From His Red Right Hand...

Diane,

Everything is going well.  I am currently a bit under the weather, but we are closing in on a house!

Over the weekend I had a chance to watch the Clone Wars animated film and play with Wii Lightsaber duels game.  I also didn't get a chance to play my BSG board game, but that's a story for another time.

The film wasn't as awful as I had feared. Big Gay Capote the Hutt was the major misstep,both because it took the Alien Sterotype to a whole nother level, and because his plot was completely unnecessary to the rest.

As Plucky Sidekicks go, Ahsoka had some moments of Being Too Cute, but motuhing off to Anakin won her some points as well.  And I'll be damded, but I thought the Huttlet was kind of cute.

The video game, I'm sad to say, is not the Lightsaber Wii game anyone signed up for.  It's a big waggle fest and while I like the cut scence and quick time events that break up a very pedestrian fighter, I prefered the lightsaber fights of TFU.  On the plus side, it's not as bad as Teras Kasi.

I also should know how much of the next project I'll have.  I'm excited because it looks like there will be a bt more creativity involved in thisone, instead of summrizing Wookiepedia and attaching stats afterwards.
 

I know what my next Star Wars gig will be.

No, I'm not telling you.  But I've already given you a clue.

Diane,

Details are forthcoming, but I am hopeful I will have another gig forthcoming from a galaxy far, far away.

I also pitched something to that rival Angsty Company...and got shot down. 0 for 2 there, but I'm okay with it.

I recieved a tip on a freelance copywriting gig.  We shall have to see about that one.

And I finally got my main characters in line for Indigo.

Diane,

It's been an interesting weekend.

Friday was Changeling, which started off with a last minute cancellation.  The game was riddled with some focus problems, but I think the last scene brought things back on track. I also never thought I'd run a WoD game that primarily took place inside a Jimmy Buffet restaurant.

Saturday was my cousin's wedding.  In the evening some folks got together to celebrate Bounty Hunter's birthday.  My plan was to originally cut out a bit early to head over there for a few hours, but instead I cut out early because I felt like hell and didn't want to throw up all over my family.  I spent most of Saturday drinking fluids and sleeping under linbtl 's watchful eye.  I only wish I could have stayed up to watch psychic detectives with her. Instead I watched the Sea Hawk and The Spanish Main, two great pirate movies starring actors from Casablanca. The perfect choice to keep me excited about pirates and my upcoming 7th Sea game. I also got a pretty sweet deal on some pirate 'treasure' that I'll be using for Drama Dice this time around.

I feel better today, though still a little off. I'm taking it easy and planning on watching some more movies until the finale of Money Sluts is on tonight. I also have to write Hughes High penultimate game, which will be an action packed romp into Roldavia. I may also be tinkering with the sea battle rules so that they'll make more sense.

Diane,

Work has improved somewhat.  I'm still swamped, but I have a goal and some guidelines in motion that seem to be working.  There's a temp add-on that supposedly coming, and chances are it will be one of my fellow temps from my days at Uncle Herb's Cubicle Farm. 

I finally came to a decision about gaming.  Gaming will be on Fridays.  I told the monday group that I would be shutting it down after Hughes High ends in a couple weeks. I game them priority slots on Friday, but nobody took them.  It was sad, really, but something had to give.  The deal maker was the time I has at the premiere of Changeling - good drama, good time with friends, and a yummy dinner. I'm sure someday I'll get a game together with the crew from Monday nights again, but for now, the end is near.

Last night was a lovely evening at No Disassemble and Fortinbras' place. It was a large nerd gathering that watchd the debates with bits of snarky commentary here or there.  Neither guy delivered a Knockout Blow, but debates are usually Rorschach tests to begin with. Afterwards, Rovcket Boots came by and taught us how to play  Mafia aka Are You A Werewolf? It's a fun little game of accusations, treason, and betrayal. We played it for the rest of the night, changing each time to a different theme (Witches, 1950's Communists, Arkham Migo Cultists, etc.) I think a game of Cylons would go over great at the next Bunny Thing, xbeyondinsanex . It was fun enough that I didn't even mind that the big tub of games I brought went unplayed.

Diane,

While at lunch with Rocket Boots and Tarantula today, I ran into someone from high school.  Or, to be more specific, he walked past the table and said hi. 

This person was, in high school, the example of the Dingy Gamer Stereotype, known by the wags on RPG.net as "the Cat-Piss Man". He was a haze of oily unkempt long hair, faded heavy metal t-shirt, and bad vibes.  Whenever he would approach, we would flee or have a nervous, awkward conversation.  Even during the years when Gen Con was still in Milwaukee during college, when he approached, we fled. As if he stood close enough to us, we would lose our minimal amount of cool and staying air guitaring "Master of Puppets" while talking about our Werewolf character. He was so well-known for these traits that I'm pretty sure that those readers that knew me 9in high school know exactly who I'm talking about without the clever use of a pseudonym.

Still, he was good for a few things.  Gold Piece came over to our group of friends hanging out after school one day because he had fallen in with a game they were running and asked us if he could play with us.  And he has been one of our good friends for 15 years or so.  And, its sad to say, this guy was an easy punchline to how you or I might be a geek, but at least we're not bad as him.

Today he was much less intimidating.  Most of his long hair had migrated to a ZZ-Top-style beard and he was wearing.  We shared a few moments. I'll bet he works in an IT department somewhere.

When I say I didn’t go to my 10-year reunion because I stayed in tough with most of the people I wanted to, that's the truth.  But there are still those corner cases that I wonder about.

It also got me to thinking about the Things I Learned in High School.  I thought about grudges I still held. I thought about friends lost.  I thought about that waiter in Paris..what was his name......Jean-Luc!!!

I thought about how some people I know still aren't talking to each other after ten+ years under the bridge.  How I still refer to some of my Old Girlfriends by juvenile, spite-filled names.

And, of course, how I'm on this same path with EP. Rocket Boots said he called him and got a call back, which kind of stung.    Rocket said "You get the silent teatment for being a good friend, but he calls me because he's guilty of what he said after the breakup."  I'm not sure if that is correct or not.  I don't think he thinks I was a good friend, which is too bad,  because I don't know what I could have done differently.





PS. And I won’t mention how Rocket Boots still tried to flee the scene. 

PPS. Whoops.

Work:

SWSE: Revisions returned and awaiting the next pass.

Indigo: Outlining the first five chapters.  Starting on chapter 1 this week.

Play:

Changeling - Season Two starts September 12th.
Hughes High has four episodes left!

Here are some more wikis for your enjoyment -

New World of Darkness - Includes my Vampire, Mage, and Changeling games.
Houses of the Blooded

Strange:

Mark Rein*Hagen, creator of Vampire: the Masquerade, is a refugee from Georgia

The Big Gig is done.  I should hear back in a week or so what they think and if I will be asked to return.

Two Big Drama Points are affecting two good friends right now.  So pray to whomever they get sorted out soon.

Interesting Work Fact: Today I discovered the web-blocker blocks bible websites.

I've been out of contact, Diane, to which I am very sorry. I can't promise I'll do better, but I will let you know how things are going.

MegaHex: Work has been mostly ups with a few downs.  The fellow nerd that I knew from xbeyondinsanex 's wedding moved on to other things, but the ground there seems pretty fertile for New Recruitment. I've had to come in on weekends ( and will probably have to do so in the future) to stay on top of my workload, but the other copy writers are in my position well.  This week we find out if we get another copy-writer or if one of the other parts of the department gets our new hire.  If we get it, there are plenty of names from Uncle Herb's I can toss their way.

Writing: The Gig mentioned in my last post proceeds apace, and it is at the same time fun and strangely constricting. It's very exciting to b playing in this particular sandbox, but most of the things I have to write about have already been severely written about.  When I was working at AEG, I had a lot more wiggle room. I guess it's adjust to being in the Bigger Pond.

The Edge of Midnight book is on pace to be a Gen Con release.  I'm excited to see another book with my name as a co-author.  My co-workers at MegaHex seem genuinely excited about my author stuff, so it will be fun to crow around with that book tucked under my arm for a day or two.

I also came up with an idea that straddled the line between "Fun game idea" and "Ooooh, I want to develop this."  I bounced the idea off of romsveld and Rocket Boots and they both told me I should develop it. More will be forthcoming, but I've got the title - "Indigo". I've also been reading 'Firestarter', which deals with a similar premise, but I feel like my take is different enough that it is inspiring me rather than chasing me off.

Life: Still married. It's really not that different, though there seem to be more and more moments where I realized I made the right choice. I'll refrain from burning too much popcorn here, but there are nights where she makes me laugh till my throat is sore and my sides hurt.

We went to my sister-in-law's wedding last weekend.  The interesting thing was, I think linbtl was more stressed about that wedding then our own. It's just their dynamic and it's something I find difficult to understand with my only child background.  \

Reading: In addition to King, which always so easy to pick up because you can always find a dollar copy down at HPB, I traded for a huge chunk of Fading Suns books.  I always wanted to get into the game, and I remember enjoying the one game that muzzie ran for us before he dashed off to his destiny in Minnesota.

I am enjoying the read very much, because its a perfect example of gaming in the 90's - richly defined worlds where mechanics are an afterthought. After the toolbox, DIY nature of D&D 4th and the nWoD, it's a refreshing change of pace. When I find some open space on my schedule (hah!), I think a chronicle where the PCs discover a lost colony sounds really cool. And the "Beginning is the End is the Beginning" is the perfect theme song for the game.

The Watchmen trailer also got linbtl reading my Absolute Watchmen, which I always find sexy.  She read Preacher and Lone Wolf and Cub because she saw them on my shelf.  How can I not love that?

Game: More ups and downs, though its the opposite with more downs and ups.  Monday is back to Hughes High.  I think I discovered that Star Wars is a game that I prefer to play rather than run. We got a chance to finally play Prince of the City after the abortive attempt that got me sore at Bounty Hunter. I lived it, because it felt like Vampire, which is a tough thing for a board or a card game to do well.  The last time something felt like its source material was the Call of Cthulhu CCG, which has a lot of "Crap, we can only win one, which one do we lose?" moments. Rocket Boots gets more Mondays when he's back in town and after that, we're going to be playing Vampire for reals.

D&D in Milwaukee is going well.  I have no idea if we'll make it to 10th level or whatever, but the fights have run fine and people are getting into filling out the wiki pages.

Madison is my current trouble game.  I didn't like how D&D went, and most of the players are out until Fall.  I want to continue out there, if only because Mr and Mrs. Peacoat Ranger are moving back to Madison in November. It will be fun to see them and who knows, maybe they'll become friends with Lemming Wrangler and I won;t feel like I'm her only connection to a social group.

The outline came today. 10-16k gig.  But a totally awesome opportunity.

Now the question is,do I tell Bounty Hunter and draw upon his knowledge, or blow his mind when I open the book up to the credits page?

Yes, I am a big enough dork to have made a wiki for my D&D game.

You're just jealous.

I apologize for my absence, Diane.  I keep meaning to update, and update, and update but something gets in the way. So what have I been doing with my time?

• Reading the greatest Actual Play thread in the history of man,
• Scoring a sweet freelance gig with the #1 RPG publisher writing for a game I love.
• Exercising on the Wii. Also, playing Lego Indy.
  
• Doing research for my next novel.
• Recruiting for my D&D Fourth Edition game.  If you want to play, let me know.

We have returned from Hawaii and are enjoying this lovely day off. If you want more details on the trip or the reception, feel free to give me a call or drop a line.  In the meantime, in a format you know and love, we have...


More will be added.

This is not entirely true.  We're actually heading to Hawaii in a week.

But we have to get married first.

I finally settled on a new car.  I drove a 2008 Pacific Blue Metallic off the lot two weeks ago.  We were at the lot until somewhere around 10:30, but got a pretty good deal with a good rate, a better car, and some of the amenities thrown in. Mississippi Gary, as the vessel is currently know, drives well and I'm still driving on the full tank of gas provided by the dealership.  Granted, I am carpooling to work and haven't had any Madison games to drive to in a while, but two weeks between fill-ups is a wonderful feeling.

The wedding proceeds as well.  We have just a few more last minute pieces to put in the puzzle and we should be ready. My suit is being altered as we speak and we make final arrangements with the Safe House tonight.

I spent Friday night over at xbeyondinsanex reading the ravings of a madman.  While it was meant to be in fun, after awhile it just made me sad. But it was still refreshing hanging out on a Friday night and chatting around. Most of the weekend was taken up with wedding prep and fending off last minute relative questions.

We made a final push on the Netflix we've had laying around the apartment.  We finally watched Elizabeth which was both pretty and amusing (since it was basically The Godfather in Elizabethan dress, complete with the rivals all getting whacked in the finale).  We both really liked The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters as well, which is a documentary featuring the conflict between the World High Score Champion of Donkey Kong and a lovable loser set on beating the goal.  I put this on the queue due in main part to the champion, a man named Billy Mitchell.  He was featured on an MTV documentary about video gamers a few years a ago and came off as this fascinatingly self-absorbed obsessive when it came to video games.  The low stakes of the contest bring the struggle and dirty tricks to the forefront, and I can't believe how into the movie I got.

Stolen from gadiel.....it's the guess the movie quote game!

The insurance dance is done, Constant Reader. In the end, I got more than I expected but less than I wanted. I guess that's about the best that you can hope for in this situation. Now I must embark up the quest for a new car. The top contenders in the new bracket are the Fit and the Yaris. Both are on the upper end of the econo car range and hit a decent compromise between good gas mileage and good safety ratings.

We went to the Kids in the Hall show on Saturday. It was a decent show, though the years have not been kind. The new sketches held up well against the ones featuring recurring characters. The audience was an interesting mix, from teenagers to Packer jacket blue collar types. I even ran into an old associate from Uncle Herb's Cubicle Farm there. linbtl was ecstatic to get a Girl Drink Drunk shirt. Sadly, there was no Simon/Hecubus related sketch or memorabilia for me.

This weekend brings more car shopping as well as a shower for linbtl. We're also probably going to squeeze in some test driving this week, and I will get a visit from No Disassemble, Brab, and Fort on Friday. I'm working on a game of Trail of Cthulhu (three whole days!) for the occasion, but if we end up sitting around and chatting I'm also okay with that.

I contacted the driver that killed Hecubus on Monday. After making sure I was alright, we started the insurance dance. The Insurance Dance is much like the Safety Dance, but if you don't dance, not only are you no friend of mine, but you also are subject to litigation. He was hoping that we wouldn't get the companies involved, since he just got his license back. His brother buys cars at auction and restores then and was hoping I would take one in lieu of calling his insurance. He also was willing to make a cash offer after I informed him I was thinking about a new car.

After thinking about it for a moment, I realized I was not Tony Montana and declined. I consulted with my insurance guy and decided to go through his.

I decided to play detective. One can view the Milwaukee Circuit Court records on-line. I looked up the driver and was shocked, SHOCKED to discover that he had multiple citations for driving on a suspended license, as well as few other charges. This definitely cast him in a less sympathetic light but made me feel a lot better about not doing things under the table.

I finally got my loaner, a grey Chevy Cobalt that couldn’t be more generic if it was renamed the Chevy Rental. I raced to the junkyard by 5 and waited in a strange combination of junkyard office, family living room, and neighborhood tap. I slogged through the mud and the snow in my nice work clothes and cleared out the majority of my stuff (I still need my mirror dice, my Summer Fun Cthulhu, my street parking permit, and maybe this paddleball game). I headed over to the Greenfield Police Department for my report, which took the last two dollars of cash I had on hand.

This weekend will be a mix of test drives and furniture shopping. I'm sad that I didn’t get to run that game of Kingsblood in Madison, but Real Life wins again.