By Duncan on 30 October 2007 18:41

Our local quiz machine adds new games occasionally, but they at the moment they don't seem to get any new good ones. Maybe we need to try a new pub and a new machine. This one wins at the moment because its near to my house (and my friend Ewen's), has a pool table and a quiz machine. What it needs for me is some more class games, like Boggle, Risk, Word Wall and that space invaders one.

They even had the audacity to make Word Up (now named Word Soup) disappear for a whole week. I was so outraged I almost (but never managed) wrote an angry email to them demanding its return .

We used to make visits to the Bowling Green too, until they replaced their quiz machine. But they also have a pool table, and a table football...

 

By Duncan on 26 October 2007 11:58

I'm back again, now that I've actually bothered to fix the problem with my Blog, which prevented me from adding new stuff.

Whats changed since last I posted? Not much really.

DotNetNuke have released a new version of their forum, so that should get updated on here in the next couple of days

We've started two different campaigns for our gaming on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Still on facebook scrabble, got a new full-time job, started a new story hour, looked at D&D 4th Edition, been on two dance weekenders and possibly getting a car ,

Til next time!

By Duncan on 07 September 2007 17:15

Facebook gets even better, as I discovered the joys of Scrabble on it today. An old family tradition, Scrabble is played by my mum, both sisters, a great aunt, eight aunts, one uncle and several cousins. Having become rusty, I've found a way to keep playing online.

So if anyone is on facebook, give it a go .

By Duncan on 06 September 2007 11:15

My dabbling in salsa continues, with my dancing a little rusty after a month's break. Bar Venezia down on Exeter Quay is my favourite place to salsa at the moment, with a friendly atmosphere and some great dancers.

Last Friday I went up with my friend Kash to a dance in Barnstaple, a leaving do for a salsa teacher there called Martin. An amazing dancer who recently one 2nd in a national amateur's salsa contest. He actually leaves at the end of September, so we still see him for another month.

We got there a little late, and were expecing a normal freestyle. After a couple of songs, there was a break (at about 10) for a buffet meal, with the queue leading onto the dancefloor. A little unusual to have food so late, but some dancing continued. The night continued, with the songs interrupted by a going-away dance for Martin, belly dancers, an impromptu striptease, a cabaret of Martin and Naomi's winning routine and a raffle [No, I didn't win]. It was quite a surreal night, not helped by the DJ's dodgy...

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By Duncan on 05 September 2007 11:29

As always when a new university term starts, I'll be running a new roleplaying campaign. But this year I'm running for an experienced group who have been players of mine for years, although some haven't been in a campaign for a while.  My players voted for a more intrigue based campaign, this time around, playing part of a diplomatic embassy as a prelude to an invasion.

On Sunday we got down to character creation, with a good mix of concepts and interesting ideas. Not a combat heavy group, the initial four characters are skilled at Diplomacy and stealth, joined by a fifth on Monday, with one more yet to be made.

Which means I get to the best bit for me, plotting out the campaign arc and how things may happen. Planning encounters, populating the characters of the world, working out interesting events and storylines. Knowing these players, much of what I plan will get turned on its head, but that's the way it should be.

And yes, I will be writing this campaign up as a story hour.

...

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By Duncan on 30 August 2007 12:51

For the bank holiday, I went camping in a foreign country (Wales), using my tent for the third time in two months, a lifelong record for me. A couple of my dancing friends invited some dancers and their uni friends to come canoing with them down the river Wye to Monmouth. I was probably drunk when I agreed, because its not something I'd normally spend a weekend doing, especially a bank holiday one.

I'm glad I did go as we had an amazing two nights, with a great indian meal on Friday night followed by a couple of hours getting more friends addicted to pub quiz machines.  My stalwart game of Word Up appears to have been renamed to Word Soup. Saturday and Sunday were spent in canoes going down the river Wye, with more floating in the sun than actual paddling. We visited three pubs on the Saturday, although none had quiz machines that I saw. There were fourteen of us, with two others who camped with us on the Saturday night and joined our expedition on the Sunday.

Each canoe was a two-man affair, and...

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By Duncan on 16 August 2007 12:27

Two bits today.

Firstly, the Transformers film was great. It could have been incredible, but it was still really good. I went expecting giant robots fighting it out, and that's what I got. It wasn't sophisticated, but watching helicopters, trucks and cars turn into robots did the business. Go and see it.

I will most definately go and see Transformers II when it comes out.

And onto the second part of today.

D&D 4th Edition has been announced

There is an ENWorld thread here, and one in the gaming forum here. It will be released in May next year, with previews later this year.

I don't have much to say on it yet, as I haven't looked at the details much. Needless to say, it is big news for gamers. A little earlier than expected, but I'll certainly have a good look at the previews.

 

More soon on this, no doubt.

 

By Duncan on 13 August 2007 12:17

I had another great weekend just gone, dancing down in Falmouth and Newquay (Indian Queens).

Our host holds a BBQ every year, allowing campers in his garden and building a custom dance floor. This was my first year and he'd put up a massive sail to cover the dance floor and surrounding area. Apparently it had enough tension in it to allow someone to walk on top of it.

I had great dances on Friday night at Newquay, and Saturday night at our host's. The atmosphere was great and food was plentiful. There was even a brief cabaret. I expect to be back next year!

The one downside came on Sunday morning, when my mobile's screen died. It would still turn on and ring, but I couldn't actually see what was happening. I bought a new one yesterday in Exeter, but lost all the numbers stored on the phone. After many failed attempts to connect PC to phone, I finally managed this morning, and stopped cursing my phone to update my new phone.

By Duncan on 01 August 2007 11:55

Transformers has come to my local cinema, and I'll go and see it in the next couple of days. I prefer to see films when the cinema is mostly empty, and there are less people to annoy me.

Reviews have been mixed so far. But most of the down points seem to be about plot and somesuch. If I'm going to see a film about giant robots fighting each other, the last thing I really care about is a plot. Lost of machines, explosions and cheesy fight scenes. But not plot.

The beeb gave it four stars though, which was a pleasant surpise.

No doubt I'll give an opinion once I've seen it.

By Duncan on 24 July 2007 15:58

After a few hours of fighting with a Friendly URL generator for DotNetNuke, I've managed to get it to work.

For those who don't know, the URL is the bit that appears in the top of the browser, such as http://www.dunknet.net/books-and-writing.aspx

What this means is that links in my site should now be pretty much all text based. So instead of a link with lots of &, ?, =, there should be a descriptive title instead. It won't make a blind bit of difference to anyone except possibly the search engines.

Thats it for todays useless bit of news!