Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Troll Post-Mortem
April 11, 2011

Of all of the things that happened at the game last night, at least the story thread didn’t fall apart. I’ve been running this game with the intent of getting the players to a specific place, and seeing what they do with it. There’s the intent to bring drama to the adventure along the way, and have to have the characters make some decisions that they might not want to make, which as a DM I feel is part of essential character development. So that they’re mostly keeping to the story that I’m producing is a good thing. I guess.

To provide a quick introduction to the story: While on a search for her missing sister, a House Canith artificer finds the remaining parts of an artifact that her sister hastily let behind, and begins to unravel an ancient mystery. The church of the silver flame has issued a command to the cleric and paladin that are her temporary companions, to stick with her and make sure that she makes the right decisions that do not upset the balance of the world, or else “do what needs to be done”. The search for her sister and the missing component of the artifact she’s collecting have led the party - including a wizard and an archivist - across Thrane in the continent of Korvaire, Eberron.

My Strange and Evolving Relationship with Coffee
April 08, 2011

I’m sure there are kids out there that like coffee. Abby has become a morning tea drinker, making herself tea before 4th grade quite regularly. She uses a lot of milk in her tea. But she doesn’t drink coffee at all. And as a kid, neither did I. I wonder at what point we cross the threshold from not liking coffee to liking it.

I guess I can’t even say I “like” it. When it comes down to it, and I really think about it, it’s a rare cup of coffee that I like to drink. If I think back, I can actually pinpoint the beginning of my coffee-drinking days, and it does come from the first time I enjoyed a coffee drink.

Lifestyles of the Run-Down and Fatigued
April 07, 2011

I’ve been burning the candle at both ends quite a bit lately. Weekends of sleeping in aren’t enough to cover it and I’m still not using any of the extra time to be more active. My normal level of mental agility is impaired and it’s starting to show. And most disconcertingly, I can’t get this stupid Mika song out of my head.

I’m not yet willing to commit to Ben Franklin’s regimen, also known as The Old Man Schedule, partially because it doesn’t quite suit my activity list, and partially because 5am??? All I’m willing to say at this point is that something must be done to improve the situation.

Kids of Torchlight
April 06, 2011

It was just a matter of time until I lured them into my hobbies. Abby and Riley have both been playing Torchlight on the Xbox lately.

I sat with Abby as she chose her character and went through the first 6-7 levels of advancing her character. Her choices were interesting. When choosing a character to start, there are only three options – two male characters, and one female. She chose the female character reluctantly, saying that she was wearing too little clothing. Abby doesn’t care for immodestly dressed women. I’m not sure where this comes from, but she doesn’t care for most magazine ads, either. I told her that as she played the game, it was likely that she would be able to acquire different clothing for her character, so this worry passed.

Power Time
March 31, 2011

Yesterday afternoon when my PC screens went blanks and the UPSes started chiming incessantly, there was one thing I wasn’t worried about: The computers clocks coming back up with the right time. I’m pretty sure that even if the computer didn’t have the battery inside to keep the clock up to date, they all connect to an NTP server to update their time, much like cell phones use the cell network to determine the correct time. This is why I’m surprised at the response of the rest of the house clocks when the power goes out.

Sure, there are a few clocks that just lose the time. That’s to be expected. But then there is the bedroom alarm clock. The bedroom alarm clock, like most of the other clocks in the house, goes dark when the power goes out. But when the power comes back on, it hasn’t lost any time. On the other hand, it hasn’t gained any time, either. This is a dangerous business, since it looks close enough to correct - not flashing annoyingly - to convince you not to mess with it, but it’s off significantly enough to get you into work late.