Category: Nerdiness

The weekend before last was, for me, the first garage sale of the year. Hooray! It’s like the swallows returning to Capistrano. I bought a handy little lamp. Some girl at some house on some street was having some garage sale and there were 6 Lovecraft books, and a bunch of other stuff that I wanted, but none of which I actually needed, and since I still have to watch my wallet pending some overdue payments from publishers, I didn’t end up buying anything. I think the girl must have been a friend of Kier-La’s because there was a bunch of Cinemuerte stuff.

On Friday I had another miniature painting potluck which was much more successful than the previous one. Only Marlo & Nathan came to that one (and we ended up playing Talisman). This time we had Gibbons, Bev, Kelly & Paul, Marlo and Stewie, and I painted a bunch of little guys. Marlo brought a lot of expensive cheeses which I slightly melted when I put them on top of the stove to get them out of the way (I was baking candied yams inside the stove at the time). Kelly brought some delicious chocolate mousse.

On Saturday I helped Taylor move into his new place. It took less than 3 hours from start to finish and I got a free breakfast at Bon’s out of the deal, and I got to ride in the back of a rented van with Marlo. We hit some garage sales with the van and Marlo got a chair and Stewie got a filing cabinet.

Saturday night we (Stewie, Marlo, Stephane, Sheri & I) went to see The Animation Show at the Ridge and it was fantastic. My favourite was Ward 13. I loved the way that there was a lot of action, but the hero didn’t actually spend much time in fisticuffs, it was all hilarious accidental acrobatics and jedi-like cane fights. And a cthulhoid like monster to boot! It had everything going for it. Check out the front page image of http://www.ward13.com.au/ for an idea, and you can download the trailer from there too.

On Sunday we played D&D and we got the details down for all the new monstrous bodies that the characters have had their minds swapped with (1000 years in the past). They’re in a vast library right now that holds the spirit of a semi-dead god of knowledge, and they’re boning up on their skills. The barbarian is even trying to learn how to read. They met a new jovial little cyclops named Gorlock who will be travelling with them to make sure all the cool magic items they’re borrowing from the library are safely returned after their quest.

Last night we started making up characters for a new D&D campaign – the one that will adapt several episodes of the 80’s cartoon DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. I already know which episode I’m adapting first. It should be pretty fun. Marlo made up a hippie with a ferret who will become a druid with a magic staff. Graeme made up a jock who will become a rogue with a magic bola. Norm made up a young kid who will become a barbarian with a magic greatsword. Geisel is gonna make up a guy who becomes a bard with some kind of magical instrument.

Tomorrow night is the miniature painting potluck party – where people come over to paint their miniatures and have some food. I’ve had about…3 or 4 of these I guess. My brother might come! He just called to say he’ll be coming by with my Christmas presents in the next couple of days.

I was interviewed by…Shaw I think, at the gaming convention this weekend. So watch out for me on everyone’s favourite channel: 4. Kathryn did a good job of promoting the con so not only did the TV people com, but we got a mention in the (Westender?) which made fun of nerds and mentioned that the event was free (it was not). I tried not to say anything too stupid in front of the camera – time will tell if I succeeded, or if the bit even makes it onto the tube. I mentioned how D&D is not quite the stigma it used to be, thanks to video games, and that gamers range all genders, age groups, and walks of life. Of all the gaming stores that support the VGG, I only mentioned Drexoll Games and Checkpoint Charlie’s, and I also forgot to mention our website. Oh well, at least I had fantastic hair.

So they’re cancelling Enterprise…just when they’re getting to the stuff that I always hoped they’d do – the formation of the Federation. True, Archer sucked, and so did T’Pol with her pouty collagen lips and refusal to be Vulcan. In fact the only characters that I really like are Phlox and Hoshi, in that order. And let’s not forget Jeffrey Combs. It seems such a shame that my wish to see a Star Trek series that used space suits was finally granted, and I only got 4 seasons. Yet Voyager got 7.

So this coming weekend is the big fat gaming convention that we like to call Weathertop. A great deal of my free time has been spent in preparation for this weekend of fun and frivolity. Unlike the last couple of conventions, I will actually be PLAYING some games, rather than just running games, and watching the door. So I’m pretty excited about that. I’m going to run a new scenario of Spaceship Zero on Saturday, which I am testing out with Taylor and Nathan and others on Thursday. Wednesday night will probably be the last night I can just chill out and relax before the weekend.

The rest of February looks to be full of exciting things. I’m having a Miniature Painting Potluck Party on…the 10th I think. And it’s Janet’s birthday on the 12th. Maybe the 18th or 19th would be a good night for a movie night with the usual suspects, and maybe the 16th or 23rd for another game night at Sherane’s. And the 8th is Nirvana Day so I’ll be sure to listen to “Love Buzz.”

Then in March – the Saturday Morning Cartoon Party. Awwwww yeahhhhh.

Since my Disney’s Tomorrowland DVD showed up, my thoughts for the cartoon party have all been spacey. I’m pretty excited. That tomorrowland DVD is really cool. Educational and the art is fantastic. I can watch those things while I draw, and there’s 8 hours of stuff. I sought it out after I saw the Mars animation at “The Animation Show” put on by Don Hertzfeldt and Mike Judge last year. It’s fantastic in the true sense of the word. There’s lots of Werner von Braun, too, the guy who developed the V2 rockets for nazi Germany. He has a huge segment talking about a space station and the rocket that would launch from it to see the dark side of the moon. Keep in mind this is all post-war, pre-moon landing. Taylor and I were making bad jokes at work about “zis is der space ztation, vhich is vhere ve send all ze ‘spezial’ people. Iz zhere air up zhere? Ve don’t know?” But in reality von Braun was pretty crummy at being a nazi.

So, cartoons. Rocket Robin Hood obviously. Star Trek. Maybe the Heavy Metalesque Star Wars cartoon from the holiday special (1st appearance of Boba Fett). The ghostbusters in space. Duckman’s sendup of Star Trek. Galaxy Trio. 1960’s Spider-Man (there is a space one). Fantastic Four (have you seen the trailer for the movie? I don’t like it). Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot (the one that spoofs HAL). Justice League, clearly. Herculoids, Freakazoid, Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Mooninites, anyone?). Jonny Quest and the Venture Brothers. Ren and Stimpy (“Space Madness”). Maybe Thundarr the Barbarian & Reboot. Ripping Friends. There is a spacey Samurai Jack episode but it’s not my favourite. I can’t think of a spacey Powerpuff Girls episode. Oh yes – The Tick (Omnipitus!).

Today I went to Imperial Hobbies with Marlo and we bought some miniatures. The Arcana Unearthed line has some pretty cool figures, but I’ve always been wishy-washy about picking any up. Today I got a cool Inshon that could pass as a hydronaut for Spaceship Zero, and a mohj, which is like a lizard man. Marlo wanted to get a DM screen, but they only had the Dragonlance one (poopy) and the one that comes with the d20 modern screen (unnecessary). We spent a goodly amount of time there and I only got through about half of the Reaper miniatures on the wall. So many I wanted to get, like the “demonic lasher” (aka Yeenoghu), the demon lord of gnolls.

We went to the Aberdeen mall next and I saw in a Japanese toy store a really cool little steampunky figure that I would have bought, except that it’s one of those “collectible” things like Heroclix, D&D miniatures, and those little action figures that are kind of Lego-ey but not Lego. You buy a box and you’ll get one of 7 toys. I am sooooo not inclined to spend ten bucks on something if I don’t know what it is. I only really liked 2 of the 7 figures. I didn’t like those odds. And I refuse to support that ridiculous marketing scheme. I call shenanigans on that.

All three of our bus rides sucked, by the way. On the way to Richmond, there were some bratty kids and their bratty dad or big brother or whatever, who were so annoying that we got up and moved away from them, only to end up next to some dim-witted high school man-twits. Between Imperial and the Aberdeen mall we had to endure short, weird, talk-to-everyone-but-say-nothing guy who may or may not have had some kind of disability. Lastly, on the way home our feet were so tired that we were looking forward to sitting down, but the bus was just crowded enough that we were two of a handful of people who couldn’t get seats. Frustrating. But the good news is on Sundays I ride for free with Marlo because she has a pass!

Next weekend: Chilliwack and Karaoke with the Woods’ and more!

My girlfriend is learning how to be a Dungeon Master. How awesome is that? The answer is: plenty awesome. I want to be a wizard. No, I want to be a totem warrior from Arcana Unearthed. No, I want to be a halforc monk. No, I want to be a…

We played a game of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Saturday and I played the “ops” guy, whose name was Lieutenant George Thampy (“Spellbound” fans take note).

I think it would be fun to make up a “what non-standard D&D race are you?” quiz, but you better your bottom GP I’m not going to sit down for X hours/days and work out the programming for that. So, just choose your favourites:

drow
tiefling (devil blood)
aasimar (celestial [angel] blood)
genasi (genie blood) – air/earth/fire/water
aranea
centaur
drider
salamander
sprite (grig, nixie, pixie)
harpy
lillend (points if you even know what the heck this is)
medusa/half-medusa
mind flayer (illithid)
ogre/half-ogre
satyr
troll
aellar (winged elf)
blinkling
lizardfolk
gnoll
goblin
kuo-toa
nymph
giant
merfolk
troglodyte
dryad
sthein (elf/naga)
werewolf
woodwose (elf/treant)
bugbear
derro
duergar
formian
githyanki
githzerai
hobgoblin
kobold
orc
yuan-ti

Plush beholder doll!!!!

http://www.paizo.com/store/toys/plushes/other/v5748btpy775z

That’s going on my list, for sures. Also the plush caltrops are a hoot, as is the Lovecraftian moon-beast (from Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath). The beholder is king, though.