Character Punishment.

I've been staring at a blank post page for over an hour now.

Yeah. That's what my life is like right now. There's a lot of stuff that's hit--personally and professionally--in the past couple weeks and gaming, unfortunately, has taken the back seat. We're talking rumble seat, here. I've barely had a chance to meet my financial obligations to a couple of OSR friends' products, products I haven't had an opportunity to read because of those aforementioned concerns.

Writing and creating has been squelched nearly completely.

But, figuring on vacation upcoming where I'll have severely limited access to the internet, I figured I have to get a post down somehow about something to prove I'm still alive.

Hence the hour-long staring contest with the blank screen.

Sigh.

So I go to thinking about the only gaming I've been able to do: a PBEM solo game with one of my long-time gaming buddies. And by "gaming" I mean "stolen moments here and there when my paralegals leave me alone long enough between document drafts where I can roll a die and tell my buddy what's just happened to him." And by "PBEM" I really mean Yahoo! Messenger. It's choppy and can be slow and frustrating, but hey...it's still gaming.

So, at the risk of boring some all of you, let me tell you where we are and what we're doing with this solo game. Trust me, it has some bearing on the title of this blog entry: Character punishment.

As some of you may remember from a couple posts back in October of last year, our long-time gaming group picked up out original characters, rebuilt them for "Epic" use (meaning post-20th level and certainly NOT using the Epic Level Handbook) and went off on a "last" adventure to tie up some loose ends from some 10 years ago. At the end of some well-scripted encounters, the group found itself circled around an unconscious female NPC that had caused us no small amount of grief and pain in the several iterations of our original campaign: she had been welcomed into our party when, unknowingly, she was our red dragon nemesis in disguise. Make the assumptions that you want about the trouble she caused--you're probably 90% correct. She was so much trouble that the miniature the DM used for her was permanently cursed. He tried to use it in a different campaign and we all reacted so poorly to the miniature (with distrust, hatred, and anger) that he literally had to retire the miniature.

So we had angst toward the NPC.

And found ourselves surrounding her unconscious body.

And my friend "D", the elven Rogue...cut her head off.

Well, the DM didn't appreciate that all too much. He stopped short of calling for an alignment check. Instead, he had all of our various deities appear and take away the magnificent god-gifted weapons from the entire party. Yep....*poof*...our artifact/legacy level weapons were gone. That was how our adventure ended.... That and the final retirement of our original DM from gaming.

So...it's obvious that we were all a bit unsatisfied with that conclusion. Our group's "first-alternate DM" happens to be "D" and in the week following the conclusion, he came up with a continuation-adventure hook. You see, it was a joint idea a year ago between "D" and myself to re-visit our original characters...then our original DM jumped in and took over from there. But "D" came up with a great "postscript" story line in which the deities involved with each of our characters visited the Rogue and "expressed their displeasure." They gave him a good tongue lashing, then presented him (as part of his penance) the various artifacts to be returned in person to the rest of the group. So, we all got back our stuff...except for him. He had to go on a Quest to learn, among other things, patience, wisdom, etc. I played around with the story for a bit, added some color and flavor with the gods' different voices, and then we threw it out for the other guys to approve. Obviously, all the players approved of getting their stuff back.

Then what to do with the Rogue. You see, we all agreed (after hearing the original DMs exposition on who the NPC really was, her situation, background, etc.) that the Rogue had screwed up. He may have acted in character, but it was still a huge boo-boo. Even the Rogue agreed that he should be punished, somehow. Well, as penance, the deities would take away his animal cohort, most of his abilities, equipment, etc. (or rather, force him to leave them behind) and to temporarily reduce his XP to next-to-nothing. This effectively dropped him down to first-level, although he retained most of his skills and attribute levels. As "third-alternate DM" for the group, I then proposed putting him through several modules and adventures -- alone -- and allow him to rebuild his XP back to his 26th level. This would represent his "re-education" and "repentance." It also gave him a chance to restructure his character into a new class: one that we created that better fit his idea of his character.

It hasn't been easy for him. He's confessed to me that every time he leaves the camp or the door to the inn, he feels ready to wet himself. He's alone, remember. Even though he has most of his skills and attributes, he has no feats, no special abilities...nothing beyond second level abilities. He has none of his magic items, except for a bag of holding. He has no special weapons. Indeed, he started out with darts, a dagger, and a sap. He's since picked up a short- and long-swords, as well as a crossbow, but he's been very good at limiting his weapon use. I started him in a 1st-level adventure from Paizo (I'm not going to name names here; I was at first, but I think I won't, so as not to tempt him with metagaming and spoilers.) which, while not easy for him, went quickly. I'm now using a sequel adventure, which has yet another sequel after that. He should go up a couple levels by then.

It's been entertaining to watch. I threw a gelatinous cube at him and watched him panic; I threw some darkmantles at him and he nearly fled the ruins. In the past 12 years of gaming, we've never encountered either. It's amazing what a little lack of knowledge and surprise (and creative description) can do to a player. And to a character. I've come close to killing him a couple of times--really close--but he's pulled through. No fudging on the die rolls, either. It's all been straight up. He's done some unexpected things that have made me stretch myself as a DM and make some on-the-fly rulings. And it's been a lot of fun.

So...I suppose I can open it up to thoughts and suggestions. We, as a group, have never had to punish a character before. Did we do it the right way?

[review] Delve! #1

After much angst and worry on my part, the inaugural issue of Delve! 'zine finally reached my mailbox this past week.

Go ahead, ask John. I really WAS angsting about it.

Anyway, this little packet of loveliness was a joy to dive into. It gave me something to read last weekend. I spent a good amount of time savoring the adventure, the critters, and all the fresh stuff that John Bingham packed inside. All in all, I really enjoyed it.

However, in the interest of an honest review, there were a few things that detracted from the experience for me.

I am, at heart, a reader. I come from a genetically-good speller on one side and a line of English teachers on the other. I was an English major in college. I've worked at times in my early career as a proofreader, editor, and writer for the Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court. Heck, I'll admit it: I'm anal retentive. Especially when it comes to proofreading...just ask Dylan Hartwell or Jez Gordon about that.

The things that detracted from the Delve! experience for me were, probably, little things that others wouldn't notice. For me, it pulled me out of the Delve! world for a moment as the proofreader in my head went "Whoa!" There were some spelling errors, some punctuation errors, and some formatting problems. They didn't really affect the content in any way, except for--as I said--pulling my own proofreader out of the moment.

The content is statted for OSRIC, but I'm sure it's easily converted to any old-school or retro-clone. I've already started doing some conversion for use in my 3.x sandbox game. Even more amazing: all of this was done by one man...the content, the artwork, everything. The content is compelling and the art is amazing. I have no complaints about the content whatsoever.

Overall, I probably would give the 'zine a 3 out of 4 stars (I'd say 4 out of 4, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt for future, greater content!) For myself, it probably rates 2.5 out of 4 just for the formatting and other issues. As I said, that's ONLY for myself, because the issues I found probably wouldn't bother other readers.

In any case I'd still highly recommend picking up a copy: the .pdf is available for $3.99 from RPGNow while the hand-assembled print copy is available from John's blog for $5.00. I'd say splurge and get yourself the hard copy, simply because (1) the quantity is limited and (2) I love holding the 'zine in my hands, knowing how much love, sweat, tears, and work has gone into producing it. I'm just old fashioned that way.

Whichever you choose, GET IT NOW.

OSR Monster Project

Just a heads up to my readers of a new OSR project swiftly reaching its (scheduled) conclusion.

The OSR Monster Project over at Rended Press is scheduled to wrap up on Wednesday, August 1, 2012.

This was originally intended to be a collection of craziness: all the monsters created in June 2012 from the OSR blogosphere, collected in one place and then .pdf'd for general consumption. It was then extended to any monster blog-created in 2012. I came late to the party, so I was glad to see the extension. I took the opportunity to add in the eight critters that have crawled from my brain through my pen in the past eight months.

I'd urge everyone to take the next 24 hours or so to jump on over to the Google Docs site and plug in their own creations. Mine are in 3.x format, but they come from someone in the OSR blood flows. I consider myself part of the OSR, even if no one else does. I use OSR materials and theories in my games and have nothing against previous versions of D&D or clones.
================================

Re-blogging today's post from Rended Press.
http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/07/status-update-osr-ogl-blogosphere.html

As of today, the OSR OGL BLOGOSPHERE MONSTERS PROJECT has 26 entries.

I'll close the file sometime during the afternoon of August 1.

Remember: This is open to any creature you've posted on your blog at any point in 2012!

So come on, people. Do the cut & paste!

Note: Please only share material that you feel comfortable appearing in a half-assed, crazy, DIY fan compilation.

================================
The count's increased from 26 this morning to, well, 39 at last count. I wanna see some more, though...monsters are like dice: you can never have too many.

My contributions:
32. Brain Ghoul
33. Howler Snake
34. Iron Hide Zombie
35. Lung Leech Swarm
36. Quickdeath
37. Ragehawk
38. Slimeclaw Wyrm
39. Soul Beetle

[From the Mailbag] Runed by Pathfinder

Around these parts, the 24th of July is a state holiday, one for which our firm closes down. This year, with it falling on a Tuesday I figured there was no reason to work on Monday and so I took a long four-day weekend.

While I was away from the firm, I got a package. A package of goodness and light that was awaiting me when I returned. Something to salve the pain of returning to work.

I had THIS.

Five years ago, I had the chance to sign up for the Adventure Path. The first one. I almost did. I couldn't convince myself or my wife that it was worth it. It took me a long time. Last year I picked up my first Adventure Path: Carrion Crown. I enjoyed it thoroughly; just waiting to finish my current adventure with my kids to throw them into this one. Then I picked up the next one: Jade Regent. I've never liked having fortune cookies in my D&D, but having lived in the Orient for several years, I thought I'd try it out and see. I was right--I didn't enjoy it as much...but I have monsters, I have ideas. Then came the pirate Adventure Path. I don't even know what it was called. I. Don't. Like. Pirates. In. My. RPG. (I know, this is heresy in some circles.) So I canceled my subscription.

Since the second Adventure Path, I've regretted not picking up the Rise of the Runelords. As I said, some of the ones since have not been that enjoyable to me. But I enjoyed the ideas and the presentation enough that when the Rise of the Runelords was announced I started saving. And saving. And saving.

And now it's here.

And the potential adventures are just lining up for my kids and my players.

It looks terrific. Nice sturdy hard-bound. Glossy pages. I'm told it has new artwork and new material. Granted, there are some things missing: Paizo did not want to repeat creatures, items, and rules that have since become part of the Core Rules. They updated it to formal Pathfinder rules. It's PURTY. I haven't had a lot of time to actually thumb through it, but I've discovered one problem with it. A big one.

The problem? Now I have to take a serious look at the upcoming pre-painted plastic mini release from Paizo.... The Rise of the Runelord miniature set.

Time to start saving.

And saving. And saving.

More 'Morphs!

I'm going crazy with the Community Geomorph Project. Rather than sitting and drooling at the television (or the judge), I take the chance to whip out my clipboard and a pencil and throw a quick geomorph or two onto paper.

And I think I'm driving Richard crazy as well.

Again, I'd urge you to check it out if you haven't already. Jump on board, if for no other reason than to give Richard something to look at other than MY geomorphs!

Here are my latest offerings:

A Grim Day

I had several posts that were nearly ready to go live today. One in particular that I was quite excited about.

All that changed when I heard the news coming from Aurora, Colorado. I have friends and family that live in Denver and Aurora. I haven't been able to reach them yet; I don't know whether that's because of the early hour or something more dire.

Needless to say, I won't be posting anything about gaming today. It's a game, and a darn fun one, but it's only a game. This is real life. This is tragedy.

This is Evil at work.

It is a grim day.




As a gun owner, I pray that this creep won't color the rest of us in the eyes of the public.

As an attorney, I pray that everyone waits to get the full story before running off half-cocked, strewing blame about without cause or reason and pointing fingers. I would also pray that everyone remember that the suspect is innocent until proven guilty.

As an American, I pray for the community, that it can come together, remember what is most important in life, and most importantly, HEAL from this.

As a human being, I pray for the victims and their families. My thoughts and prayers are truly with them this morning. I cannot even imagine the pain, the grief, and the horror that has enveloped the lives of those in Aurora--and indeed, across the country--that have friends or relations that were involved in this nightmare.

Join with me. Kneel. Remove your helms and lay down your arms. Bow your head. Remember the victims and their families. May God bless them and comfort them.

God bless us all.

Sack of Swarms (New magic item)

Wondrous Item: Sack of Swarms

This small bag appears normal and empty. However, any creature reaching into the bag feels a small ball. Touching this ball causes a peculiar tickling sensation, much like thousands of tiny pinpricks, across their appendage. If the creature grasps and removes the ball, and the ball is tossed up to 30 feet away, it turns into a swarm. The summoner has no control over its target or direction of travel. If no living creatures are within the area of the swarm, it attacks or pursues the nearest creature as best it can. The swarm persists for 10 minutes (or until dispersed or slain), at which point it disappears.

Vermin produced are always random, and only one swarm may exist at a time. Up to ten swarms can be drawn from the bag each week. Use the following table to determine the type of swarm.

Faint conjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, summon swarm; Price 900 gp.

d%	Animal
1-15	Wasps
16-30	Centipedes
31-70	Spiders
71-85	Locusts
86-100	Scorpions

[From the Mailbag] Gamer Generosity

I've tried to write this blog entry a dozen times and I've deleted my efforts just as many times.

You see, I want to express my gratitude to several people and I want to laud the generosity of the RPG blogging community. But at the same time, I worry that others will try and take advantage of the same generosity for which I'm so grateful.

In the end, I've decided that I have to go ahead and make my thank-yous and count on the same gamer goodness that spawned this entry in the first place.

Now that my dithering is out of the way, I guess I should explain myself.

I've mentioned recently that my father passed away in June 2011. A year later, my mother decided it was time to pick out a headstone design and get it installed on the grave site. She enlisted the help of my older brother and myself and set up an appointment with the monument company's designer.

The problem: the appointment fell on the same day as Free RPG Day 2012: June 16. I'd waited a year for this date and found that I could do nothing to accommodate both my familial duty and my hobby cravings. I resigned myself to missing out and relying on the release of free PDFs from some of my desired Free RPG day materials. I explained my predicament online in a couple places and took care of my mother on the day in question.

I've spent the last 18 months or so in a spiral of depression. My father's passing did nothing to help the spiral; problems at the Firm and with my family's finances have piled additional weight on my shoulders. My back isn't broken, but the straw of missing Free RPG Day this year was close to a final one.

And then something happened, something that strengthened my faith in humanity and reassured me that the RPG community is full of good-hearted and caring individuals.

I had three friends respond to me...people that I know only from online correspondence, people that I have never met face to face. These three friends took it upon themselves to share with me their Free RPG Day bounty. In fact, I received an extra bit of gaming goodness that took the act of kindness to a level above and beyond.

Once the envelopes arrived, this is what my desk looked like.

1. Q-Workshop Free RPG Day 2012 Forest Dice (d4, d8, d10, d20, d100)
   
2. Harn Map, by Columbia Games
   
3. Dead in the Eye, by Wizards of the Coast
   
4. Cosmic Patrol Quickstart, by Catalyst Games
   
5. Dungeon Crawl Classics Free RPG Day 2012 Module, by Goodman Games
   
6. Dawn of the Scarlet Sun, by Paizo
   
7. Cardboard Heroes: Castles Walls and Towers, by Steve Jackson Games

Most of these items were on my "Wanted" checklist for the purpose of teaching my kids to game. Because of the generosity of others, I can do it.

I want to thank the three individuals publicly; in the spirit of effective alms-giving, I want to keep them anonymous, however. They know who they are, and hopefully they know how grateful I am to their kindness. They went out of their way to help a friend who was unable to help himself. I do not think that I could find the words sufficient to show my gratitude to them. At the least, I can try and pass along the kindness to others in the community in the future.

Thank you my friends. You've given me a bit more than simply RPG products. You've given me some hope and faith. The depression isn't gone, but this experience has thrown me a little life preserver.

Community Geomorph Project

I've taken the plunge.

I just sent off my first four pages of entries to the Community Geomorph Project.

For those not in the know, Richard over at Save Vs. Dragon and the creator of the d30 DM Companion was inspired to begin a Geomorph project among the d30/OSR/RPG community. I was intrigued and decided to spend a day laying some lead down onto paper.

For the most part, I'm pleased with the results so far. It's a lot of fun to throw these small rooms/areas together without worrying about what "the whole" looks like. I've varied between caverns, temples, corridors, and single rooms. Lakes, ramps, chasms, and balconies are all found therein.

Ultimately the goal is to compile all of the community-generated geomorphs into one large PDF. They may also be thrown onto Dave's Mapper as well.

I'd urge you to check it out if you haven't already. It's for a worthy cause, after all...because you can never have too many maps!

Here are my first offerings:

[From the Mailbag] Son of The Manor! A Review!

One day after the postal worker brought me the twin happiness of Barrowmaze and the d30 DM Companion, I returned home to find that our personal postal worker (or would that be "mail distribution facilitator"?) had left another present for me.

Yup. I had an envelope with the scary moth. Inside was the lovely mug of Hugo staring up at me. The envelope had a laugh-inducing personal message from the Author himself, Tim Shorts. Unfortunately, my laughter meant explaining the message to my wife.

You see...I like 'zines. I'm sure this comes as a surprise to my long-time readers. Yeah. Really. I like 'em. I get excited about a good product too. So when the two sources of excitement combine in one? Well, loss of reason isn't out of the question. I was so eager for The Manor #2, I went and purchased my copy mere minutes after the PayPal button went live over on GM Games. Within minutes I had a confirmation e-mail from Tim thanking me for my purchase, but advising me (what I had apparently forgotten) that I had purchased a subscription when I bought issue #1.

Yep. That's what I did. And I told Tim that he was free to not let me live it down. And now my wife won't let me live it down either. At any rate, it was a nice personal touch that I certainly wouldn't have gotten from someone like Wizards of the Boast. (Full disclosure: To be honest, I HAVE actually received something similar from Paizo's customer service on one occasion, but I digress.)

So, what did I get for my $3.50? 24 pages of gaming goodness. First, The Manor #2 has a nice, striking yellow (is that Canary?) cover. It looks great on the shelf next to the red cover of Issue #1.

The title page has a few humorous touches--a great disclaimer, for one, that my attorney-side appreciated. These are the kind of things that I love about 'zines. The personal touches, the inside jokes, the foibles.

The introduction contains, in part, a nice piece of software pimpery. I actually wanted to go out and buy a copy of Office Publisher myself, even though I hate Office products. Then a nice personal note from Tim about the contents and the history of Issue #2.

Now for the meat: 14 pages devoted to [u]Hugo's Healing Potions Shop[/u]. Honestly, I feel like it should be "Shoppe".... But Hugo's feels real. We have mechanic generic bios of Hugo and his staff. We have a nice map with a detailed key. Tim also gives us a random customer table for the Shop as well as adventure hooks. Great fluff that really makes the place come alive. I particularly love the little touches Tim adds to his descriptions; they add atmosphere and realism. I mean, "During business hours, the door is held open by a rock." I love it. I have a player that WOULD ask how the door is being held open, and would probably take the rock and use it for nefarious ends.

The next 8 pages are devoted to Smugglers Inn and the surrounding environs. Jason Sholtis contributes to the cause with a table of "things you might find under the cot at Smugglers Inn." Great stuff.

The inside back cover gives us a rampaging orc (pig-faced, of course) and a Poetry Slam by the Rusty Battle Axe. Any poem that can work in 'cockroaches' and 'destruction' pretty much gives the poet my nod for Poet Laureate.

More than anything else, I think I may like and appreciate about Tim's work is that it is SO mechanic- or game-generic. One could easily use the Potion Shop and the Smuggler's Inn in a Labyrinth Lord, DCC, Pathfinder, 4th Edition game, not to mention
Call of Cthulhu, d20 Modern, or whatever your flavor-of-the-month may be.

Finally, the back cover. Here we have something that, to me, epitomizes so much of what I have found in the RPG blogosphere. Tim has included an advertisement for The Horrendous Heap of Sixteen Cities by Dylan Hartwell over at Digital Orc. The advertisement was, according to Dylan, completely unsolicited and unexpected. Maybe because it's so rare in my professional life, but I really enjoy the comraderie and brotherhood that RPG gamers share in the online world. I've been touched in the past month by some outreach from some fellow bloggers and gamers; that's a topic for another, well-overdue post. Suffice it to say, it's a nice refreshing change from real life for me, to know that there are good, honest, and caring people that just want us all to get along, have fun, and promote a good, fun hobby. It makes it even better to see these same people band together and try to help the fellow gamers in real life situations, concerns, hiccups, tragedies, etc.

So...back to the Manor #2. If you couldn't already tell, I would recommend it to anyone who games. Period. Anyone can use this material; if you can't, you're really not trying. Excellent work, Tim.

Wait...I take it back. There IS a major problem with The Manor #2. I just discovered it. It's nearly insurmountable.

The problem is this: now I have to WAIT impatiently for The Manor #3. This makes me... unhappy.

[From the Mailbag] Oh Frabjous Day!

Callooh! Callay!

When I came galumphing into the office today, I had to chortle with joy because of what awaited me.

Sitting on my desk were two brown cardboard mailers. Inside I found these:


RPGNow came through with my print copy of Barrowmaze and Lulu came through with my print copy of the d30 DM Companion.

A mailbag full of Gaming Goodness and inspiration. I can't wait to get home and break these open. I have reading material for the evening. Hopefully I can get to running Barrowmaze soon so I can get a review posted up.

Admit it.... After just a bit of uffish thought...you're just a little jealous, aren't you?

Magic Missiles at the Stronghold

I hope you all had a happy, safe, and relaxing 4th of July -- both to my American readers and international readers. (As the question goes: "Do they have the Fourth of July in England?")

For myself, it was fairly relaxing. A little sleep-in followed by hours of American Revolution documentary-goodness on the Military Channel. The gaming material for the new campaign was right at-hand for the commercial breaks.

That was followed by a picnic in the backyard with the family. Homemade Onion/horseradish burgers; Jell-o, corn on the cob, etc. Fantastic food; the wife is a stellar cook, so the burgers were amazing and the corn on the cob tasted like candy. Truly the sweetest corn I've had in ages.

Then, once we were stuffed with food, the kids demanded that I try and run away from dangerous pyrotechnical objects. Well, semi-dangerous. We couldn't afford much more than the budget pack from the local supermarket. But we can always count on our neighbors for assistance. They pull out the big guns every year; this year they said they spent over $200, just in the past week alone. So the kids were still entertained; the younger ones don't mind the little fountains we purchased and the older kids (and mom and dad) were entertained with the neighbors' fireworks. Here's a sampling of the night...once the neighbors brought out the mortar shells.

All in all, a relaxing change of pace. Good times and good food with the family; what more can you ask? And honestly, with entertainment like this, why fight the crowds, parking, heat, etc. just to see "professional" fireworks?

Other than not having another day feel like Monday in the same week, of course. Sigh. The crazies are out on the telephone in full force today.

But I have a new campaign starting up, so that kinda balances things out. More on the new campaign soon.

Thinking of Dad

This month marks the first anniversary of my dad's passing. It's been a long year, full of pain and grief, but the time has flown by it seems.

James over at Dreams of Mythic Fanatay just lost his father. His post and this post by Tim over at Gothridge Manor got me thinking a bit more about my dad, especially his influence on my entertainment and gaming life. Dad passed just before Father's Day last year and it's taken me a few days to be able to write a companion post to my friends' posts.

My dad didn't approve of my RPG-ing. But he loved games. He and I had epic one-on-one Trivial Pursuit battles. He taught me how to play solitaire, hearts, and cribbage long before Windows decided to teach me. I think the last game I played with my father was one called "Exasperation"--a homemade version of "Aggravation" that my brother made in Shop class in the 1970s.

He never begrudged me a bit of graph paper, however. He was an engineer by trade and got the stuff free. He even brought home a huge desk-blotter pad of graph paper once, just to watch me fill it up with mazes and corridors. Dad didn't realize it, but he fed my dungeoneering hunger by taking us on yearly trips to Lehman Caves. I'd return home and sketch winding caverns and make ham-fisted attempts at drawing rock formations.

Then my parents fell prey to the "demon-worship, mind-control, it's-all-evil" Pulling propaganda of the mid-80s. Gaming stopped completely for over a decade under my parents' concerned and watchful eyes.

He was more tolerant of my gaming in later years. Once I was married, I suppose he had resigned himself to the fact that I was going to play whether they approved or not. He would sit, watching bemused as I painted miniatures in the corner of our time-share in the mountains, or as I idly sketched maps while watching videos or sports with him. I DID keep a secret from him; I cannot imagine what he would have thought, said, or done if he'd learned I had introduced his grandchildren to the hobby. His resigned ambivalence would never have extended that far.

All the game-playing with him petered out over the last year or so of his life. We just couldn't get him interested in playing--except for the aforementioned game of Aggravation. He played with me and two of my kids who took great delight in sending Grand's marbles back to home base.

Like with James, my father was also my main introduction to media, although with slightly different tastes. I can only presume my dad and James' dad did not share the same generation. My dad taught me to enjoy opera and the Tijuana Brass. Yeah, kinda square I know, but still.... He also introduced me to Robert Heinlein, Louis L'Amour, Wilber Smith, Michael Crichton, David Morrell. and ERB's Tarzan books. He was a voracious reader and instilled that in me.

He loved movies and introduced me to John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin, and Charles Bronson. While he could never understand my fascination with Fantasy, he loved Sci-fi. He and I would sneak away from my mother to watch any Sci-fi we could find...except for Star Wars. I think that got too close to fantasy for his liking.

Dad was a pilot as well as a Sci-fi fan. Together we watched the live television coverage of the first launch of the shuttle Columbia. I thrilled for him when he was able to be present at a live launch himself; he brought back fantastic photos and descriptions of the noise, colors, sights. He worked for years in the aerospace industry and shared with me (what he could) tidbits of what he was working on, as well as pictures and sketches of engines, rockets, etc.

I miss my dad greatly.... But I'm also immensely grateful for the things he shared with me, for the inspirations and fascinations he instilled in me. And for the excellent example of fatherhood that he was to me. There's a lot he did that I didn't realize or appreciate at the time...and I appreciate more and more as time passes.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day (one day late) to all my friends and readers out there. Hopefully your day was filled with dice, "lead-free white metal" figurines, and plenty of character sheet goodness.

I know mine was.

My family took me to see a double feature of Men in Black 3 and The Avengers at the local drive-in. Great, fun flicks. MIB 3 makes a nice closing bookend for the series, if they so wish, and definitely redeems the series from MIB 2. The Avengers? There were several moments where I was giggling like a little boy. Loved it. LOVED it.

In addition, the accompanying image is the beautiful homemade card I received from one of my daughters yesterday. (And what thief wouldn't be proud to nab an emerald THAT size, eh? Definitely worth risking the dragon's wrath....)

I think I've done well as a father, that my kids love dragons nearly as much as I do. (I have other signs of my paternal success as well, of course.)

Let me know what loot y'all scored from your wives and kids yesterday.... I'd love to know.

Professional Cryptozoology

Image property of Para Abnormal

This morning I'm seriously considering a career change from the practice of law to Professional Cryptozoolozy.

No, seriously.

Part of that decision comes from the fact that I am spending the day at the back of a conference room learning about "The World of Depositions." You see, attorneys are required to participate in a set number of hours of "Continuing Legal Education" or "CLE" in order to renew and maintain their license.

I have a double-digit amount of hours left to take prior to June 30, 2012. I'm in a little bit of trouble and as a result, I'm taking a lot of hours that have nothing to do with my actual area of practice. For example, depositions...it's been twelve years and two months since I took or attended my last deposition. So obviously today's presentation is quite useful and relevant.

But I digress.

Today's CLE is only one reason for my desire to change careers.

The other was the episode of Grimm I watched last night. I've developed a real taste for Grimm. I wrote about it here at the start of the season.

I'm going to assume here that most of my readers know the premise behind Grimm. If you don't, hit IMDB or Wiki. Better yet, go here.

I badly wanted to like Once Upon A Time as well, but as that show quickly de-evolved into a soap opera, I stopped watching after the third episode (or so). Grimm on the other hand has not only maintained the quirkiness and intrigue throughout the season, most of the characters have grown, the story line developed, and even the mysteries and twists have been developed and followed without becoming contrived (see: Lost). While some may be irritated with its "monster-a-week" premise, I believe that we'll see that change once we, as viewers, have an idea of the breadth of the Wesen universe; i.e., as Nick learns, we learn along with him.

It's not exactly young-child-friendly, so our DVR saw great use this season. The wife and I have been squeezing in a couple episodes every couple nights the past week in an effort to get caught up with the story. Suffice it to say, I think most of the fears I had after the pilot have been addressed and countered.

My wife and I have also become addicted to Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet (check your local listings). It's kind of a guilty pleasure. It's where we go to slum, intellectually, when our brains are worn out. In case you don't know, the premise here is that a group of "researchers"--three true believers and one skeptic--go from state to state following leads and rumors of Bigfoot sightings. Much of the program is devoted to a "town hall meeting" where they call witnesses together and invite them to share their stories. Then, having documented the stories, they take the two or three most reputable (or promising) witnesses out in the field to the loci of their sighting(s). Then they spend the night running through the forest with night-vision goggles, cameras, and directional microphones while making various grunts and screeches.

Needless to say every episode ends with the true believers being sure that the state in question has a Sasquatch population, the skeptic still not convinced, and not a blessed piece of evidence or camera footage.

One of the true believers--a man that goes by the nickname of Bobo--may be their best evidence of the existence of Sasquatch. This guy literally looks like a freshly-shaven Bigfoot. Slack-jawed and shaggy-haired, somewhere around 7' tall, Bobo believes every twig-crack and animal-howl is "without a doubt" a "Squatch." In fact, this quickly becomes his catch-phrase: "It's a Squatch!" Of course, the veiwer is (hopefully) saying to him- or herself: Ummm... it sounded like a twig snapping or it sounded just like a coyote.

Yeah, I know, real brain-twisting, hard-hitting, overly-intellectual television fare. It's made me want to play in a good, d20 Modern paranormal game. Heck, a paranormal game of any ilk, actually, if I can find a good one.

So, back to Grimm. The episode we watched last night was entitled, "Big Feet." In the opening teaser/set-up sequence, we see a group of Bigfoot researchers doing guess what? They're out in the woods at night, with cameras and miscellaneous gear, making grunts and howls. Then they come face to face (off-camera) with some crazed being that tears through the researchers like they were paper. On camera we see a hint of the carnage: one researcher thrown at an enormous tree with bone-shattering force. We see the aftermath after the first commercial: one researcher lying on the ground with his torso torn open. Another researcher is transfixed on a five-foot-long, two-inch-diameter branch on a fallen log.

And that's when I turned to my wife and said, "This is what Finding Bigfoot is missing; I want to see Bobo thrown through the air. THAT'S when I will believe it's a Squatch."

But it made me think again: these guys with the BFRO ("Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization"). I want that gig. I want to be paid like that. (Yeah, before you say it, this is their hobby, their side-job. I understand that.) C'mon, who out there will throw me a wad of cash to go camping and looking for mythical creatures?

Call me. I'm your guy.