I don't find many systems to be very challenging to be honest.
Back in the day I would have said Chill or Call of Cthulhu just because they were so different than what I have used in the past.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Saturday, August 20, 2016
RPGaDAY2016: Day 20
What is the most challenging but rewarding system have you learned?
I don't find many systems to be very challenging to be honest.
Back in the day I would have said Chill or Call of Cthulhu just because they were so different than what I have used in the past.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
I don't find many systems to be very challenging to be honest.
Back in the day I would have said Chill or Call of Cthulhu just because they were so different than what I have used in the past.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Friday, August 19, 2016
RPGaDAY2016: Day 19
What is the best way to learn a new game?
No shock or surprise with this answer.
The best way to learn is to play.
That's not just true for games, that's true for lots of things. Almost everything in fact.
Sure you can get more detail reading, but doing is the best.
Let me ask you this. Are you going to get into a airplane with someone that actually has flown and landed an airplane or someone that has only read about it?
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
No shock or surprise with this answer.
The best way to learn is to play.
That's not just true for games, that's true for lots of things. Almost everything in fact.
Sure you can get more detail reading, but doing is the best.
Let me ask you this. Are you going to get into a airplane with someone that actually has flown and landed an airplane or someone that has only read about it?
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Maximum Mayhem Dungeons. My collection is now complete!
Look what I got in the mail today!
+Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #2 and #3.
I now have the complete set.
In order of playability, lowest to the highest.
Just missing an adventure for 4th to 6th and then 12th to 14th.
Not sure what I will do with these. Hanging Coffins was so much fun I just had to have these. The 3D glasses and pictures are a nice and unexpected treat.
I also can't help but think that Mark and +Venger Satanis need to get together to make a really gonzo adventure. Liberation of the Demonslayer would fit into all of this really nice and Star Spawn practically begs to be mixed with Alpha Blue. Get on that one guys!
+Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #2 and #3.
I now have the complete set.
Just missing an adventure for 4th to 6th and then 12th to 14th.
Not sure what I will do with these. Hanging Coffins was so much fun I just had to have these. The 3D glasses and pictures are a nice and unexpected treat.
I also can't help but think that Mark and +Venger Satanis need to get together to make a really gonzo adventure. Liberation of the Demonslayer would fit into all of this really nice and Star Spawn practically begs to be mixed with Alpha Blue. Get on that one guys!
RPGaDAY2016: Day 18
What innovation could RPG groups gain the most benefit from?
Hard to say since I don't know exactly what other groups are doing.
The biggest obstacle or complaint I have seen is being able to find a time everyone can meet to play.
But for this situation I have seen some great tools online that allow people to meet when they can.
I have nothing profound here.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Hard to say since I don't know exactly what other groups are doing.
The biggest obstacle or complaint I have seen is being able to find a time everyone can meet to play.
But for this situation I have seen some great tools online that allow people to meet when they can.
I have nothing profound here.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
The Toll of Depression
I originally wrote this for my atheism blog, The Freedom of Nonbelief, but I think it is better suited here.
I usually don't post a lot of personal pictures here, but this one is important to me.
Me, my son Connor as a baby and his big brother Liam at age 4. They are 13 and 16 now.
Doesn't look like I am suffering from depression here at all, but I was.
This photo was taken sometime in February 2004. I have to trust the date on the file because I have no recollection of it happening. I didn't know it then, but I was still about 5-6 months before I started to get well.
Back in 2000 to 2001 I started to hit a downward spiral. I am not really sure what caused it but there were lot of factors that added to it. By the end of 2001 I was in deep. So deep that I barely recall anything that happened between 2001 and 2005. Which is really fucking sad to be honest. My kids were born in 1999 and 2003, this should have been one of the happiest times in my life.
I was fortunate. Really. My wife was there for me every awful moment I put her through. Sleeping all day, up all night. Thankfully I never had suicidal thoughts. I never gave into drinking too much, in fact, I think the whole thing cut my drinking down to nothing. I did get to write. That is plus.
But there were days that just disappeared from me. Hours, even days, lost in some haze that I to this day can't recall.
I used to think that I was immune to this sort of thing. Really. I had a GREAT childhood. Parents that loved and supported me. Great friends. I always had a job. I may not have been rich but I could afford to feed myself and I had a place to sleep at night. I knew the warning signs too. I have degrees in Psychology. I did my Master's work while working a suicide hotline. I did my Ph.D. work in one of the best cities in the country. I really had it made.
Maybe that all made it worse. I felt like I was a sham. I didn't have the right to be so depressed. There were so many others out there that had it worse than me. But that is part of the stigma.
In psychology, we call depression the "Common Cold" of psychological ailments because it is so common. But what I had was more like full blown N1H1 flu. I knew the signs and I was bowled over anyway.
The toll comes in from the damage that happens all around you. I was taking really piss poor care of myself. Despite trying to get out and exercise I still gained weight. My health in general sucked. Then there are the relationships. I basically had two personality traits then; catatonic or angry. Thank goodness my wife and kids are as stubborn as they are. I don't know if I would have stuck with me.
This video by +Wil Wheaton kinda sums up how things were for me too. The first two minutes really captures how the anger was. I met him in 2009 or so. Had I known all of this we could have at least mentioned it to each other. How we both got out of it.
I didn't go see anyone. Maybe I should have. I might have gotten better sooner.
It's weird. I have started, stopped and started this post at least a dozen times. I have had to update my kids' ages a couple of times since starting.
In the process of revising this post, this was posted to my feed. (and yet again more evidence of how many time I have started and restarted this).
It is Sex+ and atheist YouTuber and Vlogger +Laci Green. I like Laci. I think she is great. This video though doesn't make me happy.
It doesn't make me happy because I know all too well what she is saying. I have been there.
In fact here is another one.
https://satyrosphilbrucato.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/stigma-disorders-and-shame/
And one more (see I told you I started this many times). +JaclynGlenn is another fave of mine and she makes a lot of great points.
Sometimes I feel like it is some kind of monster, waiting to draw me back in. Minus a minor episode in 2007 things have been really good. But yet it is always there, lurking in the shadows.
What do I want to say about this?
I guess to say this is not uncommon. People all over suffer from this.
The things I learned that I really wish I knew back then:
- It won't be forever. I knew that, intellectually, but it was hard to process that then.
- Get help. I get shots for the flu, take Lipitor for all chili-cheese dogs I ate as a kid and getting help for this is no different.
- Get a support net. I was lucky. My wife and kids kept me protected and safe. I never could have made it without them.
I am better now.
But I see the same behaviors I went through in others and I wanted to post this to let them know that they are not alone, they are not unique in their suffering and there is help and others out there.
We have the greatest communication tool ever invented (to date), lets use it to make things better.
(Note: just putting this link here in case I do put it up on my other blog.
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2016/08/the-toll-of-depression.html)
I usually don't post a lot of personal pictures here, but this one is important to me.
Me, my son Connor as a baby and his big brother Liam at age 4. They are 13 and 16 now.
Doesn't look like I am suffering from depression here at all, but I was.
This photo was taken sometime in February 2004. I have to trust the date on the file because I have no recollection of it happening. I didn't know it then, but I was still about 5-6 months before I started to get well.
Back in 2000 to 2001 I started to hit a downward spiral. I am not really sure what caused it but there were lot of factors that added to it. By the end of 2001 I was in deep. So deep that I barely recall anything that happened between 2001 and 2005. Which is really fucking sad to be honest. My kids were born in 1999 and 2003, this should have been one of the happiest times in my life.
I was fortunate. Really. My wife was there for me every awful moment I put her through. Sleeping all day, up all night. Thankfully I never had suicidal thoughts. I never gave into drinking too much, in fact, I think the whole thing cut my drinking down to nothing. I did get to write. That is plus.
But there were days that just disappeared from me. Hours, even days, lost in some haze that I to this day can't recall.
I used to think that I was immune to this sort of thing. Really. I had a GREAT childhood. Parents that loved and supported me. Great friends. I always had a job. I may not have been rich but I could afford to feed myself and I had a place to sleep at night. I knew the warning signs too. I have degrees in Psychology. I did my Master's work while working a suicide hotline. I did my Ph.D. work in one of the best cities in the country. I really had it made.
Maybe that all made it worse. I felt like I was a sham. I didn't have the right to be so depressed. There were so many others out there that had it worse than me. But that is part of the stigma.
In psychology, we call depression the "Common Cold" of psychological ailments because it is so common. But what I had was more like full blown N1H1 flu. I knew the signs and I was bowled over anyway.
The toll comes in from the damage that happens all around you. I was taking really piss poor care of myself. Despite trying to get out and exercise I still gained weight. My health in general sucked. Then there are the relationships. I basically had two personality traits then; catatonic or angry. Thank goodness my wife and kids are as stubborn as they are. I don't know if I would have stuck with me.
This video by +Wil Wheaton kinda sums up how things were for me too. The first two minutes really captures how the anger was. I met him in 2009 or so. Had I known all of this we could have at least mentioned it to each other. How we both got out of it.
I didn't go see anyone. Maybe I should have. I might have gotten better sooner.
It's weird. I have started, stopped and started this post at least a dozen times. I have had to update my kids' ages a couple of times since starting.
In the process of revising this post, this was posted to my feed. (and yet again more evidence of how many time I have started and restarted this).
It is Sex+ and atheist YouTuber and Vlogger +Laci Green. I like Laci. I think she is great. This video though doesn't make me happy.
It doesn't make me happy because I know all too well what she is saying. I have been there.
In fact here is another one.
https://satyrosphilbrucato.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/stigma-disorders-and-shame/
And one more (see I told you I started this many times). +JaclynGlenn is another fave of mine and she makes a lot of great points.
Sometimes I feel like it is some kind of monster, waiting to draw me back in. Minus a minor episode in 2007 things have been really good. But yet it is always there, lurking in the shadows.
What do I want to say about this?
I guess to say this is not uncommon. People all over suffer from this.
The things I learned that I really wish I knew back then:
- It won't be forever. I knew that, intellectually, but it was hard to process that then.
- Get help. I get shots for the flu, take Lipitor for all chili-cheese dogs I ate as a kid and getting help for this is no different.
- Get a support net. I was lucky. My wife and kids kept me protected and safe. I never could have made it without them.
I am better now.
But I see the same behaviors I went through in others and I wanted to post this to let them know that they are not alone, they are not unique in their suffering and there is help and others out there.
We have the greatest communication tool ever invented (to date), lets use it to make things better.
(Note: just putting this link here in case I do put it up on my other blog.
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2016/08/the-toll-of-depression.html)
RPGaDAY2016: Day 17
What fictional character would best fit in your group? Why?
Hmm. Too much like the last question really.
ALTERNATE QUESTION TIME!
If could relive your gaming years so far, what would you want to do more of?
I am pretty happy with the way things went in my gaming career.
Right now I am doing all the things I wanted to do then and then some more.
But I suppose that when growing up in the 80s I would have tried to play with more different groups.
I think part of that is really thought kind of a "the grass is greener" phenomena. Not that those groups were in fact doing things better, just different.
My desire is to experience that difference as it was and appreciate it for what it was.
Which of course is the problem, I want to experience it as a kid, but appreciate it as an adult!
Best to just do the things I want now.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Hmm. Too much like the last question really.
ALTERNATE QUESTION TIME!
If could relive your gaming years so far, what would you want to do more of?
I am pretty happy with the way things went in my gaming career.
Right now I am doing all the things I wanted to do then and then some more.
But I suppose that when growing up in the 80s I would have tried to play with more different groups.
I think part of that is really thought kind of a "the grass is greener" phenomena. Not that those groups were in fact doing things better, just different.
My desire is to experience that difference as it was and appreciate it for what it was.
Which of course is the problem, I want to experience it as a kid, but appreciate it as an adult!
Best to just do the things I want now.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
RPGaDAY2016: Day 16
What historical character would you like in your group? For what game?
This is an odd question. I like history and I like reading about it, but there isn't anyone from history I want at my gaming table really.
I have used plenty of historical people as characters in games though.
As a former psychologist I would love to have a game where Sigmund Freud makes a cameo appearance. That would be a lot of fun.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
This is an odd question. I like history and I like reading about it, but there isn't anyone from history I want at my gaming table really.
I have used plenty of historical people as characters in games though.
As a former psychologist I would love to have a game where Sigmund Freud makes a cameo appearance. That would be a lot of fun.
http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/
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