Monday, September 20, 2004

1, 2, Free Four

Sorry folks

I think i have writers block or something. Just sort of have my mind else where and i can't seem to find a voice. i have a cold i think which doesn't help much for wanting to work. I'm going to try and get some sleep this week and see how i feel. Hopefully get something up on Friday.

I did make it to the book store over the weekend and found a copy of Being and Time which was cool. i also grabbed a book of Moliere's plays, guess i was inspired by The Unbelievable Truth. i wanted something with good dialog, something i am terrible at. i have my self depricating voice as the all knowing 3rd person writer insulting myself the character but thats it. One trick pony.

Well i should get back to work and listening to Chris de Burgh. No not that lady in red crap! Don't pay the ferryman Homes.

Happy Fall
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Thursday, September 16, 2004

Hold on to the Ancient Dreams

It's Thursday again but no game. Real lives and gaming don't mix very well some weeks, we'll you've all seen Mazes and Monsters so I’m preaching to the choir. I figure I will tell you a story, tell you a legend, tell you of days of yore. Back in the days of stirruped stretch pants and 8 bit video games I was a D&D playing dork, little changes with age. Saturday nights between Headbangers Ball and late night Taco Bravo runs we gamed. I know you are probably expecting a room full of scrawny gimps that would be turned away at a blood bank for not hitting the 110 pound requirement, not the case. This was the late 80's Iron Maiden had made swords kewl and all the rockers were gaming.

Our DM was an enigma. I've never know anyone like him, yet everyone who games knows someone just like him! We are all perplexed maybe he just really gets around. Anyway Brian was the little guy with glasses and a denim jacket covered in metal band patches. I aint talking Cinderella or Trixter either; we are talking Venom, Exodus, Coroner! This guy had more D&D crap than you have seen; think you had more Bzzzt WRONG JACK! This guy had seven feet stacked up in one corner. Judges guild, All the Worlds Monsters 1-3, Alexander Van Thorne he had it all. First / Second edition he didn't care.

That was how we played first edition monks next to 2nd. ed rangers and some crazy terramancers he photo copied off some dude at Pacificon. It was insane and my friends made it worse, half of them were burnt during the game. One guy either way didn’t make much difference, you said the title of any heavy metal song though, and he would tell you the name of the record. Just randomly "We must stome the conjuering of the demon queen." "Hey The Conjuering thats a Megadeth song!" Once we had over fifteen people playing, it took four and a half hours for us to go round the table three times and kill a dragon. Half the time we would walk down to the Bon Faire on Capitol and waste another hour there. I guess I understand the looks the clerks would give us back then. A bunch of skuzzy looking kids wandering through the store showing up all at once.

I would catch a ride back home in the back of my friend’s truck which wasn’t too fun in the middle of the night around December. At least he usually had a blanket. My parents were usually waiting up and pissed off at me when I got home. My Mom had called the hospitals, blah blah. I would be in trouble a while, usually ok by the next weekend. I think Adam Curry comes on at nine and Testament is with him this week.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Plan A

You ever cruise around the mall in a car that probably should have been junked years ago? You know the kind where your friend wired in some house speakers he got at a garage sale, but he really didn’t know much about wiring so every so often it sparks up and catches fire? Old math books, Burger King trash bags and Dungeons and Dragons modules slowly decaying in the hatch back trunk? Maybe you just heard some strange heavy metal music blasting incredibly loud and distorted from a red ford fiesta that seemed to be circling the parking lot? Fond memories of a misspent youth, or perhaps "memories are faded but there are really coming back."

In those days i was flipping burgers at Mc Donald's in Oakridge mall, sucked but was a pay check. Actually in retrospect it was pretty fun, I was working with a friend, hardly putting in any hours and I had a crush on a girl there. I would run by the Game Keeper before shifts or the B Dalton. Buy some goofy philosophy book and read it in the break room to try to impress said girl from sentence two. As if reading "Being and Nothingness" impresses anyone. If your smart you would run away screaming from anyone reading that, or give them a relentless beating in hope that their next incarnation will be better. If you believe in that crap, I don't "I was born a snake handler I'll die a snake handler."

Come payday I would run down to Southgate liquors and cash out my fifty bucks; using a liquor store as a bank fuck I was doing awesome back then. Then I would run down to Streetlight records cus used vinyl was pretty much all fifty bucks buys. Sad when tapes are out of your budget. Anyway I had a pretty bad taco bell habit back then, sometimes like twice in a day. Video games was another problem for me, I was freebasing contra and double dragon at the end.

There was a crew of three of us that would do Taco Bell and keystone arcade a couple of times a week. We called it plan A, which is bad when you have a code name for taco bell and video games. We would meet over in keystone parking lot and had our own parking spots since everything was closed by then. Then we would go in through the old black light back entrance to our geek opium den, 25 cents a fix. I loved that old place it was crowded and dark the way an arcade should be, like that one episode of Buster and Me. No not the one where buster liked Jacko and his friend liked Boy George, the arcade one. I would love to see that episode again. Then we would blow the rest of our cash at taco bell on Blossom Hill and sit out side until it closed. Talking film and music and bullshit too.

http://www.klov.com

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Piece of Mind

Its Choking hot still after dark Up riding pass midnight with the ac running full Its one of those nights where you can find some people wandering about Old couples with their dogs by sprinklers Vagrant kids near schools and parks Listless souls haunting the 7-11 down on landess The weather is making me sick and im waiting on fall Sometime near 2 its cool enough for the windows Jaspers got his head out the window panting as we are riding up Calaveras Maybe we'll head up Meridian out to Calero and find my way home Around Camden Jas is barking Again as we see the water Catherine Parr is playing on the radio as Im hearing the words whisper through

Friday, September 03, 2004

I've got a keyboard +5 and a cloak of blogging

Another Thursday and another game. It used to be the weekends in my parents garage, boiling in the summer freezing in the winter. It was great then though. Brian behind the DM screen with his manajery of creatures thrown together. Us ready to kill mosters and get goodies. A real hack n' slash dungeon crawl for the ages.

These days i am running some of the old school modules myself. U3 to be exact! The party has just gotten started on the module. They were attacked by a huge octopus while sailing to their destination, in accordance to the setup. Now they have been scouting out a Sahuagin fortress. They scouted around and found only one entrance now they are waiting for the, stupid game mechanics to present the druid with new spells in the morning. I guess they are going to try and break in, our next gaming scession. So it really ended up with not much happening. We need a little more utility in my little party i think.

Sort of works out really. The next expansion for those D&D mins will have a Sahaugin ranger in it and maybe i can buy some off ebay before the end of the module. Shoot maybe the players can too wink wink.

Well that is it for now
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