Turning Out the Lights
I’m staying up too long again tonight, but I really want to write down my weekend impressions while they are fresh.
The clock read quarter-to-eleven before I could drag my carcass out of bed, which meant that Closing Ceremonies were only three hours away. No panels, no costuming, just time spent with friends today. I wandered the halls, trading hugs and saying hellos and goodbyes, until noon when the con auctions were to begin. My interest this year remained solely academic, as I’d vowed to spend no money at the con: the budget this spring wouldn’t support it.
The White Elephant auction at 1:00 contained many fascinating items, including Shadowrun gaming materials that almost tempted me. (I looked carefully, finding none of the books that my group has specifically mentioned searching for.) Soon enough, though, the Closing Ceremonies began, dragging on for almost three hours before everyone could tear themselves away. I joined jsciv and candidevoltaire for an evening of gaming that lasted until 11 with a dinner break; we played the new Battlestar Galactica board game for two hours, and I judged it worth playing but not one I’ll be purchasing soon, if for no other reason that it plays best with exactly five players. Now, I’m back in my hotel room, bleary and typing away.
Was the con a success? Indeed so, from my perspective. Rumor has it that attendance numbers reached average Technicon levels, which must be a good thing. I had a lovely time, as did anyone else I got to ask. Should there be one next year? I’m not as sure. I think this must be the last Technicon in its current form: future versions with or without the same name will need much new blood, and perhaps new ways of doing things, to attract college students jaded by DVD players and online gaming. I’ll always be available for the panels and performances I’m good at, but I have no interest in a strenuous staff position, and I doubt many other of the con’s veterans do either anymore.
I’d like there to be another T-Con; but I feel that forcing the issue would cause more harm than good. I’m comfortable biding my time and letting things take their natural course. And until I learn what that course is, staff members of SheVaCon expressed strong interest in having me present my late-night insanity at their event, which will give me something to do while waiting for Technicon 27 or Technicon Next Generation #1.
Ice skating with assault rifles
Shadowrun went pretty decent last night. We finished a big fight with some corp-type security guards, and the group is set up for the finale confrontation next session. The webcam link to Amy functioned pretty well, and there were albino gluten-free cookies for all. Now I have two synopses to type up 🙂 One pitfall which urban-fantasy GMs must always be aware of: while fantasy-game swords kill slowly, guns are instantly lethal, which can sometimes be a challenge to the game.
Our players arrived to a less-than-spotless house. Starr and I had a rare weekend where neither of us worked or had any social commitments, so we spent a lot of personal time together, which meant I didn’t do any cleaning in the living room or kitchen over the weekend. Last night I had to get the place presentable in about 90 minutes time, which I think I managed sufficiently. Luckily my friends aren’t Better Homes and Gardens reps.
Midori started the evening off fairly relaxed, but started panicking once the room filled up, and took a completely unprovoked swipe at Jesse’s face. Luckily, Jesse’s all right, but I’m pretty cheesed at our little evil bitch cat right now. MistyMina, on the other hand, cuddled on ptownhiker‘s and lewisw‘s laps all night, racking up cute points until time for all to leave.
That, by the way, is indeed the new kitten’s name. We tried Matisse, which didn’t work, and then we tried Misty, which almost worked. Starr suggested Mina, the name of a friend, and about then the kitten knocked yet another something over. So we named her MistyMina, for her criminal behavior, and that stuck.
Tonight will be Technicon travel prep. I feel like I know what I’m going to to be doing on Saturday night now, so my main jobs are laundry, repairing a prop, and picking costumes for the weekend. I have four candidates, and only two days of convention 🙂 Really looking forward to seeing everyone!
Inspiration finally showed up
Wow, I just had an idea for the 10:00-10:45 Saturday night panel that I wish I’d had three weeks ago. It’s better than what I’ve got, but will require more late-in-the-game recruiting. I’ll probably go with it though, if I can find some willing souls who are (a) staying up that late and (b) aren’t already involved with something else.
If you’re interested, aren’t on my lifestyle filter, and are fine with whatever weirdness might show up on my lifestyle filter, let me know.
In other news, we are definitely Shadowrunning tonight. Google Calendar is supposed to be sending out reminders, and my own reminder emails will be sent out as soon as I can do so. I’ll also have a synopsis of last session up as soon as it gets written.
Ye Olde Abandonede Warehouse
Last night we had the complete gaming group together for the first time since the Shadowrun game started. Jesse’s razorgirl and Amy’s decker joined in as the group looked for a place to hide their rock singer. The group procured a rent-a-squat, obtained food and water, and decided to turtle up and wait out their contract.
Back to the Seattle Sprawl
Tonight I GMed my first Shadowrun game since leaving Salem. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed doing that! Using second edition worked well, I was able to make several correct rules calls without touching the rulebook. I did find out that I need another little box of six-siders – they go fast in SR, where a combat roll can easily take 8-12 dice at once.
Watching the what now?
My exciting New Year’s: no party, no fancy dinner. I didn’t feel well, so we stayed home to watch the ball drop on one of the excruciating network New Year’s shows. We waited for the countdown to start… and waited… and waited… and looked at the clock to notice that it had somehow become 12:22. Yes, we fell asleep waiting for New Year’s. Such a hardcore life we lead, eh?
I repeat what I said last year: if I’m planning to party or otherwise celebrate late into the evening, I’m at a point in life where an afternoon nap would be a wise preparation – especially if I’d gotten up at 5:30am that day to go to work.
Slept until almost noon on the 1st, because I’m still exhausted from last weekend. (Possibly from all of December.) Starr had to work, so after lunch I headed to Bert and Meche’s, where they got a game of Munchkin Quest going. I’m glad they have it, because I want to play it again, but this time I don’t have to buy a copy. It looks like an average game might well be 4-5 hours, though we had some non-gamer types at the board, which slowed things down a touch.
I’m tempted to say that my New Year’s Resolution is “1280 x 1024, 32-bit color at 60hz”. But in fact, the personal-improvement things I hope to accomplish this year are to keep trying to lose some spare tire, improve my education and my earning power, and do more non-journally writing. I’m especially unhappy with my writing output in 2008; I’ve stared at a lot of empty text files this year. That will be changing.
Happy New Year to all!
Back into the shadows
We began prep on the new 2nd Ed. Shadowrun campaign last night. Looks like we’ll have a core group of a detective, a freelance bodyguard, an ex-corporate enforcer, an Amerindian shaman, and a street mage; with decker and shaman ‘guest stars’. This is subject to change as the characters all get fleshed out, but it looks good. The decker’s player is moving in two weeks, and will only be able to attend by webcam, which I think is amusingly appropriate.
Two elves and three humans make up the racial mix, which is fairly standard for a new group; I don’t know yet if the guest stars will be metahuman or not. We’re off to a good start, though. I encourage weirdness in my campaigns, because I think it adds to roleplaying and tone; Jesse and Dwight have already surprised me with their character ideas. I love it.
I’m already planning to have old friends make a cameo or two. “Skid” Dersitaliantis and Mister Zeta will pop up, though I don’t yet know if I want to get the GSSC involved. Hey, TeeFive players: did you know that next year is the game’s 20th anniversary? Some of our original ‘runners should be in their forties or fifties by now.
I’m sure we’ll need at least one more character creation session, then we can get to adventuring. One thing I want to do this week is extract the old TeeFive custom character sheets from the OS 9-era PageMaker and make PDFs for the group. I have to say, from a design standpoint, that I love that I could lay out the core game mechanic in about 10 minutes last night! Naturally, I also recommended Blade Runner to everyone who hadn’t yet seen it.
We’re going to hold the game sessions at my new place. This will make my GM duties much easier, as I won’t have to haul the library back and forth. I’m also considering making the game a bit meta: for example, setting up gmail accounts for the characters to use during downtime. I wonder if the players would get into that. The decker ought to get one, right?
Thank goodness this will only be twice a month, as I could really submerge myself into this if given a chance. 🙂
Racing around
Okay. I have owed my sister a phone call for several days, and perhaps if I post it here, I will be looking at it tonight and go, “oh yeah, I really need to do that”.
We actually managed to get out of the house for a bit on Friday night – we’ve not been good at that for the last couple of weeks. It’s so easy, when one of us doesn’t get home until 7:30 or 8, to say “screw it” and vegetate for the rest of the evening, but we made ourselves go out with friends, and had a sorely-needed good time.
After a Saturday full of more moving and cleaning, Starr and I got our WoW characters each halfway to level 67, at which point they will have passed my poor gnome mage I’ve been leveling since long before The Burning Crusade. There was debate over whether we’d stick around Outland once we hit 68, and quest a bit in Shadowmoon or Netherstorm; but the urge to take off to the Great White North is strong. We’ll see.
Along those lines, I need to contact my gaming group – our session three weeks ago was cancelled due to host illness, and I never even heard whether or not we scheduled a session last week. I was prepping to start a Shadowrun for the group, and I assume there is still interest. I’ve also got a box full of giveaway gaming material from the Stuff Reduction Plan, and I’m hoping that they’ll want some of it.
Tensions are still cooling slowly on the cat front. Early this morning, Midori and Precious repeatedly chased each other up and down the house stairs, which I think may actually have been play instead of attempted murder. The welcome absence of hissing and yowling is the peg I’m hanging those hopes on.
The 45th anniversary of the Doctor Who TV show passed this weekend. I had to check out a YouTube video of the days when the Doctor was a cranky old man with a hyperintelligent granddaughter, and certain walls of the TARDIS control room were simple photographic blowups. Dig the 1962-era special effects:
Classic stuff.
Fools! I’ll Destroy You All!
Mad Scientist University: Apples to Apples meets Mad Science.
I think I need this game. Apples to Apples is a proven, repeated winner at any party I’ve seen it appear, and the additional mad science elements seal the deal. Games like these are absolutely perfect for most of the groups I’m in: minimal setup, simple rules, and more focus on playing the game entertainingly than actually winning.
Won’t be buying it before Xmas, but I may put it on my Xmas list 🙂
In A.D. 2012 Magic Was Beginning
Oh, yeah, Sunday night I found all my old Shadowrun 2nd Ed. sourcebooks, adventures, and rulebooks. That pretty much decided me on the upcoming campaign.
I think I’ll run 2nd Ed, with a version of the 4th Ed. hacking rules spliced in, and the world timeline advanced to 4th Ed as well. That means people in my group who want to can obtain 2nd Ed. used on eBay (they’re going for $7-$8) and I can just do a handout or something of my new hacking rules.
Man, paging through all the old TeeFive characters really takes me back, though I figure we oughta start a new group. If only Tom was still gaming with us, maybe I could bribe him into a new t-shirt design. I do think I’ll be taking a page from ptownhiker‘s notebook, and worry a lot less about game mechanics and a lot more about story and character interaction. Shadowrun’s well-suited to that anyway.
