musings { getting back in the groove

Writing friends of mine have often told me to improve writing, do it often and don't sweat the formatting. My take is that the technical things, grammar, spelling, etc. can be polished over time but the hardest part is just getting the words flowing. I've neglected this blog a long time, so I'll try and get back into the swing of things. It might be hard. My favorite topic upon which to rant was politics, but the last eight years of Bush pretty much drained me. The next big thing is World of Warcraft, but that too has also been draining me. I finished 'Dawn of War II' and I must say I found the story enjoyable. I liked how they weaved progression together via a set of main plot mission and a good number of distracting side missions you could take. It also focused more on your squad and building them up via levels and gear than having to worry about resource management. I liked that a lot. My only gripe would be the limited number of maps. Granted each mission was a little different until you exhausted all the optional ones, which were basically of three types; defend, assault, assassinate. I would like to have seen more maps. But I can't grouse too much. The maps were beautiful, almost fully destructible and the last map was a lot of fun (the final storyline mission). It is relaxing having your squad, whose AI isn't bad even with the occasional bonehead maneuver, just hosing a tremendous amount of firepower into the seemingly non-stop waves of the Tyranid hive. The Orks, both deadly and comic relief, are fun to play against, especially to hear their commentary. The Eldar an elusive and annoying foe, just like they are supposed to be. All in all a great start to 2.0 of this franchise.

Its made me go back and re-play Dawn of War I, the original. I had forgotten how well done that storyline was as well and it is enjoying to replay it. I picked up the 'Blood Ravens Omnibus' and its ok, but basically just filler between the DoW missions. But its letting me scratch my major WH40k itch that I currently can't seem to satiate. I'm 2/3 of the way through the second 'Space Wolf Omnibus' and while Lee Leightner is different than William King, the writing is close enough to keep me interested.

I realized the other day that I'm starting to consume a book a week, a good pace for me. Even if it is just WH40k stuff. I've been reading some other books I've had lying around but never seemed to get to, stuff from my monster hunting phase. I have a couple of books from Nick Redfern. I'm still getting used to his narrative style so I'm not ready to pass judgement yet. I'm also digging through The Vampire in Europe which has been thus far very interesting.

I keep getting an itch to write a RPG module for something. But I think thats because I've been unable to make it up to the Cities to play with my Nerdpod due to a variety of life situations. I miss it terribly but have enjoyed reading their progress. Strangely my character, who is now a helpful NPC still survives.

I'm still adjusting to a few things in the real world. I just got over a nasty (for me, usually I'm not affected much) flu. Spring is finally here and I was able to open the windows and let some fresh air in my office at home. Work has been, well work, uncertain economics lurk on the horizon. Feeling a bit of wanderlust and starting to re-evaluate if this is where I want to be in my life. I know Rochester is done, its time to move on, but still working out the where. I'd like to go back to the Cities, the vast bulk of my friends are there, but maybe its time for someplace new. With the recent announcement of IBM's intent to buy SUN I think that is a marker that its time for me to consider a new way to generate income. Have to be careful with that one, since the cancer, I have to have health insurance and I can't afford it on my own. I need to have it from someone, since some places won't cover me (pre-existing condition) or will cover me, but for 4-10x the normal rate. Whereas if I'm with an employer (b/c of how health care works in America) I'm covered under a group policy and they can't discriminate against my 'pre-existing' condition.

Ah well, we'll see how the summer goes.

wordle { cubezoo posts from August

Guess we know what's been on my mind.

Wordle is pretty cool.

DandD { The Realm of Nox

After almost 12 years, I'm finally getting off my butt and starting to coalesce my ideas and thoughts into a campaign world that I will run the Nerdpod through. The is called 'Nox' (latin for night) and it is a dark and not so nice place. Here is a bit of fluff I've created for my players to give them a taste:

[From the journal of Inquisitor Ravenscliff, dated Autumnal Equinox,
2953 P1S/10 P2S, titled 'Chapter One: The First Sundering and the
Early Times]
---begin journal entry---
The world has grown dark, and not just from the lack of sunlight
caused by the funeral pyres. There is simply not much light left, or
hope that I can see. The world is...broken. I write these pages in
hopes that if there is a future, something of this time can be
remember, a lesson of the things that were, and why not to repeat
them.

First a brief history of how we've come to be here. The origins of
the world were thought to be once understood, but that knowledge is
lost. Lost in the First Sundering of the World. All we do know is of
the 'Great Empire of Man' that existed. There knowledge, from what
artifacts we have was great. Their mastery of the natural world and
arcane lore almost complete, greater even than the elves. From what
historians and theologians have pieced together, it was this mastery
that bred an arrogance, an arrogance that undid the world. In their
quest for ever more power they opened a portal to, elsewhere, and
unleashed an evil upon the world never before seen. Those that were
not corrupted, were destroyed. Those that were not destroyed went
feral, and almost all knowledge was lost. Only pieces and fragments
from that time remain. Kept in remote and secret locations. The
knowledge itself became worshiped as scripture. The keepers of the
secrets no longer able to understand what they keep. Cults of
Enlightenment formed and gathered followers, waging war on each other.
All except one, the Hermetics of Thelmorn, kept the knowledge and
over the centuries learned from it, piecing together and expanding
what they had, these monks formed the core of what would become the
Imperial Thatamurgists School.
Over time the evil, only referred to as the 'Dark Ones' were driven
back by a coalition of the Hermetics working with the Naturalists (a
Cult of Enlightenment focused on understanding through the Natural
World). Strength of arms was provided by the most powerful of the
Clans of Man, the Dokdar, who would later be the uniters and founders
of the Second Empire of Man. The Dokdar were the most advanced of the
feral tribes that were mankind following the Sundering. They were
forceful, but not cruel. Their rage tempered by the Enlightenment of
Hermetics and Naturalists with whom they had trade and contact. Sadly
much information from the Great Battle was lost in the 2nd Sundering
when the towers of the Thatamurgists were lost. From what fragments
we could recover and correlation with the disparate oral histories,
the battle was somewhat anti-climactic, the portal had actually sealed
itself shortly after events that was the First Sundering. The 'Dark
Ones' had decreased in power, and many had vanished. Only those that
were able to corrupt followers remained, and even then their heretical
ways resulted in the diminishment of their numbers. The coalition,
formed 500 years after the First Sundering were able to, rather easily
destroy what remained of the evil ones. In doing so they destroyed
the structure that was thought to be the portal. Using the heads of
the defeated 'Dark Ones' as icons of their victory the Dokdar, with
their charismatic leader Solimere, set forth on a crusade of
unification that would last for 100 years and result in the founding
of the Second Empire of Man.

---end chapter---

WoW { Ode to Pernox

I am the rogue. I strike from stealth and prey on the weak, the tired, the distracted. I am the death that watches from the shadows. I am the thing that goes bump in the night. I am the boogey-man of children's stories. I am the last thing you will most likely never see. Fear my embrace for it is a lingering death or a quick snap. Be afraid of the shadows and the dark places, for that is where I will be.

(little something I whipped up for a posting on a forum where people were asked to describe their World of Warcraft classes, Pernox is my lvl 55 Undead Rogue)