From the corners of the ‘Net
Just had the odd experience of finding my fiction published on a web site of which I’d never before heard. It’s the Decipher WARS fiction I wrote, and it has their copyright tag on it, so perhaps it’s not ‘my’ fiction; but there’s no dispute that I wrote it.
Looks like they’ve posted all the released WARS fiction, including both of my stories. I have my own copies, of course, but it’s good to see them on the web. Hope they don’t have to pull them down anytime 🙂
{wakes} Huh? What just happened?
It’s Wednesday night, and everything for the con is packed in the car except for toiletries and pyjamas.
Clearly, there’s an impostor in this apartment, cunning but not quite cunning enough to impersonate me properly.
(Thanks to panels, did not manage to pack light particularly. Also, someday need real travel gear rather than leftover Decipher gaming bags.)
Nerf the Knight of Pentacles!
Imagine you have a poker deck. But this one only has four suits numbered 2-9. That’s okay, because all the poker decks are like that. However, after you’ve played with this deck for six months, and started getting good, the poker deck manufacturers announce sealed packs of 10 cards each, with new graphic designs for the four suits. Get this – every 20th pack will have the new “10” card in it!
If you play poker seriously, you’ll be buying at least 20 packs. Probably a lot more if you’re determined to get a “10” in each of the four suits. Hey, they’re having a special tournament in California where the winner gets a “Joker”! And there are rumors on the Web of a “Jack” coming out in six months…
This is how the Collectible Game folks make their money. (Actually, it’s how almost all modern game companies do.) And I’ve always been amused by the people who crow, “I’ve got a complete set of Kings! I am the best player!” when a) it just means you have more resources to put towards the game, and b) it’s obvious to anyone with a brain that you’ll be chasing the “Emperor” soon, and the “DemiLord” after that, etc., etc.
I’m also repeatedly annoyed by these gamers. The worst part is their screams of outraged entitlement when, after the fact, the game companies announce that having four Jokers turned out to be too many, and the official rules will now limit you to two; or, conversely, having a single Ace in the game wasn’t working right, and there will now be four Aces, one of each suit, making it slightly easier for players to get one. They’ll scream that the game company is spitting on all the hard work they put out to get that Ace, and that they deserve the “honor” and “prestige” of their Ace of Spades.
Thankfully, the rest of us can just get on with our games – and since we’re not on eBay all night trying to buy an Ace for $1000, we can get out of the house more often to boot.
The Halloween workplace
Haven’t seen anyone dressed up for the holiday here at NASA. I guess it’s not too surprising, we are conducting serious business here frumph frumph frumph. But I have my bunny ears nearby in case of emergency.
The places I’ve worked have had varying policies about employee Halloween costumes. I think I wore a costume at B&D Comic Shop, but it was so long ago, I can’t clearly remember. The “Thrifty Nickel” encouraged dressing up, though many years, no one bothered but me; I usually wore a Starfleet uniform or my Jedi outfit. One of the last years I was there, one of our more conservative salespeople unaccountably chose “Tinkerbell” to make her sales calls in, which led to a panicky alteration of the costume when she discovered how much leg even the tame Disney version would show.
I can’t recall any costuming at Decipher, which was a bit of a surprise – you’d think a bunch of game geeks would garb up. My last Halloween at BCT was a smash, though. I dressed up in drag, and was convincing enough from behind that one of my bosses mistook me for another co-worker.
Anyone here dressing up for work?
