Previously, in Trip's Life...
30 November 2016 - Wednesday
After missing a week due to Thanksgiving, we had
13th Age and
Thai food again.
We had the fight with the relatively wimpy giants from the castle that got
dropped on us, and no one actually died, although people who didn't have Con as
their secondary stat almost did. It turns out healers are very useful. Then we
forged some work orders and descended into the Maddening Stair, using the giant
loot to bribe orcs. Next week, we try to persuade cultists to not get in our
way.
The Forever Endeavor (Chuck Wendig) is a little like The
Junkie Loser Who Folded Himself, but shorter and grittier and more
full of doom. It's Wendig!
Always be wary of mysterious red boxes with single buttons that look
like they came from a philosophical Truth-or-Dare game.
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29 November 2016 - Tuesday
Commuted to the far office, ate Peruvian food, heard about sales stuff
(Wait, we're trying to get more customers? Who made that decision?!),
commuted home.
I finally reread Foxglove Summer (Ben Aaronovitch). How could I
have forgotten the thing, or the other thing, or the thing with Beverly? (Not
that thing, the other thing!) Why is the next book not here yet?
Except I am waffling whether to boycott Amazon, which makes buying
ebooks somewhat problematic.
Bluescreen (Dan Wells) is not exactly post-cyberpunk, more like
cyberpunk with cell phones. But, non-white protagonist, even if there is not a
lot of non-straight or non-cis. And the hacking did not make me hiss and spit.
NaNoWriMo: 1572, terrible and final. I got a good ending point, so I
ended Nefertari vs. The Minotaur's
Maze. By my count, it was 43570 words; NaNoWriMo says
43562.
If I had not gone to gaming during November, or if I had not gone to
Thanksgiving, I could have made it. If I had not been lame the first two days,
I might have been close enough to make it by today anyway.
Next year, 50,000 for sure!
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28 November 2016 - Monday
Wait, I have to go to work again? I thought I finished that level!
Grocery shopping on Monday evening is even more annoying than Sunday
morning. The store is full of humans, and everything is sold out.
NaNoWriMo: 1775, terrible. And Wednesday is gaming.
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27 November 2016 - Sunday
Today I tried to write but mostly was useless and a half.
Ghirardelli does not seem as impressed with the cat ball as Pierce. Ah well,
at least it's purple.
NaNoWriMo: 2653, tolerable but not enough.
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26 November 2016 - Saturday
Everything was all messed up because of spreading plague among people
who meant to go back to college yesterday or today, so we hung around until
early afternoon before finally leaving Roseville. I won at
7 Wonders
by getting three guilds that exactly matched what my neighbors had been
buying since the first epoch. It is a very random game.
I may have tried to eat Jus and Nonni and Elyssa in the park again.
On the way home: year 2 of Welcome to Night Vale! Er,
not all of it. But some of it.
The cats are fine, but apparently I didn't leave them enough food.
Ghirardelli is glad to have snuggles and gooshyfood.
NaNoWriMo: 2110, acceptable, but not enough to make up for five days
of nothing.
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25 November 2016 - Friday
Leftovers! Also, taking kids to the park and trying to horribly
devour them again. It builds character, right? (I feel more sympathy for
Jeremy's complaints that we always change the rules to make him lose.
"Safety cars," hmph!)
While waiting for kids to put their shoes on, or something, I read the
first print collection of Phoebe and Her Unicorn (Dana
Simpson), a Calvin&Hobbes-like story about a 4th-grade girl and her unicorn
who is under no delusion that humans are in any way comparable to
unicorns.
I got some manga at the comics and games store, but Ken got an actual
game, Tzolk'in
and then crushed us all at it. I think it may fall into the same category
as Race
for the Galaxy, where you have to get a rhythm going or you will be
crushed like an insect.
In the evening, Galaxy Quest, because Marith had somehow
not seen it! (No gaming because no one felt up to running.)
NaNoWriMo: 0, complete failure.
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24 November 2016 - Thursday
Ugh, forgot to send money to the NoDAPL folks in apology for that
whole "give a white man corn and he eats for a day, teach him to grow
corn and he kills you and takes your land" thing. I'll have to do that
when I get home.
Anyway, yum, food. So much food. I did not eat as much as I used to,
though. I must be getting old!
Because we visitors hadn't seen it, we had to be shown the second
Captain America movie, Winter Soldier. It was pretty good,
for a comic-book movie, and the idea of Nazis in high government office
is oddly topical.
I tried to reread Foxglove Summer (Ben Aaronovitch), but
the first page made me realize I didn't remember the end of Broken
Homes, so I reread that. It is still awesome, and full of plot
development and doom.
NaNoWriMo: 0, complete failure.
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23 November 2016 - Wednesday
Despite the attempts of others to use the public highways, we made it
to Roseville with no casualties! We even found a sketchy Mexican burrito
joint for Ken to get horrible grease food at.
Everyone in Roseville is alive, but Kate is not enjoying it because
she caught some horrible respiratory thing at school. Hopefully the rest
of us will not get infected.
Somehow, I won
Dominion. I think
Cities were involved.
NaNoWriMo: 0, complete failure.
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22 November 2016 - Tuesday
Today there is commuting, but tomorrow is only Zuul
vacation.
Are Avalon and I made up now? Not really, but we are not fighting so
much, I think.
NaNoWriMo: 0, complete failure.
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21 November 2016 - Monday
Today is Monday, but at least tomorrow is Friday. Then, Roseville!
Unless people suddenly come to their senses and disinvite me, I
guess.
Team-Ups and Crossovers (Marion G Harmon) takes the
superhero Astra into alternate dimensions, including the one from
Velveteen vs by Seanan McGuire,
for fun with, well, alternate dimensions. No cognates of people, but all
kinds of doom.
I'll pretend it made me work harder on NaNoWriMo instead
of making me depressed.
NaNoWriMo: 2071, acceptable.
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20 November 2016 - Sunday
NaNoWriMo: 3772, almost good. It took three writing sessions and thus
pretty much the entire day, but I am now actually caught up to
50000 * (20 / 30) words.
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19 November 2016 - Saturday
One of the cleaners lost her keys, so they kept coming back to look
for them, thus preventing me from showering in time to catch the
super-early bus to shopping, but it all worked out in the end.
Earl and Cat appeared at Monkeycat Mountain for the monthly viewing
of Chinese period drama. Also, fish. And Nicki Minaj-branded bubbly with
bonus glitter in case Ayse wasn't silly enough.
- Nirvana in Fire 3-5: Intrigue and skullduggery!
Mysterious advisors teaching apparently unqualified people from the
palace to do amazing things! Mistranslation of "roofie" in a way that
makes me hate either China or the people who translated this! Imperial
displeasure!
NaNoWriMo: 1855, tolerable.
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18 November 2016 - Friday
I accidentally stayed up until 35485 o'clock at night reading
Scandinavia and the World until I
ran out.
NaNoWriMo: 2179, acceptable.
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17 November 2016 - Thursday
Avalon is speaking to me again, kind of.
NaNoWriMo: 2003, acceptable.
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16 November 2016 - Wednesday
Apparently people have moved on to the Dismal Resignation stage of
life under the impending Nazi cockwaffle regime, and we can play
13th Age
again. Also Ken made roast beef and kale salad. I like kale. It's bitter
and probably twisted, like my heart.
This week: a great battle against ever-mutating forest monsters (no,
not monsters that live in the forest), and our cleric got
suborned and turned into a deer by a huge druidic altar. Then someone
dropped a castle full of giants on us.
Extreme Makeover (Dan Wells) was fun, but the science
really does not hold together, I don't think. Still, it was an interesting
end for humanity (not a spoiler, the chapters are all headed "X days until
the end of the world") and not an industry commonly brought up as an
existential threat.
("Existential threat" always makes me think of Eclipse Phase, but
I don't think this one would really be usable, except maybe as a detail of
how Earth got so hosed by the TITANs.)
NaNoWriMo: 540, pathetic.
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15 November 2016 - Tuesday
Penric's Mission (Lois McMaster Bujold) is another novella
in the "Penric's Demon" series about a not-so-hapless young scholar and his
chaos demon in the same world as Curse of Chalion etc. Penric
and Desdemona are pretty awesome.
NaNoWriMo: 2114, acceptable.
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14 November 2016 - Monday
HAPPY HAPPY NONNI-DAY!!
I left work early to have cake and happiness with Nonni and his
family. It was good cake.
Over Your Dead Body (Dan Wells) is I think the sixth book
in the "John Cleaver" series, but it sadly does not add a lot new to the
story. Although the main character works out some of his doom, the nature
of the doom (internal or external) does not really change. I mean, I still
liked it, but I was hoping for major plot twists.
NaNoWriMo: 1431, terrible.
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13 November 2016 - Sunday
Oops. I didn't send out email asking if we were still gaming this weekend,
and so Jeremy forgot. Fortunately, he was able to entertain us with a
big set-piece battle, and even persuaded us to trade in our [SPOILER]
for something requiring less work on his part to keep us alive. Then we
made it back to claim our bond at [SPOILER] and promptly spent it all on
armor, and rode past several plot hooks on our way back to the town
where we started. Since we had not done anything in that area for
several days, they still liked us.
But now, no gaming for three weeks, sniff!
Apparently I am a terrible excuse for a human being (not news), the
epitome of the reason humanity can't have nice things (also difficult to
argue), and a howling Nazi rage-monster (that one's a surprise). And
single.
NaNoWriMo: 2169, acceptable.
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12 November 2016 - Saturday
As usual, I meant to do things, but mostly failed.
- Durarara!!x2 7: I wonder when Russia will stop being
the standard source of villains? When everyone who remembers Putin is
dead, I guess. ("There are 10 types of Ivans from Russia, those who
understand binary...")
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 5: I don't remember any
of this "King's Roads" stuff from the book, but that doesn't mean
anything. It seems to be working well in this context, anyway.
- Nekomonogatari 4: That's one way to deal with an
energy-sucking cat spirit in lingerie! But maybe not permanently,
since the next arc is "Tsubasa Tiger".
- Sailor Moon Crystal 19: Yay Pluto!
NaNoWriMo: 385, pathetic.
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11 November 2016 - Friday
Veteran's Day, so no work. (We get all the holidays off.) I
meant to accomplish things, but mostly not so much.
Romancing the Inventor (Gail Carriger) is short lesbian
romance set a couple of years after the end of the "Parasol
Protectorate" series. Awwww.
NaNoWriMo: 2251, decent.
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10 November 2016 - Thursday
The Towers, The Moon (Andrea K Höst) is a collection
of short stories following the characters of The Pyramids of
London in France, which has been conquered not by ancient gods but
by moon(?) faeries(?). It is weird and has low-gravity decadence and
strange games and intrigue, anyway. I liked the stories well enough, but I
am waiting impatiently for the next book!
NaNoWriMo: 1683, almost acceptable.
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9 November 2016 - Wednesday
No 13th
Age, only sadness (carefully not talked about to avoid excess alcohol
consumption), Persian food*, and Lords
of Waterdeep** 7 Wonders. As
usual, I came in dead last, because I am terrible at science.
*Probably soon to be outlowed as Terrorist™ Chow.
**Cancelled because Mike didn't have his reading glasses and LoWD is
full of text in a very small font. Also the gaming space is not that
well-lit, although it seems fine most of the time.
I feel a little bad about being upset about the election, as I'm in the
class that the New Regime wants to re-exalt on the back of all the others.
I'm not the one being told I should die for having sex (women), or using
the bathroom (trans), or getting sick (poor), or driving a car (black). In
some narrow game theoretic-sense, it could possibly even have been to my
advantage to support Trump — except that I'm not a FUCKING NAZI
COCKWAFFLE! (Accusations of normal, democratic, cockwaffledom not disputed.)
NaNoWriMo: 464, pathetic. The time was probably sacrificed in a good
cause, but still. Ayse suggested a way out of my lack of plot, which is
not the sort of story I thought I was writing, but maybe it is what I
should do anyway.
Fucking Nazi Cockwaffle by Jeremy (Thu Nov 10 18:07:37 2016)
I'm stealing that.
What the hell, America?
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8 November 2016 - Tuesday
As usual, I wasted my vote-by-mail opportunity, but this time I did not
go to the far office on Election Tuesday and so was able to deposit my
ballot in an appropriate receptacle. This had better work.
NaNoWriMo: 2017, acceptable. I managed to find a way out of the corner
I had written myself into, although I am still afraid I have already used
up all the plot.
It didn't work. What the fuck, Americans? What is wrong with you? Other
than being medieval-minded fucktards who would blast your nose off with a
shotgun to spite your face, I mean.
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7 November 2016 - Monday
Today I was annoyed at all kinds of things, but then I got Avalonhugs
and that made it okay.
NaNoWriMo: 1746, tolerable.
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6 November 2016 - Sunday
PAD&D5!
This session was mostly taken up by shopping and planning, and one fight in
which we almost died, and would have if the GM hadn't been going easy on
us. These [SPOILER]s are cool, but probably not worth the trouble and extra
risk. Also, more orcs.
Battle Rabbits (Ameichi) is meh shounen, although at least
the primary female character keeps her clothes on for two whole volumes
(and possibly more, I wouldn't know).
NaNoWriMo: 2029, acceptable.
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5 November 2016 - Saturday
For Marith's birthday celebration, we went to
Uncle Buck's
Fish Bowl and bowled in an aquatic theme (our bowling lanes had an
alligator maw for the ball return). I came in a solid second vs Dave,
Earl, and Marith, and probably would have even if a small child from the
adjacent lane hadn't robbed me of 1d10-1 points. Nonni had a blast, and
wants to go there for his birthday party.
The food was meh, alas, although it aspired to be interesting (EG, mac and
cheese with buffalo-spiced alligator). Next time, we will know better.
- Durarara!!x2 5-6: This is not going to go well.
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 4: I guess we are halfway
through the series, so it's not too soon for the major conflicts to be
heating up.
- Nekomonogatari 3: Villainous dialogue! With lingerie!
NaNoWriMo: 1285, terrible.
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4 November 2016 - Friday
We had a Diwali party at work today. Sadly, the restaurant we wanted to
get Indian food from suffered a tragic infrastructure failure, so we had
to get different, more standard Indian food. It was still very tasty.
We also did rangoli; I
will spare you an image of my output.
I forgot to ask why the Indian celebration of light overcoming darkness
isn't closer to the solstice. My mouth must have been full.
NaNoWriMo: 2223, acceptable.
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3 November 2016 - Thursday
No Avalon, only doom.
NaNoWriMo: 1927, acceptable.
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2 November 2016 - Wednesday
Pizza and 13th
Age! But we had no Mike, which both reduced our volume and meant we had
to break earlier, so although we found out about several side quests in the
opposite direction from where we really need to go, we did not manage to
actually go anywhere.
My theory is that Li's wife is possessed by Shiraz. We have no idea
whether this is a recoverable condition.
NaNoWriMo: 362, pathetic.
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1 November 2016 - Tuesday
Godbound is kind of
a combination of Scarlet Heroes, Exalted, and 13th Age, which works
surprisingly well. (Okay, I haven't played it, but I enjoyed reading it.) A
thousand years ago, humans advanced to the point where they could make
gods. Since gods are inherently ideological, this worked out even better
than you'd think. After some time of not being able to exterminate all the
infidels, someone decided to go lay their case before the Creator, no one
else could allow a Divine Mandate Gap, and Heaven was duly stormed (over
the bodies of the protesting angels). Then the Throne was found to be
empty ready for a new Ruler of All, and people really got
excited. There may have been some property damage. Cut to the present day,
when the remains of the world are slowly decaying due to the celestial
engines having been trashed, letting monsters and evil wizards ravage the
landscape as crops fail and kings go mad. But now, people are suddenly
manifesting divine powers!
Starting PCs get to pick three divine words, like Sun, Fertility, Night,
or Knowledge, from a list of a couple dozen, which each get them one
ongoing power (life support, darkvision, etc) or let them bump up one stat
and make a set of lesser and greater gifts available for purchase, and then
can buy six lesser gifts, three greater, or some equivalent combination,
from their words. The gifts are quite strong: fly, turn invisible, travel
across the world on foot in a day, control minds, strike lesser foes dead, walk
through walls, set armies on fire, the usual demigod stuff. Plus, the basic
mechanics are similar to Scarlet Heroes, which gives every PC
the ability to take out one or two normal thugs every round as a free
action. This is not a good game to be a normal human combatant in.
Skills are handled as flat stat checks, but characters have free-form
facts (three to start with) about their background, training, etc that
give a +4 to any relevant checks.
How much magic you can be doing at once is governed by an interesting
twist on the encounter/daily mechanic from D&D4.
Characters have some (two to start with) points of Effort, which get
committed to various powers. For some, the effect lasts as long as the
Effort is committed; when you reclaim the Effort, the effect ends and you
can do something else with the Effort. However, for some short-term or
instant powers, you can't reclaim the Effort until the end of the scene or
even the end of the day (effectively, short or long rest, with actual
resting not required because some godbound have the word of Endurance).
Like most Crawford games,
Godbound is intended for sandbox campaigns, so all the GMing
advice revolves around just-in-time prep, the bestiary has simple generic
monster stats for reusability, etc.
The default setting of one continent surrounded by a little ocean and
then everything else fallen away into Uncreated Night has the standard
pesudo-Rome, pseudo-China, pseudo-Italian city-states, and pirate islands,
then diverges into pseudo-Russia with robot overlords, hydroponic
Egyptians, the jungle where the products of many nations' secret god-creation
labs rule over the descendents of the mad scientists and staff, the
place that used to be a country until just a little while go when a bunch
of Night Roads opened and covered the landscape with monsters, and the one
island that still has an early-C21 standard of living but everything runs
on broadcast power from machines that they can barely maintain and won't
be able to repair. (See above about the celestial engines that sustain the
world having been smashed by barbarians.) Doom is everywhere, but maybe a
pantheon of godbound can fix things.
Because I backed the kickstarter, I got the deluxe
edition, which has additional material on things like variant godbound
(shapeshifting-based, fate-based, and elemental-based, in case the
resemblence to Exalted wasn't clear enough), mortal PCs,
cyberware (doesn't really work on godbound), and martial arts for mortals
and supernaturals.
NaNoWriMo: 1101, well below par.
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