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Games for Sale!
This Saturday, we’ll be selling a bunch of games, mostly older. We’re gonna have two spots on a table at the MidSummer Game Swap. Here is our current list of games for sale:
RPG:
Dystopian Wars rulebook
Dungeons & Dragons (that weird fake 2nd edition that came out later. *grin*)
Just a few of the games we’re selling.
Board/Card games:
Prussian Army
Panzer General: Allied Assault
Marvel Super Heroes basic set ( seems to be missing map )
Roman Taxi
Shootin’ Ladders
Crappy Birthday
Fred: What would Fred do
Cranium
Hoopla
Rapscallion
Eye for an Eye
Starfarer of Catan ( with expansion )
Traveller small box set,
OriginalRocketville ( nib )
Axis & Allies DDayAttack! ( With expansion)
Munchkin, Star Munchkin, Munchthulhu, Munchkin Zombie
POWER “The Game”
Buck Rogers Battle for the 25th Century ( TSR)
Diplomacy ( Avalon Hill 2003 )Risk ( 60s, wooden pieces )
Macho Women With Guns ( +3 expansions )
WFB Beastmen Army Box set from ?’07-ish.
Alibi ( Mayfair )
Pirates Quest for Davy Jones Gold ( constructable card ships game )
Minatures:
Al Muktar’s Desert Dogs
Galrauch, First Chaos Dragon
Dark Emissary
Albion Truthsayer
Chaos Knights ( 8 or so, 6th Edition era )
Chaos Marauder Horsemen ( 7, 6th ed. )
Flesh Hounds of Khorne ( 3, older ones )
Rogue Trader era Land Raider
Hounds of Chaos ( a dozen, older )
A box of misc Space Marine parts ( 12 scouts, a bunch of random characters Blood Angels, Grey Knights )
Adeptus Arbites ( 6 )
Protectorate Reckoner
Protectorate Temple Flame guard
Trollblood Scattergunners
Protectorate Devout
Protectorate Deliverer Sunburst
Red Wine & Mushroom Chicken Recipe
Red Wine & Mushroom Chicken
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used 3..since there are 3 of us)
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
Fresh mushrooms, sliced, as many as you want
1 sprig fresh tarragon (Also did not have fresh, so I used about 2 tsp-ish dried)
3 1/2 tablespoons port wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
(I also added about two cloves of garlic and some fresh black pepper)
DIRECTIONS:
In a deep skillet, heat oil on high. Coat chicken with flour, add to skillet, reduce heat and cook on low for 10 minutes (or until cooked through). Remove chicken breasts to a platter and keep warm.
To the same skillet, add the shallots, saute for 1 minute, then add wine and heat until reduced by half. Add stock and heat for 5 minutes until sauce thickens.
Meanwhile, in a small pan, saute mushrooms in a little oil. Add tarragon to mushrooms, then add both to the chicken and wine sauce. Cook all for 7 minutes, stir in port and cook for 5 more minutes.
Arrange the chicken on a platter and spoon sauce over it. Garnish with parsley. Serve.
“D” is for Donna #AtoZChallenge
Growing up, I always liked my first name. It is a pretty name and combined with my middle name, kinda rolls off the tongue. Except for when mom yelled it when I was in trouble. Then it sounded like I should run and hide. Hah!
When I made it to middle school, it was the first time I had ever had classmates named Donna. There were numerous Donnas in my class and even a Dondi, which was odd. That’s one of my mom’s pet names for me (which she still uses even though I am 47 years old) and I liked it. She was an okay girl and I think she was nice to me. But some of the other people with my name..weren’t.
I remember asking people to start calling me by my middle name. Mostly in my own head, in my own stories, and imagination. I hated my name so much and wanted to change it. I knew it was a dumb thing, because I had always loved my name.
I also was very tired of people singing “Donna” by Ritchie Valens. I still hate that song. I also hated “Donna the Prima Donna” by Dion. Thankfully, it was never sung to me that much. *shudder* There is one song called “Donna” which is a big favorite. It is “Donna” by Art of Noise. Man, that “Into the Battle with the Art of Noise” is still my favorite album of theirs.
As I got older, I didn’t mind it as much. When I did run into other women named Donna, they were a very very nice. Many just as persnickety as I am, with difficult personalities. Really. I can be difficult. It didn’t bother me as much because none of these people were mean to me; they didn’t fit what I thought someone with my name would be like. Rather, what other girls named Donna were like.
When I discovered Ye Olde Internets, I started using the handle Danicia. I used it /everywhere/ and met heaps of people through Usenet. Yeah, really old school there. Everything was using Danicia. You couldn’t find me by my real name…ever on the intartoobs. Well, until I had to use my real name while working for BioWare.
I’ve known people for over a decade who still don’t know that my real name is not Danicia (dan-EE-see-ya), but is Donna. I’ve kinda gotten used to it by now; rarely does anyone still call me Dani. I’m asked if I have a preference; I don’t. They’re both me and I love both names.
“My name is Raymond J. Johnson, Jr. Now you can call me Ray, or you can call me J, or you can call me Johnny, or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me Junie, or you can call me Junior; now you can call me Ray J, or you can call me RJ, or you can call me RJJ, or you can call me RJJ Jr.” ultimately ending with, “but you doesn’t hasta call me Johnson!” – Yes. I am that old.
C is for Concentration #AtoZChallenge
Last night I attempted to have a board game night, but instead it was spent driving around and not getting to play games at all. Not that this is particularly interesting, but it did keep me from playing catch up in the Blog Through A to Z Challenge. This means THREE blogs tonight!
My first catch up blog is “C”. Concentration. I have a very hard time with it.
Tonight, I was pretty happy to be cuddling up to some delish chicken & garlic pizza and some tasty chocolate stout. I was all set to write my blogs, when I was distracted by a friend’s comment on Twitter about Draw Something A bunch of my co-workers and, well, everyone I know practically…is playing it. I quickly abandoned my blog and installed the free client.
2 hours later, I’m back at my blog, waiting for friends to respond to my games & challenges. I might have said on Twitter, “I has a delicious beer. I just downloaded “Draw Something”. I think I’m just going to draw penii (penises?).”
So here I sit, distracted by the game and my friends are sending me wacky drawings. I completely forgot what my original “C” topic was going to be and I’ve got no clue what I’m going to write for “D” and “E”.
Pardon me whilst I draw a monkey with a banana for Ken.
Beer – Blogging from A to Z Challenge
Why yes, to no one’s surprise, my “B” blog will be about…BEER.
I first started my foray into beer in high school. I know, who didn’t? Well, back then the drinking age in Texas was 18. I drank a LOT of the standard cheap beers, which I never did like.
I would find things like Anchor Steam, Fosters (back in the old big tin oil can days), Red Stripe, and the like. There wasn’t too much variety to be found in Texas…well…anywhere hardly at that point.
I pretty much stopped drinking beer and mostly drank cocktails. As I got older and my palate changed, I started trying something different. Guinness. I liked it much better than the pale ales & lagers from my younger days. Still, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted out of a beer.
Finally, more and more craft beer started showing up in Texas. Red Hook, Alaskan, Sierra Nevada, and more. This pub my ex and I used to hang out at called JW Rovers in Round Rock, had a “Drink your way around the World” or some such challenge. If you drank X amount of beers, you got into this great club. Name on the wall, special T-shirt, and events.
I won a major award! It's FRAGILE!
So we set out on a journey to explore every beer style we could manage to get our hands on. I decided I hated fruit beer (Sorry Pete’s Wicked) and loved Stouts (Thanks Red Hook for the now defunct Starbuck’s version of Double Black Stout). I fell in love with Belgian beer, and decided I just wasn’t up for Canadian beers. Okay, so I’ve changed my opinion on Canadian beers after spending 5 weeks in Montreal. ❤ Unibroue now. Same for the Griffon Red Ale by Brasserie McAuslan/McAuslan Brewing.
I digress. HOW I DIGRESS.
I’ve since discovered heaps of places to find information about craft beer on the internet. I’ve been lucky to live in hubs of good beer, both large independent brewers and small craft brewpubs. I discovered so many great beers while living in Seattle, and was gobsmacked by the craft brew culture which exploded in Austin over the last 10 years. (Hint: Look for Jester King in bottles. They’re definitely selling in SoCal right now.)
All my best outings are paired with beer. I enjoy sharing beer and teaching people about beer, just as I do board/card games. That’s why I’ve always been so passionate about my Board Game/Beer Geek meetups. Maybe you’ll join me at one and learn about great beer and fun games.
Hands down, my favorite beer, Ten Fidy.
I’m Participating in the Blogging from A-to-Z Challenge
I am so late to the party! I had seen something about this challenge float by on the Twitter feed for my co-worker, Margaret Krohn. She and I feel very similar about communities, gaming, and fostering an inclusive environment. It’s been awesome getting to know her; we don’t get to chat as much since we work in different buildings.
At any rate, I was intrigued. I went into this new blog with great intentions of posting regularly. In this, I have failed. I had a few great posts (I hope?) around PAX East last year; it is fitting that I’m kickstarting the blog again right in time for this year’s PAX East.
I’m kinda behind on the blogging, so I’ve missed getting on the sign up list for the Blogging from A-to-Z Challenge. No matter. I am still going to participate!
My “A” blog is going to be about…acceptance!
For many, it is very hard to accept things about yourself. On the outside, I accept that I am overweight. I accept that I am older than many of my peers in the gaming industry. I accept that I have a pain disorder and am not as mobile as I once was. I accept that I talk too much, and I also accept that for a good much of the time, I’m an extremely quiet person. I can be obnoxious and very rigid in my ideas of justice. I hate playing with rules lawyers, but sometimes, I am one myself. I accept that my sexiness is from within. I accept that people won’t think I’m sexy. I accept that my tattoos are off-putting to many people. I accept that I have been a big jerk to people in my life.
And that is okay. It all makes up who I am. There is no room for regrets or not accepting these things, because it means denying who you are…and that who you are is a-okay.
I meet a lot of people in gaming & geek culture who are always talking about how they’ve been afraid to accept their “geekiness” and let “their geek flag fly”. They say, “you are so comfortable with yourself.”. I teasingly say, ‘That’s because I don’t give a flying fig what people think about me.”.
Really, this is only partly true. I care deeply about what my mother thinks of me. I care very much about the opinions of my peers, friends, and loved ones.
What I am really saying is…All those people who want to tell me I’m to fat/old/stupid/ugly to be sexy/smart/caring/worthy of love? They can kiss my big fat butt. I accept my flaws. I accept my passions. I accept I may be wrong from time to time. None of this makes me less of a person or not worth love.
EVERYONE is worth love. Accept that you are weird. Accept that you are just a bit different from those around you. It’s not bad to be different. Sometimes it just takes time to figure out that the only person who truly matters is you. If you don’t love yourself, how can you expect wonderful loving people to find you?
I accept myself for who I am and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
[Beer] My Favorite Day of the Year!
Why yes, I am enjoying Stout Day! Picked up my Untappd badge, too! I’m enjoying an Old Viscosity by Port Brewing, which is a mighty tasty beverage. I won’t even get into how amazing OLDER Viscosity is.
“Not your Dad’s Wimpy 30 Weight is how our original label used to describe this massive chewy and thick beer.
Code named by our brewers-”The Big Black Nasty,” this is monstrous dark ale is brewed to no particular style. Thick and sludgy like oil from the crankcase of a wheat threshing combine, Old Viscosity blurs the boundaries of Porter, Stout, Old Ale and Barleywines.”
What Stouts did you or are you drinking for Stout Day?
Where I yammer on about Indie Video Games.
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that I support Indie Games. I love them, even if they’re not a game I’d normally play. Yes, I get MORE excited if I have played it or seen it and /want/ to play it. I don’t own a console (really) but I do see a lot of great games which drive me to WANT one. So, most of the games I recommend are on the PC (or your computer of choice). Here are the top games I love or I am looking forward to seeing soon.
Cogs – I first fell in love with Cogs a couple of years ago when I found it on a random “steampunk games” search. I was looking for steampunk-themed games to showcase at the first Steamcon Seattle and fell in love. Lazy 8 Studios founder Rob Jagnow is a smart guy; a very nice one, too!
His passion for creating accessible good games is quite apparent when you meet him. I’ve been able to watch Cogs jump from being PC only, to being developed across many platforms. I have a pretty short puzzle fuse, as it were. But I enjoy that Cogs can be played a variety of ways. I’m much less likely to succeed in a time challenge than one based on moves. Some puzzles are very easy for me (gears & chimes) and some are downright impossible (anything with steam pipes). Still, I fail the puzzle, but I still feel that I’ve succeeded. This is a smart and beautiful game. Please buy it on as many platforms as you can.
Machinarium – I also found this game whilst researching Steampunk games. Machinarium is a point-and-click puzzle game. Now, I’m not normally a point-and-click kinda of gal; Machinarium changed my perception of this style. It is much more than just pointing and clicking. There are a lot of mini-puzzles and certain sequences you have to figure out to move the story along. And the story? Adorable.
Whenever I play, I am always immersed into the story of the little robots. It’s all done with thought bubbles and pictures to convey the feelings of the robots and how to move the story along. My favorite part is the mini-game which you find when you want hints. As a big fan of the Defender & Stargate arcade games, I was tickled to find this wee mini-game. Seriously, just get this. It is fantastic.
Osmos – I’ve seen this style of game before, but I am not sure I have seen one as beautifully done as this. The music is sublime. Hell, sometimes I’ll start the game and just listen while I’m working, doing chores or whatnot. I don’t think I have the words to quite describe why this game is so compelling. Or maybe I just did.
I first saw Osmos at PAX Prime in 2009. Every time I walked by the booth, I was drawn in by the beauty of the game and the soundtrack. One of the things I have enjoyed most about the game is that I have to SLOW DOWN. There’s no race to absorb the motes (mostly) and the slow & steady approach is actually the better one. I’m such a crappy gamer, so I just stumble through games, trying to beat them into submission. This game has helped me relax and focus into playing the type of game I don’t normally play. Which has carried over into the games I DO normally play.
Choice of Games – I first discovered these folks when I finally upgraded to a smart phone (Android,’natch). I wasn’t really feeling a lot of the games out there and was unsure I wanted to /pay/ for games on my phone (I have since changed my mind about that paying part). At the time, they only had one game out, Choice of the Dragon.
Well, I love stories, choose your own adventure AND DRAGONS. It was a perfect fit. I loved that I could promote the game via social media. Also, I loved that they also respond well to constructive criticism. Not only that, they take the discussions of gender and get input from their community! As Adam Strong-Morse writes in his post Gender in Choice of the Dragon
We discussed the treatment of gender extensively as we were planning our first game. I self-identify as a feminist, and I’ve worked to promote equality for the LGBT community in my non-gaming professional life. So I started off with a firm commitment to the idea that our games had to be good on gender issues.
Each game have made has been an improvement on the last. I love what they’re doing so I encourage you to buy their games on Amazon.com.
Winter Voices – Winter Voices is an episodic RPG, told in 7 stories. This is a game you will really love or just not like at all. At least, from what I read in the reviews. This is one of those games I talk about when I’m blathering on about “mechanics don’t matter as much as the story”.
When I am playing, I don’t notice the mechanics some have criticized. I’m drawn in by the story, the music, and the art style. Winter Voices is up to episode 4, which you can buy in numerous places. The game is dark. The tale is dark. The music is dark. And my old elder goth self loves it.
SpyParty – How did I find SpyParty? I stumbled across this article, The Next Smart Video Game Only Lets You Kill Once by Stephen Totillo on Kotaku. What is SpyParty? “SpyParty is a spy game about human behavior, performance, perception, and deception.”
SpyParty is a game for nerds. Game dev nerds. Truly. Chris Heckler’s blogging on the SpyParty site is a luscious treat for design nerds. I am one of the 707 and cannot WAIT to get my hands on this game. Note: The screenshot below is prototype. Not finalized art.
I love watching videos of people playing this game. You can find heaps of them on Youtube. One of the other things I enjoy in the videos is that the audience doesn’t “cheat” for either player. They’re just as immersed as the people playing. This game will take concentration and paying attention to human behavior. Yes, Chris, please let me know when I can throw money at you.
B.U.T.T.O.N. – Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now – I saw this game at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in the Independent Games Festivalarea this year and was in tears laughing at everyone playing. Of course, I did feel sorry for their neighbors because it was pretty invasive to the games on their left & right. You know, watching this game in action is way better than reading me blather on about it.
NIDHOGG – Another game which captivated my attention at GDC in the Indie game area. I want to throw money at this game, too! I loved watching how the crowd reacted while people played each other. When there was a particularly good (or bad) move, the crowd would cheer or let out “Aww man!” type shouts. Lots of clapping & cheering on both players. And, as a game ended, people were happy to pass off the controllers to help others play the game. THAT is what I love about people who play games, make games and promote games. Whilst you may be disappointed in the human race in the gamer space at times, this was a great collective supportive group of folks. I loved it. Pictures don’t do this game justice, it’s all about the music and action.
I think I’m running out of steam (no pun intended). Here are links to some other games I love or am looking forward to playing.
- Dinner Date – Want.
- The Cat and The Coup – Want.
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent – Want.
- Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble – Own. Fun!
- Desktop Dungeons – Want.
- Solace – Have. Beautiful!
- Blue Lacuna – Want.
- AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity – Own. I suck at it. HILARIOUS FUN PLAYING.
- Enviro-Bear 2000 – I make people play this; I have it for the Droid.
There are so many more great indie games out there. Next time you are looking around for the latest and greatest, think about supporting some very creative & talented designers, programmers, artists, musicians and everyone else it takes to make games.
Extra Life Charity Fundraiser & Community. Donate Now!
I’ve seen the Extra Life chatter around the internet and decided I was going to participate this year. Not only that, I’m inviting in the Community Managers Group to join me in a team goal.
I know I talk about the not-so-awesome aspect of some gamers & gamer culture. However, there are a lot more awesome gamers out there than jerks. And when it comes to charity fundraisers, there are a lot of great people doing great things.
This time, I decided to join in. I’ve donated to Child’s Play before, especially sponsoring the Cookie Brigade at PAX Prime & PAX East. There are so many inventive ways for geeks & gamers to be involved and now I’m going to be doing my part.
You can help me reach my goal by visiting My Donation Page If you are a Community Manager, you can help by joining our group.
I will be sorting out my list of games so you can track what I’m playing. I might live broadcast some of it, and there will definitely be pictures. You can track my games from watching my Twitter feed or following me on Raptr.
Hope to see you get involved!
Hot Pink Freak 
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