El Mental Chaos, volume 72.
It's been sort of a mental chaos sort of week. (It generally is.) Break it down, then.
Project Kegeros: I got the CO2 tank hooked up to the kegs and the kegs hooked up to the tap. The CO2 regulator was showing less CO2, which could mean I have a leak in the system, or could mean that the CO2 changed pressure due to the cold. I think that's a thing, right? Or maybe both. In any case, that's a fairly easy fix. Everything else appears to be working as intended, at the moment.
Team Rocket: This may be the most character-driven game I've ever run. The players spent a lot of time dealing with stuff from last session and setting themselves up for the next one. And eating waffles. Because of this, I already have some material for the next game, though...
Music: Been listening to the radio more. Also I've been listening to the Ragnarok II soundtrack, which is by Yoko Kanno and as excellent as everything else she's done. Also the soundtrack from Deadly Premonition, which has some rough/weird songs, but also some really good and atmospheric ones. And I've been re-visiting certain Silent Hill tracks because, well, I like Silent Hill music.
TV: I haven't really been watching any. I started on the second episode of Twin Peaks. At this rate I will finish the show in another 3 or 4 years. I was thinking of watching some Supernatural or something similar for a lighter tone. Jill's TV poison of choice is HIMYM.
Podcasts: Mostly been listening to Caustic Soda while doing other stuff. Have learned a grab bag of facts about an odd selection of topics.
General realizations: I realized (remembered?) part of the reason I identify so strongly with certain schools of fiction is that I really like the idea of having some background (in my mind) fantasy element to explore while going about day to day business. Because I easily get bored with day to day business. But if I'm going to the store to get the things for a medieval feast... or an exotic stir-fry.. or whatever, it helps keep me more interested. (In other words, I can still be like a little kid turning refrigerator boxes into spaceships.) This is part of what first interested me in urban fantasy or secret history type books, and a big part of what still appeals to me about them.
RPGs Whirr. Before GenCon I was really feeling the "trad" bug. Traditional fantasy settings, traditional rules sets. Then I played some at GenCon, and thought about it a lot, and went back to reading some things.
I still have the issue sometimes where I can't tell the difference between what I want to read and what I wan to run. I thought that I wanted to run a down-and-dirty Warhammer type adventure in Dungeon World, but then I sat down and finished the Gotrek and Felix omnibus I had, instead. And I read through the magic mutation rules in WHFRP, which were not nearly as interesting as I recalled. (I like my corruption rules for Pirates! better.)
Two lessons from this:
1. Read.
Read whatever. Read a lot. Read when you have a creative block. Read instead of internetting.
And read to steal get inspiration - distill the cool stuff out of what you read rather than going in with a negative attitude, as you have done in the past. For cool stuff, I got some neat ideas for scenes from Gotrek and Felix - not even directly stealing the scares/moments, but "how would have done this?" sort of thoughts.
2. Do your own thing.
Level-based D&D-like systems are not really my thing, as GM. They are just not so much where my interest lies. Shane and Paul are better at this, but I have my own strengths. It is okay to sift through my hoard of indy gems to find the things most interesting to me.
Right now, I am feeling the siren call of trying out Fate again - I am not positive it will work perfectly, but the idea keeps pulling me back. So instead of just reading endless internet discussions, I am going to refer back to #1 and read the damn book. Either I'll figure out how to run it... or I'll be cured of my desire to do so.
I also like the idea, a lot, of using Robin Laws' Drama System to set up the characters/conflict of a game - or even better, the villains - before play starts with a slightly more traditional system.
And I am still a little hung up on the idea of a "cultist and cops" type game, where two groups of players take on a good-ish group and an evil-ish group, indirectly competing against each other. I wonder how well that would work in Fate - doing in a D&D type system seems like it could drive people to distraction with character optimization.
Project Kegeros: I got the CO2 tank hooked up to the kegs and the kegs hooked up to the tap. The CO2 regulator was showing less CO2, which could mean I have a leak in the system, or could mean that the CO2 changed pressure due to the cold. I think that's a thing, right? Or maybe both. In any case, that's a fairly easy fix. Everything else appears to be working as intended, at the moment.
Team Rocket: This may be the most character-driven game I've ever run. The players spent a lot of time dealing with stuff from last session and setting themselves up for the next one. And eating waffles. Because of this, I already have some material for the next game, though...
Music: Been listening to the radio more. Also I've been listening to the Ragnarok II soundtrack, which is by Yoko Kanno and as excellent as everything else she's done. Also the soundtrack from Deadly Premonition, which has some rough/weird songs, but also some really good and atmospheric ones. And I've been re-visiting certain Silent Hill tracks because, well, I like Silent Hill music.
TV: I haven't really been watching any. I started on the second episode of Twin Peaks. At this rate I will finish the show in another 3 or 4 years. I was thinking of watching some Supernatural or something similar for a lighter tone. Jill's TV poison of choice is HIMYM.
Podcasts: Mostly been listening to Caustic Soda while doing other stuff. Have learned a grab bag of facts about an odd selection of topics.
General realizations: I realized (remembered?) part of the reason I identify so strongly with certain schools of fiction is that I really like the idea of having some background (in my mind) fantasy element to explore while going about day to day business. Because I easily get bored with day to day business. But if I'm going to the store to get the things for a medieval feast... or an exotic stir-fry.. or whatever, it helps keep me more interested. (In other words, I can still be like a little kid turning refrigerator boxes into spaceships.) This is part of what first interested me in urban fantasy or secret history type books, and a big part of what still appeals to me about them.
RPGs Whirr. Before GenCon I was really feeling the "trad" bug. Traditional fantasy settings, traditional rules sets. Then I played some at GenCon, and thought about it a lot, and went back to reading some things.
I still have the issue sometimes where I can't tell the difference between what I want to read and what I wan to run. I thought that I wanted to run a down-and-dirty Warhammer type adventure in Dungeon World, but then I sat down and finished the Gotrek and Felix omnibus I had, instead. And I read through the magic mutation rules in WHFRP, which were not nearly as interesting as I recalled. (I like my corruption rules for Pirates! better.)
Two lessons from this:
1. Read.
Read whatever. Read a lot. Read when you have a creative block. Read instead of internetting.
And read to steal get inspiration - distill the cool stuff out of what you read rather than going in with a negative attitude, as you have done in the past. For cool stuff, I got some neat ideas for scenes from Gotrek and Felix - not even directly stealing the scares/moments, but "how would have done this?" sort of thoughts.
2. Do your own thing.
Level-based D&D-like systems are not really my thing, as GM. They are just not so much where my interest lies. Shane and Paul are better at this, but I have my own strengths. It is okay to sift through my hoard of indy gems to find the things most interesting to me.
Right now, I am feeling the siren call of trying out Fate again - I am not positive it will work perfectly, but the idea keeps pulling me back. So instead of just reading endless internet discussions, I am going to refer back to #1 and read the damn book. Either I'll figure out how to run it... or I'll be cured of my desire to do so.
I also like the idea, a lot, of using Robin Laws' Drama System to set up the characters/conflict of a game - or even better, the villains - before play starts with a slightly more traditional system.
And I am still a little hung up on the idea of a "cultist and cops" type game, where two groups of players take on a good-ish group and an evil-ish group, indirectly competing against each other. I wonder how well that would work in Fate - doing in a D&D type system seems like it could drive people to distraction with character optimization.