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A New Penguin, CCNA2, Ars Magica, Socialising, Dunedin
So I finally ditched Mandrake and played around with a couple of distros for server-level fun. OpenSolaris was even installed at one stage, albeit briefly. FreeBSD, the preferred option, didn't want to install and I'm not man enough to fight it. Finally settled on Fedora. Then began the tiresome process of getting Python, Zope and Plone up and going. They don't talk to each other very well at all. If PHPWebsite was fully standards compliant I wouldn't bother with this nonsense.
Last week I passed the CCNA semester 2 theory exam. It was held out-of-sync because myself and the other student (yes, the class has had a 80%+ drop-out rate) were having problems with the prac test, so the instructor put that off until this week and sprung the exam on us instead. I rather suspect that if I actually had the opportunity to study for it I would have done better than the 77% that I received. It's good enough for now.
Gaming this past week has only consisted of Ars Magica. The Storyguide has placed us on the Calf of Man, a desolate windswept place far from civilization. My character, as a Greek scholar, is already beginning to feel exiled. I am increasingly of the opinion that the setting - minus the inter-House politics - is magnificant and the system is both flawed and incomplete.
In a fairly social week, I started with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hasimir's gathering at the Gin Palace. There was fine conversation and some amusement at the fact that everyone present had an el-jay account. Later, an end-of-year gathering for the Henry George Foundation, with an excellent speech by Bob Knowles. Finally, went to caseopaya's end of year work function and had a very enjoyable time.
Have been reading books on network games and decided that would be a great profession; I would get to combine all my interests into one. Planning to go to the Dunedin Linux Conf in January. I have a mad dream of a dozen people taking over a disused warehouse in Dunedin and turning it into an IT centre of great repute. But who would join me in such a venture at the end of the earth?
Last week I passed the CCNA semester 2 theory exam. It was held out-of-sync because myself and the other student (yes, the class has had a 80%+ drop-out rate) were having problems with the prac test, so the instructor put that off until this week and sprung the exam on us instead. I rather suspect that if I actually had the opportunity to study for it I would have done better than the 77% that I received. It's good enough for now.
Gaming this past week has only consisted of Ars Magica. The Storyguide has placed us on the Calf of Man, a desolate windswept place far from civilization. My character, as a Greek scholar, is already beginning to feel exiled. I am increasingly of the opinion that the setting - minus the inter-House politics - is magnificant and the system is both flawed and incomplete.
In a fairly social week, I started with
hasimir's gathering at the Gin Palace. There was fine conversation and some amusement at the fact that everyone present had an el-jay account. Later, an end-of-year gathering for the Henry George Foundation, with an excellent speech by Bob Knowles. Finally, went to caseopaya's end of year work function and had a very enjoyable time. Have been reading books on network games and decided that would be a great profession; I would get to combine all my interests into one. Planning to go to the Dunedin Linux Conf in January. I have a mad dream of a dozen people taking over a disused warehouse in Dunedin and turning it into an IT centre of great repute. But who would join me in such a venture at the end of the earth?
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2) well, yes, I like the history aspect too, but I am conscious it can alienate some players if its too heavy handed, especially if its presented in such a way that works against high fantasy concept.
3) actually, the Ex Misc connection with the British isles comes mostly because it was founded there, as an after effect of a war between the order and a scottish magician, during which many scottish (pictish) hedge magi were recruited to the orders side by the founder of Ex Misc (Pralix). So the scottish ones at least definitely aren't Diedne, but gruagach, whose magic is very different. That said, I wouldn't be surprised that if there are surviving Diedne, in Ex Misc in Wales or Ireland might be where you would find them.
4) and you also get cross cultural mystery cults, some of which are associated with particular magical traditions. Eg alchemy, astrology, theurgy are not restricted to single cultures, but are not part of the hermetic 'mainstream' either.