Bidi’s World Microblog Digest for 3/28/2008

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Here are the latest happenings from some of the various microblogs I use across the net.

  • [twitter] Blogging about today’s GameStorm fun. - 12:52 am
  • [twitter] Having a pop perfect moment omw to the con listening to irock radio podcast. - 8:28 am
  • [twitter] Wow snow! Didn’t expect this. - 8:36 am
  • [twitter] Trying to get into a greyhawk game. - 10:05 am
  • [image] Cool view at the gaming convention (by Bidimus) - 4:10 pm

3/27/2008

  • [twitter] GameStorm 10 starts tomorow. Finally got all my characters and contact cards printed out for the convention. - 12:32 am
  • [image] 4th edition demo (by Bidimus) - 10:53 pm

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GameStorm 10 - 4th Edition Demos

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

The first day at GameStorm was a booming success for me. Today was essentially a chance for those who had preregistered to get an early start. Though I don’t have enough experience to say with any authority, it is my understanding that more gaming conventions these days are having early start days.

On the agenda for this evening there was really only one thing that really caught my eye though. There was a D&D 4th edition demo as well as a demo of the new D&D Mini’s system.

They were both a lot of fun. I think I’ll be using the new mini’s rules going forward for sure. The dynamics just make more sense than they used to. The new rules also fall closer in line with how the RPG mechanics work so your not constantly reminding yourself “5′ step here, no 5′ step there” among other annoyances.

I like the way the 4th edition RPG played out as well. I felt like my special abilities were more accessible due to how often they cycled. This added immensely to the fun factor of playing the game. There will be a bit of a learning curve to it but only because of how unfamiliar some of the new mechanics are and not because they are any more difficult. I think someone coming into the game fresh will have a much easier time of it.

One thing in particular about 4th edition I thin will work very well is how difficulty levels of encounters are now calculated. The new system is much simpler and as such building encounters or scaling existing encounters for odd sized groups looks much easier. I don’t know if I’ll go out and buy a bunch of fresh 4th edition books as soon as they hit the shelf but I will make the move eventually for sure.

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GameStorm 10

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

GameStorm 10 starts tomorow. I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I first heard about it at Nerdcon 2007. I had no idea that there was a decent gaming convention so close to home.

So far I’ve signed up for a D&D 4th edition demo, Shadowrun for beginners, Living GreyHawk for beginners, a beginners Star Wars RPGA game, and of course a Living Arcanis game. I’m also hoping to get in some card games too including a Magic the Gathering and a World of Warcraft TCG tournament.

I know that some of the guys I’ve been playing Living Arcanis with lately are going to be there. My ranger has hit level 4 and is becoming quite deadly with a bow. With some luck we’ll be able to sit down and game a bit. I also hope to make a bunch of new friends as well. This should be a really fun week.

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Bidi’s World Microblog Digest for 3/17/2008

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Here are the latest happenings from some of the various microblogs I use across the net.

03/16/08

03/15/08

  • [twitter] Coding on a weekend for fun. What the heck am I thinking? Fun for crying out loud! - 4:02 pm

03/13/08

  • [twitter] Just installed TwitterFox on my work PC. My favorite firefox twitter plugin yet. - 12:42 pm
  • [twitter] Time is moving way to fast these days. I can’t seem to get anything done. - 5:21 pm

03/12/08

  • [twitter] Dog training is almost over. Rocket is doing well. Next week is graduation. :) - 10:27 pm

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Synaptic System Failure

Monday, February 4th, 2008

I had a truly amazing year in 2007. As the year went on, I got more and more ambitious. By Christmas I had so much going on I think the creative part of my mind just shut down.

I would wake up in the morning and think about all the things I wanted to do during the day and it was a very long list. I’m only talking about the things I really wanted to do too. There was also all the things I had to do. It got so bad that not only did I start using a calendar but I even scheduled stuff out into 2008.

Indecision over what needed doing first became a huge problem and all the while I kept thinking of new projects and endeavors I wanted to start which just added to the confusion. By the time December came around all I wanted to do was focus on our Christmas vacation trip to my parents and nothing else. The blog, podcast, gaming, and everything was on hold at this point.

Here we are in the new year and I’ve finally had time to think. I’ve decided it is time to focus my priorities and here is what I have planned for 2008.

It’s time to wake up JD’s Musical Alchemy and get back to reviewing the music I love so much. Putting the show together was becoming a chore and taking away from the enjoyment of finding and presenting the music. This was mostly because I kept trying to find better ways to improve the quality at the cost of more labor. My goal for this year is to keep it simple so I can focus on the music.

The boy's first ride.I have a hand full of motorcycle trips scheduled for 2008 already including a rally in Eastern Oregon. Except for the occasional weekend ride I’m going to stick with what I have scheduled instead of trying to fit in every event available this year.

Last year I found a cool gaming group that seemed to focus on “organized play” games. Shortly after hooking up with them the coordinator for the group stepped down from his role. I had thought I would be able to help put together game days to keep things moving but it looks like I won’t have the time to learn enough about the games to really do a good job scheduling events. I should be able to fit in the occasional game though and I hope to be able to referee a campaign at some point with a system I’m familiar with.

I’m having a blast gaming with the family too. In addition to continuing to play World of Warcraft with the wife, we purchased a Wii just before Christmas and picked up a few new games over the holidays. The Wii has a very different style of console gaming and I’ll go into that in more detail in another post. I have also picked up a number of table top games for the family to play together.

We also have a new addition in the family. Rocket is a one year old Lab/Aussie mix. He’s smart, friendly, and a huge ball of energy. We started basic training this week at PetSmart and even after just one class I’m already seeing progress. While Rocket is a family dog, much of the responsibility falls on me as it was on my insistence that we adopted him from the rescue group.

The last thing I want to do is work on my painting. Last year I decided to get back into painting in water colors. This year I hope to continue that and perhaps even take a class or two. My next Christmas my goal is to be able to make my own hand made holiday cards.

So 2008 is perhaps going to be even more busy than last year. It is my hope that it will be better organized than last year though.

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