I'll be doing a big chunk of moving this weekend, I think. I will need to talk to my friends and see who has the time and energy to help me move. I wish I weren't so lazy. I also need to see about getting a truck so I can move my stuff. Well, the stuff that won't fit in my car anyway. And, there's so much of it. And, I'm not going to have any room. Oh so tragic.

Though, I guess it's hard to build a better mousetrap if you're limited to the age-old, basic mousetrap design.

As you can see from the blurb on the website, you get one of each type of die. The last set of dice I purchased cost me $5.50, and came with two ten-siders--and those were nice looking, fancy suckers from Chessex. These WotC dice are fairly plain if the picture is accurate.

Now, last time I looked, the Chessex plain dice were even less expensive than that $5.50 I paid.

So, WotC is trying to foist cheap-ass, plain dice on us...and they're trying to slap the d20 logo on it to make it all spiffy.

Next they'll be trying to sell us a flimsy pamphlet of a book designed to help us create heroes...oh right, they already did that.

Though, despite the conference, there will be a DnD game Saturday night. The dragon is dead, and now the group has to figure out what to do about the Moathouse. Should be cool.

I do have a bone to pick with Privateer Press though, and pretty much every other RPG publisher who creates a setting, and publishes all sorts of adventures and such, but it takes them forever to come out with the core setting. Kenzer & Co did it right. They came out with Kalamar, then started publishing adventures and sourcebooks, etc. I hate having to hold off for a year on doing anything in a cool setting because I don't have the details.

Sorry...little peevish rant there. Though, Iron Kingdoms, despite the lack of a setting book (yet), rocks.

I've never actually met Maria face to face, but I feel like I've known her forever. I've never known a person in my life with whom I've had so much in common or shared so many interests. I've known her since April, and keep insisting that she's the best birthday present I've ever received since we met the day after my birthday.

I've been telling her I'm going to put up a web page dedicated to her, but I don't know what to put on it yet. I've actually been writing her poetry, but I think that's a little too personal for me to put online for everyone to see. Though, I guess I could write some stuff specifically for her to be put online. Maybe I'll do that.

Falling in love with someone on the Internet is one of those things normal people just don't do. I don't care. I'm a freak. I don't want to be normal and Maria wouldn't love me if I were. I can't remember a time in my life when I've felt more alive or happy.

I wanted to hire some broken angels to fingerpaint this across sky for her, to put it up where the world could see, but where does one hire broken angels anyway? So, instead, I'm putting it here on my webpage where whoever happens to pass through can see my gushiness.

I love you, Maria.

And, from the bottom of my heart, purple monkey dishwasher.

There is no question of my sanity: I am quite insane thank you very much. Though, I cannot promise I will get very far converting Star*Drive/Alternity to D20, but I'll take a stab at it and see how far I get.

What I've seen so far of the various attempts at conversions hasn't impressed me. I am going to assume momentary stance of arrogance and think that I can do better. I imagine it won't last long. We shall see.

I will publish any results I come up with on this site. I'll try to make it easy to find. Heh.

I haven't had a lot of time to read through them all yet. I flipped through Dark Side and YotC, and both look very cool.

I decided not to pick up everything I wanted to pick up, and there was a lot of it too. Too much good stuff out there right now.

We were driving through Cascade Crow territory trying to find Javier, the rigger we've been searching for. Well, all of a sudden we run into a road block and the police tell us there's some trouble up ahead and we'll have to turn around. But, oh no, not us. We waited until the cops had to run because of a call on their radio, then our driver merrily followed (at a discreet distance of course).

It turns out that something big, nasty, and paranormal was actually around. And, it had smashed up a police car and killed the two cops inside. So, we're busted. The two cops (the two that told us to take a hike) aren't happy to see us. The dwarf comes over to tell us to get lost again, but something rushes out of the bushes. A bandersnatch. Nasty stuff there (well, nasty if you're us).

We actually made short work out of the thing (after it made a snack out of one of the cops). A lightning bolt from White Raven (that didn't do much to it) and a pair of manabolts from Max that turned it into a dead bandersnatch. Then there was the Nomad it'd been carrying around. It tried to get through to Max, but she blasted it with manabolts until it ran away. Pinnocchio almost went into Dirty Harriette mode and blasted it with her Ruger Super Warhawk (a recent purchase to help the group with firepower since she only had a light pistol that would be useless against drones). Though, the gun wouldn't have done anything to the Nomad, it would have done bad things when hitting the bulletproof glass windshield of the truck they were in (we stayed inside the safety of the truck like the cowards we were...well, Max wasn't necessarily a coward, she just didn't need to get out of the truck to do the mojo thing).

Well, the highlight of the evening was that White Raven used a spell to turn himself into a raven, and go off to find out what the trouble the police didn't want us near was. He landed close to the police car, but had to flap to a safe distance when the alive cops (though one of them not for long) showed up. WR's player took a lot of grief from the rest of us players because his character (in raven form) didn't immediately hop/flap over to the dead guy hanging out of his car and start pecking at his eyeballs as all good ravens are wont to do. We were highly disappointed.

Well, anyway...when the bandersnatch showed up, WR didn't want to try to cast his lightning bolt while still sustaining the spell keeping him a raven. So he turned back to himself. Well, the funny thing about shapechange as a spell. You see, your clothes don't go with you. So, WR was sitting up in a tree, buck naked and blasting lightning bolts. Definitely an amusing image...though, the tree sap and fir needles could get really uncomfortable...not to mention the branches. Ouch.

Well, the police, despite the fact that we saved the dwarf's life, still escorted us out of Cascade Crow and bade us never to return.

They don't know us very well.

Pinnocchio grabbed some information on the backroads of Cascade Crow to avoid the police, and, as the evening wrapped up, was out trying to hotwire a new vehicle to get them back.

The next game session should be interesting.

We've got a raven shaman who's big spell is mind control, a troll whose big weapon is a bow, a dwarf physical mage who I'm not really sure what she does, and my character, an elven decker who's big thing in combat is hiding behind something large (other than the troll).

We're trying to track down a rigger with a price on his head. He's got big drones with big guns.

I repeat, we're so dead.

We're heading out into NAN country tomorrow night. That's where our man's hiding out (we think). Funny thing about going out where we're going (as far as you can go from civilization)...no Matrix. Pinnocchio (my character) will have to find some big trees to hide behind cuz our ride's going to keep on going once he drops us off.

We are SO dead.

Foundation Earth was the place, man. It's vapor now, but it was the place then. Everybody who was somebody was there. Where were you? Well, if you weren't in Vancouver, Washington, it would have been difficult. But you should have been there.

Congrats Mike and Gina!! Welcome to the world, Colleen!!