An End

So, last weekend I was running my Greedy Little Bastards campaign with a number of friends. As a life-long GM, I am pretty good at running a fair and fun night, else I would have no one willing to play in my particular sandbox.

That being said, I lost patience with one of the players and barked out a warning that I was tired, worked very hard to run a game all the players could enjoy, and that effort required respect, so please just comply with my ruling. After the below events, I checked in with the other players and the consensus appears that my ruling did not seem to warrant argument from the player.

I do not wish to detract from the fact that I shouldn't have shouted. That was improper and I regret it.

The player quit, then sent text after text to me for the next four hours, telling me my motives for treating him inappropriately. At the end, he told me that he was removing me from all his social media. I told him I felt that was a shame, that making such decisions at 0330 in the AM might lead to regret.

I regret his action. I regret losing my temper and shouting. Twenty-eight years seems a long time to simply toss in the dustbin over a disagreement regarding a game.

I have a number of buts I might place in here, but such would detract from what I am apologizing for.

I hope that there will come a day when we might say something like this to one another and to others:

Games

First game of the season today. Lots of good hope, expecting fun and a goal or three. Isabelle was sick last night, but seems fully recovered this morning. I had a little talk with the players abut respectful language and courtesy last night. I hear too many kids speaking to their parents as if they were siblings, and the parents responding in kind. I had two parents, hearing me, respond with "Yes, your hear coach Griffin?"

Tonight, Warhammer, and the Greedy Little Bastards. Two of my core players have returned after a long absence, which shall add to the entertainment value. The characters are in a recently-devastated town dominated by the soldiers of the local Graf, a grasping man of low character and ill-repute. In short; their kind of man.

And now, we're off.

Gaming News, and Something About Fiction Too

I still have yet to devote much time to reading fiction, though I have been reading a lot of Eclipse Phase, the roleplaying game I just picked up. It has a fascinating setting that I think I will enjoy telling stories in.

I have also been picking up the pace on my Rogue Trader game on RPOL. Delicious agonies will follow.

I let my face-to-face Warhammer game slide this last weekend to give the family more attention. I hope to add a new wrinkle and some 'new' players this weekend via webcam and microphones. One is willing to log in from England, and another from further north in California. Hopefully it will work out and everyone will have some fun. I think another heist might be in order, now they've dealt with almost all the enemies they know they have.

Today I will jack the headphones in and get some writing done on Bridge of The Broken, and consider plots for the other short story I have been thinking on.

But first, to get Boo to school.

What I've Been About, And Mad Chortles

I only just realized I hadn't posted a thing yesterday and had yet to do anything today. So, here goes:

Isabelle and I went to see Tangled, and both enjoyed it immensely. It was also the first movie using modern 3-D techniques I've seen. Quite remarkable. I don't feel it was a requirement for the film, which quite stood on its own without such gimmicks. Then again, Isabelle stretched out her hands many times to touch things, which was a joy to watch. My heart swells each time Isabelle reaches out that way to take my hand.

The rest of Thanksgiving was quite nice, with friends and family about. The meal was excellent, as usual. I think next year I will get to frying turkeys again. I had a request for one, and wish I could have filled that order.

Today was sit around, nap, put the brain in neutral and enjoy leftovers and my daughter's company. Tonight, more of the same. Tomorrow, dare I hope, even more.

As part of today's fun, I also watched a movie I never expected to watch, let alone enjoy: Bandslam. It stayed with tropes, but the characters were well performed, and the character motivations seemed much more keenly adhered to and different from those of the average teen movie.

The only thing, aside from this post, that I've done that was close to writing was downloading the new version of Scrivener and attending #litchat and #scifichat in the twitterverse.

I might write some tonight, but ideas for Bridge of The Broken and Eyes of The Alley are currently percolating in the back of my mind. While they are edging toward the front, they don't yet feel quite ready to flee out through the fingertips.

Part of what drives this desire to let things percolate is, having written a solid section for Bridge of the Broken, I found that while I intend to keep it, its proper place is not in the book. I will instead use it as my guide to 'what really happened'.

I will enjoy reading, polishing,tweaking, even chortling madly over it. Those of you I've run roleplaying games for will surely know what my mad chortle means, and fear for the characters...

Speaking of which, tomorrow night The Greedy Little Bastards will be getting together at my place again. I plan to bring the pain. Indeed, I actually have a plan this time. Yes, there was a mad chortle there... You just might not have heard it.

Head Pain...

Occasionally I laugh so hard and so long I get major head pain. Saturday night, one of my players was on it so much that I lost it laughing. I laughed till I was out of breath, then laughed some more.

The world is Warhammer, a decidedly grim and ruthless place. The players have taken on the roles of a group of thieves, thugs, and ne'er-do-wells recently come to seek refuge in The City of Middenheim. Their hometown was sacked and razed to the ground, so there is no returning home.

If this sounds like the criminal portion of some immigrant groups, it's bloody well meant to. They have been commiting many crimes, but killed very few (that weren't deservin' of a blade 'tween the ribs, anyway). The name of the overarching story, Greedy Little Bastards, is appropo, I think.

At any rate, two of the characters woke up in custody after a lengthy heist. Several things went wrong on the job, not least of which was the drugs administered to knock a few prostitutes out killing one of them. One of the group also knocked himself out. Getting the dosing right on this kind of thing is so difficult, don't you know. At any rate, much of the proceeds from the heist ended up having to go for bribes of the magistrate and such to secure the release of the two men taken into custody.

The halfling, the group's second-story man, and halfling with a plan for the heist, asked the rat-catcher he'd employed as a scout, "What were you thinking?"

The rat-catcher replied, "If you're going to be this upset every time a whore dies, I don't know what we're gonna do."

Now, I am not sure what killed in that statement, but God I had a laugh. Laughed till my head hurt.