This just so made me think of Dot ...

http://theglen.livejournal.com/16735.html

It looks like I'll be coming to America twice next year - once with Greg and once for a Con.

It's nice when it's appreciated.

As in:

What I thought he was going to do was less than ten percent as despicable as this...

I imagine most players / lurkers will have registered this by now, but I've set up a community for Time Under Chaos (at timeunderchaos). People are very welcome to join.

We're starting off with polls to choose casting for the Elders in the game, based on the excellent polls and discussions that immlass ran a few weeks back.

arrefmak was asking what's your thing? when it comes to roleplaying characters.

I don't think I have a 'thing' in the sense off a need to play a particular role or be motivated in a certain way.

I do have certain types that I love to play.

1) The kind-hearted ditzy young females who spreads chaos and confusion whereever she goes - Emilia in a game that is no more, and Phoebe in Ill Met in Amber.

2) The witty, urbane, polished male - sometimes an alpha male (Delan Anderon in GalRen and Nickolai Odelenski in a game that is no more), sometimes standing apart from the system as a malcontent (Lucas de St Cyr in House of Cards).

3) The determined woman of action - as good with a gun as she is with the smartass remarks and the wisecracking (Kat Levin in Gal Ren, Patricia)

4) The unusual female villainness - whether the monstrous Maub in aryb, or the sweet-as-can-be Nira Lagoran (Gal Ren) or Celia Hardy (Winter Chills)

5) The obsessed artist (of many kinds) such as the poet Adolphus Finchley ( a Regency game) or Gwalachmai the Welsh dragon (Castle Falkenstein), with his fascination with leather goods to add to his collection; "It has little compartments, look you."

I'd be interested if anyone can see any link between them!

This isn't a post written with any particular irritation or unhappiness, and it's certainly not aimed at any individual or indivduals. It's more a general thought about where I need to focus my energies.

I have a limited amount of time available to post.

I can do game posts.

I can do GM or Mod posts.

I tend to do the latter first - because those tend to represent Problems rather than Fun.

Sometimes they are big problems and will sap my time and energy. Those are bad days.

Sometimes they are small problems, or not even problems but little bits of admin stuff, that need, in effect, for me to say, "Yes, yes, noted." or "Yes, you're subbed now." or "Yes, I've changed your email address." That's fine - all part of the routine.

But it cuts down on my game posting time.

Today has been a day filled with those sort of head nod posts. Some of them have been fun stuff, even. A good friend has had a Very Important Birthday and - as her computer is a rather old Linux machine and she can't really see Flash, I made her an Oxford ecard of her very own that she could see. Something nice to do.

But it does eat up my game posting time.

How to ration things?

Should I allocate a certain amount of time for game posting and a certain amount for Admin? Ot would people feel their needs are being ignored? Should I carry on the way I'm doing? I mean, most of the posts are great, amusing, or express real need. Should I be firmer with people about what I will or will not answer, or have time to answer?

We are coming to the end of Enclaves ...

And I'm awfully sad.

It's been running four years now. I took a break when Dad had his final illness, and gave myself time before it started again, but it picked up energy again with amazing speed.

We still have half the original players: hmace, veazeyae, Tomus and Francesca. We've acquired some great new players over the years: wraith808, my oldest Internet friend and a staunch ally (the games now run on his servers, and he's made all my lovely game wikis), arden_ranger and dirkcjelli. Some players left, others joined later and went too. The story has grown and changed in ways I wasn't expecting, and in other ways had built towards an end that was present in its beginning.

It was the first game I GM'ed all by myself, and it's taught me a few things - which I think have gone into making Winter Chills a stronger game, and which I think will also make the Game That Shall Not Yet Be Mentioned stronger too.

Some have to do with matching GM's needs and players' needs. Others involve timing - Winter Chills is showing me that zoning is a good way forward - that people can be zoned according to how much they want to post. And moved between zones as their schedules change.

One thing - if you let players play NPCs, you do it for a scene. You Do Not Let Players Become Attached the Their NPCs. It's one reason I didn't try to add more players - my own group were determined to play their NPCs to the hilt so, at times, I had double the charcters to post to. That won't happen again.

Above all ... I had the support of my players - not all of the all the time, but enough of a solid core to see me through difficult times. And that means a lot.

I just hope now that I can deliver an ending over the next few weeks that is worthy of you and of the game.

This has come up (arising from the vexed question of how to seve tea properly) on a game list - where it's leading into a discussion of U and non-U usage.

I thought I'd see if people can spot all the details that make the speaker in John Betjeman's marvellous poem so thoroughly nouveau.

I'm sure there's some I'm missing too ...

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Anyone who wants a dragon in one of my games (like the new Game Which Shall Not Yet Be Mentioned) is going to have to have a Naomi Novick style dragon - with rigging.

Bonding, yes. Telepathy, no. Not with your dragon.

And, if you want a big one, a crew.

And if anyone wants to run a Novick dragon game - or is running one, I am so there.

Warning! This part contains an account of the GalRen game at TBR, the facts of which will be emerging within the game. In other words, this post contains spoilers - read it at your peril if you're a GalRen player!

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Be warned - this is a long one!

My first taste of GM-ing came this evening - but there was a whole day to get through first. Back at home, the crucial match between England and Portugal was being played in the World Cup. I'm not a huge football fan but I do take ... an interest.

It was harder getting up this morning. hmace's game had run a little late and at 7am I didn't feel like climbing out of bed, still less heading for the pool.

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And find that Cartoon Cartographer Version 3 is on special offer at DriveThru for under $40.

Like I so need it.

But I got it anyway.

And in my copious (hah!) spare time, I can start to map GalRen, perhaps.

I've just bought the pdfs of Amber and Shadow Knight to help me prepare the rules for the new Amber game.

I think I'm getting excited.

GM: "What's Sky doing?"
Me (insouciantly): "She's downloading her iPod onto Ghostwheel."
GM (not missing a beat): "Got that, got that, that's sh!t, I'll have that."

Which is probably my Quote of the Con.

AmberConUK that is - I also have to write up TBR.

Yes, I'm back - having had a great time at ACUK to top my great time at TBR. Too tired to post tonight, but Con descriptions will follow. All I will say is that I think I've found a great way of resolving the Powers issue for my next game - a system of Partial Powers that I saw demonstrated in a very strong game. kadath - I'll probably be discussing this with you shortly, as a follow on from our chat at TBR. Any other potential players, I'll give you a sneak preview too if you're interested.

Just another one to leave you with ... Simeon, my prissy son-of-Bleys trumps his own louche son, Toby (their first in-game encounter):

< open_trump >"Your grandfather's dead. Sober up and get back here."< /close_trump >



And ... erm ... I thought my weekend was drama-packed.

So ... I have my games:

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Following on from the Shadows of Amber theme ... do my characters have anything in common?

Well, a lot of what I'm doing at the moment is GM-ing. And I HOPE my characters are vivid there (such as Edlyn Martin, Ser Anders Tollet, Flaubon, the Baronne, Amon etc)

The Galactic Renaissance characters - where I mod - occupy a middle ground. I do feel that I *play* them - they don't exist just for players to bounce off. Characters in this category would include Delan Anderon, the incomparable Nira Lagoran and Sasha Matisse.

On the other hand, some of the GalRen characters are basically flat and there as plot devices. They can be as vivid (I hope) as Roderigo Oswestry and his sister Bella Rostay, or as simply sketched as the practical Olivia Greywood.

But characters I play ... (not daily, by the way. Many just once a week).

The main ones are:

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So ... what links these characters?

Some alpha males and - on the other end of the scale - ditsy females. Ditsy females with a streak of practicality. Alpha males with a touch of conscience, with flaws they are aware of.

Some more down-to-earth females.

And, of course, a range of eccentrics - some who are NPCs, and some who are characters, ranging from a dreamy poet and Bella, the "weporter" for Aquila Awake! to the sinister Doctor Hoberty with his prinz nez glinting in the light as he carefully turns over another page in that volume on toxicology that he is so fond of reading.

My quote of the day ...

His voice became low and dark. "You're dying, my poppet. Now, just how you slip into the next world is up to you. Tell me who sent you and why, and I shall give you blessed release. Tell me not, and you will die in such a fashion it will be told across Westros for a thousand years. I will peel your face like an apple and keep it as a coin purse. Am I being in any way unclear in this?"

(Worthy of the Torvald user pic)