So today, as I came out of a lecture and walked to where my bicycle was waiting for me. I usually do not use my bicycle, but today I needed to minimize travel time, because there was an essay that I finished this morning that needed to be printed, and my printer is kind of sketchy sometimes, and I might need to go to the library to get it printed. So I walk up to my bicycle, and I put the key in the lock, and I wiggle the lock a bit, because it got stuck, nothing new. I pull my bicycle out, and it doesn't budge, because the pedal is stuck in the frame of the bike next to mine, so I free it, and then pull again, and once more it doesn't budge. It is then that I notice a lock that is not mine passing through my wheel, the rack, and the bicycle that the pedal was stuck in.
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HANNAS SMASH!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Why Dungeons and Dragons is the best game ever
First, I want my readers to know that I am pretty unbiased on this. As far as games go, I've played them all. Board games, card games, tabletop games, and sports. And don't think that I am biased when it comes to dungeons and dragons.
I'll give you a little history, so you can plainly see my game experience. I played one DnD campaign over a summer two years ago, and had a blast. I am also more than familiar with modern, computer role playing games, with experience in Baldur's Gate, the Lord of the rings games based on the Peter Jackson films, elder scrolls, and 3 years worth of World of Warcraft (I quit after they destroyed the dignity of my favorite character, Arthas). I'm a fan of Starcraft, Halo, and Assassin's Creed. I played soccer, ultimate frisbee, and fencing (if one can "play" fencing. I like tripartite sentence structure too much perhaps). I've played a ton of board games, and I often play magic the gathering tournaments. I hope this establishes that I've had plenty of experience in the field of games, and yet I am confident that Dungeons and Dragons is the best of them.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you why I have this strange and dramatic opinion.
First, dungeons and dragons allows the player to do anything. "the only rule is: there are no rules" quite literally. It's not perfectly so, of course, but the rules that are in place are flexible, and there is no penalty for breaking them, and everybody breaks them. Many modern people will ask what the difference between a modern crpg and DnD is, and it is mostly this. DnD players are not constricted to buttons corresponding to specific actions, dialog trees, or anything. You want to tell that questgiver his mother is disturbingly fat? You can! Want to eat a sandwich in the middle of battle? You can! What else are you going to do when the sandwich monsters from the rye dimension attack your party? Hey, look at that? A segway!
ANYTHING can happen in a DnD campaign. That's right, ANYTHING. I know no better way to explain this than an example from my campaign:
John, questions, and James are camping out in a case when they are attacked by a pack of four wolves. Questions attempts to climb a tree, but falls on his back and a wolf jumps on him and starts tearing him apart, before it was shot by John, as James easily dispatched the other three. Suddenly, ten or more bandits appear out of the forest and attack our group. Four of them throw ropes around James and pull him to the ground, a net is thrown atop questions, John flees. Smiles arrives, riding atop his camel to save the day, but he is clotheslined and bound.
Hannas the wizard meets John, and they follow the bandits to their camp. In an incredible burst of magic, Hannas puts all of the guards to sleep (I mistook the range on my sleep spell, the group rolled with it) and, rather than bust through the front door, they decide to go down the river and climb into a mill adjacent to the camp. Meanwhile, the captives have found a way out of their cage, and James bursts forth, tackling the first thing he sees. It\'s John, the prison was in the mill.
The reunited group walks right past a treasure chest and enter the camp. They are faced with a rather large tent from which they hear music. James bursts through the cloth and smashes the first thing he sees. It\'s a jukebox. The company is confused that there is a jukebox in a fantasy setting, but they get to fighting, all except for questions, who peeks into the next tent over, and sees a man in black robes saying a chant. The clack man disappears and a vortex takes his place and begin s to such questions into the tent. Questions rolls a percentile die to get away, and rolls 99. He still gets sacked in, and soon the rest of the party is too. They end up in the far future, after the man in black has taken over the world.
Would you honestly expect any of that to happen from that simple beginning, "a group in a cave attacked by wolves"? I didn't think so. Every game out there that has a story is completely predictable, primarily because there is one storyteller: the creator of the game, the one who made the levels, the environments, and the only path that the player can follow. In Dungeons and Dragons, there are as many storytellers as there are players, and there are no limits on what any of them can do, and a good DM will make a really fun game.
Aside from the actual mechanics of the game, Dungeons and Dragons is a social experience. First I feel a need to break the stereotype for those readers who have never experienced the game. (HINT: it does not involve hairy nerds in viking armor in some old lady's basement)
The game is usually organized by one player who has a setting and story in mind, and will act as Dungeon Master. He usually (these things are flexible) finds a location to meet for the game, and brings with him the materials he plans to use to make the game fun for everyone: books with monster stats, a handmade gameboard (1 inch graph paper works well for this), character and enemy miniatures (army men and pebbles work fine), and a set of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sided dice. The other players usually (again, flexible) bring some food or drink to share, maybe some epic music, the information on their character, and sometimes a dice set or some books, if the player has been doing this for a long time.
As you can see, this process is only moderately "nerdy", and just as reasonable as if some friends were getting together to play some friendly poker, or football, or discuss a book, or anything else that involves friends getting together to have fun, each one bringing what the collective group needs? Except in Dungeons and Dragons, we get to create.
How many things are there in the world that get a group of friends together every week to write stories and have fun? Most people who have regular hangouts will go to a sports bar to watch a game every week, how sedentary! Maybe they will go to a book club and talk about something everyone's read, how unoriginal! Certainly, reading and discussing and rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles are noble endeavors, but what is more noble than creation?
Creation is hard. In creating art, music, structure, really anything, we approach the divine: this is the one opportunity for man to really imitate God. Collective storytelling under the guidelines of Dungeons and Dragons is no different. Each player has to invent a detailed and three dimensional character, and then guide that character through an adventure. The Dungeon Master has to invent a setting with secondary characters and a weekly challenge for the "main cast". The best part is that the final product is not even the purpose, it only exists in the memory. We play the game for the sake of exercising our creative storytelling faculties.
If you think this is not true, how about we talk briefly about some people known for their creativity who are fans of the game.
Hansi Kursch (singer Blind Guardian)
Dwayne Johnson (actor and pro wrestler)
William Shatner (actor and cultural icon)
Ben Afflek (stage actor)
Vin Deisel (film actor)
Stephen Colbert (comedian)
Marilyn Manson (musician)
Matt Groening (cartoonist, writer, and producer of "The Simpsons")
Bruce Reyes-Chow (presbyterian minister and writer)
Mike Tremonti (guitarist Creed)
Robin Williams (actor, lead in every family comedy since 1980)
All of these well known people advocate the game, and Vin Deisel, Stephen Colbert, and Robin Williams have said that the game has helped them in their careers to become better actors, to get to know how people work, and to improve their storytelling ability. Vin Deisel will even teach other people in his films how to play the game in their down time between scenes.
So, Dungeons and Dragons allows the player infinite options, anything at all can happen, and it provides valuable social and creative experience that can help in most careers, but especially artistic ones. I would say that this is one incredible game. Sure beats Halo, if you ask me.
Oh, and one last note, before DnD was invented in the 1980s, in the 1930s there existed a group at the University of Oxford who got together every week to write, called the "inklings". I can name three members that anyone who knows anything about literary history should know. Christopher Tolkien, JRR Tolkien, and CS Lewis. Before that, Lord Byron invited his friend Percy Shelley and his wife to his castle on a particularly rainy night, and they talked about storywriting together and had a contest. The result? Frankenstein.
I apologize that this article was published prematurely, I'm getting used to some of my new technology.
I'll give you a little history, so you can plainly see my game experience. I played one DnD campaign over a summer two years ago, and had a blast. I am also more than familiar with modern, computer role playing games, with experience in Baldur's Gate, the Lord of the rings games based on the Peter Jackson films, elder scrolls, and 3 years worth of World of Warcraft (I quit after they destroyed the dignity of my favorite character, Arthas). I'm a fan of Starcraft, Halo, and Assassin's Creed. I played soccer, ultimate frisbee, and fencing (if one can "play" fencing. I like tripartite sentence structure too much perhaps). I've played a ton of board games, and I often play magic the gathering tournaments. I hope this establishes that I've had plenty of experience in the field of games, and yet I am confident that Dungeons and Dragons is the best of them.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you why I have this strange and dramatic opinion.
First, dungeons and dragons allows the player to do anything. "the only rule is: there are no rules" quite literally. It's not perfectly so, of course, but the rules that are in place are flexible, and there is no penalty for breaking them, and everybody breaks them. Many modern people will ask what the difference between a modern crpg and DnD is, and it is mostly this. DnD players are not constricted to buttons corresponding to specific actions, dialog trees, or anything. You want to tell that questgiver his mother is disturbingly fat? You can! Want to eat a sandwich in the middle of battle? You can! What else are you going to do when the sandwich monsters from the rye dimension attack your party? Hey, look at that? A segway!
ANYTHING can happen in a DnD campaign. That's right, ANYTHING. I know no better way to explain this than an example from my campaign:
John, questions, and James are camping out in a case when they are attacked by a pack of four wolves. Questions attempts to climb a tree, but falls on his back and a wolf jumps on him and starts tearing him apart, before it was shot by John, as James easily dispatched the other three. Suddenly, ten or more bandits appear out of the forest and attack our group. Four of them throw ropes around James and pull him to the ground, a net is thrown atop questions, John flees. Smiles arrives, riding atop his camel to save the day, but he is clotheslined and bound.
Hannas the wizard meets John, and they follow the bandits to their camp. In an incredible burst of magic, Hannas puts all of the guards to sleep (I mistook the range on my sleep spell, the group rolled with it) and, rather than bust through the front door, they decide to go down the river and climb into a mill adjacent to the camp. Meanwhile, the captives have found a way out of their cage, and James bursts forth, tackling the first thing he sees. It\'s John, the prison was in the mill.
The reunited group walks right past a treasure chest and enter the camp. They are faced with a rather large tent from which they hear music. James bursts through the cloth and smashes the first thing he sees. It\'s a jukebox. The company is confused that there is a jukebox in a fantasy setting, but they get to fighting, all except for questions, who peeks into the next tent over, and sees a man in black robes saying a chant. The clack man disappears and a vortex takes his place and begin s to such questions into the tent. Questions rolls a percentile die to get away, and rolls 99. He still gets sacked in, and soon the rest of the party is too. They end up in the far future, after the man in black has taken over the world.
Would you honestly expect any of that to happen from that simple beginning, "a group in a cave attacked by wolves"? I didn't think so. Every game out there that has a story is completely predictable, primarily because there is one storyteller: the creator of the game, the one who made the levels, the environments, and the only path that the player can follow. In Dungeons and Dragons, there are as many storytellers as there are players, and there are no limits on what any of them can do, and a good DM will make a really fun game.
Aside from the actual mechanics of the game, Dungeons and Dragons is a social experience. First I feel a need to break the stereotype for those readers who have never experienced the game. (HINT: it does not involve hairy nerds in viking armor in some old lady's basement)
The game is usually organized by one player who has a setting and story in mind, and will act as Dungeon Master. He usually (these things are flexible) finds a location to meet for the game, and brings with him the materials he plans to use to make the game fun for everyone: books with monster stats, a handmade gameboard (1 inch graph paper works well for this), character and enemy miniatures (army men and pebbles work fine), and a set of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sided dice. The other players usually (again, flexible) bring some food or drink to share, maybe some epic music, the information on their character, and sometimes a dice set or some books, if the player has been doing this for a long time.
As you can see, this process is only moderately "nerdy", and just as reasonable as if some friends were getting together to play some friendly poker, or football, or discuss a book, or anything else that involves friends getting together to have fun, each one bringing what the collective group needs? Except in Dungeons and Dragons, we get to create.
How many things are there in the world that get a group of friends together every week to write stories and have fun? Most people who have regular hangouts will go to a sports bar to watch a game every week, how sedentary! Maybe they will go to a book club and talk about something everyone's read, how unoriginal! Certainly, reading and discussing and rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles are noble endeavors, but what is more noble than creation?
Creation is hard. In creating art, music, structure, really anything, we approach the divine: this is the one opportunity for man to really imitate God. Collective storytelling under the guidelines of Dungeons and Dragons is no different. Each player has to invent a detailed and three dimensional character, and then guide that character through an adventure. The Dungeon Master has to invent a setting with secondary characters and a weekly challenge for the "main cast". The best part is that the final product is not even the purpose, it only exists in the memory. We play the game for the sake of exercising our creative storytelling faculties.
If you think this is not true, how about we talk briefly about some people known for their creativity who are fans of the game.
Hansi Kursch (singer Blind Guardian)
Dwayne Johnson (actor and pro wrestler)
William Shatner (actor and cultural icon)
Ben Afflek (stage actor)
Vin Deisel (film actor)
Stephen Colbert (comedian)
Marilyn Manson (musician)
Matt Groening (cartoonist, writer, and producer of "The Simpsons")
Bruce Reyes-Chow (presbyterian minister and writer)
Mike Tremonti (guitarist Creed)
Robin Williams (actor, lead in every family comedy since 1980)
All of these well known people advocate the game, and Vin Deisel, Stephen Colbert, and Robin Williams have said that the game has helped them in their careers to become better actors, to get to know how people work, and to improve their storytelling ability. Vin Deisel will even teach other people in his films how to play the game in their down time between scenes.
So, Dungeons and Dragons allows the player infinite options, anything at all can happen, and it provides valuable social and creative experience that can help in most careers, but especially artistic ones. I would say that this is one incredible game. Sure beats Halo, if you ask me.
Oh, and one last note, before DnD was invented in the 1980s, in the 1930s there existed a group at the University of Oxford who got together every week to write, called the "inklings". I can name three members that anyone who knows anything about literary history should know. Christopher Tolkien, JRR Tolkien, and CS Lewis. Before that, Lord Byron invited his friend Percy Shelley and his wife to his castle on a particularly rainy night, and they talked about storywriting together and had a contest. The result? Frankenstein.
I apologize that this article was published prematurely, I'm getting used to some of my new technology.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Writing and me: A difficult relationship
To those 0 of you who have visited this site and been disappointed that there hasn't been any real content, here I am trying to put up some real content.
So, I am a good writer. Some have said that I am an excellent writer. I have indeed gotten an A on almost every essay I wrote at the last possible minute (read: Every essay I ever wrote).
"But Hannas," you say, "Why do you put it off to the last minute?"
Is it because I'm lazy?
Is it because I'm scared what I'm going to write will be bad?
Is it because I don't like to plan?
The answer to all of these questions is a resounding YES. But they are not the main reasons. I am lazy, but I am lazy with my homework too, but I always do that at the first opportunty (yes, I am a college student). I am scared that what I write will be bad, but it's not foremost in my mind, any more than John Petrucci is afraid he'll screw up an improvised solo before he goes on stage. I know there's a possibility, and I have certainly written terribly before, but I know that it doesn't happen often. I also don't like to plan, but that's because I enjoy spontaneity, and the thrill of having no idea what I'm going to do next. I like playing Jazz for the same reason, it feels natural to me.
"You still haven't answered my question" you say, angrily.
Its because I find it extremely difficult to start writing. Even if I have an idea, and I know what I'm going to do, something keeps me from starting. I sit and stare at a blank page/screen for an hour or more before I write my first words, and even then it doesn't feel right. It takes a while, a couple of paragraphs, before I can really write like the good writer I claim to be. Allow me to give an example:
A friend of mine, who's identity he probably does not want revealed, and who has no screen name for me to exploit, asked me to write an "about us" page for a website he was building. I worked on that about us for a total of three hours, and turned out 122 words. One quarter of a page, with lots of spaces (because I used bullet-points to make it look longer). That's .68 words per minute, for those of you counting. What did I do with the rest of that time?
Easy, I slammed my head on the desk in frustration between texts to my girlfriend.
How about another example? My high school forced me to support every point I made with two textual examples in each of the 8 5 page essays I had to write per year, so I like to work in pairs.
This one I am particularly embarassed of, and some of my readers will know exactly what it is. I was working on a fan fiction for the Magic:The Gathering Expanded Multiverse project. I had an excellent idea, wrote out a whole storyboard, then decided to (rather than write a novel) write it one chapter at a time and post it on the forums. I didn't have a name for my main character yet, so I wrote the first two installments in first person, in the form of journal entries by my main character, and I was holding off on the third installment and first real chapter because I wanted to change it to third person, and I needed a name for my character.
About a month passed before I finally came up with what I was looking for, and I announced on the forum that I would begin writing again. That was a month ago. A fellow forum-goer and blogger bugged me about it, and still I haven't sat down and wrote, because I don't feel like I can start.
As you can imagine, I have been slow to post on this website for the same reason.
So, I am a good writer. Some have said that I am an excellent writer. I have indeed gotten an A on almost every essay I wrote at the last possible minute (read: Every essay I ever wrote).
"But Hannas," you say, "Why do you put it off to the last minute?"
Is it because I'm lazy?
Is it because I'm scared what I'm going to write will be bad?
Is it because I don't like to plan?
The answer to all of these questions is a resounding YES. But they are not the main reasons. I am lazy, but I am lazy with my homework too, but I always do that at the first opportunty (yes, I am a college student). I am scared that what I write will be bad, but it's not foremost in my mind, any more than John Petrucci is afraid he'll screw up an improvised solo before he goes on stage. I know there's a possibility, and I have certainly written terribly before, but I know that it doesn't happen often. I also don't like to plan, but that's because I enjoy spontaneity, and the thrill of having no idea what I'm going to do next. I like playing Jazz for the same reason, it feels natural to me.
"You still haven't answered my question" you say, angrily.
Its because I find it extremely difficult to start writing. Even if I have an idea, and I know what I'm going to do, something keeps me from starting. I sit and stare at a blank page/screen for an hour or more before I write my first words, and even then it doesn't feel right. It takes a while, a couple of paragraphs, before I can really write like the good writer I claim to be. Allow me to give an example:
A friend of mine, who's identity he probably does not want revealed, and who has no screen name for me to exploit, asked me to write an "about us" page for a website he was building. I worked on that about us for a total of three hours, and turned out 122 words. One quarter of a page, with lots of spaces (because I used bullet-points to make it look longer). That's .68 words per minute, for those of you counting. What did I do with the rest of that time?
Easy, I slammed my head on the desk in frustration between texts to my girlfriend.
How about another example? My high school forced me to support every point I made with two textual examples in each of the 8 5 page essays I had to write per year, so I like to work in pairs.
This one I am particularly embarassed of, and some of my readers will know exactly what it is. I was working on a fan fiction for the Magic:The Gathering Expanded Multiverse project. I had an excellent idea, wrote out a whole storyboard, then decided to (rather than write a novel) write it one chapter at a time and post it on the forums. I didn't have a name for my main character yet, so I wrote the first two installments in first person, in the form of journal entries by my main character, and I was holding off on the third installment and first real chapter because I wanted to change it to third person, and I needed a name for my character.
About a month passed before I finally came up with what I was looking for, and I announced on the forum that I would begin writing again. That was a month ago. A fellow forum-goer and blogger bugged me about it, and still I haven't sat down and wrote, because I don't feel like I can start.
As you can imagine, I have been slow to post on this website for the same reason.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A Change of Seasons
I still haven't decided what to put on this blog, but since there\'s a precedent for poetry, I'll add some more until I start writing seriously.
This is a poem that won me an honorable mention in my local state's National Arts and Writing competition.
This is a poem that won me an honorable mention in my local state's National Arts and Writing competition.
Ode to A Change of Seasons
The sadness rests, the thoughts run through
Of the darkest of times: a death gathering heard,
But a funeral is given to who?
Surely to a brave soul belongs this word.
What is it changing seasons surely show;
What changes like the years, in one?
What great feelings does it bring to me,
What troubles does it help us know?
Of whom do we think in the bright red sun?
The disk brings bright thought of life to me.
The crimson sun rises in the distance.
It brings back memories of old, brighter days.
Days when my young mind was marked with innocence,
Then seeking knowledge was my way.
Like green leaves fading to orange and gold
That fall and blow away in autumn winds,
So the thoughts continue, though I struggle to hold on.
My own failures in my mind stand out bold.
Ignorance alone surrounds my lonely mind.
For the first time there is nothing to concentrate on.
The tunes take me to a dramatic change.
Years ago in the coldness of fall season
A man did in the hall arrange
A speech to avid students of reason.
The message he gave was “Carpe Diem!
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may”.
Then the student returned back home.
He appreciated life again and redeemed
Himself in the eyes of his friends that day,
Just in time, for then she was lost in the foam.
The seasons have changed and so have I:
From my youthful ignorance to aged wisdom.
The greatest lesson I’ve learned is in our reply
To time, to whom we all fall victim.
Times have passed that can’t be relived.
Life always continues, though it never goes straight.
But now as the crimson sun sets,
The knowledge from wisdom I will try to give
To my young son, it’s taught only by fate.
I’ve done what I could, at last I can rest.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
A poem, for whomsoever cometh upon this blog
This is a test, and little more
and very few will see it.
for I have never blogged before
and none will ever read it
It may take me some months or years
before I try to write,
or maybe its my silly fears
that keeps my mind locked tight
perhaps someone could help me out,
somebody who can teach
someone who, without a doubt
can help me in my speech
For I have many profound thoughts,
opinions, funny stories,
enough to entertain a lot
of blog-post scanning lories
but now, alas, there's more to do:
explore my page and this blog, too
if this is ever seen again,
well, I'll have taken up the pen.
and very few will see it.
for I have never blogged before
and none will ever read it
It may take me some months or years
before I try to write,
or maybe its my silly fears
that keeps my mind locked tight
perhaps someone could help me out,
somebody who can teach
someone who, without a doubt
can help me in my speech
For I have many profound thoughts,
opinions, funny stories,
enough to entertain a lot
of blog-post scanning lories
but now, alas, there's more to do:
explore my page and this blog, too
if this is ever seen again,
well, I'll have taken up the pen.
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