Good morningafternoon, Internets! Did you miss me?

If anything cool, fun, or important has happened since Thursday night, please let me know in comments.

Behind the cut, below, I'm going to talk about what I did at Dreamation 2010 this past weekend. LJ usernames will not be used to protect the innocent because I'm too lazy to look them all up. (I apologize in advance for misspellings and flat-out wrong names; mea culpa.)

Onward!



Events

FLIDAY

• Drove up to Rob Donoghue's house at ZOMG o'clock.
  
• Got on the road around 5:30 am.
  
• Much great gaming geekery discussion, ranging from design matters to personalities to industry ideas.
  
• Got to the Hyatt in Morristown; half-hour parking lot hell.
  
• Check-in, got ourselves situated; see many people, many handshakes and hugs; lunch with Ryan Macklin and Matt Gandy.
  
• General hanging out, with a particular "gobsmack Chad" moment:
  
  
  
  • MACKLIN: "You think you're pretty damn cool, don't you?"
    
  • YOUR HUMBLE: "Yup."
    
  • MACKLIN: "I bet you think you deserve a motherfucking medal for just being you, for just being Chad Underkoffler, don't you?"
    
  • YOUR HUMBLE: "Abso-friggin'-lutely."
    
  • MACKLIN: "Alright, then, bitch!" (fumbles in bag, produces a medal)
    
  • YOUR HUMBLE: (pole-axed; gapes like a goldfish; starts laughing hysterically)
    
  • MACKLIN: (to puzzled onlookers) "It's the Silver ENnie for S7S I accepted for him at GenCon."
    
  • [Well played, sir. Well played.]
    
  
  
• Sushi for dinner with Gregory Phillips, Brennan Taylor, and the delightful Lilith Taylor (who we all bored to tears for awhile talking about -- God help me, that I did this -- the economy, CDOs, the Move Your Money concept, yadda yadda. (Sorry, Lilith. The three of us we being old farts.)
  
• Played in a game of 3:16 -- Carnage Amongst the Stars (which I got from the "Haiti Bundle" on RPGNow/DTRPG), GM'd by Matt Weber. Much bug-huntin' and "officers are idiots/douchebags" fun. Think Aliens meets the Starship Troopers movie.
  
• Through the kind introduction of Darren Watts, and the sufferance of Vinny, got into the late-night Texas Hold 'Em game ($20 buy-in). Only had to wait about a half-hour before a seat opened up. I was writing off that $20 as an "entertainment and education expense" -- you see, almost all of my poker playing has been computer/online, so I have very few table skills. I saw this as an opportunity to learn those, and was happy to pay for the privilege, and said as much going in. I made mistakes, I learned, I had fun, and in the end, I made money: when I cashed out at 3 am, I was up $29. (That money helped with some of the Purchases below. Thanks, guys!)
  
• A little under 3.5 hrs sleeps, and then...
  

SABADAY

• When taking my morning shower, one of my greatest fears happened:
  
  
  
  • I slipped and fell in the extremely slick hotel tub.
    
  • I fell completely out of the tub, ripping the shower curtains free.
    
  • I narrowly missed cracking my skull open on the toilet, avoiding a porcelain slam to the brainpan that would have resulted in leaking blood and brains onto the lineoleum.
    
  • As it was, I landed on my... pride. (And we all know my "pride" is very well-padded.)
    
  • Lesson learned? I don't care: I'll wear my fake Crocs into hotel showers from now on.
    
  • BONUS: It's also darkly funny, in a way: "WET NAKED FAT MAN FALLS DOWN IN BATHROOM; FILM AT 11."
    
  
  
• Paid $20 for coffee and a small plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.
  
• Played Ganakagok in the am, GM'd by Jeff Collyer. Think tribal mythopoetical "Inuit-esque" folks, before the first rising of the Sun. The first Ganakagok game I'm been in NOT run by the author/designer (Bill White), and the most soap-opera-y thus far -- much of the play was all about social ties, relationships, status, and the Village.
  
• Pizza for lunch with Joanna and Connie and others.
  
• Spent first part of the afternoon sitting at a table in the hallway between the hotel lobby and the conference center with Rob Donoghue:
  
  
  
  • Shootin' the shit with whoever passed by.
    
  • Gave an academic interview to Bill White on North American jeepform/freeform play.
    
  • Talked with Vinny regarding some of the stuff I'll touch on in the Sunday Indie Roundtable discussion below.
    
  • Farted around with Rob and a deck of cards, trying to see if there was a good card-based resolution system for the sort of "give-and-take" in conflicts one sees in fiction and movies.
    
  
  
• Played in Dan Solis' Happy Birthday, Robot. It's a fantastic all-ages game, and can RAWK as a "generic" party game with non-gamer geeks. (Any game that can credibly survive the input of an over-caffinated/over-sugared 7 yr old has serious chops.) This one's a winner, folks. (muskrat_john, this is an Out of the Box game just waiting to happen. SRSLY.)
  
• Dinner, with much discussion of semiotics. ROCK ON!
  
• While waiting for the stars to align, Jared Sorensen (that magnificent bastard) tricked a bunch of us into playing several rounds of JUNGLE ADVENTURE, a Parsely game. . . and thus assured I'd buy ACTION CASTLE the next day (see below, Purchases). (Parsely games are PERFECT party games, BUT I do have to note it may be only perfect for those of us at a certain age. I don't really know if the whippersnappers would get into infocom-style text adventures. I welcome insights.)
  
• My attempt to Make Macklin Cry (by running Mythender) more or less fails. Mac's on top of his game, and handles it with aplomb and fun. CURSES!
  
• Awesome lobby socialization.
  
• Sleep the sleep of the Dead.
  

SUMDAY

• $20 bacon and eggs, again.
  
• Looking at the sched, I figured there was a decent chance of getting into a Fiasco game: many tables, early Sunday, rock on.
  
• Have ridiculous amount of fun with Fiasco. (Jason, was it "Besting" or "Breaking" or "Busting" when talking about one's "Jonx"?)
  
• Fantastic, if short, chat with Remi Treuer.
  
• Many hugging goodbyes.
  
• The Indie Roundtable, where:
  
  
  
  • Vinny laid out some ideas for a separate, Indie publisher/designer-focused mini-con. More deets will be forthcoming -- but I find the idea of a robust practical game design seminar track, a publishable academic "Proceedings" document, the idea that demos could be video'd and YouTube'd, and a central online forum/resource site VERY HOT. (Think of this mini-con idea as "Indie Roundtable, all the time!")
    
  • I offered my arrogant opinion on many topics.
    
  • Kudos to the Robs (Bohl and Donoghue) for emcee-ing.
    
  
  
• Saddlin' up with Rob D. for the drive south.
  
• Much great discussion, ranging from gaming stuff to fiction stuff to genealogical/family history stuff to philosophical explorations.
  
• Get my car from Donoghue land; drive home; magically find an appropriate parking spot. Unpack/do required chores. Crash.
  
  Purchases
  
  
  
  • A remarkable amount of Guinness.
    
  • ACTION CASTLE
    
  • The Day After Ragnarok
    
  • Human Contact
    
  • Lucha Libre HERO
    
  
  
  
  And now I am doing laundry.

For your reading pleasure:

Happy Birthday, Harry: We Have A Target

and

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDresdenFiles

(That latter link will keep you reading for HOURS.)

ALSO, because I am a tres geeky fanboi, I was thinking today that if I saw a story where Harry Dresden and Vlad Taltos teamed-up, I'd probably plotz.

(Then, I thought about Vlad teaming up with Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen, and I DID plotz. Then, I thought about the Three Musketeers teaming up with Cyrano and Captain Alatriste, and plotzed halfway through the thought. We shall not speak of the Kirk and Sheridan team up, or the Matthew Gideon and Malcolm Reynolds team up.)

This past weekend was Camp Nerdly 3.

Short form: Had great conversations, played fun games, drank regional sodas (Cheerwine and Dr. Enuf FTW!), and made silly faces at well-behaved babies. An all-around win.

Also, for the vid-inclined, Jason Morningstar's One Cool Thing I Saw At Camp Nerdly 3 on YouTube.

Otherwise, the long day-by-day breakdown behind the cut...

(Apologies ahead of time, I'm not going to try and get everyone's LJ username... but feel free to chime in with comments!)

WEDNESDAY
macklinr flew into BWI in the evening; I picked him up; we swung by drivingblind's place -- it's on the way back -- to chew the fat a bit.

Much talk regarding games, girls, the gaming industry, and keeping your head on straight.

Good times.


THURSDAY
Purchasing final bits of gear, packing, and puttering.


FRIDAY
Drove down in the early afternoon. Freaking hot and humid. Registered, found my cabin, unpacked, said hellos, checked the schedule, explored the campsite.

Played my first game of 1000 Blank White Cards -- I really dug it. Then, later, a game of Misspent Youth, where our Youthful Offenders (YOs) ended up, uh, kinda worse than the Authority. Good times. (See my Overview of MS.)

Oh, and also kept Ryan awake all night with my snoring -- with an able ripsaw-assist from Buddha.

I need a new sleeping bag: my mummy bag only fits up to mid-torso: my chest and shoulders don't fit into the damned thing. Luckily, I had a blanket. And despite the heat of the days, the nights were cold and damp, even in the cabins. Note for next time!

SATURDAY
Chatting in the morning, then playstormed nikotesla's game Xenon.

After lunch, took a long, solitary walk up to the deserted Camp A. Lots of solo thinkery on issues of current concern, while communing with nature in the Big Blue Room. Went back to my bunk and nap-crashed for an hour or two.

Learned how to play Jungle Speed, which I will be purchasing soon. Played JS until it was time for me to go and be an Oven Master (cook) for dinner.

Ran the stove for dinner: cooking soup, pasta, sauce, and a balsamic glazed chicken for around 55 people with Emily Care Boss, Epidiah Ravachol, and Joshua Riley.

Played MythEnder, and helped End the Migard Serpent! Boo-yeah! Gotta say, some of the other players' characters had some full-octane insanity that I was envious of... like "The Tongueless Last Emperor of Rome" as a Companion Weapon or the Drowned Pirate Captain who wants to "kill the ocean" demanding a terrified farmer tell her a children's story as a was to regain Mortality. Awesome. (See my Overview of ME.)

Late (around midnight), I ran a game of PDQ# Space Opera. We started with two facts:

#1. This is all Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers: swords and rayguns.
#2. All of the planets have the names of elements from the Periodic Table.

As we worked through "setting the dials" and character creation, and then later in play, we added more facts to the setting. In almost exactly two hours, we went from nada to a setting described by 20 or so facts, four fully-statted PCs and 2 NPCs (a villain and an archvillain; the latter, alas, didn't show up in play), and three action-filled, entertaining, hilarious scenes -- complete with immediate adventure resolution and a cliffhanger!

I think PDQ# SpOp ("spop!") is going to be my minimal prep game to run at conventions. I'll type up my notes tonight and try to bash together some simple handouts and forms to fill out to facilitate even speedier play. Then I'll print out a bunch and slap them in a folder to put in my game bag.


SUNDAY
Played a version of the game Fred describes as "the Grateful Dead concert of Indie Gaming" (I'll let him chime in on that when he gets a chance), Ganakagok in the morning, and it was great! Nine of us played the newish "jeepforged" version of the game. The best way I can describe it is that it's a structured, freeform, one-room LARP.

Ryan and I packed up, loaded the car, came back to the Deluxe Apartment in the Sky-y-y to eat something, take showers, and do laundry. Then I drove Ryan back up to Fred's so he could crash there before flying out today. Had a nice long discussion covering much ground, and also got the 411 on the "end of Season 1" D&D4e game I missed on Saturday.

Got home, ordered a pizza for the first time in two weeks, ate, watched Batman: Brave & the Bold (with Bat-Mite! How cool is that?), then did freelance editing into the wee hours. Then I crashed like the Hindenberg.


SUMMARY: Had oodles of fun. Will try to go again next year!

Vague work on script with patricks throughout.

Fliday: Started reading Robert Graves' King Jesus. Enjoying it.

Sabaday: Took more Dresden longhand notes; now 3/4 of way through Small Favor. Had a nice lunch with geekchick at Luna Cafe in Squirlingdon. Have now tried Mo's Bacon Bar and I declare it good.

Sumday: Kitteh visit for boadiccea. Then I followed her back to her place, where rottgrub helped rebuild my laptop from craptastic to awesomesauce. (Still lacking Visio, MS Word 2003, and Citrix for day-job needs; day-job should be able to pony-up install discs for an evening, tho. Met super-kyoot puppeh girl, Fawn. Have been (finally) exposed to Avatar: the Last Airbender, will prolly watch more. Also saw the animated Dr. Strange... mixed feelings about it, though shading towards positive.

Now, catching up on EllaJay.

In other news, I am tremendously fat. (Note this is not BREAKING news, but hey.)

Starting South Beach (more-or-less) tomorrow. Goal is to lose 20 lbs by GenCon.

I blame beer and wine over past 4 months. Have successfully reduced beer intake to "one glass/pint when I'm out" but wine consumption still too high.

With luck, this quarter's PR payment (which hits this month) will keep me out of the poorhouse.

T-Minus 6 months until car is paid off, when I can take that money and throw at my credit card.

...

Yeah, that about covers it.

Just a quick update... all of my current projects are still live, I've tried to service them all a bit this past week... and it's sucking the juice out of me.

Here's what I'm gonna do with them, so as not to go insane.


1. Local gamma playtests of Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies: One down, at least three or four more to go, switching in different players and characters. Try to set next session up for late April. Rewrite handout.

2. Gamma draft revision of the S7S manuscript: Can't be done until local gammas are done. Stop thinking about it until after playtests to free up headspace.

3. Research and analysis on Small Favor: Finished re-read of book. Starting the actual note-taking tonight.

4. Zorcerer of Zo-based fairy tales: Stalled in mid-tale, most due to fatigue. Stop thinking about it until after I can get back to novel; free up headspace. (EXCEPTION: Must write one as present for somebody's birthday.)

5. Incipient novel: One chapter written. (Stop thinking about it until after Small Favor work is done to free up headspace.)

6. Script Collaboration: First draft done. Awaiting comments from trusted readers. Revise/Edit/Trim/Tighten for upcoming contests.

7. Providing feedback to authors/game designers: Reducing this, unless one or more of three things is involved -- friendship, a PDQ licensee, or cold hard cash.

8. Freelance editing work: Do one more night's worth of work on prep docs beginning of next week, then ignore until the document to be edited hits my inbox.

9. Other low-impact projects I can't remember: If I can't remember them, they're unimportant, so I'm erasing the vague bookmarks point into mystery that are squatting in my skullmeats.

Thus, the actual To Do List becomes, in rough order:
A. SmF notes: Start tonight.
B. Get feedback on script; revise: As it happens.
C. Get info for a Zo Tale for present: This weekend.
D. Finish editing prep docs: Monday or Tuesday.
E. S7S Gamma Playtests: Revise handout late next week, start nosing around for interest in an end-of-month session.



Well, that almost cut it in half.

Also: Find time to sleep, somewhere in there.

To aid my own sanity and time-management, here's the list of freelance projects I'm currently juggling (note, please, I am not including day-job stuff or social stuff):

1. Gearing up to run several local gamma playtest sessions of Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, to test out rules changes made through the beta playtests. After I get feedback and testing on that...

2. ...moving onto the gamma draft revision of the S7S manuscript with lessons learned and general text-tightening/awesomifying. This will be sent out to peer reviewers for comment and gamma playtesters for testing.

3. I am still contributing to The Dresden Files RPG; the most important element of this will be my research and analysis on Small Favor, once I actually buy the book later this month.

4. I am writing Zorcerer of Zo-based fairy tales, with the aim of putting out a small fiction collection. Right now, I've written five -- "The Blue Tailor," "The Wooden Pirate," "The Witch Girl," "The Horse Prince," and "The Gingerbread Knight." I probably need at least five more (and art) to make a slim digest book.

5. I (apparently) have begun a novel, trading on two of my big interests: swashbuckling and mysticism. One chapter down.

6. I am collaborating on at least one (possibly three) movie scripts with a colleague.

7. I am providing feedback to other authors and game designers regarding their works on an ad hoc basis.

8. I will be picking up some freelance editing work for another Standards Developing Organization (SDO), in the interests of making money.

9. I am positive I have one or two other low-impact projects I cannot summon to mind right now.

That's the State of the Chad at the moment. I will be pondering how best to service all of these endeavors with regard to the limitations of time and attention.

If you are involved with any of the above listed projects, please take this as an explanation of why I may be a bit terse in responses.