I skipped MERP last week because I was playing catch-up from my trip to Chicago. Also, I’ve been a busy juggling bee, I’ve had several family/school/life issues jump up to the forefront of my deal-with list, and I’ve found my creativity quelled a bit. I knew there was no way I’d be able to keep up the blogging pace I had going a few weeks ago, but I didn’t expect I’d go completely dark, either.
Hey, it’s the same story we often hear from many of the blog/podcast personalities we follow. Life happens.
But hey, I’m going to try to get in a MERP entry before I go run errands…
Making:
I had a very productive meet-up with David Moore in Chicago last week and we got some VAM stuff clarified. Progress is slow, but there IS progress. In fact, part of why I’ve done less blogging/tweeting is that I’m trying to use what free moments I have to flesh out VAM stuff. However, I’m also very excited about playing a long campaign of Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies with the Canoneers (and a couple pals) next month and as a result, I’m doing something I haven’t done in quite a while – I’m making maps. See, one of the best things about Chad’s S7S setting is that he leaves so much of it open for play-group customization and imagination. For example, in the S7S text the Barathi Empire is given just enough detail to create lots of neat hooks and provide rich flavor, and the geographical features of Barathi are sketched out with broad strokes rather than inked in with minute details. The details are left for individual groups to paint in. This is the sort of setting/situation providence that some people might not think is enough – but I love it. It gives me inspiration to add details to my taste and the tastes of my play group. And the first product of that inspiration is an early as-yet unfinished draft of a map of the cloud island of Barathi. It is based upon the broad description that Chad provides in the book, but is infused with my own vision of what would be cool to play with. I’ve uploaded a small sample image of it that you can view by clicking the thumbnail in this paragraph. But remember, it is not finished yet. I also plan to map out several other places – because we’ll be playing a skyship crew that will travel around a lot and Barathi is certainly not going to be the focal location of our adventures.
Enjoying:
I’ve loved this season of Lost. No apologies. And the finale blew me away (except that Jack’s rationale for what he is doing is kinda thin. I look forward to the final season next year, although I admit, in general most of the sci-fi/fantasy TV series featuring long-form story arcs and unfolding mysteries tend not to end as well as they deserve. Lost will probably be no different.
Reading:
Oh, it’s been a good couple of weeks of fiction for me. Not only am I reading and really enjoying The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan (I’m almost finished and I’ll share more once I’m done), but my trip to Chicago also enabled me to “read” the audiobook version of Christopher Moore’s Fool – his wry and bawdy take on the story of King Lear as told through the eyes of Lear’s Fool. Absolutely brilliant. The reader is a guy named Ewan Morton and he totally brings it. And the novel itself just rocks. It hit me right where I live – the fool as protagonist. The misfit hero. Excellent stuff.
Playing:
Rich and I have begun our stint of Burning Wheel: Rome with Ogre Whiteside and we’re set to kick it up a notch tonight and really get things going. Rich is playing a Romanized African warrior based loosely upon Djimon Hounsou’s character in Gladiator, and I’m playing a guy named Sapius who is a Roman clown/scout/agent provocateur who is more than he seems. Right up my alley. Also, last night I got together with Mark Kinney, Clay Karwan, and our new friend Andrew Black to make characters for Spirit of the Century. Mark is going to run that for us and if last night is an indicator, it’s going to be a good group and a fun game. Andrew is new to the hippie stuff and he took to collaborative character creation, Aspects, and pulp tropes in a big way. I think we have a new fledgling hippie gamer on our hands. Oh, and did I specify that this was all in-person, at an actual table? Yeah. First time I’ve played face-to-face with people since last GenCon.
Oh, that reminds me …
I will now officially publicly share that I’ve decided not to go to GenCon Indy this year. It is a hard choice, but it is a right choice. That turns out to be a rather important week for our family this year, and I choose to be with family. More details on what alternative cons/visits I might be able to get to instead will follow.
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying Steel Remains. Richard K. Morgan is amazing. Thirteen and his Takeshi Kovacs books are also well worth checking out.
Yeah, Judd, your book suggestions almost never let me down.
I asked about this on Twitter, but I will ask here too just in case. Is there any info on how your group is using Burning Wheel to run a Rome game on the web anywhere? I would be really interested to read that.
Thanks.
Darren Brewster’s last blog post..Search bar in K2 header
Hi Darren,
No, we haven’t really written anything down, except our character stuff. We aren’t using custom lifepaths or anything, and at this point the entire thing can be summed up as this:
It is a couple of years after the Ides of March in 44 B.C., after a failed assassination attempt on consul-for-life Gaius Julius Caesar on the floor of the Senate. Caesar now rules in Rome even more securely than before. His two most trusted lieutenants are Gaius Octavian, Caesar’s nephew, who is Governor General of Palestinia in the East, and Marcus Antonius, Governor General of Britannia in the West.
We have established that our two protagonists, the African warrior Juba [Rich] and the city-born street performer/messenger/scout Sapius [Me] are both in Britannia working for Marc Antony. We’ve been sent on a mission of intrigue to try to unseat the current chieftain of the Iceni tribe and replace him with his brother, who is more amenable to Antony’s regime.
That’s all we’ve got so far. The rest we are pretty much winging as we go along. The meat of the saga will commence tonight.
If I get a chance, I’ll post up our two character sheets here on the Monkey in a separate post.
Making:
I made a couple 1st level Wizard PCs for an upcoming D&D 4E game I will be playing in soon. The DDI Character Builder is night perfect and I love it.
At work I started a “Three Things” list that I write down daily because I was getting frustrated at protracted To Do lists that I carry over each day. These Three Things are the tasks I put as highest priority and I try to finish them above all other things unless someone comes to me with an emergency. I then jot their emergency down as an Other Thing and complete it if it really in an emergency. I failed to do my Three Things half the time, but I did have a chance to look at my workload afterward on the Other Things list to get a gauge of what takes me off track It was interesting.
Enjoying:
I watched the Fringe season finale. It was very interesting and fun to watch with my wife. It wasn’t perfect as the surprise guest star was listed in the beginning credits. I knew who it was (darn you internet), but I was hoping my wife would be pleasantly surprised. She picked right up on the Guest Star and it spoiled it for her, too. Boo.
Reading:
I finished Abhorsen and I really wanna play a bell flinging necromancer is some game. I’m thinking I could alter my wizard PC and have him use bells if the DM is cool with it. We’ll see.
I also sped through Fool Moon, the second of the Dresden Files, in audiobook form. James Marsters did an awesome job as Harry Dresden, very noir without seeming cheeky. Fool Moon was an improvement from the first book of the series. I’m not complete ga ga over the series yet, but it is amusing.
Playing:
We finished up the OD&D game with a satisfying conclusion (read my AP) and last night we played Burning Wheel: Rome, which was also pretty cool (read my AP).
D&D 4E is next on the slate for our face-to-face Monday game followed by Lacuna. Then it shall be my turn to GM again. I’m considering the next game to run for the group and I look forward to the ability to be a player during the intervening games.
This is shaping up to be an awesome summer.