Birthday in retrospect
This has been one of my great birthdays. A lot of ways that it could have gone wrong, but it didn't.
One thing that might have gone wrong- my wife had orientation at her new job at the Olive Garden (I haven't said anything about it, as I was afraid I jinxed it the last time she tried). Better pay, better benefits, and better managers than at Safeway. However, her orientation was at 10am, and we weren't sure how long that would take.
We didn't have to worry- she was out by 11:30, and at the planned start time of noon she showed up with Dairy Queen for lunch. Turkey preparations got underway (we have a deep freeze in the garage, so when the Thanksgiving sales for $5 and $6 turkeys happened, we grabbed a few).
It was about 1,1:30 that the game got underway. We picked up the Pathfinder game, midway through the first half of part 2, a game that had been left untouched since early December. A quick retcon to work in our new housemate's character (the first warlock PC I think I've seen), and the group started ghoul stomping.
They finished out the haunted mansion just in time for the turkey (also a perfect stopping point to level) While we ate, we put on the Family Guy Star Wars special- most of us had seen it, except our oldest member, the only one who saw Star Wars when it was first released in theaters (he thought the show was great). It also came out that my wife and the new housemate had never seen Airplane. I will have to check the library's DVD collection on Tuesday to fix this.
I'd originally planned to switch to my Pendragon game about halfway through the day, but instead decided we had a chance of actually finishing the adventure tonight. It didn't happen, but it's close- one final tower to check out. Some of you might remember my complaints with this section of the adventure; I ended up revamping it using the assassin core class from the Assassin PDF by Ari Marmell. Roguey, but not quite rogues, I was able to make some encounters that actually challenged the group. I'm a lot happier with the adventure after my changes- now to get part three rewritten.
During the game, we also got the first chance to try the Play 4E Now rules for death and dying (although I went with negative up to half HP). With a number of sneak attacking foes (who could now actually sneak attack as they had allies to flank), there were a number of characters going down during the day. People were quick enough that no one made their third bad roll, and everyone appreciated that healing brought the character to 0+amount healed (rather than having to heal the negative amount first). I think we'll keep playing with it.
Besides the game, the camaraderie was also good, with dirty comments and bad jokes being liberally tossed around. I don't think the group has been in such good spirits in a long time. The addition of a new player is definitely a plus.
After the game, once food and books were put away, I got to spend some time with my wife before she drifted off to sleep. She has her first real day of work starting tomorrow evening, while I get to finish out a four day weekend. It does look like I have one task to do tomorrow; in my inbox, I found a coupon for 40% off at Borders that needs to be used by Monday. Looks like it's time to finally pick up Star Wars Saga.
So, thanks to all the well-wishers. It was a very happy birthday.
One thing that might have gone wrong- my wife had orientation at her new job at the Olive Garden (I haven't said anything about it, as I was afraid I jinxed it the last time she tried). Better pay, better benefits, and better managers than at Safeway. However, her orientation was at 10am, and we weren't sure how long that would take.
We didn't have to worry- she was out by 11:30, and at the planned start time of noon she showed up with Dairy Queen for lunch. Turkey preparations got underway (we have a deep freeze in the garage, so when the Thanksgiving sales for $5 and $6 turkeys happened, we grabbed a few).
It was about 1,1:30 that the game got underway. We picked up the Pathfinder game, midway through the first half of part 2, a game that had been left untouched since early December. A quick retcon to work in our new housemate's character (the first warlock PC I think I've seen), and the group started ghoul stomping.
They finished out the haunted mansion just in time for the turkey (also a perfect stopping point to level) While we ate, we put on the Family Guy Star Wars special- most of us had seen it, except our oldest member, the only one who saw Star Wars when it was first released in theaters (he thought the show was great). It also came out that my wife and the new housemate had never seen Airplane. I will have to check the library's DVD collection on Tuesday to fix this.
I'd originally planned to switch to my Pendragon game about halfway through the day, but instead decided we had a chance of actually finishing the adventure tonight. It didn't happen, but it's close- one final tower to check out. Some of you might remember my complaints with this section of the adventure; I ended up revamping it using the assassin core class from the Assassin PDF by Ari Marmell. Roguey, but not quite rogues, I was able to make some encounters that actually challenged the group. I'm a lot happier with the adventure after my changes- now to get part three rewritten.
During the game, we also got the first chance to try the Play 4E Now rules for death and dying (although I went with negative up to half HP). With a number of sneak attacking foes (who could now actually sneak attack as they had allies to flank), there were a number of characters going down during the day. People were quick enough that no one made their third bad roll, and everyone appreciated that healing brought the character to 0+amount healed (rather than having to heal the negative amount first). I think we'll keep playing with it.
Besides the game, the camaraderie was also good, with dirty comments and bad jokes being liberally tossed around. I don't think the group has been in such good spirits in a long time. The addition of a new player is definitely a plus.
After the game, once food and books were put away, I got to spend some time with my wife before she drifted off to sleep. She has her first real day of work starting tomorrow evening, while I get to finish out a four day weekend. It does look like I have one task to do tomorrow; in my inbox, I found a coupon for 40% off at Borders that needs to be used by Monday. Looks like it's time to finally pick up Star Wars Saga.
So, thanks to all the well-wishers. It was a very happy birthday.