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Nov. 29th, 2003
I thot this month was...
Nov. 29th, 2003 08:43 pmAfter a dry spell of offline RPGing stretching from back when I lived in upstate NY, and with one exception which turned out to be a one-off, I finally have a character in a viable game again. Of course, this doesn't come without a twist. We responded to an ad on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
abqgamers looking for 3-4 people to flesh out a campaign being put together. At a party a few days prior ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
echoweaver and I had discussed joining a campaign with both of us and callicrates as well as Echoweaver's husband. After some interrogation we finally decided to respond to the ad, and last week we met with the GM.
It turned out that the people he had been planning the game for had all flaked out, leaving him plus the four of us and possibly his roommate, who was too sick to come out and meet us. It also turned out his world was supremely flexible in that there was very little already in place. Andy began sketching something, and a while later (as we discussed things such as types of campaigns and magic systems and such) he showed us a map of a world he and a friend had worked on a while back. It turned out we liked the world more and more, but Andy knew the world better than anyone. I can't remember who suggested it, but the net result was that Andy is now the GM. We also decided to play in GURPS which worried me at first, since I may've seen the sourcebook in gaming stores... maybe.
Right off the bat I came up with the idea of an Elven ranger (those of you who gamed with me in Utica can just skip the feigned heart attacks) but with, for me, a huge twist -- a non-angsty background. I spent that evening and well into the morning generating the character, and discovering that I like GURPS in the process. I especially like how charisma is an RP tool rather than a stat and how they only have four stats. I love not having to roll dice, but instead being able to apply points. I made the conscious decision to make an older character (24 Elf-equivalent, though it looks like Andy will be using my favorite model; namely that Elves age like everyone else until they hit mid-adulthood, then simply stop aging for a long while. So she's actually 24), and put 48 of the 100 points toward skills. I ended up with a character with only one (barely) above-average stat, but who can do a lot of stuff and do it well. No name yet.
That night I considered. A long time ago I began writing a story in which the main character, an Elf, has a really cool gift (true music) and a hideously angsty background. Since Andy's world included a cataclysm around 1000 years ago and since that's when my character's village had gone off and isolated itself, I thought she might be able to fit in. I made her up to have the same fighting skills as the unnamed ranger, mostly because so far we have a magic user (in a world where magic no longer works reliably) and a bookish alchemist. Since we haven't heard back from the original GM or his roommate, we have no idea how badly we'll need fighters.
It seemed like there might be problems integrating the story character into someone else's world, so after discussing it Andy and I agreed I should go with the ranger. However, the problem with her non-angsty background is that it gave her no reason to be joining a party or even to be in the area where the others are. I got around that by making her history sort-of angsty but not heavily so, and I also finally came up with a name for her. Probably on Friday we'll all be meeting again to get preliminary stuff done. For a while it's going to be every other week, since we'll be in Chapel Hill the week after, and then in Rome/Indianapolis two weeks after that. However, here's what I came up with:
( The long-awaited (shyeah, right) character post. )
The only drawback to being married to the GM is that I know how utterly twisted he can be.
abqgamers looking for 3-4 people to flesh out a campaign being put together. At a party a few days prior echoweaver and I had discussed joining a campaign with both of us and callicrates as well as Echoweaver's husband. After some interrogation we finally decided to respond to the ad, and last week we met with the GM.It turned out that the people he had been planning the game for had all flaked out, leaving him plus the four of us and possibly his roommate, who was too sick to come out and meet us. It also turned out his world was supremely flexible in that there was very little already in place. Andy began sketching something, and a while later (as we discussed things such as types of campaigns and magic systems and such) he showed us a map of a world he and a friend had worked on a while back. It turned out we liked the world more and more, but Andy knew the world better than anyone. I can't remember who suggested it, but the net result was that Andy is now the GM. We also decided to play in GURPS which worried me at first, since I may've seen the sourcebook in gaming stores... maybe.
Right off the bat I came up with the idea of an Elven ranger (those of you who gamed with me in Utica can just skip the feigned heart attacks) but with, for me, a huge twist -- a non-angsty background. I spent that evening and well into the morning generating the character, and discovering that I like GURPS in the process. I especially like how charisma is an RP tool rather than a stat and how they only have four stats. I love not having to roll dice, but instead being able to apply points. I made the conscious decision to make an older character (24 Elf-equivalent, though it looks like Andy will be using my favorite model; namely that Elves age like everyone else until they hit mid-adulthood, then simply stop aging for a long while. So she's actually 24), and put 48 of the 100 points toward skills. I ended up with a character with only one (barely) above-average stat, but who can do a lot of stuff and do it well. No name yet.
That night I considered. A long time ago I began writing a story in which the main character, an Elf, has a really cool gift (true music) and a hideously angsty background. Since Andy's world included a cataclysm around 1000 years ago and since that's when my character's village had gone off and isolated itself, I thought she might be able to fit in. I made her up to have the same fighting skills as the unnamed ranger, mostly because so far we have a magic user (in a world where magic no longer works reliably) and a bookish alchemist. Since we haven't heard back from the original GM or his roommate, we have no idea how badly we'll need fighters.
It seemed like there might be problems integrating the story character into someone else's world, so after discussing it Andy and I agreed I should go with the ranger. However, the problem with her non-angsty background is that it gave her no reason to be joining a party or even to be in the area where the others are. I got around that by making her history sort-of angsty but not heavily so, and I also finally came up with a name for her. Probably on Friday we'll all be meeting again to get preliminary stuff done. For a while it's going to be every other week, since we'll be in Chapel Hill the week after, and then in Rome/Indianapolis two weeks after that. However, here's what I came up with:
( The long-awaited (shyeah, right) character post. )
The only drawback to being married to the GM is that I know how utterly twisted he can be.
I slept in today, and when I got up Andy was gone. I worked on laundry and cleaning and also made myself two pairs of shorts (using pants which had stains) and decided to sort out the box where we keep exercise clothes. Most of Andy's shorts are being held together by shorts molecules, so we'll need to order a few new sets in the near future, or go to Sears. Sears sent a $10.00 off coupon today which applies to everything, including Land's End clothing and sales items. Sadly, in preparing to exercise, I broke my favorite measuring cup. Sniffle.
Andy came home while I was preparing to exercise. I started, and he queued up Final Fantasy X part II. I found that I went much faster once it started playing. I looked down at the display less often, but when I did look I was going up to or even greater than 1mph faster. The machine is the infomercial one I linked to a while back. I thought it was the younger sibling of an elliptical, but after my wonderful husband put another star on his guy badge by putting it together on Thanksgiving day we decided it was instead a sibling to the ghost of Nordic Tracks past.
The ride was very smooth and did not hurt my knees and ankles the way the Nordic Track did. It was silent at first and after a while developed a squeak on the left side, but even then it was way quieter than Nordic Tracks -- we didn't have to turn up the volume on the tv at all, which is good since I was exercising with the porch door open. It took me some 80 minutes to go three miles and in doing so I only burned about 174 calories, but I expected to suck after four months with virtually no exercise. My first goal will be to get three miles in an hour on the easiest setting. After that I'll see.
I do like the new exercise machine, though, and I'm glad we got it. The footprint is very small, even when counting the full stride of the rider; quite possibly a third or even a quarter that of the elliptical we plan to get after the house is ready and we've taken care of the down payment. It also folds up for storage and, though a bit unwieldy in doing so, pretty much gives us our living room back when not in use. Hopefully I'll get the hang of folding it up soon.
KC was ok. Seven was back, but she wasn't her old self. Hopefully it's just the shock of being back in the city and not a permanent personality change. The gorgeous Siamese cross who came in yesterday was already adopted, so I'll never get a picture of her. I did get a picture of a cat who was adopted but won't be picked up until tomorrow, and that of the other new adult. Supposedly a bunch of kittens will be coming in soon as well.
No breaking news in the grandparent department. At least with my family this means the news is good. We talked to Emily today and she said Granddad's feeding tube has relieved all of the pressure and is allowing him to get the nourishment he needs. They see the surgeon on Monday to find out if the tumor is operable.
Andy came home while I was preparing to exercise. I started, and he queued up Final Fantasy X part II. I found that I went much faster once it started playing. I looked down at the display less often, but when I did look I was going up to or even greater than 1mph faster. The machine is the infomercial one I linked to a while back. I thought it was the younger sibling of an elliptical, but after my wonderful husband put another star on his guy badge by putting it together on Thanksgiving day we decided it was instead a sibling to the ghost of Nordic Tracks past.
The ride was very smooth and did not hurt my knees and ankles the way the Nordic Track did. It was silent at first and after a while developed a squeak on the left side, but even then it was way quieter than Nordic Tracks -- we didn't have to turn up the volume on the tv at all, which is good since I was exercising with the porch door open. It took me some 80 minutes to go three miles and in doing so I only burned about 174 calories, but I expected to suck after four months with virtually no exercise. My first goal will be to get three miles in an hour on the easiest setting. After that I'll see.
I do like the new exercise machine, though, and I'm glad we got it. The footprint is very small, even when counting the full stride of the rider; quite possibly a third or even a quarter that of the elliptical we plan to get after the house is ready and we've taken care of the down payment. It also folds up for storage and, though a bit unwieldy in doing so, pretty much gives us our living room back when not in use. Hopefully I'll get the hang of folding it up soon.
KC was ok. Seven was back, but she wasn't her old self. Hopefully it's just the shock of being back in the city and not a permanent personality change. The gorgeous Siamese cross who came in yesterday was already adopted, so I'll never get a picture of her. I did get a picture of a cat who was adopted but won't be picked up until tomorrow, and that of the other new adult. Supposedly a bunch of kittens will be coming in soon as well.
No breaking news in the grandparent department. At least with my family this means the news is good. We talked to Emily today and she said Granddad's feeding tube has relieved all of the pressure and is allowing him to get the nourishment he needs. They see the surgeon on Monday to find out if the tumor is operable.