Further Assimilations

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.

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.

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.

( They'll never find us here! )

GM fail of the week: I set up a meeting reminder notice in Google Calendar, accidentally pointing Starr's reminders to her work account. Google proceeded to send her a couple hundred notices before I redirected them to her Gmail. Durrr. On the other hand, I think I may finally have talked Dwight into signing up for a LiveJournal account. We'll see. Well done, all!

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.

( Session details )

Combat and spellcasting went smoothly once we found the rhythm, and the scene stopped at a perfect break point. I'm feeling good about this, and I've got plans to integrate our geographically challenged decker and Jesse's runner into next session. Thanks everyone, for making it so much fun!

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.

Speaking of gaming, the WWII superhero game is over in an appropriately cool Big Boss finale. Kudos to ptownhiker for running a great campaign! But he justifiably wants a break, so we tossed around some ideas.

Next game night we'll be sticking to quick card and board games, but after that we want to start another RPG campaign, and because I'm a crazy crazy man, I volunteered to run some Shadowrun if people were interested. (After all, I ought to do something with all these gaming books, otherwise they're just dust catchers. Someday I want to run more Paranoia and Deadlands as well.)

Several of our group liked the idea, so now I need to return to an earlier concern from my last failed campaign attempt: which edition should I use?

2nd edition pros: I have almost every sourcebook available. I know the system backwards and forward, and could practically run it in my sleep, plus I have a raft of adventure modules from which to steal elements. Cons: This edition is long out of print, and people would be dependent on my books. Hacker characters, an integral park of cyberpunk settings, are awkward to run.

4th edition pros: This edition's currently in print, so people can acquire rulebooks and sourcebooks simply. Hacker characters are much better integrated. Cons: I have only the core book, and might desire to add sourcebooks (they've gotten more expensive). I have some issues with the new rule system, it's a tiny bit less cinematic and flexible than it once was. (OTOH, perhaps I can house-rule that.)

Hmmm, decisions. I'm really glad to be back in a gaming group; I worry that I'm getting a bit anti-social these days, not because I dislike spending time with my crowd, but because it's just easy to slip into a constant state of being tired and busy. I don't want to go there; the best parts of my life have involved my friends. When I look back on all the crazy stuff I've done in fandom, the memories inspire me: I'm determined to keep making more!

The other day Starr picked up a book for me, one that I've been meaning to read for years: Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle In the Dark. I'm enjoying it, but he's preaching to the choir, and I've not yet gained any new insights from the book. On the other hand, I also finally have a copy of tltrent's In the Serpent's Coils waiting in line, and I'm looking forward to reading that one. In my opinion, "Young Adult" fantasy and science fiction is where much of the good stuff is happening right now. Say what you want about Harry Potter, but Sorcerer's Stone was a better read than many of the transcribed D&D adventures that pass for fantasy novels these days.

Speaking of transcribed D&D, Gary Gygax's recent death caused me to drag out some of the old adventures I'd saved since the mists of First Edition, with an eye to running them again. In particular, I'm looking at the old S-series: "Tomb of Horrors", "White Plume Mountain", and "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" (a particular favorite).

Now, I know these were convention tournament modules, but I was struck by the lack of role-playing, or even much of a plot besides "collect loot and survive to the end". The adventures are full of unfair puzzles, insta-deaths, and places where the GM will have to do some blatant railroading if the party's not going to wipe (no running back from the graveyard to rez!)

If I were to run them now, and the basic concepts are juicy enough to make the idea interesting, I'd have to do some major re-writing for my audience. I'd want map revisions, monster changes, and some serious story integration. It wouldn't be a trivial task, even discounting the problem that the adventures were designed for experienced First Edition AD&D characters. What game system do I want to use - a D&D version, Earthdawn, Herc & Xena, an alternate-universe Shadowrun? (And in most of those cases, which edition?)

Yeah. This is kinda turning into a campaign, which is too bad; I'm not sure I can spare the time right now, fun as it sounds. The urge to run "Barrier Peaks" near Roswell using the Deadlands setting may have to wait.

Addendum: The sentence "the chest contains 10,000 gold pieces" was obviously written by someone who had never counted out 10,000 quarters, say, and then tried to carry them around for any length of time.

Just watched Unlimited Escapism, Vol. 0, by "Baron Soosdon". 14 minutes of wild visuals and trance music... nicely soothing on a Woden's Day evening.

This image of Petite Nikita, however, made me want to run a Shadowrun (2nd ed.) game set in a highly-technological future of Azeroth...



I doubt that anyone would be thrilled to find that their back-alley street doc was an undead Forsaken :)