I wasn't planning on being awake this late, but I did want to get a new journal entry written.
I beat Beth at Carcassonne again but I was quite disappointed in myself for placing a tile in a position that hurt my score. Early in the game I focused more on knights to get my points high. Toward the middle of the game I started looking for places to add farmers so that I could capture some big points in the end. Beth already had two farmers in the main field where I had one but I was slowly able to merge in two more farmers of my own. Beth had a third farmer on the side, which, because of a road, didn't appear to have much chance in joining the big field. One time I drew a tile and was looking for a place I thought would get me a few points when Beth pointed out a place where I could put the tile. As I looked I saw that not only would the tile fit there but also there were two potential areas for points and I thought she only noticed the lower scoring spot. The good scoring place was closing a road where I'd get 6 points instantly. I placed the tile and in the next turn I realized that I had just connected her farmer to the same big field for a tie in that area which cost me 44 points! I still won the game, but that still upset me that I didn't notice such a critical placement.
I finally got a win in Bang! - twice in a row actually. That's quite an experience, especially considering that I've had the game almost two months now. The first game I was an Outlaw. I picked up a long-range rifle early in the game and was able to nail the Sheriff a few times before I started getting hit from the Renegade and Deputy on each side of me. My partner finished off the Sheriff, but unfortunately I died in the final turn due to an "Indians!" attack. That's a sacrifice I'm happy to take for the win! The second game turned out a little better for me as a Deputy. This time the same guy was Sheriff again and he put me in jail right away, probably because I hit him so bad in the first game. In the end he caught onto who the bad guys and we succeeded in killing off the Outlaws and keeping the Renegade in jail long enough to take him out. During and after the game we had some good comments about how certain rules should be handled, primarily dealing with specific character abilities. I should probably write them down so we don't forget. I imagine it would make a good discussion in the forum.
I've been driving Beth's car to work all week. Today I worked on my truck some after I got out of bed. I changed the fuel filter and took the truck for a spin. It still is running sluggish. I'm not sure what to do next. I guess I'll just need to have a diagnostic check run on it since the "Service Engine Soon" light is still on.
I was reading PVP Online, something that I do about once a week, when I noticed an ad to join a FREE Online Star Trek RPG. I visited the site out of curiosity and while I was there I started thinking more about online RPGs and realized what I personally don't like about them. Actually, this just applies to the message board or play by email style RPGs. The video game RPGs are another beast with pleasures and disappointments completely different.
First, players of these games seem used to handling more than their own character. Even if these players don't have superpowered characters, they often assume certain things will happen when they write out their "story". They will assume that the other player's character, which they involve in something, will automatically go along with whatever they are doing.
Here's an example: While I was playing a D&D game on a message board a few years ago, my character was involved in a brawl with another character. That's fine and dandy... I can accept that if someone is role-playing their character they might be suspicious of a hulking brute that walked into an area unannounced. (I loved playing as the "all brawn, no brains" warriors.) The problem that I had with the situation was that when this other player described what was happening he assumed that my character would react a certain way - which was against what I had intended for this character. I tried to change the course of the battle with my own replies, but each time that I did I later read something else that my character "did" without my permission. This might have been a comment or an action that I would never have my character do and it upset me that this person was taking advantage of the situation putting my character in his story.
That brings me to my second point. These online RPGs seem to mostly be stories that are made up by the players, which are added to by other players. Rather than one player taking a turn to speak, they speak for themselves, expect a specific response from the other character, basically predetermining what the player can say if he or she bothers to post, and then continues on with the conversation as if the other character would do exactly what the current writer expected. That's not a game to me. It's a game when the other player does things you don't expect. Of course, there are often things that you can expect to see in a game, but they don't always turn out like you predict. In each post of a message based RPG it often involved a few "turns" (if you'll allow me to use that term) to handle something. In that amount of time, one of the other players/characters could have turned the situation around completely.
I found out last night that The WarCraft Board Game is available now. I'm really looking forward to checking it out. Of course, I'm a big fan of StarCraft, but WarCraft is a cool game too and seeing it in board game format is exciting for me.
As I continue rebuilding Rabbi Sivan's Messianic Yisrael website I'm finding some of the process really frustrating. The problem comes mainly from forming one website out of two. There are some things that are redundant, but sorting out where similar things should go can get messy, especially since there are so many unnecessary folders and tons of files that weren't organized in the first place. I've got a notepad and a spreadsheet for tracking things and even then it gets confusing. Once I finish sorting out where things will go, I'll have to rebuild each individual page. One of these days I'll finish it. I've just got to keep pressing on.
I'm pretty bummed out about my truck now. I just got it back a little while ago from getting the transmission fixed and now the engine is running really sluggish. It was just running rough for a few days but on Saturday, on my way to Tel Aviv, I could barely stay above 50 MPH. Sometimes I'd have to downshift into 4th gear in order to keep up with traffic moving at the speed limit. Beth and I are really considering trading in the truck if the repair bill is expected to be over $500.
