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Pathfinder: Brendan Session 19
Feb. 25th, 2018 04:07 pmPushed the game up a week, since Brendan is going to the They Might Be Giants concert next Tuesday. So Frog-Barian Fight Take Two. Now with clearer understanding of the modifiers for underwater combat. And the froggos were dispatched, if not quickly, then ably by slumber hexes, lightning and much stabbing and slashing. But not before they summoned their god, a giant, mutant devilfish. Who might have eaten Sillius the Wizard, but dimension door is one of the spells that can be cast when grappled. And thus was the all underwater encounter finished.
Black Panther
Feb. 23rd, 2018 12:52 amI'm still not certain if its as amazing as all the online praise/hype its gotten. But it definitely is a great movie and not just a Marvel movie. In fact, outside a few minor call-outs (and the 2nd post credit scene) it could exsist without being tied into the greater MCU while still fitting perfectly within it. Also I can't say Killmonger is the best Marvel Movie Villain as others are praising. But Michael B. Jordan does give him an intensity and focus that very much makes him a contender for the top spot. And that casino fight, followed by the car chase. Awesome.
Pathfinder: Brendan Session 18
Feb. 14th, 2018 06:27 amAnd lo the random of encounter of Big Old Red Dragon and Even Bigger Older Red Dragon was survived. Big Red was slain and Even Bigger Red fled the battle. And thus we arrived at the final dungeon, a paritally submerged ziggurat. And then much time was spent searching for an entrance. And then once it was found then did an underwater adventure begin.
And so, after much discussion on how to get to the final dungeon frog/men barbarians were encountered. And just into the start of the non-surprise round it was realized we'd missed an entire chart of underwater combat affects. And so the battle was reset to start and it was after 10 and so lo the night was called.
And so, after much discussion on how to get to the final dungeon frog/men barbarians were encountered. And just into the start of the non-surprise round it was realized we'd missed an entire chart of underwater combat affects. And so the battle was reset to start and it was after 10 and so lo the night was called.
This was a very good movie with a lot of relevance for current events and politics. And of all the excellent supporting work, I enjoyed seeing Mr. Show working in the same newsroom. And yes Streep is great. On the other hand though, the only way the movie could have been less subtle in pushing Streep/Kay Graham as the Saint of Journalism & Feminism is if they'd had her lit with some kind of halo effect the whole time.
'18 Birthday Boardgames
Feb. 6th, 2018 07:04 amStarted with Ra, but kept restarting as someone new would arrive. So after one round (where I lost 7 points and someone else had a giant stack of roll-over tiles AND 26 points) we called it. Then had an 8-person game of Smarty Party with the 2nd expansion pack where at least I didn't come in last. Then after most everyone headed home for the night, ended with a 3-person game of the Grizzled, a co-op card game based around the WW1 French trenches, which we unfortunately lost.
Streaming Watch 1/15 - 1/29
Feb. 4th, 2018 05:07 pmHave been slacking off on doing these, so here is the rest of January.
Tom Segara: Disgraceful. Good comic, though really only the bit about being from a multigenerational Spanish family and blowing other white dudes minds with his fluent espanol has stuck in my memory.
Grace & Frankie s.4: The Grace/Frankie bits concentrate more on the difficulties of aging.
DevilMan: CryBaby. Was that how this thing ended in the original anime? 'Cause What? The? FUCK?
Godzilla - Planet of the Monsters: Hah hah stupid humans, you thought you were takin' down Big G but it was only Gadzookie.
Schitt's Creek s.1: Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are the Roses who are millionaires who have their business manager steal their fortune after not paying their taxes for years. So the government seizes pretty much all their assets, except for the town they bought as a joke. So the family has to move into the town of Schitt's Creek. Funny show. Even Chris Elliott is good in it.
One Day at a Time s.2: New romances and more family drama for the rebooted series.
Tom Segara: Disgraceful. Good comic, though really only the bit about being from a multigenerational Spanish family and blowing other white dudes minds with his fluent espanol has stuck in my memory.
Grace & Frankie s.4: The Grace/Frankie bits concentrate more on the difficulties of aging.
DevilMan: CryBaby. Was that how this thing ended in the original anime? 'Cause What? The? FUCK?
Godzilla - Planet of the Monsters: Hah hah stupid humans, you thought you were takin' down Big G but it was only Gadzookie.
Schitt's Creek s.1: Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are the Roses who are millionaires who have their business manager steal their fortune after not paying their taxes for years. So the government seizes pretty much all their assets, except for the town they bought as a joke. So the family has to move into the town of Schitt's Creek. Funny show. Even Chris Elliott is good in it.
One Day at a Time s.2: New romances and more family drama for the rebooted series.
Pathfinder: Brendan Session 17
Jan. 31st, 2018 09:03 amAfter some level up book-keeping and prisoner looting and interrogation we pile into our airship and head for the Final Boss dungeon. But along the way we get attacked by a gargantuan ancient & a huge adult red dragon.
And for once our group is really feeling the pain. We had to call it around the end of round 4 and I am still wondering if I should use the time rewind ability I got from a modified deck of many things to come back prepared or just avoid the fight entirely.
Book List October/November/December '17
Jan. 29th, 2018 03:40 amOctober:
Short Fiction:
New Reads: Vivian Cathe's (ed) Humans Wanted
November:
Short Fiction: Julia Keller's the Tablet of Scapttar
New Reads: Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer
December:
Short Fiction:
New Reads: Robin D. Laws' Blood of the City
Graphic Novels/TPBs/RPGs: Jason Keeley/Owen K.C. Stephens/James L Sutter (dev team) Starfinder: Alien Archive
Short Fiction:
New Reads: Vivian Cathe's (ed) Humans Wanted
- Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus
- C.B. Lee's Not Your Sidekick
- Charles E. Gannon's Fire With Fire
- Ken Liu's Wall of Storms
- A.J. Hartley's Firebrand
- Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time
- Greg Rucka/Matthew Southworth/Lee Loughridge's Stumptown v.1
November:
Short Fiction: Julia Keller's the Tablet of Scapttar
New Reads: Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer
- T. Kingfisher's Clockwork Boys
- Mia Archer's Villains Don't Date Heroes
- Brandon Sanderson's Oathbringer
- Jay Styrvant's Perfect Stranges, Black Friday, Over Our Heads & Head Down
- Jim C. Hines' Terminal Alliance
- K.B. Spangler's Stoneskin
- Eric Flint/Paula Goodlett/Gorg Huff's 1637: the Volga Rules
- David Willis' Dumbing of Age: The Machinations of My Revenge Will Be Cold, Swift, and Absolutely Ridiculous: v.6
- Chris Claremont/Bob McLeod/Sal & John Buscema/Ron Frenz' the New Mutants: Epic Collection
- Brennan Lee Mulligan/Molly Ostertag's Strong Female Protaganist v.2
December:
Short Fiction:
New Reads: Robin D. Laws' Blood of the City
- Chuck Wendig's Aftermath: Empire's End
- Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country
- Barbara Hambly's Dragonbane
- Seanan McGuire's Down Among the Sticks & Bones
- Paul Cornell's Long Day in Lychford
- Martin Scott's Thraxas
- R.J. Ross' Rainbow Rush
Graphic Novels/TPBs/RPGs: Jason Keeley/Owen K.C. Stephens/James L Sutter (dev team) Starfinder: Alien Archive
- Chris Hastings/Gurihiru's the Unbelievable Gwen-poole: Beyond the 4th Wall: v.4
- G. Willow Wilson/Andrian Alphona/Takeshi Miyazawa's Ms. Marvel: Mecca: v.8
- Ben Aaronovitch/Andrew Catmel/Lee Sullivan's Rivers of London: Night Witch
Tags:
Pathfinder: Brendan Session 16
Jan. 21st, 2018 08:03 amWhat could easily have been one of the more difficult battles (with a three-headed Belial devil) went relatively easy. Because we still had a 19th level Paladin backing us. And a pretty perfectly tricked out one at that. Multiple beneficial Auras, channel smite and regular smite did Ol' Maggotty in. Along with the wizard keeping it in combat with a teleport anchor and then a wall of force. Oh and the cleric's summoned celestial mastadon, which landed the actual killing blow.
So that finished off clearing out the Evil Queen's Castle of Evil. Not that she was there, being off in a different dungeon prepping her Spell of Ultimate Super Evil Horribleness. But that final two sessions meant Fenyx, my magus and Frazer's Krogar the fighter finally hit level 16. The others, with there magic card level ups still have a bit to go to reach 17. I'm happy with my new magus arcana, +1 to STR and bumps to saves and other associated stats. Plus checking my sheet I see I already have several dragon scales from the last module for my new dragon's breath spell.
So that finished off clearing out the Evil Queen's Castle of Evil. Not that she was there, being off in a different dungeon prepping her Spell of Ultimate Super Evil Horribleness. But that final two sessions meant Fenyx, my magus and Frazer's Krogar the fighter finally hit level 16. The others, with there magic card level ups still have a bit to go to reach 17. I'm happy with my new magus arcana, +1 to STR and bumps to saves and other associated stats. Plus checking my sheet I see I already have several dragon scales from the last module for my new dragon's breath spell.
Streaming Watch 1/1 - 1/15/18
Jan. 16th, 2018 01:21 am1/1 - 1/18
Travelers s.1
1/8 - 1/15
Travelers s.2: A fairly clever time travel show. Basically future people live in underground bunkers 'cause everything is total shit. So to fix that they've figured out a way to send peoples minds back in time. Where they can then overwrite someone in the past. But for ethics reasons they only pick people who would have died in the next moment anyway. Good cast led by Will from Will & Grace. Season 2 adds Enrico Colantoni so thats cool.
Brawl in Cell Block 99: I never would have thought you could base a brutal prison fight movie around Vince Vaughn. Like when watching Fred Claus I didn't think, I wish I could have a movie where that guy just punches some dude's face off. And yet it all works out pretty well. Vaughn does the quiet yet sarcastic brooder with giant depths of violent rage quite well.
Travelers s.1
1/8 - 1/15
Travelers s.2: A fairly clever time travel show. Basically future people live in underground bunkers 'cause everything is total shit. So to fix that they've figured out a way to send peoples minds back in time. Where they can then overwrite someone in the past. But for ethics reasons they only pick people who would have died in the next moment anyway. Good cast led by Will from Will & Grace. Season 2 adds Enrico Colantoni so thats cool.
Brawl in Cell Block 99: I never would have thought you could base a brutal prison fight movie around Vince Vaughn. Like when watching Fred Claus I didn't think, I wish I could have a movie where that guy just punches some dude's face off. And yet it all works out pretty well. Vaughn does the quiet yet sarcastic brooder with giant depths of violent rage quite well.
The Shape of Water
Jan. 13th, 2018 02:56 pmIts a tale as old as time. Lonely woman meets handsome stranger and falls in love. Sure the stranger is an abducted semi-amphibious fish-man being studied in a secret government lab. An off-beat love story set in Cold War Baltimore, where mute Eliza (Sally Hawkings) falls for the captive Amphibian Man (Doug Jones). So she works to free him from the brutal security chief Strickland (Michael Shannon), aided by her friends Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and Giles (Richard Jenkins) and scientist Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg). Director Guillermo del Toro crafts a visual stunning romance mixed with elements of a spy thriller.
Pathfinder: Brendan Session 15
Jan. 6th, 2018 04:02 pmThis week we fought a bloat wizard and some devils. The spiked ones who got away from us in the armory lo these many weeks ago. But that poor evil wizard did not have things go its way. Bill's cleric and the summoned paladin reflected his big mass damage spell back on him and then our witch turned him to stone. And then Matt tried to dump the turned to stone bloat wizard into a summoned hungry pit. To finish him off, from his mindless, statue, essentially DEAD state. Like 20% of the time Matt's "creativity" can be pure genius. And 50% of the time its just background sillyness. And then 30% of the time you want to have someone sit on his character and make them not do anything.
Anyway this led to Matt wandering off invisibly, accompianied by all the pirate swears for almost costing us major NPC loot and important story moving forward clues. Where he got attacked, by the arch-devil, nearly killed and 'ported away by his contingency spell. Then we had to break before the fight with the arch devil since Frazer had to get home and relieve the babysitter.
Anyway this led to Matt wandering off invisibly, accompianied by all the pirate swears for almost costing us major NPC loot and important story moving forward clues. Where he got attacked, by the arch-devil, nearly killed and 'ported away by his contingency spell. Then we had to break before the fight with the arch devil since Frazer had to get home and relieve the babysitter.
Streaming Watch 12/25 - 1/1/18
Jan. 3rd, 2018 06:38 amthe Crown s.2: Although the final episode of the season is a bit muddled and weaker-overall, still a lot of greatness covering mostly the 60s era of Queen Elizabeth. Claire Foy still manages to convey an amazing range in simple silent sequences or with an arched eyebrow. She will be especially missed as they change casts for the next season.
Black Mirror s.4: Very strong overall. Stand-outs for me are gamer entitlement culture call-out "U.S.S. Callister" & the survival horror "Metalhead". Others love "Hang the DJ", which while I liked the finish seemed to drag a bit in the middle. I also had to skip the gorier bits in the first part of the anthology within the anthology finisher "Black Museum".
Black Mirror s.4: Very strong overall. Stand-outs for me are gamer entitlement culture call-out "U.S.S. Callister" & the survival horror "Metalhead". Others love "Hang the DJ", which while I liked the finish seemed to drag a bit in the middle. I also had to skip the gorier bits in the first part of the anthology within the anthology finisher "Black Museum".
Downsizing
Dec. 31st, 2017 04:19 pmThis week saw Downsizing which was mostly clever and funny. In it a method of shrinking organic matter down to a fraction of its original size safely is discovered. So a Matt Damon sized-human would end up being like 5 inches tall. Within a decade communities of the Small spring up around the world, for both environmental and economic reasons. Damon and Christopher Waltz were good as always. But Hong Chau's Ngoc Lan Tran was the definite stand-out.
Streaming Watch 12/11 - 12/25
Dec. 25th, 2017 02:28 amthe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel s.1: The series dragged a little bit in the middle, but the acting was first rate. Tony Shaloub and Kevin Pollack made me want to see more of their father characters. And the same for would-be manager Susie, played by Alex Borstein. But Rachel Brosnahan's lead was a delight, especially during the stand-up segments.
Disjointed s.1: I should have ignored a friend's recomendation of this one once I saw Chuck Lorre's name combined with a laugh track. Not even Kathy Bates or Richard Kind in the final episode could pull up this stinker.
Life in PIeces s.1: This CBS comedy seems to work much better being binged. Especially with the removal of the commercial interuptions between the multiple stories in each episode. A few dull or dumb portions I ended up fast forwarding, but stellar cast and some (mostly) sharp writing.
Disjointed s.1: I should have ignored a friend's recomendation of this one once I saw Chuck Lorre's name combined with a laugh track. Not even Kathy Bates or Richard Kind in the final episode could pull up this stinker.
Life in PIeces s.1: This CBS comedy seems to work much better being binged. Especially with the removal of the commercial interuptions between the multiple stories in each episode. A few dull or dumb portions I ended up fast forwarding, but stellar cast and some (mostly) sharp writing.
Pathfinder: Brendan Session 14
Dec. 23rd, 2017 04:45 am This session much time was spent trying and failing to order food. So I didn't get the lamb platter from the Grekkie place nearby. :(
Presents were given out though. :)
After that we met with the evil "Queen" and several of her advisers, guards and some big-ass variant hell hounds. Said Queen started making with the threats and offers of vague amnesty and so on. So I shot her in the face with magic missiles pre-initiative. Then once the fight actually started Mat's wizard stabbed his magic sword into the ground. Which summoned a character level +2 paladin for an hour. Not surprisingly this addition meant the fight only went a couple rounds. Also not surprisingly the "Queen" was some kind of blood-magic clone. Then post-fight Krogar the Ultimate Fight sat on the throne and got cursed with a -10 to STR & INT. And we'll need to hit him with a remove curse and a heal. So he's kind of stuck until tomorrow.
After that we continued sweeping the floor, eventually ending up at the Queen's bedroom. Where we encounter the bloat wizard and some kind of three-headed worm-like arch-devil. So thats where we broke for the night. Happily we still have the summoned level 19 paladin for another half-hour of in-game time. :)
Presents were given out though. :)
After that we met with the evil "Queen" and several of her advisers, guards and some big-ass variant hell hounds. Said Queen started making with the threats and offers of vague amnesty and so on. So I shot her in the face with magic missiles pre-initiative. Then once the fight actually started Mat's wizard stabbed his magic sword into the ground. Which summoned a character level +2 paladin for an hour. Not surprisingly this addition meant the fight only went a couple rounds. Also not surprisingly the "Queen" was some kind of blood-magic clone. Then post-fight Krogar the Ultimate Fight sat on the throne and got cursed with a -10 to STR & INT. And we'll need to hit him with a remove curse and a heal. So he's kind of stuck until tomorrow.
After that we continued sweeping the floor, eventually ending up at the Queen's bedroom. Where we encounter the bloat wizard and some kind of three-headed worm-like arch-devil. So thats where we broke for the night. Happily we still have the summoned level 19 paladin for another half-hour of in-game time. :)
