sean.blog

...again to Warhammer

2010-07-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

After some very careful consideration, I have decided to jump back in to the world of Warhammer and play some Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I am quite interested in the 8th edition changes. To chronicle my re-entry I have created a new blog, ...again to Warhammer.

Those with an interest in miniatures gaming, and Warhammer in particular should subscribe to that blog.

Disney Traditions

2010-07-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

Melissa and I have developed some traditions over the years going to Disney World. Different places to sit and relax, places to eat, and other fun little things we like to do. Now that we are bringing the kids along, it has been fun to start new traditions. I found it interesting that two of our most common traditions were not done this trip in favor of two new ones that I think will be around for a while.

I miss greatly what was likely our first tradition, a Magic Kingdom lunch of cold fried chicken and chips at Aunt Polly's on Tom Sawyer Island. I remember the first time we went across to the island only to find that they didn't serve lunch anymore, just ice cream. That was a sad day, but not the first time that a Disney change broke up a tradition.

Our two most common traditions are a lunch at the Columbia Harbor House and grabbing some fudge from Main Street. Columbia Harbor House has a nice upstairs seating area, including some tables near the windows overlooking the path from Fantasyland to Liberty Square. This is a fun place to sit as it is well themed and allows you to look out over the park. The food is mostly fried, but that is ok. Our original tradition with the fudge was to get some fudge and then go sit in the cool darkness of the Main Street theater and relax while watching cartoons. Like Aunt Polly's, Disney decided to change the theater to make it into a store. There is still a movie screen showing cartoons, but there is not a good place to sit. We usually still buy fudge, but either take it back to the room or if it is nice out find a side street on Main Street to have a few bites. We did neither of these on this trip though...traditions are changing.

This trip we had dinner at the Pinocchio Village Haus in Fantasyland. We grabbed a table overlooking It's a Small World, and spent a bunch of time waving down at the riders below. Pizza and pasta is on the menu at PVH, so it is a bit different from Columbia Harbor. Being able to watch the boys favorite ride, and wave was a big hit. We also did our breakfast on Main Street of cinnamon rolls and coffee. This was fun, though it was a bit crowded. We actually "ate" here twice. On a previous night at the Magic Kingdom we grabbed a few danish to bring back to the room for the following mornings breakfast. I think we are going to spend a bit more time on Main Street like this, it was a fun change of pace.

Do you have family traditions relating to Disney?

Disney Day 5 - One Last Day

2010-07-02T00:15:00.000-05:00

Another late night, and another early morning. What did I say about killing the kids again? We had not gotten a chance to ride on any of the kids rides in the Magic Kingdom because the lines were just too long. Tuesday was early entry at the Magic Kingdom and even though we did not get back to the room till late we decided to get up early to be at the gates by 8:00 am. We skipped breakfast figuring that we could grab something at the parks, and made it in plenty of time for the opening ceremonies.

We headed straight back to Fantasyland, and over to Peter Pans Adventure. It wasn't running. I was pretty sad by this as it is my favorite in Fantasyland. We grabbed a fast pass and went to ride Snow White and Winnie the Pooh. By the time we got back to Peter Pan the ride was open and the line was already at a 10 minute wait. Iain is kinda funny about rides. Going into this trip you could not get him to even consider Peter Pan or Snow White because they were both too scary. I am not sure if this is because we took him on them when he was younger and he got scared or if it is just an odd Iain thing. Not an issue anymore though, because he liked both rides. Liam just loves looking at everything so any ride is good for him. We road Small World one last time before departing Fantasyland for Liberty Square and the Haunted Mansion.

This ride really does scare the crap out of Iain. However, he also seemed to do much better with it this time around. He even joked about the stretching room later. The park was open by this point and we decided it as time for breakfast. We headed to Main Street with the idea of grabbing a nice quiet breakfast at the bakery. We did have a nice breakfast, but man was that place packed. Melissa waited in line and the boys and I scouted out a table. Worked out well in the end. I think we have a new tradition. :)

We headed back to Kidani after our morning at the Magic Kingdom and decided to go for a swim. The pool is really nice, as is the kids area. We played for an hour when I asked Iain if he wanted to try the big slide. To my surprise he said yes. He and I went up, and I went down first. I waited at the bottom and a few seconds later I could hear a WEEEEEEE as he came sliding down on his back. He loved it and he rode about 6 more times. We grabbed a bite to eat poolside before heading back to the room for some napping. Even Iain took a short nap this time, which was good, although not enough.

Our last night at the parks was spent at EPCOT. We went to The Seas first and after the ride Iain wanted to go to the Crush show. For those who have not been the Crush show features Crush the Sea Turtle from Nemo. He talks to an interacts with the audience. It is a very cool show, and all the kids get to sit in the front and ask questions. We were shocked to see Iain raise his hand and hear him ask a question very clearly. We were sooooooo proud of him, mostly because we figured his question would have been about poop. :) We rode on Living with the Land, which I thought Iain would like and he did. Dinner was at the Tangerine Cafe in Morocco followed by the Illuminations fireworks show. Iain decided to through a fit, which made the show less than enjoyable. The park as open for 3 extra hours that night and Iain was ready to ride Test Track. He and I braved the 30 minute line and he seemed to really like the ride. He held on to me pretty tight for most of it. They joke about using a barricade crash test during the ride, but Iain was not sure it was a joke. I had to promise him that we would not hit anything.

We moved on to Journey into Imagination. I love Figment, and I loved the original ride. The new one is OK, but from the lack of any lines (pretty much ever) I have to worry about the future of this ride. I had hoped that Captain EO would be playing while we were there, but it does not open till this Friday. Iain would have liked to see it, as he has been on a bit of a Michael Jackson kick recently. The night wrapped up with a ride on Spaceship Earth. I love this ride because it represents the last of the original Animatronic rides that I remember from the park opening. Horizons and World of Motion are gone and I hope we can keep Spaceship Earth relatively unchanged. I will say that I was disappointed not to see the chariots riding off into the distance in the Rome scene. I hope that is not gone for good.

We made it back to the room a little before 1:00 am and did a bit of packing. It was time to go home in the morning.

Disney Day 4 - Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-06-29T14:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to me, I'm at Disney... We started my birthday by sleeping in. Last nights late park departure, along with the heat of our time at the water park took it's toll. I did get a cool rock slice from the boys that they found at one of the gift shops at Animal Kingdom which was cool. Melissa grabbed me a birthday button and we headed off to Animal Kingdom.

Iain loves both the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows at Animal Kingdom, and we did not get to see Lion King on our previous visit so we had to go back. We got to the park about 30 minutes before the 1 o'clock showing, and headed straight to Camp Minnie Mickey. The show was good, we sat in the elephant section. I need to mention our lunch, which we had immediatly after the show. In my opinion, the best counter service meal option at Animal Kingdom, and perhaps the entire of WDW is Flame Tree Barbaque. They server a 1/2 rack of ribs with beans and coleslaw. The ribs are really, really good and you can get a sweet and spicy bbq sauce on the side. Love eating at this place, especially since the various seating areas are nicely hidden in the trees. The eatin areas over look the waters around Asia and are covered. People often do not realize that there is seating further back which means you can often get a good seat with very little effort.

We rode on the safari ride and saw Tough to be a Bug before departing Animal Kingdom to head to the room and take a nap. There was not much napping, and the return visit was short as we needed to get to the Magic Kingdom for dinner.

Dinner was at Cinderella's Royal Table inside of the castle at the Magic Kingdom. This is something that, as far as I can remember, I have never done before. We checked in at about 7:45 for our 8:10 reservation. Shortly before, both boys fell asleep (there was not much napping earlier if you recall). The first thing you do is get a picture with Cinderella. Our pictures are pretty funny. Liam is crying and Iain is hiding his face. Oh well. The boys proceeded to fuss until we sat down at the table. Iain was not happy with the kids menu choices and wanted our steaks. Liam ate a little of everything, and a lot of sometings. Infants get complimentary pasta, but he also had his brothers fruit and mashed potatoes, some steak and a bunch of bread. Liam knows how to eat! Princesses are the characters at this dinner and we saw Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Ariel. Iain was too shy to talk to any of them, he just stared. Liam and I got our pictures take with the princesses though. Dinner ended with a birthday cake purchased by mom and the boys. We were a little full though and just blew out the candle and sang happy birthday. We stayed long enough to catch the 10pm fireworks from inside the castle. This was quite a cool experience, as many of the launchers are on buildings right next to the castle.

After dinner we road Small World (again), and ended the day riding Dumbo. I am pretty sure that was a first for all of us. It is a fun ride, but I don't think I would ever ait more than the 10 minutes we did wait. After Dumbo the park was closed and we walked out in the direction of Liberty Square. We were fortunate to find that the Main Street Electgrical parade had not gone by yet, and there was a huge unbclamied section of rope. We sat down to watch the parade. Iain loved it, especially the Pinochio float.

It was a great birthday, capped off by a suprise goody basket waiting in the rooom for me. Filled candy and rice krispie treats the center piece is a big sized stuffed Mickey. We had to get to bed as it was 1 o'clock and we needed to get up in just 4 hours...

Disney Day 3 - How to kill your kids and have fun doing it

2010-06-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

Day three turned out pretty interesting. The plan was for Blizzard Beach in the AM followed by a long, long night at the Magic Kingdom (extra magic hours open till 2:00 am). We actually carried through with it, and were at the park until darn near 1 am. Backing up earlier in the day though...

We headed to Blizzard Beach before the opening at 9:00. A partially successful departure had us well prepared for everything except that we forgot Liam's swim shirt. No big deal as Melissa and I had decided we wanted some as well. After some new shirts, a locker rental, and a bit of time to change we hit Tykes Peak for some kid slides and splashing. Liam was not really sure what to expect, but Iain had a blast. He road on the little kids slides a number of times in a row. We finally talked him in to leaving to ride the lazy river, which was a blast. Liam with mom (napping) and Iain with me. Mom and Liam stayed in for a second ride around, while Iain and I tried to find a "big" slide he would ride on. He would not attempt any of the really big slides, but did love Cool Runners. We road it about 15 times. Liam started to look pretty fried, so we had some lunch, changed and headed back to the room.

When we returned we rented a copy of the Power Rangers movie from the resort, and Iain watched it. Liam tried to nap, and tried to eat but instead decided the projectile vomiting would be better. Not surprisingly he felt a bit better after that. A visit from house keeping and the carpet cleaning guy behind us and we left for the Magic Kingdom and a spot of dinner. We had reservations at Crystal Palace, but they were a bit late (8:45) and decided to just eat at Pinocchio Village Haus instead. We got a table overlooking It's A Small World with no problems and ate. Liam downed a lot of pizza crust and some green beans which seemed to make him feel better.

We went to ride Small World after dinner, and Iain did not want to go. Finally he gave us his usual drawn out OK, and we got on the ride in the very front. Short story is that he loved the ride, and that was the first of four rides. He sings along and loves to look for new things he hasn't noticed before. Liam likes it even more I think and dances, points, and talks the whole time. The evening at the MK progressed well and we ended the regular park hours on a sleepy Jungle Cruise. e followed that up with our first extra magic hours ride on Pirates. Iain was scared, but in the end decided it was not to bad.We walked over to Frontier Land to see if we could ride Big Thunder. Iain would not go on but Melissa and I did. The boys fell asleep. We walked over to Space Mountain after, because we had not ridden since the"update". It was a 30 minute wait so we used a baby swap and I waited in line. So disappointed! I am not sure they really updated much that was worthwhile, certainly not worth 30 minutes. Liam woke up while I was on the ride and fussed for mom. He was pretty warm when I got off so I stripped him down to his diaper. He thought that was fun and calmed down. It as a late night, we were all beat, but we had a good time.

Disney Fun Day Two

2010-06-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

Our first full day of Disney was split between Disney's Animal Kingdom and our hotel at Animal Kingdom Kidani Villas. We started off with a trip to ride Dinosaur, a ride that Iain was just a hair too short for last year. No height issues this year and we headed in while mom waited with Liam. Iain didn't seem to nervous as we headed into the ride briefing room. I am not sure what he thought of the movie, but he did ask me to carry him as we left to board the ride itself. We were the first people in line and rode in the front of the time rover vehicle. No one else was in the front with us so we sat in the middle. As soon as I had him belted in he started to get a look of uncertainty on his face. Shortly after the ride started forward he told me he was scared. When the ride slowed down to look at the "nice" dinosaurs he relaxed, but it quickly jumps back to fast and furious with lots of "bad" dinosaurs. He was very brave, but I don't think he will be riding again for a while.

We followed up our harrowing experience on Dinosaur with our traditional Animal Kingdom Tusker House character breakfast. It was Liam's turn to be scared as Mickey, Daisy and Goofy (especially Goofy) came by for a visit. Iain got big hugs from all of his old friends and had a great time. Safari rides, Finding Nemo and some lunch pretty much wiped Liam out and we headed back to the room. Mom and Iain went swimming and Liam napped. After naps and pool time we went to eat at Sanaa here at Kidani Villas. It is an African themed restaurant with a touch of India to the cuisine. The food was good, and terribly high priced. I realize now that I do not like curries, at all. Iain, who didn't nap fell asleep on the table at dinner, and cried a bit when we oke him up to leave. He was better soon enough though as we spent a few hours at the very nice resort pool to end the day. Both boys went to sleep with no fuss, and I did some laundry. : )

Mickey and the family

Dinner naps...yum!

Great trip so far, with Iain behaving very, very well. Amazing how well he has behaved.

Disney Day One

2010-06-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

We are taking our regular Disney vacation this week using our Disney Vacation Club points. We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Kidani Village which is our home resort. This is our first time staying here and we are very, very impressed.

The room is just like we remember seeing the staged room when bought our membership. The master bath is huge with an enormous shower. The decor is exactly what we wanted in a room. Having this much space is what makes the DVC membership worthwhile. Full kitchen, a separate bedroom and two baths make things very nice.

It really doesn't hurt that I just got Liam to fall asleep while sitting on our balcony watching a couple of Giraffe and Ancole Cattle graze on the savanna below. We walked over to check out the pool, an Iain was ready to jump right in and play...

Of course we are still waiting, over four hours now, for our luggage from Magical Express. I think perhaps we will just pick it up ourselves in the future.

The most important thing though is that we thought we would need to split our trip between Kidani and Saratoga Springs. Saratoga was nice, but we really want to stay at "home". I have been calling twice a day for the past week trying to get a room here for the last two nights of the trip, and met with zero success. I asked at check in though and they were able to extend our stay here. I am sooooo happy about that!

Pictures from the trip can be found on Picasa. Video can be found on You Tube.

Splash Zone

2010-06-06T20:47:00.001-05:00

Let the kids play in the splash area at the mall today. Liam fell and bumped his head and Iain...well, best to see for yourself.

2010-05-17T22:49:00.001-05:00

Playing with the new Seesmic, now with Ping.FM integration. Curious to see how this will work. http://bit.ly/aqJQAt

Way to go Liam!

2010-04-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

Finally he has decided to walk! He took multiple steps, multiple time today. Now is brother is in big trouble. :)

What goes around, comes around (Or how my kids are just as messy as I was)

2010-03-30T22:36:00.000-05:00

I remember quite clearly the mess we made of our playroom as kids. The entire third floor attic of the house was given over to a mass of toys. I have a picture in my mind of us wading through a sea of toys dumped out carelessly on the floor. It was not a place for parents, it was a place for kids. However, a few times a year my mom would venture into the attic, ziplocks in hand, to clean up the mess and get things organized. I am sure that all the hard work to clean was soon returned to it's more "natural" messy space.

My kids (mostly Iain) are no different. The toy room is quickly turned from clean to disaster after each weeks game night when Iain and friends attack. Each week I take to the room to try and get it cleaned up. I know that it is going to get messy again as soon as the kids get back in there, but I clean anyway.

To make things a bit easier, we took a trip to IKEA this past weekend to get a few things to help organize all of the toys. I bet my mom would have preferred a system like this to the ziplocks and tubs she used 30 years ago.

Buckets, shelves, and a hanging frog.

Hanging wall organizers, and more buckets

Dear Amazon Kindle Team:

2010-03-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

Please stop making all of these platform specific applications! I don't want to install the Kindle application on all of my devices. Please, please make an amazing web application for reading my Kindle content. Take a look at what Gmail has done for e-mail and replicate that for reading e-books. Give me a web interface to my library with a nice, rich HTML (not Flash) reading experience. Give me a great full screen reading environment that takes advantage of touch screens and keyboards to navigate pages. Make an application that works great on my laptop, but also scales down to my netbook and to my phone. You only have to look at what Gmail has done on the Android and iPhone platforms to get an idea of how much functionality you can bring to a mobile device.

I just have to think that we would have one amazing web application by now if the effort was not being wasted on getting bare bones functionality through a dozen platform specific apps.

Was Stickybits the best name?

2010-03-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

Stickybits is the newest social media thing. Everyone at SXSW this year got a pack of stickers (I am not there unfortunately) and I decided to check out what the buzz was all about. The idea is interesting, scan any barcode (or download and stick one to anything) and leave a picture, audio file or comment about whatever it was you scanned. Anyone can see (or hear) the other attachments left on barcodes. Stickybits sells barcode stickers ($9.95 for 20) that you can attach to anything, cards and shirts, and they also allow you to download barcodes. The Stickywiki has some interesting ideas for how to use your barcodes. I think that the Geocaching option is a good one, as is the idea to scan a box of food and share a recipe.

An application for Android and the iPhone is available. The Android app seems a bit flaky on my Nexus One, it says it is processing a lot, but it works. Stickybits lets you login using Facebook Connect which makes account creation easy for Facebook users.

I created a barcode to attach to this site. You can scan it and add anything you want. :)

Remebering Linus

2010-02-27T11:54:00.000-06:00

We made the difficult decision today to have Linus euthanized. Over the past two years his health has deteriorated, culminating in him loosing about 1/2 his body weight over the past few months. Thyroid problems led to kindey problems and eventually even some cancer.

We got Linus about 11 years ago after we bought our first house. Kramer needed a friend (so he would stop being such a meany), and Linus fit the bill well. Linus was just a little black & white fuzz ball when we picked him up at the SPCA. We choose him because he liked playing with my hat. He stayed little for maybe a year then decided to grow, and grow and grow into a nearly 20 pound giant. He was a good lap cat, although a bit on the heavy side at times. Linus was our greeter cat, and generally our only cat to be seen when company was here. He ran up to anyone who came for a visit, to say hi and get petted. He loved climbing ladders and eating turkey at Thanksgiving.

I am sure Linus had a good life. He will be missed by everyone who got to know him.

Chrome Extension Crazy

2010-01-26T22:49:00.002-06:00

Google recently announced that extensions are now available in the stable release of Google Chrome. I have gone pretty nuts on installing extensions in Chrome. What started off as just one or two essentials has now bloomed into 19 installed extensions. I am not noticing any reduced performance which is good, although I gradually worked my way up to 19 so perhaps it is just that I was able to get used to the reduction in speed.

These are the extensions I am using. I have updated my list of Chrome extensions that I am using. You can see a complete list of my extension use, including extensions I am not using anymore at: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dg3nwtbg_331d8ww5dhh ~~Extensions in bold are the ones that I most highly recommend. Extensions with an * next to them replaced functionality I used to have in a bookmarklet.~~
Are you using Chrome? How many extensions are you running? Any must have extensions I am missing here?

Slideshow

IE Tab (Only at work)

Google Voice

Google Similar Pages

Google Sidewiki

Google Reader - Note in Reader

Google Quick Scroll

Google Mail Checker

Google Dictionary

Feedly

Docs PDF Preview

Blog This! for Blogger

AdThwart

Add to Amazon Wishlist

Add Google Bookmark

Unread Bookmarks

Send to Google Docs

Snippy

Readability

Hello from Android Land

2010-01-14T00:25:00.001-06:00

I grabbed a new apparently called Blogaway that allows me to post to my Blogger blogs. Seems to work well.

Even lets me include cute pictures of the kids, like this one of Liam sleeping after draining a bottle of milk.

Mystery Campaign - Week One Recap

2010-01-10T22:34:00.000-06:00

This past week marked the kickoff of my 4th edition D&D campaign for 2010. The campaign ran players from 2nd till 6th level last year and represented the first time since the early 90's that I ran a regularly scheduled roleplaying game campaign and my first ever D&D campaign. Things were a bit rough in "season 1" but I have high hopes for the campaign this year which looks like it will bring the players to at least level 12.

The players started off in Winterhaven, having defeated Kalarel and his minions in both the keep and Winterhaven itself. "Season one" of the campaign was a mix of the Keep on the Shadowfell module and some home written stuff. One of the major story arcs is the discovery of a number of ancient artifacts, the Sou Daggers of Orcus, which were made long ago in the great Demon/Dragon wars. My campaign is set in the land of Treayal, and is the back drop for all of the campaign work I am doing in 4e.

The party journeyed to visit the last member of an otherwise dead race of ratmen named Nicodemus (yea not that original). He bargained with a demon long ago to gain eternal life so that he may find a way to re-make his race again. His age and power as a sorcerer give him great wisdom, and he knows of the soul daggers. After imparting some knowledge to the party he suggests that a visit to the Feywild is in order. One of the party members died in the previous part of the campaign and was revived by a scroll. The scroll did restore her life, but also bound her to Orcus. Nicodemus suggests that a visit to an old Eladrin scholar may prove useful in removing the taint from the scroll. The party agrees and are shown to one of the boundaries between this world and the Feywild.

Upon arrival the party was shocked by how dense the forest was in the Feywild. They were also surprised to see a cave guarded by 3 huge Fomorians. Fortunately, the party was able to successfully sneak past the guards without raising suspicion. They found there way to the Eladrin enclave to meet the scholar only to find that he was not there. It seems that other members of the Eladrin race took an interest in his work, and hoped that they could use it to defeat their enemies. They took him captive to try and extract the information they needed (the key to library in his enclave). It was up to the party to rescue the scholar before it was too late.

It did not take the party long to find the prisoner, or his captors. The party found out the hard way how powerful the bows of the Eladrin can be, and the Eladrin were almost successful in carting off their prisoner to deeper parts of the forest. The Eladrin underestimated the power of the poison cloud spell, and soon found how how quickly it can dismantle a well organized attack. The Eladrin surrendered to the party and released the captive. The night ended with the party returning the scholar to his home for medical attention and rest.

It was an interesting evening of play. I felt that the game ran much more smoothly than some of the games in the past did. There was a lot of intro material to set up where things were headed in "season 2". There were also a number of skill challenges. In fact the entire night only had one combat encounter (although others were possible). I think we had a great kick off, leading to more of the story unfolding this week.

Go Buy a Pogoplug

2010-01-10T17:39:00.000-06:00

Like many geeks, I was first introduced to the Pogoplug at CES last year. This small power plug adapter with a computer inside that would let me connect to an external (USB) hard drive drive from anywhere in the world. It has worked very well over the past year, and I was pretty happy to see some video of the updated model from CES this year. The Pogoplug is an awesome netbook accessory as it gives you basically unlimited storage in your own personal cloud for a one time purchase price (there is no monthly/annual fee to use the Pogoplug).

Pogoplug has client software for Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android. I loaded up the software on my Nexus One yesterday and could not login. I was 100% sure that I was typing in the correct password and decided to fire off a message to support. The reason I am telling you to go buy a Pogoplug is because of the support experience I had with today, and every other time I have contacted them in the past. Today is Sunday, I submitted my question online at 9:35 this morning. At 9:36 it was assigned to the correct tech (and I got a personal e-mail telling me so) and we had the issue resolved by 2:00. The resolution was actually a workaround, one I was fine doing, but I have been told by support that they will follow up when the full resolution is in place. I have no doubt I will receive the update when the resolution is available.

Pogoplug offers a great product that works like they say it will. They offer top tier support from people who obviously know the product very well. If you have not already looked into Pogoplug I would strongly suggest you do.

Gaming with Kids

2010-01-09T22:09:00.000-06:00

Iain loves playing games. Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Chicken Cha Cha Cha to name a few. Even better though is the chance to play with some of dad's games. Recently, he has been very interested in the miniatures and tiles I have for playing Dungeons & Dragons. He sees me setting them up for game night, and sees us playing with them and thinks that he should be able to as well. He has loved rolling dice since he was tiny (so tiny that he should have been no where near dice) and that makes the RPG all that much more interesting.

Recently, a set of rules were published on the Newbiedm blog for playing an rpg like game with kids. The idea was exactly the situation I was seeing with Iain. I downloaded the rules and we had the chance to try them out a few times. Iain really likes it. Basically, I dump out my miniatures on the floor and let him pick four guys he likes. I set up some tiles and makeup a bit of a story to go along. He has always been a fan of making up stories, and this is one of his favorite parts of playing.

Last time we played he had the chance to explore the mummies tomb and fight off the mummy kings skeleton guards and pet spider. His goal was to defeat the mummy king and collect the treasure, he was successful. The game is very simple, combats involve dicing with d12's with the higher number winning. There are a couple of simple modifiers which can cause a bit of trouble though. Each fighter/monster in the game has two wounds, and after they have taken one wound take a -1 penalty on their rolls. This modifier is difficult for him to understand (perhaps because there is nothing visual to denote it). The other modifier, a +2 for having an extra friendly attacker in contact with the same enemy, is much easier for him to grasp. We are working on it though, and he is getting better.

We roll dice, and use our fingers to determine the totals with modifiers. He has to determine which roll is higher, and he loves this part...when his is higher. He is a good sport though, and has never complained when one of his party members goes down. It is a very fast game to play, which makes it ideal for a four year old.

We have played three times, and he has won two of the games. Typically the victory is enough for him, but in the last game when he found the treasure it turned out to be 45 cents for his piggy bank. You cannot go wrong with real treasure right?

If you have young kids, kids to young to play the real games with, I highly recommend you try out this simple set of rules. They work great with D&D miniatures and the D&D tiles as well. Even if you don't have the tiles, any grid surface will work. The movement for the game is set base on squares which makes it very easy to count. The is a great way to teach kids simple arithmetic, and does a great job of teaching how to understand and follow rules. If you give the game a try be sure to let me and the NewbieDM know how it goes.

I tried to get Iain to record a video with me to talk about playing the game, but he decided to watch They Might Be Giants instead.

Day One with the Nexus One

2010-01-09T21:35:00.000-06:00

Not that it should come as any surprise to those who know me, but I did buy an unlocked Nexus One
earlier this week. For those living under a shell, or simply not as geeky as me, the Nexus One is a new smartphone running the Android operating system that was designed by Google and HTC. The phone was built buy HTC, but it is sold by Google direct. This is Google's first foray into the direct sales market for Android phones (or anything else for that matter), and appears to be an attempt to slowly shake up the way that mobile phones are sold in the US.

Prior to receiving the Nexus One I was a Blackberry Storm user on the Verizon network. I had the opportunity to carry both the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris, each for a few weeks after they were released. They were my first introductions to the Android OS, and gave me a good idea of what to expect. Making the change from Verizon to T-Mobile was perhaps the hardest part of the transition, especially since T-Mobile coverage is no where near as good as Verizon. I should also point out that I am a heavy user of Google products, and a fairly entrenched fanboy of those products. So why make the switch now?

Unlocked Phone: I really do not like being locked into a contract with a wireless carrier. The Nexus One is sold unlocked (though it is certainly not the only phone) and for full price. This allows me to take advantage of a month to month service plan.
T-Mobiles Plan: I am saving quite a bit of money with the 59.99 plan from T-Mobile. I get 500 minutes of talk with unlimited everything else. The most important part is that this is a month to month price. The only downside I have found is that the month to month plan is not eligible for the discount they give for work.
Android: After using the Droid for two weeks I knew that I needed to switch to Android. I will mention the Gmail client in a bit, but it is just one of the many reasons that heavy Google users should be considering Android.

I have had the phone for a little over a day now. My thoughts on the phone after spending time to configure and play?

The screen is awesome. I have heard people say that they think the screen on the Droid is better, but I disagree. The N1 screen is bright and vivid. Colors look great, and I am not seeing any pixelization. The Droid screen was never as bright or crisp.
The touch screen is pretty good, but I am noticing some times where I need to tap an icon more than once to get it to register. I have also noticed that when I am in the application list I sometimes need to scroll up a little before I can scroll down. My hope is that this can be tweaked via software, because the screen is generally very responsive to touch.
The speed increase over the Droid is noticeable. The phone switches between apps faster, scrolls through lists and web pages faster with less stutter, and flies through the Facebook widget better than on the Droid. The FB widget on the Droid was very slow to switch between posts.
The device itself is thin and light and fits very nicely in the hand. The power button is easy to press, but not so much so that you bump it. The button on the Droid was a pain in the ass to push. I like the inclusion of the trackball. Something like this is a godsend when trying to edit something in the middle of a block of text. The volume rocker on the N1 is as poorly placed and sensitive as the Droid, so easy to bump. It is especially bad when using the camera.
My T-Mobile experience has been great so far. It did take a while for my number to port from Verizon (about 14 hours), but I don't think that is their fault. Phone call quality on the N1 is amazing, better than Verizon in my very limited testing. I am sure this is at least in part due to the phone, but is also a factor of the T-Mobile network.
The network speed at my house for 3G is faster on T-Mobile. With my Storm and N1 right next to each other my N1 is getting 502 Kbps and the Storm is getting...well the Storm hasn't even loaded the test page yet. In general though I am seeing 200 - 400 Kbps faster on T-Mobile around Houston and Pearland.

Let me finish up by saying two things. First, the out of box experience for the N1 was very nice. I am perhaps not the best judge, but it seemed very straight forward and easy. Second, to all of my family and friends who use Verizon, I am sorry but you will need to pay to call me now. Oh and you have no excuse not to use my Google Voice number now. :)

Here are a few useful links about the Nexus One:

Engadget Review
Boy Genius Report Review
Google Reader Items (A collection of interesting links I have saved)
Nexus One Channel You Tube

Too Damn Cold!

2009-12-17T07:54:00.001-06:00

Can someone tell me why I agreed to leave nice warm (ish) Houston and go to the arctic for Christmas?

AccuWeather.com - Rapid City, SD - 15 Day Weather Forecast

Warhammer Fantasy: A peak at the future

2009-12-16T23:01:00.000-06:00

Earlier today Fantasy Flight Games published a PDF (view online) file giving everyone a peak at what is in store for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game. I am very interested in this game, and very interested in reading what is in store. The file is a bit of a riddle though, I wonder if we can figure it all out?

The PDF reveals the thoughts of Gavius Klugge, renowned Master Wizard of the Grey Order. As is to be expected, not all is well in the Empire. Klugge is shown four glimpses of the future, and from these we can make some guess as to what is coming.

"...revealed to me that a storm is brewing. A terrible storm. A raging storm filled with difficult decisions and dire consequences."

The first upcoming item is The Gathering Storm, a campaign box set that has already been announced. Not too much secret here.

"...more assistance is coming, more tools and resources to help me manage my affairs, to help me organise my thoughts, and ultimately allow me to prepare for what is coming in the year ahead. A trove of wisdom, the shadow promised, and more."

The second upcoming item is a bit trickier. From the above quote it would appear that a second toolkit of some sort will be released. This vision does go on to talk about a revealed nemesis though. There is a picture of some sort of demon of Nurgle on the page which makes me think that perhaps this second item is some sort of magic item reference, with some chaosy bits thrown in for good measure.

"...it did not take me long to solve my third shadow’s riddle. Before he could whisper in my ear, I had deduced his meaning – the very winds of magic were blowing..."

Like the first vision, the third is easy to decipher. The third expansion will be a magic sourcebook, presumably covering the remaining colleges of magic (and perhaps necromancy and demonology as well). I can only presume that this will introduce more advanced careers for magic users to work with.

"I heard a scurrying of vermin and smelt the stench of dead things, woven into the fabric of the shadow’s words. The shadow placed in my hands a mask, a trifle, a noble’s amusement of pure shadow that melted and twisted and evaporated before my eyes."

My first guess on the fourth clue was a Skaven sourcebook, but after reading it a few more times I think it is another campaign. More importantly I think it could be a reference to a remake of The Enemy Within campaign. I don't mean an update of the classic, but rather a new campaign updated for the new edition of the game. There are many clues in the text of this section, but the part about the mask seems particularly telling to me.

All in all this was a great way for FFG to build excitement for the product. I am having a hard time focusing on my 4th edition D&D campaign with this system sitting on my shelf. As for everything above, my predictions? Even good Herr Klugge writes "...it seems everyone sees something different from the signs and portents". This is what I see, only time will tell if I read the signs correctly.

Visual Roleplaying in the Warhammer World

2009-12-06T09:54:00.000-06:00

The newest release in the line of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying games was released this past week by Fantasy Flight Games. This new 3.0 version of the rules takes a much larger departure from the original rules than the 2.0 version from Green Ronin and Black Industries did. If you are not familiar with the new game I suggest you check out the games page and read many of the preview articles which explain the components and mechanics of the game.

What I wanted to write about as I have just finished reading the main rule set for the game is how I think this version of the game is innovative in the way that it helps players to roleplay their characters and visual the mechanics of the game in such a way as to help them roleplay those mechanics. To provide some background on my thinking, let me discuss a few things from my recent time playing 4th edition D&D.

In the D&D game I am DM'ing, based in a world of my creation, Ogres are rare and scary creatures. When the party of brave adventurers saw the Ogre for the first time they drew swords and charged straight in. In the Forgotten Realms organized play game I played in, my PC encountered some creatures of shadow. Shapeless beings from another plane, but I was not scared. I charged right in without thinking twice about this horrible creature. Roleplaying fear is hard. I am not the most prolific rpg'er, but I don't recall ever being in a situation where the DM said, you see a large red dragon, and any of the PC's said we cower in fear at the monstrosity in front of us. Sure D&D is more heroic, but hopefully the point is made.

A few other things I find it hard to roleplay are injuries and attitude. When you finish a battle with lot HP's in D&D all you need to do is rest for a few minutes and all is better. Not very realistic, which makes it easy to not roleplay the fact that you were just in a fight with a Grick who tore huge rakes into your flesh. I also, I recall playing a very gruff dwarf cleric in 3rd edition. I was mad at the world, and chased into any fight without issue. However, if I needed to negotiate I instantly changed tact to meet the needs of the current encounter. Now this is a problem on my part of not staying in character, but again I hope it makes a point that is hard to roleplay.

So four paragraphs in and we get to the point. In Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition (WFRP 3.0), Fantasy Flight has addressed the roleplaying issues I mentioned above by making a game with visual roleplaying components. These components, along with the unique mechanics of the game, help players to play more in character without making the mechanics feel board gamey.

A couple of examples of how the rules help address the issues above:

Chapter 8 of the rule book discusses conditions and effects. In addition to discussing insanity, which is a staple of WFRP, it discusses the rules for fear. When you first encounter a fear causing creature you have to check vs. your discipline. Failing the test means that you are stressed (a mechanic in the game). In addition, and this is where the custom dice are a benefit, if you roll two Bane results you will also be frightened. Now inside a quick mechanic of rolling some dice you know exactly if you are frightened, and how frightened you are. Mechanically you may also be on the way to having a bit of a break down. If you encounter horrible, fear causing creatures all day long you will cower with fear and eventually go insane.
The end of chapter 7 discusses injuries. In this game you have multiple levels of injury from very basic cuts and scrapes to critical wounds which could impair your PC for life. The use of criticals in WFRP or Rolemaster have long been considered to be both a fun and realistic way of dealing damage, and WFRP 3.0 does a great job with this. One of the nicer mechanics is that when you are knocked unconscious one of your normal wounds, visualized by cards, is converted to a critical wound. This is done by turning the card from it's normal wound side to it's critical side. This is done randomly, and helps to represent the damage done as you fall to the ground with your body beaten. Perhaps nicer though is that when you rest you do not auto recover all of your wounds. You recover some wounds overnight and on rest periods based on how tough you are. You can also test your resiliency, which can help you to regain additional wounds. People can assist you using first aid, but watch out for bane results or the healing attempt could do more harm than good. All of this combines to make combat deadly and make players feel as though their characters are actually injured and at risk.
The stance meter in the game is perhaps one of the most unique elements. The stance meter lets you adjust the mindset of your character from reckless, through neutral, to conservative. Everything you do in the game is at least somewhat related to your stance. If I am three steps in reckless and the encounter changes from combat to diplomacy it is going to be very hard for me to calm down enough for effective negotiation. Mechanically, it forces me to think about how I will act in the game based on my current demeanor.

As I read the rules I kept thinking to myself that this game has tried really hard to encourage people to roleplay. It provides a simple card and dice mechanic to help players understand what their PC's are doing and how the game world affects the PC's. I am very anxious to try the game out, and am thinking of converting Shadows over Bogenhafen for use with this version.

PDF Browsing, sofa style

2009-11-19T23:15:00.001-06:00

I have been upgrading the technology in my office/game room. One of the new additions is a 40" Samsung LCD TV. I am now running my desktop through the TV, and it is working quite well for media and picture viewing.

One unexpected benefit has been the use of the Google Docs Viewer to read PDF files. The pictures posted here are the view of a roleplaying pdf for Warhammer Fantasy. The pictures were taken from my couch. Makes for a very nice viewing experience from a distance.

I am finding that most web browsing is too small from the distance though. Luckily I am able to compensate by zooming in on the page in Google Chrome. It is not always ideal, but it will suffice. This computer is mostly for media consumption and to serve as the primary machine for the XBOX's to connect ot for media server purposes.

Loving the new "Sean Room" though. I will try and get some pictures posted once I put in the final touches.

Google Music Search

2009-10-30T06:54:00.000-05:00

I have been doing a search for Living on a Prayer each morning, waiting to try out the new Google music search OneBox. I finally got mine this morning, and I am a tad underwhelmed. I pretty much new what to expect, but I was really hoping that there would be a bit more. There isn't. Basically, when you search for a term that has a matching song or artist you will get a OneBox at the top of the search results which allows you to play or shop for that song(s). The service is powered by Lala, which is a service I highly recommend, and allows you to play the songs in a popup.

While this is cool, I am not sure that it is at all helpful. I did my search for Hungry Lucy. It returned results for Hungry Lucy. What I would like to see is an option for related artists or songs. Maybe a way to do a related genre search. Links to Wikipedia or Sound Unwound articles would be helpful also. I guess my big problem is that there is nothing here to help me discover new music.

Now if I type in the name of an artist I have just heard of this does give me a fast way to sample the songs, and I almost always go to Lala for that now. This is a bit helpful, I just wish that it went a couple of steps further.