The XP value of friends...

I've been sitting on that entry title for literally two weeks (and I've been sitting on this blog for months). I was thinking the other day how all of my good friendships (except with my wife and brother in law and one or two rarities) have been gained and strengthened through gaming.

I game socially with people at least once a week, usually several times and if I'm lucky, every day. I played Liar's Dice with the Monday Night crowd and it was amazing fun.

A question I find myself asking is this: what the hell do non gamers do? I guess any interest can be a basis for social interaction but gaming, especially board gaming, requires it. People who knit can talk about knitting I guess, and you can knit near someone else but unless you're quilting together (yes I know sewing and quilting and knitting are all different things) you're not really interacting with the other person in a direct way.

Gaming lays bare personality. I may have different political or religious views than the folks I game with but I know that they are decent, fair, and dedicated people. I wouldn't game with them otherwise and if I'm not gaming with you, we're not close. Games have become a lithmus test of an individuals quality.

Does this make it hard to make friends with people who don't see every gathering as an excuse to break out a board game? Sometimes, but I am multifacted and connect with people fairly easily. I tend to breach the 'game question' with anyone I get close to and attempt to be an ambassador of my hobby.

Breaking out the games has become much more structured since becoming a father of course. But I game twice a week in person if possible and try to get an hour or more in of City of Heroes each evening.

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Looks like you've got critters...

I'd like to talk a little about crawlspaces tonight. You know crawlspaces: that place under most houses that most people ignore while it slowly turns into a pit of dispair. If a man's home is his castle, then the crawlspace is the dungeon. Not the dungeon where you put prisoners and such. I mean dungeons in the Dragons & kind of sense. You know, where weird molds and jellies grow. And undead.

That being said: I really don't mind going in them. Mostly for the strangeness of them. It's dark and kind of secret. It's hard to predict what you're going to find or see when you climb into one. AND it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

The first steps into a larger world...

So I've been playing City of Heroes again for the past month or so. Just a little bit here and there, maybe 6 hours a week or so. I hadn't planned to get back into it until Going Rogue comes out in July, but Dave had mentioned wanted to get back into it and that itch suddenly needed to be scratched. So I immediately dumped my Star Trek Online account (much to my relief) and got it reinstalling.

Now, my City of Heroes account was started in October of 2004. The only other game I've habitually gone back to in that kind of time frame is Diablo 2. In that time CoH has improved and changed so much that looking back I can't imagine actually playing the older iterations of it. The thing that keeps bringing me back isn't necessarily the game-play, which is passable and often fun, but not great.

It's the character creation system. I can't think of any other game that has such a robust character creation system. There are a few omissions in it (like Brutish Female Models, think Giganta) but in general I've been able to create any character I can think of in a satisfactory fashion.

The downside is that there are very few people who are playing CoH right now. I only know one person who plays at the moment and the servers seem to be generally empty. I'm hoping that when Going Rogue releases it'll pull in old and new players and beef up the player base. I really hope that some day they'll be able to consolidate down their servers so increase the number of players per server.

Also, Lord of the Rings Online is going Free to Play this fall, which I'm really excited about.

Daughter, I hope you love Role-Playing Games

Someday, when you're older, I'm thinking ten or twelve, but maybe as young as eight depending on how mature I think you are, I'm going to sit down with you and help you create a Dungeons and Dragons character. It'll be about ten years from now, so we'll probably be using the brand new 5th edition system, but I'm thinking... Elf Fighter. Maybe a mage. Definitely Elf though.

So we'll create a character, talking about who she is, where she's from. What her dreams and aspirations are. I can already see that dreamy far away look in your eye as you describe her parents (king and queen of a far away land, of course) that your teachers have described to me. You put it on as you stare dreamily out of the classroom window when you should be learning about... whatever you should be learning about in the fourth grade. I don't remember exactly because I was too busy staring dreamily out the window when I should have been paying attention.

Then I'll give you the brand new dice I bought you in your favorite colors. Maybe purple, like your mother, or deep red with white numbers. Will you make sure that all your dice match? Will you prefer pips or digits on your d6s? I prefer that all my dice conform to "Ugly, old, and mismatched". Maybe you will too.

You'll know all the jargon, of course. d4s, d6s, d20s, etc. To Hit, Damage, and what kind of bonuses are power, feat, armor, or the almighty untyped. You've been the unofficial table mascot since you barely had hair. I'm afraid that you'll someday view all men against the benchmark that your father and his gamer friends have set. A benchmark that shows how focused, charismatic, successful and crushingly boring non-gamer men are.

So we'll begin and I'll describe the court of your parents. Maybe your Elf Fighter/Mage (that is, one or the other as multi-classing is a coward's game) feels out of place in the airy intrigue of the Great Game, or maybe you'll be bold and daring and give her an excellent CHA and begin to play your parent's enemies against each other. Maybe your mother will play with us. I can see her as the cautious and resolute Human Paladin envoy. I can see it now: She is to guide and protect you as you deliver a peace accord to the human lands, but the Goblin Emperor cannot afford peace between the Elf and Human kingdoms and has vowed to stop you.

It will be epic.

And maybe as you get older you won't have time for your Dad's adventure games, and that's ok. I'll send a copy of the Core Three (PHB, DMG, and MM) with you when you head off to college and there will always be a spot for you at the table, which I have moved to your room, which is now my room, while you're away at college.

I hope you love Role-Playing Games because I do and I love you.

I'm a little airplane nyow...

I remember a time when the songs that got stuck in my head weren't intended for toddlers and preschoolers. I can't say that I don't mind it. Sesame Street is my new Buddha.

Things are looking up!

So, the past three months have been very difficult financially. With only one income, my wife and I have felt the weight of our monthly bills and due to late payments, our credit is taking some damage. However, because of our apparent difficulty, two of our creditors have offered solutions to help us out.

Chase bank, who owns my credit card debt, has offered a plan, which reduced my interest rate significantly and sets up a schedule to have my balance paid off in 5 years. Now, we're talking a reduction from a 30% interest rate to 2%. Yeah. And our payments will drop almost $150 a month.

The other is EdFinancial, who own my student loans. They have turned me onto a Unemployment Deference, which will defer my loan payments for 1 year, and the federal government will pay my interest. All I have to do is register with the Unemployment Commission, and fax them a letter of intent. So guess who's registered with the Virginia Unemployment Commission, and guess what I'll be doing tomorrow.

So once all the paperwork is done, our monthly bills will drop almost $350. That is so huge. We're also going to look at other monthly expenditures, and see what else we can dump.

The Target job fell through, which is upsetting because big box retail should be a slam dunk for someone like me, and I'm just not sure what's going wrong. Someone suggested Wal-Mart, but I feel like that's a step towards a bad end. The idea makes me feel dirty.

I'm heading back to the Friday night gaming table for the first time since October. I'm going to be super far behind as far as the story and everything that's been going on with D&D as a game, but I'm excited to be gaming twice a week again. We're starting Shadowrun up again Monday, and I'm excited about that too.

Does anyone want to buy a old style PSP, a few games, and several accessories for a reasonable price?

Ok, so once a week is more realistic...

So, I've got an interview at Target in about an hour and a half. I thought I did well at the Best Buy interview, but that fizzled out as if it never happened. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but constant dissapointment (in the world and in myself) is a tough storm to weather.

On the up-side, we've got a new gamer at the table. I'll have to wait to see what she names her character so I'll know what to call her here. We played Cleopatra and the Society of Architects, which I haven't played in some time and it went fairly well. Sven was fed to the crocodiles, and I eeked out a victory over Mal. She-who-has-not-yet-been-named didn't do well, but it was her first game out the standard Milton Bradley fare and she was just playing a little too safe.

Afterwords we talked about Shadowrun and I gave her my book to look at. We'll probably sit down before the next week and get her character made. Which is exciting. There's nothing like making a character with someone who's almost never gamed before.