So, now that everybody has their patch, I can post about this! Art had learned to play D&D at an afterschool program in middle school in the spring of 2015, and he’d been keeping up at our local game shop, the Wyvern’s Tale, over the summer. I was excited when he invited me to come, …
Author Archives: Rik Schell
D&D&S
I’m DMing a Spelljammer campaign converted to 5e. After half a year playing the party finally has a decent ship and are taking on their first jobs as a delivery service. Which is delivering 5 tons of shrimp cocktail to a casino asteroid. The halfling mafia boss on Rock of Bral hired them to do …
Schell Stereo Cabinet update
The Sony stereo receiver is conking out. The right channel is going all mucky. It’s 15 years old or so, so I guess it’s no surprise. Before I order a $150 unit off Amazon that I can’t really afford right now, maybe I’ll hit Goodwill and a pawn shop or two. Stereo units are hard …
Waiting for Peri
Much as I have enjoyed the new Steven Universe Future and its rejection of the “happily ever after” narrative, I have mourned the lack of Peridot, my favorite Crystal Gem. Okay, not just my favorite, but the one I most identify with. If you take the Diamond Authority as a stand-in for patriarchy and its …
Ununited Methodist Church
I was a Methodist from 1996-2006 or so. Back before any of the mainline denominations were really officially ordaining or marrying LGBTQ folx. We worked to try to change that, but conservatives poured a lot of money into changing the UMC from a social gospel church into something more authority-driven. Between those changes and generally …
Free to Be…
Elizabeth grew up with this record as a little girl. I never heard it till I was in high school–I think it was Suzanne who spearheaded its resurgence. I listened to it a lot as a teenager, and for a teenage to listen to a dumb kids’ album, it must have been revelatory. Gender roles …
The Schell stereo cabinet
Now we can play records and tapes again!
The Empire Strikes Back?
I was talking to my therapist last week about the sort of person I want to be. “Assertive rather than aggressive, with compassion toward other people.” And he noted that the big difference between being assertive and aggressive is emotion. That caring less about outcomes on a personal level will help me stay more in …
Star Wars
Went to see the “last” Star Wars movie last night. I was expecting to be disappointed on the level of 11-year-old me on seeing Return of the Jedi. (It had some great space battles and a great Final Confrontation, but there were so many ham-handed elements that were less good than what my imagination could …
Christmas eve
The Schell variant of the traditional Lain family Christmas Eve spaghetti sauce is heavy on the vegetables. The only meat is the New York style meatballs. As with all good traditions it takes the preexisting thing and adapts it to a new time and place.