Restaurants in Panama City Beach

by: Charles Plemons - July 22nd, 2008   Filed under: Food Add Comment

I recently returned from another trip to Panama City and Panama City Beach. I ate at a number of restaurants there, and here are some of my thoughts on them.

  • Bishop’s Family Buffet – We ate at Bishop’s toward the end of our trip. The buffet is very well stocked with a good variety, including steak, spaghetti, fish, crab legs, shrimp, and chicken. I really enjoyed the food, but be prepared to pay dearly for it. The evening buffet is upwards of $23 a person. Part of this is the all-you-can-eat crab legs; since I don’t like crab legs, this is not a selling point for me. Overall a good experience, but the price keeps it from being on my “must return” list.
  • IHOP – We don’t have an IHOP around here, so we try to eat at them when we find them. There is a new one at the end of 23rd street at the junction with U.S. 231, on the left past Panama City Mall. It is your typical IHOP, but I include it here because most people wouldn’t go this far out and stumble upon it.
  • McDonald’s – We went once to the McDonald’s at 16990 Front Beach Road. They don’t have the Dollar Menu, so don’t ever bother going there.
  • Pizza Hut – We called the Pizza Hut at 16726 Front Beach Road at around 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday or Monday evening. They had a two-hour wait. We ordered Domino’s and got it in 30 minutes (just like the commercial).
  • Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-BQ – I ate at the Sonny’s on the corner of Back Beach Road and Beckrich Road. This is becoming one of my favorite restaurants in the area. The food is excellent and prices very reasonable. I was disappointed to find they changed the menu this year and no longer offer the build-your-own combinations that allow you to try several different things at once. However, we ended up eating here twice, and I had the pulled pork one night and pulled chicken another. Both were excellent. If you get cornbread, you get less than if you get garlic bread. The baked beans are very good as well. Overall, I was very pleased with Sonny’s and will certainly eat there again in the future.
  • Treasure Ship – My wife and I love to go to the Treasure Ship on Thomas Drive. The food is really good, and the atmosphere very pleasant. It is not an inexpensive meal, but I’ve always found it worth it. Get the Treasure Ship Trio appetizer; it is cheese sticks, chicken fingers, and fried shrimp. Delicious! This year, for the main meal I got mahi-mahi and really liked it. Their salads, sadly, have a lot to be desired though. Me, my wife, and my two-year-old ate for around $70.
  • Whataburger – We don’t have a Whataburger locally, and I really like the food. We stopped at the one on highway 331 in Defuniak Springs, FL. The food is good, but it is way overpriced. It was $17 for the three of us to eat, and we got nothin’ fancy. I like a good burger, but for this much, you can keep it. I have an idea to save some costs and lower those prices; I don’t need a flat screen TV over the urinal.

Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 91

by: Charles Plemons - July 9th, 2008   Filed under: Age of Worms Add Comment

Game summary for July 8, 2008; present characters included Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Mael Gabrian (human cleric), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Ranulph Wathbater (human berserker/fighter/hellreaver/paladin of freedom/rogue), Saedd West (human fighter/pious templar/wormhunter), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human divine crusader/gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

The team returned to the defiled shrine and opened the remaining doors to find a hallway of mosaic green tiles rippling with energy. A stylized green worm was inlaid in the floor and crossed to the far door. Taravin walked onto the worm and out into the room, only to find himself blasted by numerous orbs that bestowed negative levels. Saedd quickly moved to rescue him, and Ranulph borrowed Mael’s negative immunity ring to traverse the room. Soon, Saedd had the doors open, revealing a statuary room fill with pillars, tables, marble, and partially-carved figures. Beyond the room was a raised platform and another massive room filled with some kind of swirling black energy. Standing within the statuary room was no fewer than eight liches, which the group found as they dimension doored into the room!

Battle was joined immediately, with spells and invocations flying. Some of the liches rendered themselves invisible, and others cursed the party with various afflictions. The priestly lich Cardinals hit the bunched-up team with blistering flame strikes. The archmages favored weakening effects and magical holds. The warlocks were less elaborate, blasting away with eldritch spears.

The party wasted no time engaging but hit some rough patches early on. Lyrin greatly wounded most of the lichs with his sun magic early, and even blinded some. This singled him out as a “must kill” target instantly, and the group focused fire on him until he went down in a heap. The two party clerics were also targets as soon as their casting abilities were revealed; however, the liches never could get their fire concentrated enough to bring them down. Saedd and Taravin found themselves under effects such as ray of enfeeblement and waves of exhaustion. This mainly bought the liches time to try other tactics, but they ran into several immunities granted by Mael–acid and cold seemed a big mistake for the liches, rendering several volleys utterly ineffective. Their blistering flame strikes continued to inflict painful wounds, however.

Things began to turn around as Mael blasted out a blade barrier to divide the enemies, and Syvarius shook off his compulsed holding and could launch arrows. The two clerics nullified the worst of the damage dealt to the party, and Taravin, Ranulph, and Saedd kept pressure on several liches. Eolas found his scorching rays of particularly good use, burning several liches to cinders! Soon, the power of Kelemvor brought Lyrin back to life, and he made of up for lost time with the nasty attacks he launched.

Finally, the lich corpses lay in smoking ruins around the room. But what lurks on the other side of the platform? Is the energy the Unlife Vortex? The liches appeared to be workers; if that is the case, what could possibly be the vortex guardian?

Nightlife by Rob Thurman

by: Charles Plemons - July 2nd, 2008   Filed under: Books and Magazines Add Comment

This week, I finished reading Rob Thurman’s Nightlife, book one of the Cal Leandros series. It is one of many in the avalanche of urban fantasy novels in the last couple years. Being a big fan of Jim Butcher, I have been branching out to similar authors. What I found in Nightlife was interesting, but far from spectacular.

The book is mainly written from the point of view of Caliban (Cal) Leandros, who is a pretty un-endearing, forgettable individual. I think the author really enjoyed being able to write cuss words because “that’s what those teenagers say these days.” He is supposed to come across as a clever, witty, wiseass. Instead, he became a character in a book I set aside for over a month. Horribly, terribly, unoriginal. His brother, Niko, is a more appealing character, although he plays second fiddle throughout the book. Despite the Cal character being a flop, Thurman’s re-imagining of the faerie tale world is quite interesting. The Thurman “elf” (a mispronunciation of “Auphe”) is a wicked, nasty creature of pure evil. They make passable boogeymen, although their nastiness is never really demonstrated, just hinted around at. The Thurman “troll” is really intriguing, with the ability to absorb others into its massive tentacled form. Satyrs make an appearance, as do boggles. The vampires are barely explored, but the werewolves felt a bit “off”. Overall, the fantasy world itself is different and intriguing. I much prefer Kim Harrison’s fantasy world from the Hollows, but this is passable.

The plot is not bad, if not cliched. The big bad guys want to destroy humanity, and the good guys don’t want that. Typical, but pulled off in an acceptable manner. The biggest problem is the Cal character is lousy. There is no empathy for him, he’s not amusing, he acts like a twelve-year-old with a pistol, and he is uninspired. Everytime he goes into another one of his long tirades about life, I find myself going on a long sleep.

Overall, I think the book showed a lot of promise. I would be curious to see how the later books (this was Thurman’s first) develop the character. For a first novel, it is a good attempt and shows some creativity. I would like to see characters that hook me into the story. Honestly, by the end of the book, I didn’t care if Cal made it or not. In fact, at times I rooted for the bad guys, because it would finally end.

In the end, I put this particular work on the B-list of urban fantasy. It is an okay story with some very neat twists on myth and legend, but character development needs a lot of work. I’m willing to read one more and see if Thurman was able to fully come into his potential.

Novels

Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 90

by: Charles Plemons - July 2nd, 2008   Filed under: Age of Worms Add Comment

Game summary for July 1, 2008; present characters included Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Mael Gabrian (human cleric), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Ranulph Wathbater (human berserker/fighter/hellreaver/paladin of freedom/rogue), Saedd West (human fighter/pious templar/wormhunter), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human divine crusader/gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

The Mercenaries attempted to use Saedd’s instant fortress to rest within the complex. It worked for a while until they were attacked by a horned devil that slipped inside. The fiend killed Morak in his sleep, terrified Syvarius, and injured Mael and scared him so badly he could only roll down the stairs and babble, “It killed Mael! It killed Mael!”, much to the confusion of his allies. When he recovered his wits, he then told them the devil had killed Morak.

The team rushed up to that floor and viciously embattled the devil. It fought valiantly, but it was unable to withstand the onslaught. It was soon beaten unconscious, though regenerating. The team quickly dragged it into a prismatic sphere, which killed it. The team then locked themselves back in the fortress and continued their rest.

When the Mercenaries emerged, they immediately proceeded to the mirror wall and used wind walk to go through the crack. Once through, Morak dismissed the spell. Within, they found a treasure trove of items and a pair of devils, another horned and a pit fiend! Battle was joined immediately, with the devils dropping fireballs and swinging massive chains. Although extraordinarily dangerous, the Mercenaries were able to swarm the devils and beat them unconscious quickly. The horned devil was blasted into oblivion with a destruction, and the pit fiend was trapped within a magic circle against evil.

After ransacking the room, they found an item Lyrin recognized from lore, the dreaded Baalphegor’s Grace. He realized this was what controlled the Blessed Angels in the city of Mintarn. He also remembered it was extremely dangerous to use. They made a deal with the pit fiend to exchange its freedom from the circle for the answer to three questions. Both parties agreed not to attack each other as well. True to its word, the devil answered their questions. The first, who does it work for, it indicated it was bound by Lashonna. Second, what is the source of the negative energy, it replied the Unlife Vortex. And finally, in answer on how to use Baalphegor’s Grace, it told them to drink it. The devil then teleported to parts unknown.

Armed with new knowledge, the party now seeks the Unlife Vortex in their quest to destroy Kyuss.

Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 89

by: Charles Plemons - June 25th, 2008   Filed under: Age of Worms Add Comment

Game summary for June 24, 2008; present characters included Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Mael Gabrian (human cleric), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Ranulph Wathbater (human berserker/fighter/hellreaver/paladin of freedom/rogue), and Taravin Truesilver (human divine crusader/gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

The Mercenaries decided to proceed through the doors directly opposite the ones they entered. Behind them, they found a short hallway and another set of doors. Behind these was a very large room with a vaulted dome ceiling and two platforms with pits in the middle. Way across the room, up on the other platform, stood another pair of doors. A strange rasping sound seemed to come from the pits.

The team cautiously moved forward, and Taravin looked down into the pit to see thousands of teeming Kyuss worms. The group fanned out and went down the stairs of the platform into the main portion of the room. A rumble shook the area, and the worms from both pits exploded upward like a geyser! Quickly, the worms combined to form two massive overworms!

The team fought against the creatures viciously, eventually killing one of them. Once they did, thousands of more worms sprayed out and formed another overworm. Lyrin covered the openings of the pits with blade barrier while the rest of the group battered away with blade, hammer, and spell. Soon, Ranulph was snatched up into the maw of one of the worms. Mael hit him with a reach freedom of movement, which dropped him out of the worm’s mouth, through the blade barrier, and into the pit. He quickly scrambled up the side and forces himself back through the spinning blades in a shower of blood.

The team fell back across the room and regrouped on the second platform. They killed the overworms and went through the next set of doors. On the other side, they discovered some kind of magical silver wall. Lyrin determined it was very reflective, and Mael discovered it does not go all the way to the floor.

Now the Mercenaries stand before the mirror wall and debate what to do next. Some want to assume a mist form and go under the wall. Others with to try and camp. Does some horrible monster wait on the other side? Will camping allow all the forces of Kyuss to come to bear on the party?

Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 88

by: Charles Plemons - June 18th, 2008   Filed under: Age of Worms Add Comment

Game summary for June 17, 2008; present characters included Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Ranulph Wathbater (human berserker/fighter/hellreaver/paladin of freedom/rogue), Saedd West (human fighter/pious templar/wormhunter), and Taravin Truesilver (human divine crusader/gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

After nursing their wounds, the Mercenaries discussed ways to dispose of the nasty demon in the sewers. They decided to give Taravin a talisman of reluctant wishes and use a wish to banish the demon. With this plan in place, they made haste back to the sewers. Within the dank, stinking hole, the party found winding corridors but no demon. After traveling aimlessly for a while, they finally found the telltale cloud surrounding the monster. It attacked viciously, killing Ranulph (again) almost instantly. Saedd charged forward to engage but was crippled by the noxious cloud. Morak restored his senses, but Saedd soon succumbed yet again. The demon stripped several protections away from Taravin, but the stalwart paladin still strode into the mist and used his wish. The effect worked, driving the broodfiend away from the Prime plane.

The team then circled around Morak while he performed a raise dead on slain Ranulph. Then, the team descended deep into the sewers where they were ambushed by half a dozen crimson deaths. The creatures quickly began feeding on Taravin and Ranulph but were unable to affect Morak and Saedd. Using freedom of movement, Morak protected Taravin, and the team killed or drove off the creatures.

Saedd ascended a ladder and found himself in a strange room. The team joined him shortly, and they went through the doors into a hallway. Proceeding cautiously, they emerged in a shrine to Kyuss containing a statue of the Wormgod and two additional exits. Using detect magic, they found some faint necromancy beneath the statue. Saedd tipped it over. The breaking statue crashed to the ground, and Taravin and Saedd jumped up and down on the marble dais it was on. Finally, Saedd whipped out an adamantine axe and hacked the top out of the marble, which triggered a spring that opened an unlocked hatch on the side of the dais. Within lay several gems, some incense, some hair, and a hand of glory.

Now, the Mercenaries face a choice of two doorways. Where do they lead? Are they in the vicinity of the source of the negative energy?

All Flesh Must Be Eaten Adventure – Diablo Gulch

by: Charles Plemons - June 12th, 2008   Filed under: All Flesh Must Be Eaten 1 Comment

I have just posted my first free adventure for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten game system. It is called Diablo Gulch and is set in a Weird West genre. The adventure features zombie survival in the Wild West! Several of us played the game at our 2008 May Day gaming event and had a fantastic time. Afterward, I polished it up a bit and have now made it available for download.

The adventure serves as a great introduction to the Unisystem™ game and is intended as a one-shot scenario. With some tweaking, it could also kick off a Weird West campaign. This adventure is a fan-based work of fiction and is not endorsed or supported by Eden Studios in any way.

Religion Category

by: Charles Plemons - June 12th, 2008   Filed under: Religion Add Comment

I’ve added a new Religion category to this blog. It will contain items of, obviously, religious nature. So far, I’ve only posted in the Bible Study subcategory, but I have to post in the main one to make Bible Study show up on the blog navigation bar.

Problems with the NIV Bible

by: Charles Plemons - June 12th, 2008   Filed under: Bible Study Add Comment

When I was a teenager, the Lutheran church put a NIV translation of the Bible in my hands, and I grew up with it. Years later, I received a New Kings James Version (NKJV) and started using it. Not long after, I heard that there were some problems with the NIV, and a couple were pointed out. I accepted that and put it in the back of my mind. Now, I’ve done some research and found that a lot more is wrong with the NIV than I even knew! I have found that some scholars are saying over 64,000 words are missing from the NIV! If that weren’t enough, some verses do not exist in the NIV at all.

Verses Missing from the NIV

  • Matthew 17:21; 18:11; 23:14
  • Mark 7:16; 9:44; 9:46; 11:26; 15:28
  • Luke 17:36; 23:17
  • John 5:4
  • Acts 8:37; 15:34; 24:7; 28:29
  • Romans 16:24
  • 1 John 5:7 (truncated)

Don’t believe me? Go to an online Bible resource like BibleGateway and look them up. Compare the NIV text with the NKJV, KJV, ASV, or NASB. Supporters of the NIV say these missing texts do not matter or that what they teach appear elsewhere. Do you want to rely on a Bible that is, without question, omitting portions? Revelation 22:18-19 gives you something to think about.

Also consider the NIV translation of John 3:16.

16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Now look at the NKJV of John 3:16.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Note that the word is “should”, not “shall” (this matches in the KJV, ASV, ESV, 21CKJV, and so on). Changing this one word can lead to some serious errors in Christian thought, such as “belief only” salvation (disproved in Matthew 7:19; John 15:8; John 15:10; John 15:14; Titus 1:16; Titus 2:7; Titus 3:8; 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Timothy 4:12; 1Timothy 6:18-19) or the thought that once a Christian you cannot loose salvation (disproved in Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 3:12-13; Hebrews 4:1; Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 6:4-8; 2 Peter 2:20-21).

If you regularly use the NIV, I urge you to do some research on your own. Find out more about it. The Word of God is too important; don’t ignore these concerns without finding out for yourself!

Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 87

by: Charles Plemons - June 10th, 2008   Filed under: Age of Worms Add Comment

Game summary for June 10, 2008; present characters included Mael Gabrian (human cleric), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Ranulph Wathbater (human berserker/fighter/hellreaver/paladin of freedom/rogue), and Taravin Truesilver (human divine crusader/gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

After safely escorting fourteen citizens of Mintarn into the safety of Tempus’ temple, the Mercenaries set back out onto the streets to find more people to save. Shortly, they encounter half a dozen Kyuss high-knights and numerous spawn of Kyuss killing people. The team launched into an attack and discovered the high-knights were much more dangerous than they appeared. Their unholy executioner’s maces slashed an unholy swath through the team. Mael and Morak unleashed volumes of healing energy while Ranulph and Taravin went toe-to-toe with the undead menaces. Eventually, several were cut down, and Mael destroyed two by channeling the divine might of Torm. In the end, fourteen more people were rescued and taken to the Tempus temple.

The team decided to seek out the source of the negative energy fueling the ziggurat, so they found themselves down in the Mintarn sewers. Not far within, they encountered a patch of greenish-brown fog. Within lurked a massive demonic creature with a gaping hole and writhing worms where a head should be. Its arms were snapping, fanged worms, and massive wings spread out from its back. It’s bulk filled most of the tunnels.

The creature spewed poisonous acid across the Mercenaries and attacked Ranulph and Taravin as they approached it through the fog. Taravin watched Ranulph’s blood spray across the stone wall beside him as the monstrosity tore Ranulph open and killed him. Taravin snatched up Ranulph and fled while the priests tried to hamper the monster’s approach. It moved without effort through their defenses, but they were able to stay ahead of it long enough for Taravin to whisk them safely away with the greater skeleton key.

Is the creature in the sewers there by chance, or is it guarding something? Are there more than one? What other horrors lurk in the dank, fetid darkness of Mintarn’s cess pits?