Thinking Way Too Hard About: Crossovers

Image by AbyssWolf

I'm a sucker for crossover stories. I'm fascinated by the thought of creating a new story by combining characters from multiple other stories. Sometimes the settings are mashed together with very little explanation, just some hand-waving about dimensional rifts or a magical summons. Other times, there is an elaborate backstory that combines threads of multiple stories to create an amalgam universe. The author can either lift the characters from their original settings as they originally appeared, or re-interpret the characters to match the new setting.

A Warning About Maxell Stereo Neckband Head Buds

I was on the lookout for some cheap headphones so that I could listen to music while at work. I ended up buying a pair of these for next to nothing:
http://www.maxell-usa.com/index.aspx?id=63;66;522;0&a=info&pid=193

See those bits at the bottom? If you think that part is where the music comes out, you are half right. That is the part where music comes out as it drills through your ears into your brain.

Seriously, I have never worn a more uncomfortable set of headphones. When I saw the picture on the cover, I thought the guy was enjoying some awesome tunes. It turns out he's screaming in blinding agony as his ears are brutalized by these torture-machines.

I've already ordered a different kind of headphones from Amazon, but I thought I would let you know to avoid these, just in case.

I think I saw a tumbleweed go by...

It's been a while since I've received a comment on this blog.

My other blog, Supervillainous, has the dubious honor of having a grand total of zero comments on it. (There was a comment or two on a placeholder post I originally put up, but that post has since been deleted.)

I'm not writing this post to be bitter (well, maybe a little) or to remind you that I always try to leave comments when I read a blog post (hint hint), but to introduce a change I have implemented: I have turned on "Reactions."

I know that some people read this blog. I also know that it's only around five people, but hey, an audience is an audience. So I figure that the reason that people don't leave comments is that there isn't much to say. People I know tend to be pretty sharp, and not the kind to leave comments like "Yep, I read it," or "Me, too," or "lol." So, to make it easier to give a reaction to my posts, I have added the ability to note whether you thought that a particular entry was "interesting," "weird," and/or "amusing."

Let's see if it works!

PS: Feel free to leave comments, too, if you want.
PPS: If your comment is "First!" I will cry a little, on the inside.

These words have steel

I stand alone.

I am with you.

We stand together.

Let them come.

Hold the line.

I will not yield.

Li Hing Mui

I should start by saying that li hing mui is awesome. I'm starting there because it's important to know, and because otherwise this post may sound at first like I don't like it.

I was introduced to li hing mui by my wife, who got a package from her parents in Hawaii. Li hing mui is a Chinese snack that's also very popular in Hawaii. It's a dried plum with special li hing powder on it, and it's impossible to describe the taste. Wikipedia describes it as "a combination of sweet, sour, and salty taste," if that helps.

I'm not sure of its correct pronunciation, but saying "leehee moy" has served me pretty well so far.

I can honestly say that my first li hing mui was memorable. I had never even tasted one before, so my wife warned me that the flavor was strong and I may not like it. Naturally this meant that I had to immediately put a whole piece in my mouth. I must have made some pretty hilarious faces.

Now I can't get enough of it. I eat it all the time. I only eat a little bit at a time, because I have learned that one of the side effects of li hing mui is that it makes your burps taste terrible.

My in-laws said that they will send us li hing mango next, and I am eagerly anticipating it.

So if you ever get the chance, give it a try. Only, take a little nibble first, to get used to the flavor. You'll be glad you did.

The Blood Bowl video game has a hotseat mode

Picture this: a chill breeze blows over a scraggly field as a group of orcs faces off against a group of undead. Steam puffs from the orcs' noses and mouths as they snort the cold air. The undead do not breathe at all. Then a ghoul charges forward, its bony claws tearing furrows in the grass and flinging clumps of grass into the air. It swings its leg, and kicks a spiked football into the air. Both teams leap into action as the crowd goes wild...

Blood Bowl is a tabletop miniatures game created by Games Workshop. It's seen a number of video game adaptations, most recently as Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition, which was recently on sale for ten bucks on Steam. It takes place in the Warhammer Fantasy world, which is a very grim Renaissance-era fantasy setting that features all sorts of terrible demons and monsters. In Blood Bowl, those terrible demons and monsters are playing football.

It's wacky, hilarious, and brutal. I've only played a little bit of the game, but so far I'm loving the sight of orcs, dwarves, elves, and more wearing primitive football pads and fighting over a spike-studded ball. Some of the teams play the game straight, while others cheat for all they're worth or simply focus on grinding the other team into the dirt.

The video game can be played either turn-based or as an RTS. I'm lost enough when playing the turn-based game, so I haven't tried the RTS mode yet. As a turn-based game, it even has a hot-seat mode. This means that two players can share a computer. When one person's turn ends, you just pass the mouse to the other player.

So if any of you have the game, or if you're in the area and want to stop by my place, why don't we toss around the old pigskin? Wait, that leather doesn't look like it was made out of a pig...

Thinking Way Too Hard About: PC Weapon rewards for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game

Okay, so here's a weirdly specific blog post about something that's been on my mind lately. The only RPG campaign I've ever been in that played consistently and reached a conclusion was a Star Wars game that my brother ran. The Star Wars campaign has been on my mind lately because my current campaign is on sort of an unintentional hiatus and I've heard that some of my coworkers are in a Star Wars game.

Looking back, the Star Wars campaign was a lot of fun. I can still remember fighting droids on a hovering platform over lakes of acid, and the forest race whose tribal meetings were held entirely in poetry. That said, I feel like the two areas that could have used the most improvement would have been an overarching villain and some loot to reward the heroes.

This led me to thinking about how best to give weapons to characters in a Star Wars campaign. I've played a lot of Knights of the Old Republic, which in many ways sticks a little too closely to its roots as Dungeons and Dragons in Space. As the characters progress, perhaps their starting "Blaster Pistol" might be traded out for something like a "Republic Blaster Pistol" (a little better) which would later be traded out for a "Mandalorian Blaster Pistol" (even better). The game then had some extra special items that you pick up along the way. Take down a bounty hunter, for instance, and you can pick up his specially customized pistol and use it as your own. This works, but I think GMs can be more creative.

I think that giving weapons backgrounds is a great way to draw the players into the game setting. If anything unites all players in all RPGs ever, it's the desire for better gear for their characters. Players are going to be expecting to get better gear, so if the GM can use the gear to tell a story, everyone wins.

So, mostly to amuse myself, I cooked up a couple of special Star Wars weapons that could be used to reward medium-or high-level PCs in a Star Wars campaign.