Poetry & Presentations, Interviews & Games, Linux & Conventions

[tcpip]

Last Sunday was a poetry service at the Unitarians. I presented three pieces from my favourite Unitarian-Universalist poet, ee cummings; Ballad of the Scholar's Lament, The Way to Hump A Cow (yes, I really did read that in church full of little old ladies), and There Are So Many Tictoc Clocks. This Sunday I'll be presenting at the Church with the subject "A Unitarian-Universalist View of the Economic Crisis". Some might think in advance that I'll make mention of an view of economics espoused by past unitarians like John Locke, Thomas Jefferson and Herbert Simon (how come so few people seem to know of the latter?).

After that we're planning an educational game where each player is one the various factions in the early Christian Church and attempt to establish their own version of the Credo: The Game of Duelling Dogmas. This Friday at the "Melbourne Roleplaying Salon" we're having another shot at Dragon Warriors; after that it'll be back to beingfrank's game of The Shadow of Yesterday. My review for Pathfinder Beta Edition has been put up at RPG.net. I have been interviewed for my opinions on game design etc on gametime. In two weeks I take over from our current D&D3.5/Pathfinder DM in the Richmond gaming group to run Fantasy Australia. Two weeks ago, recumbenteer and Louise visited and we played "Unexploded Cow"; quite good work - am interested in any other suggestion from the "Cheap Ass" line.

Work's summer students are testing various scientific applications on GPU and are getting some very good results. On a related topic, last Saturday attended the annual LUV "Penguin Picnic". Afterwards, headed off to _zombiemonkey's birthday gathering, which was very enjoyable. Next week will be in Tasmania to attend Linux Conference Australia (do I go to enough conferences and conventions?).

Comments

[antayla.livejournal.com]

I get so jealous of all the really kewl gaming you do :P.
There are lots of gamers in Portland but finding the right group is tough.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Hey, you got to play for a while :)

Actually... I do have a space in the HeroQuest Glorantha PBeM...

[antayla.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I never did a PBeM. What's that like, in terms of pace and involvement?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Oh, about one post a week per player is sufficient.

[antayla.livejournal.com]

I'd have time for that :). Do you have a site/wiki for your game?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Archives here..

http://mimesisrpg.com/pipermail/ignorance_mimesisrpg.com/

Email me and I'll send you a synopsis of what's happened so far :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Hey... HeroQuest game... You still interested?

[antayla.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I haven't gotten around to reading the archives yet... my brain has been in database design mode for the last two weeks :P.

If you've got someone in mind for the spot, go ahead and give it to them and I'll get around to reading the archives eventually. Then if another spot opens up, perhaps I could take it?

[greylock.livejournal.com]

The Way to Hump A Cow (yes, I really did read that in church full of little old ladies)

Unitarianism: Not your Mother's church.

(I expect. I have no actual interest in finding out, but it works as a slogan. You just need a skater dude being radical for a bitchin' TV ad).

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe not my mother's church, and perhaps not yours. But some of the congregation tittered and I did give due warning that it was downright rude. The clever part of course is that it's about politicians and taxpayers.

You just need a skater dude being radical for a bitchin' TV ad

Heh. Reminds me of when the German Party for Democratic Socialism used a rather naughtily-dressed young punk girl in an advertisement.

PDS election campaign ads

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ObjDWWaFrc8 (2005)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Bipw3Rd6Cyc (2002, pretty funny..)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzTDNoE3cy4 (1998; they've gone all industrial)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=fo5661J-kMs (1994; maybe it was this one, but she doesn't look as young as I remember.. Heck it was 14 years ago..)

[engelhardtlm1.livejournal.com]

An incredibly informative post to me... Mostly because I friended you just a couple days ago and hadn't looked at your old posts. I learned:

(1) You're a UU.
(2) You're a gamer. (Speaking of which, Cheap Ass has a "Kill Dr. Lucky" line that is quite fun. I describe it as "the game that gets played before Clue." Also, any particular reason you're not switching over to D&D4e yet? I've played relatively little D&D - maybe 3 sessions of 3.5, as I'm a White Wolf fan - but am curious about your thoughts on 3.5e v 4e.)
(3) You're from Australia.

Shows you how little homework I do on my new friends, as all of this is in your userinfo... I think I just assumed that, since I knew you from the economics group, that economics was what I was going to hear about. Ah, the surprises of LJ.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads-up on Kill Dr. Lucky, I'll see if my FLGS has that one.

As for D&D4e, as I whole I think I prefer D&D3.5 and even more so the directions of Pathfinder. Now 4e might be what some people are after, it is well constructed and I said as much when I reviewed it, but it's not really my sort of game. I was trying to put my finger on exactly why this is the case then I discovered a criticism that basically says it is too well constructed and as a result ends up - systematically - being a very obvious trumps-based card game.

Economics in the next post, I promise!

[engelhardtlm1.livejournal.com]

Looking at the Cheap Ass website, Kill Dr. Lucky has, sadly, gone out of print. However, there is still Save Dr. Lucky... which is the game you play before you play Kill Dr. Lucky.

Interesting thoughts on 4e. My guess is that I wouldn't like it if it is that combat-oriented. I was introduced to RPGs in college, and the group I was in was very "combat light" - which is probably part of why a lot of us liked White Wolf's (old) World of Darkness so well. Their combat system was so clunky that the GM would generally avoid having much combat... and none of us missed it.

Oh, and don't worry about getting economics in. Just a case of expectations being violated - and that's not necessarily a bad thing!

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

Careful; the Nicene don't play nice.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Heheh. There's plenty of opportunities for persecution (there's even a table for it!), exile other bishops, start civil wars, military interventions, calls agents in rebus, apostasy, engage in scandals and gossip..

[taavi.livejournal.com]

I believe Walter Burley Griffin was a Unitarian and a Georgist, if you're looking for forerunners.

Interestingly, I believe the vietnamese did actually consider buying up britain's mad cows in order to clear fields of cluster bombs, but decided there was too much risk of the prions getting into the food chain.
"Give me the brain" is probably my favourite CAG.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

A quick google reveals that Marion Lucy, Walter's wife, was the designer of the Unitarian Church of All Souls, Evanston, Illinois... I don't know about Walter himself... But yes, I did know he was a Georgist..

Interestingly, I believe the vietnamese did actually consider buying up britain's mad cows in order to clear fields of cluster bombs

Now I though that was a laconic joke from Phonmh Penh!

[kallistos.livejournal.com]

Just an apology if it took me a while to friend you back.