Friday 14 October 2011

The Importance of Myth


First of all, I would like to apologise for my lack of posts this week. I would like to give you a grim tale of adventure and heartbreak that would act as an excuse as to why I didn't post... But I can't. Sorry.

Hopefully this very long post will make it all better?

* * *

The Importance of Myth

Nothing evokes the human creative spirit more than mythology. Mythology binds a culture that is alien to understandable ideals – love, courage, adventure, fear. By studying the mythology of a culture, one can see how individual nuances of their lives match up to the human condition and ‘make sense’. For this reason, myth is utterly important to creating a Conculture.

What is a Conculture?
I have talked before about Concultures, but I have never really defined them. A Conculture, like its similarly named brother (a Conlang), is a constructed culture for use in world building and storytelling. Concultures are one of the greatest ways to evoke a sense of fantasy in a world: familiar snippets of the real world, maybe a mixture of Nordic practices with Mesoamerican religious ideals, are able to clash with purely made-up concepts to breed new and interesting worlds. This union of the alien and the familiar allows the reader to be sucked in and ‘understand’ the world they are viewing, but also to be lost in its complexity. The world isn’t a cardboard cut-out. It is living and breathing and not fully understood.

How can Mythology be used to evoke Culture?
As stated, mythology can reveal ‘reasons’ behind practises. This could be the meaning behind a certain ritual, the origin of a certain phrase, or why one culture despises another.  Mythology reveals the motivations behind a culture’s people.

One only needs to look at examples of world mythology to see how it can assist in evoking the feel of a culture. Consider Greek mythology. The stories of the various heroes depict a very clear message to the audience: the price of immortality is unhappiness. All the great heroes who strove for immortality (and thus, being equal to the gods) were met with sadness and hardship. Heracles was more beast than man and killed everyone he held dear, Achilles ended up in a meaningless existence in the Underworld which he would have traded for a normal life, and Jason ends it all with being undignifyingly hit on the head by a cross-beam.

Even the stories of the gods represent a confined universe where one must not reach beyond their station: Uranus is usurped, as is Cronus, and so does Zeus fear it himself. Persephone attempts to avoid her marriage to Hades, but is bound by the covenant that was forced upon her. Hera constantly attempts to tame her wayward husband. Prometheus is chained up and tortured for sympathising with humanity. And so the list goes on…

From these stories we can see the ideas of the Ancient Greek culture coming forward: the choice between family and fame, the virtue of humility, the role of the father patriarch who fears the usurping son, the bonds of marriage, the effects of infidelity, the consequences of disobedience…

So how can I make my own Myths?
The process is, unfortunately, a difficult one. World mythologies seem to surround a few core concepts, and almost all world religions have stories that concern every one of these events and concerns.

Creation: Creation myths tend to focus on a cyclic Mother Goddess who gives birth to the world and everything that stems from it. Sometimes, as in the Judeo-Christian religions, this figure is male, and acts as a benefactor-creator to existence. But nonetheless, the creation is always intentional, and the world is always created out of a primordial ‘nothingness’ or ‘chaos’. Furthermore, there is always a residing fear that this ‘chaos’ (which often takes an ocean motif) will once again take over the world.
The Independence of Man: Mankind is either liberated from the clutches of evil or ignorance, or is ejected from bliss by the god/s for some slight. This event represents the beginnings of human civilisation and is often put against the concept of ‘free will’. Mankind is allowed to act as it will, but with the threat of damnation should it stray too far.
The Golden Age: A Golden Age of Mankind begins in which heroes exist and do great deeds. However, the depravity of mankind eventually wins through, and, despite the efforts of the heroes, the end comes and the concept of Death is made very VERY evident.
The Calamity: Chaos returns to destroy mankind for its sins and the god/s regret having made mankind in the first place. However, the piety or justice represented by a select few humans turns the tide of this calamity, and Order is once more restored to a world which is to be rebuilt by the gracious survivors.
The Cycle of Nature: With the world restored, nature is made abundant again and the Creator once again accepts their children and restores the tri-part cycle of nature – Birth, Death and Rebirth – which represents the crops, the cycle of pregnancy and the human condition. Common motifs are seeds and the moon.

In addition to these few ‘core’ myths, there are many parables which are woven into these myths and others. These are culture specific, however, so one must look at what their culture would find important, and then write myths detailing those features.

Now that you have your core concepts understood, you are able to make your myths. Like any stories, these need central characters, but these characters should be simplistic and represent manifested ideals, rather than true humans. Generally, these tend to surround a familial structure. So, one would need a Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and possibly a Brother and Sister role. Further, the concept of a Justice and a Trickster are pretty universal. These roles can blend together, but they should be defined. (Note, you need not make these clear cut family members. Just simply symbols of those familial obligations. Therefore, you could substitute the “Father” with a bear, and the “Mother” with a doe, for instance (which is actually the system used by the Vendri).)

Now that you have your characters, consider what would happen were these archetypes to interact, and play off of those results. This should be very easy for you to do, so I won’t detail it specifically. I will, however, mention that in many world religions, the Trickster is often to instigator of events.

You should be all set now! HAPPY MYTHOLOGISING!

What myths have you made for your Conculture? What myths do you think are interesting to point out that go against the conventions I have listed above? What can we learn from these myths? Put your answers to these questions in the comments section below! And don’t forget to subscribe to ‘versamus’ on the left side of this page!

Saturday 8 October 2011

How to Breach the Gap: Introducing New People to Our Hobbies...


The task of bringing new people into a hobby is a daunting one, I’ll grant you, but it need not be as difficult as it seems. Over the years I have gotten many people interested in all of my various hobbies and I believe there are a few simple steps involved in converting someone to your niche.

Now, I want it to be plainly said up front, that this is going to be massively cross-genre. This blog is about roleplaying games, Magic: the Gathering, Warhammer, Conlanging and Games Design all at once, so I am going to be talking about how to generally bring people into a hobby. Sure, I’ll use specific examples along the way, but there is nothing stopping anyone from using those same techniques on another of the hobbies I just mentioned, or, frankly, anything else.

Further, I would like to say that this can sometimes be a long winded approach, but I guarantee you will make a nerd out of your target yet!

Step One: Attraction
First of all, you need to introduce your target to the hobby you wish to convert them to. And by ‘introduce’, I mean, ‘give them a tiny taste’. You want your target to see you enjoying this hobby. You don’t even essentially want to talk to them about it at this stage (for fear you will say too much and intimidate them). You just want them to see a glimpse of the fun that you have, which will hopefully make them think “Hey, that looks like fun”.

Then repeat. Then repeat. Do this enough times that the target asks you about the hobby. But make sure they see you doing other things as well... Nothing is more off putting to a new comer than a hobby that envelopes your life!

Step Two: Comparison
Now that you have them drawn in, you want to anchor the hobby onto something they already like. Hopefully your target will already be a nerd in some way. Do they like the Lord of the Rings? Well, Tolkein was a Conlanger! Do they like painting? Well, you get to paint cool models in Warhammer! Do they like poker? Well, MtG is like poker, but with a few extra rules to hype up the strategy!

As you can see, you don’t have to tell them the whole truth at this point. That is for later. Once they have a mental image of what the hobby will most likely be like, go to step three.

Step Three: Don’t Take it Seriously!
Again, nothing is more off putting that a hobby that takes over, and nothing is greater evidence of a take-over than a lack of humour. Be humorous about your hobby (but for the love of God, not about those who play the hobby!) and teach them in a fun and memorable way. For instance, draw a diagram of a MtG card with a silly picture on it (this is actually what I did with my girlfriend... Now she is sending waves of Blue/White Flying creatures at my Kamigawa Orochi swarms!!!). Make a few jokes about the Emperor (but make sure they won’t go over your target’s head! This is certainly not the time for jokes about the Credo Omnissiah, nor references to the Adeptus Custodes changing the Emperor’s nappy!)

You want the hobby to seem fun from the get go. You want to show your target how much fun they can have whilst not even participating in the hobby itself. Hopefully, they will start thinking “If talking about it is this much fun, how much fun will it be to participate?!”

Step Four: Confrontation
Here one must tread lightly. You are now ready to show the target the hobby. But you have to be careful. Go in to strong, and you might have sealed the casket for good. Go in to weak and they won’t see the point of going further...

This calls for some specifics:
Roleplaying Games: You want to run a small game for your target. Preferably a one-on-one, or if you are trying to bring a few people in at once, then only play with the new folk. No one more experienced should be in on this trial game! Do not use pre-generated characters for this, but walk someone through character generation. You as the GM should handle all of the maths, etc, but ask them “What do you want to do?” and then make the character that fits.
Magic: the Gathering: You should make new decks. Plain and simple. Sit down with your target and show them some cards you think are cool, and explain the basics of those cards. Tell them the basics of deck creation, and then let them assemble what they consider to be a strong deck. Try and make yours equally matched. You don’t necessarily want them to win, but you don’t want to steam-roll them. After deck creation is done, play a game and answer questions. Go easy on them, but again, don’t be afraid to beat them. They will know if you’re throwing in the towel, and they will not respect you nor the game for it.
Warhammer: You should show them a White Dwarf, or show them the Games Workshop website. Anything with perfectly painted miniatures in it to make them want to try. Then you should help them choose their first models and teach them to paint the basics. Be careful here, however. Their first paint job will likely be terrible, but do not sweat it. Let them have fun with their creative sides and they will love the hobby for it. Then, once they have a few guys painted, proxy the rest of their army and have a small game. As with the MtG advice, don’t go easy on them, but don’t crush them.
Conlanging: A very tough one. Show them a little of your language, and teach them a basic phrase, like “Hello” of some such. Then, introduce them to the concept of phonology slowly. Show them the silly stuff, like phonemes that are way outside their native language (non-plumonics are GREAT for this sort of stuff). Teach them about far out concepts in languages. If they are from a nom-acc language, then teach them erg-abs. If they have no case markings, then teach them about cases. Basically, show them what CAN be done in a language. Soon enough, they’ll be making their very own cipher of their native tongue with all the bits and pieces you’ve just told them about. This is good. They need to go through a few kitchen sinks to get to the gold. Be patient.
Games Design: Jump on a topic they LOVE to talk about and consider the possibilities of making a game about it. They love talking about climate change? Hell, talk about a climate change information game where you have to manage your resources or doom the planet and lose! (Don’t laugh, I had a very long conversation about this very game concept on a recent road trip...) Then ask them how they would do X in the game, and what about variable Y. Soon enough, you’ll have them throwing ideas around and ramping to write this stuff down. You’re almost there, my friend.

Step Five: Throw them in the Deep End!
They have the basics, now they are ready to swim with the pros. Go slowly, but steadily. Introduce them to communities of like-minded hobbyists. Pick your community correctly, however. Sure /tg/ might be great once you are a pro, but for a new comer it will seem like Mos Eisley! Nice, easy going communities are the best at this stage.

Have a few games, or discussions with other people. Make sure your new comer talks to others, but also be present to give them a safety net. If things get out of hand, diffuse the situation with a few jokes (but never at the new comers expense... At your own expense is probably the best way to go). Come up with a few stories of how terrible you were when you started. Even if the stories are exaggerated, make sure you were worse than the new comer. Subtly point out how far they’ve come.

Once they are confident enough to do things themselves, let them run wild. Stay reasonably close by. Don’t leave the store. Stay online on the IM if they need to talk. Go to the kitchen whilst they talk to your other friends. Let them explore their new world for themselves...

Congradulations, you are now the father/mother of a new nerd... Doesn’t it just feel FANTASTIC!? And trust me on this one; nothing feels as great as when RPG players you introduced to the hobby begin GMing for you. They grow up so fast! *cries*

Do you have any success stories with introducing people to your hobby? Any advice I have forgotten? Anything you would advise someone NOT to do? Leave your comments below! Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe on the right side of the page.

Friday 7 October 2011

Player-Driven Languages within MMORPGs?

Greetings,

I am currently working on a project called Evosphere in which the player takes control of an animal and evolves it through its life cycle. Yes, I know this sounds similar to Spore and a few other games of its ilk, but mine has a few differences. Namely, that the game is focused on community building and is attempting to be a realistic working model of 'survival of the fittest'.

Anyway, not really important. Basically, within this game, as all players will take the role of animals without language skills, I have come across a unique language building problem.

If the players can't communicate through text nor talk, how will they express their emotions and intentions? How will they socialise? How will they decieve? How will they interact?

Good question. But, I think the premise answers itself. If the players are playing animals, we just need to look at how animals communicate.

Scents, growls, howls, specific movements. All of these things are employed, but as we as humans do not know the exact meaning behind eeach of these 'language' functions, how are we to employ them in a game without giving the players an extensive corpus about the various types of animal interaction?

Colour.

Colour evokes emotion, and some colours are truely universal. Black and yellow means danger. Burnt orange means aggression. Light blue means tranquility. Green means fertility. And so on. Linked with certain colours, certain actions will be given direct meaning to the animals, and therefore to the players.

But there is still no concrete system for communication. Sure, you can emote that you're growling, but are you saying that you're growling about the other creature? Or are you growling about something you want the other creature to help you with? Could this be cleared up by two growls for the first, and a submission and then a growl for the second?

I see language developing!

Do you think this system of player driven language creation is possible? Perhaps, as the game goes on, should 'smarter' animals have access to more elegant communication methods? What are your thoughts? Is there any other way that one could influence this system to enable player driven language creation? Leave a comment below!

Thursday 6 October 2011

Idioms and Their Place in Conlangs...

Culture is central to idioms, certainly, but idioms can also be central to culture. Granted, a language's culture creates its idioms, but one can, when conlanging and conworlding, explore ones conculture through the creation of idioms.

What are Idioms?I guess the first thing we need to focus on, is, what exactly an idiom is. An idiom is a phrase or word that is taken to mean something that it literally doesn't within the normal confines of the language. In this way, an idiom is a figurative phrase.

But idioms are more than that. Idioms are colloquial language. They share similar routes to slang, and slang is developed from language creativity. Idioms only exist because someone within the language chose to bend the literal meaning to emphasis the event or phenominon that they are now describing.

As such, this is a very good way for conlangers to give weight to words and to show the importance of some features of their culture.

So, how do I make Idioms?
There are a couple of methods to make idioms, but each requires a different level of planning before hand, yet neither are exclusive of the other. Sorry to confuse you, but you'll shortly understand what I mean.

The First Method: What Do Humans Find Interesting/Annoying?
Most idioms concern things that all humans find interesting and or annoying. Even if some languages take the idiom to new heights, they will, at their core, be about something that all humans must face.

So think about these things. What do you find inherently interesting, as a human? Food. Sleep. Love. Sex. Safety. Wealth. Family. Friends. Those are the main things that almost all humans care about (I say 'almost', because some people might not care about love or wealth etc, but they are still important to the list as someone within the language, at some point, is certain to have cared about it). So that is a good starting point.

Now imagine the extremes of these 'interesting' things:
Food = Hunger, starvation, famine : bloating, fatness, gluttony.
Sleep = Fatigue, being overworked : Apathy, laziness, being well-rested.
Et cetera, et cetera.

These are the extremes that people think about on a somewhat daily basis, and are therefore, quite possibly, the things that are going to be discussed regularly. No one likes repeating themselves, so these are going to be the things that are exaggerated and are going to have new and, sometimes funny, ways of being expressed.

GOOD! You have your idiom topics.

Now just repeat for things we find annoying (note, these sometimes co-incide with the previous lists, which just means there may very well be more of those types of idioms).

The Second Method: What Do Your Conpeople Care About?
Ok, this might sound a lot like the previous method, but it is drastically different. Whilst previously we were talking about universal concerns, here we are talking about VERY SPECIFIC concerns...

What do YOUR PEOPLE care about? Are they philosophers? Farmers? Warriors? Do they focus on a horse dominated society? Is pottery sacred to them? Are some forms of food forbidden? What is there take on gender equality? Are women feared, reveared, or sheltered? Are men just there for procreation, or are they Gods gift to the world to keep order?

These questions will fuel your idioms, but will also come from idioms created through the previous method. Whilst you are thinking of clever ways to express deep hunger, or tiredness, or a lack of sexual happiness, think about the words you are using... Think about the word routes you are using.

For instance, take a look at my conlang, Fengwë:

The Fengwë word for 'hand' (dar) comes from the word 'woman' (da), because it is assumed that women are nurturing and protective and that they 'hold the children'. The word for 'wife' (koda), therefore, comes from the conjuction of ko- (beautiful) and -da (woman). However, the Vendri (the people who speak Fengwë) have made a little joke, and have named the 'hand one uses to masturbate with' as the kodar; which draws parallel with ones wife in an example of Vendri humour. Furthermore, this is made 'funnier' by the fact that the verb 'to fornicate' comes from ko- (beautiful) and -daros (to hold), meaning something along the lines of a beautiful embrace.

As you can see, the Vendri have a very childish sence of humour, but it is a good way of expanding the language and the culture in directions you wouldn't normally think about.

Don't even get me started on the Vendri word for flatulence!

Ok, so, that done, now what?
So you have your lists, and you have your ideas for silly little cultural nuances... Well. Go at it! Think of the most absract ways you can express your topic in your language (hell, make up some new words if you have to) and you'll be surprised with what you come out with!

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Here are some Fengwë idioms to get your creative juices flowing:

Izi anëtisë?
"Are you at peace?", similar to English "Are you OK?"
Fezosusëoi dë sayirg.
"He is cleaning the arena.", to be delayed so long that the awaited action is no longer desired
Peyisosë mën Fengrufol!
"I received two winters!", to feel hard done by
Ellwësosesë tesisik yelli!
"I shout your victories!", warrior greeting

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Games Day in All its GLORY! (Part 3 of the Daemon Cycle)

Hi ho, hi ho, the grand day was finally upon us.

We awoke bright and early (well, I did, several times, first at 3am, then at 5, then finally 7) and had showers and got all our stuff together. Afterwards, we discovered we had left the hotel room broken, beaten and scarred. But, hey, what are you supposed to do with a free hotel room?!

We walked down stairs and out the doors for a good ol' morning feed, and, after passing several closed establishments, we decided on Maccas. Yeah, I know. I wasn't too happy about it, but then we had little choice. We got a 'blue H' out of it, at least (I have no idea how the current Maccas scheme is 'I Spy' but, go figure).

Some disgusting food down the whole, and we were ready to go!

We went back to the room, brought all our trappings down and signed out at the desk. Moments later, Papa Scerri was arriving at the loading dock and we jumped in, on our way to the convention hall.

After a little stuffing around with trying to find where we were supposed to park (and watching another guy who clearly didn't know either) we got out and said our good-byes and joined the MASSIVE queue for Games Day! The line did not disappoint. Not too many costumes, but there were a few fine Commissars, and in honour of Dreadfleet coming out, a fair few pirates (and pirate wenches to accompany them). There was also a troupe of Goths which looked like the damn coolest Eldar Harlequins I had ever seen, but I somehow don't think they were actually in 'costume'. That just seemed to be what they usually looked like. Weird.

Anyway, the line started to trickle inside, and once actually inside the doors of the convention hall we saw how awesome the place truly was! It was like a giant steam-punk factory in there... (The place is used to exhibition old trains and engines, so it was filled with cool looking Mechanicus devices for our perusal!)

The line snaked around and we finally got to the doors where a charmingly voiced Irishman gave us our Skaven Warlords and took our tickets. We had been told to 'mention our names on the door' so we did so, and the guy called over his co-worker Gerrard. Gerrard was nice enough to show us around, and to lead us to the Q&A with the Black Library team, where in I was given a free copy of White Dwarf which the Perry twins, Phil Kelly and Anthony Reynolds signed... Oh yeah... AND GRAHAM MC-FUCKING-NEILL! YEAH! (I unfortunately didn't get Mathew Farrer's signature, as he was a tad busy, but that is ok. I can get it next time I am in Canberra :p)

I got to ask my question of Graham, and he was gracious enough to respond (but don't dare believe I will repeat the words of His Holiness, holiest McNeill!!!

Then we went Golden Daemon hunting. Armies on Parade was spectacular! (Pics at the bottom for those interested) And the mainstay competition was brilliant as well. There were a few notables, and those ones are those I chose to place at the bottom of this post. I can't remember exactly who won what with what, but I'll cover that specifically once the Golden Daemon results are posted sometime soon in White Dwarf.

We played two games all up, but the second was incomplete as we left it a little late. The first game was Me, Nemesis, Beard-Guy and Jackie (I say this because to me he looked like Jackie Chan... And I'm not being racist here... He seriously looked like Jackie Chan) playing Tyranids, against Angus (a kid who was like 6 years old or something, god bless him), Glasses-Man, Glasses-Man's Friend and I-Actually-Own-A-Monolith who played Necrons. (Note: I call him that because he seemed to like to remind us every few seconds that he actually indeed did own a Monolith, like it was some big achievement. He was maybe 13 years old and utterly annoying, who didn't know how to handle a Monolith because he advanced it towards a Carnifex and often forgot to shoot with it etc. Furthermore, the second we killed ANY Necrons, he said he wanted to leave the game, and then when the guy running it said that he wouldn't give him a Purity Seal (I'll explain later) if he didn't see the game through, he decided he didn't need to leave anymore.)

The game was pretty close. We got our arses handed to us by an early Monolith shot, where in almost all of our Warriors fell, and then (due to the foolishness of the armies maker, not us) we had to send our Hormagaunts (yes... We had Hormagaunts... Sigh) into die. We eventually took down enough of their forces, however, to be forced into a draw (because they refused to fight us on their last turn and fled, giving us equal victory points instead of a clean end!)

So Purity Seals were given out, and all were happy (except, hopefully I-Actually, who was taken away by his mum shortly before the game, thus denying him his Seal. BAHAHAHAHA!). Now is as good a time as any to explain the Seals. Basically, THQ showed up with a giant replica Space Marine Chainsword. Yeah. I know. And they were raffling it off. You won raffle tickets, 'Purity Seals', if you participated in events, voted, etc. They were giving them away in droves, and they had up to 10,000 of them (as they were 4 numbered, ranging from 0-9). Anyway, back to the story.

Then we had lunch. *Interlude music*

It actually wasn't half bad, but it did cost me my first- and second-born sons... Damn carni-folk!

Then we voted on Armies on Parade, and played our second game: Tau vs Dark Eldar. I was Tau. Never thought I'd see the day. We got a few hits in and barely lost a man, (taking out a squad of Reavers on the first turn, and so forth) but we didn't get to use out Hammerhead. Damn 'Shaken' and 'Stunned'! But then we were saved by the bell... Or should I say the drunken rasping of the Pirate MC?

Awards were awarded, claps were clapped, smiles were smiled and snaps were snapped... Those last ones were camera photo snaps... Forgive me, I seldom get to rhyme.

Then, after a misdraw, some young whipper-snapper got the Chainsword and I vowed bloody retribution on the heads of everyone present. But, you know, I'll get over it.

So, yeah, everything packed up and we were on our way home. Games Day was a success *big smile finish*!

And now those pictures I promised. I don't know how well they turned out, or how well they will turn out for you out there in blagosphere land, but here goes: (Forgive my shitty camera and my shitty photography skills!)


















Tuesday 4 October 2011

ACTUALLY On the Road to Games Day! (Post 2 of The Daemon Cycle)

Ok, we left off last time with me getting ready to go to Games Day, but we didn’t really even begin on the road itself. Well, ALL THAT IS ABOUT TO CHANGE!

*Roll intro music*

Me and my best friend (henceforth, Nemesis) were gunning to go, and with all our bags packed, we got in his car and travelled to Broadmeadow Station (I had come up to Newcastle for the week to see Mami). We parked and got to the platform just in time for tickets and drinks (Nemesis got 2 bottles of soft drink: Mountain Dew and brown Creaming Soda... Then drank them together before realising he could just mix them into the same bottle) and we were off.

The two of us, bags included, took up 4 chairs, but the train was mostly empty. Slowly more people trickled on and we talked about games and painting and all sorts of stuff (I discussed a few more things about an upcoming project of mine called Evosphere) and all was swell.

Then a woman and her two kids got on the train, and, after yelling at the children the mother blurted out their names: Oscar and... Wait for it... Phoenix. Yeah. Phoenix. This isn’t important to the story, but I found it funny.

In all, over the train ride, Nemesis managed to eat 108% of his daily intake of sugar. Again, not important, but funny!

We finally arrived at Central and after getting my ticket out and then discovering I wouldn’t need it as no one was manning the gate anyhow, we walked outside to find our hotel. I was freaking out because neither of us is very good at city navigation (especially Sydney) but the hotel turned out to be literally across the road. First problem solved!

We checked in and all was peachy. The room was nice and... You know what? You can see for yourself!
 (This is the room from the door (with all our stuff in it))
 (This is the bathroom)
 (This is the shower... I know you wanted to see that one!)
 (This is Nemesis laying on his bed... He is doing something with his hands, but he wouldn't explain to me exactly what... So. ???)
(And this is the view from the beds. You can see my very messy mess on the table and chair!)
 (This is the view from behind the curtain.)
 (This is the view with the curtain drawn... Which couln't be undrawn... I miss the view *sadface*)

Then we headed out for some food-stuffs. Food is everywhere in Sydney, but NAB ATMs are lacking. We walked for some time until we found an alcove thing near Market City and discovered the NAB city branch with an ATM out front. $100 spending money withdrawn, and we were set for food.

I can’t decide what to eat when I have no money in my pocket and only one choice. Giving me enough money for practically anything is a bad idea. Placing me in a city full of choices is worse. Doing both at the same time is asking for TROUBLE!

But we got ramen, so it ended out ok *wipes sweat from forehead* Oh and Nemesis had his first fried dumplings... He enjoyed them lots *proud*
(IT WAS YUM! I didn't finish all of mine, and it was so filling that Nemesis couldn't even finish what I left!)


Then we walked around for a while and went to Good Games to attempt to spend my $40 voucher there (but we left with only questions that needed answering, and a reaffirming that I can’t make decisions) and then we went to Games Paradise. Unfortunately nature called, and we had to quest all over the place for a bathroom. Seriously, Sydney has NO BATHROOMS! We ended up being directed to a pub because Event Cinemas wouldn’t let us use theirs without a movie ticket, and KFC didn’t have one. (I miss Melbourne and its wealth of restrooms!)

We went into a comic book store and found a ridiculously overpriced poster of the ‘Verse (it was like $85 or something!)  so we went back to our hotel and painted  (my Autarch is lookin’ NICE!)

Then we got hungry again and after looking for a pizza place for ages and finding a very very overpriced Korean BBQ, we bought some Mexican, but I forgot to take photos, so I can’t show you. But it was nice.

Then we went back again and painted some more whilst watching Scrubs. Good night.

(To be Continued!)

Monday 3 October 2011

Welcome Back! ; On the Road to Games Day! (Post 1 of The Daemon Cycle)

Greetings my furry, translucent friends!

I would just like to take the time, at first, to apologise for my horrible upkeep of this blog. Several things have gotten in my way (life, for one, but also moving, no internet, being sick, yadda yadda yadda) but nothing is really an excuse for not blogging, bar that of sheer nothing to talk about. Which is sad, considering this is a gaming blog. (And therefore, nothing to talk about means I haven’t been doing any gaming.)

BUT NOT ANY MORE!

I have moved to Melbourne and reforged my gaming group, so all is underway! I have also refounded my love of Magic: the Gathering, and am going to start posting in regards to that (re)new(ed) love!

So, once again, I am terribly sorry for not posting, but I assure you I will be posting in the near future.

STARTING WITH...

On the Road to Games Day! (Part 1 of the Daemon Cycle)
(Just as a disclaimer: sorry about the overly epic title, I just thought it would be humorous...)

The road to Games Day Australia 2011 is a strange one that oddly takes us all the way back to July of 2009...

LET’S DO THE TIME WALK AGAIN!!!

Anyway, in July 2009 I presented with some pretty strange symptoms, and, after a while of pain and such and such, I went to hospital. There, I was diagnosed and misdiagnosed and  diagnosed again. Eventually, by August I had a straightish answer (after several surgeries and so forth).

Anyway, turns out I had lymphoma.

Which sucked, but I got over it. Well, I didn’t really have a choice now, did I?!

So I was contacted by the Starlight Children’s Foundation (amazing people: they deserve your support!) who offered me a ‘Wish’. Now, what the hell did I want? I wanted not to be sick, or to see my friends again, or so many hundreds of things that they just couldn’t do... So I was a little in the dumps about all of that. Nothing happened, and the Wish drifted out of my mind.

I finally got out of hospital, went home, and was bored out of my brains. I couldn’t do much but watch TV and Stumble on my computer. So I did a lot of both, and developed a rather unhealthy love of the Lifestyle Food channel!

But then I remembered Warhammer, and I cracked out my paint set (meagre as it was, as I was never the richest of teenagers) and began painting my Goblins and Dwarfs that my most generous mother bought for me in the Skull Pass set to pass my days.

All was peachy.

Then I got a call about the Wish again, and, I had a thought: Warhammer. Specifically, Dark Heresy. I had always loved RPGs and if I got the books, perhaps I could play them with my friends once I got better!
So I asked for all the books, and they said “Anything else?” and I replied that if they couldn’t get the books, perhaps the Citadel Paint Range.

Well, time went on, we all moved, and I eventually wound up in Newcastle, where my brother, for my 19th birthday, gave me the Dark Heresy range of books. Core Rulebook, Creatures Anathema, Inquisitors Handbook, Radicals Handbook and Disciples of the Dark Gods...

I was chuffed! I loved my new books and promptly started a new group in Newcastle to play with them.
Then the Wish called again, and I said “Don’t worry about the books if you don’t already have them, as my brother bought them for me” and they were fine with all of that.

So, more time went on, I met the most fantastic girl in the world, fell in love, played some more Dark Heresy, painted some more Eldar, Dwarfs and Goblins, and just lived on.

Then my love moved to Melbourne and I started Uni. Both were good and bad, in different ways. My love moving was almost all bad: I couldn’t see her except for every couple of weeks when we’d fly to each other, and it was heart breaking to wake up alone without her every day. But there was some good in it: the feeling of seeing her and holding her for the first time in weeks, the magic of Melbourne, and finally the knowledge that we loved each other enough to keep going through all of that.

Uni was a little different: good in that I grew a lot closer to my good ol’ buddy, Mr. Fry, I learnt basic Latin and Ancient Greek, I made this blog, and played some Dark Heresy! It was bad in that I was shoved back into school work after a year and a half without having anything to do... That was jarring.

But anyway, tangents...

After my first semester, I moved to Melbourne to be with my loveliest love, and became much happier. Although, I lost my gaming group. Two months went by and I didn’t really do anything, which was really difficult because I wanted to game and to meet friends but I was scared. Then, I got the idea to email some people on the “DnD” list of a Melbourne shop called “Dungeon of Magic”. Well, lots of responses later, and I had crafted my RPG group and we are to start playing in the next two weeks!!!

Sorry, MORE TANGENTS!

I got a call back from Starlight saying that “My Wish package was ready”

What?! It is ready?! The... The Paint Set? I hadn’t been able to paint for months because of the move and everything, so I was very very excited.

“But we have added a few extra things in for you”

Oh? What could be extra? The Dark Heresy books? Maybe I could give them to my old group in Newcastle so they could play without me?

“We got you two free VIP tickets to Games Day Australia 2011, and a host of Dark Heresy books you don’t have, and free accommodation, and spending money.”

...

“Are you there?”

*flat lines*

“Did you just die?”

(Sorry, should have cleared that up) *metaphorical flat line*

“Oh good, he’s still alive”

WOOO!!! GAMES DAY!!!

So I invited my best friend, and we were all set to go to Games Day on October 1st... I MUST PREPARE!

(To be Continued...)