Journal Entries
It Rained Today for the First Time in 163 Years
Posted Jun 15, 2007
I have concerns that a country known almost worldwide for rain and general bad weather continues to flounder in the face of storms. A couple of days rain seems sufficient to overpower even the simplest things like street drainage. I appreciate that weather patterns have, over the last several years, become increasingly unpredictable, but the relationship between 'rain' and 'Britain' is nothing new. Considering the amount of money paid to councils and utility companies - can simple water management be so very hard to pull off without a hitch?
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 15, 2007
Board Bound
Posted May 15, 2007
I played a game of 'Runebound' at the weekend. For those who have played Talisman, try it. For those who have roleplayed - or know what that means in a Dungeons & Dragons-type context - give it a go for a focussed session of entertaining gaming where no single individual need take the gamemaster role. For those who enjoy board games, you will appreciate the quality of the components and the solid gameplay experience. For those into fantasy films or novels who enjoy spending time with friends and have time to spare, I strongly suggest you give it a go.
Really, I thoroughly enjoyed my four or five hours! Yes, it took that long to play - but it proved worth the investment. Basically, 'Runebound' involves several players taking on the role of characters seeking to put a stop to the return of Margath, evil dragon overlord. You roam the land seeking to silence his followers and gather powerful possessions and allies. You can adventure through increasingly difficult quests by drawing different coloured challenge cards. Green challengs will give pause to a starting character, with yellow, blue and finally red challenges posing significantly more troublesome threats.
You can visit local towns to heal yourself (and your allies) and purchase new equipment (or acquire the service of more formidable allies). Some challenges require that you take trips to certain towns to achieve certain goals with a fine prize at the end.
Great fun had by all - and the game line includes a dozen more expansion 'packs' - with cards that either shuffle directly into the existing decks or replace elements to pose fresh challenges.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 15, 2007
Binary
Posted Apr 30, 2007
We had a death at the weekend... a close friend of the family. Tough times. Spent the whole of Saturday in a state of disbelief. The whole weekend I spent in various states of distress, anger, denial, guilt and various other emotions. The essential binary state of life and death makes it very tough to come to terms with, I find. I find my mind can't deal with it in those terms of on/off... left desperately scrambling in the states of grey inbetween.
I tried to deal with it as best I could - as did the rest of the family. Watched four episodes of the second series of 'Spaced' on Saturday while doing the ironing; while I spend Sunday busy out and about shopping. Come Monday morning, I'm still struggling and it will invariably take a long time to assimilate all these feelings and come out the other side.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Apr 30, 2007
Games Games Games
Posted Apr 24, 2007
Had the opportunity to play a couple of family games recently, which I enjoyed thoroughly. We played two games with a similar sort of theme - basically bluffing and bidding to get control of ingame characters to further your ends.
In 'Fist of Dragonstones', you have an abstract goal to score three points. To do this, you trade in a specific number of Dragonstones and claims your points. Making the trade necessitates winning control of a character and meeting his or her requirements at the same time. So, one character allows you to trade Dragonstones of three different colours for one point. If you don't have the stones, you can get a few coins instead (which you use to complete your bidding). Other characters either allow you to trade for different combinations of stones, acquire stones through fair means or foul, and also to trouble the intentions of other players. For example, you can acquire the Witch to let you curse a character latter in the bidding process - and that character loses their ability. Everyone bidding loses all their gold, and the winner ends up with a character who can't do anything.
'Fist' makes for an hour of fun, with the prospect of quick decisive victories or long, drawn out wars to get hold of those three vital points.
The other game, 'Citadels', has a more flavoursome goal for players to pursue. All players intend to build an eight district city. Building a district costs gold equal to the amount shown on the card; and, some districts possess special abilities or interact with certain characters. You can temporarily acquire control of one from eight characters - Assassin, Thief, Merchant, Bishop, the King, Warlord, Architect and Magician - and use their powers for that turn, before they go back into a randomised pile. Four of the characters allow you to get gold - as tax - if you have a district of the right colour in front of you - so, a Merchant will extract a gold in tax from a green district. These characters also have other minor abilities they can call upon as well. The Assassin kills another character announced by the player, who loses his turn; the Architect can build three districts instead of one; the Magician can exchange or swap the unbuilt district cards he has in hand; and the Thief steals another characters gold.
All great fun, complicated by a little guesswork to figure out who has which character. If you build a city with districts of each colour, you get more points; and finishing your eight district city in the same round as the first person to do it still gives you enough points to make it possible to win at the final moment. Very enjoyable indeed; and the more satisfying of the two.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Apr 24, 2007
Unhelpful Information
Posted Apr 23, 2007
Tried to visit a User page earlier (SWL from the frontpage, as it happens) and experienced a blank screen with the message:
"The following error occurred: An unknown error has occurred"
I had high expectations all the way up to that colon...
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Apr 23, 2007
The Apprentice
Researcher U35204
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."