The Rifts game that I actually ran two weeks ago went fairly well. We started late of course, but also had a good interruption of friends who I thought could not make it. The couldn't but instead were stopping by since they had gone out to eat. I even got one of them to run his character for a little while. The only bad thing was that we ended up stopping at 1 PM with the wrap up still needing to be completed.
I figure I can get everyone together pretty easy and just run through the game without dice, character sheets, or books. I can simply use the notes that I already have on my PDA (alright a phone, but I liked the good old days of PDAs. It just sounded better.) The one obstacle is getting people together. I would like to avoid eating out to save money, but that is what we normally do once we get together. I am figuring just calling people up and say be here at X PM on Caterday just to be done with it.
They can then find out that they are technically screwed by the loot as it a test of them abiding by their contract. We shall see if any one actually reads this post from the group.
Showing posts with label GAMING. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAMING. Show all posts
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Rifts Game Completion
I have finally gotten everyone together to complete the Palladium Rifts game that has been sitting for almost a year. It was delayed due to the normal things: work, school, sickness, dead players, and outside hobbies among many other things. Thankfully everyone now has the time to finish it after a few graduations, resurrections, and aactually having free time.
The loss of one of the players is a bit saddening, but he has other things to do. An alternate is just starting school, so that screws up his weekends. Now we are down to four, so I shall have to work on convincing one other person into it. I just have to figure out how.
We left off at the start of an attack on a vampire layer. Thankfully for the PCs it is only a bunch of minor newbie vamps; as Rifts vampires are extra-dimensionally scary! I mean Freaks of Nature from Outer Space who eat your brains while in another dimension scary. They have a pretty good chance of winning since the PC who specialized in killing the Undead is still in the game. They are just missing their cyber-knight who would have done well against thesome vamps with the way he was outfitted.
I have a synopsis of the adventure located on my Sons fo Death Rifts website (located at here: Againt the Vampire Incursion! that no one ever goes to. OK maybe not no one, but it has so few visitors that anyone else would be embarrassed by the amount.
The loss of one of the players is a bit saddening, but he has other things to do. An alternate is just starting school, so that screws up his weekends. Now we are down to four, so I shall have to work on convincing one other person into it. I just have to figure out how.
We left off at the start of an attack on a vampire layer. Thankfully for the PCs it is only a bunch of minor newbie vamps; as Rifts vampires are extra-dimensionally scary! I mean Freaks of Nature from Outer Space who eat your brains while in another dimension scary. They have a pretty good chance of winning since the PC who specialized in killing the Undead is still in the game. They are just missing their cyber-knight who would have done well against thesome vamps with the way he was outfitted.
I have a synopsis of the adventure located on my Sons fo Death Rifts website (located at here: Againt the Vampire Incursion! that no one ever goes to. OK maybe not no one, but it has so few visitors that anyone else would be embarrassed by the amount.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Megachef Alton Brown Brining
This was taken verbatim from the cooking for engineers site: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/70/Brining. I have stolen it because I have linked to it in another location and do not want it to disappear.
I've mentioned the need to brine chicken or pork to produce juicier, more flavorful, and tender cooked meats. The net effect of brining is to infuse the meat with extra salt (and sometimes sugar and other flavorings) and water. But how does brining work? In this article, I examine what happens when you brine.
What does brining do?
Brining is the soaking of meat in a solution of water and salt. Additional flavorings like sugar and spices can also me added, but salt is what makes a brine a brine (just like acid makes a marinade a marinade). This soaking causes the meat to gain some saltiness and flavoring while plumping it up with water so that after cooking it still contains a lot of juices.
The explanation for why brining works that I hear most often is that by surrounding the meat with salt water, salt and water are forced into the tissue through osmosis. Unfortunately, I've never been happy with that explanation. Osmosis is when a solvent (usually water or other liquid that can hold another substance, called the solute, in solution - like salt) moves from a low solute concentration (like the tissue of the meat) to a high solute concentration (like the salt water) through a semipermeable membrane (a surface that allows small particles to pass but not larger ones - like the cell membranes of our chicken or pork) to form an equilibrium. Hmmm... wait a minute. If that's true then water will be drawn from the low salt concentration meat to the high salt concentration salt water. At the same time, if the salt can enter the meat (which it can), then salt will be moving from salt water to meat. Won't that result in a salty, dry piece of poultry or pork?
Obviously, there's more going on than simple osmosis. It is true that salt enters the meat (it tastes more salty after brining). But why is it also more juicy? Well, when water flows out of the meat, salt flows in and begins to break down some of the proteins in the cells. In the broken down state, the molecules become more concentrated and the solute levels rise within the meat. This causes additional water to flow into the meat.
But doesn't that mean we've got the same amount of water as before brining? Nope. The cell membranes are semipermeable. They allow salt and water to flow in both directions freely, but larger molecules (like the denatured proteins and other solutes in the meat released by the salt) cannot flow out from within the cells. When the solutes of a solution on one side of a semipermeable membrane cannot pass to the other side, osmosis causes more and more solvent to move through the semipermeable membrane. This continues until the extra pressure from holding more solvent equals the rate at which solvent is "drawn" through the semipermeable membrane. (This rate is called osmotic pressure. How Stuff Works has a short article describing osmotic pressure with a diagram that may be helpful to visualize the water flow.)
What has happened is that through brining, we've caused a state change in the cells so that they will draw and hold more water than before. As we cook the meat, the heated proteins will begin to draw in tighter and squeeze out water, but, hopefully, enough water will remain to produce a juicy, tender piece of meat.
Brining Solution
So, how much salt in water is used for brining? That really depends on how long of a brine you want and how salty you want the final product. A weak brine will require a longer brining time to achieve the same saltiness as a strong brine. When I need a moderate strength brine, I use 1/2 cup (about 150 g) of table salt per gallon of water. (Higher concentrations of salt can be used to reduce brining times, but the amount of salt and the time it takes to brine is dependent on the muscle structure of the particular piece of meat.) Using kosher salt is a common practice, but different manufacturers grind the salt to different levels of coarseness, so kosher salt should be weighed before adding to water. For small amounts of salt, the salt can be dissolved into cold water, but for larger quantities it may be necessary to heat the water to dissolve the salt.
Brining Time
Always start with a cold brine. If you heated the brine, then refrigerate it before using it. The raw meat will be in the brine for a number of hours, so we don't want the temperature of the meat to rise higher than refrigerator temperatures (40°F, 4°C) if we can help it. Place the brine in a noncorrosive container like a plastic or glass container, plastic bag, or a stainless steel pot.
The brining time depends on the shape of your meat as well as the type of meat. Generally, a good rule of thumb is 2 hours per pound of solid poultry when using the 1/2 cup salt per gallon brine. Cut up poultry will have reduced brining time. For chicken pieces like breasts or thighs, 2 hours is usually enough time. Pork may take about four times as long to brine as poultry. In most cases, it's difficult to predict how fast the salt moves into the meat when you double or halve the salt in the brine, but it's worth experimenting with to have your brining "finish" at a time where you will be around to remove the meat from the brine.
When you remove the meat from the brine, rinse off the excess salt from the surface and return the meat to the refrigerator to await cooking. Pour out the brine after each brining. (No need to have a half gallon of raw meat juice infused salt water lying around growing germs...)
I've mentioned the need to brine chicken or pork to produce juicier, more flavorful, and tender cooked meats. The net effect of brining is to infuse the meat with extra salt (and sometimes sugar and other flavorings) and water. But how does brining work? In this article, I examine what happens when you brine.
What does brining do?
Brining is the soaking of meat in a solution of water and salt. Additional flavorings like sugar and spices can also me added, but salt is what makes a brine a brine (just like acid makes a marinade a marinade). This soaking causes the meat to gain some saltiness and flavoring while plumping it up with water so that after cooking it still contains a lot of juices.
The explanation for why brining works that I hear most often is that by surrounding the meat with salt water, salt and water are forced into the tissue through osmosis. Unfortunately, I've never been happy with that explanation. Osmosis is when a solvent (usually water or other liquid that can hold another substance, called the solute, in solution - like salt) moves from a low solute concentration (like the tissue of the meat) to a high solute concentration (like the salt water) through a semipermeable membrane (a surface that allows small particles to pass but not larger ones - like the cell membranes of our chicken or pork) to form an equilibrium. Hmmm... wait a minute. If that's true then water will be drawn from the low salt concentration meat to the high salt concentration salt water. At the same time, if the salt can enter the meat (which it can), then salt will be moving from salt water to meat. Won't that result in a salty, dry piece of poultry or pork?
Obviously, there's more going on than simple osmosis. It is true that salt enters the meat (it tastes more salty after brining). But why is it also more juicy? Well, when water flows out of the meat, salt flows in and begins to break down some of the proteins in the cells. In the broken down state, the molecules become more concentrated and the solute levels rise within the meat. This causes additional water to flow into the meat.
But doesn't that mean we've got the same amount of water as before brining? Nope. The cell membranes are semipermeable. They allow salt and water to flow in both directions freely, but larger molecules (like the denatured proteins and other solutes in the meat released by the salt) cannot flow out from within the cells. When the solutes of a solution on one side of a semipermeable membrane cannot pass to the other side, osmosis causes more and more solvent to move through the semipermeable membrane. This continues until the extra pressure from holding more solvent equals the rate at which solvent is "drawn" through the semipermeable membrane. (This rate is called osmotic pressure. How Stuff Works has a short article describing osmotic pressure with a diagram that may be helpful to visualize the water flow.)
What has happened is that through brining, we've caused a state change in the cells so that they will draw and hold more water than before. As we cook the meat, the heated proteins will begin to draw in tighter and squeeze out water, but, hopefully, enough water will remain to produce a juicy, tender piece of meat.
Brining Solution
So, how much salt in water is used for brining? That really depends on how long of a brine you want and how salty you want the final product. A weak brine will require a longer brining time to achieve the same saltiness as a strong brine. When I need a moderate strength brine, I use 1/2 cup (about 150 g) of table salt per gallon of water. (Higher concentrations of salt can be used to reduce brining times, but the amount of salt and the time it takes to brine is dependent on the muscle structure of the particular piece of meat.) Using kosher salt is a common practice, but different manufacturers grind the salt to different levels of coarseness, so kosher salt should be weighed before adding to water. For small amounts of salt, the salt can be dissolved into cold water, but for larger quantities it may be necessary to heat the water to dissolve the salt.
Brining Time
Always start with a cold brine. If you heated the brine, then refrigerate it before using it. The raw meat will be in the brine for a number of hours, so we don't want the temperature of the meat to rise higher than refrigerator temperatures (40°F, 4°C) if we can help it. Place the brine in a noncorrosive container like a plastic or glass container, plastic bag, or a stainless steel pot.
The brining time depends on the shape of your meat as well as the type of meat. Generally, a good rule of thumb is 2 hours per pound of solid poultry when using the 1/2 cup salt per gallon brine. Cut up poultry will have reduced brining time. For chicken pieces like breasts or thighs, 2 hours is usually enough time. Pork may take about four times as long to brine as poultry. In most cases, it's difficult to predict how fast the salt moves into the meat when you double or halve the salt in the brine, but it's worth experimenting with to have your brining "finish" at a time where you will be around to remove the meat from the brine.
When you remove the meat from the brine, rinse off the excess salt from the surface and return the meat to the refrigerator to await cooking. Pour out the brine after each brining. (No need to have a half gallon of raw meat juice infused salt water lying around growing germs...)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Falkentein Weekend Party
I ran the group through the Weekend with Enrico Falgore a few weeks ago. The post on it was deleted accidentally and not noticed by me. I have now recreated it from the tiny information in the draft mode of the blog. Guess I was pretty lazy. They went through the game pretty quickly without stumbling over too much along the way. We started at 3:00 PM and ended at 1:30 AM. Since no one played the part of Chris that night (our constantly late friend) it was not
I had set it up as a birthday party for Falgore and the players were invited since they had confronted Evil with the host. He hopes to see them as friends and continue with the good will. The problem was that for the past several days Falgore was the victim of a series of accidents that would most likely have killed him were it not for circumstance and the players. Most of the adventure was a series of subtle clues with some of them pointing the the Awnshidhe farie. He looked like the bad guy and until the very end the group strongly suspected him. Falgore was saved and now owes the group a large favor. The group think little of this as they know him only as a bit of an annoying artist.
However, one of the characters treated the wounds of Falgore on a previous adventure and found that the wound patterns matched that of faeries and iron. She had no idea why this would be especially as the skin looked not to be broken. He later explained who and what he was: a knight champion of the Seelie Court, asking for her to honor a silence on this, whose glamour and shape changing abilities were strangely unaffected by normal steel and iron. He had taken the disguise of boisterous human opera singer to be allowed to sing and gain fame without the use of his glamour abilities. No one is as impressed with a Fay singer as they can always use magic to improve their voice, but a human one that good is truly impressive. "And obviously Signor Falgore is a human good sir as he just picked up that steel cigar case and did not grow pointy ears. No faerie could abide the touch of steel and keep an illusion of humanity crafted no could he?"
So at this point one player knows about him owing a major favor to the players, and exactly how useful he will be in the future. However, she has been sick or really tired the last several sessions and has not been able to explain what happened. For now the characters only suspect him of being something he is not since he was so skilled at Adventure!!!
I had set it up as a birthday party for Falgore and the players were invited since they had confronted Evil with the host. He hopes to see them as friends and continue with the good will. The problem was that for the past several days Falgore was the victim of a series of accidents that would most likely have killed him were it not for circumstance and the players. Most of the adventure was a series of subtle clues with some of them pointing the the Awnshidhe farie. He looked like the bad guy and until the very end the group strongly suspected him. Falgore was saved and now owes the group a large favor. The group think little of this as they know him only as a bit of an annoying artist.
However, one of the characters treated the wounds of Falgore on a previous adventure and found that the wound patterns matched that of faeries and iron. She had no idea why this would be especially as the skin looked not to be broken. He later explained who and what he was: a knight champion of the Seelie Court, asking for her to honor a silence on this, whose glamour and shape changing abilities were strangely unaffected by normal steel and iron. He had taken the disguise of boisterous human opera singer to be allowed to sing and gain fame without the use of his glamour abilities. No one is as impressed with a Fay singer as they can always use magic to improve their voice, but a human one that good is truly impressive. "And obviously Signor Falgore is a human good sir as he just picked up that steel cigar case and did not grow pointy ears. No faerie could abide the touch of steel and keep an illusion of humanity crafted no could he?"
So at this point one player knows about him owing a major favor to the players, and exactly how useful he will be in the future. However, she has been sick or really tired the last several sessions and has not been able to explain what happened. For now the characters only suspect him of being something he is not since he was so skilled at Adventure!!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Al Gore or ALGOR!!!
I have decided that Al Gore is using the Global Warming for his own personal gain. It is not the fame or millions of dollars that he is funneling into his pockets by owning the majority of the UN approved carbon offset company. It is not the political power he is trying to maintain in the face of stupidity. Not even the unshaven, unbathed, freaky environmentalist women who want to do a Clinton on him ... OK maybe he doesn't want that one. No it is none of these. The reason that Al Gore is fighting against Global Warming is that he is secretly a Palladium Algor Frost Giant.
He obviously came through a rift from the Palladium universe and found the world to be far to hot for his artic skin. He found he had no useful skills that would be able to support him on this world. He went Through a metamorpheous to become a human and began a career as the closist thing to an evil warlord as he could: A POLITICAN!!!! He found that his skills at giant English and giant journalism kept him in the lower bracket of monsters. He sucked at fighting and did not have the brains to be a mastermind criminal.
He attempted to create a massive communication network to control the minds of the Earth, but he found it had already been made. So he found that before he could bring his brothers over he had to become president and casue tempratues to lower throughout the world causing massive poverty and starvation in the poorer countries. Once the human population was gone his giants could come over to proclaim him emporer. This is how sucky great and stupid Al Gore is.
Killing babies throughout the world for decades: Al Gore the Algor.
He obviously came through a rift from the Palladium universe and found the world to be far to hot for his artic skin. He found he had no useful skills that would be able to support him on this world. He went Through a metamorpheous to become a human and began a career as the closist thing to an evil warlord as he could: A POLITICAN!!!! He found that his skills at giant English and giant journalism kept him in the lower bracket of monsters. He sucked at fighting and did not have the brains to be a mastermind criminal.
He attempted to create a massive communication network to control the minds of the Earth, but he found it had already been made. So he found that before he could bring his brothers over he had to become president and casue tempratues to lower throughout the world causing massive poverty and starvation in the poorer countries. Once the human population was gone his giants could come over to proclaim him emporer. This is how sucky great and stupid Al Gore is.
Killing babies throughout the world for decades: Al Gore the Algor.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Steampunk Dead?
I have been going about reading some of the steampunk blogs and sites that I have not been at since my computer died hideously. One of them, Voyages Extrodinaires, had an article on the rise and current death of steampunk. To many of the core followers of the movement see the embrace of steampunk by the mass media and "fringe groups" as the harbinger of doom for the genre. Personally I just cannot see that, and think that the supposed core followers are just sad gits.
The steampunk or Victorian science romance has been with us for over 150 years. I like to think that the big start was with the first publication of Verne with Five Weeks in a Balloon. The balloon had a device that allowed to to generate hydrogen from water through electrolysis loosely making it a scientific adventure. There is Man exploring nature and conquering adversity giving it the sense of a romantic adventure of the soul. The idea that Africa will be the next basket of civilization after the fall if the United States gives us a steampunk dystopian atmosphere with an aura of hope around it that the Victorian society embodied. Just the fact that a person would only be limited to their ability to gather food and water for survival for the distance that their explorations would carry them is incredible for the time. Not having to go back for coal or other fuel while maintaining such high speeds would make me long for adventure had I been in the time period. Heck it makes me yearn for adventure now!!!
As the steampunk movement progressed very slowly it seemed that only the cream of the crop was presented to the consumer of the genre. We did not see the large amounts of crap and clutter that is produced when something becomes popular and everyone tries to latch on. This crap and clutter may be bad, but a true connoisseur can select the gold from the dross. For every 10 bad items that will be produced there will be that one glint of purity that will be the excellence that we look for. With so many people working in the genre the amount of gold will dramatically increase along with everything else. We just have to look for it.
This is the case of the Castle Falkenstein RPG. It was published to early and did not get the attention that it deserved. If it were released now it would have a number of additional gamers playing it now. The only thing that could keep it from succeeding for a while would be WoW. Perhaps if there were a MMORPG it might draw a lot of people. I truly hope that Atlus Online will be able to get the MMORPG players hooked on to something like reading Verne or some wild thing like that. They can even get it from Project Gutenberg for the fancy digital copy for their steam powered iphones.
WoW has drawn away to many pen and paper gamers as it is. I got started with Castle Falkenstein when it came out. I own every source book and run a game now and then. I have even gone on to create alternative rules for the game using dice to make it easier for new players. Not that anyone will ever notice my site Mot's Castle Falkenstein, but hey I needed to put it up there for my other player so I might as well make it available for everyone.
I go out to find new steampunk, Victorian sci-fi, Victorian adventure, and the like quite a bit. With the Internet I can find quite a bit and sort through to get what I like out. Those who complain about the acceptance of the movement by the Mass Media are just lazy or stuck up wanting staying with their individualism just like everyone else. I say share with everyone else you want to, let people decide what they like on their own, and keep your version of steampunk true to yourself. Perhaps the merging of genres will create something really great and freaky.
The steampunk or Victorian science romance has been with us for over 150 years. I like to think that the big start was with the first publication of Verne with Five Weeks in a Balloon. The balloon had a device that allowed to to generate hydrogen from water through electrolysis loosely making it a scientific adventure. There is Man exploring nature and conquering adversity giving it the sense of a romantic adventure of the soul. The idea that Africa will be the next basket of civilization after the fall if the United States gives us a steampunk dystopian atmosphere with an aura of hope around it that the Victorian society embodied. Just the fact that a person would only be limited to their ability to gather food and water for survival for the distance that their explorations would carry them is incredible for the time. Not having to go back for coal or other fuel while maintaining such high speeds would make me long for adventure had I been in the time period. Heck it makes me yearn for adventure now!!!
As the steampunk movement progressed very slowly it seemed that only the cream of the crop was presented to the consumer of the genre. We did not see the large amounts of crap and clutter that is produced when something becomes popular and everyone tries to latch on. This crap and clutter may be bad, but a true connoisseur can select the gold from the dross. For every 10 bad items that will be produced there will be that one glint of purity that will be the excellence that we look for. With so many people working in the genre the amount of gold will dramatically increase along with everything else. We just have to look for it.
This is the case of the Castle Falkenstein RPG. It was published to early and did not get the attention that it deserved. If it were released now it would have a number of additional gamers playing it now. The only thing that could keep it from succeeding for a while would be WoW. Perhaps if there were a MMORPG it might draw a lot of people. I truly hope that Atlus Online will be able to get the MMORPG players hooked on to something like reading Verne or some wild thing like that. They can even get it from Project Gutenberg for the fancy digital copy for their steam powered iphones.
WoW has drawn away to many pen and paper gamers as it is. I got started with Castle Falkenstein when it came out. I own every source book and run a game now and then. I have even gone on to create alternative rules for the game using dice to make it easier for new players. Not that anyone will ever notice my site Mot's Castle Falkenstein, but hey I needed to put it up there for my other player so I might as well make it available for everyone.
I go out to find new steampunk, Victorian sci-fi, Victorian adventure, and the like quite a bit. With the Internet I can find quite a bit and sort through to get what I like out. Those who complain about the acceptance of the movement by the Mass Media are just lazy or stuck up wanting staying with their individualism just like everyone else. I say share with everyone else you want to, let people decide what they like on their own, and keep your version of steampunk true to yourself. Perhaps the merging of genres will create something really great and freaky.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Starting Post
OK, I am starting this blog, just to rant and complain about standard stupid things. The main reason is to get my Castle Falkenstein Role Playing game some higher page ranking on the good ole' Google.
I am just trying to get higher on the search for "Castle Falkenstein alternative rules". It does not even show in the regular search for "Castle Falkenstein". With the blog I can discuss our attempts to game and what ever may strike me. Pretty sad and pathetic is it not?
My search for Falkenstein stuff was frustrated when a lot of the archived material was removed from a HDD when I sent in a lap top to be repaired. Fancy HP gaming lap top with 2 hard drives. The techs did not understand that HDD1 is the second hard drive, with HDD0 being the first. They then reloaded the OS on top of HDD1, noticed that it was not correct half way through and reloaded 32-bit Vista on a 64-bit processor.
I used a fancy undelete program at work to recover most of the information, but my anime in MKV and OGG was a loss along with some of my Castle Falkenstein stuff. I will be avoiding Mico Medics from now on.
Now I will start to back up to the web with the Castle Falkenstein web site. Please take a look at it. I would like to see Castle Falkenstein prosper even if the publishers only have an electronic copy available.
Check out the R. Talsorian CF website. They have to be good they have an Anime Mecha.
I am just trying to get higher on the search for "Castle Falkenstein alternative rules". It does not even show in the regular search for "Castle Falkenstein". With the blog I can discuss our attempts to game and what ever may strike me. Pretty sad and pathetic is it not?
My search for Falkenstein stuff was frustrated when a lot of the archived material was removed from a HDD when I sent in a lap top to be repaired. Fancy HP gaming lap top with 2 hard drives. The techs did not understand that HDD1 is the second hard drive, with HDD0 being the first. They then reloaded the OS on top of HDD1, noticed that it was not correct half way through and reloaded 32-bit Vista on a 64-bit processor.
I used a fancy undelete program at work to recover most of the information, but my anime in MKV and OGG was a loss along with some of my Castle Falkenstein stuff. I will be avoiding Mico Medics from now on.
Now I will start to back up to the web with the Castle Falkenstein web site. Please take a look at it. I would like to see Castle Falkenstein prosper even if the publishers only have an electronic copy available.
Check out the R. Talsorian CF website. They have to be good they have an Anime Mecha.
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