House of Ainsley: Out-of-Character Discussion

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$96.34.  That's how much it cost me to get this godawful Acer Aspire IX fixed up to a reasonably functional and operational state...you know, like it should have been right out of the box.  As if paying $400 for the blasted thing in the first place wasn't enough.  So as the techie at Complete Computing told me, the Aspire IX's motherboard is hardwired to accept Windows 8.1 and only Windows 8.1.  So naturally, that's why this damnable computer rejected my every attempt to overwrite and overinstall the half-baked, half-functioning and stupidly unactivated copy of Windows 8.1 that Acer installed on it at the factory.  Windows 7?  Rejected.  Windows XP?  Slapped down.  Linux Zorin?  Slapped down hard.  Back around November, I called Acer tech support and asked them why they shipped my computer with an unactivated copy of Windows 8.1, thus ensuring that my work would be interrupted every five or ten sporkin' minutes with an uncancellable nag page reminding me "Waaah, this copy of Windows hasn't been activated!!!"  Three different tech support proles, and not one of them had an answer for me.  They all said that I'd have to buy a complete copy of Windows 8.1.  "$200 more dollars for an OS which I don't even want because I utterly detest it?"  "Well, that's just the way it is."  Forkin' horse pucky is what it is, damn it.

This is an ugly precedent.  What ever happened to the days when the OS copy which came installed with your computer was good until a virus ate your hard drive and forced you to reinstall everything?  This practice is a predatory grab at people's wallets, and if that's what Acer's up to, then I'll never buy another Acer again.

The techie at Complete Computing also fixed a few more problems with my crappy computer.  It can communicate to my printer/scanner now, by USB cable or wirelessly.  It still links to my router, but it still won't connect to the internet via my main band; it can only connect via my Guests band, meaning that I have to go through the trouble of opening a new page on Google Chrome and re-enter my Guests password every half-hour or so.  It sucks being a "guest" in my own house, but at least I got my old Compaq up and running again.  It's controlling my router via ethernet cable now.  Maybe I can stretch that half-hour to "Ask for my freakin' password once and only once."  I'll look into it.

The techie also verified my Windows 8.1 installation and he installed a shell which makes Windows 8.1 run more like Windows 7, without all the fifty-billion stupid menus creeping out of the edges of your screen every time you move your mouse somewhere.  Did I mention that I hate Windows 8?  It's true.


So it's been a couple weeks since I got my unscreweyed computer back.  I now have just about everything reinstalled, including Campaign Cartographer and Character Artist (after a few years of nonexistence).  But after running Campaign Cartographer for about ten minutes, I've decided that I could do a better job of remaking the House of Ainsley campaign's world map if I just did the whole thing in Paint Shop Pro.  It's going to be a huge map, of course; I'm starting it off at 5,000x5,000 pixels, and there will be three versions: The basic terrain map (which forms the base for the other two), the detailed map (with cities, roads, borders between nations, et cetera) and the political map (which is plain and unfeatured except for capitol cities and the domains of each noble house, complete with Coats-of-Arms).  By keeping a "naked" map with which to edit the others, I'll be able to create radical changes with the other two maps.  If Bardosylvania musters an army, heads north and conquers a chunk of Konegheim, I can Clone Brush off the basic map, erase the northern border of both Bardosylvania (on the detail map) and the northern border of House Ainsley's domain (on the political map) and draw the new northern borders where they should be.  If a [natural disaster/huge mob of barbarians/angry god/hungry Terrasque/some other catastrophe] wipes a city off the map, I again Clone Brush off the basic map and erase the city on the detail map.  And so on.

During the occasional idle moment, I've been doodling or writing notes for the House of Ainsley campaign; I've also been cleaning up my house and making it more liveable again, so that's another good sign of my improved mood.  It's good to be back.  I again apologize for the wait, guys.  Let's see what else I can do before I turn in for bed.

Okay, I'm rolling out Gustov's update now.  Tiger?  I'm going to add a slight change or two to Lord Darrovan's fighting force; you're welcome to make any last-minute changes to Gustov's forces as well, should you see fit to do so.

(Hey, I rolled up a smattering of vague and general stats for those Heroes, and by daggit, at least one of them had better make it to the battlefield.   )

The House of Ainsley wrote:

(Hey, I rolled up a smattering of vague and general stats for those Heroes, and by daggit, at least one of them had better make it to the battlefield.   )

OK

I meant Livonya the Forsaken.  I wasn't telling you that you had to pick one of the Heroes too, especially if you didn't want any heroes.  

Your old army was fine.  But whichever one you want to go with will work.  Either way, I'll give you an update tomorrow.  For now, I'm bushed and heading to bed.  

Starkad the Swift just reminded me of something.

Jazman!  We never did come up with a list of tricks and commands that Keitha has taught Killian Fang, did we?

Taljor!  Wherever you are.  Same goes for Keagon and Maya.

An animal companion can be taught up to three commands per each point of its Intelligence.  As a common wolf, Killian Fang has an Intelligence of 2; thus, he can learn up to six tricks or commands.  Maya the leopard also has Intelligence 2 and can learn up to six tricks or commands.  These should be simple enough for an animal to understand and execute; something like "Play dead" or "Fetch the small object that I'm pointing at" or "Fetch my boots (wherever the hell they are)" would be possible.  Something like "Pick that lock" or "Buckle the saddle onto my horse" or "Go in there, find the book titled 'Disaster at Surreyfold' and bring it to me," however...not so much.

You may wish to consider the differences between playful tricks and commands of utility.  Sure, Starkad has loaded up his animal companions with nothing but utilitarian commands (save for a "Speak" command for his tiger), but that's because he's a bit of an antisocial prick and he'd rather hang out in the woods with his animals than go to town every day.  So don't feel limited to those "Do this and that for me" commands; playful tricks (like "Shake hands," "Roll over," "Jump through this hoop" and all the other cute little stunts that people like to teach to their dogs) can be good fun, but they're also functional on a social level, particularly when the commonfolk are confronted with an animal whom most would consider to be dangerous.  "Saints preserve us!  There's a wolf in the tavern!  Hide the kids and grab some pitchforks before...awww, look!  It's sitting up and begging the barmaid for some treats!  Now it's standing on its head.  Oh, all right, I guess the wolf's friendly enough.  Can I get some more ale?"

Hey Tiger, is Gustov ever going to actually say anything? You haven't made a dialog post since your entry on scene I think.

GoldenDrakon wrote:

Hey Tiger, is Gustov ever going to actually say anything? You haven't made a dialog post since your entry on scene I think.  

Gustov will probably say something about the time you post a pic of that figurine that HOA got you. Though I think Gustov will probably win that race.  

Ooh.  Sick burn, tsss?

But yeah, Gustov has a decent Charisma, so make his banter with those two self-important generals count.  Then he can run out and gut some Karkovans, some ogres, a teen-aged Karnoz...whatever.  


Also, I just followed through on GD's suggestion and added a new page to The Cold Womb, so now the Death Knight (and his little brother, the Doom Knight) have a home.  I also added new pages for the Ghost and the Banshee, and I moved the Dhampir to his own "Those Who Court Undeath" page (since a dhampir, sired betwixt a mortal and a vampire, is only half-undead and thus isn't a true undead creature).  I suppose that I could also dredge up those old stats for poltergeists (who, like nightshades, are composites or gestalts formed from several ghosts, albeit ghosts tied to their place of death or tragedy and not quite as manifestly vile and malevolent as a nightshade is), so I may be rolling out a Poltergeist page soon.

But I'm still on the fence about the druj; I never much cared for the name "druj", but there is a conceivable place for undead body parts which move on their own accord.  There may be footnotes on the Zombie page about Strahd Zombies (or whatever I decide to rename them), which are zombies that you can completely hack to pieces and the parts will still keep moving and trying to kill you.  The "undead body parts" role could also be filled by either the Forsaken Shell (which is somebody's entire skin, sloughed off the body and turned into an undead creature) and the Skulking Cyst (which is the jumble of random body parts left over after a necrotic cyst completely consumes a person), but if I want something "meatier" than somebody's skin and without the need for any complicated necrotic cyst infections, the druj might be what I'm looking for.

Eh.  I'll think about it.

Anyway, if y'all find or think of any undead critters which I may have overlooked, just let me know.  

Spirit of the Tiger wrote:

Gustov will probably say something about the time you post a pic of that figurine that HOA got you. Though I think Gustov will probably win that race.  

*shrugs* Guess you should quit now then.

...yeah, I have no idea what you mean by that either.

Now somebody post something, daggit. Where's Jazman been lately?

SOMETHING.

There I posted something is that good enough.

...and four days later, you actually did do just that.

Okay, I have to go to bed now; I just got a new job at a Sears Parts Direct store opening in Mesquite on May 5th (though the paid training starts April 15th), and I have to drive four hours to Houston (and four hours back) for the drug test. The pay's $10.50 an hour, so it'll be worth the drive.

See you tomorrow, peeps!

I am curious as to why you have to drive 4 hours for a drug test. Is there not a lab or something else closer to your home?  And how far is your commute each day?  Not 4 hours I hope?

It turns out that there was.  I just blindly took the only option that came up, rather than enter my address and a ten-mile radius.  It didn't help that I forgot that Cypress is a Houston suburb.

Also, big surprise!  Two days ago, I got an email saying that Sears had bumped my start date up by six days, so I started yesterday.  So suddenly, my preparation time for my new job got cut from a week to less than 24 hours.  It's a one-hour drive either way right now until May 5th, when I get transferred to the new Parts Direct store in Mesquite, which is only 30 or 40 minutes away.  I'm about to head off in a bit, so I'll be posting on Sunday at the latest (unless something else comes up).  Wish me luck.  

(And those two posts should give me plenty to work with, come that time. Thank you, Tiger. )

Damn. I need to stop saying "I'll have such-and-such done by such-and-such time" because something always seems to come up that throws me off and stops me from keeping my word.

The Sears where I work now has been super-busy in preparation for a big springtime sale coming up on April 30 through May 2. I only got one day off this week, and I have no idea what days I'll have off next week. Everything's pretty well up in the air right now, and my transfer to the Mesquite branch has been pushed back to June 15th.

I got my first paycheck this morning, though, and it's a good $700 and some change. So that helps me feel better about this new job. I really hope to have more free time soon, though. So how are the rest of you folks doing?

I just figured that because my posts were so awesome it was taking you a while to digest them. At least that's what I tell myself to sleep a little better at night.

On a personal note you all remember about a year ago I lost my job at Target.  Well lost is probably the wrong word, I just got screwed big time.  Anyway after that I got a job at Advanced Auto Parts as a delivery driver for them.  I get paid to listen to the car radio for about a 1/4 to 1/2 of the day as I drive all over town on deliveries.  In about the year I have been there I have gotten more compliments about my work performance than in the two years I worked at Target.  I work an average of 35-40 per hours per week compared to 20-30 at Target.  I have only gotten one pay raise with another one coming within the next month or two, but that one pay raise by itself was bigger than the three pay raises that I got in the two years I was at Target.

I will admit the job is not without its challenges.  For example about a month ago the district manager decided that our back-stock area, those items not on the sales floor, was so TARFU that we needed to redo the whole thing.  Many in the store felt this was an extreme step as there weren't that many problems. So for the past month we have had to re-inventory our entire back-stock area.  It is not really difficult, but it is a very time consuming task.  Anyway that's a quick rundown of my work situation.

Man. Does that delivery job pay more than $10.50 an hour? If so, maybe I should apply. We have an Advance Auto Parts right here in town, too.

I wish the simple answer was yes, but there are many factors to consider.  The first is location as driver pay can vary from store to store.  I got lucky and the commercial side of our store is one of the, if not the, busiest in the state of Virginia.  Because we are so busy there is a lot of work to do and they pay their drivers well at that location. I know some divers at other stores that make less than I do.  Second will you be considered full or part-time, as full time drivers are given between 35-40 hours weekly.   Another factor to consider is how much customer experience you have?  I also know that your driving record will play a part in how much you get paid too. These are only a few of the factors that I know are considered in pay and I am sure that there are more that even I don't know about.

Sorry I couldn't give you a simple yes or no answer.

I understand.  It's the "Pay scale based on experience" hire-on practice again.  That's why I'm starting off at $10.50 an hour in a job which bottoms out at minimum wage.  (Of course, that's only because I may or may not have covered up a bunch of gaps and a McJob or two in my employment history by buying a few fake references and a new job history from Career Excuse; even I have my roguish, less-than-honest moments.   )

It sounds like a nice job, though.  I'll see if Sears pans out; if not, I'll try Advance Auto Parts.  Danke.  

Spirit of the Tiger wrote:

Since The House of Ainsley how disappeared into the void of the work world I will write the end of Gustov's story here.  Mind you that this a very very very very very very rough draft and is more of an outline at this point.

1.  Gustov using his awesome forces breaks into the capitol and kills Tsar Orsek.
2.  Gustov gives the head to the Emperor as a gift.  The Emperor realizes that Gustov is too awesome and steps down giving control of the entire kingdom to Gustov.  
3. Gustov encounters a person by the name of Karnoz "Raven Murder" Tellen.  Realizing that he is the best assassin in the world Karnoz is promoted to Master Assassin.
4.  Gustov finds the secret of immortality and with the help of Karnoz embarks on campaign that lasts about 20 years conquering the entire planet.  
5.  After ruling the planet for about 500 years Gustov becomes bored ruling just the planet.  He finds a group of warriors lead by a man with the name of Logan Grimnar and with their help conquers the rest of the universe by defeating all gods and beings that stand his way.

THE END

Har har har.  And here I was, thinking that Gustov would end up beheading Tempus with the twin Blades of Chaos and becoming the new God of War.  Shows what I know.  

(You know I'll have to either move that post here or delete it once I get around to posting, just to keep the story pure.  Right?  Cool.    )

But I've been pulling some very long hours at the Sears job; we're still recovering from that Mega Sale about 1.5 weeks back, we had two coworkers quit (one of which was a new hire) and another new hire was fired on his first day of work after the Store Manager walked into the clearance room and caught him sleeping on one of the chaise lounge chairs -- like, "out cold" sleeping, where she had to shake him to wake him up, just to let him know that he'd never have to come in to work for Sears ever again.  So I've been working six-day workweeks, which, believe it or not, is better than the two weeks before the Mega Sale, where I worked a solid 12 days straight.

Even though the pay and the benefits are nice, the job's been pretty rough.  I just noticed that my bottle of baby oil sneaked into those photos of my new Game of Thrones mini.  That's the baby oil that I rub into the soles of my feet after I come home each day, and it's the second bottle that I've opened since I started this job.  I don't get to sit down on the job very much.  

Anyway, apologies if my gainful employment is getting in the way of the game.  I should be getting next Sunday off, so I'm hoping that I'll be ready to go then.  I still haven't finished the new Ainsley family tree or the various coats-of-arms for several noble houses in the campaign's universe.  I was thinking of simplifying the Ainsley coat-of-arms too; it seems too "busy" for low-ranking nobility.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Hang in there, and stay tuned.  It would be nice if I had a few other players get ready with new posts before then, too.  Hint, hint.  

I was just having a little fun to see if you were still alive. Maybe we can get GD into this and get in some good RPG like the old days. Minus the pool table and SPs. By the way without using GOOGLE or any other search engine do you know who Logan Grimnar is?

Not sure, but he sounds like one of those Blood Wolves guys from Warhammer 40,000.

(I despise Warhammer 40,000, by the way. )


Also, they have me working tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. Me and my big mouth.

I like Warhammer 40k for the story line and some of the books are fun to read. I tried the role playing aspect of it and it sucked.

Yeah, the Warhammer RPG wasn't the least bit good.  The tactical game started out okay, then I started picking out all the game's little flaws, like making players pay more for a mini just because of its in-game rank (ie. $12 for an Imperial Guard Commissar when two Imperial Guard grunts only cost $7 or so).  Jerk-ass munchkin players ruined the rest of 40K for me, like the Ork player who filled his army with nothing but Ork bikers and cherry red motorcycles with autoguns, then placed them all in a line across his side of the table, then proceeded to not move them a micron and keep them in perpetual overwatch, which, even though it was legal, horridly grated against the very spirit of orks and their red bikes.  Naturally, my Sisters of Battle/Mordian Iron Guard army got completely mulched by the snotty son of a bitch and his heretical Orks.  

But the Imperial Assassins are cool.  I bought one assassin mini for each of the four Officio Assassinorum temples -- Vindicare, Callidus, Eversor and Culexus -- and gave all of them some gorgeous paint jobs.  They saw plenty of use on the gametable, too (usually arm-in-arm with my beloved Sisters of Battle).  One time, I was playing against a Tyranid player, and my Callidus Assassin busted out of one of his Hormagaunts.  He immediately surrounded her with nine or ten other Hormagaunts.  And even though Callidus Assassins aren't as scary in melee as Eversor Assassins, she proceeded to fight her way out and managed to kill every last one of the scaly bastards with her K'tan Phase Sword.  Then she mopped up a bunch of other Tyranids with her Neural Shredder, hewing them with the Phase Sword when they got too close.  And then she went toe-to-toe with a Carnifex (who was her primary target all along, due to her armor-ignoring Phase Sword) for about four rounds until my Sororitas army caught up with her, took out the Carnifex with multimeltas and won the game.

My other three got plenty of use, too: Vindicares against Space Marines, Sisters of Battle or Chaos Marines, Culexi against Eldar or Dark Eldar, Eversors against Orks, Imperial Guard, Nekrons and (usually) Tyranids.  I got to love my Imperial Assassins so much that I still have them all, even though I sold off all my Battle Sisters, Mordian Iron Guard and everything else back around 2004.  Imperial Assassins are hardcore.  

It would be nice if this boxed set had been around during my W40K days, though.  I'd have bought it for the box art alone.  

As you mentioned in a previous post a few of the new hires quit or got fired so due to that fact you were working longer. I know how that feels. Out the 5 new hires that we have had over the last month 4 have quit and the fifth is looking for another job. To be fair one of the dudes that quit did so for health reasons so I don't blame him, but the others I think just were too lazy. I mean how dare the boss expect you to show up to work on time and do some work while you are there. The nerve of some people.