Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

You know Stan Getz? The jazz saxophonist? Well, it's said he was an unbearable pain in the ass. Real perfectionist. But everybody put up with his crap because he was Stan Getz.
He was like Shakespeare or something. Maybe not Shakespeare, but he was definitely up on a level ; some guys you kinda gotta put up with on account of that. Now Eddie Van Halen? He's a major douche, and I won't buy a Van Halen ticket even if I have the money. And la dee da and behold: he cancelled his Dallas dates due to whatever.
There's some guys that THINK they have a little something going for them, so they go there. Maybe they really can't help it. But who needs their crap? They're not Stan Getz.
I'd rather go see a Sammy Hagar concert.

I’ll tell you what pisses me off to no end about this (and the 4e flame stuff)?
The whole attitude to politeness and civility.

“I can’t express myself and also be polite.”
“I don’t know how to self censor.”
“My emotions on this are strong, therefore my language needs to be strong too.”
“My ideas are so great that you should just accept that I’m a rude git and get over it.”
“It’s not what I write, it’s how other people keep reacting to it.”
“I’m just responding to unprovoked personal attacks! (Oh yeah, after I said that everyone who thinks x must be complete morons)”
“If you disagree with me you are certainly wrong (and probably stupid too).”

My dear god people. Maybe you don’t put the same stock in politeness as I do. Fair enough, don’t let me impose my views on you. But don’t you see that just a little bit of politeness would actually lead to the discussion advancing and being productive, rather than bogging down in needless and continual mudslinging?

The anonymity given by the internet doesn't help either. A lot of professors are insufferable windbags who hate each other - however, you still go to conferences and you still submit journal article drafts, and you don't want to piss people off too much. Thus, the whole academic discourse acquires a level of civility it would never have had if the players didn't know each other fairly well.

The main thing that bothers me is I gotta sit there and listen to it and not respond. I don't think that these people would talk to me in a bar like all that mess.

The main thing that bothers me is I gotta sit there and listen to it and not respond. I don't think that these people would talk to me in a bar like all that mess.

"Would you like to repeat that to my face, friend?"

I know, right?

Trollman has been banned from rpg forums across the net repeatedly. He was only given a timeout on this one, but good ideas or not he was intentionally driving the community away from a community project because of his own unchecked ego. If our goal was "Trollman's 3.5" (as his most certainly was) then that would be fine, but it's not. I agree with some of his points (like the point system for barbarian rage is needless complexity) but I'm not gonna miss him.

I don't know how many of those people who miss Frank followed that link back to Gamer's Den where he was able to express himself freely. If they had I suspect they wouldn't miss him so much. I suspect a few of them are straggling goons from his site.

*goes back to sleep

Welcome back Ithers - how was the holiday?

And hey, when did Aubrey become a Douschetwat? I must have missed it.

I'm a douchetwat as I wrote a couple of emails in a thread - one quoted Frank in private correspondence with me (which was underhand, but as Frank basically admitted he was simply trolling the boards I thought I would put out a warning not to feed him) and the other was where K was whining for the intervention of moderators (because I think he could see the writing on the wall, and things were coming to a head) and I told him he was a hypocrite (at which point he, most satisfyingly, lost his cool). So I'm now douchetwat. I'd be more upset if they could think of a better phrase, or something witty.

Yeah, I was quietly amused when I saw who that call for moderation was from...

It's just laziness when someone takes two insults and mashes them together. Ok, sometimes it's creative, and works, but I can't see this one standing the test of time.

How is a douchetwat even possible? A twatdouche yeah ... ok, sorry, I'm thinking about this too hard, I'll stop.

EDIT: hmmm, funny how that censor thing works sometimes eh? Maybe that's why the former rather than the latter.

The trip was great. At one point in Topkapi Palace we saw portraits of the various Sultans who were apparently mostly obese. After that I said we were eating like Sultans and we'd leave Istanbul looking like Sultans. Despite our best efforts luckily that did not come to pass.

Before this trip I didn't know that the river that runs through Istanbul is officially the border that divides Europe and Asia. I just thought "the Asian side" meant there was a significant immigrant population there. We made it over there one afternoon just for a foodie excursion through street markets and to hit a place I'd read about on chow.com and Nancy Chuang's blog. The sardines were still flopping in the fishmarket.

Istanbul street food
-roasted chestnuts
-grilled or boiled corn
-cucumbers pushed around on an ancient cart that looked like a donkey should be pulling it, peeled with a knife when you picked one.
-street oysters with lemon on a tiny little stand (only at night)

The Great Bazaar was much more modern than my imagination. I had some kind of idea of an open air market with hastily constructed stalls and tarps. Nope. It's much more like an endless mall with tiny stores many of which are selling exactly the same thing. Still it was pretty sweet. I got a nice set of bone dominoes for my dad in a velvet lined box with brass and mother of pearl inlay. Still- we had to learn our first lesson the hard way. Jo was in a hurry and didn't take time to establish an average starting price for our first purchase and we wandered into a guy who must have been one of the more crooked thieves in the place (most were quite decent and started from the same baseline prices). His initial asking price for the things I verified later was more than 3 times the average rate and though we talked him down some- well, lesson learned.

Also with the cabs, I read beforehand that Istanbul's taxi drivers are some of the most prone to trickery and scamming in the world though most are average decent people. So I read up on all the scams and what to expect (intentionally driving f'd up routes to pad the fare, setting the meter for day instead of night, claiming an inflated preset fare, etc) So I was vigilant and on our first ride we ended up paying about 4 times the correct fare (we took the same route a day or so later with an honest driver). The meter was rigged. Hah! All my precaution and still he ripped us. But he was nothing compared to another guy we met a few days later! We took a cab to find a rest we wanted to try, not realizing it was in a convention center. The idea of lunch in a convention center was not so exciting to us consider there were so many other beautiful neighborhood places to try so we left immediately. The drivers lined up outside directed us to the guy who was next. We had paid 5 lira to get to the place- maybe 2 or 3 km. This guy opened by trying to convince to go to his friend's restaurant (with belly dancing) and but finally agreed to take us where we wanted to go. He shortly pulled onto a neighborhood road blocked with traffic that ran alongside the major street we should have been on. His meter was placed so low that you had to lean over his shoulder to see its display and he tried to block it with his knee. Also it didn't display day or night rate and ran at about 35+ times the correct rate! lol! Anyways we would have let him rip us off to some degree, it's not so much money and we are tourists, but his greed was so monstrous that he ended up making less than he would have got by being honest. Realizing he was a serious thief I told him we were getting out and he tried to tell us it was too far to walk and tried to keep us from getting out of the car, but he was stuck int he traffic he'd locked himself into so he couldn't really. It took 5 lira to get to the convention center. Having gone about 1/4 of that distance leaving his meter read 45 lira. Anyways- he got 4 and a fair selection of curses. I suppose it could have gone differently, but we'd been there a few days and weren't in any mood for that kind of bs by then. So in the end it just made an amusing story :D

I'll add in some more tales of Istanbul later.

I'm a douchetwat as I wrote a couple of emails in a thread - one quoted Frank in private correspondence with me (which was underhand, but as Frank basically admitted he was simply trolling the boards I thought I would put out a warning not to feed him) and the other was where K was whining for the intervention of moderators (because I think he could see the writing on the wall, and things were coming to a head) and I told him he was a hypocrite (at which point he, most satisfyingly, lost his cool). So I'm now douchetwat. I'd be more upset if they could think of a better phrase, or something witty.

This big vinegar truck, hit this big water truck, and it went "douche!"

That'll make your eyes water.

Re Ithers tale, they try scams like that in Thailand - you get to the big temple, and some guy outside says its closed, but he can give you a ride round Bangkok to see all the other sites, and you can go to a restaurant too... Fortunately, I was wise to it from reading the guide book.

Hey, Aubrey...
you around right now?

I'm on my blackberry.

Hey. Frank gave out your name and location on that thread over there.
Didn't know if you knew.

Nice guy - I might have to give it a visit. I was surprised he held off so long, but I am already subject to spam and a few emails from his loser chums doesn't bother me overly. Kind of reinforces me on the moral high ground. That guy just festers with resentment, it is pathetic. He's at medical school, I think - just imagine his bedside manner.

Thanks for the heads-up.

No prob's.

I'm not going over there to say anything. I don't see the point of giving the place any action by my presence there. It looks like a den of trolls.

I had a quick look at what Frank wrote. It is pretty harmless - sure, I live in Rugby, like Lyle Mays (well, one of his albums, anyway) and thought Dragons of Faerun was a good book. Hardly going to lead to identity theft: any fool can find that with a Google search of my name, and come up with my Amazon reviews. Not exactly crime of the century, but thanks for letting me know, Heathy.

Still, Frank really doesn't seem to like me - he is a remarkably sensitive guy. No, really. What is amusing is how they are still reading what is going on on the Paizo site - something I wrote this morning has been already commented on. Despite their brave words about casting off the project, they still seem interested. I was tempted to post something on their site, but can't really be bothered - easier to let it lie.

By the way, on a much more important subject...

For Heathy and Ithers:

Aubrey:

Aubrey

Oh, my god, do we need a party leader. This adventure committee stuff is starting to get a little old.

I vote for "not me."

I nominate Alwyn as Vattnise seems to be pretty good at keeping up with what's going on and his character has already begun to assert that kind of "war leader" mentality, being a priest of Gorum and all.

2 for "not me."

I nominate Alwyn as Vattnise seems to be pretty good at keeping up with what's going on and his character has already begun to assert that kind of "war leader" mentality, being a priest of Gorum and all.

Yeah, I've been trying to play up Alwyn as a take-charge kinda guy. Of course, when the weapons get packed away, he tends to lose interest...

I'd jump on it like a cheerleader on a football team if I was more available.

I'd follow a priest of Gorum

Oh, my god, do we need a party leader. This adventure committee stuff is starting to get a little old.

Agreed.

I suppose I'll also vote for Alwyn - despite the fact that it was Elisile's disagreement with him here that slowed things down - and it was her suggestion that was finally implemented.

You've got the choice of a narrow doorway, that you have to go up a stair to get to, with a creature obviously right behind it, or a wide doorway with no access issues and no sign that there's a monster lurking right there ... seemed like a no brainer to me, if we wanted to take advantage of our numbers and ranged superiority.

So the committee has elected Alwyn - has that been ratified in line with the terms of reference? Did we have a quorum?

Huzzah! All hail the new king!

Any challengers will need to beat Alwyn in a tabletop knife-fight. Politics as usual, and all that...

Huzzah! All hail the new king!

I prefer the term "chairman".

First Schenker now Hudak.
Sheeeeeesh!

"That boysa runnin fool."

First Schenker now Hudak.

Sheeeeeesh!

"That boysa runnin fool."

Yeah, I'm with you. It always sucks when you fail your highest save, too.

Leastways you're not a warwoof.
I'll never live this down.

Are these Yeth Hounds? Man, I don’t think I’ve ever used or faced these. Aubrey likes his extraplanar doggies, doesn’t he?

Flying dogs? Your guess is as good as mine. I was expecting hellhounds or something like that myself.

Airedale Terriers?

Are these Yeth Hounds? Man, I don’t think I’ve ever used or faced these. Aubrey likes his extraplanar doggies, doesn’t he?

All direct from the scenario.

Mothman wrote:

Are these Yeth Hounds? Man, I don’t think I’ve ever used or faced these. Aubrey likes his extraplanar doggies, doesn’t he?

All direct from the scenario.

Oh yeah, that's right its a published adventure. I thought you might be following up on your barghest theme since we all got such a kick out of that.

Don't worry - you've got some barghest action coming soon....

Don't worry - you've got some barghest action coming soon....

Um ... no, that's ok. No need to have one for my sake.

No, really, it's no problem. I insist......

Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!

Well, if you insist...

So these flying dogs do have DR, but its not DR/magic if Alwyn's sword wasn't being terribly effective. So Elisile's spell will be something of a waste then! Not that it matters with the damage that Alwyn, Dravite and Larken are putting out - good job guys.

Those were some big hits! The dogs probably have DR/cold iron or silver or something like that. We'll just have to pound the last one into the ground the old-fashioned way.

Now I'm panicking.

But I know what you mean. I once made a half-orc druid that seemed like an awesome idea before the game but for some reason I could never get into once the game started.

Hmmm ...

Anyone I know? ;-)

Haha- no. That was Magda, a swamp dwelling anti-social druid I played shortly on enworld a few years ago. What I neglected to do there was give her any ties to other party members at all. That plus being a loner was a bad move. I had imagined her a defender of her swamp with a hut on stilts and a local reputation as the witch of the swamp. All of my ideas together really left her no reason to leave the swamp and the storyline didn't really provide a solid one either. Lessons learned.

Da'gret is the first time I've put together a druid since then and he's working much better for me. Got some outdoorsy buddies willing to overlook his wet-goat stench for one thing :D

Ha! Good, I was a bit concerned ... obviously I'd like everyone to play a character they like...

Wow. We are lucky those first two hounds went down instantly. If we were fighting 3 with the results we are having right now... it would be bad.