Main Topic
Here is where we get to be Game-Mom and Game-Dad to tell you to take better care of yourselves! Long Term Gaming means taking better care of yourself and to have some over all, and table specific, healthy practices. A quick disclaimer – we are not licensed medical or health professionals! Please consult an appropriate professional for medical and health advice.
Overall
Nutrition – Understanding that there are people who have specific medical dietary requirements that may differ, good gaming means having a well balanced diet which means you need to have a balance of fruits, veggies, carbs, and protein in your lead up to the game. Yes, you can use vitamins and supplements, but overall eating real food to get these nutrients is best. This is a long term goal because it goes to your mental and physical energy level and well being. There are lots of conflicting research and studies about the *best* diet out there, but as a general rule of thumb, the old balanced diet that comes from whole foods will do you right.
This includes hydration. Make sure you have enough water, and not just a lot of drinks that will do nothing more than have you more dehydrated! Tea, coffee, alcohol, all those lovely things are not sufficient for this purpose. Drink your water.
Short term, while you play, include for sure both carbs and protein. Your brain needs both to function well and when you undertake intellectually intensive activities you will find yourself craving them. An unhealthy, but delicious gaming snack is a nicely loaded pizza! If you want to be healthier, hummus with a plate of pita and a bowl of fruit can keep your table going for a long time.
Sleep – You’ve heard it before, and you’ve scoffed before just like I have, but a regular sleep schedule is going to be good for your health, mental focus, and energy. To the best extent you can, try to get your sleep on a regular schedule and listen to your body when it is tired. You should probably be getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night, but that’s an aspirational goal for me too. Also, shut off your electronic screens before you get in bed! The particular light of our electronic devices seems to interfere with melatonin production and then the quality of our sleep. Chemical stimulants are *not* a proper long-term substitute for sleep. If you want the neuropsych on that, we can provide it in person.
Short term, make sure you have good sleep the night before you game so that you are fresh for the game and ready to roll your d20s! If you only game irregularly, make this when you break that schedule and recover later, but if you are gaming on a regular basis, like you lucky weekly players out there, schedule your times to keep all of you healthy and rested.
Physical Exercise – We’ll refer back to the disclaimer with nutrition and overall that you should consult and listen to the appropriate licensed medical or health professionals about your personal activities. Some level of activity is good for you! This doesn’t mean you have to become a gym rat or a power walking fiend, but getting enough movement every day to help counteract our often sedentary work environments will do wonders for your overall health, energy, and mental focus. When you add to that the fact that a lot of our hobbies involve being sedentary around a table or on a computer, this becomes doubly important.
Short term, if you are doing serious exercise that results in that ever so pleasant burn of muscle growth the day or two after your exercise, schedule your workouts so leg day isn’t leaving you sore sitting down the whole time!
Posture – This is similar to exercise, but we have to make sure we take care of our posture. Check your work area, and make sure that your layout is ergonomic and working with your body. Keep your computer monitor elevated enough so that you don’t have to look up or down the entire time you are staring at it. Stretch your shoulders back out, by rolling them from front to back every hour 10 times to help counteract the shoulders rolling forward from being too hunched over the computer. Or get a weight lifting/resistance exercise plan going to strengthen your shoulders and neck. For the love of all that is worth praising, stop holding your smartphones by your navel and tilting your head down to stare at it! You are increasing the effective weight and stress on your neck; hold your phone higher so you can read it more comfortably.
Short term, catch me at a Con and i’ll demonstrate, but check the show notes and recommendations for a well regarded technique for posture.
Other Healthy Traits – Self care means keeping an eye on your own needs. If you are required to take medication, set your schedules and and reminders to make sure that you are on your recommended schedule. If you need to have certain foods, make sure that you have them ready (and if you are playing rather than GMing, let your GM or host know that you have some dietary requirements).
Stat Blocks
Zendead-
Nothing right now I have been going crazy with fixing the website.
Joules – Tabula Rasa, Inc
Do you remember when you were young, and reading Philip K. Dick’s “We can Remember it for you Wholesale” It’s a literary classics with deep dives on the the amorphous nature of memory and reality. But honestly, the idea of having full realistic adventures downloaded into your brain was just a cool concept. Well, we here at Tabula Rasa, Inc. have brought this concept to mankind for the first time. Tabula Rasa is a hospice/convalescent enterprise that promises that your remaining time on this planet will be your greatest adventure. Terminal residents are able to spend their final moments on this earth living through a tailor made experience just for them.
When admitted to our facility each resident is given full brain scan and psychological workup. This helps our storymakers build the ideal final adventure. Then each resident is brought to their dedicated sensory tank. We make sure that all end of life paperwork is taken care of with the assistance of our on site legal advisors before the resident is wired up to the simulation and then submerged in the tank. And the simulation starts.
Our residents are able to spend their final moments pain free and completely mobile inside their own unique neural adventure. And real time updates allow our storymakers to adapt the experience, so that our residents are able to finish their adventure before they pass away. Death once said, “HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN.” So what we offer, at the very end, is the opportunity to be the quintessential human.
Almost every convalescent home promises dying with dignity. We at Tabula Rasa, Inc. promise dying with humanity.
Guard-a-Manger- Codex Scientia
Every once in a while, you will come across a compilation, a data store, a newfangled “book” that holds wonder and promise. More often than not, that promise is in the form of a new story or idea that captivates and delights the most imaginative parts of your brain. Then there is the Codex Scientia.
The Codex Scientia isn’t really a book or data chip but a passkey into existing knowledge. You see, while we collect so much data about our lives today, in the starfaring future of the Codex, the government and companies collect it all. The codex is a backdoor key into a program that crosschecks and collates all the different databases in the known system. All the stories that are being told in real time in real life at your fingertips. All the secrets laid bare for you to dig through, soak in, and seek out.
A nondescript slip of paper or data entry gave you this key, this almost magical font of knowledge, but every time you access the Codex, it’s owners come one step closer to finding where you are. What you don’t know can kill you when it comes from beyond the edge of the system and has been laying its plans out with the Codex for the past century.
Nulloperations- Catalog : The Elevator Call Button
A faded and torn piece of paper reveals a page of the notorious catalog. On it you find the listing for…
The need for vertical movement comes as a necessity when exploring lost ruins, deep caves, or the sunken towers of the antediluvians. The modern world provides with the elevator call button; a wonderful device that can bring forth an ascending carriage regardless of the structure. Yes, with this device firmly placed against a wall, the service button will manifest a doorway into a box of tile and steel. The lift attendant will provide professional courtesy to applicable empty spaces above and below their bound and tethered work space in a polite and friendly manner.
Caution! Do not attempt to operate the lift yourself. Do not disobey the lift attendant’s commands. Do not attempt to call the otherworldly beings who are known only as maintenance. No help is coming. No help is coming. No help is coming.
The elevator call button. Up, up, and away.
Order with caution. All purchases recorded, and authorities will be notified.
Lexicon
Primal adjective pri·mal \ ˈprī-məl \
Definition of primal
1 : original, primitive
2 : first in importance
Origin and Etymology of primal
Medieval Latin primalis, from Latin primus first
First Known Use: 1604
Popularity: Bottom 50% of words
Closing remarks
Zendead- Kypton on SyFy
Joules-Jekyll
Guard-a-Manger- The Alexander Technique is a method of movement and posture that helps you move in a more comfortable and relaxed manner. While some of the underlying health claims about The Alexander Technique are not supported by research, it will help you with posture and stress.
Nulloperations- I’m alive again
Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp
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Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook
Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook
Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook
Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter
And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment
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