Mass Effect 3 – Looking Back on the Trilogy

As you know from my prior blog posts, I recently went through and played Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 on the PC. In fact I just finished ME3. I’d like to write a bit about my whole Mass Effect experience. I’ll keep spoiler-ridden discussion separate at the end, and mark it clearly. To recap, …

Pay-to-Play Roleplaying, Are You Kidding Me?

The first I’d heard of this concept was a couple of years ago on Roll20.net, a site for hosting roleplaying games. To take a step back, roleplaying games are games. As in sitting down with your friends and family to play poker, or Trivial Pursuit, or Settlers of Catan. And maybe as in playing the …

Mass Effect 2 Transition to Mass Effect 3 – A Follow-Up to my recent “Bait and Switch” Post

After over six weeks of somewhat negative feelings every time I thought about trying to continue playing ME2, I finally mustered up enough motivation and switched it back on again. I had a saved game from just after finding two of the necessary three doors that needed to be closed in the midst of my …

Tom Hank’s Greyhound versus Neil Jordan’s Ondine – Of Ships and the Sea

I just finished watching these two very different movies within the past twelve hours, and I feel compelled to comment. Yes I know, apples and oranges, right? Not really. We watch movies to be entertained, so when it comes to entertainment value I can compare any two films legitimately. Spoilers for both movies below. I …

Personal Gaming Retrospective – 2020, A Look Back, and A Look Ahead

The writer of another blog I follow posted a look back at his gaming activity over the year 2020, so I thought I would do the same. It’s been a busy year for me. Only one in-person campaign (that transitioned to online), but quite a bit of time spent in online gaming. My local gaming …

That 70’s Show – A Critique

I started watching this show when it was first broadcast, back in 1998. Hard to believe that it’s been over twenty years. This one seemed like another “natural” for me to watch. Teens in high school in the latter half of the 70’s. In spite of the goofy title, I gave it a watch, and …

Space: Above and Beyond – A Review

Another series that I didn’t have time to watch, back in the day. And as they say (all too often), another show that shouldn’t have been canceled. No spoilers (so don’t comment that I missed something; I probably left it out to avoid spoilers). I just finished watching the one season that was made, which …

Bait and Switch? Or, Compulsive Behavior — My Reactions to Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2

It's about Story. I played Mass Effect and I really loved it. It looked good, and the cut scenes were good. I liked my character (John Shepard), and I generally liked the choices I was given (not so sure that my choices made too much of a difference, but oh well). I liked the NPCs, …

The 5E Crowd, and Goblins

I was trying to reply to a post on Blogger, but the thing appears to be glitched up so I’m posting my thoughts here. I don't seem to fit in with the 5E crowd. That's D&D Next, the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons (a Hasbro IP). A friend talked me into a new 5E …

Fantasy Movies: Conan the Barbarian

Fantasy movies have struggled for respect. Unlike science fiction, it’s been difficult for fantasy to find its feet and be taken seriously. And the culprits would appear to be the writers and the production companies. You can point to award-winning science-fiction movies like 2001, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Terminator or even Back to the Future, but for …