I started running a new group through a D&D campaign the other day. I'm always nervous when I have to DM. It is a lot of responsibility and requires a lot of prep work. The biggest thing is that a DM can NEVER prepare for all the outcomes. Your party members can go completely off the rails in unexpected ways. You may think you know your party and plan for when they do go off script. It doesn't help. They will never do what you think they will. As the DM you have to plan contingency plans for when they do something you aren't prepared for. That was the case for us. We basically got to go through the lead up to where everyone meets, and all hell broke loose. 3 hours and still in the introductions... They have just barely met each other and chaos ensued.

It was my birthday over the weekend. It was a great time. Had lots of tasty food, and some drinks. Did some bowling and karoake. It was fantastic. Someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and my answer was "to not have a hangover". Success! I also remembered to leave myself water by my bed so it was even better for me. Allergies and drinks make me parched. And so I couldn't ask for anything better!

I am a fan of the Mass Effect series as I know i've said before. The new game released on tuesday and I feel strange for not pre-ordering it. I am still knee deep in Horizon Zero Dawn and Final Fantasy. Horizon is my life right now. I am still loving the game. This blunts the yearning for Mass Effect. It also doesn't help that the early releases showcased some horrendous animation. There are people that just can not get passed that despite their commitments. 

I really enjoy playing the game of thrones board game. You can play it straight up where everyone is against eaveryone, or you can have alliances and all sorts of shenanigans can ensue. It always ends up at some point, there will be a betrayal or some sort of unexpected events happening. There really isn't a way to win without some teaming up or mayhem. Everyone place nice, til they can screw over another. That is how you play the game of thrones!

I am still playing Horizon Zero Dawn. I am really enjoying it. I am playing it on the hard difficulty amd have about 37 hours of game time into it. Speaking to Greggles and others, they beat the game at roughly 50 hours. That is not going to happen. I haven't even uncovered 2/3 of the world map yet. This is turning into a dilemma as the new Mass Effect comes out on tuesday (some already are playing it!). On reason it is taking me so much time is that I keep getting sidetracked as a completionist attack hits and I spend 1-2 hours sidetracking from missions to look for collectables or unlocking certain things... Glad events in game are not real time...

I work in a lot of different offices. A lot of them are heat controlled. Meaning someone gets to control the thermostat for the entire building. That means, depending on what floor or area they use as their baseline, people can be freezing or sweating while a few people are comfortable. Most often than not, I seem to be in places that are boiling. I do not do well in heat as I'm sure I've said many times. Sometimes, I get lucky and I am in a place that doesn't have a dress code or it is very lax, and I get to adjust what I'm wearing to fit whatever it is I'm going to experience that day. Most places I do not. When most people go to work in an office in winter they are concerned with making sure they have a light coat or layers to stay warm. I'm always praying I don't sweat through my clothes and wish I can rock other layers. 

I am loving Horizon Zero Dawn. It is so much fun to play. I can be stealthy or just run around destroying things. I also get to hijack mecha-animals and ride on them! There is so much to do and I'm trying to do em all! They have a great mechanic that really pays out so well in the whistle. You can lure people and mechs to separate them from herds and groups for silent kills. The only problem is you also can whistle to beckon your previously hijacked mecha-nimals to you to ride. Needless to say I don't pay attention, and often find myself using the wrong one... 

Last weekend, Logan premiered. It is kinda like Old Man Logan, but not really. The Hulk hasn't had kids and they haven't caused mayhem and killed all the things Wolvie loves. He is old in though, and basically all he cared about has been taken from him. He is not the same. He is old, beaten down, and more passive. That is until events unfold taht requires him to be an angry badass again. Now, I LOVE Wolverine. When I started reading comics, I latched onto him. Not because I saw a lot of myself in him, but just cause he was awesome, and he was a fighter. I tend to really connect and appreciate those that have training. Wolve, Shatterstar, Ironfist etc... I do connect with them through that lens. We have been trained since a youngin in the art and discipline of fighting. It is why I love Hwaorang in Tekken (we both are Tae Kwon Do specialists who tweak it to match who we are). Hugh Jackman has portrayed our clawed friend for the past 17 years! I had no idea it was that long. He has given us what he could. I think this movie finally gave HIM something back finally. I true to Wolvie stance in life. If you haven't seen it, go now. Stop readin this and go now. It is glorious. 

Astroneer is a space exploration and resource management game. It is along the lines of minecraft but in space. It is in early Alpha, but for what they have is pretty polished. We played the crap out of it for 2 days (and then Jorizon Zero Dawn came out). I still like it and plan on playing it a few hours a week at least. I put a lot of effort into my 2 habitats! It is multiplayer so I had some FYN and others jump in and play with me in my universe. It was a learning curve as we tried to figure out what things did and what things were. Some required accidents to learn our lessons...