Dungeons and Dragons 5e is awesome

I wish I was as in good of shape as that dragon.  I'd be sexy...

So, for those of you who don't know me, or don't know me very well, I am a huge tabletop RPG (Role-Playing Game) gamer.  And while I've played many different systems, I've always thought that D&D has been the best, overall.  And I'm happy to finally give my opinion about D&D 5th edition.  Now like always I have to disclose a few things.  The last version of of D&D that I've played throughout is 3rd edition and by proxy 3.5.  It was highly customizable, highly experimental, and very fun but not without its many glaring flaws, and rules that could be broken or skipped over.  And while I liked the fact that it could be played with miniatures (Which really I feel like all tabletop RPGs should be played with miniatures) it was a new experience.

I tried my best to get into 4th edition, but to me it felt like playing World of Warcraft in tabletop form, and it just didn't grab my attention.  If I wanted to play World of Warcraft, I'd just play on my computer.  That and even when I wanted to play, I couldn't find a group who were willing to play alongside me.  So there was a time when fourth edition was up and coming, at it's peak, and slowly declined when I didn't have a gaming group.  So this blog post is not about comparing fourth edition to fifth edition, and you'll hear more about the comparisons and the contrasts between third and fifth.  And it's more about my impressions and experiences with Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition.  Got it?  Good.

So, as the title of this blog post would suggest, fifth edition is awesome.  I've been playing a campaign for about seven or eight weeks, once per week, for my first experience with the game, so I can't really comment on everything, since I don't know everything, but I have to say that what I've experienced with the game thus far, it's elegant.  The feel of the game and the mechanics behind the game feels far more streamlined than third edition.  Which is both good and bad.  Good in that it takes a little less time to create a character and to understand why this character works the way he does.  But it's bad in the way that it lacks the vast amount of customization that gives depth to a character.  Sure you can give customization in the role-play, and I like to think that I'm pretty expressive with my characters, but when compared to the mechanics I feel that third edition gives player customization more options than fifth.  Still, I really like the streamlining of fifth and there's nothing wrong with trying to condense it into an easier format.

I do like that there are different "Paths" that a character could go down.  For example a Fighter could branch off into a Champion, or a Battle Master, or even an Eldrith Knight.  So perhaps one fighter wants to learn how to do specific special battle moves, while another fighter wants to have magic to bolster his combat prowess.  Well, you can do so without having to reach certain requirements in skills, and levels, and having to be a certain alignment.  No, in fifth edition all you got to do is reach third level and pick your path.  And that's very cool.  And it's in the core fifth edition player's handbook.  I do wish that there were more choices for each of the character classes, but for what it's worth, it's a very good start, and I suspect more paths with supplemental books.  So it's a nitpick, but I think it's really cool.

Many of your classic monsters and wicked creatures are still featured, with amazing artwork to represent them.  Of course you have your goblins, and trolls, and drow, and dragons.  They have their own statistics, they have their own abilities, they have experience, and they range from the incredibly simple to the horrendously hard. But depending on the situation, terrain, time, or many different factors could make these creatures either easier, or harder.  And that's what I like.

But the best part about Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition, and really all tabletop RPGs is the social interaction with those who you play with.  Unlike video games, computer games, or even online games, tabletop games allow you to directly speak and interact with a group of friends or people who you just met and form new friendships as you and a cadre of other players work together in order to overcome an obstacle, defeat enemies, solve puzzles, and whatever have you.  And that's what I like best about tabletop games.  Especially if all the people you play with are your friends.

I currently play a character who is a Battle Master Fighter, big on strength, below average intelligence.  And I play him as such.  His name is Kain Lightvalour, who is a character I created way back when, when I was getting my feet wet in role-playing games almost twenty-five years ago with the tale end of second edition.  Back then he was a paladin, but over time he evolved into many different things, until now in fifth edition he became a fighter.  But I will write about his exploits another time.

It's good to be back, everyone!  And stay tuned... or whatever we call it for webpages.

Guess who's back.

So, it's strange how life works sometimes.  One moment you're on top of the world, the next you're down in the gutter, and then something gets fucked up and you start to climb the top of the mountaintop only to slip and fall again, only to scratch and claw to where you thought you were before this whole rigamarole began to begin with.

So... let's face it, the reason I stopped writing for a large portion of 2014 was because of a girl.  Like all good stories, tropes, and cliches right?  Well, ultimately thigs were said, feelings got hurt, pride and arrogance got in the way, and creatively, emotionally and mentally it just exhausted me.  In the end we were both wrong.

Okay, that's enough of that.  I am reviving the Infraggable Tony-Reviews.  Which will run pretty much the same format that my previous writings have had.  I may incorporate other people who want a chance to write, and maybe some point-counterpoint segments.  I don't know.  I usually don't plan for things like this.  I just want to get back into writing about things that I like to write about.  So... yeah, in typical fashion, this lackluster reemergence of the Infraggable Tony-Reviews is... yeah.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll write something soon.

Tony-Man's 4000th page view-maganza!

Happy 4000th pageviews!  ...I'm closing the site down until further notice.

Without material, there's no motivation, without motivation, there is no desire, without desire, there's no passion... without passion, there's no material.

Tony-Man vs Lady Thor

A Lady Thor?!  That's unpossible!

It was announced on the view that the Marvel mainstay and icon known as Thor is going through some major changes.  And one such major change is that he, is no longer a he.  But rather a She.  There is of course a lot of controversy over this change, and while I can certainly understand on a purist level that this can be unsettling, or even maddening, my question is really, "what took them so long?"  Let's think about this from a comic book standpoint.  Spider-Man has both a Spider-Woman and a Spider-Girl, Iron Man has Rescue, Hulk has She-Hulk, Batman has Batgirl, Superman as Supergirl, Magneto has Polaris, and there are many different examples both in the Marvel Universe, and in the DC universe.  And while yes many of these female characters originally started off as their male counterpart's female doppelgangers and little more, most of these characters have evolved into their own unique entity and have become rather successful.  (I mean Hell... even Deadpool got a Lady Deadpool.  Go figure that shit out.)

I want to make something clear.  I am not a big Thor fan.  I don't have any especial dislike for him.  He's powerful, he's inspiring, he can do many amazing things easily.  He's arrogant, he obviously has a swagger about him, he's faced many impossible odds and has come out on top, but in my opinion... he's simply just not all that interesting of a character.  I think a lot of the reason why I simply just don't think he's all that interesting, is because of the way he looks and the way he comes across.  But now that I know that all of this is going to be put inside of a female shell, well it opens up new possibilities.

Just how will a female be able to use the power of Thor?  How will she cope with the struggle that many superheroes have to cope with, when she has to choose between humanity and godhood?  How will she view her former self once she has attained the power of Thor?

"But Tony-Man, the inscription of the head of Mjolnir clearly states Whoever holds this hammer if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of... THOR."

See?  Told ya.

So, okay.  Yes, I will not deny the fact that on the hammer of a Norse weapon, English words are written which seems to point to the fact that only men can be worthy.  And if we lived in a world where there was no gray area, I'd be inclined to agree.  And yes, there was the time when Jane Foster held the hammer and became worthy and changed into Thordis... which at the time I felt was novelty gimmicks and lazy writing... but when thinking about it now in a retrospect, while the events that occurred during the whole Thordis saga, if it could really be called that... I had to refer back to the evolution of the English language.

I don't know much about other languages or how the words in such languages coincide with one another, but over the course of the English language, especially with pronouns, masculine pronouns have usually always described people or things in general whether they were masculine in nature or not.  As society became lazier, masculine pronouns have all but lost their masculinity for something a bit more gender-neutral.  After all typing or even saying "his or her" just feels cumbersome and it muddles up the flow of conversation or written script.  Over time, "he" simply became an acceptable convention when referring to an unknown person, while "his" became an acceptable convention for describing an unknown person's belonging.

Which brings us back to a Lady Thor.  Does Thor really need a lady counterpart?  Not really... It is going to be interesting to see what will happen, because unlike Batgirl, Rescue, Polaris, and Spider-Girl and the other female counterparts.  I'm working on the assumption that this particular Lady Thor is not a separate entity from Man Thor... but Lady Thor is going to BE Thor ...as a lady.  With lady parts and everything.  All I know is that if Lady Thor becomes enamored by a Jim Foster, or something like that, I'm going to throw the bullshit card out there.

As I said before, I'm not particularly a Thor fan, but the prospect of a Lady Thor (or whatever they're going to call her) is an intriguing and fascinating one, and one that I certainly hope pans well for the Thor galaxy in the Marvel Universe.  Me?  I'mma stick with my Lady Deadpool, Atcha cha cha cha!

Tony-Man plays One Night Ultimate Werewolf

I hope I don't get a werewolf... Arooooo!

It feels like forever since I've done an actual review on something that I actually like!  And while I know people have been asking, "Where's the July 4th editorial?"  Here's what I have to say on that.  Fuck the July 4th editorial!  I don't like the fireworks, I don't like the obligatory cookouts and our inflated sense of bullshit entitlement, I don't like the noise.  I do like the freedom, and the day off from work.  The End.

But, on July 4th, I did get to play a game that I actually really enjoy.  But before I go on, let me tell you some things about me.  I am a gamer.  But most people when they think of the word "gamer" they have a tendency to limit themselves to video games.  Now, in a way, that is part of what being a gamer is... is playing video games.  But the entirety of gaming is memory games, its board games, its video games, its computer games, its gaming when you have no games in which to game with.  The thing I like about board games, role-playing games, and other such games as these that video games typically do not have, is a physical social interaction with other people.  That's where board games and role-playing games have a distinct advantage over video games.

One of my more favorite games that I've been hearing about and reading about before finally getting to play is a game called One Night Ultimate Werewolf.  The concept is pretty simple to understand.  Every player is dealt a role card that they should only look at once.  For those who were dealt a werewolf role, the object of the game is not to be killed.  For those who drew a villager, the object of the game is to kill at least one of the two werewolves.  Sounds easy enough, hmm?  Well... there are a few twists to the game that makes it more interesting.

There are some villagers who get to do special things.  For example, the Seer when prompted is allowed to look at one player's card, or two cards from the center pile.  The Troublemaker can exchange two other player's cards.  The Hunter can choose to kill any player he wishes if he is the one killed.  The Minion serves as a distraction for the werewolves, and will win if the minion is killed and both werewolves survive.  There are a couple other cards that have different roles, and other instructions, but you get the idea.

Gameplay is very simple and you can learn how to play the game by the first or second time you play.  If you download the app, it will walk you through everything.  The game plays in three phases: Sleep phase, Suspicion phase, and Kill phase.  The game plays anywhere from 3-10 people, and this is a game where the more people there are, the more fun you can potentially have.  When I played the game, there were three people and from there we had fun, but we all agreed that more people would have made the game better.

The Sleep phase is the simplest phase in the game, especially if you have the app downloaded.  The Sleep phase consists of two parts, which are knowing your role and closing your eyes.  Each player is dealt out a card that has the particular role on it that the player assumes.  When prompted to close your eyes, each player closes their eyes.  Then prompts will go out to those who have drawn the werewolves, and the special villagers.  Once every player with a special role has gone, you will be prompted to open their eyes and the Sleep Phase is complete.

The Suspicion Phase comes next.  In this phase, all the players have a total of up to 10 minutes to try to figure out which player, or players are the werewolves.  Of course, the werewolves have up to 10 minutes to try not to be caught.  In this phase, the players can talk to the other players, try to figure out which roles have been dealt out, or even try to figure out if there even are any werewolves within the bunch.  This is the most fun part of the game and can lead to pretty interesting rationalizations, accusations, and psychological mind-fucks.  At the end of 10 minutes, or when all players are ready to vote, the Suspicion Phase is complete.

The last phase is the Kill phase.  After the Suspicion phase all players get to vote on who they think is the werewolf.  In the event of a tie, all players involved in the tie are considered to be killed.  In which case all players involved in the tie must reveal their card to figure out if they have killed the werewolf.  If at least one werewolf was killed, the villagers win.  If no werewolf was killed, the werewolves win.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a fun game that's also reasonably simple, but that's the beauty of it.  I encourage anyone who like bigger games but also short games such as this to play it at least once.  I know that I intend to play it more than once, hopefully with a bigger crowd.  Aroooooooo!

Tony-Man vs Gay Pride

Gay Pride Parade, Chicago, 2012

Before reading this blog, some of the comments, and sentences that are written below may be considered off-putting, and could inadvertently offend some friends of mine.  However, it is not my intent to offend anyone whether straight or gay.  If you are one such that offends easily, well you probably wouldn't be reading anything I write anyway, but I would advise not to read this particular post.

With that out of the way, let's get this trainwreck a'rollin.  I personally don't understand the LGBT community as a whole.  I don't really understand the need for parades, I don't understand why in the last fifteen to twenty years, gay people in general have been really all "in your face" about their homosexuality.  I don't really understand why gay people feel like they have a sense of entitlement.  Now, to be fair, I don't really understand why racists, atheists, Christians, feminists, or really most people who belong in certain religious or political groups feel they have a sense of entitlement either... but I've already looked under those rocks in the past.

Don't get me wrong.  I have no complaints on gay individuals, but in the interest of full disclosure, I was raised Southern Baptist.  I was taught that homosexuality is a sin, and that I should not associate with homosexuals.  And for a long time, I agreed with my Southern Baptist upbringing because one, at the time I didn't know any better, two; it made sense to me, because marriage at the time was to be a covenant between a man and a woman, it seems more natural.  Now that I'm older, and the nation is evolving, I've realized that gay, straight, bisexual, asexual, whatever... in the end we're all human beings.  I even have my share of gay friends and acquaintances since I decided that the narrow-minded stance of a 1990s Southern Baptist Church agenda probably wasn't the moral compass that I need to have in my life.  So, while I support the rights of the LGBT Community, and I'd like for them to get married, and I like for them to be treated as equals, I still don't get the parades, and the flamboyancy, and the rainbows, and some of the little nuances of Gay Pride itself.  I suppose I could blame it on the church and its indoctrination, but when it all comes down to it, I have to confess it on my own ignorance.

Flash forward to 2014, here I am, asking similar questions about why racism still exists, why poverty still exists, why the need to fight for animal rights, and why feminism still exists.  And while all of these things are unrelated to each other in many respects, each of these things really comes down to social incongruity.  For so long, we've accepted our social barriers because we haven't known any better.  Finally a group of people decided that something's not right with our society, and then take up a cause to fix things.  Sometimes, they are successful, and sometimes that which they set out to fix becomes counter-productive and end up making things worse.  Gay rights so far is on the right path to getting the equality that they feel they should have, and I personally agree that all people in America, and by extension all over the world should be treated equally and fairly.  But what happens if the fight doesn't end?  What happens if the rights of all Americans are trampled on in the name of equality?  Not to say that it's going to happen, I don't think the fight for gay equality is going to take that turn, but what if it does?

Maybe, that's just outside thinking.  But I wonder if anyone else has thought of it.  Getting back to my ignorance, I don't understand the myriad of gay people I guess... it's really less about the symbolism of gay pride and the LGBT, and more about the people.  For example, I have three people in the pod where I work who are gay.  All three of them are openly gay, and don't care if people know it.  But they don't act in a manner that's flamboyant.  They don't straight-bash, and they don't act in an overgeneralized gay way.  (Yes, I realize that there was really no way to describe them without being somewhat offensive, but if you thought that was bad...)  On the other side of it, I have several facebook friends who all they post is anti-straight posts, and just how incredibly gay they are, and they post up pictures of gay people in sexual/sensual positions, and they have no substance to their facebooks other than to reinforce how gay they are.  When I meet some of these people in real life, they are a walking personification about why I don't understand the LGBT community, and how off-putting they can be.  And maybe that's what I don't get.  And every time I speak with one of them, it's clear that I'm being judged for my ignorance, just as they're being judged for their hate of the straight person.

I suppose that my ignorance and my judgement can be called into question, but still... am I wrong for not understanding all the stuff that comes with gay pride?  Probably, and if so I can publicly acknowledge that while I support its agenda, I can support the struggle that they go through, I can support my gay and lesbian, and bisexual friends.  I just don't really understand the rainbows, and the flamboyancy, and the community as a whole.

So, yeah.  That's my take on that, Next time on the Infraggable Tony-Reviews, something perhaps a little less political, and... judgmental?  Sure, why not.

Tony-Man's Tribute to Casey Kasem

Zoinks! He's like the voice of the top 40 countdown!

Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 - July 15, 2014) was an American disc jokey, music historian, voice actor, actor, and was a genuinely good guy.  While he was probably best known for several radio shows, most notably the American Top 40, from 1970 until his retirement in 2009, he was also widely known as the voice of Norville "Shaggy" Rodgers of the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1969 to 1997 and again from 2002 to 2009.  Along side this, he provided the voice in many commercials, and had been several voices on Sesame Street. 

In 1971, he voiced Peter Cottontailin the Rankin/Bass production of "Here Comes Peter Cottontail."  He also voiced Robin from 1973 to 1985 oft he SuperFriends, and in 1980, he voiced Merry in "The Return of the King" animated movie.  He also voiced Alexander Cabot III in "Josie and the Pussycats"and "Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space."

Kasem was a devoted vegan, supporter of animal rights, and was a critic of factory farming.  He quit the role of Shaggy in 1995 when he was asked to voice Shaggy in a Burger King commercial.  He returned in 2002 when he negotiated to have Shaggy become a vegetarian.

Like most people in America, Casey Kasem had a hand in helping to shape my musical tastes.  Every week whenever I could, I would listen to the radio and listen to the American top 40, and I would always listen to his very recognizable, "guy next door" voice.  He wasn't exactly what I suppose we would consider a radio voice, but he was always pleasant, upbeat, and always had a charming demeanor.  He has also voiced one of the most beloved and long lasting characters in television history.  Casey Kasem was in my opinion truly one of America's treasures, and a hole has been left in his untimely death.  He was a man who despite his message of keep reaching for the stars, was very down to earth.  That was the sort of man I felt he was.

It's clear that Casey Kasem touched a lot of people's lives over the years, and inspired many of them to chase their dreams, and to be what they are destined to be.  As for me, I remember this man I never truly knew, and can't help but wonder what this world could be like if he hadn't graced it.