This is Friendship, Part 2

A while ago, my dad announced to both of my kids that he would take them on AN ADVENTURE. The adventure could be to nearly any place of their choosing, and would last roughly a weekend. Assuming their choice of destination and adventure was attainable, he would take them and they would have a blast.

He put some minor limits on the adventure criteria. It had to be in the continental US and needed to happen when the weather was warmer. He made a couple of suggestions, but ultimately, the choice was made by my kids.

My daughter decided to visit New York, New York.

I hit up my alien friend almost immediately and let him know my family would be traveling to his city. He asked me when, and assured me that he would be nothing less than a gracious host. He worried endlessly about the weather (spring in New York is fickle), and fussed about the subway. He made many faces at the idea that some scrub might bother my kid or my dad, and promised to keep them safe.

Books, authors and more

I talked about my current writing malaise in my last post. I got some really wonderful commentary and feedback, which I truly appreciated. It had been something like 7 months since I had last posted, and to know people remembered me and cared enough to comment really made my situation seem a little more bearable.

I've fully admitted to being a book worm, a lover of words and a general nerd about reading. For a long time, I read anything I could get my hands on, and generally enjoyed it. As I got older, my taste slowly refined, and I finally figured out that I adore detective stories.

Detective stories, folks- NOT murder mysteries. I can't stand mysteries. I absolutely hate them with a burning, scathing, unbridled and relentless fury. Mysteries drive me crazy. Many of them are formulaic, and a lot of the time they try the Sherlock Holmes/Agatha Christie minute, obscure and irrelevant detail bit as a key to discovering whodunnit. I can't stand that crap.

I prefer detective stories, especially serials. Following a gumshoe along on their adventures both good and bad is like visiting an old friend and seeing what they have been up to since the last visit.

Here's a list of some of may favorite authors, with a list of their books I enjoy, and some commentary about why I like them. I'd love to hear about your favorite friends- I need SOMETHING to do.

A Voice from the Grave

Jim McDougal may not be stopped, but I sure am. 

I recently gt invited to (and joined) a group aimed at getting aspiring writers into writing. The group posts work on a shared drive, and then folks make comments on each other's work.

I put up an older piece, just to get a sense of what the group thought of my skill and ability level. So far, I've found that the criticism of my work is fair, but there's a lot of it.

I'm ok with that for the most part. I don't have too much of an ego; and getting better at writing is something I am interested in doing- whether now or over time. But that's my problem. I can't get better because I can't seem to write.

I have been blocked or stalled for ideas for months. I simply have no idea what to write about. I'm not currently gaming and haven't been for over a year. I'm only casually "arting". However, that process is slow moving and the most baby stepped place I have been in for a long time and I don't think it's of interest to gaming people. (I might be wrong- it does happen.)

I asked a friend to challenge me to write a story hook, and he gave me a lyric to use as inspiration. So far, I haven't had a lot of luck coming up with anything more than a hair of an idea for "putting out fires with gasoline". I'm still sketching out the thought I do have because I think it could be cool.  Putting words to paper /typing on the computer has been a lot harder than I ever imagined it might be several years ago when I started this blog, and I haven't been able to figure out what I want to do; or even if I want to do anything at all with it.

I can't use yarn because I can't knit. Is this blog my mental yarn?

I reviewed some of my archives and I remember loving writing and having a lot to say. I have stuff in drafts from months (almost a year)  ago, but none of it inspires me or causes me to want to write. Very little is motivating to me at this point, which is causing me a lot of concern.

Even the alliterations I know and love are beyond me at this point. It seems I'm spinning my wheels and I have nothing to get me out of the mud.

But a dear friend sent me a nice email, and asked me what was going on here. It was kind of nice to know someone out there liked what I was doing when I was writing. I don't know that I have any real answers for my pal, but I'm writing something; anything- just to be writing again.

[Weekly Words on Women] A look into my life

I'm brewing up an article, but it's still in the works.

I talk a lot about being a lady, but rarely show evidence of it, so in light of the fact that I don't have something on tap, I figured I'd show a picture.

this is from over the weekend.

This is me and the absolute maximum extent of my "feminine side".  The nails are new; I tried them to see how I like the idea. I love the result, but hate the process.

The purse, though- I LOVVVVVVVVVVVE a cute purse and this one has everything I like. It's lavender with silver buckles and it's bigger than a clutch but smaller than a hobo/demi. It ZIPS, which is an absolute must for me. It's brand new. SQUEEEE!

And it holds dice. Very nicely.

Wonderland Session 3

This session showed that even with planning, games can go sideways without too much influence. Two of my players were unable to attend, so the events I had planned for the session had to be scrapped and new ones had to be implemented quickly.

My players were on an island that had time zones- large geographic regions that were permanently twilight, early morning, afternoon, etc.  They had found the remnants of what might have once been a village and decided to camp there for the "night" (even though it was mid afternoon). 

The group woke up, and two members of their group were missing. As they started to look around, The Captain noticed that some of his clothes were lightly wet. It wasn't really "wet", but somewhat more tacky, like antibacterial hand gel. Further investigation showed that there were spots of the tacky like liquid along the tops of the stonework ruins, but not anywhere on the ground. 

[Weekly Words on Women] Voices in the Knight

Strong inside but you don't know it

Good little girls they never show it

When you open up your mouth to speak

Could you be a little weak-

Madonna, What It Feels Like 

---------------------------------

All the people in the world are dreaming (get up stand up)

Some of us cry for the rights of survival (get up stand up)

Saying c’mon c’mon! Stand up for your rights

While others don’t give a damn

They’re all waiting for a perfect day

So you better get up and fight for your rights

Don’t be afraid of the move you make

You better listen to your tribal voice!

Yothu Yindi, Tribal Voice

I'm not generally known for making snap decisions. I have something of a reputation for being pretty accommodating, even when I don't directly agree with the person or idea.  Finding peace and compromise are things I excel in, or at least I used to have those talents. 

Being a peacemaker and a master of compromise doesn't mean I don't know myself or understand my own voice. I've always been able to speak for myself, and I'm one of the few people that can stand up to the incomparable and stubborn man in my life, TheDude. Despite being something of a "mouse" for most of my life, I finally found my voice and pretty much haven't shut up since. 

[Weekly Words on Women] Women Owners

A few of you know that I own a FLGS. I talk about it here now and then, and a lot more often over here.

I work at the store at least once a week, and more often if I'm needed or if I can. That leaves a lot of time that I am not there. For the most part, the store operations are run by TheDude and our employees.

Many times, because of how much work TheDude and the employees do, I feel like an out an out fraud, saying that I'm an owner. But the reality is, that's in MY head. I do all the negotiations with service providers, and have the connections in the professional networks we use. My name is on all the important paperwork. I make as many decisions as TheDude, and those decisions are just as essential and relevant as any he makes. I'm involved in as much of the running of the store as TheDude; just in a different way than his work. That doesn't make what I do less valid, it just makes it different.

I've previously wondered, where are the ladies; and found that in the hobby world, there just aren't that many. I struck upon a strange discovery recently- that all the powerful movers and shakers that happen to be ladies are in the CRAFT world, and there just aren't very many in the HOBBY world. Looking at crafting; there's a virtual cornucopia of women owners and designers (Martha Stewart just to name one), and there are very few men in crafting. The exceptions appear to be in highly technical crafts or crafts that veer into art territories, where there are plenty of men (Bob Ross is dead, but you get the idea). I have to wonder what that says about men and women; and if it has any relevance to me at all.

I look around at the gaming and geeky landscape, and I'm fairly alone as a woman in charge. There are not very many (if any) women that operate game stores, game companies, publishing houses, or who design games. There aren't a lot of ladies that are featured artists, or win a lot of contests, or who write adventures. 

How many of us are there in the hobby landscape? How many women are bosses, developers, creators, innovators, writers, publishers, artists, studio heads or any of the other various positions of power or influence in this geeky world? How many of these women love what they do? How many are doing things in action and not in words/lip service?

I can really only think of two "big names"- Margaret Weis and Felicia Day. I'm not a big name by any stretch of the imagination; I'm barely recognizable outside my inner circle. I often wonder if I have the passion, the drive, the energy, dedication and fearlessness to move to the next step and take my business to a higher level.

When I think about the level of dedication and devotion needed to "step it up", I think of my personal role model; Megan Hunt aka Princess Lasertron. Yes, she's in "crafting", but she has diligently pushed her brand into much more than just "artsy fartsy" stuff (how many people view crafting) and moved into high end design and fashion. I've been following her for a very long time, and I'm constantly impressed with how much work she puts into looking at what she needs to do on or with herself in order to grow her business and brand. She exudes a certain level of fearlessness that I envy and strive for; even if it is just what I see and not reality.

The self examination part of growth usually takes up more time and energy than it should for me, and my business stays where it is for now.  I'm also not the only one making these decisions, and TheDude has his own reservations and reasons for (or against) any growth or changes we make with the store.

It's not always easy being a female in this "wilderness of men" (my quote from a long time ago). There's a certain amount of "boys club mentality" at times; which I usually ignore. There's also some outright animosity aimed at women; especially PRETTY women (as seen here ). There are many times when the dismissive attitudes and condescension aimed in my general direction are frustrating enough to make me want to hang it up; and I've honestly asked if the reward is worth the work more than once.

Very few people know how much undermining and second guessing goes on with a business, especially one that's even close to successful.  We have quite a few people that hit us with "concerns" - concerns that are roughly disguised complaints that we aren't doing what they want; concerns that are unfair or hurtful, concerns that are fair but we aren't in a position to immediately correct whatever issue is present, concerns we don't have a direct avenue of addressing due to the form they're presented to us, concerns that are another fire we have to put out.  Trying to balance the desire for growth with the seemingly incessant quicksand of our customer's expectations and community feedback is a whole lot tougher than I ever imagined.

I do think it's worth it, in the long run. When I see my customers enjoying the community that I've worked hard to develop, when I see the laughter, the friendships, the volunteerism and dedication; I know I'm doing something right.

Being a woman owner, being proud of what I do is essential, because otherwise things will just get me down. I'm too thrilled with what I do to let that happen.

Wonderland Session 2

We had a great session of Wonderland this week.

I lost a player and gained one, and I think I handled this change pretty well.

The group traveled through the Void; which was terrifying and strange. The group moved through total emptiness, and then through a cemetery of souls that grabbed for them, and then through the roots of a world above them.

As the group made it to the "end" of the Void "road", they felt a bump as if they had run aground. They saw a small pinhole of light, and as they peered through the pinhole, they saw what appeared to be twilight.

[Weekly Words on Women] Who Decides

Based on the phenomenal response my post last week got, I thought I'd address an aspect of my underlying argument differently. I'd like to try to look at this in a more objective and dispassionate way.

My original premise was that men - by virtue of being men - don't have the authority or privilege of deciding what women view as sexist, misogynistic, or otherwise problematic.  My general basis for this argument is that men are not affected or impacted by items, situations or actions that could be perceived as sexist, misogynistic or problematic in the same way that women are.

I'll accept the proposed suggestion that there are guys that value women and their struggles in modern society, and specifically gaming. I'll go along with the idea that there are men that are interested in battling injustices, who want to voice their opposition to those items, situations and actions. I don't disagree that there is a corps of men who believe as strongly as I do that wrong is wrong.

There comes a time when the folks deciding what is wrong (and to some extent, WHY) is a pretty important part of any discussion. Maybe this flies in the face of your worldview- that "wrong is wrong", and that's all there is to it. Perhaps the concept that who says an item, situation or action is wrong makes no difference to you; as long as someone is speaking out, it's a good thing (to you).

I'll attempt to explain as clearly as I can (with examples) why this doesn't work FOR ME. Maybe that will help me figure out how to talk about the topic at hand in a more effective manner, and maybe it will give some discussion. Neither of these outcomes is a bad one in my view; and if nothing comes of it, I won't mind because writing is something I truly enjoy. (It IS better when there is an audience, I won't lie. But I write for me as much as I possibly can, and if people want to talk about it, that's just icing on the cake.)

When talking about injustice, I generally side on the "do everything possible to make it stop" part of the spectrum. Social justice and equality are big deals to me. I've made it my life's mission to teach my kids tolerance and I work in many ways to promote equality across the spectrum outside of the home.  The comment that equated my commentary to the gay rights conversation last week really caught me off guard. After looking at things a little more closely, I figured there's really only one way to proceed, and that's to SHOW you what I mean.

The post my pal wrote brought up sexism, and what a lot of you saw as sexism in "make believe land". While I don't want to detract too much, I do want to interject a few conversations that I think might exemplify the imbalance of male viewpoints to female viewpoints and then move along.

The examples I'll be using are from one of my all-time favorite blogs. This is a blog that has an extremely good ratio of male to female respondents, and the general makeup of the readers are well-educated, professional people. This blog is highly regarded as having one of the most civil and adult comments sections among workplace related blogs.

Because this blog is highly directed to workplace concerns, many times when there is a concern about how men and women interact, there's a specific legal subtext to the advice and conversations. Almost all of those deal with HARASSMENT, which is somewhat different than sexism, but the way the comments play out shows that perceptions about harassment have sexist overtones.

Some examples of discussions where the conversation includes harassment and gender divides include : link 1- This is the most extreme example I found.  This conversation also addresses the topics, but not for a while and you can see a distinct gender disparity.  This one's really good, and really gets to it. Also, this one is decent at addressing the topic, and THIS ONE is one that shows the disparity very clearly.

To me, the way the divide slides very much along gender lines (and to some extent, lines of power) says very clearly that someone is missing the point. For women to say "hey, this is harassment" and men to say "um, nope" means that there's an imbalance of understanding and ability to communicate what exactly harassment IS to a woman and why.

The "sides" of feeling and perceiving harassment are clear to me- whomever says "hey, this bothers me, cut it out" is in the right. It's not up to the person acting to do anything other than listen and change behaviors so as not to do the offending thing again.

All of that was to make a point. The point was men and women see things differently. There was some talk that those little models sculpted to look like boobs and butts were somehow sexist. Sexism is a little more complex than simple harassment, but the idea is similar. 


It might be that I misunderstood the intentions of male posters over at the previous discussion because I am female. My perceptions and understanding of the comments and behaviors might very well have been clouded by my previous encounters with men. As I stated earlier, my original point was that men aren't affected or influenced by these encounters in the same way that I am, and their perspective is different than mine. It makes it tougher for them to clearly identify "hey, this is uncool" because they as men don't get the same result from daily interactions. 

From my perspective, the VERY MOST you could say about sexy models was that they might encourage men to look at women in a sexual way and perhaps see the female form as a sexual object instead of recognizing that there are PEOPLE behind the boobs out in the real world. 

When I see "sexy models", I don't see sexism or misogyny or anything like that. I see FANTASY, and I wholeheartedly accept and encourage the fantastic as a way for people to express themselves and their interest in the hobby. I don't happen to find the models as any sort problem, but I've come to realize it might be partially due to the fact that I'm attracted to ladies just as much as I am to men.

I don't really talk about this very much, because identifying as anything under the  LGBT flag can and does get you marginalized (even further than I might already be as a woman) and I'm just not interested in inviting THAT onto my plate as well.

I have decided that for me, hot models are hot models and I like them. I see and know a difference between fantasy and reality. To me, models and art are part of the imaginary and unreality of gaming. They are not "real".

They are not personal interactions between men and women. They are not relationships where males talk to and about females in various ways. They are not restrictions by males on access to power, voice or influence for women (or any minority). These things- these are things I will work myself up over. These are things I see as worthy of my attention.

I have no doubt that fighting to make interactions between men and women more equal and less fraught with inference and shades of sexism is a good thing, and I want everyone to take part in helping equality along.  I won't ever back down from fighting against injustices in personal interactions.

But I do have reservations that men can (or will) objectively be able to state that a certain thing is "bad" for women when they aren't female and don't know the same things I do as a woman.

Thanks for listening. I look forward to seeing what comes of this...

[Weekly Words on Women] Watching the World Turn Upside Down

As most of you know, I don't tend to get passionate about a whole lot. I try pretty hard to be even-natured and talk about things in a fairly rational way. I don't let too much rile me up, and I avoid the shenanigans you can count on from my co-author, SinSynn.

I'm going to play by some different rules for this series, which I had planned and sketched out well before last week's web explosion on gender, bias and sexism.


Over the next few weeks, I will be looking at access and control some more, along with the gaming community and how women are viewed and treated. I'll probably discuss how we got to where we are today, and ask a lot of questions. 

Last time, I talked about control and access in regards to women's sexuality. This time, - let's talk about women's rights. I'm specifically looking at the way the world is changing and how control and access is being challenged, especially via religion and politics (at least in the US).

[WOD] Austin by Night: EPIC Vinnie Recap

So, I have not blogged about Vinnie much, if at all. I have very specific thoughts and ideas for him, and I am having a difficult time deciding if I want to blog about them or keep them secret.

Vinnie IS a Vampire, but it's tough to get outside advice if I don't seek input. So, I'll give you the very best of the very best... or something. This is a recap of several sessions, boiled down to the most relevant and understandable details (as far as I can, anyway).

The Games that Shaped Me

A little while ago, Frontline Gamer put out a charge to all of us, to think about the games that have shaped us, and talk about when, where, why and so on.

Well, I can't really let that Brit have all the fun, now can I?

I told him I had a lot, and I felt a post was probably a lot more appropriate than a quick reply over on his blog. So here we are at mine, with my ever so verbose thoughts.

After the jump, of course.

The Last One

For the most part, I try to be a relaxed and laid back person. I'm not a "princess" by any real stretch of the definition, and I laugh at fart jokes just as easily as the dudes around me.

I tend to get pretty fussy about birthdays. Mine in particular. I would love a giant surprise party, or a big day of being spoiled rotten with "all the things". I also love throwing birthday parties. I think a birthday is a reason to celebrate and adore planning. Whether it's cake and ice cream or LAN parties or strippers and booze, I want your celebration to be perfect for you. I love going all out and seeing smiles on my friends and family's faces on their special day. Unfortunately, most people I love are not real fond of big birthday things.

I am very easygoing about most other holidays. I have never been one of those 'decorate for every holiday' people. I try to find meaning in the everyday,but I still value certain special days. For the past few years, Mother's Day hasn't been that huge a production at our house. We've been busy growing our kids and our business, and time for celebrations (big or small) has not been our priority.

This year, our family has really felt those choices in stresses and pressures, and the need for employees and TIME AWAY from the store has been huge. We were all kind of coming apart at the seams, some more than others. We started spending more time together as a family, and as we did so, I started to become fully cognizant of the face that my kids are growing up.

My son is 18, and while he may not be ready to move out right this minute, that time isn't too far off. I rarely get maudlin, but I'm very aware that I may not have another Mother's Day with both my kids at home, and this might be the last one.

I'm taking just a little time to acknowledge that being a mom has been important to me, and I've done the best I can. Family *IS* a priority to me, and I'm working hard to be an awesome inspiration and model to these wonderful people I've been given the privileged to raise. I've got a lot more work to do, but thinking about this time ending has me a little rough around the edges.

TheBoy, Waylon, TheGirl and TheDude 

It's not quite over yet. I still have some awesome left in me. TheBoy, TheGirl and TheDude enjoyed going to the Hed2Hed Show a few weeks ago. I took my kids to a bar to see a metal show with their dad, for their dad's birthday. I was there for my son's first pit. I watched and laughed as he was offered a shot by the Jaeger Girls. I watched my daughter rock out, banging her fool head off. I saw both my kids look stunned at my reaction to American Head Charge (I think they thought I was going to humor TheDude. Hellz no, I wanted to see "Martin Cock" and "Mr. H.C. Banks III").

I have a few more surprises and a little more time with them- and even if it is "the last one", I'm going to enjoy this Mother's Day.

[RPG][WOD] Playing with people smarter than yourself

I’ve been playing WOD for a while, and depending on the genre, done very well or been totally overwhelmed.  Right now, I’m  having fun, but I’m petrified that I will mess things up.

I completely admit that while Werewolf SEEMED fun at the time I was playing it, and it offered me a sense of liberation and freedom, it was wrong for the kind of player I am.

Werewolf relies a great deal on the ability to make decisions, and expects a strong sense of self from the player. At the time I was playing Jak, I was emotionally lost and had no idea who I was personally. Jak certainly knew himself, but I as the player squashed many of his impulsive choices for fear that indulging them would be doing something “wrong” or due to a lack of confidence in my own decisions. 

(example: Jak was without an alpha or direction for a very long time. In that time, he took two new Uratha into his home and taught them Uratha rules and culture, offered them spiritual advice while providing  them shelter and food.  Jak’s patience was wearing thin and he wanted to push to be declared alpha. I didn’t pursue this because I didn’t want to be “too aggressive” or too demanding of my ST.  My ST later revealed to me that he responds well to decisiveness; and especially so when that decisiveness comes from a werewolf player.)

Changeling was much more my speed- it was very oriented towards a social personality, which is definitely more like my own self. Eile was an intensely social creature, dependent on interactions and emotions to survive and prosper. At the time, I was playing with people who were easy for me to be social with, and with whom I had many ties that helped me touch on emotional responses. Despite playing a character that was “disconnected” and without a home or family, I was able to build those elements inside the game for her, based on my personality and understanding of how the system was supposed to work for Changelings.  Changeling seemed “natural” to me, and I strongly miss playing in that environment.

Vampire is a system I played previously and strongly enjoyed. I felt confident based on previous experience and general interest that I would do well as a Vampire this time around.  I found out through trial and much error that the  NPC Vampires in this makebelieveland are the power brokers, movers and shakers; and thus, are MUCH smarter than myself.  

I have discovered that I don't think in the same way as my ST. He thinks in very divergent ways, and I think pretty directly. My ST's ideas and imaginations are far more creative, hidden and agenda-oriented than mine, and I "miss" many of the hints and plots that exist in the game. 

I have been kind of lucky, because I have been playing with a guy who has incredible knowledge, wisdom, insight and understanding of both the game and the themes in it. His talent has shielded me (and my character) from my own lack of anything remotely like ability. This was made obvious during our last game session, when a ruse that had been perpetrated against all the Vampires for a very long time, and he was the only character (or player)  to see through the illusion. 

Playing with those smarter than yourself is a tricky thing. You have to be able to offer enough "something" to be seen as worth keeping around, but you have to (and should) use their preeminence to your advantage (mostly so you don't die). 


Making allegiances in game is usually direct (except as Vampires, who are strongly encouraged NOT to trust each other) and easy. Not so with Vinnie, who has an agenda and isn't telling anyone about it. This game is full of consequences, and the consequence of not directly making allies is you don't have the support network that other players might. 


The events of last session were a culmination of several sessions' worth of back work; and a lot of hammering out things in character so that the PCs involved would not kill each other. There was a time when Vinnie actually had very strongly worded suggestions to kill another PC, and he had the plan to do so, but that time has passed. Getting Vinnie to a point where he either had faith in or trusted said PC took a lot of roleplaying; with a guy that is a million times smarter than me. 

I forgot to take notes for a lot of it, which stinks, because I know he gave me information I can use. I also forgot to do any kind of defensive work (plausible deniability is a wonderful thing) and it will come back to haunt me very soon. 


But that's the joy of playing with (and sometimes against) those that are just more talented at the game than you; you learn what your failures are and maybe learn how to grow past them. 


Any of you out there have people in their groups that are smarter than you? If so, how do you deal with, learn from and encourage them? How do you fail? What helps you not feel so bad? 

[Review] GW's How to Paint Citadel Miniatures Book/DVD

I am probably the perfect customer for this product. I'm a casual painter with absolutely no real training. I taught myself, but I have a notoriously heavy hand and I find my work to be sloppy, grungy and just plain messy. If anyone needs help learning to paint, it's me.

A sample of my work. 

I love products like this, with step-by-step PICTURES of how those guys behind the curtain accomplished their magic. I bought the Privateer Press DVD as well, and watched it several times in the vain hope that talent would be transmitted through the screen to my feeble self.

I really enjoyed the P3 video, but I thought it went a little fast and missed some vital "up close" materials a NEW painter would want to see. Not so with the GW book. I've only browsed through it a few times and quickly gone through the DVD, but I can tell you that I will be checking both out over and over again.

So here's a look at the actual book:

It's got a "kickstand" or easel that's intended to help the book stand up right in front of you was you paint. The pages are magazine thickness and glossy, and spiral bound to make flipping to a specific page a breeze, with no worries about breaking your binding or pages falling out.


There are several sections of the book that I found super helpful, and others were "meh". The only issue was sometimes these were on the same page!

Warning! Blurry Pic. 

This example is from the "Shades" page. They show 3 examples of using their shades products. Example 1 is super clear about what they used and where. Example 3 is also perfectly clear- what shade was used, how much, and why. Example 2? VAGUE AS HELL. It also had a small box of text about "how much is too much" that I found to be counter-intuitive for a beginning painter, advocating a "laissez-faire" attitude on washes. For a beginning painter, this was not helpful. However, it's countered by two great samples, so it works out to be a "meh" for me.

I have only checked out two sections of the DVD so far. One was the "Basecoating" section, and the other was the "Glazing" section. The Basecoating section has been super, super informative for me already. Just by watching the demonstrated watering down technique, I can see where I have room to improve. (Uh, that would be everywhere, folks!) I also saw how OTHER people hold their brushes and their approach to the model that has given me a hint that maybe more is NOT better after all.

The glazing section was incredibly cool for me. I truly enjoyed seeing ways to add depth and intensity to models- it was sort of like watching someone get their hair glazed... but with models. (Dudes, ask your lady people about hair glaze. It's awesome.) I want to try it (someday).

The DVD comes right IN the book- no weird sleeve or taped in envelope to lose. 

I've had a couple people in the store balking at the price. I can understand the concern, as it IS spendy. I did (and will) point out to those that are concerned on cost that I GLADLY spent $25 for the P3 video, used it over and over and over; and find the GW Guide to be FAR superior. It is well worth the money to me, especially with the well designed format and obvious THOUGHT that was put into how someone might want to use something like this.

The breakdowns and sections on each step of the modeling process inside the book are full of tips that I found very helpful (along with an interesting outright admission that FINECAST products are prone to warping and bubbles from the injection process), making the book more than a "painting guide". It's a great primer and starting point for a beginning or inexperienced hobbyist.

For the more advanced model enthusiast or painter, this product is a little tougher to see as useful. I didn't see anything "to write home about" unless the start-to-finish army guides are your thing.

Just having this book out and open ALMOST makes me want to break my models out again to start painting... which could well be worth the $50 price tag if it means my procrastinating streak is broken and I get SOMETHING done!

So there you have my take on it- I found it useful and will use it a lot, assuming I get back to painting. It is intended for a starting or inexperienced painter, but it's a well made product with thoughtful touches throughout to make a good, solid and useful tool for someone without a good painting background. 

Interview for HOP- Porky

I wrote a series of articles about designing better games for House of Paincakes over the past 2 months or so. While I was working on the process and developing material for the series, I conducted a good number of interviews with various people across the internet, as well as some real life folks.

I've saved this interview for last. It was the most fun, the most challenging, and the most though provoking. I don't really consider myself much of an intellectual, so plunging these depths caused me to do a lot of intense thinking, spreading out past my normal limits, and enjoying the conversation with a brilliant mind. I find Porky to be an artist of the highest caliber; using words and stretching boundaries for all who listen.

When you look at a game, is art a factor in buying it? If so, how much of a deciding element is the art?

I'm definitely drawn to new things by the art, but I'm more interested in heavily stylised pieces than big pictorial scenes. I want texture and mood much more, even without action and even in shades of grey, and maybe better like that, for how soft black and white can be and how much contrast it can have. There doesn't need to be much art either because the people I hang out with are very happy to imagine and improvise, do things their own way - there should be just enough to prompt and trigger, set off trains of thought, but then cleverly chosen words can do that too.

Interview for HOP-TheDude

I wrote a series of articles about designing better games for House of Paincakes over the past 2 months or so. While I was working on the process and developing material for the series, I conducted a good number of interviews with various people across the internet, as well as some real life folks.

This interview just sort of "happened to me". I was actually enjoying a nice conversation with my spouse when the topic drifted to gaming; so why not throw the interview into the conversation while I was at it?

It's always fun talking to him about games. He's a smart guy and listens to OTHER PEOPLE pretty well. And he looks great in a tie.

The picture really doesn't convey how great this looks in person. 

[Review] Axis & Allies Angels 20

I have a giant soft spot for airplane games of any kind. I had pestered the living daylights out of TheDude for copies of Wings of War (now Wings of Glory), but he really didn't listen. (Sad panda!)

When Axis & Allies newest expansion line: Angels 20 came out, HiSign tried VERY hard to get me to buy it. I kept resisting, and he kept tempting me. I wasn't interested at first, and then I was worried I would spend too much, and I just didn't have anyone to play against.

Then TheDude bought a starter box. We all checked out the contents and were pretty impressed with the quality and quantity of items for the price. TheBoy started poking me about wanting to "play airplanes", and my resistance was wearing down.

The other day TheBoy out and out cheated. He asked me- "Mommy, will you play some airplanes with me?" He then proceeded to make cute engine and shooting sounds and batted his enormous eyelashes at me.

I bought a starter box and a booster.

DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!

The map- pretty nice quality

The starter set comes with 3 German and 3 British planes, along with dice, stands, a rulebook and counters. I wish I had actually READ the box before buying it, because I didn't want Germans, and TheBoy wanted British.  TheBoy got an entire flight (or bunch of planes), and I got zero planes I wanted. (More Sad Panda!) TheBoy took pity on me, and bought 2 boosters. I wound up with some Americans, some Japanese and some Russian planes. I still don't have a full flight of any one faction, but I have lots of choices.

We decided to try to play today. We set up the map, which is made of nice magazine thickness paper. There's not any obvious markings as to how they fit together, but after turning the map around a couple times, we figured it out.

Building my list of airplanes was really tough. With a point limit of 100 points, it was difficult for me to get more than 2 planes. I saw several options of 3-4 plane flights if I mixed factions (ie, 1 Poland, 1 Fin, 1 Britain) but single factions made it tougher.

For our first time around, I went ahead and played the Germans, even though I really didn't want to, because I had the most options that way.

This is what I picked from.  I had a bomber, an ace and two "average" planes to figure out what to fly. I picked the bomber and an ace.

These are the planes TheBoy had to pick from. They were pretty sweet, to be honest.

We figured out initiative and movement pretty well. There was a little confusion on whether and how to turn (and when), but after a little discussion, we got that decided. We opted not to use altitude because the rules were wonky and we wanted to get the basics down first. We just pretended we were at acceptable altitudes and went on our merry way. Lots of "merrrrroooooooooooom" noises were made.

My planes after movement

Movement went really fast. TheBoy had an ace that had movement almost double mine, so in one turn, it went from what you see above here to the picture below:

There was a little more movement (getting planes into place) that put us within a hex of each other. Unfortunately, we were situated in such a way that TheBoy was outside of my firing arc, but I was smack dab in the middle of his.

We did some shooting. TheBoy tore me up. It was awful. I am ashamed at getting beaten so badly by my lil punk so and so of a son. =/

I will take this moment to let you know that the rulebook is what I consider 'typical Hasbro/WotC' in that it is laid out badly and needs more examples. If I had any idea HOW bad it was, I would have brought TheDude's rulebook so I would not have spent so much time flipping back and forth from section to section for rules as we played.

We were interrupted quite a lot, so we didn't get more done, which is too bad. It was just starting to get fun. We both agreed that the game has a lot of promise to be extremely entertaining, but the map was way too small. There was not a lot of room for manuevering or moving around. Now, if the idea is to move the maps as you play, that might change things, but with the map staying static, we found it to be crowded.

We still had a blast and made way too many fun lil' airplane sounds as we tried to shoot each other up.

Interview for HOP- SinSynn

I wrote a series of articles about designing better games for House of Paincakes over the past 2 months or so. While I was working on the process and developing material for the series, I conducted a good number of interviews with various people across the internet, as well as some real life folks.

Up next, my favorite Xeno-

This guy has a great mind with the ability to create incredible conclusions. I always enjoy talking with the man from another planet; even if his tentacles DO go places they shouldn't! I've got the owner of the Disintegrator Ray ZX3000, SinSynn on tap for you. Warning, we both swear- a LOT.

Interview for HOP- Von

I wrote a series of articles about designing better games for House of Paincakes over the past 2 months or so. While I was working on the process and developing material for the series, I conducted a good number of interviews with various people across the internet, as well as some real life folks.


Next up, I interview the person most like myself on the internet: a person who loves all kinds of games; adores strange games solely for their unique attractions and not to be "cool"; a person who looks at things and asks questions, a person who carries on all kinds of good discussion with everyone. Ladies and gents, I give you my smarter, wittier, more literate, beardier self: Von.

This is not Von. (Note the lack of beard!)