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I was talking with some fellow roleplayers as I went to see Narnia the other night, while we waited for the rest of the group to show up. Personally, if I didn't see some value in the organization I would, not being partial to joining formal organizations in the past, simple allow my membership to lapse feeling that I would, hopefully, at least have the friends I've made to show for my time. So, besides the friendships I've made, which I consider to be very important to me, the group has a lot going for it. I've enjoyed my time spent playing games in the Camarilla thus far.
I may have mentioned in the past, though, that not all my friends hold the same view. Besides the fact that they already have gaming groups and a healthy social lives/networks*, one of the things I keep hearing generally revolves around exp. I'm asked how experience is handled and how characters interact (and occasionally about system issues), and I generally inform them that there's an MC system plus a series of long-term characters that have been accumulating experience for a few years. Even my mage character, whos sheet is getting a little dusty in its binder, has a substantial amount of experience sitting on it, and I'm one of the weaker characters in the chronicle.
The amount of exp in the setting is a little hard for the gaming vets to swallow. Now, I'm not really sure it's a bad thing, because honestly, even a tough bugger of a character will go down under a hail of enough bullets/teeth/knives/whatever. Generally, I've seen a lot of that exp go to very reasonable things to flesh out character concepts, which is probably how it should be.
It think it's a perceptual hurdle, though. There are a lot of players who don't distinguish between table top and LARP when it comes to rules, for example, and only a long term role-playing session under an exceptionally generous Storyteller is going to aquire the kind of exp that a Cam larper can expect to see on even a year-old character whose player has moderate MC. The proportions between player characters is totally different, too, because NPCs are harder to field, a lot of the smaller or more peripheral characters (though they should have their chances to shine) are just going to come from newer players.
It's the proportions between newer and older players that create the different play experience when it comes to power, though. Not only is exp granted for MC, but it's also the standard reward for good play, for showing up to events, et al. I don't think I have a problem with it (in a lot of ways, because I haven't seen a lot of negative fallout from this effect, meaning I'm not even sure how profound it is), but it's certainly in the mind of certain savvy prospective members.
So, like I said. I'm not sure if it's a problem, and if it is, what the solution would be. It's just come up a lot when I query people I know about joining, or am asked about the organizations play.
*not the same thing, I know.
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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) arist_one_eye |
| 2008-05-18 00:03 |
| More stranger then stranger |
| Public |
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It kind of stops being funny to appear on Saturday Night Live when you're the last person to do it and you're doing it because all of the other candidates have done it. McCain. It comes across as just lame, like when the bunch of you did the WWE ads. C'mon. C'mon. I want to vote for you because hey, you're supposed to show me why you'd unscrew up this country, not that you're a funny guy. I have Justin Timberlake to be funny - you, you need to make sure we stop looking like jackasses to the rest of the world.
On that note, I'm wicked excited that 4e is coming out soon (within like, three weeks or so) and it's nice to be able to discuss it with people. On the other hand, "old school" roleplayers are still annoying. But that would be further whining myself.
Another typical Saturday here at the Faraci household. We did breakfast, watched Black Beauty (and I didn't cry, I swear!) and then went and did groceries. What's nice is that between the stuff we bought at Target last night, we spent under a hundred dollars on what we actually bought. And to make it even nicer, we bought a lot of stuff that was either organic or good for us in some way. Ana is really getting serious with this, and it's appreciated. The both of us are looking really good (Ana's looking especially so) and it's making us both healthier. And we don't need to be fat twenty somethings now do we? We'd just turn into that stereotype we're always making fun of. Because we're horrible people.
We picked up what turned into lunch from the bbq section of Market Basket, came home, put away the groceries, and ate it. When we finished we started on housework, but first I felt twitchy and sick, and then Ana reported feeling the same way. Not good. She has a sneaking suspicion that the food wasn't good, or undercooked, or something - all I know was that it tasted good going down. Too bad that's what it did to us :(
Mom was gone when we were back and didn't return until Ana was in the kitchen making our dinner, pizza. We got ourselves some asiago cheese to put on top (yum) and Ana made brownies for dessert. While we waited for it to cook, we sat around talking with Mom, hanging out. Then it was back downstairs to watch Eurotrip for what has to be the seventh or eighth (awesome) time while we ate our three cheese pizza, then some Joe Dirt, then some old SNL, then Cheaters, and now..mm. Bed time.
Tomorrow, weekly round up, and Todd's Farm. Tomorrow's plan is to finish off that thing for Mike.
But, good night.
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...practical, anyhow. I discovered that just taking a day off of work flubs things rather badly, because you don't lose a day, you have to make it up. That means since I took one day off, I have to work four in a row, ect. Having one other person to work kind of messes things up like that.
Gaming is today, but it's the day I can't make. Since there arn't any other days this month for gaming, the next game ought to be Requiem on the 6th and Changeling on the 7th. Work interferes with both of those unless the other op calls in sick, unless my schedule changes (it might), and unless I'm not moved to days.
That's a lot of unlesses. My schedule changes about as often as it doesn't. But right now, I'm missing the 6th-8th.
I *am* off Saturday the 27th. That's Mage and Vampire, unless I miss my guess. *If* my schedule holds, I will prioritize that extremely heavily.
One of my problems is that I can get lucky and have lots of games off, or I can get unlucky and have my weekends off never fall on days when I'm not working. It's been the latter a lot, I'll admit, and I'm not keen on it. There's only one other person to ask to work for me, and it always messes things up for future plans, so it takes a lot of work to make that happen. I could try to weasel the 6th in and I might, but because I know I have the 27th off, I'm dubious of doing so. But I'd like to make Cam games again, since I miss playing.
Right now, I work from this evening to Tuesday evening, but I'm free during days.
EDIT: My schedule has changed again, drastically. I'm really not sure what to make of this. After I did all that scheduling work. Stuff like this is why I look for new work.
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| arist_one_eye |
| 2008-05-17 00:31 |
| On a long and cold December.. |
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We're watching this thing right now on the Sexual Revolution. And right now, they're discussing nudists and swingers. It's kind of disturbing to think that this was the stuff that my parents were around. Not saying that my parents participated - god do I not even want to know about such a thing - but that that was their time period. Also, Ana and I have been discussing the effects of the KKK leaving the Cincinnati area, and the rise in crime in her city. Weird thoughts at twelve-thirty in the morning.
To sum up, I got thirty-one files completed today for the week at work. I would have had thirty-two, but the last minute do-this-right-now file that Celine handed over to me at two in the afternoon was still waiting on the report from the malpractice center. Oh well, it's a freebie come Monday. So I've proven to myself that I can do it, even after a so-called 'shitty week'; note to my future self when you go back and read this entry, you can actually do this. You're more than capable of doing it. So as soon as you finish reading this sentence, get back to work. Everyone will thank you for it.
But that put me into a really good mood when I got back to the house. A lot of good stuff happened over the course of that afternoon; I participated in the quiz contest that they did, and ended up with about ten scratch tickets. These scratch tickets ended up paying for a dinner out at Panera tonight; that was wonderful. And yeah, we went out, even though we've been trying to be really good and not spend any money, but we still ended up doing so. Thankfully, our shopping was limited to two stores: Waldenbooks (new PiQ, more Tiny Titans [Ana loves them]) and Target, where we picked up a lot of snacks for the remainder of the weekend and some food to supplement the groceries we'll be picking up sometime this weekend.
Is it scary to think that Memorial Day weekend is so close now? Supposedly we've got the kids, and I'm actually excited. Ana has put in an order for Wii Fit, so we'll have that to amuse ourselves with, and I'm going to see if I can find myself a copy of Keep on the Shadowfell to run for Ray and Ana and possibly, maybe, Will and Jess over the course of the weekend. The trick will be seeing if I can convince Ray to pick up a dnd game again....
Oh yeah. And if you have a Wii but don't have our friend code, you should comment and give it out. We've got a Mii production line here folks!
Thinking about reading through the Exalted books again (feel like I'm missing something, but I'm not - what) oh, and congratulations Aaron! Hope launch goes smoothly and people appreciate what you've done! :)
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| allandaros |
| 2008-05-16 17:50 |
| Chris Matthews...ya done good. |
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This once, Chris, ya done good.
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I don't mention them very often, maybe because they're so low maintenance, but I've become the caretaker for a pair of little girl rats. I love 'em, but lately the Momma Rat seems to have acquired a tumor. I'm told that this isn't uncommon and, in fact, I'm pretty sure that Baby Rat needed an operation for a minor one before Vi and I were able to adopt her. I'm increasingly convinced that they need to see a vet though, because I'm starting to suspect Momma might have another one. There's a vet not too far away, and I'll be trying to set up an appointment probably tomorrow, but until then, I'm a little worried. Honestly, I've never been the pet caretaker, so this kind of thing is a little foreign to me. I'm also a little worried about costs. Rats are tiny, but that won't stop the vet bill from being large.
I called work from Edwardsville to let them know I wouldn't be in today. Of course, I'm having trouble getting the other op to pick up, but that's not really unreasonable considering I woke up really early today to get my day started... at 11 AM. There's a good chance she's just sleeping and'll return my call later this afternoon, but it's not something I want to fool around on. So I called my father to let him know I was ill, and let Boss Jr. know, too.
Ended up renewing my Cam membership despite my irritating hours lately. I've noticed a kind of one good month, one bad month cycle to what weekends I have available right now, which is enough to make me think I can handle showing up fairly regularly. I've made what I'd consider a token effort at least to convince Wormtongue to join as long as games didn't interfere with their normal plans. Vampire has never been their favorite game line, though, and time is a real issue for all of us, so while it's possible it could happen in the future, I don't think I'd be able to expect any more cabal members for poor Atol any time soon. I admit my selfish motives! I require more band members! Also, a second Mage game a month would make my heart pitter-patter, but honestly, it's difficult enough to show up right now. So, I'm making a sad face, neow.
My rats really are adorable. If you've never met them, they're really sweet. So, I hope they're ok, but I'd better stop hanging out with them and get a move on if I want to be timely.
EDIT: Update.
I didn't end up going to the spa party for a few reasons, some lesser ones being that it would have ended up a logistical nightmare. I'm tempted to call tonight to ask how it went, but in the event that it ran long or turned into your default slumber party, I've held off. So let me know how it went! =D
Instead of trying to make it the long way to St. Peter's then, today, I opted into the showing of the Chronicles of Narnia. It was supposed to be an event with a group, because a lot of people showed up for it, even in from St. Louis. Sadly, it was kind of lame. The pre-show get together was supper at a bar where we couldn't hear ourselves talk and the beer was too pricy. We were supposed to head out for drinks after, but the movie was longer then a lot of people figured it would be and most people went home. Specifically, I blame the nightlife scene in the area, since I think the closest good places to hang out in the evenings are in St. Louis or maybe Edwardsville. Otherwise, it's houseparties all the way, but nobody really was offering.
How was the movie? Eh. Some good scenes, but overall it felt really shallow. Maybe it was because I missed the first movie, but I suspect it was mostly because it was a big-budget kids movie with some Christian allegory for good measure. It certainly wasn't a bust of an evening, though, but I'm not sure that I'd skip work for it again.
Turns out that anyone taking a day off anywhere will mess up the schedule a little bit. It was already bad, and now it's moved a little again. I'm going to re-check my next few months on Google calender at work tomorrow and see when I'm good to play. I think I get a few available days, and some that I didn't have before.
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Sitting at Cool Beans working on a couple of projects before heading up North for the weekend...
Are there any "famous" haunted sites where you live?
We have a few detailed in the Wisconsin Road Guide to Haunted Locations.
I'm sure there are some other interesting stories out there.
So, what's yours?
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| atolnon |
| 2008-05-16 01:18 |
| Returning a meme. |
| Public |
| Edwardsville |
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| Super Smash Bros. in the background. |
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Sure, meme, right? ^_^
1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
2) What was your dream growing up?
3) What talent do you wish you had?
4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
5) Favorite vegetable?
6) What was the last book you read?
7) What zodiac sign are you?
8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
9) Worst Habit?
10) If you saw me walking down the street, would you offer me a ride?
11) What is your favorite sport?
12) Do you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude?
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
16) Do you have any pets?
17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
18) What was your first impression of me?
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22) What color eyes do you have?
23) Ever been arrested?
24) White or red wine?
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
27) What's your favorite place to hang at?
28) Do you believe in ghosts?
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30) Do you swear a lot?
31) Biggest pet peeve?
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
35) Do you believe in God?
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
Other feelings to come tomorrow. I'm also nervous, because I have a giant work ethic, but on the other hand, I've been screwed so often by my job that I don't feel I owe them anything. So because my schedule got screwed a while ago, I'm calling off so I can go to something I've had scheduled for months and didn't realize got screwed by my schedule shift. It's just kind of one of those things; I really don't care anymore. Friday is much, much easier then Saturday though, so I picked my Friday date to call off. I'm nervous about that, anxious in general, and a little exhausted. I've been kind of cooped up this weekend.
More later, though. Meme now!
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Last night I missed a journal entry. Sorry about that all. You know it doesn't happen often (well, not when it's the weekend).
Today was a really great day. In fact, I would say that it's such a great day that I think I'll continue to have really great days. Because you know, this feeling is totally worth it. It's great to just realize that you've done a good day's work for once.
Got out of work this afternoon and came home to do the cleaning and the hanging up of clothing. Ana did most of the actual laundry the other day, I was just hanging it all up. There's another load in the dryer right now that will hopefully be done for tomorrow. Ana will be home again tomorrow all day, so whatever I didn't get done today, she'll have done tomorrow.
I picked up Ana at work - hoping that the thunderstorm that looked like it was looming off in the distance would come - and got back to the house around five. Out of the blue, Ana mentioned that she didn't feel like cooking and hey, would you want to go to the Diner for food? I said yes, because hey, how could you not say yes to diner food? I know I couldn't.
So, dinner at the Diner, where Ana revealed that she had Red Sox tickets that the agent she worked for had given us for a game this June. Score. Because of this we discussed plans for the summer; what we were going to do, and what we wanted to see. We're thinking of doing the Aquarium and MFA in Boston, and the Zoo and Aquarium in Cincinnati, if we get the chance to. All of them sound great, and if we do the Aquarium, I can finally take Ana out on a whale watching tour (which I kept insisting was called a "whale hunt tour"; I've lived in new England all of my life, and I'm saying that. Jeeze).
This evening was spent watching the My Little Pony dvd I bought her last week. Yeah yeah, go ahead and get a good giggle on. Ana was a big MLP fan when she was younger, and nostalgia does funny things to all of us. How many of you go to sleep dreaming of Optimus Prime? I rest my case.
(I don't remember who I used to idolize. That's kind of sad)
I like this though. It was a busy and yet productive day at the office, and now I'm all relaxed and ready to saunter over to the bed with Ana to cuddle and eventually go to bed. This is how it should be - just relaxed. No worries. No stressors. Nothing in my head telling me I'm doing it wrong. Go me.
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| flamesrising |
| 2008-05-15 11:35 |
| Climate Change Denial... |
| Public |
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Can someone explain this to me?
I just got a lecture about the "Global Warming Hoax" and how "Gore is a Fraud" from a neighbor.
Where is the hate and misinformation coming from?
People still don't see climate change going on in the world?
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I caught up on One Piece, which seemed impossible.
Same with Girl Genius.
And now I gotta find myself something new to read... anyone got ideas?
Also
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Anyone have recommendations for fiction or film Western Horror?
I have Frontier Cthulhu and I'm wondering what else is available.
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curious
apathetic
worried
accomplished
crushed
drained
pensive