Sunshine

It was okay.

Only the Good Die Young

This is a list of under-appreciated shows that got canceled before their time.  I will add to this list later when I think of more.  Comment on this entry if you have suggestions.

The Good:

The Weekenders
Lloyd in Space
Megas XLR
The Pirates of Dark Water

Dice and Dimes

Every Dungeons and Dragons player knows that a full set of polyhedral dice is crucial to RPG gameplay.  If you don't have a d20, then just forget about it.  The other day, I came up with a system for substituting polyhedral dice.  Now I'm here to share my incredible wisdom with you commoners.

Poor Man's Polyhedral Dice

You need:
a nickel, a dime, and one common die (d6).

Instructions:
d4: Flip nickel, heads add 2, tails add 1. Flip dime, heads add 2.
d6: use d6
d8: Flip nickel, heads add 2, tails add 1. Flip dime, heads add 2. Roll die, "Even" add 4.
d10: Roll die add result (re-roll on 6). Flip nickel, heads add 5. (1-10, for 0-9 subtract 1 or count 10 as 0)
d12: Roll die add result. Flip nickel, heads add 6.
d20: Roll die add result (re-roll on 6). Flip nickel, heads add 5. Flip dime, heads add 10.


btw, I'm back from Spring Break.  I hope to post more often again.
Until next time fellow pirates.

Vampires That Don't Sparkle

I have two related recommendations today...

 

Blood: The Last Vampire is a dark, action packed anime movie.  If you watch it first, it may leave you wanting more.  The reason for that is because it has an anime series that is meant to follow it.  I watched this movie after having seen the first season of the series and I don't really think it matters what order you watch it in.

The theme and artwork in this movie are really the highlights.  The story is not very complicated, but not very obtrusive.  Overall a great vampire movie.

Blood+

The series that follows this movie is also very good.  However, the themes and styles are very different.  The anime is much more upbeat and 'shoujo' with vampires flash stepping and showing off their power levels.  However, I thought they did a good job keeping the story going at the same time.  The first season of Blood+ is much like the first season of Bleach.  I hope that doesn't mean that it also follows the same trend Bleach did later on.

Movies to Avoid: A Scanner Darkly

 

I'll admit, the cel-shaded animation drew me into this movie, along with the creepy title.  However, I was quite disappointed.  This movie about drugs, society, and conspiracies seemed like it was made for druggies.  The plot was hard to follow and in the end, not very interesting.  The animation was not used for anything more than cartooning people walking to work and stuff.  Overall, not worth the time spent watching it even.

This movie was based on a, probably far superior, novel by Phillip K. Dick.  I recently read a book by this author and it was good, but I don't think this book translated very well.  Either that or the book stunk.

Once more and with feeling... This movie is not even worth Pirating.

That's all mateys.

Myth-Weavers

This review is technically a follow-up since I posted about this site before.

I would like to recommend this site for what it is.  This is the most active play-by-post role-playing game community I have ever found.  That's a mouthful so let me break it down.

Role-Playing Game Community
I'm not talking about Final Fantasy.  I'm talking Dungeons and Dragons.  It's not just limited to DnD though.  I've seen plenty of Exalted, GURPS, BESM, and many other role-playing systems represented.  Don't want to buy a book?  I've also seen several free-form (discussed later) and homemade, or "homebrew" as gamers call it, systems represented as well.

Play-by-Post
Myth-Weavers provides an exstensive and very functional forum in which players discuss things and play games.  Every game set-up through their system receives its own personal forum moderated by the GM.  However, Myth-Weavers rules prevents organizing games that are to be played through an alternative means of communication.  In other words, all gaming has to be done on their site.  They seem to enforce this rule as well as they can too.  As I said though, their site is functional enough on its own to facilitate most gaming.

Most Active
This isn't saying much.  Online RPGs, especially Play-by-Post, are prone to stagnating and dying.  Some players, even if they say otherwise, don't have the patience to keep up with a game that only updates once a day or less.

HOWEVER, Myth-Weavers has the most professional and most active group of online RPGers that I have ever encountered.

In conclusion, if you are interested in playing a RPG online, I recommend that you try www.myth-weavers.com  It's free, it's easy, and it works.

-End Myth-Weavers Review-


Note: Freeform Role-Playing Games

I would like to 'advertise' the enjoyable style of gaming called Freeform RPGs.  Freeform RPGs goes back to the roots of story-telling.  It's like writing a novel together.  The process is simple.  The GM will have a setting prepared.  Players will design appropriate characters based on the setting.  The GM will then give players scenarios and the players will then explain what their character will do.  GM will respond with reactions from NPCs and the environment and present more scenarios.  Essentially, it's DnD without a book, dice, or stats of any kind.

Freeform RPing is well catered to Play by Post.  In fact, I would imagine that it would be much more awkward in person.  Freeform removes the game system that would be cumbersome to PbP, but requires more thought in order to act as your characters would.

Much like Myth-Weavers, Freeform gaming is free, easy, and it works.

Until next time fellow pirates.

RSS Feeds

 

Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person to figure things out, but in case I'm not... I like to tell you about the wonders of RSS Feeds.  Do you read webcomics?  Do you read LOTS of webcomics?  Do you wish you could read lots of webcomics, but don't have the time to keep up with which ones updated and which ones haven't?  You need to get a RSS Feed Reader.  I chose Google Reader, corporate whore that I am, but there are plenty of options for you to choose from and most of them are free.

Will it work with my webcomic?

Yes it will.  I think.  From what I've seen, it seems that almost any website can be RSS'd.  You just hit 'Add Subscription' on your reader and type in a URL.  That easy.  I even follow my friends blogs, Bengineering and Sixty's Blog on it.

Get an RSS Feed Reader today, or yesterday preferrably.

Until next time fellow pirates.