Right finally deicded on what game to go with, for the one off next week I'm going to go with the Swaschbuckling game, on the grounds that I have Pirates of the Spanish Main and i don't need to do a lot of extra work in making up a setting or anytihng like that. So here it is. 

The basic premise is each one of the player characters is a convicted criminal spending their last night in the cells of Port Royal's Ramsgate fort.  all are awaiting death for on the morn they swing from the gallows. Some are innocent and some are not but that is not the question here. It all seems hopeless. And the cannon fire. the Port is Under Attack. This gives the players an oppotunity to escape. Of course they escape into the middle of a battle, with a force of raiding pirates. Though these just arn't any Pirates they seem to be quicker and faster then normal men, as pale as a corpse and impervious to bullets. These are something else and there killing everything in their path. The plan is to let the players run about a bit and eventually have them cornered by the Pirates ,with no hope of escape. Until they're bailed out by a man called Von Geheart who drives these creatures off brandishing a crossbow and crucifix (yup there vampires or something close to it). He saves the players, but in return he asks of there help. 

This of course is the main body of the adventure, they've got to track something down for von Geheart. I'm not to sure what yet i'm thinking up the details, then of course have some sort of dramatic conclusion. Of course said thing won't be easy to get hold of either.

I'm kind of worried i might be railroading a bit, which is the problem as i hate doing that. however for a one-off i don't think going in without a half decent plot is the best idea on the planet. I could be wrong there however. After all a really freewheiling campaign is a lot of fun, but i don't think that works for one offs as over this summer i've learnt that one off game somestimes need more careful planing.

What else to talk about, well brought Neverwhere yesterday since i thought it was high time to read something by Neil Gaiman. I'm suprised its actually as good as the hype. I just love the idea  of the novel, the idea of a secret society of things beneath London, appeals to me.  I just like the guy's style as well, accsesible and fun but still deep and isn't patronising.  will have to give a more rounded opinion when i've compleated the book. But i'm enjoying it.

Well back to uni tomorrow ,for re-registration and what not. After thats all finished I should be meeting with Tom and Luke to go and see Run Fatboy Run, should be a laugh. Though i'm really looking forward to Stardust and Day Watch being released, both look good films. And in the case of those i'll go on my own most like, unless anyone wants to tag along. Me personally i don't care about going to the cinema on my own, i often enjoy it. Thats probally a sign of something, since common social convention states you must go in groups to the cinema otherwise your a freak, but i don't care.  I like the cinema on my own.  

There is something about the human capacity to delude oneself continually that really does amaze me. Seriously everybody seems to be able to lie to them self continually convince themselves that everything is ok or is some specific way, remaining oblivious to the fact that things are not that way, even when its screaming them in the face that things are not that way and everyone could be telling them that its not that way, they continue to sustain the idea of their illusion.  Though this raises an interesting point, if people sustain the lie enough, beleive it enough convince themselves that the illusion is actually truth does it then become truth, if enough people believe the fiction and take it that is in fact a truth of thing, becoming more accepted, more believed then the actual truth of the matter, does then the fictional creation become a reality and what was a truth become then a lie, as no-one believes it and thus it ceases to exist, after all wasn't it once said that Truth is only an accepted lie? Ok that is slightly off topic.

Seriously though the amount of people who seem to continually blind themselves to what is really happening, amazes me.  the case in point is people who claim to understand how the world works, to comprehend what is going on, too be all "wordly" and yet when you listen to them they are nothing like that, being in fact hopelessly naive and ignorant of the way of things. Yet of course they manage to convince themselves they arn't anything of the sort. And of course as they sustain that idea you really can't say anything, you can't say anything at all no matter how much you want to screem at them and tell them they don't know the whole of it. 

Of course i'm not claiming to be all kowing or anything like that, please don' think that, i know i am probally hopelessly naive about things, but then i admit that, I don't have soo much expeirance of life really. But at least i realise that.

Ok so i'm saying this like i don't delude myself continually, that i accept the truth of matters. Of course i don't, i delude myself as much as anyone else. Probally more so.  Heck this dosn't make any sense does it? i don't make sense, nothing makes sense. I don't make sense not anymore. I used to, i think but now i don't remember. 

Life just feels confusing at the moment, more choices to make soon, more decisions to make, i keep telling myself i'll make better choices this time around, that i'll do everything right. I'm just scared i'll screw up again, which i think would be the final straw. This is me being all scared, worried about messing everything up. I just don't want to make stupid mistakes again... i keep telling myself i won't, but that won't stop me making mistakes again will it? Its just a sustained dellusion that i'll do stuff right this time...

This must make me sound crazy i know, but i'm passed the point of caring

ah so the zombie game went well, even though it did start 3 hours later then planned, and it seems i have been right to champion Savage Worlds, it is a damn good system to run, and ranks up there with heroQuest as my all time favourite rules system.  Though with Savage Worlds i have found if you want gritty, gritty and leathal realism look elsewhere,  but i don't not really, at least not at the moment, i like the fact the heroes can take a few more hits before falling over, it just makes the game more fun to play. Gritty, lethal realism is all well and good, but it can sometimes suck the fun out of things if the group isn't right for it, or not in the right mood. In fact were finishing it off today, see if my players can escape the zombie hell version of Alfreton (which works better then you'd think as a zombie filled hell hole, though looking at some of the people there its hard to tell whose alive and whose not)


what else to speak of, well my copy of Fading Suns came so I been reading that a bit, the background is good, better then I thought ,as its not a 40K rip off, yes its influenced by that world, but its very distinct and unique, so i'm pleased and happy, now to just read the rules...


Hmm starting to read my uni texts books a bit at the moment, its actually quite interesting really to pick out the stuff  I want to and study it a bit, see how much i can pick up, nice to keep the brain ticking over in a way that isnt' connected with gaming, fantasy and so on.....  a bit of variety always makes things fun don't you think :) 

Though if we're speaking of fantasylets keep going, picked up the first book in the Nighr watch Trillogy the other day, I like this, the supernatural set up is well done but what i really like is the setting of Moscow itself ,its wonderfully dark and decaying and perfect set up for World of Darkness type stuff. 

Yes and Erroth is now finally back on track, i'm starting to write it again, its fun to get back onto this world after a couple of months break and am working on some other stuff as well, story writing mainly, its nice to be creative and in the mood to write, actually find it helps if i'm in a more depressed/angsty mood to write, stops me sitting around in self pity. 

It is odd at the moment, feel a lot happier and well adjusted at the moment, I don't seem to be continually beating myself up over my bad choices reguarding uni anymore, i've come to the conclusion yes i know i made a bad choice, could have done better, should have moved out and why i made these bad choices,  i've accepted this now and i will just make the best of life with what i've got before me. That's all anyone can ever do I guess. I mean i its not like i'm the only person whose got scared made a choice based on that fear and screwed up i'm betting everyone has at some point in their life, its part of being human. We all make choices sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad ,but once they've been made we have to accept we made that choice and deal with the consequences of said choice. 

enough rambling on my point, just felt like saying a few things is all.

Ok longer post some other time but.... Ghostbusters and Cthulhu together at last, wonderfully nerdy and full of splendid in jokes and the like, ah fantastic. Link below. Yes simply wonderful

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=950452

note sure who found this in the first place but it was ammusing.

wow for once a post that dosn't go on for ages and/or isn't dripping in angst, I suppose your now asking who is this and what has happened to the real Matt, well i'll leave you to dream up answers to that one!!!

Firstly i appologise for the sheer bulk of RPGing related stuff here, if you're not interested look away now.

right first a detail of some games i been playing in. firstly finally got Mythic Russia off the ground, which went well, both the players i had seemed to like my style of game, which is always a nice ego-boost. Not much actually went off in the first session, mainly just character creation and an introduction to the campaign setting, with the players just exploring the town and getting given a simple task by a Oxana, the local herblist, whose an increadbly crotchety and down right unpleasent old woman. I'm looking forward to seeing how the game pans out. Just a pity my other group never decided to turn up for Mythic Russia, that would have been very intereseting, to see how both groups handled the situation.

Which leads us onto the second point i have, said other group now have decided they want to do some roleplaying, and are now pestering me to run something. So I decided i'd run a zombie survival one-off set round Alfreton (which is where most of them live and all of us went to sixth form in that area). Then out of a bazzare idea it was decided to see how they themselves would survive the zombie plauge. Well, this means me statting out my friends, reducing them to a series of numbers, which is kind of fun actually and would give them each a character sheet (actually made nicely not just scribbled down), as a kind of keep-sake as well. So for this endevour i've dug out savage worlds and will actually run the zombie survival idea using that system, so yes my friends you've all been Savaged!

Ok Tribe 8 for the moment has finished, and now we've moved onto Mummy the Ressurection, which is another World of Darkness game where you played the ressurected form of a flawed mortal sort of sprit bonded with an ancient Egyptian entity, who seeks to make right the flaws of your character, giving them a second chance at life. However there is a catch and we have to fight the forces of Set. This was the game i was a little dubious about playing since WoD seems to annoy me, due to the nature of the designers which becomes evident (in my opinion) when you read the background. But that didnt' seem to matter yesterday, we got a good background without the horrible pretencious angst that plagues WoD. Elaine ran the game great, and was the perfect example of all a good GM needs is enthusiasm and it makes the game a lot more fun for everyone involved. Heck if its done with enthusiasm i'd play D&D. 

right final point on gaming, me and Phil have started doing a little chaos campaign, using the old GW chaos books.  This is a lot of fun and due to both of us being, well us its very off the wall and quite creative, in a good way. Ok were using a mix of two versions of warhammer, Mordheim and Necromunda but its all good fun and a nice enjoyable game between friends. This brings a slightly worrying point up, she now seems to be going out of the way to spend time with me, which i want to take as a simple gesture as friendship, however it just strikes me as odd, somebody pretty much cold shoulders me for a month or more, for christ only knows what reason, then suddenly were all close friends again. I want to take this as just a gesture of friendship but I just feel a little suspicious about it all...prehaps i'm just paranoid. 

Ok thats my last few days in a nutshell, nothing more to repeat here, i don't want to fill this with meaningless angst.

-adios amigos

Ok so that was a knackering day, 40K and copipus amounts of coffee in the afternoon and necromunda and more sugar and caffine this evening, yeah woo twitchy. 

so stuff too talk about, saw the Simpsons movie the other day, i liked that film i liked it a lot, was everything i would have hoped for from a Simpsons movie, not what i was dreading i.e. it wasn' an episode spun out over an hour and a half and not a cash in, it was genuinley ammusing and uniquly Simpsonian. Can't think of any complaints or critisisms or anything like that, it was a bloody good film and i say go and watch it. 

Ok have a new RPG obcession of the month now runePunk picked it up on deciding that i should run some Savage Worlds due to having a sudden realisation that while i've been harping on about the greatness of this system i have only played it about 4 times and that was over a year ago, so maybe i should actually give some weight to my claims and run something using the system. Hence RunePunk, probally be my contribution to the NODDsoc one offs in Freshers week. For some reason i feel an abundance of life and creativity at the moment so i'll take full advantage of it.

and speaking of gaming, Furnace looks fantastic, this year, looking at some of the games lined up this should be great, its only august now and i'm alreayd exicted about it. October can't come quick enough.  Ah yes it should be fun indeed

yes life is good, things are good, and for some reason i just feel so damm happy at the moment, and its not due to caffine or sugar, all my problems and the like are in prespective and don't seem to be constantly gnawing away at me, and there seems to be a strange sense of generally happiness creativity and good will burning in me, i'm worried as this is going to mean i sink into a severly maudelin, moody, misreble and generally unpleant state soon, i seem to go through cycles. ah well worry about that later, when it happens, i'll just enjoy the good times while they roll.

i'll stop now, i just seem to be rambling

Ok right i've finally seen it, i've finally seen Ghostbusters, hurzah i may be...god only knows how many years too late but it was fun, i like that film a lot, i can see why a lot of people gave me rave reviews of it, ok so yes, i've seen it and enjoyed it and yes thats it.


Ok that's probally a little short for just one entry, so i think i'll mull a bit. Thinking of a new Tribe 8 character, and this time I'll do something serious and a lot more dramatic. I think i'll do something with a Terasheban Judge who left the Tribe when he was forced to condemm his own family to death,  and went to join the Fallen, in search of absolution for what he sees as his sin by aiding the Fallen in anyway possible, as he sees this as the best way to cause hurt to the foul creature that forced him to exile in the first place, Terra sheba herself, after all aiding those which the Fatima hates is sure to bring pain to her and her followers.  He wants his revenge but he's not likley to get it by fighting her face to face, after all fighting a manifestation of the Goddess would be stupid. So thats my serious idea created either a Fallen Terra'sheban Lightbringer or Herite not sure yet. However i will keep this character moderate and not insane.


Hmm nothing else to talk about really, nice fun saturday with a friend, thats it really. Nice easy summer probally the last one i'll ever have, so i should make it count I guess. 

Right offically saw (as in watched at the cinema, not a download version) Transformers yesterday, and actually enjoyed as in my opinion it captured the sprit of the original series perfectally i.e. it was loud and overblown action with giant robots from space, just like the 80's cartoon, Prime was still the dully heroic leader compleate with long borning specahes, the Decepticons were still delightfully villanious in a chessy sort of way, it was all good fun, everytihng a summer action movie should be, good, no-brain fun, a special effects fest pleasent on the eye and easy on the mind, i.e. good escapism. I mean if you consider it as a peice of cinematic art it was aweful i.e. considering the scripting, the acting and the plotting, it was pretty dire, but i didn't go to see this film to be interlectually challenged, i went to have some fun with a good update of an old series. I enjoy films that are thought provoking and challenging,  but i also like to watch something that's just fun if brainless.

Ok so was the afternoon fun, not really due to the two guys i went with being Transformers purists and one of them already deciding to hate it before he even watched it ,and spent the entire time complaining about it afterwards, i don't care about him hating the film, but i hate people forming an opinion before they've at least watched something.  then because i dare to disagree with "the purist" me and my opinion gets treated with contempt, which in my opinion is just a little bit pathetic as there are better things to fall out with someone then what is essentially a peice of pop-cultural junk. 

Ok enough rant, just a little peaved that what should have been a good fun trip with friends, was spoilt by one of them being an immature idiot.  

ah well in conclusion, Transformers Good fun Blockbuster, don't expect great cinema, just expect good special effects fest action and you'll enjoy it, just don't go with "purists"