We ran our first "real" session of MLwM today at lunch; managed to get most the way through a scene for each minion. Overall, I think it was successful, but not quite as much as our creation session. I attribute this mostly to me not being prepared well enough, and also being pressed for time.

A quick synopsis:

Ted was ordered to fetch a companion for the evening from the local brothel.
Levin was asked to commission the creation of a fantastic cake to be the center-point of a dinner to be hosted at the manse in honor of the traveling circus returning to town 3 days hence.
Newt was told to fetch a certain aperitif rumored to be found in the local tavern. Not generally available "on the menu," this concoction is said to induce vivid dreams in whomever consumes it.

Ted left the manse and headed directly to the brothel. Walking in he was immediately questioned by the mistress who refused to send anyone home with him without more specifics detailed by the master himself, or in writing. Briefly stymied, Ted then left and headed to the bookseller's shop and attempted an overture with his daughter Olivia (one of his connections). Successfully convincing her to help him, we left this scene with an agreement that Olivia and Ted would pen a letter explaining to the Mistress what type of companion the Master desires.

Levin made his way to the baker and explained his Master's desire for a magnificent cake with which to impress his guests. Levin was confused about how quickly Master needed the cake and told the baker he required it by next day. After establishing who Levin's Master is (and having no respect for him), the baker called for his wife and in jest - explained the situation. She agreed it would be nearly impossible to create such a cake given the short notice. Finally, the baker agreed to bake a cake for Levin if he was paid - up front - 12 quid. Of course, Levin had no cash so is in a bit of a conundrum.

Newt shuffled off from the Mansion keeping to the back streets and alleys of the village. Reaching the local tavern (which was closed during the day) he easily broke into the back door and began searching through the stock of bottles behind the bar. A voice from the basement below called out, and someone starting walking up the stairs. Newt hid in the hearth and observed a middle-aged woman come from the basement stairs and briefly scan the room. Calling out again and getting no response, she turned a headed back down the stairs.
Finding nothing of interest behind the bar, Newt decided to quietly head down the stairs and see if he could observe what the woman was doing - finding that she was apparently restocking or organizing shelves full of bottles and dried meats.

Approaching the woman unnoticed, Newt finally decided to plea for her assistance in locating the elixir; however as soon as she heard his voice, she became quite nervous and ended up backing into the single source of light in the room - and oil lamp. The lamp fell off a table and extinguished, blanketing the room in total darkness (triggering Newt's ability - so he could see her quite easily while she could see nothing) and panicking the woman even more. She made a run towards the stairs by feeling along the walls and Newt reached down, picked up the overturned lamp and threw it at the stairs. The woman slipped and fell - apparently unconscious. "I'm sorry," said Newt.

MLwM - Session 1

So we started our first My Life with Master game last night. This is a first for the four of us (me, Dave, Jon and Pete) - in fact this is Dave's first time role-playing ever. Quite a large cookie to eat for a virgin.

Background which we came up with:

Master: "Trevor Blackburn III"

Born a socialite, Trevor spent his formative years growing up with a group of similarly well-to-do individuals. In his early twenties Trevor and six friends decided to go to the town square where a traveling circus had stopped for a few days. A little tipsy from afternoon 'tea', one of the group suggested attending the gypsy show; basically a fortune teller within a large wagon. During the session, Trevor experienced some type of vision in which he became convinced he had witnessed his own death. After the session he tried to persuade his friends to return to the caravan and confront the medium to garner more information, but his comrades just laughed and made jest. Trevor was too intimated to go alone, so went home to sleep it off. His night was spent in and out of dream states which - in his mind - reinforced the truth of what he had seen in the sideshow. Gathering up his nerve, Trevor returned to the spot of the wagon the next morning only to find that the entire circus had left. Trevor became obsessed. Obsessed with recreating the vision which the Gypsies had given him. Obsessed with convincing his peers that what he had seen was - in fact - reality.

So began the downward spiral of Trevor's credibility within his social circle. Within four months he became an outcast to the point that his family ended up sending him away to a small mansion in the outskirts of the town - along with a few servants and a handsome monthly "allowance". The seed had been planted for his work.

• Aspect: Brain
• Type: Collector
• Needs: Materials and Information to "research" the magic of the Gypsies. Although Trevor resents what the Gypsies "have done to him," he covets their abilities.
• Wants: Acceptance and belief by his former social circle - Trevor is convinced that if he discovers the "secret of the Gypsies," he will be able to re-integrate within the upper class.

A number of months has passed, and Trevor's work is proceeding slowly. His impatience has caused a few of his servants to flee the mansion. The only three people living with him currently are his minions:


Minion #1: "Theodore" (played by Pete).

Indentured by birth with effectively a life term, "Ted" was originally the family chef. Odd circumstances has caused him to be able to discern the truth of those around him without fail - but only while eating [More-than-Human]. Also, he is unable to read unless it is raining nearby [Less-than-Human]. He is in love with the 16 year old Booksellers daughter, "Olivia" (perhaps a bit enamored by her ability to read always), although she has no idea at present (Love of zero). Ted also has a relationship with the baker's wife "Theresa," and looks to her as a mother figure. He has interacted with her enough in the past (as a chef) to establish a positive relationship (Love of 1).

Starting values:

• Self-Loathing: 2
• Weariness : 1

Minion #2: "Levin" (played by Dave).

Levin was the son of the local thatcher, until a unfortunate accident claimed the elder man's life. While working on Trevor's mansion performing repairs, Levin slipped while on the third-story roof. Holding on with a hand on the eaves, his father reached out to save him and slipped himself - falling out and over his young apprentice. On the way down, he reached out and accidentally pulled Levin with him. Both fell a fatal distance, with the older thatcher hitting the ground first and instantly dying from a broken neck. Amazingly, Levin hit the ground a half-second later but was able to walk away unscathed (More-than-human: Able to fall extreme distances without being hurt as long as no one sees him land). The master then informed Levin that he was still responsible for seeing to the repairs of the roof and is, therfore, indebted to Master. Distraught over the death of his father, Levin agrees to stay in the Mansion until all repairs are complete to the satisfaction of Master. It is later that Levin discovers his inability to discern temperature unless he is covered by shadow [Less-than-Human]. Levin is in love with the local bar-maid, "Gweneth" who has shown him compassion in the past (Love: 1). He is also fascinated with the local Chimney Sweep "Sven," due to their shared workspace. Although he feels a connection with Sven, Levin has yet to approach him (Love:0).

Starting values:

• Self-Loathing: 1
• Weariness : 2

Minion #3 : "Newt" (Played by Jon)

Originally part of the traveling circus, Newt escaped a few years ago when his captors changed his bonds from rope to iron. It was then that Newt realized his crippling handicap (less-than-human: He is hobbled and weak unless bound in iron), all but disappeared when in contact with the metal. With cuffs still around his ankles, but the links between them broken, Newt fled into the alleyways of the town. Using his unique sense of vision during complete pitch-black (more-than-human: Newt can see all around him in complete darkness with a multitude of "eyes" distributed about his face and bald head), he was able to steal food and drink with which to live. The Master found him in an alley during one of his "expeditions of discovery" into town and persuaded him back to the Mansion with the promise of food a shelter in return for "research" of his unique power.

While "performing" in the circus once before in the town, he noticed a small 10 year old boy in the audience ("Oliver") who showed obvious signs of discomfort while watching him on stage. During one part of the show they made eye-contact, and his compassion has stuck with Newt for over a year; in fact it was one of the primary reasons which drove Newt to attempt (and succeed) an escape the next time the circus came to town (Love: 1).

During his few months hiding within the darker back streets of the village, Newt became enamored with a middle-aged prostitute named Cynthia. It was well known that Cynthia had birthed a still-born child and was left by her husband at an early age. Newt considers himself the child which Cynthia never had - although he has failed to make contact with her yet (Love: 0).

Starting values

• Self-Loathing: 2
• Weariness : 1

My bike - she iz lost

So apparently, UPS is finally admitting they lost my bike. It's kind of vague as to what really happens now because - and here's the amusing part - UPS is blaming the shipper. Every time I talk to someone about this issue one of the first questions they ask is "has the shipper sent you a replacement?"

*sigh*

I then explain - AGAIN - that there is "no replacement" as this was a personal bicycle which I shipped from Redwood City CA to my home. Myself.

"Oh" I then get in return, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Well, thanks" I say, "at least I had the presense of mind to insure it".

"Good!" the UPS representative responds - "we will help you file a claim with the shipper. Can you tell me who shipped it?"

"Ummm" I continue, somewhat taken aback that - in this day and age of information-at-fingertips this UPS person doesn't already have every bit of information up in front of them on a computer monitor. "It was a UPS store in a strip mall in Redwood City."

"Oh" I get in return once again.

"We'll start the paperwork then. You should hear something in 7-10 business days. Again, I'm very sorry for the trouble."

Somehow I don't feel like I'm going to see an insurance check anytime soon.

My poor package

Never mind the fact I haven't posted here in over a year (just).

The kids are another year older. I feel about three years older. Everyone is healthy, and my engineering job is still, well, in hell.

A friend and co-worker (and like-minded music geek) started his own blog a few days ago. This - in turn - made me think about my stilted attempt at one, so decided to try and do some updates. I hope to keep it up for the long run. I'm going to try shorter "stream of consciousnesses" type posts so they don't seem so daunting.

Anyway - to the subject at hand.

UPS lost my bike.

They don't come out and SAY that of course, but that seems to be the case. When I enter the tracking number I get the following status:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tracking Detail

Your package has experienced an exception.
Tracking Number:	nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Type:	Package
Status:	Exception
Shipped To:	....,..... , US
Shipped/Billed On:	01/24/2008
Service:	GROUND
Weight:	29.80 Lbs

Package Progress Location Date Local Time Description MENLO PARK, CA, US 01/24/2008 4:18 P.M. PICKUP SCAN US 01/24/2008 7:32 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

-----------------------------------------------------------

More upsetting than the fact that my bike is probably never going to be seen again (at least by anyone in my family) is the fact that the poor thing has "Experienced an Exception."

Doesn't seem fair.

Telly Savalas Kojak singing

BFR Traffic JAM

Test video

Obsessive gaming - eh?

Well, yeah it's been a long time since I've updated this nonsense.

I've got some new obsessions lately - things distracting me from the mundane. The car is still high on the list. I've managed to track it at least once a month since May and have been having an absolute BLAST in the process. As usual, the GruppeB support has been instrumental to my enjoyment. Since I last wrote, the blue car now sports an roll bar (bright yellow - natch), full blown racing seat and some well-worn tires.

But wait, I'm not going to write about the car this time - yes, it's true. I'll start writing again now and will do an update (or two) about the car soon.

What else to quickly go over...

The twins are now well into there three year old independence phase. It's a riot; they carry on conversations with each other that can often times be full-on belly laughable, and other times heartbreaking. What a pair.

Max, on the otherhand, has turned into a six year old teenager. ATTITUDE - all caps - all the time. He's a riot in other ways...

Finally, the biggest news (and the main portion of this entry) is that I've rediscovered a hex based wargame I tried playing 20 years ago titled "Advanced Squad Leader". ASL is a squad level, tactical wargame which depicts warfare during the second world war. It captures the nitty-gritty "in close" fighting which is portrayed in the movies - very tense and very personal. I've owned this game for years, but never found anyone to play it with.

I haven't opened this up on the blog yet - but one of my deep dark secrets is that I'm a gamer. I loves the games; board games, computers games, role-playing, console, I'll try anything once. One interesting by-product of this love for games is an obsession with rules. I read rule books for fun. While Amy will sit in bed reading the latest best-seller, I'm snuggled up with a rule book from some game I recently purchased or found online. Nevermind that I may never PLAY the game, I'll just read the rules.

The initial set of rules for ASL measure in at probably over 80 pages.

Nirvana.

The reason ASL came back to the surface for me with the discovery of VASL. VASL (Virtual Advanced Squad Leader) is a java program which allows one to play ASL over the internet in either a "live" context, or via email. It is a miracle. The screen shot at the end of this post was made with that program. The biggest benefits are being able to play anyone (VASL is free) at any time, and being able to log the games to play via email (a typical ASL game played 'live' takes hours - sometimes days).

So I 'meet' some people on an ASL forum who are willing to teach me the ins-and-outs of ASL in the internet age. One guy turns out to be a perfect fit for me - a couple of (sub)turns a day average, patient, and a good player to boot (well, at least better than me - which isn't saying much at the moment). Plus he has a good sense of humour and doesn't seem to take this too seriously.

Another thing which he enjoys doing is writing "After Action Reports" (AARs) which are basically a turn-by-turn accounting of a given game.

No. Really. Not only do we play a given scenario, there are people (careful - I'm turning into one of them!) who then write up the details of that particular play session and make it available for other gamer types to read.

They
Are
Very
Interesting

In fact, I find reading AARs almost as interesting as playing the game itself - there is certainly a lot of strategy and rule interpretations to be discovered within those pages.

So, anyway, Dale (my new found ASL mentor) wants to publish our games. He needed some help on setting up tables and whatnot. So I pepared this for him - beware, non-game types turn away now - severe boredom ahead.

Here ya go Dale:

Event	Action	DRM	DR	Result
G1 PF
1	J3 (16) prep fire at J5	+3	3,6	NE
2	L2 (12) prep fire at J5	+2	6,4	NE
3	C7 (20) prep fire at E9	+1	4,3	2MC
4	E9 426 2MC	-	2,5	Break
G1 M
5	D6 467 am to D7
6	D6 467/DC am to D7
7	D6 8-1, 548 am to D7
G1 AF
8	D7 (8) af at E9	+2	2,2	1MC
9	E9 broken 426 1MC	-	6,3	Replace
G1 Rt
10	E9 broken 226 rout to F8-G9-H8
G1 A
11	D7 467 advance to E8
12	D7 467/DC advance to E8
13	D7 8-1, 548 advance to E8
14	C7 548/LMG advance to D7
15	C7 467/LMG advance to D7
16	C7 9-2, 548 advance to D7