Friday, September 02, 2016

The Siege Engine

The Trebuchet


With an average stone weight of somewhee in the vicintiy of  200lbs, the cycle rate on this puppy was one launch every 15 seconds.

One every 15 seconds.

Heavier stones were used, of course, up to 3000lbs it is believed.

3000lbs.

That is a lot of pouundage.

The siege engine does a whole lot of work and can carry a big load. A real big load.

It was most recently seen being used in the Syrian civil war (I would post a picture but I do not believe it is appropriate).


Thursday, September 01, 2016

Storytelling

Role playing games interest me in more ways than one. I enjoy playing The Game and always have. I could never really understand why, nor did I ever give it much thought until decades after I starting playing The Game.

Why role playing?

There are many papers and studies out there that point out this that and the other about the nature of the players and The Game. I have to find many that focus on what I believe to be one of the most critical and attractive aspects of role playing.

Story telling.



Role playing is one of the many guises under which story telling is realized.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to activate our brains, and role-playing games do this incredibly well. When we tell stories—or experience them—our brains have to process language, the cause and effect of events, and also relate it to our own pre-existing experiences. While you're playing a role-playing game, your brain is firing on all cylinders. 
Role playing, or story telling, is one the manners in which we interpret, rationalize and come to understand our world.

So tell stories. Lots of stories.

Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds: An Introduction

For several weeks now, we’ve been hyping up the Gygaxian Fantasy World series on various platforms, Facebook, X, Instagram, and Twitch. It ...