No, I didn't watch Buffy and Angel last night - hence no TV quote at the top of the page. Alex taped the shows, but none of us were really in the mood for watching TV, so I'll no doubt catch it tonight or something.

          Damned sore from working out, yesterday - I suspect I might have slept wrong or something. But I hate-hate-hate doing crunches. It's going to be ages before I see any results from 'em (or so I am cautioned) and in the meantime, all the things do is make me feel stupendously weak. Bah. Still, I am making progress - lifting weights doesn't kill me nearly as much as it did three weeks ago, even with increased weight and reps. But I want to be all skinny and nigh-perfect now, darnit! ...Oh, pardon me, that was a Verucca moment.

          The idea of Aragon is being kicked around again. Alex, Dave and I are in various stages of disenchantment with Bedlam's Rest and are wondering if perhaps our time would be more constructively spent driving ourselves nuts in other ways. Alex is champing at the bit for the chance to be continuity-whore (his choice of title!) for a game, and Dave thinks up plots like I think up dinner recipes, so at least I know it wouldn't be a repeat of Diablo's Children, *shudder*.
          Amongst other stumbling blocks, though, is the fact that the three of us are in a awful lot of games right now (Star Wars, Champions, 7th Sea, Vampire tabletop and live) so I wonder what we would have to drop to make time for running a larp. Well, to be more honest, Alex and Dave are running all those and I wonder if they can manage everything. I probably shouldn't worry. Dave and Alex are far more organized GMs than I am.
          One thing that won't be aggravation is location. Between our house (once we finally finish unpacking) and the Diablo Womens' Club hall down the road, I think we're set for a place to play...
          Must get a start on the day, I've been warned about some chaps are leaving the company, so we're going to be running around doing spin control...

***

          It's pigeon-mating season. All the boy pigeons are walking around, puffing up their chests, fanning out their tails and bowing and cooing at the girl pigeons - at least, I hope they're girl pigeons. Call 'em rats-with-wings if you like, but I think it's darn cute. My biology teacher warned me that the only thing I would remember from his class was 'bow and coo' and he was right - plus a smidgen of Medellian genetics...

          Last night was grocery shopping, paying the rent and not much else. Alex and I have discovered that our landlord lives in a gorgeous neighborhood in Martinez which has the great misfortune to be overlooking the refinery. One bad accident when the wind is blowing the wrong way and the residents wouldn't know what hit them. I hear property values around there drop 5% every time there's a safety hiccup at the plant - a depressingly frequent occurrence.
          To ensure pleasant dreams, Dave stuck his head in the bedroom at 11:30PM last night and announced he had heard gunshots down the road. Ah, domestic bliss...

***

***

          Stayed up far too late playing City of Dreams (aka the Port Townsend game) last night. By sheer accident, Janice was the combat-monster last night and I spent far too much time wrangling with Sabbat stooges - it's kinda fun the first time, but then it palls. My particular favorite moment would have to be encountering this yahoo - ain't that a great picture of Anthony Edwards? Of course, in the game he was Byron Molton, crazed Brujah mercenary. Janice got off the classic (awful) line of "Trust a wop to bring a knife to a gunfight," - shortly before discovering that that particular knife was magicked up to really hurt a kindred, whereas a gun - and all us vampire players know this - doesn't do much more to a vampire than shred his clothing. Ouch.
          When all was said and done - around midnight - Dave, Alex and I stayed up and continued chatting in-character until nearly 1:30AM, oy. But since I love playing Janice so much, I don't have enough sense to go to bed when it's late...
          I would love to twitter on more about the game, about how Janice is struggling with her favorite internal demons (humanity, the beast, burnout, etc) and all that, but I've really got to get to work...

**

          More dissatisfied rumblings about Bedlam's Rest. I really hope it's all because of GM changeover-jitters, but it's a little late in the day for those to be popping up... I'm going to be missing the game on Sunday, which is a shame, because I'm sure that the game itself will be a lot of fun (and therefore renew some players' flagging sense of purpose) despite any logistical grumbles that are going around. Alas, I have had to quit handling San Francisco for DJ, but that was more because I don't think that I'm going to have the time for it in the future, nor did it make much sense to have someone running a key element of the game who lives nearly an hour away from all the other narrators and the GM...
          However, I'm missing the game for the best of reasons - Alex and I are off to see Sarah in Las Vegas. She's finally marrying her hunnybunny, Chris, and as the physically-closest of the east-coast crew, I'm obligated to intend. Not that I wouldn't, anyways. :) Of course, seeing a Southwest Airlines jet skid off the LAX runway one week before I'm due to fly 'em to Vegas does not inspire confidence.

          Had some amusing dreams last night, go take a look.

***

          Received an interesting note to the RPG Defense League the other day. A fellow called Mark dropped me a line to tell him about his friend Lt. Dave Williams. For those of you who followed the press after the Columbine shooting last year - particularly the early articles that tried to implicate RPGs as a factor in the massacre - you might remember Lt. Williams being quoted as saying some pretty awful things about gaming - that it encourages kids to act violently, get into the occult, etc. Mark wanted to tell me that Williams had been quoted out of context, that he was actually gamer friendly and a gamer, himself. Very interesting, non?
          While I understand that the media can do hellish things with quotes taken out of context, I can't immediately embrace Mark's POV and give Williams with a warm, welcoming hug... Spin doctors are everywhere. So, I've dropped Mark's a line suggesting that Lt. Williams publish an online essay fully explaining his opinion on gamers and gaming, and discussing what happened in his dealings with the press after Columbine, and the source of the quotes that the press made so much use of. I've even offered to link to such an essay from the RPG-DL site. I'm a big fan of equal time...

          Slowly adjusting to the new work environment, although I'm not too keen on the fact that we're obviously expected to understand almost everything by osmosis. Admittedly, the MM people have gone out of their way to explain things like benefits to us, but the little things - like, how do I report sick time? Do we recycle paper? - are still going unanswered and I'm getting sick of saying "Gosh, I don't know..." to all inquirers.
          But the frustration didn't stop me from goofing off a large chunk of the afternoon. I sent out an e-mail the members of the Mightier Than The Sword webring, asking their opinion on closing the ring at 100 sites (it's at 80, now) and becoming much more exclusive. Then I discovered that the Juggling Mercury Archive had somehow eaten itself - I think I uploaded an old version - and had to be re-written. That led to some reformatting of individual pages, which got me to thinking about re-doing the whole layout of waking/sleeping - you know how it goes... You get one bright idea and the next thing you know, you've been on the computer for seven hours, your spouse is starving to death waiting for you to come to dinner and your hind-end has permanently molded to the shape of your chair...

          Went out with some of the goodcompany.com alumni last night. Goodcompany was a vastly overfunded 'startup' (in a very loose sense of the word) that I worked for about two years ago. It was my initial job in the web-industry and, while it lasted, a lot of fun. Having nigh-unlimited funding for six months can make even the dullest admin jobs interesting. "Oh, you need a top-of-the-line A/V machine to run your spreadsheets? No problem, just go order one...".
          Well, all good things come to an end, and the plug was pulled on that little slice of paradise early in 1998. Since then, we keep in touch via e-mail - almost everyone is still working the web-grind in SF - and occasionally get together for eats and gossip. In fact, six of us at MM initially met at goodcompany.com (yes, it's all lower case) so the need for reunions isn't quite as urgent amongst us, since we see each other every day.
          So, I was out a bit late last night, quaffing a bit too much of locally-brewed ale and I'm now in a coma over the keyboard, trying to schedule three interview candidates in the next two days. Argh. Tonight promises scant relief, as it's a chapter of A Dream Deferred over at Ryan's and I'm suddenly wondering a) what I'm going to wear to Sarah's thing on Saturday and b) when I'm going to clean it. Friday is Alex's Star Wars game, so I can't run out to the Laundromat then. Hrm. Maybe Ryan's complex has laundry facilties....

***

          Played in A Dream Deferred last night and I still think the group isn't gelling very well. Part of it is certainly attributable to player-flaws (tip, try listening to the GM when he's talking, then you won't have to ask us to repeat it three times) and part of it is character. The character issues are being smoothed out. When you're in a coterie with someone for over a century, you get a lot more accomodating of a fella. Still, I hope that there are better days ahead.
          The game wasn't that useful for my character. Once the Tzimisce jumped the party, I just faded into the background (in terms of both as character and player) and read a book. Patrice isn't very combat-oriented, you see - certainly not against Tzimisce! The game had a strong air of 'set-up' about it, though - groundwork being laid down for the serious shit that's about to hit the fan in the next couple of years, game-time... Little things like an attempt to bring about Gehenna, etc.

          Thinking of vague, dis-satisfied feelings about games, I've just received the report following the latest Bedlam's Rest downtime plot. I can't really divulge details - players read this journal and I don't see why they should be hit with out-of-character knowledge when they don't have to be - but it's all damned silly. The phrase Monty Hall game is being muttered over at Miskatonic Acres.
          I'm sure the plotline - and it's outcome - is ultimately meaningless, at least, I hope so. I hope that the narrator running this one - DJ is not in charge of this plotline - has another shoe about to drop on the guys who got millions of dollars, various magic items, custody of a supernatural creature, etc and all involved suddenly discover that all that glitters is not gold, yadda yadda. However, I'm rather afraid that that other shoe will not be dropping, thus making the entire plotline look like a convoluted device by the narrator to get his character some cool stuff (guess who walked away with a significant chunk of the loot? The narrator's own PC...).
          The timing on this latest development wasn't so hot, really, given other factors in the game that are irritating me and a few others. The Miskatonic Acres household - Alex, Dave and myself - is now giving some serious thought to leaving the game entirely. However, since we're not going to be at the next game - see, Las Vegas, below - we can be patient and see what the fallout from Sunday is, before we make any radical decisions.

          Alex has cancelled tonight's Star Wars game because we have to pack for the trip to Sarah's wedding celebration in Las Vegas. Simply packing isn't too onerous, but we have to run over to the Laundromat and do a couple of loads, so we actually have something clean to wear. And the shuttle that's coming to pick us up will be arriving at 4:45AM, so it's early to bed for me, tonight...
          So, barring remote access, this will be the last entry until Tuesday morning - I'm in Vegas through Monday night. Fortunately, Dave will be in the house, so we don't have to put Sandy in a boarding-kennel, nor do we have to worry about the house being left empty...

***

          A shame I missed the Bedlam's Rest game on Sunday night. I really wanted to see peoples' reaction to Jen's dream plotline - and I wanted to take part in that one, too! It sounded very nifty.
          But there was some benefit to missing the game, as two players of my acquaintance had a bit of a real-world dustup and - having only heard one side of it so far - I think I would have said some unkind/regrettable things to at least one of the participants, probably both. Fights make my head hurt and I'm not one for manners when I feel uncomfortable.

          Happy dance! My pal, Cliff, has agreed to host my site on his web server. Cliff is a hardcore webhead (helped write Apache, donchaknow) and runs a web-server way more reliable than Tripod. He kept offering to host skaro.com, and I kept turning him down, not wanting to be an imposition. But, since the last Tripod meltdown (popup boxes, everywhere) I'm taking him up on the offer.
          I'm thinking I might keep the Irregular Ramblings here, just because I've got waaaaay too many absolute URLs I would have to correct if I moved the journal, but the rest of my site will be moving some time in the next couple of weeks - I hope!

          I'm pooped and have to get to work now, ugh...

***

          We met a few of Chris' family, but most of the young 'uns encamped in their own corner and talked gaming/explosives/beer all night, of course. Sarah and Chris spent a lot of time keeping the Kindred side of the family away from everyone else, as it seems they weren't too keen on...well, on any of us, really... But they seemed like nice people when I chatted with 'em - albeit briefly.
          We all stayed up until about midnight, making 'smores and generally freezing (it is the desert) until we all passed out from exhaustion and sugar-overdose. I have never seen so many different ways to roast a marshmallow. And for those of you who know about the long-planned-but-never-filmed Wild Marshmallow Documentary, a segment about marshmallow poachers and the rival tribe (nutterfluffers) has been added to the ever-growing script. One of the guests claimed acquaintance with the guys who made Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and she really thinks I should get a treatment to 'em... Heh.

          Sunday we did the touristy thing and saw the strip. Yowza! Tackiness on a monumental scale! I took a lot of pictures of the Treasure Island show for Dave's 7th Sea game. The show features two mock-galleons, all gaudy prows and curlicues, facing off in a giant moat in front the hotel, trading cannon shots, with the grand finale occurring as the pirates successfully sink the British ship... And this is the stuff they do for free for the tourists. God only knows what's going on inside the hotel.
          We didn't get to see too many of the sights, as we didn't have much time before various peoples were either a) pooped or b) due at the airport. I would have loved to see the inside of the Luxor, which I'm told is one of the most gloriously over-decorated atriums in the world, but I guess that will have to wait until next time...
          The sheer tackiness of the Strip was just mind-boggling, but a lot of fun to visit. One of the things Alex and I want to do in future visits is stay on the strip and catch a few shows - Cirque De Soleil have a regular installation at the Bellagio and - despite everyone making a joke of 'em - I'm told Siegfried and Roy still have the best magic show in town... But if I saw them, I don't think I could take the nigh-endless teasing I would receive from friends..

          Sunday night was a spaghetti dinner made of barbecue leftovers (many hamburgers went uncooked on Saturday) with Chris and Sarah's gaming group. They're a good bunch, although we didn't have too many games in common. However, roundly damning the majority of Vampire LARPers can always bring a group together. A few games of nuclear war were played at the table and Darren - a Cthulhu Live GM - and myself got into much kibbitzing about how to run a *scary* Cthulhu Live game... Veeeery interesting. There is talk of trying to get Kirk and Lisa out to to a Cthulhu summit with this guy and a few others... Heh.

          Monday, Alex, Chris Sarah and I frolicked in the desert - Valley of Fire State Park - and everyone is lucky I came back. The lizard queen was in her element - hot rocks, yummmmmmm. Alex nearly killed himself climbing up escarpments, as he forgot we were at an elevation of around 2,500 feet - thus making it a bit harder to catch your breath. He's still sore, today!
          The desert was absolutely stunning. I took a lot of pictures, but they completely fail to capture the rich colors of the landscape, nor do they demonstrate the utter peace and quiet of the place. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I even managed to get a picture of a native Wildlife. Okay, it was just a lizard, but it counts! Alex wanted to find a road-runner to strangle (he's very pro-Wile E. Coyote) but we reminded him that strangling Wildlifes was severely frowned upon by the park rangers.
          On the geeky end of the scale, Chris wanted to take us to the spot where Kirk was killed in Star Trek: Generations - Paramount filmed all the desert bits in this park - but the access road was closed. "Next time," he said... And there will be a next time just as soon as we can afford it. For all it's awfulness, Las Vegas struck a chord with Alex and me, and we're very glad that Sarah and Chris are willing to see us again...

          In other news, it seems that the fluff-up of Sunday between two acquaintances of mine at Bedlam's Rest is being papered over. Well, not exactly 'papered', but it seems that the two will simply avoid each other like the plague from now on. I, for one, am going to stay hunkered down in my foxhole and pray that they never meet again, as the smart money is betting that they would try to kill each other in such a meeting. Bah. Peoples, can't live with them, can't kill them and bury 'em in a shallow grave.
          Further gaming matters: Rob and I have picked up and are playing with one of Jenn's plotlines from Sunday. Our characters, Rebecca and Merette, are being afflicted by horrid dreams - and it's particularly nasty in their case, as their nightmares are connected to each other. This is the kind of thing that happens when you have antediluvians lurking in the vicinity. By the next game, Rebecca going to have exiled herself in the public chantry (all smart Tremere keep two, one public, one private) and Merette ain't going to be complaining. This wouldn't be an issue if Rebecca wasn't the second-in-command of the clan, and Merette the chantry leader. Can you say communication problems? Whee!

***

          Put out a fire caused by the fallout of Sunday's game, yesterday. A third party (not one of the two who had the dustup) had said a couple of unpleasant things about me and I decided to call him on it. I keep hearing that this chap likes to talk shit about me, but then smiles in my face, so I decided it was time to deal with this once and for all. Well, I don't know if it's really been dealt with at this point, or if we just shoveled enough bullshit at each other to smother the flames... Still, at least my temper is down again. I'm sure we'll get along fine until the next outbreak.

          Did a little work on Starting Over, yesterday. I finally asserted myself over my characters and ripped the gratuitous bits out of Gratuitous Interlude - now called Interlude. I think it's much stronger, now. I also polished and posted A Private Moment, which is Paul's thoughts while I was high on allergies last week. It's not quite as strange as I had expected, but it's still fairly odd...
          I've started work on a quick downtime piece for Rebecca - although it's proving difficult to write for her taciturn sire, who doesn't feel obliged to justify his actions, anyways... I'm also belatedly putting in a link in Juggling Mercury to Nightmare, since it is derived from a dream in-character and all...

          Amusingly enough, a couple of my co-workers visited Rough Cut the other day. One of the co-workers, Jeff, immediately alerted another fellow, Thomas, about his role in Action Figure Girl. Uh-oh... Well, I got away with only a light teasing, so I suppose it could have been much worse. As long as they don't start diving behind their desks whenever I walk by, I'll be happy. Of course, they do that already when I'm on the prowl for engineers to interview candidates...

***

          I have resurrected gothic-Friday in the office - after finally unpacking and washing some of my goth wardrobe. Going up the elevator with a bunch of suits was vastly amusing. Alas, I'm not wearing The Shoes, but I do have The Coat. ;)

          Poor Alex had a hellish day at work, yesterday. I can't divulge the details (oh, the joys of working for the military) but suffice it to say that if my boss treated me like that, I'd have a harassment suit against him in a flat minute... Ack. Three months until Alex begins his terminal leave, five months until he's done-done-done with the United States Air Force. I hope we can make it. Alex is absolutely miserable right now, and that's affecting both of us. I tell ya, the number of times Alex has had to sit on me to stop me from taking a baseball bat to most of his co-workers....

          Dave's Champions game is tonight, so that should be good silly fun. Alex found a wonderful picture for my character - Cindy Crawford in a long black dress, sneakers, in front of a helicopter and carrying a big gun. It's Vesper to a T!

***

          Thinking of naughtiness, I found X-File D/S fag-hag heaven the other day... I'm not giving the URL, but for those of you who find the title Mulder-Krycek Fight Club Tour intriguing, go look for it - erotic and/or violent M/K fanfic, most definately for adults only. But, if you're as bent as a corkscrew when it comes to your fanfic, it's a place to visit. I dropped the site-owner an e-mail and I think I'm about to become ass't webmeister - she needed volunteers, so I volunteered, gulp...

          Anyways, back to the good mood, sorta. Work is still bloody dull and I would like to get out of the admin-loop - no-one makes a career out of being a secretary - but I do have options. Frighteningly enough, They say that a white woman's best income-potential lies on the admin-track, but I don't care. If I have to do this for another year, I'm going to go fucking nuts.
          My fellow admin at MM is getting ready to move off the admin-track, and that's got me thinking... I've promised SuperDave that I will assist him for the foreseeable future, and I won't got back on that (or the $45K I'm going to be paid for it), but a few of my co-workers who have seen my site are encouraging me to see if the copywriters will take me on as an apprentice/junior copywriter. Sure, copywriting is a short-cut to selling one's soul, but at least it would be vaguely creative, and have a better career track (I hope!) than what I'm doing now... I may not have all the skills of a full-blown writer (no matter what the napkin states) but I've got more qualifications than most and, apparently, I can be taught the rest... But I'm so bloody frightened of the idea of a career-change... Nor can I do it until Alex has found a good job in the private-sector, so we'll have a cushion if I fall on my arse...
          Still, it's nice to have options.

          And have I mentioned that it's lovely that this journal now has more readers than just my immediate circle of friends? I visit my site-monitors every now and then, and realize I have no idea who's coming by. Yay! It's nice to have friends come by, and all, but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to think that my mutterings have somehow managed to capture the attention of complete strangers... Thankyer!
          The Small World Award goes to Glitterkitten, the 13 year-old daughter of Lynne, a friend of my father's, whom he met in LA. Lynn is now living in Brighton - I have no idea if she lived there before LA or what... Glitterkitten stopped by the Rambles (after my father showed Lynne Rough Cut, I think) and she has initiated a charming correspondence...
          Okay, who put the Ecstasy in my wine? This mood is just too good! I'm off to go do something nice to my husband. Later, all!

***

          So, I'm a little too busy to tell you why I'm so bloody tired today (Sims until midnight, again!)

***

          The whole day wasn't quite that bloody-minded, but the incident put me in a foul mood, nonetheless. Sigh.
          It was a damned busy day, most of it spent learning how the current bureaucracy handles travel. It took just about six hours to get all the needed bits of paper signed, copied, filed, signed again, faxed to Planet 10 (Or wherever our corporate HQ is) and stuffed into the correct binders. I've told my boss that I'm not letting him leave the office again, ever. Let's just rig up some virtual reality helmets over a WAN and visit that way, I suggested. He seemed to like the idea, but I think the SAs would have a fit. ;)

          Got home late and pooped, hoping to do a little work turning an IM conversation between Rebecca and Alexander Merette into a coherent story, only to discover that the file had turned into dogmeat when I sent it from my work machine to my home. It isn't even the same file anymore, but a pastiche of a my.yahoo page, one of Jennifer's diary pages and something else. Oh boy. Fortunately, the copy on my work-machine is still clean. Phew.
          I tried to work on the obligatory prurient section of the scene (don't ask me why, but mine and Rob's characters have a habit of sleeping with each other - probably 'cause we think it's a hoot to mess with our characters like that) but my heart wasn't in it. I usually leave that sort of writing to Rob, he's far better at it. I always get the giggles - or horrendously embarassed - when writing naughty bits. ;)

          Tonight is dinner with James and Laurel over at the Outback Steakhouse. I'm now wondering if the finances can handle it, but I guess we can - if we limit our spending over the weekend. I really wanted to save a little from this paycheck to put towards rent on the first - so the bill doesn't kill us - but, because of last month's rent, I had to take an advance off the following paycheck, so I was behind the game even before I got paid. Sigh. The sooner Dave gets a job, the better. Alex and I are keeping our heads above water, but I don't like this constant borrowing-from-the-check-ahead we've been doing to do so...
          Glimmer of financial light, though. Superdave tells me that my raise will be going through Real Soon Now, and I'm optimistic enough to believe him. It'll work out to about an extra $300/month, and that could go a long way, right now.

          Gack, I'm bloody tired from dreaming too much, last night. Most of it was pleasant, although hard to remember. The one unpleasant dream was the easiest to remember, of course. I don't think I'm going to write any of them up - the only reason I've had time to bash this entry out is because I got into the office at 7:30AM. I've been dreaming of being chased a lot, lately - usually by an unnamed opponent, through various locales. No doubt it's my subconscious being more unsubtle than usual...
          Yawn, off to find some coffee and then to work...

***

          When I got home, I tried to stay awake, truly I tried. But after watching the last twenty minutes on Great Ships - about pirates, oooh - and talking to Dave about maybe joining his 7th Sea game as a Fate Witch, I had to go to bed.

          Work was much calmer yesterday - another reason why I'm baffled at being so tired - and I managed some serious goofing off. The webmaster of The M/K Fight Club Tour asked me to throw together templates for a picture gallery for the site, which I did. Fortunately, it only took a few minutes, thanks to my having something exactly like what she wanted already on hand. Later, I managed to hack out the latest Rebecca/Merette bit - Confrontation - and it doesn't seem too bad. I might polish and re-post over the weekend, but I must admit that I'm pretty lazy with the game-writing...
          Alas, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be in Bedlam's Rest. I'm enjoying my character, but there are Other Forces at work that might convince me that it's best to stay away for the foreseeable future. As you might suspect, it's something I can't get too into in a public forum - mostly because I know I'm working on scanty information at the moment. For the meantime, I intend to stay with the game, but I'm not too optimistic about that intention lasting too long. Ah well, I need more time to get Aragon back off the ground, anyways.

          If you find yourself in the vicinity of a branch of the bakery/cafe Specialty's, go in there! Buy something, anything! Specialty's bakes everything they sell on the premises and it's soooo good! As you can imagine, this has become a serious threat to my diet, because I have a big weakness for pastries. And their fresh bread....wow! Anyways, trust me on this one, 'kay?
          Must run, I'm getting sticky icing all over my trackball - and I think that's a misdemeanor in some states.

***

          An enjoyable evening last night, after a slow day at work. James was visiting, creating his 7th Sea character shortly after taking Dave out for a late lunch (thereby getting two stir crazy people out of their respective homes). The more I think about it, the more likely it is that I'll be joining the game. It sounds like too much fun to resist.
          After James left, Dave, Alex and I stayed up until midnight (ow!) talking about Aragon. We hashed out a few more responsibilities - like who will be handling the mortal populace, who wants to run the Sabbat, etc - and kicked around a few more plots. The biggest plot acheivement was what we've hatched around the city of Richmond - a severe no-go zone in Aragon's world. Heh heh heh. Our poor PCs had better pray they never screw up so hard that they get sent to Richmond - it's rather like being 'sent to Vienna' for a Tremere.
          The guys talked me into decreasing the elder-neonate ratio, so we'll be starting the game with four elders - two of which have already been cast. So I expect some pretty fierce competition amongst players for those other two spots...
          Today I'm going to be using the dull stretches of my work day to call a few places about location. Alas, the place that was right next door to my house turned out to be a little too pricey, combined with the fact that they won't let an event run past 10PM, bah. I'm going to give the Marriot a go - the old stomping grounds for Diablo's Children - and the local FOE Hall...
          I just hope I can whip up the player-enthuisiasm a third time. I can understand that they're probably feeling a bit sceptical, since this game folded during the prep stage twice before (although I'll only take blame for the first collapse) so they're probably at the 'we'll believe it when we see it' phase. Fortunately, they'll be seeing a lot pretty soon, since we run to run our first game at the end of May...
          Having Dave and Alex to help out - coupled with the much-smaller group size - is going to be a godsend. With three Storytellers and no more than 20 players, I think we can create a very enjoyable game. Although, as Dave pointed out (and I agreed) a 100% character-driven game will never happen - the LARP device just can't support that. We're hoping for a 40/60 split, in favor of plot-driven and we'll be damned happy if we get it. There are some great players on the guest list and I know they'll create great characters, but they have to have things to react to. RPGs are a reactionary kinda thing... ;)

          Must dash, phone is ringing off the hook!

***

          Port Townsend last night was amusing, although I must admit I didn't realize the game was meant to be Alex's riff on typical LARP behavior - and its consequences - until he told me so. So it wasn't just GM bloody-mindedness that had a justicar come in and purge all of Seattle - nor could the same be ascribed to the nigh-suicidal behavior of all the vampires who blandly showed up to court to be slaughtered... But it was still a good game with some good RP moments for all concerned.

          Made some progress on Aragon, too. Over breakfast, we all talked out some influences for the town, and how to tie them into a plot for the first game that will help the PC's get to know each other. The toughest game in a chronicle is always the first - even when preludes are run - as PCs are inclined to introduce themselves to each other, and then stare at the walls, wondering what to do next. No matter how good the player is, it never hurts to toss a couple of reactionary plots (small ones) into the mix, to kickstart the interactions.
          Now I've just gotta write up the contacts for the other ten Influence groups in the area... GMing is fun, I swear!
          I'm getting some good character concepts, too. Alas, everyone wants to be an elder, and I've had to tell some players that they must give me at least one neonate concept, as the odds are 15-to-1 against them getting an elder spot... Besides, in this game, after a few months, even the neonates will be fairly significant, in terms of power and influence.
          That's not to say that it's all sweetness and light. There have been several instances of one of us asking the others "We're doing X? When did we decide this?" and occasionally butting heads over certain favorite things. But, it's nothing major and, so far, we've managed to find compromises and keep things civilized. Of course, let's see how I feel about this six months down the road...

          In commemoration of that annual luv-in known as The Academy Awards, I would like to re-post my rant on the subject - courtesy of The Maternal Jackal. Yes Jennifer, I know you want me to start writing those cols again, but I don't know if I've got that much bile left in my system now that I'm all domestic and happy. ;)

***

          Otherwise, life progresses moderately well at Miskatonic Acres, although Dave has just gotten dissed on another job. Once again, HR didn't have the nerve to tell him they didn't want him - and that's a really low thing to do to a guy who's waiting to hear from you. I handle interviewees at my job and the one thing I hate is telling people "Sorry, but we're not interested." - but at least with the web-biz, I can be pretty sure they're going to get another interview within days. Whereas the admin-field is completely cluttered...sigh.
          I know how demoralizing it is not to be able to find a job, and Dave is getting gloomier and gloomier about the whole process - which hardly encourages him to keep trying. I get the impression that Dave is pursuing one job at a time, and I think I'm going to have a word with him about how it's not immoral to keep looking, even while lining up interviews at other places... Alex and I are just managing all the bills and rent, even without Dave, but this makes me damn glad we turned down the $1600/month rental house...

          Well, I've got a day of work to catch up on, and options to exericise - I'm finally calling the company stockbroker and figuring what my net worth is. ;)

***

          Yesterday's goof-off time was spent scanning in a map for Aragon and pinching pix of Eliza Duskhu for Rebecca - yeah, I know, using pix of Faith for a Vampire character - just savor the irony, alright?

          Alex is off to Travis AFB for the first of his 'out-processing meetings' today. Given that he tells me the USAF will not be telling him how to write a resume, or how to find a job, I can't imagine how these classes are going to benefit him. It seems to me that we put more money and effort into re-integrating convicts into society than military careerists. Oh, did that sound bitter? Must be the allergies.

          Didn't get the laptop yesterday - seems the chap who is selling it to me has misplaced the darn thing. It's not a problem to me, but Alex really wants his new toy. I've been poking around e-bay and various other places and it seems that I've being only slightly overcharged by this seller... And - further good news - I have discovered that a memory upgrade for this nigh-obsolete machine can be bought, and for less than $70. It may still be a 486, but one with 20MB of RAM is infinitely preferable to one with 4MB...

          Time to get to work! I'll try to write up the funky dream I had about all of my housemates playing nifty characters in a bizarre game for tomorrow. ;)

***

          Another day, another bit of progress on Aragon. Yesterday, it was the Street Influence. Today I hope to get Legal out of the way. Writing up a dozen caricatures of town movers-and-shakers is rather fun and a pleasant way to start warming up to the plotting process. I can understand why other GMs put the time into detailing their chronicles' influences, now. Dave has canceled the Champion's game tonight, to get ready for his 7th Sea game tomorrow, but I'm hoping I can catch a little of his time to discuss backgrounds for neonates... No, really, I enjoy this!

          A lot of odd dreams the past couple of days - but no time to write them down. Last night's highlight involved a whole bunch of Elvis impersonators hanging out on the Vegas Strip, with me and an ex-boss of mine, while we tried to show them how to use a Palm Pilot to get where they were going. It was obviously a dream, because all the impersonators were presenting young-thin-handsome Elvis not the latter-day version - and we all know that the impersonators in Vegas only do Fat Elvis...

          Finished reading Headhunter last night - a well-written book, but a definite downer. Don't rush the ending, otherwise you'll end up very confused - and it's not for the squeamish (mystery/thriller).

February '00        Index        April '00