Catman Jim's page

Thanks to all for the well-wishes, we had a great day!

Today is a special day for me, and I just have to let everyone know. Today is my 25th wedding anniversary. On December 19, 1982, Andrea & I started our life together, and are still going strong with three grown children & 1 granddaughter.
We celebrated our anniversary last month; following another two week business trip to Switzerland, we took a week vacation to Italy. We visited Florence, Pisa, and several Tuscan hill towns. Here's a few pictures of us:

Chateaux Chillon castle in Montreux Switzerland

Leaning Tower of Pisa

On top of the Tower

We are spending today together Christmas shopping, she doesn't know yet but I will be surprising her with jewelry tonight at dinner (I just need to insist that we do a nice restaurant, after all, it's only our Silver Anniversary once!).

I really can't answer that. I'm almost 50 now, I was into original D&D and AD&D in college in the '70's. I dropped it when 2E came out, and became involved instead with M:tG. When 3E came out, I came back. Now, I have too much invested in 3E material to be thrilled with the prospect of 4E.
Additionally, now that my kids are almost all grown-up (only 1 left at home, and she will be off to college next year), and my business demands have grown too great, I never really have time to actually PLAY anymore anyways.

Research Scientist & Supervisor for the world's largest manufacturer of commercial pet foods. I will have 25 years on the job this next April.

I finally received my box of MPS goodies as well, absolutely awesome! Thanks Paizo!

I recently paid $400 as high bidder on an Ebay auction for an ultra-rare RPGA Adventurer's Guild Ravenloft module. Only 300 were printed. No way I will be able to explain that to my wife.

It's now 13 weeks since I was contacted, still no prize & no winners list.

Make that now 9 weeks... Has this contest just been dropped with the demise of the magazines? No winners list has been released that I have seen, and I have yet to receive any prize.

5 weeks have passed since I received notice of being one of the winners. What's the latest on that winner's list?

I WON!!!!! Too Cool! That's great news, I really struggled with a couple of the grails, Paizo certainly didn't make it easy! Congrats to the other 49 winners!

Yes, let's hear who won. Don't make us resort to saying "$hru&&@ry"!

A few years ago, there was an issue of Dragon that stated on the cover "Fighters Kick A$$". I was posting on the Wizards Forum about the article, and received an email admonishment from one of the monitors at the time for using forbidden language on the board. I replied, "but it was on the cover of your own magazine, and I can't use it online in a direct quote on the issue?" I received a reply that told me, essentially "that's correct".

#50 for me, June 1981, the Fifth Anniversary issue. Only picked them up sporadically while I was in college, then started subscribing in January 1983 after I got married. Let my subscription lapse in the 90's when I got into Magic:The Gathering, then came back with the advent of 3rd Edition and have every issue since. Now I've been aquiring most of the back issues I've missed, mostly on Ebay, but I've got a few from Paizo.

As a Ravenloft fanatic, I vote for the only dragons in the setting: Ebb, the shadow dragon belonging to Azalin the lich, and Gloom, her mate. Following the Requiem, Ebb fled Castle Avernus for the Mountains of Misery, where she & Gloom are now watching over a clutch of eggs. It must be expected that with Azalin's return to power, there is a plan in place for the future wyrmlings.

I've found the two online, the 5 in Dragon, and 4 for sure in Dungeon. I think I have the last one, but even under a magnifying glass I'm not totally sure. I'm not seeing it anywhere else, so it must be it...

I'm 47, married, a father of three & also have one granddaughter. I haven't even lived in the same state as my parents since the 1980's. I do admit that work & family commitments do cut down considerably on gametime, I haven't played since last Game Day.

I haven't yet received mine, and I saw it on the shelf at my local Hasting's today. I'm trying to find all the grails for the Spam-a-lot contest, and have already found all the ones in Dungeon and here on the website. I sat down in the store & browsed through it long enough to find several of them, I hope that my issue will arrive in the mail Monday!

It arrived yesterday, Thanks! The hunt for Grails is on!

I haven't yet received mine, and I saw it on the shelf at my local Hasting's today. I'm trying to find all the grails for the Spam-a-lot contest, and have already found all the ones in Dungeon and here on the website. I sat down in the store & browsed through it long enough to find several of them, I hope that my issue will arrive in the mail Monday!

So does that mean that every image also contains the hand coming from a cloud holding the grail, or may it just be the grail by itself?

STL, MO, as ever

I'm on the other side of the state, in the godforsaken Midland Empire north of Kansas City. Thank God I get to travel a lot for my job, I get over to St. Louis every few months, and this winter I spent a month in Europe, mostly in Vevey, Montreux, and all around Southern & mid-Switzerland, but with side trips to Paris, Amiens, and Chamonix, France, and Milan, Italy. Best part was getting to bring my wife along. Probably heading back there again in July.

I've found three in Dungeon, one here on the website, and my Dragon should be arriving in the mail today. The hunt is on!

OK, thanks, I've found another one in Dungeon, and one here on your website. The hunt is on! Now if only my Dragon magazine would arrive today..

Same here, found 1 fairly quickly.

Are you entirely sure that 5 grails were printed? I've only found two...

Ravenloft, the setting that will not die!

It uses a lot of FR material but does it in very much a stand-alone fashion and is entirely self-contained while leaving a lot of options open for further tie-ins with an in-depth FR campaign as well.

The "nilshai" left me stumped, I don't have 'Unapproachable East'. You did include a three sentence description of what the players would see in the zombie, but it's significance would go right over my head.

I bought it last night, I haven't had a chance to do more than just glance through it yet. I welcome WotC's return to publishing adventures, and will seriously consider buying any quality game modules they release.

I have the DM4D book, the only parts of any real interest to me are the lists of 'Top' recommended materials. One of my pet peeves is book editors & proof-readers that rely on 'SpellCheck' to do their work for them, and don't actually take the time to look at what changes they are making. I got quite a laugh to see what should have been 'Maure Castle' recommended in DM4D as 'Manure Castle'!

Mine arrived yesterday, it's absolutely awesome!

Baha-Mutt
Kurtulmak (Kurt)
Hextor (Hex)
Gruumsh
Maglubiyet (Mag)
H.P.O.F.L.I. ("Hypofly" - High probability of future liability issues)

House of Strahd is the missing head one, isn't it!?!?!

Or, maybe I'm just making all of this up.
Is that House of Strahd? Did anyone run the adventure I am describing? If not, does anyone know of a good mental hospital?

You are thinking of the pair of adventures that make of the conclusion of the Grand Conjunction, 'From the Shadows' and 'Roots of Evil', and the battle between the vampire Strahd and the lich Azalin.

I've been looking to get these as well. One or two a week come up on Ebay, and the lowest I've seen them go is about $50, with most going between $70 & $90. They originally retailed for $60, I now wish I had bought them new. Bidding is quite active on them, perhaps Paizo should consider re-issuing them.