Perhaps I should have seen this coming. I lost the Basketball finals to Johnny in the summer, then I lost in the Baseball finals to Bill in the Fall and now I have lost to Scott in the Football finals in the Winter... UGH! Things are not all as bleak as they seem though as the magical season of Fantasy Baseball magazines has started up and as usual the first one out '2010 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Fantasy Sports. the official magazine for the high-stakes fantasy player' is full of player previews but lacks the hardcore stats junk of say ESPN or TSN's fantasy magazines. So now I make the vain stops at Barnes & Noble to check for the latest magazines but alas they are not there. I know the problem with any info that comes from a magazine is that is it already out of date, but there is just a comfortable feeling that comes from reading them. Now I get to spend some time and figure out who my keepers for next season are... bitter...
I have always been a slow starter in Fantasy Football, so why should this season be any different? I'll post my roster on the right column so you can see who I'm dealing with. I've already been eliminated from both of the Survivor pools I entered thanks for the Packers tossing their cookies against the Bengals. Ugh... The Red Sox will take on the Angels who haven't beaten the Sox in the playoffs since 1986 in the ALDS and the Twins took a grueling one-game playoff from the Tigers so they get to face the Yankees who they haven't beaten all season. I'd like to see a Sox-Dodgers World Series, but I think a NYY-LAD series would also be fun to watch as it means a really good chance that we will see Joe Torre get his finger stuck up his nose... My Fantasy Nascar team (yes I play that too) is mired in 4th place even though the team in 3rd hasn't been active in a month. Who knows... I just finished listening to the Penny Arcade D&D Podcast Pt 6 and I need to talk to these guys on how they play so fast. Our sessions run 2-3 hours easy and that means I have a lot of editing to do. I should have the 4th Podcast posted over the weekend and then I can get to work on the 5th. I think the 5th has been the best yet as far as action and plot movement, but the next one will be someting to, BEHOLD! Bwah ha ha ahem... I'm co-hosting the Asylum radio show on Weds & Sat Nights 9-11pm so be sure to check it out by going to UNregularRadio.com. There are replays throughout the day too, so give a listen and let me know what you think...
Controversy!!! In the first season that the baseball league went from a 2 week final game to a 1 week final game, my Super Soakers were defeated by by brother-in-law's team the Bro's Sox. Worse? I talked him into playing Fantasy baseball for the first time. Even Worse? I told him nearly all of my tricks to win. DOH! Even worse than that? If it was a 2 week final I would have won... Ugh... In other news, at the moment my Fantasy Football team, The German Cupcakes are on the verge of going 0-3, yuck... In D&D news, the 3rd Podcast is finally up and the 4th will be up within the week. If you would like to listen to it now, click here. The next session of the Poker Podcast will go off on Thursday and now that the back-to-school rush has passed we can resume our sessions. We have been joined by two woman who are first time players, so this should make the campaign all the most interesting. Mayhaps a TPK (total party kill) is in order... bwah ha ha...
I have been playing Fantasy Football since the mid 90's and sadly seemed to have peaked in 1998 when I cruised to a smooth $1,500.00 bucks in The Sporting News Fantasy Football challenge. The trick with National contests is simple, if you are in the top 5 of the 25 team league you have a shot, if not, better luck next year. I used that money for my first trip to Vegas and sadly have not had the same luck since. I have been in two leagues of note, one was out of Exit42 which became Fanball and I was the Buffalo Bills of our league and the other league I started through Yahoo with my close friends. This is our fourth season, 10 teams and 13 games, with starters of QB, 2 WR, 2 RB, TE, K and DEF and playoffs in weeks 14-15-16. We don't play for money, just the pride of winning... My teams have finished 7th, 6th and 5th so I'm due to finish 4th, but if I can swing some of my Fantasy baseball mojo over there, maybe it will finally change. We do 5 keepers (marked with a K) and allow trading of picks. Here is my team: QB: Matt Ryan-k & David Garrard... WR: R Moss-k, L Evans, T. Holt, B. Edwards... RB: M Forte, L Tomlinson, S Slaton-k, L White, L Johnson... TE: T. Gonzalez-k... K: Akers... DEF: PHI... (I traded my #1 pick for Tomlinson and I tradded L. Fitzgerald for M. Forte & a 4th rd pick) I will update this page weekly with my picks for sleepers and duds as well as who my starters are. The pre-season games just started so now we sit back and ride out the exhibition games and hope our guys come through okay. My plan? Use my RB depth to secure a solid WR or another impact player.
Why did Lord Wyndham order a new fleet of ships and what is the cargo? In this episode, Akmenos, Lo-Kag and Huru discover some new allies, a new foe and the evil that lurks in the hearts of the people of Red Shore. Tempers ran high at Red Shore's most filthy tavern, the Crow's Nest and the arrival of the oderous Sheriff Tunil made it clear the PC's were not welcome there. Akmenos the Bard decided to break the tension in a very un-Bard-like manner (you have to listen to find out how) that earned him a bad reputation with the locals. A secret mission to the pier in order to discover the true mission of the new ships Lord Wyndham ordered was discovered, but not before they found themselves surrounded by angry sailors. What happens next? Click here to listen now...
Inside the Game: Above you can see a shot of the PCs and our custom made 'battle board' which is a a plexi-glass board from The Home Depot with lines drawn in and then painted white. This board has lasted for years now and since it is plexi-glass, you can use dry-erase markers to draw the battle field as needed. While we do swtich to the fancy printed boards and the pre-fabricated tabs that can be laid out as needed, this board has endured...
Coming soon: Two women who have wanted to play D&D, but never had the chance will join the party. This will be a first for the guys too as they play with women for the first time. As for me, well as the Dungeon Master I am looking forward to having two more PC's to kill... uhm, play with...
Akmenos was raised on the streets of the Bah-ree with parents that didn't have much but noticed an innate magical talent in his character at an early age. Akmenos was apprenticed to the school of wizards in Dracomal but was quickly ousted for his less than sage attitude. After bumping job to job becoming a jack of all trades, he learned to harness his arcane talents in conjunction with musical ability. Finding work with a traveling band of storytellers known as the Band of Jenkins, he traveled most of the civilized lands to learn about other cultures and enhance his own storytelling. While in Cauldron city, he used his musical talent to aid in an attack of ghouls on the town, gaining favor with a local cleric of Pelor, Raistlan. Unfortunately, his travels also led him to alienate several influential nobles, often through romantic trysts with noble princesses. King Aegon of Waterdeep in particular swore to place him in chains and castrate him if he ever appeared in the gates of the city again!
The first podcast is probably our worst in terms of quality so bear with us as we strive to improve. The next one will have the official title and better sound quality, promise! These posts will also features updates on the contacts the PC's (the player's characters; Akmenos the Bard, Lo-Kag the Goliath Barbarian and Huru the half-Ord Avenger) have met so far in the campaign as well as a mini-recap. While the PC's came to Bah-ree for Lord Wyndham's Feast they took in a parade when mayhem broke out that only they could deal with. (its in the podcast!) Their actions caught the eye of Aliass, the mayor of Halfing Town in Bah-ree who blamed the local menace Grakul the Rogue for the trouble and gave them invites to the special table. During the fray, Akmenos has his long bow stolen in the streets of Half-town and went to Bed-Bows & Beyond to buy a new one from Kagos. At the table of honor where they met; Von Fuehrr (smelly Druid who is trying to catch Grakul), GrueKen (bitter Dragonborn who suspects Wyndham of slavery), Ayhrodd (snobby Teifling concerned about the sudden loss of communication with the magic kingdom of Dracomal), Ellco (quiet Elven shipping merchant from red Shore that is building special vessel to find Vaytheon), Hammer Landers (Dwarf who noticed a spike in Wyndham's weapon orders), Lady Fenwick (elderly cleric who is concerned that the bodies of the dead are being stolen) and Cyder (bookworrm Eladrin ranger who feels Wyndham is ignoring the drug problems created by the Vampires who control the Spice trade). During the feast, an event of epic porportion (listen to the podcast) lead the PC's to apprehend the traitorous bard, Patches who insisted upon his innocence when they tossed him out a window onto the wagon driven by Cyder. At the city prison the PC's met Rochester (nearly retired veteran prison guard) where they were ordered to escort Patches to the dreaded, Three Falls prison. Lord Wyndham sent them the PC's the visit his personal armorer, Jenn Hahruss who gave them potions of healing for their journey and gifted them each with a magic item for their bravery. At the city stable they met Jott (tween human, who wants to go with them) who informed them about an elf who paid him a gold piece to have their steed ready to go immediately following the Feast and head for Red Shore. On the way to Three Falls prison they stopped to allow Rochester to relieve himself when they were attacked by a gang of rogues who tried to spring Patches. During the battle Rochester limped out of the woods to defend the wagon and turned on Akmenos! A green cloaked human claiming to be Grakul joined the fray, but when the tide turned against them, both Rochester and Grakul surrendered. Later at the Three Falls prison the guard revealed Grakul to be an imposter and the PC's feeling merciful, gave in to Rochesters pleas for mercy and did not inform anyone else about Rochester's turning. The captain of the guard, Abus, welcomed them to stay, but they decided to ride off to Red Shore. Rochester revealed that he was offered 500gps to spring Patches and bring him to a pub in Red Shore called the Golden Seal and ask for Ellco. When the PC's arrived in Red Shore, the soon found out from Ellco that Patches wanted to get into Three Falls in order to spring the infamous Gnome assassin Cole the Murderous and now there is no way to stop him... More podcasts to come...
If you haven't listened to the Penny Arcade Podcasts on Wizards.com then make sure you put it on your 2-do list as it will entertain, enlighten and inspire. Which is how this blog came to be, in a round-a-bout way.
Before I got into that, a little about me and my RPG resume, I began playing D&D while on a summer vacation in Maine where the days were spent on the lake and the night around a table. Okay so really I had played before that with other kids in school, but it wasn't a real game when one of the kids was a Minataur. My cousins played a campaign with an upside down pyramind shaped dungeon (I forget the module name) and they also played in a very brutal way. We could be bad guys, but if we slaughted a hapless villager, there were consequences and that mindset would stay with me. The game was fun and when I got back I had a much better understanding of how to play. D&D with high school friends turned into Top Secret SI with college friends and about nine years ago I got the call. "Hey, they are re-releasing D&D... think we should give it a try?" That did it. Soon we had a regular session that has managed to outlast one character death by paper shredder (the only way to truly kill a PC), two marriages and at least one near fist-fight. We did a great deal of the campaigns in 3.5 and the departure of a long time regular lead to the addition of a noob who has picked up the game quickly. We were on a meal run when he blurted out his first off-the-top of his head rule and then realized he was sucked in. Most would deem us 'power gamers' as we use teamwork to win and have a good understanding of what our PC's can do. Our game sessions are often riddled with small talk, meals or part of a day of paintball, but we strive to keep the sessions to at least once a month. After many years of the same person DMing our campaigns, another member of the group stepped in and has been running the show which to date has the group at 5th level.
After I listened to the podcast, it gave me the idea to tape our sessions which tend to be raunchy, diverse in topic and a tad bit of A.D.D. Theatre. Now the idea wasn't to record our sessions for podcasts so we can chuckle at our own jokes, but to use the Podcast as a way to curb the distractions and focus on the campaign. In the upcoming podcasts that will be posted here, you will get to listen to a completely original campaign that I am writing. This is my first turn as a DM in over 20yrs so it may be a bit bumpy at first. This blog will also act as a tool for the other players to keep tabs on the campaign and most of all, response from those who give us a listen. We want feedback, advice and questions so we can become better in both production values (using Audacity to edit) and content values (again this is all from my mind, so bear with me when I goof like I did in the first session.) Thanks for reading... Riley1d20
Perhaps I should have seen this coming. I lost the Basketball finals to Johnny in the summer, then I lost in the Baseball finals to Bill in the Fall and now I have lost to Scott in the Football finals in the Winter... UGH! 
