Jennerosity

I mentioned before that we were starting a new campaign and working on creating characters.  Even though I’ve gamed with my husband in the past and have worked on other characters with him, this time it occurred to us that we could create characters that were also a couple.  We’ve worked on it over the past few days, chatting back and forth and giving a lot of ‘what-if’s’ about how they might have developed their back story to get them to where they are today¹.  Here’s his email that describes them more or less ready to go.²

The assassins work as a pair. The first infiltrates the location by blending into the crowd and delivers packages (weapons, poisons, costumes.) to drop points and acts as an spotter and keeps the escape routes open. The second of the pair infiltrates the room socially, perhaps on the arm of some dignitary or otherwise. The second either isolates the individual from the crowds to deliver the kill or otherwise gets close enough to the target to deliver a poison or knife if subtlety is called for. Once a hit is made, the pair escape. Frequently the escape plan involves some sort of preset sabotage for a diversion, enabling the pair to make a clean getaway.

The duo do not act rashly, prefering to quietly research and observe a target before committing to action. One specializes in direct observation, the second in social interrogation. Knowledge is power. They like to discover everything they can about a target before engaging. If a mission appears too dangerous once initiated, or unforseen circumstances complicate the kill, the pair do not hesitate to walk away and plan again.

The assassins do not shy away from direct confrontations, being quite adept at physical violence, but prefer methods that offer better risk/reward returns. Delivering death by the sword is the epitome of their craft, but pragmatism often dictates other methods be used.

The assassins left their work behind when a mission was left incomplete. Sent to kill an important person before he rose to prominence and became a threat, the socialite did not proceed with the kill as planned. The socialite realized that the individual possessed an uncanny ability to lead, and could perhaps unify the divided galaxy under one rule. The spotter does not understand this perspective, feeling only that they failed the mission. The two fled to the Inner Sphere to avoid retaliation. The spotter still yearns to persuade the socialite to return and complete their task, while the socialite patiently coaxes the spotter towards her enlightened point of view.

In the mean time, they fight crime….

And that’s how we ended up joining a little mercenary group.  My husband did the lion’s share of figuring out the back story and I had so much fun working out the character details with him!  At the time when he wrote the email, we hadn’t picked our names yet so we were just calling them ‘the assassins.’  We decided to go with a Japanese theme³ and dug through some Wikipedia pages until we settled on Kitsune & Kirin.  Anyone want to guess who’s who can feel free in the comments!

1. and still be married [↩]
2. I didn’t include any stats but if anyone wants those too, let me know and I’ll happily oblige. [↩]
3. big surprise there, right? [↩]

Ok, I figured I’d start doing a list of 5 awesome links each week to spread the link love!  Just a little sampling of what I’ve been checking out and reading this week.

• I am inexplicably drawn to articles that use the word ‘hack’ and when you add ‘Nintendo’ I can’t help but star it in my google reader.  How to hack and supercharge your Nintendo DS (via Lifehacker)
• I’m still (again?) going through a process of decluttering my life from obligations that just don’t fit right now.  So the Unclutterer article on Tips for Reducing Your Commitment to Unwanted Obligations was very timely for me.
• This picture is awesome!
• I signed up for a service to help me keep track of my plans and let others keep track of them too –> Plancast
• And I’m once again tempted by the StoryWonk courses.  The next one starts in September.

My first gaming group is about to start a brand new campaign.  We’re using a world we’ve played in before, just fast-forwarding a bit, and creating  new characters for it.  It’s got me to thinking about the methods I’ve been using to develop characters that I am more interested in and (hopefully) others are too.¹

1. I start with some ‘woo-woo.’ I find that I like to start with something very abstract.  Like a particular quality or quirk that someone might have, and then build out.  If I start out by thinking of the larger role the person has in the group, I tend to get stuck there, and the character lacks a personality.  So, unless I’ve already got a character idea in my head that I’ve been itching to use, I’ll pull a tarot card and see if that gives me any inspiration.  Another thing you could do is go find a horoscope/astrology site and check out today’s readings, and see what tickles your fancy.
2. Reference material. When coming up with a character, sometimes it’s hard not to use a well-known model.  So, at some point, I take my kernel and start to think of famous tv/movie/book characters that shared that trait.  This is good time to brainstorm all the possible ways that this can influence someone and pick which direction feels right for you, the world you’re playing in, and the group of characters you are playing with.  Usually you don’t want to copy a well-known character but it can be good to give you some guidance.
3. Torture. Now that I’ve got some general ideas about who and what your character is like, I then begin to think of ways to make a person’s life more difficult.  The current rule set/setting I am playing in makes this easy, since you have to pick assets and complications for your character.  The assets are easy, so I try not to look at those until I’ve figured out what the complications are.  I also like to frame these in terms of the past and future.  What’s happened in their past that has lead them to a particular place where they would meet their current companions?  What might come up in the future that would bring conflict to a situation?  The whole point of gaming groups is adventure and conflict and often the most memorable and fun times for players come up when that is character driven, instead of story driven.

After going through those basic steps, I’m usually ready at this point to start assigning some numbers, fleshing out details for a backstory, and filling out my character sheet.  Anyone else got any interesting tips for creating an interesting character?

1. I’ve also borrowed a lot of these methods for creating characters for my novels. [↩]

Had our monthly games night last night.  In addition to the usual crew of awesome, we had extra awesome, because our friends brought some of their friends.  And when the friends you have are awesome already, it stands a good chance that their other friends are awesome too!¹  Anyway, in addition to the usual Rock Band and arcade cabinet, we also played some more of my new favourite game: Dominion.

I first heard about the game on one of the GeeksOn podcasts².  I knew right from the start that it was right up our alley.  The game is a card game where you build the deck that you play with throughout the course of the game.  You use your treasure cards to buy land and actions.  You ultimately want to be the player with the most land in the game.  The different action cards are what really spice it up though.  It comes with a large selection³ but then you select 10 to actually play with.  Depending on the cards that are selected and the random draw that each player gets each hand, each game is really different and interesting.  You also have to be adaptable.  There is no single strategy that is going to win every time.

My only (very small) criticism is that it’s only a 4 player game and I hate people being excluded.  However, I also enjoy watching other people play this game much more than our other standard tabletop games, so it isn’t really terrible.  Plus, we will be picking up the Intrigue expansion sooner or later and that’ll essentially let us run 2 games simultaneously.

1. Everyone was so awesome that we gamed until 2am.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve stayed up that late on purpose! [↩]
2. I’m way too lazy to look up the exact show so you’ll just have to listen to all the episodes if you really must know [↩]
3. which you can expand upon by purchasing the expansions [↩]

I haven’t had time yet to process my notes into a proper blog post about it, but here are the 5 big things I learned at WordCamp Vancouver.

• Social bookmarking is important.  I need to look into that some more.
• WordPress = Joyful; Drupal = Dragon Slayer.  As much as the keener in me wants to slay some dragons, the realist¹ realizes that Drupal is definitely NOT for me.
• Asking lots of questions is good for figuring out what you actually should do for your online presence.  Going to apply the questions that Lauren Bacon,² from raised eyebrow,³ shared during her presentation when I make my next attempt at building a website for work.
• Catherine Omega & Tris Hussey are awesome lunch companions and speakers.  They made me fall in love with WordPress 3.0 and some of the new theme options.  The keener in me may even try tinkering with building my own themes.  ((You know, eventually, when I have ‘free’ time :D ))
• WordPress people are the best kind of geeks: friendly, smart, helpful, and generally awesome! (Ok, not NEW knowledge for me, but it still deserves to be said again.))

And, a bonus geek tip for you all . . . the wi-fi hotspot and electrical plug-ins are the geek equivalent of hanging at the bar for meeting new people ;)

1. and lazy person [↩]
2. Who incidentally, has awesome hair [↩]
3. the name makes me giggle and want to wiggle my eyebrows [↩]

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m stuck on a roller coaster of emotions.  And instead of the damn thing stopping so that I can get off and take a few slow deep breaths, the stupid thing just keeps looping around and around again.  So I decided that I need to take a day, an entire day, just for myself.  A day completely free of outside distractions and commitments.  But, I know myself well enough to understand that if I don’t put my own spiritual commitments there, a ‘plan-free’ day is actually going to turn into a busy day where I do household things or sit in front of a screen all day long.  I don’t want that.

So, I’m planning a little spiritual stay-cation and I thought I’d blog a bit about it and invite you all to join me.  Er . . . well . . . except you shouldn’t actually join me, because I want to be alone that day.  I’ve only just started the planning, so I’m not sure entirely what the agenda will look like.  I do know that the day will start with turning off every phone in the house and that some meditation and journal writing will be a part of it.  Oh, and I also know that it’ll be June 28th.  So mark the day and don’t expect to get any calls, emails, or tweets from me.

Got any ideas, tips, or advice to throw my way?  I’d also love to hear about any stories you have about your spiritual retreat days!

This week was pretty geeky actually . . .

• I got to put up a secret password protected page on my blog¹
• I actually went to a DnD game night without my husband.  I think that’s a first for me!
• We decided that we will be attending PAX in September²
• I downloaded a zen garden onto my iPod Touch³
• I’m going to WordCamp Vancouver tomorrow!  So stoked about it.⁴  Comes with very good timing too as I’m hoping to have another website to work on soon!

There are my geeky 5 things to share on Friday.  What geeky things have you been up to this week?

1. it’s going to be up for only another few days [↩]
2. though we haven’t actually booked our passes or hotel yet, we will be very soon! [↩]
3. I only got the lite version because my replacement credit card STILL has not arrived and with my other one frozen, I can’t upgrade to the paid version. [↩]
4. Except the part where I have to wake up at 6am in order to get there on time. [↩]

Wow, I feel so geeky recommending a non-fiction book, but I really liked it.  My review on Goodreads pretty much says it all.  If you’re a business type person, or just enjoy books on business and networking, then you might want to check it out and read it for yourself.  I do find that some non-fiction tends to drag a bit.  Each chapter tends to follow the same formula and your brain kind of gets overloaded.  But, this one made some pretty good points, kept the stories and examples to a minimum, and spent most of the book telling you WHAT to do, instead of justifying WHY you should do it.

Benevolance’s sister-in-law got engaged last week and it’s had me thinking about romance.  Part of me is quite envious of the story of the engagement.  All the stops were pulled out for this one – champagne, fancy hotel getaway, romantic dinner, rose petals & candlelight.  It sounded like a fairy tale.  But another part of me knows that had this been attempted with me in one of the lead roles, it wouldn’t have felt right.  Because I’m a geek¹.

So, today, this post is really just asking the question . . . What is Geek Romance? Give me your two cents in the comments :)

1. and not a princess [↩]

I broke my Friday blogging trend last week.  I had the flu.  No one seemed to notice.  About the blogging anyway, people noticed that I had the flu.  And her it is a Friday already again.  And I don’t know what to say.  Not just for this particular blog post, but about a lot of things in general.  There’s a lot I WANT to say, but since I was taught to think before I speak, I’ve been caught up in the thinking part and not saying much.

Hmmmm . . . am I being a bit cryptic?  Yes, probably.  But too bad!  This is my blog and I’ll encrypt if I want to!

Do I contradict myself?  Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large — I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman

And there’s a part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and be raw and honest and brave and rock the boat.  And there’s another part of me that thinks I should just hit the delete button, because no one would probably notice it if I did.