Lost and Found: Annex |
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Monday, June 30, 2003
Heh. Well, Sophia (D&SN) has developed a random quirk. We have been surprised by what we suspect is a vampire (who apparently wants to hire our PI-PC); his method of approaching was to join in some laughter and then ooze out of the shadows. Sophia is... unimpressed... with this - well, not unimpressed. Startled, actually, but she's cynical, so she really was expecting another shoe to drop - and I think a vampire client who insults all the ladies and the PI before he gets around to business counts as another shoe. Anyway, her reaction was to just jerk her chin up about half an inch and stare at the guy. Just a random quirk. *chuckles* I think that's actually what I did when I got the email - although it was at like 2 last night when I got it, so I'm a little fuzzy on details... Wow. Okay, blonde moment today (despite that I'm a brunette)... Well, not total blonde moment. It's just... well... I'm kind of the geek version of a tomboy. So I had to ask the GM if a mirror was included with Sophia's makeup in her purse. I mean, how am I, who use makeup once every three years and then wear it for only an hour or so, to know that kind of stuff? I mean, yeah, there are mirrors on compacts... but some people's ideas of taking makeup with them seems to be a stick of lipstick. Hmpfh. *shakes head* Anyway, she does have a mirror. *laughs* And I've suddenly remembered that what makeup I have is like eight years old and probably needs replacing. Oh, and I probably frightened my GM a little by comparing me using makeup to me messing with bubonic plague - you know, only if I have to. :) Friday, June 27, 2003
Wow, today's been odd... I've got multiple emotions running around my brain... First of all, I feel a little guilty, 'cause I pretty much slacked off this week - but I was a little sick, so... yeah. Still feel guilty. Secondly, I feel slight amounts of trepidation - it's time to sort out experience points for Lost and Found again, and that usually takes a full week... *groans* Mostly 'cause I have to read back over sessions, decide how much experience to give and for what, then do some artistic adjustments to make sure it's not ridiculous, and so on and so forth. Whee... or not. Thirdly, I keep getting fits of giggles at D&SN (tired of typing it, this is henceforth the abbreviation for "Dark and Stormy Night")... Mostly at the rather shameless flirting going on... because... well... it's funny. I mean... one guy driving a car full of four beautiful women... and all five of them have amnesia... and it's entirely possible three of the women are related... *laughing again* Ohmygods there are soooooooo many innuendos just... sitting there. I suspect I've mentioned this... but it still is cracking me up. *grins* I'll calm down... I'm also amused because I'm starting to see the pattern of who posts when. For some reason it was entertaining. Fourthly, I'm fidgety as all hell. I mean, here I am typing in my blog... with Impossible Creatures minimized on my taskbar, "While You Were Out" playing on the TV, and I'm working on a small weaving project. Well, I call it a weaving project... I guess it is... just... erm... not all that professional. Some string, a piece of cardstock paper, and embroidery thread. It's... cute. But, as I said, I'm fidgety. Oh, and I want to draw a picture or something, but I can't decide which picture - I'd like to draw another Oriana one, and I really want to do one of Sophia, but I haven't found a good model for either one yet. Oh, and I'm still working on figuring out 1940s fashion for the picture of Sophia - a monumental task when you consider that I know... well... nothing... about fashion. I had to go get books. *amused* Speaking of those books - I have to go get more. Because apparently all the books on 1940s fashion that are labelled as such in the UNT library are about fashion in Great Britain during the Blitz, basically, and goes from there to 1947 and the "New Look" (Um... yes. Tiny waist, big skirt. Got it.). What I want is something on evening dresses in the 1940s, in America. At least one of the books I got had a bibliography, about half of which is in the UNT library, so I have to go raid the library again. Yes, I am, indeed, rambling. Going back to weaving and playing Impossible Creatures now... WISH 53: SchtickWhat are three examples of physical or verbal schtick that you’ve used to develop your characters? Schtick means trademark gestures or phrases that identify your character uniquely. It’s about showing, not telling. Okay, I can do this one. *grins* The quickest and easiest example of this is my Changeling character, Faline the Pooka. Speech-wise, she has a tendancy to either not talk much, or, when she does speak, to rush breathlessly through part of what she has to say, stop, then continue in the same breathless way - especially if she's telling a story. She tends to be vague about actual names and often gives nicknames to people: the Naughty Sidhe (so named because he tried to put her down a garbage disposal), the Lemon Sidhe (who was, strangely enough, eating lemons the first time Faline met her) and Groth's Mom, to name a few. Not that she uses names in speech very often, even the nicknames she gives people. In terms of body language, she fidgets a lot - usually in the form of drawing things in her sketchbook (okay, that one came about partially because I was drawing in the sketchbook - but she's an artist, so it works). Probably my favorite piece of body language when I play the pooka, though, is her expression of curiousity/interest/etc - the fox ears prick up and she stares pertly at what she's interested in. *grins* Yes, it's possible to fake something like this without the ears - just gotta raise my eyebrows and tilt my forehead forward a little. Oriana (Amber game... forget the title offhand) has a slightly different set of quirks. She uses "uh" instead of "umm", and when she says, "Uh... yeah," to a question about something she was supposed to remember, it's because she... well... didn't remember. When she's... let's call it unenthused... about something, she tends to say, "Greaaaaat," or "Riiiiiight." She tends to stick to telling stories in chronological order - she'll detour a little to put in information she learned later, but once she mentions something like that, she'll abruptly say, "But I'm not there in the story yet," and go back to what she was saying before the detour. (Y'know... Her father is Caine... I wonder if that's going to drive him nuts?) And if she wants to go back to the topic she was on after a detour into speculation, she just says, "Anyway," as a stand-alone sentance, then goes back to her topic. Oh, and if she gets told that a situation is "not good," her usual response is, "Yeah, I've got that part down - the whole 'not good' thing." She's got a lot less in the way of body language quirks - but that's just what I can think of offhand. I'm sure she has them... Let's see... That's two huge paragraphs about two characters... Let's move on a little. Of my other ones, Sophia ("Dark and Stormy Night") is the only other one that really has definition... She's currently got a fairly precise way of speaking - she uses contractions, but none of the "gotta" and "wanna" type slang. She only speaks when she feels the need to point something out. Of course, she's only a couple of days old as a character at this point... *grins* I'll know more later, I'm sure. As a GM... heh. I have hits and misses, I guess. Some characters are easier to tell apart than others. Digit, for instance, tends to insert a lot of pauses into his sentances when he's trying to evade saying something. I tend to have Deirdre use very few (if any) contractions, and speak with fairly precise language. Tabby, Dylana's pet panther, tends to use short sentances and sentance fragments, and usually speaks in a lofty tone (well, she is a cat...). All right, I am so not going through all my NPCs. Besides... I think I've covered things. Heh. I just went through and answered on three blogs who were asking who reads them. I kept using two words: intelligent and interesting. Those two things are what makes me keep reading a website - and I have to admit my qualifications sound simple but aren't quite as simple as all that. My idea of an interesting website is one that has topics that interest me, and that presents its information in a well-written format - essentially, I'd like it to show a command of the artistic aspects of using the English language. My idea of an intelligent website is one that supports its information and whose author shows a command of the technical aspects of the English language (spelling and grammar). I'm not looking for a soap opera. I'm looking for new information and new perspectives, or at least creative reworkings of old ones. All the blogs I commented on tonight (well, it'll show up as last night when I post this, since it's midnight now) have those qualities. I sometimes borrow things I see on these blogs (and the others I read)... but I'm not going to ask now who reads this blog. I could - but I won't. *grins* No particular reason, just don't want to. Feel free to comment if you wish. Thursday, June 26, 2003
*laughing* From tonight's Lost and Found session:
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Oh, and Dust said I needed to post this on a quotefile somewhere - I'll just do it on my personal one here. "Hello, Lily," Sophia replies. She moves her handbag from its position beside her on the seat to her lap, then continues with an amused smile, "Welcome to the decisive car. Just to bring you two up to speed," she includes Quanah in the conversation with a glance, "according to the paper in the front seat, it is some time on or after October 30, 2002, Al Capone's son has robbed a Chicago bank, and there is a green person on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List." Y'know, I'm discovering a hidden talent for recapping and summarizing things succinctly and in an entertaining way... News on Rob-GM, who has not, as it turns out, dropped off the face of the planet. Just the internet (well, he can answer email...). He's still in the middle of a rather wacky-sounding move, and he said the game should start up some time between July and "a couple of months from now, at worst". Right. Let's just take my luck into account here. Dollars to doughnuts that means it'll start up in late August or early September - right as I start classes again. And I've got an early schedule this fall - well, I say early. My earliest class is at 9, but last year I didn't really have a class earlier than... hm. 11, I think. (Yes, not a morning person; I (mostly) arranged it like that on purpose (*snort* Ask me about UNT's Computer Science Department and their ideas of what time of day is appropriate for classes some time).) Anyway... straying from my point here... What was my point? Ohyeah. I was mentioning that I have to put Oriana on hold for a while longer since Rob-GM is net-less for now. Mentioned and filed. *laughing* Well, I joined the "Dark and Stormy Night" game that was advertised on Shadows of Amber... It's entertaining so far, even if I find I have moments of not being sure what to do in character - since my character has amnesia... as do all the other PCs. The part that's absolutely cracking me up right now is that my character (whose name is apparently Sophia Corey - heh.) got in a car with a gentleman called Jeremy Mycroft and a lady called Ivy Corey. Okay, two Coreys, it's possible we're related, right? Anyway, we're sitting there in the car and Jeremy is shamelessly flirting with us... including a complete non-comment when he referred to us as a "threesome". The atmosphere is somewhat thick in innuendo, one might say... especially since Ivy is boldly flirting right back. But it gets better (or worse, as the case may be) - two more ladies joined us, one of them another Corey. Oh, and we're stopping by Jeremy's place on the way to meeting up with the rest of our erstwhile companions. I can see about a million innuendos that could be put in there... *grins* None of which require another guy, and at least one involves the speculation that Ivy, Lily (the other Corey), and Sophia are sisters... Bad brain. Bad, bad, bad brain. Sophia would not say such things... I think... Must... extract... brain... from... gutter... *grins* Wednesday, June 18, 2003
The last session I ran, Dustin wanted to know if his character (Chetwin) could find loopholes in the Patternfall Treaty that would allow a scion of Amber to place troops in Chaos, possibly without the approval of Amber's king (although that was never specified, it's Chet's style...). I have to confess that my gut reaction was to say, "no." I went away to think about it, instead; I knew that Dust would want to know why he couldn't do it. Part of the reason starts with the political atmosphere of the Courts right now, and winds its way into meta-game reasons. Y'see, Merlin's reign in the Courts isn't as firm as it appears - he's been pressured into choosing a bride from among the major Houses, and faces possible revolt if things go wrong. He's let his Amber cousins (mostly Chet, come to think of it) come in a couple of times after the renegade House Niall, but he can't allow that again. If it does happen, he'll have to take a hard line against Amber - and the king of Amber has not actually sanctioned any of the mini-invasions Chet has staged (although the first and second had tacit approval, Random knows nothing about the third...). So it's entirely possible that Chet bringing a strike force in to try and find the members of House Niall (who are currently missing) could cause a bit of a war. Here's where it goes meta - if a war happens, the game is going to go very dark, very quickly. Dustin and I have both done GM-ing duties over Darcie (who plays Dylana), and we both realize that if the game goes dark, she's not going to want to play. And since the other person that was playing hasn't really been playing, if Darc leaves, the game's pretty much dead. Another part of the reason is more tied to the people that wrote the treaty, and who checked and double-checked it before agreeing. Namely, Swayvill and Random (with the assistance of Fiona and Benedict). Chet's just not experienced enough to be able to find holes that that combo didn't find and kill. Not yet, anyway. I'm still trying to work out what provisions in the treaty I might need (ha! Like I have any hope of that...). I mean, I figure there's provisions for an embassy and the necessary honor guard for the ambassadors and staff, but I doubt there's provisions for the placement of troops by Amber in Chaos as a measure to "prevent" trouble. I'm not sure beyond that - that's not nearly enough information to cover a treaty. I need a primer on treaties or something... Blah. I'm thinking today on the subject of justified, unintended rebukes. *laughs* I know, gotta explain myself. Here's the thing - I find myself removed from a blogroll for not having spoken of gaming much. I know it's not intended as a rebuke - I mean, why would it be one? - but it processed through as one. A mild one, certainly, and definitely unintended, which is cool, and soooooo justified, because I haven't spoken of gaming in... sheez. A while. The reason I haven't is threefold - which makes it three reasons, I suppose. Number one is that sometimes my brain overcomes my ability to talk until someone tells me to shut up. I just get intimidated a little sometimes - I mean, here I am, a brand-new GM, looking out at all of these people that have played and run Amber games and have already been to the things I think of and have moved on. It really is kind of intimidating, if I allow myself to think about it. *chuckle* My bf will tell me that that's bullshit, I'm sure, and that I'm capable of holding my own if I try, but that doesn't help my brain. Number two is a more systematic thing - I sometimes have problems articulating thoughts, simply because I just get something, it's right, why do I have to explain? Makes it hard to put things down on paper. (Or speak about it, sometimes - this is why I hated teaching summer camp so badly. Well, this and the kids...) Number three is that I'm just not doing a lot of gaming right now. For some reason, Rob-GM has dropped off the face of the... erm... IM... which means I can't play Oriana right now. GMing is entertaining as always, although I really am getting tired of dragging Dylana and her player to plot (because she seems incapable of finding or making it herself...). But that aside - I'd really like to play. I haven't played in a PBeM before (the one I'm playing Oriana for turned into an IM game more than email...), so I know I'd need a little assistance getting started, especially with things like bits of proper etiquette that simple politeness doesn't cover, that kind of stuff. I joined the Shadows of Amber board a while back... I'm looking at the games on there now, and there's nothing that grabs me and doesn't intimidate the ever-loving HELL out of me. Let me just list why, here:
*laughs again* Listen to me whining. I'm just damned picky, I guess. Ah well. I'll get off my lazy butt and see if I can put words to keyboard/screen on more L&F related stuff - I need to post two sessions worth of quotes, anyway - and probably mull over Oriana stuff some more... But right now, I gotta go crash. Friday, June 13, 2003
Bloody hell, we do, indeed, have more storms coming. *laughs* Y'know, I'm sure there's someone out there wondering why a Texas girl living just north of Dallas is using the phrase, "bloody hell," as part of a semi-profane vocabulary... The answer, for the curious, is an excellent PBS station that shows a steady diet of British comedy, a childhood stuffed full of watching things like Monty Python and Up Pompeii!, and... umm... 'cause I thought it was cool at one point and it's become habit... So... yeah. Hey, at least I don't say, "ya'll." Thursday, June 12, 2003
Okay, I'm on a quest now... I mentioned over on Jvstin's blog that there was a bridge in south Louisiana that had nowhere-to-nowhere syndrome for a while... I know there have to be pictures of and information on this thing somewhere. Here's what I've found so far: The bridge crosses the Mississippi river between the towns of Grammercy and Wallace (here's the location on MapQuest, if you'd like the geographical orientation). According to this article, "[t]he bridge was completed in 1995 after 14 years and a series of five construction contracts to build the substructure." Yeah, that's about right... It is apparently properly named the Veterans Memorial Bridge, and both I-10 and State Hwy 3213 are involved (it's been a while since I've been there, and the maps are... unclear). Bah. The internet is being quite, quite unhelpful. I can't find a picture of the damned thing. Maybe I can convince my parents to see if we have one (I think we do...) and have them scan it and email it to me. Thursday, June 05, 2003
Okay. It meets my satisfaction now, at least for now. It'll probably change at least once in the future some time, as I'm notoriously fickle about my artwork (or background images, as the case may be). Umm... right. Must... reference... pronouns. "It" = Oriana's page All cleared up. Now to play disappearing archive games to get this to display right... Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Okay, so I'm looking for examples of PC pages to mine for ideas to do the front of Oriana's page. But I keep finding... well... let's just say that some things are not my idea of how to do a page... Peeves
Oh, and I can't figure out a decent background. *siiiiigh* Ah well. I'll make it work some time. Sunday, June 01, 2003
I really, really want to game right now, but first of all, it's almost 3 am, and second of all, my usual options are closed temporarily. At least until tomorrow evening, at the earliest, depending on whether Rob-GM is done moving and has internet access yet. *fidgetfidget* It'll be Monday before I can make Darcie make up the session from last week that she bailed on because Dust was half an hour late and the neighbor boys wanted her to play Magic with her - okay, make that Tuesday, since she's supposed to attend a graduation in Houston at 7 pm Sunday night and make the 4-6 hour drive back up here before classes at 10 am Monday morning (she claimed that she'd be getting in at 3 am on Sunday. We'll see.). And Dust's caught up and wants to wait until Darc is before he goes any further with Chetwin's latest clever plot (which he has yet to share with the GM). Changeling is pretty much on permanent hold, possibly deceased, although Dust seems to think we can keep going. Requires the presence of players other than me, though... |