One of the ideas I had for May, besides staying local for the whole month and teaching Sunday School every Sunday (there are five), was to play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) at local gaming stores. Rune & Board had opened a new store location in Beaverton. I asked about games there, and the owner is interested in my starting a ShadowDark game, but I thought it best to start by playing there in an existing game. I signed up for D&D on Friday night on their website ($10 fee for Adventurers League, room, and DM). I will try the place out and become more familiar with the players and the staff.
Let’s return the narrative to the start of the day. I woke, as usual, with the sunrise and rolled over. It was Friday, and I usually hop out of bed, strip the bed, and get the laundry started. This was a less energetic start. The house was still on AC, and it was 65°F/18°C, and I made coffee. I returned to the office and started on my daily tasks.
I updated my transactions in Quicken and am amazed by the run-up in the markets, and that 2/3 of my withdrawal has already recovered by earnings. Wow! War is, no surprise here, good for business. Though most of my earnings come from large corporations, indexes, and bonds. For me, the USA mid-cap is still running a large loss. Again, no surprise that multinational corporations, oil companies, billionaire-run companies, and banks are making money while mid-sized companies are suffering from war, tariffs, instability, and price hikes (don’t me start on insurance increases and the profits of the same).
I write the blog and practice the mental yoga of remembering by trying to find those threads in my mind, not near the surface, but not lost. Suddenly, there are pictures appearing in my mind. I am relieved as everything seems so obvious now, and I write fast as the memories pour into my conscience, and I work to assemble a story from the flashes.
Continuing this topic, as my days have little framework now, I find it hard to remember what I planned in the day, and it takes me three or four times of stopping and trying to remember what I am doing today, until it finally seems to lock into my surface thoughts. Remembering feels like diving into my mind (be it trying to recall yesterday’s lunch or my gaming plans for the next evening) and seems like holding one’s breath as I kick down in the pool of thoughts, trying to find the threads to connect, and grabbing them, dragging the memories, and resurfacing. It can be a brain workout. Sometimes they thread sink down again as I do other things. I then stop and do it again.
Returning to the narrative, I finish the blog, reheat the Chicken Vinaloo from a jar for lunch, and then shower and dress. I plan to head to Portland for Saturday (it is Train Day at the train center). I hear the doorbell and a box from a Kickstarter I have waited for arrives. It is two historical American Civil War (ACW) wargames with huge rubber-backed maps as an add-on. I cannot open the games, as they look so good (and expensive) in their unpunched, still-retail version. I am elated to have them arrive. Though I have not opposite to play them, just to look at them, read the rules, and possibly play them solo (playing both sides) is enough. Wow!
Next, I head to Costco to get a few things. I manage to survive Costco; everyone looks stressed out, and the cart drive is the only true aggressive driving I see in the local area; I never enjoy visiting Costco. I escaped with just $150 worth of items and waited in the usual checkout line to get my extra items (some food items and one garden item) set in a box (no bags there). I also finally remembered to drop off the US mail container at the local post office. I get there ring the bell, wait five minutes, and do it again, on the third, they finally appear. I know they have for-hire signs everywhere, and Trump’s appointed folks are not making it better. I am polite and just hand the container back to them and leave with a “thank you.”
I return to the house, and there is a Costco chicken for dinner too (too cheap not to get one). I unload and then head back out. I stop by the US Bank ATM and get some cash (for the D&D fee, and it is good to have some cash). There is a market there, and I see if they have lettuce, no fresh items, but I do find some tea and spices that come highly recommended for rice (cous cous, I am told, will likely be good too).
I return home, start dinner, and nearly set the seasoning on fire (the kitchen was blessed with the scent of spiced smoke). I was just toasting while doing some Excel work (I get too focused sometimes). I put out the smoking ruins, clean the pan, and stay in the kitchen while doing that. I manage to stay focused on an early dinner, which, since the chicken is already hot and cooked, should not be this dangerous. I manage to salvage enough lettuce from my fading supply to make a salad. The couscous with seasoning, a little oil, and raisins is good (this batch did not catch fire). I managed to finish dinner and organize my D&D character sheets and dice.
Corwin calls me; I invite him to raid my dinner, as there is spare cous cous, most of a chicken left, and I split my salad to make two before I planned to start it as a sort of dessert (I eat it first or last and seldom during other foods), and had not taken a bite yet. Corwin is hungry and has been working extra hours at his new job, and has not had a home-cooked meal all week (Not sure this qualifies, more assembled or summoned), he tells me. I have to leave, and he will do the dishes.
I take Air VW the Gray to 167 East, the building where Rune & Board moved to. I check with the staff and the DM. I need to check in closer to 6. I am twenty minutes early to ensure I get a spot, and to check that, as a former DM of Forge of Fury, I can play. The DM says yes, and I get a seat. These are bring-your-own-character Adventure League rules, and I am surprised it is D&D 2024 (or now 5.5), until I realize this is an official game and thus uses the newest (and expensive) rulebooks. The adventure is 5E and sort of compatible.
The group had played together, and this was a continuation of play with drop-ins like me allowed. This was an official Tier 1 event for levels 1-5 characters. I brought Carter in his level 2 version. Others, I learned later, were 4th, which explained some of the damage they did. I stayed in the background, but continued to forge licenses, insurance applications, and member cards as we went to many smiles.
The group was young (except for the DM and one player who were in my age group) and loud, and they were enjoying doing the murder-hobbo gaming. I went with it. Some only kept their attention when it was their turn and were surprised when they were attacked. The DM used the traditional initiative system, which I find distracting and which prevents the players from working together more effectively. But still it was fun for two hours, and I signed up later for the next two games (already booked to six).
I returned home, finally opened Gettysburg (retail $120), and got the rules, and marveled at the excellent components (version 1.5 of their base rules, shared with most of their new ACW board games; this one is four of five ACW games). I read the surprisingly simple rules (I have another Gettysburg game that is considered the most complex, and I have pages and pages of how-tos and have never even tried to play it solo).
I also created Carter Level 3 with the gold and magic item we got as part of the League play. He is ready to play next time and is certainly more dangerous now. I will try to find his slightly broken original figure (I 3D-printed a replacement figure on my stolen printer and painted it, but that one is at M@’s for that game).
I continued the laundry overnight and slept soon after reading all the rules and scenarios; easy rules. Hmmmm. The whole battle for two players is measured at 6-12 hours of playtime, which is long for this subject, with other scenarios ranging from a few hours (starting) to 4 hours (most representing a day or major events in the historical battle). It would be interesting to play the second day without Pickett’s Charge, but it would be so hard to resist with the Union’s position all about holding one ridge.
I slept with dreams of rules and ACW. I woke with a rules-reading/allergies throbbing headache and rolled over.
Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 