Cantousent

Ah, yes, the Painkiller. It's a great weapon. It even does a good amount of damage and has good range. I'm not much for melee, myself, the actual Painkiller aspect of the weapon is awesome and tended to yank the dead body towards you. It made it much easier to collect the soul.

It seems fine to me. Though the Ventrue are primarily social creatures, they are in charge of the Masquerade and so could consider it their duty to embrace you. Anyway, the difference from Ventrue stereotypes could make for an interesting character. I say go for it. One thing, though: the Ventrue have no access to the vampiric magics and given the secrecy within clans, I do not see an easy way for your character to gain such knowledge, considering the penalty for sharing is usually death or blood bond. Just be aware of this. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Perfect, I will be delving into mysteries just as I did as a human, and without much more access than in life. While alive, I was rather a social creature, which is how I came under the observation of my siress (or whatever you call a chic sire). Other than saving me from permanent death by making me a vampire, my siress did me the favor of showing me how much more careful I need to be when working with other to discover these mysteries. I must be careful that others not find out my motives, even though I know that I'm only working for what I percieve as noble goals. I seek the truth in the hopes it will help humanity and kindred alike. This also makes me kind of like the CoC character I was hoping to play. Ironically, I'm giving away everything to my fellow players before we even start the game. I'd rather make sure I'm doing this the right way, though, so I'm going to play everything in the open until I'm accustomed to the Vampire game mechanics. Remember, I'm a novice at this game.

You know, Painkiller is an excellent game. I did my two runs, and I found that I enjoyed it actually better than Doom 3 and almost as much as Half Life. In a year that seems characterized by lackluster games, Painkiller is yet another great FPS title, showing that, at least for me, FPSs are one of the few really great genres around. When I bought Painkiller, I purchased the "GOLD" version. That meant I got a nifty Penny Arcade comic strip, the expansion pack, and the word GOLD on the box. It was all good. I did a quick game on Insomnia to unlock the Nightmare level. I then went through nightmare and picked up every black tarot card for each level. So far, so good. The backstory isn

In the right circumstances, I think the nine people so far who've said no might just prove themselves wrong. This is a hypothetical question and it doesn't make much sense to scorn any of the answers. Is it easy to say that we would chase a bomber? Sure. Is it easy to call us a liar? Apparently. I hope that I am not a liar, and I hope I never have the chance to prove you wrong. I don't desire glory. Nevertheless, I fervantly pray that I am not the good man who stands idle while evil prevails.

I would like to try something, although I'm unsure how to go about doing it. I can accept that this idea will not work, so let me know one way or the other and I'll come up with an alternate idea. I was a scholar in life. I delved deep into dark secrets, not always understanding what I found but always seeking to find more. As I traveled my arcane path, I was introduced to magic, which I studied with a fervor. I was an academe at heart, but I was also happy in the company of humans. I never turned my dark secrets to dark ends, preferring a life of content contemplation. Nevertheless, I was not satisfied to ignore the dangerous things lurking in the shadowy corners of the world. I studied and worked with other humans who had scratched the surface of a dreadful universe filled with monsters and demons. I was beginning to penetrate the shroud of deception. I called upon a trusted colleague and friend, with whom I had shared many secrets when she introduced me into my undead state. I had, she explained, discovered too much, gone too far on my path. She respected me too much to kill me but she could not allow me to continue. This was the only possibility to let me "live." I am Ventrue, and understand my place. It didn't take long to accept the truth, but I have not yet given up my hope of understanding the origins of the Kindred and the nature of the darkness. I cling desperately to what humanity I once had. I seek ways to work for the good of mankind, but I also know the hunger and desperation of the Kindred. I look forward to learning more. I am, after all, a scholar.

Eyes Wide Shut surely cannot be called a classic. At any rate, if we're complaining about games no longer being centered on a story, that's one matter. If we're talking about stories in general and how they translate into games, that's another. Related, maybe, but still different. There are so many elements that go into the idea of story that it might be much easier to create separate threads for those elements and come to some sort of agreement about how we're going to use the terms.

Ugh, I leave for a great day of DnD and what happens? My wife and I are compared to nazis. Kaftan, you swine! Okay, nobleman is winning, with barbarian/nazi getting honorable mention.

One thing I have to say to folks who've acting in a way that seemed cowardly or for which they feel some shame: First of all, maybe you are a coward when it comes to physical pain, suffering, or death. There are worse crimes. Personally bravery isn't the most important characteristic. It's often an important one, but there are many others just as important and some that are more important than risking life and limb. Second of all, if you've acted a way you percieve as cowardly in one situation, doesn't mean you cannot redeem yourself. I've known folks who thought they'd been a coward when there really wasn't anything better they could have done. Finally, let's hope none of us are tested

hahaha Very well, Walsingham, I'll suggest the barbarian theme to the wife. ...Or should I say, my foreign plunder? I think she'll be the one swinging the ax at my head.

Nice site, Steve. We're definitely making our own costumes as much as possible, although we might have to have some of the items tailored. We hit the faire every year, so it's not like anything I have made will go to waste. I also take the point that the wizard is a bit... fantastic.

My ten year wedding anniversary is coming up in February. My wife and I are planning a large party which I have decided will be Renaissance themed. My first choice was to have either Classical Greece, Classical Roman, or Lord of the Rings themed party. Alas, my wife just thought that was too weird. Of course, she has inherited her family

I voted yes because, while I'm not sure what I'd do, my fervant hope is that I'd chase them. From past experience, I know I'd do something. I might reflect that it was the wrong decision later, but I won't die standing in a train station dithering as to a course of action. Regardless of anything else, if I'm with my wife, I'm doing whatever I think will best protect her. If that means grabbing her hand and running like hell, then I'm leaving a trail of dust behind us. If that means placing my boot to someone's head, they better like the size eleven footprint I'm going to leave there. It reminds of once when I was driving along the street with the lady who would, in some five or six years hence be my wife, and I saw a co-worker standing against an outside wall of of a community with a strange man facing her. This was at night and I was driving a stick shift. I immediately pulled over and told Catherine to stay put because it looked to me like my co-worker was being mugged. I jumped out of the truck, which my wife couldn't drive because she didn't know how to drive a stick shift, and ran at my co-worker and her apparent assailant. It turned out that he was a friend who thought I was some crazy guy. He jumped over the wall and left her there. heh, some friend. A little embarrassed, I walked back to the truck and realized I'd left my wife in an ugly part of town in a car she couldn't drive. My primary responsibility is to my wife, and since then I've thought about what might happen to her in a situation. Love makes cowards out of the boldest men. ...And I'm not the boldest man.

You're a pain in the ass already. ...And you should join. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. I think you should give it a shot.

I say we just do in on teamspeak or some such. Everyone hates how his voice sounds online, but it's not so bad. Otherwise, I'm for IRC. Thread games and email sounds like a pain to me.

It's habit forming, but I think you'd find that eventually you'd lose interest. Of course, that assumes you don't get into a hard core group. I always refused to spend much time with folks I didn't know well, and that usually meant folks I personally knew from "real life."

Tom fools, what does this have to do with Timestop? I think we've all agreed it's a perfectly good spell and there's no reason it should not be included in future games.

Hah! Until you've gone through the entire Loony area on Painkiller: Battle out of Hell without killing a single baddie, you don't know the meaning of cheese! EDIT: It would be easier if Timestop were available.

Okay, Di, here's the dirty on Timestop: use it, pause, stack a bunch of spells, unpause. It's that simple!

We're all divorced from reality when it comes to DnD. After all, it is a fantasy game. The only thing is, when threatened with death, I don't think doing something a quick and efficient way is lazy. I think it's smart.

Klauth in NWN was quite the let down. I smote upon the most ancient of red dragons. I think I broke a nail.

Scares the hell out of me, Walsingham, in more ways than one. The thing is, should the game be geared for the single or multi player crowd? I suspect there are more single player while the multi player crowd generates the most excitement.

I just don't see the big deal with the spell. The only thing I'd say is, make it apply to only one area. Single player gamers won't notice the difference and the multiplayer crowd should be happier.

I'll download the rules for now. If I find I enjoy the game, then I'll buy the rulebook.

If I perceive an injustice, I'm going to act. It's that simple. On the other hand, it is often prudent to think before acting. Would I make a fuss about alan's 5 minute walk? HELL NO, I'd make him walk 10 minutes! hahahahaha. Okay, okay, I'm back to normal. Seriously, if I thought alan a long walk and it seemed like I could do something to help, I'd talk to alan about it before I said anything. I probably wouldn't use his name as an excuse for anything. That's been my habit for years. Case in point, a co-worker and I were having troubles with the project manager at our office. We discussed various ways in which the project manager made the workplace hostile. Finally, I confronted the project manager and detailed some significant areas of discord, but I never once used my co-workers name, although she was sitting at her desk five feet away. I never even looked at her. Nevertheless, some of those complaints were far more important issues to her than to me. Later she said she was afraid I'd bring up her name. I just told her that I didn't hide behind my co-workers. Later, she brought up the same complaints. It was actually quite gratifying. I ended up leaving to pursue my academic career and my co-worker got a promotion. woo hoo! (for both of us) Crusaders who crusade for their own glory suck. Folks who act in good conscience, after having thought out the issue and discussing it with the folks they intend to help, aren't exactly the same thing as "golden haired saviours," whom I tend to disdain as well.

Sorry, I meant to right "crime is on the decline." My understanding is that the crime rate went down yet again last year. Late night responses, you know. At the end of the article, he delved into metal detectors at schools and students' civil rights. I thought that part of the article only detracted from the point about video games.