Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Gods Must Be Crazy

I had this idea while going to the bathroom. That rarely happens. Usually, I get an idea and I flesh it out in the bathroom (most often the shower, not the toilet).

The idea is a world where the gods are active. And by active, I mean they issue proclamations and change the very laws of existence on a weekly or monthly or yearly basis.

I just woke up a little while ago so my memory has not fully booted but I do not remember a campaign setting where the gods are as explicitly active as this. Even in a setting like Forgotten Realms, the gods are mostly active behind the scenes in games (they are main characters in books but not often in games, unless the PCs are gods). And the few other instances I remember of active gods in RPGs usually sequesters them away as highly secretive or isolated.

While the campaign does not necessarily have to go this way, one easily derived storyline is to increase the capriciousness of the gods and the PCs must do the impossible to stop them - deicide.

In a less us-vs-them campaign, the PCs would have the option to directly petition their god to change physical laws to their benefit. In this case, there would have to be a limit on the power of the gods to maintain balance.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Young Me, Now Me

This is a cool website linked from Fark today. It displays two pictures side-by-side; on the left is a picture of "young me" (an old picture from when someone was a child) and on the right is a picture of "now me" (a current picture, often duplicating aspects of the young me photo such as clothing, position, location, facial expression, etc.).

And then there is this guy:

http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme/permalink.html?437

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Prayer before Sex

An article I read months ago but wanted to transfer here in case it goes offline.
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Roman Catholic couples are being encouraged to pray together before they have sex.

A book published by a prominent Church group invites those setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love.

It is aimed at 'purifying their intentions' so that the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.

The prayer, which appears in the Prayer Book for Spouses, implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'.

It adds: 'Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will.

'Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.'

The 64-page book has been published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society.

The group has close links to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

The Rt Rev Paul Hendricks, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and sits on the charity's board, said he thought the prayer's inclusion was 'brave but good'.

'I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognising that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife,' he said.

'It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life and I suppose this is a particular way of doing that.'

'Perhaps it is something that has not been tried, certainly for a while - I can't remember seeing something like that before.'

The book contains prayers for every stage of marriage and family life, including engagement, planning for parenthood, pregnancy and caring for children and elderly parents.

The prayers, written by a variety of authors, are interspersed with Catholic teaching on the meaning of marriage and family.

The book pushes the message that marriage should be exclusive and life-long and condemns abortion.

It criticises 'those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity'.

It adds: 'It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage.'

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Zora and the Fire

This comes from a play-by-post game I am playing. My character is Zora-Kai, a watersoul genasi; Connor is a warlock. We are fighting goblins in a bar and the goblins have set the place on fire. Connor is looking for a bucket and water while the rest of us fight. I mentioned that I used Zora's swiftcurrent power before they started the fire, otherwise I would be putting the fire out with my butt (meaning my bottom half would turn to water and douse the flames as I moved over them). He got a different mental picture.
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That would be kind of funny. In my head it plays out something like:

Zora-Kai starts wrestling with the bindings of her pants. Then pauses and looks up at the rest of the group.

"It's not like you think, OK? I just need my butt out."

Pause.

"I mean I have a wet butt."

Facepalms.

"I mean I need to stick my butt in the fire."

Sighs and covers eyes with her hand.

"You know what, the Warlock can put the damn fire out. I'm gonna keep killing people."