Well, we’re off to start celebrating the holiday season in a few hours. First we’ll be going to New Jersey, to visit my mother in law and father in law. After that, we’ll be going to Delaware to visit my folks. All told, I’m really looking forward to it. I hope you all have a great holiday season, too!

No, I’m not talking about the movie (though I did see it, and it was excellent). I’m talking about Serenity: The Role-Playing Game, which my friend Mike recently gave me for Christmas. I’ve read the first couple of chapters so far, and I must say I’m really enjoying it. There are some rough edges in places, but the game system seems easy to learn and use and well thought-out, and it’s definitely written by someone who knows and loves the material. The RPG is officially based on the movie, _Serenity_; however, there are numerous references throughout that you’d have to have seen at least a few _Firefly_ episodes in order to pick up on. All in all, very pleasing.

Just thought I’d drop in and post, since I haven’t for a couple of days. First off, let me say that, if you have a kid who’s maybe a little weird, maybe a little scary, then “this”:http://www.mrtangent.com/video/CTHULEGO.mov is the perfect holiday gift. Second, I’d just like to share how excited I am about the upcoming weeks (or weekends, rather). First off, this weekend my wife and I are getting to gether with my friend Mike. We’ll be doing a little gift exchange thing, and we may even go see that _Narnia_ movie that everyone’s talking about. Then, of course, there’s Christmas. I feel like Christmas brings something out in me, something that calls back to my childhood. It’s not really the gifts, or the snow, or the time of year; I think it’s just the getting together and seeing everyone that I like so much. I’m sappy that way, I guess. Anyway, after that (on New Year’s Eve), we’re having a bunch of friends over for a very geek-tastic New Year’s party. We’ll be playing boardgames and watching movies, and I can’t wait. It’s going to be great.

Oh, and “all your base are belong to us”:http://www.antra.dk/AYB.swf. So there.

A quick post for all you folks waiting in anticipation of _The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion_: the “Official Elder Scrolls Site”:http://www.elderscrolls.com/ has been updated. The kind people at Bethesda Softworks have seen fit to give us information on “combat skills”:http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/codex_combatskills.htm, “magic skills”:http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/codex_magicskills.htm, “stealth skills”:http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/codex_stealthskills.htm, and “birthsigns”:http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/codex_birthsigns.htm. Not much has changed significantly since _Morrowind_ (at least, insofar as descriptions go), but the skills seem to have been streamlined somewhat.

First, if anyone’s interested in buying a used Xbox (with some accessories), check out my “ebay auction”:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8242246338&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1. Second: I remember when I saw the preview for _Deconstructing Harry_, and thinking it sounded interesting. I also remember seeing the movie, and thinking that it was absolutely nothing like the preview (not that it wasn’t interesting, just that it was a completely different movie from what I was led to believe). Anyway, this is “incontravertible proof”:http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov that such a thing is not particularly difficult to do. Enjoy.

For those of you looking for the perfect gift for your special gamer, look no further. Especially if your special gamer is stinky.

For those GMs out there having trouble coming up with a storyline . . . “help exists”:http://www.io.com/~sjohn/plots.htm.

My wife and I have just installed WordPress on the site, so it’s now officially a blog. You’ll notice a few changes to the format of the site. For one, the categories to the right. For another, there are now links to the right that allow you to subscribe to my blog. You can also access my blogroll on the right; this is the list of blogs that I subscribe to. Many may be of interest to those who read this site.

In other news, I’m DMing a game currently, a cross between Eberron and Iron Heroes, with a smidgen of Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth thrown in for good measure. For now, I’ll just give breif character writeups; I’ll give a full session report of the first session a little later.

First, there’s the dwarven archer. He’s a Mrorian exile who served in the Last War, but was in Cyree when the Day of Mourning hit. He was thought to be a deserter, and has not been back to his homeland since. Next we have a half-elf thief. He was a freelance spy during the war, and wound up in Cyree toward the end. Third up is a Valenar elf hunter. She operated as a mercenary during the war, hiring herself out to the highest bidder until her career was interrupted by the Mourning. Finally, we have a changeling arcanist. A Cyran native, he used his shapeshifting abilities and his talent for illusion and enchantment to avoid serving in the Last War; however, he was forced to deal with the reality of the war when his homeland was destroyed.

Next up, the session report for the first session.

Thought I’d let everyone know what I’m going to be doing with this site starting very soon (probably tomorrow).  Basically, this site is going to be used as a blog.  There will still be house rules, reviews, and other goodies posted from time to time, but primarily I’m just going to be posting about whatever I feel like posting (which, more often than not, will be game-related).  There will be an RSS feed included, so anyone who wants to subscribe (say, through Bloglines, for example) can do so.  I’ll probably be getting rid of the forum, since it’s pretty much fallen into disuse.  However, there’s a possibility that, very soon, I’ll be implementing a wiki on this site.  My idea is that, any time I post any sort of house rule, I’ll make it editable, so that it can be communally developed.  Oh, and you’ll also be able to comment on every post, regardless of whether its editable, and regardless of its content. 

Now, as to my actual ‘blog post’ for today, I’d just like to talk a little about a couple of games I’ve been playing lately.  The first game I’d like to mention is Civilization IV.  Civ IV is absolutely excellent; in my opinion, it’s the best incarnation of Civ yet.  Many things have been simplified, but that doesn’t mean that the game’s been dumbed down.  Quite the opposite, there’s a lot of depth there.  Not only is there depth, though, but the game gives you a wealth of information right up front.  For example, when you mouse over a terrain tile, you can see its production, any strategic resources present, any improvements present, and its defense bonus.  When you prepare to attack an enemy unit, you get to see both the attacker’s and defender’s relative strength–all modifiers having been factored in–as well as what modifiers are being applied to each combatant.  It’s very elegantly done, and it helps you understand and appreciate exactly what’s going on behind the curtain.

The second game I’ve been playing is one that’s been out for a little while: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.  I played the first KotOR twice (though I never actually completed it either time), and enjoyed it thoroughly both times.  I’m enjoying KotOR II just as much, if not more.  The story seems pretty good so far, the characters are interesting, as are the interactions between characters, and the main character is actually fleshed out somewhat, rather than being a mysterious stranger without a past.  There are a lot of gameplay changes that I really like, such as the item creation system and the NPC influence system.  One of the things that interests me the most, though, is that KotOR II is very conscious that it is a sequel, and takes into account the somewhat open-ended nature of the previous game’s finale.  Near the beginning of the game, you get to, effectively, determine how the previous game ended.  There are also a number of references to characters from the previous game, though I’ve only seen one actually appear so far.  All in all, I’m very impressed.

At any rate, expect to see some changes in this space soon.

Zel