Monthly Archives: February 2016
Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas, Part 35
In Part 34 we saw Oberto gain and lose the Duchy of Genoa under the stewardship of a power hungry Emperor. Oberto turned his back on the Empire and looked west to further the di Parma cause, at the head of an 8000 strong army he invaded the Muslim controlled lands of Aragon. In this part – expansion, new enemies, old enemies, more enemies and the loss of two sons.
The Muslims attack just as Oberto and the Holy Army join forces – its a massacre, over 4000 Muslims are killed and the siege of Barcelona begins.
Tracer Rounds – Cultivating Cultural Culturism
How does one “create” culture? ~
I was reading an ESPN column about the demise of Grantland, when this exchange caught my eye.
There’s an old saying — attributed alternatively to management guru Peter Drucker and auto executive Mark Fields — that culture eats strategy for breakfast. I’ve always felt that statement was off the mark because culture also eats strategy for lunch, dinner and snacks.
Now, part of what made Grantland the awesome destination for smart writing was the culture that the editorial team inculcated in the staff. Grantland was a perfect example of how a great set of editors can mold already-talented and -established writers into a coherent voice that gives the reader a sense of the culture of the organization.
There are more ways to communicate the culture of an organization than just in the formal presence of that group. There are the rituals they hold on to, the titles used among themselves, the recursive self-references that permeate long-standing organizations, and the attitudes they exhibit toward outsiders. How is dissension tolerated? How are new participants welcomed into the fold? Are there demands for overt displays of allegiance? How about voluntary self-identification?
While many of you are probably still chuckling over the idea that I actually teach a class about interpersonal communication, the idea that I also teach one on Media & Culture probably doesn’t seem too far-fetched. We spend an entire hour on the first night of class just talking about the attributes that can define a culture, from language to food & music to geography to shared interests. But how does it develop, and how does it manifest itself when it does?
This isn’t easy stuff, is it?
GrogHeads Reviews Tank Battle: Pacific
“Why fix something that’s not broken?”
Michael Eckenfels, 7 February 2016
A classic question, to be sure; as a statement, it could very well be the motto of Hunted Cow/Hexwar when it comes to these Tank Battle games. I’ve reviewed several of their games before, and done an AAR on one of their games, and all coming to similar conclusions: all of the games play the same, and they’re just in a different wrapper. Does that make them not fun to play, though?
GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #87
And on the Frith Day, he gave us GARPA! ~
7th Sea, Second Ed (John Wick)
$481k of $30k, ends 13 March 2016
Another project that blew through its funding goal so fast that it almost feels like they’re just making up stretch goals as they go. 7th Sea was a beloved RPG that was popular in the early 00’s, in large part because the world of Theah was such a fantabulous setting. The creator now has the rights to his game back, and is updating all the material for re-publication, and by the looks of it, there’s a few thousand people that can’t wait to get back on the train. Sail over to their Kickstarter page and marvel at the depths of their stretch goals and drop your doubloons on your own pledge.
Gaming Nostalgia – Sears?!
#TBT at GrogHeads!
Remember when you could buy hobby games at Sears?
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