Our house…
A continuation of my financial rant yesterday, really. I’d like to see banks hold on to the properties rather than re-possess them. Essentially, they become landlords – it’s not a big leap really. They theoretically own the property anyway until the mortgage is paid off. The occupant would still have to pay rent, but it would be reduced to the term of the mortgage remaining – this could mean that the former owner can later still pay off their mortgage at a later date. It’s a thought anyway, but it’d never happen – I think the banks have too much power.
Anyway, I’ve had a pretty busy day at work today and it’s a little annoying – why does everyone wait until Friday? Still, the weekend is nearly here and I’m looking forward to taking it easy. I’m playing Unknown Armies tonight, and likely walking back, then I’m going to have to prep tomorrow morning for the Ashes of Freedom game I’m running at ORC.
Oh, I got a new coat a fortnight ago and already one of the buttons is coming off. Shoddy QA control! 
When I’m walking a dark road…
I walked back from Comely Bank last Friday after playing Unknown Armies. I reckon it took about 30 minutes – I’d have been waiting that long for the damn bus. I’m trying to do a bit more walking than I have been, although it’s been less than pleasant outside over the last couple of weeks – cold, wet, or windy – or a combination of them! I’m at work at the moment and blogging this on a break. It’s bloody horrible outside – lashing down with rain and blowing a gale.
LSD and I went for a curry at the Kismot restaurant in St. Leonards, just off the Pleasance on Tuesday. The food is good and there’s lots of it. Maybe too much of it: I was well and truly stuffed by the end. In fact I could barely finish my pint in the Auld Hoose next door. Just as well really, as an ex-girlfriend was there (yes, I do have them!) was giving LSD the evil eye…
Unfortunately LSD’s Acer Aspire Netbook is having problems with the mouse touchpad. I’ve had to send it off to get it repaired. Naturally, mine is OK (which doesn’t help), but it’s a bit of a sod. I’m hoping to use mine on a trips away, as it is so very portable compared to my Dell D610. I hope to source some better tools for gaming, computing-wise, although Campaign Cartographer seems to be my best bet at present. Bit of a steep learning curve though!
I went to ORC on Saturday, and wound up in a Aliens vs. Predator scenario using the Savage Worlds rules. I may have a closer look at those, as they’re quick and easy rules to pickup. I also ran Ashes of Freedom last night, and it went VERY well; more pieces of the puzzle are falling into place and the players are starting to get very worried.
I wish people would stop bitching about the bloody credit crunch. Roll with it – be a bit more socially responsible. I’m sick of hearing about the banks – yes, it’s bad, but continually carping on about it doesn’t help. Find a solution.
Oh yeah, the SNP parliament have weighed in on the HBoS affair, presumably as it is partially the Bank of Scotland. That cretin Alex Salmond (the First Minister) is claiming that he could have saved HBoS. How? With Scottish taxpayers money – the Halifax has a huge client base south of the border, so? Didn’t he remember about Northern Rock? Idiot. Oh yeah and they’ve had their knuckles rapped by HM Treasury – they “misrepresented” some figures they submitted to get more cash… Hmm, I’d call it fibbing. Alex Salmond should keep his gob shut and concentrate on helping Scotland through this crisis instead of suggesting independence in a time when Scotland has little or no financial sector. Political instability causes financial instability!
Weekend warrior.
Well, the weekend is nearly upon me and it looks like things are going to be pretty busy. I’m RPGing tonight playing the weird Unknown Armies RPG, I think. Tomorrow, I’m off to ORC for a Traveller-style game called “Containment Breach”. Why do I get the feeling I should take a pulse rifle… I’m playing an IT Tech who looks suspiciously like Ewen “Spud” Bremner.
Anyhow, I’m likely to be off to a birthday celebration on Saturday evening – although we start out in a pub we may end up playing Guitar Hero at some ungodly hour! Last year, five of us wound up plastered and doing air guitar in the kitchen. Sunday will likely see me heading over to Currie.
Ashes of Freedom is now beginning to kick off. Both groups are now starting to interact in a way that I’d not thought of – all good of course. I cancelled the other session at ORC but will run it again in the future. I need to get the PC power cards printed out, as the D&D powers are something of a pain to keep track of. I need to create a few more decent house rules too – some of the skills are OK but could use polish, and I’d like to add a few non-combat feats and customise the magic items some. I wouldn’t be surprised if D&D Insider announces a Dungeons & Dragons 4.5 edition next year. I’m hoping that the Character Generator will live up to the hype. Wizards of the Coast have a poor track record when it comes to software development. The AD&D core rules CD was good, eTools was diabolical.
I’m looking at upgrading some items of the site – unfortunately the version of PHP on the webserver is too low to install Zikula, the newer MediaWiki software and finally Joomla. I may have to switch to another server, or alternatively switch to another hosting provider. Either way it’d be a pain to upgrade. I plan to create my own Ashes of Freedom web forum, where all the players in my games get their own username, indulge in In-Character-Chat (ICC), boast, and swap insults with other groups. It’d also mean I can communicate on a smaller local scale than the ORC forum.
