mundens | Killing Darlene

On a bright Monday of sunshine and cold, I have already done the only piece of actual paid work I had lined up. And the US doesn't start work till tomorrow. So, I have time to update the weekend. It's a big bastard so I'll cut it.

However, first I should state that the rpg.net.nz domain is now active and serving. I still need to configure the DNS daemon on my server so that I can make URL's like kapcon.rpg.net.nz work (which they don't currently) but the old KapCon sites are available on rpg.net.nz/kapcon/ and the old SDC site is also available at rpg.net.nz/sdc/.

Both need work, and I am beginning to do that, I have a preliminary implementation of an XML-based client -side search engine for the SDC, which I'll make available once I've updated all the various SDC entries on to the server and recorded their details. I also need to get a KapCon XV site up. I'm working on an art deco zeppelin image to represent the 1930's-themed Flight of the Hindenburg LARP , I'll get up a first draft as soon as I can.

Anyway on to the journal entry proper......

Friday met up with

amphigori &

lamprey at

katipocafe. It was actually the first time I've been there in a few weeks as well, so it was nice to say hi to other, more regular, people such as

pombagira and

fuvenusrs . Also caught up with an old colleague from Germany who happened to be there meeting with someone.

amphigori wanted to have chicken Iskander at the Turkish place, but unfortunately they were booked solid we ended up going to The Curry Club, where I had a supposedly hot beef vindaloo that didn't even raise a sweat. I think

amphigori was disappointed that neither

lamprey or I found the curry too hot! :) Was also convinced to try a Taj Mahal by the waiter, rather than a Kingfisher Strong. Wasn't bad at all.

It was nice to catch up and share the pains of long distance relationships and how nice it was to be stupidly in love. :)

After we said good night I had a nice lazy stroll back to the station, and during the trip I saw many oddly, and in some cases, scantily, dressed teams of girls. I felt sorry for those with the really short skirts in the cold wind, but enjoyed the sight nonetheless. Finally while strolling along the waterfront I helped one nice Little Bo-Peep catch her cute white linen cap that had blown off, and she asked me if I was called Jason. I said I wasn't, and she explained that they were on a scavenger hunt and she needed a business card with "Jason" on it. Unfortunately I couldn't help there and she trotted off to join the flock of Bo-Peeps she was working with.

Finally back on the train for an early night before rising at around ten and rushing through washing clothes and dishes and preparing to travel north to Paraparaumu for Megaroleplaying. Picked up

mr_orgue and some Gundams from Lower Hutt and then drove off to the sunny Kapiti coast.

Got there just in time to get into a game of Prime Time Adventures run by hix.

It was both an amazing introduction to a quite different form of collaborative role-playing, and a pretty intense role-playing experience at the same time. Surprisingly, although my actions as a player were often constrained by the luck of the card draw, it actually helped construct a much more satisfying and edgy story. It was quite a trip to be playing a character and never really knowing what that character was going to do

I think it would only be acceptable in a situation like that where the character I was playing, Trent, the Trench-coat Mafia ass-hole who delighted in making the loony Cassandra upset, was teetering on the brink of damnation and was really not very sane during that episode. In a more sane character, I think perhaps the challenges would have been more externally based though, so maybe it would have been alright.

Having the players choose my character's key episode obviously made it very intense for me, but I'd like to think that others enjoyed it as much. The final scene where Trent, while pointing a gun at Adam and (potential future anti-christ, and class president) and Darlene, asking Adam whether he really thought he was bad-ass enough to hang around with Trent, to which question Adam moved over and grasped the gun along with Trent and aimed it at Darlene....

Kudos to Norman for having Adam take the initiative away from Trent and prove that he really was bad-ass enough in one simple step. No-one knew what would happen, and I, at least, got the same tension as you would have in the actual TV show we were simulating. Will Trent join the potential anti-christ and damn himself forever? Has the potential anti-christ (who was also a sympathetic and not necessarily evil character (think Good Omens) finally made his choice and gone for the dark side?

I actually want to know what happens in the next episode when Cassandra gets the focus !

This kept us busy until it was time for the BBQ, spa pool usage, and a good start on drinking. Made sure I got to play in

jenni_talula's Wuthering Heights-styled game. I got to play a naive 19-year-old Buddhist called Rupert Beaumaris whose cape fluttered in the wind even when drenched. It's interesting what good names for 18th century characters you come up with by randomly looking at random books.

Best bit must have been Thurston Hawksley (

panda_pitt riding off on a horse in the middle of the night with his great love Athene

giffydoll, clad only in their night-gowns, with Thurston being fully aware that Athene was his sister! The cad!

This was followed by the enraged, 16-year-old George Greene (idiot) trying to kill me in a duel for daring to present his cousin Lady Bullfinch of Blackbird Manor (Sam) with a night-dress for her birthday. Naive Rupert couldn't understand why, but humoured the lad anyway, until the accusations of murder brought against Lady Bullfinch became more important.

A brief interlude was taken to drink pinacolada's made by

debzter and to watch the Charlie episode The Mighty Boosh. More Boosh converts were assuredly made and the powers and importance of poncho's were thus explained to those were not already in the know.

After that many people gave up and went to bed, but the hard-core crowd stayed and played

mr_orgue's Big Mother-fucking Crab Truckers, which was intensely insane, and I was impressed at how

mr_orgue could keep up the patter of crab goddesses and expletives.

Best line must have been from Matt as he quoted the news-reports of his and

debzter's truck

A herd of giraffes singing Abba just crashed though the suburbs stealing refrigerators.

Or words to that effect. Read more from Matt and from the crazy crabby convener

Sadly our truck, the Sweet Sweet Rollin was destroyed by missile-fire due to my incompetence as a driver, but I'm pretty damn certain that the reward awaiting the eventual winner's wasn't quite as good as advertised, visions of the concept of entering the Crab Goddess' heaven thru being eaten by her danced through my addled brain

Sunday we awoke to a nice breakfast and the news that a large group were heading off for a morning run .

I was seriously worried by this evidence of healthiness amongst gamers. What is the world coming to when gamers actually go for runs in the morning?. Even worse, even those who did not succumb to the evils of running got involved in an exchange of frisbees and soccer balls. And then they played Twister in the sun! At this rate the stereotype of gamer as fat pasty nerds will be seriously damaged!

Finally, actual gaming commenced, and I got to play

eyes_of_winter's Claremont High supers game. Despite heavy plot derailment by concerted attempts to play Mean Girls instead of the actual game (actually that was a lot of fun) it did in fact end up having loads of action. I got to play the hot-headed Inferno, and got set up with the "pretty / ugly glasses girl" Mary,.by the girls in the group. Inferno got to fry a thug, rescue a teacher, spike the punch with holy water, and I had a great time playing him. .

Things wrapped up after that and it was the trip back home. We dropped of

mr_orgue, and

panda_pitt and I then had yummy burgers from Burger Fuel, a newly arrived franchise. I like the Brie Injection. They're like Burger Wisconsin in style only generally cheaper.

A final late night chat with my lover, and off to sleep, dreaming good, but unfortunately not memorably enough for a post. Looking forward to visiting said lover Thursday night, so no curry or drinkies at Katipo or wherever this week

This is Ace, the Big Mother-fucking Crab-Trucker Driver of Sweet Sweet Rollin', sendin' out a big 10-7 atcha good buddies, catch y'all on the flip-side!