The loaned strimmer is due to arrive shortly and with it, I shall do valiant battle against the knee-high grass that's sprung up overnight. All is very well in the garden. Everything is growing rather aggressively as a result of weeks and weeks of rain followed by a week of uninterrupted sunshine. I would be very happy about this if I didn't feel a bit intimidated. Having spent a couple of days last week attempting to use an actual lawn mower and largely failing, the strimmer is now essential. Once the excess is off, the mower will probably work. Please. I swear I can see the brambles growing before my very eyes.
 |
| Don't take your eyes off it. |
Being a firm believer in carrot and stick, the carrot will be twofold. The return of the menfolk from Birmingham, laden hunter-gatherer like with stuff and the arrival in my inbox of the D&DNext playtest materials.
For those less au fait with this seismic event in the world of RPGs, 5e (or D&DNext as it is officially known) is the next iteration of D&D. This is hardly a new process as the game has been reinventing itself consistently over the last 30 years or so, but this is very big news. Wizards of the Coast have declared an open playtest on the new stuff and the aim is apparantly to win back the old guard as well as enthralling a new generation.
Depending on your viewpoint, 4e is regarded either as a brave tangent or a money-grabbing excercise in cynicism. What kind of reception D&DNext gets may well have some impact on whether Wizards (or, more importantly their parent company, Hasbro) continue to support it. Calling on the players to test drive the thing makes as much sense as anything. It at least implies some level of desired ownership and this was a major failing in the 4e marketing scheme. There the professed aim, admirable as it was, gave the distinct impression that we'd been playing it wrong before. Now, I really doubt that Wizards brought out 4e with the intention of pissing off the gamer community, so any bridge building exercise should be taken in good faith.
At the most cynical level, it means free stuff to play with and I see no bad in that.
Besides, I've been promised new dice. They'll need an outing.
Amanda, this post made me laugh. I've just taken to doing my own lawn - I figure I can butcher it as well as the lawn-guy that's been hacking it up for the last couple of years. Having injured my thumbs, back in 2007, I had to bow out of yard detail. However, as the years have drifted by, I feel it's time to give it another go.
ReplyDeleteI bought a gas mower and I am having the time of my life, but not without having a few minor mishaps before feeling the love!
Yesterday, at 7:45pm, I whipped out the mower and buzzed the back yard in 10 minutes - bylaw says no lawn mowing after 8pm...my neighbours on either side of me were out there clapping! Too funny!
Now, as to distinguishing the growth in my "flower beds", well, Rome wasn't built in a day so I figure I'll just keep picking the brains of my gardening friends.
As to gaming, I like reading about it, but must confess it's been a long, long time since I did any - life seemingly got in the way. So, I game vicariously through you and a few other gamers I follow. It's fun to read your enthusiasm.
Cheers, Jenny
Oh my. This sounds terribly familiar. I've yet to embark on the great "where exactly does this patch of undergrowth turn into lawn" experience, but trust me, I empathise.
DeleteInteresting thoughts on the D&D Next playtest and the animosity that Wizards seemed to create with 4E. I am currently buying a co-worker's 4E collection from him because the price is right. I didn't so much hate 4E but I was more than a little irritated by the differences between the OGL & GSL. I still maintain that if 4E would have been released as a competing product to D&D then I believe it would have been received much better.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very valid point. I'm a fan of the system, but I don't think it was handled particularly well - particularly in terms of providing a ready supply of well written adventures to promote it.
Delete'At the most cynical level, it means free stuff to play with and I see no bad in that.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I've been promised new dice.'
:)
Got them :) One purple set and one burgundy with gold set. Very pretty.
DeleteI got a set of gaudy pink ones and snot/lime green ones! Hope yours roll better than mine inevitably will, as they strive to prove elves cannot shoot straight.
DeleteThese are my dice and I guarantee that they will roll horribly. I am legendary.
DeleteWell, it's important to be legendary at something, right? :)
DeleteI assume a strimmer is the same thing as what we call a weed wacker? I do loathe gardening and yardwork!!
ReplyDeleteIf you're thinking of something like this -
Deletehttp://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/grass-trimmer/black-and-decker-gl315-grass-strimmer.asp
- then yes :)
I find clobbering weeds rather therapeutic and luckily we have the kind of garden that responds well to slash and burn tactics.
". . . this seismic event in the world of RPGs . . . "
ReplyDeleteI feel a tremor in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out . . . and won't stop talking!
;^)
Ha! So very, very true.
DeleteI have not played D&D after 3 came out. They lost me with the bad guns. I did look into 4e, but I don't know, it was just not for me. I do hope 5 is better. I miss D&D.
ReplyDeleteI hope 5e/Next does suit you. Take a look at the playtest stuff if you get the chance and see what you think.
Delete