Black Starre

I really liked what they did for Sidewinder- the long acoustic, almost classical outro. I think that might be my favorite part of the album.

That's the problem with the tourney/non-casual scene. But, they do a pretty decent job of keeping things reined in these days via the different formats. You can go to a competitive event where everyone spends the same amount and builds decks there, and it's a level playing field. Of course, you need to know how to put together a deck that way, so it really isn't quite level- but it isn't about the money at that point. But, if you're trying to play constructed competitively, yeah, you're gonna need to drop a lot of cash. Hence why I don't play competitively. Course I still have managed to drop a lot of cash, but it's just a trade-off. Instead of a weekly movie night or what, we usually have MTG nights, which over time costs the same amount- sometimes more, sometimes less, but thus far I've been happy spending the amount I have compared to the entertainment I've gotten out of it, so I'm happy. I wouldn't call it silly outright, though, I guess is my point- it isn't entirely about money, though again you do need to be willing to buy some things. Somebody was saying they were thinking of getting into either YGO or MTG- I haven't played YGO paper, though I've played a GBA cart of it just to see what it was like. From what I can tell, I'd definitely stick with MTG. YGO is less complicated, but it feels like less of a game to me as a result- but maybe things have changed with that. I used to view YGO as sort of an entry-level MTG but it costs just as much as MTG and I don't know if it gives as much in return yet. But that's just IMO. The GBA game was fun, though. But YGO is less complex, and MTG results in a lot more rules stickiness- but, deviant that I am I actually enjoy figuring that stuff out. If there was money in it, I'd try to get judge certified, but I don't think I could do anything locally so it isn't yet worth my time. And I'm with whoever said they vowed to avoid Warhammer- for me, though, there's not even a real temptation (thankfully). I don't have much disposable income (further proof that one can do MtG on a limited budget), and I am definitely not going to get into painting figures, though I admit some cool results can come of that. But for me, just can't do it. The collector in me dug Mage Knight, though, what with the work already done.

Was just going to say the same thing- I actually went to see it for the hell of it. It definitely comes off as campy- if you went in expecting that kind of silliness, I think the movie was a lot of fun. If you went in expecting a serious action/thriller- what the hell's the matter with you? It's called Snakes on a Plane! Anyway, I think between straight spoofs and campy movies I tend to prefer camp. But now and then, a spoof is good.

Hm. I suppose that's true, but if you really want to roleplay, you're pretty much just going to act, aren't you? For my part, I don't know that I ever actually roleplayed. I had a character and all that, and I had a sense of the personality of the character, but it was mostly just an excuse to be silly. I don't think I could do it with a serious group.

I will confess in one of the "___ Movie" movies (I was going to say "film" to make the sentence flow better, but I just can't bring myself to call it that), I think it was Date Movie- the trailer had a bit where a father was saying that if the kid hurt his daughter- "You'll take me down to Chinatown?" "No, I'll bust you in the head with a pipe." That was funny. But I don't know if a few good moments justify 90 minutes and 10 dollars. I think they've milked it for far more than it was worth already.

I believe that last is the philosophy behind a lot of the aforementioned WW games like Vampire: The Masquerade. They make you roll for a variety of things out of necessity, but the basic rule is if the DM thinks your character can do it, there's no need to roll; you just do it. This way you don't get sucked out of the game to add up dice rolls every 10 seconds. What's interesting to me is that when you look at D&D a little bit, it's a lot clearer how VG RPGs came together- essentially doing the exact same things, just in the background.

It depends on the game- some, the White Wolf stuff in particular (Vampire, Mage, etc), you'd be all set with a core book. D&D, it can be a little more complicated I think- I'll let somebody that knows better point you in the right direction. Cost can be a pain- I know they sell most in pdf form now, so it's a little cheaper I think. I've never personally run a game, though I have a couple Vampire books kicking around. I played that a bit at college, but we had an inexperienced DM so he let us get away with murder, literally. My character was more or less singlehandedly responsible for the slaughter of an entire village. Good times! There wasn't a reason for it, just because he thought it was funny. Yeah, he was kind of a dick.

There are a lot of grey area movies like Tremors- it seems more like camp than a direct spoof, though. Spoof, to me, implies obvious source material. There's no mistaking what Spaceballs or Austin Powers are derived from. Tremors, while campy at times, seems to be something else. A very enjoyable something else, though.

Just like to say I'm very pleased that we are in agreement on those* movies (you are not supposed to spoof comedies!) It gives me a spark of hope for mankind. A cold, pathetic spark, but a spark nonetheless. *Scary Movie, Date Movie, etc- this is on a new page now so I figured I should clarify what I meant.

K. One D&D session, we were for some reason I no longer remember, trying to climb down this cliff onto a ledge far below. There was a door on the ledge. We had a rope. Our party consisted of a half-elf (me), a half-orc, a halfling bard/gnome (played by the little brother of the DM, much younger than any of us present). There may also have been one more elf. That was all for the purpose of this event. So, we all begin to descend the rope, hoping it doesn't break. I make it down pretty easily. The half-orc, somehow, makes it down fine. Then we come to the halfling bard (the little brother of the DM, it's worth mentioning). He begins climbing down and, of course, the rope breaks on the lightest member of our party. He plummets something like 50 feet and barely survives, comes within an inch of his life. We revive him, and all survey our position. Nowhere to go but through this door, since our rope is no more. The half-orc, being an assertive type, reaches for it. "I stand to the left of the door," I discreetly say. "I stand to the right of the door," the elf says. The bard says nothing. Perhaps he is still a bit dazed after his recent brush with death. Pity. The half-orc opens the door and our DM kindly informs him that he should roll. He also informs the bard of the same. They do so. We are already beginning to laugh again. Well, we being everyone except for the bard. The half-orc, apparently the most agile member of his race ever, dodges magnificently to avoid the giant-ZOMG! fireball that was tripped when he opened the door. The bard? Well, do you really need me to tell you? A bit bruised, a little less limber than usual, he of course fails to dodge and is hit in the face by said fireball. Hilarity ensues. A bad day for a bard, all in all. EDIT:

Okay, I know you're out there. This many geeks in once place, you have to be. You know why this comic is funny. You may even own a few d20s. Or be thinking about buying a "booster pack" of something right now. It's okay- you can admit it. This is a safe place. And we can all let the healing begin. My own confession: While not big into the whole D&D stuff, I have been involved in it a couple times, though never seriously. We always ended up doing ridiculous things and laughing until it hurt. I am moderately into MtG, though, as friends getting into it the past year rekindled the interest I had in the game in high school. A friend persuaded me to try out Mage Knight, although the game is pretty much dead now so we only played it a handful of times. Anyway, I was just curious who else out here was into the various forms of gaming that don't involve burning out our retinas, and what your hidden vices were. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is... Roll for initiative, monkeyboy! ...Or boys, as the case may be.

I like this genre as long as "Scary Movie" and its legion of inbred cousins are not included.

You want to hear something awesome? Look up Babylon Mystery Orchestra. By way or warning, it's probably my least favorite in my nearly 1000 discs, just to emphasize how much I do not like it. I own it through only the blackest, most foul deed of trickery and deceit, but regardless, I am glad I do, in a terrible way. To be fair, it's really just the guys voice that makes it stand out. When I hear him, all I can think of is that "goth" sketch from SNL with the kid in his garage getting beat up by his jock brother. Seriously. Yeah, I like these guys. They aren't the best songwriters ever- that is, while they play very well and write good parts, sometimes I feel like the songs aren't the most distinctive and can tend to run together (but that's not really a problem when you're looking for something "epic" is it?). But, it's fun and very nice to hear good technical work in popular rock again. Couple others to point out: Echolyn - Mei The whole disc is one song, doesn't get much more epic than that. It's quite a listen, and while these guys seem to be little known, I really like what I've heard. Neal Morse - Testimony a note on this one, it's the primary songwriter/singer from Spock's Beard, who has gone solo since converting to Christianity and this album is about his conversion. If that subject matter would get to you, you won't enjoy the album- but, it really is a good album on its own merits. The same kind of prog/pop Spock's Beard put out, essentially. Also, Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater handled the drum duties so can't go wrong there.

Me too, but I'm beginning to think that my wallet doesn't.

Is that the one that starts with some business about resurrecting backwards in time or something? "No one has ever ___ this far before..."? I only own Human Equation, and while I liked what I heard on Migrator musically the lyrics were tough to get by sometimes. Then again, Human Equation has that "Motion personified alpha" line so I guess one just makes peace with it, eh? EDIT: Want to emphasize in my previous post- the Dream Theater album is my own "must own" of that list- I think they're all worth the price of admission, but that is arguably the best album of their career, and I feel describing it as a masterpiece isn't an overstatement. There's a live DVD of the entire album available that is also worthwhile- if for nothing else than to see that they really can pull it off live (though Live at Budokan is a much better DVD production).