fights, but his schizophrenia gets the better of him consistently, and despite his god-like powers he only gets one or two good hits off before the PC's realize that a CR 21 creature can and does only have 10 Dex, which they proceed to damage unerringly. He becomes paralyzed at 0 Dex, and mutters crazily as they consistently coup de gras his immovable body and steal his loot. Mutters things about killing a Minotaur, thanks Kord for bringing him visitors, laughs as they tear into his flesh, and upon dying screams that he's free and melts away. PC's are busy going, "Woah. That was fucking terrifying." We end the session pretty much after that. The dinner party and subsequent fight took a long time. Played from about 9PM to 1AM. I read a new book after that. Everyone started dropping off, sleeping, driving home, what have you, and yet again, I'm here at 3:20AM, playing music and typing away at Xanga feeling significantly less alone than I probably should.

Life's good, Xanga. Times have been tough, I guess, but it helps to cultivate into this person that I am, and I really like me, so I can't think that going back and changing anything would be a good idea. So, live on, I say. What doesn't kill us...well, okay, what doesn't kill us doesn't exactly make us stronger, but some of it can. And some of it does. And...Well, at least enough of it has that it helps me deal with everything that hasn't. Regardless, we can say that what doesn't kill us certainly does make us...different. And whether that different is good or bad, I don't know if I can say, I'm really not a great judge of my own character. But I feel good. Feel like a good person. I know I try really hard, anyway. Crazy over the top sacrifices of my financial, physical, or emotional resources seem to make other people feel really good, which makes me feel pretty good. Makes me feel like I'm a good friend, y'know? A good person, you might say. So, I keep throwing money at vacations when my friends are a little strapped for something like gas and groceries, and I forgive people for doing terrible things to me, and I give my friends rides places and help them move. No, not every time, I'm not Superman. I pick my battles. There are times when I need to help myself, you know?

It's just that sometimes I'm not sure what other people think of me. I know, I know, I'm a spank for caring what other people think, right? What a moron. But I really do. I'm a social being, and I really do thrive on others' opinions. I feel there's a distinct difference between caring about what they say, and changing myself to fit it. If someone thinks I should be more self-serving, I wouldn't blindly change to fit that bill, but I'd like to know, you know? Sometimes I'm not sure if my own opinion is enough to guide my development. I mean, at the very least, I'd like to take other peoples' opinions into account, you know? Try to make everyone happy.
Well shit, that's an impossibility, innit? Probably shouldn't have said that, actually. Okay, okay, so I don't care to make everyone happy. Just those that I care most about. Okay, really, I guess I'm only out to make myself happy. Which I feel is still cool, because I derive a lot of happiness from making other people feel good and being a good person, right? So it's not like I'm being selfish is it? Hmm. That is a strange way to think of it. If I'm doing a good act because it makes me feel good, is my motivation still good?...Actually, what difference should it make? If I'm helping that old woman across the street because it makes me feel good inside and improves others' opinions of me, maybe it's selfish. If I help her across because I plan to extort money from her for helping her and I want her to owe me a favor, that's pretty definitely selfish. And that I know I'm not doing. So, I'd be more in the gray area. And to be honest, that gray area doesn't bother me at all, because at the end, whether or not I feel good about it doesn't matter as much as whether or not SHE feels good about crossing the street. If I derive good feelings about helping her, that doesn't hurt her. So, fuck no, I refuse to admit that's selfish.

Enjoying what I do does not make what I do a selfish act. Making it a selfish act requires effort on my part. That's a good statement to come away with, I think.

Yeah. Feels good, tonight. I'ma go sleep off this lovin' feelin' and wake up fucking ready for some fucking Bdubs. It's good to be back home. I miss the serenity of vacation, but god damn to be placed back in the mortal coil where I can do real good and get my hands dirty makes me feel so fucking human.

[Nothing really to say.]

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:17:49 GMT

Remember when I told you I'd use you as that stationary form of self-important information that I haven't done in so long? Tonight's the night, dear Xanga. Alphabetically.

- Calderic -
10 Psychic Warrior/10 Warmind
Earth Genasi
Spiked Chain used with Graft, not for tripping, just mashing
Huge emphasis on Psionic Focus, Psycrystal in addition to hold a charge of it
Power Attacking with Deep Impact, Greater Psionic Weapon, etc.
Power emphasis on buffing attacks and mobility, using reach and size to great effect
Nordic focus, Son of Ymir, fluff, heavily invested in earthen tradition
Amnesiac, wakes up alone, disinterested in finding old life, believes it won't work out as he plans
Packaged Talriic texts, adressed to Calderic, assumes it as name
Chaos Marauder basis, aesthetically

- Hands Which Cut Flint -
8 Totemist/2 Barbarian/10 Totem Rager
Half-Orc
Girallon Arms/Ankheg Breastplate for numerous claw attacks and bite
Pounce, Reckless Charge, Reckless Rage, Cobalt Rage, Cobalt Charge, etc.
Totemist Soulmelds overriding magical item slots, slight moral opposition to wealth and greed
Iriquois flavor, feather across eye level, furs, teeth, etc.
Illiterate, largely not logically minded, poor math skills, no concept of ownership, primitive in a sense
Prophecied to go insane and hurt tribesmen, leaves of own accord, despite their attempts at help
Forest Hunter basis, aesthetically

- Ikkitaga Kha Wokuhoo gi Inaktuma, Bright Flash of Burning Sand and Shining Wind -
13 Druid/5 Nature's Warrior/2 Warshaper
Bhuka
Rejuvenator and Shapeshifter Variants
Drift Magic only, dessication, sand, earth descriptors, etc.
Ashworm form, Saguaro Sentinel form, Condor form, Earth Elemental Form
Numerous contingent spells buffing natural armor, deflection bonus, natural attacks, etc.
Shock Trooped tactical feat, bullrushing as Saguaro Sentinel
Navajo flavor, huge Spirt Mask, extensive body painting, stringing
Creature forms retain paint whorls, semblance of Spirit Mask
Wife was high ranking elder, was unable to stop her untimely passing, left of own accord to prove strong enough
Sen'Jin basis, aesthetically

- Mechaelus Arstor, Disciple of the Ironwright Rennaissance -
11 Paladin/2 Fighter/5 Occult Slayer/2 Exotic Weapon Master
Human
Holy Warrior Variant
Uses Repeating Crossbow/War Spikard with Quickdraw
Values technology over the arcane, distrusts arcane chaos
Emulates all class features/magical abilities with technological prowess
Heavily armored, rides a clockwork mount(Krash)
Smites magic users above other targets
Tesla armor, magnetic shield, static flywheel, interlocking gear armor, exosuit limb structure, etc.
Classy Industrial Revolution flavor, uncommonly knowledgable vocabulary, eccentric
Leaves to profess the truth of the Ironwright Rennaissance after magical cultists burn down first chapel, works for church, family, and community
"I can not recommend highly enough that you use rather more circumspect selection of your next verbal lexemes, my good man..."
Cygnar basis, aesthetically

- Wallup Hopperfist -
4 Monk/6 Swordsage/10 Shadowsun Ninja
Grippli
Maneuvers and Flurrying, throwing in Stunning Fist attempts
Numerous Shadow Hand/Setting Sun/Tiger Claw stances, boosts, counters, strikes
Shadowsun Ninja specialties
Huge Flurry of Blows with Snap Kick attached, boosted with Raging Mongoose/Dancing Mongoose
Enormous movement speed increase, Slow Fall, Ki Pool
Intuitive Attack/Shadow Blade, Double Wisdom to attack, Str/Dex to damage
Tiger Claw using Grippli's frog-like musculature, leaping about frequently
Strike in and out, Sneak Attack, Throw target off balance, Leap on them to attack, etc.
Trained secretly from birth to combat warring Lizardfolk tribe, unsuccessful leads to village enslavement, escapes
Hashshashin flavor, Saracen belief system, slightly xenophobic, collected, precise, obsessive even
Altair basis, aesthetically

- Vevewhu, Proclaimer of the World Tree -
9 Empyrean Monk/6 Ravaged Soul/5 Tattooed Binder
Tortle
Binding Anima spirits, when unbound, Spirit-Wracked, Mute, Palsied
Favors Unarmed strikes, Decisive Strike, and unarmored mobility, Tortle endurance is high on its own
Favored Spirit: Oak of the Broken Sky, refuses to bind with it, simply lets it posess him
Always shows physical signs, bark growth, mossy skin, small tree on shell, etc.
Covered in voodoo fetishes, poultices, incense, chalk, numerous pact seal motifs, etc.
Tattoos cover plastron and carapace, lined blood, creating permanent pact seals
Ki Pool, Snap Kick, Damage Reduction, bonus Unarmed damage, movement speed increases, etc.
Tactical Pactmaking: Tree and Brute/Focal Constellation: Tree/Tree Pact
Personality changes with seasons, labeled a miracle by tribe when binding cured his illnesses, left as a missionary
Wrongeye basis, aesthetically

- Forge ZP-17 -
Artificer 8/Fighter 2/Reforged 2/Warforged Juggernaut 3/Spellcarved Soldier 5
Warforged
Infusions used on self improvement before getting into the thick of combat
Moral opposition to the crafting of magical items, spellstoring, and using wands/staves/scrolls
Uses Animated Battlefist(3-Clamp)/Claw Guantlet and a Spare Hand to hold a Tower Shield
Adamantine Body with Silver Tracery, Spellcarved Runes, armor spikes, very fine clothing
Favors leaping from huge heights to come down on the enemy with full Power Attack/Shocking Fist, absorbing the falling damage
Multiple personalities in 3-Clamp, self, and KLM-Docent, all Lawful
Favors charging/bullrushing before using natural attacks to crush opponents
Interested in experiencing all that being alive and constructed has to offer, refusal to commit wholly to one side, belief in all prominent Warforged philosophies and in the Ironwright Rennaissance, speaks out against Warforged cruelty, slavery, abuse
Master taught Artificing, died naturally, seeking to ressurect the Spellcarved Knights and create a Warforged House in Eberron
Pimpforged basis, aesthetically

[Chaotic Good, Chaotic Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Good, Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Good. Pattern?]

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:38:30 GMT

Evenin', Xanga, how're you?
Just watched a riveting episode of Star Trek and felt like posting. Not about Star Trek, just about...well not about anything, to be completely honest.
You see, Xanga, I really have no inspiration. Well, that's not true, I have inspiration for plenty of things, but none for you. I just simply don't have anything worth writing about. I believe this stems from a lack of stress, which is wholly wonderful. See, I always considered Xanga to have two purposes, one of which was to store information for me to notice at a later time, and one was to be a stress relief system. Writing out thoughts and rationlizing things in real time always tended to be therapeutic to me, and it still is, I should say. However, like many other stress relief systems, it's useless without some kind of stress. Now, this is by no means something bad. In fact, it's likely the opposite. It's likely something wonderful. No stress is a good life, right?
It certainly feels like a good life. I believe it is, to be sure. I wonder once and again, though, if this 'no stress' factor is truly a product of a good life, or if the good life is a product of the 'no stress'. Obviously, no stress can create a good life. Doubly so can a good life make one feel they have no stressors. However, upon closer inspection, it's impossible to find no stressors. They will always exist in some manner, that goes without saying, really. I feel what's more prominent, though, is how one deals with those stressors and their level of response.
Now, don't get me wrong, Xanga. I recall thoroughly that my grandma is breathing down my neck about a few things she's worried about, that my relationship with my mother and sisters is waning rapidly into a non-immediate family, that my proposal to UC's A&S program has yet to be undertaken, that I currently have a bill and police citation for sleepily driving sitting in my room that are both late because I refuse to buy stamps and envelopes for some reason, and that soon, I will be paying rent to live in the upstairs apartment, thus strapping my cash slightly more.
However, as much as I know that all of these things are worth mentioning, I don't feel they warrant my day to day recollection here. Whether or not this is a good thing or bad thing, dealing with my issues on my own is 100% paramount to my success as a human being in my mind. My happiness stems from my belief in my own inner strength. Not that I shun others, no, I'm a social being, significantly so, you might even say; however, the need to inform others of any of these minor tribulations seems largely inconsequential to solving them or even more simply, making me feel more at peace about them. Considering I'm already at peace, I don't feel I require the aid, and I'd rather spend my time having fun than worrying about these things. Now, again, don't misinterpret me, Xanga. Let me be crystal clear when I say this: I solve my problems.
I do, truly. My grandma will be kept at bay by my constant reaffirmations of her doing the right thing and my constant, if feigned, success which I can attribute at least partially to her influence. My relationship with my mother and sisters seems no different than any other college student's at this stage, so I simply can't bring myself to worry about that when they all seem to be doing fine on their own. I will make my case to UC, and the odds of it not being enough for me to enter into their simplest collegiate program are pretty astronomically low; I expect good things to come out of that, I just need every detail I can muster before making this argument, and that takes time and energy, both of which are resources I've got in great number. The police citation does, in fact, issue a warrant for my arrest because I'll be paying it late. Yes it does. And the bill does, in fact, warrant an additional fee. Yes, sir, also correct. But to be honest, I'd rather pay that fee and risk being pulled over than go out and buy envelopes and stamps if I don't feel like it. You know me well enough to understand that's the kind of person I am, Xanga. The path of greatest resistance is not the path of greatest yield. And to be honest, the stipon I'm receiving from my dad's fund raiser up north will pay for half or more of the rent I owe for the upstairs apartment all by itsself, so I find myself completely incapable of worrying about paying $200 a month for the biggest, most furnished, and all around best room in a house full of people I love spending time with.

So, you see, Xanga, it's not that I don't like you. Truly it isn't. It's just that I feel at times that I've outgrown the need for this purpose I always saw for you. Don't take it so hard, dear, I still feel you're half as effective as you originally were, as I still use you as an internet resouce for information about myself and my ideas, as you will soon see. But I felt I simply needed to explain, at least in this convoluted manner, why you may be missing me, and why in that same vein...I'm simply not missing you.

Understand, Famil-....Xanga?

[It's not you, it's me.]

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:06:25 GMT

Thank you.

[Dad.]

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:45:22 GMT

I did my best.

[I did my best.]

Monday, July 06, 2009

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:38:11 GMT

Friday -- Wake up around 2PM, as is customary. Nothin goin on. People comin' over in the evening, drive 'em to Cici's, have a good time, playing Cube and video games and junk. Midnight rolls around, awake.
Saturday -- Hanging with these people until 6AM. Dan's in my bed. Fuckit. I'll just play some Blood Bowl until he gets up. He gets out of bed at 4PM. I drive this other group to get Cici's again. I'm feelin real tired. Hang out with these guys considering I have to leave soon. Drive to Kurt's around 6PM. Tired drivin, but no swerving. Playing Star Wars and Magic. Midnight, awake.
Sunday -- Star Wars and Magic. Drive home around 4AM, feeling confident in my ability to stay awake. I was right. Get home, see the first group still there, playing Street Fighter into wee hours. They start dropping off. Dan's in my bed, Brent on a couch, Guay the other. Street Fighter with Barrow until 8AM, Barrow gets last bed. Fuckit, work on Simic until Dan wakes up. Dan wakes around 12PM. We hang out, they decide we should get burritos. I shower, makes me feel more awake, drive to Chipotle, safely. Come back, more Street Fighter, more Blood Bowl. Jim's 21st birthday is tonight. The first group is long gone, the second group leaves now. The third and largest group files in for Jim's party around 5PM. Party all night. 1:22AM, awake.

83 hours if my near-drunken math is right. Checked this thing for typos around 8 times.
I know what I want to say, and how to, but my fingers don't wanna.
Reach a time somewhere around here where you stop thinking. All you got in your head is ingrained learned abilities, insight, instinct, and fucking truth. Makes a man feel good about life, it does.
My dreams, they gotta kiss me, 'cuz I don't get sleep, no.

=edit 1:39AM=
=edit 2:07AM, 84 hours=

[Feel Good]