Reborn...with Miniatures!

Well, I'm back at the office today after a well-deserved and well-used ten days off. Those days were spent in a borrowed cabin up in the mountains, away from the cell phone and internet, and spent lying around, watching movies, and sitting in a hot tub while watching the kids swim in the pool.

I fully intended to get some gaming done with the kids, but whoops! Time just zoomed by, so that didn't happen.

I did have the time to peruse a couple new items to my collection. The first was the first issue of the Pathfinder comic book. Review coming soon on that one.

The second was an old 3.x module I picked up second-hand and cheap: The Forge of Fury. I don't know why I never picked this one up before. It didn't even sound familiar, but was apparently published in 2000. Hmm... I had to pick it up, though, because my kids are almost at 3d-level. Also: abandoned Dwarven stronghold? Hello? Is there really a question here? Seriously, I needed a good module to throw at my kids, a proven product. I've started another page here at the Stronghold for the game reports (also a way to review the module as we go).

But now I'm back to the grind. A bit refreshed, but also a bit under the weather. I suppose that's what I get for enjoying myself too much. The only highlight of being back is the fact that I have a truly wonderful, understanding wife.

"Why?" I hear you ask.... Well, for my birthday she "dragged" me to the FLGS, pulled out some cash that she had saved up, and allowed me to purchase an entire brick of the new Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder minis...as well as the Gargantuan Runegiant miniature. Needless to say, she bought a lot of goodwill and "honey-dos" with that gift.

The unboxing was a blast, although I'm quickly approaching the point at which my miniature storage needs to expand somehow. There were quite a few points at which I confess I squealed like a little girl when I opened a booster, particularly when I encountered the Warchief Ripnugget. He was one of the rare figures that I've wanted ever since the previews from Paizo. True, I've heard others express a reserved appreciation for this figure...saying that it's a great looking piece, but "how often will I need a goblin on a gecko?" Excuse me? My answer: I now have a great cavalry officer to LEAD my goblin attacks from now on. I'm going to LOOK for an opportunity to place this guy on the field. In fact, I may have to seek out a few more singles of this miniature, just so I can field a cavalry force.

Anyway: reviews of some of the other afore-mentioned products coming soon, I hope. I have to live through this infection first.

Ugh.

Anyone in the party have a spare Potion of cure moderate wounds they can spare?

Will o' Wisps and Basilisk Smoke

Yeah, yeah.... Put your bestiaries and rulebooks away. I know that basilisks don't smoke.

Except on those rare occasions where starving adventurerers throw their recent kill on the spit. Yeah. I went there. Merry Christmas.

Instead, the title means to me the etherealness of my goals and dreams for this last week of 2011. I left my office on the Friday prior to Christmas with great goals and ideas of what I was going to accomplished over my ten-day holiday vacation. There were some great gaming goals: posts, adventures, maps, and even some miniature painting.

Ask me which of those have actually been accomplished. Go ahead.

Nothing.

I sat down Christmas afternoon and *POOF* it was all gone. Motivation, ideas, germs, drive, etc. It was all gone. Much like basilisk smoke in the wind, completely irretrievable. I've tried for days to remember, and all my ideas are gone.

That's depressing enough to drive me into a mini-buying spree. For that, however, I need to wait for my next paycheck. So...strike two.

I guess I'll go through and update my 2011 totals and see if a good night's sleep does any good. As for all of my friends: may you have sufficient creativity and imagination to get you to the New Year.

Stay dicing, my friends.

**EDIT: Wow. Could I be any more depressing? I guess I could if I really tried, but it's not worth the effort. I found a couple minis pictures on my hard drive and realized that I was going to do a review of some Pathfinder minis. So, hopefully, that means my brain is back on board!

L is for Lehman Caves

The National Park Service website has this amazingly helpful and informative description of these caves: "Lehman Caves is a beautiful marble cave ornately decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, flowstone, popcorn, and over 300 rare shield formations."

Yeah. Doesn't that just make you want to rush right out to the middle of the Great Basin and see the caves? They actually have more descriptive information about the apricot trees outside the cave than they do about the caves themselves. Really, NPS, THAT'S what your marketing team came up with?

I grew up going to Lehman Caves. It's 234 miles from Salt Lake City. That's over four hours the way my father drove. Four hours of practically nothing. In the summer. And rarely did we have air conditioning in those days.

The view from the front of the Lehman Caves Visitors' Center, looking east.

But I loved it.

Vacation

Wow.

That's what happens when you take a week-long internet-free vacation.

Magnificent planning and timing on my part; didn't even think about pre-emptively loading up blog posts for the week.

Never fear, I'll be back in swing next week.

Until then, keep your beards dry.