So, I went to the Student Nationals...
...and it was AWESOME.
The longer version is behind the .
As some of you may know, I've not been home for nearly a month. Here's what happened. After the Unicorns Event I followed Anthony and Lauren home (thanks Ki! You're awesome!) intending to stay for a week or two then make my way back to Sheffield in plenty of time to procrastinate about getting ready for the Moot.
What ACTUALLY happened was sometime in week 2 it was mentioned that the Nationals were shy a GM. (For those who don't know, the Student Nationals is a competitive gaming con which takes place in a different place every year, hosted by the university which fielded the previous year's winning team.) I volunteered, and somehow put together a homebaked game suitable for the format: 6 hours, to be basically repeatable for a second group the next day, for up to 6 players each time. I was running under the general category of "humour" which in itself makes things feel a little harder, if only because everyone has a different definition of humour. Though it says a lot that of 3 GMs in the category, 2 if not all 3 are Amber players/runners normally.
Friday was signing in, picking up t-shirts, helping a bit with organisy stuff, then being keen and sociable over silly card games and "it comes in pints" of Relentless. Yes, the Herriot Watt union bar has Relentless on draft. Awesomeness the First. By the time we got round to about 10 or 11 I'd defected up to Ruth & James's room for mead and cocktails and general Event Social Night debauchery and shenannigans. I think we left around 3, got back to the flat just before 4, and got 3 hours sleep before having to get up and come in (by cab since we were running late) for day 1 of official gaming. More Awesomness ensued. My Saturday group were AWESOME.
At this point I could go on for several more pages. The minor downsides were: I lost my voice by the end of it, so Sapphire is going to be interesting next weekend. Also, general joint issues meant Saturday night and most of Sunday was a little painful. But it was still ALL AWESOME.
I now have 3 days to do laundry and pack for the Moot, for which I have a lift going up on Thursday since I can't garuntee I'll be able to do everything I need to get the car going inside 3 days. But I'll be on my own wheels for the GEF hopefully.
Also, I will have a batch of (admittedly slightly sub-par, as I used own-brand rum, a mistake I'll not make again) spiced rum with me at the Moot. If you've missed out on the last 2 batches (GEF and Big G last year) find me on Thursday, I'll likely be around from fairly early in the afternoon.
And finally, I have a teddy from the Build-a-Bear Workshop, which may also come to the moot as he's suitably brightly coloured to belong to Saph.
The longer version is behind the .
As some of you may know, I've not been home for nearly a month. Here's what happened. After the Unicorns Event I followed Anthony and Lauren home (thanks Ki! You're awesome!) intending to stay for a week or two then make my way back to Sheffield in plenty of time to procrastinate about getting ready for the Moot.
What ACTUALLY happened was sometime in week 2 it was mentioned that the Nationals were shy a GM. (For those who don't know, the Student Nationals is a competitive gaming con which takes place in a different place every year, hosted by the university which fielded the previous year's winning team.) I volunteered, and somehow put together a homebaked game suitable for the format: 6 hours, to be basically repeatable for a second group the next day, for up to 6 players each time. I was running under the general category of "humour" which in itself makes things feel a little harder, if only because everyone has a different definition of humour. Though it says a lot that of 3 GMs in the category, 2 if not all 3 are Amber players/runners normally.
Friday was signing in, picking up t-shirts, helping a bit with organisy stuff, then being keen and sociable over silly card games and "it comes in pints" of Relentless. Yes, the Herriot Watt union bar has Relentless on draft. Awesomeness the First. By the time we got round to about 10 or 11 I'd defected up to Ruth & James's room for mead and cocktails and general Event Social Night debauchery and shenannigans. I think we left around 3, got back to the flat just before 4, and got 3 hours sleep before having to get up and come in (by cab since we were running late) for day 1 of official gaming. More Awesomness ensued. My Saturday group were AWESOME.
At this point I could go on for several more pages. The minor downsides were: I lost my voice by the end of it, so Sapphire is going to be interesting next weekend. Also, general joint issues meant Saturday night and most of Sunday was a little painful. But it was still ALL AWESOME.
I now have 3 days to do laundry and pack for the Moot, for which I have a lift going up on Thursday since I can't garuntee I'll be able to do everything I need to get the car going inside 3 days. But I'll be on my own wheels for the GEF hopefully.
Also, I will have a batch of (admittedly slightly sub-par, as I used own-brand rum, a mistake I'll not make again) spiced rum with me at the Moot. If you've missed out on the last 2 batches (GEF and Big G last year) find me on Thursday, I'll likely be around from fairly early in the afternoon.
And finally, I have a teddy from the Build-a-Bear Workshop, which may also come to the moot as he's suitably brightly coloured to belong to Saph.