My yoga teacher hosts a group meditation session once a month, and this month we tried chanting, which was something new for me. We were accompanied on the harmonium, a sort of cross between an organ and an accordion, played by one of the participants.
I felt a little odd about it at first, then became more comfortable as I settled into what was essentially musical performance in an extremely unfamiliar genre. We had three men and three women, so it was a good mix of voices. I kept feeling the urge to play an instrument, since I rarely sing without one unless I'm driving. After we were done, it was very easy to settle into our usual meditation. I might have to experiment with something like this at home. All in all, a very positive experience, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'll bet it gave my teacher's neighbors something to talk about, though, since we had the windows open and I'm sure we were clearly audible for some distance.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Local Cabal Campaign - First Session
We finally got my new GURPS Cabal campaign off the ground this past weekend. We got off to a good start, with some of the characters actually meeting before they were supposed to. Surprises like that are one of the reasons that RPGs can be better than fiction at times. The group consists of a voodoo priestess trying to locate a lost mystical artifact, a ghost trying to solve her own murder, the reincarnation of Sir Kay of the Round Table, a vampire trying to mainstream as a police officer (working night shift, naturally), and an apparently regular guy in his late teens who simply can't be permanently killed by any means.
I've already been able to weave in an abundance of references to my ongoing GURPS Cabal convention sessions, and will start working references to the home campaign into the convention sessions when I start writing the next one.
One of the more entertaining aspects for me is that I've tied together bits of all of the characters' backgrounds a few layers beneath the obvious, so that those ties will eventually surface as fun surprises for the players. It reminds me of the Lost TV series. As those common elements are revealed, the result should be a conclusion with epic consequences for all involved, effectively ending the campaign, but my best estimate is that it will take about two years for that to happen.
I've already been able to weave in an abundance of references to my ongoing GURPS Cabal convention sessions, and will start working references to the home campaign into the convention sessions when I start writing the next one.
One of the more entertaining aspects for me is that I've tied together bits of all of the characters' backgrounds a few layers beneath the obvious, so that those ties will eventually surface as fun surprises for the players. It reminds me of the Lost TV series. As those common elements are revealed, the result should be a conclusion with epic consequences for all involved, effectively ending the campaign, but my best estimate is that it will take about two years for that to happen.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Splunge
We now have a name for the music project (Splunge), and had a session with four participants (Jason, Sal, new guitarist Jared, and myself) this past weekend. We actually have three guitar players now, and the plan is to play roughly every two weeks with whoever can make it, but we only expect two of the three guitarists to attend any given session due to scheduling issues all around. It's unconventional, and probably a little awkward when all three guitarists eventually show up for a session, but we never intended this to be a regular band. One of the guitarists is planning on working on singing lead, which would solve the problem in one shot if he turns out to be good at it. Even if he's simply passable, it'll be good to have someone else sharing the lead vocal load. I still plan to learn how to play all of the songs on guitar as well as bass, but that's looking wonderfully redundant at the moment.
Since we've had three regulars instead of two for the last several sessions, we're finally starting to develop consistent arrangements of the songs. Some of them are proving to be trickier than others. We're having a lot of trouble with Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" because we're combining aspects of his original version with the better known Linda Ronstadt version, so there's no recording of what we're trying to do. Still, if we can keep even one guitar player steadily coming back, we'll work it all out.
Since we've had three regulars instead of two for the last several sessions, we're finally starting to develop consistent arrangements of the songs. Some of them are proving to be trickier than others. We're having a lot of trouble with Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" because we're combining aspects of his original version with the better known Linda Ronstadt version, so there's no recording of what we're trying to do. Still, if we can keep even one guitar player steadily coming back, we'll work it all out.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Another Mission from God
I finished my most recent In Nomine scenario today, largely because I was able to spend a lot of time on it over the last couple of days. So it looks like I'll have two new scenarios ready for DexCon after all. It turned out that I was able to do a few things differently with it than I have in the past. The PCs are all one team, and there are significant differences in the opposition from what I've done before (can't give those differences away here, though). My last IN scenario didn't draw at the last DexCon. I didn't see some of my IN regulars, so I assume they didn't follow the change in the con location, or had other reasons not to come. Looks as though I'll have to build a new audience for it from scratch, or move on to other things.
So now I'll take a short break from RPG writing to get the two new scenarios properly playtested and leave a little time for revisions before the con. Might take the time to write a couple of songs in the interim.
Next up, the Lovecraftian installment of my GURPS Cabal series, to be run next year.
So now I'll take a short break from RPG writing to get the two new scenarios properly playtested and leave a little time for revisions before the con. Might take the time to write a couple of songs in the interim.
Next up, the Lovecraftian installment of my GURPS Cabal series, to be run next year.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Attacked by Small Children, Part II
My nephew's birthday party was this past weekend, and he'd chosen Star Wars as a theme for it. My sister got a little creative and made cheap foam light sabers for the kids, so in no time flat there were kids beating the crap out of each other all over the place, mostly in the intended spirit of fun.
The adults were staying out of the fray, for the most part, letting the kids be kids. I was a little concerned because the bulk of the kids had drifted down the long driveway and fairly far from the house, so I grabbed a light saber myself and ambled down to try to herd them back in the right direction.
Some of the kids were getting a little too enthusiastic with their weapons, leaving one on the receiving end in tears (though not actually injured), so I waded in and got between the combatants, using my own light saber to separate them. That might have been a mistake. The entire group turned on me, grinning all the way, including the one in tears. There must have been at least nine of them, including my niece and nephew. In a replay of the "ball incident" of a couple of years ago, I found myself at the center of the attack, trying to fend off the kids by gently tripping them, pulling their weapons out of their hands, and using a saber in each hand myself. I did manage to achieve the effect I wanted, which was to keep the kids from hurting each other and get them moving back toward the house.
After that scrum broke up, there were a couple of other minor incidents between some of the kids (there were simply too many of them for me to keep an eye on all of them at once), and the adults eventually took the light sabers away entirely for a little while. There were a couple of kids in tears at various points, but I knew they were actually okay because the tears dried up and the kids were grinning and back in the fight almost as soon as one of the adults had stepped in.
I have to admit that kids are largely a mystery to me, since I don't have any of my own. I like them and enjoy them, but can't claim I truly understand them at all. Their abrupt mood shifts always surprise me. I do know how to have fun with them, though, and my sister still says she wants to rent me out for parties.
The adults were staying out of the fray, for the most part, letting the kids be kids. I was a little concerned because the bulk of the kids had drifted down the long driveway and fairly far from the house, so I grabbed a light saber myself and ambled down to try to herd them back in the right direction.
Some of the kids were getting a little too enthusiastic with their weapons, leaving one on the receiving end in tears (though not actually injured), so I waded in and got between the combatants, using my own light saber to separate them. That might have been a mistake. The entire group turned on me, grinning all the way, including the one in tears. There must have been at least nine of them, including my niece and nephew. In a replay of the "ball incident" of a couple of years ago, I found myself at the center of the attack, trying to fend off the kids by gently tripping them, pulling their weapons out of their hands, and using a saber in each hand myself. I did manage to achieve the effect I wanted, which was to keep the kids from hurting each other and get them moving back toward the house.
After that scrum broke up, there were a couple of other minor incidents between some of the kids (there were simply too many of them for me to keep an eye on all of them at once), and the adults eventually took the light sabers away entirely for a little while. There were a couple of kids in tears at various points, but I knew they were actually okay because the tears dried up and the kids were grinning and back in the fight almost as soon as one of the adults had stepped in.
I have to admit that kids are largely a mystery to me, since I don't have any of my own. I like them and enjoy them, but can't claim I truly understand them at all. Their abrupt mood shifts always surprise me. I do know how to have fun with them, though, and my sister still says she wants to rent me out for parties.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Working on Long Term Back Pain
I've had an ongoing problem with back pain ever since a stupidly self-inflicted injury in my late teen years. The result was that I was taking some serious pain killers for about six months, and still have trouble sleeping through an entire night many years later. That may be coming to an end, though.
Several weeks back, I happened to be the only person who showed up for my yoga class. It's not a big class in the first place, and everybody else just ended up with something last minute happening. Rather than cancel, my teacher asked me if I was having trouble with anything specific, and I told her I had regular problems with back pain. She took me through a couple of poses to go after that problem in particular. At the time, I wasn't convinced that had been a good thing, because I had this nasty burning in my lower back by the end. I told my teacher that, and her response was that we'd probably really gotten into something that had been there for a while.
My back was then as bad as it's been since the original injury for about three days. I wasn't happy and was barely getting any sleep, but I also didn't call my teacher for help, in spite of my wife encouraging me to do so. I talked to her about it at my next class, and she suggested a couple of other poses I could work into my usual daily practice.
Here's the interesting part. After a couple of weeks of incorporating those other poses into my regular practice, I found myself walking and sitting differently, and sleeping through entire nights for the first time in ages. I had gotten rid of long term neck and shoulder pain after about two years of yoga, and this experience has turned out to be similar, though the process has been more subtle. It hasn't been a 100% solution, but I wouldn't expect one so quickly anyway. It'll be interesting to see if it turns out to be like the neck/shoulder problem, which has virtually disappeared over time except for occasional flare-ups due to stress.
Several weeks back, I happened to be the only person who showed up for my yoga class. It's not a big class in the first place, and everybody else just ended up with something last minute happening. Rather than cancel, my teacher asked me if I was having trouble with anything specific, and I told her I had regular problems with back pain. She took me through a couple of poses to go after that problem in particular. At the time, I wasn't convinced that had been a good thing, because I had this nasty burning in my lower back by the end. I told my teacher that, and her response was that we'd probably really gotten into something that had been there for a while.
My back was then as bad as it's been since the original injury for about three days. I wasn't happy and was barely getting any sleep, but I also didn't call my teacher for help, in spite of my wife encouraging me to do so. I talked to her about it at my next class, and she suggested a couple of other poses I could work into my usual daily practice.
Here's the interesting part. After a couple of weeks of incorporating those other poses into my regular practice, I found myself walking and sitting differently, and sleeping through entire nights for the first time in ages. I had gotten rid of long term neck and shoulder pain after about two years of yoga, and this experience has turned out to be similar, though the process has been more subtle. It hasn't been a 100% solution, but I wouldn't expect one so quickly anyway. It'll be interesting to see if it turns out to be like the neck/shoulder problem, which has virtually disappeared over time except for occasional flare-ups due to stress.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Music Project - Second March Session
Yes, not one, but two music sessions this month, and both involving the same personnel (Sal, Jason, and I). Jason has really stepped up his playing, so the last time wasn't just one good session. As a team, I thought we were working together pretty well.
Sal still hadn't had much time to work on anything since the last session, but familiarity still helped, and we're getting better at figuring out how to coordinate things when they don't come together naturally.
"Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" remains our best song collectively, and we had a couple of fun surprises. "Hotel Yorba" from the White Stripes is back on the list and sounded especially good. "Science Fiction Double Feature" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show started as sort of a joke, but worked really well and has been officially added to the song list. Our list on the whole is a little too laid back in light of what we seem to do best together, which is corrected easily enough.
We still have some odd rhythmic issues to work out. Some of it is a lack of familiarity with each other or with the songs. When it was just Jason and I, it was easy to coordinate because there was only one other person to coordinate with. Maybe we got a little lazy about structure because if one of us messed up, all the other had to do was be alert enough to adjust accordingly. Hopefully a little more prep time going back to the source material will help.
We have a couple of other guitar players to bring in from jam sessions Jason has been having. Still no vocal help on the horizon, and I really have to figure out how to do something about that.
Sal still hadn't had much time to work on anything since the last session, but familiarity still helped, and we're getting better at figuring out how to coordinate things when they don't come together naturally.
"Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" remains our best song collectively, and we had a couple of fun surprises. "Hotel Yorba" from the White Stripes is back on the list and sounded especially good. "Science Fiction Double Feature" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show started as sort of a joke, but worked really well and has been officially added to the song list. Our list on the whole is a little too laid back in light of what we seem to do best together, which is corrected easily enough.
We still have some odd rhythmic issues to work out. Some of it is a lack of familiarity with each other or with the songs. When it was just Jason and I, it was easy to coordinate because there was only one other person to coordinate with. Maybe we got a little lazy about structure because if one of us messed up, all the other had to do was be alert enough to adjust accordingly. Hopefully a little more prep time going back to the source material will help.
We have a couple of other guitar players to bring in from jam sessions Jason has been having. Still no vocal help on the horizon, and I really have to figure out how to do something about that.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
New In Nomine Scenario
My local GURPS Cabal campaign is now ready to go and scheduled to begin in late April, so I'm going to move my roleplaying focus over to the new In Nomine con scenario. As I'd expected, this one is turning out to be a relatively simple situation and location with a lot of interesting characters for the players to interact with, which is where the complexity comes in. This means creating a truckload of relatively detailed NPCs (not to mention keeping track of them all when I run this), but since that's my idea of fun, I don't mind at all.
I'm using a real life location from my musical experiences in Philadelphia, renamed, transplanted to Chicago and slightly modified to make things easier for gaming purposes. Several of the characters are based on real people. Not only does that make it faster and easier to write, it also makes the characters feel more real and helps me to improvise details if the players manage to surprise me in some respect or another.
The tricky part of this one is proving to be making the climax actually feel climactic, since the ultimate objective of the scenario is kind of low key. I have some ideas about how to do that, but I don't think I can be sure that it'll work until I playtest. I have to playtest this one and "Room Service" by sometime in June to allow time for any necessary modifications. Sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not, considering everything else I have tying up my weekends these days.
I'm using a real life location from my musical experiences in Philadelphia, renamed, transplanted to Chicago and slightly modified to make things easier for gaming purposes. Several of the characters are based on real people. Not only does that make it faster and easier to write, it also makes the characters feel more real and helps me to improvise details if the players manage to surprise me in some respect or another.
The tricky part of this one is proving to be making the climax actually feel climactic, since the ultimate objective of the scenario is kind of low key. I have some ideas about how to do that, but I don't think I can be sure that it'll work until I playtest. I have to playtest this one and "Room Service" by sometime in June to allow time for any necessary modifications. Sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not, considering everything else I have tying up my weekends these days.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Return of the Music Project
I knew it had been a while since we'd gotten together, but hadn't realized it had been quite so long. In addition to the usual Jason and I, we had Sal, the guitarist I'd first met a couple of months ago.
Jason was really on this time. I talked to him about it afterward, and he felt the long break had done him good. It certainly sounded that way.
The session worked out well, for the most part. There was relatively good chemistry between the three of us, with a demonstrated willingness all around to try anything, which is something I'd hoped to see on a regular basis on this project. There were some rhythmic glitches here and there, which I think had more to do with a lack of familiarity with each other and with some of the songs than it did with anything else.
Sal did a nice job on the songs where he'd done his homework. The soloing on "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" was impressive enough to catch both Jason and I by surprise. I caught him suddenly turning to look at Sal at exactly the same time I did. He played well enough on the material he hadn't practiced, but unsurprisingly, there was a marked difference in performance between the two. Two of my old bandmates from years ago (and two separate bands) could sit in with anybody and sound as though they'd rehearsed with the band for months, so I'm afraid they spoiled me in that respect. I tend to forget that not everybody can do that.
I was able to spend most of the session on bass, though I moved to guitar here and there to show Sal particular things on songs he hadn't played before. I was still handling all of the vocals. Sal has told me he loves to sing but isn't good at it. I know he's not comfortable enough to try it yet, but I get the sense that he could be persuaded in time. I don't care if he's especially good; I'd just like to get a break from time to time and even sing some harmony, and I'm sure he'd get better with practice if he can sing at all. I'm having trouble speaking today after singing so much yesterday.
Sal has a strong preference for playing with a second guitar player. That's fine, since we're looking to bring in more people anyway. Jason knows a couple of possibilities from his jam sessions that haven't included me, so we'll check 'em out as they become available and we'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to playing another session with Sal with less rust and better preparation all around.
One of the issues raised by Sal that I hadn't really considered was the potential difficulty involved in a rotating line-up with multiple guitarists. If, for the sake of argument, we had three guitarists involved with two playing each session and rotating attendance, who plays which solos? I'd thought we could just wing that depending on who is there on the day, but it's really not that simple for solos that require some real preparation. I suppose we'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it, since we've had trouble finding even one regular guitarist.
On a side note, our previous repeat guitarist Rob achieved his goal of joining a full fledged band that plays out, so I doubt he'll be turning up with us again. Jason and I will probably go to see them in a couple of weeks. I wasn't terribly impressed by what I heard of them from their website, but live recordings tend to be dodgy and probably aren't doing them justice.
Jason was really on this time. I talked to him about it afterward, and he felt the long break had done him good. It certainly sounded that way.
The session worked out well, for the most part. There was relatively good chemistry between the three of us, with a demonstrated willingness all around to try anything, which is something I'd hoped to see on a regular basis on this project. There were some rhythmic glitches here and there, which I think had more to do with a lack of familiarity with each other and with some of the songs than it did with anything else.
Sal did a nice job on the songs where he'd done his homework. The soloing on "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" was impressive enough to catch both Jason and I by surprise. I caught him suddenly turning to look at Sal at exactly the same time I did. He played well enough on the material he hadn't practiced, but unsurprisingly, there was a marked difference in performance between the two. Two of my old bandmates from years ago (and two separate bands) could sit in with anybody and sound as though they'd rehearsed with the band for months, so I'm afraid they spoiled me in that respect. I tend to forget that not everybody can do that.
I was able to spend most of the session on bass, though I moved to guitar here and there to show Sal particular things on songs he hadn't played before. I was still handling all of the vocals. Sal has told me he loves to sing but isn't good at it. I know he's not comfortable enough to try it yet, but I get the sense that he could be persuaded in time. I don't care if he's especially good; I'd just like to get a break from time to time and even sing some harmony, and I'm sure he'd get better with practice if he can sing at all. I'm having trouble speaking today after singing so much yesterday.
Sal has a strong preference for playing with a second guitar player. That's fine, since we're looking to bring in more people anyway. Jason knows a couple of possibilities from his jam sessions that haven't included me, so we'll check 'em out as they become available and we'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to playing another session with Sal with less rust and better preparation all around.
One of the issues raised by Sal that I hadn't really considered was the potential difficulty involved in a rotating line-up with multiple guitarists. If, for the sake of argument, we had three guitarists involved with two playing each session and rotating attendance, who plays which solos? I'd thought we could just wing that depending on who is there on the day, but it's really not that simple for solos that require some real preparation. I suppose we'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it, since we've had trouble finding even one regular guitarist.
On a side note, our previous repeat guitarist Rob achieved his goal of joining a full fledged band that plays out, so I doubt he'll be turning up with us again. Jason and I will probably go to see them in a couple of weeks. I wasn't terribly impressed by what I heard of them from their website, but live recordings tend to be dodgy and probably aren't doing them justice.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Intertwining Cabal Campaigns
I've been working on my local GURPS Cabal campaign for the last week or so, with some progress. I have the big pieces in place; I'm just trying to refine some details for the first session or two so it'll be truly ready to go. I'm not going to try to plan too much detail from there because players always find ways to derail any plan that's too specific.
One of the interesting aspects of this local campaign is that I'm planning on interweaving it with the ongoing GURPS Cabal series of convention scenarios in the same setting. The two PC teams will be operating out of the same lodge and interacting with most of the same NPCs, plus each other as NPCs, adding depth to both sets of sessions. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of effect this has and how long I can maintain it without serious continuity glitches.
One of the interesting aspects of this local campaign is that I'm planning on interweaving it with the ongoing GURPS Cabal series of convention scenarios in the same setting. The two PC teams will be operating out of the same lodge and interacting with most of the same NPCs, plus each other as NPCs, adding depth to both sets of sessions. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of effect this has and how long I can maintain it without serious continuity glitches.
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