Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier

Sammy Adams brewery does well for me more often than they fall short, so when I saw the Blackberry Witbier on the shelf I snapped it right up.

It has a hazy yellow/gold color, more color that I typically see in a wheat beer.  The first taste is the hardly hoppy at all wheat beer, followed quickly by the blackberries and spice, which fades to the only slightly bitter faintly sticky malt aftertaste.  The carbonation was medium.  I found it very well balanced and easy to drink.  It is very dry; the blackberries only provide a fleeting sweet note.

I enjoy a berry wheat style beer, so I favor this style when it is dry like this.  I like and recommend this brew, but not for just this style all night (if you happen to be one of those who will drink more than 1 or 2).  I found that I enjoyed 1 or 2 of these either as the first beer, or as a palate cleanser between changing beer styles.

Cheers.

I Read Some Raymond Feist

A number of people whose opinions I respect think he is a fine author and worthy of my reading time.  Looking for a little recreational reading, I endeavored to read some Raymond Feist.

Years ago I played the computer game Betrayal at Krondor.  I thought the game was mostly fun but was unsatisfied by the plot line.  At the time I chalked it up to the challenge of applying literature thinking to game design.  This summer I borrowed a copy of Krondor: The Betrayal.  I read roughly about a third of the way through the book and put it down.  Permanently.  I have probably only done that a half dozen times in my life.  At this point in my life I am less tolerant of books which do not reach an enjoyment threshold than I was in earlier times in my life.  This can easily be attributed to the various pressures on my time and the scarcity of reading time.

Why did I not enjoy Krondor: The Betrayal?  Quite simply, neither characters nor plot engaged me.  I found the prose did not create pictures in my head.

First week of December we did an island visit; it was a vacation escape from the cold.  Looking for reading material, I am advised Krondor: The Betrayal is not one of Feist's better books and am recommended to try the Conclave of the Shadows series.  Further advised that the first two books go together and the third is optional, I pack borrowed copies of Talon of the Silverhawk and King of Foxes.

They were better but still I find them wanting.  I never felt the characters progressed beyond two dimensional caricatures.  They never felt like real people to me, I was unable to relate to them.  The plot wandered like a pick your own adventure book.  Powerful background characters acted like omnipotent plot fixers, much like deus ex machina.  The plot fixers had knowledge the characters in the book and the readers never get to know.  They are just smarter than all of us.  I will try not to spoil the series but at one point the central character suffers a debilitating and supposedly permanent injury, which later is 'cured' by the omnipotent plot fixers.

I did read complete the two books while on vacation.  The good news is I did not put them down.  I do not think I will be reading any more Feist though.  As the old saying goes, his books are apparently not my cup of tea.

Divination, not the answer to who, when & where

So, to summarize what I said previously - we want a Divination to give useful advice commensurate to the level of the spell being consumed without spoiling a good time by solving the adventure outright. 

In my current campaign the party is in search of a powerful artifact/weapon.  They have found an ancient city in ruins occupied by a combination of humans, humanoids and nasty creatures in an uneasy and shifting balance.  They have reason to believe the artifact is in the city, hidden in the tomb of the original owner.  They have reason to believe they need a descendant of that owner, one of her bloodline, to overcome the protections surrounding the artifact.  They have reason to believe those protections are potent and dangerous.  They have a lead on a solution, but it is inconvenient.  They decide they want to find an alternate solution.  So far so good; I like it when they use their heads.

So they decide to ask the gods.  Priestess, fire up the Divination spell!  Now what to ask....  The first thought was "where and who is the closest bloodline and how do we overcome the protections on the artifact?"

Rather than just let them try the question and have it fail, I maturely interject as DM.  "Bzzzzzzzttttt, sorry that will not work."  Disappointed and confused look from the player.  So then I take a little time to explain the limits of Divination.  'Similar to augury but more powerful, a divination spell can provide you with a useful piece of advice in reply to a question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity that is to occur within one week.'  More confused looks.  I followup with examples of what successful and unsuccessful divination castings might look like; your character would have had some training at the temple and this is what you would know.  More player discussion ensues and they finally decide on the question.

“If we return to Penchawn to get the bard Faynie, is it our only chance to retrieve Gray Razor?”

The response is as follows:  Tula's children were few, and what still lives are spread far and wide. No path is certain, and no path is sure. A journey to Penchawn to seek the bard may yield what you seek through wise actions and honeyed words.

They think long and hard about this and decide, for now, they do not want to take the time to go all the way back to Penchawn.  They decide there must be a solution here in the ruined city.  So they set about finding the small pockets of humans left in this ruined mess.  At one stop, a middle aged man named Escovar claims to be in the bloodline of the artifact owner, a famous barbarian princess.  The party, ever suspicious, decides another Divination is in order.

"If Escovar joins us in our quest will we be able to obtain Gray Razor?"

The response is as follows: A cloud of doom hangs over this action. The path remains dangerous and the vision of death is imminent.

They decide against sharing this little bit of good news with Escover, telling him they will get back to him.  Away from Escovar they have a long discussion about the meaning of this divination.  Perhaps there is just trickery in the words, and the vision of death is simply the occupant of the tomb.  Ever confident, they discuss their chances of figuring out how to overcome the danger called out in the divination.  After all, the divination did not say absolutely it would not work and they would all die.  Next outing I find out what they decide as their next action.


Ah, the fun I have with Divination. 

Merry Christmas and Thanks

I have been otherwise occupied for the last few weeks, so I have not made time for a post.  I plan to catch up next week.  I had been busy with an island vacation, work, and holiday preparation.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you can enjoy it with friends and family.  Thank you all for reading, commenting, and fellow bloggers for their interesting musings.  Best to you all.

Here is a link to an old post of mine, a meager attempt at humor.  This was originally written for my PBP group and updated slightly for the blogosphere. The Night Before Christmas, D&D blogger style.

And last but not least - Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus.

Divination, lead me to the treasure

OK, so I got side tracked in the last post. (the evils of Google) What I really wanted to write about was Divination in a game. Since we play a house ruled 3.5 I will be referring to the actual spell. However, the concept of having divine or arcane magic which can provide useful information towards solving the in game challenge vs. just how much the DM reveals without spoiling the fun is not limited by edition.

I have read via the interwebs some DMs suggest simply striking the spell from the available lists. I do not subscribe to such an action. Divination has a rich history in literature and my game draws much from literature.  My homebrew is not a copy of some literary world but rather draws on elements that are common in literary worlds, and hence gives a familiar feeling to the players.  Removing divination type magic would would degrade that familiarity.  Additionally, I like to use NPCs with divination abilities in the homebrew.  Knowledge is power, even if that knowledge is limited or flawed.  I like the interplay of the diviners selling their wares as absolute knowledge while the buyers of such knowledge are skeptical and yet fearful to ignore the potential such knowledge could bring.  If they NPCs can use divination magic, then so should the players.

I have stricken spells from the game.  I have not done so without careful thought about how it impacts my homebrew, and I do it very sparingly.  Players choose a class expecting to have the abilities as stated (my house rules are written and public to the players so there is no surprise), and are disappointed to lose those abilities.  There may be a sense of making the character less valuable.

So, what is the problem with Divination?  Inevitably a character would like to cast the spell and ask: "Did Varalak the High Priest murder King Coriant?",  "Where does this magical portal lead?", "What terrible creature guards the treasure in the temple?", "Which hallway leads to the captive princess?".   Thank you for calling 1 800 ASK A GOD.  We are sorry, due to convoluted rules we are not at liberty to explain why your query cannot be answered and your spell is still consumed.  We look forward to serving you in the future in the service of your god.  Be sure to watch your alignment.  Have a nice day.

The conversation between Omnipotentia, the all knowing goddess of knowledge and the DM go something like this.
Omnipotentia - "Look, I know the answer to the priest's question.  She's been true to her alignment, she risked her life in my service five times last week, and giving her this bit of direct knowledge unequivocally advances my goals as goddess of knowledge.  What gives with me having to give some vague answer, that can be taken ambiguously, to this loyal servant?"
DM - "I have spent a pant load of time putting this adventure together so the players pulling the puppet strings on your follower will have a good time.  I am not about to have them solve the adventure with a simple spell casting in the first five minutes of the game.  It is not satisfying for them, and would really piss me off."
Omnipotentia - "It just doesn't seem right.  I mean, you go on about verisimilitude in your game and-"
DM - interrupting "Listen, I hear a loyal follower of Discordia the goddess of death, destruction, and generally uncouth behavior using a divination asking the goddess for the secret to slaying the goddess of knowledge.  Maybe you are right, maybe this is the time to start answering those questions with full disclosure.  You know a god war might be an interesting twist to this campaign....
Omnipotentia - "I am starting to see you point of view.  Let me get my thesaurus."

At the heart of it, Divination should give some useful advice but should not solve the adventure.  Seems simple right?  First off the players struggle with what to ask knowing 1 800 ASK A GOD will only answer a properly limited and formatted question.  Next, those darn players will spring a Divination question when you least expect it.  Now you have to come up with a cleverly written response which gives just just enough advice without spoiling the adventure.  No wonder some DMs squirm at this point.  I rather like it though, it keeps me on my toes.

Next post, I'll talk about my most recent experience with Divination in game.

Astral Projection & Divination

After playing D&D for over 30 years, today I discover there is real magic in these books.  I kid you not.  I was doing a Google search on divination and I came across a website with instructions on how to force Satan or demons (it didn't specify how you know which, perhaps that was on another page) out of a persons body.  Afterward there is a prayer, and in that prayer you must renounce a good many things (and many of those things it seems like a pretty good idea to renounce).  I did come to notice that in paragraph 7 of 10 in this rather detailed and specific prayer it says this:

I renounce heavy metal music, satanic rock and black rock, watching occult movies and all demonic role-play games, such as Dungeons and Dragons.

So, they wouldn't make you renounce that unless it could lead to, you know, the dark magic of astral projection and divination right?  I suppose since you are renouncing heavy metal music that could lead to the same dark magic, but then it would involve big hair and being hard of hearing too.

All kinds of ideas sprang into my head.  Is there really the secrets of astral projection hidden in one of my D&D books?  I wonder which edition?  (Oh, no, more fodder for the edition wars!)  What exactly is 'black rock'?  How do I know what is an occult movie as opposed to a just weird one (I wonder if they have a list?  Do they update it regularly if I subscribe to the site?)  Also I noticed they capitalized Dungeons and Dragons; they fear not combating Satan and his minions but tremble before copyright lawyers?

The more I think on this it may not be D&D which is the main tool in Satan's weaponry.  It makes me wonder about this divination spell called Google.

Stone Cat ESB masquerading

In the endless quest to find more fine beer to quaff, I picked up a sixer of Stone Cat ESB.   This will be a short review.  I popped open one, had a sip and had to look at the label.  I thought I had mistakenly bought an IPA.  There was not enough else going for this brew for me to pay close attention.  If you are an IPA fan, you might really enjoy this.  IPAs are the only brew that I truly do not enjoy, and hence, did not enjoy this at all.  Better luck next time.

Cheers.