HERO OF THE IMPERIUM

So my roommate Tony hands me a Warhammer 40k book, "CIAPHAS CAIN: HERO OF THE IMPERIUM". The reason? We're involved in a "Dark Heresy" tabletop campaign (That's a tabletop RPG based on the 40k universe, kids). He says "Your character reminds me of this guy".

We've only had one session. During that session, while I wasn't sitting idly by doing nothing, I wasn't doing anything I considered exemplary or even out of the ordinary that might distinguish my character from the rest of the group or define my character but for one or two fairly minor exceptions.

Sometimes the little things can define a character quite a bit more than you'd expect.

The book itself is actually pretty good, or at least I'm amused by it. It provides what I'd call a dry humor.

Making Friends With Luck: Part 2

Part 2 - Appeasing Luck

As I asked in the last installment, how do you appease Luck? To accomplish this, there are two things to keep in mind:

1) Luck wishes to be entertained

2) Luck does not wish to be ignored

Let's start with number 1: Entertaining Luck. Luck will be more likely to favor someone that amuses it. This raises our next important question. What does Luck find entertaining?

Surprises. Things that are unexpected and spontaneous are the the things you can do to entertain Luck. If you can surprise Luck, you may find that Luck will surprise you. Easier said than done, but important to keep in mind.

So, what was all this I said about Luck not wishing to be ignored? How do I pay attention to Luck? By intentionally engaging in activities where something about what you're doing is decided by luck. Board games, tabletop role-playing, gambling, or any activity where Luck plays a role in deciding the outcome. These activities will pay heed to Luck.*

Following these two guidelines you can increase your favor with Luck. I hope you've been amused by what turned out to be a 2 part series. Maybe I'll have more to say about my next subject. This concludes my 2 part series, "Making Friends With Luck".

*As a cautionary note, if Luck does not favor you, or worse yet actively dislikes you, crushing a significant investment you put into a luck based activity undertaken to garner its favor may help it fulfill its desire to be entertained instead. A mix of progress and setback indeed. I do not advocate putting your life or livelihood on the line for any reason, or otherwise taking a risk so large you would not easily be able to recover from its negative consequences.

Making Friends With Luck: Part 1

Part 1 - Understanding Luck*

*First a disclaimer. This very short series is based upon my own personal beliefs and philosophies and is therefore complete and utter bullshit. If you would like to believe what I believe, know what I believe, or are just interested in the things I might write, read on. Otherwise, disavow any knowledge of my activities.

As you may have guessed by the title I believe in personifications of abstract concepts. The three most important of which that influence your life are Fate, Luck, and Karma.

Karma is the most neutral party. It does not like or dislike (or at least won't act based on such things). It will simply reward and punish appropriately.

Fate is the second in terms of neutrality. Fate's efforts are long term to steer you toward some ultimate goal. Fate may or may not actually bother to influence you. Fate may also occasionally attempt to manipulate Luck's actions, or Karma's methods.

Finally we have Luck. Luck, by process of elimination, is the least neutral party. Luck's plans are generally short term and done for no real rhyme or reason, but you're probably better off if Luck favors you. This is the reason it is important to appease or make friends with Luck.

So how does one go about doing that? Part 2 - Appeasing Luck: Coming Soon.