slam23
Tormented Planescaper
@Corwin: the diceless Amber tabletop RPG has some nice elements in it. All players play one Prince or Princess of Amber with corresponding powers, trumps and portfolio's. Aim of the game is to claim the throne and become King/Queen and that means fighting all your siblings. After customising your character in typical Amber-style an auction starts of the game. In the auction the portfolio's (dominion over sea, forest and/or castle), powers (i.e. ability to scribe new trumps, ability to teleport without walking the Pattern etc) and some major Amberian (?) artifacts get distributed amongst the highest bidders (sacrificing character points to get them). Then all are summoned to the castle to inform them that the King has disappeared and is in all likelihood dead. From that point the struggle for power commences with a lot of politics, backstabbing, forming alliances and armies, fighting, betrayal etc. I only played it three times (becoming king once) but I have fond memories of those campaigns. And I don't mean the pizza....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game
@Alrik: I have read a book about high sensitivity and I am intrigued by this phenomenon. Although it lacks a thorough neuroscientific underpinning (imho), it somehow captures a lot of seemingly unrelated experiences and characteristics under one umbrella. Whatever the underlying neurophysiological processes may be, I think it mostly affects people who have a learned (or inborn) tendency to direct their attention to the moods and needs of (significant) others while at the same time not being able to shield themselves for incoming stimuli from the outside world. In my work I see it often in adults who had "unsafe" parenting and who have learned to cope with unpredictability by being attentive to "danger" signals emitted by the other. This becomes then a second nature survival strategy that exists well into adulthood. It potentially makes for really socially sensitive and caring people but it seems like they pay a price for not being able to shield themselves properly and thusly get bombarded with negative stimuli such as the depressed/angry/fearful mood of the other, or even harsh sounds and sights. It's not uncommon to see that they live a socially withdrawn life, content with being at home and directing energy towards creative hobbies that they can undertake alone.
Started reading the last Harry Potter, tragically some of the ending got spoiled for me by a friend who thought I had read it already while actually it was my girlfriend who had just finished. Because I just moved this week to a new home, TV and internet are still out (typing this at work now) so I'm happy to have something to read to get my mind off all the stuff that still has te be done in and around the house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game
@Alrik: I have read a book about high sensitivity and I am intrigued by this phenomenon. Although it lacks a thorough neuroscientific underpinning (imho), it somehow captures a lot of seemingly unrelated experiences and characteristics under one umbrella. Whatever the underlying neurophysiological processes may be, I think it mostly affects people who have a learned (or inborn) tendency to direct their attention to the moods and needs of (significant) others while at the same time not being able to shield themselves for incoming stimuli from the outside world. In my work I see it often in adults who had "unsafe" parenting and who have learned to cope with unpredictability by being attentive to "danger" signals emitted by the other. This becomes then a second nature survival strategy that exists well into adulthood. It potentially makes for really socially sensitive and caring people but it seems like they pay a price for not being able to shield themselves properly and thusly get bombarded with negative stimuli such as the depressed/angry/fearful mood of the other, or even harsh sounds and sights. It's not uncommon to see that they live a socially withdrawn life, content with being at home and directing energy towards creative hobbies that they can undertake alone.
Started reading the last Harry Potter, tragically some of the ending got spoiled for me by a friend who thought I had read it already while actually it was my girlfriend who had just finished. Because I just moved this week to a new home, TV and internet are still out (typing this at work now) so I'm happy to have something to read to get my mind off all the stuff that still has te be done in and around the house.