Mayhem, Bullets, and the Black Arts

[ladysprite]

There are not enough words in the world to describe how much I love having a regularly scheduled tabletop game that I am a part of.

I love having people over on a regular basis; it makes our house feel more like a home. I love the chance to see my friends at least once every couple of weeks. I love cooking for people, and the excuse to make large or complicated recipes that it just doesn't make sense to put together for just umbran and myself.

And I love the game itself. I love the drama and the excitement, and the way that just dealing out cards sometimes can become a moment of triumph. And I love the dorky stick-figure drawings and baroque-to-the-point-of-ridiculous plans and the way we sometimes wind up laughing hard enough to completely derail the plot for a few minutes. I love the running gags that develop, and the obscure language of references and in-jokes, and the stories that we build with the world and each other.

And, you know, sometimes after a day of typing records, turfing phone calls, and cleaning up after mistakes untrained staff make, I just love being a badass gun-toting voodoo priestess in the quasi-lawless wild west.

There are worse things in the world than refusing to be too old to play make-believe.

Comments

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

I can totally see you as a badass gun-toting voodoo priestess! If you ever costume that character, we want pictures!

[metaphysick.livejournal.com]

One is never too old to play make-believe.

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

What game are you playing? We haven't gamed in forever.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

We're playing Deadlands, which is one of my absolute favorite systems ever - steampunk zombie wild west horror, from before *any* of those things were trendy.

My character is a former Confederate nurse turned adventuress, with a background in voodoo taught to her by her nanny. The rest of the party consists of a semi-delusional mad scientist, a newspaper reporter/gambler/magician, a Prussian paladin with more looks than brains, a Union deserter with a penchant for tall tales, and a deeply paranoid former detective on the run from shadow monsters.

Where else could you get that much awesome?

[jacketeer.livejournal.com]

That.

Sounds.

AMAZING.

I am so jealous. I want to have a consistent tabletop group so badly! I'm hoping to organize something when I get back to uni this semester...

[mneme]

That makes sense! I'd have guessed Savage Worlds, only because I'm not sure whether current Deadlands is a Savage Worlds supplement or what (SW is the generic Deadlands system).

Awesome!

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. When you mentioned cards, I thought it might be Deadlands. I've never played it, but it always sounded interesting. Jon's mentioned before that he thinks I might like it.

I need to game. Weeknights never seem to work, though (who gets home too late vs who's an early bird to bed, etc) and everyone seems to be too busy on the weekends, including us. Computer games are just NOT the same thing, although I'd take a decent virtual tabletop in a pinch.

[gmkieran.livejournal.com]

Hear!Hear! Badass, definitely! ;)

I'm bummed, 'cause I missed my dose last night! :( Stoopud cable going out! (We play on a virtual table-top, 'cause half the group's out of state, but it's the best I can do these days.)

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Which VTT client you guys using?

[gmkieran.livejournal.com]

Fantasy Grounds - VERY pleased with it. Under new management for the last year and they're awesome. Very responsive to their users, very hands-on and with great ideas for where to take the software. There's also a hugely helpful community, many of whom do additional development work to support specific systems and functionality. The code is all xml based, so pretty much anyone can develop in it and the best stuff gets added into the base software. My only regret is that Serenity RPG is not supported, but that's the fault of MWP, not the FG folks. I'm in the process of building a hacked version based on Savage Worlds so I can run it, eventually. :D

[rakasta53.livejournal.com]

Hey, that dorky stick-figure drawing save our butts, and entrance plan totally worked!

Personally, I think it is a sign. All plans from now on should be accompanied with shoddy illustrations!

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Not only did it save our butts, it got the idea across clearly and quickly - I am not criticizing it at all! It just *also* made me laugh with delight and amusement. :)

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Sounds grand. I miss having a regular tabletop game...

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

I miss being too far away for the tabletop I used to belong to. It's been a few years now. :-(

[hungrytiger]

If you guys ever find yourselves looking for another player, keep me in mind.