Rollercoasters

Yesterday you found out that your wife was pregnant with your second child, and you experienced +5CHA for 24 hours afterward. Today, you found out that the first test had produced a false positive, and as such, you take a -5CHA penalty for the duration of the week. You may make a Will save (dc 20) to resist the penalty for one day.

So yeah, I'm sure many of you saw how excited my wife and I both were yesterday when her test came back positive. Allow me to provide some perspective as to why this was to have been such an amazing outcome. My wife unfortunately suffers from some potentially genetic disorders in relation to her reproductive system. The current plan involves a hysterectomy (either partial or full) after we have our second child. This will hopefully avoid some of the problems that other women in her family have had. The problem is, the longer it takes, the less likely it will be for her to get pregnant.

My job adds to the difficulty rating by keeping my away from my wife for at least forty-five hours each week. Much of the time I am home is spent watching Kennedy so my wife can either get housework done more easily, or get some sleep. Between both of our full time jobs, there is nary a time when we both have the energy, AND Kennedy is asleep. Its like playing Tetris and you only get one "I" block every 50 pieces.

After today's revelation, I reined in my extroverted demeanor in favor of my introverted nature. My more perceptive coworkers probably picked up on it if they were paying attention. Not that work tonight helped my mood at all. I've made a conscious effort to keep details of my day-to-day work events away from my blog, so suffice it to say, it was a bad night and most everyone was irritable. But, since there is a positive for every negative, I got a head start on some of my extra duties for the month, and had a delicious chocolate banana shake. I thought I was in trouble when the Frappes came out, but this new shake has me hooked and itching for another fix.

I'll end this one with a question to you, the reader. Have you experienced complications in getting pregnant, and if so, how did you overcome or deal with your situation?

My Face When...

You arrive at work today and check your messages to find that your boss has indirectly called you out to the rest of the management team.  The message implies that you don't work hard enough and are too incompetent to follow directions.  Upon reading the message, you are dazed (save ends).  After saving, you are angered and take a -5 penalty to all CHA checks for the remainder of the night.


All my rage!  I don't guess I should be surprised, though.  I should have known by now not to trust anyone (at work) with even the most petty comments.  Our store is competing with another store under the same ownership, so the competition should be pretty intense.  I made a comment to a friend who works at that store, that I thought his store would win.  That comment made its way back to my store and the GM, after which she made the implication that I just needed to work harder.  This was the final straw.

Tomorrow before work, my supervisor is meeting with me and the GM.  With any luck, the situation will be resolved.  If I need to transfer to a different store, then so be it.  I'm tired of being the one to actually enforce policies, then get chastised for enforcing them!

My PS3 has made such an outstanding impression that I see no need to keep my 360.  The one thing the 360 does better (games), is the one thing I don't have time for.  Netflix on PS3 is better, the internet on PS3 is better, and I don't have to pay a yearly fee to use either of those.  Yesterday I used it to play one of my YouTube videos for some friends without having to crowd around a computer monitor.  I also used it to get "Like a Boss" stuck in my wife's head.  Thanks PS3!

Kennedy can't stop getting sick.  She had tubes put in and now she has bronchitis.  I hope she doesn't end up as sick as I was as a child.  If so, we're in for some difficult years.  On a positive note, the doctor said her ears are looking great, and her speech has improved dramatically since the tubes!

Oh, and Nigel still hasn't had his final night.  We ended up doing some prep work for my d20 Modern campaign, which I'll write about next time.  We took a pretty unorthodox method of character generation, but then, this is going to be a pretty unorthodox campaign.

Nigel's (truly) Final Night

In a few short hours you will play your Lasombra for the final time.  Scheduling conflicts have restricted your ability to attend game nights, and tonight will be your final night in attendance thanks to being on vacation.  You know that Nigel will die tonight; your Storyteller has already told you this.  However, you may still be able to make a difference for those who will remain in the campaign long after Nigel is gone.  With trepidation, you arrive at game night.  What do you do?


With no uncertainty, tonight will truly be Nigel's final night.  The Storyteller has something planned for his demise, and hopefully it will be good.  Nigel's sire is another PC in the campaign so his death is sure to affect his plans, as well as the plans of the pack.  There will still be six PC's after I'm done, so its not like they will be hurting for people.  Perhaps the group is getting large enough that it could be split to two groups, one of which could game on a day I could work with?

I've currently thrown my name out to the Quilt City Ogres as interested in an upcoming D&D 3.5 campaign on Tuesday nights.  The setting is described as "Forgotten Realms-ish."  Should be a refreshing experience playing with a completely new playgroup, assuming I do play.

Kennedy had a 102-degree fever today, which is the highest she's had yet.  She has another ear infection, and was prescribed yet another antibiotic.  Maybe soon the infections will finally stop and this mess will all be over.

I uploaded some new videos to my YouTube page.  Check them out!

Nigel's Final Night / rpgKids

With waning vigor, you fight the oncoming sleep.  You only get to game a few hours a week as is, sleeping through the session is not an option.  Every ten minutes you must make a will save or you will fall asleep.  Make your first save now.  Really?  A one?  You fall asleep in the middle of the floor until game night is over.  Attempts to wake you are made at a -5 penalty.  Perhaps you should rethink your Saturday nights.

And rethink them I did.  The last game session I attended involved roughly thirty minutes of consciousness and the rest of the time I was out.  Getting up most days between six and seven to play with Kennedy, then working 2-10, then driving back forty minutes then gaming until two or three just doesn't work anymore.  And even staying until three still means leaving early most nights.  There's another local group starting up a Tuesday night Pathfinder game that I may try playing in.

Kennedy turned eight months on Wednesday, and she will be walking within a month or so.  She is pulling herself up on her bouncy seat and standing, so it's only a matter of time.  She's already crawling all over the place and gets so angry when she gets to the baby gate.

Fellow blogger Newbie DM is also the author of a game system geared toward kids titled rpgKids.  From the site description

If you’ve never played the game before, well here’s a description in a nutshell:  A very simple RPG consisting of opposed die rolls using a d12, while encouraging kids to think creatively, perform simple arithmetic, and have fun!

The 24-page PDF is a steal at three dollars at regular price.  In celebration of GM's Day, it can be had for $2.24 at RPG Now.  This is a great product for anyone interested in sharing their passion for tabletop RPGs with their children.  I look forward to eventually trying it out with Kennedy and hopefully another child in the near future.

Puppy Love

You weren't prepared for this.  You knew eventually your daughter would grow up and start liking boys, but you weren't ready this early.  Being caught off-guard, you take a -2 penalty to all dice rolls for the duration of the first day.  The penalty continues each day after, save ends.

Kennedy has recently become very good friends with our friends' son William.  It all started at Taco Bell when he tried to give her the rest of his quesadilla.  I guess she takes after her daddy.  The fastest way to her heart is her stomach!  Too bad these were a little late for valentine's day.  Although, yesterday she was getting smooches from another friend's son.  Shh, we haven't told William yet.  We want to break it to him softly.

I feel the need to re-review the Netflix streaming video service, this time for the PS3.  Since we got the PS3 roughly a week ago, we've watched quite a lot of video, and not once has it paused playback due to "changed bandwidth" or because my internet connection had slowed.  And just before I got the PS3 I called NewWave and had my internet speed reduced to save a bit of money.  I don't believe that my internet connection suddenly got better, which leaves me to conclude that there is a problem with streaming Netflix on Xbox 360.  With the Blu-ray and DVD upscaling, and a superior Netflix experience, the PS3 is quickly becoming the "always-on" console.  The 360 will still be used for gaming, but it will finally be getting a well-deserved break.

        

On a related note, a local video store has been having a going-out-of-business sale for a week or so, and I finally made it out there to see what they had left.  The game selection was pretty slim, but I managed to snatch the original Phoenix Wright for DS for ten bucks.  I also grabbed Kick Ass, Slumdog Millionaire, and Precious on Blu-ray.  Three Blu-rays and a DS game ran me forty-two dollars.  Thanks to services like Netflix and Redbox, I got a sweet deal, and several people are losing their jobs.  Capitalism at work, folks.

I have today and tomorrow off work.  The first of my two goals is now accomplished (writing a blog).  The other goal is to finish the backstory for my d20 Modern campaign.  Wish me luck!

Ignominious is a Fun Word

You exit the building and see the car you were told about.  You approach the vehicle slowly and feel your stomach begin to lurch.  You sense something innately wrong with the inhabitants of this car.  As you near the driver's side door, the window rolls down.  Billowing smoke roils out from the open window.  While trying to manage your own breathing, a chilling sound alarms you: tiny coughs from the backseat.

These ignominious parents were smoking in a car with a baby with the windows rolled up.  These aberrations of the gene pool could be on a competitive level with your nemesis, Negligent Mother.  Will you confront these ne'er-do-wells or simply perform the business you were sent for?

 In case you couldn't tell yet, I get irritated at parents who don't care about their kids.  I noticed things before Kennedy was born, but now these poor decisions are marked with a huge neon sign proclaiming, "MORON."  As the DM said, these people could've given Negligent Mother a run for her food stamps.  The poor little girl was strapped in her car seat while the parents puffed away and there wasn't a thing she could to but cough and cry.

The recent snow we received was certainly a nice change of scenery.  We took Kennedy outside for just a couple of minutes so she could see and feel it.

I don't believe she quite knew what to think about the whole situation.  Maybe there will be snow next year as well and she can do some sledding.

After several grueling sessions, I managed to finish the main segment of Super Meat Boy on Xbox 360.  The game is a throwback to 80's and early 90's style platformers.  In other words: infuriatingly difficult.  As Meat Boy, your quest is to save Bandage Girl from the evil (or possibly misunderstood) Dr. Fetus.  Scattered throughout the worlds are bandages to collect and Warp Zones to find.

Collecting bandages will unlock new playable characters to use in the game.  Certain Warp Zones will also grant you a new playable character, but only after completing the zone.  Other Warp Zones are in the style of Atari, Game Boy, or early NES or Master System games.  These zones remind you of how far gaming has come in the past twenty-five years, as well as how far it has fallen.  Too many games today boast gorgeous processor-intensive graphics, while the story and gameplay suffer.  Final Fantasy XIII, I'm looking at you.

Super Meat Boy has been an enjoyable trip through memory lane, and I'm not quite ready to turn it off yet.  Each of the main worlds also has a dark side, with modified and even more difficult versions of the light-world levels.   These are the levels that make me think of the internet cult-hit, I Wanna Be the Guy, know for its sadistic difficulty.  I would recommend both games in a heartbeat.

Nigel's Inaugural Night

You just got off work late on a Saturday night, the night that used to be reserved for your gaming group. The Storyteller in the newest campaign texts you saying you should stop by.  It will be after eleven before you would get there, and you have to be back at work at ten in the morning, with a forty-minute drive.  Even if you intend to only stay for a few moments, you know you'll end up there for at least an hour or two.  


You have a choice to make.  Is the gaming and camaraderie that you have missed so much as of late worth the potential lack of sleep when you have to drive relatively early tomorrow morning?


Yes, it was.  Saturday night I stopped by to hang out for a few minutes with the group, and ended up staying almost two hours.  It usually happens that way.  I got to run my new character for the first time, a Lasombra named Nigel.  He is the childer of another of the PC's, and he will be the first character I've played where intelligence is the weakest attribute.  With any luck I'll be able to go and game for at least a couple of hours each week after work on Saturday.

Kennedy went back to the doctor today, and the fluid is still present in one of her ears.  She got referred to a specialist, the same one who put tubes in my ears over twenty years ago.  I don't like that she's probably going to need them, but if it helps her hear and be comfortable, then I'm for it.  Last week she was eighteen pounds, eleven ounces.  Today she was nineteen pounds, two ounces.

We're trying something out tonight to see if it helps Kennedy sleep.  I have my netbook set up in her room streaming classical music from the WKMS website.  She went to sleep pretty quickly in the car after the doctor's appointment while I had classical music playing.  If this doesn't work, I'll try Rainy Mood next.

I think next time I'll write a review for the Xbox Live Arcade game Super Meat Boy.

Rage!

We begin the day as you are playing with your daughter in her walker.  You receive a message from your brother-in-law, accosting you for a message you sent to the negligent mother.  This family, your wife included, has yet to see your temper flare.  The words you choose to reply with could lead you down a path in which you exhibit your great potential for anger to those uninitiated.  


I admit, last night I lost my cool a little bit.  Kennedy has an ear infection due to Negligent Mother's, well, negligence.  I found my breaking point last night after Kennedy spent fifteen minutes screaming and pulling at her ear, followed by a bout of croupy coughs.

I lost it.

Seeing my baby girl in such pain and discomfort sent me into a fit of outrage that my daughter was paying the price for someone else's carelessness.  All things considered, by the time I got to the computer to send the hateful message, it was much less hateful than I had originally intended.  Had Kennedy's fit occurred in the presence of Negligent Mother, I would not have held my tongue, and the things that get whispered behind her back would have been shouted in her face.

I'll write again tomorrow, err, later today with either a review of her walker she was playing in today, or the DC Comics trade paperback "Green Lantern: Blackest Night."  I hope to be able to write more positive posts once Kennedy starts feeling better.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

We resume our adventure several months later on Christmas day.  You are driving south to see your wife and daughter at her mother's house.  She has been helping her mother during her recovery from surgery, and it has been nearly a week since you've seen her or Kennedy.  Before you left, your wife called to tell you that your daughter has gotten another ear infection.  Her sister neglected to give her daughter the medicine that she needed, and as a result of her negligence, your daughter's coughing and congested breathing can clearly be heard over the phone.


Also, she doesn't bathe.


As you drive along the empty country roads, all you can do is think about your poor daughter being sick as a result of your sister-in-law's ineptitude.  You can feel the rage rising up inside you like stomach acid, eating away your sense of common decency and political correctness.  For the duration of the scene, take a -2 penalty to all diplomacy checks related to your sister-in-law.  


You arrive at your destination, turn off the car and unbuckle your seatbelt.  You take your daughter's Christmas present and walk up to the front door.  As you open the door, you see your mother-in-law, your wife and your daughter on the couch, and the sister-in-law in a chair on the other side of the room.  What do you do?


For the record, I critically failed my first diplomacy check of the day after I arrived.  The sister-in-law's daughter walked into the room chewing on something that wasn't quite discernible.  When my mother-in-law asked what she was chewing on, the mother carelessly replied, "A piece of styrofoam."  I rolled a '1' on my diplomacy check and looked at her with a less-than-pleasant expression on my face and blurted out, "Really?"

My critical failure ended up working out for me in the end, though, as she got up and left the room.  The gift in question that I brought for Kennedy was a Leapfrog My Pal Violet.  It is a purple stuffed dog that sings and talks like so many other baby toys, but this one really piqued my geek.  It can be connected to a computer with the included USB cable and programmed to use your child's name and even spell it out.  The onboard memory can be programmed for ten different songs from a list of over forty from the Leapfrog website.

Kennedy absolutely loved it, and we really liked the lullaby feature that plays two, five, or ten minutes of bedtime music.  With Kennedy being sick, it was nice to see her finally get some rest.  My wife suggested to her sister that she should get one for her daughter.  A nice educational toy like this one could really do wonders for the child.  But no, her mother simply scoffed at my wife, as though we had just told her she couldn't watch TV tonight.  We'll get one for her if her mother doesn't care enough to do it herself.

How was everyone's Christmas festivities?

Beginning My Campaign as a 1st Level Dad

The scene begins in a brightly-lit birthing suite at a nearby hospital in early July.  You've been at the hospital nearly twelve hours now, having been woken up before dawn by your wife yelling at you from the bathroom.  The deep red scratches on your hands and wrists are beginning to fade.  Your wife gave you those before the epidural eased the contractions.  Now she's lying in the hospital bed in labor, preparing to bring your daughter into this world.  On the other side of the bed, your mother-in-law stands over her oldest child as she is witnessing for the first time the birth of a grandchild.  At the end of the bed sits the doctor, helping to coach your wife and speed up the labor.  Several nurses are present monitoring your wife's vitals and assisting the doctor.


The final stretch begins, as the doctor directs your wife to push.  You and your mother-in-law are each holding a leg to help with the labor.  During the downtime between pushes, you gently stroke her leg in an attempt to comfort her.  Your thoughtfulness is rewarded with a guttural voice spitting, "STOP PETTING ME!"  Your arms grow weary as minutes trudge along with little apparent progress.  Suddenly, it all changes.


You can see the top of your daughter's head begin to emerge.  A wave of emotion comes over you as you witness the most beautiful event of your life, despite all of the yelling and bodily fluids.  More time passes as sets of pushes come and go, and eventually, the head comes out.


But something has gone wrong.  The head is a sickly blue color, and the umbilical cord is wrapped around your daughter's neck.  The doctor rolls '20' on a reflex save and with a few subtle eye commands, has the nurses clip the cord and clear the baby's airways.  Moments stretch into an eternity, until you hear the glorious music of your daughter's first cries.  You begin to uncontrollably sob at the sound.  Your wife, who noticed none of the critical events of the last few seconds, simply wants to hold her daughter.


This is how your campaign begins.  The rest of the story is up to you.




My first child was born this July, a baby girl named Kennedy.  On that day, my wife gave me a greater gift than any number of Christmases could ever equal.  As such, on this Christmas day, I want to thank my wife for that gift, for being the amazing wife and mother that she is, and for helping train me in the ways of parenthood.

This blog, as indicated by the title, will be an ongoing look into the life of a first-time dad, long-time gamer.

Stay a while and listen.