Last year I took off 40 pounds, kicked my less active life style in the teeth, and started eating better. Now I am putting it on the line—because there is nothing like a good competition to get me motivated.
My gym offers periodic contests to inspire its membership to get healthy. This year it is the extreme brick-over. They take a bunch of measurements, use weekly weigh-ins, and at the end of eight weeks the person who loses the greatest percentage of body weight wins. There was a time in my life not so long ago when I would have been shooting for total victory—take no prisoners and all that. However, experience has taught me to set goals within my power to achieve. Winning the contest depends on my results relative to other people. It would be nice to take home the prize but I am more interested in starting off spring with some slimming down so that I can start pushing hard between April and July. So here are my goals:
• Get back down to 240 pounds. When I hit that number by the end of April it puts me in a great position to attack my fitness goals for the rest of the year.
• Maintain steady weight loss while attending Easter dinner and the beer, bourbon, and bbq festival. I am going to enjoy these opportunities while eating responsibly.
• Build a new exercise routine based around slimming down. The last six months have been focused around building core strengths. I am going to build a new routine that focuses on cardio and constant movement.
• Get my body used to eating smaller portions and better quality. I have not been pigging out. I have gotten a little too comfortable having light snacks like jerky and cheese around though.
That is it—nothing complicated. Starting weight last week was 261 pounds; so I need to average 3 pounds a week to hit my goal. Next check is tomorrow before boxing.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Personal Invintory PT3
Shooting is one of those hobbies that takes on a life of its own. I know people with a couple guns. I have met people with a couple hundred. The limiting factors tend to run toward space, finances, and interest.
Last year I did some soul searching. Looking at spending trends and our financial goals it was clear that something had to give. I needed to find a way to make shooting cost effective, enjoyable, and sustainable. That meant consolidating platforms, calibers, and accessories. When I started getting into firearms I wanted a gun and caliber for every conceivable contingency—hunting, home defense, concealed carry, Armageddon, target shooting, new shooter introduction, wild animal attacks, home carry…etc. I didn’t expect to have to ever deal with those situations, but on the off chance that I got my sight back or that the next generation wanted one of those platforms, I wanted options on hand. The problem with this approach is that having a ton of calibers and platforms requires you to keep a massive amount of maintenance supplies, ammunition, accessories, and magazines on hand to say nothing of the cost of the firearm in the first place. Ammunition is best bought in bulk. You don’t start to get meaningful savings till you start buying in the 500 to 1,000+ round range. That gets cost prohibitive when you have to supply ten or more calibers and reciprocal platforms. Magazines can be difficult to get in bulk and you really want at least 4 magazines per associated firearm, more if you aren’t sharing across platforms. These are just a couple examples of how multiple calibers and platforms can suck up resources
I started my clockwork bullet thrower obsession back in 2009 with very little big picture planning. I liked guns, all of them, so I bought whatever I could whenever circumstances and finances permitted. That approach ended up seeing me buy and sell off guns regularly as my interests changed—partly to fund other purchases and partly because after a couple months of shooting and tinkering I often found that the purchase that looked so good on paper had unanticipated limitations. I lost a lot of money to consignment fees and dealer discount. With the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that I had to change my habits. I came up with the following goals:
• Develop a small stable set of calibers.
• Develop a fixed set of long guns and handguns.
• Plan for future ammunition shortages/bans.
• Plan for parts and smithing limitations.
• Focus on quality over quantity.
• Minimize paperwork.
• Develop a functional maintenance kit.
• Where possible, focus on cross-caliber platforms.
Ultimately I limited myself to .22lr, .45acp, .45lc, .410 gage, 12 gage, .4570, and .308win. This gives me a range of popular military and civilian calibers. With this spread I have .22 for inexpensive shooting and 2 chamberings each for handguns, rifles, and shotguns. I gave myself some hard limits—no more calibers, no extra magazine types, and most important, no firearms I can’t maintain myself. With this in mind I was able to focus my collection and get rid of some of the outliers.
So, I have new objectives and projects for 2016:
• Get and install the Hogue stock for my 10/22 takedown.
• Get the AR10 up to the point where it is functional in basic form—magazines, ammunition, and sling.
• Finalize the grips on my two Ruger single action revolvers.
• Learn how to clean and maintain all my firearms.
• Work on getting a backup supply of 1,000 rounds for all my calibers.
• Pick up 4 more magazines for my 1911s.
• Sell off the Nagant and the .22 bolt action.
• Go shooting at least once a month.
• Learn the manual of arms for the AR10.
• Hone in on the last long gun and couple handguns to fill my case.
• See if I can line up training on basic pistol and shotgun through the range.
A quick read of the above items exposes my biggest current challenge—I have reached the point where my goals have outpaced my income. Professional gun writers make shooting sports seem relatively affordable; however, what doesn’t get said much is that professional gun people often have the benefit of decades of collecting, family legacy firearms, and sponsors who provide guns and ammo at little to no cost. After 7 years of collecting, researching, and shooting, my tastes are finally stabilizing. I don’t have the benefit of family firearms passed down through multiple generations. I don’t have a collection built over decades. So I am going to have to build up my stable of clockwork bullet throwers over the next couple years. It is my hope that by 2020 I will have all the guns I need to fill every role. Until then it is back to pinching pennies.
Last year I did some soul searching. Looking at spending trends and our financial goals it was clear that something had to give. I needed to find a way to make shooting cost effective, enjoyable, and sustainable. That meant consolidating platforms, calibers, and accessories. When I started getting into firearms I wanted a gun and caliber for every conceivable contingency—hunting, home defense, concealed carry, Armageddon, target shooting, new shooter introduction, wild animal attacks, home carry…etc. I didn’t expect to have to ever deal with those situations, but on the off chance that I got my sight back or that the next generation wanted one of those platforms, I wanted options on hand. The problem with this approach is that having a ton of calibers and platforms requires you to keep a massive amount of maintenance supplies, ammunition, accessories, and magazines on hand to say nothing of the cost of the firearm in the first place. Ammunition is best bought in bulk. You don’t start to get meaningful savings till you start buying in the 500 to 1,000+ round range. That gets cost prohibitive when you have to supply ten or more calibers and reciprocal platforms. Magazines can be difficult to get in bulk and you really want at least 4 magazines per associated firearm, more if you aren’t sharing across platforms. These are just a couple examples of how multiple calibers and platforms can suck up resources
I started my clockwork bullet thrower obsession back in 2009 with very little big picture planning. I liked guns, all of them, so I bought whatever I could whenever circumstances and finances permitted. That approach ended up seeing me buy and sell off guns regularly as my interests changed—partly to fund other purchases and partly because after a couple months of shooting and tinkering I often found that the purchase that looked so good on paper had unanticipated limitations. I lost a lot of money to consignment fees and dealer discount. With the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that I had to change my habits. I came up with the following goals:
• Develop a small stable set of calibers.
• Develop a fixed set of long guns and handguns.
• Plan for future ammunition shortages/bans.
• Plan for parts and smithing limitations.
• Focus on quality over quantity.
• Minimize paperwork.
• Develop a functional maintenance kit.
• Where possible, focus on cross-caliber platforms.
Ultimately I limited myself to .22lr, .45acp, .45lc, .410 gage, 12 gage, .4570, and .308win. This gives me a range of popular military and civilian calibers. With this spread I have .22 for inexpensive shooting and 2 chamberings each for handguns, rifles, and shotguns. I gave myself some hard limits—no more calibers, no extra magazine types, and most important, no firearms I can’t maintain myself. With this in mind I was able to focus my collection and get rid of some of the outliers.
So, I have new objectives and projects for 2016:
• Get and install the Hogue stock for my 10/22 takedown.
• Get the AR10 up to the point where it is functional in basic form—magazines, ammunition, and sling.
• Finalize the grips on my two Ruger single action revolvers.
• Learn how to clean and maintain all my firearms.
• Work on getting a backup supply of 1,000 rounds for all my calibers.
• Pick up 4 more magazines for my 1911s.
• Sell off the Nagant and the .22 bolt action.
• Go shooting at least once a month.
• Learn the manual of arms for the AR10.
• Hone in on the last long gun and couple handguns to fill my case.
• See if I can line up training on basic pistol and shotgun through the range.
A quick read of the above items exposes my biggest current challenge—I have reached the point where my goals have outpaced my income. Professional gun writers make shooting sports seem relatively affordable; however, what doesn’t get said much is that professional gun people often have the benefit of decades of collecting, family legacy firearms, and sponsors who provide guns and ammo at little to no cost. After 7 years of collecting, researching, and shooting, my tastes are finally stabilizing. I don’t have the benefit of family firearms passed down through multiple generations. I don’t have a collection built over decades. So I am going to have to build up my stable of clockwork bullet throwers over the next couple years. It is my hope that by 2020 I will have all the guns I need to fill every role. Until then it is back to pinching pennies.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Gaming and the social contract
Recently our friends group absconded to the shore to celebrate Dara’s birthday and transgender unveiling. Kids were stashed with caretakers while 26 adults spent the weekend energetically socializing, gaming, and eating a metric ton of junk food. It was a glorious celebration.
I greatly enjoyed my 3 day vacation. It was worth every penny to see Dara out in public for the first time. I got to see old friends, play games, walk on the boardwalk, eat great food, sip excellent Scotch, rejuvenate my gaming drive, and build treasured memories. Those positive experiences caused me to reflect on the nature of my particular circle of geekdom. I have been dealing with this malaise for a while—d40con simply offered me further fodder for consideration.
It seems like all the quirky asocial tendencies that made one a dork when I was growing up have evolved into dysfunctional neuroses. For example, several of my friends have decided to cease all communication—not “I hate you and I am not going to talk to you any more” but “I have decided that years of friendship is no longer relevant and I am going to put you aside without discussion or warning.” I don’t get it. Look, if I have done something to offend you, let’s at least talk about what prompted you to stop responding to my communications. It is your right to associate or not associate with whoever you want. That being said, common courtesy says that you owe me at least a warning—for the love of god, being a nerd doesn’t exempt you from the social contract. If I have given such offense to render my very digital communication intolerable, then by all means sever the link—I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated to continue associating against your will. Just…tell me. Due me the courtesy of notifying me that for whatever reason you have decided to end all forms of dialog.
As another example, some of my friends have diagnosed mental and/or medical conditions. Whether it is a tendency to lash out, to seek affirmation of their self worth, straight up ADD, or an inability to recognize social cues, there are good reasons why a lot of us geeks grew up on the fringe. I would argue that little bit-of-something different is in fact what makes us interesting. However, several of our friends have notoriously taken our acceptance of the “different” as license to do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and inconvenience whoever they want without expectation of consequence. I understand that if you have ADD focusing is going to be difficult. If you are dealing with depression a certain amount of mood unpredictability is to be expected; however, “Issues” are an explanation for bad behavior not an excuse. I have recently been snapped at, left hanging without notice, and mocked without remorse. I have endured people butting in to private conversations and activities where they were not invited or welcome. I do not understand why they think that this behavior is acceptable. I heard someone actually criticizing the way a second friend had organized an event and then when advised to do it themselves if they were so opposed, they said that it was too much of a hassle—and then went on to attend the event anyway.
I am not saying this very well. I have noticed a creeping tendency toward self-centered obliviousness to basic social niceties in our circle of friends—not a lack of please and thank you but outright rudeness. Part of the reason I am so confounded is that I was raised understanding that basic courtesy is not optional. You do not have to pretend to like everybody you meet. Indeed, one of the benefits to the social contract is the ability to dismiss people we do not like without provoking a negative response. In order to claim that benefit you must observe minimum contractual social obligations. Many of my “friends” are acting as if that last component doesn’t apply. When we were kids the individual with aspersers or borderline personality disorder, or ADD or just no social awareness was different. All of the people in my high school gaming group were a little weird. That weirdness was, along with gaming, the shared trait that bound us together. We were all trying to find a way to make our little piece of fucked-upped-ness fit in. It feels more and more as if my friends and acquaintances no longer care about the damage their broken behavioral tendencies inflict. It feels like, now that geeks and nerds are mainstream, they don’t have to pretend anymore.
Maybe it is a product of getting older. Maybe it was always like this and I just never noticed. Whatever the reason, I find myself more and more often drawn to the self-described assholes and bitches among us. It is an odd preferential realignment. I have come to appreciate people who if they are going to be hypocritical are at least honest about it. I have come to prefer those who may not be as socially polished but who seem to have genuinely good intentions. It bothers the hell out of me that people I used to consider close personal friends think that status is, once granted, inalienable regardless of their behavior. As of now there are only a couple people I look towards when planning games or get togethers. Others get called in to fill gaps in the ranks, but the unrestricted list is vanishingly small.
I hope I am not falling into the same trap I find so objectionable in others. This is not a cry for commiseration or reassurance. If I have given offense, if I have fallen into bad habits, please tell me. I hate the idea of causing anyone else to feel the way I do lately. I used to celebrate the diversity in our friends group. I used to glory in tribe nerd. Now I do not know what to think. I want to be tolerant but not to the point where I drive people to bad behavior. I want to have functional friendships but not to the point where I accept abuse and excessive inconvenience. I am starting to question where the line between tolerance and enablement lies and what, if anything, I can or should do about it.
I greatly enjoyed my 3 day vacation. It was worth every penny to see Dara out in public for the first time. I got to see old friends, play games, walk on the boardwalk, eat great food, sip excellent Scotch, rejuvenate my gaming drive, and build treasured memories. Those positive experiences caused me to reflect on the nature of my particular circle of geekdom. I have been dealing with this malaise for a while—d40con simply offered me further fodder for consideration.
It seems like all the quirky asocial tendencies that made one a dork when I was growing up have evolved into dysfunctional neuroses. For example, several of my friends have decided to cease all communication—not “I hate you and I am not going to talk to you any more” but “I have decided that years of friendship is no longer relevant and I am going to put you aside without discussion or warning.” I don’t get it. Look, if I have done something to offend you, let’s at least talk about what prompted you to stop responding to my communications. It is your right to associate or not associate with whoever you want. That being said, common courtesy says that you owe me at least a warning—for the love of god, being a nerd doesn’t exempt you from the social contract. If I have given such offense to render my very digital communication intolerable, then by all means sever the link—I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated to continue associating against your will. Just…tell me. Due me the courtesy of notifying me that for whatever reason you have decided to end all forms of dialog.
As another example, some of my friends have diagnosed mental and/or medical conditions. Whether it is a tendency to lash out, to seek affirmation of their self worth, straight up ADD, or an inability to recognize social cues, there are good reasons why a lot of us geeks grew up on the fringe. I would argue that little bit-of-something different is in fact what makes us interesting. However, several of our friends have notoriously taken our acceptance of the “different” as license to do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and inconvenience whoever they want without expectation of consequence. I understand that if you have ADD focusing is going to be difficult. If you are dealing with depression a certain amount of mood unpredictability is to be expected; however, “Issues” are an explanation for bad behavior not an excuse. I have recently been snapped at, left hanging without notice, and mocked without remorse. I have endured people butting in to private conversations and activities where they were not invited or welcome. I do not understand why they think that this behavior is acceptable. I heard someone actually criticizing the way a second friend had organized an event and then when advised to do it themselves if they were so opposed, they said that it was too much of a hassle—and then went on to attend the event anyway.
I am not saying this very well. I have noticed a creeping tendency toward self-centered obliviousness to basic social niceties in our circle of friends—not a lack of please and thank you but outright rudeness. Part of the reason I am so confounded is that I was raised understanding that basic courtesy is not optional. You do not have to pretend to like everybody you meet. Indeed, one of the benefits to the social contract is the ability to dismiss people we do not like without provoking a negative response. In order to claim that benefit you must observe minimum contractual social obligations. Many of my “friends” are acting as if that last component doesn’t apply. When we were kids the individual with aspersers or borderline personality disorder, or ADD or just no social awareness was different. All of the people in my high school gaming group were a little weird. That weirdness was, along with gaming, the shared trait that bound us together. We were all trying to find a way to make our little piece of fucked-upped-ness fit in. It feels more and more as if my friends and acquaintances no longer care about the damage their broken behavioral tendencies inflict. It feels like, now that geeks and nerds are mainstream, they don’t have to pretend anymore.
Maybe it is a product of getting older. Maybe it was always like this and I just never noticed. Whatever the reason, I find myself more and more often drawn to the self-described assholes and bitches among us. It is an odd preferential realignment. I have come to appreciate people who if they are going to be hypocritical are at least honest about it. I have come to prefer those who may not be as socially polished but who seem to have genuinely good intentions. It bothers the hell out of me that people I used to consider close personal friends think that status is, once granted, inalienable regardless of their behavior. As of now there are only a couple people I look towards when planning games or get togethers. Others get called in to fill gaps in the ranks, but the unrestricted list is vanishingly small.
I hope I am not falling into the same trap I find so objectionable in others. This is not a cry for commiseration or reassurance. If I have given offense, if I have fallen into bad habits, please tell me. I hate the idea of causing anyone else to feel the way I do lately. I used to celebrate the diversity in our friends group. I used to glory in tribe nerd. Now I do not know what to think. I want to be tolerant but not to the point where I drive people to bad behavior. I want to have functional friendships but not to the point where I accept abuse and excessive inconvenience. I am starting to question where the line between tolerance and enablement lies and what, if anything, I can or should do about it.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Personal Invintory PT2
I have reconciled myself to writing a bunch of “this is what I did and what I am going to do” blog entries. I have talked about these items enough that it feels redundant. That being said, I need to get it down to hold myself accountable.
Last year was tolerable for miniature projects. I got virtually no mini gaming in due to Alternate worlds moving and driving out the warmachine event organizer—I am still bitter about that by the way. Flames of war was also pretty much nonexistent. Wmtrainguy had child/family/shooting priorities which took pride of place. Blood bowl was discussed—but not played. Miniatures were theorycrafted but didn’t see much table time. Titan, though advertising mini days has not developed a miniature community despite having one of the finest set of tables I have seen in a retail setting. This is the curse of adult gaming, as my friends and I start tripping across the 40 year line; everything has to be scheduled far in advance. It makes those games all-the sweeter but seriously cuts into the frequency. I can’t complain, especially since my gym time and cooking continue to eat up a third to a half of my free time any given week. Even so, 2015 definitely cooled my mini gaming ardor.
Project status for 2015:
• Jason finished the dwarves so I have a fully table ready blood bowl team.
• I got an Amazon team from the same artist who made my dwarves but the stars have not aligned to complete that project yet.
• My legion of everblight remains in a mostly theoretical state. Corc has fallen off the map for various reasons. Deathquaker is around but heavily engaged. I am not sure where I stand with them re-future projects. So legion is confined to a table ready battle box and a bunch of other miniatures in limbo.
• Khador remains cased, painted, and ready to rock. I got several models for Christmas which will require lady Deathquaker’s ministrations. I got a custom manowar tray from Battle Foam—so my steam powered armor troops are a unit and a solo away from completion.
• Jason completed all pig beasts, all but one warlock, Targ, Maximus, and is in process with two meat threshers. I still have 2 razor back crew blisters, Midas, and 2 units of slaughterhousers from Christmas gifting unassembled. I got a battle foam bag for the army, but it proved to be the wrong opening style (I hate the front compression foam portal deployment.)
• My French got their own bag and are ready for painting but short 3 objectives and a couple models.
• My 4th Indians are painted, assembled, but uncoated. Being honest, flames of war took a back burner in 2015. I was hoping Privateer Press products would take off, but such was not the case. So it is my fault less got done with those groups. I did not give them the attention they deserved.
There was a time when I thought of myself as a miniature and RPG gamer first and a board game guy second. This had everything to do with the local community makeup. There were people ready, willing, and able to role-play or take to the 6x4 field of honor. Board games and CCGs were fun filler for the times we couldn’t get a “proper game” together. Now coming up on my fourth decade, the community is willing but lacking for readiness and ability. Wmtrainguy, Jason, and Cherylkat have played a couple games but their time is limited. Others express willingness but have no real motivation to make the necessary commitment. So I have set myself two broad miniature objectives in 2016.
First, I am going to complete every available project it is within my power to conclude. Looking at what I have on deck and what painting/assembly resources are available, I should be able to buy the required components and source the work in the next 12 months. This is going to be a theme for 2016—I am getting tired of open ended projects. I am setting myself clear limitations on scope, application, and cost. I love collecting and building. I also love playing with collected tools and projects. I am getting to the point where if I am not going to actually use the minis, then I need to stop throwing money at the concept just “because.”
Second, 2016 is the last year of prepping for the next game. I will talk to friends, visit Titan, and check online forums as to interest in a regular mini gaming community—even if it is just once a month. If I have to build my own community from scratch—so be it. I have concluded that there are some games, like pathfinder the card game, that I can run from my home and then there are games like warmachine that are better played in a larger community. If there is no such community around, it is up to me to start one or I need to get out of the hobby—one or the other.
Plans for 2016 Miniature gaming:
• Legion is getting out of limbo. Regardless of how Corc ends up dealing with the situation, I cannot make project plans based on his availability. Deathquaker is in the same bracket, though for different reasons. So unless one of them comes forward with a compelling argument otherwise, I think legion is done. This is a difficult decision—I have a fair amount of cash tied up in the initial models and Corc has done some of the starter work already. However, if I have no full time painter, no plans to play the game, and no functional force, then throwing more money and time after bad is not helping anyone. Jason is already booked out for months on other projects…as might be Deathquaker. Even if I get a regular game going, pigs are fully ready to go and legion is at least a couple months from full playability. So I will wait until I get an updated status from them, but it is looking like legion is at an end.
• Khador needs some work. I regret the haphazard way I built the initial force—without any thought to future releases. My intent is to have Deathquaker finish my remaining manowar and 2 ragers if the kits come out this year. If I can save the cash, I would like BTP to finish up my collection with 2 plastic spriggans, Ruin, B3, Andre, and an extremoth conversion. For the sake of continuity I may add a battle box to that list as well—Corc painted my current box and it doesn’t match the army despite being an excellent job. I’ll have Jason do the assembly and move on from there. I have looked at b2, but his feat is a bit fiddly for me to manage. After that there are some mercenaries I would like to grab but that will fall to Jason after other projects are done.
• Pigs are going to be a work in progress. While I would love to knock them out, there are too many models and too little time to get them all done in addition to the other work I have planned for 2016. At the very least I will get them an upgraded battle foam bag. There is also the question of how often/if I will get to play the bacon. If the answer is rarely, then I will focus on projects with a more defined end point.
• Amazons will be finished one way or another. I will probably get a GW hard case to store my two teams. I wish I could find a nice compact case for my 60ish blood bowl models. Unless we get a league together, the ladies represent the end of my fantasy football investment.
• The French are next on Jason’s block. I need to get 3 panhards, have Wmtrainguy print out my HQ H39 long-gun, and build 3 objectives. One of the reasons I am looking to complete my forces is that I keep hemorrhaging cash toward mini projects. I want to get to a point where I am saving money rather than chipping away at my model backlog—play more, spend less.
• I have two paths I can go with the 4th Indians. First, I can pick up 3 Matildas, 8 trucks, 9 210 carriers, and build 3 objectives. After Deathquaker theoretically finished that batch I would be done. Second, I can get the previous items and add on additional models required to bring me into mid-war territory. I will have to talk to Wmtrainguy. It depends on how much of my current forces are playable and how much more I would need to pick up to make mid-war viable. If it is a matter of a couple models it is a no brainer. If it requires me to shell out a couple hundred more dollars than maybe not. Either way I will need to work with the birthday boy to create a custom BF bag for this force. I should be able to make that decision this weekend.
• Finally—no more mini projects, factions, or expansions. I am at capacity for a long long while.
If I do one thing this year I am going to get control over my miniature gaming experience. No community for regular gaming, I will create one. No ability to complete a project? Then it is Ka-put. I have other financial priorities coming up. My hobbies need to start pulling their weight. I am fine holding a couple armies to play with friends, but I really want to take PP gaming to the next level. Clearly that is going to require some effort on my part.
Last year was tolerable for miniature projects. I got virtually no mini gaming in due to Alternate worlds moving and driving out the warmachine event organizer—I am still bitter about that by the way. Flames of war was also pretty much nonexistent. Wmtrainguy had child/family/shooting priorities which took pride of place. Blood bowl was discussed—but not played. Miniatures were theorycrafted but didn’t see much table time. Titan, though advertising mini days has not developed a miniature community despite having one of the finest set of tables I have seen in a retail setting. This is the curse of adult gaming, as my friends and I start tripping across the 40 year line; everything has to be scheduled far in advance. It makes those games all-the sweeter but seriously cuts into the frequency. I can’t complain, especially since my gym time and cooking continue to eat up a third to a half of my free time any given week. Even so, 2015 definitely cooled my mini gaming ardor.
Project status for 2015:
• Jason finished the dwarves so I have a fully table ready blood bowl team.
• I got an Amazon team from the same artist who made my dwarves but the stars have not aligned to complete that project yet.
• My legion of everblight remains in a mostly theoretical state. Corc has fallen off the map for various reasons. Deathquaker is around but heavily engaged. I am not sure where I stand with them re-future projects. So legion is confined to a table ready battle box and a bunch of other miniatures in limbo.
• Khador remains cased, painted, and ready to rock. I got several models for Christmas which will require lady Deathquaker’s ministrations. I got a custom manowar tray from Battle Foam—so my steam powered armor troops are a unit and a solo away from completion.
• Jason completed all pig beasts, all but one warlock, Targ, Maximus, and is in process with two meat threshers. I still have 2 razor back crew blisters, Midas, and 2 units of slaughterhousers from Christmas gifting unassembled. I got a battle foam bag for the army, but it proved to be the wrong opening style (I hate the front compression foam portal deployment.)
• My French got their own bag and are ready for painting but short 3 objectives and a couple models.
• My 4th Indians are painted, assembled, but uncoated. Being honest, flames of war took a back burner in 2015. I was hoping Privateer Press products would take off, but such was not the case. So it is my fault less got done with those groups. I did not give them the attention they deserved.
There was a time when I thought of myself as a miniature and RPG gamer first and a board game guy second. This had everything to do with the local community makeup. There were people ready, willing, and able to role-play or take to the 6x4 field of honor. Board games and CCGs were fun filler for the times we couldn’t get a “proper game” together. Now coming up on my fourth decade, the community is willing but lacking for readiness and ability. Wmtrainguy, Jason, and Cherylkat have played a couple games but their time is limited. Others express willingness but have no real motivation to make the necessary commitment. So I have set myself two broad miniature objectives in 2016.
First, I am going to complete every available project it is within my power to conclude. Looking at what I have on deck and what painting/assembly resources are available, I should be able to buy the required components and source the work in the next 12 months. This is going to be a theme for 2016—I am getting tired of open ended projects. I am setting myself clear limitations on scope, application, and cost. I love collecting and building. I also love playing with collected tools and projects. I am getting to the point where if I am not going to actually use the minis, then I need to stop throwing money at the concept just “because.”
Second, 2016 is the last year of prepping for the next game. I will talk to friends, visit Titan, and check online forums as to interest in a regular mini gaming community—even if it is just once a month. If I have to build my own community from scratch—so be it. I have concluded that there are some games, like pathfinder the card game, that I can run from my home and then there are games like warmachine that are better played in a larger community. If there is no such community around, it is up to me to start one or I need to get out of the hobby—one or the other.
Plans for 2016 Miniature gaming:
• Legion is getting out of limbo. Regardless of how Corc ends up dealing with the situation, I cannot make project plans based on his availability. Deathquaker is in the same bracket, though for different reasons. So unless one of them comes forward with a compelling argument otherwise, I think legion is done. This is a difficult decision—I have a fair amount of cash tied up in the initial models and Corc has done some of the starter work already. However, if I have no full time painter, no plans to play the game, and no functional force, then throwing more money and time after bad is not helping anyone. Jason is already booked out for months on other projects…as might be Deathquaker. Even if I get a regular game going, pigs are fully ready to go and legion is at least a couple months from full playability. So I will wait until I get an updated status from them, but it is looking like legion is at an end.
• Khador needs some work. I regret the haphazard way I built the initial force—without any thought to future releases. My intent is to have Deathquaker finish my remaining manowar and 2 ragers if the kits come out this year. If I can save the cash, I would like BTP to finish up my collection with 2 plastic spriggans, Ruin, B3, Andre, and an extremoth conversion. For the sake of continuity I may add a battle box to that list as well—Corc painted my current box and it doesn’t match the army despite being an excellent job. I’ll have Jason do the assembly and move on from there. I have looked at b2, but his feat is a bit fiddly for me to manage. After that there are some mercenaries I would like to grab but that will fall to Jason after other projects are done.
• Pigs are going to be a work in progress. While I would love to knock them out, there are too many models and too little time to get them all done in addition to the other work I have planned for 2016. At the very least I will get them an upgraded battle foam bag. There is also the question of how often/if I will get to play the bacon. If the answer is rarely, then I will focus on projects with a more defined end point.
• Amazons will be finished one way or another. I will probably get a GW hard case to store my two teams. I wish I could find a nice compact case for my 60ish blood bowl models. Unless we get a league together, the ladies represent the end of my fantasy football investment.
• The French are next on Jason’s block. I need to get 3 panhards, have Wmtrainguy print out my HQ H39 long-gun, and build 3 objectives. One of the reasons I am looking to complete my forces is that I keep hemorrhaging cash toward mini projects. I want to get to a point where I am saving money rather than chipping away at my model backlog—play more, spend less.
• I have two paths I can go with the 4th Indians. First, I can pick up 3 Matildas, 8 trucks, 9 210 carriers, and build 3 objectives. After Deathquaker theoretically finished that batch I would be done. Second, I can get the previous items and add on additional models required to bring me into mid-war territory. I will have to talk to Wmtrainguy. It depends on how much of my current forces are playable and how much more I would need to pick up to make mid-war viable. If it is a matter of a couple models it is a no brainer. If it requires me to shell out a couple hundred more dollars than maybe not. Either way I will need to work with the birthday boy to create a custom BF bag for this force. I should be able to make that decision this weekend.
• Finally—no more mini projects, factions, or expansions. I am at capacity for a long long while.
If I do one thing this year I am going to get control over my miniature gaming experience. No community for regular gaming, I will create one. No ability to complete a project? Then it is Ka-put. I have other financial priorities coming up. My hobbies need to start pulling their weight. I am fine holding a couple armies to play with friends, but I really want to take PP gaming to the next level. Clearly that is going to require some effort on my part.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Personal Invintory PT1
I hate “resolutions.” They result in a month of furious good intentions followed by 11 months of disappointment. However, writing my expectations down keeps me honest. So these are not resolutions. They are “expectations.”
I got a lot done in 2015. Some of this came down to going to the gym, some of it came down to using the fitbit, and some of it came down to finding a routine that works. I cannot stress this enough, if you want to improve your health you have to find a sustainable set of changes that will give you the ability to make the required improvements. The basics for 2015 follow:
• Went to the gym regularly—usually 3 days a week for a total of 6 hours.
• Lost 40 pounds—ending at about 255 pounds.
• Reduced ordering out and eating out to a minimum.
• Brought all my biometrics and blood work out of red line to acceptable levels.
• Set myself up with my sleep study and machine with our current insurance.
• Got my foot issues definitively diagnosed and documented as gout with my doctor and insurance.
• Improved overall health to the point where I am visiting the dentist and doctor only for regular checkups.
• Took care of digestive problems with a probiotic supplement.
I am happy with those results. I accomplished what I set out to do—establishing a behavioral, documentation, medical, and physical foundation for future efforts. However, as per standard operating procedure I am not satisfied with those benchmarks. There are several things I need to correct—bad behaviors that have crept in during moments of weakness:
• Squish, MX, and I have taken to ordering at Taco Bell after each week day gym trip. I usually limit myself to a border freeze, but the trend is troubling none the less. I need to get out of the habit. So, until further notice, I do not get to order anything from the bell—no matter how much I want to.
• While my wait went down 40 pounds in total, at one point that number was closer to 60 pounds. I don’t mind the extra 10 pound gain between July and December, most of which was muscle. I mind the extra 10 pounds between December and January. To correct this I will get our scale fixed, stop stocking snacks when company comes over, and get my appetite back under control. Some slippage during the holiday is reasonable. Losing control is not.
• Towards the end, I went to the work café once every week and a half. My goal for this year is not to go to the café at all—never—not once—no matter how hungry I get. I will stock my desk with healthy snacks, tea, and other consumables so that eating junk food is no longer a necessity if I forget to bring my lunch.
• My former trainer told me that I should eat something before coming to the gym to boost my metabolism. I followed his advice and now I crave snackage when I walk in the door—gym or not. Some high protein, fruits, vegetables, and low calorie snacks are reasonable—going alpha hungry on the fridge is no bueno. I will stock a single P3 snack for gym days and cut up some cheese and jerky for the other days.
• While I was establishing good habits I tried to avoid getting hung up on “weight.” This year I need to focus on cutting fat. Strength is important; however I am at the point where I have the foundational basis for the work to come. My goal is to be back under 250 pounds by the end of February and under 200 pounds by the end of December—about 10 pounds a month. Those are aggressive goals but well within past performance levels provided I control myself.
• While I have committed to the gym and exercise in the abstract, I have let my conditioning go in the name of strength training. I can attribute some of this to a different trainer with less stringent goals. The holidays played hell with my schedule—closing twice in December, leaving social functions to block exercise time, as well as various external challenges for Squish bidding to pull him away from our routine. I will step up to a regular routine again. I will work with my trainer or find a new trainer—either way I will find someone who will drive me for better results.
• I have some basic goals re-physical training. Losing weight will help me get there. So will just keeping in shape. Mainly I need to lose enough of my gut that I can start doing sit-ups instead of crunches—35 in a sitting at least. My goal is 25 pushups by the end of 2016 at one time.
• Accountability keeps me motivated and honest. I have let reporting slack—probably the most unforgivable of my fitness sins. I will give monthly updates starting in the beginning of February.
• I have gotten into the habit of using the liquor store as my personal ATM. Especially on Friday, when I can try all the free samples, it is tempting to stop by for cash. The grocery store now lets us take up to $200 at a time so that is no longer an issue. So I will now only go to the liquor store when the brunette wants something. Additionally, I will not buy anything new for myself until I have significantly depleted my private stocks. I like alcohol—especially the high end whiskeys. Unfortunately it is becoming something of a collection at monetary and calorie costs I need to better manage.
When I started this process in 2013 I had this idea that I needed to find “my plan.” What worked for some people might not work for me—but there was a plan out there that would do it—I just had to find it. The truth is plans change because people change. I am not satisfied with my progress. I am confident that I can adapt though. It is time to get cracking.
I got a lot done in 2015. Some of this came down to going to the gym, some of it came down to using the fitbit, and some of it came down to finding a routine that works. I cannot stress this enough, if you want to improve your health you have to find a sustainable set of changes that will give you the ability to make the required improvements. The basics for 2015 follow:
• Went to the gym regularly—usually 3 days a week for a total of 6 hours.
• Lost 40 pounds—ending at about 255 pounds.
• Reduced ordering out and eating out to a minimum.
• Brought all my biometrics and blood work out of red line to acceptable levels.
• Set myself up with my sleep study and machine with our current insurance.
• Got my foot issues definitively diagnosed and documented as gout with my doctor and insurance.
• Improved overall health to the point where I am visiting the dentist and doctor only for regular checkups.
• Took care of digestive problems with a probiotic supplement.
I am happy with those results. I accomplished what I set out to do—establishing a behavioral, documentation, medical, and physical foundation for future efforts. However, as per standard operating procedure I am not satisfied with those benchmarks. There are several things I need to correct—bad behaviors that have crept in during moments of weakness:
• Squish, MX, and I have taken to ordering at Taco Bell after each week day gym trip. I usually limit myself to a border freeze, but the trend is troubling none the less. I need to get out of the habit. So, until further notice, I do not get to order anything from the bell—no matter how much I want to.
• While my wait went down 40 pounds in total, at one point that number was closer to 60 pounds. I don’t mind the extra 10 pound gain between July and December, most of which was muscle. I mind the extra 10 pounds between December and January. To correct this I will get our scale fixed, stop stocking snacks when company comes over, and get my appetite back under control. Some slippage during the holiday is reasonable. Losing control is not.
• Towards the end, I went to the work café once every week and a half. My goal for this year is not to go to the café at all—never—not once—no matter how hungry I get. I will stock my desk with healthy snacks, tea, and other consumables so that eating junk food is no longer a necessity if I forget to bring my lunch.
• My former trainer told me that I should eat something before coming to the gym to boost my metabolism. I followed his advice and now I crave snackage when I walk in the door—gym or not. Some high protein, fruits, vegetables, and low calorie snacks are reasonable—going alpha hungry on the fridge is no bueno. I will stock a single P3 snack for gym days and cut up some cheese and jerky for the other days.
• While I was establishing good habits I tried to avoid getting hung up on “weight.” This year I need to focus on cutting fat. Strength is important; however I am at the point where I have the foundational basis for the work to come. My goal is to be back under 250 pounds by the end of February and under 200 pounds by the end of December—about 10 pounds a month. Those are aggressive goals but well within past performance levels provided I control myself.
• While I have committed to the gym and exercise in the abstract, I have let my conditioning go in the name of strength training. I can attribute some of this to a different trainer with less stringent goals. The holidays played hell with my schedule—closing twice in December, leaving social functions to block exercise time, as well as various external challenges for Squish bidding to pull him away from our routine. I will step up to a regular routine again. I will work with my trainer or find a new trainer—either way I will find someone who will drive me for better results.
• I have some basic goals re-physical training. Losing weight will help me get there. So will just keeping in shape. Mainly I need to lose enough of my gut that I can start doing sit-ups instead of crunches—35 in a sitting at least. My goal is 25 pushups by the end of 2016 at one time.
• Accountability keeps me motivated and honest. I have let reporting slack—probably the most unforgivable of my fitness sins. I will give monthly updates starting in the beginning of February.
• I have gotten into the habit of using the liquor store as my personal ATM. Especially on Friday, when I can try all the free samples, it is tempting to stop by for cash. The grocery store now lets us take up to $200 at a time so that is no longer an issue. So I will now only go to the liquor store when the brunette wants something. Additionally, I will not buy anything new for myself until I have significantly depleted my private stocks. I like alcohol—especially the high end whiskeys. Unfortunately it is becoming something of a collection at monetary and calorie costs I need to better manage.
When I started this process in 2013 I had this idea that I needed to find “my plan.” What worked for some people might not work for me—but there was a plan out there that would do it—I just had to find it. The truth is plans change because people change. I am not satisfied with my progress. I am confident that I can adapt though. It is time to get cracking.
Monday, January 4, 2016
The making of things
I am used to doing a fair bit of cooking around the holidays between parties, company, and day-to-day obligations. I like creating things be it meals, music, or stories. It is life affirming to share the product of your heart and hands. There is a particular sense of achievement when you can say “I made that myself.” That being said, this year was out of control.
When the brunette went back to work, we took the opportunity to stock the kitchen with all-the-gadgets. I got a full set of stoneware and stainless cookware courtesy of pampered chef. We acquired a full sized microwave oven, vitamix blender, dehydrator, vacuum sealer, and kitchen aid stand mixer. The deal was that if she agreed to outfit the kitchen I had to use it all. So I took that as a challenge.
A brief list of 2015 cooking projects:
• Learned how to make my own crumb pie crusts.
• Learned how to make fruit crumble.
• Learned how to make coconut cream pie with the vitamix.
• Learned how to make trifle—Pumpkin gingerbread, banana cream, and lemon cream.
• Learned how to make my own jerky—resulting in over 50 pounds of dried meat.
• Learned how to make my own fruit bark
• Learned how to dehydrate and preserve herbs and vegetables.
• Learned how to make rice not stick together.
• Learned how to make quick breads
• Learned how to make my own Irish Cream liquor.
• Learned how to make my own whiskey infusions.
• Learned how to make my own spiced rum.
• Made progress on effectively using my oven.
While these are a few of my favorite things, I have a long way to go. Still left to do is making my own cured meats, perfecting crumb crust, working on homemade pie crust, baking cookies and brownies from scratch, working up a standard super-hot jerky recipe, making cheesecake from scratch, and getting to where I can consistently cook bacon in the oven. These aren’t must-do items—just things I would like to learn to make. People have asked me why I want to make my own pie crust or shotgun shells or sausage when I can just buy them. The answer is I feel better making that choice after I have learned to make them for myself. There are elements of a well made dish that are difficult to appreciate if you haven’t attempted to replicate the result on your own time. There are certain dishes that are just better when made by hand. I am never going to be the super-maker of the group but I am hoping to add a few more notches in my belt this year.
Thank you to all the people who gave advice and tested my concoctions. For every proud victory there have been a couple not-so-great attempts. Your willingness to come back to the table over and over again is part of the reason I continue to strive for ever-greater gustatory heights.
When the brunette went back to work, we took the opportunity to stock the kitchen with all-the-gadgets. I got a full set of stoneware and stainless cookware courtesy of pampered chef. We acquired a full sized microwave oven, vitamix blender, dehydrator, vacuum sealer, and kitchen aid stand mixer. The deal was that if she agreed to outfit the kitchen I had to use it all. So I took that as a challenge.
A brief list of 2015 cooking projects:
• Learned how to make my own crumb pie crusts.
• Learned how to make fruit crumble.
• Learned how to make coconut cream pie with the vitamix.
• Learned how to make trifle—Pumpkin gingerbread, banana cream, and lemon cream.
• Learned how to make my own jerky—resulting in over 50 pounds of dried meat.
• Learned how to make my own fruit bark
• Learned how to dehydrate and preserve herbs and vegetables.
• Learned how to make rice not stick together.
• Learned how to make quick breads
• Learned how to make my own Irish Cream liquor.
• Learned how to make my own whiskey infusions.
• Learned how to make my own spiced rum.
• Made progress on effectively using my oven.
While these are a few of my favorite things, I have a long way to go. Still left to do is making my own cured meats, perfecting crumb crust, working on homemade pie crust, baking cookies and brownies from scratch, working up a standard super-hot jerky recipe, making cheesecake from scratch, and getting to where I can consistently cook bacon in the oven. These aren’t must-do items—just things I would like to learn to make. People have asked me why I want to make my own pie crust or shotgun shells or sausage when I can just buy them. The answer is I feel better making that choice after I have learned to make them for myself. There are elements of a well made dish that are difficult to appreciate if you haven’t attempted to replicate the result on your own time. There are certain dishes that are just better when made by hand. I am never going to be the super-maker of the group but I am hoping to add a few more notches in my belt this year.
Thank you to all the people who gave advice and tested my concoctions. For every proud victory there have been a couple not-so-great attempts. Your willingness to come back to the table over and over again is part of the reason I continue to strive for ever-greater gustatory heights.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Initial thoughts on Exalted Third Edition
Introduction:
One of my favorite childhood memories came when the library for the blind got the wheel of time series on tape. Back then, you were lucky to get big fantasy on audio—and almost never unabridged. I spent many hours lazing on my bedroom floor listening to my first exposure to epic high fantasy. From that moment I have been hooked on the series and the genre.
Unfortunately, I have not found many well executed epic-high-fantasy role-playing games. There are good epic games. There are good High fantasy games; but Good and epic and high fantasy?—not so much. It is difficult to build a setting that encourages legendary shenanigans. You need a provocative world that begs for stories to be told. You need an advancement system that allows for customization and character development. You need a combat system with flare. Many try—few succeed.
I discovered first edition exalted when a friend offered to run a new fantasy game system from white wolf. At the time I thought it was simply a fun RPG with some interesting setting elements. Later I ran several campaigns and played in a couple short-lived stories. Exalted was the kind of game I had always wanted. It was big. It was bold. There were magic, artifacts, swords, heroes, villains, heroic villains, and villainous heroes. Multiple editions and splat books have evolved the franchise to something beyond the hardcover that first won my heart; however, at its core, exalted is still that game I fell in love with more than a decade past.
I went into the third edition kickstarter dreaming of a beautiful leather bound tome of perfect story potential—gleaming mechanics—elegant pros—a product that innovated but kept all the things I loved about first ed and none of the things I hated about second. Now, two years past the expected completion date with at least another year before I see a physical product, my expectations have been tempered. I still want that perfection–but I am willing to overlook some beauty marks if it gets me a workable result.
Overview:
Third Ed is a perfect illustration of how pen and paper gaming has changed since I picked up my first d20 25 years ago. Gamers of my generation remember when “games” were physical books marketed as any other retail product. The impression I got was that there was a brick storefront contracting, writing, and editing each tome before it hit the shelves.
Flash forward to white wolf’s acquisition by CCP and recent consumption by paradox, and things are a little different. Onyx path pays the licensing company for the rights to publish products in the legacy WW lines. They kick start their publications with a physical prestige copy. After the campaign ends, non-backers go to drivethrurpg.com and buy the PDF.
Looking at the pre-publication backer copy of third Ed you can see what happens when you let artists run wild. This book is huge. Converted to RTF, it clocks in at more than 800 pages (something like 600 in print with all the art.) The writing varies between medium to very high quality. The rules are cleanly written. The writers’ voices are not blended as well as in previous editions. Some of the art is poorly executed. The overall impression is a book that delivers on content but lacks polish.
Concept:
At a macro level the world of exalted hasn’t changed much—same back story—same old time of tumult. The section explaining the creation of the solar exalted and the fall of the first age could have been pulled right out of my first edition core book. Third edition retains all the familiar charm names, notable personages, artifact types, and nomenclature fans have come to expect. That being said, once you get past the exterior you can’t take anything at face value. I will detail individual items later; but for now I want to address the fundamental alterations.
First, the world is much more expansive. First edition left a lot of unwritten space. I think the idea was to leave room for future supplements and custom world building. 3E’s creation feels like the difference between color and high definition. Is there that much of a difference point by point? No. But the more I read the more I wanted to go to every location and build a story around every person. It feels like all that blank space is full of adventure-worthy material.
Second, the game is focused on telling big stories. You can see this in the depth of the charm trees, the way social challenges resolve, and the way characters advance. 3e is explicitly built to take a new exalted to the point where they challenge the fabric of reality. Previous editions tried to do this. The catch was that the mechanics didn’t scale well once characters started dealing with armies, nations, and gods on mass. The game now has defined mechanics for managing nations, for fighting armies, for waging a political campaign, for crafting first age wonders, for free handing magic, and on and on.
Third, role-playing is now fundamentally built into the mechanics. You can still throw a fist full of dice at problems but the game encourages players to build story concepts, play to those themes, and to collaborate. . There are tangible rewards for role-playing consistently well. Exalted 3e features an engine that bills combat and social interactions as equally viable problem solving methods.
Fourth, “concept” is critical to chargen and character advancement. Previously you decided what kind of character you wanted to play, mixed and matched your choice of cast—charms—spells—equipment—abilities to represent that idea. Building a character was often more about making the numbers work than aligning your dream with the fiction. Now, exalted asks you from the very beginning; what kind of character do you want to play, what activities do you want to be doing for the rest of the campaign, what role do you want to play within the circle, what kinds of actions do you want to generate extra experience? Concept is baked into 3E at all levels—a change which I wholeheartedly approve.
What follows are some of my observations regarding particular aspects of 3E. They are neither comprehensive nor in any particular order. Please keep in mind that these are my opinions generated after a single reading of the first player draft of the text with no actual play time.
Exalted:
The defining aspect of 3E is, as the title says, those exceptional individuals the gods choose to elevate. Onyx Path added several new types of exalted in this edition including those crafted from the bodies of the dead, those who rip themselves free of the tapestry of fait, and those who the little gods raise up by petitioning the unconquered sun. The core book doesn’t give much detail beyond basic concept, a ruff mechanical outline for the antagonist chapter, and some fiction snippets; but I like what I am seeing. Alchemicals and infernals are not mentioned in this book. I have not seen anything discussing their future in 3E, but given the extensive list of exalted types for which OP already has to produce source material, I am skeptical.
While I like what I am seeing in new exalted types, the traditional flavors received updates as well. Lunars have a defined role as guerilla warriors and assassins fighting the realm. Solars, abyssals, dragon blooded and sidereal are unchanged in concept but are mechanically polished to better reflect their respective natures. Each type of exalted has been tweaked. Lunars are no longer invincible. Sidereal are physically less imposing than other exalted but make up for it by actually bending fait to their advantage. The net effect is that the exalted are much more flavorful and mechanically intuitive than in past editions.
Character creation:
Character creation is the chapter where I really started to “get” 3E. Players can take a mortal, play him/her for a while, exalt him/her, start out as a solar newbie, or begin play as a seasoned solar. Using this method you can easily see how solar exalted are picked from the ranks of the most exceptional mortals. It clearly shows how this edition has been built from the ground up with a unified design.
For me, the best part of making characters is the design process—how do I make an engine that will let me role-play and be mechanically functional? So I was pleasantly surprised when the more I read about third Ed chargen the more design possibilities continued to spark my creative juices. Each of the 5 solar casts comes with a “job”, a distinct set of useful powers, and a selection of 8 abilities from which to select 5 cast focuses. Characters select one of those five as their supernal ability—a skill group in which they can choose charms while ignoring essence minimums. On its face that may not sound like a big deal; but the implications are huge. Your choice of cast, abilities, and specialties can now align at no penalty. No more picking a night cast who specializes in sorcery because you don’t like the special powers of the twilight cast. Since essence levels are increased based on the amount of experience a character has earned rather than by spending experience and bonus points, this means that each cast can actually begin the game with more skill and charm development in their chosen specialty/supernal skill than a member of a different cast with similar interests.
Supplementing this development is the “intimacy” system. I’ll get to the social game mechanic in a minute; but in the context of character building, players pick a guiding principal, positive and negative personal associations and levels of importance at chargen. This means that even for the least fleshed out character, some attempt must be made to develop a back story, motivation, and important associates.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss advancement. As in the past, there is a set experience total for showing up. However, characters can earn extra experience for role-playing their cast, allowing other characters to role-play, role-playing flaws, and achieving significant personal objectives. Again, while this might seem like a relatively unimportant detail, it has a massive impact. Flaws don’t let you make a more powerful character; they let you advance faster by role-playing a less effective character. Character concept and motivations drive experience which can drive story choices. Group dynamics are even part of potential experience awards. While a player can certainly do the minimum required to get by, any motivated player is going to be looking at who their character is if for no other reason than to make sure they don’t leave experience on the table.
Abilities and Charms:
The basic list of skills hasn’t changed much. Martial arts is a merit dependent subset of brawl. Endurance is folded into resistance. Taking their place are war (the skill of organizing and fighting with troops) and integrity (internal focus and spiritual strength.) Lore and craft require a qualifier such as a course of study or a particular trade. Each martial art must be learned as a separate application of ability dots. Leading and convincing through force of personality uses the presence skill while social niceties and rhetoric falls under socialize. Linguistics is skill at written expression and versatility—languages are learned via merit. My only head scratching moment came when I found that performance encompasses *all* forms of performance—including sex. It is the only ability that covers a huge range of specific skills and disciplines without qualification. In general the ability tree is cleaner than past versions.
Moving on to charms—hoo boy. Charms operate largely as they always have—starting off small and scaling up to finishing moves. At the very bottom are Excellencies—free charms that let you boost a die pool or static value derived from the associated ability. Die pool maximums are atribute+ability and half atribute+ability rounded up for static values. The key thing in that description is “free.” If you have dots in an ability you probably qualify for an Excellency. This means that even before exalted buy charms they can throw a lot of essence at problems—even ability checks that they wouldn’t otherwise bother investing charm slots to improve. Some charms grant periodic free full Excellencies in the associated ability—making more advanced exalted powerful and more efficient when using their signature skills.
Combos are gone—thank god. As near as I can tell, the book isn’t clear on this point, unless it says otherwise you can’t stack charms of the same name, can only use one “simple” type charm per action, and can’t combine bonuses based on charms from different abilities save those that allow for such. That sounds like a lot of restrictions but in practice it means you can use one simple and any number of reflexive and supplemental charms in the same round at no penalty. The lack of clarity regarding essence expenditure and timing is one of my few major criticisms of the system—there seems to be a lack of granularity in this area.
There are a lot of charms. You can tell that what with the starting essence of base exalted pegged at 1 (this goes up to 2 if you make a slightly more experienced solar) essence isn’t a limiting factor for most of the charms that experienced players will remember from previous editions. Each ability tree scales up at a slightly different rate with a wide selection of engines, bonuses, and enhancements. Many charms are simply permanent upgrades to prerequisites. At the upper end charms act more like old school sorcery spells than the essence techniques of yore. One of the lore charms—lore mind you—lets a player role a number of dice and predict a cataclysm. Depending on the result, a number of days later will see the destruction of an area as small as a city to as large as an entire region. War and Sail have charms that let exalted command armies and armadas. An exalted willing to commit a significant portion of their starting charms to their supernal ability is a force to be reckoned with—and then only by gods and celestial exalted of means. The charm trees feel like players are expected to build entire campaigns around their signature abilities—the kind of campaign that gives birth to epics like the Iliad.
Systems:
One of the things you could count on with WW products was the core engine of ability plus attribute. Third edition nominally holds to that tradition, but adds in multiple specialty systems. None of them are particularly complicated, but taken in total they represent an intimidating pile of rules.
E3’s social mechanic is…odd. Every character and NPC has a list of important associations ranked from minor to major to defining. Each level provides a bonus based on whether it is enhancing or conflicting with the modified action. There are different rolls for intimidating, convincing, determining motive, assessing emotional state, instilling passion…and so forth. In theory I really like the idea of defining everyone’s influences—the things that make them who they are. In practice it looks unwieldy. There is a long decision matrix regarding how to affect a person’s opinion, how to combat someone else’s attempt to do so, how to retry the attempt…and on and on. It looks like it would be easy to fall out of character arguing over intimacies and modifiers.
Combat is greatly improved. The essential mechanism requires a player to accumulate initiative equal to the damage they are dealing to their opponents (the opponent loses that much initiative.) Once they have a large enough pool of initiative points, they then spend it all as damage in a single “decisive” attack. There are provisions for “gambits” like disarming and unhorsing. Weapon and armor statistics are standardized by type and modified by tags. Combat looks to pace out better than in previous editions—largely due to the consolidation of the dramatic arc. There are no more split die pools or multiple actions unless allowed through charms—there are some combinations of movement, action, and combat which feel like multiple actions but aren’t. The result should be shorter more direct combat turns.
Group combats have been simplified down to a single stat line for a battle group of anywhere from a couple to a thousand individuals. Their stats are modified by skill, numbers, morale—literally cutting through filler with a series of straight forward rolls. I really like the idea of being able to condense an exalted VS. An army down to a couple rounds of abstract contest. It allows for some dramatic scenes that otherwise would require ridiculous amounts of book keeping.
At first glance sorcery hasn’t changed much—spend willpower+essence for the spell, three circles…etc. The difference is as with most abilities the change in scope. Sorcery is now a process by which one shapes essence using different methods such as potions, worship, or an elemental affinity. Sorcerers are no longer just exalted with access to expensive inefficient charms—they are legitimately wielders of the very fabric of the universe. The book takes pains to describe multiple methods for casting and learning sorcery to the point where it is a profession in its own right.
Crafting is possibly the most interesting new mechanic. In any system it is a challenge to balance the ability to build wondrous items with the need to make the cost of their manufacture somewhat prohibitive. I am not sure how well this system achieves those goals but it is…interesting. Characters earn points by completing projects. At the basic level they get a couple points for building a simple tool. Once they have enough of those points they can spend them to undertake a larger project. This escalates from building trivial items (a couple hours of work at most) to a larger project like a suit of armor (a couple of days or weeks) to a significant project such as an artifact weapon ( a couple weeks to a couple of months) up to world changing items that presumably take months if not years to finish. Depending on how far down the charm tree a character wants to go they can turn the construction of wondrous items into the focus of a campaign or a hobby for off moments. The point based mechanic means that craft is an all or nothing deal. I am curious how this mechanic plays out with other systems as theoretically one could build a mirror that lets one look back in time or a floating palace or a chalice that would exalt anyone who drank from it to say nothing of “mundane” artifacts. It is very much an open ended engine.
There are other systems such as how to administer fiefdoms, ship-to-ship combat, building a mance, and how to build magical workings—sort of like crafting items but for magic affects. If all of this sounds complicated that’s because it is. Towards the end of the text I, an experienced exalted storyteller, was thinking I have no idea how I am going to remember all of this stuff. None of this even takes into account that a couple martial arts operate under their own distinct sub-combat mechanics and several charms modify systems—effectively creating a sub-system in-and-of-themselves. In theory I love the way OP has built a system that addresses every little detail a character might want to utilize. In practice I am concerned at the sheer weight of the material and the bar to play that weight represents.
Deficiencies:
This book is ruff. It is a good editor and a unified art director away from exceptionalism. Even so, it has a lot to offer—especially for those already addicted to Exalted’s call. It is not without flaw though. The point of a RPG is to create a system and setting for people to act out stories. For an experienced player or storyteller 3E is a valuable resource. For a new gamer it is lacking. There is no chapter on storytelling and very little practical discussion of role-playing. This may be the product of the developers focus on the system and setting. It may be an intentional oversight intended for remedy in a later supplement. Regardless, in a core book anchoring a signature line from the largest grossing tabletop RPG kickstarter campaign of its kind, this is an unforgiveable deficit. The next 4 publications in this line have nothing to do with a story teller’s guide or a player’s guide. As a result, while I love 3e for what it is, I have to seriously question OP’s competency, editing, and professional vision.
Conclusion:
Every gamer has “their game.” Exalted is mine. I like what I am seeing in this draft in the sense that there is a lot of material for me to work with. I am less pleased with the lack of attention to fine detail and production values. 3E looks like it has reach and breadth. It looks to allow for beautiful characters and lush campaigns. It also looks to be complex enough that I will have to pick my group very carefully. Here is hoping for the future.
One of my favorite childhood memories came when the library for the blind got the wheel of time series on tape. Back then, you were lucky to get big fantasy on audio—and almost never unabridged. I spent many hours lazing on my bedroom floor listening to my first exposure to epic high fantasy. From that moment I have been hooked on the series and the genre.
Unfortunately, I have not found many well executed epic-high-fantasy role-playing games. There are good epic games. There are good High fantasy games; but Good and epic and high fantasy?—not so much. It is difficult to build a setting that encourages legendary shenanigans. You need a provocative world that begs for stories to be told. You need an advancement system that allows for customization and character development. You need a combat system with flare. Many try—few succeed.
I discovered first edition exalted when a friend offered to run a new fantasy game system from white wolf. At the time I thought it was simply a fun RPG with some interesting setting elements. Later I ran several campaigns and played in a couple short-lived stories. Exalted was the kind of game I had always wanted. It was big. It was bold. There were magic, artifacts, swords, heroes, villains, heroic villains, and villainous heroes. Multiple editions and splat books have evolved the franchise to something beyond the hardcover that first won my heart; however, at its core, exalted is still that game I fell in love with more than a decade past.
I went into the third edition kickstarter dreaming of a beautiful leather bound tome of perfect story potential—gleaming mechanics—elegant pros—a product that innovated but kept all the things I loved about first ed and none of the things I hated about second. Now, two years past the expected completion date with at least another year before I see a physical product, my expectations have been tempered. I still want that perfection–but I am willing to overlook some beauty marks if it gets me a workable result.
Overview:
Third Ed is a perfect illustration of how pen and paper gaming has changed since I picked up my first d20 25 years ago. Gamers of my generation remember when “games” were physical books marketed as any other retail product. The impression I got was that there was a brick storefront contracting, writing, and editing each tome before it hit the shelves.
Flash forward to white wolf’s acquisition by CCP and recent consumption by paradox, and things are a little different. Onyx path pays the licensing company for the rights to publish products in the legacy WW lines. They kick start their publications with a physical prestige copy. After the campaign ends, non-backers go to drivethrurpg.com and buy the PDF.
Looking at the pre-publication backer copy of third Ed you can see what happens when you let artists run wild. This book is huge. Converted to RTF, it clocks in at more than 800 pages (something like 600 in print with all the art.) The writing varies between medium to very high quality. The rules are cleanly written. The writers’ voices are not blended as well as in previous editions. Some of the art is poorly executed. The overall impression is a book that delivers on content but lacks polish.
Concept:
At a macro level the world of exalted hasn’t changed much—same back story—same old time of tumult. The section explaining the creation of the solar exalted and the fall of the first age could have been pulled right out of my first edition core book. Third edition retains all the familiar charm names, notable personages, artifact types, and nomenclature fans have come to expect. That being said, once you get past the exterior you can’t take anything at face value. I will detail individual items later; but for now I want to address the fundamental alterations.
First, the world is much more expansive. First edition left a lot of unwritten space. I think the idea was to leave room for future supplements and custom world building. 3E’s creation feels like the difference between color and high definition. Is there that much of a difference point by point? No. But the more I read the more I wanted to go to every location and build a story around every person. It feels like all that blank space is full of adventure-worthy material.
Second, the game is focused on telling big stories. You can see this in the depth of the charm trees, the way social challenges resolve, and the way characters advance. 3e is explicitly built to take a new exalted to the point where they challenge the fabric of reality. Previous editions tried to do this. The catch was that the mechanics didn’t scale well once characters started dealing with armies, nations, and gods on mass. The game now has defined mechanics for managing nations, for fighting armies, for waging a political campaign, for crafting first age wonders, for free handing magic, and on and on.
Third, role-playing is now fundamentally built into the mechanics. You can still throw a fist full of dice at problems but the game encourages players to build story concepts, play to those themes, and to collaborate. . There are tangible rewards for role-playing consistently well. Exalted 3e features an engine that bills combat and social interactions as equally viable problem solving methods.
Fourth, “concept” is critical to chargen and character advancement. Previously you decided what kind of character you wanted to play, mixed and matched your choice of cast—charms—spells—equipment—abilities to represent that idea. Building a character was often more about making the numbers work than aligning your dream with the fiction. Now, exalted asks you from the very beginning; what kind of character do you want to play, what activities do you want to be doing for the rest of the campaign, what role do you want to play within the circle, what kinds of actions do you want to generate extra experience? Concept is baked into 3E at all levels—a change which I wholeheartedly approve.
What follows are some of my observations regarding particular aspects of 3E. They are neither comprehensive nor in any particular order. Please keep in mind that these are my opinions generated after a single reading of the first player draft of the text with no actual play time.
Exalted:
The defining aspect of 3E is, as the title says, those exceptional individuals the gods choose to elevate. Onyx Path added several new types of exalted in this edition including those crafted from the bodies of the dead, those who rip themselves free of the tapestry of fait, and those who the little gods raise up by petitioning the unconquered sun. The core book doesn’t give much detail beyond basic concept, a ruff mechanical outline for the antagonist chapter, and some fiction snippets; but I like what I am seeing. Alchemicals and infernals are not mentioned in this book. I have not seen anything discussing their future in 3E, but given the extensive list of exalted types for which OP already has to produce source material, I am skeptical.
While I like what I am seeing in new exalted types, the traditional flavors received updates as well. Lunars have a defined role as guerilla warriors and assassins fighting the realm. Solars, abyssals, dragon blooded and sidereal are unchanged in concept but are mechanically polished to better reflect their respective natures. Each type of exalted has been tweaked. Lunars are no longer invincible. Sidereal are physically less imposing than other exalted but make up for it by actually bending fait to their advantage. The net effect is that the exalted are much more flavorful and mechanically intuitive than in past editions.
Character creation:
Character creation is the chapter where I really started to “get” 3E. Players can take a mortal, play him/her for a while, exalt him/her, start out as a solar newbie, or begin play as a seasoned solar. Using this method you can easily see how solar exalted are picked from the ranks of the most exceptional mortals. It clearly shows how this edition has been built from the ground up with a unified design.
For me, the best part of making characters is the design process—how do I make an engine that will let me role-play and be mechanically functional? So I was pleasantly surprised when the more I read about third Ed chargen the more design possibilities continued to spark my creative juices. Each of the 5 solar casts comes with a “job”, a distinct set of useful powers, and a selection of 8 abilities from which to select 5 cast focuses. Characters select one of those five as their supernal ability—a skill group in which they can choose charms while ignoring essence minimums. On its face that may not sound like a big deal; but the implications are huge. Your choice of cast, abilities, and specialties can now align at no penalty. No more picking a night cast who specializes in sorcery because you don’t like the special powers of the twilight cast. Since essence levels are increased based on the amount of experience a character has earned rather than by spending experience and bonus points, this means that each cast can actually begin the game with more skill and charm development in their chosen specialty/supernal skill than a member of a different cast with similar interests.
Supplementing this development is the “intimacy” system. I’ll get to the social game mechanic in a minute; but in the context of character building, players pick a guiding principal, positive and negative personal associations and levels of importance at chargen. This means that even for the least fleshed out character, some attempt must be made to develop a back story, motivation, and important associates.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss advancement. As in the past, there is a set experience total for showing up. However, characters can earn extra experience for role-playing their cast, allowing other characters to role-play, role-playing flaws, and achieving significant personal objectives. Again, while this might seem like a relatively unimportant detail, it has a massive impact. Flaws don’t let you make a more powerful character; they let you advance faster by role-playing a less effective character. Character concept and motivations drive experience which can drive story choices. Group dynamics are even part of potential experience awards. While a player can certainly do the minimum required to get by, any motivated player is going to be looking at who their character is if for no other reason than to make sure they don’t leave experience on the table.
Abilities and Charms:
The basic list of skills hasn’t changed much. Martial arts is a merit dependent subset of brawl. Endurance is folded into resistance. Taking their place are war (the skill of organizing and fighting with troops) and integrity (internal focus and spiritual strength.) Lore and craft require a qualifier such as a course of study or a particular trade. Each martial art must be learned as a separate application of ability dots. Leading and convincing through force of personality uses the presence skill while social niceties and rhetoric falls under socialize. Linguistics is skill at written expression and versatility—languages are learned via merit. My only head scratching moment came when I found that performance encompasses *all* forms of performance—including sex. It is the only ability that covers a huge range of specific skills and disciplines without qualification. In general the ability tree is cleaner than past versions.
Moving on to charms—hoo boy. Charms operate largely as they always have—starting off small and scaling up to finishing moves. At the very bottom are Excellencies—free charms that let you boost a die pool or static value derived from the associated ability. Die pool maximums are atribute+ability and half atribute+ability rounded up for static values. The key thing in that description is “free.” If you have dots in an ability you probably qualify for an Excellency. This means that even before exalted buy charms they can throw a lot of essence at problems—even ability checks that they wouldn’t otherwise bother investing charm slots to improve. Some charms grant periodic free full Excellencies in the associated ability—making more advanced exalted powerful and more efficient when using their signature skills.
Combos are gone—thank god. As near as I can tell, the book isn’t clear on this point, unless it says otherwise you can’t stack charms of the same name, can only use one “simple” type charm per action, and can’t combine bonuses based on charms from different abilities save those that allow for such. That sounds like a lot of restrictions but in practice it means you can use one simple and any number of reflexive and supplemental charms in the same round at no penalty. The lack of clarity regarding essence expenditure and timing is one of my few major criticisms of the system—there seems to be a lack of granularity in this area.
There are a lot of charms. You can tell that what with the starting essence of base exalted pegged at 1 (this goes up to 2 if you make a slightly more experienced solar) essence isn’t a limiting factor for most of the charms that experienced players will remember from previous editions. Each ability tree scales up at a slightly different rate with a wide selection of engines, bonuses, and enhancements. Many charms are simply permanent upgrades to prerequisites. At the upper end charms act more like old school sorcery spells than the essence techniques of yore. One of the lore charms—lore mind you—lets a player role a number of dice and predict a cataclysm. Depending on the result, a number of days later will see the destruction of an area as small as a city to as large as an entire region. War and Sail have charms that let exalted command armies and armadas. An exalted willing to commit a significant portion of their starting charms to their supernal ability is a force to be reckoned with—and then only by gods and celestial exalted of means. The charm trees feel like players are expected to build entire campaigns around their signature abilities—the kind of campaign that gives birth to epics like the Iliad.
Systems:
One of the things you could count on with WW products was the core engine of ability plus attribute. Third edition nominally holds to that tradition, but adds in multiple specialty systems. None of them are particularly complicated, but taken in total they represent an intimidating pile of rules.
E3’s social mechanic is…odd. Every character and NPC has a list of important associations ranked from minor to major to defining. Each level provides a bonus based on whether it is enhancing or conflicting with the modified action. There are different rolls for intimidating, convincing, determining motive, assessing emotional state, instilling passion…and so forth. In theory I really like the idea of defining everyone’s influences—the things that make them who they are. In practice it looks unwieldy. There is a long decision matrix regarding how to affect a person’s opinion, how to combat someone else’s attempt to do so, how to retry the attempt…and on and on. It looks like it would be easy to fall out of character arguing over intimacies and modifiers.
Combat is greatly improved. The essential mechanism requires a player to accumulate initiative equal to the damage they are dealing to their opponents (the opponent loses that much initiative.) Once they have a large enough pool of initiative points, they then spend it all as damage in a single “decisive” attack. There are provisions for “gambits” like disarming and unhorsing. Weapon and armor statistics are standardized by type and modified by tags. Combat looks to pace out better than in previous editions—largely due to the consolidation of the dramatic arc. There are no more split die pools or multiple actions unless allowed through charms—there are some combinations of movement, action, and combat which feel like multiple actions but aren’t. The result should be shorter more direct combat turns.
Group combats have been simplified down to a single stat line for a battle group of anywhere from a couple to a thousand individuals. Their stats are modified by skill, numbers, morale—literally cutting through filler with a series of straight forward rolls. I really like the idea of being able to condense an exalted VS. An army down to a couple rounds of abstract contest. It allows for some dramatic scenes that otherwise would require ridiculous amounts of book keeping.
At first glance sorcery hasn’t changed much—spend willpower+essence for the spell, three circles…etc. The difference is as with most abilities the change in scope. Sorcery is now a process by which one shapes essence using different methods such as potions, worship, or an elemental affinity. Sorcerers are no longer just exalted with access to expensive inefficient charms—they are legitimately wielders of the very fabric of the universe. The book takes pains to describe multiple methods for casting and learning sorcery to the point where it is a profession in its own right.
Crafting is possibly the most interesting new mechanic. In any system it is a challenge to balance the ability to build wondrous items with the need to make the cost of their manufacture somewhat prohibitive. I am not sure how well this system achieves those goals but it is…interesting. Characters earn points by completing projects. At the basic level they get a couple points for building a simple tool. Once they have enough of those points they can spend them to undertake a larger project. This escalates from building trivial items (a couple hours of work at most) to a larger project like a suit of armor (a couple of days or weeks) to a significant project such as an artifact weapon ( a couple weeks to a couple of months) up to world changing items that presumably take months if not years to finish. Depending on how far down the charm tree a character wants to go they can turn the construction of wondrous items into the focus of a campaign or a hobby for off moments. The point based mechanic means that craft is an all or nothing deal. I am curious how this mechanic plays out with other systems as theoretically one could build a mirror that lets one look back in time or a floating palace or a chalice that would exalt anyone who drank from it to say nothing of “mundane” artifacts. It is very much an open ended engine.
There are other systems such as how to administer fiefdoms, ship-to-ship combat, building a mance, and how to build magical workings—sort of like crafting items but for magic affects. If all of this sounds complicated that’s because it is. Towards the end of the text I, an experienced exalted storyteller, was thinking I have no idea how I am going to remember all of this stuff. None of this even takes into account that a couple martial arts operate under their own distinct sub-combat mechanics and several charms modify systems—effectively creating a sub-system in-and-of-themselves. In theory I love the way OP has built a system that addresses every little detail a character might want to utilize. In practice I am concerned at the sheer weight of the material and the bar to play that weight represents.
Deficiencies:
This book is ruff. It is a good editor and a unified art director away from exceptionalism. Even so, it has a lot to offer—especially for those already addicted to Exalted’s call. It is not without flaw though. The point of a RPG is to create a system and setting for people to act out stories. For an experienced player or storyteller 3E is a valuable resource. For a new gamer it is lacking. There is no chapter on storytelling and very little practical discussion of role-playing. This may be the product of the developers focus on the system and setting. It may be an intentional oversight intended for remedy in a later supplement. Regardless, in a core book anchoring a signature line from the largest grossing tabletop RPG kickstarter campaign of its kind, this is an unforgiveable deficit. The next 4 publications in this line have nothing to do with a story teller’s guide or a player’s guide. As a result, while I love 3e for what it is, I have to seriously question OP’s competency, editing, and professional vision.
Conclusion:
Every gamer has “their game.” Exalted is mine. I like what I am seeing in this draft in the sense that there is a lot of material for me to work with. I am less pleased with the lack of attention to fine detail and production values. 3E looks like it has reach and breadth. It looks to allow for beautiful characters and lush campaigns. It also looks to be complex enough that I will have to pick my group very carefully. Here is hoping for the future.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The making of an action hero, hitting the streets
Operation status: Active.
Duty Assignment: Local patrol.
Notes: Recommend further training and attention to diet.
It has been several months since my last report. As my training regimen has stabilized, I no longer feel the need for weekly updates. That being said, writing helps me order my thoughts and prepare for the next mission—so greater frequency may be in order.
I began training back in May of 2013. I try not to use my statistics from then as a guide since it tends to make me feel more comfortable than I like. The good news is that I am now fully capable of patrolling my neighborhood. Back then I had difficulty covering any significant distance. I was lucky to cover 15 miles in a week. Now, with the help of my Charge HR mission tracker/fitbit band, I have that up to more than 30 miles on average. The charge HR tracks pulse, steps, and provides vibrating feedback for alarms. It sends the data securely to my iPhone where I can compare my information against fellow agents like the brunette and Lisa S. I find myself getting up during the day just to add steps to keep up with peers and lighten the load I will need to hit my daily goals. I get off at earlier bus stops to force myself to walk further. The wrist mounted band has the advantage of more accurately counting my punches as well as steps compared to the previous pocket carried version.
Physically I am in excellent condition. I go to the gym/training three times a week. Tuesdays I attend boxing/hand-to-hand cardio from 6:30-7:30 followed by a strength and conditioning class from 7:30 to 8:00. Thursdays I take 45 minutes on the elliptical followed by a half hour with the previously mentioned strength and conditioning class. Sunday’s agent Squish and I do an hour and a half of upper body/core work followed by either an hour on the elliptical or an hour and a half patrolling the streets. I have had to balance the desire to push myself further with the fact that my joints in particular can only take so much. This seems to be the right balance—variable exercise in the classes backed up by a hard routine of cardio and upper body work the rest of the time.
I am satisfied with my progress so far. I am down from a size 50 jeans to a size 40 since April. They are relaxed fit, but progress is progress. I can wear an honest 2x now, not a large 2 or a small 3. I am considerably stronger in terms of raw power and endurance.
As my trainer likes to say, there is always room for improvement. By mid September I was down to 236 pounds. Now I’m between 245 and 250 depending on the day. Part of that first number came from stomach problems and dehydration—so I expected to gain some weight—needed to actually. Unfortunately while I was bulking up for muscle building and rehydrating I fell into bad dietary habits. This was entirely my fault. I tried a system of eating called intermittent fasting in which the subject (me) takes several days out of the week and eats essentially nothing or so little as to be the same thing. Short term I lost a huge amount of weight. Long term I became very tired, my joints started hurting, and when I stopped the fasting my appetite returned tenfold. I gave myself license to indulge with predictable results. I could have prevented this if I had brought more than a 120 calorie yogurt for lunch and convinced myself week over week that I could handle the hunger pangs. Turns out I can, but only for so long.
Until further notice I am bringing a sandwich and yogurt for lunch each day—or the equivalent there of. My breakfast is a banana and some fruit salad—usually a mix of grapes, strawberries, and pineapple. This hasn’t reduced the cravings entirely but I’m back down to a manageable level. The holidays are bad enough without me going gonzo for a cheeseburger every 8 hours.
Upcoming training items:
• Develop some new recipe templates for dinners to increase variety.
• Work to hit my 8k step goal each work day.
• Get the Aria scale back online.
• Develop a firm strength training program.
• Visit the range at least 4 more times by the end of the year.
Today’s Recipe:
Chicken salad Requires 3 diced chicken breasts, half cup lemon juice, diced celery, ½ yellow onion diced, 3 bell peppers diced, half cup light mayonnaise, ginger, Montreal steak seasoning, hot sauce, and 1 cup water.
Instructions:
Season the chicken breast with the steak seasoning, quarter cup lemon juice, and water. Cook chicken in the skillet until tender and juices run clear or in the microwave for 25 minutes. Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
In a small batter bowl, mix mayonnaise and quarter cup lemon juice. Add ginger and hot sauce to taste.
Combine everything and mix thoroughly.
Duty Assignment: Local patrol.
Notes: Recommend further training and attention to diet.
It has been several months since my last report. As my training regimen has stabilized, I no longer feel the need for weekly updates. That being said, writing helps me order my thoughts and prepare for the next mission—so greater frequency may be in order.
I began training back in May of 2013. I try not to use my statistics from then as a guide since it tends to make me feel more comfortable than I like. The good news is that I am now fully capable of patrolling my neighborhood. Back then I had difficulty covering any significant distance. I was lucky to cover 15 miles in a week. Now, with the help of my Charge HR mission tracker/fitbit band, I have that up to more than 30 miles on average. The charge HR tracks pulse, steps, and provides vibrating feedback for alarms. It sends the data securely to my iPhone where I can compare my information against fellow agents like the brunette and Lisa S. I find myself getting up during the day just to add steps to keep up with peers and lighten the load I will need to hit my daily goals. I get off at earlier bus stops to force myself to walk further. The wrist mounted band has the advantage of more accurately counting my punches as well as steps compared to the previous pocket carried version.
Physically I am in excellent condition. I go to the gym/training three times a week. Tuesdays I attend boxing/hand-to-hand cardio from 6:30-7:30 followed by a strength and conditioning class from 7:30 to 8:00. Thursdays I take 45 minutes on the elliptical followed by a half hour with the previously mentioned strength and conditioning class. Sunday’s agent Squish and I do an hour and a half of upper body/core work followed by either an hour on the elliptical or an hour and a half patrolling the streets. I have had to balance the desire to push myself further with the fact that my joints in particular can only take so much. This seems to be the right balance—variable exercise in the classes backed up by a hard routine of cardio and upper body work the rest of the time.
I am satisfied with my progress so far. I am down from a size 50 jeans to a size 40 since April. They are relaxed fit, but progress is progress. I can wear an honest 2x now, not a large 2 or a small 3. I am considerably stronger in terms of raw power and endurance.
As my trainer likes to say, there is always room for improvement. By mid September I was down to 236 pounds. Now I’m between 245 and 250 depending on the day. Part of that first number came from stomach problems and dehydration—so I expected to gain some weight—needed to actually. Unfortunately while I was bulking up for muscle building and rehydrating I fell into bad dietary habits. This was entirely my fault. I tried a system of eating called intermittent fasting in which the subject (me) takes several days out of the week and eats essentially nothing or so little as to be the same thing. Short term I lost a huge amount of weight. Long term I became very tired, my joints started hurting, and when I stopped the fasting my appetite returned tenfold. I gave myself license to indulge with predictable results. I could have prevented this if I had brought more than a 120 calorie yogurt for lunch and convinced myself week over week that I could handle the hunger pangs. Turns out I can, but only for so long.
Until further notice I am bringing a sandwich and yogurt for lunch each day—or the equivalent there of. My breakfast is a banana and some fruit salad—usually a mix of grapes, strawberries, and pineapple. This hasn’t reduced the cravings entirely but I’m back down to a manageable level. The holidays are bad enough without me going gonzo for a cheeseburger every 8 hours.
Upcoming training items:
• Develop some new recipe templates for dinners to increase variety.
• Work to hit my 8k step goal each work day.
• Get the Aria scale back online.
• Develop a firm strength training program.
• Visit the range at least 4 more times by the end of the year.
Today’s Recipe:
Chicken salad Requires 3 diced chicken breasts, half cup lemon juice, diced celery, ½ yellow onion diced, 3 bell peppers diced, half cup light mayonnaise, ginger, Montreal steak seasoning, hot sauce, and 1 cup water.
Instructions:
Season the chicken breast with the steak seasoning, quarter cup lemon juice, and water. Cook chicken in the skillet until tender and juices run clear or in the microwave for 25 minutes. Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
In a small batter bowl, mix mayonnaise and quarter cup lemon juice. Add ginger and hot sauce to taste.
Combine everything and mix thoroughly.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Making the Mac
Thanks to the master of mac, I have this excellent recipe which I will be making for this year’s friends’ giving. Let all rejoice, spicy chicken-mac is incoming.
Ingredients
Serves 4 to 6 servings
1/2 pound macaroni
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk warmed
2 ounces Cheddar grated
1 ounce fontina cheese grated (gouda cheese can be substituted)
1 ounce American cheese grated
4 ounces Chihuahua cheese grated (Monterey Jack can be substituted)
2 ounces mascarpone
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion diced divided
3 garlic cloves minced
3 chipotles in adobo sauce pureed
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 pound shredded cooked chicken
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons lime juice
salt and black pepper to taste
4 scallions white parts and 4 inches of green tops thinly sliced
1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Prepare a 13 x 9 inch baking pan (grease if needed)
For the pasta
3. Bring pot of salted water to boil over high heat
4. Cook pasta until it is al dente
5. drain pasta and run under cold water
6. return to pot
For the sauce
7. heat butter in a saucepan over medium low heat
8. stir in the flour and cook stirring constantly for 1 minute
9. increase heat to medium & slowly whisk in warm milk
10. bring to a boil whisking frequently
11. reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes
12. add the cheese except for the Chihuahua to the sauce by 1/2 cup measures letting it melt before adding more
For the chicken
13. heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat
14. add half of the onion and the garlic cooking for 5 to 7 minutes or until onion is browned stirring frequently
15. add the chiles, orange juice, precooked chicken, cilantro, and oregano cooking stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until thickened
16. pour the sauce and chicken mixture over the pasta and stir well
17. stir in lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste
18. transfer to pan and sprinkle Chihuahua cheese over top
19. bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crumbs on top are deep brown
20. let sit for 5 minutes then add scallions on top
Ingredients
Serves 4 to 6 servings
1/2 pound macaroni
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk warmed
2 ounces Cheddar grated
1 ounce fontina cheese grated (gouda cheese can be substituted)
1 ounce American cheese grated
4 ounces Chihuahua cheese grated (Monterey Jack can be substituted)
2 ounces mascarpone
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion diced divided
3 garlic cloves minced
3 chipotles in adobo sauce pureed
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 pound shredded cooked chicken
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons lime juice
salt and black pepper to taste
4 scallions white parts and 4 inches of green tops thinly sliced
1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Prepare a 13 x 9 inch baking pan (grease if needed)
For the pasta
3. Bring pot of salted water to boil over high heat
4. Cook pasta until it is al dente
5. drain pasta and run under cold water
6. return to pot
For the sauce
7. heat butter in a saucepan over medium low heat
8. stir in the flour and cook stirring constantly for 1 minute
9. increase heat to medium & slowly whisk in warm milk
10. bring to a boil whisking frequently
11. reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes
12. add the cheese except for the Chihuahua to the sauce by 1/2 cup measures letting it melt before adding more
For the chicken
13. heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat
14. add half of the onion and the garlic cooking for 5 to 7 minutes or until onion is browned stirring frequently
15. add the chiles, orange juice, precooked chicken, cilantro, and oregano cooking stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until thickened
16. pour the sauce and chicken mixture over the pasta and stir well
17. stir in lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste
18. transfer to pan and sprinkle Chihuahua cheese over top
19. bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crumbs on top are deep brown
20. let sit for 5 minutes then add scallions on top
Friday, October 2, 2015
Doing the right thing
As I move from my 30s toward curmudgeonhood, I frequently ponder friendships, social obligation, and manners. I am one of those people who enjoy reading Emily Post for obscure items of social etiquette. I also read articles on conflict resolution, ethics, honor, and morality.
The byproduct of this musing is that I spend a lot of time trying to do the “right” thing. I used to think that worrying about how to tactfully get out of an invitation, when to tell a friend that they were being unreasonable, and at what point our obligation to family ends meant I was a bad person. I figured that the desire to protect my own interests meant I was selfish. I have since learned that worrying about such things is exactly what prevents one from becoming complacently self-centered—but it took me a couple decades to appreciate the distinction.
For example, we recently exited the friends’ group dinner rotation. The original Friday night dinner crowd (FND) developed when the core members gathered for a regular gaming night. Although we were kindly invited to several of these gatherings in the early 2000s, we didn’t formally join the rotation until a couple years ago. The founding group was built on similarly situated couples—post college, pre-children, building careers, RPG and board game fanatics…etc. Dinners ended with people staying late, rolling dice, playing cards, or throwing down in HALO until the wee hours of the morning. It was a huge compliment to be included in that community—both because of the fellowship and close ties that resulted from those associations.
We officially joined when some of the long time participants were having kids, expanding their social circle, settling into their careers, and completing professional degrees. Old members brought in new blood. The rotation went from an informal six week spread to requiring a Google calendar. Some members broke off as people ended relationships and found new partners. After a couple years, the community landscape bore little resemblance to the original roster despite some cosmetic similarities. For me, the biggest change was the loss of the sense of “closeness” which characterized those early gatherings. Those get togethers were intimate affairs among close friends. Current FNDs have lost that sense of personal connection, that sense of family which made the experience so special. I remember one day getting off a 13 hour shift at work expecting to take public transportation home. That week’s FND was supposed to have started several hours earlier. Even though it was my appointed birthday group meal, I had to stay late to hit goal. I left the building to find a car waiting to rush me to the still ongoing celebration. There I was greeted with a pitcher of kee lime martinis and birthday best wishes. I was deeply touched that someone had gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and wanted. At my most recent birthday FND five people mentioned the passing of another annual cycle. The brunette’s recent birthday FND got moved to a date she expressly couldn’t attend (we asked months in advance so as to schedule a date for pampered chef that wouldn’t conflict with other peoples’ plans and her dinner got moved to that date anyway.)
I mention the birthday celebrations because they are particularly good examples of the kind of ambiguity I struggle with. I don’t expect gifts around birthdays and holidays. I greatly appreciate anything offered, but there is no expectation even if we have recently gifted the other party. I do however expect that if we get someone a present that they will acknowledge the gesture. Over the past couple years we have routinely purchased gifts for FND members and had to press them to learn whether they even received the package much less appreciated the thought behind it. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but when I take the time to memorialize someone’s celebratory moment I assume that common courtesy dictates a response on their part. I don’t expect much, but a simple “thank you for thinking of me” tells me that the gift had some impact. In reality I think most of the group just lost interest in observing birthdays save as a theme for that evening’s comestibles. The circle of friends is so large and disconnected that it isn’t a close family any more. That realization lead me to consider how many FNDs I chose not to attend and how many birthday dinners I didn’t feel compelled to gift. I remembered all the political discussions where I was told that I was wrong or made to feel stupid. I thought about all the dinners where I had to work to find anything to do or anyone besides my wife I had something in common with. There were plenty of good memories; but several not so great times as well. From there it was a short step to realizing that while I like most of the people in the FND orbit, the process had become an obstacle—one we ultimately decided to forgo.
Along similar lines, I am simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the upcoming release of exalted third edition. Exalted has been and will likely continue to be my favorite high fantasy tabletop RPG property. It has a unique combination of lush setting, evocative character creation, and epic storytelling. The third edition may or may not be an improvement over previous versions—I honestly don’t care. We paid a lot of money to kickstart and buy into the new edition and when it comes out I will damned well be running a campaign or two. I have run and played in a lot of exalted games over the last decade. Most of my friends have been roped into at least a couple sessions at some point. So, even though E3 is releasing more than 2 years late, I am eagerly waiting to put it on the table.
The catch, there is always a catch, is that I have no idea how I am going to put together a complimentary group. I want to say this delicately but I just can’t think of a way to manage it—most of my friends have regressed into poor role-playing habits. Some of them have no respect for character immersive RP. Others refuse to make group oriented characters. Many seem to take a perverse joy in holding the group hostage to a childlike desire to win at all cost—even if the urge is completely inappropriate for the moment. Each GM has their own quirks and foibles—I am no different. Each player has their own goals going into a campaign. That is as it should be. Part of good storytelling is conflict. Done well, intra-group conflict can drive powerful drama. I actually enjoy seeing players intentionally work at cross purposes to drive the action—provided everyone understands that:
A. The point is to tell a cooperative story.
B. Character choices aren’t about you, me, or the other players—they are about the character at that moment in time.
C. At some level the group has to work together—even if the goal is to resolve a conflict in a less than ideal manner.
D. Even if you are not playing you need to stay focused as to what is happening.
E. Role-playing means that sometimes you will have to sit through scenes and sessions in which you do nothing or the game drags on or your character has nothing to contribute—it sucks but derailing or attempting to shortcut the scene is extremely poor form.
F. Table talk over other players and use of significant distractions when it isn’t your turn is right out.
Running games for college students is easy—gaming is fresh and new and different. Gaming is the thing you’re doing instead of studying or writing papers or attending class. It commands everyone’s attention. Younger gamers have no concrete expectations—they enter the experience with an open mind. Running games for adults is hard. Logistically you have to get people with 40+ hours a week jobs, kids, and distinct social lives to show up at the same place on the same day for at least 4 hours on a somewhat regular basis. Seasoned gamers often want different or even sometimes impossible things from their “gaming.” The benefit of decades of play is that they have immense hordes of inspiration to draw upon for problem solving and character development. The drawback to decades of experience is that all that play time tends to make them inflexible when approaching gaming related challenges both in and out of character.
With that in mind, I am absolutely dreading having to:
1. Put together a group that can function as we all learn the new material.
2. Tell several people that I know they love exalted and they will have to wait till later to play a 3rd Ed game; and
3. The possibility of getting a picture perfect improvement on the Exalted line only to discover I have no players willing. And. Able to give it a sincere test run.
With the FND rotation I was worried about missing a point of common courtesy, offending someone by withdrawing, or losing friends by deciding not to show up to everyone’s’ events. I probably over-thought things. I know many of our friends just aren’t bothered by the finer points of social convention—and in some ways I wish I could follow their lead. With gaming lately I have found myself wondering if the people at the table even have any common interests or respect for each other or appreciation for the little courtesies that are essential for any group to function effectively. I know and care for all these people. In some cases they might as well be family. I find myself more and more often wondering where the line between respecting their feelings and needs ends and where it is appropriate for mine to take primacy. I don’t want to be the classic selfish self absorbed self centered jerk. I do want to maintain positive friendships and pleasurable social experiences. The question is whether I can do both in today’s hyper sensitive society and if not, which is more important.
The byproduct of this musing is that I spend a lot of time trying to do the “right” thing. I used to think that worrying about how to tactfully get out of an invitation, when to tell a friend that they were being unreasonable, and at what point our obligation to family ends meant I was a bad person. I figured that the desire to protect my own interests meant I was selfish. I have since learned that worrying about such things is exactly what prevents one from becoming complacently self-centered—but it took me a couple decades to appreciate the distinction.
For example, we recently exited the friends’ group dinner rotation. The original Friday night dinner crowd (FND) developed when the core members gathered for a regular gaming night. Although we were kindly invited to several of these gatherings in the early 2000s, we didn’t formally join the rotation until a couple years ago. The founding group was built on similarly situated couples—post college, pre-children, building careers, RPG and board game fanatics…etc. Dinners ended with people staying late, rolling dice, playing cards, or throwing down in HALO until the wee hours of the morning. It was a huge compliment to be included in that community—both because of the fellowship and close ties that resulted from those associations.
We officially joined when some of the long time participants were having kids, expanding their social circle, settling into their careers, and completing professional degrees. Old members brought in new blood. The rotation went from an informal six week spread to requiring a Google calendar. Some members broke off as people ended relationships and found new partners. After a couple years, the community landscape bore little resemblance to the original roster despite some cosmetic similarities. For me, the biggest change was the loss of the sense of “closeness” which characterized those early gatherings. Those get togethers were intimate affairs among close friends. Current FNDs have lost that sense of personal connection, that sense of family which made the experience so special. I remember one day getting off a 13 hour shift at work expecting to take public transportation home. That week’s FND was supposed to have started several hours earlier. Even though it was my appointed birthday group meal, I had to stay late to hit goal. I left the building to find a car waiting to rush me to the still ongoing celebration. There I was greeted with a pitcher of kee lime martinis and birthday best wishes. I was deeply touched that someone had gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and wanted. At my most recent birthday FND five people mentioned the passing of another annual cycle. The brunette’s recent birthday FND got moved to a date she expressly couldn’t attend (we asked months in advance so as to schedule a date for pampered chef that wouldn’t conflict with other peoples’ plans and her dinner got moved to that date anyway.)
I mention the birthday celebrations because they are particularly good examples of the kind of ambiguity I struggle with. I don’t expect gifts around birthdays and holidays. I greatly appreciate anything offered, but there is no expectation even if we have recently gifted the other party. I do however expect that if we get someone a present that they will acknowledge the gesture. Over the past couple years we have routinely purchased gifts for FND members and had to press them to learn whether they even received the package much less appreciated the thought behind it. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but when I take the time to memorialize someone’s celebratory moment I assume that common courtesy dictates a response on their part. I don’t expect much, but a simple “thank you for thinking of me” tells me that the gift had some impact. In reality I think most of the group just lost interest in observing birthdays save as a theme for that evening’s comestibles. The circle of friends is so large and disconnected that it isn’t a close family any more. That realization lead me to consider how many FNDs I chose not to attend and how many birthday dinners I didn’t feel compelled to gift. I remembered all the political discussions where I was told that I was wrong or made to feel stupid. I thought about all the dinners where I had to work to find anything to do or anyone besides my wife I had something in common with. There were plenty of good memories; but several not so great times as well. From there it was a short step to realizing that while I like most of the people in the FND orbit, the process had become an obstacle—one we ultimately decided to forgo.
Along similar lines, I am simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the upcoming release of exalted third edition. Exalted has been and will likely continue to be my favorite high fantasy tabletop RPG property. It has a unique combination of lush setting, evocative character creation, and epic storytelling. The third edition may or may not be an improvement over previous versions—I honestly don’t care. We paid a lot of money to kickstart and buy into the new edition and when it comes out I will damned well be running a campaign or two. I have run and played in a lot of exalted games over the last decade. Most of my friends have been roped into at least a couple sessions at some point. So, even though E3 is releasing more than 2 years late, I am eagerly waiting to put it on the table.
The catch, there is always a catch, is that I have no idea how I am going to put together a complimentary group. I want to say this delicately but I just can’t think of a way to manage it—most of my friends have regressed into poor role-playing habits. Some of them have no respect for character immersive RP. Others refuse to make group oriented characters. Many seem to take a perverse joy in holding the group hostage to a childlike desire to win at all cost—even if the urge is completely inappropriate for the moment. Each GM has their own quirks and foibles—I am no different. Each player has their own goals going into a campaign. That is as it should be. Part of good storytelling is conflict. Done well, intra-group conflict can drive powerful drama. I actually enjoy seeing players intentionally work at cross purposes to drive the action—provided everyone understands that:
A. The point is to tell a cooperative story.
B. Character choices aren’t about you, me, or the other players—they are about the character at that moment in time.
C. At some level the group has to work together—even if the goal is to resolve a conflict in a less than ideal manner.
D. Even if you are not playing you need to stay focused as to what is happening.
E. Role-playing means that sometimes you will have to sit through scenes and sessions in which you do nothing or the game drags on or your character has nothing to contribute—it sucks but derailing or attempting to shortcut the scene is extremely poor form.
F. Table talk over other players and use of significant distractions when it isn’t your turn is right out.
Running games for college students is easy—gaming is fresh and new and different. Gaming is the thing you’re doing instead of studying or writing papers or attending class. It commands everyone’s attention. Younger gamers have no concrete expectations—they enter the experience with an open mind. Running games for adults is hard. Logistically you have to get people with 40+ hours a week jobs, kids, and distinct social lives to show up at the same place on the same day for at least 4 hours on a somewhat regular basis. Seasoned gamers often want different or even sometimes impossible things from their “gaming.” The benefit of decades of play is that they have immense hordes of inspiration to draw upon for problem solving and character development. The drawback to decades of experience is that all that play time tends to make them inflexible when approaching gaming related challenges both in and out of character.
With that in mind, I am absolutely dreading having to:
1. Put together a group that can function as we all learn the new material.
2. Tell several people that I know they love exalted and they will have to wait till later to play a 3rd Ed game; and
3. The possibility of getting a picture perfect improvement on the Exalted line only to discover I have no players willing. And. Able to give it a sincere test run.
With the FND rotation I was worried about missing a point of common courtesy, offending someone by withdrawing, or losing friends by deciding not to show up to everyone’s’ events. I probably over-thought things. I know many of our friends just aren’t bothered by the finer points of social convention—and in some ways I wish I could follow their lead. With gaming lately I have found myself wondering if the people at the table even have any common interests or respect for each other or appreciation for the little courtesies that are essential for any group to function effectively. I know and care for all these people. In some cases they might as well be family. I find myself more and more often wondering where the line between respecting their feelings and needs ends and where it is appropriate for mine to take primacy. I don’t want to be the classic selfish self absorbed self centered jerk. I do want to maintain positive friendships and pleasurable social experiences. The question is whether I can do both in today’s hyper sensitive society and if not, which is more important.
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