[Random Chatter] Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever played an RPG?

There’s one thing that any true, hardcore gamer can admit to: being able to sit down anywhere, at any time, and roll some dice.  I’ve played in some interesting places in my time, including beachfronts and shopping malls. But, the strangest place I’ve ever gamed in has to be an experimental university farm, surrounded by mutant fish (perfect for that Cthulhu mythos inspired horror game) and mooing bovine (suspected to be of the Diablo II hell variety).

So, where’s the strangest place you’ve ever rolled some dice?

- jatori

[Zombie Tuesday] When zombies attack

Welcome to my zombie Tuesday post : When zombies attack or rather Lessons learned from film and tv I look at scary movies as really expensive service announcements as what not to do in those situations, so here follows zombie survival tips gather from movies.

The number one zombie survival tip to follow:

• When you find all those other plucky people hoping to survive the attacks always make sure that you can outrun at least one of the gang. It really doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you’re faster than Jane over there.
  • And remember you never, ever go back for that slow poke.

The other lessons and tips you can pick up from those costly tv and film mistakes are:

• Don’t trust your neighbours. Sure you think it’s a safe little community, but don’t be dumb and leave your doors unlocked so that the kid next door – now a zombie – can just wander in and attack you and your significant other.
• When the kid bites your loved one, locking yourself in the bathroom and crying is just dumb, especially if you have tiny windows and might not get out. Grab the car keys and get out of there.
• Don’t drive to work or the centre of town, get out-of-town avoiding the main roads…don’t forget to keep the radio on.
  • Don’t forget to keep a cricket bat or hockey sticky in the boot.
  • Don’t take your beloved dog with you, it’ll only get you killed later….same for anyone faster than you.
• When you find other survivors, scope out the slowest one and make him/her your best friend.
• Don’t camp out in a mall/bank/pub, that’s just dumb.
  • Pick up supplies and just keep on moving. Staying put in a mall or bank or any other big building that you all think you can defend, will be your downfall.

And lastly chainsaws are your friend.

-pb

[Confession Friday] Back to the 90s – Gamebooks

I only got a chance to experience true pen and paper role playing in late 2001 / early 2002. I remember that first game quite well: it was a Dungeons ampersand Dragons 3rd edition game and I played a half-elf cleric, named Kaleb, of Fharlanghn (that’s where my still-ongoing love of the travel domain started). I met the GM on the day before the game (to get the backstory right, roll my character etc.) and, during the process, he commented on how I seemed to know a lot about the system (and role playing as a whole) for a complete newb. Thinking back on that moment, I realised that, though I didn’t do any ‘real’ (and I use real surrounded by a ‘ and a ‘) role playing during the 90s, I got involved with numerous hobbies and activities that, shall I say, prepped me for pen and paper RPGs. I hope to use these Confession Friday articles (meme started by PB and the Stargazer) to examine some of the activities and how they primed me for RPing.

My extended family is extremely large and I had the (mis)fortune to be the middle child of the whole clan. OK, not really, but I didn’t often get a chance to hang with the cousins closest to my age. So, family gatherings had me either hanging with cousins either 5+ years younger or 5+ years older than I. It was thanks to one older cousin, in particular, that I discovered such things as comics, 8-bit Nintendo games, Magic: the Gathering and… gamebooks. Remember those? They were kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure, but also included elements of dice-based randomness. They fell somewhere between CYOA and true role playing games. I bought a tonne of them and spent hours reading and rereading my and my cousin’s collections. I was originally going to entitle this post: “I singlehandedly provided Steve Jackson with enough revenue to develop Munchkin“, but then, while doing some fact checking,  I discovered that there were actually two Steven Jacksons involved in gamebooks (imagine that!). Turns out, I bought more non-SJ Games Steve gamebooks than SJ Games Steve gamebooks. So that explains the unimaginative post title.

The Blood Sword series was (and is) my favourite gamebook series of all time (and it probably had the biggest influence on my developing geekling personality). This series, unlike all the others I tried, allowed for co-operative multiplayer games. I remember sneaking my cousin’s books to school and getting a group of friends together during breaks. We’d take turns reading aloud from the books and ended up playing through the entire series. As I type this, PB is shoulder surfing and calling me a nerd. Well, at least I’m not married to a nerd.

- jatori

Confession Friday: PB

Stargazer had this up, I thought it was pretty awesome and having convinced the gang we need to do it, welcome to Confession Friday.

It all started one bright and not so distant tuesday, it was the day jatori and I started going out. Yes, lame, but seriously this is my story :p I did what any girl does when she starts going out with someone, investigate the hobbies. So after a few sunday afternoons of watching the gang hacking and slashing, came the q of  “Why don’t you play?” Co-incidentally they needed a ranged person, and thus began my fascination with Rangers, or was it cos Orlando Bloom was soo hot? * I rolled up my kick-ass elf, with the help of let’s see: jatori, foo, zen, l,e and g. Admittedly she wasn’t that cool the first session, but then my rolling got better and after a couple of frags I was hooked.

At this point I was a bright eyed 19 year old, and all I knew about gaming was The Sims. Sad, but true. So this new world opening up to me was pretty awesome. Rpging was my gateway into MtG, anime, Civilisation and more Sims The fantasy environment wasn’t all that unfamiliar, after all I am a bit of a book nerd and I’ve read Prattchet When I started playing my family and non gaming friends couldn’t understand it, at all, in fact they still don’t and it was all attributed to this strange boy introducing me to strange people and things. When I picked up MtG it was bad, I had to hide my beautiful, shiny Magic cards from my mother, actually she still doesn’t know about them. Yes, my mother is one of those hyper religious types, who think that the hobby is all bad.

Anyways back to the rpging. For the first year of playing I did the typical noob thing, playing the same race and class, pretty much the same character all the time. But then I saw that Healers could have unicorns and the experimentation began. I still played an elf,  only she was a Healer this time, but she couldn’t kick ass, so she had a sister who was a Ranger/Healer who came looking for her and joined the group.  Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever played a human in DnD; elves, halflings sure, but humans no way.  But I digress…the experimentation phase, ok so the unicorn thing isn’t really over, it’s just I could never manage to build a character that could have one and kick-ass in a fight, and boy do I love killing things.  I just remembered I had a pegasus once, she was awesome, until foo squished her

There is more to the tale, but this is turning into a long post. If you want to know more, drop a comment and we’ll see what happens.

-pb

*Yip I started playing the year the LOTR movies were all the craze.

Colour me a fangirl

I really enjoy watching The Guild. We pretty much watched the first season in one sitting, not that it’s hard to do, but you get my point. So it doesn’t surprise me that “Do you wanna date my avatar” is now stuck in my head, or that I’ve bombarded friends with the link and finally got them to watch the show. If you haven’t seen it…. watch it now

-pb

[Report] Progress; Query; Edition/Play-Style Wars; Blogging Pipeline

I don’t think I’ve ever tried this before: I’ve seen several of my favourite blogs pose the following question recently:

What do you like about the blog? What don’t you like? What type of content would you prefer?

I tend to ask the above questions on a small scale, when looking for direction on one particular topic, but gauging by the average response rate on other blogs to these questions, I think it may be a good idea to ask my readership the same questions.

So, what do you like/dislike about tenletter? Is there some specific topic you’d like me (or one of the authors) to approach?

I don’t intend to write anything about the ongoing edition/system or play-style/school wars. We are all evolved beings, that are all above such petty bickering.

In other news, my company confirmed, should the client be continuing with the current project (given the still volatile nature of the world’s economies), I will be returning to the EU in time for SPIEL, with PB in tow.

Finally, let’s see what I managed to complete since last month’s pipeline, what’s getting discarded and what’s still to come:

• Travel:
  • Gaming/Shopping in Cape Town, South Africa
  • Gaming/Shopping in Durban, South Africa
  • Gaming in Utrecht, the Netherlands
  • Shopping in Utrecht, the Netherlands (Complete)
  • Shopping in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Complete)
• Board/Card Game Reviews: I’ll be reviewing the following games in the near future:
  • Last Night on Earth
  • Fluxx (the Monty Python edition) (Discarded)
  • Runebound 2nd Edition
• Gaming Reports:
  • My first forays into Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures tournament play.
  • Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day (Monster Manual 2) in Utrecht. (Complete with some extra)
  • Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day (Monster Manual 2) in Cape Town. (Discarded)
• Miscellaneous:
  • My pet 3.X monk project. (Ongoing)
  • Growing Pleasantdale into a full campaign setting.
• Possibly Pretentious:
  • An examination of race, racism and racialism in RPGs.

- jatori

[Travel] The prostitutes aren’t the only stuff you can’t photograph in Amsterdam. And other stories of geek gear shopping in NL.

I didn’t get as much time to cruise around Amsterdam (like I did in Utrecht), so I didn’t get to find/visit all of it’s geek/comic/gaming stores. Actually, I just managed to make it to three of them, since the stores aren’t as clustered together as in Utrecht.

Henk Lie’s Comics and Manga Store

Henk Lie’s Comics and Manga Store is a relatively small, yet well stocked shop, located delightfully close to the Red Light District. Numerous ecchi figurines greet you pleasantly as you enter. The store is literally stuffed with comics, figurines, action figures, t-shirts and posters.

Vandal Com-X

Vandal Com-X stocks a range of comics, graphic novels, t-shirts, figurines and statues, and a few trading card games. Being bigger than Henk, it was far easier to peruse through the stock. However, perhaps because of the greater floor space, it just felt like there was less to see in the store. Hmm, not sure.

A Space Oddity

A Space Oddity specialises in TV and movie memorabilia and is packed with childhood memories.  On the day I went to get a few photos of the store, I actually got a bit of a scolding for attempting to take a picture of a Captain Planet action figure (that comes complete with a Planeteer ring for you!) from the store owner. Normally, this behaviour would see me storming out of the store and straight on to Hello Peter (passive aggressive, yay) , but my traveling companion of the day was more tolerant and after a short chat, everything was OK again (still no Captain Planet photo though). This could have all been avoided with some nice, clearly visible ‘no photo’ signage. </rant>

Other than this minor unpleasant encounter, the store is absolutely brilliant (take a look at the virtual tour on the site, linked above).

Oh wait, there was one more thing: There are several lines of figurines (especially anime and manga ones) that are sold in closed packs, contents randomly selected. A Space Oddity neatly opens these boxes before placing them on the shelf and marks each box with details of its contents. I like this, but there may be some purests out there that wouldn’t.

- jatori

[Travel] Did you know that the Dutch call him Koethulhu? And other stories of geek stores in Utrecht.

As some of you may know, I’ve been working in Amsterdam and staying in Utrecht, the Netherlands, for the last three months and have been able to explore the local gaming/geek scene. So, as is my habit, today, I present a list of what I discovered (Utrecht edition).

Just a note before we begin: most of the people I’ve met here have no problems with English. Though my knowledge of Afrikaans did help a lot, even the most monolingual of English-speakers should get on just fine in Utrecht.

Interestingly, my daily walk to and from Utrecht Central Station took me by all of the below-listed stores, each threatening to eat up my per diem and leave me living off tap-water and air. I’m still unsure if I’ll have enough space in my luggage for all the loot.

Whoops

Even though this store is the closest to Utrecht Central Station, it’s a bit off the busier pedestrian routes and I discovered it quite accidentaly (a pleasant accident, though) due to my weird city/street plan fetish and explorative nature.

The store is quite small (the smallest of them all), focusing primarily on manga, comics and graphic novels, table top wargames and trading card games. Entering the store pulls quite pleasantly on any otaku heart strings you may have. Unfortunately, my current interests focus more on board games and role playing games, so I probably didn’t spend as much time as I should have at Whoops, and thus can’t quite give it a proper write-up.

Next time I’m in NL, I’ll get PB to review Whoops and its piles of yaoi.

Unlike Whoops, the rest of the shops are located along the Oudegracht/Vismarkt just south of De Dom, all clustered nicely together.

The Joker

The Joker is actually two stores. I was not very impressed with the main store, which focuses almost exclusively on board games and trading card games. Maybe if I was still into the Magic scene…

I, however, did fall in love with the secondary store. Only two doors down from the primary store, the second Joker store acts as a second-hand board game store, providing a great opportunity to pick up those now-out-of-print games.

Piet Snot

I love the name of this store. Piet Snot is a comic book store (not much for gamers here), and probably has the best supply of t-shirt and TV/movie memorabilia.

Labyrinth

Labyrinth isn’t the easiest store to spot (in fact, I walked straight by it twice while looking for it), but, once inside, you’ll find quite a large store, with an upstairs gaming area. The store stocks board games, card games, a small role playing section, an impressive collection of LARP gear, puppets and books (both Dutch and English). The staff are friendly and I had my very first all-Dutch conversation about zombies here.

Blunder

Blunder is a three-level comic store. The below-street level houses the manga and American comics and graphic novels. The ground and upper floor holds all the European comics/graphic novels and figurines. I am seriously considering buying the Asterix chess set… it’s just about 4 days worth of food.

Never Never Land

Never Never Land has a large board game selection (there’s a small RPG and minis/wargames section towards the back.) The owners of the store keep their personal, not-for-sale games on the tops of the shelves. Amongst this collection, I spotted Betrayal at the House on the Hill. It’s one of my favourite games in my collection and f00 has always wanted his own copy. Since it’s out of print, it’s kinda hard to come by and , unfortunately, I failed my diplomacy check and couldn’t convince the owners to part with the game.  ;_; Hmm, maybe if I challenge them to a game of Agricola…

Strip & Lectuurshop

Situated just above Subcultures (in fact, there’s an inside stairwell that links the two stores), Strip & Lectuurshop is a comic book store, boasting a large collection.

Subcultures

Subcultures is my favourite store of the lot. I spent WWDDGD 2009 #1 and #2 here. The staff are friendly (offering free coffee) and the store is well stocked, carrying RPGs, board games, war games, LARP gear and, most importantly, a NERF armoury. The store is at canal level, so you’ll need to keep your eyes open.

That’s it for the stores. Next time, I’ll talk about where to go to find a game.

- jatori

[Report] Monty Python; Twitter; Travel; Blogging Pipeline

Firstly, a big thanks to Uncle Bear for including me in his list of 101 RPG geeks you should follow on twitter. Be sure to check out the complete list.

And now for something completely different (sorry, I had too much Monty Python this weekend):

I find that occasionally writing out a blogging pipeline helps me focus my thoughts, combat writer’s block and sometimes even generates a little conversation too. Here’s what you can expect from me over the next few weeks:

• Travel: My series on geek-orientated travel began with my report on geek-orientated shopping in Toronto, Canada. I intend to take this series further with:
  • Gaming/Shopping in Cape Town, South Africa
  • Gaming/Shopping in Durban, South Africa
  • Gaming/Shopping in Utrecht, the Netherlands
  • Shopping in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (this one’s a little less likely to happen)
  • And, keep your fingers, toes and pseudopods crossed for this one: If all goes according to plan, both PB and I shall be attending SPIEL 2009, in Essen, Germany, in October. This is not guaranteed yet and may require a significant amount of sucking up to the boss, but I’m really hoping that this one materializes. Psi-hugs of support would be appreciated.
• Board/Card Game Reviews: I’ll be reviewing the following games in the near future:
  • Last Night on Earth
  • Fluxx (the Monty Python edition)
  • Runebound 2nd Edition
• Gaming Reports:
  • My first forays into Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures tournament play (it gave me the chance to dust off my DCI card).
  • Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day (Monster Manual 2) in Utrecht.
  • Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day (Monster Manual 2) in Cape Town.
• Miscellaneous:
  • My pet 3.X monk project.

- jatori

live long and prosper