Comments on: Episode 181 – gamer health (part 2)

By: tirsden

tirsden — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:12:27 +0000

When talking about elimination diets, sadly some of us have to go on those due to food allergies and are pretty much stuck with them for life. I know that wasn’t within the scope of the show and I’m not nitpicking, but as a thought for anyone who has a lot of allergies and literally can’t “eat anything you want”, spoken from experience it can be very, very hard to make food interesting. It’s even worse when you’re on a low income and are allergic to things like wheat, dairy, and a bunch of random things that just seem to be in “everything” (try seeing how many products out there have citric acid and/or ascorbic acid, both of which are major migraine triggers).

Even so, I have managed to make food interesting and have sort of been forced into being creative in the kitchen. The idea is to try things out, either with a cookbook or the thought of “hmm, what happens if I mix… this… with this…?” and the worst you can do is end up with a dish that tastes like crap and you know never to make that one again. At best, you’ve just invented something epic and can add it to your repertoir of things you can make. As a thought, make small experimental dishes, so if it’s so bad you have to throw it out, at least you didn’t waste much food.

By: Rick

Rick — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:56:38 +0000

Great podcast! I think it is great for your show to develop a program on staying healthly. Like I read somewhere, I want to be playing D&D and Battletech when I am in a nursing home not bingo. Of course, seeing an 80 year old dressed up like the Queen of the City in a Vampire LARP may be a little too much.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:06:00 +0000

On notes in games – I’ve been thinking lately more about “playing in the open”. I’ve played with guys who generate pages of background – which they keep as a secret between themselves and the GM – then the notes happen as a logical extension of keeping the background secret (e.g. notes like “I go and visit my secret dietician where I discuss the location of the fabled Dorito of weight loss”). This gets a bit tedious when there’s lots of note passing and sidebars for stuff that doesn’t contribute to the game (or even when it does contribute to the game).

I think this means:
1. There’s an assumption that the other players can’t separate player knowledge from PC knowledge
2. There’s a missed opportunity to share some of the fun with everybody. If we all know that Snorri the Dwarf has a problem with not putting sh*t in his mouth, we can all enjoy watching his struggles, and even contribute to the play by “inadvertantly” helping or hindering.

Incidentally, it was Luke Crane’s Burning Empires that made me think of this – character generation

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:52:19 +0000

Jim, that’s a great motivator and a great way to build an automatic support network.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:22:52 +0000

At work, eight of us are in a weight loss contest. By May 1st, the one to lose the highest % of weight wins the cash prize. We each put in $10 and have to put in $1 for each pound we gain each week. I’ve lost 12 lbs in a month, mostly because I don’t want the shame of having to fork over a buck and I just hate to lose any game. We eat together, so we can really slam anyone who isn’t eating right. It works.

By: Silversmith

Silversmith — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:24:03 +0000

For those who don’t think they can cook, I suggest the Food Network. 2 shows have taught me a lot about cooking. Alton Brown’s Good Eats, and Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals. If you find Rachel boring, give Alton a try. He’s funny, interesting, and very knowledgeable. Also I recommend Iron Chef America to improve your ability to improvise in the kitchen. My wife and I have both made some great meals just throwing together what we have because of what these shows have taught us. I went from being able to make decent spaghetti and pretty good chili to making all kinds of things. Some of them were REAL STINKERS. Most of them were pretty good. A few were FANTASTIC! (That was for Chad.) I’d write more but I have to put my ciabatta bread dough in the oven to rise.