Character: the cut of your props

Today's bit was inspired by this little piece of craftsmanship that would make a wonderful addition to any post-apocalyptic game. Lately I have been thinking a lot about subtle ways that I can enhance the level of immersion in games without detracting too much from the humor my games tend to attract. While often I do like to inject a level of absurdity into the game itself, this definitely doesn't help during those moments that I want to create a little serious drama and tension.

Not crafty? Fear not (I'm not sure how crafty I am either)! For many items exist that are within your grasp and need very little modification to serve as excellent props.

1- Argentinian Ninja Mask: This one is real simple, but I find it useful for a variety of character representations. You may know it better as the t-shirt ninja mask. Simply stick your head in the appropriate color t-shirt (long sleeves actually work better, as you get the cool streaming effect in the wind as they flap in the breeze behind you) so that your face is poking out of the collar. Pull it back a bit so the edge rises up above your mouth and nose. Then, pull the sleeves back so that the top has to scrunch down just over your eyes. Remember to keep those eyebrows covered if stealth is your game! Tie the two sleeves together, and voila! Now your faceless ninja legions have a bit more life!

2- Potion bottles: While you could devote a slavish amount of time to constructing a dusty receptacle of ancient eldrich liquids, or comb the internet looking for olde tyme reliquary, you can pull off some impressive stuff without it. First, try applying external paint! Don't think about it too hard. The more messy you apply it, the better. A long time ago, we made some snowmen out of plastic drink bottles:



At that point, what you fill the bottle with, liquid wise, isn't all that important (but just enough to give it some weight). You can do this to add texture to the bottle as well.

3. CARDBOARD! Oh, how I love thee, cardboard tube sword! Just imagine requiring your weapon toting player characters to have their players be literally armed with pretend weapons! Make them draw said weapons when they do, holster them when in polite company. I think the idea here is to make people have to think a bit more about physical-space stuff connected to the game than they would otherwise. If you attach it to in-game importance (perhaps a bit cruel, but then, what else are you GM'ing for but to inflict punishment on your friends?), then things get really interesting.

What are your simple prop ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Pic courtesy us and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Kitchenwitchery- Top 5 Tips for Cleaning

When I try to explain when I feel most spiritually fulfilled, I sound more like Martha Stewart then Buddha. I feel that I found myself when I found the role as the keeper of the hearth and home.


In the past, my practice has been very on the fly and not really a practice. More of a general acknowledgment that kitchenwitchery felt right to me, and the disinterest in explaining it to other people.


But on my 26 for 26 birthday list, exploring my spirituality was very high on the list. This includes meditation, visiting spiritual places, reading, and speaking honestly about how I feel.


So to start things off, my top 5 tips for cleaning


1. No chemicals! Don't use anything that you would think twice about eating off of. If you are willing to make out with a bathtub after spraying a foaming cleaner, then you are braver then I.

I went to a strict no chemical cleaning process about 4 years ago. I was really examining the different aspects of my environment that can influence my life, and I thought what it meant when I used a bathroom cleaner that made me woozy when scrubbing the sink or that my window cleaner was not a color you could find in nature. I had a transition period where I used mostly natural brands (e.g. Method) but now I'm averaging about 75% of cleaning materials made in the house. I make some exceptions for myself when it comes to laundry and dish detergent, but I buy smart and examine labels when buying anything.

How does all of these relate to your health and happiness? Consider how many chemicals the average person is confronted with on a daily basis, consider the possibilities in mixing your own cleaning solutions, and definitely consider how nice saving a little bit of extra money can be. I use vinegar solutions for the majority of surface cleaning and when vinegar can't do it, baking soda normally can. Dr. Bronner's smells better then most soap on the market and had the extra perk of being an inspirational read. I even bought a steam mop eliminating the need for chemicals on my floors.



When I clean my house, I'm trying to create an environment that I will grow in. Clouding it with unnecessary chemicals and smells goes against all of my goals.


2. Take your shoes off at the door.

You will spend less time vacuuming and mopping the floors.

You will have pretty floors with fewer scuff marks and no footprints.


You are ensuring that everything from the outside is staying out. From bad energy to bad chemicals, you want to leave all of that at the door.


3. Act with intention, use your cleaning as meditation.


Have you ever gotten into the scrubbing zone? Or the dishes zone, where you are completely aware of the fact that you are doing dishes, but you are relishing the experience? When you set forth with the attitude that you are not just cleaning your surroundings, but you are preparing the staging area for your life, you can live in those moments and enjoy them more.


I go into autopilot far too easily, so using my cleaning as meditation with the intention of improving my quality of life, I know that I can accomplish great things.


4. Make it a daily practice.

Too often do we leave cleaning to the weekend, allowing ourselves to spend an entire day finally getting the house back into order. I'm part of this guilty party, I spent the majority of Saturday getting our kitchen back in working order. If you do that cleaning trying to be present, by the end of the day, you are tired, cranky, and very drained.


If you try to leave a little bit of time to clean each day, it becomes less daunting and you are able to make your little contribution to your tomorrow by having things in line.


5. Dress the part.


I have aprons that I put on while cleaning. Even if I struggled to brush my hair and are wearing clothes that don't match, I'm prepared for battle. The apron becomes my symbol, this house is mine and this is my crown.


If you don't like aprons, I'm not sure what to tell you. Aprons are awesome. Maybe a special cleaning hoodie would work, but I'm telling you, given the apron a try.

The Continually Growing Craft List - One in a Series of Things I Hope To Accomplish

I have lists and plans spread over multiple e-mail accounts, notebooks, post-its, and calendars. I have been collecting ideas, but I have been less then focused on checking things off of the list.

To give myself some accountability and to judge my own personal accomplishments, I'm posting this list and commentary. This is my crafty to-do list, of half-finished and not-yet-started projects.

1) Scrabble Letter Coasters - I have a basic plan of attack for this to prevent future water stains on my living room table. - FINISHED!
2) My embroidered napkins - Carpal Tunnel sucks. Majorly. This has pushed this project back months but I'm getting back into it.
3) Mike's scarf
4) A felt terrarium - Starting to gather the tools for this one.
5) The Peeps Bunny Bunting  - I just love this project.
6) Mustache Wine Glasses

6) Fabric Dry Erase Board - For the door by the kitchen.
7) Framing Rillakuma pictures for the Kitchen Wall
8) A pup tent with this fabric

This list will be added too throughout the day, I'm still going through all of my saved projects.

Powers & Skills: the bleeding edge fantastic

It's Saturday, and I find myself at the office.

I'm drawing a crab. In exchange for a seal. Not a real one, or the kind you get from stamping hot wax with a signet ring. Although it is made out of paper.

I just finished checking out some promising character stills from the new 3D Castlevania (which, if you know Konami's history with 3D versions of this franchise, you know why I'm a bit concerned. Though I will still defend my love of Castlevania 64's opening screen violin sequence to this day).

Now I'm listening to some Sufi music. That guy can pick! I also love the drum/daf that is the woman's portrait (which strikes me as odd considering the source). I've been interested in listening to more west and south Asian music lately. Now I'm checking out the more complex sounding Kashmir Sufiyana Mousiqui. The description is a bit tragic, but makes this even more special. Here's the part 1 (I always start checking things out in the wrong order!).

Thinking about longevity. Thinking about the fecundity of worms. Thinking about methuselah invertebrates.

One of the advantages of having had scientists as parents is that I totally already knew stuff like why the sky is blue. Mostly. I forgot the important parts (but I knew it had something to do with refraction!).

Image courtesy us and this pyramid head cosplayer from the 2008 Wondercon in San Francisco. I wonder how far Silent Hill is from the Bay Area...

Character: Enculturation

I've decided to try something slightly different to mix Tuesday posts up a bit. Instead of doing a straightforward character write-up, I'm going to start diving into a particular aspect. Today's will be discussing a possible origin, that of the Kalash people of northwestern Pakistan.

This very small sect of polytheists numbers only about 5,000 making it a perfect source group for characters that need an international flair but a rustic finish. They are well loved by the Greeks, who have for years journeyed to the area these people live, near the border with Afghanistan. That's a possible movement route for someone originally from this community into the west, should you need a good justification for that.

Although the Greeks are big fans, and the Kalash's traditional religion worships many gods, the group doesn't have much to do with them. Instead, their language and likely ethnicity is more Indo-Iranian. Thus, you have a very interesting mix of social and religious pressures that pull them about. The character could wind up being converted to Islam, or cross the border into Nuristan and mingle with the Afghans. Heck, they could truck east to India and become Hindu. They might head upwards, and spend some time with the Hunza, or get their sherpa on, throw away their shoes, and start climbing.

I find that places like this (check out the pic at the start of the story below for some quick and dirty visualization) and their people are extremely fertile ground for storytelling, not just background stuff. It is a wide world out there; why not gank it for its wealth of cultural ideas?

Also, you can find some good, colorful pics of the people via Tressugar, of all places. Decent write-up too.

Post idea inspired by this Danger Room story, which is worth checking out. Especially if you like international vigilantes.

Pic courtesy wikipedia.

Batman Quilt!

My mom's Batman quilt.

I was born into a cool family.

but though iI tried so hard my little darlin/ I could't keep the night from coming in

Oh Blogger, I have been cheating on you.

I have a new love. They are my plants.


Beth: I haven't even named them yet.
Mike: That is surprising.

So far we have:
-1 flourishing, 2 surviving, and 1 slightly at death's door tomato plants.
-4 sunflowers
-1 mint
-1 lemon verbena (which smells so delicious)
-1 thyme
-2 lettuces that have sprouted
-2 swiss chards that have not
-1 majoram
-1 chive
-1 very pretty purple basil
-1 Bulgarian carrot pepper
-1 Thai pepper

This has been a pretty grand experiment for us because the majority of our yardage and indoor space is not appropriate for growing. The small balconettes in the front of the house are the only reason why we can grow anything so we are taking full advantage of it.

awesomeness mini-roundup

Hey there! A quick multi-bottle rocket bombardment of three things I have found interesting recently:

This trailer for Valhalla Game Studio's Devil's Third is RIDICULOUS . I've never even played the new Ninja Gaiden, but this preview of the game was...well. It's a pretty sweet piece of video. If the game is anywhere near this intense during play, consider me interested. Warning: Very violent.

Ancient technology is wonderful: 2000+ year old eclipse predicting machine. Once more I weep for Alexandrian record keeping.

If you're like me, you feel great love for a little game on the SNES called Earthbound, aka Mother 2. If you continue your sick emulation, you will be lead to an appreciation for fine Trance music. These two forces combine to form Trancebound!

That is all.

Little pic of Jeff up there courtesy the artistic skills of Emilio Orsi. Creative Commons!

Powers: Shapeshifting

Some day, you may spontaneously develop the power to alter your living organism psychically, even at the DNA level. When that day comes, you are going to want a robust catalog of fearsome, strange, and utilitarian creatures (until, of course, you achieve the necessary mastery to go Crinos). I'm here to help.

Behold, the Goblin Shark! +5 to intimidation!



While we pine away the days before we are granted protean physiques, what can be learned from the noble Goblin Shark?

- Retractable jaws are terrifying; biting attacks are especially traumatic!
- It is easier to be stealthy in water. If you're good at swimming. Being shaped like a fish also helps.
- You too can take the nose you were born with and go with it. Profile enhanced!

Props to Weird Asia News and i09 for supplying this instructional video.

Skills: external memory maintenance

I got a new organizer the other day, a black 18-month Moleskine. Oddly enough, the date by date doesn't actually start until one day before my birthday.

I don't have a terribly good track record with these things, and at the moment I am using a post-it note in these weeks leading up to the end of the month. I've already written stuff into it, but I imagine now I have to exercise the hard part; remembering to refer to it. So let's see what it tells me I should do...

- Return that dvd to the Pittsburgh public library (runs to put that in his bag).
- Mail fathers day cards (same thing! what day is father's day anyway...).
- Set the grill back up (ok planning to do that on Saturday).
- Work on vampire character (only 50 years into the backstory and already I've got 2200+ words!).
- Write, for thou hast deadlines nigh!

Pic courtesy of Wikipedia.

all of the things that go to make heaven and this/ success was survival and, kid, it still is

Work has been beyond busy and I haven't done much besides listen to NPR.

I never appreciate NPR as a teenager and I have been finding myself counting my nickels and pennies to actually become a pledge giver.

5 Ways You Can Learn To Love Public Radio

1. NPR.com! This site saves me days where my ipod isn't working or I need new music, I can spend a few hours listening to new music on All Songs Considered. I'll listen to the news update during my lunch. I'll read a lot of my news there in the morning.

2. Podcasts/IPod Apps! I feel like a Luddite that it took me so long to start listening to podcasts, but that combined with ipod/android apps allows me to spend a few hours of my Saturday listening to talented teenage musicians and learn about the economy.

3. Twitter! Seriously, I think this entire post was for me an excuse to talk about my total crush on NPR. I would hug NPR and cuddle it. However, I will be honest, I do listen to BBC while in bed. But back on point, NPR produces so much amazing material just in 140 characters.

4. Road Trip! I travel back and forth between Pittsburgh and New Jersey several times a year and it is a rough trip. It is long and really boring. We also usually are traveling at weird times of day so rarely anything is open besides the rest area. This time we downloaded podcasts and the time flew. This American Life is single-handedly changing the face of my car trips.

Summation: I<3NPR

Character: dots and ranks as notation

In some ways, I am very set in my habits. One of those is a slavish attitude towards numbers-first character creation. I've come to realize relatively recently that this is ill explained by any mathematical triggered mental defect. It is because I am seeing the numbers on the character sheet as a strong reflection of how the character will play.

Now, I think that's reasonable. Obviously my own playstyle will be the biggest contributor on what a character does, but the numbers are like my summer vacation. It helps define what kind of story I'm going to tell.

I've recently been given a rare opportunity, which is to assemble a character with no strict limits on how I fill out the sheet (before I submit it for approval, naturally). Exciting, no doubt, but also grain-rubbing against my typical approach. The powers the character has form the keystone, the inherent and learned competencies make the base.

So let's flip that on its head. Put the character sheet down. Start writing.

Let me give you an example, from something I am currently working on.

Shortly after his father's death to disease, at the age of 14, the young man, though a freeman, found himself in great poverty. He easily came to be working for the sugar plantations of eastern Cuba. At first it was he bent over in the fields, blade in hand. Soon though his wits, status, and skill convinced the bosses to teaching how to process the cane and mix it with lime, to eventually begin supervising work at the mill (Leadership 1, Craft 1, Athletics 2). He would do this sort of work for the next five years (Willpower 4 Stamina 3, Dexterity 3, Craft 2).

Instead of letting the numbers drizzle into a backstory, I'm letting the numbers crystallize from the prose. Best yet, I find that I'm really eager to see what sort of character sheet this looks like when I'm done!

Pic courtesy us and Phipps Conservatory.

the garden needs sorting out/ she curls her lips on the bow

Mondays will be posts by me as I continue towards self-improvement and cross silly things off of my 26 things for 26 years list I wrote for my birthday. I won't be posting the whole list because some of it is private and because some of it is just not very interesting. I will also continue doing Meatless Mondays, although that will kick back up next week.


In addition to the main list of things I wished to accomplish, I had an entire additional list because I was on a list writing role. So, I'm considering those things as part of the entire year's theme. Being awesome, everyday.

Goal: Learn about a celestial body once a month.

I'm not sure if I'll be doing this only once a month. I really enjoy learning about space. But since currently most of my knowledge is limited at best, I'm using this as an opportunity to get a little smarter and maybe reward myself with one of those personal home planetariums that I adore.

My topic for this month is: Quasars

Things I knew about Quasars:
-There is a Marvel character named Quasar.
-The Beastie Boys have a punk band called Quasar
-There was a brand of appliances named Quasar.

-That in space, Quasars are bad news.

Things I Learned about Quasars:
-Quasars are the most luminous objects in space.
-That they are the most powerful and energetic objects in the known universe
-That they are, bad news.

There are many other things that I learned, but they are highly scientific and I defer to experts rather then copy from them.

Wiki, yes, Wiki
Hubble Pictures
SeaSky.org
Space.com

Picture Source

Skills: Improvisation

I walked into today's post with really no clue what it would be about. Then a little bird told me a sudden story, and lo, I was inspired. I click the New Post button, and there's my title up there, nice and simple.

I find that I take a fairly improvised approach to life. That's another way of saying I don't plan ahead for things, I think. It works that way for gaming too; almost all of it gets ad-libbed, which makes sense to me; when I'm on the player side of the table, it HAS to be improv'd.

When I was a wee Tinfoiler, I had a school project in which I had to give a talk to the class. I had assumed that this was the main point of the exercise, so I did not prepare a full written speech in advance. There was no long casework for me to slowly read from. Instead, I had a lone notecard. The reaction from the class upon learning this was almost more harsh than of the teacher. It was as though I had expressed extreme audacity at trying to improvise the actual content of the speech. What a fool I was, how lazy I was, I recall them implying through their reaction.

Now, older and possibly a bit wiser, I know that improvisation is a wonderful tool in my repertoire, but is much like a shallow lake. I can spin some real beauty on the surface any moment you glance over, but the intellectual ecosystem underneath is not as robust as it could be. And I would never say that I do my best thinking without any self-reflection at all.

Personal growth time: To help combat the conflict between my improvisational nature and the power I can draw from deliberate planned thought, I'm going to resolve to accept I don't need a fully fleshed out magnum opus to have useful material done ahead of time. Now I have a new challenge; how can I integrate piecemeal preparation into my impromptu style to become truly invincible? Well, you'll find out soon enough!

Pics courtesy us and Oakland, California.

Writing frenzy (check-in)

Expect a normally resumed posting schedule for me starting tomorrow. In the meantime...

I'm listening to The Mars Volta song, L'Via L'Viaquez.

I'm working on a "fanfic" submission for Subterranean Press. Objective: Epicocity. I promise, that link is worth clicking on for the picture alone.

I'm also prepping another session of my tabletop Mage: The Ascension game for this Sunday. The formal title of the game (because those are nice, even if everyone forgets them and it never gets mentioned past the first session) is "Killall -w" (nerd test?). Expect a post about that next week.

Until then, all good things!

Pic courtesy us, and the great state of Wyoming.

It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to. – J.R.R. Tolkien

We went to NJ.

Mike rode a bike, we planted tomatoes, and relaxed.

We came back to Pittsburgh and promptly became depressed that we were no longer on vacation.

Then I turned 26 and started a list of things I want to accomplish.

26 for 26.

I'm not ready to share all of them yet, but I'll be writing about how I will accomplish them.

We'll be making some slight changes to our weekly posting format, nothing too drastic. You'll also see more posts labeled 26 for 26 and soon for Mike, 27 for 27.

The post back is always the hardest post and we've taken that first step.

Now, the real work begins.