[RPG] Creating Substance

Right at the moment, I am working on a character idea for a game. I don't have anything really concrete yet- just vague..."shapes", if you will.

This isn't uncommon for my process. I usually have a single element floating around in my head for a while before I can attach anything else to it. A good example of this is when I originally created Diamond. I just had "long blonde hair" for a solid week, before I got anywhere else. Other characters have come to me as "drinks a lot" or "loves Louboutins".

I've come to accept this, and try to help the process along. Sometimes I stick other, similar ideas next to the concept or image I have in my head, just to see if it "fits". I keep at this until I have a fully formed, fleshed out, substantial idea. But it often takes time.

Right now, the character I am working on is not very sticky. I do know it's a "HE", so I'm thinking of him that way. The concepts that are sticking to him are "movement", "money" and "Latin".

Mexican cab driver? Puerto Rican Olympic runner? Brazilian banker on the run?

I don't know, but it sure is a fun process to try to add substance to him until he's done.

Shameless Self-Promotion

[Yes, I stole it from Dethtron. I'm sure he'll forgive me.]

I'm about to do something I generally try to avoid doing, and that's pimp the store.

We have a fantastic event coming up, and I can't help it- I'm excited! Some nationally known folks are going to be featuring us in a way that can only be described as : positive. 


We're going to be a stop on the Gamerati Tour!!!

http://tour.gamerati.com/il-urbana-armored-gopher-games/

[RPG] Are We Being Punk'd?!?

Last night was the restart of JR's Hellfrost campaign. Before game, he had emailed all the players and laid out how things were going to start and asked if we had questions. There wasn't any discussion on the list or any indication that the scenario was out of line, so he got things ready on his end and we showed up.

I had no idea what I wanted to play, and had thrown out at least 2 ideas prior to showing up at game session last night. Finally in a fit of desperation and mirth, I looked through the Savage Worlds Deluxe book and decided to alter a template.

I was quite literally JOKING when I decided "hey, a pirate sounds cool" and adapted said character template for play. I asked if boating would be helpful, and JR's reply was pretty ambivalent, so I discarded "boating" as a skill in favor of something else.

AND the scenario involves a long boat ride. Just my luck, heh.

JR's games are known for being just a little "over the top", but with serious themes and interesting plots. We're hacking away at the situation, with ridiculous jokes and laughter, when things went suddenly WEIRD.

The main NPC is hiring the party to travel from X to Y. The trip is a good solid 2 months of road time, and goes through some interesting and possibly not-so-friendly territory. We're negotiating our fee and the NPC is a right cheap bastard- so he's been tough to bargain with. Our group doesn't have a face, but we're doing our best given the situation. A member of the party decides to try to negotiate for a guide to be sent along with the group. The NPC is not interested.

NPC pretty much says "hey, I hired you guys to do this job. How you do it is up to you, but I am not giving you anything other than what we agreed on."

And here's where we get Punk'd.

The member of the party who wanted the guide just stalls. He essentially sits on his idea and won't let it go- no matter what JR or any member of the group says. He also refuses JR's offer of another character- it's all or nothing for this guy. It gets pretty heated- the rest of the group does not understand why he's doing this, and then he breaks out of character and is in essence, trying to bully JR into doing what he wants.

JR is trying to figure this out -on the fly. He genuinely and truly wants EVERYONE in his game to have a good time, and this one holdout is causing major friction on that point. JR had no intention of sending or running an NPC, and certainly doesn't want to reward this player for refusing to compromise in any way. But he also doesn't want to tell a player, "get lost". JR (and the rest of us) are kind of sputtering, trying to figure out what to do. Things come to a dead stop- which is another thing JR hates to have happen.

After a few minutes of "what the heck is going on", two members of our group sort of try to ignore it and move the plot along. I am honestly considering leaving the game because I am just not sure I want to deal with this guy's shenanigans. The other guy at our table is notoriously quiet and is typically not saying a word. JR is trying to herd the holdout back to the plot. And it's really, really awkward.

At this point, TheDude takes JR outside for a few minutes. I decide to make a different character for a variety of reasons. I make a guide- but not to placate the guy with the demanding attitude, but because the group genuinely needs someone with some road skills. One of the PC's uses party funds to "hire a man" and tada, I'm not a pirate.

JR comes back from his pow-wow with TheDude, and we are firmly shoved back to the story.

I'm playing Lannar, a plainspoken, loyal and honorable guide. Lannar is also a male, and well- I am not. I have very obvious lady parts, and there are more than a few misspoken "she" or "her" comments. So I adjust my "name tag" to say "dude" underneath my name. My "boss" adjusts HIS name tag to say "also dude" which adds some desperately needed levity to a very weird situation.

I'm going to stop here and say it. I said it to JR and I said it in front of the offending person. But not this plainly. Here it is, laid out.

I have NEVER seen anyone do that, ever. I have NEVER seen anyone break character and DEMAND something from the GM in such a petulant, disrespectful and juvenile way. 


I've seen (or heard about) some serious "dick moves", but this one takes the cake. I started playing RPGs as a bratty 12 year old that wanted to be catered to- but nothing I did even comes CLOSE to this level of insanity. I've heard of people stopping the game to tell the GM, "hey, you suck" and quitting. But I have never seen a guy basically try to bully the GM into doing what he wants like this before. 


I am firmly in the camp of "the GM is in charge" camp, so this one really broke my brain. I honestly and sincerely do not understand this guy's point of view or reasoning and it just baffles me as to why he would do this- and feel justified doing it. 


There was absolutely no remorse, no backing away from the position, no sense of hey, maybe I am wrong. He just sat there like he was perfectly in the right to expect his requirement to be met and damn the rest of us if we didn't agree. 


I'm worried about the party dynamic from here forward given that this guy has shown his hand that he is willing to derail the whole group to get what he wants. I'm hoping that we have a better handle on how to address it from here on, but I don't want to deal with that again. It was truly and honestly unsettling, and a little infuriating. 

I want to be clear that JR didn't do anything wrong in the setup, in playing the NPC, in being clear about what was happening. He was fully in charge at all times until the guy just derailed the session. 

I don't want to put JR on the spot.

I would like to hear- how would YOU have handled the "derailment"?

[40K] Black Templar Questions Again Plus AWESOME Pictures!

So I've recently been checking out other people's lists in an effort to get better as a list designer. Or maybe it's that I'm making crib notes/outright stealing ideas. Either way, I have seen something pretty disturbing that I do not understand.

I am seeing BT lists with EC tricked out with things other than AAC. And for the love of killing Xenos scum (sorry, Leebo), I honestly can't fathom why.

Can anyone help a girl out?

Also on the "Stuff I'm thinking about" list is my StormRaven. Some of you that have been reading a while may remember that TheDude gave it to me for my birthday.  It is finally converted, assembled and primed and I want to show it off! It's only 6 months later so I don't feel even a little bit lazy! (And I truthfully shouldn't as I did none of the work. FunDave did it all, and tried to claim my bird for himself, the turkey.)

So here we have some shots of her all dressed up:

Front view of the lady of death [I cannot tell you how much I am smiling. I just LOVE HER!!!]

And of course,  you have to have a profile shot! You cannot see the tail conversion well in any picture, but I had the tail turned "upside down" because I liked the look much better.

Hurrican bolters for the win, baby! 

Or, a door if you want troops. 

This is how FunDave did it- the cross bar is totally invisible from the outside, but keeps the doors/bolters on perfectly.

So there's my girl... I now need a reason to take her out for a drive/ride/killing spree ...

And as an extra special treat...


I've talked off and on about my Orks from way back when. I know I discussed at length how horrifically ugly and putrid they were- and how I did it on purpose. I gave these guys away, so I didn't have them available to show photographic evidence of how terrible they really are.

You're in luck- the Orks were on loan to a guy who is learning the game and I got some primo pictures to share with you.. bask in their hideous glory.

There's more...

And here's one I was sort of proud of at one time-

and his back ...

[RPG] Where Is Your Safe Place?

This is a rumination borne of several recent posts and (for me) almost-posts.

Do you ever have those? Those situations where you want to post something, but hold off for whatever reason? You know, the "close call"?

I have had a couple in the past few days. I know I'm not the only one- at least one or two of my real life friends have blogs, and I know they have restrained themselves from writing what's "really going on" for fear of hurt feelings or other situations like that.

I'm personally struggling with this sort of situation. I've always intended my blog to be a way to connect with the gaming community, and I work hard to avoid excluding someone because of that. But I also have a strong sense of ownership- it's MY blog, and I'll talk about what *I* want to. If someone doesn't like it, they don't have to read it.

(At least, that's what my 10 year old self argues any time I want to post something that might not go over well.)

That sort of attitude doesn't solve the problem, but it certainly gives you a lot of freedom.

I have to ask myself if I WANT freedom, or if I want the community I am working so hard to build. If my answer is community, then certain things I might post will just not go up. As I said, I'm not the only one with these feelings.

GMs probably experience a little of this- I can imagine it can be hard to dissect a game gone awry online  if any of their players read blogs. It can be tough to talk about preparations, villains, problems or anything "negative" if your players blog or read them frequently.

If you can't say the things that are on your mind because you're worried about upsetting someone, where do you turn? Where do you let off your steam, and let out your frustrations?

What is your safe place?

[RPG] Is Fighting An Inherent Skill?

I am lamenting the state of the games I am * not * in again. I was in JR's Hellfrost campaign, but the second run in, more than half the party died in a freak exploding zombie accident.

It sounds like we're doing a reset, with new characters for the most part (except one guy who wasn't there- he's keeping his character that ran exactly ONCE, I don't get it).

I played a "face" before, but it was pointed out I might want to consider something else for any character I bring in, This IS a Savage Worlds game, so having a character with at least some fighting ability is probably wise. So, I'm considering what kind of character I want to play, and I keep coming back to two related thoughts.

1- I want to play a fighter at some point

and

2- I would MUCH rather play a talker than a fighter right now.

I find myself drawn to the idea of talking my way out of trouble much more than "smash it with a hammer" and struggle with the mere premise of a fighter/strong character. I watch other people playing fighters or paladins or knights or whatever and they are brilliant with their million and one ideas on how to attack, use 5 foot steps, attacks of opportunity, weapon range and parry and blah blah blah blah. All I see when I play a fighter are straight ahead options- kick, punch or bodyslam. Every now and then I will get real inventive and use a pole or stick to sweep the legs out from underneath bad dudes. But overall, I am just not creative enough with violence to be an effective fighter, even in pretend worlds.

I never have been- I have always been far more intrigued with words than physical confrontation. In most Super campaigns, I played mentalists, who used the power of the mind (and words) to defeat the enemy, rather than bricks or martial artists or other close combat guys.

I can't help but wonder if this is an intrinsic thing, and attempts to avert my "nature" are only going to fail. I played Jak, an angry and mostly violent man turned werewolf. His sign under the moon as a werewolf was a warrior, a fighter. I spent a lot of time and effort tethering Jak's rages, keeping him from violence- avoiding confrontation. Unfortunately,  the whole point of Werewolf is confrontation. If I had allowed him to be his natural self,  things might have gone differently.

But instead of accepting aggression, I worked towards negotiation. Is aggression something you just know?

[40K] Sometimes Real Life Gets In The Way

I was all set to show some awesome 40K content, including pictures of my assembled, primed and converted Storm Raven (VERY lovingly assembled by FunDave- THANK YOU!!!!) . I had planned to discuss the state of the local scene, as it is undergoing a strange shift. I also wanted to ask for some advice on what (if anything) to field next as I am losing horribly and need some ideas.

However, I got an email that changed my whole night.

One of my long time friends was in the hospital- with what was believed to be a heart attack.  I've known him and his wife for over 20 years, and they are truly special people. They are hardcore gamers, with a marriage that I envy- passion and strength, dedication and adoration. They have been genuine and honest friends, recently having supported me through a very tough time in my life.

I got the email and I told TheDude- "I have to go".  I normally stay at the store for 40K night and hang with the great crowd, but nothing was going to stop me from being there for my friends during a terrifying time.

I knew I had to be there, because I have been there.

I have been in the waiting room, the emergency room, the surgery lounge, the recovery room and the cardiology wing more times than I can count. I have personally spent agonizing hours waiting to hear something-anything- from a doctor on the verdict for a spouse. I have juggled kids, and phone calls, and friends and family; all while desperately hoping for the best outcome. I personally know how hard and how frightening it is to be on bended knee, breathing prayers that only G-d hears. [TheDude has some serious heart issues, so this one hit close to home in a big way.]

I gathered my 2 kids and went to their home, where their young adult son (M) was "watching the home front". (M) just couldn't handle the hospital, and I understand that.

He and my son are very good friends and have been for several years. We got (M) settled down and then got some things to entertain him, and brought him dinner. We just hung out at his house all night, providing company and distraction- the best we could do on short notice.

I hope to have some pictures later this week- and maybe some questions on list building, as I appear to be bad at it.

But first, I'm going to take care of my friends.