Trip's Life (Recent episodes)
24 July 2017 - Monday
I went to work, which I guess counts as something, but otherwise,
useless.
Make a comment!
23 July 2017 - Sunday
Today I accomplished even less than yesterday. I didn't even do a good job
of feeding or watering myself. Also, I took a nap.
Aspen seems to be doing well despite the twice-daily oppression of
medicine.
I can at least do some links!
As usual, these are mostly from Affinity.
Make a comment!
22 July 2017 - Saturday
Did I accomplish anything today? Meh, not really. I read volume 3 of
Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur (Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, Natacha
Bustos, Ray-Anthony Height), that's about it.
I have been keeping Aspen's cone of shame on except when I am right there to
watch her, but she does not seem to be fussing at her wound at all. Maybe the
painkiller is keeping her too high to worry? She doesn't like getting the
medicine squirts, but she doesn't fight as much as she would have in the
past.
Poor kitty.
- My Little Pony 18: I think the lesson here is that any
publicity (award) is good publicity?
- Durarara!!x2 3.5: Nothing good can come of annoying Celty that
much.
- Vision of Escaflowne 23: Allen Schezar, don't be a doofus!
- Steven Universe 2.24-25: Even Peridot cannot resist the
influence of Earth! Just like Garnet couldn't, back during the days of
her origin story, apparently!
Make a comment!
21 July 2017 - Friday
Work provided lunch today in exchange for listening to the all-hands
meeting, but it was pizza and salad, so not much better than the salad I would
have had. Hmph.
I thought tonight would be doing laundry and maybe watching a video with
Marith, but instead it was emergency vet expedition, because I am a terrible
cat-dad!
I was trying to trim mats out of Aspen's fur, but she was wiggly and I was
inept and I trimmed her skin! She did not complain (more than she was
complaining about being touched to begin with), but it looked
pretty bad, so I used the lizardsignal to summon Marith and we whisked her to
the vet for the second time in two days. Now Aspen has staples and drugs and
a cone of shame and more drugs and a shirt, which is way too much stuff for any
one cat to put up with!
Neither Marith nor the vets said how much I sucked for hurting Aspen so
badly, although I am sure they were thinking it.
Were not! by marithlizard (Mon Jul 24 00:25:37 2017)
I am pretty sure that everyone who has ever tried to perform any kind of procedure on a protesting wiggly (cat/dog/kid/fellow creature of any sort) understands how easy it is to make a mistake! In fact if you asked, I'm sure the vets would all have similar stories of their own to tell.
It is okay to regret having made a mistake without making the mental leap all the way to Terrible Cat-Dad Doomed Forever. You are an excellent cat-dad and if I had pets I would trust you to take care of them anytime, so there.
Re: Were not! by Trip (Mon Jul 24 17:04:38 2017)
Easy for you to say, it wasn't your skin that got cut off!
Re: Were not! by marithlizard (Tue Jul 25 12:20:20 2017)
Easy for me to say, I have opposable thumbs and a keyboard!
Make a comment!
20 July 2017 - Thursday
Today I ended up working from home because the cats had to go to the vet in
the middle of the day. Blrgh. Productivity is for capitalist lackeys anyway,
right?
The cats were so oppressed even though it was just an annual checkup! Aspen
even mewed, which is quite unusal for her. Poor kitty!
Today I am ranting about how D&D has made monsters boring. Monsters should
be fantasy (or horror/weird fantasy), not biology and OO design! What is the
point of dragons when they are color-coded species that hatch and breed and lair
and feed and age like any other animal? And most of the myriad humanoids don't
even deserve to be monsters: they're
vaguely human but crude, smelly, funny-looking, and stupid, so they're just
foreigners and don't need to be dehumanized any further! This doesn't mean
things like stirges can't be (weird) animals, but monsters should be monstrous!
Magic should be magical, too, not something every village has an
accredited specialist in! NPCs with magical power are usually cultists or
hermits or mutants or all three, so why should PCs get to be respectable
academics or clergy? Worship strange gods! Receive forbidden wisdom from the
stars! Get custom spell failure tables!
But it does't matter what I think, since presumably no one will ever let me run
Dungeon
World again, because I suck.
Get off my lawn anyway.
The nachos I had for dinner appear to have disagreed with me. Well, they
weren't good for me anyway, so it's okay if I never want to eat them again. But
I am sad for my lost sleep, even though it wasn't that much.
Make a comment!
19 July 2017 - Wednesday
Finally, after multiple weeks of no gaming, we have Thai food and Dungeon
World! The Thai food is good, the gaming maybe less so because I am
GMing. I cleverly made this adventure exploration-based, but it is looking
increasingly like that is not what DW is good at. I need a front with
active forces opposing the PCs! Which I have a plan for, except probably
after this it will be back to D&D and no one will ever want to play DW
with me again ever, and who could blame them?
Make a comment!
18 July 2017 - Tuesday
Bah, more work! No brain. Only blarghs.
But, that means more links!
Make a comment!
17 July 2017 - Monday
Bah, work!
I was thinking about
SCOOS2
PCs fighting strange monsters summoned by their enemies, and how the
players would inevitably want to learn how to summon those monsters, and
then I thought, what if the motivation of the PCs is being anti-summoning?
Not quite Closers
vs Openers, but more like the League of Emancipated Pokéthulu.
It's really hard to do worldbuilding without becoming serious! But maybe I
can do something with the PCs being desirable to sorcerers &c.
Return of links!
Make a comment!
16 July 2017 - Sunday
HAPPY HAPPY AVALON-DAY!!!
Surprise! The train schedule is different! It now runs every 90 minutes
instead of every hour, and not at the same times we have scheduled around. We
will have to change the hours of gaming!
Nevertheless, we did play PAD&D5!(Although
we had no Hazel, because she is in Hawaii.)
After some rest and interrogation of prisoners, the Heroines of Red Larch go back into the place they retreated from last
session, passing the [SPOILER] on their way out. They explore in a different
direction, and discover the sad fate of those defeated before, as well as
getting some information about what still remains. The Heroines are merciful to
some hapless schmoes, which hopefully will not come back to bite them. Finally,
having explored everything that seems reasonable, they go in to clean up what
they started. There is a complicated thing that I can't describe even slightly
without spoilers, but Lam's first use of a power she's had since level 3 is
awesome and the Heroines are able to clean the clocks of the opposition and
reap great rewards. Like, as much loot as the rest of the campaign so far! Also
they explore some other bits that now seem reasonable, and although Mara's
brain almost gets eaten, this section of this dungeon is cleared!
Next session is cancelled because life, and the odd weeks are unavailable,
so we don't get to game again until the 13th. Oh well.
Poor Avalon is so oppressed by work, but someday she will be free!
Make a comment!
15 July 2017 - Saturday
Today at anime we met Ayse's friend from the Toast Slack, Meg! She
seems pretty nice, and is another non-driver. Perhaps she will come hang
out more, since she is recently back from Abroad and does not have people
to hang out with. Perhaps this will encourage Ken to make more chile
verde!
Also we (well, Marith and I) met Julia's school's bearded dragon, which
is staying with students over the summer. It is either very relaxed, or
dumb as dirt, either of which is probably a good adaptation to its
circumstances. It is very spiny, though.
- My Little Pony 17: Cutie Mark Crusader Annoyance Formation GO!
- Durarara!!x2 3.4: Saika lore plus villain cosplay ambition!
- Vision of Escaflowne 22: Finally, Folken's story! And his
unrefusable offer to Van!
- Hanamonogatari 5: Climactic confrontation! The end!
- Steven Universe 2.22-23: Finally, concrete information about
gem society! And also Peridot's death trap! Remember, they will always save
the day!
Speaking of ruthless violence, do monsters in SCOOS
actually eat people? Do cultists sacrifice people? What if the monsters and
cultists are PCs? What if the victims are PCs? Should it all just be
cartoon violence? It seems wrong to not have any death, but brutal murder
and dismembered body parts littering the landscape seem a little lacking in
humor. (On the other hand, kill puppies for
satan. Also, Groo the Wanderer.)
Looking at it from another direction, what states can PCs be in that
would be funny? (Just counting down hitpoints is boring.) Still able to
participate in the scene but they have a bright red handprint or goose egg
or smouldering clothes (-1 to Command, +1 to Truckle?). Mummified in
bandages, stapled back together, slathered in burn ointment, or otherwise
totally trashed, but able to at least move around and talk to people. Being
completely dead could be funny if people have to hide or otherwise manage a
corpse, but maybe not much fun for that player. Unless they can haunt the
other PCs? And having to bring someone back would be an adventure, at least
the first couple of times. Maybe after the first time anyone is
resurrected, it's just assumed that death is not a problem for the PCs any
more?
Maybe instead of Ye Liveliest Awfulness being a playbook, it's a move anyone
can/must take when they die and get called back up from their essential saltes? It
would need to have downsides, but the upside of being nearly indestructible (if
I'm remembering the story correctly) would make things easier going forward.
Braining is hard, I think I'll die in a pit now.
Make a comment!
14 July 2017 - Friday
I reread The Annihilation Score and The Nightmare
Stacks to make sure I was up to date for The Delirium
Brief (Charles Stross), and they were awesome, but so was
tDB. Also, brutal. This is the book where the entire context
the main characters have been working in gets swept away and they discover
the abyss beneath. (It is very deep, and has teeth.) This is more of an
ensemble cast than previous books: pretty much every (surviving) major
character since TheApocalypse Codex gets some time on screen,
for all the good it does. Very doom. Much hosed. Wow.
The Prey of Gods (Nicky Drayden) is much less grim, but then the
characters haven't been built up over many books. It is cyberpunkish fantasy
set in South Africa, with robots and gods and drugs and cross-dressing rock
stars and genetically-engineered pests and coming out. I don't know enough to
determine whether it expresses a South African sensibility, but it seems
plausible that it does.
Still not sure what stats to use for SCOOS2.
Or even how many. Inspired by Golden
Sky Stories, maybe Urges (physical stuff), Feelings (social), Thoughts
(human stuff), and Visions (magic/monstrous stuff)? That's only four, which
seems low, and maybe too skill-like. And making someone with Visions +3
write down three visions and only use the ones that apply in a specific
situation is almost certainly right out.
I guess
AW only has four,
if you don't count "weird". But the ones it has are well-suited to what
post-apocalyptic PCs do: hard for being ruthless and violent, cool for people
being ruthless and violent at you, hot for bringing people together, sharp for
outwitting people and using limited resources, and weird for strange psychic
stuff on the side. (Is it wrong of me to think of psychic stuff as being on the
side? Maybe.) So what do SCOOS2 PCs do, at a similar level of granularity? Now
I'm back to needing a premise.
SCOOS had Appeal, Competence, Erudition, Fighting, Mojo, Sanity, and
Standing, which are not the right sort of stats for PbtA
at all, even if they are like the DW
stats.
Maybe I actually want to use
Blades in the Dark-style
actions instead? I don't think I do, but maybe I'm wrong. It could happen!
Make a comment!
12 July 2017 - Wednesday
No Dungeon World, since we are down two people. There is only ZZZZuul.
Make a comment!
11 July 2017 - Tuesday
Because California hates public transit (okay, not really, it's just
Republicans siphoning off Federal taxes to shore up the red states that
don't produce anything), it took ages to get to the doctor's office, but
then I heard the results from Saturday's phlebotomization, which is that
my ichor is hardly terrible at all! Also, mass down slightly.
My daily pill count has diminished by one!
For the second day in a row, I worked on rewriting my
NaNoWriMo, but it's not working very
well. Blrgh.
Make a comment!
9 July 2017 - Sunday
Last week Dave and I were in Roseville, but now it is time for PAD&D5!
With bonus Edie, since her summer camp was afflicted by plague, fire,
criminals, and possibly bears!
The Heroines of Red Larch make a cunning plan to sneak into the secret
underground [SPOILER], which goes more or less as expected except that it's
mostly full of [SPOILER]. At least they're cheap to bribe! There is also an
ambush, it turns out, which is quite a struggle but eventually the Heroines
triumph! They escape with some prisoners to a safe(?) place to hole up and
recover, hopefully to return soon and finish with this stop on the way to
the ultimate [SPOILER].
Hurray for Avalonhugs! Boo for Avalonwork!
The Other Side of Secret (Hideaki Yoshikawa) is surprisingly
complete in four volumes, with pretty much all the mysteries (except the
central one) explained, conflicts resolved, and much cleavage displayed.
Make a comment!
8 July 2017 - Saturday
Today it is Too Hot! So naturally I had to disrupt my schedule by going
to the medical facility to get my ichor extracted in the morning, pushing
my grocery expedition into the hottest part of the day. Yes, that was
clearly a good move. I think it's time to estivate now.
It is not too hot to watch anime, though!
- My Little Pony 16: Poor Fluttershy! I believe the lesson
of this episode was "don't pick on the introverts" and will send space
penguins to poke anyone who says differently.
- Durarara!!x2 3.3: Saika vs Saika! Or er something? I
never suspected any of that!
- Vision of Escaflowne 21: Oh, the doom! But only of
Folken's minions, this time.
- Hanamonogatari 3-4: Exposition and basketballs! Also, a
reapparance of Araragi, who seems to have matured, and a revelation
that sheds some light on the finale of Koimonogatari.
- Steven Universe 2.20: Go Sadie! But Sadie's mom ended
up okay.
- Steven Universe 2.21: Wow, we finally might get some
information out of Peridot!
Another SCOOS2
move:
When you do something complicated and technical
roll+TBD. On a 10+, choose two:
- It works
- You don't break or use up what you needed to do it
- You don't leave a big incriminating mess
On a 7-9, choose one. On a 6-, it's probably none of the above, in addition
to what the GM tells you.
(If your playbook makes you good at something technical, you get a unique move
with better outcomes for doing it. This is just for "I saw it on
Youtube".)
Make a comment!
7 July 2017 - Friday
Wow, Friday came quick this week! Why can't it always be like this?
Marith wanted to watch Inside Out, and she is off today, so I
bought a DVD player and we saw it. It was pretty swell! I could quibble with
the details of how the brain is portrayed, and probably with gendering and body
image stuff of the internals, but I won't. It was good! I think the idea of the
brain as a system is a good one for people to have.
I still have not come up with an entire theoretical framework for
SCOOS2
from scratch. I keep getting distracted by meaningless concrete details like snooty
ghoul hybrids living in (the basements of) big houses up in the hills and
working-class Deep One hybrids down by the waterfront with the fish refineries
and go to church at the Esoteric Order of Dagon. (Does that mean the ghouls
attend the Church of Starry Wisdom? That doesn't seem quite right.)
Then I was thinking about what bonuses the ghouls can get by buying item
cards (not that this is going to be a card-based RPG; I blame Mage
Knight), which led to wondering what basic social moves there should
be, and then my brain puked up the idea of dividing them up by relative
social status.
"When you awe or command your inferiors..." is the move
for when you have an air of command, impress people with your
fashion/beauty/skill/wheels, or just plain intimidate them. Stage
performances and the like are also covered.
On the other side of the equation, "when you truckle to your
superiors..." is triggered when you do things like beg for mercy,
protest loyalty/obedience, or just fade into the background while dressed
as a minion.
For most occasions, though, you want to "befriend your
peers", which covers just plain talking to people, mingling or
blending in with crowds, and other normal interactions.
There's no Social Status stat to check before making one of these moves;
if you awe or command, you're making an assertion about
social power in the current situation, and if you roll a hit, they're
buying it, at least provisionally. (If there's no chance that they'd buy
it, then you can't make that move, just like defy danger
in DW
doesn't let you leap arbitrarily wide chasms.)
Make a comment!
5 July 2017 - Wednesday
Once again, I somehow failed to be eaten by mutant cannibal terrorists
on the train. At this rate, public transit may someday be considered a
viable option for getting places!
Normally this would be a Dungeon
World night, but Ken had long-distance travel and also extra
kid-screaming, so no. Probably for the best, as I have no brain.
Make a comment!
4 July 2017 - Tuesday
"This year, the US should mark the occasion by sitting in a corner and thinking
very seriously about what it's done."
Good on NPR for helping the Fucking Nazis display their complete idiocy!
Too much cooking and more swimming and stuff for Dungeon World, but we
played some Mage
Knight, which has so many rules. I mean, I guess not by the standards
of a serious wargamer, but still quite a few! Also, plenty of imperialism
and apparently some blood sacrifice. I'm not sure this is a good-aligned
game.
Nonny is not old enough to stay up for fireworks yet, but Jus had much
zooming and oohing and aahing. I am only okay on fireworks, but the barrage of
multicolored bursts at the finale was nice.
I was in the car that sang Hamilton because Ayse lent us her
iPad.
Make a comment!
3 July 2017 - Monday
What with all the kids and swimming and Pokemon Go (not me!) and stuff,
we only had a tiny bit more Dungeon
World, but that is fine. We also had air conditioning and Chinese food
and Guardians of the Galaxy (which Dave and I think Ayse had
not seen before.
Make a comment!
2 July 2017 - Sunday
Apparently most people think the train is filled with mutant cannibal
terrorists, but in fact riding up to Roseville went just fine. There was
even Wifi, although I did not use it to participate in the actual dystopia.
I did read, because that is what public transit is for!
Rebel is the third in Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood
Smith's Western/Post-Apocalyptic/Supers series. We get to see more of the
world! The main character becomes a more functional member of society!
Working poly relationship! Bigotry screws up everything! The (recent) past
revealed!
The Furthest Station (Ben Aaronovitch) doesn't interact with
the main plot of the "Rivers of London" series, but I think it's set a
couple of years later, because Peter's cousin Abigail is old enough to
cause even more trouble. Also, unexpected magic!
Roseville has no busses on Sundays, because why would anyone who doesn't
own multiple SUVs even live there? But Josh very kindly came and picked me
up from the train station and traffic casualties were light despite his
father's driving advice.
People who travelled the whole way by car also arrived successfully!
Despite making terrible faces at quasi-Vancian casting for ages, I wrote
up a wizard for Al's run of The Sword of
Air in Dungeon
World. This would work better if I could roll dice worth beans!
Anyway, we gamed until way late, because other days may be full of
children and/or movies and/or fireworks. Yay Dungeon World!
Make a comment!
1 July 2017 - Saturday
Yay, humans to clean my apartment. Boo, waking up.
But, no grocery shopping since I will be out of town for days.
- My Little Pony 15: I'm not sure about this one, although I
guess if you take the lesson to be that it's better to investigate how
something is happening than to declare it impossible it's not so bad.
Still seems like it's setting kids up to give all their money to quacks
and preachers, though.
- Durarara!!x2 3.2: I don't even know what's going on any
more.
- Vision of Escaflowne 20: Sheesh, Hitomi, you were warned
about that!
- Hanamonogatari 2: Kaiki bears disquieting information, as
always.
- Steven Universe 2.17-19: This week: community theatre,
Garnet and Pearl finally talk, and more horrifying horror! Also,
Connie's mom has to admit her daughter is a PC.
Make a comment!
30 June 2017 - Friday
Marith and I finished watching Cowboy Bebop. It is so
doomed, although the story Spike told about the cats made me sadder than
anything that happened to humans.
Make a comment!
28 June 2017 - Wednesday
Today, Dungeon
World and Pizza My Heart! I ate
two pieces of pizza, which was about 1½ more than I should have, but
so tasty! Then I was a terrible GM, although at least I had a
super-contrived and stupid way of getting Kelsey's character joined up with
the others.
Amulet Rampant (MCA Hogarth) is the third in the "Prince's
Game" series, in which some of the main characters attempt to recover
from the events of the two previous books. Contains lots of kinky gay sex,
palace intrigue, and crossovers with other series in the same universe.
Make a comment!
26 June 2017 - Monday
Today I went to work. It was not very interesting. Then I tried
to start rewriting my
NaNoWriMo from scratch, but
didn't get very far, partly because I have forgotten how to use
Scrivener, but mostly
because I am rubbish at writing, and everything I write is terrible.
Make a comment!
25 June 2017 - Sunday
Today I accomplished zero things.
zero things by marithlizard (Wed Jun 28 00:33:18 2017)
I don't believe you, if only because the local police blotter failed to say anything in reference to noise complaints about superloud indignant miaoing coming from an apartment near downtown. :)
Re: zero things by Trip (Wed Jun 28 15:28:16 2017)
Doesn't count, they made me do it!
Make a comment!
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