I emailed Wizards of the Coast this summer to ask them about a large-format Players Handbook for D&D– one of my players is visually impaired and the PHB is a bitch to read even if you have the visual acuity of a fighter pilot.
So, after not getting an answer from that email, I contacted them again last night , repeating the request and explaining her needs with regard to this request. I got a reply from them this morning, very prompt this time.
They explained that, while they don’t make a large-print version of the book, they do have all the rules posted in a series of no-flavor-text RTFs online as part of the open gaming initiative. The no-flavor-text just means that, while the full rules are there, including the full spell lists and skill lists and feats lists, etc., the actual campaign “flavor” is absent. There isn’t much flavor text in the PHB, and what’s there is easily disposed of in this case. What’s important is a full set of rules, including all possible combinations, so that my player can actually do her own rules research at home, away from the game table, if she so chooses.
I checked out the RTFs. Okay, a little annoying to have to download each one individually, but not too bad. A spidering program would take care of that issue pretty easily. I think this will work for her, and my other players might find it useful when they want to keep particular sections of the PHB handy for quick reference (like , our sorcerer, who could keep her spell pages handy and nearby, or when they have a standard magic item they can keep the item’s stats handy).
We had and her Drew over for dinner last night. Stayed up waaaay too late talking and drinking wine and eating Girl Scout cookies and the absolutely delicious baked rigatoni that John made. Mmmmm!!!! Lunch today is leftovers!
I think next time they come over, we’re going to have to do some hard-core geeking or something. Maybe hook up the PS2s and network-play some video games. just hacked her Tivo this weekend, and when I told John that, he was very. . . . intrigued. 
My sister tried to buy a mini-tree yesterday and came up blank– coincidences are bizarre.
Today is a holiday happy hour in Cupertino with some former co-workers of John’s. The Kerbango people (former employees of a dot-com that was bought then killed by 3Com) have about 1 or 2 parties every year, and they’re like these weird family reunions in which everyone asks about everyone else’s employment status, and nobody has a job. About a year ago we went to one, and I was one of 3 people there (in a crowd of about 20) who had a job– and I was a TA at the time.
Thursday: I am going to donate blood (finally!) and then go to a write-in for former South Bay NaNoWriMo participants. Basically, it’s an excuse to go write for 2 hours without interruptions except social. I was wary of this kind of writing group back in October, but it really helped a lot last month in getting me to focus on putting my fingers to the keyboard and tapping away. Perhaps this Thursday I will revise the writing exercise I did for Sunday and finish it into a story or something.
I stopped at Michael’s craft store at lunch and bought a little lighted christmas tree for my desk here at work. You’re supposed to put these little itty bitty christmas ornaments all over it, and glue them on and shit. I don’t know why I bought the pre-lit expensive one, except the other option was the burlap-wrapped tree, and that just annoys me (why can’t they make tiny trees with plastic stands?) I’m just going to put it together tomorrow at lunch and set it on my desk next to the tray of cookies I’m bringing in next week.
Oddly, I feel compelled to put a big “Happy Solstice” sign on my cube or something, since I’m not Christian and don’t believe in a deity.
Unrelated topic: I know I annoy people who have to review my manuals by asking them 2 weeks before the software releases to review them, and yet, I strangely don’t care, when people are out of town for the entire month of November (when I had to come in over Thanksgiving week), and when I have spoken to people’s manager about making sure my documentation is scheduled in with their review schedules. If they don’t have time, that’s not really my fault, since I told them weeks ago about this, and even contacted them last week (with no response) to schedule the review time.
