Inspired by innocent_man's postings over in wod_changeling....

I post the stories of what goes on in my regular tabletop game over in greengamersglen. Just follow the "session summaries" tag when you get there.

Right now, I have summaries for all of the sessions of my Werewolf: The Apocalypse game (which ran from February 2007 until March 2009), and I've started posting ones for my CJ Carella's WitchCraft game (which began in May 2009).

Because they will not leave my brain, I started talking about some of my ideas for a Scion cycle with lostsatyr sometime last week.

We'd been going back and forth on ideas for a while now, but none of them really "clicked."

Yesterday, though, we came up with a location that both of us are happy with, and that can be used for the plot we had planned with an earlier setting (which was just not really "singing" for us).

We've got the skeleton of the metaplot, a location and some NPCs. And right now, that's it.

A caveat - it'll probably be quite some time before this is ready for public consumption. When it is, we'll let people know.

Why do I always get ideas for a new game when I'm already running something else?

Last night, I completed Arcade Mode in Soulcalibur IV.

I can't believe I actually beat The Apprentice!

Woohoo!

lostsatyr picked up Soulcalibur IV for the Xbox 360 (after we played through the demo a while back), and I thoroughly love it.

I've made up a couple custom characters (creating them was great fun in itself - sort of like playing with paper dolls when I was little, but with weapons and armor). Right now I have three females ones - one with Seong Mi-Na's style (the halberd), one with Hilde's (the lance and sword), and one with Ivy's (because I love the visual of the snake sword). I've also made up a male character with the Zweihander (Siegfried style) and one with the rapier (a'la Raphael).

I'm quite good with the rapier style, it seems - I beat lostsatyr a number of times in our custom character-versus-custom character bouts. It's fun to have something where I (the console novice) can be on equal footing with the hubby, who's a long-time console game player. And the story mode in SC 4 is exciting without being frustrating (the Naruto fighters I have for the Wii fall a little too much into that category).

I like this game a whole lot - I think I'll get quite a lot of play out of it, both by myself and with the hubby. Now we have another thing to share! :)

...I'm already thinking about what to run next year.

I've got the bare bones of a plot for a Lost adventure. I'm also adding a few new pregenerated characters to the stable, both to keep things fresh and so that people will have more of a choice if the event fills up (given the popularity of Lost in these parts, that seems likely).

While I love Werewolf, I think I'm going to give DA: Werewolf a rest for a year or three. I've got an idea for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer adventure (and for some new pre-gens to add to the ones I already have), though, so I think I'll run with that.

And then there's always my Chez Geek event on Sunday....:)

UBCon XX was last weekend (April 17, 18 and 19).

I had fun - I got to run a Changeling: The Lost game that was enjoyed by all, saw (and gamed with) some people I haven't seen in a while, and picked up some cool stuff in the dealers room.

ramius_rathorne stayed with me and lostsatyr, so we had fun hanging out with him and introducing him to a number of local eateries - Jasmine Thai, Moti Mahal and Bollywood Cafe (the Indian takeout place on SUNY Buffalo's campus). We also played a lot of Soulcalibur IV on the 360 on Thursday and pre-con on Friday.

Friday, I ran my Changeling: The Lost game. It was great fun, especially since ramius_rathorne, eseme and justric played. I don't often get to game with them and they're all terrific players, so that was a bonus. I also managed to snag the only copy of Dancers In the Dusk (the latest CtL supplement) that was in the dealers room, so that was another bonus (and thanks go to tarbis for finding it for me - the dealer had mistakenly shelved it with the Awakening< supplements).

On Saturday, I ran Dark Ages: Werewolf. It was OK, but I had the misfortune of getting a couple of players who thought they could "break" my game - and told me so. As if - ramius_rathorne, lostsatyr and I ran rings around them! *eg* Maybe next time, they'll think better of boasting about their prowess before the game even starts.

On the other hand, on Saturday night, I got to play in justric's CtL game. I continue to be amazed by his creativity - he deserves all the accolades he gets. The game was made even better by getting to play with eseme, ramius_rathorne, meepeek and kotikokura.

On Sunday, I ran my usual Chez Geek event, and the prize went to im_a_woman - go her! We went out to lunch with her, tarbis and ramius_rathorne after the morning slot, which was fun since we got to do some chit-chatting and productive venting. :) We got back in time to discover that lostsatyr had won a UBCon XX bag and ramius_rathorne, a werewolf sculpture from Chenille Macabre, in the UBCon Chinese Auction. Then lostsatyr and I took in some anime (Nerima Daikon Brothers - it was very funny!) while ramius_rathorne played Amputheatre. We met up with him the dealers room a little later, where I picked up some zombie T-shirts and a kitty-cat Bag That Bites (after having been eying it all weekend). Once the con was over, we went back to the house with ramius_rathorne for a few more rouncds of Soulcalibur IV and then dinner.

All in all, a fun con. I'm a little sorry it's over.

Prospective players in my upcoming tabletop Unisystem game can feel free to check out this post, if you haven't already.

I just uploaded and annotated my pictures from I-Con 28!

So, having returned from I-Con and recovered (mostly) from the Cold of Doom^TM that I apparently picked up there (I really need to try and get more sleep next time), it's time for a more detailed con report.

I had a terrific time, despite really missing the convenience of having everything in one place (I miss having I-Con at Stony Brook!). I got to see ramius_rathorne, jesshartley, taithbedwenwyn and the Nauga (and got to meet their little girl!), saw some really interesting panels, and came home with some cool swag.

Some highlights - hanging out with jesshartley before and after the con; the Watchmen and mercenary soldier discussions; getting compliments on my cosplay outfits (it really gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling to have someone tell me I looked "adorable" in the Yukiko costume - thanks, jesshartley!); meeting taithbedwenwyn and the Nauga's adorable little lady for the first time; and just getting a goodly dose of geek-itude over the weekend. :)

All in all, I had a wonderful time, and I'm kind of sorry it's over.

I had a great time, despite really missing the convenience of having everything going on in one central location (as in previous years). I saw some very cool panels, a number of really cool people, and came home with a great deal of neat stuff. I also got to hang out with jesshartley before and after the con, which was major fun in and of itself (Guillotine is a terrificly fun game!).

Pictures and more detailed report to come after I get home (and have a full-sized keyboard to type the latter up on! ^-^).

Brief update via my EeePC (whose name is Jubei) -

On Long Island and waiting for I-Con 28 to start. Currently checking LJ before breakfast and thinking about which cosplay outfits to wear on which days. :)

There may or may not be updates over the weekend; depends on how busy I get.

lostsatyr and I will be attending I-Con 28 this weekend.

I'll catch up on LJ after I get back. =)

I finished the Yukiko Amagi costume today.

It is not only comfortable and reasonably flattering, but also looks "pretty convincing," according to lostsatyr. Go me!

Pictures to come once I'm back from ICon.

Finished the skirt for the Yukiko Amagi costume yesterday. It won't win any workmanship awards, but it's good enough.

After not liking what I saw when I pin-fitted the sailor collar to a shirt (it didn't hang correctly, which was just not attractive), I decided to make the collar as a separate piece. This also makes sure it doesn't disappear when I put on the sweater (another problem). It did necessitate altering it a little, but I'm quite pleased with the results. And now it can also easily be swapped out to other costumes, too!

I need to pick up some shoes to complete the look, which will probably be today. I'm hoping to find some black moccasins; those should approximate the look of Yukiko's shoes pretty well.

I should have this finished in time for ICon - I can't wait to show it off!

I got the plot outlines for both my RPG events at UBCon typed up. The characters are already finished; all that remains is to print out and assemble the player packets.

The skirt for the Yukiko Amagi costume is almost finished; I just have to sew the waistband and hem it. I'm rather proud of myself, because this skirt marks the first time I've put in a zipper all by myself! Go me!

I need to finish the top and get some suitable shoes before ICon...over the weekend, possibly.

Friday, I sew some more. =) Then, next week, I have to set aside time to pack, because we leave on the 2nd for ICon! Then I have two weeks until UBCon...April is going to be a busy month!

Because I have been bitten by the cosplay bug, I'm working on a costume for ICon 28.

Inspired by lostsatyr's latest console game addiction, Persona 4, I'm going to go as Yukiko Amagi. I had the red sweater, tights and hairband already, and yesterday I got the skirt cut out. The fabric I have is a black and white (instead of gray and black) houndstooth pattern, but it'll be close enough to pass, I think.

I think I'll have to play around with grocery bags to get a pattern for the sailor collar, but that shouldn't be too hard. The difficult part is going to be the school symbol - I'm thinking of painting it onto an old pinback button.

Hopefully I can get this done for ICon 28. Even if I can't, though, I can always wear it at Otakon 16. :)

At long last, the pregenerated characters for my CtL adventure at UBCon XX are complete! I finished the last cover sheet (the last thing I had to do) yesterday.

It feels good to finally be done, especially since I started working on this project last May (writing the backgrounds and making up the character sheets for ten Lost - and trying to make them all unique - was a lot of work).

Many, many kudos go out to the folks at DriveThruRPG, Mr. Gone, and ad_masquerade - without their efforts, I'd never have been able to pull this off. Having Ebooks, fillable PDF character sheets, and artwork for the cover sheets readily available made things so much easier!

Got the Contracts for five of the ten CtL pregenerated characters detailed. Five more to go.

The pregens are - two Wizened (a Smith and a Soldier), three Fairest (a Bright One, a Shadowsoul and a Flowering), two Beasts (a Steepscrambler and a Hunterheart), an Elemental (Woodblood), a Darkling (Antiquarian), and an Ogre (Gristlegrinder). There are five male characters and five female ones. That should provide a decent spread, I think.

I've already got the characters for DA: Werewolf created (I use the same pregens from year to year and just put them in different adventures), so all I need to do for that adventure is write up the plot outline.

Chez Geek is easy, especially with the handout I have from previous years. I may decide to pick up some counters to use with the game, though. We'll see.

I'm rather pleased with myself - this is the second year I've been organized enough to get things done ahead of time, instead of frantically typing everything up a few days before con.

May I say again that I *LOVE* my World of Darkness and Changeling: The Lost EBooks? The folks at DriveThruRPG.com deserve many kudos and warm fuzzies for providing them!

I'm in the middle of detailing what the pregenerated characters for my upcoming Lost game at UBCon can do with their Contracts, and I have to say that I love having an Ebook of the CtL rules. Doing the "copy, paste, edit" thing is ever so much easier than typing stuff out by hand.

I love DriveThruRPG! Especially since they give me free updated PDFs of the books I've bought.