Skyrim Release Party

I've been working incredibly hard on my NaNoWriMo novel and am well ahead of the scheduled word count with 28,081 words down out of 50,000 required to win the event.

However, it's not been all hard work (i.e. laying on my couch with a laptop and an electric blanket for my joints).

Thursday evening I went to my local game store and I ran a custom D20 based game that I developed along the storyline used in the game Skyrim.

That's the skeleton of a Beholder on my t-shirt. Ever had a DM who looked like me?

We reached our local mall at closing time with a bag of miniatures, a map that I had created, and characters that I pre-generated for the event.  Also present for the release of Skyrim was a group of local LARPers (Live Action Roleplayers). This group uses foam weapons and sometimes real armor (or just padded armor) to stage medieval style fights.  They were very cool to speak with.

Even though the game wouldn't be released until 12:01 A.M. by the time we arrived at 9:15 there were already thirty or forty people waiting.  As the night wore on over 400 people were collected in the mall in a massive, snaking line waiting for the game to come out.  Luckily a ticketing system kept everyone in a set order.

To pass the wait with fun the LARPers and I had been asked to entertain the crowd by the woman who was managing the event.  I hadn't run a game in a few years, but I quickly got into once I found some willing players.

Once they got to the end of the session they had to fight this big dragon!

That's the custom map that I made using an image of snowy terrain that I added hexes to demarcate feet of space that the players minis needed to navigate. Having minis isn't necessary with table-top RPGs but it does make it easier for the players to make tactical decisions when they can literally see what I see in my mind (and may or may not successfully communicate).

Well all in all it was a fun night. I had a great time being a DM. I got a couple of free posters in exchange for my effort and got to meet some cool people.  It was a festive atmosphere.

It turns out Skyrim is an excellent game and very immersive. I found the beginning to be a bit scary because of the total immersion into the world.

The next day I woke up in pretty intense pain from standing and sitting over the course of the three hours we were there.  This is the price I always pay for events, whether they are great fun or awful.  This is why I can't work and have to be selective about what I do for fun.  Still totally worth it!

NaNoWriMo and Skyrim

Most of my regular gaming is on hold this month as I work on completing a novel for National Novel Writing Month.  When it's done this will be the fourth novel I've written, but I think it's the only one I'm going to try to publish.  The other three are a combination of historical/fantasy and are too settings/plot driven to the detriment of the characters and dialogue.  It's taken me a long time to write good dialogue and I'm challenging myself to write a story in a contemporary setting that is character driven.  The novel is a horror novel about a metal band led by a young woman.

That said I continue to meet with table-top group to play a quick Pathfinder (a game like Dungeons and Dragons) run once a week.  Completely on hold are the games I've been playing Rift, LoL, and Dragon Quest IX on my DS. 

This Thursday, however, I'll be in line at my local game store waiting to pick up my copy of Skyrim! The local manager asked me to run an hour long DnD game that has the players fighting a dragon. She told me she'd set up a table and hopes to have other games running during the wait.  This is a challenge, but I'm going to do it! I already know what the story will be and now I just need to tweak some rules to make it easy for people that may have never played before. I haven't GMed a game since Vampire four years ago, but I'm excited.

Skyrim is also exciting for me because I always buy and support games in which you can play as a female character.

Geographic Dissonance

I've been feeling incredibly down this past week from the flu to my sick cat to realizing a few things about my life that I had been good at ignoring.

Over four years ago we moved hundreds of miles away from where we were living for Dustin to attend a university for the first time in his life.  He had spent several years working as a tile contractor and his body was already telling him it was time to find a desk job.  I decided to go for a second degree and the years we spent here have proven life saving as when I got really sick the only insurance I had was my student plan.

Yet we were both immediately miserable.  Dustin had been in metal bands for the majority of his adult life and there was no scene in our new area to enjoy.  We couldn't meet new friends because the area attracts people with children, hunters and fishermen, preps, and hippies.  There wasn't much of a place for two goth kids in all black, but we did our best to find a group to hang out with.  Eventually I started table-top gaming again and met a few people through that.

Being back north in the area with our old friends, Dustin's old bandmates and hanging out was wonderful.  I'd gotten used to just not socializing over the past couple of years, due in part to my illness and surgeries, but also due to the nature of a transient college population.  To make matters worse compared to where we live now where we are from is a mecca of gluten-free vegan food with restaurants I can actually eat at without fearing illness. Here this is not the case. I got so sick after eating what was supposed to be a safe meal that I ended up in the hospital for three days and even the staff at the hospital somehow didn't know what Celiac's or a wheat allergy meant (I have both).

I'm not the most social person in the world, but I feel fed up.  I want someone who will watch creepy shows with me, go ghost hunting, play a video game even it's just a few times a month. I want to eat at a restaurant, even if our tight budget means it's just once a month or less. Don't get me started about live music! Somehow going to a noisy metal show actually relieves pain in my body.  While I like alternative bluegrass and have gone to some shows here the music doesn't affect my body the same way.  I have a lot of sensory processing issues that tie into this.

Dustin should be done with school by Christmas 2012, but I want to move next summer.  I keep hoping he'll be able to finish his classes online.  I hate living here.  I've never had so many seasonal allergies and problems with the rapidly switching weather (from freezing to hot in two days!).

Sick!

I have not been blogging this week because I came down with the Flu.  One of my cats also became ill and we had to take her to the vet.  Luckily we are both slowly getting better, but I still feel pretty awful.

Thankfully I've been able to summon the energy to lay on the couch and work on NaNoWriMo.  Every November people who would like to try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month get together and get to work! My profile can be found here.

Last Costume!

Monday night we went out for vegan sushi (avocado and seaweed yum!).  We wore our costumes. Our friend and neighbor made a cool steampunk Alice in Wonderland dress for herself, but I won't post her photo since I'm not sure she'd want me to do it.

I dressed up as an alchemist/witch.  I played an alchemist in Pathfinder, a game system that is similar to Dungeons and Dragons. 

 Alchemist garter belt that I got at a pirate faire. Bloomers from Etsy and my skull dice bag made a nice pouch .

 Here you can see my rings and a full size picture of the whole outfit next to the big, carved wooden dragon that the sushi place has in their foyer.  It was a fun time. 

Halloween or Samhain is the anniversary of Dustin asking me to marry him in 2008!  We were at a metal show and he proposed and gave me a black pearl ring.  I no longer wear the ring because my joints swell randomly and one ring is all I can do on any finger, sometimes no ring at all.  Anyhow, he surprised me by bringing home a soy latte for me and delivered it to me in bed!  Espresso is romance to me.