Lazy Sunday

The weather can't get much prettier and I am soaking it up. After finishing a really tough but fantastic book this morning called The Underneath (I cried like I was reading Charlotte's Web, which is to say a lot), I've spent part of my day relaxing on the patio watching the birds at the feeder. Jeff bought me some new birdseed from Wild Birds Unlimited and the birds are flocking to it. It's amazing what good seed will do. So I'm sitting outside writing and eating a huge salad and watching the world go by. It's an amazing day. Tonight I'll probably continue my reading jag. I've been working on the collected Sherlock Holmes stories for a couple weeks now and I'm completely hooked.

I also did some baking today, some homemade gingerbread cupcakes which are tasty but not quite as gingerbready as I would like. Yes I know it's not a word, but it makes sense right? I've found I enjoy baking. I really want to get into cake decorating eventually but for right now, cupcakes are right up my alley.

Oh and I have to share. Last night Jeff and I were having dinner when I suggested some bad TV. About a year ago I had picked up the first nine episodes of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon I watched as a kid. We had never watched the DVD though. So last night we sat down and relived a bit of my childhood. The animation was primitive by today's standards and the violence was pretty tame. Jeff was reading that at the time, the show was considered one of the more violent out there. But all we saw were bad guys getting pushed around or tripped, never killed. The dialogue was cliche and Eric the Cavalier drove me crazy, but the show was still fun. I still like the odd way that the baby unicorn Uni spoke (didn't we have such original names in the 80s?). For $5 I think we got our money's worth.

Tomorrow is Labor Day. I'm probably heading to my parent's house for at least part of the day. For all of you out there, don't labor too hard tomorrow. For me, I'll be on the front porch with a book in my hand and some birds at the feeder. I love long weekends.

RPGs and Reveling in my Inner Geek

I started playing RPGs (role playing games for my non-geek readers) when I was about 8 years old. Like most kids my first exposure was D&D. I created a halfling cleric which was ripped apart by kobolds within the first twenty minutes of gameplay. Not my finest RPG moment. That was where my love/hate relationship began with dice. The reason I don't play craps is because I've played too many role playing games and know how I often roll. I'm known in my gaming circles as the only one who can roll multiple critical failures in a row.

D&D is a great game for an afternoon but I was 12 when my brother introduced me to my first RPG love, Shadowrun. This was a game with a story, with settings, with strategy. It was not simply hack and slash. It required planning and I loved it for that. I loved the gritty story and the unique characters. I loved the mix of magic and technology and crime. It was acting outside the boundaries of what I had done before. And I spent all of high school and a good chunk of college reveling in it. With a little Chill, Paranoia, Rifts.... mixed in.

I'm not sure why but I've always played magic users. Every character that I have ever loved was a magic user, from my humble beginnings as a cleric, through priests, through shamans, through mages, and now warlock. Not sure where the connection comes from but those are the characters I am drawn to.

But the problem for me is that I haven't had a chance to play in several years. I just don't have a dedicated group of friends who are willing to play and I haven't been brave enough to seek out a group. So I was so excited when Jeff found WereGeek for me, the webcomic by Alina Pete. This webcomic, really a graphic novel online, tells the story of Mark. Mark finds out one evening that he is...gasp...a geek. He is drawn to d20s and SciFi and role playing. He tries to hide his geekiness but with the help of friends enters the world of RPGs and is slowly more drawn in. I haven't caught up on all the backstory but what I have read is fabulous.

The best part about the story is that Alina mixes in various RPGs and LARPs (Live Action Role Playing) and helps to explain them to the readers. She touches on everything from Firefly (one of the best series ever created) to Shadowrun to Vampire (a LARP game that I bought but never tried) to console games. She pokes gentle fun at the geeks but even more fun at the non-geek. Reading this reminds me of why I love RPGs and why I embrace my geekiness. Check out this strip.