Ravings of a Textual Deviant

Role Call #10 asks

What licensed property would you really like to see make the jump to roleplaying games?

I’d love to play in the universe Philip Pullman created for the His Dark Materialstrilogy. I’d also love to play in Charles de Lint’s Newford, and S. M. Stirling’s Lost Nantucket. I don’t foresee any of them being adapted for roleplaying any time soon (unless I do it myself, which would certainly not be for publication), but it’s a lovely thought.

I am rather surprised that there isn’t a Harry Potter RPG out. I’ve seen a CCG, though.

You know, I really, really didn’t want a second Gulf War. And if we were going to have one, I certainly didn’t want it to happen the way it has. In fact, the only thing I can think of that I want less is a third Gulf War. I’m not feeling especially optimistic, though. Bush has yet to figure out that he can’t run the country like a business–or an empire. I intend to make my point next election day. I’m registered and ready to vote. I hope you are, too.

Update: It just occurred to me to be glad I haven’t got any foreign travel planned in the immediate future. I’d spend all my time apologizing…

Shirley and Margaret find themselves in the middle of the Siberian wilderness, trying to figure out whether they are, from the point of view of the natives, People or Russians. The difference? When given a tea made from a certain hallucinogenic lichen, People throw up, then travel in the spirit world, then pass out. Russians go directly from throwing up to passing out.

Shirley, having had a conversation with a duck, has passed out. Fortunately, the duck is reasonably certain that Shirley is People, and his word counts for something in those parts.

Upon reflection, Doug’s influence on me is entirely too evident in the conversation with the duck.
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Freedom fries are ridiculous. This is sublime.

This seems to be getting a lot of traffic on my other website, so I thought I’d repost it here, where it’s searchable.
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One of the cool things about living in Indiana is that you get to see all four seasons. Sometimes all in the same week. This weekend was definitely spring, and you might almost mistake today for early summer.

Game Wish #38 asks

Do you (or your GM) ?play favourites?? Do you feel you have to justify your answer? Do you have a horror story to share?

Alas, I do play favorites. It’s not nice, and it’s not fair; I know that. The only way I can justify it is to explain exactly how it is I play favorites. The people are are most “into” a game get the best plot. If you have an interesting character concept and make it work, if you do a lot of writing, or if you take the initiative, you get more attention in game. You may not get more goodies, but you have more opportunities to get experience. I suppose the flip side of this is that the players themselves have a lot of control over who my favorites are. Feeling marginalized? Do something interesting–make me notice your character! I like to think that this is good favoritism, precisely because the players can “train” me to respond to their characters more. Of course, I’m sure that I’m biased in that regard.

I’ve had more than one experience with bad favoritism, which is what often happens when real-life relationships bleed over into the game. I actually quit playing with a group for a while because I felt as though my character (and to be fair, most of the party) was only supporting cast for the GM’s spouse’s character. I don’t want to go into details, because the situation is basically resolved, and I game with the same people now. At the time, though, it was quite a relief to leave the group. The games just weren’t fun anymore; they were alternately boring an frustrating.

We’re warmer than Toronto and my favorite Antarctic Meteorological Station today. Woo-hoo!

I put 99.7 miles on my car yesterday, and hit three out of four compass points on I-465 (the loop around Indy), not to mention downtown.

But I got a lot done–the walkthrough on Kathy’s apartment, T’s sewing lesson, got to the fabric store, and finished the baby blanket. The baby blanket has been duly delivered (that was easy–the recipient is a coworker).

I find myself disappointed yet relieved that Doug’s game was cancelled tonight. I’m sure I can find something else to do.

So, I am trying to figure out where my non-working, non-gaming, non-sleeping time goes. Here’s what I’ve got so far–

1. Housework. I’m doing all of it. Ed doesn’t cook, clean, or launder. This is partly because he’s not motivated and partly because he simply doesn’t see what needs to be done because it isn’t food or dangerous. Or moving. I’m a little unclear on that, but you get the picture. He does do the outdoor work, mowing the lawn and such, but I often find myself helping with that as well. He’s been sick on and off all winter, so I ended up doing most of the snow-shoveling–which, I might add, is unpleasantly like exercise. I also run all the household errands, which counts as housework, but involves travel time, standing-in-line-time, and occasionally dealing-with-idiots-time as well. Ed procrastinates a lot better than I do, which is definitely an unfair advantage.

2. The Lab. This is completely voluntary on my part, but that doesn’t make it any less time-consuming. In addition to the three weekly meetings/work sessions, I often find myself doing other tasks for the lab when I’m at home, such as catch-up reading, document work, database work, etc.

3. Other projects. This is an ever-growing list, and unfortunately, several of them are turning out to be long-term or ongoing. Right now, the list includes helping Alisa edit her cookbook (long idle, both our faults); helping Lolly write scripts for her radio program (in fits and starts, mostly fits), building a digital portfolio for my-cousin-the-ceramicist (long overdue), helping Kathy move out of her apartment (nearly done; the apartment walkthrough is today) while she is living in Philadelphia, or maybe Baton Rouge now (her job gets her moved around a lot); working on a quilt for one friend (originally intended to be a wedding present, now I am shooting for *cough*th anniversary); working on a baby blanket for a friend who’s due in May; and trying to rehab, rescue, and resuscitate some of my old clothes that I don’t want to get rid of, or maybe even make some new ones.

My latest project hasn’t started yet. My mother teaches for one of the schools run by a local ballet company, Ballet Internationale. BI doesn’t have a database for the students in their classes, so my mother suggested that they get one, and she knew just the person to do it. Guess who. Now, I’m not going to argue that it’s a bad idea, or that they don’t need a database, and I don’t mind doing it, especially because it’s paying work. After all, I do need something to keep me busy in my copious free time. However, I would have liked to have known about it before BI did.

I’d go on, but for some reason, I haven’t the time.