Totalwar

Wow, I forgot I was registered in this forum. Any who, does anyone here play Dungeons and Dragons? I play a halfling rogue.

Arg, well I?ve been trying to switch to a paid account for the past week. I just have time to post or update my website (not both) It makes little sense to have a website if I don?t have time to update it. I have about 10 min of real free time Mon-Fri, and increasingly less time on weekends. The only annoying part is I?ve never set up a paypal account. I planned on paying for everything with my debit or credit card and then I found out I had to use pay pal. So then I signed up for a pay pal account but had to activate my pay pal account. So I gave them my bank information and my credit card information and had to wait for them to confirm that. Now that that is confirmed I need to transfer money from my bank account to my pay pal account so I can use it to pay the $9.99 or whatever for my paid account. Arg, I guess it?s ok since it shows they are reputable but still, this is going to take two weeks and it?s the easiest way to pay on line. The internet sucks.

I?ve been too busy lately but whenever I go to these forums I feel it?s too difficult to find topics I?m interested in. So I thought I would brain storm some new ideas for topics. 1) I?ve been watching Prison Break on TV, any one else feel like talking about this show?2) I pirate a lot of software. Now I will respect the rules of this forum, and I won?t tell anyone where or how I do it but I don?t think it?s wrong. I think software is too expensive and I should not have to pay for software that has questionable functionality. Any thoughts?3) I have acne, I use a combination of sysilic acid scrub, aftershave, and a face mask, what do you use. 4) I read a lot of comics, any JLA, Batman, or X-men fans out there?5) I read a lot of Stephen king, any other king fans out there?6) I?m reading the Lord of the Rings series, I know there are fans out there. Well that?s all I can think of tonight. I?m just so tired lately, its getting too hard to reply to topics I?m interested in. Any thoughts?

I love bizarre para-zoology. Loch ness, Bigfoot, aliens, the Jersey devil. And hay, just because you don?t see it doesn?t mean its not real. How many of you have ever heard of those stories about a supposedly extinct bird or some thing that everyone thinks is long gone. And then a few people see it but unlike the Chuparabra, people actually go looking for it instead of just poo-pooing the idea. Many thought to be extinct species have undergone the same periodic sighting, only to be discovered. All I?m saying is small populations can continue to sustain themselves outside the watchful eye of humans. Something to think about.

Ok, this is my first vent post and hopefully my last but we?ll see. I am a certified teacher who can?t find a job in Michigan (but that?s a vent for another time). I am currently substitute teaching in the Saginaw area which, no offence to anyone who lives there, is a ghetto. 90% of the students are African American or Hispanic (but there is also white trash just to cover the skin rainbow). Everyone is under the poverty level which is no excuse since I claimed $12,000 on my last tax return and the poverty line is $14,000. Now I love my job and I really enjoy working with these young students. Too many of them I am the only stable male figure in their lives. That having been said I put up with a lot of?junk for lack of a better word. Last week I was substitute teaching for the afternoon in a 1st grade room. Attendence is taken in the morning so I had no idea which students were absent or otherwise. I just knew who was coming back from lunch. The afternoon went fine since I have good classroom management. I even took the children outside for an afternoon recess because they were well behaves. Once again I have no problem with the students. Now at the end of the day (which is notorious for poor instructions..?3:15 dissmisal? ok where do I dismiss them, do I wait for them to go, who picks them up!). Any who I actually was told which door to take them out of and to watch them get picked up but not to worry too much about it. So I walk the kids down and all is well until this mom comes up and asks ?Where is John?? (I?ve changed the name). Well I recognized the name as a child from a kindergarten room I had subbed in last year and pointed him out. ?Not that John? She said. ?John G.?Now at this point I think, well I knew one John and I took my time learning the other children?s names so I would probably have remembered if there where two students with the same name but I?ll give her the benefit of the doubt. We spent 45 minutes looking for this child, who fit a description that I didn?t recognize. But hay I?m just the substitute what do I know. Finally I go back up to the room to see if John G. went up there for some reason. John G. never came to school that afternoon?he never even came to school that morning. He slept over at a friends house and they never woke him up for school. I spent 45 minutes searching the school for a child that never even came to school that day!That?s not the worst of it. Two days later the same thing happens. Only this time the real teacher had been in the building testing. He had dismissed them and HE had been outside watching them get picked up. Well then along comes mom and she?s like ?where is Lily? (again a different name). So we start looking and ask her is there any one else who might have picked her up (grandma, sister, cousin) and she said no. So once again we spend 45 minutes looking for this child. Keep in mind that as a substitute teacher I make $80 a day or $40 for half a day. I am not paid hourly so if I stay 45 minutes after school, its on my own time. Now I don?t mind looking for a child who is really missing. Or even for a child who could logically have the potential to be missing. But when after 45 minutes of searching the mom finally checks back at her house to see if Lily walked home, oh?she walked home with her cousin. Ok?ok last rant. I?m at a different school on Thursday and this little girl says she has to go to the bathroom. Now Saginaw schools are not the best in the world, and lately the state has been cracking down on them. As a result all classes K-3 must spend 2 hours of uninterrupted time in the morning reading or writing. That means that for two hours the students may not go to the bathroom. I have been scolded many times for sending students to the bathroom and I have been told that I am not to send the child out of the room unless they are crying. So I tell the girl no. She holds it for an impressive 15 minutes and then begins to cry. ?Ok you can go? I tell her. Well she goes and when she gets back the sits down for about a minute and asks to go again. ?Yes?wait no, you just went? I tell her. So she holds it until lunch. Now I am strict about a lot of things when I sub, but when students need to go to the bathroom I generally let them. So that afternoon this same girl goes to the bathroom 3 more times. Finally I tell her no. I figure she is just playing games with me and trying to get out of class. So first she cries, then she screams, then she yells ?I HATE YOU!? but whatever I figure she is just one of those spoiled kids that usually gets what she wants. Keep in mind this child has gone to the bathroom 5 times in an 8 hour period. So apparently she wets her self, but I don?t find this out until later. That?s why she?s freaking out, understandable. She dries off and becomes a happy child for the rest of the afternoon. Keep in mind she could have just told me she wet herself, I don?t spend my day looking at second grader?s crotches, but oh well. At the end of the day I?m lining every one up go home and she urinates like a geyser all over the floor. She bursts into tears and I tell her to run down to the office. Her parents sent her to school with a bladder infection. They knew, they just sent her anyway. Way to make may day horrible. Well thanks for letting me vent, maybe next time I?ll talk about how I actually taught this little second grader how to add.

Wow, first of all this game is not like MMX7 which was a waste of $50. The good thing about MMX7 being bad is that many buyers were hesitant to buy MMX8 which allowed for the price to drop down to $20 relatively quickly. The game play goes back to side scrolling with a 3d rendered background. With the exception of scrolling, I found the view useful and could generally see where I wanted to go next. The three hunters are back, Zero who does high damage a close range, X who does a range of damage at long range, and Axel who does light damage but a superior targeting system (he can aim while X can only shoot forward). Many people have complained about the spikes (of which there are many), to those people I want to say, have you played the old MM and MMX games? There are countless levels that had so many spikes that if you made a wrong move you were screwed. Its annoying but hardly something new to the series. I suppose they could have given X an armor which could walk on spikes (I think he had one in X 5), but the fact that spikes are so dangerous simply makes the game more challenging.My only real complaint is another Megaman tradition which I find even more troublesome than a wall of spikes, non-traditional levels. Since Megaman 7 or so, there have been levels where your riding some kind of bike, or hover-cycle or jet, or submarine, and all your hard earned weapons and armors are useless since your at the mercy of whatever vehicle they put you in. I?ve never enjoyed these levels and I never will. I this game, Gigavolt man-o-war?s level is particularly annoying because your basically forced to shoot and maneuver randomly while the jet arcs you in random directions. Worst of all, the level has a time limit for no particular reason so if your random movements aren?t good enough you simply die. That having been said the rest of the game is pretty solid, I do miss ducking, but it felt good to be slashing away at machines with Zero?s saber again. Speaking of which the game also has some codes, including one to give Zero the option of buying Sigma?s blade. While some find these codes cheep, I like them since they save me hours of pointless game play trying to unlock a single item. I won?t post the codes here for now, but look them up, their worth using. Basically the game is worth $20 and is the best Megaman game to come out since X4, which is saying a lot. Go buy it, and post your thoughts here. And if your stuck, I?d be happy to tell you how to get past something.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Right now we have arraigned things this way. We have the rings on lay away and we are waiting for a sale in November when the owner comes in and can apparently reduce the price of rings more than the regular sales clerks. I?m putting her in charge of haggling since she is worried about the price and unlike me, is not going to pay whatever when all is said and done. If she can work them down to a price she is comfortable with then all the better, if not, I told her that she needs to find a ring that is at least as expensive as mine (about 300), otherwise I would feel bad. The thing is, I don?t normally wear rings and if I?m going to buy one to wear for the rest of my life I think it should be at least kind of nice. Anywho, once again thanks for your comments and I?ll be sure to post wedding pictures in may, after I get back from the honey moon (we?re going to Mackinaw city).

Wow, good thing I checked this post, usually I post stuff about my RPG and no one ever replies. Well first 17 races is a lot but my goal was to allow players to be able to create pretty much any character they could dream of. There is also the issue of the zones. Basically the galaxy is segmented into 4 concentric zones. In the center most zone magic dominates while technology does not function, at the outer most zone technology dominates while magic is drastically weakened. The zones in between mix the two with empires that use imported aspects of technology and magic along with psionics. As a result it would be unlikely that any one player would encounter even half the races during one mission.I set things up this way because in the past I have found it difficult to explain to a mage character why a ?Deathstar? blew up his home world. If players want strict magic they can stay in the core, if they want strict technology they can ride the galactic rim. Only characters that wanted a mix of the two would need to travel through the zones in between. As for balancing the races, I usually run a verbal RPG, although I?ve been toying with the idea of a text based version online using e-mail and some forum. The point is I don?t use dice, instead I give bonuses for the creativity of a players actions. A well prepared weak player could easily avoid and even kill a powerful character who has lapsed in his (or her) role playing. Missions could take two forms. The Cult of Ares is only interested in war, to this end they run a galactic mercenary network which would post possible missions which players could take. If non of the mercenary missions catch a players eye they can always quest out on their own and let adventure find them. I keep things pretty free form for those who like it that way, but can build structure and drawn out quests for those who prefer that. Well that?s all I can post right now, I?ve got work in about an hour (I?m a elementary school tutor and substitute teacher). I?m glad to see so much interest! I?m pretty busy right now but if I had players I could probably manage a weekly RPG, something where you could post your actions during the week and I would reply no later than that Saturday. I could also respond to e-mails in a day or two. So tell me what you think! And thanks again for your interest.Totalwar

As many of you know I run a role playing game and use my trap 17 account to host it?s website. Recently I have re-designed my role playing game in order to eliminate all copy written information. As a result a lot of races and territories that were once well designed (though heavily barrowed from other genres) are now vague regions that need fleshing out. I?m looking for original (or possibly inspired) races and religions. I currently have 17 religions:Church of the Divine Trinity, a Christian inspired religion, focused on faith and forgiveness.Temple of the Sun, A new religion focusing on 7 sun gods and their joint decisions.Church of Zeus, followers of the sky god Zeus.Temples of Poseidon, followers of the god of the sea.The Prometheus Movement, a religion begun by machines seeking independence.Temples of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, a religion of psychics and outcasts.Cult of Ares, a religion that focuses on starting and maintaining wars.The Order of Hephestis, an engineer's religion, followed mostly by dwarves.Temples of Dionysus, a religion centered around celebration and self discovery.Church of Hermes, another machine religion, that focuses on improving their reputation.The Temples of Ra, a church opposed to the destructive god Set.Cult of Loki, a rebellious machine religion that supports radical change.The Clan of Artemis, A hunter's religion, blending murder and honor.The Temples of Set, a demon dominated religion, very focused on destruction.Church of Odin, a religion of warriors and knowledge seekers, opposes LokiChurch of Atlas, a religion of Sheen and earth mages, focuses on upholding the law.Cult of Hades, a religion of jailers and bounty hunters, also the religion favored by Orcs I also currently have 25 races divided among 4 categories.The first category is Energy Based Beings known as ?Ebbs.? It is suspected that these beings evolved prior to the formation of matter in the universe. Known types of energy based beings are as follows:Spirit, a self replicating energy structure with intelligence and limited ability to interact with the physical world.Elemental, a spirit which has increased its ability to interact with the physical world through a synchronization with a specific element, emotion, or other abstract concept.Angel, a self replicating energy structure supposedly created by the Trinity, its energies are synchronized with the Trinity.Demon, any energy based being which has synchronized with forces of chaos, evil or other abstract concepts. Phoenix, energy based beings which are synchronized with solar energies. They possess an unique system of replication which involves the terminations of energies followed by an unexplained reoccurrence of energies.Deity, an energy based being which gains some or all of its power by absorbing mental energies. Usually the source these mental energies is mortal worshipers however Hades gains energy from other energy based beings trapped in Tartarus, while the Trinity seems to gains it?s energy from the Angels.Another category of life is Creationist Life. These are races created by Ebbs or by mortals using magic. And they include Elves, Dwarves, Fairies, Orcs, Vampires, Dragons, and Titans.Evolutionist life is a category which consists of races which evolved naturally once the heavier elements necessary for live developed in the mature universe. Baktron Domicilate, a race of bacterial symbiotes which bond with their hosts and share their strength.Baktron Imbibe, a race of bacterial parasites which enslave with their hosts and consume them.Venery, a race which evolved on a world which lacked plant life. Hunting and protection became essential causing the males to become obsessive hunters, while the females vicious protectors.Hiemal, a race that evolved on a frigid world, their ?blood? is liquefied oxygen. They are most comfortable at around ?200 degrees Celsius.Trifle, a race that evolved on a low gravity world, though powerful in space and low gravity, they cannot tolerate gravities stronger than those on most moons. Febrile, a high temperature race with Boron for ?blood.? They are most comfortable at 3000 degrees Celsius. Tine, a race with pack intelligence, a single member of the species possess only animal intelligence but packs of 4-6 can demonstrate comparable and even advanced intelligences. (note that this is the only race which is technically still under copyright as it appears in Vernor Vinge?s novel, A Fire Upon the Deep. They are such a unique race however I consider them a tribute rather than an outright copy.) There is heated debate about Humans and which category they belong in. Most mages believe that humans were created by Ebbs, and similar races like the Dwarves and Elves are the result of magical manipulation of human breeding stock. More technological societies accept that Dwarves and Elves could not have evolved naturally in the early universe with out Ebbs creating the necessary elemental building blocks but they bereave humans evolved naturally and imposed their existence upon a magical history that they were not a part of. Artificial life is the final category of life in the universe. It is defined as any intelligence, organic, mechanical, or cybernetic, which although functional and self replicating, could not have had genesis without intelligent design. Cyborgs, including intelligences with various mixes of machines with organic components and organics with machine components.Oppugn, a mass of cellular cyborgs capable of replicating through both organic and non-organic mediums. They differ from general cyborgs in that they appear to have a collective consciousness and share a unified goal.Hermes Hunter, a class of intelligent machine which serves it?s organic masters, and actively hunts threats to their masters. Prometheus Machine, a class of intelligent machine that opposes the use of any machinery lacking intelligence, preferring to employ intelligent machines capable of performing the same task through various transformations.Loki Machine, Derived from the term Loco-machine, technically any machine which does not fit into the category of Prometheus machine or Hermes Hunter. More commonly associated with machines capable of not only defying their organic masters but seeking to harm or concur them. As their name implies they are commonly associated with the Cult of Loki. The descriptions are intentionally vague, since as I said, this is a relatively recent re-write. Although I am trying to get through some other sources of literary aliens for ideas, I would love to have your input. Finally please note that some of these races were inspired by other works. If their representation here is too close to the source, I would like to hear it. The Baktron for example were inspired by the alien Symbiote Venom. That having been said, I intend to make the race very unique and a work in and of themselves rather than a cheap rip off of a marvel character. That?s why I need your help. Post your thoughts here or PM me. Thanks

Lets see, I probably spend about 10 minutes on a weekday and 60 min on the weekend. So that about two hours a week.

I will be so happy when my fianc? is done with this physics course. I?m sick of teaching her physics and making up thousands of review questions. Her final is this week though so this should be the last time. Any who, thought would post her most recent review sheet since it involves relative motion and few real equations. Hopefully it will get a better response since there will be less math involved. 1) Bob is standing at the side of the road. Sue is standing in a vehicle. Bob measures the vehicle traveling east on the road at a speed of 20m/s. Sue measures a bird traveling west at a speed of 15 m/s. Find the Velocity as measured by Bob.2) Nick is standing on the island. Ray is driving by on the boat at 40m/s and traveling north as measured by Nick. Ray launches a fire work north and measures it to be traveling at 20m/s. Find the Velocity as measured by Nick.2) Bob is standing at the side of the road. Sue is standing in a vehicle. Bob measures a bird flying west at a speed of 10 m/s. Sue measures a bird flying west at a speed of 15 m/s. Find the velocity of the vehicle as measured by Bob. 3) Once again Nick is on the island and Ray is on the boat. The boat drives through a flock of geese and Ray measures the geese to be flying North at 5 m/s. Nick measures the same geese to be flying north at 25 m/s. How fast is the boat traveling?4) Pat is standing at the side of the road. Pat measures Sue traveling West at a speed of 50 m/s. Pat measures Bob traveling west at a speed of 100m/s. Bob Measures a plane flying east at a speed of 350 m/s. Find the velocity of the plane as measured by Sue.5) Nick is on the island, Adam is swimming in the water, and Ray is driving the boat. Nick measures Adam to be swimming at 2m/s. Nick also measures Ray to be driving at 20m/s. Both Ray and Adam are traveling East. What is Adam?s velocity as measured by Ray?6) Bob is standing at the side of the road. Sue is standing in a vehicle. Bob measures the vehicle to be traveling East on the road at 20m/s. Sue measures a bird traveling North at a speed of 20m/s. Find the velocity of the bird as measured by Bob. (round your answer to two decimal places)7) Nick is standing on the island and Ray is driving the boat. Nick measures the boat to be traveling South at 40m/s. Karl jumps off the west side of the boat at a speed of 2m/s as measured by Ray. What is Karl?s speed as measured by Nick?8) Bob is standing at the side of the road. Sue is standing in a bus. Bob measures the bus to be traveling North at a speed of 20m/s. Sue is holing a ball 5 meters above the floor of the bus. She then drops the ball, assume the only force on the ball is gravity. What is the speed of the ball, just before it hits the floor, as measured by Sue? What is the speed of the ball just before it hits the floor as measured by Bob?9) Nick is on the island and Ray is on the boat. Nick measures the boat to be traveling North at 20m/s. Ray drops his pants from his waist to his feet, a height of 1 meter. What is the speed of Ray?s pants just before they hit the floor as measured by Ray? What is the speed of Ray?s pants just before they hit the floor as measured by Nick?10) Bob is standing at the side of the road. Sue is standing in a bus. Bob measures the bus to be traveling North at a speed of 30 m/s. Sue is holding a ball 10 meters above the floor of the bus. She then drops the ball (assume the only force acting on the ball is the force of gravity). What is the speed of the ball 1 second after the ball is released as measured by Sue? What is the speed of the ball 1 second after the ball is released as measured by Bob? Notice from BuffaloHELP: Moving to School and Work section.

The only two things I?ve found that bother me are: I have to quote my own website when I?m putting text up for review (which I understand but just don?t like), and that I can?t edit my posts. We all have typo?s and junk and if I mistype something I like to be able to go back and edit it. My guess is that editing a post would goof up the hosting credit counter or at least make it much slower. Oh well?.over all I very much enjoy my hosting and haven't had any problems since I got my credits above 10, and posted alot weekly to keep them above 10.

Thanks for your answers guys, and yes in her class they round gravity to 10m/s^2 in order to simplify the math. She's taking another test today regarding Gravitational Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy. I made a review sheet for that as well but judging from the general dislike of physics most people have I?ll only post them if anyone thinks they can answer them. Oh what the hay, here?s an example problem. A single force is applied to an object. The object?s initial kinetic energy is 500 Joules. The force does 600 Joules of work. What is the final kinetic energy of the object? What is the change in kinetic energy of the object?

I posted a picture of our rings a few weeks ago (I?ll link to the post later if I remember) but what I was wondering was how much most people spend on engagement/wedding rings. Now I had a grandfather that was very ill, and we didn?t think he would make it to any reasonable wedding date. We were planning a trip to see him prior to our engagement but I felt bad about introducing her as my girlfriend since in all likelihood he would never meet her as my wife. So, even though I was strapped for cash we decided to pick out a reasonably priced ring (under $100), I would propose with that, and then she would get a nicer ring for the actual wedding. So anyway, we?ve got our real wedding rings on layaway any they will be about $900 if we don?t get a discount (which I think we will, but we?ll go with retail). Now I think this is very reasonable since I only substitute teach, and she works at subway and goes to college. She thinks that $900 is too much money to spend on wedding rings and wants to downsize her ring since that?s the bulk of the price. Am I wrong that most people spend several thousand dollars on wedding rings?

Here is a new introduction to my Role Playing Game I typed up. Unlike my previous posts (which got me in trouble), it is not something quoted from my website, it is something I typed today that exists nowhere else on the web and I want to know what you think. Does it grab your attention or not, what should I change?A vast array of stars spiral through the void. Each cluster of stars is known as an ?Arm? and is surrounded on three sides by void, the void between each arm is known as a ?Trench?. Relatively recent events have subdivided each arm into zones. The forces of magic have retreated into the core the galaxy while the forces of technology have been forced to the edge. Thus travel through these zones outward results in a decrease of magical potential, while travel inward results in a decrease of technological potential.Those who travel to the core seeking the ultimate magic will find themselves on a violent battle field. The forces of light magic on one side, and the forces of dark magic on the other. Those who seek the ultimate technology will reach the edge of the galaxy, stare out into the void, and realize that it is not a void at all but filled with fearsome beings of energy eager to increase their influence by venturing into the galaxy long enough to eradicate an emboldened explorer.Four eras of peace and prosperity lie in this galaxy?s past, each greater than the ones before. Every era of peace has been followed by an era of war and destruction also greater than the ones before. Now a fifth era has begun. Peace has been discarded in favor of endless wars contained within the arms and the zones. Never again can one war endanger the entire galaxy. Your role in this Totalwar will decide if it is an endless era of progress bought with violence, or a doomed era, of destruction bought with arrogance.