You know, I should post this here, too.

Okay, we're coming down to the wire here - and we need to figure out when and where we're going to have game.

I was thinking of getting a table at the convention, but Mrs. and the Little don't have memberships and I don't know how to get one.

Texas Tiger and khereva have offered their place - a ten minute drive away in North Austin. We can carpool.

Plus, I don't know when would be a good time to run games - Thursday is caucusing all day - do we need to take all day for that? What is it? Can I even participate - you know, not actually being a Democrat and all?

Or: I played Fourth Edition and all I got was my childhood back.

Crossposted at Big Orange, Slashdot and the D&D General Discussion forum.

Look, I know y'all would rather read another Dungeons and Dragons diary. I'd rather be writing one.

Apparently, however, I need to get this out of the way first.

I very much do not want to talk about my religious beliefs. For one thing, it is the very stereotype of the self-indulgent blogger. For another, I'm not entirely certain what those beliefs are - they certainly don't fit Christianity or any other organized religion, and the closest terms, atheist and agnostic, don't really fit either.

The gripping hand is, it's against my beliefs to discuss my beliefs. What kind of arrogant hubris does it take to proclaim, "This is how it is", and then go around telling people that they are wrong for not believing the same? Plus, I have poor social skills and tend to piss people off - although I in no way intended to, that last bit could be interpreted as me calling people of faith arrogant.

But, to the point. To sum up: I cannot believe that the God of my fathers, the God that I have grown up being told about by my fellow travelers in this cherry-blossom World, exists. And I envy you that you are able to.

Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game and the man widely regarded as the father of paper-and-pencil role-playing games, has died in is home at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on the morning of March 4, 2008.

Further details are here.

Crossposted at Big Orange.

Welcome to the Friday Random 10, StreetProphet's weekly music discussion group. Grab a beverage of your choice from today's Happy Hour, pull up a comfy chair, and start thumbing through the records, 8-tracks, tapes, CD's & mp3's lying around. Go ahead & hum, sing, or tap your fingers on your knees... you know you want to. If you're not into music, here's some noise-canceling earplugs- they'll keep it out while you stay and chat with us about other stuff!

Okay, so today's my day.

"Oh, God," you must be thinking, "what hell of tormented, angsty, industrial death-metal will Moody inflict upon us?"

No, not today. Yes, when I'm not doing Dungeons and Dragons diaries I'm usually indulging my dark, bitter sense of humor - but not today.

So, grab a beverage of your choice, take a comfy seat near the fire, and join me below the flip... on the other side.

In which we discuss miniatures, the nature of alignment, the ethics of armed intervention, and the boundless inconvenience of only being in one place at a time.

Oh, and I get caught fudging dice rolls. Dammit.

Here's my standard disclaimer for the series:

Diarist's note: This diary falls under the definition of allegory. More or less. No, I have not lost my mind. And yes, this is why I don't write at Street Prophets.

We'll get into it under the flip.

Anybody see the Shrek Christmas special? Well, Little and I did - and it occurred to her that "The Christmas Story" can be different for different people.

Thus, the Moody Loner Christmas Story, below. Oh, and p00ka says she doesn't know us.

Diarist's note: This diary falls under the definition of allegory. More or less. No, I have not lost my mind. And yes, this is why I don't write at Street Prophets.

Last time, I told you about meeting my new gaming group and generating their first characters.

Well, I like to start new gaming groups with an old Original D&D module, adapted to AD&D, called Keep on the Borderlands. As an early module, there's not much to it besides descriptions and statistics blocks - lots of flexibility, but there's some preparation involved.

And I had to read up on my group, to get the drinks right. And fortunately Sam Adams was still on sale because last time Thor drank a case of it, a pitcher of Kool-Aid, five gallons of water, the cooking oil, and - with no apparent ill effects -  the bleach.

I'd better buy three cases.

Diarist's note: This diary falls under the definition of allegory. More or less. No, I have not lost my mind. And yes, this is why I don't write at Street Prophets.

Posted to SP by request.

Okay, I'm getting used to it.

They generally carpool over - Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr are doing a good job keeping the back yard under control. Jesu's always early, while Morrigan usually shows up as a red crow - late. I need to keep a few bottles of Guinness for Jesu bin Joseph and a Godddamn case of Sam Adams for Thor. Kuan-yin and Siddartha are vegetarians.

I suppose I'm getting a little ahead of myself.