Monday, May 29, 2017

Organizing Our Board Games

My wife and I have wanted to organize our board-games (at least in one place) for years.  well this past holiday weekend we finally cleared a space in our basement and set up a storage shelf.  For your viewing pleasure, I am hereby posting our Board-game Shelfie! 


A Great Way to Wake Up!

The summer after my mother remarried we moved out to Wakefield, KS to live with my Stepdad for the summer and then return to Kentucky for the next school year.  He was station at Fort Riley, KS.

That summer was an amazing time.  I was only 14 at the time and didn't realize how little of the world I had actually seen.  During that summer a bunch of amazing firsts occurred (these are not in any particular order):  Played D&D for the first time, read a novel with sex in the story ( Robert Silverberg Majipoor series), flashed by the wife of one of my stepdads co-workers, made out with a pair of 14 year old twins (at the same time), and baby-sat 3 children.

The kids in question belong to a couple who are friends with my Mom and Stepdad.  Both my stepdad and the father of the 3 kids were in the Army.  Wakefield, KS is a very small town on the shore of Milford Lake and very quiet town.  My stepdad and his friends were probably the wildest bunch in the area since they all road motorcycles and were part of the "Wakefield Bunch".  The mom of the 3 kids would have to go to work early and the Dad would have too leave soon after to get to morning PT/Formation at Fort Riley.  So the dad would ride his Harley up to our house to pick me up and then we would both ride back to his house so that I could watch the kids for a few hours until their mom got home from work.

To this day riding a Harley several blocks thru town at 4:30am is still one of the best way I have found to wake up in the morning.  The memory of those morning rides has stayed with me since.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Tabletop: Will Wheaton Plays FATE Core with Felecia Day, John Rogers, and Ryan Macklin

 


TABLETOP: WIL WHEATON PLAYS FATE CORE WITH FELICIA DAY, JOHN ROGERS, AND RYAN MACKLIN

I have been an on again and off again follower of Wil Wheaton's Tabletop videos.  Usually I just check out the games I have been interested in playing and want to see a group try it out...the groups being made up of celebrities doesn't hurt either.

As a long time fan of Roleplaying games, I have only recently started branching into the FATE system.  I enjoyed watching this video of the game play and it give a very good example of how to run a FATE adventure.

If you have some free time, check it out.


Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots - Review

 

Seanan McGuire and her Velveteen series were flying under my radar when it came to superhero fiction.   Until I read Team-Ups and Crossovers (Wearing the Cape Book 6) by Marion G. Harmon.  In his book the main character is traveling across dimensions and founds herself in Seanan McGuire’s Velveteen universe.
I enjoyed the Velveteen chapters of Mr. Harmon’s novel and went to pick up the first of the Velveteen series.  I have had a difficult time putting the Velveteen books down.  Seanan has created a world where superheroes not only exist but they are strictly controlled by a corporation, The Super Patriots.  In this world our heroine has quit the team and struck out on her own and is just trying to live her life, but the Super Patriots have other plans. 

The books are fun and entertaining to read.  The characters have an appeal that reaches out into our own lives.  Seanan has brought a wonderfully deep character to life and without the in-depth battle description that are the core of some of the other super hero fiction.  She delivers an entertaining series of books that are character focused and not all about the flare and excitement of super powers.

Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots

The