Saturday, February 05, 2005

Franks Geekdom Saturday

Hello everybody and welcome to another installment of geekiness in all of it's finest.
Today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite old school AD&D 2nd Ed. campaign settings:
DarkSun.
Yep, that's right, DarkSun
For those of you who don't play rpg's or think that those of us who do are socially inept wierdo's the typical campaign setting is something out of Tolkiens Lord of the Rings, Army of Darkness and LadyHawk, but without the bad LadyHawk soundtrack.
High fantasy with incredible creatures and magic.
And most echo each other.
Imensenly.
There's only one other setting that doesn't come off as cheesy that is original as DarkSun, but that's another topic.
What I love about it?
Well first of all the races.

Half-Giants, a mingling of giants and humans lineage to create a simple though very free race of people.

Thri Kreen: This insect guys are cool. Not only do they have four arms, but they consider anything not a Thri Kreen a potential food source. Not to mention they have a huge ass empire that's just threatening to over take the rest of the world.

Mul's: Who would have thought that half dwarf, half men with no body hair could be so cool. Not only are they tough as hell, but they are one of the coolest concept races I've come across yet.

Elves aren't cheesy wussy's anymore. These folks are tall and lanky, running across the desert that is Athas striking caravans, killing the guards, taking the goods and water and running away.

Dwarves: Ok, admittedly the dwarves of DarkSun are kind of wierd. Obsessive compulsive bastards, they have a life goal that they have to accomplish, or thier children must take up the ball.

Halflings: These folks are cool for two reason; 1) they are the original race of Athas and 2) most of them are feral, barbaric, canabalistic folk with a penchat for savagry. Gone are the serene pastorals of Tolkien. These aren't Bilbos or Frodos

Then of course.. humans: All humans serve the Dragon Kings, or at least pretend too. Either as slaves (sucks to be one of these, as you could end up as a sacrifice or in the gladitorial pits) or as a free citizen who's taxed heavily. Oh there are merchants, using the giant lizards or bugs to pull large convoys of goods and materials from city state to city state. There are also villages of folks either gathered around one of the strange elemental clerics, or groupings of escaped slaves.

The classes changed too.
Fighters were still fighters, but gladiators were more common.
Clerics didn't worship or serve a god, but the elements.
Rogues and Bards typically serve a noble household and are used as espionage tools.
and wizards... well wizards are special.

You see the idea and history of the DarkSun world, Athas, is that magic was discovered my a single man, Rajaat. He discovered two ways to use magic. One is willy nilly and takes the life energy out of things around it, the other is more peaceful and non harmful....
guess which one he used?

Athas has been decimated by magic. The races are struggling for survival, and unbeknowest to them the Kings of the city states, who are slowly turning into Dragons, are using populations of slaves to keep Rajaat in limbo through sacrifice. There are a group of wizards fighting against the evil Dragon Kings using preservation magic, but they are being hunted.

Then there is of course psionic power. Everybody has some sort of psionic power in DarkSun. And the most powerful of the Psionists, the Mind Lords are protecting the last remaining lizard men who, along with all the other races you expect to see in a DnD campaign setting were hunted to extition by each of the Dragon Kings when they were still loyal to Rajaat.

Confused?
Good. It's complicated, sort of.
DarkSun has it's own flavor, and feel. And I love it.

Next week: Al Qadim.


Friday, February 04, 2005

Wow, last night!
Wow!
The evening started off ok. I left work early to go take care of a couple of things and get some food.
Then I moseyed up to campus for Polish Joke rehearsal.
After rehearsal I get hooked up with bagels from Kathy B. and wow did she hook me up.
(I just at one for breakfast in fact).
I went home, relaxed for a bit, made a phone call and took a twenty minute nap.
Then back to rehearsal I go.
Near midnight I finish, with the Executive Dance rehearsal, which went well, then went off to see my friend Kip at his job.
As you can see my evening was pretty active.
At 2 a.m. I head off to home, looking forward to seeing a pillow and the woman of my dreams.
I get there, and go to go inside the house and.... the doors locked.
There are those of you who know this, but I live in a basement apartment of a house.
The door of my apartment is inside the house itself down a small set of stairs.
There is a door that opens up into this set of stairs, one going up to the attic and the ground level apartment, and one that goes down to mine.
It was this door, the door that isn't intended to be locked, that I don't (and I don't think anybody else does) have a key for.
So I couldn't get in.
There I am standing outside in the cold, my face red with anger and a violent fit striking me.
The guys that live on the ground floor were in bed for some unexplicable reason.
I know it's 2 a.m. but usually they are up keeping the other residents awake at that time with their yelling and running around.
I can't get in.
The windows no good. Too small.
Even if I lose fifty pounds I couldn't fit, my shoulders are too wide to go through.
So I drive to Gossners.
My friend Skinner works graves out there, and he's a small scrawny guy.
I talk with him, and convince him to break into my apartment on his lunch, which sadly doesn't come for two more hours.
So I venture back out to where Kip works and hang out with him for time.
Then back to Gossners and finally home.
Where Skinner succeeds.
Knocking around alot of stuff in the process.
But by about 5:30 a.m. I'm able to go to sleep.
All because some asshole locked a door that wasn't supposed to be locked.
And yes, I'm still incredibly pissed about the whole ordeal.
Maybe it's the lack of sleep.
Or maybe it's the hassle.
Or maybe it's because I still want to strangle the individual responsible...wait no that's a result of my anger.
Wow. What a night.
I'm printing up a sign here at work today to post on the door.
That'll show them.
That and the threat of bodily fluids if it happens again.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Well, one show down.
Another notch on my belt, and line on my list of plays.
Into the Woods was, well a success.
Despite the unlikelyhood that it would be a decent show, let alone a good show, it was a good show.
I don't know how we pulled it off.
I'll have to research that one.
Executive dance this Saturday.
I find myself starting to like dancing, especially when it's with a girl.
Now don't get me wrong John's a great guy, but there's nothing more wonderful than holding a woman in your arms and looking into her eyes.
Also Polish Joke.
We just started rehearsal to that and I am excited.
I get to work with a couple of people that I have alot of respect for as actors, and that I haven't had the opportunity to work with before: Cory Castillo, and Kathy Bateman.
Those of you who know them, know that they're both wonderful people and fine actors.
I've got alot of respect for both of them and I'm excited for this opportunity.
Plus, I got some kickass parts in the play.
Roman and O'Flanagan make it all worth it.


Wednesday, February 02, 2005

I've been trying, and not completely succeeding, to drink at least two quarts of water a day.
I can usually get one quart in with no problem, the second one often eludes.
There are days I can make three or four.
I didn't drink enough yesterday.
I'm dried up today.
I'm also trying to eat better.
That's proving to be more of a challenge then drinking copious amounts of water.
When I have time to prepare a meal.
Well I do.
Sadly running from work to rehearsal tto rehearsal or performance and the rehearsal doesn't allow much in the way of time.
But I'm trying.
One final thing to do.
Exercise.
Big monkey on my back that one.
Actually the big monkey is laziness.
Yep.
I've been cultivating the "little" fella for years now.
He's comfortable.
So comfortable in fact that he's pulled up a laziboy, a tub of popcorn and has proceeded to watch the movie, the really dull movie, that is my life.
And trying to shake him off is like trying to shake off a building.
Walking is an option that I like.
I enjoy walking.
It's actually good exercise.
But I've noticed something about it...
It takes time.
And I've noticed that I usually don't have enough time to do it.
That pisses me off.
Not a lot.
Just a little.
Well, enough boredom for one day.
Joel and Deanne, call me this weekend or I'll call you.

there, I have my say.