Today and tomorrow, I write. I have much to do, and only a relatively short time in which to accomplish it all. You may have noticed, I've been blogging a lot lately. I'm trying to get back into "writing trim," because my fingers have been idle in relation to my keyboard. It's time to bring the magic back, delve into the work at hand, and make the best of my weekend.
I'm liable to put in 4-5 hours today, along with an equal amount of time tomorrow. Next weekend, I'll do much the same. On the weekdays, I'll put in some time, too. The work, it can go slow; it can also go extremely quickly. Let's hope for the latter.
So wish me luck. Here I go.
26 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Part the Third
I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I began using the Cyberpunk 2020 rules for just about everything. Interlock (as the system was called) was versatile for modern and future settings, ultimately configurable and easy to understand. I've used it to run plenty of non-cyberpunk games, from Aliens to The Morrow Project, as well as Star Wars.
My Aliens mods were one of my most appreciated adaptations, at least overseas. For some reason, they were really quite popular in Poland, of all places. They haven't been available online for some time (at least, not through my wife's CP2020 site), though I've considered posting them again. There are a few other Aliens adaptations out there (at least one of them using CP2020 as a basis; another used Millenium's End, IIRC), but being the snob that I am, I'd only ever use mine. I appended them at a later time with rules for the title critter from the Predator films, too.
When my rules were written, the only sources I had available were the theatrical release of the Aliens movie, the novelization of the film, the Aliens role-playing game (produced by Leading Edge Games, using a scaled-down version of the Phoenix Command rules), and a little-known small-press game titled Bug Hunt (not to be confused with TSR's Bug Hunters expansion for The Amazing Engine system). The Colonial Marines Technical Manual was not in print at the time, and if it had been, it would have proved to be quite inspirational.
The original inspiration for the Aliens mods I wrote was, of all people, Josh, my friend Will's older brother. After the movie Aliens was released, Josh wrote up his own statistics for the Colonial Marines and their xenomorph foes using Revised Recon as a basis. The games he ran using those rules were pretty memorable, and (like many of his other games) they typically ended with the PCs being violently killed. We loved those games.
Like Josh's games, the ones I ran using the Interlock system and my own Aliens adaptation often ended with the PCs dying. There was some playtesting that needed to be done, as my initial take on the "acid for blood" rules was a bit unbalanced. In some cases, the PCs were their own worst liability. I even went so far as to run a multi-session Aliens mini-campaign, which involved corporate interests, a xenomorph infestation of a colony world, and synthetics/androids programmed for combat duty. That game was a great deal of fun.
For my Interlock Star Wars adaptation, I started with equipment conversions. I may have overdone it, but blaster weapons in that game were freakin' deadly. The PCs were Imperial conscripts taken from some outer rim hick planet, given shoddy training, and sent off on a suicide mission on a moist jungle world (with a stop on Tatooine for some much-deserved R&R, not to mention a drunken brawl with a group of Naval troops in the Mos Eisley Cantina).
One of the characters, unbeknownst to the rest of the party, was an Imperial spy, sent to keep an eye on the rest of the conscripts. What was amusing was that one of the other players had assumed that a specific NPC was the Imperial agent, and would confide all of his anti-Imperial sentiment in the actual spy. This wasn't revealed until the game ended, at which time there was much lamenting and gnashing of teeth.
And then there was my Morrow Project adaptation to Interlock. Not much needed to be done here. Mostly, it was a question of adapting modern day weapons to the system. I changed things around a little. As the PC team was one of the last to be put into hibernation prior to the nuclear holocaust, they were armed with somewhat more advanced weapons (namely, H&K firearms). Once awake and out of their bolt hole, the PCs first encounter was a giant bear in the wilderness.
What the players didn't know was that there had never been a nuclear holocaust. Instead, the world had ended due to the return of the Old Ones (of Cthulhu fame). This became somewhat more obvious when their first encounter with actual people involved a cultist community that had kidnapped their NPC medic. A bloody battle between the armed PCs and the somewhat less armed NPCs ended with the medic's rescue and the entire cultist community population being shot, blown up, or run over. For some reason, the game was short-lived. I don't think it clicked, and I can't necessarily remember why. It just didn't.
So, yeah, I did a lot more with Cyberpunk than running Gibsonesque street-level campaigns...
My Aliens mods were one of my most appreciated adaptations, at least overseas. For some reason, they were really quite popular in Poland, of all places. They haven't been available online for some time (at least, not through my wife's CP2020 site), though I've considered posting them again. There are a few other Aliens adaptations out there (at least one of them using CP2020 as a basis; another used Millenium's End, IIRC), but being the snob that I am, I'd only ever use mine. I appended them at a later time with rules for the title critter from the Predator films, too.
When my rules were written, the only sources I had available were the theatrical release of the Aliens movie, the novelization of the film, the Aliens role-playing game (produced by Leading Edge Games, using a scaled-down version of the Phoenix Command rules), and a little-known small-press game titled Bug Hunt (not to be confused with TSR's Bug Hunters expansion for The Amazing Engine system). The Colonial Marines Technical Manual was not in print at the time, and if it had been, it would have proved to be quite inspirational.
The original inspiration for the Aliens mods I wrote was, of all people, Josh, my friend Will's older brother. After the movie Aliens was released, Josh wrote up his own statistics for the Colonial Marines and their xenomorph foes using Revised Recon as a basis. The games he ran using those rules were pretty memorable, and (like many of his other games) they typically ended with the PCs being violently killed. We loved those games.
Like Josh's games, the ones I ran using the Interlock system and my own Aliens adaptation often ended with the PCs dying. There was some playtesting that needed to be done, as my initial take on the "acid for blood" rules was a bit unbalanced. In some cases, the PCs were their own worst liability. I even went so far as to run a multi-session Aliens mini-campaign, which involved corporate interests, a xenomorph infestation of a colony world, and synthetics/androids programmed for combat duty. That game was a great deal of fun.
For my Interlock Star Wars adaptation, I started with equipment conversions. I may have overdone it, but blaster weapons in that game were freakin' deadly. The PCs were Imperial conscripts taken from some outer rim hick planet, given shoddy training, and sent off on a suicide mission on a moist jungle world (with a stop on Tatooine for some much-deserved R&R, not to mention a drunken brawl with a group of Naval troops in the Mos Eisley Cantina).
One of the characters, unbeknownst to the rest of the party, was an Imperial spy, sent to keep an eye on the rest of the conscripts. What was amusing was that one of the other players had assumed that a specific NPC was the Imperial agent, and would confide all of his anti-Imperial sentiment in the actual spy. This wasn't revealed until the game ended, at which time there was much lamenting and gnashing of teeth.
And then there was my Morrow Project adaptation to Interlock. Not much needed to be done here. Mostly, it was a question of adapting modern day weapons to the system. I changed things around a little. As the PC team was one of the last to be put into hibernation prior to the nuclear holocaust, they were armed with somewhat more advanced weapons (namely, H&K firearms). Once awake and out of their bolt hole, the PCs first encounter was a giant bear in the wilderness.
What the players didn't know was that there had never been a nuclear holocaust. Instead, the world had ended due to the return of the Old Ones (of Cthulhu fame). This became somewhat more obvious when their first encounter with actual people involved a cultist community that had kidnapped their NPC medic. A bloody battle between the armed PCs and the somewhat less armed NPCs ended with the medic's rescue and the entire cultist community population being shot, blown up, or run over. For some reason, the game was short-lived. I don't think it clicked, and I can't necessarily remember why. It just didn't.
So, yeah, I did a lot more with Cyberpunk than running Gibsonesque street-level campaigns...
25 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Part the Second
As if it weren't enough that my first role-playing experiences were set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, using one of the deadliest systems I've ever seen, my first true gaming love was the original "black box" Cyberpunk RPG.
I'd been a fan of the genre, though I didn't know it at the time. Before playing CP, I'd spent hours (if not days) playing the original Neuromancer video game on my Commodore 128. I even bought the William Gibson book that the game was based on in order to gain some vague insight into the secrets that were doubtless lurking within the depths of that cheesy video game.
I also had a penchant for cyberpunk-themed movies, Blade Runner, Robocop, and Terminator being the three I can recall most vividly. The idea of flesh mating with machine, of cyborgs, really struck a chord with me. Not only that, but "Night City," and the mean streets therein, were a virtual playground for my imagination. It was like coming home for the first time. I instinctively understood everything, from the mechanics, to the fictional technology, to the underlying themes of the game.
As I mentioned earlier, the person who introduced me to Cyberpunk, CJ, was a friend of a friend at the time. He'd picked up his original "black box" at a local comic shop, and (if memory serves) was itching to try this new game out. Me and the other guy (we'll call him Fred) were the willing guinea pigs.
Even before I'd met CJ, Fred had put the two of us in touch via phone to discuss my character options. Cyberpunk was a class-based system, although the classes were disguised as "roles," each with an exclusive "special ability." Given the list of choices (Techies, Netrunners, Rockerboys, Medias, Nomads, etc.), I was inclined to choose the "Solo" as the role for my first experimental character. Solos, for those not in the know, are the fighters of Cyberpunk: streetsmart killers wired up with the latest in cutting edge (and, most-likely, illegal) cyberware.
It was just my speed. Remember, I was young and wanted to bust heads. Depth of character was always secondary to combat ability.
I don't know if CJ came up with the name, or if I did, but my character's handle was "Wolfman." I'll be damned if I can remember the name of Fred's character, but he decided to play a Rockerboy (a revolutionary musician and charismatic leader-type). Our characters weren't awesome, so far as stats and skills were concerned, but we seemed to do well.
We met at CJ's parents' apartment, and took our gear downstairs to the complex's recreation room (down by the swimming pool). Sitting around a table, we moved right in to our first story. It started innocently enough, with us being jumped by some gang members in a public park after dark. We wasted the lot of them, and I don't remember it being very difficult to do so. Somehow, we managed to come into possession of a briefcase that seemingly belonged to a corporation known as Zetatech.
It was this briefcase, and its contents, that made things really happen. Zetatech wanted the case back, and they were more than willing to kill our characters in order to get it. Of course, we weren't going to stand for it. After a number of firefights, the most memorable of which saw us flying an AV-4 blind into a brick wall after wildly hosing a group of Zetatech goons with the aerodyne's miniguns, the game was somehow resolved. I don't remember too many details, but I think we ended up in the employ of another corporation with the ominous name of Arasaka.
I don't know if Fred really enjoyed his first game of Cyberpunk or not, but it seems that from that point on, it was just CJ and I playing the game. Fred never came back. Perhaps the game was too gritty, too dark, or too deadly for him. I'm not sure, and my memory doesn't serve well insofar as such details are concerned.
I ended up buying my own copy of Cyberpunk from the same comic store that CJ had picked his up at. We took turns playing and GMing, with me adopting a new character (a cyber-hick named "Deadeye") and he creating his own persona (a ruthless cop-killer named "Sting"), as well. Both of our characters were solos; not really that shocking, considering our preferred mode of play. Had we been playing with larger groups of people, we might have diversified a bit. At its core, though, Cyberpunk was a game about deadly encounters between dangerous people, and we weren't about to be caught with our kevlar-lined pants down.
We played those characters, alternating back and forth, for a long while, up until the release of Cyberpunk 2020. I remember CJ coming by my house with two copies of the original 2020 boxed set, one for me and one for himself. We opened them and read them with glee before getting down to the nitty gritty of updating our characters. We advanced our own timeline (which had moved from 2013 to 2015 or so) to the present of 2020, with my character spending the intervening years in cryo freeze. He'd been seemingly killed in our last game, so I was itching to see how CJ was going to bring him back to life.
Cyberpunk was the first game that I fiddled with mechanically. I even submitted a story/article to Interface Magazine. Though it wasn't accepted, the submission did result in a phone call from Chris Hockabout, who told me that he liked the story but that he was looking for other kinds of articles. I wasn't unhappy that the article had been rejected; I was jazzed that one of the guys on the magazine staff had actually called me to discuss it.
There came a time when CJ and I weren't playing Cyberpunk anymore. I was still running it, though; for my other game groups, and for my then girlfriend (now wife) and her friends. The list of players, not to mention different campaigns, is staggering. I'd be hard-pressed to remember them all...
There was the original Night City Cops game, where the PCs were members of Night City's finest, sent to infiltrate an illicit mercenary company that hired itself out to clients and performed black ops on their behalf;
There was the continuation of Night City Cops, which saw at least one of the PCs return in conjunction with a handful of new player characters;
Amnesia was a short scenario where two PCs awaken in Night City with no memory of who they were, where they were from, or why these strange people are trying to kill them;
There's the Coke Madness game, set in Panama City, which involved the players (scum, all of them) coming into possession of a sample of "new cocaine," a lab-grown strain of yeast-resistant coca, which caused them no end of trouble at the hands of Colombian criminals and American DEA agents;
On a somewhat X-Files-inspired lark, I ran the New Mexico Cops game, where the PCs were police outcasts sent to babysit the citizens of a corporate farming community in an irrigated portion of the New Mexican wastes. Not only was there some wierd alien invasion phenomena, but the farmers shared a border with the US military, who were responsible for some interesting phenomena of their own;
Let's not forget the Hoods game, where the PCs were ex-convicts out on parole, sent to perform underhanded work by their crooked parole officer;
Then there was Cops & Robbers, a game that was masterminded by my wife, wherein I portrayed a ruthless mobster, while another player (unknown to me at the time) portrayed a police officer who was investigating my activities in a separate series of games;
CJ and I did hook back up, eventually. The last character I ran in one of his CP games was a disfigured bruiser and heavy weapons expert by the handle of Belial. Belial was created shortly after my first character in that campaign, a government face man and talker by the name of Lowry Brooks, was gunned down on a mission to sabotage a nuclear reactor in South America. If the wimpy Lowry Brooks couldn't stand up to what CJ's game was dishing out, I felt that I'd better go with the gusto and create a character with a bit more durability.
As of now, we haven't played Cyberpunk for many, many years. I've been throwing around the idea of starting up a new game, using the old mechanics and my own house rules (which effectively took CP2020 and removed the class-based mechanics entirely).
Who knows, maybe I'll give it a shot sometime. Although the third edition of Cyberpunk is available, I don't yet know if I'm comfortable enough with the mechanics or the setting to put it to use. I think I prefer the original retro-eighties street feel of the "black box" and 2020 to the pre-transhumanism of the new game.
I'd been a fan of the genre, though I didn't know it at the time. Before playing CP, I'd spent hours (if not days) playing the original Neuromancer video game on my Commodore 128. I even bought the William Gibson book that the game was based on in order to gain some vague insight into the secrets that were doubtless lurking within the depths of that cheesy video game.I also had a penchant for cyberpunk-themed movies, Blade Runner, Robocop, and Terminator being the three I can recall most vividly. The idea of flesh mating with machine, of cyborgs, really struck a chord with me. Not only that, but "Night City," and the mean streets therein, were a virtual playground for my imagination. It was like coming home for the first time. I instinctively understood everything, from the mechanics, to the fictional technology, to the underlying themes of the game.
As I mentioned earlier, the person who introduced me to Cyberpunk, CJ, was a friend of a friend at the time. He'd picked up his original "black box" at a local comic shop, and (if memory serves) was itching to try this new game out. Me and the other guy (we'll call him Fred) were the willing guinea pigs.
Even before I'd met CJ, Fred had put the two of us in touch via phone to discuss my character options. Cyberpunk was a class-based system, although the classes were disguised as "roles," each with an exclusive "special ability." Given the list of choices (Techies, Netrunners, Rockerboys, Medias, Nomads, etc.), I was inclined to choose the "Solo" as the role for my first experimental character. Solos, for those not in the know, are the fighters of Cyberpunk: streetsmart killers wired up with the latest in cutting edge (and, most-likely, illegal) cyberware.
It was just my speed. Remember, I was young and wanted to bust heads. Depth of character was always secondary to combat ability.
I don't know if CJ came up with the name, or if I did, but my character's handle was "Wolfman." I'll be damned if I can remember the name of Fred's character, but he decided to play a Rockerboy (a revolutionary musician and charismatic leader-type). Our characters weren't awesome, so far as stats and skills were concerned, but we seemed to do well.
We met at CJ's parents' apartment, and took our gear downstairs to the complex's recreation room (down by the swimming pool). Sitting around a table, we moved right in to our first story. It started innocently enough, with us being jumped by some gang members in a public park after dark. We wasted the lot of them, and I don't remember it being very difficult to do so. Somehow, we managed to come into possession of a briefcase that seemingly belonged to a corporation known as Zetatech.
It was this briefcase, and its contents, that made things really happen. Zetatech wanted the case back, and they were more than willing to kill our characters in order to get it. Of course, we weren't going to stand for it. After a number of firefights, the most memorable of which saw us flying an AV-4 blind into a brick wall after wildly hosing a group of Zetatech goons with the aerodyne's miniguns, the game was somehow resolved. I don't remember too many details, but I think we ended up in the employ of another corporation with the ominous name of Arasaka.
I don't know if Fred really enjoyed his first game of Cyberpunk or not, but it seems that from that point on, it was just CJ and I playing the game. Fred never came back. Perhaps the game was too gritty, too dark, or too deadly for him. I'm not sure, and my memory doesn't serve well insofar as such details are concerned.
I ended up buying my own copy of Cyberpunk from the same comic store that CJ had picked his up at. We took turns playing and GMing, with me adopting a new character (a cyber-hick named "Deadeye") and he creating his own persona (a ruthless cop-killer named "Sting"), as well. Both of our characters were solos; not really that shocking, considering our preferred mode of play. Had we been playing with larger groups of people, we might have diversified a bit. At its core, though, Cyberpunk was a game about deadly encounters between dangerous people, and we weren't about to be caught with our kevlar-lined pants down.
We played those characters, alternating back and forth, for a long while, up until the release of Cyberpunk 2020. I remember CJ coming by my house with two copies of the original 2020 boxed set, one for me and one for himself. We opened them and read them with glee before getting down to the nitty gritty of updating our characters. We advanced our own timeline (which had moved from 2013 to 2015 or so) to the present of 2020, with my character spending the intervening years in cryo freeze. He'd been seemingly killed in our last game, so I was itching to see how CJ was going to bring him back to life.Cyberpunk was the first game that I fiddled with mechanically. I even submitted a story/article to Interface Magazine. Though it wasn't accepted, the submission did result in a phone call from Chris Hockabout, who told me that he liked the story but that he was looking for other kinds of articles. I wasn't unhappy that the article had been rejected; I was jazzed that one of the guys on the magazine staff had actually called me to discuss it.
There came a time when CJ and I weren't playing Cyberpunk anymore. I was still running it, though; for my other game groups, and for my then girlfriend (now wife) and her friends. The list of players, not to mention different campaigns, is staggering. I'd be hard-pressed to remember them all...
There was the original Night City Cops game, where the PCs were members of Night City's finest, sent to infiltrate an illicit mercenary company that hired itself out to clients and performed black ops on their behalf;
There was the continuation of Night City Cops, which saw at least one of the PCs return in conjunction with a handful of new player characters;
Amnesia was a short scenario where two PCs awaken in Night City with no memory of who they were, where they were from, or why these strange people are trying to kill them;
There's the Coke Madness game, set in Panama City, which involved the players (scum, all of them) coming into possession of a sample of "new cocaine," a lab-grown strain of yeast-resistant coca, which caused them no end of trouble at the hands of Colombian criminals and American DEA agents;
On a somewhat X-Files-inspired lark, I ran the New Mexico Cops game, where the PCs were police outcasts sent to babysit the citizens of a corporate farming community in an irrigated portion of the New Mexican wastes. Not only was there some wierd alien invasion phenomena, but the farmers shared a border with the US military, who were responsible for some interesting phenomena of their own;
Let's not forget the Hoods game, where the PCs were ex-convicts out on parole, sent to perform underhanded work by their crooked parole officer;
Then there was Cops & Robbers, a game that was masterminded by my wife, wherein I portrayed a ruthless mobster, while another player (unknown to me at the time) portrayed a police officer who was investigating my activities in a separate series of games;
CJ and I did hook back up, eventually. The last character I ran in one of his CP games was a disfigured bruiser and heavy weapons expert by the handle of Belial. Belial was created shortly after my first character in that campaign, a government face man and talker by the name of Lowry Brooks, was gunned down on a mission to sabotage a nuclear reactor in South America. If the wimpy Lowry Brooks couldn't stand up to what CJ's game was dishing out, I felt that I'd better go with the gusto and create a character with a bit more durability.
As of now, we haven't played Cyberpunk for many, many years. I've been throwing around the idea of starting up a new game, using the old mechanics and my own house rules (which effectively took CP2020 and removed the class-based mechanics entirely).Who knows, maybe I'll give it a shot sometime. Although the third edition of Cyberpunk is available, I don't yet know if I'm comfortable enough with the mechanics or the setting to put it to use. I think I prefer the original retro-eighties street feel of the "black box" and 2020 to the pre-transhumanism of the new game.
24 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Part the First
Everyone remembers their first character, right?Well, I certainly don't. I haven't got a damn clue who (or what) that character was. I don't even remember what system or setting my first-played RPG used. I have a funny feeling that it was probably The Morrow Project, and I'm sure we might've lasted most of the session before we were killed.
So, random memories of those early Morrow Project games...
I have a thought that my first character was a heavy gunner in a Recon squad, sitting in the turret of one of the V-150 armored cars that the MP was so fond of. At the time, the group I was playing with (my friend Will, his brother, and his brother's friends) had definitely played the game previously. Will's brother (we'll call him "Josh") was running the game. They explained to me that the mortality rate of gunners on V-150s was exceptionally high. So high, in fact, that Josh had introduced a house rule that all V-150's were issued a single flak jacket for use by the top gunner.
As you can see, we're off to a wonderful start so far.
I only recall this as being a one-session game, but it might have gone on for more than that. I remember encountering "snake eaters" (U.S. green berets, frozen and left to monitor the MP for the government) and "blue undead" (corpses animated by excessive radiation; not malicious, but deadly due to their innate radioactivity). Also remember encountering "maggots" (pale, mutated humans who lived underground, with stumpy limbs and cannibalistic appetites).
As for outcomes, well. I'm sure we died. I'm sure one (or more) of the encounters mentioned above was the cause of it. I do recall Josh messing with me, specifically; my character was on watch at night, and he noticed some movement in the underbrush. It turned out to be a skunk or something along those lines, a mundane creature, but I was very, very concerned up until I worked things out.
I also have memories of playing a medic in one of those Morrow Project games. We encountered some natives, one of whom was sick with (of all things) strep throat. I fixed him up, but remember wondering what the big deal was. Josh was obviously attempting to show that diseases that we might now consider to be mundane can be deadly serious business if antibiotics and other medicines aren't available.
As for the effects of these earliest of scenarios, let's put it into perspective. The Morrow Project was designed to be deadly. A weapon's damage, rated numerically in what was referred to as an "E-Factor," represented the number of inches of ballistic gel (or human flesh, take your pick) that a typical projectile of that size and power could penetrate.
Combine this with the fact that hits to different locations had different effects. You didn't just get shot in your torso; you got shot in one of four torso locations. Area 1 indicated the central chest, where most of your really vital organs are; Area 4 was the shoulders and outside ribs. A shot to Area 1 of any power had a pretty good chance of killing a character outright. Damage above a certain amount to an extremity resulted in amputation. All wounds resulted in blood loss, which meant that even a relatively small wound could still kill you if the bleeding wasn't controlled. Heck, one of a character's most important attributes was his blood type.
So the first games I played were lethal, combining modern military equipment with post-apocalyptic disaster. Was there any doubt that we would all be killed, one way or the other? As mentioned, I can't recall any single game lasting more than a single session, maybe two.
Thus, my penchant for realism. It also instilled a certain "kill or be killed" mentality, which was only reinforced by later scenarios and campaigns that used systems with comparativly moderate lethality. I could adapt, but those games set a certain tone that would define my style of play for quite some time. I still prefer gritty combat systems that provide for some possibility of instant death, no matter how slight. Fighting is a gamble, and there should be risks involved.
23 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Introduction (Finale)
Then again, "finale" might be too grandiose a word.
I suppose I could go on and on about other games and other gaming groups, but you know what? The experiences blend together into a montage of faces, poor dice rolls, character sheets, and snack food. I have trouble placing them all, let alone putting them into any kind of chronological order. For all I know, I've got my chronologies in the previous two posts mixed up. Twenty years of gaming will do that to a person, I guess.
Sometimes, the easiest way for me to remember the when of a game is to go back and check the dates of the files I wrote while running/playing in that game. If they even exist in the first place.
This isn't to say that I have no vivid memories of games long past, but some are definitely more memorable than others. There is also a long list of folks that I used to play games with, but who I've lost touch with. Where are they now? Do they still game? I have no clue. I sometimes wonder if one of these folks will see my name printed on the cover of a book I've worked on and say, "Hey, I used to game with that guy. What a dork!"
I was once referred to as too serious a gamer. In retrospect, I can see why those comments were made. When I scheduled a game, I worked hard at it and expected to play once the day arrived. Some social mingling was expected, sure, but if I'd scheduled a session, it was primarily a means to an end. I didn't see my attitude as a problem, though I can empathize. I was just a different sort of player than some of the folks I played with, and that's neither right nor wrong. Everyone gets enjoyment from the game in different ways, whether it's beating orc butt, telling a rousing tale, or just hanging out with folks you don't see very often. Our problem was that we didn't really communicate well, and it occasionally rubbed everyone the wrong way. That's just the way it is, I guess.
These days, I'm still serious about games, but I'm less inclined to get bent out of shape if we're a little too verbal. I consider the folks I play with to be friends, and I rarely see them outside of the games we play. The first 30-60 minutes of a game session are always spent catching up, eating food (whether bought or provided), and putting the cares of the real world on the back burner. If it occurs to me, I'll try to call a break at the half-way point in the evening, too.
As far as my goals as a gamer, as a player or a GM, they were originally ones of discovery and adventure. When I discovered gaming as a means of interactive storytelling (even though I would have never thought of it in those terms when I was 13), I was excited. I wanted to explore other worlds through the eyes of the players around me. I wanted to fight kobolds, blow hordes of bad guys to kingdom come with an automatic shotgun, and get rich doing it. The mechanics never mattered to me early on. Truly, it never even occured to me to create a character solely to gain the largest bonuses possible, or to exploit loopholes in the rules.
At some point, I did start looking at the rules of the games I played with a more critical eye. I grew to prefer certain systems and genres over others. Sure, I'd be happy to play in someone's Shadowrun game, but I'd prefer to play Cyberpunk 2020 any day of the week. Taste and preference are wonderful things, so long as they don't make you too exclusive. As with life, variety is also the spice of gaming. Play one system or setting too much, and you might not notice the other ones lurking just outside your field of view.
That's not to say that it doesn't hurt to be discriminating. I'd rather pry out my own toenails with a claw hammer than play Rolemaster, but I won't judge someone else in a negative light for preferring RM over my own favorite system.
I also feel that my (admittedly small) role in the gaming industry as a freelance writer and designer has jaded me a little bit. Once you see behind the curtain, you'll never quite think of gaming in the same light again. I had a glimpse of the way things were when I made my first futile attempts at breaking in, back in the late 90's, and it wasn't always pretty. This is a business, and it can make or break some folks. Consequently, there is a side of the industry that a lot of casual gamers never see. As a result, I take my obligations very seriously.
There's also the rare occurance of a rule that I wrote coming up in the games I play or run. It's rare, but it has happened.
On another tangent, entirely, is the assumption that industry folks are all good gamers who know the rules inside and out. As a general rule, I will strive to have extensive familiarity with the rules set I'm writing for, but that hardly makes me an expert that can quote chapter and verse word for word. I crack open my Player's Handbook as often as the next guy. I'm sure that, someday, I'll be an expert on d20's grappling rules. Until then, I'll dog ear that page and refer to it often. Amen.
As for being good gamers..? I can't say. I have had precious few opportunities to play in games with my industry peers. I know enough to say that we don't all have the same gaming styles or tastes, for whatever that's worth, and that merely goes back to my points about variety, and the fact that no one mode of play is right or wrong.
Anyway, that's about it for now. I reckon I can start pulling skeletons out of the gaming closet next; specific skeletons. Skeletons that, like Yoric, I once knew.
I suppose I could go on and on about other games and other gaming groups, but you know what? The experiences blend together into a montage of faces, poor dice rolls, character sheets, and snack food. I have trouble placing them all, let alone putting them into any kind of chronological order. For all I know, I've got my chronologies in the previous two posts mixed up. Twenty years of gaming will do that to a person, I guess.
Sometimes, the easiest way for me to remember the when of a game is to go back and check the dates of the files I wrote while running/playing in that game. If they even exist in the first place.
This isn't to say that I have no vivid memories of games long past, but some are definitely more memorable than others. There is also a long list of folks that I used to play games with, but who I've lost touch with. Where are they now? Do they still game? I have no clue. I sometimes wonder if one of these folks will see my name printed on the cover of a book I've worked on and say, "Hey, I used to game with that guy. What a dork!"
I was once referred to as too serious a gamer. In retrospect, I can see why those comments were made. When I scheduled a game, I worked hard at it and expected to play once the day arrived. Some social mingling was expected, sure, but if I'd scheduled a session, it was primarily a means to an end. I didn't see my attitude as a problem, though I can empathize. I was just a different sort of player than some of the folks I played with, and that's neither right nor wrong. Everyone gets enjoyment from the game in different ways, whether it's beating orc butt, telling a rousing tale, or just hanging out with folks you don't see very often. Our problem was that we didn't really communicate well, and it occasionally rubbed everyone the wrong way. That's just the way it is, I guess.
These days, I'm still serious about games, but I'm less inclined to get bent out of shape if we're a little too verbal. I consider the folks I play with to be friends, and I rarely see them outside of the games we play. The first 30-60 minutes of a game session are always spent catching up, eating food (whether bought or provided), and putting the cares of the real world on the back burner. If it occurs to me, I'll try to call a break at the half-way point in the evening, too.
As far as my goals as a gamer, as a player or a GM, they were originally ones of discovery and adventure. When I discovered gaming as a means of interactive storytelling (even though I would have never thought of it in those terms when I was 13), I was excited. I wanted to explore other worlds through the eyes of the players around me. I wanted to fight kobolds, blow hordes of bad guys to kingdom come with an automatic shotgun, and get rich doing it. The mechanics never mattered to me early on. Truly, it never even occured to me to create a character solely to gain the largest bonuses possible, or to exploit loopholes in the rules.
At some point, I did start looking at the rules of the games I played with a more critical eye. I grew to prefer certain systems and genres over others. Sure, I'd be happy to play in someone's Shadowrun game, but I'd prefer to play Cyberpunk 2020 any day of the week. Taste and preference are wonderful things, so long as they don't make you too exclusive. As with life, variety is also the spice of gaming. Play one system or setting too much, and you might not notice the other ones lurking just outside your field of view.
That's not to say that it doesn't hurt to be discriminating. I'd rather pry out my own toenails with a claw hammer than play Rolemaster, but I won't judge someone else in a negative light for preferring RM over my own favorite system.
I also feel that my (admittedly small) role in the gaming industry as a freelance writer and designer has jaded me a little bit. Once you see behind the curtain, you'll never quite think of gaming in the same light again. I had a glimpse of the way things were when I made my first futile attempts at breaking in, back in the late 90's, and it wasn't always pretty. This is a business, and it can make or break some folks. Consequently, there is a side of the industry that a lot of casual gamers never see. As a result, I take my obligations very seriously.
There's also the rare occurance of a rule that I wrote coming up in the games I play or run. It's rare, but it has happened.
On another tangent, entirely, is the assumption that industry folks are all good gamers who know the rules inside and out. As a general rule, I will strive to have extensive familiarity with the rules set I'm writing for, but that hardly makes me an expert that can quote chapter and verse word for word. I crack open my Player's Handbook as often as the next guy. I'm sure that, someday, I'll be an expert on d20's grappling rules. Until then, I'll dog ear that page and refer to it often. Amen.
As for being good gamers..? I can't say. I have had precious few opportunities to play in games with my industry peers. I know enough to say that we don't all have the same gaming styles or tastes, for whatever that's worth, and that merely goes back to my points about variety, and the fact that no one mode of play is right or wrong.
Anyway, that's about it for now. I reckon I can start pulling skeletons out of the gaming closet next; specific skeletons. Skeletons that, like Yoric, I once knew.
21 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Introduction (2)
(By the way: The names of the folks I mention in these "memoirs" have been changed to protect the guilty...heh. I figure the anonymity can't hurt. The only reason I mention this is that there are folks from the "old days" who frequent my web logs.)
Like I was saying, I'd branched out from my initial AD&D group, just as it started to fragment. In addition to RPGs, I was also deeply involved in local BBS systems (a habit that began shortly after I acquired my C=128 and a dinky 300 baud modem...ah, those were the days!). For those of you unwashed masses who aren't familiar with the concept of forums in the days of the pre-internet, it went something like this:
A person (referred to as a SysOp) would install some manner of forum software on his home computer, hook it up to a phone line, and wait for folks to call and log in. Most of the time, folks could only call a BBS one at a time, check their email (for that BBS only), read posts on the forums, post if they wanted to, look over any available downloads, and play online games (such as Solar Realms Elite or Trade Wars).
In my case, I started calling and interacting on local BBS systems in those dark, primitive days. I called perhaps six or seven local boards on a regular basis. The boards I called were largely restricted by whether they were local calls or not. At a speed like 300 baud, calling a long-distance BBS was like asking my mother to hang me out by my heels when she got the phone bill. The local community of BBS users was pretty small, generally speaking, and especially when compared to the globe-spanning power of today's internet. I made a lot of friends, and thanks to the fact that several local BBS's organized real-world meets at local restaurants (pizza places and ice cream parlors being the preferred venues), I got to meet most of them in the flesh.
It was easy to meet local gamers in this primitive online community. I mean, heck, we were already geeks, due to our above average computer expertise (at that time, real hands on computer expertise seemed to be a rarity; these days, just about everyone knows how to use a computer, and the mystique of the technology is largely forgotten). In retrospect, it seems as if a disproportionate number of us were gamers of one flavor or another, too. Through these electronic forums, I was introduced to games like Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, and (indirectly) the original black box edition of Cyberpunk.
That's how I met CJ. A mutual friend of ours (who I'd met on one BBS system or another) introduced CJ and I. CJ had recently picked up Cyberpunk, and was itching to run a game. He and our mutual friend had gone to school together, and had been playing CoC and Robotech together since their formative adolescent years. We played a few games of Cyberpunk with CJ at the helm, and it resonated with me almost instantly. Next to Star Wars, it was probably my first true love (as far as RPGs go).
The other BBS crew I played with was somewhat larger, and it was principally GURPS-based. The game, dubbed Bad Streets by Grant, the GM, was a mix of cyberpunk, fantasy, and post-apocalypse. We had some good games in those days, even if the player group wasn't always the same size. We had a core contingent, though, which always seemed to show up for the games. I have a lot of good memories from those games, even though I don't think that I fully understood the scope of the plots we played in at the time.
As time went on, I became more interested in the mechanical aspects of the games I was playing. I also started GMing more and more, with one group or the other. The game groups I played with changed, or switched focus. New players came, old ones dropped out, but it was obvious that gaming had become a central part of my life, a focus of sorts. It tapped a creative vein of sorts. In conjunction with a stint of creative writing between 11th and 12th grade, I began to put my ideas down. Plots, mechanics, characters, everything was fair game, and I wrote it down or typed it up.
After high school, I continued to play RPGs. I played with Grant and his group, as well as with CJ and his girlfriend. I stayed in touch with some members of my original, albeit doomed, AD&D group, introducing CJ to them at the same time. The first edition of Vampire: The Masquerade was a big hit with that particular group. I wasn't a big fan initially, and spent a lot more of my time with Grant's group playing GURPS. I did eventually overcome my dislike of Vampire (particularly after the second edition was released), but I had my own favorite games, too.
Mayfair's Chill was one such game. Despite the system's clunky mechanics, I really enjoyed it. It was a horror game that I alone had purchased, and though my players enjoyed playing in my scenarios, they never went so far as the buy the rules for themselves. The exclusivity of the system was a comfort; I never had to worry about anyone contradicting a rule, or learning too much about the various horrors that populated the world of Chill. I made it a habit to run an annual all-night horror game by candlelight on the weekend before Halloween. It was always a blast.
I met my future wife shortly after I turned 19. I was running a BBS system of my own at the time, and she called up and registered one fateful day. She, too, was a gamer, and that (combined with the fact that she was really, incredibly intelligent) was very attractive to me. Since then, it's been a rare RPG that I've played (or run) where she hasn't been a participant. She was also a fan of the Cyberpunk RPG (by that time in its second edition), and it's little surprise that most of the games we played back then were Cyberpunk games. The internet was blossoming, and dial-up BBS's were losing traction to the increasingly global internet community. Limitless gaming knowledge was online for the taking, and fan sites were veritable troves of house rules, campaign ideas, and expansion material.
(To be continued...)
Like I was saying, I'd branched out from my initial AD&D group, just as it started to fragment. In addition to RPGs, I was also deeply involved in local BBS systems (a habit that began shortly after I acquired my C=128 and a dinky 300 baud modem...ah, those were the days!). For those of you unwashed masses who aren't familiar with the concept of forums in the days of the pre-internet, it went something like this:
A person (referred to as a SysOp) would install some manner of forum software on his home computer, hook it up to a phone line, and wait for folks to call and log in. Most of the time, folks could only call a BBS one at a time, check their email (for that BBS only), read posts on the forums, post if they wanted to, look over any available downloads, and play online games (such as Solar Realms Elite or Trade Wars).
In my case, I started calling and interacting on local BBS systems in those dark, primitive days. I called perhaps six or seven local boards on a regular basis. The boards I called were largely restricted by whether they were local calls or not. At a speed like 300 baud, calling a long-distance BBS was like asking my mother to hang me out by my heels when she got the phone bill. The local community of BBS users was pretty small, generally speaking, and especially when compared to the globe-spanning power of today's internet. I made a lot of friends, and thanks to the fact that several local BBS's organized real-world meets at local restaurants (pizza places and ice cream parlors being the preferred venues), I got to meet most of them in the flesh.
It was easy to meet local gamers in this primitive online community. I mean, heck, we were already geeks, due to our above average computer expertise (at that time, real hands on computer expertise seemed to be a rarity; these days, just about everyone knows how to use a computer, and the mystique of the technology is largely forgotten). In retrospect, it seems as if a disproportionate number of us were gamers of one flavor or another, too. Through these electronic forums, I was introduced to games like Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, and (indirectly) the original black box edition of Cyberpunk.
That's how I met CJ. A mutual friend of ours (who I'd met on one BBS system or another) introduced CJ and I. CJ had recently picked up Cyberpunk, and was itching to run a game. He and our mutual friend had gone to school together, and had been playing CoC and Robotech together since their formative adolescent years. We played a few games of Cyberpunk with CJ at the helm, and it resonated with me almost instantly. Next to Star Wars, it was probably my first true love (as far as RPGs go).
The other BBS crew I played with was somewhat larger, and it was principally GURPS-based. The game, dubbed Bad Streets by Grant, the GM, was a mix of cyberpunk, fantasy, and post-apocalypse. We had some good games in those days, even if the player group wasn't always the same size. We had a core contingent, though, which always seemed to show up for the games. I have a lot of good memories from those games, even though I don't think that I fully understood the scope of the plots we played in at the time.
As time went on, I became more interested in the mechanical aspects of the games I was playing. I also started GMing more and more, with one group or the other. The game groups I played with changed, or switched focus. New players came, old ones dropped out, but it was obvious that gaming had become a central part of my life, a focus of sorts. It tapped a creative vein of sorts. In conjunction with a stint of creative writing between 11th and 12th grade, I began to put my ideas down. Plots, mechanics, characters, everything was fair game, and I wrote it down or typed it up.
After high school, I continued to play RPGs. I played with Grant and his group, as well as with CJ and his girlfriend. I stayed in touch with some members of my original, albeit doomed, AD&D group, introducing CJ to them at the same time. The first edition of Vampire: The Masquerade was a big hit with that particular group. I wasn't a big fan initially, and spent a lot more of my time with Grant's group playing GURPS. I did eventually overcome my dislike of Vampire (particularly after the second edition was released), but I had my own favorite games, too.
Mayfair's Chill was one such game. Despite the system's clunky mechanics, I really enjoyed it. It was a horror game that I alone had purchased, and though my players enjoyed playing in my scenarios, they never went so far as the buy the rules for themselves. The exclusivity of the system was a comfort; I never had to worry about anyone contradicting a rule, or learning too much about the various horrors that populated the world of Chill. I made it a habit to run an annual all-night horror game by candlelight on the weekend before Halloween. It was always a blast.
I met my future wife shortly after I turned 19. I was running a BBS system of my own at the time, and she called up and registered one fateful day. She, too, was a gamer, and that (combined with the fact that she was really, incredibly intelligent) was very attractive to me. Since then, it's been a rare RPG that I've played (or run) where she hasn't been a participant. She was also a fan of the Cyberpunk RPG (by that time in its second edition), and it's little surprise that most of the games we played back then were Cyberpunk games. The internet was blossoming, and dial-up BBS's were losing traction to the increasingly global internet community. Limitless gaming knowledge was online for the taking, and fan sites were veritable troves of house rules, campaign ideas, and expansion material.
(To be continued...)
20 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Introduction (1)
In preparation for describing the games and campaigns I've played in, I'm going to cover my earliest days; the dark ages of my gaming habit, per se.
When I discovered role-playing -- I mean, really discovered it -- I was in seventh grade. Prior to that, I had only explored gaming (or, rather, crude concepts of it) through Choose Your Own Adventure and Endless Quest books in fifth or sixth grade. The kid down the street, Jason, was a couple years my senior, and he told stories of a game called Dungeons & Dragons, which was like the Endless Quest books, only you weren't restricted to two or three choices; according to Jason, you could do anything you wanted.
Jason, by virtue of his family, was a Seventh Day Adventist, and his mother was very strict about the games he played or the movies and television he watched. After all, as everyone knew back then, Dungeons & Dragons was Satanic, and the guy who created it (someone with the odd name of Gygax) was the biggest Satanist of all. Thus, Jason and I kept our conversations of the game very quiet. When I eventually purchased a copy of the Dungeon boardgame at K-Mart, we would play it in secret to avoid raising Caine with his mom.
Flash foward to seventh grade. I wasn't a particularly popular boy, a bit of a nerd, I suppose. I had little fashion sense, was only starting to develop my own musical tastes, and I had a strong interest in science fiction and horror novels. Most of the kids I'd considered friends from elementary school the year before had seemingly transformed into complete jerks over the course of summer vacation. Junior high was about starting over from scratch; a boot camp, of sorts, where the kids filtered out into primitive social cliques in preparation for the real social segregation of high school.
Thrilling, hm?
Being unpopular (or, perhaps, non-popular), I ended up sitting alone at a two-person desk in my math class. The chair beside me was the only open seat, and when a latecomer arrived, chance had him sitting at my table. I'm not sure if he was unpopular in the same sense I was, but he was definitely more stereotypically nerdy in that he was computer-literate. I blame him for my initial desires to own a personal computer of my own, which eventually resulted in me owning a Commodore 128.
His name was Will, and for whatever reason we formed a fast friendship with one another. He came from a big family -- two brothers (one older, one younger), and two sisters (both younger). I don't specifically recall how we got onto the topic of Dungeons & Dragons, but Will's older brother, a high school student, was a hard core gamer. War games, board games, and (of course) role-playing games were always in the offing when Will's brother and his friends were around. We even played a couple here and there.
Will's brother, as an older sibling, was understandably elusive. He didn't want to hang out with us little kids on any sort of regular basis. He had his own things to do, his own friends to do them with. We were troublesome youths, and we'd spend a lot of time begging him to run a game for us. We'd play anything: D&D, Recon, The Morrow Project, Robotech, his own home-brew Aliens game. Anything. More often than not, he'd put us to work generating characters for hours at a time, but by the time we'd finished them he'd be headed out the door with the promise of playing the game "later." If we happened to get them done in a reasonable amount of time, he'd run a short (and lethal) session for us where our characters, inevitably outmatched by whatever monster or enemy he'd devised, would be transformed into puddles of gore in a matter of rounds.
Sadly, we never did get the hint (heck, I didn't realize what he'd actually been doing until years later), but we did eventually go off on our own. We started running games for one another, instead of relying on Will's brother (or his friends) to run them for us. We bought copies of Top Secret/SI, learned the rules, and took turns running scenarios for each other. We played Palladium's Robotech, too, and I also ran the original edition of the Star Wars RPG. Will's brother and his friends even got involved in some of these games, so it was obvious that we were graduating to a "higher level" of play.
I never really suspected that RPGs were in any way geeky. In fact, they hardly ever came up in my daily life. They were a peripheral form of entertainment that I engaged in on weekends, but I was hardly obsessed with them early on. Much of my time was spent as a drama student in both 8th grade, and as I moved into high school. Will came along, too, and we were nearly inseparable until our junior year of high school, when we had a falling out. We went our own ways, and there seemed to be little chance that I'd be playing with Will or his brother again.
As fate would have it, I ended up befriending a girl at school, Cathy. Cathy was older (a senior, I think), and she was dating a guy named Ron. As it turned out, Ron was a big D&D fan, and he dungeonmastered a large group in nearby Escondido. He was about to begin a new campaign, using AD&D 2nd edition rules, set in his own campaign world, with a generous helping of homebrew rules and mods added into the mix. I was all for it. Cathy put me in touch with Ron, and together we created my first long-term D&D character: Arkon Blackbone, half-orc fighter/priest of the setting's war god.
All was not well, though. As luck would have it, Will and his older brother were also members of Ron's D&D group. When Will found out I was going to be playing, he threw a fit. Ron was apologetic about it, but his view was that Will had been there first, and to keep things running smoothly, I'd have to hit the bricks. Cathy wouldn't have any of that noise, though, and she went to the mat for me. In the end, Ron decided that both Will and I would be invited to play. Hopefully we'd be grown up about it.
Will's participation lasted one, maybe two, sessions before he begged off. His older brother continued to play in the campaign, and though there were a couple of hiccups, he was able to separate himself from his younger brother's feelings for me. The campaign lasted at least a year; it's amusing how I'm unable to recall the actual span of time. It seemed like forever, but my affiliation with the group lasted about 18 months, maybe a little longer. There were schisms within the group (unrelated to me) which caused it to fragment. By the time it had started to dissolve, I was already involved with a couple of other (unrelated) game groups.
(To be continued...)
When I discovered role-playing -- I mean, really discovered it -- I was in seventh grade. Prior to that, I had only explored gaming (or, rather, crude concepts of it) through Choose Your Own Adventure and Endless Quest books in fifth or sixth grade. The kid down the street, Jason, was a couple years my senior, and he told stories of a game called Dungeons & Dragons, which was like the Endless Quest books, only you weren't restricted to two or three choices; according to Jason, you could do anything you wanted.
Jason, by virtue of his family, was a Seventh Day Adventist, and his mother was very strict about the games he played or the movies and television he watched. After all, as everyone knew back then, Dungeons & Dragons was Satanic, and the guy who created it (someone with the odd name of Gygax) was the biggest Satanist of all. Thus, Jason and I kept our conversations of the game very quiet. When I eventually purchased a copy of the Dungeon boardgame at K-Mart, we would play it in secret to avoid raising Caine with his mom.
Flash foward to seventh grade. I wasn't a particularly popular boy, a bit of a nerd, I suppose. I had little fashion sense, was only starting to develop my own musical tastes, and I had a strong interest in science fiction and horror novels. Most of the kids I'd considered friends from elementary school the year before had seemingly transformed into complete jerks over the course of summer vacation. Junior high was about starting over from scratch; a boot camp, of sorts, where the kids filtered out into primitive social cliques in preparation for the real social segregation of high school.
Thrilling, hm?
Being unpopular (or, perhaps, non-popular), I ended up sitting alone at a two-person desk in my math class. The chair beside me was the only open seat, and when a latecomer arrived, chance had him sitting at my table. I'm not sure if he was unpopular in the same sense I was, but he was definitely more stereotypically nerdy in that he was computer-literate. I blame him for my initial desires to own a personal computer of my own, which eventually resulted in me owning a Commodore 128.
His name was Will, and for whatever reason we formed a fast friendship with one another. He came from a big family -- two brothers (one older, one younger), and two sisters (both younger). I don't specifically recall how we got onto the topic of Dungeons & Dragons, but Will's older brother, a high school student, was a hard core gamer. War games, board games, and (of course) role-playing games were always in the offing when Will's brother and his friends were around. We even played a couple here and there.
Will's brother, as an older sibling, was understandably elusive. He didn't want to hang out with us little kids on any sort of regular basis. He had his own things to do, his own friends to do them with. We were troublesome youths, and we'd spend a lot of time begging him to run a game for us. We'd play anything: D&D, Recon, The Morrow Project, Robotech, his own home-brew Aliens game. Anything. More often than not, he'd put us to work generating characters for hours at a time, but by the time we'd finished them he'd be headed out the door with the promise of playing the game "later." If we happened to get them done in a reasonable amount of time, he'd run a short (and lethal) session for us where our characters, inevitably outmatched by whatever monster or enemy he'd devised, would be transformed into puddles of gore in a matter of rounds.
Sadly, we never did get the hint (heck, I didn't realize what he'd actually been doing until years later), but we did eventually go off on our own. We started running games for one another, instead of relying on Will's brother (or his friends) to run them for us. We bought copies of Top Secret/SI, learned the rules, and took turns running scenarios for each other. We played Palladium's Robotech, too, and I also ran the original edition of the Star Wars RPG. Will's brother and his friends even got involved in some of these games, so it was obvious that we were graduating to a "higher level" of play.
I never really suspected that RPGs were in any way geeky. In fact, they hardly ever came up in my daily life. They were a peripheral form of entertainment that I engaged in on weekends, but I was hardly obsessed with them early on. Much of my time was spent as a drama student in both 8th grade, and as I moved into high school. Will came along, too, and we were nearly inseparable until our junior year of high school, when we had a falling out. We went our own ways, and there seemed to be little chance that I'd be playing with Will or his brother again.
As fate would have it, I ended up befriending a girl at school, Cathy. Cathy was older (a senior, I think), and she was dating a guy named Ron. As it turned out, Ron was a big D&D fan, and he dungeonmastered a large group in nearby Escondido. He was about to begin a new campaign, using AD&D 2nd edition rules, set in his own campaign world, with a generous helping of homebrew rules and mods added into the mix. I was all for it. Cathy put me in touch with Ron, and together we created my first long-term D&D character: Arkon Blackbone, half-orc fighter/priest of the setting's war god.
All was not well, though. As luck would have it, Will and his older brother were also members of Ron's D&D group. When Will found out I was going to be playing, he threw a fit. Ron was apologetic about it, but his view was that Will had been there first, and to keep things running smoothly, I'd have to hit the bricks. Cathy wouldn't have any of that noise, though, and she went to the mat for me. In the end, Ron decided that both Will and I would be invited to play. Hopefully we'd be grown up about it.
Will's participation lasted one, maybe two, sessions before he begged off. His older brother continued to play in the campaign, and though there were a couple of hiccups, he was able to separate himself from his younger brother's feelings for me. The campaign lasted at least a year; it's amusing how I'm unable to recall the actual span of time. It seemed like forever, but my affiliation with the group lasted about 18 months, maybe a little longer. There were schisms within the group (unrelated to me) which caused it to fragment. By the time it had started to dissolve, I was already involved with a couple of other (unrelated) game groups.
(To be continued...)
15 August 2006
I Have Returned
So it's Tuesday, and I'm back from Indianapolis and Gen Con. I'm liable to forget a good bit as I type, but I'm sure it will come back to me. Surprisingly, little of any real interest happened. The stuff that surely pertains to me and my future endeavors can't be posted, so I'll have to leave it out.
I do, however, have photographs.
So I made it to Lindburgh Field in San Diego well on time on Wednesday morning. My flight to Chicago was long and boring. The flight crew took the long way around some severe weather, which increased the flight time. Then, while landing at O'Hare, the plane suddenly veered off, raised landing gear, and circled around again. I guess there was some "debris" on the runway, so we were routed to another one. By the time we landed and made it to the gate, we were already half an hour late.
Despite me hustling to the gate (which had been changed, anyway; curses!), I missed my flight to Indy. I was put on Standby for the next flight out (three hours later), but definitely confirmed for a flight at six o'clock that evening. I waited on Standby, ate some really mediocre (not to mention expensive) quasi-oriental food, and read.
With American Airlines, when you're on Standby, they add your name to a list. The list doesn't show your whole name, just the first three letters of your last name, a slash, and the first initial of your first name. For the initial hour or so, I was the only guy on standby for the flight, and my name ("AST/G") was prominently displayed. After a time, four more names were added to the list, one of which beat me out (due to frequent flier status or something). The one that was placed ahead of me had the unfortunate moniker of "TUR/D", which gave me a much-needed chuckle. It left me feeling sorry for people with names like Thomas Farmer or Tina Shields.
Despite being deposed as leader of the Standby pack, I was allowed to board the plane, and after another hour I'd made it to Indianapolis. My luggage, which had flown ahead with the flight I should've been aboard, was waiting for me. I secured a ride, and ended up at the Embassy Suites hotel at 6:30pm. My room-mate from Green Ronin, Hal Mangold, dropped my badge off before going out to a business dinner. I called Stan! and found out that he, Marc "Sparky" Schmalz, Hyrum Savage, and Charles Ryan were waiting for seating at the nearby PF Chang's.
The Embassy Suites, Interior, From 16 Floors Up
I raced down to the restaurant and met my friends. Friends, indeed. When it came time to be seating, the capable PF Chang's staff informed them that they couldn't seat five people at a table set for four, and that they'd need to wait another hour if they wanted me to join them. In the end, I was tossed aside, abandoned to the wilds of Indianapolis so that my friends could enjoy expensive Chinese food. To add insult to injury, the manager of the restaurant apologized to the boys because I couldn't be served, and provided them with free appetizers. The moral of the story is: kick your friend to the curb, and get rewarded with free food.
JD and Keri, Swapping Spit
JD and Keri were late arriving in town, but once they'd made it I hooked up with them and we ate at Noble Romans, a small pizza/pasta joint across from their hotel. Good food, too. Afterwards, we went to TGI Fridays for dessert, and met up with Stan!, Marc, Hyrum, and Charles, as well as Monte and Sue Cook. I was tired, though, and retreated to my room for the evening.
Hal Mangold and Steve Kenson
Other highlights of the convention:
My Thieves' World games. I had some good players, but the games weren't quite as "sold-out" as the Gen Con web site had indicated. In fact, Thursday's game had four players, Friday's had five (two of whom paid with generic tickets), and Saturday's had three and a half (meaning that the fourth player cut and run half-way through, but we'd been warned he'd be doing so early on). The players were good, the scenario ran well. After the first one, it gets easier, but it also turns into work. I do enjoy it, along with the occasional fan recognition. Several of the players had actually attended our Thieves' World seminar last year.
Dr. Evil Giving Me the Horns from the GR Booth
One thing that struck me, and this was echoed by other people I was hanging out with, was that there was really very little to buy that had that "oh, my God, I must own it!" vibe. Truly, everything that I wanted was being sold in the Green Ronin booth. Monte Cook's Ptolus was probably the gem of the convention, but it also has a cover price of $120. Ouch. I wasn't going to go begging Monte for a free copy, either.
Dan Abnett, Writer of Wrongs
I got to meet Dan Abnett. Being as I've been reading his 40k-themed books in order to brush up on my Warhammer 40k knowledge for Dark Heresy, I've quickly become a fan of this brilliant and talented author. So much a fan that I asked him to sign my copy of Eisenhorn, giving the excuse that, "Within the heart of every writer and game designer, there dwells a fan boy." He didn't seem to mind.
Sparky and Keri, Hard at Work
Sunday, I did my buying. I also got some books for free, and my pile of "swag" was pretty impressive this year. It added a good twenty pounds to my luggage.
A Rapidly-Diminishing Pile of Moon Monkeys
Coming home was supposed to be interesting, given the recently-foiled terrorist plot that had caused airport security to spike in unprecedented ways. I arrived at the airport four hours early, but checking in took only ten minutes, and I made it through security check in less than five minutes. The only wierd thing about it was that they put me through an explosives sniffer, something I'd never gone through before.
Hal Mangold and Nicole Lindroos Share a Laugh
Instead of waiting four hours for my scheduled flight, I got on Standby with another flight outbound to Chicago. I made it aboard, and managed to get on Standby in Chicago for an earlier flight to San Diego. Luck was with me, because I managed to get home an hour ahead of schedule...which really made no difference, since my luggage was still en route on my originally-scheduled airplane.
Breaking Down the Booth
It was good to see my wife and my son again. The convention went by in a flash, and it didn't feel like a real vacation to me. Time off? Ha. Being a passenger is just as tiring and time-consuming as a paying job. Next year, I may need to see about playing in some games for a change. I've rarely played at conventions, so maybe I should remind myself why I don't...
I do, however, have photographs.
So I made it to Lindburgh Field in San Diego well on time on Wednesday morning. My flight to Chicago was long and boring. The flight crew took the long way around some severe weather, which increased the flight time. Then, while landing at O'Hare, the plane suddenly veered off, raised landing gear, and circled around again. I guess there was some "debris" on the runway, so we were routed to another one. By the time we landed and made it to the gate, we were already half an hour late.
Despite me hustling to the gate (which had been changed, anyway; curses!), I missed my flight to Indy. I was put on Standby for the next flight out (three hours later), but definitely confirmed for a flight at six o'clock that evening. I waited on Standby, ate some really mediocre (not to mention expensive) quasi-oriental food, and read.
With American Airlines, when you're on Standby, they add your name to a list. The list doesn't show your whole name, just the first three letters of your last name, a slash, and the first initial of your first name. For the initial hour or so, I was the only guy on standby for the flight, and my name ("AST/G") was prominently displayed. After a time, four more names were added to the list, one of which beat me out (due to frequent flier status or something). The one that was placed ahead of me had the unfortunate moniker of "TUR/D", which gave me a much-needed chuckle. It left me feeling sorry for people with names like Thomas Farmer or Tina Shields.
Despite being deposed as leader of the Standby pack, I was allowed to board the plane, and after another hour I'd made it to Indianapolis. My luggage, which had flown ahead with the flight I should've been aboard, was waiting for me. I secured a ride, and ended up at the Embassy Suites hotel at 6:30pm. My room-mate from Green Ronin, Hal Mangold, dropped my badge off before going out to a business dinner. I called Stan! and found out that he, Marc "Sparky" Schmalz, Hyrum Savage, and Charles Ryan were waiting for seating at the nearby PF Chang's.
I raced down to the restaurant and met my friends. Friends, indeed. When it came time to be seating, the capable PF Chang's staff informed them that they couldn't seat five people at a table set for four, and that they'd need to wait another hour if they wanted me to join them. In the end, I was tossed aside, abandoned to the wilds of Indianapolis so that my friends could enjoy expensive Chinese food. To add insult to injury, the manager of the restaurant apologized to the boys because I couldn't be served, and provided them with free appetizers. The moral of the story is: kick your friend to the curb, and get rewarded with free food.
JD and Keri were late arriving in town, but once they'd made it I hooked up with them and we ate at Noble Romans, a small pizza/pasta joint across from their hotel. Good food, too. Afterwards, we went to TGI Fridays for dessert, and met up with Stan!, Marc, Hyrum, and Charles, as well as Monte and Sue Cook. I was tired, though, and retreated to my room for the evening.
Other highlights of the convention:
My Thieves' World games. I had some good players, but the games weren't quite as "sold-out" as the Gen Con web site had indicated. In fact, Thursday's game had four players, Friday's had five (two of whom paid with generic tickets), and Saturday's had three and a half (meaning that the fourth player cut and run half-way through, but we'd been warned he'd be doing so early on). The players were good, the scenario ran well. After the first one, it gets easier, but it also turns into work. I do enjoy it, along with the occasional fan recognition. Several of the players had actually attended our Thieves' World seminar last year.
One thing that struck me, and this was echoed by other people I was hanging out with, was that there was really very little to buy that had that "oh, my God, I must own it!" vibe. Truly, everything that I wanted was being sold in the Green Ronin booth. Monte Cook's Ptolus was probably the gem of the convention, but it also has a cover price of $120. Ouch. I wasn't going to go begging Monte for a free copy, either.
I got to meet Dan Abnett. Being as I've been reading his 40k-themed books in order to brush up on my Warhammer 40k knowledge for Dark Heresy, I've quickly become a fan of this brilliant and talented author. So much a fan that I asked him to sign my copy of Eisenhorn, giving the excuse that, "Within the heart of every writer and game designer, there dwells a fan boy." He didn't seem to mind.
Sunday, I did my buying. I also got some books for free, and my pile of "swag" was pretty impressive this year. It added a good twenty pounds to my luggage.
Coming home was supposed to be interesting, given the recently-foiled terrorist plot that had caused airport security to spike in unprecedented ways. I arrived at the airport four hours early, but checking in took only ten minutes, and I made it through security check in less than five minutes. The only wierd thing about it was that they put me through an explosives sniffer, something I'd never gone through before.
Instead of waiting four hours for my scheduled flight, I got on Standby with another flight outbound to Chicago. I made it aboard, and managed to get on Standby in Chicago for an earlier flight to San Diego. Luck was with me, because I managed to get home an hour ahead of schedule...which really made no difference, since my luggage was still en route on my originally-scheduled airplane.
It was good to see my wife and my son again. The convention went by in a flash, and it didn't feel like a real vacation to me. Time off? Ha. Being a passenger is just as tiring and time-consuming as a paying job. Next year, I may need to see about playing in some games for a change. I've rarely played at conventions, so maybe I should remind myself why I don't...
08 August 2006
Gen Con Indy '06
I'm climbing onto a plane tomorrow and flying off to Indianapolis. I'll be back on the evening of the 14th, likely with a slew of photos and at least a small handful of swag. If you plan to attend Gen Con this year, please drop by the Green Ronin booth and give a shout. When I'm not running games, you should be able to find me there. At the least, you can leave a message.
I'm not sure what sorts of goals I have this year. This is my third consecutive Gen Con, though I've been to four altogether (not counting Gen Con SoCal). I flew to Indiana in '04 to support the release of FFG's Fireborn, as well as to get my name out there. Gen Con '05 was when Thieves' World was released, and I wasn't going to miss that at all.
Well...it seems as if my name is "out there" already, so I feel less of a need to run around like a madman handing out business cards. I'll obviously do a bit of that, but (outside of at least two planned business meetings) it's not going to be my primary focus. This leaves me to wonder: what is my focus this time around?
I think that it's the social angle, more than anything. I've met a lot of neat industry folks over the past four years, many of which I consider to be friends. Being able to eat a couple of meals and throw a few drinks back with these people is well worth the price of the airfare. If this convention leads to even one contract that pays me more than the plane ticket costs, it will have paid for itself.
So that's where I am. Expect no updates until I get back; as I said previously, I am not taking the laptop along for the ride.
See you soon!
I'm not sure what sorts of goals I have this year. This is my third consecutive Gen Con, though I've been to four altogether (not counting Gen Con SoCal). I flew to Indiana in '04 to support the release of FFG's Fireborn, as well as to get my name out there. Gen Con '05 was when Thieves' World was released, and I wasn't going to miss that at all.
Well...it seems as if my name is "out there" already, so I feel less of a need to run around like a madman handing out business cards. I'll obviously do a bit of that, but (outside of at least two planned business meetings) it's not going to be my primary focus. This leaves me to wonder: what is my focus this time around?
I think that it's the social angle, more than anything. I've met a lot of neat industry folks over the past four years, many of which I consider to be friends. Being able to eat a couple of meals and throw a few drinks back with these people is well worth the price of the airfare. If this convention leads to even one contract that pays me more than the plane ticket costs, it will have paid for itself.
So that's where I am. Expect no updates until I get back; as I said previously, I am not taking the laptop along for the ride.
See you soon!
06 August 2006
Fury of Dracula
Last night, after several months of it sitting on the top of my book case gathering dust, we finally got to try out Fury of Dracula. Often it happens that I'll buy a game, which often has a substantial dollar amount attached to it (in this case, $50), and we'll play it once. Or, in some cases, never.On this occasion, though, Alan suggested that we gather and play something, anything, since we haven't played his Shackled City campaign for about a month now due to a number of reasons. We started off the evening with a quick game of Bang!, after which the baby was put to bed and we prepped the table for Fury of Dracula.
Present, we had Adam as the noble Lord Godalming, Alan as Dr. Seward, Amy as Van Helsing, and Mike as the dainty Mina Harker, leaving me as the undead Count Dracula. The first hour was spent getting used to the rules, but once we'd worked out most of the kinks, it started going pretty smoothly. We didn't actually finish the game, but we're in a good position to play a full game the next time we gather together.
My impressions are that it is a fun game. I like the cooperative aspect, with the hunters aiding one another to hunt the Count. I'd like to play it again soon, but we're all grown-ups with schedules that aren't always in tune with one another. I guess I'll have to try for a demo at Gen Con this week.
Gods...THIS WEEK. GEN CON.
Six hours of travel followed by the best four days in gaming, right? This being my third year in a row going to Indy, you'd think I would be used to it. The travel always gets me, though. Once I'm there, I'll be fine. Coming home is always the best part, since I'll have my smiling wife and baby boy waiting for me.
02 August 2006
Past Campaigns, Preface
I've been giving some thought to reviewing my old campaigns here. Most of these old games have been veiled in the mists of time, and many involved players that I rarely see these days, if ever.
Why?
I don't know. Catharsis, I suppose. Analytical reflection, or maybe just reminiscence. It's good for something, isn't it? At least on a personal level?
There's an old gamer saying that goes along the lines of:
"Don't tell me about your character/campaign/etc."
I can totally understand where this phrase comes from, because it's often more interesting to tell your own stories than to listen to someone else's. Discussing old games isn't like having group therapy, unless everyone cries. Plus, humans are selfish. We like the limelight, and are easily bored if deprived of it.
It can be uncomfortable to be cornered by someone who is obviously enthusiastic, and who has a lot to say on several different topics. You don't want to offend anyone by begging off, but by the same token, you'd rather pound red hot ingots into your eye sockets than listen to anecdotes that have no relation to you, or that are so far from your idea of interesting discourse that you have trouble keeping a straight face.
It's a cold truth, one that few people admit to. While I do enjoy discussing games, characters, and campaigns with folks in passing, I have less of an interest in specifics and minutae. These are generally stories of the "you had to be there" variety. They lose much of their punch when recounted to strangers ten years later.
It comes down to taste, I think. Not all gamers share the same ideas about what is cool and what isn't. Tom's mini-maxed 28th level half-Drow rogue named Marius Dwarfbane Skinslitter, who dropped Driz'zt in the first two rounds of combat and single-handedly stole Tiamat's chastity belt, is probably a lot more interesting to Tom than he is to anyone else (except, possibly, for the other folks who played in the same campaign).
Like I said, I enjoy talking about the games I've played, but I also understand that what interested me about this game or that character might not carry the same entertaining weight with anyone else. I try to keep my descriptions brief. If someone asks me to expand upon something, I will, but such curiosity is rare. In fact, I can't think of a single instance of someone telling me, "Wow, that sounds like it was fun. What happened after your character fell out of the airplane?"
When their eyes glaze over, you've lost them.
So, back to the topic at hand: past campaigns. I'll be dredging up a few of my old campaigns and characters here, and in turn, I'll be breaking the "Don't tell me about your..." rule. The difference is that you can read the post, or you can click a link and go surfing for entertainment elsewhere.
I won't be doing this every single day, mind you. It will only happen when I feel like it. The rest of the time, it will be the same self-absorbed stuff that you're used to. Heck, if you're reading this blog, you're probably at least a little voyeuristic, anyway. If you like looking into other people lives and minds via their blogs, then you probably won't mind.
So that's the preface. Think of it as a statement of intent.
Why?
I don't know. Catharsis, I suppose. Analytical reflection, or maybe just reminiscence. It's good for something, isn't it? At least on a personal level?
There's an old gamer saying that goes along the lines of:
"Don't tell me about your character/campaign/etc."
I can totally understand where this phrase comes from, because it's often more interesting to tell your own stories than to listen to someone else's. Discussing old games isn't like having group therapy, unless everyone cries. Plus, humans are selfish. We like the limelight, and are easily bored if deprived of it.
It can be uncomfortable to be cornered by someone who is obviously enthusiastic, and who has a lot to say on several different topics. You don't want to offend anyone by begging off, but by the same token, you'd rather pound red hot ingots into your eye sockets than listen to anecdotes that have no relation to you, or that are so far from your idea of interesting discourse that you have trouble keeping a straight face.
It's a cold truth, one that few people admit to. While I do enjoy discussing games, characters, and campaigns with folks in passing, I have less of an interest in specifics and minutae. These are generally stories of the "you had to be there" variety. They lose much of their punch when recounted to strangers ten years later.
It comes down to taste, I think. Not all gamers share the same ideas about what is cool and what isn't. Tom's mini-maxed 28th level half-Drow rogue named Marius Dwarfbane Skinslitter, who dropped Driz'zt in the first two rounds of combat and single-handedly stole Tiamat's chastity belt, is probably a lot more interesting to Tom than he is to anyone else (except, possibly, for the other folks who played in the same campaign).
Like I said, I enjoy talking about the games I've played, but I also understand that what interested me about this game or that character might not carry the same entertaining weight with anyone else. I try to keep my descriptions brief. If someone asks me to expand upon something, I will, but such curiosity is rare. In fact, I can't think of a single instance of someone telling me, "Wow, that sounds like it was fun. What happened after your character fell out of the airplane?"
When their eyes glaze over, you've lost them.
So, back to the topic at hand: past campaigns. I'll be dredging up a few of my old campaigns and characters here, and in turn, I'll be breaking the "Don't tell me about your..." rule. The difference is that you can read the post, or you can click a link and go surfing for entertainment elsewhere.
I won't be doing this every single day, mind you. It will only happen when I feel like it. The rest of the time, it will be the same self-absorbed stuff that you're used to. Heck, if you're reading this blog, you're probably at least a little voyeuristic, anyway. If you like looking into other people lives and minds via their blogs, then you probably won't mind.
So that's the preface. Think of it as a statement of intent.
01 August 2006
Happy August
You might remember, the boy went to sleep quickly last night. He subsequently woke up at midnight, 3am, and 5am. The night is a blur of wailing and bottle sucking. And that was just from me.
Kidding, kidding.
But yes, the boy had a restless night, which means that we had a restless night. My neck, which was already sore, seems to have worsened in the night. Nine hours of day job to look forward to, followed by who-knows-what. Laundry, most likely.
As they say: the Emperor protects.
Kidding, kidding.
But yes, the boy had a restless night, which means that we had a restless night. My neck, which was already sore, seems to have worsened in the night. Nine hours of day job to look forward to, followed by who-knows-what. Laundry, most likely.
As they say: the Emperor protects.
31 July 2006
My Rotten Mood
I'm in a pretty crummy mood tonight. I guess it proves that I'm human. Normally, I try to maintain a neutral tone hereabouts, but that's not happening tonight.
I got off work at my normal time, and then drove to my bank to deposit a check. Nah, it wasn't one of the largish checks I've been waiting for, but it's still money. You might not know it, but I do occasional freelance work for Upper Deck, writing creative content for one of their CCGs. That's where the check came from. Into the bank it goes, cha-ching.
After I put the check in, I drive to It's A Grind. The table I prefer was taken, so I plop down at another one. I must've been sitting wierd, or craning my neck in an odd position, because after an hour or so of that I started to get this dull ache in the right side of my neck. It was moving up, turning into a headache, before it really occured to me that I was in any kind of pain.
I'd only managed to peck out 800 words, which isn't bad for the amount of time I'd been there, but it's still not anywhere near what I wanted to get done today. I've learned that it's a good idea to cut your losses if you're feeling like crap, because no good writing can come out of discomfort. Sure, pain might breed art, but I prefer to think of that as emotional pain breeding art. Physical pain...well, it just sucks.
I drove home and got the mail. It was a waste of time, seeing as it was a handful of junk. Not even any bills in the mail today, much less paychecks or comp copies or month-late birthday cards. Hope springs eternal, I reckon.
I got home, and sent my wife off to nap. She was tired, and I always feel like she should get a break every so often. It's not like I'm out having fun, whooping it up with the boys at Hooters, when I'm writing, but I don't feel any less guilty for leaving her home to mind the child all by herself.
And what a foul mood he was in tonight. I think I must've uttered the word, "No," about sixty times in the first fifteen minutes. First he wanted to crawl on me, applying the force of his heavy feet to the more sensitive portions of my anatomy. It's not like he understands that my lap is not a trampoline, or that it's not normal for daddy to speak in a falsetto like that. He just thinks it's funny.
Then he wanted to stand on the coffee table. Bad idea. His little mind clicks and whirs and he thinks, "Well, then, if I can't stand on the coffee table...I'll stand on the sofa!"
Which earned yet another, "No," from me, along with an order to "Sit down."
He knows what that means, but he looks at me as if to say, "Oh, father? What's that? You can't possibly be speaking to me. I'll just go on doing what I'm doing. How else will I manage to fall and break a bone before I turn two?"
I ended up making him dinner, which consisted of macaroni and cheese, some apple sauce, and a pickle cut into bite-sized pieces. He ate a good deal, so he must've been hungry. After I'd cleaned up the mess, we sat and played Halo 2 until he began to rub his eyes in a manner that suggested he was tired, but unwilling to admit it.
So off to bed he went, after getting a shot of baby Tylenol to ease the agony of his newly-emerging molars (one on each side, at present). Teething is such a pain. Is it any wonder he was being bad? I suppose I'd probably run around being disobedient if I was in constant oral discomfort, too.
Surprisingly, he went to sleep pretty quickly. After his cooing and whining had tapered off to little toddler snoring, I went and got his mother up.
And here I am now. It's almost 10 o'clock, and I have to wake up and go to work in seven hours, after which I have to try to get some manner of writing accomplished before coming home and maybe doing some laundry.
A piece of advice to all you kids out there: don't grow up. It's a pain in the butt. Be nice to your mothers and fathers so that they will allow you to live at home in ignorant bliss of all the responsibilities you would otherwise be forced to accept as an adult.
I got off work at my normal time, and then drove to my bank to deposit a check. Nah, it wasn't one of the largish checks I've been waiting for, but it's still money. You might not know it, but I do occasional freelance work for Upper Deck, writing creative content for one of their CCGs. That's where the check came from. Into the bank it goes, cha-ching.
After I put the check in, I drive to It's A Grind. The table I prefer was taken, so I plop down at another one. I must've been sitting wierd, or craning my neck in an odd position, because after an hour or so of that I started to get this dull ache in the right side of my neck. It was moving up, turning into a headache, before it really occured to me that I was in any kind of pain.
I'd only managed to peck out 800 words, which isn't bad for the amount of time I'd been there, but it's still not anywhere near what I wanted to get done today. I've learned that it's a good idea to cut your losses if you're feeling like crap, because no good writing can come out of discomfort. Sure, pain might breed art, but I prefer to think of that as emotional pain breeding art. Physical pain...well, it just sucks.
I drove home and got the mail. It was a waste of time, seeing as it was a handful of junk. Not even any bills in the mail today, much less paychecks or comp copies or month-late birthday cards. Hope springs eternal, I reckon.
I got home, and sent my wife off to nap. She was tired, and I always feel like she should get a break every so often. It's not like I'm out having fun, whooping it up with the boys at Hooters, when I'm writing, but I don't feel any less guilty for leaving her home to mind the child all by herself.
And what a foul mood he was in tonight. I think I must've uttered the word, "No," about sixty times in the first fifteen minutes. First he wanted to crawl on me, applying the force of his heavy feet to the more sensitive portions of my anatomy. It's not like he understands that my lap is not a trampoline, or that it's not normal for daddy to speak in a falsetto like that. He just thinks it's funny.
Then he wanted to stand on the coffee table. Bad idea. His little mind clicks and whirs and he thinks, "Well, then, if I can't stand on the coffee table...I'll stand on the sofa!"
Which earned yet another, "No," from me, along with an order to "Sit down."
He knows what that means, but he looks at me as if to say, "Oh, father? What's that? You can't possibly be speaking to me. I'll just go on doing what I'm doing. How else will I manage to fall and break a bone before I turn two?"
I ended up making him dinner, which consisted of macaroni and cheese, some apple sauce, and a pickle cut into bite-sized pieces. He ate a good deal, so he must've been hungry. After I'd cleaned up the mess, we sat and played Halo 2 until he began to rub his eyes in a manner that suggested he was tired, but unwilling to admit it.
So off to bed he went, after getting a shot of baby Tylenol to ease the agony of his newly-emerging molars (one on each side, at present). Teething is such a pain. Is it any wonder he was being bad? I suppose I'd probably run around being disobedient if I was in constant oral discomfort, too.
Surprisingly, he went to sleep pretty quickly. After his cooing and whining had tapered off to little toddler snoring, I went and got his mother up.
And here I am now. It's almost 10 o'clock, and I have to wake up and go to work in seven hours, after which I have to try to get some manner of writing accomplished before coming home and maybe doing some laundry.
A piece of advice to all you kids out there: don't grow up. It's a pain in the butt. Be nice to your mothers and fathers so that they will allow you to live at home in ignorant bliss of all the responsibilities you would otherwise be forced to accept as an adult.
Mr. Nose, Meet Mr. Grindstone
It's amazing how much work I can do in a single sitting if I put my mind to it, barring headaches, stifling heat, or toddler issues.
In that sense, it was a productive weekend. I've still got a good bit more to catch up on, but I feel confident that I'll have something that is (at the very least) presentable quite soon.
Working on 40k is intimidating. Licensed products, in general, are intimidating all by themselves; but this is Warhammer 40k. Not only do I have to answer to the folks at Black Industries, but there are a lot of hard core fans out there in the Materium with very strong, deeply-entrenched opinions about the setting that I need to consider, as well.
I wonder how it will all pan out in the end. It could go either way. I'm hoping the line will be a success, and it'd be nice to have an opportunity to continue working on it as it grows. We'll see.
I should be writing now, but it's lunchtime and I'm in my cube at work and the time I'm given to eat and relax only amounts to 1 short hour (half of which I've already squandered). I'm waiting to hear from my wife in email, which should happen any time now. Then I'll probably surf the internet until the proverbial bell rings and I am forced to go back to work.
The Emperor protects!
In that sense, it was a productive weekend. I've still got a good bit more to catch up on, but I feel confident that I'll have something that is (at the very least) presentable quite soon.
Working on 40k is intimidating. Licensed products, in general, are intimidating all by themselves; but this is Warhammer 40k. Not only do I have to answer to the folks at Black Industries, but there are a lot of hard core fans out there in the Materium with very strong, deeply-entrenched opinions about the setting that I need to consider, as well.
I wonder how it will all pan out in the end. It could go either way. I'm hoping the line will be a success, and it'd be nice to have an opportunity to continue working on it as it grows. We'll see.
I should be writing now, but it's lunchtime and I'm in my cube at work and the time I'm given to eat and relax only amounts to 1 short hour (half of which I've already squandered). I'm waiting to hear from my wife in email, which should happen any time now. Then I'll probably surf the internet until the proverbial bell rings and I am forced to go back to work.
The Emperor protects!
28 July 2006
I'm So Confused
I have been taken by surprise at how quickly the month of July has passed me by. A number of things have gone poorly, in one respect or another: my PbP WFRP game has been ignored, mostly due to my writing obligations (which have snowballed). The TW playtest session has been mothballed, as well, due in part to the lack of local FLGS support, as well as my own insane schedule.
I feel badly about it, but my hands are bound. Better luck next time, I suppose...that is, if there is one.
Part of the reason I feel so crummy is that all thoughts of the playtest had been driven out of my mind in the weeks following my encounter with Game Empire's manager. I promised to post a final decision by 7/1, which I ultimately forgot to do. The heat, as well as family obligations, haven't helped me to focus.
Obviously, I'm all about excuses. I'll try and make it up to folks, somehow.
GenCon is in less than two weeks!
I feel badly about it, but my hands are bound. Better luck next time, I suppose...that is, if there is one.
Part of the reason I feel so crummy is that all thoughts of the playtest had been driven out of my mind in the weeks following my encounter with Game Empire's manager. I promised to post a final decision by 7/1, which I ultimately forgot to do. The heat, as well as family obligations, haven't helped me to focus.
Obviously, I'm all about excuses. I'll try and make it up to folks, somehow.
GenCon is in less than two weeks!
26 July 2006
Uncredited, But Not Forgotten
Due to an oversight, it appears as if artist Frank Walls was not credited for his illustrations in the recently-released Hand of Shadow. Rob Vaughn of Fantasy Flight Games has posted a public apology to Frank, both on FFG's forums and on the Against the Shadow forums. I'm glad he did, or I might not have discovered this talented artist.To view a couple of other illustrations that appear in Hand of Shadow, as well as some of Frank's other pieces, check out his web site, located here.
25 July 2006
Of Milestones and Millstones
One thing I didn't know about before I started landing writing gigs was the "milestone." In basic parlance, a milestone is a deadline of sorts, before the actual deadline. It's a chance for the folks you're writing for to review your work, make comments, and suggest changes. It also gives them an idea of how far along you are, and whether or not you're on track.
I've got a milestone due on 8/1. I'm not real worried about it, since the final deadline for the project is over two months out. Still, it's a little bit nervewracking. I want to be sure I have a good start, and I want to impress them with what I've got done so far.
So that's that. I've got quite a bit of work to do between now and then, but I've also got a much better idea of what I'm doing now.
Oh, and then there's Gen Con: the best four days in gaming, which will stretch out into six days of getting next to nothing done. Sure, I could resign myself to staying in my hotel room, putting my nose to the grindstone and generating words while my friends, peers, and colleagues venture out into the Indianapolis nightlife, eating and drinking and hanging out.
But to heck with that. If I'm paying for an airline ticket, you better believe that I'm going to try to enjoy myself between the time my plane lands and the time my return flight takes off. It's only fair.
Given that, I'm trying to decide if I should bother taking my laptop with me. On one hand, it's nice to think that I'll find a nice (free) hotspot somewhere over there, but odds are, I won't. I tried last year, and found nothing. I ended up lugging the computer around like a notebook-shaped cross. It's just another piece of carry-on luggage that I'd just as soon not worry about having with me.
From that, it sounds like I've made up my mind already.
As it is, I'll be lugging around a pile of books: my PH, DMG, and TW Player's Manual, for starters. Not to mention the game folder, which will contain the scenario notes, multiple copies of the PC character sheets, etc. My little battle mat, too, along with a handful of miniatures.
Speaking of the minis, I'd originally wanted to pick up some decent figs and paint them up, at least to represent the PCs. I even went so far as to pick them out, but I never did buy them. I don't really have the time to paint them, anyway, at least not to my normal standards. Given that I'm also out of practice (I don't think I've put paint to pewter in, gods...two years?), it would take that much longer to get a suitable paint job done. As much as it might embellish the game, I'm going to have to stick with a handful of pre-painted plastic D&D minis, like I did at SoCal last year. It's a shame.
I'll also need to keep some room open for the inevitable purchases I will be making. How much will I budget? I have no idea. I guess that depends largely on how many paychecks I get between now and August 8th. With luck, I'll be paid for some of my recent releases, which will allow me to go nuts, relatively speaking. Last year, I don't think I bought a single book. I relied on the generosity of others and begged for comp copies.
I've got no idea what, if anything, I'd like to pick up. Probably some of the Black Industries stuff I've been missing (business expenses, don't you know); new releases for the WFRP line, since it's one of the only games I'm keeping up with these days.
So, yeah. GenCon. Soon. The time has passed so quickly, my head is practically spinning. Ah, the joys of impending air travel!
I've got a milestone due on 8/1. I'm not real worried about it, since the final deadline for the project is over two months out. Still, it's a little bit nervewracking. I want to be sure I have a good start, and I want to impress them with what I've got done so far.
So that's that. I've got quite a bit of work to do between now and then, but I've also got a much better idea of what I'm doing now.
Oh, and then there's Gen Con: the best four days in gaming, which will stretch out into six days of getting next to nothing done. Sure, I could resign myself to staying in my hotel room, putting my nose to the grindstone and generating words while my friends, peers, and colleagues venture out into the Indianapolis nightlife, eating and drinking and hanging out.
But to heck with that. If I'm paying for an airline ticket, you better believe that I'm going to try to enjoy myself between the time my plane lands and the time my return flight takes off. It's only fair.
Given that, I'm trying to decide if I should bother taking my laptop with me. On one hand, it's nice to think that I'll find a nice (free) hotspot somewhere over there, but odds are, I won't. I tried last year, and found nothing. I ended up lugging the computer around like a notebook-shaped cross. It's just another piece of carry-on luggage that I'd just as soon not worry about having with me.
From that, it sounds like I've made up my mind already.
As it is, I'll be lugging around a pile of books: my PH, DMG, and TW Player's Manual, for starters. Not to mention the game folder, which will contain the scenario notes, multiple copies of the PC character sheets, etc. My little battle mat, too, along with a handful of miniatures.
Speaking of the minis, I'd originally wanted to pick up some decent figs and paint them up, at least to represent the PCs. I even went so far as to pick them out, but I never did buy them. I don't really have the time to paint them, anyway, at least not to my normal standards. Given that I'm also out of practice (I don't think I've put paint to pewter in, gods...two years?), it would take that much longer to get a suitable paint job done. As much as it might embellish the game, I'm going to have to stick with a handful of pre-painted plastic D&D minis, like I did at SoCal last year. It's a shame.
I'll also need to keep some room open for the inevitable purchases I will be making. How much will I budget? I have no idea. I guess that depends largely on how many paychecks I get between now and August 8th. With luck, I'll be paid for some of my recent releases, which will allow me to go nuts, relatively speaking. Last year, I don't think I bought a single book. I relied on the generosity of others and begged for comp copies.
I've got no idea what, if anything, I'd like to pick up. Probably some of the Black Industries stuff I've been missing (business expenses, don't you know); new releases for the WFRP line, since it's one of the only games I'm keeping up with these days.
So, yeah. GenCon. Soon. The time has passed so quickly, my head is practically spinning. Ah, the joys of impending air travel!
23 July 2006
Event Ticket Up For Grabs
It seems that there's a fellow who bought a ticket to the Thieves' World game I'll be running at GenCon on Friday the 11th. He's putting it up for grabs on ENWorld, and only asking face value for it ($3). As far as I know, all three games are sold out, so if you want to play but couldn't get your foot in the door, this is your chance. You can get in touch with him via this thread on ENWorld.
Today was busy! I managed to get to the coffee shop and do some writing, though, and it was a bit easier than yesterday. I still have a good bit of work to do by next weekend, but I'm confident that I'll be fine.
I just won't see much of my family over the next week and a half..!
Today was busy! I managed to get to the coffee shop and do some writing, though, and it was a bit easier than yesterday. I still have a good bit of work to do by next weekend, but I'm confident that I'll be fine.
I just won't see much of my family over the next week and a half..!
22 July 2006
Like Blood From A Stone
So I'm here, writing, and I've done a lot less than I intended to do. Mostly, it's me staring at the computer screen, scratching my head, and trying not to pay attention to the conversations around me. I'm not specifically tired or anything, and I'm not uninspired, particularly.
I'd hoped to get a certain amount done today, but I don't know if that's going to happen quite the way I'd planned. Then again, I haven't really eaten since last night, and I'm planning to hook up with my wife and kid so that we can grab a bite somewhere. Maybe after I eat, I'll be more able to concentrate on the things I need to concentrate on.
More later, perhaps.
I'd hoped to get a certain amount done today, but I don't know if that's going to happen quite the way I'd planned. Then again, I haven't really eaten since last night, and I'm planning to hook up with my wife and kid so that we can grab a bite somewhere. Maybe after I eat, I'll be more able to concentrate on the things I need to concentrate on.
More later, perhaps.
21 July 2006
A Couple of Things
First off, this is my 100th blog entry here. I've had the blog up about a year now. I'm not sure what it's worth, but...yay.
Next, Hand of Shadow showed up on my doorstep yesterday. It looks good, and I'm glad it's finally out. As my fourth and (for the time being, anyway) last contribution to the Midnight product line, it's a fairly high note. Feel free to let me know what you folks think of it if you get the chance.
In another piece of news, I've been told that I can give some information as to the project(s) I'm currently slaving away on. Let me give you a hint: the Inquisition.
Okay, okay. So maybe you know, maybe you don't, but BI will be releasing a series of role-playing games based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The first game, Dark Heresy, involves the PCs as agents of the Inquisition. I'm fortunate enough to be involved in this product line. I've already done some work on one product, and I'm currently crunching away at the next one.
I can't give much more in the way of details, but I've been bursting at the seams over this for a while now.
I was also able to participate in some playtesting for a project that JD Wiker (of the Game Mechanics) has been working on. This happened on Wednesday evening, and it was a good bit of nasty fun. I'm glad I was able to help out in my limited fashion.
All for now...
Next, Hand of Shadow showed up on my doorstep yesterday. It looks good, and I'm glad it's finally out. As my fourth and (for the time being, anyway) last contribution to the Midnight product line, it's a fairly high note. Feel free to let me know what you folks think of it if you get the chance.
In another piece of news, I've been told that I can give some information as to the project(s) I'm currently slaving away on. Let me give you a hint: the Inquisition.
Okay, okay. So maybe you know, maybe you don't, but BI will be releasing a series of role-playing games based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The first game, Dark Heresy, involves the PCs as agents of the Inquisition. I'm fortunate enough to be involved in this product line. I've already done some work on one product, and I'm currently crunching away at the next one.I can't give much more in the way of details, but I've been bursting at the seams over this for a while now.
I was also able to participate in some playtesting for a project that JD Wiker (of the Game Mechanics) has been working on. This happened on Wednesday evening, and it was a good bit of nasty fun. I'm glad I was able to help out in my limited fashion.
All for now...
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