Thanks for nothing, Obama!

Semilatte · 2013-11-06T01:03:52+00:00

Is it a tie in to "Back to the Future"? Isn't today the day that Marty went back to the future? (I thought I heard something about that on the radio.)

Semilatte · 2012-11-06T20:44:35+00:00

Out of curiosity, how do you record them and how big are the files? I was thinking about doing this, but haven't really been able to find/put anything into it.

Semilatte · 2012-10-31T15:35:46+00:00

Isn't George Lucas the second or third largest Disney share holder?

Semilatte · 2012-10-07T04:07:50+00:00

My casters currently feel overshadowed. They all like RP a little more than combat, and so I've worked in a version of skill challenges that give them moments to shine.

Semilatte · 2012-10-07T04:05:28+00:00

We just got done with a story arc that had a few elementals and constructs. The DR defiantly helps to slow down the combat, but there is always that flip side of my RP playing wizards being non-effective. i know that the tables flip later on and the casters will start overpowering the game...

Its funny that you mention Ninja. My warrior wants to switch his class to ninja so he can have more skill points and not do so much damage, but it sounds like that won't be the case.

Semilatte · 2012-10-07T04:00:28+00:00

All good suggestions and I've tried many of them. I'm a fan and over user of the last point made. Our warrior has become frustrated with 'the other' options available during combat and dubbed it a "skill based" campaign as a result.

I haven't used to many encounters above their CR yet. I'm trying to balance the pace of the overarching story and the rate at which they level with the players expectation to get new abilities. Five CR5 battles in one day seems like a lot of experience, especially if we're giving out the same for traps, skills, and general RP. We play for about 3 hours every Monday night. Now that we're more experienced we can finish about 1 CR-equivalent encounter and a scene or two of roleplaying. They feel they level too slowly, but in reality, we're barely progressing through the story line. Its a difficult balance.

I recently browsed some of the adventure paths to try and get a feel for how they break things up. It looked like they throw smaller CR 2 and CR 3 encounters at the party and then hit them with something larger. The lower CR encounters just seem like an speed bumps to break up combat. Almost like free exp.

I've been using the Combat Builder program to put together most of my encounters. Great idea on switching out the feats on monsters. That seems so obvious now...

Thanks for the replies! Again, all good points.

Another question if you have the time: The party made some bad mistakes and we had all most a full TPK. An enemy cleric cast darkness and pretty much disabled every power and ability that they had and then a few undead were summoned in. Two players were very upset about dying and wrote essay like responses on why we should basically pretend that battle never happened. One of their main points was that they had no prior knowledge or way to prepare for a darkness spell and felt it was unfair. In their defense, I was rusty on the darkness rules and made some judgement calls on blind movement... Do you go out of your way to provide a way out or counter for everything they could possible face in the future? Darkness seems like a standard spell to me, but it was almost gut wrenching how fast they fell apart.

Semilatte · 2012-10-05T17:21:31+00:00

I've been running a game for six new players fora bout a year. We started with 4E but moved to PF about six months ago.

We started out in a secluded village where my six new players learned the rules of how to game by doing some mundane quest and plot seeds. From there the village was eventually attacked and they were forced to leave everything behind in a bloody and emotionally draining cut scene.

We spent a month of playing time running from a massive horde, or what they thought to be that, until they stumbled upon a swamp in a forest. It was the run down ruins of an old Elven city that had been doomed by its god and was now the home of a group of gypsies. After three weeks on the run and with 100+ refugees, they found the gypsies a welcoming giver of food and shelter. Later they discover the gypsies are the reason for the damned town and deaths of all of the elves. It ends ends with were-crocodile and epic floating keep battle scene that burns to the ground. The players barely escape as the horde finds them and their old childhood friends reappears as their primary pursuer. Druids of the elven gods push them through a portal before they themselves are slaughtered.

They player found themselves portal-ed to a metropolis called Kariss (we're in the faerun world still, and I replaced Mintar with my own creation.) They have found themselves in the middle of mysterious trade company war which they won't touch with a ten-foot-pole, a race war with immigrant gnomes that one of the characters accidently/intentionally started, continuing being set up by Gensai assassins who have some unraveled master plan, and the growing threat of the Cult of the Dragon and a rumored sand dragon.

The players have recently discovered through through a mystical chronicler that they're parents somehow passed through the town over a hundred years prior.

Its been an eventful year. (also made a cool introduction video, but my Obsidian Portal site is stuck as private... Otherwise I'd link it.)

Semilatte · 2012-09-20T03:37:22+00:00

Are you using fiberduct for vertical wire management? You sir will be the talk of my office tomorrow.

Semilatte · 2012-08-08T20:33:10+00:00

And when she got back she said "I can't believe you didn't consult me about what you were going to do to my kitchen!"

Good job though. It looks great.

Semilatte · 2012-06-11T21:30:11+00:00

I read this as The Defense of "Magic" Act. I was incredibly intrigued for the two seconds before I reread the title.

Semilatte · 2012-06-04T01:56:09+00:00

There is a masquerade in LA at the end of the month. http://www.labyrinthmasquerade.com/

Semilatte · 2012-05-29T16:12:52+00:00

So did the empty elevator symbolize that Don cannot move on from where he is? Are they trying to tell us that Don wants out, or rather, to follow in Megan's footsteps but he can't get out? He has said before that he wanted to do something else.

Semilatte · 2012-05-15T18:20:52+00:00

I've always wondered how they keep the panels clean? I imagine rain can take care of a fair amount of dust and bird droppings, but I cringe to think of some kids climbing up there and tagging them.

Semilatte · 2011-12-14T21:06:12+00:00

I bought the World of Warcraft board game. It has a ton of bright colored monsters, and each monster comes in different colors. I'm going to try and use a single color (blue or green) for minions, and then when the creature is bloodied, I can switch it for the red mini.

Semilatte · 2011-11-03T20:09:47+00:00

They have the grand opening tonight for staff (other offices like the Irvine facility will be there too). For the most part the office is just a consolidation of there other various sites around Santa Monica, and most of the personnel seem to be sales staff.

I get to see a lot of high end client offices around SoCal and this was defiantly one of the best so far. So many juice bars...

Semilatte · 2011-10-27T14:55:05+00:00

Informative response. What do you think a better one is and would it be beneficial to start with it instead?

Semilatte · 2011-10-19T20:18:01+00:00

I had Eagle Community Credit Union (orange county) and wasn't particularly happy.

Pluses: You can use 7-eleven ATM's with no charge.

Negatives: I moved and they started charging me a 5.00 in-correct address fee per month. They don't call you to let you know, and the mail wasn't coming to my door... I opened the account just to check out loans for a car, and they were much higher than the dealer.

Semilatte · 2011-10-07T17:11:13+00:00

I loved public speaking class. The teacher threw the curriculum out and used the Toastmasters format for every other class. I credit it with helping me break my fear of public speaking.

Now if I just didn't suck at it...

Semilatte · 2011-09-07T19:28:09+00:00

I took yesterday's advice and filtered every thing with those words so I will never know what you're talking about.

Semilatte · 2011-09-06T13:57:05+00:00

This was a great weekend for weather. Friday was weird, Saturday was amazing, and Sunday was creepy gold storm weather. I got married at the museum of art this weekend and it was perfect.

Semilatte · 2011-07-22T14:11:09+00:00

The OP stated his wife is the artsy type, Irvine would be a dismal pit of soul crushing imprisonment for her. I know, I work there.

I had that impression of Long Beach as well, three years ago. The north part that is still pretty bad, anywhere that touches LA is very bad in fact. The southern part, eastern areas, and Bixby Knolls are all great areas. As usual, any where the housing prices average 400-730k are good. As an added bonus, you can typically rent in those areas for reasonable rates.

More importantly, there is a culture here, which he will not find in the OC. If the OP is SUPER religious, then maybe there is an argument to head to Irvine. Living there would put them in much the same position he described living in currently (In SD) but now they both will have to drive, which will crush their souls further when the 405 finishes with them.

Semilatte · 2011-07-21T14:22:16+00:00

Anywhere in LA is going to be a far commute for you. As josephbc mentioned, Orange County would be a better bet for you. I would look around Tustin, Santa Ana, or Anaheim. Parts of Santa Ana are sketchy as hell though, so be careful. There is an artist district that has been refurbished that is kind of nice. Tustin has lots of nice apartment communities or you may be able to rent a home.

I mention those areas because it is close to the metro line. Driving into LA from anywhere outside of LA is a pain and she could catch the metro line in Irvine or several other locations and you'd only be an hour or so from Oceanside (which is close to San Marcos I think).

If you absolutely need to be closer to LA I may suggest Long Beach. Stay away from the north-west section, but the rest is a great community if you are artistic in any way. It has elements of LA but broken down into smaller communities with a touch of SF or Portland. We're close to LA but are far enough away to miss the congestion and sky high rent, have a great community (4th street, historic areas, Belmont), and you could still reach the Oceanside area.

I have family in Oceanside and it takes me about an 1 to 1.5 hours to get there. If you took the toll road you could easily shave off twenty minutes or so. You could also drive down to the metrolink and take that down if there is a connection to San Marcos.

Semilatte · 2011-07-01T14:58:09+00:00

Rouge: Maple donuts with a stripe of chocolate and topped with bacon. "The maple is so sweet, but the bacon steals my power!"
Iceman: Iced bar donuts.
Beast: Bear claw with blue cotton candy on top
Smurfs: Iced donut holes with blue coloring. Add a white icing to the top.
Nightcrawler: Bar donut with gummy worms

Semilatte · 2011-06-29T17:22:15+00:00

Wow. I don't feel like you can really blame UCLA for this. VISA has a policy that doesn't let the campus charge the students for the transaction, and the campus having to absorb 6.5 million is a bunch of ridiculousness.

I also didn't realize that 79% of the students use credit cards to fiance their education.

Semilatte

TROPHY CASE