New Year's resolutions!

I hope all my readers have doable and useful resolutions - and then keep them for 2024!

What is posted on King Manor’s fourth floor bulletin board for December 31, 2023.

I hope everybody has happy and safe New Year's Eve celebrations.  I wish everyone a prosperous 2024.  As for me, I hope to find a good job that uses my communications skills, improving my communications skills, and starting up a One D&D campaign with my friends.

Know your WASS crew: James Buchanan

This is a comic about WASS, as well as autobiographical essays based on my life stories.

I found a lost toy at 118 East First Street

This building is on the south side of East First Street, between North First Avenue East and North Second Avenue East.  It was recently burnt in a fire, with the Duluth Sales shop closed.  I loved the nice contrast of the cute, colorful doll resting on the burnt wooden plank.

Homeless message that I found on Superior Street

That is surprisingly good art for someone who used magic markers.

This person proves that being homeless does not equal stupid.

What happened on my way to the main library in downtown Duluth?

What happened at 3:57 PM in Duluth?

It was 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  This made me think that the date was the last week of March, instead of the last week of December.

Will it be War or Peace for WASS Duluth?

For now, it is Peace for WASS Duluth!

I saw, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”

This Aquaman movie is one of the most entertaining DC movies that I have seen.

Let's talk about it some more

Is Blessed Pacemaker able to persuade Ultra Murder Hobo 4444 to be satisfied with the raw power that he already has within him?  Does Blessed Pacemaker have the negotiating skills to stop a war between WASS and the hunger dragon before it begins?

And, who is this mysterious dragon girlfriend that appears to have started this conflict?  As a writer, I’m happy that this mysterious dragon girlfriend has appeared.  Or, I would be without an entertaining story to write about.

Let's talk about it

At least these two are talking, instead of having a destructive battle within Duluth and Superior.

Christmas Day meal 2023

I ate the leftovers of my Christmas Eve meal, during Christmas Day.

Christmas dinner December 24, 2023

This will be both my Christmas Eve meal today and my Christmas Day meal tomorrow.

Duluth, Minnesota at 44 degrees Fahrenheit!

For those that disbelieve in human made climate change creating climate extremes, come to Duluth and see it for yourself.

What I documented today at King Manor? The End

I’m not sure why my King Manor needed an electrical upgrade.  Yet, at least six workers spent hours working to get that task done in one day.  I am impressed by how skilled and hardworking those workers preformed their jobs today.

I’m the only King Manor tenant that I’m aware of - who documented today’s electrical upgrade.

What I documented today at King Manor? Part 3

These are the workers and their vehicles that worked on the King Manor electrical upgrade.

And, there is not one perceptible patch of snow on the ground - or anywhere else in the King Manor parking lot.

What I documented today at King Manor? Part 2

This towable trailer portable generator supplied all the electrical power to King Manor.

Also, notice the absence of snow two days before Christmas.

What I documented today at King Manor? Part 1

I saw these paper flyers posted on every apartment door and every exit door in King Manor.

Funny story interlude

Here are two funny stories to increase your smile.

Family heirloom equipment for player characters

In pre-industrial societies and in many fiction stories, family heirloom equipment, such as an expensive sword, is passed down from generation to generation.  A sword or similar weapon or tool, should be a connection to the player character’s family history.  These weapons or tools should not be treated the same as when you or I purchased a department store cast iron skillet pan.

For example, in the “Ladyhawke” film there is a scene with two characters:

Etienne of Navarre who is the former Captain of the Guard of Aquila.

Phillipe Gaston who is a young thief known as "The Mouse"

Etienne tells Phillipe that Etienne’s sword has been in his family for five generations, “never knowing defeat”.  Each time one of the men of his family achieved a remarkable deed, such as creating with his family an alliance with the Holy Church in Rome, or fighting the Saracens in Jerusalem, a large jewel is embedded in the sword hilt to remember that achievement.

Etienne’s great deed is to kill a corrupt bishop that had cursed him and his wife.  Each of these deeds would make an entertaining adventure for your entire party.

In my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, each starting player character owns one minor magical weapon or tool as their family heirloom equipment.  Their family heirloom equipment reminds my players that their characters have their families to support them when they are in dealing with tough times.

Also, each and every player character has a moral obligation to pass down the family’s heirloom equipment to their sons and daughters, so it can be used by future generations of the family.  This gives some continuity when player characters retire from adventuring, to pass down their family heirloom equipment to the next generation.

First Presbyterian Church - Christmas meal

The Heavy character from Team Fortress 2 sums up my feelings for my meal, “Very good!”

Who are you?

I introduce another Angry Cab Comic character.

To reflect the many changes to my Angry Cab Comic, I made a new logo

This is my old logo for Angry Cab Comic.

This is my new logo for Angry Cab Comic 2023.

Chapter 11 of Angry Cab Comic

I created this chapter cover page to show my loyal readers how my skills as a 2-D and 3-D artist have improved during my creation of ten chapters of Angry Cab Comic.

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has a great influence into many aspects of society

This Duluth marketing agency, on Superior Street, has an unusual slogan on their business window.

Before Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created D&D; nobody spoke about getting better at something by “leveling up” their skill.  My point is that D&D’s lexicon (special vocabulary) is now considered to be so widely known to most people that a marketing agency uses D&D’s lexicon in their advertising campaign.

What I found next to the main Bentleyville "Tour of Lights" entrance.

I love Duluth.  Yet, I will love Duluth even more when our Northern Lights Express (NLX) connects Duluth to Minneapolis; and someday to the Saint Paul Union Depot and to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.

I never imaged that I would make a reference to the Dallas TV series.

Yet, I found JR’s pizza outside of the main Duluth, Minnesota library.

Christmas at the North Pointe Resource Center / Rainbow Center

This Christmas display is in the North Pointe Resource Center community room.

What is posted on King Manor’s fourth floor bulletin board for December 14, 2023?

Old posters have disappeared, replaced by new posters.

We fight a secret war for those who will never know our names!

What side will win the upcoming fight?  Will it be WASS brain or dragon brawn?

What happened to me at the Michigan Street post office?

I was standing in line when – I noticed that there were six other people in front of me and two more behind me.  I then realized that for one or maybe two minutes I was seven of nine.

As our pony friends would say, “Let's not graze around the bush!”

Why does Hayate have a model truck on her desk?  Could it be a clue left by the author foreshadowing events in Chapter Eleven?  Is it possible that a truck could be the key tool to defeat the evil dragon?

I found an abandoned car seat

I saw this car seat next to O'Reilly Auto Parts on East Superior Street.

Flatcar hand brakes

I once talked to a man who claimed that flatcars don’t have hand brakes.  He claimed that during a summer job while in college, he had unloaded cargo from flatcars, and had not seen brakes on flatcars.  Yet, he also admitted to enjoying being a pathological (habitual) liar.

Well, here is a flatcar and it has a hand brake.

What I found in Kirby Student Center (KSC) UMD, Duluth, Minnesota

I’m grateful for my continued health, my King Manor apartment, and my friends.  I’m also grateful for my chance to restart my D&D campaign with One D&D in 2024.

Today, I saw the movie, “Wish”.

The art style is a 3-D computer graphics movie made to look as if it was a classic 2-D cell animated movie.

Brittany’s first D&D character

Brittany created her first D&D character, as practice as we both wait for the publication of One D&D.  Yes, I watched her roll, with my dice, her six D&D stats.  Her character does have a 17 strength stat.

My sharp-eyed readers will see that this character is an agent of the Harpers.  That means that my next D&D campaign will be in Ed Greenwood’s Forgotten Realms.  For their starting equipment, each non-magical item is either a gift from the Harpers or they already own that equipment as a part of growing up.

 

Moreover, each starting player character owns one minor magical weapon or tool as their family heirloom equipment.  Their family heirloom equipment reminds the players that their characters have their families to support them when they are in dealing with tough times.  Each and every player character also has a moral obligation to return their family heirloom equipment to the family elders, so it can be used by future generations of the family.

The Brewing Projekt Apollo Ale

Barb told me that she likes this type of ale - brewed with blood orange and honey.

What happened to me during my high school history class?

The following true story about watching a documentary movie in my high school history class might be offensive to sensitive readers.  Thus, reader discretion is advised.

 

At Duluth Minnesota East High School, during my history class, I watched a monochrome movie about the Nazi death camps.  The many disturbing and graphic images of these death camps upset my mind and turned my stomach.  I sure was grateful that the movie was made using monochrome film, instead of color film.  I don’t think I could have kept my breakfast in my stomach if that movie had been made using color film.

 

It was during that painful to watch, fifty minute movie that I determined to never let my inalienable rights be taken from me, or allow anyone else's inalienable rights to be taken from them.  Always choose freedom over slavery and death.  Despite being many years after I watched that movie, those words and images still have the power to move my emotions and thoughts.

 

Besides giving you loyal readers insight into my past and my current mind, what’s the point of this post?

 

"Never Again"

 

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

- American Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr.

The D&D game is a group storytelling game.

Your campaign’s party created story declines when the crude and troublesome misbehavior of obnoxious players ruins the fun for the other players; it is up to the rest of the players to ask the obnoxious players to change their behavior.  If the obnoxious players don’t do that, then the obnoxious players should be asked to leave that campaign.  No game master is bound by any moral or legal rules to keep obnoxious players in their campaigns.

 

Why am I telling you this?  My friends told me about several D&D campaigns that have ended before they should have - because of one or two disruptive players.

 

These people include:

 

(1)  Murder hobos that spend their time looting the shops and homes of respectable artisans, merchants, and mayors.  They also murder anyone for their own type of sick, sad, and stupid “amusement”, rather than spending time talking to them.

 

(2)  Humorless comedians who play their characters ineptly.  They play their characters with clownish antics that they believe are the pinnacle of humor; but what they do is never amusing.

 

(3)  I’ve seen two clownish brothers whose last names are Koprowski.  They took their boorish, chuckle headed, and goofball behavior to the extreme, managing to annoy their fellow gamers and gamer masters.  They played their characters so badly that their characters often ended up dead within hours of being rolled up.

 

The Koprowski brothers were often called out on how badly they played their characters.  Despite being called numbskulls to reasoned attempts to make them play their characters better, the Koprowski brothers never stopped being disruptive players. 

 

Andy, an annoyed game master, playing a lawful good god, did something creative after a Koprowski brother’s character had died an avoidable and senseless death.  The Koprowski brother’s character had lost an avoidable and senseless fight with a powerful NPC lady paladin.  Andy had the player’s soul put into a ten foot square room, with a chair and a floor to ceiling magic mirror.  The mirror only repeatedly played the character’s entire life from birth to death, forever; as a punishment for being such an extreme dimwit.

 

I remember one lady game master that kept all the character sheets of the player characters that had died in her campaign.  All her dead player characters were from these two brothers.  Thus, she named her dead character file as, “The Koprowski morgue”.

 

Keeping the character sheets of dead characters is a good idea.  The dead characters' families, friends, and mentors could recover the dead characters’ bodies for burial or bring them back to life by “raise dead” spells.

 

The dead player characters’ living family members could also recover their family heirloom equipment.  As a game master, I give my starting, first level player characters one, minor magical weapon or tool as their family heirloom equipment.  Their family heirloom equipment reminds the players that their characters have their families to support them when they are in dealing with tough times.  They also have a moral obligation to return their family heirloom equipment, so it can be used by future generations of the family.

 

My advice is to ask such socially inept players to change their behavior.  If these socially inept players continue to be disruptive to your campaign, then ask them to leave.  These people don’t have the right to play in your group, to ruin the fun of everybody else.

 

Asking someone to leave your D&D campaign may be hard for you to do.  But, that must be done to keep your campaign ongoing and fun for the rest of your players and your game master.  If you want to keep the story of your campaign going, all the players must be kind, while playing as a team.

A not safe for work, Dungeons & Dragons story!

The following true story about a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign might be offensive to sensitive readers.  Thus, reader discretion is advised.

 

While playing in a University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD) Gaming Club D&D campaign; one of our players had a custom, short sword plus one made for his fighter character.  Our player had his character’s family name engraved in the handle.  So, he could pass the sword down to one of his children.

 

When the player character paid for the completed sword, the player was pleased as punch.  After his character got his sword, the player with a beaming smile on his face said, “I got myself a handy-dandy (the N-word) sticker.”

 

Everyone around me appeared to laugh.  I didn’t laugh.  But, because there were no African Americans in the room when he made that tasteless and offensive “joke”; I also failed to object to his hate speech.

 

Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation”.  When a real human names their fictional sword as a (the N-word) sticker - that fits the definition of hate or encourages violence towards an ethnic group.

Arnold Palmer Spiked

Arnold Palmer Spiked is another delicious beverage that I found and then bought at Canal Park Liquors.  Or, is this an example of Arnold Palmer Spiked on the rocks?

My unfortunate choice of words

The following true story about a Dungeons & Dragons campaign might be offensive to sensitive readers.  Thus, reader discretion is advised.

 

This event happened while playing Dungeons & Dragons, with a group of students at the University of Minnesota, Duluth Gaming Club.  Another student was our game master.  Our D&D party was exploring the ruins of a dwarf foundry, in an abandoned dwarf city.  It seems our game master had a populated or abandoned dwarf city in each and every kingdom.

 

Hidden behind a wooden desk, my character found an eight inch by eight inch leather bag, secured by a drawstring.  Inside this bag was twelve, one inch diameter - round steel balls.  Our mage cast the spell Detect Magic on these balls, along with other odd equipment that our player characters had found.  When the balls glowed, I assumed that I had found some wonderful weapon – a flying ball that attacked my enemies I thought.

 

The first “enemy encounter” our party had was a robot maid who was keeping the foundry clean for centuries.  (That’s a well-constructed machine for any species to make.)  The robot didn’t see my party, but our leader was concerned that it might attack us.

 

I took two of the balls out of the bag, put them onto my flat palm, then in a soft voice said to these balls, “Balls, do your stuff.”

 

Every player and our game master broke out laughing.  Our game master said, “We’re really getting into it now!”  And then I started laughing as well, when I realized the meaning of what I said.  I had intended to command these balls to attack the robot maid.  Instead, my fellow players assumed I was talking about an essential liquid of the male reproductive system.

 

We evaded being seen by the robot maid, along with the most dangerous enemies.  (We learned the hard way that our player characters don’t have to fight every enemy we find.)  We returned to a large port city, where we had our party headquarters - within an abandoned copper mine.  The big caverns gave us plenty of room to build apartments, workshops, stables (you don’t stable a griffon near a horse), a brewery, and a large library with meeting rooms.

 

Our group then travelled to a populated dwarf city.  We found a master dwarf smith, who told my group that the steel balls are plus one, slingshot ammunition.

Face on brick

This brick with the painted face is on the south side of East First Street, between North First Avenue East and North Second Avenue East.

Bentleyville USA Unicorns

Observant and perceptive readers will realize that I have a lifelong affection and fondness for unicorns.  That’s one of the main reasons why I enjoy watching the Friendship is Magic TV series, reading the comic books, and playing the role-playing game.