Paul DryePaul Drye - LiveJournal.comPop quiz- June 29, 2008 As I mentioned yesterday, here's the rough beginnings of the elven lands for the campaign setting:These are two large northern lakes, each roughly the size of Lake Onega in Russia, or Lake Athabasca. Ultimately the plan is to sketch in pretty-much primeval conifer forest on the south shores of these (the north shores shading to tundra, though they didn't always), and fill in the rivers -- for now the outlets and major inlets are sketched, though that southbound river in the middle is eventually.http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/192016.html DND4E-2-DATE- June 29, 2008 The new D&D campaign setting is shaping up well. It's a stew, keeping in the spirit with D&D's everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink-of-Holding approach. To that end, I've been deconstructing old adventures and campaign frames looking for inspiration at both the top and bottom end of detail.As far as I can see, the new rules are much more friendly to short adventures (by which I mean a few rooms and a couple of combats -- if not one) than the multi-combat modules of days gone by, so it's a poor...http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/191799.html I live in Burlington, so- June 27, 2008 This seemed kind of interesting:http:www.cbc.cacanadatorontostory20080627burlington-fire.htmlNot because of the speed-limit thing(1). The "Fire trucks are now equipped with a strobe light that can change any of the city's 180 traffic lights from red to green" thing(2). Hot damn, time to start experimenting.OK, I probably won't -- but I would lay very long odds that someone isn't trying this. It's probably against the law, but this is one of those things where the likelihood of getting caught is.http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/191630.html Dear Internet...- June 26, 2008 It's necessary for you to stop using the Ben Franklin quote "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety".Let's review why you've been using it so much. Yes, the world has lost its fucking marbles the last seven years and Franklin's quote displays surprising insight into our situation for coming from an old geezer. But it's become apparent that it suffers from two flaws, one of which will apply depending on why you are using...http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/191293.html If I had more money than I knew what to do with- June 24, 2008 I would own this sink:http:www.trendir.comarchives001991.htmlhttp://pauldrye.livejournal.com/191146.html Yeah, it's more bitching about names- June 20, 2008 The only thing that I would absolutely change about 4th Edition D&D The new, compressed "default pantheon" of gods. Repackaging some of the names used in other contexts (Vecna, Ioun) is a mistake -- too jarring to me. The really big problem, though, is repackaging the names of real-world supernatural figures (Asmodeus, and especially Tiamat). They make my head want to explode. It's like calling the capital of one's fantasy kingdom "New York City".http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/190907.html Thinking of starting a campaign- June 20, 2008 I've been giving some thought to starting a D&D4E campaign if the D&D Insider ever gets up and running. I know there's some concern about pricing ($14.95 a month), but I'm inclined to give it a try if a few other people are coming along and willing to try it with me.This would be partly so I could teach myself 4th Edition (so I'd imagine at first there'd be some fumbling). Without knowing exactly how it might evolve, I'm guessing the campaign would consist mostly of short adventures geared to...http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/190586.html Stephen Fry, fanboy- June 20, 2008 The week before we moved, the BBC started a new drama, starring William Hartnell. An old man, whose name appeared to be Grandfather or the Doctor, had a police phone box of the kind we saw in the street all the time in those days. It turned out to be a magical and unimaginably wonderful time machine. My brother and I watched this drama in complete amazement. The first ever episode of Doctor Who. I had never been so excited in all my life. A whole week to wait to watch the next instalment. Never.http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/190234.html Huh- June 17, 2008 For the benefit of non-Canadian readers, a quick bit of explanation. Bill C-61 was recently introduced to our Parliament with the intention of amending our copyright legislation. To say it's a mess would be kind.The government's Industry Minister answered some of the criticism this morning with a letter to the editorial page of the Toronto Star, which is Canada's largest newspaper by circulation.It irked me that he avoided the most important point observers have been making about the bill: that.http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/190069.html It's the purity of my karma, you see- June 15, 2008 Since D&D4E seems much more oriented toward miniatures during play (bear in mind that my last real experience with the game was original AD&D), I've been buying a fair number of plastic minis the last week. Call it $50 in total, with the goal being trying to wrap my head around what the new experience will be like. I did buy one set of unpainted Games Workshop LOTR plastic minis -- Warriors of Rohan -- to use as mooks, but mostly I've been sticking to buying loosies of the D&D miniatures game...http://pauldrye.livejournal.com/189725.html |