Returning to D&D.

     I finally got into 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. I have been away from it for a while, leaving 3.5 and not getting into 4th, but rather playing Pathfinder instead. As I explore this version of D&D, 5e, I want to write a blog entry here and there about the features I like, or wish they would include. There is a lot I like about it so far, but just a few things that I would like to see improved.

     I like that the main setting takes place in the Forgotten Realms world of Toril. It's a classic setting, with various tribes of humans around the world. My experience with this setting comes from Black Isle's RP sprite games (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, etc.). I'm not quite used to the Forgotten Realms pantheon. That will take some getting used to when creating clerics. I'm more used to those of Greyhawk (Pelor, Olidammara, Nerul, etc.).
     Ravnica, the ecumenopolis setting of a series of Magic: The Gathering cards, is a possible alternate setting! I had to get that book when I could. Some other Magic settings, like Zendikar, are available in PDF form, but Ravnica is a physical book.
     In the grander scheme of things, the cosmology has returned to the Great Wheel. I'm used to this, as it is the cosmology used in 3.5.
     There is no mention of prestige classes, which is fine. I didn't think that I would welcome such a change, but I love what was done instead. Let's say a player wanted to make a mage-thief. He starts with a thief, then plans his skill points - present and future levels - around that future leveling. He adds a few levels of wizard, then he can chose to take on arcane trickster class levels. Now 5e just has archetypes; that same player can just take on limited spellcasting ability at 3rd level without multiclassing. In future blog entries, I might talk about archetypes that catch my eye, ones that I've come up with, or ones I've adapted from prestige classes from earlier 3.5 supplements.
     Bards are more powerful now! I've always loved the class, as they are very music-oriented, and they have random pieces of knowledge. Now they have a full 9-level spell list, and have a feature called Secret Magic; at certain levels, they can pick two spells from any other class' spell list. So, you can have a bard that sings down a Meteor Swarm. Also, I've converted my 3.5 7th level bard, Sirrus Kobayne, into a 5e 7th level bard of whispers.

     The stripped-down skill system will take getting used to. You don't choose skill ranks; you just have proficiencies based on your class. That does make it a little less customizable.
     At higher levels, spellcasting is a bit limited. But there is versatility in spellcasting. For instance, Wizards (for example) combine their class level with their Intelligence bonus, and that's the number of spells they can prepare. The spell slots tells the player how many of each level they can cast. So, they can prepare two spells of Level X, but only have one slot in Level X, so there's a sense of versatility.

     In future entries, I would like to talk about supplements that I wish would be adapted to 5e. 5e isn't terribly old, but I think a lot of players are missing the Draconomicon, for example.

Joys and irritation.

     I finally got my hands on the second season of the latest gen of Hitman! I just started it a week ago, and so I know that I just barely made a dent in it. There was a good and bad that came with getting it.

     The good came with the game itself. The gameplay is the same as it was in the first one (of this gen). The only difference I really saw was that the opportunities -- signature ways of killing your targets -- are now called mission stories. I've accomplished most of these, but that doesn't mean there aren't more ways of taking down dummies.
     The story, itself, is really intriguing. It delves into 47 and Diana's respective childhood. And one of the other NPCs that seemed like an enemy doesn't seem like it now.

     The bad came with installation. I've reached the end of my PS4's memory, so I had to delete No Man's Sky. I like that game, but it's always updating, which gets frustrating. I can't remember the other game I had to delete. But, I'll reinstall them whenever I get an external hard drive. Not this month, but sometime this year, I will.

Mechanical mayhem

     I finally got around to getting Horizon Zero Dawn! I'm only at level 19, but I would like to talk a bit about how it's going so far.
     When I got it, the cashier said it would have won several game of the year awards, if it hadn't been for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. He however conceded that, when a Zelda game comes out, it makes it harder for other games to compete. But name-dropping a legendary series in comparison had me more intrigued.
     It is an amazing game! The setting is some post-apocalyptic future, where any surviving members of humanity have started civilization over again, and have re-entered the late neolithic or early bronze age. However, machines from the past have also evolved, so in addition to natural wildlife, there is mechanical wildlife roaming the world. Technologically advanced relics that still work seem to be treated like magic.
     The heroine of the story is a woman named Aloy, who is now my first video game crush. And yes, I know that makes me sound like a geek. But anyway, she's an ass-kicking tribal woman. She wields a spear, traps, and bows; and I do like sniping. The combat system within this open world is intuitive, once you get the hang of the controls.
     In addition to combat, there's a technique that is available called override. With a device that dropped after a boss battle, you can take control of some machines. After exploring some caves known as Cauldrons, you learn to take control of more types of machines.
     Roleplaying is a fun aspect of HZD. You talk to various people from your own and other tribes, who give out missions. Missions are divided into Main, Side, Errands, Cauldrons, and Tallnecks (overriding a huge mechanical dinosaur to discover more of the map).
     I think, when I get home, I'm going to search for more Cauldrons and Tallnecks. Right now, I'm writing this at work, and it just makes me want to get home more.

Gaming over the past year.

     It's hard to believe it's been a year since I last posted in this blog. Nothing posted in 2018. So, I guess I have a lot to say, if I can remember it all.

     As a Christmas present in 2017, I got Sims 4 for the PS4. I like it quite a bit. It's not open-world, like Sims 3 is, but it has a lot more detail. Of course, like many, I made a Simself as my first character. And he's married to a Sim-Denise who already had a son.
     The first sims have aged and died, and now her great-grandsons are adults. One's a musician and the other is an E-sports competitor. Six live in a mansion whose bottom floor is based on an amalgam of various Clue mansion boards.
     This past Christmas, I got myself the expansions City Living, Vampires, and Get to Work. I reused my original characters in the new city setting, San Myshuno. So far, I like it.

     I've been playing Grand Theft Auto Online with someone in Utah. I've been using the resulting heist money to do the biker and nightclub updated content. So, I have a flying motorcycle and a Bugatti-like car. It's pretty cool.

     I've gotten back into playing Borderlands 2. I've been playing it at times with someone in England. I started my first combat-oriented character, Axton the Commando, and gotten through the Captain Scarlet expansion story. His special attack is pretty cool. It's a turret that shoots at all enemies within range; and I've upgraded it with rockets. I mostly rely on machine guns for him, and I have multiple ones for each type of energy attack. With the help of the guy in England, whose Maya the Siren is level 72, my commando jumped from 21 to 23 within 15 minutes.
     Speaking of energy attacks, I've found something cool while playing BL2 on PS4. The glowing bar on top of the controller changes color, depending on which type of energy is used; standard blue for none, light blue for electricity, orange for fire, green for corrosive, purple for slag, and yellow for explosive.

     Thanks to finding the books for less than half-price on Ebay, I've gotten into Dungeons & Dragons, 5e. I have the three core rulebooks. I already love the idea of getting rid of prestige classes in favor of expanding existing core classes with class archetypes. Archetypes are a way of differentiating the various members of a class. A thief rogue is different from an assassin rogue, for example. I also have the campaign setting Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, which is based on the popular Magic: The Gathering setting.

     Speaking of Magic, I've completed a few decks. So far, I have a discard control, a mill control, and a burn-counter. My next one will either be the zombie or demon deck. Now, after completing a deck, I've been buying $2 deck-boxes for them, instead of relying on flimsy paper-board.

     Out of boredom, I decided to re-install Sims 3 for my computer, for the boring overnight shifts. It works. It's fun, but makes me want to go home to play Sims 4. My main character, Beavis Meeseeks, is a time-traveling ghost-hunter. Makes a good TV show, or a brief SNL sketch.

     So, anyway, that's pretty much it. I just got Horizon Zero Dawn, but I haven't started it yet. I probably will after work, and before I take my nap.

Vanity.

     Ever take a personality test? Nothing official, but a random thing posted on social media. I have. In fact, I've taken many. But on this blog, I want to talk about personality tests that refer to gaming. I've taken an alignment test, a race test, and a class test. My results have influenced my gaming experience, tabletop and otherwise.
     I found out that my ideal character is a chaotic neutral half-elf bard. I've taken this and included it into my RPG experience. Most of my characters have been CN Half-elf bards named GB. In at least one game, I have a party member named Gerard Barnaby; in The Temple of Elemental Evil, the face of my party is named Galen Burnwood.
     Some might say that I'm just in touch with my inner self. Others might say it's a matter of vanity.

RANT: Mini-games.

     I have to say it. I hate most mini-games in the middle of good games. This is where the action stops, and in order to continue, you have to press buttons or do some old throwback mini-game in order to continue.
     My first experience that made me rage-quit for a while was in the first Dead Space game. In order to continue, you had to shoot rocks coming for the ship while the shields were coming back online. Basically, you had to play Asteroids for a few minutes or not play Dead Space at all. It is horrible. I went online and many people said, and I agree, that it pretty much ruins replayability.
     My most recent experience with this bullshit is God of War 3. All the action and fun had to stop at the big string instrument thing. In order to continue, I had to play a music box puzzle. What I had to do was hit the buttons in a sequence, timing it just right, or I had to start it again. If I wanted to play Guitar Hero, I would play Guitar Hero.
     By the 50th try on these mini-games, I find myself screaming at the TV "Just let me get back to the real fucking game!"

Atlas Rises!

     "No Man's Sky" keeps getting better and better. I got it right after Hello Games released the Pathfinder update. Now they've released the update called Atlas Rises. It kind of messed up my game, so I restarted. It's fine by me, since I needed to reintroduce myself to it. I just hope that the progress I've made won't get messed up with any updates next year.

     Now I have mastered farming, bought a freighter (named it Gygax), and I have a small fleet of ships; thus far, I have two fighters (Dragon's Fang and Screeching Imp), a hauler (Thunderhorse), a shuttle (Pack Mule II), and an bug-looking explorer (Starhopper).

     In addition, I've completed the Atlas Path and the new Artemis mission line - something surreal and involved holographic messages with new aliens. Now both of those mission instructions say "The Universe is yours to explore, enjoy." That is a good thing, since the heart of "No Man's Sky" is exploring the universe, anyway.

     So, now that I've left the Euclid Galaxy and am now exploring the Hilbert Dimension, I find myself wondering what I would do if I were in charge of the next update. And I've come up with new ideas.

     It would be fun, interesting, but also infuriating, if they had an update that added more variety and realism to the star systems. From what I understand of the game thus far, when a new system loads, it starts with color of that star, then number of planets, then basic layout and environment of each planet is established when you scan and land on them. If I had a say in the development of the next update, I would like to see more challenging realism in the generation of each star system.
     First, establish the number and size of stars in each system, and therefore the Goldilocks zone. Binary/Trinary stars would be cool, actually, and would make interesting habitable areas. Different types of stars would have different temperature effects.
     Second, establish the number of orbiting bodies. Usually, this would be around 10-20. In addition, this step should make size matter. This includes adding gas giants and dwarf planets, as well as different planet sizes.

     Third, from size, the program would determine gravity, expressed in a G-number. Varying Gs have a variety of effects. The most obvious effect would be that jetpacks and launch thrusters would be more or less efficient; also, jumps would be longer or shorter. In addition, this would also have an effect on falling damage and habitability.
     Fourth, have the temperature vary, depending on the latitude. The worlds would be much less homogenous.
     Fifth, those which falls into that habitable zone, and where, would have a greater likelihood of habitability.
     If solar system generation were done like this, most planets won't be habitable, but they would be good sources of minerals and crystals. These types of worlds could have large, paraterraformed domes, like stations. Also, it would make finding a habitable world more rewarding to find, and players will want to spend more time exploring each one.

     Regardless of whether or not my ideas are implemented, I've been enjoying and looking forward to seeing more of this ongoing development, and chatting with others in posts about it.

Mastering being 47

     I've been getting back into the 2016 Hitman game. It's reignited my love of the series. I'm more of a cloak-and-dagger gamer. That is to say I have a love-hate relationship with combat, and mostly prefer subtlety and assassination.
     The "Hitman" series plays well into this style of gaming. Each mission is basically a puzzle. For instance, you have to kill someone who is somewhere in a compound. They are often surrounded by guards and/or alarms. Often, they best way is to make the assassination look like an accident, if you can't snipe them or get them alone with a headshot with a silenced pistol.

     So far, I've been replaying the Paris mission, "Showstopper", and the Italian one, "World of Tomorrow".
     In "Showstopper," a power couple, Dalia Margolis and Viktor Novikov, are major players in the fashion industry. However, the fashion industry is a front for their activities for an espionage group called IAGO. The best way I figured out is to start off disguised as a member of the tech crew for the fashion show; you grab the remote control for the fireworks; then you sneak into the maintenance shed to grab the silenced sniper rifle that you arranged to have smuggled in; after which, you climb the barge and set off the fireworks, causing your targets to come outside; then POP... POP.
     In "World of Tomorrow", I found out that it's best to assassinate the male scientist first, then the female scientist, then grab the keycard from the female scientist to make your way to the underground lab to destroy the virus they were working on.

     Now, I'm working on my mastery of the mission in Marrakesh, Morocco. I guess I'll have a drink and start that one again. Good night, fellow gamers.

New generation of console.

     It's late to say, but tax season has passed, and I finally got a PS4! Here's a brief overview of the games I have for it.

     I got the latest Hitman. They call it "Hitman: Season One". Hopefully, it means that there will be a next season. I've gone through it once, and I'm pretty happy with it. They got back to the basics of "Here's your target, have at it, 47." Whenever you complete a mission, you unlock different things which would allow you to complete it again, but with different disguises and/or weapons, and at different starting points. This system creates a greater replayability aspect. And the graphics are just great! Crisp, clear, and gorgeous.

     At the same time as getting Hitman, I got another game that I had been waiting for a long time to play. "No Man's Sky." You start off crashed on a randomly generated planet, then you gather resources to repair your ship, then you gather fuel to get off the planet, then you gather fuel to warp to the next star system. It goes on and on like that.
     While many have decried this gather-travel-gather-travel aspect as the downfall of the game. I find it to be what fuels the game. What makes the game rewarding is the fact that the game is running on an algorithm; every star, planet, and ship you encounter is randomly generated by a programmed matrix, creating the possibility of quintillions of worlds to discover. And it's relaxing to play.

     So, I got the fourth installment of the Saints Row series. I'll be honest, III was better. IV just got a bit ridiculous and over the top, which is saying a lot for a series that is designed to be a ridiculous and over the top version of GTA. It was a combination of "The Matrix" trilogy and "They Live". Your character is president of the US, and aliens invade. The remaining humans are kept alive in computer-generated dreamworlds. Basically, the series has jumped the shark with this one.

     I am very happy with the newest installment of Dragon Age, DA: Inquisition. Your character is the leader of a growing group called the Inquisition, which wants to unite various factions to prevent a blight caused by breaches into the Fade, causing demons to leak into the world of Thedas. I love it so far. I can send troops to complete tasks, which help me in the long run. After a while, you can align yourself with either the templars or the mages. I have a saved game ready for when I complete the main storyline with the mages, so I can do it again with the templars.

     About a month ago, I got the remastered version of God of War 3. I still haven't gotten around to playing it yet, but I hope it's as spectacular as God of War 2 was on the PS2. The added fact that it's on a console two generations newer should make even more beautiful. Beautiful and violent.

     In addition to opening my gaming experience to the latest in interactive stories, I found that I have been using my PS3 wrong all along! I should have hooked it up to the TV via an HDMI cord. I finaly did so, and wow! My games and TV experiences are much more crisp and clear! I wish I would have known about this years ago!

     I'm off tomorrow, so I have some adventuring to do tonight.

Elder Scrolls rants and raves.

     I just need to state this fact: Elder Scrolls rules! Now that I've said that, let me expound.

     I've started Oblivion. My character is doing O.K. He's a mage-thief (head of the thieves guild) and he has taken Sheogorath's place as the new Mad God. Sheogorath, BTW, is one of my favorite daedric princes. As of late, I have him exploring the Oblivion Gate just outside of Bravil.

     I have a new character for Skyrim! A mage, actually. And I'm not only surprised that he can survive with just magic, I don't even have him using weapons. Being bedridden for the past week, I've taken the time to make my mage the Archmage the College of Winterhold.

     There has been a lot of talk about an Elder Scrolls VI game. People on a gaming page were asked "Where would you want it to take place?" My answer was Valenwood. think of it: The Elder Scrolls VI: Valenwood.
     It seems that, after the frozen mountains of Skyrim, Valenwood would be a pleasant change. It has lush vegetation and great big city-trees that move. Definitely a great site to see, given the fact that the next TES game would be released on the latest generation of consoles.

     Dozing... Maybe I'll dream about the Shimmering Isles.

SimCity 2013.

     I finally got the newest version of SimCity, which was released in 2013. I've been addicted to it. Though it has some weird, glitchy shit going on with it, it's still the best version of the game so far.
     I like the fact that you can plant buildings, then grow them with additions and achievements. And would-be mayors can choose what they want their cities to specialize in. This could be mining, drilling, tourism, technology, or gambling.
     Like SimCity 4, this newest version allows you to establish multiple cities on a map. However, you aren't able to choose tiles or reshape the land. That would have been great.
     My play style is as follows: One tech city produces processors, then later computers and TVs. Another city is the center of education, which allows research for greater building upgrades. A third city would bring gambling revenue. Other cities would be bedroom communities (where workers live, and from where they commute) and industrial areas (to where residents commute).
     All in all, it's a good game. Sometimes hard to start, but still.

Art imitates art.

     My gaming and writing are feeding off of each other. I got into playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The first character I decided to play is Wilhelm, a cyborg mercenary with body modification addiction.
     Playing as Wilhelm reminded me of a character in one of my stories. He is a partially mechanical second-mate and security enforcer of a pirate ship, who is also succumbing to bod-mod addiction. But I'm careful not to make it seem like I'm plagiarizing. Being that cyborgs are prevalent in science fiction, and people in real life can be addicted to plastic surgery and piercings and tattoos, they're both common character motifs; and it's really about what the writer wants to do with those motifs.
     A neat gaming experience is playing BL2 and BL: TPS, and seeing the back stories of characters that you'll face in the sequel. In one game, I'm playing as Wilhelm as he starts to descend into his bod-mod addiction (via the Cyber Commando skill tree). In the other game, I'm playing another character who goes up against him, and he's more machine than man.
     Playing through True Vault Hunter Mode in BL2 as Zer0 (the assassin), I'm level 48 and taking the side missions area by area. I completed the Captain Scarlett DLC in TVHM, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm going to tackle the Caustic Caverns before doing the story mission in the Hyperion Wildlife Preserve.
     Another cool thing I did, related to Borderlands, is that I found wallpapers for my phone. I got five each for the different manufacturing corporations.
     After this episode of the Blacklist, I'm heading back to Pandora.

UPDATE:
     My Zer0 is now a level 49 True Shot. My next series of missions will take me to Thousand Cuts, the place where players meet Brick (a PC from the first game).
     I'm primarily a sniper who uses SMGs when things get up-close and personal, buy I've decided to carry one explosive assault rifle and one RPG, for when desperate times call for desperate measures. I call them my Fuck-It Gun and my Fuck-It Cannon, respectively.

Classics re-incarnated: Megaman.

(Photo credit: Primantis via Deviant Art)

     Often, while scrolling through Facebook, someone will post the question "If you could take a game and remake it with current generation graphics, what would it be?" Seeing as how Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Metroid get remade every now and then, and they end up on one company's consoles, my first choice was clear. Megaman.

     As a kid in junior high, I first got into this series, starting with Megaman 2. After that, it was always exciting to see what different robots that would come out on each successive one. But, with 8bit (and eventually 16bit) graphics, there wasn't a lot Capcom could do. In addition, many of the games had glitches (flickering sprites, etc.).

     Each game featured 8 (6 in the original) robots who took over an area of a futuristic city; the robot hero defeats each one, gaining their weapon as a reward for completing each stage. The key to victory was finding which weapon was most effective against each robot stage boss.

     The drawback was the variations on a similar theme. Similar robots took over similar areas, like the mining areas (Jewel Man, Crystal Man, etc.) or the mountains and icy places (Ice Man, Blizzard Man, etc.).

     I have a few ideas for the current generation of consoles. The obvious is there: Instead of the old-school, 2D, side-scrolling fun, take it to the high-definition, 3D world. Start with an overhead view from the back, like GTA. That would show an immediate difference between this and older incarnations.

     Next, stray from just pointing and selecting different stages for each robot-boss, have the protagonist roam through an open-world map to go on side-quests for energy tanks, weapon ammo, upgrades for Megaman's armor, as well as upgrades for the robo-dog, Rush (can't forget him!). The upgrades would be level-dependent, maybe every so often having Dr. Light contact him to tell him what's available at the lab.

     Different areas of the map would lead to stages, like the forest, marina, digsite, construction area, space, etc. Within each themed stage would be sectioned off areas that would lead to the bosses, which could be taken in any order, like going through a multi-tunneled cave that leads to various chambers.

     Instead of having a few bosses with the same weapon (Flash Man and Bright Man both having time-stoppers, for example), have the bosses of a themed area drop the same weapon, but each one has a different optional upgrade to it, which could be added or removed via the menu. But, for each upgrade you use with that weapon consumes more ammo per shot. However, each time you grab one of the themed weapons, it adds to the carrying capacity of that themed weapon's ammo. This way, players can partially complete one stage and use the new weapon to partially complete the next.

     Maybe take a cue from the Megaman X series, and not just adding Zero to the mix. Stray from the original naming formula, which was basically calling each robot ______ Man. They'd look the same, but would be called something more colorful and imaginative. And another thing that the X series did was have certain actions affect the scenery. In fact, maybe certain actions on some stages might even cause other stages and the main map change; not dramatically, but maybe add things.

     I hate to sound vain, but I think this is a good idea. Anyone know how to contact Capcom?

GTA VI?

     On a Facebook page I follow, I saw this. The commentators on the post debated whether it were real or just a rumor. One person even said that they had relatives that work for Rockstar Games, and that they weren't supposed to say anything, but confirmed it.
     The post said that GTA VI is going to take place in Magnolia City (an old nickname for Houston). And this made fans from Houston happy. "That's my hometown!" As an avid gamer, I know that news of sequels are often just rumors.
     If things go O.K., I think I will have a PS4 by this time next year. The main reasons will be because the sequels to my favorite series/franchises, like Borderlands, Hitman, and GTA, are coming out on current-gen consoles only. But, at least they should be cheaper by then.

     Now, about this setting; I have, what I think, is a better idea than just setting it in Magnolia City. If this is on the newest-gen consoles, they need to go big! I think they should keep the maps from IV and V (update them with real-life changes), but also add a few more cities, Magnolia City being one.      The main storyline should have the protagonist(s) traveling among the cities. To achieve this, drive or fly off the edge of the map of the current city. The direction would indicate the destination. From that point, the player would have two options.
     They can travel by ground. This would feature cut scenes that would fast-foward the game timeclock. The cut scenes would be interspersed with traveling by Sandy Shores-sized towns where they could play around in (maybe tiny side-quests). Time would return to normal while in these towns.

     The other option, of course, is to travel by air. On the plus side, there's a random chance to become a hero and stop an air disaster, therefore receiving a monetary reward. Disasters could include the pilot having a heart attack and the player having to take over; crashing or emergency landing would cause the plane to end up in one of the tiny towns; or disaster could be having to subdue a hijacker. But, on the down side, players have to leave their weapons behind and maybe store one pistol.
     The possibilities are endless, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

Crossovers: Part 1

     There's been this post circulating around Facebook, especially among gamer-geek pages. This question is "If you could combine two of your favorite games, what would you come up with?" or something like that. I have come up with a lot, and so I thought I'd write about them.

     Grand Theft Horse: Riften. Riften is a city in the province of Skyrim, capital of the Rift Hold, and home of the infamous thieves guild. Add in three characters that go from lackeys to possible kingpins within the guild, or even create a guild of their own, then you have a game filled with magically medieval mafia-style action.

     Hitman: Dark Brotherhood. In the world of Nirn (the planet that the Elder Scrolls takes place on) there exists a shadowy syndicate of assassins known as the Dark Brotherhood. Let's say that a mage was using alteration magic to create the ultimate killer. The most successful one was 47, who breaks loose and finds himself among the Dark Brotherhood. Astrid, the head of the Brotherhood, needs to be made into a Breton and sound more like Diana.

    Hitman: Vault Hunter. Let's say in the future, Agent 47 is reborn. The Interstellar Contract Agency sends him to Pandora to hunt a few vault hunters as well as the Hyperion Corporation's new leader - whoever Handsome Jack's successor would be.
     I could imagine the opening cutscene: He's staring out the window, and his thoughts are narrating what he has to do as streaking stars reflect off the window. His thoughts are interrupted by the voice of a descendant of Diana being patched through his HUD. Boom! Ass-kicking everywhere!

     Yakuza: Way of Pandora. The Tojo Clan of yakuza families is on the hunt on Pandora, and Kazuma Kiryu finds himself embroiled in it again. You can start the game as one of, maybe, four characters. If you start as Kazuma, your starting point is the floating city of Sanctuary. If you start as Goro Majima, your starting point is a mining town run by Majima Construction.

     Metroid: Pirate Warfare. Intrepid cyborg bounty hunter Samus Aran has to do battle with the space pirate aliens of the planet Zebes, but there is also a rival fleet sent from Earth - the Tojo Clan. That's all I have for that.

     Metroid: The Zebesian Vault. There was a map that was opened at the last cutscene of the final main story mission in Borderlands 2. It revealed the locations of multiple vaults throughout the galaxy.
     One of them was found on the planet Zebes, and there is a race among vault hunters - one of them being Samus - to prevent the opening of the vault by the one and only Mother Brain.

     I have a feeling that I'm going to keep coming up with more ideas. That's why this is Crossovers: Part 1.

More Skyrim news, and returning to San Andreas.

     I've really gotten into the roleplay aspect of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I have three characters that I play with right now. I like how I can explore the province of Skyrim in the mindset of each character. Like, I'm free to think to myself "Would this character help this person's situation?" and keep playing whether or not the answer is yes or no.

     My primary character is, as I've mentioned before, Sahandrian. He's a high elf illusionist/thief/assassin, and to top it all off, he's a vampire. Basically, he's a living, lethal shadow. I use him to do a lot of dungeon delving, robbing people blind, and taking out entire strongholds of enemies one by one. I like to play as him when I feel like unleashing my inner morbid asshole, and I see him as slipping from Chaotic Neutral to Neutral Evil.

     My new, rising favorite is an imperial battle-mage named Mercator. He wields a sword in one hand and destruction spells in the other. He's married to Uthgerd the Unbroken, this Amazonian butch-esque Nord woman who helps him kick ass all over the place. Dragons are becoming easier for them. He took sides in the civil war, helping keep Skyrim part of the Empire. I see him as somewhere between Lawful Neutral to Lawful Evil. I'd love to get some ebony or daedric armor on him, and master the destruction magic skill.

     I'm up in the air as to what to do with my Nord ranger, Beinir. I see him as a Chaotic Good character, as he helped the priestess of the temple of Kynareth, and freed the province of Skyrim from the Empire. Last I played him, he joined the Companions warriors guild.

    In addition to exploring the game as different characters, I've also been recommended to play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I'd like to, actually.

     After my third Cuba Libre, I got back into Grand Theft Auto Online. I played some missions with these somewhat sucky Brazilians that couldn't take the missions seriously, so I was carrying them on my back. Granted, they were like 7th/8th level, but still. I got to show off my sniping skills during a mission on the LS River; it helped make their invasion easier.

     I'm thinking of playing more tonight. Just a little exploration and money-making on a few missions. After battling the initial addiction of Skyrim, I somewhat miss running around in my pearlescent purple Vapid Bullet (Psst... It's a Ford GT).

     (raising a glass) Here's to ass-whooping tonight!

My name is George, and I am a Skyrim addict.

     If you're reading this title, this is where you'd talk to your screen and say "Hi, George." So, yeah, I went to a place called K&M - a used game and movie store. For $10, I picked up a copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I understand the addiction and arrows to the knee now. I've been playing it in my off hours for the past month.
     What I like about it is that it combines two of my favorite things in gaming: sandbox-style play and character customization.
     What's catchy about it, and the previous Elder Scrolls games (from what I understand), is that it's not class-based. You can custom your own path of progression with skill trees and perks. But, to get an idea of what someone's character does, people usually refer to them by race (as usual) and class. I have two and a half characters. I say a half, since I didn't know how perks worked, so I restarted one after I learned.

     My first character is Sahandrian. Yes, he was named after Corellon Larethian's sword in Dungeons & Dragons lore. And yes, I know that makes me a demigod among geeks for making that reference. So, the first Sahandrian was a wood elf archmage/thief/assassin, and I didn't know how perks worked; I thought you only took perks on the ones that had numbers (like 1/5, etc.). When I learned how perks worked, and that I didn't need to progress at all in the mage school questline to learn from the illusionist at the College of Winterhold, I restarted Sahandrian. First, I mapped out his skill trees and perks, and made him a high elf. Now, at level 28, he's the leader of the Riften Thieves Guild, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, and can cast Invisibility, though he hasn't progressed very far in the mage college questline, so he's not an archmage (he just needs illusions and some destruction). And this time, I'm having him practice alchemy and grow a garden, so he can make his own poisons. Thanks to the Hearthfire expansion, he has a house, with a greenhouse wing, and a garden. Sounds quaint... but deadly.
     I don't usually play warrior-type characters, so I thought I'd give it a try. Beinir (looked it up in a Norse naming site) is a Nord ranger. Yeah, still stealthy, but will wield a sword if needed. And he's more of a good guy, as he liberated the province of Skyrim from the Empire. I know, half the Stormcloak rebellion are xenophobic jocks, but the cause is more chaotic-good oriented, which is how I envision Beinir. I just need to figure out how to get him more gold.

     Well, I'm off to have dinner, then skulk some dwarven ruins.

In lieu of WoW, some good old games.

     Since money's gotten tight, I've had to cancel my World of Warcraft subscription for a couple of months. Meanwhile, since I've had a lot of downtime, I've gotten back into some games I've downloaded from the site GoG.com (Good Old Games). Like the name says, it has older PC games without using proof-of-purchase codes (which can sometimes be lost). You add the game you want to your account, then download it whenever you want to. So, they occupy my time as I hunt and peck at them.

     I'm slowly trudging through Icewind Dale 2 (I've been through these stages before, but the computer or something would crash). I'm going to find out how to back up my saved games for if it happens again. It's a pain in the ass having never reached the end of the game. Right now, my party consists of a human fighter, a half-elf ranger, a halfling rogue, an elf druid, a human bard, and a tiefling sorceress. I've gotten them leveled to six thus far.
     I'm also going over Baldur's Gate, having never gotten to the end. I got a bad copy of the game originally, and another computer crashed. My main character is a half-elf fighter/mage. As of right now, I'm trying to figure out what to do to continue. Older games like that aren't as straightforward, with ! and ? over the heads of NPCs to tell me what needs to be done next.
     I started a new Heroes of Might and Magic 3 game. My last one was fighting a losing battle. Ever since being introduced to it in late 2006 by an old friend, I usually play with the Necropolis, but this time, I'm going with the Conflux, which is run by elementalists and planeswalkers.
     Speaking of the planes, I poked around the city of Sigil, on Planescape: Torment. I was first introduced to it by another old friend in mid 2007. I still have the starting characters, the Nameless One and Morte, so I'm not that far into it. I do like the setting, though; however, I've never played a D&D campaign game set in the City of Sigil. However, I'm thinking of adding it to my "Dungeons & Pathfinders" game, as it's Pathfinder rules with the a D&D homebrew setting.
     And I started a new (to me) game. It's called Arcanum, and it's a combination of fantasy and steampunk. Don't know too much about it right now, but I plan on getting more into it over the next few weeks.

     I knew there was a reason I got those games. I guess I have more than enough to keep me occupied. And maybe it will inspire to get back into DMing.

Tira's blade in d20.

  I like the Soulcalibur series. One of my favorite characters is Tira. She's like an even crazier version of Harley Quinn. She has this blade that's really a bladed hula hoop. I posted to a Pathfinder to see if someone could stat this weapon. Someone did, and it seems to check out for me.

Bladed hoop: Exotic 2 handed-weapon
2d6 x2/20  S  Trip, Defensive

A bladed hoop is designed to be operated from the inside. It takes a move action to enter the hoop (can be done as part of drawing the weapon). The wielder gets a +2 to their CMD against disarm attempts against the hoop. However, wielding a hoop in this manner limits movement, and gives the  wielder a -2 armor check penalty.

A hoop can be used without being in the center, at which case it looses these special rules, as well as the defensive quality. The wielder also takes a -1 on attack rolls, and must make a DC 15 reflex save or cut by the blade (as chakram)
A bladed hoop can be used with weapon finesse

Gnomes in Rifts.

     I've been into reading up on the Rifts game for years. It's a table-top role-playing game developed by Kevin Siembieda. It's not as popular as it should be, and there are two main things that people don't like it.
     The first reason is that the books are highly disorganized. It's not divided into chapters like Classes, Equipment, Spells, etc. I actually agree with that reason. I really like the organization of the rulebooks in D&D, Star Wars, and Pathfinder. I miss it when I'm going through the Rifts books.
     The second reason that people don't like it is actually the reason I love it so much. It's science fiction and fantasy combined, and realities are linked through gateways called Rifts. These gateways could lead to other planets, dimensions, or even other fragments of time. Basically, you could be a psychic magic user who wields a laser gun and rides a dinosaur.
     My problem is that not all standard fantasy races are covered. In fact, the core rulebook seems to assume that all players want to play humans. I did find some conversions while playing with character sheets, and I created an elf cyborg assassin. But it didn't have gnomes. So, what I did was create a template for anyone who would want to create a Rifts gnome. Enjoy!

IQ: 4d6 + additional 1d6 for 21, 22, 23, or 24; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
ME: 2d6 + additional 1d6 for 11 or 12; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
MA: 3d6 + additional 1d6 for 16, 17, or 18; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
PS: 2d6 + additional 1d6 for 11 or 12; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
PP: 3d6 + additional 1d6 for 16, 17, or 18; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
PE: 3d6 + additional 1d6 for 16, 17, or 18; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
PB: 3d6 + additional 1d6 for 16, 17, or 18; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6
Spd: 2d6 + additional 1d6 for 11 or 12; if additional roll is a 6, add another 1d6

Obsession skills:
Gnome characters choose 1 Electrical, 1 Mechanical, and 2 Technical skills. The character receives +15% to these skills. However, while using these skills or speaking about them, the character receives -5 to perception, as these skills absorb the character's concentration.

Keen nose:
Gnomes receive +1 to perception when it comes to using their sense of smell.

Illusion familiarity:
+2 Illusion spell strength
+2 save vs. illusions

Small size:
+5% to Camouflage skill
+1 to attack and dodge
Riding on a specially bred riding dog is treated as Horsemanship: General.