Do I not know Fate as well as I thought?

Wow, I really need to read more of Fate.

Especially since the game we are making is using the system. This is what happens when you haven’t really gamed in a while and realize that you must play the game to really understand it.

I played the Dresden Files rpg over the weekend. It isn’t that I forgot EVERYTHING. But I did forget enough for it to bother me. I need to know this system, inside and out. I may know 90% of it, but then 10% showed up this weekend and that is not acceptable.

I have to start taking this more seriously. I own four fate games. DFRPG, SotC, Bulldogs, and Diaspora. My plan is to start playing these games more via in person, or google+ hangout. At some point I would really like to get a good tablet, so I can use the pdf’s instead of the books. But that day is not today.

So, here I am. Upset about not being able to remember magical rules and realizing that I need to know the system better. Every bit of it.

Just found the whole thing embarrassing. No one else knew it at the time, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I need to get off my ass and start doing real work on this.

Otherwise it is just yet another in a long line of things that I want to accomplish, but don’t.

Time to get to work.

Gaming...yesterday

So, I was lucky enough to get to meet some cool new people and did some gaming yesterday. It was a Dresden Files game I played in….a few months ago. I dropped off the face of the world for a while and have not been back to the game since then.

Yeah, I was an ass for a while. I get it.

So, anyways. I have been talking about the awesome of Google+ for a while, and a few of the people that were at the game are people I chat with on there. Getting to meet people in real life can be so very cool.

So we went to their house, and they did a great job of being hosts. Wow, their house was massive. They had a room at the top where it was for nothing but gaming. Awesome.

Ok, the games.

The games we played were:

Hillfolk

The Dresden Files Rpg

Fiasco

We started with Hillfolk. This game was created by Robin Laws, whom has made other games I enjoy, such as Trail of Cthulhu.

Basically, you are a tribe, and each person plays a role. Our game had a matriarch, storyteller, high priest, raid leader (me), and a scout.  You then created relationships with each other and used a pretty simple card mechanic to resolve any issues you had.

I have not played a ton of diceless games, but this was fun and makes me wish I had backed the kickstarter when it came out. It is nothing but roleplaying and that is what I enjoyed about it. My character was the raid leader that wanted to get respect from the matriarch (his ex-lover). It was an up and down thing as the people lost faith in my ability to effective raid and ended pretty much the same way. There was a high moment, but it came crashing back down at the end.

Game 2 was The Dresden Files rpg. Boy do I love this game. But my character has not played in the game for so long, I felt like a minor character last night. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun, but it is what I get for not being there so long.

Speaking of which. Anyone that has ever played this game knows it is a game where you are lucky to even survive.  Yet, the entire game went without anyone even getting attacked.

What the hell?

That doesn't mean it wasn't interesting. There was a bit too much of people explaining what happened in the past games (so some of us could get caught up). This did go on for a bit, but mostly it was a rolepaying night where the players were heading to a supernatural summit, where a group known as the Thunderbirds were trying to consolidate power (along with a few other supernatural groups). In the end, disaster was averted by an apology that was made to the Thunderbirds. They had held on to a grudge for years and were willing to try to destroy a good portion of North America due to this. It was a cool thing to see at the end. An apology that saves the day.

The only real bad thing about it and this is not anyone’s fault. There were too many players at the table. Seven to be exact. That is just too many people for a GM to have to keep up with. So, the game did quite a bit of lagging. Please don’t think I am saying the GM did a bad job, cuz that is not what I am saying. But that is too many people to have any flow for a game. Minor quibble.

My best part was the end where I had to talk to the Winter Court about why I did not successfully do something and instead another player got kidnapped and I was told I have to kill one of the medium gruffs. Basically the one Harry had such a hard time killing at the bus terminal in Small Favor.

I am screwed.

The last game was Fiasco. OH MY GOD. This game was sooooooooo much fun. If you have never played this game. GO NOW. Seriously. GO. I will wait here, it is awesome.

The scenario (which was actually created by one of our host) was of fairytale creatures stuck in human bodies. You then create relationships (with the people to your left and right), objects, locations, and needs for example.

So mine were. To my left I had a relationship with a deputy. He was a bad witch, and I was a good one. We both had the need to get rich with the Midas touch.

To my right. Oh lord, did we have fun with this. We were brogres (yes, ogres that are bro’s) Fistpump! We kind of ran the fistpump thing into the dirt, but it never got old. Especially the time when we both went over to the fairy world and had the world’s most awesome slow motion fistpump. It was a magical moment for both of us. Truly.

But there was also Beauty (belle) and the beast. Gaston, the world’s most obnoxious and awful Sherriff, whom happened to be my father, and the before mentioned deputy that was also a bad witch.

Yes, it is even more ridiculous than I can actually convey here.

But there was betrayal, sex, attempted murder made with a gun that had only three bullets, and even more accidental gunshot wounds, fistpumping…LOTS AND LOTS of fistpumping, really awful police work, guidance counseling, more betrayal, Facebook (not real in the game) of the brogre’s talking about Gaston running someone over with his car, and the bad witch casting a spell that gave him the midas touch and who would have thought that could end up bad?

Oh and Gaston? Shot. Brain Damage. Coma. Stuck in the fairyworld for a while, but due the mechanics of the game (which I don’t’ 100% get yet so I am not going to try to explain) somehow managed to end up as the only character that had a “good” ending. My brogre and I? Had a Thelma and Louise moment of running from the state police and driving off a cliff. We did survive, but still. J

This was a really good day. Great games. Great people. It was awesome.              

Things I am thankful for...the Thanksgiving edition

This is what I am thankful for today. 

• That I have damn good friends that gave me a place to stay in Pittsburgh. A chance to start over when my life was looking pretty god damn bleak. What they did is something I can never repay, but can only hope I can be there for them if they ever need anything.
• That I have friends back in New York that also gave me a place to stay. Also gave me money to stay in a hostel, instead of having to find a shelter. Not to mention my friend Henry has always been there to thump me in the head when I started acting the idiot.
• I am just thankful in general that that the people I can call friends are there for me. Even if I am too stubborn to ask for it.
• I am thankful for being in reasonably good health. I do need to lost some weight and get back into a gym. But all in all, I am healthy.
• I am thankful to be employed. I have no idea for how long, but I did not work for so long that it became a part of me for a while and that was hard to shake off.
• I am thankful for my family, although they deserve better than what I give them.
• I am thankful for my love of reading. It has always been there like a friend, and has helped me when things were darkest.
• I am thankful I got to witness two of the friends I mentioned above get married a few months ago in New York City. They are amazing together and I am so damn happy for them. It was a beautiful ceremony and I am just glad I could be there.
• I am thankful for the relationships I have made (and continue to make) on Google+. There are some great people on there and meeting people as geeky as I am is just awesome.
• I am thankful for the lessons I continue to learn as I grow older. Trying to be a better man and being able to look to the future.
• I am thankful for my brother Mike. He died almost a year ago of Cancer. But he taught me what it means to be a good man. He is the best man I have ever known and I can only try to be a little more like him each day.

 Lastly, I am thankful for whatever my future will be. The new people, the new challenges, the new loves (one can only hope), and the new memories.         

My dungeons and dragons hypocrisy...

So a good friend of mine has decided he wants to run a 2^nd edition Dungeons and Dragons game. I said I was interested in play. If anyone has followed me at all the last few years they know how I feel about D&D at this point. For those of you that do not know, let me explain.

The very first game I ever played (way back in 1991), was D&D. Except for the first encounter where I died and nearly quit the game forever (a story for a different day), I became hooked. It was not the easiest game to learn, but I got the hang of the rules and such and enjoyed myself.

It became a gateway for other games as well. Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, and Champions to name a few.

But over the years something happened.

I got burned out of the game. Our gaming group played it pretty consistently for a few years and I just lost all the desire to play the game at all. We used 2^nd edition, which was the game I started playing back in the day. We then decided to go to 3.5, which is where my disconnect began. I have never liked any other version other than 2^nd edition, and that has not changed to this day. I especially have no interest in 4^th edition, or the 5^th that is coming out.

But I also began to have an irrational anger toward the game. This was right when I started playing indie games such as Spirit of the Century, Dog’s in the Vineyard and the like. I was fascinated by the newer games coming out that seemed (at least to me) be more about the story and less about the fighting.

So, for years I have argued against playing the game and focused on the indie games I love. If someone brought it up in conversation, I would voice my displeasure and move on.

That brings us to today. My friend never even thought of asking me if I would want to play…for obvious reasons. We were together last night with a few other people and it came up and I said I would like to play. He seemed shocked, especially since I think I had even made a comment out D&D earlier.

I am such a hypocrite. But I also just want to game and the 2^nd edition D&D is one that I know and can at least enjoy.

I even find myself oddly looking forward to it. Now I am off to amazon to find me a 2^nd edition players handbook!

Games I am reading...

So, not much has been happening lately. I am building up momentum to start game design again. But in the mean time, I am currently reading the following games:

Call of Cthulhu
Diaspora
The Mistborn rpg
The One Ring
Our Last Best Hope
Trail of Cthulhu

Some of these I have read, but most of them I have not. I am always looking for a new game to play, and there is so much out there I have not even touched as of yet. I still plan on trying to play in some games using Google+ hangout feature. I love what they have done with that, and there is so much more they can do in the future.

I am still going to read all of the fate games I own (which is now 4) and try to get the ones I do not own. It is good to read everything about the system I plan on making a game from.