[RPG] Self-Expression

Sorry I'm late- yesterday was TheDude's birthday and I spent the day spoiling him rotten.
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For me, self-expression is the ultimate reason I play RPG’s. The free-flowing stream of ideas, concepts, and strategies really get my creative juices flowing.  I love that the potential for drama, hubris, loyalty and humor are exponential. Working in tandem with other like-minded geeks to cause imaginary lives, choices, consequences and resolutions is only part of the joy for me.  It’s the spark of myself that gets pushed, imbued, and transformed into those conceptualized worlds, combined with my special brand of expression that lights me right up.

Everyone has their own special “brand” of expression. Several of my friends are artists, and their character s do not come to life until they’ve made a sketch or drawing.  Some paint miniatures to convey their creative spark, while others are truly gifted actors and simply “living” as their characters in game is their mien. I’ve got a friend who draws maps, and has for a long time; well before geomorphing was cool. 

The cool thing is that self expression is so personal. Each and every one of us that plays or runs games has a different way of bringing our creativity, ingenuity and representation into our game worlds and characters.  I truly admire my friends and their talents and ways of bringing their ideas across. I adore checking out the drawings, the miniatures, the maps and watching those immersive players. It’s a fun kick to see what others use; their enjoyment is pleasure for me.

My personal expression is through words. I love playing with them, their meanings, their syntax, and their variations. I truly enjoy finding new ways to say something and love searching the depths of nuance and inference. 

I’ve discovered that I am a much better writer than a roleplayer, in comparison. I contrast my sessions as Eile to my write-ups or my Hedge Tales and see a drastic and dynamic difference between them.  I’ve accepted the chasm, but I strive to utilize language more effectively while playing so that I can grow and improve in game.

Language is my source and field of expression in life as well. If you don’t believe that “Loquacious” fits me, you have not spent a lot of time around me. I love to talk. I like to talk to dang near anyone. I enjoy the art of conversation, learning about people, and sharing myself with them. I adore a good jaw, and have been known to sit down just to explore words with someone.

There are plenty of times when words are my shield. There are also numerous times when words are my foundry, forging my emotions as I work through my vocabulary. I have found more than once that I’m not exactly sure how something makes me feel; but through talking and expressing myself in language, I find names for whatever’s on my mind.

Taking that away from me limits my self-expression, and generally frustrates me.  While I know I talk a lot, and often don’t say things directly, that’s who I am. If you don’t like it, or want to curtail it in some way, it’s probably going to cause some sort of issue.

I don’t infringe on others’ expression, and I can’t say that having mine refrained is something I relish. I mean, self-expression is the ultimate reason I play RPG’s, and it’s a core component of my personality.

I'd love to hear about yours, and how you find your true self in the game.

[40K] IG/Eldar vs GK/BT (with a question)

My camera is MIA! No pictures! Suckage.

My partner and I played against our local Bat-rep extraordinaire dude and his partner, the Jet-Bike Eldar of DOOM. (Seriously) The IG guy who writes glorious reports has decided to take a break from writing (apparently it took him scads of work) and so we were going to be left with my and my notoriously less-than-stellar reporting abilities. AND, of course, my camera goes missing. GAH.

So we faced an army composed of something like:

Seer Council on Jetbikes
Autarch on Jetbike
3 Squads of Jetbike Guardians w/ 2 Shuriken Cannon/squad
2 of the Hellhound variants with the Multi Meltas, forget the name…
3 Leman Russ Demolishers with LC and Plasma Sponsons

and we brought something like:

EC, AAC
Terminator Squad w/ 2 CML and Tank Hunter
Large squad of CCW/Pistol Marines
2 Line Squads, 1 ML, 1 Las Cannon
Vindicator
Librarian
10 man Terminator squad w/ 2 Psycannon, Banner
DN w/ 2 TLAC and Psybolt ammo
Dreadknight w/ Teleporter and Heavy Inferno

We got Spearhead with Annihilation - and they got first turn.

Knowing this was KP was sort of a kick in the teeth for me.I brought extra feet because so many of our battles have been close due to not enough troops, and now I have a LOT for them to shoot at. Can't win 'em all, right?

I'm skipping ahead to my usual wrap up chatter here, for reasons explained shortly.

What I learned:  Having dedicated fire squads actually can and does work. Also, hiding Termies is MUCH better than leaving them in the open.

What I need to work on: I'm addressing that later on in this post.

About my opponents: One of them has smoked me right off the board before. The other has consistently been at the top of the league for months. I was not super confident, especially when they had so much mech and I had a ton load of dudes. However, they are fun players and I enjoyed seeing certain parts of the game in action,


My partner did a pretty effective write up here . Rather than repeat his efforts, I'm going to cover an issue that came up in the game a lot.

I do not understand how damaging vehicles works. Every time I think I have a handle on it, I am wrong. Something about the strength and armor and facing just confuses the crap outta me. Help a girl out, will ya? 

[Weekly Whimsy] Whammy

edit/update: WOW!!!!! What a Whammy for ME! Ron over at FTW announced a some-what comeback....

Check It Out

[Welcome to Weekly Whimsy! Why write when words have withdrawn...]

“Remember when it used to go like this…” Lauryn Hill, That Thing

Today is a day of  strange liberation. 

 It’s certainly got a sense of melancholy and some serious nostalgia, but it’s very freeing too. Why?

I’ve decided not to write any more Weekly Whimsy posts.

I looked at my posting history, and I have 24 of those babies put out there for your viewing pleasure. I loved writing each and every one. I loved coming up with the cool themes, the great alliterations, the ingenious ways to touch on a variety of topics most gamer dudes would never encounter or examine seriously. I loved crafting those compositions, finding the appropriate pictures and touching those of you that read in some way.

I don’t like being tied to it. I don’t like the forced and less-than natural feeling some of the posts had (to me). I don’t like how many Sunday mornings I got up early to write rather than hanging out with TheDude. Some weeks I was ahead of the game and had my stuff done before I went to bed Saturday, but most of the time I was winging it early in the am.

Don’t despair… I’m not giving up the writing overall- it just won’t be scheduled for every Sunday anymore. I’ll post whatever, whenever; truly the essence of whimsy. You can’t put a timeframe on inspiration, and so I won’t. I’ll just write when the mood strikes me and you can enjoy it when it comes.

I love writing, and I plan to continue bringing great content. I just need to do it on my own schedule, so that I can enjoy my husband, my kids, my dog, my store, my community, my gaming and my friends in a way that works for me.


Be Well,


‘Lo