Roleplaying ramblings

When I was a new GM I fell into the trap of doing too much at once. I ran my first game about a month after I started roleplaying and I ran a game that I had only played a couple of times (AD&D 2nd Ed) whose system was completely different than the one game that I had played enough to learn (TMNT by Palladium). My players, munchkins from birth, overwhelmed me with their advanced knowledge of the game, the story grew out of my control, and the characters ended up as gods waging a war against each other and all the other gods.

While my players thought this was great fun, I thought it was lame, stupid, childish, and boring. Munchkinism and Monty Haul gaming at its worst.

I did learn a lot from that game though. I learned what a level is and that the difference between 3rd level and 30th level is HUGE! I learned that constantly throwing magical items at characters makes those magical items worthless. I learned that the GM must control the players and their characters in order to prevent the game from getting out of control. And I learned that high powered characters had no fear, which means that there is no tension in the game. Without tension in the game, concern for the character’s well being, the game becomes boring, stagnant, like the story that Dr. Malcolm Crow told Cole in the hospital during the movie the 6th sense.

I learned from the same players when they GMed that while the GM must control the players and their characters, they can’t be obvious about it. The GM must be subtle and discreet, guiding the characters rather than bludgeoning them with a script. The goal of the GM is to guide the characters in the direction that the GM wants without the players knowing that they are being guided.

I don’t usually have the time nor the inclination to create a fully detailed and rich world that I can run games in forever. My world changes with the story that I want to run.

I create the story first, and then I design a world to fit that story. I create one main story, complete with a timeline, characters, and main events. Once I have the world built for that story I craft about a dozen overlapping smaller stories that fit into the world. I start the campaign with the small adventures, gradually introducing elements of the larger storyline over time. Sooner or later the characters get swallowed up into the main story without realizing it.

When I do write adventures and campaigns, I tend to write them as a story. I use Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey concept as a guide and then I let my imagination soar. Once I have the major components of the story in place and a world created, I have the players make their characters within the world’s guidelines (no gunslingers in a fantasy world, here are the cultures/races, etc). Then I write up the short adventures and fine tune the main campaign to fit the characters and their backgrounds.

I continuously fine tune the main story and NPCs to fit more with the PCs as the game progresses. I set up traps, pitfalls, and distractions based on the PCs background stories and chance encounters, and I show no mercy in the obstacles that I throw at them.

I tend to throw what seems to the players to be overwhelming odds, but I always leave them a way out. I never excuse the PCs behavior. If the PC mouths off to the King and gets whipped for it, then that’s the player’s fault for being stupid. However, if the PC tries something that is in character and fails, then I’m a bit more lenient.

Training Fresh Meat GMs

I was writing a response to an article titled “The DM, plot building and forced conflict.” by Sifolis, advising him on how to quickly bring his new wet-behind-the-ears GM up to par when I realized that this is a rather common problem for experienced GMs who wanna roleplay for a change.

It’s hard running intricate, detailed, exciting stories that you’d LOVE to play in as a PC and never getting that chance. It’s worse when you finally get that chance and all your hopes of enjoying a game are crushed by clumsy GMing, bad story-writing, implausible plots, and stupid things that you outgrew years ago, even though you went into the game with lowered expectations.

You end up feeling like a third Dan martial artist being taught katas by a yellow belt. It’s just not fun.

So what do you do? You could give up playing and just stick with GMing and suffer the pangs of never getting to play. Or you could just suck it up and settle for mediocrity or worse and then have the other player force you back into running games for all eternity anyways because they are used to your games and don’t wanna put up with a crappy GM any more than you do.

Or you could teach the new GM some of the skills, tricks, and knowledge that you’ve picked up over the years.



The hardest things that new GMs have to learn are the ability to handle a roleplaying group and the ability to write up a good story.

Handling a roleplaying group, especially if you have mature players who want a new GM to succeed, can be easy and something that each GM will have to learn and handle on their own. Other articles have gone into depth over this.


Writing an adventure is something else. One of the best ways that I found to teach someone how to write an adventure is to sit them down with pen and paper and walk them through the creation process. It may only take one time, if you take it slow and explain things as you go.

When writing stories, most of the creation process is made up by answering questions. Who did what to whom and how does that affect this?

When tutoring a new GM, your job is to ask them these questions.

For example, I went through this process with my wife about two years ago. She had a plot premise of Dark Elves kidnapping a human girl from a small surface town because of a necklace that she wore.

I sat her down and asked her questions for about three and a half hours. During this question and answer period we discovered that the necklace was magical and had originally been crafted by Drow Elves as a key to open a door into the seventh plane of Hell. The key also allowed the wearer to control the demons and granted the user immunity to them.

The Drow created the key and the door as a weapon to use against other cities in the Underdark and had already successfully destroyed two cities with it, one Drow and one Illithid.

Unfortunately another Drow city, knowing that their time was limited, sent a strike force to attack the city where the door was located. This strike force caught the city’s high Drow priestess in the process of opening the door and killed her. The demons spewed forth and destroyed the city.

In the confusion, a human man and an elven woman, slaves who had been chained together for years, freed themselves and escaped. They passed near the door and the human grabbed the necklace (among other things) on his way out.

The two eventually made their way to the surface and separated. The man sold most of the Drow items that he had and bought an inn in a small town nearby. The Elf joined the elves.

During their time as slaves the human and elf had slept together and they continued doing so until they reach the surface. The elven woman got pregnant and bore a child that she gave to the human to raise.

Over the generations, the elf woman kept a close eye on the human family that carried her blood, picking and training one each generation to be a ranger or druid.

The story starts with the 16th birthday party of the main character. The party is crashed by a squad of Drow Special Forces who grab the girl (who had just received the necklace as her family heirloom welcome to adulthood present) and run back to the Underdark.

The town sends a party to rescue the girl and runners to the elves for assistance.

The rescuers, with little to no preparation, have to fight their way through the maze of the Underdark, to the Drow city and rescue the girl before the Drow convince her to give them the necklace (it doesn’t work if they just take it).


Now, I thought that was a hell of an adventure! The PCs are all townsfolk or people traveling through, there is a maiden to rescue, elves, magic, demons, and countless problems to overcome.

And this was written and invented by someone who at the time had only been playing for a couple of years and who had never ran a game or written an adventure for it.

All I did was ask her questions. She supplied the answers. I didn’t let her get away with “I don’t know” but I didn’t pressure her either. I just moved on and came back to it later.

I started with her idea and let her expound on it. I turned down easy answers that were too vague and steered her towards logical reasons for why and how things happened. I never suggested anything. All I did was ask her questions.

Please bear in mind that this process takes a good amount of time. It should be done in a quiet place with no distractions. We had to wait until the kids were in bed before we could work on this and it still took us over three hours.

If the person that you are working with starts getting frustrated, change the line of questioning. Go to something easier.

Don’t give them answers unless they ask you for help. Even then, don’t tell them what to do. Give them advice and several options so that they can still have choices.

When you are done make sure that you explain why you are asked certain questions. Ask the person if they have questions for you about the process.

Above all, make sure that the final story is something that they invented, but that you would love to play or GM.

I would recommend doing this process twice. Once with them writing the adventure and you running it, so that they can see the entire process in action. The second time, have them write and run the adventure with lots of feedback and advice between sessions (but none during sessions).

This should get them up to par and get you a decent GM. Everybody wins.

Shattered Union (Xbox) Review.

I have recently purchased and played a turn-based strategy game for the Xbox named Shattered Union, which was developed by Pop Top Software and published by 2K Games and released last October (2005).

The premise of the game is more than just a bit fetching. The United States have voted in the most unpopular President since, well, George Bush Jr.!

The President increases the power of the Patriot Act and declares martial law. He arrests the more popular opponents before his election and wins by default. During his inaugural speech, a low yield nuclear weapon is detonated in Washington D.C. destroying the line of succession.

California succeeds from the Union forming the California Commonwealth followed by the Republic of Texas and others.

The California Commonwealth is made up primarily of the former states of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Although the faction is wealthy in natural resources, most of the population centers are on the Pacific coast. Typically, others see members of the California Commonwealth as shallow but with an eye for color. The reality is they are also creative and resourceful. Most members of the California Commonwealth see the war as a battle against restriction and oppression.

The New England Alliance is made up of parts from the former states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Members of the New England Alliance are driven and feel a strong sense of purpose in this war. Though only comprised of three territories, the NEA has one of the highest population densities in America. Before the secession, New Englanders felt that they were not given a representative voice.

The European Union peacekeeping force currently resides in a single territory made up of the former states of Maryland, Delaware and parts of Virginia, West Virginia and New Jersey. After open hostilities broke out, the war compounded the growing instability in the world due to the loss of such a large and prolific market. The EU voted to re-establish the union of states to prevent the spreading chaos. American resentment has grown since the EU decided to expand its role in the war.

The Great Plains Federation is made up of all, or parts of the former states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Midwesterners are usually seen as ultra conservative, dirt farmers with a stubborn streak a mile wide. Members of the Federation are still generally more tolerated and tolerant than any other faction, as they often are familiar with or were previous members of some other faction. Pacifica, made up of the former states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.

The Pacifica faction came into being as a last resort when refugees from San Francisco were forced from their homes by Californian militia. The realization that there was no were to turn forced the region to form a defensive pact. Often classified as tree hugging, technophiles with a weak grasp of reality. The reality however, is that Pacificans see the war as a fight against aggression.

Comprised of a confederation of the former states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi Tennessee and Kentucky. The Confederacy sees the war as an attack on tradition and the acts of the other factions are viewed as treasonous. Most see confederates as backwards or stubborn. In fact, the Confederacy is quite progressive and other than geography it has little in common with the confederates of the first civil war.

One might argue that the Republic of Texas was just one excuse away from existing since the formation of Texas itself. The Republic is made up of parts of the former states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Though regarded as beer swilling cowboys, and gun toting rabble. Texans are also known to live by no-nonsense rules and take a dim view of traitors and bureaucrats. Texans are ferociously independent and live just one step away from anarchy.


Each of these territories have value associated with them in terms of cost to purchase and repair units, fuel upgrades for your army, and so on. Aside from that, the main strategy you'll have to employ is in how many troops you send out on the battlefield. The issue here is that any units you use to attack or defend will be eliminated from defending again before your turn comes back up. That means if you attack with all of your forces, or defend against one army with all of your forces, you'll leave your territories defenseless and will have to concede a territory without a fight should you be attacked again.

On the plus side, you can use hit and run tactics on attack where you simply fly in, destroy as many units as possible, and retire from battle before you lose anything yourself, hopefully weakening your enemy. On the other hand, this can mean that the strategic game becomes a back and forth struggle that's more aggravating and slow than it is fun.

Now, I do like the storyline and the fact that there is finally a strategy war game set in the United States. I also like how easy it is to learn this game. A few battles under my belt and I had things pretty much under control. However, by raising the difficulty or choosing a less strategic starting faction will severely increase the difficulty of the game. Thus the game has a high replayability factor that shouldn’t be underestimated.


The computer’s AI isn’t the best in the world, you’ll still get a lot more out of it if you play other people, but it’s not bad at all and is a great substitute for those times when you don’t have anyone else to play with.

Unfortunately the map itself is severely lacking. You can get better maps off of Mapquest.

While fighting in what used to be Colorado, I discovered that major cities like Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Colorado Springs didn’t even exist! What’s really surprising for me is that NORAD is in Colorado Springs! How did they miss THAT!

Couldn’t they have used bland but ACCURATE maps? Have much harder would it have been to use the terrain maps found in most GPS systems? I can get better physical maps for free!

Granted, using better maps would have used more memory and increased game play time by about a 100 hours or so, but who’d complain about that?

The Xbox easily has the capability to handle much better graphics and game mechanics than what is shown here. Detailed maps are just the beginning though.

The game has an unfinished feel to it, as though it were rushed through production to meet a deadline or something. Outside of the cheesy maps, there are several features in the game that are either missing or have no apparent purpose.

There is no opportunity for diplomatic relations or solutions, but there is a diplomatic rating system. There is no Navy, even though the United States has a large coastline area and the most powerful Navy in the world. There are no options for attacking bordering countries like Canada or Mexico. Hawaii is mentioned once in the game but you never see it. you have to fight to take Alaska back from the Russians but that’s after you beat the rest of the game. The game could continue into a world war type of scenario but doesn’t.

Do I like this game? Yes. Would I get it again? Definitely, even with all its flaws. Not only that, but I’d buy the sequel (if they make one) in a heartbeat.

I have yet to play another person, but I look forward to that day eagerly. I even have some victims, I mean people, in mind…

I give this game a B+

How Did You Die? A poem by Edmund Vance Cooke

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?

Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?

Oh, trouble's a ton, or trouble's an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it.

And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?
Come up with a smiling face.

It's nothing against you to fall down flat,
But to lie there - that's disgrace.

The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce;
Be proud of your blackened eye!

It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts;
It's how did you fight and why?

And though you be done to death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;

If you played your part in the world of men,
Why, the critic will call it good.

Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he's slow or spry,

It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts,
But only, how did you die?

- Edmund Vance Cooke

A review of the Chronicles of Narnia

So I finally saw the chronicles of Narnia. I swear that was the longest kid movie EVER! But all-in-all I liked it.

Like most movies, Narnia suffered from stupid people trying to make things kid friendly.

Why do they do this? Shielding our children from the sometimes harsh realities of life make them weak and unable to cope. I'm not saying that we should take them to R-rated fare like Hostel or Braveheart, but these same kids have watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, all six Star Wars, Independence Day, King Kong, Chicago and Jaws.

From these movies they have learned about the bonds of friendship, self-sacrifice, bravery, standing up for oneself, death, overcoming massive odds, magic, fighting for what you believe in, overcoming fear, that there are monsters in the world, and much more.

Narnia sugar-coats these lessons, making them bland and tasteless. The only truly memorable event that affected my kids was when Aslan died. Everything else was so glossy that their minds skipped right over it.

In Lord of the Rings the battles were detailed, gritty, and realistic without being overly graphic. People get hurt and die in battle and these movies didn't shy away from that fact. Neither did they glorify the bloodshed. I am comfortable with my children watching these films.

In Narnia the combat is glossed over and blatantly unrealistic. Creatures do die, but the killing blow is never seen. Either it is edited out or sped up and blurred so much that you can't even see the creature getting hit. Despite a long fierce battle and several dozen "deaths" there is not a single drop of blood in the whole film.

One of the main characters, the oldest boy whose name is Peter, kills five or six creatures with a sword that never loses its polished finish. He accomplishes this in the heat of battle, without any training or prior experience.

Another boy, Edmund, is captured and presumably tortured by the White Witch. He appears halfway through the film, having been beaten, with a slip and bruises on his face. None of his injuries are explained and I'm guessing as to their origin.

There are two girls in this movie, although only one of them is worth noting. She is the youngest of the children, a girl named Lucy. She discovers the doorway to Narnia, meets the first of that land's people, and gets the rest of her family to follow her through.

Once in Narnia with the rest of her family, she disappears into the background where all of the rest of the female characters (outside of the Witch) reside.

The eldest female, whose name I can't even remember, was completely useless throughout the movie. She received a magical bow a bunch of arrows, but she only fires the thing once in combat and once in practice. Way to go.

BTW Her much younger sister was able to throw a dagger with much more accuracy from the same distance.


Otherwise the movie was pretty good. Talking animals in a live action movie was always a recipe for disaster, but here it worked. The story was relatively new and had some interesting things in it.

Did I love it? No. Did I like it? Yes. Could I watch it over and over for the next few months? Not even close.

This movie will not age well at all. The graphics and effects are already dated (see King Kong for better effects), the movie is made for children only and not readily rewatchable by adults. It did make me interested in reading the novels, but that's about as far as I can take it.

For a much better film of the same nature, watch the Lord of the Rings.

The New Immigration Law and protests

I turned on the news this morning and it was full of stories of people protesting a bill that would tighten up the laws concerning illegal immigration.

Thousands of demonstrators wearing white T-shirts and waving signs and American flags filled the streets of an immigrant neighborhood in Atlanta, Ga. Monday for the first of dozens of marches planned in a national day of action billed as a "campaign for immigrants' dignity."

The two-mile march was in support of immigrant rights nationally as well as in protest of state legislation awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue's signature. If signed, it would require that adults seeking many state-administered benefits prove they are in the country legally.


Please read that again.

That two mile march was NOT in support of immigrant rights, it was in support of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT rights. What the hell? YOU DON'T HAVE RIGHTS! If you are breaking the law (doing something ILLEGAL), then you forfeit your rights. Isn't that the way that the justice system works? You break a law and you go to jail, thus forfeiting your freedom and other rights.


"Campaign for immigrants' dignity" my ass. What dignity do normal prisoners have when they get their cells tossed, a full body cavity search, or communal showers? Why should ILLEGAL immigrant's get less just because there are so many of them? Screw your "dignity" jackass! You could have immigrated LEGALLY, but YOU CHOSE TO BREAK THE LAW knowing full well that you were doing so.

Why don't immigrant's have to prove that they are legal resident's of the United States to receive State and Federal benefits? Wouldn't that make sense? I know that when I needed State aid that I had to prove my residency, why shouldn't they?

What a joke!


Carlos Carrera, a construction worker from Mexico, held a large banner that read: "We are not criminals. Give us a chance for a better life."

I got news for you Carlos. YOU ARE HERE ILLEGALLY! THAT MAKES YOU A CRIMINAL! Dumbass...



"We would like them to let us work with dignity. We want to progress along with this country," Carrera said. He said he had been in the United States for 20 years.

You have been a criminal for twenty years. That makes you a career criminal. How'd you like to spend the next twenty years in prison while the knowledge that you ENTIRE FAMILY HAS BEEN DEPORTED festers in your brain? How will they survive in your home country without you? That's your problem, we didn't want you here in the first place.



In Pittsburgh, a smaller group marched to Sen. Arlen Specter's office.

"We all know pay is not the same everywhere and lot of people won't work for the minimum here, so if they won't take the job, what's the problem?" said 47-year-old Jose Salazar.

What the hell does this have to do with anything? You're an idiot! Even if you were trying to point out the fact that most illegal immigrants hold down two or three minimum wage (or less) jobs that legal residents wouldn't want, you don't make sense.

These same hard working, low income people are sucking up MILLIONS of dollars in State and Federal wellfare programs. If I didn't have to pay for food, utilities, or rent, then I could afford to get by on a minimum wage job too.




Monday's demonstrations followed a day of rallies in 10 states that drew an estimated 350,000 to 500,000 in Dallas alone.

In Salt Lake City, 20,000 turned out on Sunday, far more than expected, police said, and 50,000 rallied in San Diego. Other demonstrations were held in Minnesota, New Mexico, Michigan, Iowa, Alabama, Oregon and Idaho.



Those numbers are scary. They average out to 140,00 ILLEGALS per state or 1.4 MILLION in the estimated 10 state rally. That's a small country (think Jamaica) worth of people living here illegally.

No wonder the funds for low income benefits are all dried up!


With an overhaul of illegal immigration law stalled in Congress, demonstrators urged lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States.


My first response to this was "What the hell?!?!". So was my second and third response. People want to help illegal immigrants become legal? Reward someone for BREAKING THE LAW?

If I were to take this idea and expand it just a little, it would allow people for keep stolen money, allow corporate execs to lie to investors and get away with it, and put a legal stamp on all white collar crimes. What a friggen joke!


"If we don't protest they'll never hear us," said Oscar Cruz, 23, a construction worker who marched in San Diego. Cruz, who came illegally to the U.S. in 2003, said he had feared a crackdown but felt emboldened by the large marches across the country in recent weeks.


Damn right we'll never hear you! You don't have a voice (politically speaking) because you aren't registered voters! (Thank God). And you should fear a crackdown! You are here ILLEGALLY! This proves that YOU ARE A CRIMINAL and fear prosecution AS WELL YOU SHOULD. Unfortunately, you are correct in the assumption that you will not be prosecuted. The United States is nothing but a bunch of sissies competing to see who can cry the most.




In Birmingham, Ala., demonstrators marched along the same streets where civil rights activists clashed with police in the 1960s and rallied at a park where a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands as a reminder of the fight for equal rights and the violence that once plagued the city.


This enrages me. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for equal rights between people of all races and color. Not for those who break the law. Using him as a political figure in these rallies is worse than pissing on his grave. It's pissing on his memory and mocking what he stood for.

"We've got to get back in touch with the civil rights movement, because that's what this is about," said the Rev. Lawton Higgs, a United Methodist minister and activist.

Rev. Higgs, could you please explain to me how you can have a civil rights movement WITHOUT CIVILIANS? Apparently, Methodist ministers do not have to meet any intelligence type requirements....


Fortunately, these rallies also drew counter-demonstrators.

In Salt Lake City, Jerry Owens, 59, a Navy veteran from Midway wearing a blue Minuteman T-shirt and camouflage pants, held a yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

"I think it's real sad because these people are really saying it's OK to be illegal aliens," Owens said. "What Americans are saying is 'Yes, come here. But come here legally.' And I think that's the big problem."

This is exactly my point! If these people were here LEGALLY, none of this would be an issue! This is not racial discrimination, racism, or anything similar. These people have broken the law. End of story.



Many groups had been preparing to rally since December, when the House passed a bill to build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, make it a crime to help undocumented immigrants and make it a felony to be in the country illegally. It is now a civil violation.

Good. I hope this passes but I wonder why it wasn't already a law.



Since then, local and regional protests, supported by popular Spanish-language disc jockeys, quickly merged into national plans after hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in dozens of cities last month, culminating March 25 with a 500,000-strong rally in Los Angeles.

"This is a force, an energy here," said Amir Krummell, a U.S. citizen born in Panama, who marched to Dallas' city hall on Sunday. All around him in the wave of protesters could be heard shouts of "Si Se Puede!", Spanish for "Yes, we can!"

Oh no you can't! I wish. The truth is that the polititions will probably cave on this because of all these people rallying. They will assume that at least half of these people are voters or that they have voters with them. Thus, these changes will be stalled and nothing will happen. Just like usual...

Dear Sifolis,

You're right, I was a bit petty and immature in my last post. I apologize. I'll try to tone down the target booger slinging and write like a grown-up from now on.

The Prince and the Art of War, along with the Book of Five Rings, are all variations of the same thing. Tactics, strategy, dominance, and disciplined thought.


Another thing that you should understand, I also write solely from work. I get interrupted every few seconds by calls which is why most of my writing is so disjointed and random. I do not even own a home computer. I do not have access to any writing tools other than Word Notebook, which does not include such niceties as Spell Check, grammer check, a dictionary, or a thesaurus. Your constant references to me using those tools is very complimentry, but I thought that you should know.


Any communication that is written is literary, ie a written form of communication. As Gamegrene is solely a written forum, that means that it is in fact a literary forum. If Gamegrene could be accessed by cam, phone, or some other form of communication, then it would cease to be a literary forum and just become a discussion forum for roleplaying. There are no other sides to gamegrene.


The articles posted on Gamegrene are written as advice or for entertainment purposes. Occasionally, articles are written reviewing something or ranting about something that upsets you or that you would like to see different. Most of my articles fall into the last two catagories.


I'd like to take a moment to point out that this is by far the most humorist writing that I've seen from you so far. "Cock Goblin" is something that I will definately use in my next roleplaying session!


As for books...


While King's writing may seem slop or pulp fiction, his use of the english language is superior (he used to teach after all), his Dark Tower series is great, and his book on writing is one of the best out there. (Yes I read self improvement books including books that give advice on how to write).


I pick different things to learn about when I'm bored at work. I first heard about Sun Tzu and Miyamoto Musashi while studying up on Japanese culture and history.The Art of War is a required manual for Japanese business men and I have read dozens of references to the book when reading about Japanese business practices.


Miyamoto Musashi was Japan's greatest swordsman. I read a short bio on him in the Gurps Martial Arts supplement (Gurps fills their supplements with a lot of accurate information on historical figures which is one of the main reasons that I like them so much). I thought him interesting enough to look him up and was blown away by what I learned about him. I went out and bought the Book of Five Rings (which I later learned was another required bit o' reading for the business inclined asian of Japanese descent). It was a letter written as advice by Musashi to his best friend's son detailing Musashi's philosophy, sword fighting techniques, and other stuff.


I first heard of Machiavelli by way of people comparing the Prince and the Art of War. I thought that he was interesting and intelligent, but not as good as Sun Tzu.


I made a point of explaining this because you seem set that I am a typical LARPer (who are mentally deranged losers with WAY to much time on their hands with nothing to do and no friends to do it with, but that's just my humble opinion). I am a table-top "geek", I must admit. In the words of Maddox, I am the nerd leader, mostly as a result of my constant GM status (though I've been trying for years to get someone to run a game for me. It's finally happened and I am now learning what it's like to be on the other side of the table for once. I highly recommend it as it's opened my eyes a couple of times).


I am not a "dick master". I am a GM, which may amount to the same thing on occasion, but not always.


I've never heard of Beckett or Hunter S. T. (?) and I outgrew Burroughs by 4th grade. One book that I should recommend is the Walking Drum by Louis La'Mour (sp). It's a bit slow and preachy at times, but it's packed with tons of practical information about life in Europe in the 12th century. Another book of similar scope is Shogun by James Clavelle.


As for you lacking the ability to see/judge my cute/funny level correctly I have two possible salutions.

1- Stop being the all-mighty-I-am-right-you-are-wrong guy online. its hollow are silly when its done without vulgarity or slap-stickism. Seriously, leave entertainment to the jokers, not the math teachers.

Dude, I tried. The problem is that I am like this in the real world as well. I don't change personalities just because I'm online.

2-Go gay (gayer), think of me naked and then wait for the hard-on. if it don't arive within an hour...you need medical help with you thang. Cus I'm dead sexy, you monkey.

I tried to help you here to. I tried closing my eyes and picturing you and all I got was a skinny white kid with a sideways hat, gold chains, some guady rings, pants that almost reaches the bottom of a pimply raunchy smelling ass, and a shaved monkey sitting on your shoulder with a thin gold plated chain attaching it to your wrist. The monkey cringes whenever you turn your attention to it and looks suicidal when not outright terrified.

The whole picture screamed Butt Pirate Ass Clown Poser with pet S&M monkey. No, my best friend never even twitched. Sorry, but I guess that either you're not dead sexy, or I'm not gay. You're call...

anyway...back to work...thanks for playing, you get a free version of my home-game.

As I recall, in one of your other posts you specifically stated that I would never be privilaged enough to see your home game. Now you change your mind. Does this mean that were engaged? ;-)

Answering machines, Rap, and 911...

There's something that's been bothering me for a while now. I've decided that I just need to bitch a little and get it off my chest. In the course of the day I will call maybe 300 people. Of these 300 people, a good majority are not home and I get their answering machines.

So my bitch is this: Why don't people leave their name, at least their last name, on the message? That would let people know whether or not they had the right phone number, wouldn't it?

It doesn't help me if you leave your phone number as your message. IF I'M CALLING THIS NUMBER THAT MEANS THAT I ALREADY HAVE IT. Morons. If I missdialed a number it sure helps to hear something like "Garcia residence, leave a message" when I'm calling the Smiths. At least then I know that I messed up. I mean honestly, unless you already think that you missdialed, who's gonna listen to all ten digits in that off-chance that you messed up?!

That's another stupid thing. If someone calls you and asks for someone who doesn't live there, tell them that they have the wrong number. If you must, verify the name and THEN tell them that they have the wrong number. Verifying the number that they dialed IS A WASTE OF TIME. They DIALED YOUR NUMBER, THAT IS WHY YOU ARE SPEAKING WITH THEM. Idiots.

And why, oh why, do people put music as the message on their answering machine? How does it help to call someone and have to listen to 3 to 5 minutes of rap before I can leave a message? You're NOT THAT IMPORTANT! No one is going to wait that long unless they absolutely have to, and they are going to be pissed when they do.

"Dude, I woulda called you and left a message about your mom dyin' and all, but we were in a rush to get her to the hospital and couldn't take the time to wait for the your music to stop."

Boy, are you gonna feel like a wrung out turd...



Why is it that the vast majority of people who leave music as their message listen to rap and R&B? Is that kind of message a sign of a low intellect, lack of foresight, or maturity? Because that is what I can safely assume after listening to crap for 3+ minutes.

Listening to rap and R&B does not make you cool, or edgy, or extreme*, or "real". It makes you just as stupid, shallow, and unoriginal as all the idiots who record that crap in the first place.

You are not a unique or beautiful snowflake. You are a tool, a mouth breather, just like all of your friends.

Now, I have heard other types of music on asnwering machines, but it's extremely rare, less than 1%. I guess that makes people who listen to rap and R&B more susceptable to suggestion and peer pressure. Tools, in other words.



Wouldn't it be funny if the whole rap/R&B revolution was just a government experiment?

I can see it now, a dozen Crusty Old White Guys debating the intelligence of the average voter. After several hours of heated debate (and 14 bottles of well aged Scotch) they decide to run a little experiment.


So they gathered together some educated wannabe gang members, black because they speak english and can be understood by everyone and yet they are still considered a "minority race", and give them the freedom to write and create their "own" music as log as it incorporates the rap beat, i.e. the thud in all rap songs that beats in countepoint to the human heart, as much sex as possible, and rails against the "white man" and the (white man's) "establishment". Other lyrics involving violence, rape, and other kinds of assault are welcome.

These fledgling rap "artists" then started recording and promoting these songs. Of course, young immature kids were attracted to these obscenity laced, sexually driven pieces of audio garbage simply because it was naughty and forbidden. Parents hated it immediately, but this was seen at first as the natural reaction that all parents have to the next generation of music, and dismissed out of hand. Little did they know...




As rap gained in popularity the COWG decided top push the boundries to see how gullible people could be. They contacted their rap friends and asked them to set new heights in fashion follies to see how many people would follow their lead.


The rappers had to brainstorm for a while before coming up with some good ideas, after all, the 70s and 80's were hard to beat for bad fashion... But nontheless, the rappers won out by introducing pants at least four sizes too big (a remnant of their ghetto hand-me-down days), baseball caps on sideways or canted slightly to the side (but never straight forward or straight back without a dew rag under it), and outrageously guady jewelry.

Rappers wore full-sized clocks around their neck, linked rings that spelled out words, masses of gold chains, and worse. The rappers took their mission to heart, even up to the point of having their teeth capped in gold!


What's worse, IS THAT PEOPLE FOLLOWED THEIR EXAMPLE!! Yes, America is truly a nation of gullible idiots...



About five or six years after the experiment started, the COWG had their answer. People are stupid.




They decided to put a halt to the rap experiment and had all of the founding fathers of rap killed or arrested. Unfortunately, this feuled interest in rap instead of dissuading interest, and the avid interest of millions of idiots brought rap to new heights. New "artists" arose from the ghettos, some with a softer sound to the tradition hard pounding rap. They called this R&B.

The COWG decided that people in the U. S. are stupid and gullible enough to believe and do anything if enough people promoted it. They starting thinking about ways to gain even more power and money. Soon they had an answer; war. War always made the rich richer and the only people who would suffer would be the poor ignorant masses of gullible fools who would allow them to start a war that only benefitted the COWG in the first place.


Now how do they start a war? Maybe by allowing a terrorist attack on American soil to succeed...


Stupid people always over-react to things. Maybe the Americans are stupid enough to vote in a law that negates all of their rights as well as a war on a couple of small weak countries with no allies worth anything.

So in essence, that would mean that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the mass of rap and R&B that super saturates the media, is all the result of an experiment of COWG on the gullible and stupid.

Man I hate those people!!!



* Please note that I used an "E" to begin the word Extreme. This is the correct spelling of that word. Spelling "extreme" without the "E" is a marketing ploy aimed at stupid people.

Star Wars and the Hero's Journey as an example

The Star Wars saga is based on an ancient form of mythology — the ‘hero’s journey’. Underneath the flash and dazzle of special effects lies ‘the magic of myth’, a shape-shifting realm where young heroes, faithful companions, wise guides and evil villains dwell in labyrinths of discovery. Let us examine the mythology behind the Star Wars story, a hero’s journey that takes place ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away …’


Joseph Campbell, one of the world’s foremost students and scholars of mythology, studied thousands of myths from around the world and discovered that the majority of them shared many common characteristics. In fact, he saw all the stories as variations of one overall tale, which he named the ‘monomyth’. The subject of the hero is no exception. While the heroes of various cultures may be defined as heroic for different reasons, nearly each one fits the stages of the hero journey as developed by Campbell.

According to Campbell’s book The hero with a thousand faces (1949:245–246) we can summarise the hero’s journey into three main stages.


Departure
‘The mythological hero, setting forth from his common day hut or castle, is lured, carried
away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There he encounters
a shadow presence that guards the passage.

The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark (brother-battle, dragon-battle; offering, charm), or be slain by the opponent and descend in death (dismemberment, crucifixion).’




Initiation

‘Beyond the threshold, then, the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet
strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him (tests), some of which
give magical aid (helpers).

When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the hero’s sexual union with the goddess- Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey mother of the world (sacred marriage), his recognition by the father-creator (father atonement), his own divinisation (apotheosis), or again — if the powers have remained unfriendly to him — his theft of the boon he came to gain (bride-theft, fire-theft); intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being (illumination, transfiguration, freedom).’



Return

‘The final work is that of the return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets
forth under their protection (emissary); if not, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight,
obstacle flight). At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind;
the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread (return, resurrection). The boon that he
brings restores the world (elixir).’

In this essay the hero’s journey of Luke Skywalker is followed. Each film in the original trilogy can be considered as corresponding to each of the stages above: A New Hope with Departure, The Empire Strikes Back with Initiation and Return of the Jedi with Return.

The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones begin to follow the journey of other characters such as Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.





The call to adventure
In mythology, the hero's journey begins with the ‘call to adventure’. Destiny's herald is usually someone or something fairly ordinary — a frog, a deer in the forest, or, in this case, a humble droid — that carries an important message for the one who is prepared to receive it.


As the Star Wars story begins, a battle in space rages between the evil powers of darkness (the Galactic Empire) and the forces of good (the Rebel Alliance). Princess Leia sends a plea for help to Jedi Knight Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi on the planet of Tatooine. The hand of Fate,
in the form of Jawa traders, brings her message to Luke Skywalker, a young farmboy. When Luke sees the message hologram, he is drawn into a quest to rescue the Princess and ultimately to save the galaxy.




The wise and helpful guide

A hero first must encounter ‘threshold guardians’, beings who block the way to the adventure. Luke faces threshold guardians when he is attacked by the Tusken Raiders. He is rescued by Ben. Often, the inexperienced hero finds that he cannot proceed without supernatural aid, in the form of a ‘wise and helpful guide’ who provides advice and amulets to further the quest. Ben serves as such a guide and gives Luke a special token: a lightsaber that once belonged to Luke's father.

Ben also interprets the Princess' message and tells Luke about the spiritual power known as the Force. Luke resists the call to adventure, but when he finds his home burned and his family killed, he joins Ben on the journey to Mos Eisley spaceport to obtain transportation to the planet Alderaan, the home of Princess Leia.



The threshold

The hero must leave his familiar life behind to begin a journey from childhood to adulthood and to a lifetransformation. The Mos Eisley spaceport is Luke's threshold to the adventure. Here he encounters danger, but he also finds a hero-partner in the form of Han Solo, a pirate and smuggler. Han's faithful first mate is the enormous Wookiee, Chewbacca.


Helpful animals often appear in myths and fairytales, symbolising the power of the hero's instinctive nature. As they travel from Tatooine to Alderaan in the Millennium Falcon, Ben begins to train Luke in the ways of the Force.



Into the labyrinth

A labyrinth has always symbolised a difficult journey into the unknown, and in one way or another it is often incorporated into tales of the hero's journey.

When the heroes arrive in the vicinity of Alderaan, they find that the planet has been destroyed by the Death Star, a gigantic Imperial space station. The Death Star is a technological labyrinth: a maze of hallways, passages, dead ends, and bottomless trenches. Like traditional knights, Han and Luke don armour to accomplish their first hero deed: the ‘princess rescue’.



Hero deeds

The next step in the hero quest is a challenge to mortal combat. The heroes experienced an initial rite of passage in the Death Star and accomplished the ‘princess rescue’. Now Leia leads Han and Luke to the Rebel base to plan an attack on the Death Star. Luke joins the fighter pilots of the Rebellion. As he puts on his uniform, he casts aside his youthful identity and assumes a new role: that of a heroic pilot, ready to sacrifice his life for his cause.


In the end, good triumphs over evil and the heroes are recognised for their deeds of valour. This moment is the end of one adventure, but it also represents the start of the next stage: further initiation on the ‘road of trials’.



The dark road of trials

Midway through the hero's journey comes a long and perilous path of trials, tests, and ordeals that bring important moments of illumination and understanding. Again and again along the way, monsters must be slain and barriers must be passed. Ultimately the hero must undertake the fearful journey of the descent into darkness.

Although the Death Star has been destroyed, the powers of darkness have not been conquered. The Empire has pursued the Rebels to the ice planet of Hoth, where the heroes face new dangers from predatory creatures and the harsh climate and are forced to flee during an Imperial attack.




Into the belly of the beast

One particular mythic motif is the ‘swallowing up’ of the hero by a large monster. This represents the entry into a mystical world where transformations occur, and the eventual escape represents a spiritual rebirth.

Han and Leia are pursued by Imperial Star Destroyers and TIE fighters as they leave Hoth. To escape, Han flies the Millennium Falcon into an asteroid ‘cave’, which turns out to be the mouth of a huge space slug. Here Han and Leia at last open their hearts to love.

Vader also undergoes a change at this point, when he emerges from an egglike meditation chamber. The Emperor appears to him through a holographic message, and Vader is revealed as a slave to the evil forces of the Empire, rather than as their master.




The sacred grove

The ‘sacred grove’ is another mythic motif; it represents an enclosure where the hero is changed. Ancient peoples widely believed the tree to be infused with creative energy. Forests came to symbolise mystery and transformation and they were home to sorcerers and enchanters.

When Luke leaves Hoth, he travels to the planet Dagobah to undergo training with the Jedi Master, Yoda. The hallmark of Dagobah is its large, oddly shaped trees. Forests can also symbolise the unconscious mind, where there are secrets to be discovered and perhaps dark emotions or memories to be faced. In this forest, Luke battles an image of Vader, prefiguring his combat with the Dark Lord later in the story.





Sacrifices

The opening of the mind and heart to spiritual knowledge requires a sacrifice from the hero. At this difficult and dangerous place on the hero path, Han and Luke both reaffirm the meaning and importance of their lives by their willingness to sacrifice themselves.

The danger of illusion is symbolised by Cloud City above the planet Bespin. At first, the city appears transcendent as it floats among the clouds, but it has a dark underside that becomes a crucible of pain and betrayal for the heroes.

Vader follows the Millennium Falcon to Bespin and then lures Luke there to entrap him. Han is captured, put into hibernation in the carbon freeze chamber, and taken away by bounty hunter Boba Fett to be delivered to Han's former employer, Jabba the Hutt.

Han's friend, Lando Calrissian, who betrayed Han to Vader, will undergo a life change and begin his own hero journey.




The path to atonement

The hero's journey sometimes includes a ‘father quest’. After many trials and ordeals, the hero finds his father and becomes ‘at-one’ with him. This process is called ‘atonement’.

Luke has tried to follow in his father's footsteps as a heroic pilot and Jedi Knight. The dark, unknown side of his father, and of himself, is now unveiled as Luke confronts Vader in the dark byways of Cloud City. Vader reveals to Luke that he is Luke's father. Luke realises that he must sacrifice himself, rather than become a tool of evil like Vader.

Leia rescues Luke as he falls from the underside of Cloud City, and when Vader calls to Luke through the Force, Luke acknowledges him as ‘Father’— they have begun to move toward reconciliation. Luke has recognised the dark side of himself as part of his destiny, and Darth Vader has begun his own journey toward transformation.




The hero's return

The ‘hero's return’ marks the end of the ‘road of trials’. The hero must return from his adventures with the means to benefit his society. Luke comes home to Tatooine to rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt. This is not an easy transition for Luke; his new-found abilities as a Jedi Knight are doubted by friend and foe alike.

As the story continues, all the characters undergo changes: Han is resurrected from his carbonite tomb, Lando makes up for his betrayal of Han by helping to rescue him, and Leia assures the end of Jabba's reign of tyranny by destroying him herself.




The shadow rises

The heroes are not the only ones who can undergo change and rebirth. The forces of evil can also recoup their power and grow with new strength.

While the Rebels continue to struggle against Imperial tyranny, the Empire is constructing a new Death Star. A final confrontation must now take place. The forces of good, represented by Mon Mothma, leader of the Rebel Alliance, and those of evil, led by the Emperor, regroup to plan their strategies. Luke discovers that Leia, who has guided and supported him throughout his journey, is his twin sister. In many ways she represents his positive ‘anima’, the personification of the feminine aspects of his psyche. He also finds that he must confront Vader again.

Yet when they make mind-to-mind contact through the Force, Vader appears uncertain rather than aggressive — a sign that he is beginning a transformation.




The enchanted forest

The inhabitants of an ‘enchanted forest’ can be both dangerous and helpful. The hero must know the right magic to evoke their protective powers. Luke wins the help of the Ewoks, the small furry inhabitants of the forest moon of Endor.

The Ewoks prove that heroes can come in any size or shape. They battle the high technology of the Empire with logs, stones, and vines. Their lush green environment and harmony with nature make a warm contrast to the cold, austere technology of the Empire. The Ewoks help the Rebels deactivate the Death Star's energy shield generator, so Lando can fly into the Death Star and bomb the reactor core.

Meanwhile, Luke realises that he must set out on a different path from his friends to attempt to reach that part of Vader that is still his father and to turn him back from the dark side.




The heart of darkness

The heroes must at last enter the ‘heart of darkness’, the fortress of evil itself, to destroy its stronghold.

When Han and Leia finally destroy the energy shield generator, Lando and Wedge fly into the Death Star to fire on the reactor core at the centre of the space station. While conflict rages around the Death Star, Luke struggles with the dark forces within the Death Star, where he is undergoing a spiritual conflict in his battle of wills with the Emperor.




The final victory

The destruction of evil is not always accomplished by sheer physical force or cunning. There is always hope that those who have given themselves to the forces of darkness can be redeemed. In his confrontation with Vader and the Emperor, Luke wins not through his warrior skills, but through an appeal to his father's heart. It is Vader who slays the Emperor to save his son.

Masks are frequently part of mythic ritual and Darth Vader's mask is part of his demonic persona. When he asks Luke to unmask him it represents Vader's release from the imprisonment of his role, a release that comes for him only at the moment of death. Yet this gesture is also an affirmation of life, the final opening up of father to son.

As the Rebels and Ewoks celebrate their victory over the Empire, Luke burns his father's armour on a funeral pyre. The spirit of Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, joins the spirits of Ben and Yoda. Luke has achieved the final triumph of the mythic hero's journey — he has brought back from his adventures the means for the regeneration of his society.

Humanity has triumphed over a repressive, monolithic system, and Luke, through his hero's journey, has opened his heart to compassion and succeeded in following a spiritual path between light and dark, good and evil.



Journey's end




An epic saga

Star Wars follows the heroic journeys of several characters: Luke, Han, Leia and even Darth Vader. At the end of Return of the Jedi, Vader shows that he too is a hero, when he saves Luke and destroys the Emperor. The beginning of Vader's own ‘hero's journey’ is revealed in The Phantom Menace, when Queen Amidala arrives on the planet Tatooine, and a young Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, receives his own ‘call to adventure’. During the Podrace and his first efforts to save Amidala and her people, Anakin proves himself through his deeds. The early part of his journey begins full of hope and promise, but he has the potential to follow the dark side of the Force.


Star Wars is ultimately a story of a father, mother, son and daughter and thus follows the pattern of an epic saga, a mythic tale that spans the generations. The choices, actions and misfortunes of the parents create a destiny that their children must later fulfil. Events in the lives of the parents are often echoed in those of the children, and so Anakin's and Luke's stories begin in the same way, with a damsel in distress and a call to action.




Servant of darkness

The treacherous Sith lord sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, to find Queen Amidala when she escapes the Trade Federation blockade surrounding Naboo. Darth Maul unsuccessfully attacks Jedi knight Qui-Gon as the Queen’s ship leaves Tatooine, and later the two meet in combat during the battle for Naboo. Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul, who in turn is destroyed by Obi-Wan.

While the conflict appears to centre around Queen Amidala, it is really part of the ongoing battle between two rival forces in the cosmos, the spirit of light and the spirit of darkness. The ritualised combat between these powers is a tradition that dates back to the earliest mythic stories. In the best-known variant, reflected in the Star Wars saga, the powers of darkness rebel against the established order, and humanity must take sides in the struggle. Qui-Gon is the representative of goodness and compassion, while Darth Maul is symbolic of violent destruction and the dark forces of evil. Death and evil are closely associated in mythology, and Maul is the death-demon, in the service of a dark tyrant who will conquer the galaxy and drain its life energy. With the mutual destruction of Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, the battle is non-conclusive and will be engaged again. The Sith lord will find another apprentice; the heroes will find their greatest triumph in turning death from a defeat into a victory and reasserting the forces of light.




Ruler of wisdom

Queen Amidala is the young, elected ruler of Naboo. When her people are threatened by the Trade Federation, she leaves her home world to seek the assistance of the Galactic Senate. Her request is rejected, and Queen Amidala returns home to convince the native Gungan, who share the planet, to help her save her kingdom.

‘Nabu’ was the ancient Babylonian god of wisdom, so as Queen of Naboo, Amidala is the ‘ruler’ of wisdom. Enthroned amidst her Councillors and handmaidens, she is a politician and statesperson, using her clear perception to govern wisely.

However, Amidala’s elaborate gowns, mask-like makeup and serene dignity also give her a remote quality and conceal the other aspects of her character. When she pleads with the Gungan leaders, Amidala reveals that she sometimes disguises herself as Padmé, while one of her handmaidens pretends to be the Queen. As Padmé, Amidala is touchingly young and sometimes naïve, while at the same time she can be a young woman of decisive action, as shown when she creates and executes the plan to retake Naboo.

In these abilities — to hide in plain sight, project an illusion of herself, and yet reveal her true nature as well — Amidala embodies the mystical force of maya. This is the power both to conceal and reveal truth at the same time and is particularly associated with mythic goddesses.




The gathering darkness

The once-bright Republic has become stained with a growing darkness. Crime and corruption thrive and assassinations are an easy solution to controversy. Even within the ranks of the Jedi, the Dark side is at work. Obi-Wan discovers tampering in the Archives Library, in the very heart
of the Jedi Temple. Little does he realise, looking at the bust of Count Dooku, that the power of the Force has been corrupted.

In this environment, Anakin Skywalker struggles with the rigorous selfdiscipline required by the Jedi. He often uses his phenomenal powers in an emotional way, whether he is piloting an Airspeeder, revenging the death of his mother, or falling in love with Padmé Amidala.

The most important task of the hero is to make the right choice. Heroes must put aside their pride, feelings and personal life, using their powers to seek justice rather than dominance, fighting because they must, not because they are consumed by revenge. As Anakin discovers, this is no easy task and he is repeatedly tempted to use the Force for his personal ends.

Like Yoda’s young, innocent Jedi trainees, Anakin possesses the creative and redemptive force that is hidden within us all. His struggle will be to bring these life-potentialities successfully into adult realisation.




A forbidden bond

When Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker travel to Naboo, the journey becomes a spiritual transition as they begin to open their hearts to one another.

This spiritual, romantic love between two individuals was celebrated in medieval European myth as ‘Amour’. In the 12th century, Amour was considered a revolutionary concept, as marriages were arranged for social or political reasons and spirituality was associated exclusively with religion.


Individuality was subject to strict limitations within the concepts of moral obligation and adherence to an ethical code.

Anakin and Padmé have likewise dedicated themselves to duty and honour at the expense of their personal lives. Part of Anakin’s Jedi training requires him to distance himself from relationships; Padmé is a leader of her people and resolutely focused on serving them. Yet his passion and her compassion break down these barriers, and allow love to attain their hearts.


However, Amour also opens the heart to suffering, as illustrated in medieval myths such as those of Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde, and Romeo and Juliet. Like those lovers, Anakin and Padmé must pay a heavy price for choosing to value love instead of duty and social obligation.




Knowledge Portal

When Obi-Wan Kenobi wanted to find out about the mysterious planet Kamino, he turned to the Jedi Archives for information. This contained possibly the single largest source of information in the galaxy, with vast amounts of data stored electronically and holographically.

To search the vast library database, Obi- Wan used a research desk, which allows access to the archives’ holdings.

Despite the assurance of the Archivist, Madame Jocasta Nu, that the archives were complete and secure, Obi-Wan could find no information about the planet.

The Hero's Journey

When writing up adventures or stories of any sort, you should keep in mind the journey that the heroes will take. The Hero's Journey is the path that each hero takes during their adventure(s).

Originally thought up by Joseph Campbell, the Hero's Journey incorporates all of the universal elements that make a story great. Influencing such works as the Matrix, the Lion King, and the Lord of the Rings, the Hero's Journey is a timeless and proven method for good story telling.

While reading the steps of the Hero's Journey you may think that it won't help you design a campaign because it'd be impossible to incorporate each step for each character. You may also feel that the Hero's Journey only applies to male characters. Neither statement is true.
Star Wars was built using the Hero's Journey. Each of the main characters, male and female, followed the steps of the Hero's Journey, as did the story as a whole.

If it is too much for you to design the Hero's Journey for each character, then do it for the gaming group as a whole.

Here are the steps to the Hero's Journey:



The hero's journey : summary of the steps
This page summrarizes the brief explanations from every step of the Hero's Journey.

Departure

The Call to Adventure
The call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.

Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.

The Crossing of the First Threshold
This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

The Belly of the Whale
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.

Inititation

The Road of Trials
The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

The Meeting with the Goddess
The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the "hieros gamos", or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self unification does not have to be represented by a woman.

Woman as the Temptress
At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

Atonement with the Father
In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be "killed" so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.

Apotheosis
To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.

The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

Return

Refusal of the Return
So why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares and woes?

The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often times he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Or perhaps the person doesn't realize that it is time to return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.

Master of the Two Worlds
In myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

My thoughts on Easter

Some friends at work gathered together and wrote me a long email about Easter Eggs. They did this as a response to my admittidly long article and emails. I was touched by the email but I hate Easter. I thought that I'd take a moment to explain why.


Easter is supposed to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a Catholic holiday and is observed by Catholics and the many offshoots of the Catholic Church.


A thousand years or so ago the Catholic Church, while trying to convert as many people as possible, decided that it was easier to take pagan holidays and to incorporate them into the church rather than to try banishing them. Whenever authority figures banish something and say "That's no longer allowed!" it becomes instantly popular and uncontrollable. This is true throughout the passage of time and is something that American leaders should have known before trying Prohibition and the War on Drugs.


Anyways, the Catholic Church isn't stupid, so they took the pagan holidays and changed them while incorporating them into the church. Easter, for example, incorporates many of the elements of the Rite of Spring, the Mayfair Celebration, and the celebration of newborn life.

The Rite of Spring is a celebration of the end of winter and the beginning (or rebirth) of spring.

The Mayfaire celebration is a celebration of surviving winter, and is a time to meet and marry. It is a time of letting loose, and bing carefree and happy. It was celebrated with wild abandon and a lot of children were born to newlyweds approximately nine months later.

Spring is also the time that flowers start growing, trees sprout leaves, and animals come out and mate. Many cultures celebrate this in their own way.

The Easter Egg was originally a pagan tradition that originated with the Teutonic Slavs in what is now Germany.

The rabbit came from a region to the northwest of Italy.

Even the name, Easter, is stolen. It was derived from Eostre, a pagan fertility goddess.



The original celebration of Easter, before the incorporation of the more pagan elements, was stolen from the Jews. The Catholic Church started Easter at about 200 AD as a celebration of Christ's last supper. As Christ was a Jew, he was celebrating Passover, specifically the large dinner typcally held at the end of the week long observance. That dinner provided the Church with a date (although it is argued whether Christ's dinner was at the beginning or end of Passover).


Due to the similarity to Passover, the Church changed Easter's theme from the celebration of Christ's Last Supper to his Death and Resurrection.

Close to two thousand years later, Easter is almost exclusively a celebration of the pagan elements that the Catholic Church incorporated into the holiday. Eggs and bunnies, large meals and hunts, special clothing with is just an extension of wearing your best clothes to a party...

No wonder I don't celebrate Easter. It's pointless. Whatever meaning that it had has been lost through the passage of time and in trying to please everyone. I'd rather celebrate Passover, at least that holiday has meaning. (The marking of blood on the doors in Egypt, sparing the Jews of the death of their firstborn. This resulted in the Jews being freed from slavery and the beginning of their journey to found Jerusalem).

Even better, bring back the Mayfaire!

A good weekend.

You know, overall I had a really good weekend. My wife and I have been fighting a lot. She's been real moody and mean and jumping on me for everything. I guess that I shouldn't have knocked her up, huh?

Anyways, out of the blue she does an about face and decides to be irrepressably happy. So happy and helpfull in fact that friends who visited asked me what was going on. They were as confused and startled as I was by the change.

My wife did so much this weekend with the kids, cleaning the house, making food, and other stuff that I was hard pressed to keep up.

WOW!

THANK YOU!!!



So... ya, I got to hang with Dawn and Grant this Saturday. We were originally gonna roleplay and play some Scene It, but things were too hectic. Grant and I did roleplay a bit, but we forgot my character sheet (on the computer at his house) and had to make do off of memory.

I think that Grant's starting to have a tough time running my character. The character that I usually play is the fast talking mercenary thief type. The guy that I'm playing now is a hick woodsman loner with no friends and only one family member who likes him.

My character, whose name escapes me for some reason (I'll call him Bubba), managed to kill a dire bear cub and it's mother in the first session. This session dealt with me saving the meat and skin and transporting the stuff that I didn't want to keep to town for trade.

I traded for everything that I wanted, and more since I was able to talk a guy into selling me a young barely weaned female pig. Yummy.

It turns out that my real father, a minor noble somewhere, had decided to legitimize me. Didn't mean much to my character (who had to have his mother read the letter) which kinda threw a kink into Grant's plans.

I mean honestly, why would my character care if some guy that he's never met or seen decided to call him son? Why would he leave a home that he built for himself to run 12 farms and live in a castle (whatever that is)?

Of course, I'll go along with it eventually, but it's fun making Grant work for a living ;-)



We also got to visit the in-laws for a bit Sunday. My mother in law broke her foot somehow and is stuck at home all day. She biffed it again last night by tryiong to hop over to her wheelchair instead of sliding over to it as she usually does. She didn't hurt herself, but boy did she piss off her husband. Nick chewed her a new hole, but for some reason, Debbie just smiled and shrugged it off. I guess that she got the attention that she was craving...

I like Nick. I like talking to him and I like the funny noises and faces that he makes when we play video games. He sounds like he's lifting weights and about to blow an O-ring when he plays, it's funny as hell. We were playing Burnout Revenge (race car game) and I keep wrecking because I was paying more attention to Nick and the kids than I was to the game!

He showed me how he grills steaks so that I can make my own steaks juicier when I grill.

Yes people, I acknowledge when someone else is better and more experienced than I am and try to get them to teach me so that I can improve my game. I am not perfect, nor do I think that I am. It just seems that way. Haters.

So anyways, back to the steaks....

The only problem that I had with Nick's steaks is that he likes them done Medium AT MOST. I like my food COOKED. His opinion is that if it doesn't moo, than it's done and I have a preference for meat that doesn't bleed when you cut it.

Last night he grilled up two steaks. One was underdone and kinda grossed me out, and I only watched other people eat it. The other steak was pretty damn near perfect and it was only on the grill for another minute or two.

So, to sum up this weekend:

My wife was happy, helpfull, energetic, and hot.

I got to hang with Dawn and Grant, always a privilage.

I got to hang with Nick and eat some pretty friggen good steaks. Yummy.

I had a good weekend.