User: baxil Date: 2009-12-17 10:31 Subject: PSA Security: Public Location: ~spiral Music: Cowboy Bebop OST, "American Money"

One of our customers just called in to report that he had gotten a suspicious e-mail -- and later, phone call -- telling him that his credit card had gone over limit (he got suspicious and checked with his bank directly; no such thing had happened).

As an ISP, we can't directly help with cases of potential identity theft, but I did point him to the Web site www.ftc.gov/freereports -- which tells American citizens how they can obtain a free, no-strings-attached credit report (up to three times every 12 months, once per credit reporting firm) under federal law. It's a good reminder for my friends, too.

User: baxil Date: 2009-12-15 23:32 Subject: "Dragons In Urban Fantasy" Updated Security: Public

Just an FYI for those of you who care but haven't bookmarked it: Monday's "Urban-Fantasy Dragon Book List" has doubled in size due to a number of excellent recommendations and/or serendipitous discoveries as I was tracking down the links for everything. I also went through my own bookshelf with a fine-toothed comb, and split off a few new categories. I'll keep updating it as long as people keep offering new recommendations.

User: kadyg Date: 2009-12-15 20:28 Subject: Octopus on the move Security: Public

Yet further proof that octopi will take over the world while we sleep. They have mobile homes.

Octopus snatches coconut and runs

User: baxil Date: 2009-12-14 18:27 Subject: BOOK LIST: Dragons in urban fantasy Security: Public Location: ~spiral Music: Boom Crash Opera, "Too Hot To Think" Tags: books, draconity, requests, reviews

Early in November, kistaro asked: "Looking for a good urban fantasy novel with a dragon as a major (or main, even better) character. Any recommendations?"

I was a little thrown to see the paucity of recommendations. A month later -- even fudging on some of the criteria -- the number of "good urban-fantasy novels with dragon characters" is still small. As such, I'm making this post as an attempt to compile a definitive list. ( ... ) Please speak up in comments if there are other items that should be added in!

LAST UPDATE: 2009/12/17

Series

Individual Novels

Not-Quites

User: kadyg Date: 2009-12-12 18:15 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

Hey, can anyone of the game-y sorts on my f'list recommend any good two-or-more player board games?

Bax and I had a conversation awhile ago about the fact that we both like games, are both pretty good at them and generally end up having a pretty good time playing together, but nearly all the board and card games we have are for four or more. It would be best if the game was actually designed for two players rather than a "yeah, two people can play, but it's better with four, you loser" type of thing.

So yeah, more games = good times. Thanks!

User: baxil Date: 2009-12-11 01:16 Subject: Thought of the evening Security: Public Location: ~/brainstorm Mood: reflective Tags: quotable

What truly defines us is our passions: not what we are good at, but what we are willing to struggle at.

--

COROLLARY 1 - "Good at" and "struggle at" aren't exclusive.

User: kadyg Date: 2009-12-09 13:38 Subject: A holiday song for the rest of us Security: Public Tags: silliness

Courtesy of an online buddy on another forum I frequent.


Let us worship like the Druids
Running naked through the woo-ids
Drinking strange fermented fluids
That's good enough for me.

Let us worship Aphrodite
In her transparent nightie
Though she's shallow and quite flighty
She's good enough for me.

Let us all bow down to Buddha
There's no other God who's cuter
Comes in copper, brass, and pewter
And that's good enough for me.

Let us sacrifice to Kali
While we quote from Gitanjali
We must keep dear Kali jolly
So she won't come after me.

Let us worship Zarathustra
Let us worship like we used to
I'm a Zarathustra booster
And that's good enough for me.

Let us sacrifice to Loki
He's the old Norse god of chaos
Which is why this verse doesn't rhyme, or scan
And that's good enough for me.

Let us worship like the Quakers
[silence]
[silence]
And that's good enough for me.

User: baxil Date: 2009-12-08 02:19 Subject: Fireborn: First Impressions - Character Creation Security: Public Location: ~/brainstorm Mood: nerdy Music: Great Big Sea, "Ordinary Day" Tags: draconity, roleplaying

As I've mentioned several times in the last few weeks, I've talked my roleplaying group into starting up a campaign of Fireborn. It's a now out-of-print RPG in which the player characters are all reincarnated dragons. As you can imagine, as a dragon (and a gamer) myself, this is right up my alley; I'm sharing my experiences in an effort to help fellow gamers and/or dragons evaluate the system -- and, if they start a campaign themselves, to do so as smoothly as possible.

Before I start, I also need to strongly recommend the forums at fireborn.org, a fan site where a lot of third-party resources, downloads, and rule modifications are available. (You'll need to register to download files.)

Why Fireborn?

First of all: As surprising as it sounds, dragons are underrepresented in urban fantasy.

No, really. Name three books/series set in the modern/near-future era that have dragons as major protagonists. (TTU doesn't count, though I'm flattered you remembered.) And yes, if you're an old-school gamer, "Shadowrun" and "RIFTS" have dragons -- as shadowy, godlike background figures. Fireborn does genuinely appear to do something new and different: give players a chance to play as dragons.

Beyond this, though, Fireborn elegantly solves a few problems that most RPGs spend a lot of time struggling with:

• All those crazy superpowers that most players never get to use because you only ever obtain them at high level? You get to play with them from the start, because the game regularly jumps into flashbacks to your fully-powered "Mythic Age" dragon form.


• The pacing and participation problems that crop up when the players split up to accomplish different objectives? The tedious process of getting PCs who start out as total strangers to come up with in-game reasons to work together? Don't happen here, because all PCs have a built-in permanent telepathic link to each other.