An Indepth Look Into A Geek's Soul

It seems that a lot has been going on lately.  The first thing, and most important by far, is that I have gotten married to the wonderful and beautiful Megan.  I have a whole post I want to write about the wedding and the marriage so far, but I want to wait until the photos are done, so I can link them to you guys.  For now, we shall move onto more trivial and unimportant matters in life.

First up in the unimportant updates would be the announcement of the newest edition of Dungeons and Dragons, which right now is going under the name DnD Next.  It is an attempt to unify all the editions and end the edition wars.  From what little I've seen of it, which is hardly any at all, they are attempting to do this by making the game as module as possible.  Not a huge fan of feats?  Don't use them.  Love having tons of skills?  Throw as many of them in as possible.  Hate Vancian magic?  Well, that one is still up in the air, but I'm sure that will be able to be changed as well.  Right now I'm on the fence about the whole thing.  It's still very early in the playtesting so almost nothing is set in stone yet.  I'm not sure how it will play out, but I will give it a shot because that's just what I do.

Next up, and last for today, is the announcement of Pokemon Black and White 2.  That's right, sequels to the amazingly awesome Pokemon Black and White are due out in Fall of this year here in America.  I'm rightly super excited about this.  I've always liked Pokemon, as it painfully obvious to anyone who reads the blog.  I'm not sure if it's going to be a true sequel, or just a new tweak on the story, which is how the third game in any generation normally tends to go.  Whichever the case, I will be buying the game when it comes out. 

Peace Out.

There comes a time in every Dungeon Master's career when he realizes that what he's doing is akin to playing God.  Oh, don't get me wrong, every dungeon master knows that they have complete control over the entirety of their little world.  Most of them realize that from the moment they make their first dungeon crawl.  What I'm talking about is when they are fleshing out the background of some insignificant NPC and suddenly stop and think of the consequences of that.  They might even begin to wonder if they themselves are all part of some grand dungeon master's world, a world that was created with such tend care and love that the fictional characters spring to life and act on their own, bringing a whole new level of life to the game.  That is a powerful realization.

I have stumbled upon glimpses of such a grand vision from time to time.  I think I've realized it more and more in the latest campaign world I've been thinking about creating.  I say thinking about creating because I want to put it down on paper but I have no idea where to start.  Do I start with large, sweeping brush strokes and work my way down to the individual or do I start with the smallest details and lead the grand picture slowly be revealed?  This time around I'm forcing mysel to take a back and forth approach.  I'm doing the best I can to start on the adventure level while only occassionally pulling back to a planar wide view of my world.  It is a dificult balancing act that must be done, but I think that in the end it will be for the benefit of all.

The basic storyline of my campaign is really coming together however.  I really do think that it could easily be the greatest thing I've ever written.  Without a doubt I have enough material to go from level one all the way to level thirty.  The most difficult part of it all will be writing in all the subtle nuances that I want to include.  I feel that for parts of the campaign there will be too much going on, while for others there won't be enough.  I'm searching for a way to keep it as fast paced as possible without overwhelming the characters.  Maybe fast paced isn't the right word choice.  Maybe I'm just thinking interesting.  Who knows.  At any rate, it is time for me to get back to work on it before I go to work at Best Buy.

Peace Out.

I have some unfortunate news to tell you all:  the world renowned human ranger, Alek, was killed in a gruesome fight defending the city of Argent late last night.  It was a bold fight, but alas, our brave hero could do nothing.  A break in the magical seal protecting the city allowed a few random elemental beings to break in, who promptly rushed the walls that Alek and his companions were guarding.  Now, it looked like they were going to be able to handle the group of monsters, but it just didn't happen.  The creature that swallowed Alek, a behir, first swallowed the rather bitchy cleric, and for awhile, we though she was dead.  However, she got spit up, twice in fact.  Then the doom of Alek came.  Already weakened by fighting the mighty beast, Alek was his next target.  Ten second later, he was dead.

Alek will be remember foundly by his adventuring companions.  There was Lo-Kag, the goliath warden; Quark, the human wizard; Monk, a monk of some kind; and McHealy, who is a deva cleric.  For all those who don't know, a behir is a huge, elemental, magical beast.  It has a mighty lightning breath, can stomp the ground with the power of the loudest thunder, and, well, can eat you.  All very scary things.

There was a short burial for him after the defenses were raised.  A public ceremony is to be held at an indefinite date after Argent is safely secured from the onslaught of primodrial beings.

Peace Out.

So I'm seriously considering writing a new campaign for Dungeons and Dragons.  I've been meaning to do it for awhile now, but I was trying to wait until I had a new computer before diving into everything.  This just doesn't seem to be possible though.  At the rate I'm saving up my money and the cash I know I'll need to keep going to school, I just don't think I'll be able to pull off getting a new computer, so that'll have to wait.  Until then, I'll just hunker down and write myself a new campaign.

It's going to be an epic one too.  Not epic level mind you (at least not yet), but it's going to be epic all the same.  I haven't come up with the name for the world yet, I feel that it's the hardest part, but I have come out for the basic premise of the world.  It's a flat world, square in shape, and one that you really could walk off the edge of if you were brave enough to get to the end.  In the middle of the world is a huge mountain that ascends straight into the realm of the goodly gods.  A giant river runs across the entirety of the world, effectively splitting it in two.  Trust me when I say it's going to be epic.  We are going all over this world, from the very top to the absolute bottom.

I think I might start off the first adventure with the bold party members going into the woods to investigate a recent meteor strike.  They'll be ambushed or something, and a plot of world shattering events will ensue.  You know, fairly typical stuff.  I'm trying to go with a good bit of high fantasy in this one, though we'll see how that ends up in the long run.  I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy writing this one.  It's going to have a lot of history to it too, even if the players probably won't see or care about it.  Afrter all, that's for me to see and them to just trample on.

Anyways, I just thought I'd tell you guys what is up.  You know, keep you posted and stuff like that.  Have a good rest of the day guys.  I'm off to go do silly things before I get to slave away at Best Buy for the night.

Peace Out.

Alright guys, here's another Top Ten list after such a very long time.  Sorry it's been such a long time since the last real list, but I'm hoping this will be a nice easy one to let you all get back into the groove of things.  To start off, let me preface this all by saying that these are only the classes from the 4th edition of DnD, and if you don't like that, then write your own Top Ten list.  Anyways, any more hostilities aside, lets get into this.

Number Ten:  Rogue

Rogues are always fun. They are those sneaky bastards who prey on the weak and steal from whoever the hell they can.  Mostly, it's just fun to backstab people and watch them flail under the accuracy of your little blade.  I've always wanted to play a really awesome rogue, and from time to time I have attempted to such a thing.  I think that I might have to go and try and use a half-orc one someday, just to see how sweet that would be.  Hell, I might even do some fandangling and make him one of thoser brute type guys.  Pretty much, I just lke deal a shit ton of damage sometimes, and rogues let me do such a thing.

Number Nine:  Druid

Druids are a neat class in the most recent edition. I think they got a pretty big change in the current edition from the previous ones.  They still retain their wildshape, but it's less distinct and more a raw primal spirit.  They are natural leaders, which is kind of weak in my book, and it's mostly because they heal people better than others do.  However, I just like them for the nature spells they wield.  I can just imagine a druid, bringing down lightning onto a foe, and then transforming into a primal spirit to tear that guy limb from limb.  Good stuff.

Number Eight: Cleric

Ah yes, the humble yet necessary cleric.  I don't think this guy gets the attention and respect that he deserves.  Either you end up playing him as a healbot or you try to make him some martial character that buffs everyone.  I personally like to play clerics as how their god demands that they be played.  If it's a cleric of Moradin, I want him (and generally have him) act totally diffrent than a cleric of Pelor would act, or a cleric of Bahamut would act.  This here in lies the true powe of the cleric.  Sure, he may fall into one of the above catagories now and then, but trust me, it's a lot more fun that way.

Number Seven:  Wizard

Wizards have always held a certain fascination with me.  I love how they are in complete control of the arcane arts.  From the simplest parlor tricks to world shaping spells, there is a master of the arcane arts hiding behind them.  There are so many minor differences between the lot of them and you could make a thousnd different wizards who play totally different from one another.  This is one of those classes that I'll keep coming back to time and time again when I just want to loose myself into the greater magic of the world.

Number Six:  Warden

The warden is a new class that I really want to try out.  The easiest way to describe it is a defender of nature.  He has this awesome ability to turn into different aspects of nature, like a tree or a warrior made of out pure rock.  I personally just like the idea of some guy (like Mr. Warforged here) turning into a giant treefolk with his morningstar and shield at the ready, roots dug deep int the earth.  He's an immovable force of nature, and he's not willing to let you near his friends.

Number Five:  Ranger

Rangers have gotten cooler and cooler as time went on in my opinion.  With the fourth edition of DnD, it finally has reached it's peak.  It's simple, yet deadly, and is always a blast to play.  Plus, I think that using an archer is just a cool thing to do.  No other class comes anywhere as close to being so good close up and far away as the ranger.  You start picking guys off with arrows from a distance, then move in for the kill with your two blades.  Dealing a little extra damage on the side doesn't help either.  Their quarry ability is just plain sweet.  Reminds me of locking an enemy in your sight and not letting him go.  Pure awesome.

Number Four:  Avenger

Avengers are pretty much holy rogues who can use greatswords.  Need I say anything else?

Number Three:  Barbarian

The mighty barbarins comes in at number three on the list.  I've always had a soft spot for these guys, even if they never got used too much by me.  I think I just love the idea of taking the biggest weapon you can find and swinging it really hard at someone's face while screaming at them.  Of all the classes, I sometimes feel like it is the easiest one to role play, but only because I am very two dimensional when it coems to such things.  Plus, as this chick above demonstrats, barbarians tend to not wear a lot of clothes.  Need more proof?  Here's some for you:

Number Two:  Sorcerer

The sorcere represents pure,raw arcane power.  It's as if the wizard snapped and went crazy all over the place.  I feel that in the fourth edition, they nailed the flavor of what it means to be a sorcerer.  My personal favorite build is the chaos mage, who prety much doesn't know what is going to happen next.  One minute his spells are surging like  wild river through him, the next the spell rebounds on him, causing a gigantic explosion.  This class definitely had the biggest surprise in for me, and it only too something like 6 years of playing DnD to make me realize that it really is super awesome.

Number One:  Fighter

The humble and simple fighter from my youth.  I'm pretty sure most of the people reading this who actually talk to me about such dorky things would immediately guess that my true love of DnD is a fighter, but for those of you who don't, I suppose I could rattle off a few reasons why they are my favorite.  First off, they are simply super easy to jump into.  A lot of people confuse this with being a class for simpletons.  This couldn't be any more false.  While they are easy to jump into, they take a lot of skill to actually be good with.  Secondly, you get to not only focus on one weapon, but that weapon will determine what kind of moves you use.  Want to knock people around?  Get a hammer. Want to be jumping into a group of people and slashing everyone as they go buy?  Grab a longsword.  Want some reach?  Go get that spear.  Lastly, my first ever charcter was a fighter.  His name is Corath and he's broken to the extreme because I didn't know the rules back then.  Oh well.

So there you have it.  Go ahead and leave me some angry comments if you would like.

Peace Out.

So I'm currently in the middle of downloading Dungeons and Dragons Online Stormreach.  It's um, Dungeons and Dragons, online.  I used to play it, just didn't want to pay for it.  Now, you can play it for free, so guess who will start playing it again?  That would be me, Jon.  Hell yes.  I'm thinking I'll have to hit up Corath, my human fighter, and see where it leads me.  I hope that name isn't taken, though I fear that it is.  I'll be fairly happy though.  I don't think you could choose humans last time around, though I could be wrong about that of course.

So I've been talking to Sam a lot lately, which is pretty sweet.  She seems to have changed a lot from when I uesd to talk to her back in highschool, but that's natural more than likely.  I just got down watching her do her little rave thing.  She likes playing with those toys, that's for sure.  And actually, I can see why.  They look like a lot of fun, though horrible complex to do the things that she did.  I'm fairly certain that I would end up smashing my face in with those fancy shiny lights of hers.  She also gave me a website to check out to see how I like the music.  It's at www.di.fm. and so far, it's too bad.  Though the songs are as long as all hell.  Man.  I'll get used to it, or never listen to it again.  Though I'm leaning towards getting used to it.

Talking to her makes me remember the Dish though.  The Dish is this big old, deserted military satellite in southern Maryland that she took me too once.  It was awesome.  High as all hell, but I climbed that thing and I don't think I've ever seen a nicer view.  Seriously, it was like I was in a movie.  I loved it.  I really want to go back there right now, but I don't eve think it's up anymore.  Probably not, it was supposed to get torn down a long time ago.

Ah, that's enough for now.  Don't want to get all nostalgic on you guys.  WAIT!  I sold my old car today for $200.  Okay, that's for tomorrow though.  Now you may leave.

Peace Out.