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Agreed! I just posted on a thread about the Dreamlands just last night, coincidentally.
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Sunday's game sounds awesome!
Agreed! I just posted on a thread about the Dreamlands just last night, coincidentally.
This is actually an epilogue to a quest I ran years ago, where the same elf who started this quest made a deal with Alhazred - in exchange for his help with finding the information they came to the Dreamlands for, he would return when "everything was over" and tell Alhazred what had happened and how things had gone. Now the debt's come due, so he's having to travel back.
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Agreed! I just posted on a thread about the Dreamlands just last night, coincidentally.
I loved reading stories set in the Dreamlands.
Crossing my fingers, but it looks like we'll actually get to play Saturday. I have four players who are (at this point, anyway) committed to being here.
Some gloomy news, though. A couple of the guys in my group drive two and a half hours from Memphis to play. One of them can't make it due to a work event, and the other had a pretty serious stroke. He's younger than I am by at least six years and this is the second one he's had in about four years. The first one gave him a bit of a speech delay and loss of clear enunciation and during our phone call last night it seems this one might have made that worse. He's forbidden to drive right now because of the latest one. He's been under a lot of stress, having had his job eliminated after doing it for almost twenty years, so here he is in his fifties, no insurance anymore, and racking up hospital bills. I'm a bit worried about him.
Sorry to hear that, Cal. I don't have the words to express how scary his situation sounds to me.
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Sorry to hear that, Cal. I don't have the words to express how scary his situation sounds to me.
It's terrifying, frankly. I spent quite a while after our conversation just trying to imagine what he's going through, and while I know the symptoms and outcomes of strokes actually living with it is hard to comprehend. But I had my semi-annual wellness checkup today and I'm really pleased with how it came out. For a really overweight guy approaching the end of his 50s, my cholesterol, kidney functions, liver functions, everything they checked for was well below the benchmarks that indicate an illness or disease. Everything was "textbook or better", according to my doctor. The only thing that didn't get a gold star was my A1C, the score where diabetes comes in. If the score is 6.5 or above, I'm diabetic. I've been borderline with a score of 6 for over ten years now. While it's not really improving, it's not worsening, either. She was really, really pleased with the results, and when the doctor is happy, I'm happy...LOL
I know that a stroke can practically come out of nowhere and blindside a person. My mom had a mild one about my age that had a mild effect on her fine motor skills and emotions. Whereas she had always had just gorgeous handwriting it became shaky and sometimes hard to read, and where she'd always been a pretty stoic person, she was prone to tearing up at things. And it affected her short-term memory, with her repeating the same bit of family news or something only a little while after telling it to me. I just reacted like I was hearing it for the first time, because otherwise it could confuse and frustrate the person with the problems. It didn't hurt a thing to pretend what she was telling me was brand new information. So, I'm worried about my friend, obviously, but it had me thinking about a lot of things for much of the night (thanks, insomnia!!!). I need to keep working on being a better person, learn to think before speaking, let go of the things that are emotional dead weight, to accept who I am at this time in life, and to make amends where I can.
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I know those feelings. Had a doctor's appointment myself today, have a handful of things that need attending to or working on.
Well, it's Friday and so far no one has flaked out so far. I'm cautiously optimistic about finally gaming tomorrow.
What's everyone else doing this weekend?
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Short NWN event tonight, some drow are going to investigate some weird stuff happening on the surface and see if they can use it to their nefarious advantage.
Hopefully Savage Tide tomorrow afternoon.
Finale parts 1 and 2 of NWN Waking Rune plotline Saturday night and Sunday afternoon respectively. Part 3 a week from today.
More short investigative events all next week as well.
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My wife and I are going to go see The Flaming Lips downtown tomorrow night.
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No Pathfinder on Sunday, since the GM is going to airsoft again, so I shall have to make my own entertainment. I'm sure I'll manage.
I've got a Saturday voice chat game, but other than two players I started with, no one seems interested in joining.
This time I had to cancel the game. I got my first shingles vaccination this week and the doctor told me to "expect some side effects" similar to a bad cold. She LIED. I've been more sick the last two days than I was the last time I had the flu. I wanted to play so bad tonight but I didn't think puking on the table then fainting again would've been a good way to get our games back on track.
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Ach! Get well soon, Cal.
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Cal, send your doctor a bill for say $1000 for ruining your weekend. :-)
Cal, send your doctor a bill for say $1000 for ruining your weekend. :-)
Downloading "official looking" forms for that now....
Semi-sad news. My group's Savage Tide game is on hiatus until summer, as our game schedules are just too unpredictable and with a story as plot-heavy as STAP the constant need to start every session with "what were we doing" or "what happened last time" was becoming an issue. During the summer we should all be more available, especially the two who are teachers, and that kind of thing should be less of a problem. It also gives me time to do some writeups for people so they can have a place to get a refresher course.
In the meantime we're switching to an urban campaign I've been wanting to run for a long time, focused on the PCs being new members of an up-and-coming thieves' guild; think Oliver Twist meets Lies of Locke Lamora. It's going for a more episodic, more session-by-session play style, and each of my players is making three characters to bring into the guild, that they can mix and match parties as seems fit for each episode. It should be an interesting experiment!
It's going for a more episodic, more session-by-session play style, and each of my players is making three characters to bring into the guild, that they can mix and match parties as seems fit for each episode. It should be an interesting experiment!
That's my goal with every new campaign, but I just can't stop myself from turning them into grand story arcs that never seem to end. It's just how I'm wired, I guess. When we get started back I'm really going to try and rein that in.
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I know that feeling, that's inevitably what my NWN plots develop into.
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Friday night, I played board games with a long time friend I don't get to see very much, which was fun. Saturday was chores and things, and then we met a couple other families for dinner at a restaurant with a large outdoor area next to a creek for the kids to play at, and then today my family and I went to the zoo. Busy weekend!
Cal, that sucks about how you're feeling. Really sorry to hear that, especially considering the troubles you've been having finding time to game.
Also, I closed my car door on my hand Saturday night. I didn't break anything, but it hurt when I did it, and it still hurts now.
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Thanks, but it'll happen. Some day. LOL
I actually feel human today. I was awake all night and then my fever broke and I'm much better than I have been since Thursday night. But I'm not trusting anyone who says, "mild side effects" ever again.
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Hey, everyone!
No game this weekend as a lot of folks have holiday plans. I would like to ask a favor, though. I don't know who among us is of a religious nature or not and it's not important. I just ask that those who are say a prayer for my friend Eddie. He's been a friend for 30+ years and a gamer in my group for a very long time. He's one of the two guys who drive over from Memphis for our game nights (two and a half hours one way). Last week he had a third stroke and spent time in the hospital. He's younger than I am by a handful of years but has had three strokes in the last four or five. He'd made a lot of progress where his speaking ability was concerned and has now lost all of those gains. Plus he's not allowed to drive for the time being. He also lost a job of about twenty years a week before the stroke so his world has been rocked pretty hard.
So yeah, if you pray, send one up for Eddie. If you don't, cross your fingers or roll d20s for his recovery. Thanks, everyone.
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Best regards. Here's hoping for some better developments for him.
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It's done.
After two grueling battles and a long, heavily devout and soul-searching conversation by a remarkably empathetic party, Runelord Krune has gone on to his final rest, taking the enclave of Haruka with him.
The final party appealed to their shared faith in Jergal, love of arcane magic, and respect for the Runelord's remarkable capabilities to convince him to commune with his god and seek his advice. Jergal, much changed since the days of Netheril, acknowledged that his servant's time among mortals was done, and that his place was at his lord's side now.
It was a remarkably touching ending and threw me for a loop as I'd expected the usual "charge in and thrash the bad guy" adventurer tactics.
Best wishes to Eddie! Hope things (health and job wise) turn up right for him.
Best wishes to Eddie.
Congrats, Orthos!
Also, I closed my car door on my hand Saturday night. I didn't break anything, but it hurt when I did it, and it still hurts now.
My hand still hurts.
Otherwise, it was a good weekend.
I'm trying not to jinks it, but I think we're going to actually play this weekend. Eddie called me Sunday night and he told me this was his FIFTH stroke and not his third, like I thought. He sounded pretty good and was adamant about coming over this weekend to game because it's been so long since we were all together. I could tell he was getting a little emotional about it so I wonder if this latest scare has something to do with. But I sent up the Nerd Signal and everyone has said they can be here for the Fumble-Palooza (we've noticed over the years that after prolonged periods of not gaming the dice seem angry and will roll 1s to spite us all).
What's everyone else doing this weekend?
Either finishing character building or doing the first session of new game, then NWN on Sunday.
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Fingers crossed for you, Cal.
My in-laws are in town, so... I'm sort of shutting down emotionally so that I don't get stressed out by their bickering. Also, it's my daughter's birthday on Saturday, so we'll be getting together with my mom and sister, also.
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With any luck, there will be a Pathfinder game on Sunday. Tomorrow, my partner and I, and the kids, are going to look around our new house.
Tonight, I went to a Passover Seder (on Zoom). I liked it.
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Well, our reunion game went pretty well, though we didn't quite finish it. We usually start at 6ish but because Dave had to work Saturday (something that only happens once a year) we started at 7ish. He ended up not getting there until 8:30ish. I improvised a bunch of just descriptive things and reminded the group of where we'd left off (and it turns out our last game was actually in October and not November!). We ended around 11:30 because the next two encounters would've taken a long time to deal with and James had to drive back to Memphis after the game.
Which brings up our friend Eddie (who actually lives south of Memphis in Olive Branch, Mississippi) who is still dealing with the aftermath of his most recent stroke. He was so gung ho about coming to see everyone and then yesterday came and after only a couple of hours of light activity in the morning he was so exhausted and weak he could barely speak (seriously, strokes suck). He apologized several times for not being able to come over and he got a bit emotional about how much he misses us all. I did my best to reassure him that it was fine and we'd all rather him rest up and recover as much as possible from this, his fifth stroke, than push himself too hard and have a sixth one.
After every game is over and the XP is doled out, we always have a discussion about availability for the next game. As of right now it will be another month before we gather again, hopefully on May 21st. BUT last night was terrific and even though we didn't finish the adventure we were back together and laughing ourselves silly and killin' anything that moved. And in the end, that's what matters most.
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I'm really happy to hear that you guys got to play, Cal.
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I'm really happy to hear that you guys got to play, Cal.
It felt good to do something other than just roll a d20 around for my cat to chase...LOL
So, what are you fine folks doing this weekend?
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I went to California once. It was closed.
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No game tomorrow here either, so going to take some puppy time before spending a few hours doing recording for Crit & Crit.
NWN finale for Bearquest on Sunday. Tracking down and dealing with a Shemhazian demon!
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I figure I might dabble in some light existentialism. And maybe google existentialism.
At the very least I'll stand on the corner yelling gibberish and throwing squirrels at passing cars.
Time is a son of a b@++%!
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Crookshanks is now 18.
I figure I might dabble in some light existentialism. And maybe google existentialism.
At the very least I'll stand on the corner yelling gibberish and throwing squirrels at passing cars.
Time is a son of a b!&~&!
Is squirrel throwing the sole province of a light existentialist or can just anyone chuck squirrels at cars? I have a couple I'd like to hurl into traffic.
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Cal, be nice to the squirrels.
Cal, be nice to the squirrels.
*sighs and reluctantly sets squirrels on the ground*
But you said nothing about not throwing stoats! BWAHAAAHHHAAAAA!!
So, what are you fine folks doing this weekend?
I went camping!
My son is going to Junior High next year, and some families coordinated a group camping trip about an hour north of the city. It was pretty popular since it's the last time we can do this while the kids are still together in elementary school. I think there were nearly 20 families camping Friday and Saturday night (including us), and then I believe the number reached 41 families by just Saturday night.
This is the third time my son's grade has done this, and it's a blast every time. The kids can just run around wherever with minimal supervision (with a few planned events like a scavenger hunt, a tug of war competition, and a movie night using a projector and screen), and parents can just hang out together and chill. It stormed Saturday night, though, and I discovered an exciting new leak in our tent!