Because In A Blog No One Can Hear You Scream...: The Sea Inside Vs. Love & Other Drugs

2/4/15

I had every intention to blog last week, in fact I was waiting on some adventure write ups from James & his Mighty Beard to cover the insanity that was 1^st Group’s drunken and raucous session. I was also pretty much knee deep in D&D prep work so I could have some additional Encounters for 1^st Group’s hex crawling. I also think I was overly occupied with just things spinning around in my own head as well. So what I’m trying to say in the most roundabout gawd damn way possible is that I was lazy last week.

This week I’ve just been sick. Sunday it started and it hasn’t really stopped. In that time I’ve read two books, Toothless & Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix, almost all while sitting on the toilet. I’m a bit fried mentally, I’m physically just spent, and I’m really skittish on eating much of anything. Right now I’m really just trying to hold on, get through this day, and then play a few board games tonight before crashing early. If I can get through tonight then tomorrow is decently easy and we might Podcast on Friday. Saturday is just Cassandra and I cleaning I assume, and then Sunday is the first WWW session!

It is a busy month. We are doing a D&D Mapping session using Campaign Cartographer, all four D&D groups meet towards the end of the month AND we have our first MONSTERHEARTS session. Throw in Valentine’s Day and the attempt to get a TCGS-a-thon in before Electric Elyssa heads to Japan and it is just further proof that I don’t do well with free time. I don’t have to do much prep for 1^st Group, 2^nd Group, or 3^rd Group, but I have to find a few ways to stretch my leftovers from 4^th Group into something that will fill a whole session.

I think I’m babbling here because I don’t have a lot to talk about over all. So let’s just jump into some…

RANDOM CRAP!

There aren’t many things that serve to piss me off more than people who hassle others about being ill. I had a dude who I called to cancel with on Tuesday morning, doing him a favor by calling early so he didn’t have to drive, and he acted like an asshole. He did some barking and yelling for about fifteen minutes. I was just too tired to argue with him and tried to be as nice as possible.

By the end of that call I was irritated. The longer it set with me the more mad I got. So today I came in mentally prepped to deal with this guy, who then showed up 30 minutes late, in a fashion befitting his attitude. Then early in the morning I got a call from one of our ‘homes’ where the person in charge was venting for around 30 minutes and what I’ve finally come to accept and understand is this is who we hire. We hire people who give zero shits for below average pay. I realized that any time I get someone who does care, who wants to learn, who can be professional, etc. they are an exception not the rule. This guy is not an exception. And I fear he is just another in a long line of people who come in, and then within 120 days they are quitting or we are firing them. At this point I’m sort of feeling like I don’t even really care about the cycle or the unredeemable ‘rules’ within it.

For those that know, so much Ditto.

Monsterhearts is on the docket to read and re-read before the 13th. I really want to make sure I have a really good handle on things before that first session hits.

I’ve decided it is going to be a four episode ‘season’. I’m thinking I’m going to treat the four episodes like they are the seasons. That way we can kind of move the narrative forward in weeks and even in months if we need to. Since they are high school monsters we can start at the beginning of Freshman year and have every Season be an entire school year. I think it is an easy format to run with. I’ve been watching a bit more Buffy lately to sort of get my head where I want it to be for the vibe. I just need to make sure I crank up the ‘nasty’ of the humans and try to show the humanity that is in the Monsters in order to meet the tenants of the game itself.

Screw you weather, why must you ruin all my grilling opportunities?

I’ve read WWW a few times now and I feel relatively confident that it’ll go well on Sunday.

It is such a collaborative game that while I’m not overly worried I do have some trepidation. It will very interesting to get that many fiercely creative people in a room and see if we can all work together in the confines of a game that NEEDS you to work together to push the narrative forward. I am also beyond intrigued to see just what everyone brings to the table from a creative stand point. Either way Sunday should be very intriguing.

We have been thoroughly enjoying The Flash and finally finished the 2^nd season of Arrow. All I can say is I’m super stoked for Grodd & The Atom!

The more I look at the Shadows Of Brimstone games the more I wish I would have just had the money to pony up during their Kickstarter. I am a big fan of Flying Frog Games to begin with and the theme of the Old West Vs. Cthulhu was really fascinating, but I just didn’t have the scratch at that moment. Now seeing the game and its sequel out for about $80 a pops makes me think I most likely will never own them. And that is a damn shame.

I really hope we do Podcast Friday. I miss doing it.

Cassandra and I saw a very interesting take on Fondue on Sunday morning. It was just white wine, although we’ll use hard cider, shredded cheese tossed with cornstarch. Really that is about it. The biggest thing we’d have to figure out would be what we could dip in it that is Gluten Free. I really want to give this a try soon as it simply looked delicious.