Uncharted Territory: Role playing in settings/groups that are new to you – Part 2 of 3

I guess I should start out by apologizing for it taking me more than 2 months to get back to this.  Life has been very busy and then there was writers block…  I also feel a bit weird about writing these things when I’m currently on a hiatus from LARPing.  I *did* renew my membership so that counts for something, right?  The thing is that in my continued unemployment I’ve been pushing hard on getting my jewelry and accessories business going online at Artfire (see side bar for a link).  At any rate it’s well past time to be getting back to this and I will try not to take so long to do part three.

Our actual subject for today is making good one-off/NPC/short term characters for a game setting for which you are unfamiliar (be it LARP or Tabletop).  The very first key to success is to find a good bunch of people to game with – people you can feel comfortable with.  If the group is entirely new to you then be honest and come right out and say you’re new to the game and the setting and may need some help.  How they react will tell you if this group is for you.  Are they helpful?  Do their character ideas seem interesting to you?  Are they patient?  If you answered no to any of these questions then this may not be the right group for you.  If you answered no to 2 or more of these questions then run, don’t walk, in the other direction and find a new and better group!  Any group worth your time and effort will be willing to give some of theirs to help you get started.  That said, if it’s a large group of people and you’ve only talked to a few then you may want to talk to at least a few more before making a decision.  Also, if you are looking for help at a game, then arrive early if you need/want help unless you have made arrangements in advance.

Start with the storyteller.   Let them know what your concerns are and ask them for their suggestions.  This is exactly what I did with the Marvel game I was invited to join.  I never read comics in my youth.  I like the super hero TV shows and movies but they are far from the same as years of reading comics and, really, only a small number of comic characters actually end up being portrayed on shows or movies.  It turned out the storyteller had a number of pre-generated characters that he said I could look at and that if any caught my eye I could play them or he’d help me create a new character if I preferred.  One of his characters was Warbird – she can fly and shoot poison quills:  SOLD!  This storyteller/GM had also written a certain amount of back history and background for this character that was helpful for me to start figuring out how to play her.  Am I playing her true to character in the comic books?  I haven’t got a clue.  The storyteller said he likes how I’m playing her and my fellow gamers seem to be happy so it’s all good.  I don’t get all the references and sometimes have to stop and ask the story teller to give me a brief explanation.  The first few games I would check in about if what I was doing was “right” and he finally got it through my head that this was about me making the character my own, having fun, and contributing to the game in a positive way so I don’t sweat it any more.

What about one-off games?  Sometimes I have an easier time than others coming up with character ideas.  My first strategy is to get at least a thumbnail sketch of the setting we’ll be in if I’m not already familiar with it.  We once played a Firefly one-off that was easy because I’m very familiar with the series.  On another occasion our evening’s game was a ‘Don’t Rest Your Head’ game – which I had never played before.  The storyteller/GM gave us all a general run-down of the game premise.  For those who have not played it’s basically a horror RPG.  Your character has some thing happen that causes a psychological break which they are running from and in their panic some “power” reveals itself that leads them to ‘crazy town’.  I’m not sure that’s the best explanation but should give you a general idea.  I have always been a bit weirded out by pictures/posters where I feel like the people in them are looking at me.   It’s not a button pushing phobia – it’s just something I find vaguely creepy or discomforting.  I’m not going to go into why that might be – because that’s not the point.  I drew on that as something I could build a character around for the game that would  be creepy but would not be a give me nightmares level of creepy.  So I decided my character was a painter and her psychological break happened when the figures in her paintings started to move and talk to her.  Her power, in relation to that, was that she could paint or draw things that become real.  She could, for example, draw a door and then open it.

For an NPC type of character the things I want to know from a storyteller/GM (and will ask about if need be) are things like what my goals are for the evening.  When possible, I try to know in advance if I’ll be playing an NPC and get an idea of the character so I know how to dress for it.  I have done this several times for special LARP games.  For one of the games a friend and I worked up dance performances because our NPC’s were part of a traveling show.  We worked on the plot points between performances.

I’m going to break for a moment to remind storytellers/GM’s that when people go out of their way to be good NPC’s, to add to the atmosphere of the game, and to make it as enjoyable as possible for the other players – it’s very important to express your thanks and encourage others to thank them.  My friend and I worked up costumes, performances, worked out our character relationships, and stayed in character all night – working our asses off and hauling a lot of props with us in the process.  While we had a great time doing this we did not get so much as a “thank you” at the end of the night – which was very disappointing and left a bad taste in our mouths.  I’ve had this happen more than once.  If you want good NPC’s then for give them some appreciation for their efforts!

My other advice for storytellers/GM’s is to give your NPC’s some direction of how you want them to be or react to things that happen in game if you have a grand plan for how things should go down.  I once played an NPC for several games and so had time to research the characters powers and abilities.  In the absence of clear instructions I quite clearly surprised him by having my character do a smart defensive move rather than just standing there until I was killed – which is apparently what he expected.  I was in the NPC penalty box for an hour until he finally just narrated her being killed.  Again, no thank you and I got the distinct impression he was irritated with me.  Well gee – sorry – but players can only do their best and can’t generally divine from the air what you want.  Give your NPC’s some direction if you want a specific result!

Sometimes people make an NPC attached to a character in order to try out a LARP game.  I highly recommend playing an NPC of some sort rather than just observing at a LARP game.  Observing can be terribly boring.  I can see where being a storyteller NPC may seem a bit daunting.  If it is, then I would ask the storyteller/GM if they know anyone who has a character you could be an NPC for.  You could be a retainer of theirs, a visiting friends, a lackey, the child of a friend, etc and so forth.  Some people have done this for a game or two and then either made that NPC into an actual PC or just played it until they felt comfortable enough to create their own PC.  This way you get into the game and get introduced around right away.  It’s really a more fun way to try out a LARP game and I highly recommend it.

For this type of short term character the main things I try to figure out before starting are why they are there and what their goal is for the evening. Keep it simple.  You don’t want to get bogged down in the details for a one night game.  When I know why they are there this gives me ideas about who they are and a little background to play off of.  The goal gives me ideas for what I should do in game.  If you aren’t playing an NPC for a storyteller (which usually comes with a goal attached), figure out one on your own.  It can be as simple as surviving the evening without your character being killed or offending anyone.  You could try to meet x number of people or try to get into a conversation with x character at some point.  It could be to try to get some specific piece of information.  Maybe it’s to identify who all the important figures are in the local setting.  It’s up to you.  A goal will help to guide you in your role play and keep you from being bored.

If you find yourself in a role play challenge with another player then call over the storyteller to help walk you through it.  Do not let a player just tell you what happens if they are not a storyteller.  Explain to the storyteller that you’re not familiar with the rules and need some help.  They should help you or designate a 3rd party to help you.  Most players are honest but I got steam rollered a few times by players who knew I didn’t know the rules and didn’t like who I came into the game with.  It’s meta-gaming and not okay.  Sometimes players take the game too seriously and it’s the storyteller’s job to intervene so all can  have an enjoyable time.

Hopefully, what I’ve written here will be helpful to players who are contemplating a game/setting they are not familiar with.  A gaming group that wants to grow, expand, and otherwise have an enjoyable game should be willing to help new players jump in and start playing.  I have been unfamiliar with the settings of most of the RPG’s and LARP’s I’ve played at some point or another.  I’ve learned to be less intimidated and have mostly had a great time with it.  In the final section of this series I’ll go into more detail about making a well rounded character for a long term RPG/LARP campaign in an unfamiliar setting.

Geek Girls Rule! #130 – Go Play NW 2010

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, apart from being desperately ill the second afternoon slot and all of Saturday night, Go Play was definitely Wooooooooo-worthy.

So, we skipped the Friday Night Feast, as the Geek Husband What Rules wanted to take a shower after a long, stinky day at work.  On the way in we saw… oh, everybody!!!  I’m telling you, we have GOT to do a Hot Boys of Indie Gaming Calendar one of these days. 

We got there just in time for the first slot, and wound up playing a game in the new Capstone Comics series of games Ogre’s been wanting to run with Fate.  Essentially, he’s decided that he wants to do a gaming world with a comics-like continuity.  As he says, “Like Marvel and DC, only with actual continuity.”  So he ran “Black Rose and Silver Bullet” for me and Jordan.  I played the Black Rose, an Irish-American girl who had wanted to be a nun, but when she got to the convent, it had been razed by demons and the inhabitants slaughtered.  At that moment she swore to destroy evil.  She was joined in her quest by Mitch “Silver Bullet” Sullivan, the last Werewolf Hunter, who happens to be “just a little bit werewolf.”  They fought Don Muerte, the Vampire Crime Lord, to resanctify a village church.  AWESOME!

Saturday morning, I got there to play a game of Best Friends, run by Dawn Vogel.  She set the game in Hogwarts before the Harry Potter books.  A Slytherin bully had sealed the entrance to Hufflepuff tower with dark magic, and we had to figure out how to unseal it to impress the boy we all had crushes on.  There was definite backstabbing and manuevering.  I have to say, watching adult men play teenaged girls is really informative, and a little disturbing.  Three of us were Ravenclaw, two Slytherin and all members of a Dueling Club, which explained our friendships.   

We then had lunch with Ben Lehmann and Ryan Macklin at Thai Curry Simple.  I think they have replaced Hot Pho as my favorite Pad Thai supplier. 

After that I had intended to sit out a slot, because I was grumpy with what I now realize to be the onset of the ick.  No, I don’t think lunch made me sick.  I think I just had a bug.  But the folks running demos of the new game, Mars Colony, by Tim Koppang (Ben and Ping) needed one more to have enough people and I agreed to play.  I was partnered with Allan from Portland, and it was pretty fun.  I do have a couple critiques.  A.  The Fear Cards do nothing, ignore/lose them.  I know you like them, Tim, but as one of my favorite creative writing teachers once said, “If you have something in your story that is so cool, so awesome, so witty and smart that you can’t possibly envision cutting it out:  Cut it.  It’s not as cool as you think it is. “  And she was right. 

B.  The other thing is that the savior being Desperate, or the other organizations having Contempt for her has no mechanical value that I could see, other than having Contempt or Desperation straight across the board ending the game.  I think at the very least the heroine’s Desperation should provide a penalty.  Apart from that and the frustration over the dice hating me, I liked it.  I think it can be a very important tool for political discussion by creating a remove from real world conversation. 

Next slot, in spite of being hella queasy, I soldiered through Joel  Shempert’s new game, the Dreaming Crucible with him and Kingston.  It was great!  It’s fun, with a simple mechanic that works well, and it can be played relatively quickly depending on how the Dark Faery (Antagonist) spends resources.  Essentially, it’s a game for three people.  You have a hero/heroine who is adolescent, the Dark Faery (Antagonist) and Light Faery (Ally).  The journey through Faery is a great analogy for maturing through adolescence, much like the movies Labyrinth, the Wizard of Oz, or The Bridge to Terebithia.  I really enjoyed it!  I bought a copy at Go Play. 

After that, I waited for The Geek Husband What Rules to finish his Don’t Rest Your Head game, and then he took me home so I could curl up on the couch with cats while he and Lukas went to a punk rock show where Destruction Island, Bottlenose Koffins, Cookie Mongoloid, The Phenomenauts, and The Damage Done were playing. 

Next morning we got up and just hung out through the first slot.  The Geek Husband What Rules played Dominion with a couple of other guys.  I knitted.  We spent some time talking about the Dresden Files Game from Evil Hat Games with Ryan Macklin.  The GHWR is pants-wettingly excited about this game, and was practically vibrating the entire conversation.

Second slot, I played more Capstone Comics with The Geek Husband What Rules and Ben Lehmann.  We played a 1950s era space opera comic, Cutter McGee, Space Ranger!  I played his Space Babe companion, C’rillon (Caroline).  It was a blast.  Ben played Cutter so spot on that we’d do a scene, I’d make the appropriate “Oh, Cutter!” comment then break character and say, “I hate your character so MUCH!”  We had to save the Peace Planet Thron from the Evil Emperor Zorbus.  His daughter Zorbina also has a crush on Cutter and it was just ridiculous.  Although we definitely had some subversive elements, such as C’rillon is the one who does the bulk of the fighting and piloting, because he kind of sucks at those things. 

Last slot I ran a partial game of 1001 Nights for Melissa and Jeremy.  Then I ran Dreaming Crucible for them.  Both games were largely successful.  I think we didn’t really have enough energy for 1001 Nights and the room was really noisy.  Dreaming Crucible went much better, and resulted in me yelling, “Yes!  Yes, fine!  It’s me!  I’m the reason there’s all this sex in the games we play!  Me! Me! Me!!”  Melissa played a 14 year old girl with an abusive uncle, and I played the Dark Faery Lael, who wanted to seduce, rape, kill and eat her (possibly not even in that order), and Jeremy played Barry Stiltskin, the Light Faery, who sounded a lot like the Rock Giants in the NeverEnding Story.  One of the highlights was the pixie construction crew repairing the damage from where Melissa’s character Bonita had run through the forest.  Jeremy and I feed off each other far too well. 

Earlier in the day a huge bunch of us went up to Boom Noodle for lunch, and Cupcake Royale for cupcakes and coffee.  Afterwards we went to the Elysian Brewery for dinner.  I sat with Lee, Melissa, Carl, Wilson and Joel.  Man, are we a rowdy bunch. So, The GHWR and I did not get home until midnight-ish.  My original plan had been to come in to work, get my new students settled and going, and then perhaps go home for a nap before our Marvel game tonight.  Then I got here and realized that two of the other three admins are gone today…  So, I’m staying and guzzling coffee like they’re going to nuke Columbia in the morning.

 

Geek Girls Rule! #128 – At the Speed of Geek

I’m not actually referring to how fast geeks get stuff done, that varies geek to geek, although a lot of us are pretty damn focused when we really get going on a project.  I speak from the experience of building a 20″ x 20″ stained glass window in  36 hours.  I, um, have a tendency to not eat, sleep or anything else when I really get going.  Usually, usually, the Geek Husband What Rules can rein me in and get me to eat, although I get twitchy and keep looking longingly toward whatever it is I’m currently fixated on.  And he can usually get me to sleep, even if I’m on a writing streak, granted with a lot of whining on my part about how I just need a few more minutes to get these last five pages out of my head.

Granted, there are those times when I just wait for him to fall asleep and sneak out of bed and go back to writing, and then wind up downing three triple espressos in rapid succession the next morning, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything… 

But I’ve noticed that a large number of geeks, particularly girl geeks, have a tendency to have a LOT of projects going simultaneously.  I say this because this morning, while sitting down making a list of the projects I need to finish, I had an inspiration for yet another project.  It went something like this:
“Ok, so I need to wrap up the research on the Roaring 20s game, and do the ashcan, and, hey, I wonder if I could make a kid friendly version.*  Yeah, I bet I could, and that would be an awesome teaching tool, because kids could research the era and what life was like for kids then, so they could role-play better, and there’d be extra credit for costumes and stuff, and I bet I could do a whole SERIES of these games.  And they’d come with lesson plans and…”

Yeah.  So instead of getting actually writing down my list of what needs doing:
1. Ashcan for Roaring 20s
2.  Casanova re-write
3.  Romance novel first draft – need to finish
4.  Paranomal romance novel first draft  – need to finish

I spent this morning before work madly scribbling out a char-gen system in my journal, and trying to figure out if I can add race to this without coming across as a jerk.  And if I can, how realistic should the limitations on characters of certain races be, and will that scare teachers? 

On the other hand, I’m reasonably sure I have the rudiments of a working mechanics system in mind, and that shouldn’t be that hard.  It’ll probably be a simplified version of the adult Roaring 20s mechanics. 

Writer’s block is rarely my problem. 

New project ADD, that’s my problem. 

So, how about you guys?  Do you have the same fickle brain syndrome?  Or do you pick a project and stay with it to the bitter end?  Is your brain always whirring away, or do you have to kickstart it?  Does this change with stress levels, that time of the month, the seasons?  Do the guys do it, too?  Or is it a symptom of the multi-tasking women are acculturated to in this society?

What do you think?

*If anyone under the age of consent is going to play this it NEEDS a kid-friendly version.  One of the big settings is Weimar Berlin and the sex/nightclub district.  Hell, I’ll have to omit most of the references for that setting if kids play.  I can still come up with stuff, but… yeah…

Geek Girls Rule! #125 – Sometimes Simpler is Better*

I catch a fair amount of crap for my love of “rules light” systems.  “Oooh, how typically ‘girl’ of you!”  Blah Blah Blah… Whatever.   Now, in my defense it isn’t that I can’t handle crunchy, rules heavy systems, I can.  I played, and ran, GURPS for years.  For heaven’s sake, I’ve played Rolemaster! 

I just don’t want to.  If I have to dive for the book more than twice a game session, it starts to feel less like fun for me, and more like work.  If every combat involves pouring over charts, consulting three different damage indices and special rules sections, I start to lose interest.    

This is not to say that for those people who think that sort of thing is fun, that they’re wrong.  They are no more wrong than I am.  We just have different ideas of fun, and that’s ok.  I’m not a big fan of leaping out of perfectly good airplanes or off of bridges with rubber bands tied to my ankles for entertainment, either.  And I’m sure most of those folks would be bored to tears by the thought of spending an entire evening reading an academic treatise on the psychology of sex and gender, and taking notes… for fun. 

Different strokes for different folks, right? 

So, I don’t think the hardcore “rules” gamers are any more wrong or bad than am I and my constant hand-waving. 

That big, pissy, whiney kettle of fish dumped over…

Wizards of the Coast has put out a “lite” version of the 4th ed rules for playing D&D with children, for a module called “Monster Slayers:  Heroes of Hesiod.” 

I think this, much like Mouseguard**, is brilliant.  It’s not that I don’t think 8 year olds of either gender can’t wrap their heads around the rules of basic D&D, it’s that not all of them are going to want to.  Some of them are just going to want to tell the stories that D&D and other role-playing systems are useful tools for inspiring.   And I don’t see any reason why they should have to master a rules heavy system to have the sort of fun that can be adjudicated, if everyone is amenable by, “Ok, you rolled a 7, you win,” instead of factoring in Armor Class, Hit Points and all that fun stuff. 

Now, some 8 year olds are going to play the “lite” version and want to explore the harder, more crunchy, full version.  Some will be content with the “lite” version, and some of them will be bored to tears by the entire endeavor and ask if it isn’t recess time yet.  That’s all ok. 

If you must, think of Monster Slayers as the gateway drug to gaming.  Me, I think it’s awesome the way it is, and might even entice me into playing or running D&D again some time in the near future. 

*Better being a relative term, a matter of opinion and not a statement of fact.

**Ok, guys, why the hell can’t I find a simple, straight forward page for the RPG that I can just point people to anymore?  Luke used to have one on the Burning Wheel site, but all mention of it appears to be gone. 

Geek Girls Rule – Norwescon edition!

Had a marvelous time at Norwescon!  I participated in several really wonderful panels.  The ones that are germaine to this website, were LGBTQI in Fandom and Putting the R in RPGs:  Adult themes in gaming.  I had a few more panels on “adult subject” matter, like kink and Victorian Sex.

The LGBTQI panel had a really great turnout, and we’re hoping in the next year to expand the LGBTQI paneling, as well as creating an LGBTQI fan organization to increase our visibility in fandom.  We have a Livejournal group called LGBT_fandom in order to facilitate conversation about this.   As more than one person, both on the panel and in the audience pointed out, for years the assumption is that women in fandom are bi, and men are straight.  There are actually quite a few Queer fen of all orientations:  Gay men, Lesbians, Transgendered and Genderqueer individuals, and of course the ubiquitous Bisexual women, and some Bisexual men.  If you’re at all interested, please let me know and we’ll see about setting up some sort of mailing list.  And, please, please, please if you are a gay man or transgendered person, let us know if you would be interested in being on the panel.

The Putting the R in RPGs panel actually turned out to be less about sex and more about how to get under your players’ skin, and how to deal with the aftermath if you’ve done it badly, or accidentally hit a psychological landmine.  We talked about hooks that are pretty much guaranteed to pull a group in, like kidnapping a child, child abuse or animal abuse.  We talked about what happens if you push it too far and what your options are.  We talked about exploring and using gaming to deal with pathological issues willingly. And we talked about making sure your players are all ok with these things.

Yes, you can use things like rape, child abuse, eating disorders, incest, drugs and brutality in your game in a very serious, real manner (as opposed to in a very over the top cartoony sort of way), but you need to make sure everyone’s on the same page.  Pulling out the gut-punches without letting your players know it’s a possibility is a lousy thing to do them.  I’m not talking give away your plot or the surprises, but sit them down ahead of time and ask, “Hey, is everyone ok with themes like rape, child abuse, etc…”  And if you hit a landmine and suddenly someone’s not comfortable with something, you have a couple choices:  End the game there, Excuse them for the remainder of that section of plot, or see if they think they can soldier on through it.  Some people will be up for that last one, some will not.  But no one should be shamed for what they choose.

There was a lot of good humor and laughing in the panel as well.  Phil Brucato, who used to work for White Wolf and who wrote Deliria had several good suggestions for creating atmosphere and jarring players out of complacency.  Wolfgang Baur talked about starting out with an already over the top scenario, and how the hell do you ramp it up from there? The Geek Husband What Rules talked about Lines, Veils and how not to be a dick.

Honestly, while I had a blast in all of my panels, I think the RPG panel was the best.  Mr. Brucato and Mr. Baur are both wonderful people, and the audience was great!  We managed to keep the game anecdotes to a minimum, and only had to wrestle the sharing stick away from one person.

Another thing I discussed with someone in the bar, was a need for Gamer Girl Meet-ups in the Seattle area.  Please, watch this space for announcements in the future.

Thank you to everyone who came to panels, and I hope you had a wonderful time!  It was great seeing you all there!

Geek Girls Rule! #120.5 – PAX

The Geek Girl What Rules will definitely be at PAX this year, running games, and I may be sponsoring a table of female GMs for at least one day.

Kind of excited!!!!

Geek Girls Rule! #101 – PAX

PAX was interesting.  Our friends Kate and Aron who run the Dreaming here in Seattle had secured some tables for RPG demos.  I only ran one game, because after my game I did a turn through the expo hall and came back sort of stunned. 

People were, for the most part, very well-behaved and polite at PAX.   There were a few cos-players, but not as many as I’d feared, and mostly young guys showing off their HALO armor.  There were a couple of Waldos (of Where’s Waldo? fame), several Mario and Luigis, and a scattering of Moogles, I think someone called them, from Final Fantasy.  For having 75,000 nerds crowded into a four block radius, the crowds were exceptionally well-mannered. 

So, after running a game of 1,001 Nights, which went very well, and having lunch with some friends, I decide that I need to check out this here expo hall I keep hearing about.

The expo hall is like a cross between a nightclub and a battlefield.  It’s dark.  There’s loud music and flashing lights, and the press of many, many bodies, and, periodically as you pass certain booths (and calling some of these set-ups booths is a vast understatement) gunfire sounds right next to your ear.  I wandered up to Kate at the Dreaming’s table, and I must have looked absolutely stunned.  She laughed and said, “What do you think?”
“I think this is an ADD nightmare,” I answered.  “I can’t fucking think.”

The majority of the booths were for videogames, videogame consoles, or computer game companies.  I did get to see Diablo III.  Eeeeeeeee!!!  Didn’t play the demo, the lines were kind of long.  I also got to play around with the Warhammer MMORPG a bit.  Thought very seriously about picking up a PacMan necklace from the Namco booth.  But mostly I just wandered around in a daze.  I did get a demo of the Hello Kitty MMO, which I am so very, very tempted to load up and play, just for the sheer absurdity.  A friend of mine was one of the beta testers for it, and she says it’s actually pretty fun. 

My friend Rachel, who goes to San Diego Comic Con, said that PAX was far nicer.  People were more polite.  There were far fewer booth babes.  She didn’t fear being sexually harassed.  And PAX has an anti-harassment policy printed in big letters in their programs. 

 The PAX Enforcers, who act as security and guides for the clueless, are all very able, polite people.  They are incredibly helpful and have a surprising amount of agency.  They are encouraged to act first, and ask for forgiveness from management after defusing a situation or resolving a problem, rather than having to track someone down first.  In fact, as we packed up the gaming stuff from the room the Dreaming ran demos in, we just flagged down a random Enforcer who helped us load stuff into the storage closet across the way. 

I only went the one day, because I do not have a temperament that can handle those kinds of numbers for more than one day in a row.  The Husband What Rules, however, went back on Sunday and ran Mouse Guard and Lady Blackbird all day.  Oh, and I finally got to meet Luke Crane, the creator of Burning Wheel and the Mouse Guard game. 

I’d like to congratulate the Penny Arcade guys for running a damn fine convention, particularly considering the scope of it.  And to congratulate the Enforcers for being genuinely nice, helpful people. 

Oh yeah, I did find time for one round of Rock Band, in the Rock Band lounge.  A group of us did Ratt – Round and Round.  It was kind of fun, if nerve-wracking.

An update of Sorts.

I’m sorry for the dearth of GGR posts here recently, but between NorWesCon, the deaths of two pets, our fifteenth anniversary, my birthday, and the subsequent birthday purchase of “Animal Crossing:  City Folk,” I’ve been a little preoccupied.  I’ve only played City Folk for about two hours, and haven’t actually gone to the city yet, but I’m liking it.  The Geek Husband What Rules has already stated that he’s moving the Wii and the spare television into the computer room so he can shut me and my chatty little animals away from him before he goes insane. 

We’ve also had a guest hedgehog for the past two weeks while her mom was lecturing in Chicago.  Jasmine is much larger than Kaylee is and Wash was, but she is very sweet and even came out to say hi to Tammy who came to visit on Monday. 

Hopefully this weekend we’ll get a chance to play some D&D 4e, so I can give you a review of that.  I love the character building software my buddy Alex has on his laptop, so we could just plug stuff in and not have to worry about screwing up the math.  I’m playing a Tiefling Swordmage.  Eeeeeeeee!!!!  The Geek Husband is playing an Eldarin Warlord, and I’m trying to bully him into using the voice that Will Wheaton used in the game he played with the PVP and PennyArcade guys. 

Also, I’m hoping to get the Girl Game together once schedules settle down, and one member gets back from a family emergency.  Maybe I should do a post on gaming as a really freaking busy adult.  Scheduling is probably the hardest thing about gaming for me anymore. 

We’ve finally started our Spirit of the Century “Girl Genius” campaign, which is a blast.  I love my female Jagr character.  We’re also very much looking forward to Go Play NW.

Geek Girls Rule! #82 – R.I.P. Dave Arneson 1947-2009

Mr. Dave Arneson created Dungeons and Dragons with Gary Gygax, yet many geeks do not know his name.  Mr. Gygax was by far the more, ahem, vocal of the two.  Yet, according to sources, the whole idea of playing a single character instead of, say, an army or unit, was Mr. Arneson’s.  I am sad to say that I really don’t know a whole lot about Mr. Arneson, mostly just that, unlike Mr. Gygax, he hasn’t been credited with saying anything egregiously sexist. 

However, I do thank Mr. Arneson for his contribution to creating my favorite hobby.  Thank you, Sir.  You will be missed. 

For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, I am doing an absurd amount of panelling at NorWesCon this weekend in SeaTac.  I’m primarily on the Goth and Alternate Lifestyles panelling, so if you’ve ever wanted to hear me say “Dildo” in person, track me down.  I will also be doing a panel on getting tween girls interested in gaming.  Hopefully I’ll have a chance to run into a few of you as I race between panels.

Geek Girls Rule! #56 – Probably the only openly political post you’ll ever see here.

Ok, cats and kittens, I don’t usually post about politics here, because that’s real world stuff and I geek to get away from that shit.  But this, being geek-related as it is, and both appalling me and making me laugh out loud, bore special mention.

From John McCain’s Website:
“It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from the comfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.”

Ok, first, this made me laugh because gamers have been some of the most conservative mother fuckers I’ve ever met.  Seriously, why do you think they want to pretend to be knights and paladins slaying dragons and rescuing damsels?  Not to mention that most of my pals who are obsessed with the military and military service, history, etc… are gamers. So, yeah, way to NOT know who the fuck you’re talking about, assholes. 

Then, there’s the “mom’s basement” comment.  Sigh.  This kind of ignorant generalizing does no one any favors.  Least of all someone who doesn’t expect his constituency to be literate enough to realize when he’s swiped a story from a world-reknowned author. 

And to be honest, it may well be true.  I don’t know.  I’m not a Christian, so I don’t know how prevalent drawing crosses in the dirt is for interred Christians.  But the similarities to Solzhenitsyn’s anecdote are incredibly striking, and well, McCain’s a politician, so I wouldn’t trust him with… anything. And the McCain camp could have handled the cries of plagiarism with a touch more aplomb.  Resorting to “name-calling” right off the bat, let alone stupid, ill-informed name calling, really just makes them look guilty. 

Seriously, and before anyone starts screeching about me and my Obama-loving ways, I’m not particularly thrilled with HIM either.  The fact that he seems perfectly fine with throwing reproductive rights under the bus to try to win over a voting population that will never vote for him does not sit well with me.  Not at all.  I’m really getting sick of the Democrats ignoring women because, “where else are you gonna go?”

There was a time when McCain was the only Republican I had ever actually considered voting for, when he was running against Bush Jr. the first time, and actually behaved with some fucking integrity.  You know, before he sold out and started towing the party line with his tongue buried so far up W’s ass he can taste his tonsils. 

Do I think that this is going to drive conservative gamers into the arms of the Democrats?  Nah, probably not.  Do I think it’s an incredibly stupid way to respond to accusations of plagiarism (i.e. lack of integrity)?  Yup, I sure do.  Am I going to enjoy watching my conservative gaming buddies try to rationalize voting for someone who so utterly disregards them as part of his constituency?  I’d probably enjoy it more if I didn’t feel the same way about the Democratic party right now.

 

ETA:  Apparently there’s been an “apology” of sorts, but not one that can actually be referenced back to the offical McCain site, as opposed to the original quote, which is still up there for all the world to see.  Not to mention, “Too late, assholes.”  It’s all over the interwebz now.  It’s not ever going away.