covenantscave

Hi LJ!

Haven't posted for a while. Only seems appropriate that I finally figured out why I enjoyed playing 3/3.5 DnD better than 4th Ed. It's described pretty succinctly by comparing the two spell descriptions below.

Simply put, the first one feels like an "event."  It's interesting, chunky, complicated.  The second one feels like every. single. other. power in 4th Ed.  What I want is a tool that lets me print out all of my spells/powers/whatever in a convenient set of cards, so I don't have to dig them out of the book, or I can just hand it to a DM so he can read it quickly.

I also want to have simple characters (fighters) for the players that don't have the time/energy/experience, and complex characters (wizards) for players that want complexity.  In 4th Ed, I have a whole bunch of characters with at-wills, a couple encounters, a daily, and a couple of utilities that are all variants on the same thing.

Let me give you an example.  Let's say that you have a daily: burst 1, 2d8 damage, 1d4 fire (save ends)).  That power could literally belong to *any* character.  That's the way *all* the powers work.

It may be "smoother" but, frankly, it's boring as all hell.

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For some strange reason, I am TOTALLY OBSESSING over the fact that there is no new Elder Scrolls game coming out anytime soon. It *might* be announced in August, but might not.

I thought that buying the book set in the world would help. Nope, made it even worse. Huge, world-shaping events! Huge bits of mythology! Want more!

In other news, I am a TOTAL geek.

http://shop.cafepress.com/miskatonic

The Internet in 2010 has really closed the idea -> t-shirt gap.

Brief summary of the changes:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/21/us/health-care-reform.html

The long versions (full bill, various summaries, CBO numbers):
http://consumerist.com/2010/03/finish-up-your-weekend-with-some-light-reading-on-health-care-reform.html

Here's the House summary (2 pages)
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Media/pdf/111/HCare/WHATHCRDOESFORYOU.pdf

Here's a nice info-graphic for those of you who are inclined toward hysteria (of either the "government is taking over!" or "the US doesn't pay for medical coverage" camps) but don't particularly like to read:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2009/08/health/map.health.global/index.html

Hmm. Just realized I need an icon for posting on baby-related topics.

:D

Howdy - I'm running a survey of software development transitions in 2010 - please blog, tweet, and otherwise post & distribute.

http://bit.ly/bxiPsf

Thanks!
-Will

Ya know, I saw a movie this summer about a bunch of pitiful renegades dealing with a vast technology that was overwhelming them. One of the key plot points was basically a security breach that allowed the renegades to listen in on the signal.

A lot of people mocked the plot point about the security, but now we find out that the Predator doesn't encrypt at least a portion of the feed.

I would merely like to note that in the movie, the open signal was flat out a trap that the technology intended to use to wipe out the renegades.

Hmm.

Reposted from a comment I made in another post. Feel free to repost - this is "eat your vegetables" advice for writers...

I am constantly shocked - shocked I say! - at how many authors (and publishers, and editors) don't know how to use Word properly. For a tool that you live in, day in day, out, a professional really should know how to use Word.

You don't know how to use Word if you don't know how to:

- Use styles/stylesheets
- Paste something without formatting
- Use the document map
- Set up a table of contents
- Set up a single landscape page in the middle of a portrait document
- Use cross-references to update figures, table of contents, and index automatically
- Use the track changes feature

Also, as an indispensable tool, I strongly recommend using a PDF print-driver generator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) for all legal documents and "final" products, in particular anything you send to a printer.

Word has built-in tutorials for all of the features above (and the 2007 version is much cleaner and easier to use). I recommend that people take an hour a day over a two week period and go through each of these features - and by the end you'll really LOVE Word.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23832/

I still have the suspicion that we are (at least for the Milky Way) effectively the First Ones.

Not sure if we're up for that kind of responsibility... ;)