
We're getting ready to open presents, so it's time for the annual question: Who got gaming presents for Christmas, and what were they? And did you have to prompt family members for them, buy them for yourself, or do you have gaming-savvy family and friends? ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Karen J. Cravens opened its mouth and moved its tongue and so spake to me and said, On 25-12-04 16:31: >We're getting ready to open presents, so it's time for the annual >question: Who got gaming presents for Christmas, and what were they? >And did you have to prompt family members for them, buy them for >yourself, or do you have gaming-savvy family and friends? Apart from having the items on the wishlist I sent out, no prompting was required - none of them are against gaming as such, and have all had a few years by now to get to know the local dealers and such ;) And, yes, I did indeed get a few things: 1) Dragonologi (orig. title: "Dragonology"), by Wayne Anderson, Douglas Carrel, and Helen Ward. Okay, so maybe this isn't technically neither a gaming item, nor a Christmas present, I still didn't get it before yesterday (we usually exchange gifts on the eve of the 24th here in Denmark) - being a month after my birthday. And it does seem to be pretty handsome, look-wise. Very interesting graphics and other kinds of ornamentation. Have yet to actually read it to see if the information on dragons is worth anything :p 2) Vampire: the Requiem dice set. (10 D10's with small bag/pouch.) Well... dice are always nice, aren't they? :D 3) The new World of Darkness core book. I've talked with my parents though, about their purchase of it, and they agreed to take it back to the store (Fantask) and switch it for the Changeling Player's Guide - I may have a better chance of getting to play the new WoD than I have of playing C:tD, but... I really like Changeling, and it's out-of-print whereas the new system will probably be available next year as well... (I probably won't be able to wait for winter next year to get the new WFRP anyway :p) Hm... and then I got some folk music (Danish + Irish, trad. + contemp.), but I don't know how much they would relate to gaming in your eyes :p And... that turned out to be a bit longer than I had planned for, and I have to get early to travel across our huge (...) country for my girlfriend on the isle of Fanø (who isn't a role player... yet :p). Good night for now list :) - Freso ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sat, 25 Dec 2004, Frederik 'Freso' S. Olesen wrote: FFSO>Apart from having the items on the wishlist I sent out, no prompting was FFSO>required - none of them are against gaming as such, and have all had a FFSO>few years by now to get to know the local dealers and such ;) Most of our relatives aren't "against" gaming so much as they are "clueless about gaming," so it's likely just as well they don't buy anything, or we'd probably end up with weird Rifts books or something. Some years one family member or another will decide "Hey, they play games" and buy us the latest "party game;" I think we have Cranium and a few others collecting dust, unopened. They just don't get the difference between that and, say, Carcassonne. Maybe we should have taken Union Pacific or something down there to play with them, I dunno. FFSO>1) Dragonologi (orig. title: "Dragonology"), by Wayne Anderson, FFSO> Douglas Carrel, and Helen Ward. FFSO> Okay, so maybe this isn't technically neither a gaming item, nor a FFSO> Christmas present, I still didn't get it before yesterday (we usually FFSO> exchange gifts on the eve of the 24th here in Denmark) - being a FFSO> month after my birthday. And it does seem to be pretty handsome, FFSO> look-wise. Very interesting graphics and other kinds of FFSO> ornamentation. Have yet to actually read it to see if the information FFSO> on dragons is worth anything :p I think I may have seen this before; searching Amazon turns up a book on concrete reinforcement (no, I didn't follow the link to see exactly how "Wayne Anderson" matched it) but also _The Dragon Machine_, which I might have to look at getting for our son. FFSO>2) Vampire: the Requiem dice set. (10 D10's with small bag/pouch.) FFSO> Well... dice are always nice, aren't they? :D Sigh. Playing Fudge means having nearly no excuse to buy nifty new dice. FFSO>3) The new World of Darkness core book. FFSO> I've talked with my parents though, about their purchase of it, and FFSO> they agreed to take it back to the store (Fantask) and switch it for FFSO> the Changeling Player's Guide - I may have a better chance of getting FFSO> to play the new WoD than I have of playing C:tD, but... I really like FFSO> Changeling, and it's out-of-print whereas the new system will FFSO> probably be available next year as well... (I probably won't be able FFSO> to wait for winter next year to get the new WFRP anyway :p) I'm not sure what, if any, in-print stuff I actually want right now. I don't play any WoD (though I own the first editions of Vampire and Werewolf, at the least, probably a bit more). Carl's bought some Mutants & Masterminds, since he's currently running a Fudge supers game, but otherwise there's not much we really need. Maybe some of the new GURPS stuff, just to take a look at it, but it's been a bajillion years since I've actually played GURPS, versus just swiping sourcebooks from it, and I'm not sure I need any of the new sourcebooks. The new Fantasy, maybe. FFSO>Hm... and then I got some folk music (Danish + Irish, trad. + contemp.), FFSO>but I don't know how much they would relate to gaming in your eyes :p Gamers seem to fall into the sort of demographic that likes folk music. I don't really know why. My family did attempt to buy music we like, so we each got discs from the department-store kiosks full of various sorts of music; sometimes those are pretty good (usually discs we already own, though), so we'll have to see if the ones we got this time are good. And Carl got a Trout Fishing in America disc, so that's always good. (Oddly, we didn't own any TFiA before now. I'm not really sure why.) -- Karen J. Cravens silver@phoenyx.net ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sun, 26 Dec 2004, Karen J. Cravens wrote:
> Most of our relatives aren't "against" gaming so much as they are
> "clueless about gaming," so it's likely just as well they don't buy
> anything, or we'd probably end up with weird Rifts books or something.
So I just stick to asking for the few DVDs that I actually want to own...
although this year wasn't so "few"... Star Wars, Return of the King,
Spiderman 2. Got them all... two copies of Star Wars, in fact. Gotta
find a place to return the one that doesn't have a crushed box. :)
I didn't get gaming stuff, but I got something I've been wanting for a
_very_ long time, but never could manage to save up the money for... a
pottery wheel and (my mother-in-law's used) kiln. Can't wait to get my
pottery studio set up and producing. Plenty of fantasy-ish stuff to make
out of pottery now.
> Some years one family member or another will decide "Hey, they play games"
> and buy us the latest "party game;" I think we have Cranium and a few
I like some of those party games, but Cranium... that just seemed to put
my raw, unedited creativity out in front of other people, and I'm not too
much into that.
> Gamers seem to fall into the sort of demographic that likes folk music. I
> don't really know why.
I think that for fantasy gamers, it ties into the whole renfaire,
creating-an-experience kind of thing. It's not exactly the kind of music
you'd have heard in an English castle, but it speaks of a simpler life
from the past. Or at least the freewheeling life of an Irish pub.
> see if the ones we got this time are good. And Carl got a Trout Fishing
> in America disc, so that's always good. (Oddly, we didn't own any TFiA
> before now. I'm not really sure why.)
Actually, your mom ordered Gnomusy's _Ethereality_, which was on my Amazon
wish list. I'm sure she had _no_ idea what it was, but I'd marked it
"must have". It's a limited-edition, signed by the artist. But I got a
chance to play it for everyone. Gnomusy is one of my favorite "writing"
composers... it really helps put me in the mood to write fantasy world
stuff. So in a way, this was my only "gaming related" gift.
Trout Fishing in America isn't exactly something I'd go out to buy for
myself... but it is really funny if you... throw it out the window!
("Little bunny Fu Fu, hopping through the forest, scooping up the field
mice and throwing them out the window! The window, the window, throwing
them out the window!")
I think this'll get you there to listen to samples...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000655S
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ My Roleplaying Blog -- http://ravenx99.livejournal.com/ ]
If you don't support shareware, who will?
----------------------------------------------------------------
GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Carl D Cravens wrote: >I like some of those party games, but Cranium... that just seemed to put >my raw, unedited creativity out in front of other people, and I'm not too >much into that. > > I don't like party games much at all, though I don't even know how Cranium works. And no, I don't want to, thanks... >Actually, your mom ordered Gnomusy's _Ethereality_, which was on my Amazon >wish list. > > I forgot about that disc when I wrote my earlier post. And looking over the stuff we got, I have to say "Pecans in the shell," which I think will be a good gaming snack, at least if we can track down one or more nutcrackers (although technically that was a re-gift, since Mom was going to dump them out for the squirrels(!) otherwise). And "tabletop grill"... either a really fun or really awful pre-game lunch device. Safer than the fondue pot, anyhow. I think. We'll see. And of course there were the dice bags, though that's something I gave instead of getting, and it was to members of the gaming group so I'm not sure it counts: http://www.silverseams.com/images/short_term/dicebags.jpg (as seen on the Fudge list...) I have not, as yet, made a dice bag for Carl, though. I'm still tending toward the brown fun fur... ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sun, 26 Dec 2004, Karen J. Cravens wrote:
> I have not, as yet, made a dice bag for Carl, though. I'm still tending
> toward the brown fun fur...
Carl's planning on starting a new trend of storing dice in pots.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ The Fudge List -- http://fudge.phoenyx.net/ ]
Hey, you work at McDonalds, you can afford it!
----------------------------------------------------------------
GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Carl D Cravens wrote: >Carl's planning on starting a new trend of storing dice in pots. > > Fine, fine: "Wookiee cups." ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
I got no gaming presents this year. One could make a case that the book on paradoxes I got could be useful GMing fodder if I want to give time-traveling PCs heartache. And the mvoies I got might ahve useful ideas. Then again, I did give some game stuff out as gifts, though not to family. One of my sisters got some rare fansubbed anime from me for Christmas. Michael Hopcroft ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
> Most of our relatives aren't "against" gaming so much as they are > "clueless about gaming," so it's likely just as well they don't buy > anything, or we'd probably end up with weird Rifts books or > something. That's just about the position I'm in, though my brother and sister-in-law used to game (and my brother has recently been pulled into a Forgotten Realms PBEM by the gentleman who was his best man at the wedding). I did get the soundtracks for both Two Towers and Return of the King, so that gives me Music To Write Adventures By -- if I'm trying to concentrate on something, I prefer instrumental music, as I find vocals distracting. Despite all the e-mailing back and forth by my family, I wound up with two copies of Two Towers, so one of them will be traded in as soon as I decide where and for what. I also got the newly restored _Metropolis_ (the one with the original 1927 music and the phenominal picture quality), which could be stretched into a gaming gift if I run/write another pulp SF adventure. Oh, yes, and I got the second of Joanne Hayes' WWII cookbooks. I'm running a Golden Age Champions game currently, so once we get to the actual start of the war (they're busy fighting off the Martian invaders in 1938 at the moment) I'll have all sorts of period-appropriate stuff for the group to eat. Leah ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Leah L Watts wrote: >I also got the newly restored >_Metropolis_ (the one with the original 1927 music and the phenominal >picture quality), > I might have to look this one up. Wichita's got a theater organ, and the annual silent movie awhile back (hmm, that'd have to have been about five years ago, since I seem to recall being pregnant at the time) was Metropolis, accompanied live. Deeply cool. I regret missing Thief of Baghdad the year before, too. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sun, 26 Dec 2004, Karen J. Cravens wrote: > On Sat, 25 Dec 2004, Frederik 'Freso' S. Olesen wrote: > > FFSO>Apart from having the items on the wishlist I sent out, no prompting was > FFSO>required - none of them are against gaming as such, and have all had a > FFSO>few years by now to get to know the local dealers and such ;) > > Most of our relatives aren't "against" gaming so much as they are > "clueless about gaming," so it's likely just as well they don't buy > anything, or we'd probably end up with weird Rifts books or something. > Some years one family member or another will decide "Hey, they play games" > and buy us the latest "party game;" I think we have Cranium and a few > others collecting dust, unopened. They just don't get the difference > between that and, say, Carcassonne. Maybe we should have taken Union > Pacific or something down there to play with them, I dunno. > Heheh. I introduced my brother and my sister and her husband to Carcassone at Christmas. I got looks that said something along the lines of "This will suck, but we'll humor you," on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day, my sister was bugging me constantly to play again. Of course, they should know better. Last year my sister asked for board games, expecting Monopoly and the like. I got them "Apples to Apples", and she and her husband looked at me like I had a second head. We played it later, and they loved it, couldn't wait to play it with her husband's parents. As for party games, some are ok and some are not. My friends have a game called Moods, and I refuse to play it. It involves saying things in completely opposing tones of voice, and I just can't do that. Hours of fun for everyone but me, though. > FFSO>2) Vampire: the Requiem dice set. (10 D10's with small bag/pouch.) > FFSO> Well... dice are always nice, aren't they? :D > > Sigh. Playing Fudge means having nearly no excuse to buy nifty new dice. > Well, there are those specialty dice. > FFSO>Hm... and then I got some folk music (Danish + Irish, trad. + contemp.), > FFSO>but I don't know how much they would relate to gaming in your eyes :p > > Gamers seem to fall into the sort of demographic that likes folk music. I > don't really know why. Yes, it's odd. Probably half the music I own is folk music, and I try to attend every (rare, unfortunately) performance of one of the local Irish bands. As for gaming presents I got, let's see. Karen gave me one of those dice bags mentioned in another thread. I got a model airplane I intend to use to kitbash starship miniatures. (And my parents knew that's what my plan is, so it counts! :) I got a copy of Pente, which I haven't played in forever. My brother gave me some ships for "Pirates of the Spanish Main", which is an odd but interesting game. And, I think that's it. All in all, some interesting stuff. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Bill Hamilton wrote:
> Heheh. I introduced my brother and my sister and her husband to
> Carcassone at Christmas. I got looks that said something along the lines
> of "This will suck, but we'll humor you," on Christmas Eve. Christmas
> Day, my sister was bugging me constantly to play again.
That's about the reaction I got when I taught my parents to play Settlers
of Catan.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ My Roleplaying Blog -- http://ravenx99.livejournal.com/ ]
* Sysop ('sih sop) n.: The guy laughing at your typing.
----------------------------------------------------------------
GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Carl D Cravens wrote: > On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Bill Hamilton wrote: > >> Heheh. I introduced my brother and my sister and her husband to >> Carcassone at Christmas. I got looks that said something along the lines >> of "This will suck, but we'll humor you," on Christmas Eve. Christmas >> Day, my sister was bugging me constantly to play again. > > That's about the reaction I got when I taught my parents to play Settlers > of Catan. I plan to teach them Settlers next. I'll teach my family to appreciate a good game even if I have to beat them with it to do so! :D -Bill Hamilton ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Karen J. Cravens wrote: >We're getting ready to open presents, so it's time for the annual >question: Who got gaming presents for Christmas, and what were they? >And did you have to prompt family members for them, buy them for >yourself, or do you have gaming-savvy family and friends? Nothing for Christmas, but it's my Birthday coming up in a month's time. My sister's family will be descending on us tomorrow (we spent Christmas itself with them), and I may run another Fudge scenario for the two children. -- Tim Hall Weblog: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog Photos: http://kalyr.fotopic.net/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Tim Hall wrote: >Nothing for Christmas, but it's my Birthday coming up in a month's >time. > > Yeah, I thought of you when I saw a trains calendar at Borders today, but decided it probably wasn't worth the transatlantic postage... ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/