A very Goblin X-mas
What would be X-mas morning without a Goblin Song…. (Taken from the Paizo Blog)
(Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells)
Sneaking through your yard,
Going through your stuff,
Hope you didn’t like your dog; we got a little rough!
Tied him to a stump.
Lit the stump on fire.
Maybe you’ll wake up in time to put out puppy’s pyre!Now we’re in your house,
It’s fancied up so nice!
With shiny things set all about, there’s lots to break and slice!
Here’s a stocking full,
And there’s a gift-wrapped toy,
For a bit we stand agog—there’s so much to destroy!OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
In a pile, Goblin style!
What could be more fun?
Breaking toys for girls and boys
Until we’re finally done!When you wake, hearts will break;
Because we’ve had our way!
This is great! Let’s celebrate!
A Goblin Holiday!
Happy Life Day!
Happy Life Day from everyone at Critical Hits! We promise we won’t sing!
(thanks to Andy Looney for the idea and RiffTRAX for helping me find it!)
YouTube of the Week: IM IN YOUR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR Edition
Best. YouTube title. Ever. Found at ENWorld.
Twas' the Night Before Tesla
On this fine holiday eve, I was scouring the internets and ran into this beauty.
A “Tesla Tree“. A shot of a christmas tree made of discharges of Tesla Coils. This DIY project may just be a time-lapsed photo with some color filters to add some holiday cheer, but the geekiness of it just brings a tear to my eye and a warmness to my heart.
Make sure you check this guy out. A lot of awesome things were made from Tesla Coils ( among them a Red Alert Tesla Coil and a “Tesla Car Theft Protection System” ).
My Perfect Geeky Christmas list!
The Soap image comes from Sean K. Reynolds’ wife business. She makes Geeky soaps, have a look!
Here’s my list:
- I want someone working at WotC to comment on my blog
- I want my wife to download the second season of Heroes
- I want D&D 4e to be as kickass as what the previews make it to be
- I want d20 Modern!!!
- I want to spend a whole day playing Magic the Gathering with my buddies
- I want an invite to participate on a RPG blog panel at Gen Con so I can impose my French Canadian accent on the world!
- I want to conquer all Fluff and establish a 1000 thousand year empire of Crunch! MWa HA HA HA HA!!!
Soooooo….. What would your perfect geeky X-mas be like?
Merry Christmas all. I’ll post Friday’s game log today if I can… expect it no later than Wednesday morning.
Feel Good Movie of the Year
This has to be seen to be believed.
The Shining as a sappy Romantic Comedy
Now, one very amusing thing you could do with this (not that I’m advocating it, of course), would be to show this trailer to someone who has never seen the movie. Particularly someone who hates horror films. And then get them to watch it.
Hilarity would ensue.
Inq. of the Week: 2007 vs. 2008
Last week, we asked if the winter months = more gaming. While most of you don’t change your gaming habits, there were plenty of you who said you game all the much more when there’s snow on the ground, whether it be from more time at home or just the lack of schoolwork. I myself tend to game about the same amount, since I game a lot no matter what, but perhaps I shall try to increase it anyway.
2007 had a number of highlights that we covered here. From 300, to the Transformers movie, to Rock Band, this has been quite an awesome year for gamers. At the same time, we’ve also covered a lot of exciting announcements for the year ahead. D&D4e, The Dark Knight, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and many more give us plenty to look forward to.
So the question is…
Loading ...Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you loved about this year, what you’re sure you’ll love about next year, or how you’re a big wuss who can’t decide!
Thanks to Poker, Antigua is New Pirate Haven
In a strange epilogue to the decision by the United States government (pre-midterm changeover) to place limits on funding for online poker, the country of Antigua has won the legal right to ignore US copyrights thanks to the World Trade Organization.
From the New York Times:
The award follows a W.T.O. ruling that Washington had wrongly blocked online gambling operators on the island from the American market at the same time it allowed online wagering on horse racing.
…[T]he ruling is significant in that it grants a rare form of compensation: the right of one country, in this case Antigua, to violate intellectual property laws of another — the United States — by allowing it to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products.
…Though Antigua is best known for its pristine beaches and tourist attractions, the dozens of online casinos based there are important to the island’s economy as its second-largest employer.
This result was expected by many pundits in the days following the original law passing. However, this is not a big win for Antigua: it will be difficult to enforce, and the US has plenty of other ways to fight back. Still, it has proved that at least in some way the laws under which the US claims to operate as far as gambling goes are hypocritical at best.
HAPPY [HOLIDAY NAME HERE]
Portal fans will want to check out the ApertureScience website for a special Holiday-Cam, complete with festive weighted companion cube and, of course, cake.
There’s also plenty of fun stuff to be had after logging in (by typing LOGIN at the prompt, then using username: CJOHNSON and password TIER3.) Be sure to APPLY when you’re in for a potential job as a test subject!
(thanks, MyExtraLife!)
Mini-Trope: No, I won't let you tell me about your character…
A few weeks ago, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about tropish DMs. Tonight I felt like tackling the equivalent for players.
Once again this is going to be a satirical post and not an actual critic on play style. As usual, if this offends you…. ah heck, it’s not like I’m shopping for new players… 
For a much more serious take on player types, look here.
The first Archetypal RPG player is one you all know…
The Socially Oblivious Game Store RPG gamer:
You’ve all met this one at least once. A vacant stare, rigid body and a monotonous unending drone about his (and even her) character/game system or Miniature Army. He’s usually inflicting his monologue to one or two painfully polite game store clients.
Said clients who were unaware of the game store rule of never asking an open-ended question about a game to non-employees or strangers.
(Although I’ve seen stores who’s employees or owners are such types… the store often closes not to long after).
What kills me the most about these type of gamers is that they are absolutely impervious to the innumerable non-verbal cues that humans use to imply that they aren’t all that fascinated by their diatribe.
That’s why I’ll pass on a teaching from workplace social management. Since they are socially inept to start with, you don’t have to try to spare their feelings by being polite and waiting for them to finish (they usually won’t unless distracted by something). Cut them off firmly but politely by telling them that you don’t have time to discuss.
I’ve read a story once about a non-gaming gamer girlfriend having enough with her overly polite gamer boyfriend listening to Mr Oblivious drone on about his latest character or game system. She basically went ‘YOU stop talking to my boyfriend now!’.
Ahhh these women are god’s gift to gamer geeks I tell you!
The Grognard
He (always a he) played D&D with paper chits in cups. He writes on gaming forums about the time he played with Gygax, or Arneson or Kuntz. He still plays the same out-of-print game since it came out (Usually OD&D or Runequest).
Don’t try to talk about D&D 3E or 4E because he’ll be happy to point out that his D&D never had a 3rd edition. (Sorry Evil DM, couldn’t resist).
In his game, Elves are classes, Druids are options and Fighters are called Fighting Men and can use Magical Swords. And that’s how he likes it!
The Loudmouthed Enthusiast:
Usually somewhat overweight, way too extroverted for anyone’s comfort and always WAY TOO LOUD!
This guy is the one that buys 15 supplements of the game he started only last week with his buddies. He talks RPGs 24/7 and always goes about about having his own store one day. While not as socially inept as out 1st player archetype, the LME will exhaust even the most patient of DMs. Heaven forbid if he’s allowed anywhere near the Mountain Dew.
Oh yeah, when the LME becomes a DM, he becomes a Chatty DM…. (That one was for you guys!)
