You should see me try to play YYZ on Guitar Hero

I've become a Savage Worlds convert - and my kids have started gaming with a vengeance

My son turned 7 last week; that, combined with the shorter days meant we started on SW and the classic AD&D adventure 'Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh' (savaging it on the fly). Great fun, and easy too - even with teaching my kids the SW system as we go along. I hadn't realised just how much hard work D&D had become till I started running the SW game (my first). A case of getting so used to something I'd forgotten what I was missing.

Now, to hell with switching my D&D group from AD&D to 3.5 - SW here we come!

[Thanks to all for the great discussion in this thread - it took a while to get through my thick skull, but you're welcome to let rip with a resounding chorus of 'I told you so's ]

Yes, the Test Drive rules are a mixed blessing - they do give a sense of the game, but the evil jester with his "Hiya, kiddies!" had me assuming it was juvenile trash the first time I looked at it.

And I know what you mean about d10s - they're oddly annoying to use.

However, if you can get past the need for multiple dice types, the game works really well, is only as roll heavy as you want to make it, and the open ended rolls are surprisingly easy and fun to use - there seems to be something appealing about suddenly discovering you might be about to do unexpectedly well at something, even if only by chance. (The odds do in fact work out reliably in favor of the progressively larger die, with only minor exceptions; see for details.)

Heh, well I am a Brit first, Chicagoan second, and only recently a Seattlelite... although my dependence on coffee would imply I've secretly been a Seattlelite for a number of years.

My wife is also originally from Atlanta, but went to college in Chicago. So if we ever cheer on a team it's either England, Chicago (Cubs, Bears, Bulls, etc. not the White Sox) or Atlanta. Don't really have any attachment to any sports in Seattle yet... unless you consider drinking coffee a sport... yeah, I thought not.

I used to enjoy watching boxing, back when Lennix Lewis, Frank Bruno, and yes, even Mike Tyson, were big names. I still enjoy watching Sumo Wrestling and Ninja Warrior though

Arabin

Chicago? Well, Arabin, you just moved up a level in Smokey's book

I was born in Hobart, Indiana (right next to Gary, right next to Chi Town!)
With Arkansas and Florida, Chicago is the best place ever! Love it! Cubbies! (nothing better than being in Wrigley, drinking Old Style, except being in the Orange Bowl, drinking smuggled in tequilla). I notice from your "Whitesox exception" that you were no "South Sider"



PS I notice two of your boxers were Brits, remember that Alan Minter/Hagler debacle in London?

The boxers being Brits isn't that surprising since I am one too, and lived there for a vast majority of my life so far. I met Frank Bruno once at a signing... nice guy. As for Lennox Lewis... he was the local lad... used to drink with his manager at the pub just down the road from where I lived.

Alan Minter was a great boxer, but he really needed tougher skin. Losing fights over a cut eye, more than a few times I believe, must be really embarrasing. If you can still stand, you should still be allowed to fight... although then the sport would be called even more barbaric than people say it is today. Ah well, you can't win them all.

I have to wonder though... why do most of the world name their teams after animals and natural disasters? I really you want to scare your opponent... but does anyone really get scared over a team name? It's the team players skill that actually makes you nervous.

Also, if you want to go for scary beasts... why stick to real world names? Why not have the Washington Dragons, Miami Demons, Los Angeles Predators (okay, the L.A. Raiders is a great name), Chicago Gangsters, Indiana Ghosts... etc. Much more interesting than naming your team after a fish, a wolf, or a horse.

Arabin

To keep the OT going:

You think you have it bad? Swedish hockey teams have recently - in the last five years or so - started taking English team names. The mind boggles. Malmö Redhawks? Seriously.

And the US soccer teams have an interesting tendency towards singulars (where plurals seem to be the big thing otherwise); Galaxy, Revolution, Fire, Dynamo (although things have changed there a bit, I notice upon googling, Real Salt Lake City? No way).

Crazy.

I'm waiting for a Soccor team to adopt a name like "floppers", "Divers", "Flailers" Kinda dissapointed The Miami Hurricanes aren't followed abroad. Well, at least y'all aren't a bunch of Florida Gator fans with no brains