My weekend.
What a small statement for something so much better. This weekend was the HSC (Homeschool aSsociation of California) Conference. In short, the most bestest place for homeschoolers ever in California ever because there are all these cool workshops that are awesome, some taught by teens, some by adults, and I went to few and I even taught one!!
*Big breath in*
Oh... My bad, that wasn't very short was it? No matter...
Let me start again. The conference is held every year at the Raddison Hotel in Sacramento California, around this time. Homeschoolers from all over the state come and stay for the weekend.
Many of them teach workshops, ranging VASTLY in topics from things like Playing Card Wallets to Yoga to Storytelling and MUCH, MUCH more.
The workshops are taught, some by teens, some by adults, and offered to different age groups... Teen, Family, and Adult, or any combination therein. This year, for the 3rd year in my 7 years of going, I taught a workshop as well! But unlike past years, where I taught Tapetomancy (Duck tape flowers, wallets and the like), I did a lecture of "In Depth Dungeon Mastery". For all of you not familiar with the term, it pretty much means how to run a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
Not going to get into it, but it went amazingly...
So, I had an amazing time, and made a ton of friends. I also hung out with the TCC (Teen Conference Committee) who do all the planning that goes into the teen experience at the conference. I had a few friends on it this year, and I helped out a lot with setting up their stuff, and doing other grunt work... It was a blast getting to know them, and I was offered a position on next years' Committee!! So that will be amazing.
Now, the Teen Conference is an amazing thing in and of itself. It starts with the talent show Thursday night (Toast was sang, loved by all) and then goes on Friday morning at the teen opening. There the teens get to know each other a bit, play some games, and start the assassin game.
At the start of the game, everyone gets a small feltfoam knife, and writes their name on it... They are then shuffled around, and handed back. For the rest of the conference, you must find the person whose knife you hold, and if you do They're dead, and you get the knife they were looking for, the cycle then continues...
Anyways, on to the people. The conference is, I think, one of the only places I can feel truly myself at, because for every ounce of weird I have, the rest of the people have it too!!
I played Magic, I went to a Blues dance class, a D&D workshop, and one day I helped Joshua with his Real Life Super Mario Bros. Workshop. It was one of the highlights of the whole conference, and not just for me, but for everyone who went to it.
So that was awesome...
In other news, I'm redesigning my steampunk costume to be a stage tech. Fitting, huh?
So that's pretty much it... I'm planning out what to teach next year, as well as balance everything else in my life...
So long for now!!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The quest goes on
Last night was the 6th installment of my D&D campaign.
My players are as follows:
Joshua, a 3rd level Dwarf barbarian named Garnak Ironbend
Benjamin, a 3rd leven Halfling monk named Cade Tealeaf
Spencer, a 3rd level Elven Sorcerer named Kittenstouch Jonaz
Alex, a 3rd level Human ranger named Rah
Lucas, a 3rd level Human sorcerer named Aramail Songsteel
Ive been pretty good about giving loot, and they each have a fair number of magic items, some good, some great, some bad...
Anyways, I've set the campaign in a steampunk setting, which means airships, trains, guns, lots of goggles, and the like...
The advent of guns means that combat is pretty easy, as it's usually just point and shoot. And so I haven't had very much of it, as I figured it wouldn't be much fun... Boy, was I wrong.
A few of the players had come up to me after games and requested more combat... So, in a fit of evil machinations, I came up with a way to sate their taste for blood. In a word: Xenomorphs.
Aliens from the Alien franchise... You know, facehuggers, chestbursters, all that fun stuff... I found stats online, and was very pleased.
So I devised a huge plot around it, how there was a royal class airship that never reached it's destination, with a cargo of new, experimental weapons. How could they NOT go after it!!
So they head out, and find the crashed ship on an uncharted island. They board, and there's no-one alive, that they see. the floor is pock-marked with acid (Xenomorphs have acid blood) but they figure it's some sort of Acid Monster, even going as far as to searching the Monster Manual for things that use acid. No luck. they continue into the ship with their literal healbot (Warforged Medic NPC) and then Session 5 comes to a close.
In the interim (5-6 months) between that session and last night, I do a number of things. I write plots, I find playmats, I find more stats, I design encounters. Lots of combat.
We decide to have the meeting over skype, so we don't have to figure out how to come to my house, and so we can have it at night, and go very late...
About 2 hours before the call starts, I realize that I dont have a plan for combat. If we arent using a game mat, it'll be impossible to see where everyone is, and where the mosters are, and stuff like that. So I panic, but only for a moment.
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I quickly look for an online battlegrid, and come across MapTool.
Oh, miracle of miracles, MapTool. It's just that. An online battlegrid, which has support for many players, as many DM's and a fairly easy to use interface, that is actually more fun that just moving figures around!
So Joshua and I figure out how to set up a server, and I throw together what I need, if s bit shoddily...
Then the game starts. We all are new to the program, so for the first 45 minutes, we just figure out how to use it. Pretty fun...
After that though, we get into the story, which is super easy to get through, thanks to MT.
They explore the cargo bay, then are drawn to one room, that has a wounded man in it, who tells them the story of what happened.
"We were given a shipment of weapons, or so we thought , to take to Orinthis (country). We were told to NEVER at any cost open up the crates, but after a few weeks into te voyage, they started to shcreech and rattle. We had no idea what to think! Slave trade? Animals? Some of the men decided the hell with orders, and opened up one of the crates.
"It was a slaughter. I've never seen such death and destruction."
At which point he gives them the keys to the crew's quarters and Ben a plot hook "YOU!! You must take the tattoo'd man the the wizard with the brass cane!" Then almost dies.
They offer to help him, to heal him, to take him back to their ship, but he refuses, saying: "NO!! You must kill me!!1 They're inside me!!!" Then they freak out as they think he'll explode with viral enemies... Nope...
They kill him, and toss him overboard.
They then go to the crew quarters, get the birthday magic items I've left for them, and then leave. They drop through the crumbling floor, and are face-to-carapace with a Xenomorph Praetorian (Bigger drone). They fight it, and it nearly kills Joshua. He hits it with his axe, which deals it some damage, but it's acid blood dissolves the weapon and deals him lots of damage.
They end up killing it, and killing the facehuggers after it...
So they're kinda freaked out. You dont expect to see that kind of thing in the game, but they are pretty cool about it...
They look around more, and find some eggs, which they dispose of. After a bit more searching, the find the doors to the engine room, which has riddles as a lock. As they deliberate the answers, I throw together the boss fight (Queen, LOADS of facehuggers, and drones and a drone in prime ambush position above the door).
They enter, are terrified, and begin to fight. The ambush if a fail. The Alien leaps down, and almost kills itself when it's strike fumbles and it deals itself 2/3rd of its own heath.
Long story short, the encounter is WAY too much, and they retreat bat to their own ship.
After that, There is about an hour of argument of whether to destroy the ship to kill them, or to come back later and fight them with more firepower.
And then it was 2 in the morning. And so we said goodnight, and logged off.
In conclusion, it went better than I hoped, but worse at the same time. They werent ready for encounters of that magnitude, but now they know where a royal class airship is... So it's not a total loss...
So that about sums up the game... I'd post more, but my players might read this, so no spoilers...
My players are as follows:
Joshua, a 3rd level Dwarf barbarian named Garnak Ironbend
Benjamin, a 3rd leven Halfling monk named Cade Tealeaf
Spencer, a 3rd level Elven Sorcerer named Kittenstouch Jonaz
Alex, a 3rd level Human ranger named Rah
Lucas, a 3rd level Human sorcerer named Aramail Songsteel
Ive been pretty good about giving loot, and they each have a fair number of magic items, some good, some great, some bad...
Anyways, I've set the campaign in a steampunk setting, which means airships, trains, guns, lots of goggles, and the like...
The advent of guns means that combat is pretty easy, as it's usually just point and shoot. And so I haven't had very much of it, as I figured it wouldn't be much fun... Boy, was I wrong.
A few of the players had come up to me after games and requested more combat... So, in a fit of evil machinations, I came up with a way to sate their taste for blood. In a word: Xenomorphs.
Aliens from the Alien franchise... You know, facehuggers, chestbursters, all that fun stuff... I found stats online, and was very pleased.
So I devised a huge plot around it, how there was a royal class airship that never reached it's destination, with a cargo of new, experimental weapons. How could they NOT go after it!!
So they head out, and find the crashed ship on an uncharted island. They board, and there's no-one alive, that they see. the floor is pock-marked with acid (Xenomorphs have acid blood) but they figure it's some sort of Acid Monster, even going as far as to searching the Monster Manual for things that use acid. No luck. they continue into the ship with their literal healbot (Warforged Medic NPC) and then Session 5 comes to a close.
In the interim (5-6 months) between that session and last night, I do a number of things. I write plots, I find playmats, I find more stats, I design encounters. Lots of combat.
We decide to have the meeting over skype, so we don't have to figure out how to come to my house, and so we can have it at night, and go very late...
About 2 hours before the call starts, I realize that I dont have a plan for combat. If we arent using a game mat, it'll be impossible to see where everyone is, and where the mosters are, and stuff like that. So I panic, but only for a moment.
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I quickly look for an online battlegrid, and come across MapTool.
Oh, miracle of miracles, MapTool. It's just that. An online battlegrid, which has support for many players, as many DM's and a fairly easy to use interface, that is actually more fun that just moving figures around!
So Joshua and I figure out how to set up a server, and I throw together what I need, if s bit shoddily...
Then the game starts. We all are new to the program, so for the first 45 minutes, we just figure out how to use it. Pretty fun...
After that though, we get into the story, which is super easy to get through, thanks to MT.
They explore the cargo bay, then are drawn to one room, that has a wounded man in it, who tells them the story of what happened.
"We were given a shipment of weapons, or so we thought , to take to Orinthis (country). We were told to NEVER at any cost open up the crates, but after a few weeks into te voyage, they started to shcreech and rattle. We had no idea what to think! Slave trade? Animals? Some of the men decided the hell with orders, and opened up one of the crates.
"It was a slaughter. I've never seen such death and destruction."
At which point he gives them the keys to the crew's quarters and Ben a plot hook "YOU!! You must take the tattoo'd man the the wizard with the brass cane!" Then almost dies.
They offer to help him, to heal him, to take him back to their ship, but he refuses, saying: "NO!! You must kill me!!1 They're inside me!!!" Then they freak out as they think he'll explode with viral enemies... Nope...
They kill him, and toss him overboard.
They then go to the crew quarters, get the birthday magic items I've left for them, and then leave. They drop through the crumbling floor, and are face-to-carapace with a Xenomorph Praetorian (Bigger drone). They fight it, and it nearly kills Joshua. He hits it with his axe, which deals it some damage, but it's acid blood dissolves the weapon and deals him lots of damage.
They end up killing it, and killing the facehuggers after it...
So they're kinda freaked out. You dont expect to see that kind of thing in the game, but they are pretty cool about it...
They look around more, and find some eggs, which they dispose of. After a bit more searching, the find the doors to the engine room, which has riddles as a lock. As they deliberate the answers, I throw together the boss fight (Queen, LOADS of facehuggers, and drones and a drone in prime ambush position above the door).
They enter, are terrified, and begin to fight. The ambush if a fail. The Alien leaps down, and almost kills itself when it's strike fumbles and it deals itself 2/3rd of its own heath.
Long story short, the encounter is WAY too much, and they retreat bat to their own ship.
After that, There is about an hour of argument of whether to destroy the ship to kill them, or to come back later and fight them with more firepower.
And then it was 2 in the morning. And so we said goodnight, and logged off.
In conclusion, it went better than I hoped, but worse at the same time. They werent ready for encounters of that magnitude, but now they know where a royal class airship is... So it's not a total loss...
So that about sums up the game... I'd post more, but my players might read this, so no spoilers...
A beginning
And so we begin again.
For those of you just joining us, this is my blog of my day to day life, my adventures, and my thoughts...
Now, some of you might be asking yourself at this point: "Why Harry, don't you already HAVE a blog?"
To you I answer: "Why yes. I do. but that one has reached it's capacity for entertainment, as I am no longer in Argentina..."
And so we begin again...
For those of you just joining us, this is my blog of my day to day life, my adventures, and my thoughts...
Now, some of you might be asking yourself at this point: "Why Harry, don't you already HAVE a blog?"
To you I answer: "Why yes. I do. but that one has reached it's capacity for entertainment, as I am no longer in Argentina..."
And so we begin again...
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