(OT) I am back

[William Ronald]

Good to have you back, Edena.

I enjoyed the travelogue, and I think DMs can borrow from it to describe different parts of their world.

I would also urge anyone designing a large map for a homebrew campaign to go to a good library and look at an atlas that shows land forms. I have used atlases for ideas on everything from climate to determining how rivers flow. (Yes, magic can influence climate and geography in a campaign world, but it helps to have a good foundation on what works.)

Perhaps some of the others on the board can join in with description of places they live or have visited. DMs should feel free to lift those descriptions for their games. (Okay, zouron. Time to describe Denmark and Greenland.)

I would say that your description of Illinois is accurate. Contrary to what some would believe, there are hilly areas in Illinois. Particularly in parts of Northeastern Illinois, and in the Northwest. (Some of these hill ranges lead up into Wisconsin.) There are also a great many small lakes in Northeastern Illinois, and woodlands where development has not taken over.

Chicago traffic can be intimidating. I grew up with it, and it can be a challenge. Indeed, the Chicago area is growing so far and fast that some people are beginning to think of Rockford and Milwaukee as part of the region.


Denial is a big problem for alcoholics and other substance abusers. I have heard people deny they had a problem, and when the problem became undeniable (due to its impact on health and personal life), one statement was repeated very often. "I don't care." This is in effect another form of denial, which does not help when health problems go from bad to severe.

Sadly, I have learned that you cannot make a person change. The desire for change must come from within. Additionally, there are limits to what one person can do to help others. You can always offer help, but the other person must be ready to receive it. Similarly, you can't blame yourself if someone does not listen. In some cases, people will not listen to anyone.

Despite the best efforts of others, some people will make bad choices in their lives. Free will is both a wonderful gift and a terrible responsibility.

Hang in there, Edena. I hope things will get better. Remember you are not alone.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Thank you, William. The support IS appreciated, and your friendship is appreciated even more. It is.

As for my Travelouge, it is very incomplete.
America is such a huge place. Some of us, like me and William, live near large cities, and perhaps everything one could ever want is there.
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Beyond the city, beyond the sprawling suburbs, beyond the local farms, is a land of endless vistas, horizon upon horizon, stretching away endlessly into the blue mist and past the limits of the imagination.
It is there. Beautiful, wondrous, grand ... but it can be terrifying and overwhelming. For it can be empty, cold, and lonely beyond bearing, that endless World. And it's reality can be too great, too staggering, and too vast.

(Let me put it this way. Get up and travel 5,000 miles around America by automobile, alone or with only one or two companions. Afterwards, rewatch the film Fellowship of the Ring.
You may find yourself looking at Frodo and Sam, and perhaps the others, with new insight and understanding.
In my case, new sympathy.)

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

On the above note ...

Those Mongols, who attacked Europe, were further away from their home in Mongolia than Los Angeles is from New York City.

Can you imagine that?
Riding a third of the way across the entire world, on a horse?
Being a third of the world away from your family, in an utterly strange place, fighting for your life against deadly enemies again and again?

I am not made of the stuff of those Mongol horsemen. I am not that strong of mind, that I could do such things!

Nor am I made of the stuff of Alexander the Great's Macedonian Army (they revolted, in the end. After the Punjab, they must have felt like the end of the world was in sight, and Alexander himself was sure of it.)

 

[Airwolf]

...
Arizona is a beautiful state. Unfortunately, some sort of black stuff gets all over the ground (and one's car) in Phoenix. What is this stuff?

...

They started using rubberized asphalt on the roads and freeways around the state a few years ago. Although I don't know for sure, but I think the 'black stuff' is a mix of dust and rubber covered in oil that makes up the asphalt.

The rubberized asphalt is nice because it makes the roads more quiet, it costs less, it uses old tires that are shredded and mixed in (instead of moving them to a land fill), and its supposed to last longer.

If you noticed the black stuff in northern AZ, then it is probably volcanic ash. They use the ash in the wintertime for traction, on the frozen roads, instead of salt or sand.

In other words pretty much no matter where you travel in the state you will end up with a black soot type material stuck to your car.


Regards,
Airwolf

 

[qstor]

edena - what part of Michigan are u from? My wife and I are moving to Lansing early next year. Are you in the RPGA?

Mike

 

[Numion]

IMHO, alcohol isn't that addictive. I for one don't want any alcohol after consuming large amounts. On some saturdays I do drink beer and hit the bar; on some I don't. Alcohol is just as addictive or dangerous as you allow it to be.

Alcoholism is a different issue. If you don't suffer from that condition, controlling your drinking is easy.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

Hi Edana. Nice to have you back here.

 

[Decamber]

Hey - it's Edena! Nice to have you back, man.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Qstor, Numion, Zelda, Decamber, thanks for the welcome back!
Zelda, are you in the Rukugan IR? How are you doing? How are things in Finland?

I am in the RPGA.
However, I am atypical in my roleplaying style to the others in that organization, a point they made to me long ago.
I am 5th level as a player, in Campaign. 1st level, in Classic. 0 level, as a DM, though ... they didn't exactly welcome me as one of their DMs back then in the 2nd edition era, and presently I know too little of 3rd edition to DM a 3rd edition game.

I am from Plymouth. A once small town, until the great front of development came and swallowed it, along with all the township, and along with Northville, Novi, Canton, and Van Buren Township.
The wealthy came, and they changed everything. The dime-stores are gone, and high priced coffee shops are in. The ice cream stores are out, and the expensive boutiques are in.
The woodlands are gone, and endless suburbs are in. The township park, once deep in the country, is now surrounded by homes.
Yet I still live here, and I am not rich or wealthy, and I still remember the old days, and when in Hines Park or at the Cultural Center I can see them still in physical form, and of course the railways (there are two sets running through Plymouth) are echoes of the city's great age and rich history (of course, nobody ever gets a good night's sleep in Plymouth. Especially in the summer. Just ask them about the train air-horns, and the earthquakes every passing train causes.)

Airwolf, I wish to thank you for telling me about the cause of the black stuff.
A question, though: Isn't this bad for the lungs? I mean, don't the people of Arizona breathe this stuff in? If it settles on cars, can't it settle in the lungs?

Numion, concerning alcoholism - please remember that, in the case of the Certain Someone I am talking about, the alcoholism was caused by something else.
There was, and are, a number of underlying problems which drove said person to the bottle.
The alcohol, of course, has not helped with any of these problems, and has aggravated some of them badly, and the alcoholism has caused new problems, both physical and mental, and the alcoholism has caused violence and trouble that has harmed the family greatly (I will not go into that further ... except to say breaking up the family might be a more appropriate statement.)
There is no hope of treating the underlying conditions, because the alcoholism is interfering. And there is no hope of treating the alcoholism, because the person in question denies being alcoholic (for starters.) And there is no hope of reuniting my ruined family, which has been torn apart by negative feelings.
That's about the shape of it.

Alcohol may not be very addictive.
But that is not relevant.
When one has an alcoholic to deal with, and this alcoholic is violent, and he has serious underlying problems, and new problems from the alcoholism, and your family is in ruins because of his alcoholism, and you cannot do a THING about ANY of the problems he has, or you have because of him, or about anything concerning the matter ... then there is a problem.
So yes, alcoholism is a bad thing. Take it from one who knows from grim experience on the subject.

Edena_of_Neith

 

[Tokiwong]

welcome back Edena... just wanted to join the bandwagon.. might not remember me... just a lurking Enworlder....