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lathanyNormally, I'd be hacking my way through ancient Egypt on a Wednesday evening (Titan Quest). However, this week my partner in crime heroism has stood me up (that's Alistair J), possibly for The Secret World (which I haven't yet looked at, but was created by Dreamfall's Ragnar Tørnquist, so is likely to be impressive). So instead I'm writing an LJ update and trying to ignore the fact that I might be half-way through my annual leave already.
On the virtuous/work side (also known as I like a cleaner house than I tend to live in), I have managed a fair bit of housework in the last week-and-a-half. I've cleaned both bathrooms fully, washed the kitchen floor, de-moulded and cleaned a number of windows (along with washing numerous net curtains), done more clothes/bedding washing than I care to think about and a tiny bit of vacuuming. The house could still do with a lot more. In addition, I've been able to do a fair bit of cooking which I enjoy when I have the time.
On the sofa-bound/leisure side,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bateleur and I have spent more time watching films on the television than usual in the last week. This is mainly because I finally got around to buying the last two Harry Potters.
I'm not sure whether this ends up counting as leisure given it was bloody hard work, but after several days of trying (limiting myself to a couple of attempts per day) I finally took down the end boss of Diablo III. I've mostly covered this in a previous post - but it was difficult, time-consuming and, after learning the strategy to do it, I had to turn the video quality down to reduce the game lag to succeed. It'll be a while before I try any of the other character types (my completion was on the standard difficulty using a wizard with the Templar as my follower).
After much swearing at Diablo III, I decided my next PC game had to be easier. In this, I have succeeded. I chose Drawn which turns out to be aimed at Bea's age group and she and I have been playing together. It's a pretty fairy tale type of game, quite fun, rather mini-game heavy and mainly point and click (although, as the title suggests, provides opportunities for me to prove that I can't draw for toffee). I've also been playing a bit of Dynasty Tactics 2 on the PS2 for contrast (it's a turn-based strategy game). When Bea goes off to Sherwood with Ryan and my parents I'll pause Drawn and start on one of various horror games I have lined up: Dark Fall: Lost Souls, Penumbra Collection and the recently bought Darkness Within collection which is apparently "for Lovecraft fans". Darkness Within arrived with a soundtrack which I am now listening to (and may use in a future roleplaying game).
bateleur's game Revolution is continuing (the local gaming group - sessions are two or three hours long roughly once a week on a weekday evening) and we are slowly learning more about the plot. And developing higher levels of paranoia. We've identified the local weapons merchant and found there is a cordon around our town.
Following a sudden flux of roleplaying posts (mainly OxCon), I'm thinking more and more about my GMing plans post-Meteor (which I expect to complete before the end of the year). I have a copy of Dark Heresy which I have been ignoring while Meteor was still to run. It's been a long time since I ran anything with a published system and so I think I'd like to use one for once. Whether it will be a one-off or a mini-campaign will depend on what I think of the system once I've read it. Also, I'm starting to get ideas for various one-offs and I'm writing them down with the aim of coming back to them when I'm ready to plan something. With the exception of Ghost Hunting at the British Museum, I haven't run a one-off in years. When I do games, it tends to be campaigns, so I think that when Meteor ends, it might be a good time to run a few one-offs for once.
On the virtuous/work side (also known as I like a cleaner house than I tend to live in), I have managed a fair bit of housework in the last week-and-a-half. I've cleaned both bathrooms fully, washed the kitchen floor, de-moulded and cleaned a number of windows (along with washing numerous net curtains), done more clothes/bedding washing than I care to think about and a tiny bit of vacuuming. The house could still do with a lot more. In addition, I've been able to do a fair bit of cooking which I enjoy when I have the time.
On the sofa-bound/leisure side,
bateleur and I have spent more time watching films on the television than usual in the last week. This is mainly because I finally got around to buying the last two Harry Potters.- Deathly Hallows - Parts 1 and 2 - Watching these, I discovered I'm the sort of person who will helpfully fill in the missing links to the person who gave up at book five. A trait that bateleur tolerated. Coming to these two films rather late (or, at least, long after most of the other people I know), I enjoyed them. There were bits where they improved on the books (Hedwig in the flight in part 1) and bits where they made a worse showing (the fight at the very end degenerating into fisticuffs (and therefore reminiscent of that awful Dr Who film)). I enjoyed the Harry Potter books - I tend to re-read them in December on the train when my brain can't take anything more complicated. Having reached the end of the films, I feel similarly about them; I will probably re-watch them end to end sometime when I want something light to view.
- Equilibrium - This film is ten years old and a LoveFilms offering. We put it on the list because it stars Sean Bean, but it turns out that the lead is Christian Bale and he is very good in the role (Sean's good too, but we see less of him). It's science-fiction, flawed and clearly wants to be The Matrix. However, for all that, it's surprisingly watchable, fun to follow and it has a good cast. It's not going to make my "best films ever" list, but might score well in the list of "films I had low expectations of, but then really enjoyed" (a type of film which the BBC's Mark Kermode did a blog about).
I'm not sure whether this ends up counting as leisure given it was bloody hard work, but after several days of trying (limiting myself to a couple of attempts per day) I finally took down the end boss of Diablo III. I've mostly covered this in a previous post - but it was difficult, time-consuming and, after learning the strategy to do it, I had to turn the video quality down to reduce the game lag to succeed. It'll be a while before I try any of the other character types (my completion was on the standard difficulty using a wizard with the Templar as my follower).
After much swearing at Diablo III, I decided my next PC game had to be easier. In this, I have succeeded. I chose Drawn which turns out to be aimed at Bea's age group and she and I have been playing together. It's a pretty fairy tale type of game, quite fun, rather mini-game heavy and mainly point and click (although, as the title suggests, provides opportunities for me to prove that I can't draw for toffee). I've also been playing a bit of Dynasty Tactics 2 on the PS2 for contrast (it's a turn-based strategy game). When Bea goes off to Sherwood with Ryan and my parents I'll pause Drawn and start on one of various horror games I have lined up: Dark Fall: Lost Souls, Penumbra Collection and the recently bought Darkness Within collection which is apparently "for Lovecraft fans". Darkness Within arrived with a soundtrack which I am now listening to (and may use in a future roleplaying game).
bateleur's game Revolution is continuing (the local gaming group - sessions are two or three hours long roughly once a week on a weekday evening) and we are slowly learning more about the plot. And developing higher levels of paranoia. We've identified the local weapons merchant and found there is a cordon around our town.Following a sudden flux of roleplaying posts (mainly OxCon), I'm thinking more and more about my GMing plans post-Meteor (which I expect to complete before the end of the year). I have a copy of Dark Heresy which I have been ignoring while Meteor was still to run. It's been a long time since I ran anything with a published system and so I think I'd like to use one for once. Whether it will be a one-off or a mini-campaign will depend on what I think of the system once I've read it. Also, I'm starting to get ideas for various one-offs and I'm writing them down with the aim of coming back to them when I'm ready to plan something. With the exception of Ghost Hunting at the British Museum, I haven't run a one-off in years. When I do games, it tends to be campaigns, so I think that when Meteor ends, it might be a good time to run a few one-offs for once.
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-01 10:35 pm (UTC)And your post reminded me that I still haven't seen the last Harry Potter film.
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Date: 2012-08-02 11:31 am (UTC)Heh. It's a once-a-year burst which happens during my summer leave.
And your post reminded me that I still haven't seen the last Harry Potter film
Do you usually see them at the cinema or at home?
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Date: 2012-08-02 08:49 am (UTC)Will be interested to hear what the Penumbra and DW games are like!
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Date: 2012-08-02 11:32 am (UTC)I plan to try that one next. I did start it, about this time last year and then stopped. I now can't remember why (but I'm pretty certain it was because some other game popped up). So I don't even have to install it this time.