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This post is gaming related , I think this is the first one that is fully and totally related the Games, this one in particular is a D&D 3rd edition game.
I came up with this concept cause I was tired of the cliché of the thieves guild running the city from the shadow or every player that plays a rouge coming with the “oh ,I stole that” excuse for items he wants.
As this is a magical world, the local police will use magic to rein in the criminal population.
The idea is relatively simple, when ever a new member joins the Thieves guild, he receives a “Mark of Justice” spell cast on him, the Thieves guild has to pay for the cost of the spell,and that also helps reduce the amount of money they can horde.
A rouge unwilling to participate in the ceremony he will be arrested,sedated and have the ceremony cast on him while he is helpless (there for does not get a Saving Throw).
Rouges in this city earn XP as lock smiths , jugglers, Security inspectors and so forth, essentially all the things a thief will do (except pick pockets) but on the legal side and being commissioned for it.

The “Mark of Justice” is a high level spell (5th) that requires a high level cleric to cast it, and it requires very powerful spells to break and dismiss this one.
Of course in order to allow some flexibility in the game you always add the human factor, some clerics will be greedy and will take the money and “fake” the ceremony,or get paid to remove such a mark, but as those cost quite a bundle and the ceremony is supervised by the police , it makes for a more story driven event.

It has been a hectic time since I last had the time to sit down and write an entry here , and so much has happened , I had my second child born, A boy this time , he was circumcised , I started my guiding as a Sky Ride Leader, Passed my motorcycle test , bought my motor bike , got a Nagios certification , and passed the most annoying and useless test ever !

To elaborate a bit on the last one , last weekend I took my “life in the UK ” test , which is basically a test to show that you are familiar with many trivial things regarding living in the UK.

Take an average person Born in UK to take the test and 9 out of 10 will fail it , but for anyone wanting to migrate to the UK , it is not enough that you work here and pay your taxes for a long number of years , you also have to pass this ridiculous test that proves you can become a parrot and memorise and reaped , so I spend 3 weeks commuting on the train so I’ll have time to memorise the book and all the trivial information in it .
Thankfully I passed this test and now can forget all the crap .

Can anyone tell me why movie prequels can’t seem to keep to the “time line” established in the originals ?
I just saw the Trailer for Prometheus , the new Ridley Scott movie , and Lo and behold , in a story held many years before Ripley went on the Nostromo , the Technology presented makes Star Trek Tech look out of date by 200 years .
How is it possible that they have holograms , touch screens , engines that look like Iron Man repulse thrusters , while the Sulaco , that was build and used nearly 80 years after that didn’t have any of those ?

I know the CGI and FX has improved in leaps and bounds in the last 20 years , but even with the suspension of disbelieve that you take in to a movie theatre , I still find it unacceptable that they can not keep the established look and feel .
This has plagued many prequels either TV or Movie: The Crap new Star wars, Enterprise TV show, Terminator Salvation , and worse offender of them ALL , The Highlander!!

There are many more but I can’t remember all of them of the top of my head.

Mold on a fallen tree trunk can be a beautiful thing .

yesterday on my ride to work I noticed that the horses have been moved back to the Boxmoor trust , the mares and Foals in one area while the stallions are across the road from them , so I grabbed my camera and the pooch and went to give them a visit .
There were 3 mares with 3 foals and they seemed rather protective of the little ones , and I also think they found my Camera noise annoying as they followed me through the whole field while I kept trying to keep the pooch being trampled by the mothers as he was hoping to chase the foals.
It did provide me with some nice pics:

Day 30 – Mare and Foal

After a long while that I had no time to make a stew , I finally managed to “steal” a couple of hours and enjoy some cooking freedom in the kitchen.

I used all the usual ingredients some purchased on the normal super market (even the meat) and put them on a low flame for a slow cooking , added the spices and covered with water.
Then I looked at the kitchen to see if there is any thing that can add more flavour to the dish, and my eyes fell on the assortment of Cured meats I purchased in the French Market that was in Hemel about 6 weeks ago, I bought 6 pieces of differing fillings : Hazelnut, Chestnut, Duck , Calvados and other two, all the names are in French so since the time passed I did not remember which is which and did the “inny Meeny ” and selected one.

When we came to eat out dinner we were very pleasantly surprised – even the Little one was willing to eat form the sauce of the stew , and the mystery added meat – Chestnut .
I was already formally informed by the Mrs that what ever I do not eat today , I will not eat any more as she will finish it all !!!

Some times I find I forget to post for the day I took the pictures , and that gives me the ability to go back and revisit the pictures I took that day and pick another one form my collection then the one I previously thought to post .

Yesterday I went to one of the shops that gives my wife nightmares, and me the despair for not having the money to spend in it like a mad man .
The shop is Calumet in Drummond St near Euston London , I resisted the urge to buy the thing i want but not need at moment , and just got some Filters and a Potra-cube for later use for Maltgeeks among other things.

When I got home I took my Pooch for the evening Walk and shoot – Usually when I do my daily photographing and in one garden I saw this flowers :
I took the photo as i was amazed how the light from the sunset mixed with the street lamp above made the Yellow of the petal stand out so much.

The Blooming of this tree in the contrast of the house background colour was just to stunning not to take a picture

Sun set is some time a wonderful thing to capture , even if it is now directly in the clouds and sky ,I really liked the colour play between the buildings and the hue of the sky :