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New Zealand holiday, the War Against Swine
The holiday with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya to The South Island of New Zealand was, as usual, full of landscapes of sublime beauty and fuelled by a bottle of cognac (courvoisier v.s.o.p.) and chocolate (ferro rocher).
OK, this is a long post but with a mere paragraph per day and pretty pictures I promise it's worth spending a few minutes reading.
The journey over was marred by guy in his mid-fourties with the behaviour of five year-old (that is, childish not child-like). Foley Towers proved to be a pleasant, serene and slightly spartan place to stay, although the 6" mosquito was an interesting addition.
Following day was the east coast journey to Timaru. Passed through Ashburton and visited a delightful second-hand bookstore in the old post office. Otherwise a fairly dull town. At Timaru discovered there was a rather substantial fair, and decided to play in the rather impressive maze. There are two purposes to mazes. One is to engage discover how to get out and the other is end up in isolated dead-ends with a very close friend. We did both ;-)
Third day of the journey was further down to the coat to the beautiful town of Oamaru, where many of the old buildings were made from a limestone that was soft enough to saw, yet hardened on exposure to the air. A mason's delight, obviously. The local art gallery had an excellent exhibition with the imaginative use of brassieres as part of a fundraiser for breastcancer.
By early evening we made it to Dunedin, which is still my favourite place on the planet. Went to see Marie Antoinette at the Rialto, a cinema which is horrendously garish on the outside and very nice inside. The sountrack was full of post-punk favourites (Gang of Four, The Cure, Siouxie and The Banshees), but it couldn't prevent the story an episode of pomp and psychodrama as real history was occuring. Not recommended. Avoided the terrible free concert at the Octagon for New Year's Eve and instead sought beautiful views over the harbour.
On the morning of the following day travelled along the bottom of The South Island through the Catlin's National Park. Visited the Matai and Horsehoe waterfalls, the deep south port-town of Bluff (with its famous signpost) and the delightfully kitsch paua shell museaum.
By late afternoon arrived at Invercargill, and stayed at the charming Gerrard's Hotel (especially liked the Art Noveau features). Took opportunities to visit Henry, the 126 year old tuatara, a thoroughly weird "living dinosaur", with a third eye, and the beautiful Queen's Park gardens.
Next leg of the journey was the the southern route to Lake Manupouri and Te Anua, both right on the edge of Fiordlord, the sort of place which Douglas Adams once described as the sort of place that makes one want to engage in sponaneous applause to the beauty of nature. In Te Anua we took to the lake and visited the glow worm caves, which was rather like astronomy on acid.
The following day's journey was to Queenstown which included a visit to their excellent bird sanctuary. Highlights include the black stilt (the world's rarest stilt), the Chatman Island duck (the rarest duck) and a Maori cultural event with audience participation - doing the "hokey-pokey" in Maori! Following morning watched Ata Whenua, which as very pretty but some (scientific) narrative would be nice!
The next day was a flying visit to Aoraki (or Mount Cook in Pakeha), past Twizel (good lunch stop) and Lake Tekapo to stop off at the little townsh of Fairlie. Nothing terribly exciting there, except for the charming visit of a hedgehog to the spacious garden of our motel.
From Farlie it was returning to ChCh via the scenic route past Peel Forst and Mt Hutt rather than back through Ashburton and stopping at the Colombo Street Lodge (where one gets an entire apartment to stay in). Next day it was a journey through the Banks Penisula to the former French colony town of Akaroa, whose history is much more exciting than the town itself.
On the way back to ChCh I had the bright idea of taking the scenic route over the peninsula mountains. Turned out the road was semi-sealed at best and as the fuel-guage starting blinking red concern started to set in. Making it across the peninsula we were struck however by the lack of petrol stations in on the coastal towns. By some miracle we made it all the way to Lyttleton, a petroleum port with a population of over 3,000 - only be told that they don't have a petrol station either! With a car that apparently can run on the smell of an oily rag we managed to make it through their lenghty tunnel (that would have been a fine place to break down) to a station on the outskirts of ChCh.
Final day was a visit to Orana Wildlife Park, wherecaseopaya fed and pet a giraffe (among others), before dropping off the car. The sting in that tail was that the windscreen was chipped by a rock from an incoming vehicle on the way to Akaroa. Total cost? $155 NZD. Ezy Rentals? Not recommended.
On the way back I jotted in my dairy plans for the coming year on a day-by-day basis. Must make sure this is not interrupted by interesting job offers (for the next few months at least). Return home was to investigate the destruction of our cheap couch by the two grumpy rabbits. Lots of love toseverina_242 for checking on our pets during our absence and warning us of impending lagamorph devastation.
Amusing gaming news occured whilst I was on holiday. Apparently becausehedgehog39 (really hedgehogs are much nicer than that) didn't like being painted into a corner over the importance of theory to role-playing games, he appealed to a chap who calls himself RPGPundit who has declared war on "The Swine" (i.e., people who think theory is important) with yours truly as the assigned first victim. Already however, it is evident that the attack has faltered. Why? Because good theory produces good systems which helps gamers to become better players.
caseopaya to The South Island of New Zealand was, as usual, full of landscapes of sublime beauty and fuelled by a bottle of cognac (courvoisier v.s.o.p.) and chocolate (ferro rocher). OK, this is a long post but with a mere paragraph per day and pretty pictures I promise it's worth spending a few minutes reading.
The journey over was marred by guy in his mid-fourties with the behaviour of five year-old (that is, childish not child-like). Foley Towers proved to be a pleasant, serene and slightly spartan place to stay, although the 6" mosquito was an interesting addition.
Following day was the east coast journey to Timaru. Passed through Ashburton and visited a delightful second-hand bookstore in the old post office. Otherwise a fairly dull town. At Timaru discovered there was a rather substantial fair, and decided to play in the rather impressive maze. There are two purposes to mazes. One is to engage discover how to get out and the other is end up in isolated dead-ends with a very close friend. We did both ;-)
Third day of the journey was further down to the coat to the beautiful town of Oamaru, where many of the old buildings were made from a limestone that was soft enough to saw, yet hardened on exposure to the air. A mason's delight, obviously. The local art gallery had an excellent exhibition with the imaginative use of brassieres as part of a fundraiser for breastcancer.
By early evening we made it to Dunedin, which is still my favourite place on the planet. Went to see Marie Antoinette at the Rialto, a cinema which is horrendously garish on the outside and very nice inside. The sountrack was full of post-punk favourites (Gang of Four, The Cure, Siouxie and The Banshees), but it couldn't prevent the story an episode of pomp and psychodrama as real history was occuring. Not recommended. Avoided the terrible free concert at the Octagon for New Year's Eve and instead sought beautiful views over the harbour.
On the morning of the following day travelled along the bottom of The South Island through the Catlin's National Park. Visited the Matai and Horsehoe waterfalls, the deep south port-town of Bluff (with its famous signpost) and the delightfully kitsch paua shell museaum.
By late afternoon arrived at Invercargill, and stayed at the charming Gerrard's Hotel (especially liked the Art Noveau features). Took opportunities to visit Henry, the 126 year old tuatara, a thoroughly weird "living dinosaur", with a third eye, and the beautiful Queen's Park gardens.
Next leg of the journey was the the southern route to Lake Manupouri and Te Anua, both right on the edge of Fiordlord, the sort of place which Douglas Adams once described as the sort of place that makes one want to engage in sponaneous applause to the beauty of nature. In Te Anua we took to the lake and visited the glow worm caves, which was rather like astronomy on acid.
The following day's journey was to Queenstown which included a visit to their excellent bird sanctuary. Highlights include the black stilt (the world's rarest stilt), the Chatman Island duck (the rarest duck) and a Maori cultural event with audience participation - doing the "hokey-pokey" in Maori! Following morning watched Ata Whenua, which as very pretty but some (scientific) narrative would be nice!
The next day was a flying visit to Aoraki (or Mount Cook in Pakeha), past Twizel (good lunch stop) and Lake Tekapo to stop off at the little townsh of Fairlie. Nothing terribly exciting there, except for the charming visit of a hedgehog to the spacious garden of our motel.
From Farlie it was returning to ChCh via the scenic route past Peel Forst and Mt Hutt rather than back through Ashburton and stopping at the Colombo Street Lodge (where one gets an entire apartment to stay in). Next day it was a journey through the Banks Penisula to the former French colony town of Akaroa, whose history is much more exciting than the town itself.
On the way back to ChCh I had the bright idea of taking the scenic route over the peninsula mountains. Turned out the road was semi-sealed at best and as the fuel-guage starting blinking red concern started to set in. Making it across the peninsula we were struck however by the lack of petrol stations in on the coastal towns. By some miracle we made it all the way to Lyttleton, a petroleum port with a population of over 3,000 - only be told that they don't have a petrol station either! With a car that apparently can run on the smell of an oily rag we managed to make it through their lenghty tunnel (that would have been a fine place to break down) to a station on the outskirts of ChCh.
Final day was a visit to Orana Wildlife Park, where
caseopaya fed and pet a giraffe (among others), before dropping off the car. The sting in that tail was that the windscreen was chipped by a rock from an incoming vehicle on the way to Akaroa. Total cost? $155 NZD. Ezy Rentals? Not recommended.
On the way back I jotted in my dairy plans for the coming year on a day-by-day basis. Must make sure this is not interrupted by interesting job offers (for the next few months at least). Return home was to investigate the destruction of our cheap couch by the two grumpy rabbits. Lots of love to
severina_242 for checking on our pets during our absence and warning us of impending lagamorph devastation.Amusing gaming news occured whilst I was on holiday. Apparently because
hedgehog39 (really hedgehogs are much nicer than that) didn't like being painted into a corner over the importance of theory to role-playing games, he appealed to a chap who calls himself RPGPundit who has declared war on "The Swine" (i.e., people who think theory is important) with yours truly as the assigned first victim. Already however, it is evident that the attack has faltered. Why? Because good theory produces good systems which helps gamers to become better players.
no subject
That pundit guy is a joke. He 'argues' like a teenager with an attitude problem. That whole 'swine' thing too, such a transparent gimmick. I do wish that the world was separated into two groups, those who thought I was cool and awesome; and Swine. It would make things so much easier.
I'm now living with a roleplayer. I've had friends who are into RP but never had a chance to give it a go. I'm trying to organise a game with my flatmate and another friend, possibly based in the Shadowrun world. Do you have any hints and tips for a noob looking to start his first game?
no subject
It would be great to catch up and I look forward to the pro-forma argument (all those years in philosophy class were worth it!). Do you have accomodation sorted? If not there's more than enough room at our place.
I must say I agree with your assesment with the Pundit. On occassion he says things which make sense (as I pointed out on the second thread - and his review of Conspiracy of Shadows has some great moments), but the insight is lost in the tirades and expletives.
For some bizarre reason I've been earmarked as a "Forgeite" ("The Swine"), which is particularly strange given the content and quantity of posts I've made there. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I've played a couple of indie games like Dogs in the Vineyard and actually enjoyed them. Maybe it's because I am prepared to use theory to help guide game design and play.
I suspect that some of it has to do with the fact that Ron Edwards isn't always the most convivial person either. The famous comment about people being "brain damaged" by enjoying games that didn't fit his model certainly didn't help.
Anyway... For a completely new beginner?
- Read up on the setting. Make sure you know where your character is, and what the "big issues" are. A good GM should introduce key themes early in play. Keep an ear out for those.
- Work with the other PCs. Find out what sort of character they want to play and then design a character that complements the rest of the team. Specialise on a group of skills. People who are more experienced with the game system should be the combat wombats or mages; technical and social skills are good for newcomers. It allows them to interact with the game system without having expertise of the rules.
- Read the rulebook, just to get a feel of the mechanics. Jot down a few notes as you go. Generate a sample character.
- During play, don't dominate the group. Every player needs to have the spotlight on them so they get some stage time otherwise the game isn't fun for them. A good GM will be attentive to this, and many design scenarios where one, and only one, player can succeed in getting the party out of trouble.
- Most importantly, have fun. It's a shared imaginary space and collaborative storytelling. Immerse yourself in the experience and tell a ripping yarn.
no subject
The expression on everyones face when a character (and this quote was completely IN character) stands up and yells "I can't marry you! You're a Nignog!".
Silence...
Then outraged laughter.
I believe the GM had to be handed a glass of water to stop him choking.
So, were you choking or just trying not to laugh? ;-)
Memories that smell like gasoline
I was trying not to laugh.
Lost World of Zorandor was magnificant. Everyone wanted to contribute to the story in the most high-camp, genre-appropriate fashion (and of course, I encouraged and rewarded such behaviour). Occassionally the game system even fell into place (like when same character decided to go hand to hand with a veloceraptor... "Wait a minute! You've got killing attacks!" [teeth and claws])