Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

Spell Rhymes of the Second Level

Here’s another installment of my short poems mages and clerics can utter while casting spells, this time of the second level. I previously wrote rhymes for first level magic user spells and first level cleric spells.

Continual Darkness

Inky darkness, down you clamp.
Spread and stifle beacons all.
Let no candle, torch, nor lamp
Shine its light beyond this wall.

Continual Light

Now from star and sun comes light
That spreads and stays forever long.
A shining beacon, true and white,
Proclaims the virtue of the strong.

Detect Evil

Open I pry my eyes to see
Any evil threats to me.
Glow, you creatures from planes beyond.
Open, eyes! Respond! Respond!

Detect Invisible

Spirits hiding from naked eye
Reveal yourself by outline drawn
With silv'ry pen of open sky
That shines your shape with bolts of dawn.

Invisibility

Descend yon darkened veil upon
Searching eyes now clouded, unclear.
You once were here, but now you've gone.
And with this touch you disappear.

Knock

For sticky door or stubborn key
With gentle tap, I now unlock.
To raise the bar and gain entry
Three times on solid clasp I knock.

Levitate

Now, rise by unseen hand. Soar high!
Keep floating while I concentrate.
Drift up from earth and towards the sky.
Behold the one that levitates.

Locate Object

By hoary hosts and spirits strange,
Upon my thoughts be fixated.
If found it could be within range,
Let now the thing be located.

Mind Reading

Thoughts are waves that through ether ride
Into my probing mind to scan.
The secret consciousness resides
And fills the space. My mind expands.

Mirror Image

Swirling, twisting, false images
Mimic form of magic casters.
Every strike must hit visages
Until final figment falters.

Phantasmal Force

A vision projects from my mind.
A silent illusion appears.
Concentration keeps it confined.
By doubt or touch the image clears.

Web

Like spider silk but more secure,
Now sticky strands extend and bind.
If ignited, let flames endure.
Entrap my prey in threads entwined.

Wizard Lock

Magic lock hold this portal fast.
Let wizard's knock only through.  
Make a seal that forever lasts,
So secret treasure hide from view.

The clerical spells follow.

Bane

Oh lord on high, fill my body
With a spirit inspiring dread.
Attacks will fail, and foes will flee,
Who within fifty paces tread.

Bless

Bless my friends, oh holy father.
Let courage fill their very hearts.
Pang of fear can never bother
Those who honor thy holy art.

Charm Animal

Music calms the savage beast, and
So do words most gently spoken.
That same creator joins our hands.
Friendship ties are now awoken.

Find Traps

Any peril laid by evil
I pray to see out before me.
Traps by glowing will be seen full.
Trust have I in him most holy.

Hold Person

Let glory hold thee in splendor.
My will is force, which I will prove.
Though mind is awake, surrender.
Limbs, be stiff unable to move.

Resist Fire

Fire harms none who honor the name
Of precious lord whose prayer they spoke.
Like saints of old who walked through flame,
Let faith provide a cooling cloak.

Silence

A globe of silence honors most
The one who spoke the world's first word.
In this moment speak no boast
Nor let no arcane spell be heard.

Speak with Animals

Creature made by the same divine,
Listen and understand my voice.
Converse with me if you incline.
To speak with me remains your choice.

Spiritual Hammer

By fervent faith in holy might
I call forth his awesome clamor.
Let my enemies quake in fright
From my spiritual hammer.

Update: see more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
Games

How to Enjoy a Game

Perhaps it is absurd to offer advice on how to enjoy a game. Isn’t the point of a game to provide enjoyment? Not necessarily. Some games are serious and meant to discover information, such as Model UN simulations. Some games asymmetrically provide enjoyment for some players and torment others, such as a game of keep-away played by a couple of bullies who’ve just stolen your hat. But let’s narrow the discussion to games meant for the enjoyment of all players.

I’m about to get Aristotelian for a moment. For many human endeavors, there’s a range between two extremes, inside of which is a preferable middle. Not enough courage? You’re a coward. Too much courage? You’re foolhardy. That’s the Aristotelian mean. One range applied to games is the balance between what’s under your control and what’s beyond all control. You can use this balance to understand how best to enjoy the game.

Webster’s 1828 definition of game includes the following.

3. An exercise or play for amusement or winning a stake; as a game of cricket; a game of chess; a game of whist. Some games depend on skill; others on hazard.

https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/game

The first definition is just sport, but that’s to broad. We’re talking about an exercise, that is a series of procedures, meant to induce amusement by way of a winning condition. Games can require skill and they can present hazards. Skill is the beneficial application of the rules to enforce one’s will on the game condition. Hazards are events produced by the game beyond the control of the player.

Games have rules. Generally, the rules don’t change during the course of a game session, though there can be games with rules for changing the rules themselves. That’s getting a bit meta, so we’ll set it aside. The rules specify the actions a player can make within the context of the game. The player makes choices from these rules towards some personal satisfaction, usually to the win the game.

Most games offer an element of chance. These are the hazards beyond the control of the player. They may come in the form of dice, cards or even the inscrutable actions of an opposing player. Defeating the hazards, that is, getting your way despite them, is one way to feel satisfaction at the end of a game. This could be described as the agency theory of fun.

Consider a game at the extreme end of the range when it comes to randomness: Candy Land. This is a boardgame that simulates a race. A path leads from the start to “Home Sweet Home”. Players take turns drawing cards which direct the player’s token to advance to a colored square. The game offers no choices whatsoever. The result of the game is determined by the randomness of how the cards were shuffled.

Candy Land is not a fun game for anyone but toddlers. Youngsters who have not yet learned to count can still find some satisfaction in challenging themselves to follow the rules by matching colors. Sadly, there other games of extraordinary complexity that offer as little choice as Candy Land. Perhaps adults find these games amusing in the same way. The challenge lies in following obtuse rules.

What about a game with no hazards, no resort to luck? It would be natural to think of chess, checkers or go. These games have no element of chance such as a deck of cards, but they do offer the challenge of an opponent whose actions you cannot control.

To eliminate all uncontrolled elements, we must find a game with a single player. We can’t choose klondike or similar solitaire card games because those rely on a randomized deck of cards. We end up considering an activity with rules where only our own choices matter. Is writing a poem still a game? Whether it’s a sonnet or haiku, the poet must follow some scant rules.

Putting together perfect iambic pentameter with consistent rhymes is a difficult challenge that can be solved with many interesting choices. Once again, we find the game itself to be lacking while some enjoyment can be found in struggling with a personal ability to follow the rules.

Have you ever found that certain experiences tip over from being unenjoyable to being enjoyable when you add something outside the “rules” of the game? Maybe it’s the cake or the keg that convinces you to attend the party. Aside from intoxicants, maybe you indulge in meta behavior during a game, such as role-playing as a snobbish socialite while playing Monopoly or tormenting your fellow Risk players with insults in order to distract them from good play.

They key is recognizing where the game falls on the spectrum between hazards and skill. And speaking of intoxicants, I am reminded of The Serenity Prayer, or the first part of it, anyway.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Neibuhr

Look for the balancing procedures in a game. Most games will have the hazard of other players. Any cooperative game must make up the difference in some way, else it will creep too far towards staleness of “everyone agrees on this one best choice”.

Look for the skills required by the game. Developing those skills over time will be a separate meta-game played against yourself as you “get good”. As your skill increases, your ability to apply your will into the game state increases, as does your enjoyment. You achieve more and more agency.

When a game contains more randomness, you can accept that these are elements you cannot change. Focus on what you can change and don’t worry so much about what you can’t predict. As you develop the wisdom of knowing the balance between hazards and skill in a game, you can detach from any frustration that comes from lack of control.

Finally, my advice is to recognize opportunities to step outside of the game rules themselves to find amusement. Where the rules are silent, your will has free reign. Roleplaying games offer huge gaps in the procedures for injecting your own creativity for everyone’s amusement. Nothing in the rule book requires you to talk like a pirate, but it’s a choice you can make if it pleases you.

And after all, the point of playing a game is to have fun.

Categories
News

Books I read in 2023

Here are the 31 books I read in 2023, a total that’s a bit lower than average. I’m not sure what I was doing instead. Writing blog posts? Working on Basic Fantasy RPG projects? Let’s see what I can remember about these books, going in reverse chronological order because I keep track in Google Keep which doesn’t let me sort by date added.

Sarcasm and Glory: A Rock and Roll Testimonial by J. D. Yorke

This book arrived at Christmas and I think I read through it in a day or two. I think I heard about it via Albert Bouchard, and the book is dedicated to Albert and his brother, two founding members of Blue Oyster Cult. The book seems to be a collection of Facebook posts. It was like reading through someone’s timeline going back several years.

The Siege of the Black Citadel by Chuck Dixon

This is the first in a new series of Conan novels by the comic book writer who invented Bane and took over from Mike Baron on The Punisher back in the 90s. It’s good. Dixon is an excellent writer, and I enjoyed Levon’s Trade a couple of years ago. There’s already a second book in the series that I haven’t picked up yet. The book itself has a pulpy feel being about 7×9 and thin like an old magazine, and it has cool illustrations inside.

I clipped that short passage. You know when things are really tough, and people around you are talking about praying for help, and you realize your god, Crom, is just laughing at you from atop his mountain? It can be motivating.

The Beginning Was The End by Jade Dellinger and David Giffels

This is a history of the band DEVO. It’s an abridged version of an earlier edition that I couldn’t find. I read this book right around the time that we went to Paso Robles to see DEVO in concert. Some of the details in the book I already knew from other sources. Mark Motherbaugh was on Rick Rubin’s Broken Record podcast last year and told the story about meeting Richard Branson in Jamaica. Then I saw him retell it on a Tony Hawk podcast.

The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany

This novel is on Gygax’s Appendix N list, a classic. It has an ethereal feel, almost a myth. The plot surprised me all along. I was expecting the elves to be more gnarly as in Anderson’s Broken Sword. One thing I took away from this for playing D&D is how there can be lines dividing worlds that you can simply cross (if the king allows you).

Dominance and Submission by Martin Popoff

Don’t let this out, but if Martin keeps writing BOC books, I will keep buying them. This book covers the studio albums in a conversational style similar to Martin’s YouTube channel, The Contrarians. Five guys BOC fans talking about what they like or don’t like about the album, going track by track. I like how when I get one of his books, they come wrapped in a Canadian newspaper and Martin signs in the inside.

The Randolph Carter Tales by H. P. Lovecraft

I’m slowly making my way through a complete collection of Lovecraft that came as several books. This one had the Carter tales, mostly one long novel about Carter making his way through dreamland. As with the Dunsany novel, there’s a journey into another realm that reminds me of Haderax in my own Terror in Tosasth adventure book for Basic Fantasy RPG. It also reminds me of Sign of the Labrys by Margaret St. Clair.

Company of One by Paul Jarvis

I think I saw this on Hacker News and bought it on impulse. I wrote a whole blog post about the ideas in the book: To Grow, or Not to Grow.

Real-World Next.js by Michele Riva

My most important client, Clorox, is doing more site in Next.js, and I need to be aware of how it works in my role as platform architect. This book is 8.5×11 and pretty thick. I bet a lot of people read it on a computer or tablet. I can’t help thinking that Next is a reinvention of all the PHP work that went on a couple of decades ago.

Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet

I feel like this book was on my Amazon wishlist for years, probably from back when I was a VP at Clear Ink. Then it showed up as a Christmas gift in 2022. It’s about a Navy guy who helped get teams on submarines working better together. One idea that comes back to me often is the approach of stating intent rather than asking for permission or agreement. I’ve found myself sometimes telling dev teams, “I intend to release a new version upstream that takes us to PHP 8.2 this month,” rather that just doing it or hashing it out in a meeting. It streamlines interactions.

First Blood by David Morrell

This is the novel that inspired the Stalone movie. As is typical, the novel is more interesting than the movie, which is a good movie. It’s a straight up adventure with lots of fighting that ends in a more 1970s way than the movie.

The Road to React by Robin Wierych

This book is about React without much about Next. I think it was the right choice to read about React first and then about the particular way Next uses it.

Laughing Shall I Die by Tom Shippey

Shippey is an expert on Tolkien, but this book is about viking sagas. In some ways, it’s a companion to the TV series, Vikings. It goes over the sagas and considers which parts could be true. Reading this book inspired me to watch the show, which starts strong and doesn’t live up to the first half by the end. There are many great ideas for D&D in this overview of the sagas, and the historical parts of quite interesting on their own. The thing I remember most is the story of a viking facing decapitation who asks that someone hold his long hair back. When the axe comes down, he jerks up so that it chops off the hands of the guy holding his hair. It was a brief moment in the show, but I was happy to see it after having read about it.

Tony Bath’s Ancient Wargaming by John Curry

Bath was a pioneer in organizing huge wargaming campaigns, and this book collects his writings about how to design battle rules and how to run the long campaign. I knew it was a classic and wanted to glean ideas for my long-running Basic Fantasy RPG campaign. It’s has a quintessential 1970s style, similar to D&D original little brown books.

Modern JavaScript for the Impatient by Cay Horstmann

Long ago, my PHP book was a sibling to Horstmann’s Java book in Prentice Hall’s “Core” series. His book is currently in a 12th edition! I knew he wrote well, so I picked up his book about JavaScript to catch up on the stuff that’s appeared in the last few years. This book is oriented toward readers who have already mastered one or more programming languages and just need to know how JavaScript is different. That’s exactly right for me, although much of it was still review rather than learning anything new. I really enjoyed this book.

Arbiter of Worlds by Alexander Macris

Macris is the author of the D&D retroclone Adventurer, Conqueror, King. This book is a collection of advice about mastering roleplaying games of all types. I tend to agree with everything Alex states here, as well as the additional information available in his YouTube channel.

The White Pill by Micheal Malice

Malice, popular anarchist and writer, published this book that generally covers anarchist and communist thinking during the 19th and 20th centuries. Various details about the Russia and the rise of the Soviets were interesting.

Hiero’s Journey and The Unforsaken Hiero by Sterling Lanier

I read a collected volume of the two Hiero books by Lanier. The protagonist is a mystic in post-apocalyptic Canada. The books are listed in Appendix N and influenced both Advanced D&D and Gamma World. The magic of this world is primary psychic and technological. Strange monsters populate the landscape, some mutated in body or gaining sentience. And there are cryptic factions scheming to control the world. The writing is pulpy and not at all like modern “hero’s journey” stuff. These books continue to inspire me.

Outlive by Peter Attia

I think I grabbed this on impulse based on a Cernovich recommendation. The information in this book was mostly review for me, except Attia’s life story. It probably didn’t get me to pay more attention to the quantity of protein in my diet.

The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance

I enjoy everything by Vance, and I have been rationing his books, not reading them all at once. This book is not stereotypical fantasy. It’s more properly science fiction in the way Vance designs worlds where a pocket of low technology exists in a universe of high technology. In some ways, it’s like Anderson’s High Crusade, where medieval people are plucked off the earth to fight battles with high tech aliens, except in The Dragon Masters, high tech aliens are invading a world that’s forgotten much of its scientific knowledge.

Wired for Love by Stephanie Caciopoo

This is a light book about the science of love intertwined with the author’s personal story about losing her husband.

The Lost Dungeon of Tonisborg

From the guys who produced Secrets of Blackmoor, this book collects everything about an old school dungeon played in the 1970s. Plus, it has an RPG system similar to D&D. This is a valuable artifact for learning how the early game was played. I’m sure I’d never just run this as is because I enjoy creating adventures myself, but there’s so much to borrow here. I have a nice, purple hardback from the original release, but you can get an inexpensive paperback at The Fellowship of the Thing.

Kids of the Black Hole by Dewar MacLeod

This book covers the punk scene in Los Angeles associated with the Black Hole apartments. I’ve read a lot of books about punk that overlap, so it’s hard to remember which things I learned specifically from this book. I still enjoy reading these types of books about music history.

Here’s Your Irony Back by Raymond Pettibon

This big coffee table book shows off some of Pettibon’s artwork from some time ago. I suppose most people know him from Black Flag album covers, so I guess this book is adjacent to my interest in punk rock history. I appreciate being able to look closely at the drawings and the words. I also enjoy Pettibon’s messages on X.

Why We Meditate by Daniel Goleman and Tsoknyi Rinpoche

I meditate every morning, and I have for several years. I’m sure it reduces stress. I purposely meditate first thing in the morning to counteract the cortisol released by my body to wake me up. It also seems to provide an ongoing base of calm as long as I keep the up the practice. As such, I am keen to learn more about meditation because I think I could improve.

This book pairs a scientist with a monk, seeking an integration of tradition and the science to explain the effectiveness. It’s not a manual. It’s more a narrative and an overview with a few hints for what they might learn next.

The New Abnormal by Aaron Kheriaty

I think this was a gift I felt obligated to read. It’s a rundown on all the absurdities that started in 2020.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess by James Raggi

LotFP, as people call it, is a D&D retroclone with a reputation for lewd artwork. The author, James Raggi, posts interesting videos on YouTube and I think he was having a hard time with people “cancelling” him in 2023. I admired his statement about sticking to principles. He’s funny and weird, and I generally prefer weird things.

I’m sure I don’t have time to play LotFP, but I there were a few inspiring ideas from this game that have either crept into my own BFRPG campaign or threaten to. I keep thinking about the firearm rules, for instance.

Dungeon Hacks by David L Craddick

This is an amazing review of rogue-likes, a particular genre of computer game that has a somewhat vague definition. After reading this book, I spent a lot of time playing the original Rogue in an Amiga emulator. I actually found the Amulet of Yendor but was unable to escape the dungeon without starving.

The Primal Primer by Luke Weinhagen

This book is an introduction to surviving and apocalypse. I can hardly remember much about it now. I think it was an impulse buy, and it had some information about preserving food and just dealing with crumbling services.

Altered Traits by Daniel Goleman and Richard J Davidson

This is another book about meditation, with an emphasis on how meditation can change your body. The science suggests some amazing feats achievable by masters of meditation. This book isn’t a how-to guide, though.

Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs

This book covers the history of D&D with a focus on the 1980s. It gives a much clearer picture of TSR as it fell apart during that time, offering up many details about the business. Business history books are another genre I enjoy, and I often think about a history of Commodore Computers I read many years ago. This book is a good companion to books by Jon Peterson if you want to get a more complete picture of the rise and fall of the most famous RPG game company.

Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG D&D

Zexhund

This is a monster for use with BFRPG or similar game.

Armor Class:18
Hit Dice:2
No. of Attacks:1 bludgeon
Damage:3d6
Movement:20′
No. Appearing:1d6
Save As:Fighter: 1
Morale:7
Treasure Type:I
XP:75

The zexhund, otherwise known as Zexaki’s Hound, appears as a large dog with an even larger head. The largest of the breed weigh 320 pounds, are about five feet long and four feet tall at the shoulder. Although slow movers by foot, they can strike quickly with their hammer-like heads, doing 3d6 points of damage. If they are ever struck by a blow, they instantly become invisible until they make another attack.

The zexhund is not particularly aggressive, and they will often retreat once they become invisible. They were bred to transport platinum coins and gems using a small coffers attached to collars. For this reason, tenacious adventurers may pursue them even after they become invisible.

Categories
Humor

Santa is a Fatso

Once again, it’s the time of year to enjoy the Angry Snowmans, a band that plays classic punk songs with the lyrics changed to be about Christmas. Imagine if Weird Al only made parodies of songs you already enjoyed and the subject was always about holiday experience, whether it’s drinking too much eggnog or putting up the lights.

This band helped shape my son’s love of 80’s hardcore punk, because when I was driving him around between class and the gym years ago, I’d play all these songs. And we’d talk about the originals.

Understand, there’s only thing I want for gift

New Red Rider BB Gun.

You’ll shoot your eye out, kid. No way!

To the tune of Police Story by Black Flag

We grew out of listening to The Cinnamon Bear long ago, but the Snowmans will definitely get more time on the stereo this season. I will be imaging the grinch singing “Christmas makes me so mad, I know just what to do: steal it from whos”, and I’ll warning my wife “you don’t go near the mistletoe with me”. (Too much horror Christmas, you see).

Santa is a fatso.

He’s got a bowl of jelly for a mouth.

Santa is a fatso,

But you know he owns this house.

To the tune of My Old Man’s a Fatso by The Angry Samoans