What to do on a Gaming Break

It's summer again. Well it's supposed to be but with temperatures lingering around 40 it doesn't feel like it. Most summers I take time off. A couple months. To hang out with the wife full-time, if she doesn't get sick of me, to recharge the batteries. It's a standard procedure for most gamers. 

But when do you go back? Everything is relative. Sometimes after a week I start twitching. Compulsively reaching for my d20. Reading about the newest and greatest setting/adventure/supplement of all-time. Watch YouTube videos of 5e gaming because I watched all the old school gaming videos already. Not gaming can make you do fucked up things. Like posting a picture of a weird looking ginger dry humping a giant d20. I have no idea what this meme means. 

So what to do with that time off? Read. Read a lot. Read non-gaming things. Without hesitation I will say I get more gaming ideas from non-gaming material. 

Sub-Cutures

I enjoy books that focus on a sub-cultures (i.e. Melungeons, Sukeban, and Gopniks) with substance. Don't get me started on the Bagel Heads. You can grab a beautifully odd culture that is very specific and develop it into a wonderful setting. Maybe the idea is big enough to flesh out into a kingdom or just place these quirky individuals within an already established setting. 

Cults

Slip in any cult. Any. This material is rich with a skewed view of reality. Skewed POVs need to be solid, at least a little believable. Enough to make sense why people would belong. I see this as the biggest struggle when I read about gaming cults. They are kinda like DC and Marvel big bad villains. I'm doing bad things because I'm a bad. Or I want to rule the world! Or I want to destroy the world! But the reasoning behind their horrible attitude is missing. Superhero movies aren't bothered by this most of the time. Unlike these movies, we need to have something of substance in game. The players are interacting and moving within the world they affect. If a cult's reasoning doesn't have some semblance of reason, it doesn't have to make sense to the party, but it needs to saturate the cult you are selling as the next group of baddies. Or a pleasant group of well-adjusted people who happen to worship dog poop.

History

No brainer. Read history. Lots of it. All of it. Go ahead I'll wait. But I do steer away from this category especially the broad sweeping books. While they cover a lot of time, events and wide perspective, I don't get as much from these types of books. What I use them for is to find funnel material. What's funnel material? Oil, milk, flour, a little powder sugar... Let's say I'm reading the Roman Empire. Yup, the whole fucking thing. 27 BC through the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Or thereabouts. Yes I looked it up. As I'm reading how wonderful and horrible these Romans were I read something about the Saminites. They sound interesting. I funnel down. I start read articles, maybe a book. They have interesting blended way of worship. Funnel down. They worship spirits called Numina and sacrificing animals to Vulcan, Diana, Mars and Mefitis. While the overviews are good I prefer digging down. Getting into the dirt. That's where I find my gold.

General Fiction

Read fiction. Fiction that you wouldn't normal read. It may surprise you how much you learn from these books when you go outside the fantasy/sci-fi genre. Part of this is I have such a hard time reading genre fiction because the ground is so tread upon. The fucking snake is dead. So I lean into quirky fiction. I find it an amazing source for NPCs. The beautiful depth you can capture to bring into your game. Unless someone buries and axe into his chest. First rule of NPCs: Don't Name them after an ex-girlfriend. Second rule of NPCs: Don't get attached. 

Weird Shit

Probably my favorite category. And probably the most adjacent category to gaming. Stuff like paranormal boogie ladies, cryptids, folklore, folk stories, and of course books about the strange fuckers who hunt them. Love these books. Don't be surprised if you find gaming material in the introductions. One of the lacking aspects of most campaigns is the sense of wonder. Because everything that is consider supernatural, extra terrestrial, ultra terrestrial, or myth is real. No need to wonder. Ned in the corner had his left arm torn off by Bigfoot. You don't have to wonder if it exists because it does. But if you can capture some sense of the wonder they provide in a game then that is a big fucking win. Reading these kinda of books help with developing the story behind the creatures and things. 

Next section. Lets talk about movies and videos.

YouTube

I have a confession. I hardly ever watched YouTube. I heard about all the shitty stuff they do to their creators. Hated watch those fucking ads. Promote the most asinine idiots of the week. And thumbnail after thumbnail were filled with faces I wanted to punch. In my text group they would send me a dozen videos during the day about dumb shit. Apparently when they are at "work" they watch YouTube.

Then I got a subscription. 

Pretty much. I vetted my channel. Subscribe to the faces I didn't want to punch. Had to learn a nanoscopic level of tolerance. It was hard. But now I find YouTube is a good source of other voices on topics I've heard a hundred times. I've been playing since 79 so what's that? 46 years. During that time I ate RPGs like they were Reece's Big Cups. Do I really need to watch a video about Hex Crawls? Random Encounters? Mapping? Or watch some dumbass tell me how little he knows about the horribleness of TSR adventure modules? No. But I like to hear how others do it. Granted you have to sift through a lot of manure to get to the good stuff but it's there. Lots of it. Recently I've indulged in a lot of YouTube. And I have my own channel because I wanted to be the face you wanted to punch.

Don't forget to like and subscribe! 😉

Movies

I  feel like this category doesn't pay off like it used to. Personally my movie watching has slacked off. I used to be a weekly movie-goer. Even if there wasn't a movie I wanted to see I'd pick one I'd never heard of and give it go. Back then I got a lot more out of movies. While I enjoy a good movie I can't tell you when the last time I left a movie inspired to create something. The last one I remember was the Matrix. 

Limited Series

I love how they call them limited series. I guess so we all won't get confused with the Unlimited Series. But this is where the new gold lies these days. There is a lot of great content we gamers can delve deep into. How many wanted to run a Yellowstone type of campaign after it ran for a couple seasons? How many people wanted to run a Rings of Power campaign...wait, bad example. You know what I mean. These series have cool elements. While many of the series are two-dimensional they may have juicy tidbits to pluck off the cardboard tree. 

Board Games

If you are playing a board game during your gaming break you are lying to yourself. You are gaming. Maybe it's not a thirteenth month campaign where you journey to the great white north to uncover a monster that will kill the world (see DC and Marvel movies above) but its gaming. Shush. You're lying to yourself. It's okay. Recognize. Accept. Change.

Conclusion

As you can read there is no such thing as a break from gaming. You walk into a local Taco Bell and see the toilets are clogged. You immediately want to blame it on the Quesada Otyuth that is obvious living in the large sewer tunnels beneath. You hear a clip of a conversation, "And I woke up with a rubber chicken with lipstick on it." How do I work that into a starter quest? Everything is fodder for your game.

There is no break. Once a gamer always a gamer. 

A Peek at the New GM Games HQ

First off, my wife kicks ass. A lot of it. Mine sometimes. +The Happy Whisk did all the mudding and painting on her own. Last week during my vacation we put the floor in. She sewed some cool drapes to help keep out the cold and eyes for creepy neighbors. The shelves are a mishmash for now, but I have ideas on building my own shelving system. Build it right to the wall, but overall I am thrill with the outcome.

New computer, I've recovered most of my files and my printer has agreed to work again after threatening to execute it on the spot 'Office Space' style.

What I hope that happens...

• more productive, write more adventures and get back on track for my Patreon
• more gaming! with my office I can run more games without disrupting the entire house. And I may not be attacked by Bug during the game
• More efficient processing of printing and mailing out stuff
• and the possibility that Issue #9 of The Manor will be out in the near future

That said, thanks to my wonderful wife who wanted me out of the rest of the house so bad she made me this space!

No Games = Time Well Spent?

Last week I had a game scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  None of them worked out.  As we did not get to game.  However, I got to hangout with some cool folks and talk a lot about gaming.  Monday night I had the pleasure to speak with +Rob Conley and +Daniel McEntee.  My local gaming crew.  Then on Wednesday night +Chris C. and I got to hangout and discuss a lot about gaming philosophies.  We will always disagree about anime and Supertramp, but it's always a pleasure talkoing with Chris.  And on Friday night it was +Peter V. Dell'Orto and +Douglas Cole.  I got to pay my respects to Peter, I often forget how much fantastic writing he's done for GURPS that I have read and use.  And Doug with his Technical Grappling system that we published in Manor #8.

While we didn't get to game it was great just talking about gaming.  Something I don't do very often.  While we share a lot on blogs and Google+, there is rarely a conversation.  I think Chris and I were talking about the virtues of monochrome covers of the old TSR modules.

Doug and Peter were talking about GURPS Thursday and that made me want to dig out some of my old stuff and participate.  I might not have my GURPS chops any more, but I still got some gas in the tank and I'm not afraid to go back to 3rd edition GURPS.

Rob, Dan and I were discussing a joint project.  It's cool to sit down face-to-face with friends and go over ideas and progress made and see how it all fits together.

While no games were played, time was well spent.

Starting a New Player

I've been reading various posts and the subject I've been drawn to lately are about starting a new game.  A new game with new players specifically.

There are several posts about easing a new player into a campaign world.  And others throw them in the middle of the pool of information and tell them to swim.  I prefer somewhere in the middle.  I've never been fond of extremes either way.  I prefer somewhere between the two positions and that somewhere may lie anywhere, depending on the player I am trying to introduce to the my game.

As I say in many of my posts, I will with this one, this is what works best for me and I am not saying if you prefer to use different methods that you are wrong.  I don't get paid to be the game police.

When I get a new player introduced into my campaign there a few factors that I take into account.

• What is the player's gaming experience?  Is this their first gaming or are that a 30+ year tabletop warrior.
• What is the player's age?  Once in a while you'll have a youngster join the party.  I would introduce a 10yr old into the campaign differently than a 40yr old. 
• How far along into the campaign is the party?  If the new player starts with the rest of the party I will take more time creating something to introduce them to the world.  But if a new player come in at the middle (I don't like doing this, but at times I have done it), I will give them a sketch of what is the current situation, and notes focused on how the party came to be where they are.  I don't want to disrupt the flow of the game, by bogging down the party's momentum to explain why this happened or this is how that happened.  
• Talk to the player.  If someone is going to join my game, I like to explain what the campaign is about and what kind of game are they looking for.  If they want a western theme, or a high powered video game experience I let them know they will be very disappointed in my game.  Plus, you want to make sure your new player isn't a dickhead.

I don't do much more than that.  If I have the time I'll do an outside session with them to develop their character and run them solo to get a feel for the background of the character and the tone of the campaign.  

Pits & Perils & More Systems

Our next game exploration is Pits & Perils.  +Chris C. has written an adventure for the system.  When he told me he was going to run it using that system I knew about it, but never looked at it.  Chris said you could fit a character sheet on a note card.  So when I made up my character I used a 4" x 6" note card and it fit with plenty of room to spare.

While it is a simple fantasy RPG, it has some interesting differences.  Most notable, to me, was the combat system.  I wrote the rules on my character sheet, the better you roll (it is a 2d6 system) the more damage you do.  There are variables like if your using a two-handed weapon in which case you get a +1 to your damage.

Our small group is planning on experimenting with other game systems.  I believe +Ken H wants to return to his Monteport setting using the Blood & Treasure system.  And I've been reading and writing adventures for a Dragon Age adventure.  I recently received the core book for Dragon Age and I have the a few Dragon Age 'history' books to help me figure out the background.

I guess I should go.  It's Monday and I've got bills to pay.  Although right now I would love nothing more than to draw a couple maps.

Taking a Break from Gaming to Game Some More

Last week, during a Wednesday night game with +Chris C. and +Ken H they spoke about taking a break from gaming over the summer.  I should clarify, a break from weekly gaming.  We went back and Chris has been a member of our Monday night crew for over two years, Ken I believe was four years.  And I think I have been playing steady on Mondays for 6 or 7 years now.  Our Monday night crew is pretty dedicated so we only miss a handful of Mondays a year.

As we spoke, a break sounded good to me also.  Plus Whisk said she wouldn't mind me taking a break also.  Maybe to do a few extra things while the good weather is here.  It doesn't last long.  And for me, it's another night I could write.

Let me clarify break for me.  Just not getting into any weekly games.  I'll still play in pick up games once a month or so.  Ken, Chris and I still have plans on doing something.  I still plan to attend B-Team game, they only happen once every 4 or 6 weeks.  Plus I hope to get involved in a few on-line games and game with some new folks.  And since my good friend Dwayne has come home, we've been getting together monthly to game face-to-face. 

The break is only from weekly gaming.  I'll still blog, write micro-adventures and bug people for art for the Manor.  None of those things will halt.  If anything I hope to be more productive. 

I'm sure a month in I'll be looking at the clock on Mondays wondering what games are going on.  But I think a few months from a regular schedule game will clear out the gaming chakras.

I've got a few more weeks before my impending break.  I'm looking forward to it because I hope to take that extra time to develop a project or two that requires more time and attention.  Until then...

I'll be chilling wondering what head to use tonight.

Rotating GMs, an Idea

We hit a stopping point in +Ken H's Monteport campaign.  We maneuvered to have Duncan become king without spilling one drop of blood.  We decided to take a break from that campaign and +Rob Conley volunteered to run his 5e version of his Majestic Wilderlands.

What I purposed was to have a shared world and each of us take turns GMing.  Why?  One, it sounds cool.  It reminds me of the Thieves World anthology where several authors shared the city of Sanctuary and the denizens within.  And the real reason is our group is getting larger.  All of us are GM capable.  And half the group hasn't had a chance to run anything.  +Chris C. has done a bit of GMing, but I defiantly want to see more, +Douglas Cole I only had the pleasure of him GMing me for a session, +Daniel McEntee and +Joshua Macy I haven't had a chance at all to have them GM.  And I've been chomping on the bit lately to run an adventure.

The general set up would be, GM develops a setting and an adventure.  The adventure lasts 1 to 3 sessions.  Second GM, rifts off the 1st GMs details of the setting, including groups, gods and whatever weird stuff that was introduced.  Run another adventure for 1 to 3 sessions.  Repeat. 

The difficult part is the starting.  Having seven folks agree on stuff can get tricky.  The good thing is we are seven guys who get along very well and have a great time.  I looking forward to the discussion and each one of us making our point for what we would like to see.

One of the first things we'll have to decide, is the genre.  We'll have to chose that first before we begin.  Before we pick a system.  Then there are several other large decisions to make.  We're planning a night to discuss all this. 

I'm curious to hear if anyone else has done this?  I've heard of it, but never seen it happen.  If you have done it before, tips on how to do it are welcome.

Distorted Perception

Last night while driving home in the winter storm I temporarily became disoriented.  Not from drugs or the booze.  Both of those passed through my system hours earlier.  It was from the weather and the fact I could see only 20' ahead of me.  This is the same road I travel twice or more a day for about 15 years.  So I should know it.  I of course like others, rely on landmarks to identify where I am.  Since I couldn't see the houses, trees or side roads, I was 'lost' for about a minute.

It got me thinking if game terms where weather is often ignored, but can play a huge factor in the game.  I suppose a druid could have some effect on it since that's their thang, but all the other classes would find themselves at the mercy of the storm. 

I don't have any thing more to say about, I've got no penalty modifiers or random catastrophe tables for you, but thought about.

I'm done.

I haven't abandon Ashmore.  Part 3 will be posted tonight.

Would They See Monsters?

Once upon a time, there was an adventuring party who went down a hole and never came back....

So began our tale of the Monteport megadungeon crew, a cast of characters that has evolved over a year of exploring the endless expanse.  Our combination of curiosity, glory seeking and greed have plunged us 28 miles below the surface of a world we no longer remember.  We have become citizens of Monteport. Small pieces in a massive, living thing. 

Twenty-eight miles below, we have living death.  My weapon seeks to destroy these abominations that seem to saturate earth.  But my arms grow tired.  I've forgotten what it is to look upon a tree.  I've forgotten what it is to feel a breeze.  And I'm losing my ability to find purpose.  My god's words once pounded in my ears like war drums, exciting and inciting.  Boiling the blood.

Now, only whispers.  

I wonder what another adventuring party would see when they looked upon us.  Would they see monsters? 

                                          Adzeer Mattui, Hunter of the 3rd Circle

Done and Not Done

With the final touches done on Stone Fields of Azoroth, I am in printing mode and trying to find a good box to ship them in.

In the meantime it looks like I have abandon the blog.  My brain can only work so many hours in the day.  It's pooped out right now.

Still, as I am printing the books, I'm thinking of other ideas and projects.  Some projects that have stopped and started over the years.  Time to start them again and get going on the next projects.  In fact I am uploading files for one of them right now.

Just ordered a proof copy.

The waiting begins.

Top 3 Campaigns I Have Played In

Over at 5 Stone Games the post today was, What are the Three Best Campaigns You've Played In?  I thought it was a great question and I loved his answers.  Here are my top three.

3. Arthurian Mixed with the Crusades
This is a campaign I ran.  It lasted for three years.  We took a couple of break here and there, but it was a steady group.  This campaign did have an end game.  This was a heroic campaign with no mages.  There was magic, lots of it, but it was possessed by creatures or things.  No one was shooting fireballs out of their ass and lightning bolts from their nipples.  None of that.  No clerics wiping the asses of bleeding adventurers.  This was hardcore, metal on metal.  Bash the son of bitch in front of you until he stops moving.  There was a lot of political maneuvering, ancient evils (none of them had tentacles), ambitious creatures of power with armies and a small boy who was hung for trying to steal a saint's finger bone to take home to his sick mother.  And in the end, that boy, a boy who was killed two sessions into a 3-year campaign became the most important event.

2. Torrin the Red Hand/Slice Handler
I'm cheating, so what?  I'm putting these together because my good friend Dwayne, ran both of these.
  Slice Handler was a product of Unearth Arcana when it was first released.   He murderized people with his daggers.  He was the first and only character where I rolled an 18/00 strength.  Then he had a 17 dexterity.  We were using the 4d6 roll so having a bunch of high stats was easy.  While Slice was a machine gun Dwayne got his jollies by teasing Slice with bird women, those damn saving throws I could never make and having Slice go on a quest to put together a sword with 12 shards that took a long time only to have Orcus show up, take it from me and just for the shits and giggles, leave behind a bunch a undead to eat my head.  It took me months to search and combine the sword to only have it for 2.341 seconds.  Bastard.  But it was a TON of a fun.  It was probably one of the more comical campaigns I'd played in.

In contrast Torrin the Red Hand was a GURPS character that played in Dwayne's strange and wonderful world made up with demons and armies of undead.  Torrin was in the last stronghold to the goddess Mitria.  It was transported to this land and along the way we ( +Rob Conley played a priest of Mitria).  We not only had to battle to survive, but learn the dynamics of the world.  There were many incorrect assumptions made based on tropes of the game that was a blast to explore and a fantastic way to keep experienced gamers on their toes.

3. The Dragon Rises

Ah, my favorite campaign where I played a mercenary captain called Draco-Lindus.  His name was created way before it became significant.  This campaign played over years.  This is my benchmark of an epic campaign.  It had three stages of development.  The final stage was forging a realm among others realms.  And then the hard part.  Ruling.  Rob Conley GMed this one like a fricking master.  He demonstrated that being a very powerful person could just as easily be handicapped by their power as well as dominating others.  Accompanied by Dwanye's William Endril, we changed the landscape of his campaign world that still effects anyone who adventures in his Majestic Wilderlands. 

Short Bitch & Moan Post

While this post is whiny it is also short.

Unlike last year, when I got sick during the con, I decided to wait until right after the con to get sick this year.  With the con and being sick these past couple of weeks has really set me behind on all the cool things people have sent me and projects I'm working on. 

I haven't completed a single Patreon micro-adventure. 

I haven't done a review in a while.  I've received so many cool things I want to share.

The 8th issue of The Manor, while started, is getting dusty.

I'm participating in Tenkar's Landing, a group project.  I grabbed hex 19.11 and finally got around to sketch a rough idea of the map, but have done little else.

I am taking part in something unofficially called #project78.  It's a secret.  So I'll hush now.  But I need to finish what I am doing with it.

I'm trying to develop a webpage for GM Games, something more serviceable as a store, information, update place, but zero progress has been completed.

And I contact Jason to do a few pieces for OSR Today.  Guess how many I have done?  

Anyway. 

Looking forward to knocking a few of these items off my list this week.

PS If you consider that I power gamed through the latest Borderlands game and completed as productive then I'll take that.

Crap...that's all I got.

I have a couple of reviews I plan to do soon.  Hoping to get one up tonight.  My blogging time has been squished to nothing because I'm trying to finish a couple of projects, work is draining and I have to go on a training for a couple days.  Training on what you ask not interested.  A two-day training on paperwork I answer making a gun motion to my head.

Good stuff going on, I'm learning how difficult it is to put a cover together.  That's been fun.  An unexpected gift from the gaming gods.  Probably just because I'm new at it, but it does seem a little difficult.  I got some help so I should have to swear that much.

I only need to complete the last bit of Manor #6 and I'll have the first draft done.  I want to get it done before my training.  That way I can let it sit for a few days before going over it before sending it to my proof reader dudes.  And dudette.

+Johnathan Bingham sent me the preliminary art for the Manor Compendium.  IT IS FANTASTIC!  I'll share that one soon.  It deserves a post all by itself.  When that gets done I get to do another cover...see above.

I'm going to attempt to review OSR products at least a weekly activity.  Maybe do them on Wednesdays or one of those other week days we have that end in y. 

Off to work I go.  Catch you on the other side of it.

Not So Productive Today

The group decided to take the night off.  Real life's big, ugly feet stomped all over the game this week.  So I had the night free.  What could I do productive.

Edit - Nope
Draw a Map - Threw away three and not liking the fourth all that much
Write a Review - Nope, but I hope to do it soon
Write a Post - Not this post
Antagonize the Wife - Accomplished

At least I got one thing done.  I doubt Ivy was pleased.  Brain is shot for the day.  Tons of work tomorrow.  Hoping to get some of my work in tomorrow.  I'm going to go read A Thousand Dead Babies.  That ought to cheer me up.  Actually its a very good adventure by +Zzarchov Kowolski.  I want to do a review of it this week so I need to read through it again.  I very much like this one.

So maybe I'm just prepping to do something?

Hack and Slash Therapy: Pocket Adventure

Lunch time at work.  I need some dice and an orc to kill.  I'm thankful we are gaming tonight.  I think I might create something I can stick in my pocket and use during my breaks.  Do a small pocket adventure.  Have a table of random characters, roll one.  Have a table of random encounters, roll one.  Have a table of random treasure, roll one.  If you're guy beats the baddie then you get the loot.  Record the score of you guy in the book.  Keep using the guy until he is defeated.  Record score, sorta like the old high scored of video games. 

It would be a d10 system.  Easier to find numbers on random things 0-9.  An orc may have a hit target of 3 or above.  A ogre may be 5 or above.  And each monster would have a number of hit points for lack of a better term, but in this game one hit does 1 damage.  And orc would have 2 health, and a ogre might have 4 health. 

Treasure would be multiplied by the health of the monster.  Say I randomly rolled 5gp was the treasure and killed an orc, my score would be 15. 

What do you think?  Lunch time is over and there are no dice or orcs in sight.  sigh

A Note About Morale

I've decided I hate morale checks.  Never saw the point of them.  The man behind the screen can decide when something runs or fights or surrenders or plays dead.  I'm not sure I ever played in a session with morale checks (Ken, this is not an invitation to use them tomorrow night).  Not sure why I needed to write this, but I have and now I feel better.  My morale is better and I did not need to roll to see if it increased.  Okay, that's it. 

A Quick Ramble

First off, thank you to my wife for providing me with one of my highest, if not the highest, page-view day in the history of my blog by putting hearts on it.  That was an unexpected bonus.  And she got me creepy butterfly stamps so all is good.  Although I do wonder about the focus of this blog now since hearts and butterflies seem to be everywhere...

Anyway...

Congrats to Hannah and the finding of her Kickstarter Tavern Cards.  I was worried there for a while, but in the last hours she flew by the goal with plenty to spare.

Sales of Manor #3 are a little slower than that of Manor #2, but still not bad.  I always think its pretty cool when someone comes by and buys the whole back catalog.  I've already got ideas for issue #4 and some pieces in place.  I'll be getting a few pieces from friends to help out.  With this help I'm hoping to get out the 4th issue in a timely manner (I could have so done a pun there, but I didn't.  I resisted.)

LotFP's kickstarter is doing well.  I'm contributing PDFs to it.  I think its a good idea to get some old school material into the Free RPG Day.  When I first came back to old school gaming Free RPG Day helped nudge that process along.  SO I hope it hits its primary goal to get as much into those boxes as possible.

That's about it.  I'll soon be running a playtest for a campaign starter adventure and looking for a few players.  Probably around four or five.  I think I have two or three slots filled.  I'm still reading over the material and should be running it next week.

Okay, time for work.  Enjoy the day cause mine is gonna suck.

An Experiment of the Paper Kind

Went to Staples after shipping out issues of the Manor.  I've been wanting to try a different grade of paper.  Staples has been doing a ton of buy this ream of paper and you get it free with a rebate.  So I've been stocking up on paper.  I've got 26 reams of paper sitting on my shelves and in boxes.  I'm stocked for a while.  The normal grade multipurpose paper is 20 weight with a 92 whiteness.

 I wanted to see what an upgrade in paper would look and feel like.  My office received one of their orders and by mistake received a ream of 24 weight paper.  I'm at the copier machine rubbing it with my fingers like some office supply pervert thinking this feels really good.  *told ya*

The cost for a single ream of this type of paper is 8 bucks.  Twice as much as normal paper.  And a lot more expensive than free paper.  But I wanted to check it out.  Oh, and I got Sharpie pens.  After hearing Matt Jackson singing their praises I thought I would buy a pack and give them a try. 

And at the post office I only pushed one button I shouldn't have.  Well, two, but nothing happened bad on the second push.

+5 Speaker of Awesomeness

I braved a fricking blizzard to get these speakers.  I'm not exaggerating.  At one point our section of the highway were stopped and as a group think we all got out of cars to chip the ice that was freezing on our windshield wipers.  I had to do this 4x in about a half in hour span.

It was ugly out.

I traveled to Erie not knowing they were getting slammed.  But by the time I figured it out we were already so close I wasn't going to turn around.  The goal.  New speakers for my computer.  Not just any speakers, but Bose Companion 5 speakers. 

Been saving up for these puppies for a while.

I put in a sample movie and it sounds like a small movie theater.  Music...amazing.  I just have to watch the volume.  I don't want my neighbors calling to police on me again...I didn't mean again...really.

Anyway I just thought my speakers needed their own post.

Holiday Gaming

Holiday gaming is always interesting.  My Monday night group will be taking time off until next year.  This Wednesday Trey has something planned for the Weird Adventures adventuring squad, Go Team Victory then I'm not sure how much we'll play.

I hope to use the time to play in a few Google + games and I plan on running a couple adventures in the next few weeks.  I've been wanting to get more involved, but struggle to find the time.  I've been spending most of my free time on the couch with Ivy watch cooking shows on YouTube.  I'm not a cook, but I really enjoy watching them.  Also I have a thing for those gold digging shows, Gold Rush Alaska, Gold Rush Berring Sea, Goldfathers and so on.  It's interesting how much time and money goes into finding the smallest nugget of gold.  I think they spend twice as much digging the stuff out. 

What I am hoping to do this holiday is sample a few of the many games available.  And try some other systems.  In the grand scheme of things though systems are not really my concern.  Just sitting down and playing is my goal. 

If any of you have suggestions of cool games coming during the holidays, let me know.  I've joined a bunch of the Google+ communities and try to follow along there, but it gets noisy and don't follow up on all the new stuff.