Weekend in Reivew PLUS: What I'm reading.

You know, for some reason, I'm curious about visiting Kentucky, if only to see if the chicken is really that good. Plus, I'm sure they have many interesting attractions.

I've been reading Achtung Schwinehund! over the past few days. It came in the same day as the 4E PH, and I think I had it recommended by muskrat_john a few weeks/months/years back. It is a more interesting read, but that's just because it would be a very bad book if it was a less interesting read than most RPG rulebooks.

Stop crying. You know I'm right.

It's subtitles "A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat" and is the tale of the author's youthful (and grownup) affections for toy soldiers, action figures, and other things that a lot of people reading this will recall with much fondness.

There's one passage on page 100 that, well, might ruffle a few feathers among the readers at home. So I shall post it in full for your enjoyment.

He starts off that section by talking about how much he hates Games Workshop (and, who among us?). He then proceeds to step a little over a certain line, even for a 'humour' writer.

To my mind, three men are responsible more than any others for the creation of this perversion of the hobby: J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of Middle Earth, Robert E. Howard, creator of Hyboria (which was kind of Middle Earth with breast) and E. Gary Gygax, the mild-mannered Canadian (sic) inventor of Dungeons and Dragons. 'All three of them should be put up against a wall and shot,' I said to TK while I was feeling particularly aggreived at World of Warcraft's continued encroachment into our territory. he raised an eyebrow. 'I think you're getting a bit carried away there, mate,' he said.

'Are you sure?' I said.

'Oh yes,' TK said. 'I mean, two of them are already dead. It would be a waste of bullets.'

Ouch. Zing, as it were (and now doubly factually incorrect). I was going to do a poll asking what kind of polearm maliszew would use to dispatch them (my money was on the Glaive Guisarme, or possibly Lucerne Hammer), but that was kinda childish too. Later on, he does say

But it is hard to maintain the moral high ground when you have just bought three hundred Garrison 20mm Macedonian phalangites from a man named Alistair in Auckland, New Zealand.

Overall, though, it's a good read. Paul in the Thursday Nighters is gonna borrow it when I'm done.

Good weekend at ACB. Uday & I did some more geocaching, and after two frustrating sessions we finally managed to find one.

The first one was called on account of "where the hell is that thing?", the second on account of gooseshit.

The third one was right in the middle of a parking lot. No, really, right smack dab in the middle of a parking lot. Very cleverly concealed.

Much BBQ was eaten, and I visited the Kingston Gaming Nexus and met up with the Sunday guy. Turns out he's going for a UD Tournament ranking, so maybe he will solve one of my problems.

Bought some Star Wars minis, and they're kinda pricy down in K-Town.

Another Shot to the Head

Occasionally, I want to have a copy of Unearthed Arcana. The original one, the first ed AD&D book.

No. That isn’t right.

I don’t want a copy. I want to be reading a copy.

I want to be standing in Leisure World in the Cataraqui Mall, a long dead store in a long dead chain (in a mall that needs way more parking) that sold a staggering variety of hobby products for a staggering variety of hobbies.

Leisure World took its mandate seriously. If you wanted knitting supplies, you could get them. Model kits? Yep. Next to the paint. Trains? Aisle three. Today it would probably be filled with scrapbooking supplies and quilting materials, although they probably carried those somewhere in the shop. I know that they were around long enough for me to get an Antiquities booster from them, but they fade from memory after that.

What I was concerned about, of course, were the RPG books. I got a decent amount of my older stuff from their shops. I’d get Top Secret SI books from them on occasion; I bought my copy of FREElancers from their Belleville branch once after I got my braces tightened. My orthodontist was Dr. Solomon, who received every year a Hanukah card from my dad. I believe he got the same one every year, since dad had a box of them in his office, but who really would notice?

I also shopped for a lot of Marvel Superheroes books from them, before I learned about Champions. I to this day think that Nightmares of Futures Past would be a kickass campaign.

But what I want is to be 16 again, standing in Leisure World, flipping through it and seeing the Cavalier and Barbarian and Thief Acrobat for the first time. I want to see all the gadgets. I really want to see the polearm chapter. I want to look at the Weapon Specialization rules again.

It's not that good a book, really. But occasionally I miss the time I saw it, and the person I was then.

Tweets for Today

• 16:03 Note to self: look up Amazons MC. #
• 19:30 Curse you Mix FM! Rickrolled by a radio station! It was #1 20 years ago. #
• 13:58 Currently stuck in my head: "7" by Prince. #

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