Up in the belltower

I enjoy sniping on ebay, it's the closest I'll ever come to hunting. I kinda get a twinge of regret when I snipe a really cool item from some poor slob with a feedback of 12. But I really enjoy sniping a dealer. when I see that my opponent has a feedback of 25987 and a power seller icon, then all bets are off. that reseller scumbag is mine, baby!
I know for a fact that the item in question aint going to his kids, or even up on a shelf in a joe room, he's gonna re-list it with better keywords and recoup his investment-plus. I feel it's my holy duty to thwart those scumbags. I go for the grandma angle a lot. I look where most folks dont, and I aint afraid to use the word doll. I've found quite a few hidden "Action figure" treasures mis-labled by uninformed grandmas as dolls. problem is those power sellers know what to look for as well. they are like the barracudas at the yard sales that troll around at 7am to buy all the good stuff from the yardsale on saturday morning-only to take it all to the flea market and re-sell it on sunday. I dont do strip clubs anymore and I only game every other weekend so I get my diversions where I can find em.

the Alamo

I saw the Alamo this last weekend. I really enjoyed it. I wanted to see it on the big screen back in march but I didn't have time. I know it didn't do well at the box office, dismal by current $$ standards, but I wasn't sure if it was because the movie was misunderstood or just plain bad. After watching it I have to say it was probably misunderstood. It may have been marketed as a patriotic film, but to me it was more of a character study of the three mythic heroes of the Texas Pantheon, Jim Bowie-Davey Crockett-William "Buck" Travis -Sam Houston (None of whom surprisingly, were Texans).
In the movie these guys were portrayed, as men of greatness who were as flawed as any of us would be. I appreciated that. I also appreciated the portrayals of the Tejano defenders and the slaves.
Once again the commentary on the DVD's added to my enjoyment of the film by providing some interesting insight that wouldn't have been available to me had I seen the movie in the theater. I took a look at the comment sections over at Amazon and at the IMDB site and I found quite a few negative reviews of the movie. Folks were posting that it was long and boring and that the fight at the end was just a chaotic mess Most of those comments I attribute to those folks who went to see it expecting something more in line with Braveheart, Gladiator, or the Patriot. There were even guys making fun of the clothing (which was historically accurate to the time). Once I started reading the posts I found that the few defenders of the movie were guys like me who had an interest in the historical points and had done a bit of reading of the period and the issues involved in the conflict. Given that, it was easy to dismiss the silly hat comments.
Overall my feeling is that the movie is good. But it must be taken as it is intended, a movie adaptation of the siege of the Alamo. Not historically by the book, but the closest in realism of the several movies that have been done on the subject.

Legends of Steel update

Well the project continues. I am writing stuff every spare minute I can. I've got my oldest son and some friends play-testing it every other weekend. And I have some experienced gamer buddies giving the rough drafts a once over and giving me their thoughts and concerns. Seeing as this is a one-man operation I think I'm doing pretty damn good. I'm finding that the hardest thing in the whole process is keeping it simple. I want it to have (as one of my buddies puts it) a "Wahoo!" feeling to it. But I also want it to be mechanically sound. Character generation is done. Combat is moving along, as is magic and Psionics, but it looks like magic and Psionics is gonna need a bit more tweaking. Some are advising a open spell creation system Ala' Hero games' Fantasy Hero system but I feel if I make it in that vein then "simple" goes out the door. Hmmmm??

Research -wise I'm watching movies ("Sword and the Sorcerer" the other day) and reading comics (I just won a set of Atlas comics titles "Wulf the Barbarian" and "Iron Jaw" comics). Doing this always helps bring me down from the "rules rafters" and reminds me of what I want to create here, a fun game that can be played quickly rather than a set of ponderous rules that intimidate casual players. The saga continues...

Playtesting

It's been hard keeping up with my Blogging for the last couple of months. But in a good way I suppose.

Legends of Steel is coming along nicely. I'm just about done with the core portions and then I'll start on the fluff like DM sections and a sample campaign world. Right now I'm trying to tackle the magic and Psionics section. Then come the tough part...monsters. Research wise I've been reading more than I have been watching. I just got a nice run of Claw the unconquered and Arion of Atlantis from DC. And I'm looking for some cheap copies of other S&S comics (Dagar, Stalker, Skull the slayer). We are playing every other Saturday night though I wish I had at least one more player. My Son and Fred's daughter have been a godsend in the play test area showing me the gaps in the rules that only a 13 year-old power-gamer can find. The last game session was kind of weak and the blame for that rests on me alone. My players are not big on puzzle solving, and I should have recognized that early on instead of wasting 90 minutes of game time trying to force feed them the solution. We are playing this weekend and as my way of saying sorry, I'm gonna have some serious Hack-time ready for them!

Postwar A/T

I love the Headsculpts for Lanards Ultracorps!Line. the problem is the bodies suck. So I kept the heads and swapped em out to the latest SOTW figures, which have great bodies for $7.00.

I had this idea to do an -earlier than the 60's-version of the GI Joe Adventure Team. I'm thinking post WWII, These guys would have some nifty 50's sci-fi type weaponry, probably stuff the Government developed after they seized Nicolai Tesla's notes. so here is a starter pick of my "post war Adventure team" I figure they are all ex service men, probably OSS and commando types. Sporting hi-tech secret weaponry to fight commies and aliens- in that order.

Are you guys passing the torch?

after quite a hiatus from table top gaming I now have a regular group. My 13 year old son Anthony, my buddy Fred and his 11 year old daughter. It's a far cry from my mountain dew-fueled weekend long gaming marathons, but we still have a good time. I also let my two little ones play with the figures and the dice (The new D&D miniatures are excellent for kids, those damn things are near indestructible).
the other day I went to Ebay and picked up a copy of "fantasy forest" an early TSR board game for children based on the D&D cartoon. the boys also watch my wife and Anthony play Baldurs gate: Dark Alliance on the playstation. so the kids are getting a fair share of indoctrination in the mysteries of gaming. and just to insure we don't overdo the geek factor I'm also having them start Little Dragons Karate and Football league is on schedule next fall.

By the way, Ain't that a cool pic?

HEY look ma, no nipples!

Man, this has got to be the best Batman costume yet!
Dig it Baby!

Get a life...please

So a few weeks ago with nothing better to post I put up a picture of the Justice League of Amazons and I make mention of the fact that an "idiot moderator" of an action figure group saw it as pornographic and put me on notice (I shortly thereafter left the group). fast forward to this morning and who do you think I get an email from? Yup, "mister moderator". He must have been visiting my web log to check out the "porn" instead of "moderating his own group. Anyway, he goes into me being bitter for being booted from his group and trashing people behind their backs...Yadda...Yadda...Blechh. Whatever. Like I said earlier his censoring policies didn't jive with my sensibilities so I LEFT HIS GROUP. Not only that, I quietly unsubscribed and went away (Unlike some people who feel they have to post a "Swansong diatribe" as to how they are being forced to leave. screw that nerdy bullshit.). as to being bitter- I posted the picture for the pictures sake, it had nothing t do with leaving his group, he was just an amusing anecdote. And as to posting it behind anyone's back...hello, this is a web log, A very public forum. He's probably just mad cause he just found out that he's an amusing anecdote.

Daddy Day!

I had some actual free time over the weekend. Wife at work kids at Grandmas and Jeffy all alone with his toys!
So I decided to do a little kit bashing. Nothing fancy just point and shoot. Maybe some day I'll have enough time and stuff for a photo story..


First up here is an AT guy on a PT horse... I took the horse and kinda fluffed him up with some gear. Bedroll, saddle blanket, saddlebags, etc.
The premise was an AT guy who rides the high mountain ranges, protecting folks, keeping and eye on things and rescuing hikers. My son noticed the lack of weaponry so I included the obligatory shotgun (hey, he might run into a bear or some escaped convicts) I figured I'd never go into the woods without a gun why should he?

Went to go see American wedding this weekend. Funny as all hell. sophomoric? Yes. Crude and raunchy? Of course. But still, funny as all hell. Though I think the franchise needs to stop here before it gets tired.

We had our little cake and ice cream get together for nick on Friday, he got a couple of Go-bots and a plush doggy chair (my son loves dogs). Only problem Josh (my 3 year old) saw all the attention and started to cry. Oh well his turn is this week. I'm thinking Hot Wheels for him.

Another coupla great posts this weekend. We are getting close to starting. I know you guys are investing a lot of time and effort in these characters and it shows, I just want to remind you that the foes you will be facing are mad wicked and psionics WILL be a factor in play so it is recommended that you have a back-up character ready if your first one takes the big dive, remember the Evil DM does not do resurrection. Never has, never will.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS!

My little Nick-o-lodean is 3 today. After work it's off to Toys R Us to pick him up some Go-Bots Weren't these toys around back in the 80's?? Well they are back and targeted for the 3-5 year old set. And he loves the commercials. I absolutely live getting toys for the kids (I might even be able to squirrel away a lil something for myself heh.heh.)

Cool site alert!
Saw a funny one today it's called "the gamers" you can see a QuickTime sample of it over at www.deadgentlemen.com

PEACEMAKERS

well hell, i was all jazzed up to see that new western on USA called "Peacemakers" so I get home and Tony (my oldest) tells me the damn cable is on the fritz. so no luck watching the new show. good thing about USA though is they repeat the hell outta everything they show so i'm hoping to get another chance.

SoE

well I'm hard at work on the adventure. Ive been re-reading some of the incursion stuff and adapting it to Erisa. I'm trying to figure out where i want the adventure based. i was considering Maghreb. mostly cause we ain't been there yet in ANY of the games. the climate is rough, unforgiving and there are no friendly faces around.

the symbols project Jeff has taking on is coming along great i see many wondrous and possibly even useful magic items in Hamfasts future. still waiting to receive any thing else for the others. but other than the previously mentioned articles and artwork....nada. oh well it ain't my fault if you folks go into yer first high level erisa game with one healing potion between the eight of you and short swords and ringmail armor bought off the rack.

I like Darrell's suggestion on the Heldar symbol (A blazing sun rising) I would superimpose a gauntleted fist holding a Mace. that way you get that martial aspect we see in heldarites everywhere.

For Anhur (Nohar) i'm thinking a Bulls head (Like Taurus) this would also connect with the large number of Minotaurs that live in Eastern Brouaq-Nohar and and serve as the emperors shock troops.

What do you guys think of Gruns symbol? does it say "men at work"? or "goldmine crossing here"?
can anyone come up with something better for the god of laborers?

well back to work...
Aloha!

Symbols
So I was thinking of symbols for the gods what do you guys think so far?

Arawn - a black book with red runes
Grun - a crossed mallet and shovel
Jeridia a dagger and a coin purse
Morrigan - a bloody axehead stuck in the earth with a crow resting on the Haft.
Nogar-Sai - a fanged skull below an infinity symbol
St. Raphine - a pair of crossed swords above a blazing hearth
Uller-a charging Stag

if you guys have any suggestions please post them.

Character sheets

if any of you guys have downloaded or are trying either DM Genie or Character Genie, please send me your characters in that format.

Another weekend spent in the heat of the Sacramento valley. Scarlette calls it the fruit bowl. It got so bad that Scarlette came down with a minor case of heatstroke on Sunday after we saw League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I got her home and cooled her off before it got real bad. Other than that the weekend was spent doing family stuff (haircuts, buying shoes etc)

Picked up my gaming mags over the weekend. I pretty much buy three religiously. Dragon, dungeon and knights of the dinner table. A few months ago they had a column in KODT about gaming with females. I promptly wrote a tongue in cheek letter to the editor de-crying the adding of girls to the gaming table. This started a little storm of controversy that lasted for about three issues. Some people felt sorry for me (as in pity that I will never know the joys of gaming with members of the opposite sex -yeah, whatever) others called me a chauvinist. It was good fun getting a bunch of geeks all riled up, now if they would only bathe before going to the game store...

Dragon 310 has a sweet cover by Elmore- a pair of chain mail bikini type babe adventurers. I highly recommend you check it out.And speaking of artwork Jeff Herbert has graced us with a piece of original artwork for the swords of Erisa website. It's a portrait of a Red mountain Clan Dwarf. It could be the head guy himself Hergoff "the Red".

I'm still plugging along on the SoE website. Trying to put in at least an hour a night on it. It will load much faster I believe since I'll be removing a lot of the gif animation and music etc. I'm gonna try and concentrate on content vs. doodads and eye candy.

That's all for now.
Evil DM out!

Lunchtime Blog

Well it's Gen Con weekend and once again I'm missing out on our hobbies premier gaming event. Any of you guys going? I'm saving my pennies and shooting for Gen Con So Cal in December. I promised Jeff H I'd give him a hand at the Heromachine booth so that should be fun!

I'm slowly getting the swing of things here at work, starting to get a routine and a flow. I have a great boss and a cool office. I have Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Namor (from the marvel legends line) up on my shelf and a couple of other touches that make me feel right at home. So all in all things at work are cool.

At home, were getting ready to celebrate Boojie (Joshua 4) and Lody's (Nicholas 3) birthdays next week. Tonight is "Pizza Friday" but instead of Pizza it will be McDonalds for $1.00 double cheeseburgers and then we'll go check out "Finding Nemo." Speaking of Nemo, I have yet to see either "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" or "Pirates of the Caribbean" I'm hoping to catch LXG this weekend if my mom will take the boys on Saturday.

I'm really Happy with the way the 5year foregrounds are coming along in the Swords of Erisa game. I don't plan to be instituting any 3.5 edition stuff yet but I will be picking up the books one at a time as funds allow. (Plus I always wait for the second print run anyway so that they can correct the errata) but yes eventually SoE will be 3.5 compliant. I am also working on the website and plan to put up a reworked version soon. With many updates and revisions. The updates because they are way overdue and the revisions because I want Erisa to contain 100% original content rather than partially plagiarized material.
Jeff has even agreed to help me graphically enhance the sight with some pieces of original Erisa themed artwork as time allows (I am totally jazzed about that!).

Some of you have inquired on the list and privately about magic items for your newly pumped up and reconditioned characters, well I have given it a bit of thought and I believe I have a more palatable answer than just HELL NO. I have decided for those of you wiling to invest a little additional time in the campaign I will pass on some nifty trinkets. Now all you have to do is grab your keyboards and submit an article to the Erisa Chronicle. the article could be about anything Erisa or Gaming related. For instance Jim has submitted a story (hopefully ongoing) detailing the early adventures of his Brooding Warrior- Rue and mike has submitted an article on Druids, Witches and their role in Erisa. They will be receiving magic items for these works. So if you feel like doing an article on a town in Wren or a secret society in Aragos. Or maybe reviews of a new game system or RPG tool (like player Genie) send it in.

On the subject of the Erisa chronicle, I `m finishing the next issue up and it should be out shortly, look for Mike and Jim's articles, as well as a cool new logo from Jeff H.

Evil DM out!

Long time no Blog

Hey all,

Well it looks like things are finally settling down at work. Man it was a rocky start. My second day there I come down with pneumonia. I tried to tough it out but it was a no go.
I ended up staying out for a week. So in essence everything that I was taught that first week was a fuzzy blur. After I got better I went back and was ready to resume training, unfortunately the company I work for The Association of California Water Agencies www.acwanet.com (ACWA) was the target of an investigation by the local newspaper concerning misappropriation of funds. So needless to say everyone in the company was busy looking up expense reports and tax returns trying to prove that there were no improprieties so you can imagine that training the "new guy" wasn't high on the list of things to do. So I was given some busy work to keep me occupied till we weathered out the editorial storm. After that crisis had passed it was time to get the July bill run ready.
But things got better the company was cleared and I finally got re-trained. I love the job and most of the people in my department are pretty cool (there's always one though huh?). I'm a Benefits Enrollment Coordinator. My job is to maintain the Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life files for all of the employees from each individual water district in California and their affiliated agencies. I also make sure the districts remain in compliance with the various insurances and their policies.

The Game

I'm looking forward to this new direction in the Campaign. A world invasion just seems so cool. This is a great way to get you guys in a position where you might get a chance to impact the world. I'm thinking to pump you guys up to 9th level to begin with. As far as where to start what do you guys think? Should we start right where we left off and adjust accordingly? Or should we advance the campaign a couple of years and create back-story for their newfound levels? If the latter then I can hammer out something with each of you individually and say that the current storyline ended when the swords returned to Bitterwell after restoring Mal's folly. Cassandra can do some much needed research. Van can sharpen his performing skills. The woodsy boys (Ben, Darian, and Cole) could have time to really familiarize themselves with the Spire mountain range. And Ham will practice his trade both in Bitterwell and when he makes forays into the city with Cassandra and Van. This will also make Sir Anselm a more potent character I know Rob envisions powerful things for his paladin and I agree that given his background 4th level is just too low for his character.
Please let me know all your thoughts on this and please refrain from perusing any of the dungeon or dragon magazines that deal with the "Incursion". I'm sure to change some facets of it in order to make it Erisa compliant, but I still want it to be enjoyable for you all.

So...Incursion. A campaign based on an outer planar invasion of Erisa. A Githyanki empire from an Outer -Plane, led by a Githyanki Lich-Queen looks to expand their borders to include the small out of the way planet of Erisa (remember Erisa exists in the same Universe as Oerth (Greyhawk), Krynn (Dragonlance), and The Forgotten Realms world of Toril). Erisa is far from the regular space ways traveled by the "Spelljammers", this and the fact that it is an Elfless world has meant that Erisa has pretty much been left alone by the major player worlds. But all that will be changing, as the Githyanki begin their invasion. And the invasion will begin in Pellen, a fractured nation struggling to recover from a recent invasion itself. Will Pellen fall? Will the Lich-Queens armies establish a beachhead and conquer the world? And will they stop with Erisa?

please post your thoughts either here or on yahoogroups!

here we go again :0(
ISP down
Once again i am without internet for another day or so. BLECCH!
I can still access at work and at school so please contact me at boojiesdad@hotmail.com

SoE and The Great Day of Joy!
Every year for one glorious day it occurs, the birds sing a tad sweeter, the sky above is just a smidgin bluer, and the brotherhood of mankind is edged just a bit closer to harmony. Yes my friends the reports are true, tomorrow is The Great Day of Joy!
Three and 9/10ths decades ago the Evil DM was sent to this tiny planet to spread that which he spreads best. and you my loyal players and Blog reap the benefits of membership in the Swords of Erisa Campaign!

here's the skinny...
You each have until midnight tomorrow night to email me THREE things that you would like to see in the future of the campaign. they can be anything, like a part of Erisa you would like to visit, a type of adventure you would like to try, a type of foe you would like the group to be pitted against. etc. please be serious and give it a bit of thought. I enjoy SoE and I want you all to be a part of it.

So whats in it fer me?well for each of you who responds before the deadline i will grant your character ONE LEVEL! thats right one whole level Gratis!
so put on those thinking caps and hit me with your best thought. remember before midnight tomorrow night. at 12:01am april 12th the deal is done.

Apathy
I'm closing out my first week of my "two week notice" period at my job. God do I want to get the hell outta here! not that there is anything wrong with the company or the job. I just want to move on.
plus with the storms on the east coast keeping everyone indoors, nobody is calling in here.

SoE
lots of banter on the groupsite *good thing* but very little action *bad thing* I emailed Jeff H. this morning and told him to start earning his bonus XP and start kicking asses and moving the story along. for me, the time after the finish of a PBEM is always the worst. nobody wants to take initiative on claiming treasure or dividing loot. and getting everyone to turn in their updated sheets is a true pain in the ass (of which I, as a player am often guilty of). but I'm hopeful we will be moving on soon.

darrell's game
Saul Priest of Grun
well after several years it looks like i'll be playing in AHA again. Darrell will be running an adventure located in Pellen, it looks to be very fun and I hope deadly.

I'm gonna try and run a Priest of Grun. now grun aint a martial deity or even one dedicated to goodness and light. he's actually the patron of laborers-basically the average working joe. seems kind of unlikely but that was the attraction. the easy way would be to choose a priest of Heldar or Anhur, not a priest of the god of millers and tanners. but all in all i'm quite happy with Saul.
his background has him starting as a average parish priest trying to keep his chsrges out of harms way during the Vampyre war. when he failed at that he joined the resistance and fought as a guerilla until the Vampyre kings and their spawn were banished from Pellen by the Queen and her forces. afterwards he became a "Tribune". Tribunes were groups of three nobleman and/or clergy that travelled the land restoring order and dispensing the Queens justice. After a year of that he retired from the Tribunals and has travelled the land destroying undead. I gave him the exotic weapons proficiency. I'm arming with him with a kukri, repeating crossbow, and a cold iron mace. i was even thinking of using wolvesbane coated shuriken and rosewood daggers.

I was thinking of the movie "Dracula-Prince of Darkness." at the start of the movie the travelers are rescued by a monk riding a horse and using a high powered rifle. I thought the character was cool. and so i fashioned Saul after him.

I'v been working on a kitbash for him using a Christopher Lee figure.

Lazy day
Mejia Land
Mom's b-day today she's 65!
She's off to Reno tomorrow with a bus load of relatives to conquer the nickle machines.


SoE
Congrats to Darrell, Jeff, Derek, and Rob. they each won a magic item care of "the Evil DM's Blog site."
Stay tuned and check in often, i heard the next giveaway will be quite uplifting.

Blogging 101
I'm still learning about this new form of internet communication. I hope to have some links up soon and maybe even some pictures. its an interesting format, i'll shoot some links out later so you all can see what experienced Bloggers are doing.

that's all for today, aloha!

Friday, 4 April 2003
Greetings!
well today i'm gonna start a weblog for the SoE game and action figure page. i'm not sure what all i'm gonna be using this for but who knows it may be interesting. So stay tuned you might find something worth your while!

Jeff got a new job!
yup. after WEEKS of phone calls, faxes and reference checks yours truly has accepted a position as THE Benefits Coordinator at the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) get it?? AQUA..ACWA...Water.
Anyway the position is several steps up in prestige and income. plus I get my own office. not a cube. An Office. with a real door!
Landmark was a cool place and I made some friends my short time here, but this is a definite career move.

Cool Website alert
I ran across this one today.
http://www.dangermouse.net/irregular/

it's funny on so many levels and probably has some other interesting stuff I aint looked over yet.

Swords of Erisa alert
In the hopes that somebody out there takes the time to read this thing I will be offering various incentives that can only be found on this site. My first such is a random Magic item to be selected by me to any of my players that email me before midnight tonight that they have read this site!

Dragon #306
This months Dragon has some good stuff including a wonderful article on Paladins.

well thats all for today!