Rest In Peace, Dungeon Master

March 4, 2008 at 2:23 pm (Uncategorized)
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Gary Gygax (the creater of Dungeons & Dragons, for those who are unaware) has died at the age of 69.

My geek heart is heavy over this. Personally, I remember when I first got into role-playing games…1982, at the age of six, I had a speech therapist in first grade…I was unable to pronounce S’s and R’s due to my tongue being attached to the bottom of my mouth by a flap of skin until I was four. My therapist taught me about Dungeons & Dragons…good ol’ basic, red-box D&D. Where “Elf” was a class, not a race….you could be an Elf or a Mage, but not both. Every time I pronounced an S or R wrong, my longsword-wielding Elf lost a hit point, and we played for an hour a week. Needless to say, I was hooked, and my pronunciation is good to this day.

Due to things like my early speech impediment, my glasses throughout my education, headgear from 2nd to 3rd grade, and rather unathletic demeanor in favor of academic persuits, I was pretty much the traditional nerd outcast. D&D gave me and my tiny group friends (including, of all things, a Baptist Minister’s kid) something to enjoy and socialize with. The hell with how badly we got creamed in touch football, wall-ball, and pull-ups in gym…when we got together, we were able to pretend to be mighty heroes. To those who say D&D invokes anti-social behavior and preys upon kids with low self-esteem, I say…fuck y’all, and get a clue.

Of course, as time moved on, I moved away from D&D, to things like Battletech, Call of Chtulhu, Paranoia, and the World of Darkness. I got tired of the hack-and-slash, module-gaming that really became inherent in D&D after Gygax was pushed out of it in 1985. But I’ve always held a special place in my heart for the original books, and I remember some of my greatest PC’s fondly. To this day, I still play in the D&D settings in a weekly Table-Top game (just not with D&D rules, which I find too convoluted).

Gary, my wizard’s hat is off to you. May you roll only 20’s in the afterlife, and never fail another saving throw again.

–Jer

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More Filky Stuff

November 1, 2007 at 1:30 pm (Uncategorized)
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So, the last post got a pretty decent reception, and a couple people have told me I should post more. Here’s the one other I could find that would make sense to anyone–or, at least, anyone who’s played World of Darkness roleplaying games, particularly online. If you haven’t played said games, then forgive my geekiness…it truly knows no bounds.

CROSSOVER
To the tune of “Glamorous” by Fergie — Video Here

Are you ready?
If you let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke
I said, you let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke

C-R-O-S-S-O-V-E-R, yeah
C-R-O-S-S-O-V-E-R

I’m maxing my stats up to the sky
Got Appearance maxed out at Five
I’m crossin’ genres, and I won’t change
Love the crossover, ooh, I’m twinky, twinky

The crossover, the crossover, crossover
Love the crossover, ooh, the twinky, twinky
The crossover, the crossover, crossover
Love the crossover, ooh, the twinky, twinky

Tzimisce with angel’s wings,
All those rules don’t mean a thing
Changeling Arts and high True Breed
Bought by lots of min-maxing

I will be the drama queen
Emo-ing up every scene
I’m not mean, I’m just obscene
Playing whores who are sixteen

Welcome to my cyber hell
Subtlety, farewell
I don’t care, I’m still cool
No matter how much the ST’s yell

After the scene, once the angst ensues
I like to go write up my new Garou
Dreamin’, and scheming on ways
That I can get Dominate
So now

I’m maxing my stats up to the sky
Got Appearance maxed out at Five
I’m crossin’ genres, and I won’t change
I love the crossover, I’m twinky, twinky

The crossover, the crossover, crossover
Love the crossover, the twinky, twinky
The crossover, the crossover, crossover
Love the crossover, the twinky, twinky

I’m talkin’ Brujah wi-ishes, Euthanatos dre-e-eams
I deserve nothing but all the uber thi-i-ings
Now the S-T has no clue what to do with us
I got freebies from my Flaws for the two of us

Plus I gotta stay coquettish
And play each and every fetish
Lifestyles so sick and depraved
That DeSade would get jealous
Fortitude just for the soak, add Lore of Death to that–no joke
If you let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke

C-R-O-S-S-O-V-E-R, yeah
C-R-O-S-S-O-V-E-R

I’m maxing my stats up to the sky
Got Appearance maxed out at Five
I’m crossin’ genres, and I won’t change
Love the crossover, ooh, I’m twinky, twinky

The crossover, the crossover, crossover
Love the crossover, ooh, the twinky, twinky
The crossover, the crossover, crossover
Love the crossover, ooh, the twinky, twinky

I got Merits up to here
They just let me raise my Spheres
You’re telling me these crazy rules
That I don’t wanna hear

I got firepower like a tank,
And I’d really like to thank
The Golden Rule, I’d like to thank
Thank you very much

’cause I remember way back when
Back before White Wolf began
My paladin was dark elven
She was really hot

Yeah, it takes a lot of fools
To play hell with all the rules
I’m glad contradiction abounds
That gives arguing ground

(You let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke) I’ve got arguing ground
(You let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke) I’ll fight it pound for pound
(You let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke) I’ve got arguing gound
(You let me get away with it, I’ll go for broke) I’ll fight it pound for pound

–Jer


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Closing One Door, Opening a New One

October 25, 2007 at 2:31 pm (Uncategorized)
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So…one may notice, if one has been paying attention, that I’ve been quiet here for a while. And apparently, according to my blog stats, a few people at least have been paying attention…it’s weird, it’s like people like to see what I have to say or something. Who’da thunk it? :D

So, there are myriad reasons for my recent silence; changing work schedule (and subsequent craziness at work) is a contributing factor. The big one, though, is the fact that I’ve been putting an end to a long, long chapter of my life; my ST’ing at World of Darkness: New York City. For those unaware of the World of Darkness, it’s a roleplaying game set in the modern world, where you play vampires, or werewolves, or modern mages, or so on. And it’s been my online hobby and home for no less then eight years. Over 25% of my life has been spent playing characters and running storylines for players there.

Recently, though (okay, not SO recently; more like over the past year), I’ve lost the fire for NYC. There’s a host of reasons that I could get into, but what it came down to is that I was burned out on the setting, and it’s no longer become the place for me. And so, with a somewhat heavy heart, Monday is my last day as a member of the site. I have so many emotions about leaving the place that’s been my online home; mostly, though, it boils down to one thing: relief. I’m relieved that I’m no longer tethered to the place, and my creativity is no longer stunted by the burnout I feel. I feel free to express myself again, and that is, in itself, an amazing feel. And I almost feel guilty for that, somehow.

I know this may not seem like a big thing to most, and is kind of weird that I have so much invested in something like this. It’s kind of hard to explain. Online RP is, to me, like an interactive sort of writing, a collaborative fiction (just with rules and occasional die-rolling). Writing has always been a passion for me, as well as acting; I believe acting is why I got into RP in the first place, way back when I was in grade school. The idea of getting into a character, reacting in-character to the things that the Storyteller/Gamemaster/whatever you want to call the person who runs the game throws at you is like an exercise in improvisational acting for me.

Regardless, that part of my life, at least on NYC, has come to a close. And I reflect back at everything, all the time spent there, and I remember it fondly. It’s funny, how sometimes, even the bad times seem like good ones (and believe me, there were some very bad times). The sepia tint of an aged photograph covers the memories and gives them a nostalgic feel. It’s almost enough to make me want to stay.

Almost. But not enough.

I’m self-aware to know that it’s not the place for me. Not anymore. I will continue to enjoy online RP, I am positive; it will not be at NYC though, I think, for a long time. And that crossroads…is interesting to me.

On the plus side…hey, I have more free time, now. So expect more ramblings from me. :D

I leave you with a quote from my new favorite active show, Heroes. It has no relevance to this post, I just love the quote.

“We dream of hope. We dream of change. Of fire, of love, of death… And then it happens – the dream becomes real.”

–Mohinder Suresh, Heroes 1.23: How to Stop an Exploding Man

No one ever said I had to make sense, after all.

–Jer


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