Rel’s Journal 8/23/11

Monday – We are back in Oakenville waiting for the Witch Hunter. I was hoping that he was on our heels and this would be quick, but it isn’t. I have spent the last two days with my horse, waiting for something to happen. Nothing has. I did mail off a small package to my cousin’s farm. I included gold for them and instructions on what to do with the farm should I fall in this battle. I believe that to be a possibility at least. I do not care if I fall, only that I take the Witch Hunter with me.

Tuesday – Ian and Detlef are talking about pulling a job. There is little here worth robbing – no nobility that still hold their lands. I am against robbing from those who can ill afford it, but there is a temple of Sigmar here.

Wednesday – Yesterday we evaded capture. When I went to the temple to case it, that is what I was doing, I hate to admit, I saw that there was a priest of about 50 years and four armed men, two in leather armor. I left and I barely had the words out to Ian when the five attacked. Ian was hit by two arrows, wounded badly. I shot the priest, but did not manage to kill him. Ian knocked him out, I shot the one other in the group that was brave enough to stay once gunfire erupted and we managed to make our escape, but not before Anchor looted and burned down the church of Sigmar. It all feels so surreal at times. A month ago, I would have tracked people like us down to be hung. Now, I am one of those people. Too many have seen my face. There is no going back. That thought makes me sick.

Thursday – We are now in this little town, waiting again. When will that black hearted son of a bitch ever show up? Again, I am mostly staying in the stable with my horse. Being with her makes me feel closer to my cousin, and I have more in common with my horse than with Blimey or Detlef. I am bored, but Ian needs to rest and recover before he can face what we must. For now, we continue to wait.

Friday – nothing to report.

Saturday – Last night, we almost died. A knight rode in with eight men at arms, all mounted. Ian was lanced by the night and attacked by others. He is greviously wounded and fell in battle. I was also attacked by many swords and have four deep wounds. Anchor fought by our side, attacking several men at arms with daggers. That dwarf in as insane as a Slayer. I find myself admiring him more and more. Had it just been Ian, Anchor and I, we would have fallen in battle. As much as I hate writing these words, and I do, Detlef and Blimey saved our lives. This was an even greater accomplishment than one could guess because Blimey was still completely drunk when this happened, yet he still managed to kill three of the attackers. I killed the Knight. I shot him in the face. I don’t know how to feel about that, so right now I am letting myself feel nothing. Ian needs to heal, so again we wait, and just hope that soon we can meet our foe.

Terrain

I have not posted for a few days because Jason and I were on vacation. We needed to get away from it all for a little while, but that does not mean that we were trying to get away from gaming at all. Matter as fact, we incorporated gaming into our vacation in several ways. Some of which were obvious, like trying to find new game stores, but others were not so obvious and those will find their way into various game tips in my blog.

One of the ways that we brought gaming into our vacation was paying attention to all the different scenery. Even though we only traveled about 150 miles from our house, the landscape varied quite a bit from what we see locally. As we drove I would point to some scrub in the middle of a desert and say, “It’s like where Zarnian and Takas fought!” or denser bigger scrub brought a cry of “It’s an Athas forest!” Both these statements were from our Dark Sun game. Seeing the places that we game made me understand better how my character could hide or more likely not hide, and how she would navigate around it all.

Once at our destination and walking around, we tried to find more destinations that had great gaming potential. We took a tour of a mine, which not only would be great for a place that our Dark Sun characters could hide, but the beauty and elegance in the underground rock was a great view for seeing what Warhammer Dwarves must see. Even watching a recreation of the gun fight at the OK corral was interesting for the few Deadlands games we’ve played.

So when you are out on vacation, see if you can find things around you that inspire you to understand your character’s game environment more. It adds a lot of fun to an already great time.

Dreams

For all my life, I have had very vivid dreams. I never understood the ‘experts’ that say we dream in black and white. I dream in color, remember almost all of them, and can sometimes even make changes to control what I am dreaming. Maybe I’m special, maybe I’m a freak, maybe that is why sleep is my favorite drug (caffeine is ironically, my second favorite drug).

Last night I had a dream where I was Zarnian, my Mul character from Dark Sun. In this dream, she was young, still a slave, and already one of the best Gladiators in all of Nibenay if not Athas. Her slave masters did some really messed up things to herself and one of her friends in the dream, I will spare you the details. After that, her anger soared and she thought about committing suicide by killing as many of her slave masters as she could. The house Psionic detected this and planted walls in her mind to remove that righteous anger, leaving the core of who she was so she could still be affective in the ring. I woke up knowing that this happened again when her lover was sold to another slave master that killed him, and now the walls are breaking down that she has her freedom. This explains much of her behavior the last year and a half of game time, and is just kinda cool. I immediately decided that was cannon and I needed to build it into the character’s backstory. I guess since my gaming group reads this blog, I just did.

Do any of you ever dream about your characters? If so, do those dreams ever affect your game decisions? If so, I would love to hear from you. If not, I find that as I’m drifting off to sleep if I can think about my character in a story setting, it can help to trigger the dreams. Do whatever helps connect you with your character, consciously or subconsciously.

What do you do during game breaks?

Our Dark Sun group meets every Wednesday at 6pm until about 10pm. Every Wednesday. That is, every Wednesday except for tonight and next week. Tonight, one of our primary players is too sick and we have someone else with a work conflict. Next week, Jason, our DM (and my husband) is traveling for a class so he can’t be here. With two weeks off without the game, the question arises as to how to use that time wisely?

Now, I am like the rest of you. I have a list of housework and chores to do that is easily ten miles long. I could clean my rambling 5 bedroom house for days and still find something to do in it, but doing housework during what should be game time will only make me cranky. The same is true for other things I could be doing like working on recipes or getting ready for my cooking class tomorrow.

I think the most productive use of my time during this game break is to get to know my character Zarnian better. I started working on a freeform mini ‘story’ that is little more than the thoughts she allows herself to have about the other players and her current situation while she is out on patrol. Already, this freeform exercise has illuminated how a crush that I did not know she had (I suspected, but now it is confirmed) and better answered how she feels about many of her other relationships in the house and village. I will work on this story during game time tonight and next week, when I have the house to myself I will work on her origin story. I know it, but getting it all out on paper might reveal some things I didn’t even know before.

With these writing exercises, when we play again in three weeks, I will have an even stronger grasp of my character, and I will have a bit of writing to add to my body of work. That is a much better use of game time than cleaning litter boxes or doing dishes.

Candy and Rel's Journals 8/15/11

Candy’s Journal 8/15/11

Wow! Ian came to visit today! Adalard and I have only been back in town for a week when we got a knock on our door. At first, I was afraid it was that dick Witch Hunter, but it was Ian, along with one of his new posse members with a damaged eye. I fixed him up, and he was nice enough to play with Newt while Ian and I caught up. I told him about most of what happened, with the island, us adopting Newt, getting married to Adalard, and even Kalbie. Wow. I also asked him what was up with the wanted posters for Foul Ian and now the posters for Foul Ian the Black. I mean, the latest one was for 30 gold! Then I found out that Ian is doing all of this to draw out the Witch Hunter and kill him. I want to go with him, but he reminded him that I have a life and family now, and his life is already tainted with what he has done.

This has all been so hard on me because first Moh gave his life over to Khorne so Adalard and I could live, Zell died for us, and now Ian? I know Ian has money now, but money isn’t everything. Adalard is already bored, but I have not been feeling well lately, not well enough to travel easily. I have been feeling sick lately and the dreams are fading but still there. I need to decide what to do soon. Do I stay with this life or do I try and ride out with Ian?

Rel’s Journal 8/15/2011

Today I killed a man. He was a goon that was riding with a bounty hunter. While it is true that he slashed at my horse, it was still killing a man on a street in the empire. I think my old life is gone. I knew that to some degree when I went to visit my cousin and found a grave instead of her. I asked one of her farm hands what happened and he told me. We were more like sisters than cousins, growing up with summers together from the time we were yearlings. I had always thought that it was she would marry and have the next generation, because she loved her farm and horses as much as I loved the road. I had to avenge her, even if that cost me my life. At first, I thought that Kurt was responsible, since the Witch Hunter killed her for riding with him. Once I got to know Kurt, or Ian, and learned it was the Witch Hunter who was acting with more venom than they normally do, I had to make a choice.

The choice has not been easy. Ian killed Heinz Ballwerth, a well known Bounty Hunter. He was an ass who often tortured suspects, and he did not have my respect. I killed his agent and the other got away. I did not run him down because it serves our purposes to have our actions known. Blimey fought another in hand to hand combat, which damaged his eye. Detlef got cracked over the head by the whore he could not satisfy and only managed to fire one arrow in the entire combat. I threw him on my horse and we rode away. After hiding for a few days, Ian decided that we needed to get to Altdorf, especially since I did what I could for Blimey and he was in danger of losing his eye.

Once in Altdorf, I got a room for Detlef and I while Ian took Blimey to a healer he knew. He came back later that night to tell me that the healer was able to save Blimey’s eye and tell me where he could be found. He also said that another would be joining our party, a dwarf named Anchor. When the other three joined us again, we waited a bit before we supplied. I did not want to spend my wealth about town and draw attention, so I only went to the gun smith. I did get a long rifle, a blunderbuss, shot, powder, and holsters for both and my second pistol. Now it would easier to stay armed since this is likely to end bloody.

Finally, after a while, we rode from Altdorf to Oakenville where Ian got word the Witch Hunter had last appeared. We will make a stand here in order to kill the bastard. Blimey and Detlef know about him now; they are rightly terrified. I would send them away for their safety but they are criminals and they will be dead anyway if this bastard lives and finds them. If he showed no mercy to my cousin who was just then he will show none to common thugs. All this will come to a conclusion soon, and then what? I have no more life here. Perhaps my horse Revica and I will ride for some other land. But first, revenge.

The Great Smart Phone Plague

I remember when I first signed up for email. Yes, I am that old. At first I thought that it was the greatest thing ever. I could send and receive letters to some of my most remote friends in hours instead of days. It was awesome! But then several decided they wanted to copy me on what were nothing more than electronic chain letters. I really don’t want emails full of baby animal pictures that are supposed to give me good luck if I pass them on, or sappy poems about friendship that I am supposed to email back to the person that sent it and all my friends. At the time, I thought nothing would be more annoying than those damn chain letters.

Now I am a gamer and I know what is more annoying than getting those by email – getting them at the game table, or the equivalent thereof. Most of us have smart phones now, which some gamers use as a weapon to show you the latest video of kitties sleeping or a five minute clip from Robot Chicken or whatever. Ok, I don’t care 99.9% of the time, but I will look at it… UNLESS WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME!! I don’t want to have a handful of dice, be trying to figure out which of my combat cards will best annihilate the 15 enemies that I am about to be killed by only to have someone stick philosoraptor in my face, or read the captions aloud to the group. I’m trying to kill elves people! (Not that I have anything against elves, but in Dark Sun, they are often jerks…)

Also, smart phone use is rude when you are keeping it to yourself, but checking emails, text messaging, and watching videos even on silent at the game table when we are actively playing. Even if it is not your character’s moment in the spotlight, pay attention to what everyone else does. It will make you better able to act in a few seconds when it is your turn.

I think we all can get distracted by our lives. Still, gaming is the time to get away from our real lives and slip into another world where you can be someone else. In real life, I am NOT the 6’1” exotic Mul former Gladiator Champion ass kicker I play in Dark Sun. That’s what makes it fun. Let the real world wait while you share that experience with your group, even the video of Ninja Kitten.

Zarnian's Journal Entry

Zarnian’s Journal (August 10th 2011 Entry)

I have started this writing because even though its discovery could be my death sentence after all that has happened, I need a place to write my thoughts. Sorting them out by writing them down is something that Tillian, my mentor taught me. He taught me that and so much more. It was he that first placed a stick in my hands when I was two summers old, it was he that taught me that the beauty of art and words helped balance the brutality of the ring.

Tonight I must decide to stay here at the House of the Painted Eye or leave. I have wondered of late if it would come to this. It did. Still, it might be better to tell the story from the beginning to have it recorded.

I was at the House when a caravan that C’aro was driving arrived. He had been attacked by Elves and barely survived. Jingleheimer was hurt and shaken, but Innis and Miwl were both good guards and they are dead. Because only the wealthy caravans of the house have been attacked, we suspected that there was a traitor in the house. I told Trinidas that if there was a traitor I would see him suffer before he died.

In order to weed out any traitor that might be hiding in the house, myself, Bali, Xanus and Ohzon along with Denning and Jacob took a caravan out after leaking the information that it was full of valuables. It was not successful. We were not attacked. That led us to believe that another of our fears might be realized and the target might be the house. We turned around, but instead of heading back as originally planned, the decision was made for us to sneak back into the village. Xanus, Ohzon, and I stayed with Tolmeza, one of the sky followers. That was when we learned that her husband was missing. Blye was a good man, so I promised Tolmeza that we would find her husband or who harmed him. Soon, Bali, C’aro, Copper, Denning and Barok came to ‘save us’. Once they were there, C’aro decided that we were not in danger and went to the bar. I sent Denning with him in case C’aro was the target of the attack and also to place him in a safer position. I care for Denning as a friend deeply, and I had a feeling that everything might become more insane than others were expecting.

While Ohzon, Bali and the others went to investigate Blye’s disappearance I went with Xanus who had a lead he wanted to investigate. In the end, he abandoned that plan so we went to ‘keep’ an eye on C’aro and Denning, but really we went to the bar. The others met us there. They told us of a half elf and man who were new to the village and also the ones that Blye was supposed to be meeting when he disappeared. Ohzon also suggested that Xanus ask the local insects if there were any new feeing areas. He did and we followed a massive ant trail back to the body of Blye. It was in the north east quadrant, a place I had witnessed Salish sneaking home from. We decided to not tell Tolmeza yet that her husband was dead nor to move the body. I hate leaving the body of someone I knew out for the elements, but I followed along.

Ohzon came up with a plan to have a meeting that would lure in the half elf woman, I volunteered to watch the man. That night Barok and Bali were supposed to be close by, while I waited in the shadows. As time pressed on, I started to feel off. I trust my instincts, they kept me alive in the arena. My instincts said that that little shit Salish was getting ready to run. Down the street, I heard Ohzon shout. That was all I needed to listen to my inner voice. I burst into the house only to find him stuffing his pockets getting ready to bolt. I attacked with every intention of keeping him alive for questioning. He looked behind me and I knew that someone was behind me. He bolted forward and I ran after him, ending up in the street. Two elves attacked me. I speared the first one that rushed me and then the next one before Barok appeared and Xanus. I had them help me haul everyone back into the house then I stepped outside to assure the villagers that Salish was responsible for the death of Blighe. Then I searched the house. I found more evidence that he was a spy for House Ianto including a signet ring. I took that for Trinidas. While I was getting ready to transport my prisoner, Bali came and we exchanged words. He and I can look at a cup of water and not agree on what it is. His words toward Barok surprised me. Barok, Ohzon, Tolmeza and I took the prisoner back to Trinidas. I gave him the ring and offered to leave the house as Bali had commanded me to do. Trinidas asked me to wait while he talked to others, including Bali who had come back to the house. In the end he asked us all to stay, but to work together and end our differences. While the others immediately agreed, I said I needed time. I did. I talked to Barok and Denning. If Trakas were here, I would have spoken to him as well. I value their opinions. Barok, Denning, and Jingleheimer all want me to stay.

I will stay, and I will for them. I do love Denning and Jingleheimer. Barok is like a brother to me. We would easily die for each other, so I can stay for him. From this day forward, the past is past. We will move forward.

What is your character’s theme song?

I know that for many of you, this is either one of those questions that you know, or leave you scratching your head. After all, I play Warhammer Fantasy and Dark Sun. Neither one of these has iPods, and while I could be cute and make up some song and say it has special meaning for them, that is not the music that I am taking about.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the day I am getting ready to play a character I have a set of songs I listen to that put me in the mood. Before I retired my Warhammer character Candy, I listened a lot to P!nk when I was getting ready to play. I especially loved P!nk’s “U + UR Hand” because she was hot and guys would hit on her at the bar, “’Cuz I Can” was her primary theme song because she was rich and a bad ass, and “Nobody Knows” for those quiet moments she could be sad without others knowing about it. With my Dark Sun character Zarnian, I find myself listening to Disturbed, A LOT. She is a former gladiator and a captain of the house guard. She can kill almost anyone she pleases, but right now is in a rather difficult place in life. About three weeks ago I found myself listening to Disturbed’s “I’m Alive” three or four times the morning of a game. The beat, lyrics, and mood the song invokes in me make slipping into Zarnian’s skin that much easier.

So what music do you listen to before you are getting ready to play? Is it always the same songs that get you pumped up as a player or is it different songs for different players? Are there some songs that help you mentally access your character’s mood/background/emotions better?

For those of you who might be curious, I am including the lyrics to Disturbed’s “I’m Alive”, Zarnian’s theme song. I got the lyrics from www.azlyrics.com.

"I'm Alive"

Never again will I be dishonored
And never again will I be reminded
Of living within the world of the jaded
They kill inspiration
It's my obligation
To never again, allow this to happen
Where do I begin?
The choices are endless
Denying the sin
My art, my redemption
I carry the torch of my fathers before me

The thing I treasure most in life cannot be taken away
There will never be a reason why I will surrender to your advice
To change myself, I'd rather die
Though they will not understand
I won't make the greatest sacrifice
You can't predict where the outcome lies
You'll never take me alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive

Change again, cannot be considered
I rage again, dispelling my anger
Where do I begin?
The choices are endless
My art, my redemption, my only salvation
I carry the gift that I have been blessed with
My soul is adrift in oceans of madness
Repairing the rift that you have created
I am not alone, brothers, give me your arms now

The thing I treasure most in life cannot be taken away
There will never be a reason why I will surrender to your advice
To change myself, I'd rather die
Though they will not understand
I won't make the greatest sacrifice
You can't predict where the outcome lies
You'll never take me alive

I'm no slave
Are you feeling brave?
Or have you gone out of your mind?
No more games
It won't feel the same
If I hold my anger inside
There's no meaning
My soul is bleeding
I've had enough of your kind
One suggestion, use your discretion
Before you label me blind

The thing I treasure most in life cannot be taken away
There will never be a reason why I will surrender to your advice
To change myself, I'd rather die
Though they will not understand
I won't make the greatest sacrifice
You can't predict where the outcome lies
You'll never take me alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive

Rel's Journal August 8 2011

I can’t believe that she’s gone. My cousin Revica burned at the stake! She died because she got mixed up in some gang that had a chaos cultist. At least that is the rumor. It was enough to get her killed. The least that I can do is find the cultist that was responsible for getting her murdered, Slim Tuck’s vassal Kurt.

I haven’t written lately because I’ve been tracking Kurt for weeks. I keep missing him by a day or two. But, with the strength of the sightings, I know that I am getting closer and closer. It’s only a matter of time before I bury a bullet in his head.

I finally found him and his gang in a forest outside hear Boëgenhafen. I got the drop on him and with my gun at the back of his neck I demanded that he give me a reason to not shoot him. He said that he was not a chaos cultist, that the Witch Hunter who killed my cousin has gone rogue and that his crime spree is part of a plan to draw that son of a whore out. I have spent my life protecting the empire. The thought of a Witch Hunter that is rogue and killing innocents for personal vendettas is terrifying. I agreed to stay with Kurt on the condition that I am the one to kill the Witch Hunter if all his allegations are true. Then, before we even fully agreed to this (and one of his henchmen ran away) the coach he was robbing showed up. He had promised that no one was going to get killed, but immediately there was a shot that killed men, and the slaughter continued. I was sickened by the killing of good guards, and worse yet, horses. However, the fact that it was the Von Sopomhteim made it easier, and with a bandana around my face, I held up that little shit Siegfried In the end I took his pistol and we all managed to ride off. Kurt (who know wants to be called Ian) even split the gold with me. Forty gold and another nice pistol. I have never seen that much gold in one place in my entire life, let alone held it. I have been wanting a rifle for a very long time, but I do not dare spend this yet. Still, this is blood money and all of it feels odd to me. My gut says that Kurt is basically a good man, but I am now on the other side of the Empire’s law.

We’ve been riding for days, sleeping on the road, or in small places that cannot even call themselves inns. Detlef continues to annoy me, between eyeing other members for their gold and eyeing my body when he thinks I don’t notice. Of course I notice. It is what I am trained to do. Karl keeps mostly to himself, and Blimey is well…unique is perhaps the best word. What we are doing comes at great risk. If my part is discovered not only will I lose all of who I am, my family will receive further disgrace.

The bounty on Kurt is now worth 30 gold. For thirty, I am surprised that none of our group has turned him in. More troubling is the fact that there are bounty hunters tracking him here, three of them that are large and imposing. They tracked him to a whore house where we are waiting for Detlef. I gave him one of my pistols, I hope he knows how to use it because I think we are about to enter the maw of chaos.