Saturday, December 25, 2010

Holiday Nerds

I am now indelibly marked as a nerd. My brother gave me a tattoo for the holidays. I, of course, got a nerdy one. My skin proclaims me a member of the Jedi Order. I am nerd, hear me snap hiss.

The holidays have brought me a few more nerdy things as well. I now have a travel table for my laptop and Star Wars bath products. My efforts at being less gamer-sized have been hijacked by all of the goodies. Oh well, it will get back on track after the New Years.

Filkers: The majority of the group is excited about making CDs, singing in performances, and going to filk conventions. A couple of people just want to continue to sing off key in the basement. As a result, project business will be kept to the internetz and house filks will be kept for just singing off key in the basement. Some of us are going to Conflikt in January, which is a filk convention in Seattle.

Friday Group: We've been getting concepts onto paper and will be running actual sit down preludes starting in January. I have the strong feeling that I may spend a large amount of time role-playing on the road trip to Conflikt. The ST and I are both going to the filk con.

Saturday Group: My Star Wars game has been hiccuping of late. With the holidays themselves, people being out of town, other people being sick, etc. gaming has been erratic. When we do game, we get a lot done and have a good time. Currently, we are wandering around Endor with our Ewok.

Sunday Group: Eclipse Phase died. One player is a trucker and can't attend regularly and the other one was stolen by a woman. This left the GM and I. We've decided to watch Firefly on Sunday nights until we get more players who can make it regularly.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Change is Good in Gaming

Just as with all hobbies, if you do the same thing for too long it becomes stale, even routine. With gaming it's even worse. You get to know your fellow players and storytellers/dms so well that you can predict their character types, reactions in scenarios and plotlines. That's when the games stop being exciting and even can become a chore or obligation.

I was there. For years my gaming has consisted of nothing but my regular Saturday dice group and the Camarilla's Live Action Role-Playing games. I really do enjoy my time with the majority of the gamers involved with both groups. They're very nice people that I would love to drink beers with and take bowling. Unfortunately, I have gotten to the point of being able to map out the plots, character choices and internal politics.

Since the Saturday dice group rotates campaign settings routinely and its as much about hanging out with each other as it is the gaming, I want to keep hosting them in the Nerd Cave. I honestly look forward to my dogs going berserk when the gamers show up on Saturday nights. Right now, we are playing the d20 Star Wars RPG and our campaign cycle is going to be Exalted, then Scion, then whatever we vote one. Our GM seriously needs a break though. The poor guys needs a chance to play. I wish I didn't suck at running a long term dice campaign. I do fine in LARP campaigns and apparently run real fun convention and event dice games, just not long term dice campaigns.

My decision was to drop the Camarilla completely. I've retained my membership in the club, to support our local Domain. I will also show up for socials and parties, as I really do like the people involved. The games are just ridiculously stale and isolated. I've tried switching things up, but I'm either an asshole for questioning their world view or lazy for not doing enough. I'll stick to hanging out with them, not gaming with them.

With dropping the Camarilla, I find myself with insane amounts of personal time. Any large scale organized play group will eat up a lot more time than just the games themselves. I still want to game, though. So I've found other "new" groups to play with. I've also dedicated more time to non-gaming fannish activities like Filk, cosplay, conventions, and... this blog.

A bunch of my old high school buddies decided that they wanted to play a game I'd never heard of before. This has resulted in my hosting a chunk of my original Utah gaming group on Sunday nights for Eclipse Phase. So far, I like the game system and love the nostalgia of blowing up baddies with these guys for the first time since the very early 90s.

I'm also very excited about gaming with a group that I've never sat down and diced with before. Some of the filkers have decided to organize a Friday night Vampire: the Masquerade game in the Filk Dungeon at the home of one of the filkers. I've diced with a couple of them and LARPed couple others, but there are some that I've never gamed with... ever. I'm also not the host. I just need to show up with my share of the munchies and park my butt in a chair. That game will start in January.

I hope to provide a monthly update on each of my gaming groups. Right now they are all being sketchy due to the holidays, which I totally understand. If take away anything from my rambling, don't give up on the hobby if you find yourself bored. Step out of your comfort zone by trying a new game, a new group and even a new character archetype.

P.S. The hosting thing is my own fault. I'm horribly allergic to cats and for some reason, most gamer household are infested with the creatures. So, unless a cat-free alternative is available... games are at my house in the Nerd Cave.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Cthulhu Christmas

Cthulhu Christmas Chorale
Words by Terence Chua

(To the tune of "White Christmas," by Irving Berlin)

I'm dreaming of a dead ci-ty
Where Deep Ones swim in depths of night
Where Cthulhu's sleeping
And stars go creeping
Until the time when they are right.
I'm dreaming of a dark fu-ture
Ruled by that Three‑Lobed Burning Eye
When the Old Ones' returning is nigh
And the universe will go bye‑bye.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Happy Hanukkah Everyone!

(I'm Spending) Hanukkah In Santa Monica
Words: Tom Lehrer
Tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslsgH3-UFU

I'm spending Hanukkah, in Santa Monica,
Wearing sandals lighting candles by the sea.
I spent Shavuos, in East St. Louis,
A charming spot but clearly not the spot for me.

Those eastern winters, I can't endure 'em,
So every year I pack my gear
And come out here to Purim.

Rosh Hashona, I spend in Arizona,
And Yom Kippa, way down in Mississippa.
But in Decemba, there's just one place for me.
'Mid the California flora,
I'll be lighting my menorah.
Every California maid'll
Find me playing with a dreidl.
Santa Monica, spending Hanukkah by the sea