Geeky things
I don't post enough; I forget things I meant to write down. I also have not mastered the art of the quick post - I always spend too much time thinking of what to say and revising it. So here are some random thoughts from the past couple weeks, which are generally geeky.
My older son has started playing a fantasy mech game. My younger son (age 9) wanted to play, so I told him he had to read at least some of the rules first. I had to help him with some of the words.
"The mechs are powered by system..."
"Steam."
"Steam, or by mmm...."
"Muscle."
"Or by muscle, or by arcane power."
He can't read "steam" or "muscle," but he has no problem with "arcane." That's my boy!
I forget how it came up, but my husband was telling my daughter the story of the Maccabees. She wondered why it wasn't in the Bible, so he started to explain about the Apocrypha. We don't have any Bibles which contain the apocryphal books, but we do have them in a separate book, a small hard-bound volume which I found for her. She was so astounded by this new thing that I literally had to pry it out of her hands to get her to go to bed.
One night my daughter didn't finish her math homework. (Actually, that happens rather frequently.) Usually she gets up and finishes in the morning, so the next day I went in to wake her up early. Her math notebook was lying on her pillow next to her head. I woke her up, and she told me that she had a bad dream during the night and couldn't get back to sleep, so she got up and got her math homework and finished it. Isn't that what everyone does to calm down and get back to sleep - algebra?
I've started running a D&D game for just my family. We have a game going with a couple friends, but for some reason they can't come over every time we have some time to play! My husband and older son wanted to play a pirate campaign. I have something against the player characters being evil (especially when that group includes my 9- and 10-year-olds), so we agreed maybe they could fight pirates, or possibly be privateers. The campaign is set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy - about which I yet know very little. (So many books, so little time!) In addition, I have a PDF copy of Necromancer's "Dead Man's Chest", about ocean adventuring, so we are using things from that.
My husband is the ship's captain, a Sailor with the Mariner prestige class (from DMC). The 9-year-old wanted to know why he didn't get to be the captain! My older son is the first mate, a 3rd level Sailor (also from DMC - basically a fighter with appropriate class skills). He fights with two cutlasses, one of which is magic. My daughter has a sea druid who is a sea elf, and her animal companion is a porpoise named Frank. There are about six different kinds of elves in the Wilderlands, but sea elves are not included; I get to make this up.
My younger son has a sea sorceror who is also a sailor, with a sea hawk as a familiar. The sorceror's name is Boom. We compromised: that is his nickname. Of course, he hasn't made up any other name yet. The hawk's name is T. Fisher. (Like T. Rex, you see.) During our game Sunday evening, Boom sent his hawk out to scout some things for the group. We explained how he could see what his hawk saw, so my son closed his eyes and held two fingers to each temple while I described the scene. The crew of the "Sea Zephyr" had to rescue some sailors of a fishing boat that was attacked by a wounded orca. At the climax of the rescue, Boom had the pleasure of getting to cast his first spell ever - a ray of frost that stung the orca's snout just enough that it hesitated in its attack, while Frank (the porpoise) swam up under the last sailor in the water and pulled him safely out of the way. The kids were thrilled, my husband was not too bored, and we actually started the game so it should be easier next time.
Also, I was reminded that I am lousy at making up ocean-based adventures. This is why we have never started this game before, although my husband has been wanting to do a sea campaign for literally decades. I guess I've never read enough fantasy sea literature, and will have to rectify that situation. I did read my dad's entire collection of Horatio Hornblower books when I was in college, but his adventures don't translate well to a non-gunpowder, fantasy setting. I think it would be easier to take adventures from our years of playing Star Trek and translate those into wet-navy fantasy play instead.
I did pick up some things at the GM's Day sale that should help me with this sea campaign. (The working title of the campaign is "Open Seas." We couldn't keep calling it "the pirate game" when the crewmembers are not allowed to be pirates!) Adamant Entertainment had a $1 sale March 6 & 7 in memory of Gary Gygax. Of course Adamant publishes "Corsair," which is an extensive collection of ship rules. It is written for a quasi-historical Caribbean setting, so a lot of the information will not apply to my somewhat lower-tech fantasy game. However, I was still thrilled to pick it up. (I also purchased several issues of "Buccaneers and Bokor", Adamant's e-zine in support of Green Ronin's "Skull and Bones." More piratey goodness, including a random adventure generator - which helped me develop the above scenario.) I had only a few dollars left in my PayPal account when I read the news about the $1 sale, and I spent it all. I was so excited that I called my husband at work and then stayed up later than I should have, choosing what I wanted, narrowing it down several times, and then downloading my purchases. I managed to look at only a couple of them before going to bed. :-) I expect to be very inspired in several different areas by the products I picked up.
My older son has started playing a fantasy mech game. My younger son (age 9) wanted to play, so I told him he had to read at least some of the rules first. I had to help him with some of the words.
"The mechs are powered by system..."
"Steam."
"Steam, or by mmm...."
"Muscle."
"Or by muscle, or by arcane power."
He can't read "steam" or "muscle," but he has no problem with "arcane." That's my boy!
I forget how it came up, but my husband was telling my daughter the story of the Maccabees. She wondered why it wasn't in the Bible, so he started to explain about the Apocrypha. We don't have any Bibles which contain the apocryphal books, but we do have them in a separate book, a small hard-bound volume which I found for her. She was so astounded by this new thing that I literally had to pry it out of her hands to get her to go to bed.
One night my daughter didn't finish her math homework. (Actually, that happens rather frequently.) Usually she gets up and finishes in the morning, so the next day I went in to wake her up early. Her math notebook was lying on her pillow next to her head. I woke her up, and she told me that she had a bad dream during the night and couldn't get back to sleep, so she got up and got her math homework and finished it. Isn't that what everyone does to calm down and get back to sleep - algebra?
I've started running a D&D game for just my family. We have a game going with a couple friends, but for some reason they can't come over every time we have some time to play! My husband and older son wanted to play a pirate campaign. I have something against the player characters being evil (especially when that group includes my 9- and 10-year-olds), so we agreed maybe they could fight pirates, or possibly be privateers. The campaign is set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy - about which I yet know very little. (So many books, so little time!) In addition, I have a PDF copy of Necromancer's "Dead Man's Chest", about ocean adventuring, so we are using things from that.
My husband is the ship's captain, a Sailor with the Mariner prestige class (from DMC). The 9-year-old wanted to know why he didn't get to be the captain! My older son is the first mate, a 3rd level Sailor (also from DMC - basically a fighter with appropriate class skills). He fights with two cutlasses, one of which is magic. My daughter has a sea druid who is a sea elf, and her animal companion is a porpoise named Frank. There are about six different kinds of elves in the Wilderlands, but sea elves are not included; I get to make this up.
My younger son has a sea sorceror who is also a sailor, with a sea hawk as a familiar. The sorceror's name is Boom. We compromised: that is his nickname. Of course, he hasn't made up any other name yet. The hawk's name is T. Fisher. (Like T. Rex, you see.) During our game Sunday evening, Boom sent his hawk out to scout some things for the group. We explained how he could see what his hawk saw, so my son closed his eyes and held two fingers to each temple while I described the scene. The crew of the "Sea Zephyr" had to rescue some sailors of a fishing boat that was attacked by a wounded orca. At the climax of the rescue, Boom had the pleasure of getting to cast his first spell ever - a ray of frost that stung the orca's snout just enough that it hesitated in its attack, while Frank (the porpoise) swam up under the last sailor in the water and pulled him safely out of the way. The kids were thrilled, my husband was not too bored, and we actually started the game so it should be easier next time.
Also, I was reminded that I am lousy at making up ocean-based adventures. This is why we have never started this game before, although my husband has been wanting to do a sea campaign for literally decades. I guess I've never read enough fantasy sea literature, and will have to rectify that situation. I did read my dad's entire collection of Horatio Hornblower books when I was in college, but his adventures don't translate well to a non-gunpowder, fantasy setting. I think it would be easier to take adventures from our years of playing Star Trek and translate those into wet-navy fantasy play instead.
I did pick up some things at the GM's Day sale that should help me with this sea campaign. (The working title of the campaign is "Open Seas." We couldn't keep calling it "the pirate game" when the crewmembers are not allowed to be pirates!) Adamant Entertainment had a $1 sale March 6 & 7 in memory of Gary Gygax. Of course Adamant publishes "Corsair," which is an extensive collection of ship rules. It is written for a quasi-historical Caribbean setting, so a lot of the information will not apply to my somewhat lower-tech fantasy game. However, I was still thrilled to pick it up. (I also purchased several issues of "Buccaneers and Bokor", Adamant's e-zine in support of Green Ronin's "Skull and Bones." More piratey goodness, including a random adventure generator - which helped me develop the above scenario.) I had only a few dollars left in my PayPal account when I read the news about the $1 sale, and I spent it all. I was so excited that I called my husband at work and then stayed up later than I should have, choosing what I wanted, narrowing it down several times, and then downloading my purchases. I managed to look at only a couple of them before going to bed. :-) I expect to be very inspired in several different areas by the products I picked up.