Highmoon's Ponderings

As part of the shelved project I mentioned in my “Convictions” Witch Hunter post, my colleague and co-writer, Walt Ciechanowski, wrote this short but helpful article to help Witch Hunter GMs deal with the various disparate currencies that are available in the New World of the game’s setting.

Realistic as it may be to have the characters converting pounds into guilders, or francs into doubloons, etc, it is a tedious task that simply detracts from the main part of the game, playing a great story. Walt’s article solves that easily and brilliantly, and I’m sure any and all Witch Hunter GMs will get good use of this.

The rules have been posted to the Witch Hunter forum in the Paradigm Concepts website, and on Scribd, where it can be read online or downloaded on PDF (or use the widget below).

I hope you enjoy these rules. Please let me know how they work for you, either here or at the PCI Witch Hunter forum thread.

The non-stop rains of Wed and Thu gave way to a sunny Friday and a super awesome cold front on Saturday that has lingered around and brought nighttime temps in the Beach to high 40s. This morning I was originally going to join the monthly Bike Miami Ride but at 8:30 AM it was just way too early for this household, which went to bed at 3:30 AM after getting home from my father-in-law’s holiday party (oh man, such awesome food). So I rode my bike to synagogue as I always do, then checked out one of the waterfront promenades, this one in the area South of Fifth. From there I rode down to South Pointe Park and got to see the City of Miami right from the entrance to the port area.

My bike felt wobbly, and indeed it turned out I had two broken spokes in my rear wheel, so I dropped it at the Miami Beach Bicycle Center and walked home. Sans bike, we decided that the weather was too nice to not enjoy, so we went out to check out a couple of stores walking. Yes, we went walking in South Beach. It was fantastic.

We went to Sephora, where I got a new cologne (cause I can rarely find the other one I like and use, Azzaro Silver Black) then just went walking around, checking out stores, marveling at the beautiful blue skies, and chuckling at the SoBe trend-tribes. We are so uncool, we are beyond caring and enjoy it that way, so it’s funny to see those that are SO obsessed with appearances and the trends (and there’s loads of those in Miami, let alone SoBe).

We walked up to 13 St to have a pint at the Playwright Irish Pub, something we haven’t done in years. I love that pub; it’s spacious with great decor, they show soccer and other European sports (rugby!) and they actually know how to pull a pint of Guinness. Right when we arrived there I got a call that my bike was ready, so after a pint we walked down to 5th St again to get my bike. We walked back to the apt for a pit stop, then hit Publix for dinner (frozen pizzas we just threw in the oven).We plopped down on the couch to watch episodes of Pushing Daisies then played Rayman’s Raving Rabbid’s TV Party on the Wii.

Yes, it would have been cool to go out biking in this great weather, but walking around was just so good. We got incidental excercise, got to explore our new neighborhood and had a good time just the two of us.

More like this, please.

Read the Intro, First Session Report, Second Session Report, Kale’s Second Session Report, Third Session Report and Kale’s Third Session Report.

The curse has been broken! By that I mean the curse that kept me from playing with the rest of the group since September (which isn’t entirely fair, as in there we had the High Holy Days and our move to a new apt, but alongside days when it all seemed like it would work, then it didn’t). But that’s the past and last night I got to rejoin the crew of The Owl for the penultimate session of our Lady Blackbird game. (There have been two sessions since the Third Session linked above, but no reports have been written for those.)

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Today I announced that I am stepping down as the person behind the @BikeMiami Twitter account as of January 1, 2010. You can read the (very diplomatic) letter I posted here.

Honest truth is, I got tired of just being a cheerleader for a team that is not even playing at the moment. I started that Twitter account as a volunteer effort to help the Bike Miami team get the word out about events and to promote regular city cycling in Miami. After that, there were two Bike Miami Days (neither of which I could attend) and a couple of Bike Miami Rides, all of which were properly promoted. But then the period right before the city election hit, and before more pressing matters like City Budget, Bike Miami was set aside. There was a moment of victory when the City of Miami Commission approved both the Miami Bicycle Master Plan and Miami 21, but then Mayor Diaz’s term in office came to an end, and the candidate that would have followed his lead was not chosen. And there Bike Miami ground to a halt and has remained since.

With the Bike Miami Coordinator also loosing her job in City Hall, there was a cease of communication about the future of Bike Miami that has yet to be rectified. I did keep the Twitter account going through this time but without any official backing, it became more and more difficult to truly have a direction and to know what message to broadcast beyond “get on your bikes, Miami.”

To this we can add an amount of aggravation caused by a local bike shop merchant who decided he would have a beef with me and anything I did through the @BikeMiami account, whether it was me retweeting info about cool bike-related products (most of which are not available in Miami, something we can lay at the feet of the retailers), bike-related news from around the nation/world, or pushing for the regular kind of bike riding that we see in Europe (i.e. normal, day-to-day stuff, not Lycra or anything else needing special equipment). He simply refused to understand that I was a volunteer that did not speak officially for Bike Miami, but that in general kept the spirit of the message of Bike Miami in mind when operating that account. When it finally got personal, I knew for sure that this wasn’t worth the hassle.

I have a very clear idea of what I would like to see Bike Miami do, but since Bike Miami is simply a brand name attached to a series of events organized by the City of Miami, there isn’t much I expect that name to do beyond the Days and Rides. After seeing sites like BikePortland.org, Bike-PGH.org, Bike PHL or BikeJax.org, I realized what Miami needs is a truly independent bicycle advocacy central site, something I don’t really see Bike Miami becoming unless it goes independent of Miami City Hall, which I also don’t really see happening. So you know, be the change you want to see and all that…

I hope that the people I left the account to don’t let it die off, because it has grown to be a good vehicle for communication with the regular folks out there as well as a link to the larger network of bike advocacy sites. But that’s now out of my hands. I will continue to be a cheerleader for the idea of Bike Miami, and hope that the new administration of the City of Miami can realize the importance of this brand name and the initiative it launched for the future of Miami.

I have plans already in motion for what I want to do and which I will reveal in due time.

Get on your bike and ride, folks.

I did a review of the BFF as a show and of the first eight short films presented at the screening. Below are the reviews for the remaining nine short films from BFF Program 3.

Urban Bike Shorts

Pixel Gear Bikes – A short 1-minute video of 8-bit Paperboy-like bike riders doing stuff like riding in the city blowing red lights, pulling tricks and eventually crashing against a car door that opens suddenly. 1980s Nintendo synth music completes the package. Cute.

Cooking Up Bike Co-Ops in Los Angeles – This 5-minute documentary was just fantastic and represents another part of why I like film fests, the chance to see pieces that introduce people to situations they may not be aware of. The doc takes us to discover the Bicycle Kitchen, Bike Oven & Bikerowave, three different bike co-ops in LA, non-profit spaces where volunteers help people learn how to repair their own bikes, and the amazing community that has gathered around them. A short but inspiring film, you can view it in its entirety at Streetfilms.

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Yesterday I reviewed the BFF as a show, so now I’d like to review the 17 short films that I saw in Program 3. Short films are one of the things I like most about film festivals, as you rarely get to see them otherwise and they tend to pack a lot of variety of subjects, exploring the whole gamut of the topic.

Overall, the ones shown at BFF were entertaining and interesting, and in various cases, great conversation starters (for better or for worse).

I’m breaking the reviews up into two posts for easy reading; here are the first eight of the bunch.

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