Taking a trip to Strong Museum, ∞ pain & healing black/white combo, ai fun, and more!

Black Lotus Journal no.2

This past week the family and I took a trip to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. A past trip here made for a pretty entertaining evening and I had also attended a follow-up visit when they held a Juneteenth event followed by a fun hour or so of just walking around and exploring.

This trip, I had more time to actually look around and honestly I really appreciated the way they’ve organized everything.

Mixed in alongside different themed areas, each with fun options for kids to enjoy, were often fun things for parents like myself to get nostalgic about. My duo had fun talking about things I had played with when I was younger and they wished they had some of these now-rare pieces of plastic and joy.

The large variety of various videogames, action figures, dolls, comics, and the other many items on display essentially guarantees that anyone that was allowed to actually live and play as a kid has something here to talk about.

One thing I took a huge interest in on this trip, as did my oldest that is still trying hard to get her first W on her old dad, was a collection of rare Magic cards that we spotted.

Some true classics offered for visiting fans to glare at lovingly, and it’s very clear that someone on the staff has an appreciation of the game. It’s always nice to see out in the world, especially in such a fun and respectful fashion.

Note: I had to cancel due to conflicts of schedule, but this location did once hold a Dungeons & Dragons themed event. That just sounded like something readers might take interest in.

I reached out to the museum for additional information and some confirmations. I will update this entry as applicable upon reply. For now, we move on…

UPDATE

I stumbled upon this fun trio that essentially would land you an infinite health and pain win scenario combo. Tell me what you think. For a casual game with friends, I can easily see this being a fun way to be a dick.

The above video, covering the excellent Phyrexia stuff that MTG has gifted us over the years, is very well done and an easy recommendation. I appreciated the craftmanship here and give major props, one content creator to another.

Check it out!

Moving on, a recent comment that was made (and then deleted before I could read more than just the preview Gmail provided) suggested that the first entry into this series felt as if it had been ai generated. Note now that I actually appreciate creative criticisms and see them as attempts to ensure that this series becomes better with age. I admit freely that I am far from an expert on the game, but I also love the damn thing and want to write about it. I’m not sure how I have been ai-ish in delivery or if those were just the random words of a single dude on reddit, but if you agree with those few words that I did have access too, let me know. I’d love to hear how you think I can combat this should it be a shared thought of a few or more readers.

Speaking of the robot brain that will soon kill us all, I did take time recently to fuck around with ChatGPT. I used it to dm games for my kids, giving them a chance to see how our replacement behaves at the current state. I used this thing to confirm existing biases programmed in, made it shut down when I asked it a question that showcased a contradiction it had made, and then I made some card game content, too.

That last one seems most relevant here, of course.

The main one I am currently workshopping takes the MTG skeleton and shifts the game to focus specifically on historical figures with education and fun being the two key goals. I’ll be posting the rules and stats for cards alongside additional content for FIGS: historia in issue 3, for those that might be interested.

We are going to close with the first ever RW+B custom. I’d love to partner with someone actually in making a few physical versions of these cards so if you’re interested in working with me, let me know. Expect each edition of this series moving forward to include a new custom.

Thank you to all that stopped by for this edition. Be kind to yourself and others and have an awesome day!