[40K] Chaos Daemon Help-Defeating Luck

All right, this one is for all the Chaos Daemon players out there (all two of you, haha). There's a new guy in our 40K league, and he's very interested in Choas Daemons. He's been using some pretty interesting figs as proxies while he plays around with builds and learns the game.

Of course I sent him over to Strictly Average, but for a beginning player, there was a lot there that was way beyond what he is trying to do.

His biggest problem at the moment is luck (or lack of it). Pretty much every single bad thing that could happen to his army HAS happened- troops just not appearing; HQ's getting eaten by the warp, crap like that. He has had some BAD luck.

So please help out; how do you overcome that?

[RPG][WOD] Getting Frustrated

I'm feeling more than a little frustrated right now. Things have changed enough, or timing is different enough, or my life is settled enough that I finally feel I can take on being in the WOD game again. I've talked to the ST about it, and he has said "ok" to the idea of my coming back as well.

So I'm working on a character idea for the game.

I have actually come up with an idea that is perfect, intellectually. He's got tons of good plot material, has a good reason to be in Austin, has enough abilities to make him interesting- the whole package is pretty awesome.

So what's the problem?


I am not excited about the idea. Not even a little. There's no joy; no promise; no thrill. This character, while ideal on paper, would merely be an intellectual exercise; but not FUN.

Everyone else in this game loves their character. Gets pumped, excited and flush with the thrill of playing their respective imaginary personas when game time comes. And I really want that.

What makes this all the more frustrating is that this particular idea is a Vampire; and I'm fairly well known for Vampires; and I generally love them. But this guy is making me pretty aggravated, so maybe I need to go back to the drawing board. Or something.

How do you handle this? Cause it's really annoying.

Massive Vocabulary Fail

TheDude and I recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary.

Throughout our marriage, I've been the "wordy" one, and TheDude has been the one that showed how he felt through actions. Well, sort of. He's not so good at the romantic stuff, as a rule.

He has moments of brilliance, where his gifts, thoughtfulness and consideration completely blow me away. He doesn't do it often, but when he does, the results are amazing. He has had moments that have brought me to tears, completely surprised me, and just a few moments that have made me cry.

Today, he reached a new level.

This is a custom piece of jewelry that he had commissioned for me as a gift for our anniversary. It's based off a tattoo he designed, representative of our family. Here's the original design.

The angel represents me- TheDude has called me his angel for many years. The star is our son, who was called "Little Star" as a baby. The pumpkin is our daughter, who TheDude has called "pumpkin" she was tiny. That sack of money is "Cash", our dog.

The design was modified a little bit, some at my request, and some at his. He went to the jeweler that designed our wedding rings, and sat down to work out what would become the best present I've ever gotten.

I've very rarely been speechless before.

I am today.

[40K] A Quick Departure

I wanted to take a moment to give a quick shout out to my pal Palmer, who went to GenCon and did some damage at the Malifaux tournament.

You have to see his lovely Lilith --

He's been featured over at the Gamer's Lounge podcast, discussing the final game in the tournament, his list and a few other details. Check out the wrap up AND the feature.


Gamer's Lounge

Gamer's Lounge 2

Also, Palmer had a quick correction for his list.

Small correction:
My list (this is Palmer):
Lilith 6ss
Nekima
Lelu
Lilitu
Primordial Magic
Tots x 3

It's pretty cool to see a guy you know getting recognition on a higher level. Rock on, Palmer!

[RPG] More on Substance

I'm continuing to work on the character "shape" I shared earlier. He has become a lot more "sticky" in the past week or so, and I even have a mental picture of what he might look like. His name and backstory are still things I am working on, but as soon as he's ready, I'll tell you more about him.

It takes a lot of work to develop a solid-fleshed out character idea that has "legs" so that you can play it for a while. Sometimes you know you have a winner, and other times it is more of a toss up.

I think the same is true for games as it is for characters.  I had to excuse myself from JR's Hellfrost game for at least a month due to real life chicanery. While I was talking to him about it, the players were discussing how the game was trying its best to implode. JR's tougher than the game and is trying to keep it alive.

In the discussion, the other game that JR is running was brought up- and it's going fine. We decided that the Hellfrost game was the sacrificial offering to the Game Gawds to keep the other one running. It's the one TheDude is in, and it's keeping him sane, so I don't mind. 

I've seen really good games blow up for silly reasons, and really silly games stay afloat for a very long time. Games have personalities just as much as characters and players do, and if you're one of those "shared experience" kinda people like I am, WHO plays in the game as well as what kind of character can make or break an entire evening. 

Building a game with substance then is infinitely harder than building a character, if you ask me. Certainly GMs build their worlds, the people in them and the adventures to be had- but the players decide if it is compelling and worth their attention. I think picking the right kind of players (or avoiding the WRONG ones) becomes paramount when deciding to run a game, if you have the ability to do so.

But back to my still-developing character- I need something to help him be finished soon, because I really want to play! Any ideas?

[40K] Adepticon Already?

This week, our 40K group started a new league. This time around, it's an Adepticon League. The idea behind this is to give those that want to go some practice at the point level and experience in the general type of scenarios likely to be played there.

So while everyone else is talking about the NOVA Open and how they did there, we're looking forward to spring and even going to far as to discuss a potential travelling team.

The sign up table amuses me pretty seriously- the "Captain" position stayed open and people signed up UNDER it. No one wanted that "title". It was a giant game of "not it". Finally Paul volunteered, but it was funny watching the guys try to avoid "being in charge" at all costs.

In all fairness, no one will really be in charge. The idea is the Captain will be the point of contact and help get the ball rolling for when and if the guys decide to go up for the Tournament.

We talked a little about lists and painting. For our league, the lists don't have to be static at the moment. The idea is to be able to adjust as you play to help you get a better build as well as learn to play more efficiently.  Additionally,  we're not being too uptight about paint levels either, but I know that some of our interested players are looking at their "grey, grey and grey" armies with a little trepidation in anticipation of going "up north". (We're south of the tournament location by about 2 hours.)

There were no "take backs" or "do overs" this week, which was a little different than how we generally do it. It certainly wasn't cut throat, but it was a different from how many of us operate.  One of my pals pretty much swore himself  blue because he forgot to use Living Lightning. He was good natured about it, but he was certainly aware of his mistake.

Right now, it sounds like they all want to go and play as individuals, rather than try to do the Team Tournament. However, I do know that there was at least one guy who would like to do Teams as well.

I'd love to hear from those of you that have gone to Adepticon- what was your experience like? What helped you "get ready"? Was there anything you would like to have done differently? Any advice you want to share?

[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.