I’m neither a Bush critic or sympathizer. He was our president, and that’s that. I’m looking forward to Obama’s administration, but I do think that we should look back at Bush with a more balanced eye than the media currently does.
Here’s something of a complimentary note to end his time in office.
A long list of books about everything game related. I already have many of them (maybe 1/3).
Looks like I’ve got a lot of reading ahead of me. Sigh.
I’ve been tinkering with ways to help our combat run more quickly in our Thursday night game. We only game for 2 hours, so time is of the essence. There are some good suggestions at Greywulf’s Lair. He even has the suggestion that I’ve been trying for the last few weeks.
For the last few sessions we’ve been playing with everyone at half hit points along with half powered healing surges. First, let me state that I’ve read a few opinions that only the monsters should be at half hit points. I don’t agree. One of the risks of combat is death. If you take away half of only the monsters hit points, you’ve significantly undermined that anxiety. And don’t think I’m a nasty GM because I wish to kill my players. I don’t. I’m just trying to maintain the balance that was there, but achieve results faster.
Halving everyone’s hit points succeeded in speeding up combat significantly. However everyone around the table felt weaker. They were.
This week, I decided to try the counter: double damage. But I didn’t want to use a straight x2 multiplier, as that seemed ostentatious, so I doubled the damage dice, keeping the bonuses the same, except for minions and other flat damage dealers, who were just doubled straight. There was much more player enthusiasm about this idea.
Strangely, I’m not sure the the combat was much quicker. The battle, which is the 2nd to last battle of the Keep on the Shadowfell, lasted close to two hours. It is meant to be a strong battle, and we were a chattier since we hadn’t been together in 3 weeks, so I’m not going to blame the adjustment, yet. We’ll try it again next week when they fight the last battle.
I’d considered using another of Greywulf’s suggestions, Roll 5. When it came time though, I didn’t want to give up the dice. I enjoy too much the tactile sensation of the die and the anticipation of seeing the roll. I just couldn’t do it. 
