Dread: The Recap

Playing Dread not once, but twice in one weekend was a pretty daunting (and amazing) task. I'd never run the game before, my Disney game wasn't that well-prepared, and most of the Ghosty Teens had no idea what an RPG even was, so I wasn't sure how things would turn out.

First, the Ghosty Teens. We had eight characters: a Leader, a Brain, a Beauty, a Bully, a Talking Beagle, an Idiot, and the Bully's Kid Sister. A good bunch, although I'd say eight is probably too many people for me to handle.

Even though they were unfamiliar with RPGs, most of the group was made up of experienced improvisers, and everyone took to it very quickly. The game, in fact, was pretty darn funny.

I love the use of questionnaires in Dread, it's a lot like an opening in an improv show where you get details that you can later use. For example, I asked the Brain, "You're related to a famous celebrity. Who is it, and why don't the two of you get along?" and he answered, "My stepdad is famed basketball player Shaquille O'Neal. He never listens to me and his inventions often work better than mine."

So that helped me right there - Shaq became an important NPC in the mystery (he is the owner of the Natural History Museum, in fact) - and it's little things like this that helped me realize I don't have to prepare a Dread game that much: I can just write an outline with a lot of blanks, and have those blanks filled in by the players' questionnaires.

The only thing worse than describing a convention is describing an RPG in detail, so I won't tell all about The Mystery in the Museum, but it was fun and came to a satisfying conclusion: The Beauty (long-haunted by the fact that she had to eat her little brother to survive) redeemed herself by shooting a gun out of the villain's hand.

I kept expecting the Jenga Tower to fall (since that's the thing about Dread - when someone knocks down the Tower, their character dies), but they made it through without any fatalities... except for the villain. The Bully tackled him and put a sack (containing a poisonous snake) over his head.

I am amazed and pleased that this game was kind of similar to our old Ghosty Teen shows.

As for Disney Zombies... this would be different. I'd be with experienced gamers, including someone who writes games for Call of Cthulhu. And I didn't want the game to be a run-of-the-mill zombie survival story with just Disney characters. And I wasn't as prepared as I'd like.

But it still turned out fine. We had seven players: Scar (from The Lion King), Clayton (from Tarzan), Sally (from The Nightmare Before Christmas), Gonzo (from The Muppets - technically he's not a Disney animated character, but he was too much fun to deny), Huey (from DuckTales), and Mulan and Mushu (both of Mulan). Seven also might be too many players for me: 4-6 is probably my ideal number.

I'd expected (and hoped for) some personality clashes between Scar and Clayton, the two villains, and characters that would never get along, since one is a villainous lion and the other is a villainous hunter. They both were prepared to backstab the other, but sadly, it never came to a pass (though there were several times Clayton showed me the note, "I'm going to shoot Scar.").

I'd like to keep this game's plot under wraps, since I hope to run it again as a short campaign instead of a one-shot, but it went really well.

Despite having zombie-fighting "tanks" Clayton (armed with a rifle and six bullets) Mulan (armed with a sword and 10 arrows), the heroes of the game were Gonzo and Mushu.

Gonzo, with his rocket-powered roller skates and a portable cannon he could use to launch himself, showed an insane amount of bravery (maybe you could call it recklessness), and showed even more heart. He'd often do things that seemed suicidal (I even asked, in a very unbiased way, "Wait... are you sure you want to fire yourself into that dark and scary courtyard?"), but true to character, always came out unscathed. And I was touched that he did his best to take care of a dying bird.

Mushu was the same, he'd often pull from the Tower with the intent to fail and die, but he successfully crawled up the pants of the Mad Hatter, detonated his stash of fireworks to blow up an entire zombie horde, knocked a chandelier on an approaching zombie, and used his shinju-kyo (spirit mirror) to save Huey's life.

Sadly, though, in the final moments of the game, someone knocked over the Tower. Sally was pulled under the many coins of the Money Bin (presumably by Scrooge McDuck), and her body could not be recovered.


Though the game ended with a victory for the players, it also ended with a big "The End?" and already, I'm thinking about getting another game together.

I Heart Dread (the RPG)

As mentioned earlier, this weekend will mark my return to running a gaming table, and not just once, but twice. So get ready, I'm taking a break from my nerdy Dragon*Con recaps to write about something even nerdier: role-playing games.

The name of the game is Dread, "a game of horror and hope," and I've been kind of obsessed with it for the past few months.

Instead of using stats and dice to determine a character's abilities and skills (which is something I've never really loved), characters are created by answering a unique questionnaire, and any sort of conflict resolution is decided by pulling a block from a Jenga tower. If the tower falls, that character is somehow removed from the game.

As the tower gets closer to collapsing, the game gets very, very tense. I love it.

Tonight's game is a Ghosty Teen Mystery, featuring some of the people who played in an improvised show of the same name. This'll be the first time any of them has played an RPG before, but gaming is basically the same as improvising, so I'm not worried.

Tomorrow's game is an idea I've been obsessed with for the past few weeks: Disney Zombies. I'm very psyched for this, and would like to do a short campaign set in this world. The players will play any animated character from a Disney show or film (within reason - no Hades or Willie the Giant). So far, people have expressed interest in playing Clayton from Tarzan, Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tinker Bell and Darkwing Duck. It's gonna be good.

(Incidentally, I'd love to hear who you would play in a Disney Zombies game, since it'll help me prep for tomorrow. My choice is obvious; he's the greatest Disney hero of all time: Scrooge McDuck.)

I wish I could go into more detail for both games, but some of the players read this blog, so it'll have to wait until the recap.

And so, game on!

My Labor Day Weekend...

will be spent at Dragon*Con.

Flight and hotel is booked.

Year of Yes!

(And yes, I will be wearing at least one costume.)

I Heart RPGs More Than Yoga

Monday night is my Yoga class, but it's also the night my RPG group has decided to game. I can't do both, so which one wins?

This question isn't even worth asking - I'd rather play a role-playing game (exercise for my mind and imagination) than do Yoga (which exercises the body and, they say, the spirit) any day of the week. It's just more interesting.

We started a new game (and from here the rest of this entry's gonna get a bit... technical, so be warned), a d20 Modern campaign set in the late 1920s, a fine period for pulp horror and mystery. This is the Age of Lovecraft, after all.

When creating a PC (player character), I usually pick someone who will help round out the group - I'd rather choose last, so I see what we need, than go first and say, "I wanna play a fighter."

Not sure why I'm like this, maybe I'm an indecisive Libra and this makes it easier, or maybe I'm just a smart (yet meta) player who realizes the importance of a cohesive group. The A-Team doesn't need two B.A. Baracuses, you know?

The other PCs would be...

- A Scientist/Gadgeteer (Intelligence)
- A Boxer (Stremf)
- A Starbuck-like Aviatrix/Adventurer (Dexterity? Tough?)
- And a Rich, Spoiled, Athletic Dilettante (Stremf/Dex Combo?)

I figured the best complement to this group would be someone with good observation skills like a detective (Wisdom) or a face man (Charisma).

Due to the nature of the game, I decided to play one of my old favorites, that of a psychic. This might've been influenced by my recent reading up on Thomas Carnacki, who definitely would fall into the detective category. Yet whenever I hear the word psychic, I immediately think of our dear departed friend Criswell, who certainly belongs in the latter.

What to choose, what to choose? I wish I had written about this earlier, as it might've led me to a different conclusion. Hours before the first game, I was still agonizing over which path to take... and I went with Charisma.

(Really, the tipping point was which Prestige class I wanted... I wanted to be a Mesmerist over a Spiritualist, and the best way to get there was through Charisma. Technical!)

But very early on in the first game, I thought, "Whoa, that was a mistake," as those detective skills would certainly come in handy, while skills of diplomacy and charm, maybe not so much.

You can't sweet-talk your way past werewolves. Also, my character has absolutely no fighting skills, which come in handy when you're fighting werewolves.

And as a player, I'm much more in tune with finding clues than in dealing with people. And despite being a "performer," I always get vaguely uncomfortable acting around the gaming table.

Still, after two sessions, I'm pretty pleased with the Great Calveri. I like the idea of someone who wants to look for clues but is absolutely horrible at it. And his skills of deception have certainly made things easier once or twice.

He just needs to learn how to fire a gun or something.

Road Trip

Sarah and I are driving up to Maine this weekend, and I'm pretty psyched.

I don't often get to leave the city on vacations like this, I've really only taken two road trips in the five years I've lived here - one was a million-hour drive to Toronto for an improv festival, and the other was a wedding up in the Catskills.

It's weird to think I haven't driven a car since... 2005? That can't be right.

Anyway, I'm psyched! I've never been to Maine, so I don't know what to expect, but I've been told there are outlet malls and an ice cream parlor and a hill and LL Bean and groundhogs.

So we'll see how that turns out. I really want to see a groundhog.

The Year of Yes Paradox

It's hard to remember that Year of Yes doesn't necessary mean saying yes to everything. Like the blog subtitle says, it's mostly about avoiding the regret of missing out on a funzo experience.

Mostly.

There's also times like last night.

I'll skip the backstory (which involves eating three bowls of Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops and performing a Harold), but it ends with me a bit hungover and tired this morning, thinking, "Should I have gone to the bar last night, or should I have just gone home?"

What do you say yes to?

I had some reasons for going out: I never go out after a show, never, so why not? And I wanted to talk business with my friend Molly (hopefully, this will be elaborated on in a future post).

And I had some reasons for going home: Home has sleep and shower and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops.

But I went to the bar, figuring I'd just walk there with Molly, then catch a cab or subway home.

Once inside, rather than get one drink (as we both previously decided), we split a pitcher, instead. As my team's coach Jackie once sarcastically said, "Why eat one bowl of sugar cereal when you can eat the whole box and then die?"

So... Year of Yes?

In the long run, it doesn't matter much. Either choice would be fine. It's either a bit of a hangover plus a decent time or going home, staying up too late playing computer, and not getting my mind blown by finding out about the upcoming Dragonball live-action movie starring Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Piccolo.

That movie's gonna be ridiculous.

Day Off

With my roommate out of town, I decided to take the day off and live it up, Ferris Bueller style.

First point of order: not going back to sleep. This is really hard for me to do, believe it or not, as sleep is one of my five favorite things. But when I tied back the curtain, that was a sign that yes, this is gonna be different than any other day off (where I sleep until 1 p.m.).

I have plans, big plans, for today, and they don't just include eating Fruity Pebbles and watching the newest episode of 30 Rock... even if that is the second point of order for the day.

I will do this while simultaneously downloading podcasts of The Game Master Show, specifically episodes 36-41, because they're about Dread (I am writing a Dread game, more about that later). And I will listen to them while heading toward my third point of order, which is...

The Guggenheim (pronounced "Gug-in-heim" or "Gug-guh-guh" because I am 10 years old) to see Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe. I've been wanting to see this for a while, and it'll be good to go during the day when there are no crowds, because I hate crowds.

Applebee's Julie (that's her new nickname) went there earlier in the week (she works in the art shipping industry, and might have even shipped this exhibition) and gave me the heads-up on how to see this exhibit most effectively - namely, go to the top and work one's way down.

Having accomplished something high-brow, I intend to do something high tech with my fourth point of order, namely, I'm gonna see Iron Man. Even though I'm a former comic book nerd (I even worked in a comic book store back in the '90s, just like everyone else), I don't get so much into comic book movies. But I'm strangely psyched for this one. I don't know why, I don't even like Iron Man. But seriously, that preview is pretty kick-ass and I've only heard great things about it from my friends at Marvel Comics.

I really don't have any points of order after that. I guess it depends on the weather (if it's raining, I will hide somewhere or go back home) and if I'm tired (which would require a nap), but I am pretty psyched for today.

And if I run into a parade, I'll totally crash it.

I (Don't Really) Heart Applebee's

I'm still not sure why people are interested in my Applebee's adventure, but they are, so here's a recap.


1. Companion
I wasn't gonna get dinner alone. That's just too sad.

Practically every non-vegetarian/vegan friend who knew about the gift card wanted me to share it with them, but really, there was only person I considered. Julie is one of my oldest friends (dating back to the days of ol' St. Augustine), and she really loves crappy food.

On our very first visit (of about 100) to Walt Disney World, we brought a tape recorder and reviewed the eatery at The Land in EPCOT Center (I'm aware of the dorkiness of this sentence). I can only remember one part from that long-lost tape, when Julie complained, "Not enough variety," even though there were about... I don't remember, a half-dozen, dozen different food stations.

So Julie wins.


2. Location
Non-New Yorkers might be surprised to hear there aren't many Applebee's in the city. I think there's just one in Manhattan, in Times Square (right near my work, in fact), but it's swarming with tourists and is probably overpriced. And I'm sure there are a number of 'em out in Brooklyn or Queens, but, seriously, chain restaurants aren't that easy to find in the city.

Fortunately for me, they recently opened an Applebee's within walking distance of my apartment. Like, maybe five minutes. It's a sign from the heavens that this was supposed to happen. "Eatin' good in your neighborhood," indeed. I'm pretty sure that's the slogan.


3. Appetizer: The Ultimate Trio
I let Julie take the reins on ordering, to be honest. And she was psyched.

We decided on getting an appetizer, and not just any appetizer, but THE ULTIMATE TRIO. This was pretty smart. We'd get to pick three from the following list: Dynamite Shrimp, Mini Chicken Sandwiches, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Steak Quesadilla Towers, Boneless Buffalo Wings, Mozzarella Sticks, Mini Bacon Cheeseburgers.

This is the official Applebee's pic of the Ultimate Trio:


We went with the Dynamite Shrimp (my pick), the Honey BBQ-flavored Boneless Buffalo Wings (Julie's pick), and the Spinach and Artichoke Dip (mutual pick).

It looked like this (pardon my blurry camera-phone):


I had low expectations for the Boneless Buffalo Wings, but they were pretty good. They reminded me of stuff you'd get at Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is one of my favorite fast food places.

And the Dynamite Shrimp, well, it's also like fast food fried shrimp. It could be described as "spicy-flavored." Not actually spicy, but spicy-flavored. I would've liked more, but this was just an appetizer.

My one complaint was with the dip. In the words of Larry Tree, "What a rip-off!" There were about six chips. Six chips is a travesty. And no one wants to eat dip off a spoon or something. I ended up dipping my Dynamite Shrimp, but spinach/artichoke/cheese does not complement spicy flavoring.

It makes me sad that I am so into shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, and yet the previous sentence betrays my unsophisticated palate.


4. Entree: Riblets and Chicken Fingers
We wisely didn't order the entree until after eating the Ultimate Trio - that way, we could fill any cravings that hadn't been satisfied by the chicken/shrimp/dip combo. Somehow, this meant we'd order more chicken in the form of fingers (Julie's choice, which I disagree with - chicken fingers, to me, are the last resort of food at any restaurant unless you're a baby) and riblets.

Riblets, sure, because it's Applebee's, and this is one of their signature dishes or something, so we might as well, right?

This is the official version of Riblets (no chicken fingers pictured, and, only in this photograph was there a side of beans):


This is what we got:


We also got this, which Julie loved and brought home for her boyfriend (it's a wetnap that has "Riblets" written on the wrapper):


OK, I'll just say riblets suck. You'd think something named "riblets" would be either a) boneless or b) like little mini-ribs, but they're not. They have this long, flat shoehorn of bone in them, so it's just as annoying as eating ribs, only without the satisfying amount of meat.

I really hated the riblets. It's like, why make food more difficult to eat? What kind of bone was this? Isn't this just processed meat? People like these things? I am legitimately angry about the riblets and should stop writing about them, because I'd just be restating my hatred in different ways.

The chicken fingers were fine.


5. Dessert: Blue Ribbon Brownie
Both of us were pretty full after the entree (and we had seriously considered just getting a second Ultimate Trio, with different choices), but we had to plough ahead with dessert.

This was not my choice, as I had a pan full of vegan brownies about five minutes away, but Julie was not interested in the weird and cheap dessert shooters they had (imagine a shooter full of cheesecake, for example), and she insisted on the brownie.

Official brownie:


Actual brownie:


Now you can't really eff up a brownie. Especially if it comes with ice cream and all sorts of chocolate sauce and crap on it. Even though I was reluctant to like it, I did, and ended up eating more than Julie.


6. Conclusion
Would I eat there again? Sure, if circumstance brought me to the restaurant. Year of Yes and all that.

Would I go there on my own again? Almost definitely not. If I was really hungry in my neighborhood, I'd either go buy a can of soup (a two-minute walk from my house) or go to Subway (about five minutes away).

Do I like Applebee's? I don't dislike it.

Did I have fun? Yeah.

Did I want the wetnap? A little.

And Gordon Ramsay, if you're reading this... please forgive me.

I Heart Role-Playing Games

Last week, Jessie Cantrell put out a call for people who play role-playing games to do an interview about the passing of Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax.

This is exactly what I'd hoped the Year of Yes would be about, so I rounded up some of the folks I game with, went out to Forbidden Planet for an afternoon, and did the interview.



I should backtrack a little.

Since moving here five years ago, the lack of tabletop RPGs has caused a depressing hole in my life. That sounds nerdy, but it's true.

It's one of the things I miss most about Florida, and I feel a ridiculously strong bond with the people who stood by my side fighting monsters. (Incidentally, one of the guys I used to game with had a baby yesterday. Congrats, Andoran.)

Gaming in New York isn't easy. Finding a space is a problem, since most NYC apartments are small, and scheduling is a nightmare. Considering the people I associate with perform or rehearse at least two nights a week, it's almost impossible to get a game going.

So when some acquaintances mentioned starting up an RPG, I jumped at the chance to join. Not that I need to add another thing to my plate, but damn if it doesn't feel good to roll the dice and be a hero again.

Year of Yes!