game face

I ran the first sequence of "Isle" for Nikki, Alex and Kate last night. It felt great to run a game again and let my imagination run free. I spent some time describing the structure of Isle, the social strata and the oddities inherent in its society, and helping the players get a feel of the kind of story I'm planning to tell - that of an isolated society in the midst of drastic change.

I resurrected some of my old ideas about Crafts. Basically, these are abilities or portfolios based on apparently mundane occupations (Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker) with translations into strange high fantasy analogues. I used a popular variation of a 16th century rhyme to anchor the initial Craft choices - you know this one - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggarman, Thief - and threw in hints of many others - Hero, Artisan, Saracen, Plough Boy (haha), Poet, Crone, Mariner, Piscator...

My take on any fantasy game I run is to create wonder on a large scale, to create something I'd love to immerse myself into, to even write about. We'll see how things progress. Me, I'm just glad to have an opportunity to do something different for a while (which is odd, considering I spent years on end creating and running campaigns for friends when I was younger). Starting a game felt like slipping into old comfy shoes.

Thanks to Alex and Kate for the great dinner and to Nikki for her unwavering interest.

work phase

No rest for the wicked.

It's a Saturday and I've got a couple of meetings I need to attend, 5 proposals to draft before Monday, 4 year-long marketing campaigns to percolate, 6 different materials to get approved in Beijing and Taipei, 1 trade exhibit to plan (Kestrel will have a booth so it must look good), 1 site map to finish and lots of mail to reply to.

But it's not as heavy as it seems. I've been through worse, truly Sisyphusian scenarios, so I don't even consider talking about the tasks above as whining, just a statement of facts. I'll get it all done, no true worries; it's a matter of prioritizing tasks so as not to be overwhelmed.

However, I am SO looking forward the night out with the gang before I devote everything to business matters. For one thing, Marco's birthday celebration may be tonight (happy birthday, ya big lug!) and Cams is flying off to the US sooner than I realized (and I am so saddened by the "loss" of another person I like).

Gah. I'd like a cold one right now.