death note

But only because cloversix asked me to.

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the "world peace, etc." malarkey) - what are they:
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school:
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

Current Location: an iceberg fortress in Norway
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Silent Hill 2 - Children of the Monkey Machine with Steve Pordon - StaticAversion OC Remix

Killjoy Cooking With the Dungeons & Dragons Crowd

Lore Sjöberg 14 hours ago
Cookbooks are a lot like Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games. They contain seemingly rigid rules that, in practice, require a certain amount of adaptation for your own tastes.

So how come cooking gets its own TV channel and role-playing games don't even get a show on G4? Maybe the population at large doesn't want to pretend to be a half-elf. Maybe RPGs take more imagination than most people have.


However, it just might have something to do with the role-playing community. If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the results would not be pretty:

Posted: 12:15 a.m. by LordOrcus I'm so mad that there's a new edition of The Better Joy Cookbook out. Thanks for making my old copy obsolete, you greedy hacks! For five years now, my friends have been coming over for my eggplant Parmesan, and now I'm never going to be able serve it again unless I shell out 35 bucks for the latest version.

Posted: 12:42 a.m. by Kathraxis Hey, I have a question! When you preheat the oven, can you start it before you measure out the ingredients, or do you have to do it afterward? Please answer quickly, my friends and I have been arguing about it for four hours and we're getting pretty hungry.

Posted: 12:48 a.m. by Goku1440 I found an awesome loophole! On page 242 it says "Add oregano to taste!" It doesn't say how much oregano, or what sort of taste! You can add as much oregano as you want! I'm going to make my friends eat infinite oregano and they'll have to do it because the recipe says so!

Posted: 1:02 a.m. by barrybarrybarry I can't believe I spent 35 dollars on a cookbook that doesn't have a recipe for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When I buy a cookbook, I expect it to tell me how to cook. And don't tell me to just make a PBJ myself, I'm not some sort of hippy artist pretentious "freeform cook."

Posted: 1:08 a.m. by jvmkanelly Where are the recipes for chatting with friends while cooking? Where are the recipes for conversation over the meal? When I throw a dinner party, I want it to be a PARTY. I guess the idiots who use the Better Joy Cookbook just cook and eat in stony silence, never saying a word or even looking each other in the eye.

Posted: 1:23 a.m. by LordOrcus Hey, guess what? They're coming out with The Better Joy Book of Hors D'oeuvres. It just goes to show that the publishers are a bunch of corporate greedheads who care more about money than they do about cooking. Is it too much to ask for a single cookbook that contains all possible recipes?

Posted: 1:48 a.m. by specsheet Hey, everyone. I can tell just by reading the recipe that if you prepare eggs benedict as written, the sauce will separate. My mom always said the other kids made fun of me because they were jealous of my intelligence, so I must be right. Everyone who's saying that they followed the recipe and it came out perfect is either lying, or loves greasy separated hollandaise sauce.

Posted: 1:52 a.m. by IAmEd As I have pointed out MANY TIMES, several of these recipes contain raisins, and I, like most people, am ALLERGIC to raisins! And before you tell me to substitute dried cranberries, I will reiterate that I am discussing the recipes AS WRITTEN. I do not appreciate your ATTACKING ME with helpful suggestions!

Posted: 2:12 a.m. by Herodotus I just have to laugh at the recipe for Beef Wellington. In Wellington's day, ovens didn't have temperature settings! And pate de foie gras certainly didn't come in cans. It's like the authors didn't even care about replicating authentic early 19th century cooking techniques!

Posted: 2:17 a.m. by LordOrcus I have read the new Better Joy Cookbook and I am devastated to my very core. Their macaroni and cheese recipe, the very macaroni and cheese I've been making since I was in college, has been ravaged and disfigured and left bleeding on the page. Where once it contained only cheddar cheese, now the recipe calls for a mix of cheddar and Colby. It may contain macaroni, and it may contain cheese, but it is not macaroni and cheese. This is a slap in the face and a knife in the gut. You have lost me, Better Joy Cookbook. I would bid you goodbye, but I wish you nothing but the pain and rage you have delivered unto me.

Current Location: kicking everyone's ass all the time
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Freezepop - The Orange and Purple EPs - Science Genius Girl

For those interested, this year's Out in the Park is at Lincoln Park, rather than Wright.

Also, apparently I'm kinda booked for August. The 1st-3rd I'll be at Faerieworlds in Oregon (and about a day on either end I'll be in Portland hanging out with Puck). Somewhere approximating the end of said month I'll find myself at PAX. So I guess anybody wandering into either event should look around for me.

Furthermore, now that it's been released, I can fairly comment that I like 4th edition D&D. It's fun. I don't like it as much as HERO (obviously), but it's still neat.

Current Location: ninja hideout
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: FF9 in the background

"My amp is just a big dude. He yells a lot when my bass puts electricity into him."

www.lolthulhu.com

That will be all.

Current Location: valhalla
Current Mood: Agh! SAN damage!
Current Music: Metallica - ...And Justice for All - One

It's been a while since I made one of these. That has to do with the fact that I haven't been working much lately, and also the work I have been doing is on paper. First, I've come to some conclusions about Between the Spaces. Most notably, I'm dropping the Planescape campaign aspect. I'm going to use BtS exclusively as the campaign arc that leads into the end of the Mythic Age. Additionally, I'm dropping the middle section of the arc. It'll just be Portal-Slayer and Requiem. However, I am currently running a BtS Planescape game, and I'll have some campaign journal action at the end of this post. I'm a little concerned that my PCs are planning the inevitable murder of Slayer, but I think I can work with that, if it happens.

Secondly, I've been doing a lot of concept and background work on Mission: Zodiac and the Mythic Age setting. At Ariel's suggestion (she's kind of like the Zodiac copilot now) I'm starting at the a beginning with the Mythic Age. Once I get the Mythic Age all worked out and playable, I'll probably write some adventures for it (most notably Between the Spaces) and then start work on the Modern Age. In this way I'll eventually have all three Ages worked out and playable. I have some ideas for the way the mechanics will go (again, on paper), and I think I'm likely to use something resembling these skills, although there are to be some changes given the work I've done since then.

( And on to the campaign journal )

More updates as they come up.

Current Location: dagobah system
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Aladdin - Robin Williams - Friend Like Me

I just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I read the books about a year ago and was pleased with them, so I was looking forward to seeing the movie. I was sorely disappointed. Not merely because it's the movie version of a book, as I'm accustomed to the differences therein. It's because it's a horribly composed movie. There are huge empty spaces of movement or drifting or just nothing really at all, sometimes softened with classical music. The worst part was the ending, which was beautiful but completely meaningless; making no effort to explain or even properly exposition what was going on. That's the big endemic problem with the movie - it made very little (if any) effort to detail the plot or link together storyline elements.

Current Location: kicking everyone's ass all the time
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Final Fantasy VI - McVaffe - Weepy Loop OC Remix

Sakuracon was this weekend. Unlike the past three years, I didn't go. I think I needed to not do it one year to understand why I like doing it.

Instead, I played some video games. genechildmewtwo recently acquired an Xbox 360, and so I played it while he was at con. I played Mass Effect, which is pretty cool. Also I played Rock Band, which I am quite impressed with. I've played bass and drums so far. Bass (and, presumably, guitar) utilise my Guitar Hero skills, and so I do that reasonably well. Drums are a little more complex, and will require development of a game skill I'm not particularly possessed of. I watched gcm do vocals, and that seems reasonably non-complex.

Current Location: practicing my kung fu superpowers
Current Music: Final Fantasy VII - DJ Carbunk1e - Suffering Planet OC Remix

I've been watching River Tam Beats Up Everybody. It's pretty great.

Current Location: kicking everyone's ass all the time
Current Mood: excited

I finished up that work on the Mission: Zodiac Planescape Document I was talking about. Basically, I wanted the magic/psychic system to emulate (in a faint way) the same systems from Planescape's native D&D. Note that the system allows for more "spells" and "powers", if desired. Now I'm back to work on Between the Spaces.

Current Location: m:Z inc.
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Somebody's watching Hook in my room

First, in the list of wacky things I've actually said to someone, "You're right. ARRRRR! is a masculine name."

I killed (almost) everyone in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft today. Hopefully it goes better next time.

Also, big sexy televisions make video games way cooler.

Current Location: ninja hideout
Current Mood: accomplished

So, yeah. Haven't been working on much over the past week or two.

However, I've got a couple new things going now. First, I've decided the Mission: Zodiac Planescape Document requires some revision. Second, I'm working with darkain on some redesigns for the website, because I believe in RMX Theory. I'll be sure, as you know, to notify when anything is done.

Current Location: m:Z inc.
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Falconer - Chapters from a Vale Forlorn - Stand in Veneration

A lamp powered by gravity has won the second prize at the Greener Gadgets Conference in NYC.

This is amazing. I mean, powered by gravity?

Current Location: an iceberg fortress in Norway
Current Mood: mildly astounded
Current Music: Falconer - Chapters from a Vale Forlorn - Stand in Veneration

This message is mostly for people who live in Washington, although I suppose it's generically applicable to other people in my country, as well.

It's a political message, which is a bit weird for me. But for those in my state, our caucus is tomorrow. We've been labouring under a bad president for eight years, and here is a chance to deal with it. Here in Washington, the Democratic candidate is chosen by the caucus only - your vote in the primary is irrelevant. So if you support a Democrat for president, the caucus is an important step in getting that candidate supported, so you can vote for him (or maybe her) in November. For my state, the caucus is tomorrow (that is to say, 9 February) at 13 (or, for some people, 1 PM). There's a handy online tool here to find your caucus location.

Current Location: international space station
Current Mood: calm

I'm reworking Act I of Between the Spaces: Portal-Slayer. I've decided I would really prefer for it to start out as a planar game, rather than beginning on the Prime and segueing into it. I'm not exactly sure where it's going to pick up, but really it just needs to alter Act I. Act II is nice and planar. Although, actually, it would also require a reworking of Act V, as that was sort of an introduction to Sigil. Maybe I'll make Act V into Act I, and then rework Act V. That could work.

Current Location: cipher HQ, Elysium
Current Mood: contemplative

If any of you have the chance to watch Requiem for a Dream:

Don't. It's a horrible, horrible movie. It is completely empty and futile, and not in that cool way we see exemplified in the Grey Waste. Just avoid it. And tell other people to avoid it.

Don't be like my asshole of a friend Ben and recommend it to people.

Current Location: in a fucking titan missile base
Current Mood: angry

Little bits of touch-up today. I made a list of generically applicable skills for Mission: Zodiac, which cascaded into a small flurry of changes to the Mission: Zodiac Planescape Document. Most notably, I added a new skill (Initiative), which is one I've felt a need for but hadn't gotten around to doing anything about. Also, I folded Science and Knowledge skills together, so they're just Knowledge now. Also, all of those skills in the MZPD (like Logic) that were simply Knowledge skills with their own entry are gone. Now they are, for example, Knowledge (Logic). More streamlined that way.

Current Location: an iceberg fortress in Norway

So what have I been doing?

Reading, mostly. See, I've decided to put another project on my plate. I've recently acquired some Call of Cthulhu books, and I'm working up some ideas for a campaign. I've completed my initial perusal of them, and now I need to let some ideas tumble around in my head for a bit. That's part of my process. I don't expect this to supercede work on Between the Spaces, just another project that I'll work on concurrently.

Current Location: rolling up your hometown to rebuild the universe

I've updated Mission: Zodiac with the first couple chapters of some stories I have in progress (The Alchemist and the Fiend and Nexus: The Elemental Gates).

Oh, I've also put up the intro page and prologue for Between the Spaces: Portal Slayer. It's about time I got started on that.

Current Location: practicing my kung fu superpowers
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Dragonforce - - Fury of the Storm

Some big uploads to Mission: Zodiac. Mostly to the idea that it's where I'm putting all my projects there. As such, current and future stories will show up there, as well as my gaming work. Essentially, if you like what I do it can all be found at M:Z. I'll still be updating people here on what it is that I'm doing, so you don't even have to go anywhere to hear about my amazingness.

Current Location: m:Z inc.
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Weezer - - Say It Ain't So