Pasty, Fat Fuck that I am

Yesterday I head that if I "Want to improve (my) game mastering? Get up off the chair." This struck a cord with me. I was reminded of days when I was spry and had so much energy that I couldn't sit down while running a game. I felt young again. But I also know now that while I was a good GM back then, but as I am not good as I am now. Game-mastering that has the GM feel good and connected with even complete strangers is not a mysterious ritual . Further more, game-mastering should not be about the only time a person bothers to exercise.

Quick disclaimer: Werdna (Scott Malthouse) is a person that is comparatively younger than me. He is also one of deeper, better thought table-top gamers that I will ever meet. His articles provide me with perspectives that I would never think of on my own. The debate going on here is a discussion among colleagues not an derisive argument between unfeeling agents of imaginary factions inside of some great schism in a hobby meant to be for fun that often isn't. Also, there is a good chance that any participants in this discussion will not come to a conclusive uniform outcome as to how things should be.

Let it be said, that as a GM I got rid of GM-screens in 1991. I would put scraps of paper in front of me, and when someone needed to see if I was making things up, I'd pull out a manila folder with the written-out scenario in it from my very book-bag. In these days (20o4-present) of electronic readers, video players, and complete stereo systems in single large-pocket sizes, this habit of mine has only gotten worse. Lordsheads, that book-bag is sooooo damn heavy. Apparently, I am a radical.

While the mixture of bad decision-making in dietary matters and ever-growing food industry in modern non-manufacture-driven economy, have helped me put on pounds since I was 14, my tabletop gaming passion has never required me to carry around a lot of stuff. Though the providers of current "adventure gaming" would have you think otherwise, "gaming" does not need to be burdensome nor preformed by sedentary people. If indeed folks seem to think that showing up to a "role-playing" game requires fifty pounds of equipment and being out of shape signifies a person's inner deepness, they are welcome, but it really should not dictate the reality of the hobby.

At the same time, we should not be so concerned about looks, and our personal smell (GAYMERS), that we cannot share those sparks of intelligence that show how imaginative we are. Cosplay might be paid for by the electronic gaming industry, but those game designers do not have as much fun as we have for 1/15th the money that they spend. Table-toppers get the lookers for virtually free because of our fantastic thoughts.

A little about GMing a RPG session.

Table-top should resist the urge to be a performance artist. Indeed, a good GM is of course one, but folks should not see it "for free." If you get this, sit down already. I mean it. Folks at the table aren't here to see your passion. More than likely they're here to see how a game should work or at least want to sample the game mechanics. Your passion helps, don't get me wrong, but folks want to see an activity formed by a prcess developed by you. They will apply to possible situations well away from the table that you are sharing with them much later.

Actually your passion about any game system that you are working is not indicated by whatever position you happen to be in while being observed by others. The desire comes through in the knowledge of the game system. The drive to be entertaining comes from the technique of presenting players with the options that they have. Most often, what is indicated by your standing or sitting is how much control that you as GM want to have.

You, yourself, get a whole lot out of this interaction. Besides being clever, you get to organize things. You get to shift from being omnipotent as the GM, to slovenly ignorant as a dim-witted NPC. Best yet, you make the patterns as you roll dice. Hopefully you don't fudge roles too often, sometimes you need to, most time you don't. Using the success or fail of dice/card/whatever determination provides the GM with as much entertainment as the scenario set out in front the players. Your own heart beats faster, you are quicker than usual mentally, _and_ the opposite (as well as the same sex) thinks you are sexy.

Now about standing up and sitting down.

Okay, hopefully you walk, or wheelchair around in fresh air, enough to get some a sense of well-being to not be expecting too much from the players sitting in front of you. It is now that you should know, that everything is up to you. Good or bad, it's your fault. There isn't a set of rules written that is going to preserve you from any criticism from the folks that have come to the table between you and them. Here is playing field. He is where you prove yourself.

Sitting while having players define their Characters, tells people that they are in charge of their characters. You are, hopefully, actually distracted with important details of the upcoming scenario. Familiar players should act as coaches to new players with designing their PCs.  Try to listen to the conversations going on, this helps you get notes on how to make the upcoming adventure great in everyone's eyes.

What your posture during the start of any narrative can be anything. That position is actually going to define the rest of the session. This subject will be covered in later blog posts, or not.

Stand-up when you're not in charge. You are now, in fact, floating, above each and every individual Character. You're looking at the PCs. They are in charge, you're just showing how special that they are. Take notes if you're any sort of author. These moments ae gold and should be cherished.

Especially in argumentative situations, you sit down when you need to tell everyone that you are really in control. This bit might be counter intuitive, but it shows that you are a being of finite energy and patience. You can even pull out a reference material at this time. Feel free to stand back up again as you read where your GM decision is legitimized by the rule-set. If it isn't, you made a mistake, but guess what, you're the GM, do not admit to being wrong about the rules. Anybody pressing it is being an ass, let him play himself out. He, or she, just looks confused in the end.

It's Zak S Pundit's or Hillamena's Hobby, We just Live in It

A couple of you might've noticed already, but last Tuesday (Aug 4, 2015) I received a note from a dude, a Daniel Bently, commenting on a year-old blog entry ( July 31, 2014) of mine. I was sipping coffee as I read his vaguely put point that his blogs were being filled up with "he-said/she-said bullshit" (paraphrased for clarity) and mine should include "citations." It took me a couple seconds before I stopped reaching for my College English Composition textbook from 1986, which is luckily upstairs, to comply with his request. I realized that he was up to something, so I replied " From all 30 reads of this blog post since July 5th (2015)? Really?" Over the course of  the day, I could mostly find out what Bentley didn't actually say. It was all very passive-aggressive.

On the second morning, after I stated that Mr Bentley had an agenda for his reviving of the old blog post, Peryton informed me that Zak S's A Red and Pleasant Land did extremely well at GenCon's Ennie awards. Things clicked in my head. This explained to me why I was the asshole that made him search for my blog and post there, hence cluttering up his feed. Whether he had an agenda or is naturally a jerk ( IE someone who raises a hand to tell everyone that he doesn't know something), I don't really know.

So at this point in time, to balance the unbalance of the universe going on I suppose I should just mention David Hill and Filamena Young, or "Hillamena" as Peryton puts it. As Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have the equal mixture of looks as well as talent to be great artists, these two have the mixture of writing skill and connections to be the bell-ringers for what I am going to call "the Gamer Outrage Brigade." There that is done.

Just as I know that the Kurds as antagonistic towards the nation of Turkey as much as they are oppressed, I also know that the oppressed of the tabletop gaming industry are just as oppressive of other gamers. While many people still don't like homosexuals and still have very simplistic views of cultures not their own, there are just as many folk loudly trying to shame others for hygiene standards and the way that they speak. Big secret folks, role-playing in fantastic scenarios helps us overcome the need to be the oppressor or the bully.

Now John Tarnowski would turn this sort of rant into an awesome 25 page-long treatise. Zak S would disappear for six months to come out with rocking rebuttals towards the easily offended. I am frankly done here. Be nice or not, just let the shaming of people that disagree with you go though. It doesn't work, it only makes you look petty.

Citations listed herein

GenCon 15: Holed-Up Lotta Something

A friend of mine described my time at GenCon as "... holed up running games all weekend." 

As you might have read elsewhere, Pery and I weren't doing the exhibitor's booth this year, instead focusing the PeryPubbers on running events. While I didn't run the most events that I ever have at GENCON, I did nine events. It was some work, but it didn't cut anything out of the great experiences that the convention is for me.

The road to GenCon
The passive-aggressive stance of the LLC members towards the anti-homosexual legislation in Indiana annoyed me. Really why did they say anything if they were not going to be going anywhere for five years, if then? Oh yeah, to stir up media mentions of GENCON. I didn't want to go, but Peryton reminded me that we had already paid for our room with JerryTel by then. Having six new scenarios about 3/4s finished at the time of the announcement didn't hurt either.

Over the spring, many of the new GM PeryPubbers and we met up for hoots to basically playtest ourselves. GENCON is just too much of an occasion to walk into without getting some practice in before hand. In June, I actually played the Arkham Horror for the first time in like 20 years to make sure that Caed was familiar with the board, its pieces, and game mechanics.

Still about four days out from the trip, I decided to play CIVIII instead of doing pre-generated Characters for the games. Other, real life things, had my dork factor at a particular low ebb.

I was mopping the floors when the house-sitter showed up Wednesday AM. Peryton decided that her mix of 80s Moody Blues would be the best road trip music ever on the way down. Frankly, I was wondering if I was going to have any fun at all this event.

Old Home Eve, our Wednesday night party was a success though. Beckett, Cram, Jedi and Jessi, Caed, Kal, Batman, JerryTel and the Boy, Sligo, LinZ and Joe, Darrenn E. Canton, a couple dudes by the names of Chuck (I have the business card) and "D," then finally WEB showed up-- If I missed anybody, please let me know. Though Bill, WEB, lectured me on the expensive drinks, at the Park Plaza lounge, I loved the place. I'd talk Beckett and Cram into "second location"ing it to stalk WEB down at his fourth or fifth location. Still finally saw the hotel room that I would be living in for the next five days around 1:15 am. I wasn't staggering too much.

A monolith from 2001? I _was_ holding a bone.

Happiness, at last
The J.W. Marriott is not only very far away from most of GenCon, it is actually a very, very big complex in and of itself. It was far from the hivemind of the majority of gamer dorks (BOARDGAMES), and it is here where the indy role-player ghetto was. The farthest room at the 400 meter long north hallway was where the PeryPubber clique dominated things (the exotic location Room 209). But the room had four tables, and most of the other GMs in there were truly independent gamers. The Pubbers took up three out of the four tables for a couple of time slots, quite a proud moment for me.

After the first fifteen minutes of running the first game, "Big Foot Hunting" for JerryTel's Stay Alive, I was in my element. Now the great group with me didn't hurt. But even by the last game on Sunday, "The Easter Bunny, the Holy Day Horror" for my on Crawlspace, I was really enjoying myself.  Even the extremely large groups players for my midnight games and the lack of air conditioning after 11pm, couldn't ruin any session. By the way, thanks to a player complaint, thank you Matt and Leslie, a manager has promised me, or other folks, fans for next year-- it was verified at 91 F degrees in the corner I did my last night game in at 2:13am.

The convention around me

Even evil has to wait in line.

 Wednesday afternoon, I noticed GenCon has finally put up large maps of its Exhibitors Hall outside the exit. Since I wasn't running a booth, I only walked into it twice. Once on Friday AM-ish, to see how big the crowds looked (a very good time to do so BTW, without the clusters, clumps, and clueless of Saturday) on the way to a game. Sunday afternoon, I found where I wanted to go on one of those maps, Palladium Publishing, walked in the closest entrance, got there, bought my stuff, and left. The clusters, clumps, and clueless were just rocking out still. Sorry to a couple folk about that.

I noticed a lot more prettier younger folks running around this year, more so than other years. I actually watched a "Hard Gay" cosplayer techno-dance down a hallway with a boom box on his shoulder. I wanted to see if he had any disco on the CD then he'd learn how to really dance, but I had a game to get to. Turn it up to 11, I say. To be clear, the man's music wasn't loud at all.

Speaking of loud though, one of my midnight games was almost crashed by a group of idiots basically looking for a room to squat in for a party for kids too cheap or too broke to have their own party spot. The group I was running didn't mind the silliness, nor the squatting, but they started coming over and interrupting us with drunk cleverness. This ticked off a couple players, and I was jealous, so I chased them out of the room. One got officious with me asking "What is your event number?" I threw a program at him and told him to look up the RPGs running after 11pm that night and then narrow it down. For another hour, he and his friends would hide around the corner in the hallway, sneak up to peek into the room, and take pictures of me. They got sleepy and went to their nap-nooks within 40 minutes.
I bring up this tale, not to bitch about the partying, amateurs, but a detail about GENCON operations. While I am checked throughout the day by volunteers, in the middle of my events, to make sure that everyone has their badges and that they have given me tickets; those same volunteers were gone by about 8:30pm every night from the desk they were working at. This sort of 9-5 attitude makes strict policies about what table GMs can and cannot do somewhat hypocritical. Either be in control or get off my back when you're not tired dudes.

Some personage- personal times
 

After my afternoon T&T game, "Yetis, Yet Again," I grabbed David from Toronto for a get together. I actually had enough time to meet and have dinner with Brad McDermitt at High Velocity, the sports bar at the JW Marriot. That establishment has some awesome house-made corned beef for reubens. LinZ and Joe found Batman and me hanging out at Loughmiller's Pub about 90 minutes later. It was Saturday and I was on the downhill part of my scenario running. I had a break between 5-11pm that evening. Heck, I was even able to spend an hour or two with my beloved Peryton and the Boy. JerryTel was running the auction this year, so he was actually busier than I was for our comparative vacations.

It wasn't until Sunday, that JerryTel, Batman, Cramm, Peryton, the Boy and I could spend some real time together. Nicely the Bourbon Street Cafe had room for three of us. Sadly the Sci-Fi channel had only sucky movies on for the rest of the night. I think there is a show called American Ninja and Pirates or something these days. If there isn't, there should be.

The Weekend Cleveland Didn't Burn

I noticed the trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo was ending when a friend who works at the Old Angle bar up W.25th Street from me posted an innocuous statement to the effect that Cleveland doesn't like to be ugly . I had been hearing updates everyday I listened to the news for three weeks already, so it just wasn't exciting news to me. I first heard about the verdict of Brelo from my sister calling me from Florida to find out "how bad things were." I was having minor liver failure or something, so I wasn't at work getting news from elsewhere like the local radio stations or gossip texts from coworkers. I suddenly became very worried. I told my sibling that, "the folks across the street are remarkably quiet." at which point, we spoke of magnesium citrate. Later, I'd scan the web and read about the seventy something folks that got arrested stepping over the bonds while practicing their right to protest. Still the neighbors were remarkably quiet for a Saturday night-- dudes have a burnt-out car without a roof parked in their driveway, to tell you just how they usually like to relax.

On Sunday, I was still enjoying discovering how magnesium affects the body. Thanks to FacetuBe's algorithms (I forgot to hit "most recent" button the day before),  I read a portion of the infractions that had gotten the dozens of protestors arrested from various bar tenders and a couple owners from places that I like. Apparently, the protestors were at what I'd call "Playground Cleveland." Rechecking the official news sources, not much else to tell. The most exciting thing that happened all day, besides a fever, was that night when putting out my two American-made American flags for Memorial Day that night, a john and hooker were scared off of a shadowy, deserted porch next door. So I was in my bathrobe, I don't know where they get their wardrobe from, but, sheesh, talk about judgmental.

The next day while at work, The local NPR radio station was proclaiming how peaceful things had been. I heard about a rash of fires being called in along St Clair Avenue, a notorious northeastern street, within minutes after the verdict was read. "The Eastside burnt itself to the ground" said one person who had clairvoyance or something because he was not there. Later, my partner and I drove up to area to check things out during some down time that we were experiencing on the national holiday. Either the calls were a bunch of crank calls or perhaps somebody was presenting information that was not wholly based in fact.

The most exciting bit of vandalism that I could find is when, even later in the shift, we pulled up to a favorite park of mine (Down BY THE RIVER! ref. the Clash) to chill out. A couple of Cavalier fans according to their expensive jerseys wearing baseball caps, camouflage pants, in a big pickup with plates out of Medina county, Ohio (according to my partner) saw the vehicle and had to leave in a hurry. I had to chuckle as well as be pissed off as to why they had to. Here's the pictures below.

Best spot in all of Cleveland. Come find it.

This is the reason why deer hunters can't have nice things, like major sport franchises.

Officer Michael Brelo was the only law enforcement officer charged with a crime in a policing incident where a whole bunch of police cars, from more than one city, followed a couple of folks who were probably drunken driving and had some cocaine on their persons as well. Somewhere in East Cleveland, the folks were corralled where police cars were anywhere the drivers could escape. Shots were fired, less than two hundred, and towards the end of things, this was the one who charged the bunker, so to speak, jumping onto the hood of suspects' car and delivered a full clip through the windshield. Okay, I get it. Someone has to make sure his comrades at arms don't get hurt, you storm the bunker. The problem is, no one in the car was armed. Is he guilty of a crime? No. Should he be a police officer in Cleveland, Ohio. No. He storms bunkers, while anybody who lives around here knows the bomb of poverty was dropped here a long, long time ago, nobody that lives around here think that drunken drivers are the real armed enemy. If so, then there is an unspoken war between disparate populations that claim Cleveland as their own. Sadly the ones with the badges don't even have to live in the city limits.
  

Hoot on Top of the Holler

Since about 2006, Peryton and I have been driving past a certain spot on I-71 (going from Cleveland to Columbus) and seeing the Travel Lodge Inn sign at the crest of a ridge of hills and thinking that the spot would make a great place for a Hoot. So nine years later, we finally have one of the get-togethers there. The specific spot is right at the I-71/SR 13 intersection, which seems to an area that has a lot to do with Mannsfield, Ohio without actually having to visist that city.

JerryTel sounded interested when I mentioned this particular gathering, but then remembered a previous date in Germany or Tibet, or somewhere. My younger sister Caed, tried her best to come up with excuses to avoid coming, but even her first grandchild was born earlier than was expected so the woman finally just submitted and agreed to show up. Drew, from Spacers, and Beckett also were coming as well without half as much hassle. There were a couple of folks that mumbled something about let me ahead of time, but I have my own scheduling to keep track of, let alone theirs, so I just called them a wash months ago. But on April 24th around 3pm, I was picking up Peryton from her workplace and we en rout to Exit 69 on I-71, or the Mansfield exit commercial district come hell or high water.

The afternoon/evening went beautifully. Caed started texting me that she was Ashland, just as we drove past that city, picking cheese from Grandpa's Cheese Barn and would be a little late. When we checked in, Pery and I realized that we weren't actually at the top of the hill, but in the lower complex of the motel. Still, we had arrived, and there was a Mexican food restaurant right on the premise. There my sister would meet us and help Pery finish a pitcher of margarita. Around 8-9pm, Beckett and Drew, from Spacers, would show up as well and the festivities were underway.

Friday and Saturday were spent with role-playing and lots of jokes, and bit of napping between the two. We didn't see much else of the town around us, except other local dining establishments, but I was on top of world. Or at least I was on top of hill finally. I think I might just make the spot my preferred place for future hoots dedicated to playtesting my scenarios. It really was a good time.

"democrat"= Stunt Men and King of Siam

On the Daredevil series on Netflix and Hillary Clinton.

Netflix's Daredevil is definitely showing the producers of DC's mass audience "street level" TV (like Arrow and Gotham) shows how to make a street-level superhero . At the same time, the show where Marvel tends to be wrong about life, or in other words, wrong-minded.

Anybody else notice a lack of anybody making over 90K a year in this scene?

From the first episode, we, the viewers, learn that Matt Murdock is a dude that likes to get into fights. He happens to have been blinded in an accident involving toxic wastes. The chemicals are brushed aside to focus upon his family that is nominally Catholic but grossly dysfunctional to where the eleven year-old(?) kid knows how to apply sutures.  At least up to the seventh episode, we learn that Mister Murdock is a super physically-fit, a genius, and has superhuman abilities because he disabled. And Scott Glenn jumps in to show what dickish super ninjas all blind people really are around that particular episode. This is actually unlike every person that we actually have met that is legally blind , but who cares? I think the show is actually written by a machine using Blade the TV series algorithms.

Instead, we should be focusing on the evils of Mandarin-speaking old-women consorting with crude Russians, stylish Japanese, a dude that wears glasses and is good at math, and also polite hipster that also speaks Mandarin. These evil sorts don't seem to like actually fighting nor are particularly good at it. That an neurotic, overly intellectualized man who might, or might not, have testosterone issues, is their leader is not the least of the protagonists' problems. It's something about corrupt cops, peddling drugs, local TV, and prostitution all being a second evil compared to gentrifying a neighborhood.

Ignoring the rather exploitative mixed cliches going on here, I don't get Daredevil being anything but a block bully. He needs a fight, it isn't until the fourth episode of this show that the audience is given any sort of justification for his behavior, unless you count his unethical father finally deciding that he didn't like working for Italians. He uses the discomfort that the unfamiliar brings as his excuse for brutality and offers nothing but his "best friend" exemptions as the pay off for it.

For me, for all the confusion I felt watching Arrow and Gotham, I didn't feel so "nativistic" about the message being proclaimed while watching those shows. Dude, I already live in a depressed area, I read Spanish and have black friends, but the Russians, Asians, and rich people just don't scare me that much.

I am reminded of my picture when entering Army basic training.

And now for Hillary's fair shake.

I like voting. Better yet for most of the Democrat Party members (Lil' W apparently let it slip), I like voting to the "Left" of Republican. That said, I didn't vote for Barack Obama in 2008. While it is none of anybody's business who I voted for, please understand that it was still left of Republican. Perhaps I was making it too hard to re-enter the fold of the Two-Party system when Obama could not close down Guantanamo?

Okay Hillary Clinton has announced that she is running. Boringly, I am unsurprised. I keep hearing that news outlets that I have enjoyed listening to for decades are surprised at the announcement. I keep seeing advertisements of people oblivious to the news of the last fifteen years are living their lives and are also surprised by the announcement. So since Muslim terrorists haven't nuked Manhattan nor a black person isn't running for president, the electorate is supposed to have forgotten what is going on in the USA since 2001?

Oh give it break DNC. In 2003, Mrs. Clinton was flying around in a helicopter. These days, she's riding around in a minivan. Do you over-react much? She is still saying nothing to everybody and meaning what?

 I've just finished re-reading the English language Bible for the third time in my life.  I've actually read the work six times if you count the times I've read "it," in other languages. One was Das Buch, in German and two were the on-line texts for students of Latin available to many from the University of Maryland and Concordia University of San Marcos, Texas.

 
Mind you, I am a poser when it comes to academic scholars. I've only read the Penguin Books version of the Torah once. I've only read three English versions of the Quaran. I'm pretty up-to-date on English language Hindu and Buddhist texts.  

The funniest thing about being an atheist is how much religious material that I am familiar with. Frankly that comes from both my trying-to-be-literate upbringing and the demands of responding to so much rhetoric from religious sorts. I gave up about a decade ago trying to make religious sorts see the error of their ways. Consequentially over the last couple of years, I've given up trying to preach to fellow atheists on the best approach towards dealing with the hordes of religious sorts all around them every day of their lives. The first modus operandi is because Vishnu/Jewish/Buddha/Jesus/Koran-smokers are too stoned to listen. The later is because, thanks to atheism, I've realized that no one wants to be told what to do. Even the godhead of Judaism, Christendom, and Islam only suggest (SHALL versus "must") anything.

Beyond learning that these sort of texts justify the most immoral behavior in people, there isn't much to garner from them beyond shallow poetry (IF ONLY REVELATIONS WAS AS GOOD AS ITS HYPE). Any supposedly important messages, like say all of the Ten Commandments, are violated by the very holiest of characters contained in the book after the set rules from whoever's sky god. In short, scripture works best if the person proclaiming this or that has an audience that hasn't read it. The tales read all together at best, "the Bible" would make a really big mini-series on HBO. More than likely it inspires three years of really soft porn and incoherent violence on soap showing a Spanish-speaking channel after midnight.

Now gays and liberals, please stop playing along at being "spiritually" good. In the Christian Bibles, you are considered sinful at least 14 times, starting in the Cities of the Plains. Those cities are mentioned in the book of Genesis, towards the front, and were big on sodomy. The Sky god "smote" them. The there is Jude, "7: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." From there it gets more explicit in Leviticus, Romans and Corinthians

I keep hearing that Jesus didn't condemn gay people. It was Paul that came to Rome to lecture those Latins on their wanton abandon, "...26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error...."  I don't want to get too eruditic here, but Mathew wasn't happy about buggering either.

So even if one says, "It was HIS friends speaking for him.", that's nonsense. So just ignore the fact Jesus actually never have existed,  I can't help but think the folks that wrote the New Testament slipped in anecdotes by equally fictitious apostles to appeal to some majority of people's baser instincts. So  nontraditional person with a really good heart, who says they are wise, do you think that the anti-sodomite torch wielder in front of you really wants to review his understanding of the Bible? I've read the thing six times, and it's hard for me to say "Christ Says Stop Victimizing Gays." Are you thinking that the fanatical is a better reader than me? The dude is going to look at your complex argument with unsubstantiated inferences and say, "Okay, there's wiggle room?"

I'd say work at being fluent in Biblical text, but never engage in spiritual debates. The superstitious talks to spirits like a drunk drinks. Logic based supposition on the written word is only helpful when it helps win a convenient argument. Stick to pointing out that there are laws and how religion is a drag on society. Do not try to "balance" the argument with the _believer_.

Okay aside from my sinful plea to folk that are inherently sinful according to those that "practice" (as in don't bother reading and those that would like to lead them) religion, I don't have a lot to add. The Bible, as written in 1611, has been translated into too many languages to not be about just selling books. The folks thumping the Bible are more than likely up to something. According to the book of Exodous, having an agenda for folks not wanting to lead themselves is perfectly natural.



 human.

Bonfire of My Shallowness

Unarmed black men keep getting shot by cops, anti-vaxxers are turning public health of the 21st century into 1894, Israel is looking for the next crop of politico-hawks to get the USA into another land war in the Middle East, and Russia is reestablishing empire. The deepest things that I have to talk about right now is Superhero TV and GenCon. I've said this before, but we live in a golden age of escapism.

First about GenCon and that organization's response to Indiana's HB 101. HB 101 is one of those "Religious Restoration" laws where some folks can both argue that they have the right to wear a hijab while being a cop and others can kick Muslims out of their dinner because they are Scientologists. Of course the GLBT (PDQ XYZ QWERTY...) community, has a good idea who exactly the bill is aimed at-- yes, it's them, if you think otherwise, you're an idiot. Well, I was pretty delightfully ignorant on the passage of the bill by neighboring Indy's legislature, until GenCon posted an open letter threatening the sitting governor of the State if he signed it into law.

Hoo boy. I can't help but thinking that the threat and all the media around it was a publicity stunt. Anybody who reads a newspaper around the Great Lakes knows that Mike Pence doesn't give a damn about a bunch of gamers coming to his corn farmers' prom night party center, also known as Indianapolis. All the real money in Indiana comes from Chicago-ville (that's NW In.).  It's kind of funny how every year at GenCon everyone is talking about it moving elsewhere (LIKE CHICAGO), but this is the year that it's publicly announced that GenCon will be staying five more years for sure. The convention organizers, if they were serious, would've waited to see if the bill was signed into law, and then at the convention start talking about heading elsewhere before the current contract with the Indianapolis tourism companies would expire. Pence's current term expires in 2017. He'll probably run on how he going to get rid of 30-50,000 pagan sodomite, D&D players and replaced them with America and Cuba's indoor volleyball coaches _and_ fans of Darth Vader, no C3P0 faggot-pants allowed.

So like I am running like seven events at GenCon this summer, and I am someone who really takes bigotry as an offense. Also like GenCon, I really can't not attend because while a vocal 10% of its attendees are fawning over the group's non-action in the face of adversity, about 48% of my friends are right-wingnuts who like these sorts of laws and the other 50% are GLBT (E-I-E-I-Oh) or atheistic allies. Guess who all was showing up anyway this year before HB 101 was signed into law? We've worked hard to get everyone signed up and awarded attendance badges for running games. Thanks for keeping it fun... or not. So now I am a hypocrite, thanks GenCon. I can't help but listen to the troll in my head saying, "Feel better about yourself in 2016."

Thanx to Amazon and Netflix, Peryton and I have been watching a whole lot of comic book TV shows and movies. I myself am rather amazed at how strong DC has been, under Warner Brothers' tutelage, on the TV front. Live action TV shows like Constantine, the Flash, Arrow, and Gotham have enhanced wintertime date nights at our couch. Animated movies like Son of Batman, Aquaman, the Suicide Squad and others, have gobbled up $5 here and there like lost change in that couch. The animated series of the Justice League, JLA Unlimited, and Young Justice have all been consumed in vast quantities over the durations of weeks not months. Thanx to the movies and the cartoon shows, I have caught up on DC media for the last nine years or so.

The producers at WB have a really good handle on the various continuities that DC has. Indeed the stories emphasize differing world realities to appeal to direct audiences in ways that work nicely. They also don't disrespect the writers of the original story lines, like say Jim Starlin pissing all over Jack Kirby's New Gods. A couple of the live-action shows are where things are getting dicey for me.

Constantine and the Flash have been joys to watch. The hellraiser saga has successfully breathed life into its "Monster of the Week" formula, to hint at story arcs, that are pretty on-focus when it comes to the characers-- a rarity in episodic TV. The Flash has gotten comfortable with getting dressed up a bit, and being about superheroes and extreme villains. The longest lasting Arrow and the should be awesome Gotham have gone around the bend for me though. The Green Arrow show is afraid to be a superhero TV show, is either written by machines or dozens of part-time employees hired at minimum wage. It has forgone the title's characters to steal cool Batman characters and themes. The Batman In Love show, is an incomprehensible grind meant for 10 year-olds but written by 70 year-old antique dealers that hate the parking in New York City.  Two of them migh've read a comic-book once before.

The Aquaman We Need

Once again I find my viewings of fantasists diversions in life promising to be grossly disappointing over the next few years. As you might have reckoned by my title, right now it's the promised Aquaman films coming some summer to a theater near me.

First off, we should not have to apologize for liking this Aquaman

Why is this too silly for fans of the rage-filled gay pirate that Aquaman is supposed to be these days?

Better than this guy

Swimming from the waist, great for abs. Those fins are stupid outside a disco.

What exactly is the point of a superhero?

My point being that something about the Throne of Atlantis or the Seven Tribes of the same place are a nice indulgences. The steady trend of the ocean as being other-worldly doesn't make Aquaman relevant to anybody. Fish-people from far off and mystical places... I could write up tales of the biggest members of multiple guppy farms from when I was 15 until 24. There would be long lineages and plenty of drama; they swam around, mutilated each other, and cross-spawned-- often eating their own young. In the end, most of the family members were fed to gruppers and piranha of nearby exotic fish-owners. How long did your sea-monkey farm last? That is the trend that our tales of Atlantis sub-genre are liking to follow.

What made Aquaman such a fun character in the 60s?

 Well, a lot of fascination about octopi and whales, AND the fact that he wasn't Namor, the Sub-Mariner.

 Looking back, Prince Namor was the "water dude" to fight with the "flame dude" known as the Human Torch (which was actually a machine and not human at all). He was the prince, maybe king, definitely a monarch of Atlantis, and hated humanity. Then the Germany and Japan declared war on the USA, and then he decided that NAZIs were bad. He then fought Germans, vampires, and too many Japanese people with prominent buck teeth. He had to save the world with a nerd on radioactive steroids and an alien with a surf board to become cool after 1951.

Aquaman was DC's take on not being all mystical about the ocean. Not only were people trying to get to the moon, sizable amounts of people were spending a lot of time underwater, even under 30 feet worth, and making the post-nuclear age happen. This hero was about humanity's continued intrusion into its nearby seas and coming to terms with it. His first major nemesis, Black Manta, was a overly-technological enemy that was a sign of the secretive and self-serving approach to being underwater.


In 1993, Black Manta's _real_ origin story came about. Aquaman, riding on dolphins, swam past a man who was serving on a slave ship. The tale in and of itself, is one awesome piece of compelling comic book scripting, definitely great characterization. The image of the prince of Atlantis frolicking with dolphins while not making the world a better place, would continue to fester as the writers at DC.Writers would even use "black" in the title become a smarmy allusion to Black Liberation movements, having been in the spotlight 10-twenty-five years before. It is around this point where we see Aquaman project managers become more worried about a fantasy kingdom and fights with his brothers and in-laws, rather than deal with the bigger world.

Despite the fact that Batman can overcome spinal injuries, and Captain America can become an anti-governmental figure, Aquaman can't be about water and humans. The real world is too much for folks on the way to the beach. The beach always comes to us though.

It's not about global warming, idiots
 
 Aquaman comes most under criticism when a bank robbery occurs. That is because of the fact that most comic readers don't live areas where there are whales and dolphins. It is also, and mostly, because Aquaman is being misapplied. When it comes to comic books, especially the very-well educated heirs at DC and Marvel comics, and the grossly conservative Hollywood scene; dealing with social controversy is easy, science literacy is hard.

At least in the 90s,  insightful commentary on the franchise comes about when folks notice that most of the world where seafaring and the customs around it are about two centuries behind the modern world.  These days,

Despite what the coal industry, Phoenix Arizona, and the state of Wyoming would have you believe, 87-90% (depending on if its an election year) of humanity live within thirty miles of major above-ground sources of water. 80% of all humanity lives within eight miles of a place where water commerce is a significant part of their local economy. One cannot tell me that there isn't some water issue criminal here and there that doesn't deserve a superhero meddling in their business.

If only there was somebody who was a person that could do amazing things underwater without a suit. Anybody know of superhero that lives nearby and not in the murky depths of Atlantis?

American Sniper: And now a word from the sponsors

Not an add for Haliburton

An NCOIC of mine in 1997 said, "We don't seem to go anywhere without someone making a whole lot of money when we get there." He wasn't clueless, nor was I. It's just where we were at that time, it was getting a little more than obvious. Around two years before, I started hanging out at parties where we carried our "canteen cups" to special NCO in-Services. The joke was the canteen cups were filled with whiskey, while a few retired NCOs, usually E-7 and above, bitched about Clinton. At least there was some bitching about why had the US been deployed to Bosnia, Haiti, and whatnot, not just the fact that we as Army Men (there were a couple serving women around, they didn't mind) didn't like "Reds--" I smirked at Clinton being lumped in with the commies, the dude was always a monarchist in my book. No one was really paying that much attention anyway.  I miss those bi-polar days.

Later, round 2007, despite a Bachelor's in History in '98, I read that major general Smedley D. Butler USMC, said that war is a racket. I then read the book of the same title. I also learned that he prevented a few American business interests from overthrowing the constitutional government of the USA in 1932-33. Apparently these individuals (beyond-rich) and their lackeys (fascists), thought that a popular general would accept the position as figure-head of a very successful nation without comprehending the rather democratic underpinning of his damn book written the decade before, entitled War is a Racket. All I can say, is that anyone having read that book wouldn't have picked the retired General as their coup detete leader, err figure-head. And that pretty much tells you how creative war profiteers are today.

These days in North American culture, bad decisions made twelve years ago need some rectification. Luckily ever liberal Hollywood has decided that renowned liberal actor Clinton Eastwood (with such bleeding heart treasures as Dirty Harry and Heartbreak Ridge) should direct the "anti-war film" American Sniper. Eastwood as you may know, is the most famous life guard to have served in the US Army during the Korean Conflict.  Ah yes, I remember my life guard days in the Army as well-- actually I do, it's harder than you'd think. Is the Conflict a war these days? It's starring producer/actor Bradley Cooper, known for his pacifism from his contributions to a couple Hangover movies, is happy to made a "non-political film" where he gets to shoot Arabs (and maybe a few Persians, Turks, and other folks that don't look like him) in the head.

It would seem American intellectuals are divided about the merits of this film. Ironically, we all keep getting discussion of the film keeps filling my newsfeeds. Most annoyingly is the NPR channels. Well, I am happy for the network not being over-biased into a "liberal" perspective. Heck, the American conservatives have been battling against liberal expression and the big business community has been whole-heatedly supporting this effort. What I am annoyed at the most is the coyness which the paid-off programs and bought articles at the "news source" is dealing upon its listeners.

Before folks started getting vocal about what a bad movie this motion picture is, I got all sorts of side mentions on the radio at NPR. Somehow a big-budget war movie snuck into the Academy Awards nominations. Then later, it was Clint Eastwood being an active director despite being an affluent old person. And then there was a few "Jungian" allusion-inspired references that ended up being about the movie American Sniper by the end of the piece.

When we, not just me, got a little annoyed, at the hype, the response has been reported upon in abstract.  I hear that folks don't dislike this film, but that they are part of the "leftists anti-war hype" surrounding it. As if there is any doubt concerning the network's committment to accepting patronage, NPR doubled down. Terry Gross, the universe's most shoddy Time Lord ever, goes on to get more interviews from the movie's makers. The last time I heard it  was Cooper. His qualifications at making a war movie? He's done USO tours in the Zone. Apparently he knows all about what we're fighting for there. I am sure there will be more.

When do bullets become criticism?

Je suis Charlie! ... really?

I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and still have to spend too much for healthcare. Islamofacists don't scare me.

Are you really?

Less than 40 minutes after the shootings of a bunch of cartoon-peddlers, a few in their 70s and 80s, and the ill-prepared cop assigned to provide security, people were talking about how provocative the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo were. NPR, the Economist, and the New York times a day later cited that they could not show the offensive cartoons out of fear of reprisal on their journalists, two seconds after proclaiming their undying guardianship of free speech. To reconcile these opposing ideas, I am provided with cartoons like this.

Cute and hopeful, but not really relevant to the story in strict journalistic terms.

 I've not noticed that the folks that think shooting unarmed people is kewl are deterred by folks being polite towards their feelings. I've noticed that those that promise to protect us have provided us with a damned-near police state. All the surveillance is great at providing cable news with stuff to fill the air after free citizens get killed and maimed. Those that try to lead us, haven't been particularly effective at deescalating the current "War of Cultures." That might have something to do with the fact that those we elect keep treating oil-rich nations as potential colonies.


It's pretty safe to say that I am down with the "Je suis Charlie" reaction to the slaying of a bunch of cartoonist. And godsheadness bless the mighty Parisians, some good, strong Western-cultured folk there. Cops tell them to hide indoors and cower like bitches, and, let's just say, they disagree and take to the streets. The last time a couple of idiots decided to teach the"unworthy infidels" that the West is, the Quran's words not mine, the bombing of the Boston Marathon, multiple cities' populations sat indoors for over 24 hours while cops and intelligence suits chased their tails-- a dude walked outside after the curfew was lifted and pointed the crossing guards of liberty to the fugitive in his backyard. Apparently those that give up security for liberty are security.

The true strength of "liberal values"... Everyone loves titillation

Juvenile Thrills for the 50 Year-Old: The Suicide Squad

Once again I find myself hooked on yet another forthcoming movie, thanks to Ben Lathrop and the animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham, and probably a pull campaign of a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Entertainment. Heck there's even been a cast announced in Variety for it. The movie based off of the Suicide Squad comic books. Like Aquaman, I never read the title beyond when I perusing a friend's more massive comic collection in the 80s, but I have some strong opinions about it.

 First off, the cast is all wrong. He's my dream Suicide Squad cast:

Dr Amanda Waller- CCH Pounder
Rick Flag- Joe McHale
Deadlock- Tim Oliphant
Enchantress- Pam Grier
Captain Boomerang-Sean Bean
Harlequin- Margot Robbie
(some hulky super-villain)- (some dude enhanced with CGI and a rubber suit)

With cameos with
Batman- Eric Bana
The Joker- Mathew McConaughey
The Penguin- Jason Alexander
Darkseid- Vinn Diesel

Wait until you see my plot.

For your Christmas: Aquaman

I'll have you know, I am not an Aquaman fan. 

The only Aquaman comic books that I ever read were the 12 cent ones from the Silver Age during Summers in Texas during the 70s. Later I'd watch Super Friends on German TV. Aquaman rode a whale and had fish telepathy, though I knew whales were not fish. The show was meant for kids after all. He wasn't boring though, Black Manta rocked as well. I saw him again in the early Aughts, he was like a gay pirate with a hook hand (...a beard, and a kid...), and trying to invoke some sort of LotR vibe ranting and raving about Atlantis over and over again. Now in the Jump (the teens of the big 2-1), writers at both DC and WB movie makers seem a little at a loss as how to make him interesting. I suspect they're trying to get him to be the Scorpion King. 

What's Aquaman got already?

Aquaman is a good place to start some science exposition, not just social science, in the middle of comic books. I suppose one of the reasons the king of Atlantis doesn't get much readership is because the folks that spend a lot of time around or in water don't have much time to read comic books. Couldn't one or a couple all these college educated comic writers read a SCUBA magazine or weather alarmist's blog for a week or two. Arthur Curry can be a PHD Marine Biologist, a former Navy Seal that worked as an underwater welder for B.P., before he matures/reawakens into Orin Atlan-Son. Want to talk about, say, Global Warming or just basic facts about drinkable water, got a better platform? Aquatic industries can be explored and kids a little younger than those still awake for National Geographic specials can get a little two panel primer.

Let's not forget the Atlanteans. According to Plato, they predate Hellenic cultures by a couple millennia. These old souls can be said to pre-date the Amazons.These beings don't have to be demigods like Princess Dianna, but have a rich history and mystical ties to the most obscure Greek myths, as well as other early civilizations. 

New Twists.

Looking at Dwayne McDuffy's story for the animated JLA series "backward homage" to Marvel's Defenders, even the most casual fan could be pulled in using unique memes for our times. This tale wove Solomon Grundy, Dr. Fate, and the gay pirate Aquaman into a mishmash re-telling of the first time Dr. Strange, the Submariner, and the Hulk saved the world against not-so-disguised Lovecraftian creatures. Tell me a decent comic scripter couldn't take Aesop's Fables to get Aquaman and the Black Manta punching it out in LA's harbor while Zantana and Constantine battle were-sharks prowling the city as a straight up tribute to SNL's "Land Shark" skits.

One should not stop there. Atlantis and Atlanteans do not have to be crafted from the same yarn as Superman's City in a Bottle. Mix in some New Age axioms and go trippy. They could be more akin to a few hundred humans reincarnated from ancient times. These amphibious folks wouldn't have any idea that they were so until they were "awakened."Would Aquaman's telepathy vary from aquatic species to species? Just think about the possibilities. Take bit from a novel from Brin's Uplift series and work in some aquatic mammal characters, with an evil military for a high tech plot. How many earth-like worlds would have hydro-dwelling sentient species, that the 17 (or was it 2,134) Green Lanterns from Earth these days can use a bit of help with?

Shilling science, again.

Back on the science horse again, it was a given when I was growing up that 8th grade Science textbooks could solve any problem ever encountered. Maybe that was naive, but my math skills as a "C" student in 10th grade are light-years ahead of most of the kids I meet these days. Outside of End-of-the-Multiverse 52 plots every year, these days, the "science" characters at DC haven't had any sort of context for their unique scientific characters to talk to one another. 

While Aquaman isn't the only, nor maybe the best, he'd be a great place to start. Sure there's Firestorm, the Flash, the Atom, and maybe, Captain Atom, but the hydrosphere is a lot easier to get into on the page with say the Metal Men. There'd be a nice time travel take with Aquaman dealing with the Atomic Knights and their buddy Hercules (see the science and mythic work together there?). 

Why would I care?

I see what they, the movie makers, are doing here. I remember one day posting a picture from the 60s where a bunch of water-skiers were dressed up as members of the Justice League of America. I posted, "Zach Snyder needed a way to work Aquaman into the Batman V. Superman film." This is indeed coming to fruition. Perhaps this could be a starting point.



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Why I hate Seth Rogan

Every since I first saw this guy around 1999, I there was something that really bugged me about this guy. The "comedies" he was involved with always struck me with how little performance skill or professionalism were involved. The more the budget to it, the worse the navel gazing by the writers. Everything this man has ever been in, directed, produced, or even thought about doing would be best presented as a 10 minute short after 11pm on a Sunday night on a cable channel for wholly entertainment-deprived. He might be very talented, but I've never noticed him to feel the need to try and be anything else but himself. Good trait as a funny friend, not as a comedian.

I almost cried after I excitedly clicked on a trailer for The Green Hornet and found that he'd somehow gotten himself into the lead role. Yeah, because when I, a fan of the Green Hornet, think of Britt Reid, I picture of pudgy, red-headed dorks who are supposed to be decent comic writers. That was the type of actor that was cast for the TV series right?

I can forgive Michael Keaton as Batman. I can try to like Alec Baldwin in the role of the Shadow. They were hot stuff when the movie execs wanted to do schmaltzy takes on those franchises. But what exactly qualified Rogen for his "superhero crime fighter" movie? Apparently they needed a pudgy, red-headed dork who had lots of money backing him already. Well they got the spoiled millionaire, just without the looks and presence, and plenty of box office floppiness.

The movies he's been involved in since are all fomrulated to show that they aren't comedies. After the ten minutes of a skit with a punchline, they are pedantic scriptwriting with cliche female casting to very weak male leads. In fact the weakness, as in the shallowness and placidity, in the main characters seems to be his artistic statement.

Now I should be siding with Seth Rogen in the current First Amendment crisis of North Korea claiming to have hacked the movie, The Interview, and then threatening violence against movie theater that releases it. I don't. Why because, all I hear is how Sony is dealing with it. To be fair to Sony, it's a corporation, it is not about anything but making a butt-load of money. But where is the writer/director/star of the movie? He's not throwing down any money into having a movie premier at a local theater to stand up to "the terrorists," he's probably getting stoned and being an emotional bother to everyone nearby.

Seth Rogen and North Korea were made for each other. By the way, I still don't believe North Korea "techies" hacked Sony pictures.

A Red and Pleasant Land reviewed

Last Thursday morning while I was at my PC, I kept getting little notifications in the lower right corner of my screen. The first was that "_A Red and Pleasant Land_ is available in (whatever "cloud" thingy we use)."  Then about five minutes later, it was removed. A few minutes later it appeared again just to disappear again a few more minutes later. Finally I shot a message to Peryton to find out what the heck was she doing. She didn't know I was awake and wasn't sure if I wanted to read Zak S.'s campaign setting A Red and Pleasant Land-- for some reason a simple text message wouldn't have worked. As I am game for anything off-kilter (that means fantastic and weird) a C.S. Lewis allusion and an RPG book sounded just fine. Thus it appeared again. The overall experience was like a like a very, very slow-motion Blue Light Special at Kmart.

I continued on my merry way writing about zombies, mapping Cleveland for a game scenario, and trying to research the number of police shootings of unarmed people for the past five years. There was more than a little beer involved, so this process was taking a while. Around 10pm that night, Peryton walked up from behind to say "You've been mentioned in the 'Special Thanks' section of Red' Land." More than a bit surprised, I stopped what I was doing to look at my Kindle, and wallah "Tom K" was being thanked by Zak S, amid roughly two score of others. My surprise isn't so much at that a superstar in Indy gaming would notice the time I mentioned him, it's the fact that anybody thanks anybody anymore in this "hobby" that isn't falling out of his, or her, bed, err sandbox or giving him money this day and age. Good to see. 

So I spent this last weekend reading the product during the slower parts of my work shifts.

Always an "Alice" to me.

The Part You're Actually Looking For

Sure, we all know that Alice went down the rabbit hole, but how often do we decide to do the same ourselves and game there? In this little ditty, the creator of Vornheim crafts an homage to the works of Lewis Carroll, and other fantasists of the same ilk. He also gives it Adventure Gaming nuggets of context and creatures.

A Red and Pleasant Land is the latest game supplement by Zak S for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Games. It is available in PDF and print, about $15 for the PDF and $35 for print version. With more than 175 pages of content (closer to 200 pages) including illustrations and maps by the author and Jez Gordon. In this work, the reader is invited into the Place of Unreason.

When I say "crafted" I mean crafted. Now as a guy that crafts my own game items, I have to say that this product is definitely wrought together by a creator that has a vision in mind as to the treasure that the audience is going to receive. From the cover to the "psychotropic*" maps at the end of the work, the overall effort is a complete experience for the artistic eye. While being economical in energy, the author himself paints his illustrations in an unapologetic fashion that can be quite alluring at times. The graphics and "maps" that tie the project's themes into its whole bring together the wide range of options and ideas arrayed.

 The literary styling and rules matrix is where the energy is spent. Zak S does a fine job of capturing the atmosphere of the writings of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. There is plenty of red meat for the gamer that doesn't care about reading and all that, what with vampire courts and fiefdoms, with new critters to encounter! I believe it's D20 driven. There is also a card play aspect, as in regular playing cards, with PC and NPC interaction based off of the suits that I, myself, find more than a bit alluring. I need to look a bit deeper into the text and see if there is something there that I do all the time with playing cards in RPG sessions. If this last inkling is indeed occurring, that is an added plus to the game.

 The author, Zak S, just in case you've forgotten, is somewhat self-aware of the role we game authors (not designers!) play in the industry, has a section called "How To Use This Book." In this section he has four options. I paraphrase them here: 1.) Use It As It Was Written. 2.) Use The Parts You Like, Wherever You Like. 3.) Sigh and Put It Down. 4.) Dump It into very instinct-driven animals.  To turn things on their head, as the author likes to; it's not often I, in the role of product reviewer, get so much help from the reviewed as to a rating system. 

My choice is to use this product where I think it fits into my game sessions. I also have started recommending its usage to family and friends. I mentioned to Peryton, already a fan of Zak S, "I'd use this in my Qalidar campaign.", two days later she announced to me, "Hey I think I'll do Red'Land as a scenario at BASHCon." There actually is no mind control there, she, the author of Qalidar, read the book days before I did-- I just wanted to show blocs of folks will like it.

Using my own personal rating system, I'll rate this a King Kong on a scale of Smurf to Godzilla. The lacking part is a color cover. The art work on the cover should've set the standards for the inside while a professional cover would've increased the viewing potential.

Still a good work. A nice literally homage, done with gamer-mindedness in mind.

   .

Character or Story: a Quick Perspective

Quick bit of advice for the serious GM, counting on a good role-player to make a decent game is not a decent strategy towards successful gaming sessions. Of course, you as a GM, have to know when throw the script out the window and just let the players do what they want. "Character building" should never take the place a story to be told. If you're sitting down to a table with only an inkling of a premise and waiting for the folks to provide you with a plot, you're most likely not in the mood for a game, as well as about to be very disappointed.

Even the most narcissistic role-player gets over the joy of being catered to in about 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the ego. Dealing with, say, four players's whimsical cravings for about 20-40 minutes _each_ only increases the length of the overall task, not the enjoyment of the session for anybody. Doubt that last bit, watch a bunch of kids play Cowboys and Indians (TM Hasbiro, 2015), or Tea Party (TM White Wolf 2015). Use a stopwatch and time how long before swear words, fisticuffs, or playing with matches replace the role-playing. For those over the age of 13, twenty minutes of daydream fulfillment is about all the person can indulge in before getting sleepy. Hopefully you've got some reason for the players to use swear words, engage in fisticuffs, and light fires. If not I hope you brought along a kewl board game.

Where does the GM get his story from? It can be as simple as a random table with a whole bunch of mentions from the players, but it can't be from totally "winging it." If you ever watch people enjoying a RPG session, besides the Monty Python quotes, people really enjoy picturing something in their heads that they hadn't thought of before. That last bit includes the GMs, but that should be from surprise Character moves or randomizer results, not the story being told to him.

Making It More Fun than What It Is

Over the last weekend I drove to Fort Wayne, IN to attend the region's (Northeast Indiana, I guess) gaming groups premier event PentaCon. I heard about this convention from JerryTel, as it is a tradition for him, which is why he hasn't been able to do any other events this time of year. This was mostly because I've been trying to get to different small conventions in an effort to advertise PeryPub. Monk from AZ flew in as well, we haven't spent anytime together in over a year, and he could spare four days making it basically a long weekend in his work schedule. I did not go in expecting much; small cons are notoriously cliquey, with crowds that just aren't into trying new things. Still Monk and JerryTel had not ever gamed together, so what's a few hundred bucks for that opportunity itself?

PentaCon is even a bit notorious. For a few years now, closer to the last decade, according to mentions on-line, there has been a lack of timely preparation and really any sort opportunity for those who'd like to use the event as promotion. JerryTel himself told me that he wouldn't be showing up until Saturday AM. Still there is always the exception to rules like that. There is the a guy who runs it, and there are scores of people that attend it.

I left Cleveland on Thursday night. Monk was flying into town early Friday, I wanted to there early and have an idea of the city and its layout. I expected to stay at a motel by the airport. Well, there are no motels by the airport I discovered at 2am, and the airport isn't that near the city or main travel routes. Downtown itself has signs directing the visitor towards it from the airport. Despite the distance, it's not hard to navigate the mildly populated metro area. I had forgotten my credit card at home and had to rely on my checking card, which  would only become affluent later in the morning, meaning I could not check in early at my fancy hotel. I found the southwest block store and hotel area another eight miles away.

The next day I got the inside view of the Fort Wayne International Airport. It's so cute. I counted eleven people heading through the check-point in the 90 minutes as I was waiting. The bar area is just beyond it's lobby-sized "secure area" with about nine security personnel and three cops. I ordered a beer from an attached coffee shop, and it had to be delivered to through a bullet-proof, blast-resistant round-about requiring no less than three people in the process. Most entertaining $3 I ever spent. When Monk arrived, I think there were less staff throwing the luggage onto the conveyor belt than that which handled me my beverage earlier.  

Secura-Beer System 20 KLX 4000

Checking into the Hilton was pretty simple, and the parking not difficult at all. The convention center is like a 1/20 scale replica of the Indianapolis convention center, complete with a Champions restaurant just across the street along the north exit. The convention itself was in the closest ballroom. We met the guy running PentaCon as we signed up and paid our registration. About two dozen people were clumped together at about four tables full of miniature battle-maps, while single GMs sprinkled another handful of tables hoping to attract players. By the evening, the situation had not improved. Monk had a single player show up, twenty minutes late, to ask "What is this supposed to be again?" Monk and I spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the bar with the young and comely staff who were genuinely friendly. Later, we were watching the Sci-Fi Channel in our luxurious "king Suite." We were speaking of plans for the TACK version of Zombie Zigzag, which Paul 2.o has become a moving force behind over the last couple of months. 

Friday Rush Hour

Anna Mae, Jody, and Grant

Monk A Bunk

Saturday came around, the two of us didn't rush out of bed or off the couch. I wanted to nap through a hangover, though my body wanted to wake up at 4am. We showed up at the convention a little before 1pm and found JerryTel and the Boy, and went over to Champions for lunch. Also met one of Jerry's friends, Harper, and his daughter over the meal. 

The Malthouse Gang

Afterwards, we all jumped into Scott Malthouse's (Werdna) Apocalypse in Your Hometown submission for the T&T: Stay Alive rules variation. The session was awesome, JerryTel wove the author's narrative into the tabletop antics, the Boy was playing with a French accent. Monk was taking in the new gaming gang's dynamics and adding a lot of humor to the table talk. I had a character with an awesome Dex so was pretty bad-ass. When we broke for dinner, JerryTel and the Boy suddenly became worried about where the closest Wendy's could be found, so Monk and I headed out to spend time with our friends at the Hilton again.

The evening slots for Saturday had about twenty people more than Friday. The two people at my table were there to eat Chinese food and try to explain to me on how I could make a "butt-load" of money on Kickstarter. He was the designer of a horror-meets-gangster RPG. She seemed interested in the Crawlspace booklet in front of them, so I gave them a free copy, I brought four to give out as awards anyway. Finally noticing the item, He asked if I was a "real" game designer or some such. When I replied "I made that." things got a little dicey for them. I gave them a business card and was rewarded with made-up names thought of not too smoothly on the quick. I asked if there were copies of their product available, I was given a business card with a web address and no names or email. Monk, who had wandered over since no one was at his table, must've gotten a kick out of them, he threw in his session's award as well. I pointed out that the game that they wanted to play was filling up, two people were now sitting at that table, and we headed back to the Hilton.

"Totally legit." Monk said as we walked, listening to some awesome live jazz coming from the event next to the gaming convention.
"I need a 'Con Name.' " I replied. "How's 'Bone' sound?"
"Only if you're French. " He laughed.

Back at the Hilton, we talked with our buds about the Fort Wayne jazz scene for about an hour or two. Back in the suite, we talked about Monk's upcoming steam-punk "WORLD." He does the scenario, I wrap a world around them based off of the year that he decides upon. I also made up a zombie map game using a deck of cards, might or might not be part of the Zigzag. There was absolutely nothing on TV. 

 

Monk didn't fly out until Monday AM, so we spent Sunday exploring the northern parts of Fort Wayne and the whole of New Haven, its suburb. Before leaving the con, I spent some money at a couple of the vendors' booths. It was snowing by the evening, so we found a hotel back at the shopping mall area I had discovered Friday AM. I drank too much beer, though I behaved myself. Wracked up my ankle without noticing it upon making my way back to the night's lodging. Monk kept himself busy starting a plan for a Hoot. He misses traveling, I think.