Camping, Gaming, and Ideas

I’m back from the eighth Nerdly Beach Party, held (usually) twice-a-year near Cambria, California. As always, it was a fantastic time with friends who I get to see far too infrequently. I ended up playing in two games, both of which were great fun and have me thinking about doing something based on them.

On Friday night, Jesse, Ryan, and I played a Sorcerer and Sword game that was an homage to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (with plenty of other references thrown in as well). I realized during my run on Saturday that the world could well have been the far future of the one in the novel I’m working on, which provoked a number of ideas. It also made me aware of how much I love what Rob Donoghue has called the “Two Guys with Swords” genre and how I may need to write some of that fiction.

On Saturday afternoon, I played in a Star Wars game set during the Knights of the Old Republic period using the mechanics from the Smallville RPG. I continue to be impressed by how well that ruleset handles relationship dramas regardless of setting. (The last game I played with it was in a William Gibson-inspired cyberpunk milieu.) I’m now tempted to run something with it, perhaps at the Endgame Minicon next month. Perhaps — if I get it figured out — in the world of Crimson Skies.

It’s always easy to get inspired at events like. The trick is to do the work to turn that inspiration into reality.

Update

Fitness: Rest day
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 251 words, 326 seven-day average, 282 average, 50544 total, 44 past the goal for the week; 1-day streak