We went to a minor league baseball game on Sunday night. It was unfortunately the last one of the season. It was a great time. While I've been to a number of MLB games (the KC Royals), this was unlike any other game. I'm not a baseball fan, I don't watch it on TV and I rarely even keep up with the World Series. But this was a slice of midwest heaven.
In a small, yet well made stadium just on the west edge of town is where the game took place. We parked only about 4 car rows from the entrance. It only has a single seating level. Our tickets were front row right behind the dugout on the 3rd base line. I could have hit an umpire with a half-eaten slushie. Of course there were hot dogs, peanuts, pop and beer. Oh and cotton candy. It was just about 2 degrees in to hot, but the sun was going down behind us and we were sitting in the shade of the stadium.
There is something about being at a baseball game that makes you love it even if you don't think you're a fan. I think it might be the crack the of bat on a solid hit and watching the slow arch of a home run. The crowd hushes at that sound and all eyes watch. Will it clear the wall? Regardless of the outcome, the crowd thrills.
A great midwest thunderstorm loomed off to the North. The sky was dramatic, but the front held off until the 9th inning. When it did wash over us, it was like a cool blanket draped over the field. A gusty wind turned the flags around. But for the last few moments of the game, no one cared.
In the end our home team (the T-bones of course) lost by 2 runs. I didn't care. That game was the best baseball game I ever saw.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Dawning Star - d20 Future game
I started a little game for the tiny weasels (they are 6, 7 and 8 years old). So I wanted something easy and flexible and ready made (for the most part). I water down the rules significantly (or keep track of them in my head) and just let the kiddos roll dice and listen to what happens.
1st Lesson learned: Small kids require something to look at. They don't understand the game unless they can move their figure somewhere. I have a big tear away grid map that works to draw out homes, buildings, caves, etc.
2nd Lesson learned: Kids like to be silly. This is hard for me to keep up with as the Ref. I like silly, but I can't stay at the 6 year old silly level for long. But they didn't seem to mind when I moved them along.
The setup:
Dawning Star is a futuristic campaign based on the notion that Earth sent out 40 million colonistes in 20 giant vessels just a few years before the Earth was to be wiped out by a massive (moon sized) plantoid. On the way the fleet encountered an alien "jump gate". The gate was ancient, abandoned and malfunctioning. The primary terra forming vessel, the Dawning Star, was winked away to an alien system with several inhabitable planets. The jump gate would not function to return the Dawning Star and they were forced to make landing on a new home--the planet Eos. The new system was dubbed "Helios." The game timeline takes place 60 years after the Dawning Star lands on Eos. It is a roughly Earth equivalent world, with compatible life and atmosphere. The planet held other humanoid life at some time, but appears to be nearly vacant now. Their is a race of humanoids that live as nomadic tribes across the planet known as the Velin. They have a roughly Native American culture.
The game I've set up is on this world with 3 players (the kids). Logan and Rose are siblings living outside the smalltown of New Haven. The primary economy is ranching and farming. Both are 16 and free to roam most of the time. Their family owns a dragon farm (dragons are oversized lizards that act as horses for ranchers). Logan prefers his hover bike to the dragons and wears the latest pilot gear. His sister has made friends with the Velin. She rides a dragon very well and has a fine set of Velin leathers. Logan is a crack shot with a rifle, his sister prefers the bow.
The last character is my youngest boy. He wanted to play "a monster" so I had him look through the Star Wars Alien Anthology and pick one. He, of course, picked the biggest one possible. A Craigmodon (or something like that). Basically a huge elephantine humanoid. He doesn't have many skills, but he smashes things really well. He named him "Hiyah" (like the karate chop). Hiyah is a alien that crashed on this planet some time ago. He's lived alone in his cave for several years, he can't really remember how he got here. Logan and Rose found him a couple of years ago and they've all become friends. No one in the town knows about Hiyah and the kids' parents think he's made up.
Their very first adventure was exploring the new passage in Hiyah's cave. A recent earthquake exposed a new fissure in the back of his home. The passage leads back to a few natural chambers filled with giant spiders. But one chamber held robots of a strange design that activated when they walked in. Further exploration revealed a constructed mechanical doorway. Eos is known to have many abandoned ruins of the lost civilization that it once held. The 3 set to expore the new discovery. In the first room they encounter 5 more robots that are very tough. Hiyah has been doing great smashing things to bits so far, but even the giant can't stand in front of all the weapons fire and he goes down. Logan and Rose barely knock off the rest and then spend the next 3 days nursing their friend back to health while avoiding mom and dad (sneaking out).
That's was the first part... I'm sure they'll do more...
1st Lesson learned: Small kids require something to look at. They don't understand the game unless they can move their figure somewhere. I have a big tear away grid map that works to draw out homes, buildings, caves, etc.
2nd Lesson learned: Kids like to be silly. This is hard for me to keep up with as the Ref. I like silly, but I can't stay at the 6 year old silly level for long. But they didn't seem to mind when I moved them along.
The setup:
Dawning Star is a futuristic campaign based on the notion that Earth sent out 40 million colonistes in 20 giant vessels just a few years before the Earth was to be wiped out by a massive (moon sized) plantoid. On the way the fleet encountered an alien "jump gate". The gate was ancient, abandoned and malfunctioning. The primary terra forming vessel, the Dawning Star, was winked away to an alien system with several inhabitable planets. The jump gate would not function to return the Dawning Star and they were forced to make landing on a new home--the planet Eos. The new system was dubbed "Helios." The game timeline takes place 60 years after the Dawning Star lands on Eos. It is a roughly Earth equivalent world, with compatible life and atmosphere. The planet held other humanoid life at some time, but appears to be nearly vacant now. Their is a race of humanoids that live as nomadic tribes across the planet known as the Velin. They have a roughly Native American culture.
The game I've set up is on this world with 3 players (the kids). Logan and Rose are siblings living outside the smalltown of New Haven. The primary economy is ranching and farming. Both are 16 and free to roam most of the time. Their family owns a dragon farm (dragons are oversized lizards that act as horses for ranchers). Logan prefers his hover bike to the dragons and wears the latest pilot gear. His sister has made friends with the Velin. She rides a dragon very well and has a fine set of Velin leathers. Logan is a crack shot with a rifle, his sister prefers the bow.
The last character is my youngest boy. He wanted to play "a monster" so I had him look through the Star Wars Alien Anthology and pick one. He, of course, picked the biggest one possible. A Craigmodon (or something like that). Basically a huge elephantine humanoid. He doesn't have many skills, but he smashes things really well. He named him "Hiyah" (like the karate chop). Hiyah is a alien that crashed on this planet some time ago. He's lived alone in his cave for several years, he can't really remember how he got here. Logan and Rose found him a couple of years ago and they've all become friends. No one in the town knows about Hiyah and the kids' parents think he's made up.
Their very first adventure was exploring the new passage in Hiyah's cave. A recent earthquake exposed a new fissure in the back of his home. The passage leads back to a few natural chambers filled with giant spiders. But one chamber held robots of a strange design that activated when they walked in. Further exploration revealed a constructed mechanical doorway. Eos is known to have many abandoned ruins of the lost civilization that it once held. The 3 set to expore the new discovery. In the first room they encounter 5 more robots that are very tough. Hiyah has been doing great smashing things to bits so far, but even the giant can't stand in front of all the weapons fire and he goes down. Logan and Rose barely knock off the rest and then spend the next 3 days nursing their friend back to health while avoiding mom and dad (sneaking out).
That's was the first part... I'm sure they'll do more...
d20 Modern Game Notes
Another record game session with all 5 players...
Project: Last Hope
With no mafia to harass (at the moment), the group turns to internal projects. A while back Ryan, Amelia and Atanaska took a South American jungle excursion to find a cure for initial vampire infection. For several levels an infected host isn't lost to the night and can still travel in the day time. During this brief window, there is hope.
While no cure was discovered in the ancient temple, a message was discovered. It wasn't clear, but modern interpretation seemed to indicate an alien space station in orbit around Earth were the cure was kept. But of course, there is no ancient alien space station floating around at last check... or at least the public doesn't know about it. Other parts of the temple talk about a cure called “the Hope.” It depicted the gods coming down with the Hope to cure the people, but there wasn’t enough and the people fell and then the gods fell. A single artifact was recovered at the temple--a smooth steel rod with a sphere at one end. In the murals of the temple it is depicted as an icon of power wielded by the high priest. It summoned the "gods".
Christian went to work trying to decipher the strange device. After a few weeks he's tapped into it's power channels and found a way to power the device. Theorizing that it must be some type of communicator he funnels all the power he can must off the power grid in to it. He predicts the signal radius will be something like 100 light-years. While this would be pointless with any known transmitter (taking a 100 years to reach it's maximum range), he hopes the technology has some means to overcome the speed of light.
Christian summons the team and powers up the device. At full power he triggers what he hopes is the "transmit" function. There is a loud snap with sparks then the room goes black. Russell was ready with a digital camera and snaps a picture in the darkness blinding about everyone. The room has changed. In fact, it's not the same room at all.
A quick search reveals this room to be part of a series of chambers it what appears to be a space ship of some kind. The entire team has be transported somewhere in space. Worse, the team discovers the ship is abandoned, but not empty. Large insectoid creatures with devastating speed and attacks lurk in the barely functioning ship. Some rooms have lost air integrity... some passages are prone to collapse or gas leaks. And know no one knows how to get back. The "transmitter" did not arrive with the team. All they have is the gear they were holding and each other... will they make it back? Is the cure here? How long can they survive on the dying station?
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Something on my mind today
An article by the Kansas City Star...
This comes one day after it was announced that Sprint would no longer offer a pension plan to it's employees. Other benefits were put in place to offset, but it's difficult to determine if they are equivalent... Regardless, I doubt these executives will have any problems with retirement.
| Posted on Fri, Aug. 19, 2005 | ||||||||||||
 Sprint execs exercise options, gain millions By DAVID HAYES The Kansas City Star While Sprint and Nextel celebrated their merger this week, a few top executives sold more than $35 million of stock. On Wednesday, Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive, exercised options on 626,250 shares — acquiring 417,500 shares at $11.87 and 208,750 more at $8.47. Forsee sold those shares for $26.50, for a total of $16,595,625, according to documents filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forsee cleared about $9.8 million on the transaction. According to the documents filed with the SEC, Forsee still owns 762,950 shares. Forsee said this week that the company, which has seen its share price more than double since he became CEO in March 2003, is the best positioned for growth in the telecommunications industry. The combined Sprint Nextel Corp. is competing primarily with fellow wireless giants Verizon Wireless and Cingular. “There are lots of opportunities for investors to look at Sprint,” Forsee said at a news conference this week at the New York Stock Exchange marking the completion of the merger. “This is going to be a must-invest play for investors who are looking for growth.” Two other Sprint officers also took the opportunity to sell while Sprint’s stock price was near or over $26 a share. On Tuesday, Thomas Kelly, Sprint’s chief strategy officer, exercised options at prices ranging from $3.86 to $22.62. He sold 625,042 shares at $26.02 a share, for a total of $16,267,468. Kelly cleared about $6.4 million on the transaction. He currently owns 226,939 shares. Also on Tuesday, William Arendt, Sprint’s controller, exercised options on 160,080 shares at prices ranging from $3.86 to $21.03. He sold those shares for $25.87 a share, for a total of $4,142,566. Arendt cleared about $2.02 million in the transaction and now owns 46,702 shares. In another document filed with the SEC on Thursday, Sprint set new compensation for outside directors on the Sprint board. Outside directors will receive annual cash retainers of $70,000 plus $2,000 per meeting. The chairmen of key committees, such as the audit committee, will receive additional retainers ranging from $10,000 to $20,000. The outside directors also are to receive $100,000 in restricted stock units that vest a year after they are granted. The directors also will receive telecommunications services and products. Sprint Nextel shares closed Thursday at $26.05, down 30 cents. First glance ■ Several Sprint executives make millions of dollars by exercising stock options and then selling their shares, SEC files show. ■ Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive, clears about $9.8 million in his transactions. | ||||||||||||
This comes one day after it was announced that Sprint would no longer offer a pension plan to it's employees. Other benefits were put in place to offset, but it's difficult to determine if they are equivalent... Regardless, I doubt these executives will have any problems with retirement.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
d20 Modern Game Notes
A record game group this week—5 players! The “Night Security” team of TSI is…
Ryan Anderson, founder, ex-CIA spook.
Amelia Logan, co-founder, popular theater actress and vampire.
Atanaska Andropovich, ex-CIA spook with KGB connections.
Russell Barnett, ex-military gone rogue and now a full-blood vampire.
JJ Nethersoul, a man with a passion for cars and handy with vehicles.
Christian Logan, co-founder, gadget wizard. (NPC)
Ryan finally had the strike team capable of taking on the mob-run casino that housed the child prostitution ring. After last week’s hit on Reverend Carlos both Russ and JJ end up infected with the vampire virus. Russ decides to dive in to it and emerges a full vampire. JJ avoids fate for now, but is infected none the less.
The new team scouts the casino. The security is appreciable, but not military. With a little luck and planning a relatively bloodless hit can be planned. Ryan uses the ring to ghost in and find the girls in a second scout session. JJ lifts a key card off a pit boss and has Christian make a copy. Atanaska and Amelia help with general distractions. Russ plays cat and mouse with a pit boss in the parking lot before getting bored (spotted) and walking off.
Ryan calls Sergeant O’Neil of the KCPD to “be ready” to collect evidence when Ryan signals.
The team is assembled. Ryan will go in and film a solicitation (sans actual participation). Team A (Russ, JJ and Amelia) will break in to the Casino facilities and make their way to the service elevator that goes to where the girls are kept. Team B (Atanaska) will take out the 3rd shift NOC staff.
Ryan goes in and gets the film. He successfully talks the girl in to a rescue. At 4:00 AM he neutralizes the guards in the VIP lounge. He then rescues the one other girl working the VIP floor and forces her john to march naked to the service elevator. Ryan hooks up with A Team. Russ beats the john unconscious in the elevator. The 2 girls are escorted out of the casino to Nevel’s waiting limo. On the “dorm” level (where the girls are kept), Ryan ghosts in behind the 4 guards. Once in position, the A Team advances in to the hallway with weapons drawn to intimidate the guard in to submission. Amelia catches their attention and Ryan steps out to catch the table of guards in crossfire. It’s a tense scene of drawn weapons, but the guards choose poorly figuring this is a mob hit and they’re dead anyway. A wild gun battle ensues. In the first round Ryan sprays the table with auto fire, Amelia drops a guard in one shot and misc other wounds are dealt. In round two Amelia shoots wild ricocheting shot in to Ryan—the first TSI wound in the operation. In another 3 rounds it’s all over and the guards are dead. The 3 vampires take the opportunity to tank up. The remaining 3 girls are terrified, but are eventually herded up to the waiting limo.
B Team whacks the lone operator of the NOC with 2 cleans shots to the chest. Popcorn in hand she watches the entire combat on the monitors with much amusement.
With the girls safe, JJ goes up to the NOC to destroy the security recording devices. The team exits except for Ryan who waits for O’Neil.
O’Neils is all business when he arrives on scene. Ryan is immediately arrested and detained for 2 days. However, few charges are actually applied. In the end Ryan is charged with “reckless discharge of a weapon” and serves 2 days in jail. TSI picks up the tab on his legal fees. The front money is recovered. The girls are transported out of the country by Nevel for safe homes he has abroad.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Dodge City circa 1877
I'm starting a Sidewinder campaign to alternate in with my d20 Modern game. The setting will be Dodge City, KS in 1877. Here's some interesting things I've discovered about this amazing city while researching for the game. I selected 1877 because it is the year that Colt introduced the double-action revolver. However, as luck would have it, it's a great year for Dodge City.
Dodge City was established in 1872, the same year that the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka railway was connected to the city. Originally founded to support the Buffalo hide trade Dodge City saw millions of Buffalo slaughtered. In just 5 years the Buffalo were extinct and the town shifted to cattle driving.
While the Golden Spike was driven in Promitory City, UT in 1869 by the Central and Union Pacific railways other railroads had yet to make their east coast/west coast connections. This created fierce competition between railways to complete east/west routes. In 1877 the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka line would be driving for Santa Fe, NM.
Also notable was the local law enforcement. In this year the chief deputy marshall of Dodge City was none other than Wyatt Earp himself. Appointed only the year before, Wyatt would only be Marshall for another year before moving on to Tombstone where his legend would be made. He would leave behind another legend to be marshall, Bat Masterson.
Kansas was a "dry" state in 1877, but the laws didn't seem to affect Dodge City. It had a reported population of only about 1200, but still maintained 16 registered saloons and many more unreported dance halls and brothels. A cattle driving Cowboy could make as much as $90 on a drive from Texas to Kansas and there was nothing to spend it on until they arrived in town 3 months later. Needless to say, they were ready for the splenders the city offered. Times were wild and cash flowed. The legal system of the town funded itself by "fining" the saloons and dance halls for alcohol and other violations. However, none were ever shut down... as long as they paid the "fines".
The players will start in the employ of the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka railway. This allows a wide variety of character types since anyone could work a track gang and even the gunslinger types would be necessary for protection out in the field. What happens after the initial start is up to the players. I need to come up with some ideas that will play in to a campaign.
So far I have...
Dodge City was established in 1872, the same year that the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka railway was connected to the city. Originally founded to support the Buffalo hide trade Dodge City saw millions of Buffalo slaughtered. In just 5 years the Buffalo were extinct and the town shifted to cattle driving.
While the Golden Spike was driven in Promitory City, UT in 1869 by the Central and Union Pacific railways other railroads had yet to make their east coast/west coast connections. This created fierce competition between railways to complete east/west routes. In 1877 the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka line would be driving for Santa Fe, NM.
Also notable was the local law enforcement. In this year the chief deputy marshall of Dodge City was none other than Wyatt Earp himself. Appointed only the year before, Wyatt would only be Marshall for another year before moving on to Tombstone where his legend would be made. He would leave behind another legend to be marshall, Bat Masterson.
Kansas was a "dry" state in 1877, but the laws didn't seem to affect Dodge City. It had a reported population of only about 1200, but still maintained 16 registered saloons and many more unreported dance halls and brothels. A cattle driving Cowboy could make as much as $90 on a drive from Texas to Kansas and there was nothing to spend it on until they arrived in town 3 months later. Needless to say, they were ready for the splenders the city offered. Times were wild and cash flowed. The legal system of the town funded itself by "fining" the saloons and dance halls for alcohol and other violations. However, none were ever shut down... as long as they paid the "fines".
The players will start in the employ of the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka railway. This allows a wide variety of character types since anyone could work a track gang and even the gunslinger types would be necessary for protection out in the field. What happens after the initial start is up to the players. I need to come up with some ideas that will play in to a campaign.
So far I have...
- Players find a map to a gold mine deep in Indian territory.
- Players have a bad encounter with a killer who ends up wronged or dead whereupon his 6 brothers declare vendetta on the PC's.
- Players get entangled with the law somehow and have to continually avoid legal pursuit.
- Players are hired to help a wagon train in to Utah.
- Players told by the railroad to scout the next run of track through Indian territory.
Monday, August 8, 2005
Joint Birthdays
As it happens, my wife's birthday is 7 days after Gabes. So this weekend was a double birthday party with about a dozen guests. We had 3 cakes... lol.
The gift haul was Monty. That means we got a lot of gifts to any non-geeks.
It was a great time and it's always nice to see all the grandparents. Gabe got a bicycle even! Of course he is completely scared of it, but I bet he'll come around.
Also new this weekend is a new car... well a new used car. The Ford F-150 I owned was just 20' of gaz guzzling high payment. So I traded it at Carmax. The experience was alright. Carmax is pretty "no fuss" about stuff, but no matter how you slice it, buying a car is a pain. I now own a nice petite Volkswagon Jetta (2000). It's black with cloth grey interior and a sun roof. Very zippy compared to a truck. I've never really experience german engineering first hand and I gotta say my initial impression is "hey, nice!" The little sucker goes to 105 at 5000 RPM in 5th gear and handles like it's only going 60. No wiggle or float. That's kinda fun. Of course the truck was a white-knuckle drive at 85. After 85 it drifted all over the road and felt like it would flip from air flow at any moment--even when loaded with 700 pounds of sand. But then it was a truck after all.
Anyways... life is good in Lake Woebegon. See y'all soon (digitally speaking).
The gift haul was Monty. That means we got a lot of gifts to any non-geeks.
It was a great time and it's always nice to see all the grandparents. Gabe got a bicycle even! Of course he is completely scared of it, but I bet he'll come around.
Also new this weekend is a new car... well a new used car. The Ford F-150 I owned was just 20' of gaz guzzling high payment. So I traded it at Carmax. The experience was alright. Carmax is pretty "no fuss" about stuff, but no matter how you slice it, buying a car is a pain. I now own a nice petite Volkswagon Jetta (2000). It's black with cloth grey interior and a sun roof. Very zippy compared to a truck. I've never really experience german engineering first hand and I gotta say my initial impression is "hey, nice!" The little sucker goes to 105 at 5000 RPM in 5th gear and handles like it's only going 60. No wiggle or float. That's kinda fun. Of course the truck was a white-knuckle drive at 85. After 85 it drifted all over the road and felt like it would flip from air flow at any moment--even when loaded with 700 pounds of sand. But then it was a truck after all.
Anyways... life is good in Lake Woebegon. See y'all soon (digitally speaking).
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Gabriel Stephen Dorsey Owings - August 2nd 1999
My youngest son is 6 years old today. He'll be starting first grade this fall. He is tall and lean (entirely unlike me), blond and blue eyes. He's a poster child for arian youth... All those long limbs tend to impair his dexerity, however. He's constantly whacking a toe or smacking his head on something. I'm sure I can use that an excuse anytime he acts up as a teen... "you hit your head too much as a child..."
Gabe is almost never angry. He is always trying to make someone happy. He has a comical intensity about small toys. One must be present at all times. He also thinks there is a minimum TV watching requirement for small children. *giggle* I think his ears are broken. But I think that might be true of all children.
And despite all the "dont jump on the couch", "eat with your mouth closed, please", and "don't throw things in the house" phrases that seem to constantly be my only communictation with him, he loves me anyway.
It's his birthday today. My son is 6.
Gabe is almost never angry. He is always trying to make someone happy. He has a comical intensity about small toys. One must be present at all times. He also thinks there is a minimum TV watching requirement for small children. *giggle* I think his ears are broken. But I think that might be true of all children.
And despite all the "dont jump on the couch", "eat with your mouth closed, please", and "don't throw things in the house" phrases that seem to constantly be my only communictation with him, he loves me anyway.
It's his birthday today. My son is 6.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)