News Archives: January 2008

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Prodigal

As I try to type this, Cisco is sat at my feet, wowling for attention. If you missed Claire's earlier post, the neighbours spotted him at 6:45 this morning, phoned us, and led him up our garden path with a handful of cat treats. Everyone was very glad to see him again, even the dogs - Tara has been sniffing and cleaning him a bit too enthusiastically.

Now, we face the tough decision of whether to let him out again or not. Cisco's turns thirteen this year, and this week's scare is making me face up to how long he'll be fit and sensible enough to spend time outside. On the other hand, I do believe cats are happier if they're allowed out. So I'm tossing up risk against quality of life. Very, very difficult.

Posted by graham @ 08:08 pm

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Cisco

I haven't seen Cisco in about 48 hours. He asked for out at 8:30 on Sunday evening, and didn't come back in. One of my neighbours saw him around three hours later, but there's been no sign of him since. Zak and I have been hunting for him, spiralling out from the house, and calling his name near sheds in case he's shut in. Claire's working on a poster which I'll put up in local shops tomorrow. I'll also be phoning the local vets and rescue centres.

At the moment we're just trying to keep busy and not panic. It's very difficult not to blame myself - maybe if I'd kept calling him in for another half hour he'd be with us now.

Posted by graham @ 08:52 pm

Monday, January 28, 2008

A New Campaign?

In October 2000, I started a Glorantha campaign, armed with little more than the (then) new Hero Wars rules and Tales of the Reaching Moon, issue 18. In January 2008, in an epic ten hour session, the campaign ended. An actual proper, third-act end, not "went on permanent hiatus" or "ground to a halt". Afterwards, my first thought was "How the hell do I follow that?" This post is some attempt to answer that...

Basically, I've been wondering about the shape of another campaign. Much of it is still vague to me, but there's some parameters that seem clear. Some positive, some negative. Much else will be decided later, partly by the desires of the players. If anyone is interested, let me know!

Positive

High fantasy. Epic. Complex mythology. Grounded in the community. These pretty much seem to me to be the strengths of the Grey Dogs game.

Core group of players/characters, but allowing for turnover of characters.

Weekday evening, running weekly, at mine. Friday/Saturday/Sunday are simply too precious to run a regular game, so a Monday to Thursday evening is the only possibility. A regular game is needed to maintain momentum. Given all my other commitments, mainly to the dogs, that means I need to run at home.

Start small and grow. Purely for practical reasons. Probably means beginning with one community, and a little history and mythology. Build as needed for the game, and player or my interest.

Players can do sub-creation. Okay, this never really works. Players always feel too lazy or inhibited to do much sub-creation. But to the extent that players are willing, sub-creation is to be encouraged.

Characters will make choices. Choices will have consequences. One major problem with many rpgs is that the PCs don't make significant choices. (They kill the monster or don't. They stop the cultists or don't. They succeed or fail.) I prefer tough choices. (Save the love of your life, or save the children. And no cop out "but you're so brilliant you do both".) Or, most especially, easy choices that later turn out to be tough choices. ("We'll use the dragon banner to win the battle." *years pass* "What do you mean we're speaking Wyrmish?")

Negative

Not Glorantha. Running another game in Glorantha would feel too much like series 5 of Babylon 5.

Not Japan (or indeed other explicit Asian setting). I've played a number of "Japanese" set games, and I've never enjoyed any of them. They always feel too much like a western setting with a thin veneer.

Posted by graham @ 08:54 pm

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Pots and Pans

I'd cooked some pasta, picked up the pan to drain it, when there was this "pop", and the handle was suddenly at an odd angle. After Claire and I had managed to get the pasta out, it turned out that two of the six little rivets had popped.

Anyone know how I go about getting this fixed? I know I could just buy a new pan, but I like this one, and it matches the others. I'd rather get it repaired, I'm just not sure how.

Posted by graham @ 09:52 pm

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Tara's Xrays

Yesterday, Tara went in for her xray and operation as scheduled. She's currently feeling groggy and a bit sorry for herself, but the news is good.

Tara's original operation worked. The bone is healing, and there's no complications. She'll need a bit more time and lots of physiotherapy, but by summer she will have made a full recovery.

The vet decided they did need to operate to sort the issue of her kneecap popping out. Really this isn't much of an operation - they just slit the skin open, stitch the damaged tissue back together, then close. At the moment she has an enormous bandage on, which comes off on Tuesday at her next check up. The following week her stitches come out - they used the more robust kind, as the dissolving ones aren't strong enough for a dog as strong as Tara! That should be an end to that, and we can then begin the slow process of building her strength back up.

More news when I get any.

Posted by graham @ 09:40 am

Friday, January 4, 2008

The Battle of Tara's Knee, Part the Latest

4 Tara visited the vet yesterday, and she's recovering well from her operation. The joint is strong and flexible, and her muscles are starting to strengthen. She has an xray in a fortnight to check that everything really is as good as it looks, but at the moment the operation seems to have been successful. That's the good news.

The bad news is that Tara's kneecap keeps slipping sideways. Apparently this isn't uncommon with this operation, as they need to cut through the tissue, and sometimes the flesh doesn't heal sufficiently before the stitches dissolve. The fix is relatively straightforward - cut the skin and re-do the stitching, which they'll do the same time as her xray, as she'll be out for that anyway. This will add about two weeks to her recovery time, but shouldn't stop her being fully fit come summer.

***

1 & 2 Wednesday evening, Claire and I visited a friend whose deerhound recently had nine puppies. For a first time mum, she's coping very well, and the puppies are all plump and happy. At four weeks they haven't developed their long, silver coat, so they're black or brindle, a bit long, but basically normal puppies. They're very cute, but haven't really developed much personality yet, so I didn't really develop any bond with any of them. (The way I did when I first met Tara or Cary.) This may be a good thing, as we have quite enough pets as it is...

Posted by graham @ 04:01 pm

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year

So, that was 2007. May 2008 be better to all of you!

***

The party last night was indeed 99% great. It started too early and there was no Auld Lang Syne at all, but lots of chats and hugs with friends, many of whom I haven't seen nearly enough of recently. Confusingly, a very geeky gaming conversation attracted people into the room, while an only-moderately geek conversation on rock music cleared the room... (By the way, Simon, the originally intended intro to In Absentia is on the *download* version of the Futile EP, from Porcupine Tree's download store on Burning Shed.)

All in all, a good night. We got in far too late, and then had to walk the dogs. I haven't had nearly enough sleep, but after six mugs of tea, I'm almost awake, and only buzzing very slightly...

***

Normally, I avoid new year resolutions, but 2007 was sufficiently lousy, that I wonder if a positive statement at the start of '08 may help. Thus :

Each day I shall attempt a task in each of four categories :

1. One task that makes life better for Claire, love of my life.

2. One task that makes life better for myself.

3. One creative task.

4. One task that makes life better for those around me.

I do not promise that the task will be completed the same day I start it, and where a task fits more than one category, I shall probably count it under both. (So, cleaning out the cupboard under the stairs counts for 1 and 2; writing a story for publication counts as 2 and 3.) I suspect lack of imagination, time, and energy will mean this fails within the week, but fear of failure should not stand in the way of the intent to try. I shall simply see how many days I manage to meet the aim, and hope to be satisfied with what I achieve.

Posted by graham @ 02:32 pm

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