Skill challenges were one of the few things that everyone in my gaming group liked about Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Thought it had its issues in its initial iteration, Star Wars: Saga Edition further refined the idea, and we used it to great effect. It’s a subsystem I was sad to see missing from 5th Edition, but … Read more
An up-close look at one of Japan’s five Ryuseito swords, forged from meteorites: A look at the forging and subsequent history of these “comet swords”. One of the five blades is missing, which sounds like great fodder for one of my Weird Pulp campaign. Star Trek: Picard Timeline Updated and Explained: How Hugh, Data, and Seven of Nine … Read more
Scientists Agree: Coffee Naps Are Better Than Coffee or Naps Alone: Drink some coffee. Take a 20-minute nap. Wake up feeling more refreshed than ever. Bank Of Canada Urges ‘Star Trek’ Fans To Stop ‘Spocking’ Their Fivers: People keep transforming Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh prime minister, into Star Trek’s Spock in honor of the late Leonard … Read more
The summer is racing along. Our June trip to Lake Champlain seems like it was a year ago. My second big vacation of the summer – a week in Maine with my extended family, then a week of scout camp with Neutronlad is over and work is looming large. Band camp, that annual ritual for … Read more
I’m looking for a good day pack. Ideally, it should be able to hold a camping weekend’s worth of clothes (e.g. t-shirts, shorts, underwear, socks) and have multiple compartments (a larger internal area for clothes and such, and at least one smaller, externally accessible area closed by a clasp or zipper. It needs to have … Read more
My third Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader arrived just in time for my June vacation. The 10th generation Kindle’s boasts two notable improvements: it’s waterproof and it integrates with Audible audiobooks. I greatly enjoyed my Kindles … right until screen damage ended their digital lives. I’m not exactly sure how it happened (I suspect some combination … Read more
It’s Gonna Be Easier Than Ever To Play Dungeons & Dragons: IGN looks at the new Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Starter Set, which includes a 64-page rulebook for creating characters from levels 1-5 (bard, cleric fighter, rogue, wizard) and a new introductory adventure, “Dragon of Icespire Peak”. From what they describe, I think this has the potential … Read more
Meet Recon, my family’s newest Seeing Eye pup. He’s a male black Labrador retriever and the fourth puppy we’ve raised for the Seeing Eye. The Seeing Eye is a non-profit organization that breeds, raises, and trains puppies to serve as guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired. We got him on July 1 and I spent … Read more
In my “One Awesome Summer” post, I talked about my goals for the summer. It’s a big list, and I’ll likely not do everything on it … but I can try. The point of this post is to take a look at those goals and see where I am. As I mentioned back in January, reflection … Read more
Summer is here. And it’s hella busy. Huge projects are in progress at work, divided up by family vacations that bring relaxation and their own special kind of stress. Oh, and we’ve got scout camp through in for good measure … and college visits and … well, a summer’s worth of activities. All that said, … Read more