The dark carnival...

I am writing this from my phone, so please excuse any grammatical errors...

I've always had a passion for the concept of a dark carnival. It seems so seductive for some reason. It is the reason that a empathize with Jim in Something Wicked this Way Comes.

Recently Brad and I reread Something Wicked, and it rekindled my fascination...and sparked one for Brad. He decided to run part of his DnD one shot in a dark carnival setting.

It inspired me. I grabbed my sketch book with the images. First in mind was the ringmaster.  I saw him tall, emaciated, with a top hat and hellish sneer. The sooth-sayer came next; with piercing eyes and a veil that hid a skeletal grin.

I showed them to Brad, and he liked them. Then he asked for a couple of custom pieces. I think the two he asked for turned out the best. I will post them later.

This game turned out to insanely fun, and intensely satisfying. I can't wait for the next part.

Until next time....this is your ringmaster, beckoning you in.....

Edit:

Here are the pic's I promised.

Easy-Peasy

I love video games, but before I met Brad the only ones I was good at were fps. Any other games and not only did I suck, but it seemed that my character would get fed up of my button mashing and consciously commit suicide. Mario and Sonic would regularly, randomly, jump off ledges, Master Chief throws himself on grenades, the cards in solitaire give me paper cuts and then set themselves on fire.



So I would play any game that I got on the easiest mode it came with. Yes, I know it is a terrible habit, but I rationalized by saying that I played games for the plot. That's all well and good, but I was playing games like Unreal Tournament. Yeah, real heavy on the plot that game was.

Now I have expanded my horizons a bit, because I realized that by playing on easy all the time, I wasn't getting any better. I still enjoy playing games for the plot (and with great new games like Alan Wake and Mass Effect, I feel less like a tool saying that), but I don't enjoy getting spanked by my friends. So now I start games on normal, and work my way up (I even finished Halo 3 on legendary, what what!). I think I am getting a little better, though sometimes I still randomly jump into the yawning abyss.

I think that, with the newer game consoles, it's easier to play on harder settings (if that makes sense). On older consoles the save points were few and far between. Add the save points to the fact that lives were severally limited, and you have a mixture for repeated Megan fails. Most of today's games still have save points, yes, but they also have a pause menu save option; which makes for a slightly less frustrated Megan.

Then I came across this:



I would play the crap outta those games (for the plot, of course), but inevitably, my character would still find a way to bite the dust. Probably literally.

Magic: The Gathering....of weirdos

Late post today. Yard work and other obligations had to be done first. Speaking of yard work, I have a bur plant in my yard, and came back in with more burs than a girl wearing a bikini in the arctic. I have no idea where the stupid plant is, but it is now my mission to find it and take it down, Solid Snake style.

On to today's topic.

As I said in a previous post, Brad, a friend of ours named DT, and I have been playing a lot of Magic: The Gathering. We are all like 2 steps away from a serious addiction problem with it. I've started to notice though that it is a dirty, dirty game. Not in a sense of physical exertion, or cheating....well much (I'm lookin' at you Brad). It's just that several of the much used phrases, taken out of context, can be horribly dirty. Especially if you are as immature as we are.

Inevitably, and usually multiple times, during the night someone will say something and we will collapse into giggles (well, I giggle, the boys chuckle all manly like I suppose). A couple of weeks ago I started writing down the things that have been said, so that everyone who reads this can be just as immature as we are.

Things we have said, taken completely out of context:

Tap that

I forgot to tap that.

I wish I hadn't tapped that.

Tink me, Tink me hard.

Go ahead and tink me, you know you wanna.

I don't have a very happy hand. I have a sad hand.

You just got black blazed. (linked because I felt it may need some explanation)

Don't put your red deck in my box. You know it doesn't go there.

-Brad to DT: you have a huge deck.

Stop pulling stuff out of your a**.

Take it.

Yep, those things have come out of our faces at one time or another, and in the gaming context they are all completely innocent.

Wait....

No they're not.

Also Mom,

If you are reading this, I'm sorry my humor is still at a fifth grade level, but you have to admit....it's pretty funny though.....right?.....right??

In Defense of Dungeons and Dragons

As the story arc of the game I am GMing wraps up, I am preparing character ideas for Brad's game.  He is going to run an intermission game between each different GM's story arc, and he's gonna run it using Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition.

When D&D 4th came out I heard a lot of dissent about it on the web, and in real life. I've heard people say that it has been dumbed down, is more like a certain MMO (that starts with World, and ends with of Warcraft) than a role-playing game, or simply that in its quest to get new players it has gone too mainstream.

All of those arguments are valid. Some of them may even be true, but that shouldn't stop your enjoyment of the game.

D&D is a great game for the same reason that 'Shoot 'Em Up' was a great movie, or why playing games like Halo and Call of Duty are fun. It speaks to a visceral need within a player, something going back to our caveman days.....

Sometimes you just need to blow some stuff up. I mean sometimes all you need, after a long day, is to throw your +2 throwing axe into some orc's face. Add in the shininess of treasure, and hot darn, you got yourself a game.

D&D gives players a break from plot-heavy games like World of Darkness, or Gurps, or even to some extent BESM. That doesn't mean that D&D is all killing and no plotting, it's just different. It's more black and white than most games, I mean there are definite good guys and definite bad guys. Lolth is never going to pick daisies (unless they are daisies of....DOOM), and Melora is never going to wear a necklace of halfling heads or chain smoke.

There is something wonderful about defeating an ultimate evil (or good, if you're playing evil characters) that just makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and that is why D&D, no matter what edition, will always have a special place in my heart, and on my gaming table.

And two words:

Gelatinous Cube.

Come on, what other system makes you fight evil Jello?

P..P..P..Poker Face

I have no poker face. None. At all. It's kinda sad actually, especially since Brad, our friend DT and I have been playing Magic: The Gathering at least once a week.

Inevitably this is how it goes down:

I get something awesome in my hand, and, before I have time to stop it, a look of triumph flashes across my face. Now if you play any sort of card games at all, you know that if you have something in your hand under no circumstances do you let anyone else see what you have in your hand. Ever.  But noooo, I just get so excited by the awesomeness that is my hand that I have to let everyone know.



This happens every time we play.

At this point, I know I am doing it. They know that I do it. So instead of the awesome play that I could have pulled off, had I kept quiet, both Brad and DT know to smack me down, and they do...hard. Sometimes I still manage to pull off some crazy stuff, but it is few and far between.

I am trying to think of some solutions until I can get my face's act together, but all I have come up with so far is the whole "Look a dragon riding another dragon...Oh you just missed it," or maybe wearing a colorful mask (Magic...Mardi Gras style), but I don't think either will work.

Until then I will just have to be content with the constant face ownage or get Botox.

Handy Dandy GM Guide: Part One (Combat)

As a new GM, I realized that, though most systems have GM Guides, none of them really prepare you for dealing with real life players. From min-maxing to know-it-alls, players will try every thing to derail your carefully laid plans. Something happens when your friends are players in your campaign. They change into this mass of hideous, whining,  Cheetos and Mountain Dew fueled creatures, and your only thoughts are of destroying them in insidious ways.

So, being the helpful, generous, and all around great girl that I am, I bring to you my Handy Dandy GM Guide: Part One (Combat).

Keep Your Fights Interesting:

Often times combat is the worst part of gaming. It's slow, there is often a lot of bickering about rules, and one word...THACO (such a bad four letter word, that it's a five letter word).

It's a GM's job to keep the players engaged, and keep combat interesting, so here are some tips to help in that situation.

Give player's a challenge:

All players love the feeling of accomplishment when they win that particularly hard fight, so why not up the stakes?

Level one players fighting a dragon? Good.

Level one players fighting two dragons? Better.

Level one players fighting an army of dragons riding other dragons? Best.



Throw in random easier fights:

After your group finishes with the harder fights, throw in one or two easier battles. Do not allow players to rest- that will only slow down the game.  As an added bonus, if you plan it right, you could wipe out a whole party with just a few small creatures.

"The weight of the dragon's body hitting the ground causes the floor to give way. You fall into a pit littered with bones. 12 Kobolds look over the edge of the pit, their spears and arrows at the ready."

Putting these tips in your game will not only enhance the gaming experience for everyone, but will also garner you lots of praise from your players (remember the cursing of players when you do something, means you're doing it right).

Happy Gaming Everyone, and until next time....May your crits be many, and your 1's few (unless your playing GURPS or something like that).

Gamer Girlfriends

I'll admit, when I first met Brad I wasn't a RPGer. I'd played video games before (mostly first person shooters), but I didn't know my butt from a d10 (yay! hyperbole!). Brad, however, played every week with a well established gaming group. Every week I marveled at their epic exploits, but soon that wasn't enough, so I, in what I now see as an insane attempt to impress him, asked to join their weekly sessions.

I became a gamer girlfriend, and not in a good sense. No, I was the quintessential idiot at the table. Creating characters was like assembling a jet fighter, blind-folded, with the instructions in Korean.  Actually playing was even worse.  I got the whole 'being' my character thing, but the mechanics (especially combat) eluded me.  I am surprised that my friends did not shoot laser beams of fury out of their eyes at me for asking so many questions.



That was about 5 years ago.

I am slowly but surely getting better (well, at least I hope I am). I get the eye laser fury looks less and less now, and sessions are not so bogged down with my questions any more (yes, I still do ask questions, but in my defense NWoD is so full of rules and words it's hard for me not to). I am even taking a crack at GMing (Game Mastering) my own games now. It's super fun, if not just a little terrifying.



In retrospect, I am kind of glad I was a RPG virgin (insert your own dirty joke, I'm tired) when I met Brad. It was a really good bonding experience for us for him to teach me (Yay! extra credit!), and I didn't come into it with any pre-learned bad habits. It didn't hurt that he, and the rest of the group, are all excellent explainers of things (or that I am an excellent student....and humble).

Welp, I am off to prepare for my game for tomorrow, but how does combat go again?