PLOG 86: 250,000 Deaths

 My PLOG just kind of survives, a little...

As I'm sure you could imagine, I got tired of writing updates about how many people were dying from the pandemic. But also, I found myself caught up in the routine of going to work every day and being part of a system pretending that this whole situation wasn't really as serious as it still is. In fact, it may be even more serious than it was before.

Here's one of the numerous news videos discussing the situation as of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc2gh-qt0h8

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Be safe out there. I'm hoping I'm still being safe too.

PLOG 85: 220,000 Deaths

 My PLOG limps along, but survives...

Sadly it looks like we are at about 220,000 US deaths from the Coronavirus, though there have been various articles/studies that suggest the numbers are much higher. I missed out on making a post about us hitting 215,000 US deaths; I just got lost in the busy-ness of things.

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/analysis-finds-true-pandemic-death-toll-is-much-higher-than-200000-in-us/

Going to work each day, worried about the pandemic and potentially getting infected just sucks. I enjoy talking to my co-workers, my academic and intellectual colleagues, but it feels different to be concerned about getting sick every time someone approaches.

When I home I've been reading and writing so much, I've just kind of lost track of time. I did clean up the place and rearranged the furniture, putting it back similarly to how it was before the pandemic struck. I teared up, thinking of the past and how we used to have people over every week for RPG sessions throwing dice and enjoying D&D.

I have hopes that eventually things will go back to some semblance of how they were before, but I'm not in denial that we're still in this thing.

Take care out there!

PLOG 84: Trump Stops Stimulus

 My PLOG continues...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/trump-ends-stimulus-talks/index.html

I'm just speechless about how Trump is being so transparent about his selfishness. Here's the quote:

"I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business," Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon.

I suppose surviving his bout with Covid has emboldened Trump all the more. But it's really sad news for all of the people, families, and businesses that desperately needed more stimulus right now.

Try to stay safe out there!

PLOG 83: 210,000 Deaths and Trump Infected

 My PLOG continues...

We are less than 1,000 deaths away from the US having over 210,000 coronavirus deaths. But the other numbers are staggering as well. There are 7.36 million infections in the US (which now also includes President Trump and his wife). Worldwide there are over 34.5 million cases and over 1 million deaths.

https://apnews.com/article/f6ba3a16ab9b74b161a3a7211248e97e

The lack of mask wearing seems to have finally caught up with Trump, who quickly had himself moved from the White House to Walter Reed Medical Center and thus alarmed the media. Is he there just as a precaution, or is there something Trump's people aren't telling us? He's an overweight 75-year old man with some health issues. Covid could hit him hard; maybe it already has hit him bad; CNN was reporting that they found out he had at least a fever before they moved him. My question is, where is the First Lady? Why didn't she go with him? It's strange.

Hopefully, if nothing else, this situation will at least get more people to take the pandemic more seriously. Also, it could be a great excuse to cancel the next debate between Trump and Biden; after that first debate turned out to be such a disaster, I don't think we need another one.

Be careful everyone! 

PLOG 82: 205,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

Within the next 24 hours the numbers will reflect over 205,000 US coronavirus deaths. Once again it looks like we have about 5,000 deaths in 6 days. In addition to that, we have been over 7 million infections in the US for several days now.

Meanwhile, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg having passed away, Trump has now nominated a new US Supreme Court nominee. At least Trump picked a woman, and a person who appears to have conducted herself professionally in the public sphere. But, if the US Senate manages to confirm this appointment, it will drastically unbalance the US Supreme Court to a position to be able to support the agenda of extreme conservatives. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Stay safe out there!

PLOG 81: 200,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

The US coronavirus deaths are going to surpass 200,000 within the next 24 hours. And yet many people in our society seem to be at a point that they just want to ignore that the pandemic is going on so they can have a sense of "normalcy."

Meanwhile, this week US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died at 87 years old, after multiple bouts of cancer. She had fought for so long in hopes that she could survive until another Democrat was elected as US President. That means that Trump's team now has the ability to appoint yet another US Supreme Court justice, which could give the extreme conservatives control of the courts. And that is very scary. We could all be screwed. The extreme conservatives have the White House and the US Senate, which basically gives them 2 of the 3 branches of the government. If they dominate the court and Trump gets re-elected, that'll be just horrendous. I can't even begin to predict the horrible things they will be able to get away with, but I know that it'll cause me to lose even more hope. And that's sad.

Be safe out there and let's hope for the best (while we still have some hope left in us)!

AL Season 10 Premiere

 Adventurers League Season 10 - OH NO!

First, a little disclaimer with the fact that I have not been playing D&D all the time like I used to do. With that out of the way, I will say I really miss the friends and fun from AL.

The new Wizards of the Coast (WotC) adventure product - Rime of the Frostmaiden - released yesterday, which means yesterday was also the release date for the new AL Season 10 Rules. Except, strangely, all that we got was a "Player's Guide" without a DM's Guide or FAQ or Content Catalog update. I say it's strange because, in previous years, the AL Admins have released previews of the rules a month or two ahead of time and the community has had a chance to provide feedback. And then there were rules updates along the way, as needed.

The feedback from the draft of the Season 9 rules caused the admin team to revise them to better fit the wants and needs of the community. But WotC decided this time not to release a preview ahead of time. Instead, they boldly dropped the "Player's Guide" document with the "seasonality" concept (not said in name) that the community fought against for Season 9.

Basically, to play in any of the new materials and hardcover release, you have to make a new character that is Season 10 exclusive. After getting to level 5, you can take that Season 10 character to previous material, but then you can't come back to the Season 10 stuff. It's so weird and exclusive for, in my opinion, no reason. But then again, I've always thought that AL has a bunch of extra rules just for the sake of making the system more complicated.

The community is very upset. The Facebook group received almost 1,000 negative comments in less than 24 hours. Reddit is full of negative comments. I wish I was on Discord so I could see what the AL Discord groups are saying, but according to people on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit there will be a ton of players and DMs leaving again like with Season 8.

The weirdest part to me is that we have always explained to new players that you have to use the newest season rules to play, but the person who wrote the Season 10 "Player's Guide" wrote it - it appears - with the assumption that the Season 9 rules would still be in effect for non-Season 10 characters. It makes me wonder if the person who wrote the document even knows what AL is or how it has worked in the past.

On Twitter and Facebook the AL admins have been clear that WotC has taken over and they have no power here other than being the messengers of the rules. That's really strange too. Why even have admins at that point?

Overall, the premiere of the AL Season 10 rules has been a failure. Lots of people are confused. The people who understand the rules are angry and threatening to leave AL play. Well, there are always home games to play in.

Peace!