Paul

and any self-respecting priest would pray and try.....

Paul

I guess we agree to disagree......about Vrill and his cheating, bullshit, being in anyway "good for the game", etc. I tend to think unkillable, leverpulling, oh wait the rules don't apply to me, "arch-villians" suck.

I may be wrong but I may be right.

Seems to me that we have no choice.

Can't kill Abbey, can't kill Vrill. God is sidelined. What would any self respecting priest do? Sometimes you just gotta face the music. Otherwise, what's the point?

I'd love to have a philosophical discussion of Arch-villians or Nemesises (Nemesi?). I think Vrill has brought out the best and the worst of this campaign.

------------
I'd give Ivanhoe a 3 out of 5. Knights and archers and stuff, but it starts much better than it ends.

Marivhon

alright Marivhon is a genius git. If we don't have this worked out by wednesday I'm attacking the guy. I'm not going to let Vrill live, or unlive or whatever.

paul

I have reread all the blog back to entering this place. The only thought I have is that the Oracle of Gryss may need to die. I don't think that it's correct though. I thought maybe he is the jester guy...? Other than that I'm out. I also thought that Croatius made something possibly a knife...and that it might help kill him but I can't find anything to show that we missed finding one.

Can't....read....blog....

For some reason, I can't read DiD with my last morsel of Internet Access here in China. Were you guys slamming the Chairman? -Damn you all if I get sent to a camp.

I asked Rob to do some of Brogg's actions. -Hope you did there, DM.

I am posting this via the Blogger admin stuff. I could post on the Mainpage, but I have no idea if it would be relevant.

Anyway, I have a lot of traveling between now and Sunday night. Maybe I can post on the Mainpage then. I hate to miss the thrilling conclusion.

Closer to the edit

Okay guys, we're getting close here. Let's not lose momentum now, there'll be time for a break as soon as you can do this thing.

Although 'this thing' may be extraordinarily difficult...

Nice conic section

Stolen from warrenellis.com or something. Shuttle launch seen from the ISS.

Not twice as nice

The drink-one-potion-for-free-each-round thing is a house rule from long, long ago. It keeps PCs alive, that's the bottom line. We've been playing like that since high school or before.

This is really the first time it's bitten you guys in the ass, so I can see why you're complaining now. Anyway, drinking two potions as a full round is banned now.

Anyone see The Prestige yet? Gonna try to get to the movies tonight...

EDIT:
And no we're not playing by 1E rules really anyways. Come on. There's no such thing as half-elf monks with 5 WIS. Or Ruy Lopez insanity bonuses. Or halfling superheroes. &c.

Free potion drinking is lame

This potion drinking shit is lame. Drinking a potion should take as much time as swinging a sword. That's 1st edition.

Let's do a test, two of us will fight with swords, but one has to slam a coke while fighting. No, make that two cokes.

This free potion stuff is weetoddid.

Mea culpa

Yeah, sorry for lack of internet guys. Truly, it's been a lack of internet. Pretty soon I'll probably just send an email around explaining the situation here, pretty crazy maybe. In the interim, I'll be back posting quasi-hourly starting late late Sunday night for the next two-three weeks. Goddamn it players, get on here and roll those blogrolls, fucking just kill Vrill already!

revenge?

so Vrill doesn't have an eyeball in his socket.......anyone else thinking what I'm thinking...? Skull.........heh.....eh....yeah. It's like it was meant to be.

Dave, Fist of Odin

Hey all,

Skinny on the street is that the DM is at a top-secret spy workshop for a week, and then has to go on a retreat run by some 'reformed' super villians. It involves Hot Babes somehow, too - I'm not quite sure about all the detais, because the damn letter he sent me exploded before I had a chance to really read it, and his handwriting's pretty crappy.

I mean - Brogg's in motherfucking CHINA of all places, and still manages to post and shit - but maybe even the DM has to take a break from our antics. Especially, you know, with the hot babes and all.

Anyway. There's a new Goth club for the dancing in Portland, so I'm'a gonna go do that. I don't have to be awake tomorrow until 3pm.

Three in the afternoon! And I'm going dancing, and I've got a sweet new car - I'm SO getting laid.

Straight outta China

Dave, sweet car!

Hey guys, I have pretty good Internet Access here, so I will try to keep up.

Dave, Fist of Odin, With a new sweet car

Hey all,

So my car died Friday. It's had the car-cancer for awhile (coolant leaking into the engine somewhere), and it finally gave up the ghost. I was very sad. But today, I bought a new car - a Fiat Spider 2000 convertible.

Yup - the word '2000' is part of my car's name. Plus, it's a convertible. I'm stoked!

That's it from here, really.

Dave, Fist of Odin

I'm down with that. Maybe we can have an interlude where we . . . well - I'll just go ahead and post something on the DiD main site and see what happens.

Other side of the planet

I'll just throw this out there... and you can tell me to go to hell.... but should we throttle back on this battle until Mark has a chance to contribute? My reasons are this:

a) Brogg can lay some significant smack down - and if there was a battle where we could use it... it's now.
b) Mark would (I think) REALLY want to be a part of the killing of Vrill... the "Vrilling" if you will.

Any thoughts?

China, yo.

Tomorrow I go to China for 2 weeks. I should be able to post from time to time, but it might be sporadic.

JT

I agree, Justin Timberlake has that intangible je ne sais quoi, no?

'Sexyback' is a well-constructed pop song

Haven't used PirateBay... actually I've never downloaded any kind of BitTorrent thing. But isn't it that Swedish website that had a guy run for Swedish parliment or something? Pushing Free Stuff On The Internet as his political agenda? Think I read something about that last year.

Free Stuff On The Internet is such a weird issue. On the one hand, personally I'd like anything I do to be widely, freely accessible. Certainly anyone can download my papers freely, and hell, anyone can go and read a great song about a golem here on our blog. But on the other hand, I have no problem with going to the store and paying $15-$20 for the Gorillaz' CD or $70 for Xena Warrior Princess on DVD.

It seems retarded to prosecute 13 year old girls for illegally sharing Justin Timberlake's new album- which is better than it has any right to be, incidentally- but this Free Stuff Internet issue is more complicated than that.

Piratebay

Heard of it.... haven't used it. They got shut down about a year or so ago under a much hyped police raid... but thereafter re-opened their vritual doors from some other country with less US influence.

Paul

have you guys heard of piratebay.org? Or more precisely have any of you used it?

The secret is: Jesus is a lady

DaVinci Code. Only here in semi-anonymity will I admit I read it. As far as schlock fiction goes, it's a masterpiece. It was written to be a blockbuster movie, although I didn't see the movie itself: small set of over-the-top characters, lots of action in short chapters, power of family love, predictable plot twist. It was certainly better and more enjoyable, and faster/easier to read, than Danielle Steele's "Ghost", which sucked in many different ways and holds the title of worst book I've read cover to cover. But DaVinci Code, it's still pop schlock.

I am happy though that people are still reading books though, and books close to a gamer's heart (e.g., Harry Potter). It's weird that reading Harry Potter seems to be more a chick thing, too. At a club a few months ago I overheard two goth girls raving about the books, while the goth boy standing by just rolled his eyes. They called him a 'Sniverin' or something, whatever the evil wizards are, I dunno. I'll read the books all at once if the last book kills off Harry, that's my promise to the world.

Speaking of pop schlock, I read this thing on the internet that says Jurassic Park 4 is in the works, and they're doing a whole new thing with it: it's about mutant dinosaur ninjas or something, military-trained dinosaurs with rocket launchers. That's so fucking stupid that it's genius. 10 yr olds around the world just had their first nocturnal emissions.

TT

regarding the earlier post about the Davinci Code and its relevance to the official DiDTT picture:

Schmekt-ku

puzzles hurt by brain
intelligence is lacking
passwords elude me

Thanksgiving

Okay, here's the Portland plan. Jules and I are coming into Portland on Thursday morning, 10:45 AM, and flying out Saturday afternoon at 1:40 PM.

Just a short trip, as she's got school and I've got experiments to perform.

Also, I will be travelling from October 14 to October 22. Not sure how much internet access I'll have... I'm not taking my computer, but Kristin is probably taking hers, and I'll be with her from Oct 14 to Oct 19.

Interesting NY Times article--introduction a licquor

Here's an article that I read on the NY Times about young guys starting their own alcohol brands. It made me really jealous...these guys go to all these parties and social functions. There's one guy who was a banker and started his own brand. The story has him all over the place, from Brazil to Miami to NYC to a duck hunting trip in Finland, what a cool life.

I think you'll have to create an account to read the article, but it's really easy and they don't sell your info or spam you (they haven't done so to me).

Oh how I love "The Connection Was Reset"!

paul.

The Golden Compass is not the best of the series. I liked the Subtle Knife the best, perhaps. The Amber Spyglass had very nice twists, and I do like twists.

I am very courious to see the Prestige made into a film. Though, it does seem to be a film "inspired by the book Prestige", rather than a filming of the book.

I am not drunk. I have nothing funny to say. It ends here.

1 more request for new system

Character sheets that just display the text, without needing commas and such.

And the hold over: Threads, Better char sheets, HPs and "current round" displayed on main page (so we can just glance and see Wow we're in round 6 already, and Moth is at -4!,

Mark, you should make a post with all the suggestions, and then update it as we get more, so we don't get our suggestions spread out all over the place and forget them.

then again... perhaps not

ok... so maybe I'll NOT go looking for a copy of that film for the weekend...

hmmm.

King Tut

Yeah the random haiku is really good, i actually think it's good haiku too!

Think one of these cool new keyboards could control ZOMG? Every key is an individually controlled LED displaying exactly what its function is at the moment.

Made me smile.

Sometimes Random Haiku really comes through for a laugh:

Catch me if you can
I'm captain of Uranus
Give me a second

But is it art?

Hmm... I read the first His Dark Materials book, and it felt a little dry. I usually like kid's fantasy, e.g. the Lloyd Alexander books (High King, Taran Wanderer, Black Cauldron), and I loved Lord of the Rings, but The Golden Compass made me shrug. I'll press on if you guys think the books get a lot better, but if Golden Compass you think is good too, maybe we gotta agree to disagree.

Then again, I really liked The Prestige.

...

Salo... okay, since you asked. Salo is an Italian movie from the 60s which is an 'artistic interpretation' of 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, loosely integrated with Dante's Inferno. There are three parts to the movie: the Circle of Flesh, the Circle of Shit, and the Circle of Blood. Imagine the worst sub-genres of porn, the real bottom-feeder stuff... pun not actually intended but unfortunately appropriate here. Then take out all the fun stuff that makes porn really porn, and what you have left is Salo. Of course, being a 'film' and not truly 'porn', most of the, er, acts are simulated, i.e., the actors themselves do not actually eat REAL shit, but oh my god it's a close simulation.

This is not a fun movie. It is the exact opposite. This is not a movie to watch with friends. This movie is, from start to finish, an atrocity exhibition. There is no 'plot', certainly no resolution, just rich middle-aged men doing increasingly horrible things to adolescents. Supposedly the movie is a metaphor for life under the Nazis or Fascists during WW2, but whatever. I advise staying away. For the curious, you can read more about it on Amazon, IMDB, and the Criterion Collection website.

Didn't set out to make the Prince/Queen/King levels like this, but I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with them. Then, since I've been questing for disturbing movies all year, I finally saw Salo, fulfilled my quest, and decided to spin the top three levels of Castle Greyhelm in a similar manner. Not exact, obviously, but the Queen's and King's levels are definitely under the influence. Ugh.

Thornton?

I work in Thornton... not in Paul's cat's intestines (although Thornton, Colorado sometimes smells like what I imagine Paul's Cat's stomach might smell like).

I like drunk Paul... you never know what is coming next. Kinda like drunk Steve... I remember at Mark's house a few years ago, Drunk Steve beat me at chess. Damn all of you who are good at that game - even when you are intoxicated.

Rob - you can't do that. you can't talk up a movie like that and then say "don't watch it." What is the title? Salo? Now I have to hunt all over Colorado looking for a copy. blast.

Thornton vs. Blue

Sorry about the lack of weekend posts, I was away at a wedding. Good fun. Steve, I'll contact you about Tony's eh? -Got your message.

Anyway, Glad to hear Blue is well.

I've always dug anklysauruses(i?) too, but Triceratops was my favorite.

Cedar Point is a must, Justin.

Interesting behind the screen, Rob. I've always dug the observatories, kitchens, etc... sure beats the 10'x10' with an orc and a chest. Personally, I've always been impressed how you've managed to put libraries in while avoiding the disaster of us requiring a list of 100 titles or so. -Mr. Meeks eating the books was creative. All libraries must be somewhat looted, no?

Justin

My cat's name is Blue (on account of his being a Russian Blue). I dunno about the ass kicking thing, Blue is a pretty big, tough guy, but he's very good natured.

Funny you bring up His Dark Materials, I'm on the third book right now (I've read the series before, but that was a few years ago.) Excellent stuff, gotta love honorable polar bears in armor. D&D 3.5 actually ripped those off in one of their books. The ice environment one, I can't remember what it was called. But they had polar bears with opposable thumbs who always wore plate mail, and their alignment was LN.

Never been to Cedar Point.

Paul

wow that last supper image on DIDTT is weird since I just read the da vince code. It was not that good but I liked it a bit since it's sorta how I feel about catholicism, and uh stuff. Way better than the presitige though.......heh. Some fucking frankenstein bullshit wandering off into the world without even a fucking groan to satisfy me.

has anyone, besides chris, read the His Dark materials stuff? That shit is good......fucking polar bears....hot. Ok I'm drunk so I'll go now, not really. I have sobered up a lot after watching meet the press, and eating a Honey Crisp apple, they are really good.

Before you make that face at me I'll have you know I have a very good credit score.... Maybe even good enough to buy a housE....

Paul.

what's your cats name? My cat's name is Thornton and he could kick your cats ass unless your cat was a ceiling fan in which case my cat would just hide inside my dresser assuming the fight was in my room and all.

You ever been to Cedar Point?

Cool

Interesting. Definitely did not notice the Chakras thing. I like background details like that though. I remember the day I finally used dinosaurs on my players. That was fun. A lot of people seem really down on the idea of using dinosaurs as monsters, or only see them as ok in a "Lost World" setting. Fuck that. Bring on the Ankylosaurs, I say... I'm glad he's not a fungasaur. Those things got stronger if they got damaged without being killed. It was an awful card, but I always wanted it because it was ridiculous.

I think I'll use a fungasaur in my next game.

Fungasaur

Sorry, if anything, mossy anklyosaurus is inspired by the thorn thallids, not fungasaur. Never owned a fungasaur. Really, though, I've been meaning to throw an anklyosaurus at the party for a while now, and when I couldn't think of what could be stomping around, breaking glass in the greenhouse, I went for it. Being the 'Garden World' level of the dungeon, I gave it a 'mossy' adjective to make it fit in better with the theme.

The anklyosaurus was my favorite dinosaur from ages 4 to 5, and as the monster manual has an amazing amount of space devoted to different dinosaurs, I feel responsible to provide some dinosaurs in the adventures.

That's 100% exactly how my brain was working here, and is pretty much how the whole game's gone.

Incidentally, here's the inspiration for the rest of the castle. Some of my favorite adventures I took these guys on, on table top, were 'theme' dungeons, where each level was very short- one minor encounter, one 'boss', about six to ten levels total, where each level had something different going on about it. (The Crystal G guy is based off The Crystal Mage, one such 'boss' who cast a spell at both the beginning and end of each round. Took the party about eight tries and different strategies to bring him down, and it was good fun all around.) I like museums, libraries, and astronomical observatories for dungeons... same for gardens and kitchens. I've thrown a ton of 'crazy chefs with butcher knives' at the party in table top games of the past. The specific castle design is loosely based on different Hindu chakras (e.g., different body parts, weaknessses and strengths), with the top three levels based on a really fucked up movie called Salo, that I can't at all recommend to anyone despite being #17 in the Criterion Collection. Please do not watch this movie. It's a Mind Flayer kind of movie. It will psionic blast you.

Also, there was a real module called 'Castle Greyhawk', which would've been perfect for DiD if I still had a copy, because the entire thing was tongue-in-cheek and over the top. Each level of the castle was written by a different author, and rumor has it that this module was designed to discredit Gary Gygax and the world of Greyhawk, as it came out right when he was leaving TSR. As you can imagine, being gamer humor, a lot of it is retarded, but there's some funny shit in there too, and serious mockery of a lot of Gygax's pet NPCs like Mordenkainen.

Now ya know.

...

Glad to hear that the cat is okay. You wouldn't believe the volume of cat drama going on in California these days... both breath and depth. Loooong story. I think I'm responsible for people thinking you're from Madison, because your initial email, I thought, came from uwm.edu, which I read as U Wisc-Madison, even though probably that school's suffix is .madison.edu.

Pwned

Cat is back up and kicking... still got some sniffles though. Always scares the shit out of me when a pet takes a sudden dive in health. Got to see him this weekend though, and I'm not too worried anymore.

Also picked up my books again, so as I've got nothing to do in the game blog while I'm unconscious (thanks for the heal, Dave FoO, wish I hadn't forgotten to activate my dancing shoes...) I'll just get myself all squared away level wise.

My mom's family is from Madison. I've lived in Virginia my whole life, though, and my college is here. How'd you get the impression I'm from there? If I posted anything about that, I've forgotten.

Hey Rob, are we fighting a Fungasaur, like that Magic Card? That would be crazy. As in crazy awesome.

Anyhow, on to leveling...