I really think what made this game so rad was the characters and their quotes.  I know that among my friends Minsc was everyone’s favourite character.  He had the best quotes out of everyone.  Even after years of no longer playing the game at least once a month in one of our gaming sessions someone calls out “Go for the eyes Boo!” (at 0:30 in the video below)

I also seem to recall that Khalid reminded me a bit of C3P0 but was not able to find an audio clip of his quotes like I did for Minsc. In my searching I did get a bit distracted and came across a listing Amazon.com for a Super Pack of the Baldur’s Gate games plus a ton of other classics for only $19. Turns out it was just released a few days ago (Nov 15th 2011) worth getting disctracted for, but…

If anyone can find an audio clip of Khalid’s quotes please share the link!

This got me thinking about iPhones and Dungeons and Dragons.

I decided that I would research what was in my opinion the best apps for iphone that were related to Dungeons and Dragons. When I arrived at home I cracked open iTunes and started searching through the app store in search of the best iphone apps for DnD. Below is my list of the top (there are only 4!) apps for the iPhone related to Dungeons and Dragons.

The Dicenomicon: I found a lot of dice rolling apps. Most of them were pretty crappy looking and lacked any real aesthetic value. If you own an iPhone it seems obvious that aesthetics are important to you. The Dicenomicon was the most realistic looking iphone app. The best feature was the fact that you can give your iPhone a shake to roll the dice, and if you reroll the dice you can hold a die in place and roll the rest. There are a ton of different condition you can apply when it creates the total for you. For example: roll 4d6 and keep the highest 3 rolls. I think the Dicenomicon is a must have iPhone app for any DnD player, especially for those sessions where you forget your dice and have to borrow your friends crap dice. Check out the light version or the full version of The Dicenomicon.

Spellbook Master: If you ever play any kind of spellcasting class then you know how much of a pain it is to be constantly thumbing through your book to check out a few details of a spell, or if you are a DM and you need to quickly check and see if a spell requires a saving through even though your PC’s say “No it doesn’t require a save.” The Spellbook Master iphone app makes it easy to reference spells either by class, domain, school, element etc. all from your iPhone! It is the best tool you can have if you play any kind of spellcaster. for more details and screenshots check out the app page for the Spellbook Master

Quick Roll: This is another dice rolling iphone app, yet it is much different than the Dicenomicon. With this you can program specific dice roll variables into the interface and then quickly roll them. So you can have your initiative roll modifier added in, your fortitude save and so on. You can pretty much have every item that you need to roll added into the app so you don’t have to slow down the game by constantly adding in all your modifiers from all over place. I am sure we have all had a moment where another player (never us) rolls to strike and then begins to keep adding in the modifiers: I have power attack, I’m using the weapon 2 handed, and on and on. If you want to streamline your gaming then read up on the Quick Roll app

tCiMP Character in My Pocket: This great iPhone app allows you to keep your character and all of it’s information stored on your iPhone. Gone are the days where you can’t play because you forgot your character sheet at home.It has a built in rolling system so you can roll stats and create new characters. With this app you will never be without a character ever again! Check out the Character in My Pocket app

So those are as far as I can tell the best apps for iPhone that pertain to Dungeons and Dragons. If you are browsing through the itunes app section and find another great DnD app please share it with us in the comment section below, or help spread the word to other dorks by clicking that precious Stumble Upon or Digg buttons!

“He’s 8 years old and smells like Robert Downey Jr”

That’s right, as far as I can recall Robert Downey Jr is a washed up drunken hack. Taking a quick look at his career on imdb.com I notice that he got off to a great start in the 80′s and slowly was becoming an unstoppable force, and just when his stardom was on a major rise, it was promptly was kicked in the junk and fell to the floor like a moldy bag of tangerines.

Of course now it seems that he is on the rise again. With the latest success of Iron Man and Tropic Thunder and the upcoming heart-wrenching , make you cry and feel uplifted film The Soloist is Robert Downey Jr. on a comeback?

I seriously hope not.

When I think of comebacks I am always brought back to 1994 when John Travolta played Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. That was a deserved comeback. Johnny T is a respectable hardworking actor. Travolta deserved a comeback, Downey did not.

Even though I have a soft spot for the 1989 film “Chances Are,” I firmly believe that if Robert Downey Jr continues his journey to the top, or even one day gets an Oscar, this will signal the end of days.

Downey is a drunken junkie. Not a great actor.

Why should we take the time to praise our junkies? Maybe it’s time that I go to the apartment below mine and congratulate the junkie that lives there on creating successful meth lab. Maybe I should walk up to him and say: “Wow, I hear people banging on your window looking for drugs all night. Your more successful than a 7-11, keep up the good work!”

Robert Downey Jr is just like the guy who lives below me. A junkie. Let’s start treating him like a junkie. Don’t let him make a comeback.

Do your part and don’t go see any Robert Downey Jr movies, don’t rent any of his old movies, and if he ever wins an Oscar, throw a huge fit ( I know I will). Please help spread the news about the plague that is Robert Downey Jr and Stumble or Digg this post.

Conversation point: Do you agree that Downey is a piece of composted watermelon rinds, or has he done anything good for this world. Lets hear what the Downey lovers have to say…

Maybe I have some problems with the part of my brain that identifies people. Maybe this part of the brain is limited to a handful of people. Of course I think this disability is directly related to Gary Oldman. I am really starting to think I have a condition, a condition I like to call:

Oldmanidentisis

There may be some of you suffer this very affliction. If you have the inability to indentify Gary Oldman when you see him, then maybe you suffer from Oldmanidentisis. For most of you it is not a debilitating disability, but for me, I pride myself on being able to notice actors and connect them with other actors and projects they have done. I pick up on all of the subtle nuances that a filmmaker adds to a film. As I like to say: “I watch the movie good.”

But for some reason I cannot identify Gary Oldman when I see him.

Last night I went to see “The Dark Knight” with a large chunk of my Dork crew. I am not going to ramble on about the film, or give my opinion, I will leave that up to another Dork to post about. As we were watching the film and the character Jim Gordon came on the screen, I leaned over to Robin and said “That dude looks like the Kokanee Ranger.” What I should have said was “Gary Oldman looks like the Kokanee Ranger.” [sorry to all of you that have not seen the Kokanee commercials you may not get this reference; it's a Canadian thing.]

It wasn’t until the end of the movie when I saw the credits and I realized that it was in fact Gary Oldman. I understand that he played the same role in “Batman Begins,” but again I must have not noticed him.

The actor Gary Oldman is an enigma to me (and to those that are afflicted with Oldmanidentisis).

I do not think there is any treatment for this condition. I am screwed. I am going to live my whole life not being able to identify Gary Oldman. I just hope that I am not the only one with Oldmanidentisis. Maybe it’s just me, but the images above do not look like the same person. Am I going crazy or is Oldmanidentisis really affecting my ability to watch Gary Oldman movies?

Please help create awareness for the debilitating disablitiy: Oldmanidentisis and Digg or Stumble Upon this article.

My first thoughts were: Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman wouldn’t both make poor movie choices would they?

After the first 5 minutes of the film I had realized that I was trapped. I was stuck in a watching a movie that was going to be garbage. I’m not really a film snob, but sometimes I can be. Of course I have the ability to turn off the snob factor and enjoy a movie for what it is. Just entertainment.

So I decided to put away the fact that James McAvoys attempt at an american accent made it seem like he was a bad actor, and also the fact that the character of Welsey Gibson seemed to change his personality at the drop of a hat.

So again, step 1: Enjoy it as an action movie.

As soon as Angeline showed up on screen it was a bit of a relief. Ok someone is here to save this film. And for the next 10 minutes of action she did. I thought alright I came for an action movie and this is what I am getting.

And then the action went away and I was left with story. And I kept swearing to myself that I had heard this story before. So I just sat there waiting for the next action scene, which sadly came near the end of the movie.

I normally love bloody gory violence. I’m talking Scorsese style point blank bullets through the brain kind of violence. And this movie had that. But something about it was just off. I still do not know what it was, but I just did not enjoy the slow motion bullets through the head. And they used the slow motion ‘Matrix bullet time’ effect way too much.

The familiar story line still bugged me…until I actually figured out where they had ripped the story of from. For the average person it would be hard to notice the similarity, but as a super dork I saw it. I think as I spell it out here it will be obvious:

[spoiler alert]
1. Main character has no real family.
2. Main character meets someone who tells them that some evil person/organization has killed the father they never knew.
3. Main character has some special ability that is rarely found in people.
4. Main character must train and properly harness this power prior to confronting ‘this evil’ that has killed his father.
5. Main character realizes that the ‘evil’ entity/organization is actually his father.

Start guessing kids…

Over the past week, a few things occurred to me that made me realize just how much of a Dork I really am.  My first clue really should have been that I write on a blog titled Dork and Beans.  Now I am sure that everyone’s list will be different, and I encourage you to share what makes you a Dork, in the comments section below.

The White’s Top 5 Reasons You Know You Are a Dork.

5. You know the two uses for a d12 as listed in the D&D Player’s Handbook 3.0 (and you skimmed through the book to ensure that their are only two).

4. You constantly find dice underneath the cushions of your couch, and not just any dice, but polyhedron dice.

3. You find bits of broken light saber from a battle long past(and you even moved and yet you still somehow find pieces).

2. When you go to play a board game you find that the game no longer has any dice, as you raided it years earlier for the 12th level fireball.

1. You have been playing DnD every Sunday night with the same group of Dorks for the past 10 years.

So, what makes you a dork?  Leave a comment below and share what makes you a Dork!

]]> http://dorkandbeans.com/top-5-reasons-you-know-you-are-a-dork/feed/ 7 http://dorkandbeans.com/the-dork-and-beans-logoidentity-development/ http://dorkandbeans.com/the-dork-and-beans-logoidentity-development/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:03:57 +0000 The White http://dorkandbeans.com/?p=31 It’s 10:48, and I am burning my eyes in front of my computer. I figure today I have clocked in over 8 hours of computer time, which I think is just above my average amount of time. Having an internet obsession plus a graphic design job tends to keep a person in front of a screen.

My goal for today was to come up with ‘good idea’ of what I would like to Dork and Beans logo to look like. I don’t want to ‘really’ start promoting this blog until after we have established at least a semi solid identity. So until I come up with a logo, I can’t do all the fun stuff…

So I plunked myself in front of my computer fired up Illustrator, Photoshop, and Fireworks (plus I had Dreamweaver going as well, I was working on my wedding website at the same time) and got to work. My original vision was to have the logo as a photograph of a can of pork and beans photoshopped to say ‘Dork and Beans,’ but this wouldn’t work out very well for future plans (like t-shirts). I now have a can of pork and beans in cupboard which I will never eat. My next vision involved creating a can styled after the yellow no named brand. This was really boring. In the end I headed to Google images and found an awesome can of Heinz Pork and Beans. I thought it was stylish plus it would be recognizable as a parody of Pork and Beans.

I feel the can is still missing something. I just can’t figure it out. I wanted to add an ‘and’ in the design somewhere so that it doesn’t just say ‘Dork Beans.’ I plan on playing around with it more tomorrow, but for now I was hoping to have everybody’s opinion on the design thus far and what kind of changes they would like to see.

I’m going to be honest here. I haven’t really done that much research into the new 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Personally I thought that the leap to 3rd edition was awesome, despite the slap in the face of converting characters from 2nd edition to 3rd. OF course those characters are long gone. They didn’t last too long in 3.0.

My first thought about 4.0 was that it was just a cash grab by Wizards of the Coast. My only research in to 4th edition D&D was a conversation with a the guy that works at the comic store. He tried to explain to me that 4.0 would focus more so on miniatures and combat. So my first thought was:

‘great, more min maxing combat characters, and less actual character and roleplaying. They are turning D&D into World of Warcraft on paper’

The kid at the store talk my ear of for 2 hours (didn’t he have something to be doing, like helping customers?), and kept pronouncing ‘Blackguard’ as ‘Blaggard’ I really could not get out of there fast enough. This whole experience put a sour taste in my mouth (or maybe it was the Root Beer Banana Slurpee) made me think that their was no need to upgrade to Dungeons and Dragon 4th edition.

I found a site that specialized in providing info about 4th edition I spent some time on the site just reading through, and there definitely some interesting changes to 4.0. Of course I kept bouncing between reading the site and looking at my bookshelf chock full of 3.0 books. I’m not sure if I can justify rebuilding my collection of DnD books…I don’t think 4.0 is that awesome. I may pick up the Players Handbook and have a look at the changes.

The main benefit of this new Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition is that all of the 3.0 books will be super cheap as gamers start to unload their used 3.0 materials on Amazon.com. So for all you dorks that don’t want to invest in all new 4.0 books, just keep and eye on Amazon for some awesome deals on used books.

A lot of 3.0 D&D books are only around $20 for new, and even less for used. That’s a serious discount since talk of 4.0. On my next paycheque I plan on some major shopping. Check it out:

I heard today that Radiohead’s old record label:Parlophone is releasing a best of album and it got me thinking about all this illegal downloading of music hoopla.

It seems that labels and bands are really battling to make money these days, and with the fact that illegal downloading of music is so prevalent the music industry has been really battling to keep their profits alive. The music industry is changing with the major availability of free music downloads online.

So I say: keep changing.

For the past few years I have been saying that bands are going to have to change the way they make money. I really don’t think they will be able to stop all of the illegal downloading of music, so they should just roll with it. Like most people I am an advocate of the prospect of free music. Lots of bands now are offering their singles and albums as free downloads, which is a major step in the right direction. Sure bands will loose a lot of profit from album sales, but they can surely make it up in other areas.

This trend of downloading music off of the internet will benefit the fans in the long run. If a band cannot make money from album sales any longer they will have to figure out a new way to monetize, or work harder at current avenues of income.

Such as touring.

This is my theory: If you want to see your favourite bands live, more often. You need to start downloadiong even more of their music. This loss in sales will force bands to tour more often to make up for the lost of album sales. Sure it’s a kick in the junk, but like I said earlier: the music industry is changing. It’s now time to head to a site like Mp3Rocket.com , sign up and start downloading.

Of course free music downloading can also help new bands. I was talking to Ryan McCullagh of The Paper Cranes today and he said that if it weren’t for free music downloads they would have much less of a fan base than they do now. To me free music means that more people will be introduced to bands, and with more fans, more tickets sales for when they tour. It makes sense to me.

I don’t think that this illegal downloading of music will have a negative impact on bands if they look at this situation from a different perspective. Business models change all the time, musicians will just have to deal with it

Well today I say screw all that.

I saw the Indiana Jones movie the other day, and one awesome highlight for me was the fact that in the diner scene the people in the background were drinking none other than Pabst Blue Ribbon. Pabst is one of those understated cheap beers that is pretty awesome. Normally it comes in a can, and is really tough to find in a bottle(I’ve never seen it before). There it was, the Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle sitting on the table. To me that was the star of the movie.

So next time you head to the Cold Beer and Wine store buy a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and give it a try. The label looks to me like a kitty litter logo, but it still is worth every penny.