Fraternity Adventures: Building Brotherhood Through Gaming

Forgive me as I reminisce for a bit.

Let's jump back about two years ago.  My best friend growing up, Michael, was designated as the president of a chapter of Sigma Gamma Chi.  Being the friendly person that he is, he invited me to some activities with his fraternity chapter on Thursday night.  One year later, I decided to become a full member of the chapter.  Sadly, last year, the fraternity was disbanded.  It is something that I miss doing each week.

Why do I bring this all up?  One of things that I miss the most about the chapter was the brotherhood that I felt there.  It was a group of people that shared very similar interests.  We enjoyed playing games together.  I seem to remember many weekly meetings where we gather together around one or more games.  It was through the fraternity that I was introduced to many games that I enjoy now.  The most notable one that I can think of is Dominion.

If you haven't been able to tell by my general theme of my blog posts, I love games!  Also, I am a rather shy person.  I found that playing games with the other members helped me to feel more comfortable around the other members of the fraternity.  A good game can also be a invaluable ice breaker.  Games encourage communication and interaction.  After enjoying a good game with someone, I typically feel more comfortable interacting with them.  Also, it has lead to many enjoyable memories of time spent playing games with friends.

Bucket List of Games

I love to play games. And you know what, there are probably a million or so different games out there (many of which are probably similar to one another. I mean, how many times can you rename Slapjack, really?) But there are some games that before I die, I would love to play based off marketing campaign or word of mouth. And since Joe hasn't been able to tie me to a chair and force me to play all these games in one long sitting, I can still write this bucket list of games.

Smallworld: A strategic game that sounds a little like Risk, but with some awesome twists to the concept. One day I'll have enough time to play the game, but for now, it just looks friggin' awesome.

Heroclix: You control superhero figurines who have to fight against other superhero figurines. They keep coming up with various sets (and it's weird cause I keep hearing that this is supposed to be discontinued, but it seems like it's living strong.) But the game seems very unique and intriguing. Plus it's superheroes! It's a geek thing.

Shadowrun: I don't know what it is about this game that has me so intrigued. My brother played the RPG game in the mid-late 90s and, as always, never invited me to play. (I don't have younger brother syndrome or anything.) But as I saw a Kickstarter for a new Shadowrun video game, I got really intrigued to learn about this game my brother loved so much. A cyberpunk/fantasy is an awesome world to be in. I would love to get into this one day.

A full Dungeons & Dragons campaign: I've played D&D once. Don't really care to play it again except to try out a full campaign to see if I'm fully disinterested in it or if I really will enjoy it and immerse myself further into geekdom.

A color-wheel Magic: The Gathering game: Yeah, I've played Magic a lot. It's a game I love and know well. But there are many different ways to play the game. One of these is to have a five-player game where each player has a different color (or base color) and sits in the order of the color wheel: white, blue, black, red, green. (White and green are next to each other.) The goal for each player is to remove his/her enemy colors (the two people he/she is not sitting next to). So for white, this would be black and red. For blue this is red and green. And so forth. I just really like the idea. Well, either that or a five-player game where each person has a color and has to be the last one standing. Add the Planechase concept to it and it'd be an awesome game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum: Yeah, even a video game can get on the list. First, I love Batman. One of my favorite shows that KCAL 9 would show in So Cal was the 1960s Batman. But as I watched the Tim Burton Batman movies and the animated Batman series, I started to enjoy the darker feel that came with this character.

Ten-player Master Detective: Clue: I grew up loving traditional board games. Yes, I love chess. Yes, I love Monopoly. Yes, I love Sorry. And by all means, YES, I love Clue. But this version of Clue trumps all other versions of the game that has ever existed. Why? No friggin' clue. (How's that for a pun?) But you have more characters, more weapons, and more rooms. Also, it drops the hall (which I always found to be odd) and gives a not-so-even ratio between rooms, weapon, and players. I love it. Same game, just more. Sidenote: After months of being annoyed at eBay where the cheapest price for a used copy of the game was about $35, I found my copy of the game for $1.00 at a swap meet, which my cousin paid since I had spent the day helping her out with her own booth. I've played it like 5 times in my life, but I want to play it one day where all characters are being used.

Star Trek: Catan: It's Settlers of Catan set in the Star Trek universe. Do I geekily need to say more? I don't think so.

Well, that's 8 games I'd like to try/play one day.

Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.

Devotional Sundays: Praying to Know

We got a question from one of our facebook fans this week who asked, " How can I know that the LDS Church is true?"  I decided, seeing that I missed my day to write this week, to write a special blog post to respond to our reader.  Thinking about my blog post today I've come to understand some wonderful things about revelation.

It really isn't all that complicated.

At some point, we have to come to know if the church is true.  In primary, we give the following answers to every question: pray, read your scriptures, go to church, and keep the commandments.  The great thing about these primary answers is that they're true.  If we really want to know if the LDS church is true, we'll pray about it.

The knowledge of the validity of the LDS church cannot be gained simply by researching, investigating, and reflecting.  These are all essential to gaining our knowledge but are nothing without the power of prayer.  Furthermore, prayer without our actions will be meaningless.

On my mission I taught a lot of people that invited us into our home but would never keep their commitments on prayer or attending church.  They would pray at lessons but wouldn't come to church, read, or keep their appointments.  How could they expect to receive an answer to their prayers without living a life to have revelation?

There were other investigators I met on my mission that would keep all of their commitments but never pray.  They are already living their life to receive revelation but do not seek it.  Sometimes they are afraid of more responsibilities or deeper commitments that they don't feel ready to face.  Fear will keep them from fully embracing the gospel and taking the risk and praying to know.

If we really want to know if the LDS church is true we will act on the answer we receive from our prayers.  That can mean some really drastic changes in lifestyles and some difficult sacrifices we have to make.  We won't get an answer to our prayers without acting on what it is we learn.

My mission wasn't a story filled mission.  I certainly had many wonderful experiences and learned so much about the gospel.  I was averagely successful in inviting people to be baptized.  Many of the converts I helped bring to the gospel are now less active though it is wonderful to hear from them.  Despite all this the biggest success from my mission, something I'm so thankful and proud of, is just in one convert:  myself.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of my savior Jesus Christ on the earth.  I didn't see an angel.  I didn't take 8 years of intense college study.  I didn't take investigative trips to upstate New York, Israel, and the south Americas.  I know the church is true because I prayed about it.  The answer I received through the divine influence of the holy ghost confirmed to me what I believed.  Then I took two years where I biked in cold rain, had hundreds of doors slammed in my face, and was insulted regularly.

I wouldn't trade those two years for anything else in my life.  The blessings and knowledge of the restored gospel is worth any pain or discomfort I experienced then or now.  Truth is hard but it's worth it.  I know that if you want to know if the church is true, and if you're willing to act on it, you will receive your answer through the power of prayer.

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.  I hope these words help you find the answers you're looking for.  I know that although it is hard to sometimes live the gospel that it is worth it.  Life is meant to be enjoyed not just endure.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

First Sunday Post!

Watch out tomorrow when we're going to have a very special post from Stephen Larsen!

Oz The Great and Powerful Trailer

Something's been circling the internet lately, a trailer that warms my little heart.
http://disney.go.com/thewizard/?cmp=NLC-CDE|ozg|Launch|TrailerDebut|Primarybutton|Watchnow|071212|||synMovInTheatM|#main
That's right. It's a Wizard of Oz prequel.
Between this and The Witches of Oz TV series set to come out this year, it's looking like the Wizard of Oz is going to be like how Snow White was this year. I'm actually looking forward to this thing, though I am curious as to why James Franco picked up the roll. He seems more of the action-fighting-monkeys-chopping-off-arms-drinking-his-own-pee actor than a let's-go-play-in-CGI-land actor. But whatever it'll either rock the world or end up in a $.99 bin at Kmart.
-JOE

Once Upon a Time and the Pre-Existence

So here's a modern concept: I watch all my TV online. I have never been able to guarantee that I'm going to be home a certain time every week to catch whatever show I'm currently drooling over, so the fact that Hulu, Netflix and networks themselves put full episodes online fills my little heart with glee. Right now, among other great shows, my girlfriend and I are catching up on ABC's Once Upon a Time. During one of these cutesie date nights by laptop light, I realized the show has a neat allegoric to one of our most treasured principals- we lived before we came here.

The show follows a bunch of fairy tale characters, namely Snow White and Prince Charming, who are placed under a powerful spell by the evil Queen to be teleported to a distant land where all their happily ever afters are taken away. This manifests in the form of a small town in Maine called Storybrooke, where all the fairy tale characters live without memories of their prior selves. The only way to break the curse is if Snow White and Charming's daughter, a freaking awesome bounty hunter named Emma Swan, who was protected from the curse by an enchanted wardrobe forged by Geppetto. I know, this sounds like if Buffy the Vampire Slayer slammed into Kingdom Hearts, but stick with me I'm getting somewhere.

The only people who know the curse exists at all is the evil Queen, now manifested as the mayor of Storybrook, and her son Henry. An interesting twist is that Henry is actually Emma's son, that she put up for adoption and was snatched up by the Queen. Henry knows about the curse because of a storybook his teacher, the former Snow White gave him, that has the history of the land before they all showed up in Maine.  The show flashes between Storybrook and fairytale land to reveal plot points and show what the characters were like and what they did before the curse.

The part I wanted to get to is the phrase that chokes me up every time I think of it, "All your happily ever afters will be taken away". Right before the curse hit, it seems like all the fairy tales had reached their conclusions, thus everyone was happy. Pinocchio was a real boy, Red Riding Hood had Granny, Snow White had her Prince Charming and even had a daughter. They lived in a beautiful kingdom in relative peace, which makes the Queen's curse that much more painful. As the series begins, Snow White is a lonely school teacher, Charming is in a coma, and even Jiminy Cricket, now the town's psychiatrist(which in my opinion was just writing genius) is forced to sell out his own consius to keep his job and home. All this so that the evil  Queen can play with everyone's lives and make them just as miserable as she is.

There is a ray of hope. As I mentioned before, Snow White's daughter was sent to our world before the curse could effect her. In the first episode there's a scene where Snow is crouched over her husband as he bleeds out from a wound, tears running down her cheeks in her daughter's nursery. The evil Queen walks in, flings open the magic wardrobe's doors to reveal the baby has disappeared. Snow looks up at her, smiles, and through tears says "It's too late. You've already lost." Emma shows up at the insistence of her son, and stays when she believes the Mayor is mistreating him. Her presence in the town causes unforeseen changes, including Charming to wake up and townsfolk finding the courage to stand up to their oppressive monarch.

What does this have to do with pre-existence? To me everything. Like us, the characters come from a world where they were happy, but have now forgotten who they really are in exchange for the beliefs about themselves that evil has forced upon them.  How many women struggle with self-worth when once they were princesses? How many men cower in the face of a challenge when once they charged into battle against the Adversary? Why are so many content to be peasants when called to be heroes? When we remember who we were, that we stood with our Savior and agreed to come down to what the wicked Queen called "Somewhere horrible", then we realize that "were" should be replaced with "are" and we live up to our true potential. We can become the righteous kings and queens our heritage provides us, by overcoming the world and standing up to what we know is right.

I know why I get teary eyed at the idea that "everyone's happily ever after was taken away", it's because this really isn't the place where happily ever after is. That place is yet to come.

-JOE

Writer's Block: The Fear of Being Stuck

Today's post is going to be more personal in nature.  If you're not interested, you can still enjoy the funny pictures of cats!

Today, for whatever reason, I'm experiencing some bad writer's block.  For some reason, it's reminding me of a fear that I have: the fear of being stuck.

When I was a child (somewhere between six and eight years old) I was playing near some tables that my parents had.  At one point, I somehow got my hand stuck in between some slats that made up the bottom part of the table.  For what felt like an eternity, I was unable to remove my hand.  I remember that it hurt, and I was crying.  Eventually, I was able to remove my hand (probably with the help of one of my parents). 

Ever since then, I've felt a sense of panic if I'm unable to move part of my body.  Sometimes this can lead to particularly violent reactions to people trying to hold or restrain me.  I will fight to try to escape, even if it is causing me pain.  It can sometimes be a little dangerous when I'm playing with my nieces and nephews.  Luckily, I'm able to somewhat distinguish that I'm not 'stuck' just temporarily being held by them.

I've noticed that this fear of being stuck can extend to other sort of situations.  I notice it most frequently in social situations.  If a person is talking to me, and I don't want to continue talking to them, it can lead to some feelings of fear.  In fact, there are some people I try to avoid because I know that I may become 'stuck' in a conversation that I'm just not interested in.  I've found that it also extends to other situations.  If there is a puzzle or a problem that I don't know how to solve, I have a tendency to avoid it.

How does this relate?  Having writer's block is reminding me that I'm feeling stuck.  I feel quite a bit of pressure to produce interest and relevant content for this blog.  Some weeks, I think I'm just writing a post to have a post and that I'm the only person who finds the post interesting.  I often feel myself stuck between the pressure to produce something, and the thought that no one finds it interesting.

Of course, most of that is probably in my head.

Thank you for enduring this post.  Feel free to share this or other posts from Mormon Geeks.  If you don't, the cat below may come to your home and eat all your food.

It's All in The Numbers

For those that know me, you know I'm a corporate accountant. Here's a bit of truth that people don't understand: the majority of accountants don't actually like numbers. They're decent at algebra and the occasionally algebra 2, but really, they understand how this action creates this reaction. There are many concepts in accounting that are learned through study and experience.

Me? Oh yeah, I fit that stereotypical, number-loving, nerdy geek. Yep, that's me. Today, I'm gonna share with you some of my favorite number references.

The first is a funny moment. Yeah, I can be funny once in a while.  And if you don't find it funny, meh, not gonna care too much.

I was with my in-laws and I can't recall what we were talking about. But at one point in the conversation, my father-in-law says "No, 2 is not a two-digit number." To which I replied, "It is when it looks like a 10." (If you don't get, you're not geeky enough, sorry.)

π: Pie is awesome. Well, it is, but I digress. Pi is also awesome. I love its randomness. The fact that it's incomplete and can keep being calculated further and further out. And really, I only know pi as 3.14. But on March 14th, it'd be awesome if more people celebrated pi day with pie. It just means so much to the balance of the universe.

42: Thanks to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the answer to everything. If you have a problem you can't figure out, just put 42 down. 

7: The Bible has many references to the number seven. It is complete, good, lucky, and positive. In some religions, it has one negative to it: The seven deadly sins. I love looking at this concept of how all sins stem from the seven vices of wrath, greed, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, and pride. Also, you get to see six out of the seven in one of my favorite movies (hence the reason you see the Willy Wonka cast above.)

May 4th: The ultimate Star Wars fan day (hello, dates have numbers to them). "May the fourth" is just an awesome way to look at a day. I wish I could have a trilogy marathon every May 4th. It'd be an awesome way to celebrate the day. (When I say "trilogy", I mean trilogy. I don't wanna be annoyed by Jar Jar, bored by Padme/Anakin's love interest, or angry that Anakin just killed a bunch of innocent children.)

There's some numbers for you today.

Alien abductions are involuntary,  but probings are scheduled.

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

They're are two reasons to do a reboot of something. One is if you can somehow make the product better, with better scripts, direction, actors, graphics, ect. like in the case of the Christopher Nolan Batman films. The last Batman series had devolved into hour and a half long commercials for Hot Wheels and McDonald's, and it's characters devolved back to when Robin would say "Holy bad-writing, Batman!" and now they're a cross between The Departed and James Bond. The other reason to reboot of course is to milk a franchise for even more money and sadly that's what happened to old Spidey. The Amazing Spider-Man serves no purpose than to further grow the Marvel/Disney corporation and give Emma Stone a reason to run around in mini-skirts.

So here's the big question: What's different from this film than the other films that came out between 2002 and 2007? The answer: Not a whole lot. Like the Batman series, pretty much everyone knows the basic back story of Spider-Man. Loser science geek Peter Parker (Brought to us today by Andrew Garfield, last seen in The Social Network) is being raised by his aunt and uncle when he's accidentally bit by a genetically altered spider and is thus given the "abilities" of something you smash with a newspaper (honestly, if I saw a spider swinging at full speed through my house, and shooting webs 5X the length of it's body, I would freak).  His uncle is killed when he uses his powers for selfish reasons and he decides to become a super hero to make his father/uncle proud. A strange difference Amazing has to the previous series is that Spidey's origins is stretched out through the entirety of the film, creating this oddly placed theme of missing father throughout the piece. Usually a super hero's back story is done in the first 15 minutes and the hero all but forgets it by the second act. It does add this unique lost father concept that the comic books rarely touch on, which is a point for the film, but honestly isn't enough to salvage it from what I'm going to say next.

The real problem with this film was that it just went nowhere. The idea of adding Gwen Stacy without Mary Jane, Spider-Man's other love interest, is a terrible mistake. Mary Jane and Gwen are supposed to be rivals for Parker's love. Without her, Gwen just feels like a blonde version of Mary Jane, maybe a little more nerdy, but nothing to get excited over. The villain, Lizard, ends up being incredibly confusing, since he's apparently able to heal almost instantaneously from gunshot wounds, shotgun blasts, and even carbon dioxide, that was supposed to be his big weakness. He also has this weird habit of putting on a lab coat, only to later rip it off when it gets destroyed by bullets and masonry, presumably because the Lizard in the comic books always wore a tattered lab coat, but here it just doesn't make any sense. The film is meant to be seen in 3D, which means if you see it in a normal theater like I did, all the funky web slinging shots and excruciatingly long skateboarding scene just feel confusing and altogether makes the film feel like it has a run time of ten hours. Even the aforementioned lost father theme gets confusing at times, with Peter Parker's school bully turning best friend for some unknown reason, presumably because his father figure is also dead. 

The shear star power of the film is mind-boggling considering the script. America's sweetheart Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, the legendary Sally Field and Martin Sheen as Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and Rescue Me's Denis Leary fill out the supporting cast, but this also creates the problem of they're just being too many characters fighting for screen time. People see super hero movies to see super heroes, not the hero's entire Facebook friend list. 

In the end, the whole film was just mediocre. It had a feeling of heard-it-before-but-better, like listening to the karaoke version of your favorite song. The notes are all there but they just have no flare or individuality. If you've got kids old enough to get into super heroes they'd probably like it, but if not it's probably best just to watch The Avengers over again and wait for Dark Night to come out. 

-JOE

P.S. There is crap after the credits, but it's honestly not worth sticking around for.

Who Can You Trust: Games With Deception

Who can you trust?  No, I'm not referring to the theme of the Fablehaven.  I'm referring to a set of games where some of the players are secretly working against the other players (as opposed to openly trying to work against each other).  There are a number of fun card/board games that fit into this category.  I'd like to share a few of the ones that I've enjoyed.

Mafia

Perhaps the simplest of games.  All you need is some way to designate which players are the 'mafia' and which are not.  The mafia's goal is to kill off all the players except for themselves.  Each turn of the game represents a night and a day.  During the night, the mafia selects a person to kill.  During the day, all of the players (including the mafia) try to decide on how is a mafia member.  Once they've made a decision, that person is also killed.  The non mafia people win if they can successfully kill off all the members of the mafia.  The mafia members identity is maintained a secret by having all the other players close their eyes while the mafia members are choosing their victims.

There are some possible variants and additional rules.  Some players can be designated as police or detectives to 'investigate' a player each night.  A player can also be designated as an 'angel' who is able to protect one player a round.

Werewolves

Werewolves plays very similarly to mafia.  One major difference is that there are actually cards to designate what each player does.  One thing that werewolves brings to the table is more variety in the different roles that players can be.  Here are a few of the 'extra' roles that werewolves brings:

• The witch - once per game, the witch can poison a person.  Also once per game, the witch has the option of saving a character
• The little girl - the little girl is allowed to peak when the werewolves are choosing their victim.  If the little girl is caught, then the little girl is usually killed
• Cupid - At the beginning of the game, cupid chooses two players to be lovers.  If one lover dies, the other also dies of a broken heart

The Resistance

A very interesting spin to the game of mafia.  The first major difference is that players are not 'killed off' each round.  In the resistance, each player is either the member of a resistance or a spy trying to stop the resistance.  Every round, a designated leader tries to put together a team to complete a mission.  The size of the team is less than the number of players.  Then everyone votes on whether they want the team to go through or not.  If the vote is approved, then each of the people selected for the mission get to either help it succeed or sabotage it.  If the vote is rejected, then another player becomes the leader.  The voting is public, yet the choice to help or sabotage the mission is kept secret.  The game because an enjoyable witch hunt to try to discover who is a member of the resistance and who is a spy.

The last time I played, I was totally deluded into thinking that the spies were members of the resistance and vice versa.  I got manipulated very well by one of the spies.  It was a very enjoyable game.

Bang 

I have never played Bang before, but the basic premise of the game is that all of the players are involved in a Texas shoot out.  Each player is designated as being a sheriff or one of other possible roles (which are kept secret).  Each role has a goal.  The deputies are not allowed to attack the sheriff, and are trying to kill off people who are shooting at the sheriff.  The outlaws are trying to kill off the sheriff.

Battlestar Galactica

This game is one of my favorites.  I've never seen either of the Battlestar Galactica series, but I still highly enjoy the game.  In the game, the players are trying to safely get to their new home.  Along the way, the board puts a series of obstacles in their path, such as crises that sap their food supplies or kill off some of the people.  Also, some of the players (who are really Cylons in disguise) may be working secretly to help the board defeat the players.  At certain periods of time, a Cylon can reveal themselves to devastating effect and start openly opposing the players.  There is a chance that none of the players are Cylons.  The element of uncertainty adds even more fun to the game.

Shadows Over Camelot

In this game, each of the players assumes the role of a knight of the round table.  Their goal is to save Camelot from a series of threats by winning tournaments, retrieving powerful artifacts (the holy grail, Excalibur, etc), and by fending of the Picks and the Saxons.  As an added level of intrigue, one of the players  may be working against the other players to destroy.  Like with Battlestar Galactica, not knowing if there actually is a traitor makes the game even more fun and enjoyable.

If there is a fun game that fits into this category that I haven't shared, feel free to comment about it!

As a small aside, here is a list of some video game release days that I am feeling excited for:

• Minecraft version 1.3 has a tentative release date of August 1st.  They will be adding some new features including trading with villagers
• Guild Wars 2 is scheduled to release on August 28th.  I don't think I have words to describe how excited I am for the game, or how much fun I had playing as an elementalist.