I had so much fun building the Wiki for my Eberron Game, that even after getting that updated and ready to go I still wanted to play with the wiki.

So instead I pulled out all my notes from the Gladiator game that I had started up at the beginning of the year. I now have a much better place with which to record the fights and character Rankings, and its interactive enough that if others would like to keep character pages they can do so.

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/12690/adventure-log/update

Having done all that work, I'm definitely interested in running more gladiator fights, with the holidays upon us, our regular games are up in the air due to visiting families and whatnot. Perfect time for a game like this. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

Also, check out the wiki if you can. I have a rules page for how fights, ranking, and advancement will work, the adventure log is the perfect place to keep track of fights, theres the Current Ranking Page which shows all the characters by what Rank they currently hold, and each character has a page showing a record of their fights and how well they've done.

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/12690

If anyone would like to create a page dedicated specifically to their character, let me know and I can send you an invite. And as always, if anyone would like to act as bookie, also let me know.

So Whistlyr has apparently found his voice again. While I've been updating the campaign structure on Obsidian Portal, Travis has updated the Adventurers log with his characters journal. Now if we could just find an audience /hint.

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-traitorous-journal/adventure-log/whistlyrs-journal-mol-17-998y

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-traitorous-journal/adventure-log/whistlyrs-journal-dravago-wir-16-998y

I've made some updates of my own. The campaign is now about as updated as its going to get before the next session. Please browse and let me know what you think.

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-traitorous-journal

BTW, I think the next session is the 5th, after that I should have more to add. I know thus far it all seems pretty straight forward an uneventful, but I have a feeling here soon things are about to hit high gear.

I had intended to keep up with my Eberron campaign here for those that cared. I know I said as much and for that I apologize that I have not. Part of what I wanted to do was allow the others to write up their experiences and then I could mirror them because I wanted to present it all from the players point of view. We all have lives, so I don't fault them, especially as I could just as easily have wrote up blurbs of my own.

However, to that end, a particular site was linked, and I found it an interesting tool in which to place my writeups while allowing my players to take part as they will. It allows me to build my campaign as a wiki, which allows players to add to it at their own pleasure. So I can build the structure, and they can provide the first hand details. It even provides a blog roll for the players to make use of to chronicle the adventure as a journal of sorts, which is what Whystler had originally started doing and I mirrored here.

So I took the jump and have created a location specifically for my campaign. I welcome any and all who might be curious to take a gander, as time goes by it will be added to. So far I have basic write ups that covers the first 2 or 3 sessions. I have already had a few of my players join, and at least one has already helped to start editing and adding. The link:

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-traitorous-journal/wikis/home-page

Let me know what you think, and in fact if you have an idea that might add to the detail feel free to join in.

Starting this Saturday my Eberron game will take off on its regular schedule, toward that end I wanted to remind those that wished to follow of its existence as well as to provide some character write ups as provided by the players. The knowledge revealed here is a mixture of personal, party, and public knowledge, if anyone wishes to use this information please keep in mind a reasonable expectation of what knowledge you might actually know. I will add to this list as the players provide descriptions, not only of themselves but also of those they meet.
( Read more... )

http://blackcoat.livejournal.com/122252.html

The link is to another journal where one of the players wrote up our first session as a journal entry for their own character. Its well done and covers the most important bits for any who are interested in following my game.

I couldn't sleep last night. Or at least, I did finally get to sleep, well after 12 leaving me less than 5 hours before I normally get up for work.
( Read more... )

I've had 50+ mounts since before WotLK came out. Since I've hit 80 I've managed to collect another 20+. I don't have any particular favorites, so I try to use them all. Thats the hard part though, its easy to just put one or two on my bars and reuse them, and becomes a chore to change them out even on a semi regular basis.

So today I sat down and looked up some macro's that allow me to summon my mounts at random. Its not completely random, after all I don't want to have to cycle through even one of the slow mounts, or any of the ground mounts to get to my flying mounts. So I ended up with 6 new macro's that allow me to randomly select between different groups of mounts.

First is for my Drakes and Proto-Drakes, I always tend to use them when I need to fly across zones.

Second is for my Wyverns, the one Dragonhawk, and hippogryphs, the ones I tend to use when I'm moving around within a single zone.

Third is for my Nether Rays, I don't particularly like the flight animation, but this way I can still use them when I head to Draenor.

The next three are for my ground mounts.

One for Wastelands which includes Raptors, Kodo's, and Undead Horses.

The next for forests which includes Raptors, Hawkstriders, Talbuk, and Wolves.

Lastly is for mountains/wintery areas which includes the Talbuk, Wolves, Mastadons, and Bears.

The trouble will come when I get more mounts, I will have to update these macro's on an individual mount basis. But for now, I feel accomplished and am happier that I'll be more easily able to give all my mounts some attention.

Dear Republicans,

The Government needs your help. I know, I know, you already think it does, from what I hear on Fox and everywhere else, you're already certain that the Democrats are going to ruin everything and Of Course the government needs your help. My purpose in writing this letter is not to inform you that, but to inform you how, if I may be so bold.
( Read more... )

So being a casual player, for many reasons, I don't regularly expect to actually get to see some of the end game content. And not that Naxxramas is currently end game, but its a lot more end game than usual for me. My previous end game experience being Karazhan like a week before WotLK came out. I still haven't seen much of the original games end game content (although now I have seen Naxx), and this still leaves Eye of Eternity and OS (I still want to say Old Sebilis, whats the proper name?). With Ulduar out, it would properly be called end game, and we're not far from the next patch release with whole new content.

In any case, Kalshi, Caduta, and I have all been joining the guild Integrity on their pug raids Sunday and Monday nights, when we can, to pug Naxxramas 25 man. I was able to join up both last night and tonight. Kalshi joined us tonight, and while I missed the Arachnid quarter (I have previously cleared it however), I was able to otherwise take part in a full clear of Naxxramas, and as of tonight we downed Kel'Thuzad for my first time giving me Achievement credit for both his kill and all of Naxx.
( raid data and character sheet )

So just getting some notes out here that should be public knowledge concerning the Eberron game that I have proposed.
( Read more... )

Maybe someone can help me out with this. The religious right, which holds the Bible as at least a source of wisdom and at most absolute truth, believes that Capitalism is good and that Socialism is bad. And the reason I mention the "Religious right, who holds the Bible..." is because the Bible holds that greed, to covet, and the love of money are evil, sin. This is why I'm confused, because Capitalism is driven by greed, by coveting the items of ones neighbor, and by the love of money. If people did not want, they would not buy, and if they did not buy they would not support the capital that is the basis upon which capitalism is built.

And what really confuses me is that these same people go to church, where they freely sacrifice to God. That is, they donate their money to the church. This money goes to supporting the church and its staff, and the excess is given to soup kitchens and to help the poor and is considered a virtue. Yet when the Government tries to institute universal health care, which would raise the quality of life for everyone, these same people scream "Socialism" as if its something evil and not the same virtue as giving to the poor.

And don't get me wrong, I understand the arguments against big government, and the arguments against having government files on everyone, I even understand the arguments against taxes. But this is all secondary to the point I am trying to make. Universal Health care should provide everyone with basic health care, dental, visual, auditory even. It should help those who's health is preventing them from holding a job, which prevents them from earning a paycheck, which prevents them from getting insurance, which prevents them from getting healthcare, which does not prevent their health from further decay. How is that a bad thing? Why is it being called socialist? What is wrong with Socialism? And why is Capitalism being defended by the same people who believe that greed is a sin and the love of money is the root of all evil? This doesn't make sense to me.

You've been tagged! Write a note with the Firsts for YOU and, at the end, choose 26 people to be tagged, including me.
(To do this, go to the “Notes” tab on your profile page, click "compose new note," copy and paste these instructions & the body of the note, delete my answer and type your answer to each Firsts for Me question, tag 26 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

I'm just gonna stick this in LJ, much easier to manage, consider yourself tagged if you read this
( Read more... )

Of all the classes of Trolls, Troll Mages are perhaps the most unique, and most uncommon. Where trolls are physical brutes, Mages are intellectual casters, the two don't generally mix.
( Read more... )

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say does that star spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?
( Read more... )

More thoughts on Trolls. This time I'm delving into my favorite of the many classes that Warcraft offers us, Hunters.

In other games one will typically find Rangers, who are a combination of warriors and rogues with a focus on using a ranged weapon, particularly bows. There is an odd dichotomy however for the image of a ranger, for even the more famous rangers, Aragorn, and Drizzt, they are still more well known for their swords and their swordsmanship. In Warcraft, Hunters are particularly distinguished by their use of ranged weapons, and only the rare hunter focuses on melee weapons and skill, often accompanied by a great deal of scorn from other players. They are more akin to the Arcane Archer prestige class, able to fire shots of pure arcane energy, enchant their arrows with various poisons, fire multiple arrows at a time, or even summon a volley of arrows to rain down upon an area. Hunters in Warcraft also make use of traps, triggered explosives, caged snakes, even summoning a frost so cold as to freeze its victim in place, this alone offers Hunters a uniqueness found in few other games. Finally Hunters are almost never found without their pets, wild animals tamed by the hunter and trained for combat. With their pet by their side a hunter alone provides the basis of any group make up, that is a tank and healer/DPS team.
( Read more... )

To continue my thoughts on Trolls, the next class I figured I'd cover would be troll rogues.

Now when most think of rogues in RPG's, they often think Thieves. And while the rogue class was originally called Thief, and in many cases that still remains true. Rogues are not just thieves. As people do think of them as thieves, they are often played as such, but this particular class tends to have lots of skills, in fact I've rarely seen skill sets that are so inclusive. In WoW of course there arn't any skills beyond combat/tradeskill/and riding, so I'm basing this particular description off more traditional paper and pencil games and holding it true through the transition of game medium.

What I'm trying to say is that the rogue class description is more of a jack of all trades and offers a player the ability to design a character that has no specific focus or training. They are not masters of combat, though they do gain some particularly nasty combat abilities. They don't train in magic without multi-classing. On the other hand they are one of the few classes to gain access to more courtly abilities, diplomacy and the like. What makes them adaptable thieves is that they universally gain the ability to sneak around unseen, allowing all manor of opportunities. Hence the view that they are theives.
( Read more... )

Science and scientists are not popularists. They've got their noses stuck in whatever it is they find interesting to study, and beyond talking with other scientists about what they've observed and found, they really don't go to the media shouting "Look at this!" Because of this, much of the most important science done rarely sees media exposure. So while the popular debate rages right now over topics such as Evolution and Global Warming, the truth is that Science has been in full agreement on these topics for quite some time. Global Warming was predicted shortly before WWII, the study was dropped during those next troublesome years, but it was picked back up in 1950. We've been collecting data supporting Global Warming since.

This is not a new thing, and the Scientific Community is sitting there saying, "C'mon Guys, its long past time something should have been done." And in the public media, the debate still rages.

Embedded below the cut is a video that is almost an hour long. I do not begrudge anyone not wanting to view it, but it is actually rather important information. The information contained within is actually something I've come across in my wanderings in other places. So I will summarize some of the more important bits below the video, please at the very least look those notes over.
( Read more... )

So to continue the thoughts I started here I figured I'd keep up with those thoughts, breaking things down by class.

BTW, I know others have done stuff like this, including someone who did a rather good job somewhere else. I know it was linked in the worldofwarcraft journal, but unfortunately I can't find it to look it up. I was just hoping to compare notes, especially as they did in character quotes that I thought were really neat. If anyone happens to know where I can find that write up, I'd appreciate a link.
( On to the Warriors )