Dirty Secrets makes a brief appearance on the Game Master Show. I’m mentioned at 20:04, and then Dirty Secrets is briefly discussed at 55:03.

I had the opportunity to discuss how Dirty Secrets treats racism on Judd’s blog. (Yes, that’s Judd of the Sons of Kryos.)

This is cross-posted to the Forge. You may find the discussion there interesting.

…tracking signal…
…re-establishing link…

…static…

Yeah…projectiles…metastasize…target….all directions. Nasty!

On the Home Front

After the mission, we jumped to interlude actions. I explained to Crystal and Gabrielle that this is the basic pattern of the game. Actually, I think the quote went like this: “In mission actions, we fight the aliens. Then, in interlude actions, we whine about how nobody understands how hard it is.” We all got a good laugh out of that.

So, after the mission, Jude and Leah had a brief interlude. Leah had been forced to use the panic button to get Jude out of the dream world, since she was beginning to lose control. She was really upset by this and hurried over to help Jude out of the tank, clean the goo off him, and the like. They never actually made eye contact, though, both being very embarrassed by the sudden close proximity. Then Jude made an excuse and bolted for the door. Off to see Rachel. I called it an Intimacy Building scene, because of their physical contact and working together on a shared project (cleaning up Jude).

Marcus and Beth had their own interlude. Here’s the background. Their relationship had picked up some stress during the battle, and they had had a brief debate about Beth’s using the panic button to get Marcus out of the dream world. Marcus convinced her to let him wake up naturally, which had been disappointing to Beth.

So, as their interlude, they were having a picnic dinner on top of one of the tall buildings downtown, watching the sunset. At this point, Marcus brings up the panic button again, asking Beth if she would please refrain from using it if it isn’t necessary. This turned into a big fight, as Beth started blaming Marcus for abandoning her with Renee at night. Beth claimed that she was doing all the work of raising their child, especially at night, when Marcus doesn’t wake up to take care of the baby. So yeah, if she can’t wake him up at night, then at least she’ll get the pleasure of jolting him out of “sleep” at the end of a mission. Beth was really fierce and emotional during this fight; she even started crying at one point. Marcus fumbled around a bit and eventually settled on trying to placate Beth, saying that he would stay up with the baby that night. I called this Stress Relief.

…break…
…re-establishing communication…

This is cross-posted to the Forge. You may find the discussion there interesting.

…incoming transmission …
… Peoria Resistance Group…

Bliss Stage makes me think of this.

On 8/27/2007, Crystal, Gabrielle, and I sat down to play our first session of Bliss Stage. Things start off with a bang, so suit up, strap in, and hold on.

Scramble!

I don’t like doing game prep, so I already like Bliss Stage. Yes, there’s the need to put together missions, which I’ll discuss a bit below. But the opening of the game is scripted. You start with a mission briefing. Aliens are attacking the base. They must be stopped! If not, one of the characters will be Harmed.

Very cool. And very helpful. The opening mission serves as a simple tutorial on running mission actions, which require a bit of understanding to grasp, plus it immediately destabilizes the opening situation. I love it.

Mission Brief
Scramble!
…begin briefing…

…end briefing…

So, two alien remotes were attacking our base in downtown Peoria. One was coming from the north, near St. Francis Medical Center, and the other from the south, across the river. As a bonus, here’s a map of the area in question. The pointer shows where our headquarters are located.

I decided that remotes have an overlap in the dream world and the real world. So they can be engaged as dream entities and destroyed. So, the pilots scrambled to their ANIMa crèches.

We agreed that, in the anime of our game, there’s a standard montage of launching the ANIMas. We also agreed that we need to have “start the mission!” music or something. I’ve located a MIDI of the “Angel Attack” theme from Evangelion, but I’m open to suggestions.

We ran both missions separately. Jude went south, across the Bob Michel bridge, and was able to engage and destroy the remote at that location. Marcus went north towards OSF and easily destroyed the remote at that location.

I made a rules error for these missions. I missed the fact that I always narrate for the aliens. I thought that I could only contribute narration if pilot safety was threatened as the result of a mission roll. This led to a bit of confusion for Crystal, who was trying to get into character as an anchor, yet provide adversity at the same time. Once we ironed this out in future actions, the process was much smoother.

Also, we were still hashing out the look-and-feel of the ANIMas. We’ve finally settled on rounded, organic shapes, instead of blocky, armored shapes. So, closer to Evangelion than Battletech. We also discovered that Crystal didn’t have nearly the level of exposure to the mech concept as Gabrielle and I did. But, after some encouragement, she managed to come up with some cool gear for her ANIMa. And, as a bonus, she has been tying her equipment to the relationship thematically. So, Jude’s relationship with Rachel is a sensor jammer, and his relationship with Gloria is a cancer gun. Yeah, it fires projectiles that metastasize upon hitting the target, burrowing in all directions. Nasty!

…break…
…re-establishing communication…

Dirty Secrets is now available on Indie Press Revolution.

This was cross-posted at the Forge and Story Games. You might find the discussion there interesting.

Right now, right this moment, right as you read these words, humanity is devastated by an alien attack from the edges of our understanding.

Introduction

I’ve been really curious about Bliss Stage ever since I heard about it a couple of years ago. I admit that it was something of a dark curiosity. On the one hand, I have a long-time fanboy appreciation for mecha. My first game was a mecha wargame, and my favorite bits about Games Workshop’s EPIC game was its mechs. So a game about mechs formed from relationships, piloted by angsty teens, seemed right up my alley. Add to this the fact that Bliss Stage was written by Ben Lehman, the author of Polaris, and I was ready to buy. On the other hand, though, I was concerned that the stories would necessarily degenerate into sexually vile territory. The idea that combat power comes from intimacy, which is best boosted by having sex, seemed disturbing. So I remained uncertain.

Then I heard about the mission mechanic (which I will discuss below), and I was pushed over the edge. So, when Ben announced that there were only a few more preorder slots available, I threw down my cash and bought in.

I do not regret it.

I know that Bliss Stage has been getting a lot of love around the Net, but now, the World’s Biggest Polaris Fanboy is bringing his power to bear on Bliss Stage. So, suit up, strap in, and hold on.

…incoming transmission …
… Peoria Resistance Group…

Bliss Stage makes me think of this.

We are the resistance

Last Saturday (8/25/2007), we sat down to play Bliss Stage. Here are the players:

Seth—That’s me. As I mentioned above, I’m a big fan of Polaris, I like mechs, I like tragedy, and I like mind-bending settings. That puts me squarely in the target market for this game.

Crystal—This is my wife. She likes immersive games that focus on relationships. Mechs don’t really move her, although they aren’t a turn-off either. She did watch Evangelion with me, and she liked it. And she loves me, so she was willing to give Bliss Stage a whirl.

Gabrielle—This is my sister, who lives with us. Gabrielle has had some exposure to the mech genre, especially while she was helping me demo my own mecha game. More importantly, she has seen all the Matrix movies, so the dream world mech concept clicked fairly easily with her. Plus, she is also a Ben Lehman fan, so she was interested in the game.

By mutual consent, I was appointed to be the GM. We even had a brief conversation about how long it’s been since we’ve played a roleplaying game with a GM. (About two years, if I recall correctly.) I read the “Seven Years” and “The ANIMa” sections of the book to them, and then we started brainstorming.

Of late, it seems like all my roleplaying is happening in Peoria, where I live. Dirty Secrets must be set in the players’ home town, my recent game of Breaking the Ice was set in Peoria, and now Bliss Stage is in the ruins of Peoria, seven years from now.

Ah, the many sides of Peoria.

Anyways, we finally hashed out our resistance cell. They are headquartered in downtown Peoria, where they have dug tunnels connecting the basements of the different buildings together. Not only are they threatened by the aliens, but they must also fend off the Bigelow Boys, a real-life Peoria gang that has only become nastier in the seven years since the attack. Also, at age 15, everyone in the group starts doing drugs in an attempt to stave off the Bliss. So far, we don’t know if it will actually work for anyone other than Jared. Here’s hoping.

Here’s our Dramatis Personae:

Primary Figures

Jared—our authority figure. Age 27, stays high to stay awake. Once he was a white trash stoner, but now he actually has a purpose. Sadly, if he gives up his drugs, he gives up the fight.

Marcus—Gabrielle’s pilot. Age 17. Devoted Lover. Marcus is a family man. At least, as much of a family man as you can be at 17. He is married to Beth, and they have a daughter named Renee. They love each other but their relationship is immature.

Jude—Crystal’s pilot. Age 13. Carefree Hedonist. Jude is an ex-Bigelow Boy who finally split with the gang after betraying them to rescue the resistance cell. Now he pilots the group’s second ANIMa. However, he is not integrating well into the group, as he constantly slips away into the ruins to visit Rachel, a whore that he holed up with a while back. He respects Leah far too much to make a move on her.

Leah—Gabrielle’s anchor. Age 13. Mousy and studious. Very nervous. Has a crush on Jude but is too embarrassed to admit it.

Beth—Crystal’s anchor. Age 15. Usually anchors for Marcus. Punchy and violent at times, yet deeply in love with Marcus.

Secondary Characters

Joseph—Chief Scout for the group. Age 13. Owns a pack of vicious dogs and a Big Ol’ Knife. Cold and dangerous. Now married to Gloria after rescuing her from being raped by the Bigelow Boys. Why yes, Jude was nearby when this happened. Why do you ask?

Gloria—no specified role yet. Mother of Nathaniel as a result of her rape. Married to Joseph. (Also, proof of Ron’s assertion here.)

Rachel—whore in the wastes. Age 13. Not part of the resistance group, but Jude’s current thing.

Eve—resistance group’s manager and everyone’s “mother”. Age 17. Married to Jared. Pregnant. She should give birth before her eighteenth birthday, so maybe she can get on the drugs so the Bliss won’t get her.

The Kids

Kay—Age 7. Was the child of Jared’s neighbor. Now Jared and Eve are taking care of her. She cares for the two little ones of the community.

Nathaniel—Age 2. Gloria’s son. Adopted by Joseph. Precocious.

Renee—Age 4 months. Daughter of Marcus and Beth.

And last, but certainly not least, our Hope:

“We hope that we can establish a stable community.”

Some thoughts on creating your resistance group

So, did you follow all that? If you did, then you’re a better person than me. We took somewhere between two and three hours to put all that together, which was somewhat surprising to me. This isn’t a bad thing, mind you. It’s just a matter of expectations. I had hoped to run through the first mission that evening, but by the end of creating our resistance group, we were all tired and ready to call it quits for the evening.

The quantity of characters can be a little overwhelming, too. I know that we’ve pretty much created all the characters that we will use for the game, but still, pulling out that stack of index cards and flipping through it can be quite the experience.

Also, I found that the pace of the game slowed down sharply when we actually created pilots. Before then, everything was snappy. Then, when the players were working on assigning relationships, the energy level dropped. I think that this is because we only have one copy of the book, so only one player could work on his relationships at a time. Also, there was a lot of referring to the character cards, trying to remember who all we had invented, and this slowed things down, too. So, something to be aware of. In the future, it might be good to scrawl down a character relationship worksheet for each player to use when creating a pilot. Afterwards, the information could be transcribed onto the character cards.

Reflections on the game

At a certain point during prep, Crystal cited this Scripture verse: “Yet she will be saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” (1 Timothy 2:15) As we were forming our community, we realized that a major factor was the need to bear more children. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be anyone left to consolidate the gains that we made, even if our ANIMa were victorious over the aliens. I think that this is going to be a running theme of our game. Our ability to resolve our hope in any positive sense is going to have to include the foundation of families in a protected environment.

Also, it will be interesting to see how relationships with the children morph over time. We also have a couple different “origins” of the children. Renee is born to a married couple, while Nathaniel is the result of a rape. He has been adopted, to be sure, but still, I wonder how much his parentage will be an issue in this fragile community.

Jude is also big trouble. While he is a pilot and therefore important, he hasn’t really integrated with the goals and philosophies of the group. That will be a problem.

Next up, our first session of gameplay.

But for now, this is Seth Ben-Ezra, of the Peoria Resistance Group, signing off.

…end transmission…

I had heard rumors that award-winning podcaster Paul Tevis was talking up Dirty Secrets when they were recording at GenCon. That episode of the Voice of the Revolution has been released, and now I can say that the rumors are correct. They start talking about Dirty Secrets at 5:00.

Some good quotes:

“I really liked it.”

“If you like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, any of those noir detective stories, I think that it does it better than anything I’ve seen, because it really does take the element of trying to discover information out of it and it becomes much more a game about relationships and morality.”

“For me, it is the new hotness. That’s probably because I love the genre, but I think that it’s a very interesting approach. And because, in Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, that style, it’s really about the investigator and the moral journey that the investigator goes through upon encountering this just terrible situation, and that is very well modeled by this game.”

“Dirty Secrets gets a big thumbs up from me.”

That’s not the only boost that Paul gave me during GenCon. On Friday, while I was demoing the game, Paul bounded up to the table and exclaimed, “This game is hot!”

Also, on the podcast, the hosts discussed Esoterrorists. So I’ll mention that, on Saturday, I talked briefly with Robin Laws, designer of Esoterrorists and the GUMSHOE System, and he contrasted his work with Dirty Secrets. Very cool.

So, thanks for the kind words, Paul!

This was cross-posted to the Forge. You might find the discussion there of interest.

Post-game reflections, or How Meg Ryan saved our story

Quite possibly the single most exciting thing about roleplaying for me is the post-game reflection. It’s not enough to sit back and be content with having crafted an enjoyable experience. I want to consider what I’ve just experienced and figure out how I can learn more about the world or myself.

But how do I teach this to my fellow gamers?

Emily and I talked for a bit at GenCon about this very issue, and she pointed at Breaking the Ice as having some techniques and methods. So, it seems appropriate for me to lay out the post-game reflections that Crystal and I had.

This was a fairly personal story for Crystal and myself. Many aspects of this story reflected our own personalities or the formation of our own relationship. Crystal and I met in January 1997 and were married by June 1997. In that time period, at least four people very close to me suddenly died, including my maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother. I was struggling to find and hold down a profitable job. Indeed, the job I actually found nearly destroyed our relationship. And that’s just on my side of things. Crystal was grappling with her own major issues as well. So, compatibilities like “Family is hard” or “us against the world” speak to us, as our own relationship was forged in the fire of conflict and tribulation.

In addition, my current lifestyle choices have made certain issues very precious to me. The one that worked its way into this story could probably be summed up like this: “Drug dealers are people, too.” The Forge isn’t the place to get into the deeper issues that are behind this, but the humanization of outcasts like drug dealers is a big deal to me. Thus, Lester.

So, for both of these reasons, it was emotionally important to us that this relationship work out. I know this for myself, of course, but also I could tell that Crystal was quite engaged in what was going on. This was particularly true as the dice went against us, and we cast about, looking for ways to improve our situation. It would have been quite painful for both of us, had this gone badly.

Even as I write about this, I find myself getting a little choked up. This one might go down in the annals of Important Games for me. Time will tell.

At the same time, we did actually get our Meg Ryan ending. We joked that Lester was me and Candy was Meg Ryan, and that’s about right. In the end, love actually did conquer all and, even though we refused to give them clear sailing into the future, their love was secure. That was the important bit.

It’s also not the way it normally works out. After the game, Crystal pointed out that the normal course of events is that the man says that he will change, stringing along the woman, who sticks around because he said he would change. But, instead, he remains the same loser that he was before. Increasingly, things become worse and worse for the woman, but she stays, because he keeps promising that next time will be different.

I’m glad that things worked out differently for Lester and Candy. Maybe Crystal and I can have stories with happy endings after all.

System stuff

Now, to some comments and questions about the game system. I’ve already touched on the coolness of the Word Web and the character sheet. Now to discuss the dice mechanic for a moment.

The rules mention using different colored dice for Conflict dice, since they can’t be rerolled. I took this to a bit of an extreme. Here’s what I came up with:

–seven blue Attraction dice
–three green Bonus dice
–three red Conflict dice
–seven pairs of white Compatibility dice

These were grouped off to the side of where we actually rolled dice so the Guide could easily grab them. The Conflict dice were a little closer so that the Active Player could just grab them and invoke conflict.

Then, when we rolled, we’d sort the dice into three categories: successes, failed dice eligible for reroll, and failed dice not eligible for a reroll. This let us see our options very quickly.

I liked how this worked, and I’ll probably use a similar system for the next time that we play.

We also had a couple of questions. We played that you rolled your dice as you got them, thus letting you immediately see how many successes you were earning. So, when you got the Attraction dice, you rolled them so you’d know how many Bonus dice you’d need to shoot for. Then, as you gained Bonus dice, you’d roll them immediately so you’d know how you were doing. Then we would do rerolls as necessary. Conflicts and Compatibilities were invoked as needed, of course.

So, uh, is this the right way to do it?

Final Thoughts

I wasn’t expecting to have such a moving story. This was supposed to be a light-hearted romp, but it turned into an important, precious experience. So, Emily, thank you very much for designing this game.

Thank you very much.

This was cross-posted to the Forge. You might find the discussion there of interest.

The Third Date, or Trials and Tribulations

And so, the third date started after an angry confrontation between Candy and her father. She decides to drive to Lester’s place in the projects. She doesn’t call ahead; she’s never been there before. But she needs to see him.

Of course, this means that she catches him at his worst. He’s lounging around the house in his boxers. Pizza boxes are scattered everywhere. The kids are running around like maniacs. And Candy shows up at his door in tears.

Eventually, they end up sitting out front on the steps. She’s talking about her father; he’s talking about his ex.

Compatibility: Family is hard

Then, both of their jobs conspire to interfere. Someone showed up to give Lester money for drugs. He tried to wave him off, but he eventually just takes the money. Then Candy’s cell phone started ringing again. In frustration, she threw it against the wall, shattering it.

Compatibility: Job struggles

Candy told Lester that he doesn’t have to keep selling drugs. He could be into sales in some other field. She has seen how well he does. He is discouraged, though. He’s tried to get other work, but he can’t, because of his criminal record. He doesn’t actually like selling drugs, but he does need to put food on the table for his kids. And now, of course, he’s going to lose them…

But she is undeterred. He could clean up his life, and she would be with him to help.

Compatibility: Us against the world

She offered to take him and his children out to Chuck-E-Cheese. He accepted. So they got the kids heading out the door. As they do, Lester picked up the cigarette case with his joints, but she stopped him. “Leave them here. For me?” He paused for a moment but then agreed.

The trip to Chuck-E-Cheese was successful, although Lester discovered that Candy is not a good driver. Eventually, they found themselves back at the apartment. The kids charged into the house to get ready for bed, while Candy and Lester stood outside. He started fumbling around for a joint to smoke, but of course it wasn’t on him, because it was inside. Candy touched him. “You don’t need that,” she said.

Lester paused and then nodded. “You’re right. I don’t.”

They kissed good-night.

Aftermath and Coda

In the final analysis, we had 6 Attraction and 6 Compatibilities. A happy ending for us! Yay! So we answered the three questions.

Do they stay together after the third Date?

Absolutely.

When did your character fall in love with the other?

Candy fell in love with Lester when he gave her a star.

Lester fell in love with Candy when she affirmed his ability to get a job that wasn’t drug dealing and promised to stand by him while he did.

What are the long-term chances for this relationship?

Well, this is what we figured out.

Lester lost full custody of the children. So he went into drug rehab and got clean. Then he started a restaurant with Candy being a major investor. She financed the restaurant by selling her house. Somewhere in there they got married.

The restaurant was a success…eventually. But they burned through a lot of the initial investment money. So they live in an apartment over the restaurant.

Lester is back in court, fighting for full custody of his sons. His ex is still a junkie and a loser, so he’s hoping that the judge will look favorably on him.

Candy is pregnant. So her mother put her foot down. She wants to be able to see her grandchildren, even if they will be bi-racial. Her husband will just have to deal with it. So, Lester and Candy just had dinner with her parents for the first time. It wasn’t awful.

Because they are living in an apartment over the restaurant, Candy can’t have a landscaped garden like she used to. I imagine that she still putters about with potted plants and the like, but her days of open landscaped yards are gone.

But they still have the stars.

This was cross-posted to the Forge. You might find the discussion there of interest.

The First Date, or Smoothies and Soul Food

We couldn’t figure out some way that these two had met before the first date, so we decided that their first date would be launched by their actually meeting. We agreed that our story would take place in Peoria, last week. Shades of Dirty Secrets, I guess. It’s just second nature at this point. So, we decided that they met at Naturally Yours, the local whole foods grocery store. He is there for some herbal supplements that go with his workout regime, and she is eating a muffin and drinking a green smoothie.

Compatibility: appreciate beauty

Then Candy and Lester went out into the garden and sat in its quiet center. Candy talked about how she loves this part of the garden, because it’s quiet and peaceful. No one bothers you; no one pesters you. They held hands and enjoyed the silence.

Compatibility: enjoy solitude

Then they went out into the country for a picnic dinner. Sitting out by a soybean field wasn’t exactly Candy’s idea of a good time, but the handpacked dinner, plus the stargazing quickly overcame some of the weakness of the venue.

Things were humming along by the time they returned to Candy’s house. But as Lester was walking Candy to the door, his cell-phone rang. The babysitter was frantic. Where was he? Didn’t he know that his children were still at home and driving her crazy?

Lester hadn’t mentioned any children to Candy. Now she wants to know what is going on. So he explains. He has two sons, of whom he has custody, at least for now. The mother is not part of his life anymore, so he does the best that he can. But now he has to go. But first, Lester points up in the sky and says, “You see that star? That will be our star, so we can remember this night.”

Then the cell phone rings again. Frustrated, Lester drives home.

Somewhere in here, if I remember correctly, we picked up Compatibility: lonely, but I don’t remember exactly when.

Our Attraction check after this date was awful. Three dice rolled and no successes. So we used the reroll options to bring in Bad Stuff.

She was suddenly busy with Army Reserve, so they couldn’t meet for a while.

His ex suddenly sued him for custody.

And Candy’s maid told her father that she was seeing a black man.

Everything blew up.

This was cross-posted to the Forge. You might find the discussion there of interest.

Indie love

For my birthday, I was given a lot of money to take to GenCon to spend on games. This made me very happy and allowed me to purchase many games that I might have otherwise left on the rack. As a result, I am now feeling the need to justify these purchases with Actual Play! Actually, I’m not really all that concerned; I think that I’ll be able to get most of these games to the table rather easily.

In particular, I purchased several RPGs that I knew would interest my wife, Crystal. For the record, the list is Steal Away Jordan, Breaking the Ice, Shock: and Sign in Stranger. So, on Monday, she and I decided to relax a bit and play a game of Breaking the Ice.

As an aside, do I get an award for the first GenCon attendee to have post GenCon play?

Indie love, or “Are we actually capable of being light-hearted?”

Crystal and I started with a brief discussion about the genre. We decided that we didn’t want anything too heavy or painful. For Crystal, this actually included Romantic Comedy. This makes sense to me. With rare exception, Romantic Comedies center around a lie and can be exceedingly painful to watch. Meet the Parents, I’m looking at you.

In the end, I said, “You want a Meg Ryan romance.” She laughed and agreed. So that was the mood that we claimed we were going to have for the game.

Then we worked out the Switch. This is one aspect of the players’ lives which will be shared by the characters. However, each player will play the character that represents the other player’s aspect. The easiest example is a gender switch, where a male player plays the female and vice versa. We didn’t really feel like going that route, at least with this game. We both commented that our creative energies were low, and trying to portray a member of the opposite gender would have been too much work.

In the end, we settled on a job switch. Crystal’s character was a busy IT professional, while my character was a stay-at-home dad with a home business. Still fairly innocuous, right?

Then we ran through the Word Webs. One player chooses his character’s favorite color and writes it down on a sheet of paper. Then he thinks of another word that is connected to his favorite color and writes it down on the paper, connected by a line. Then the other player writes down another word, either related to the favorite color or to the word that the first player thought of. You go back and forth until you have written down twelve words. You do this for both characters and then use the resulting words to brainstorm starting Traits for the characters.

So, for example, my character’s favorite color was black. So I wrote down “Night” connected to “Black”. Then Crystal wrote down “Moonlit”, connected to night. Then I wrote down “Frost”, connected to moonlit…And so on.

I’ll pause here to state how very awesome this is. Once we were done, we had more raw material to use for brainstorming than we actually needed. This technique might even be worth stealing for other games as well.

And it was at this point that the game dove into seriousness.

One of the strands of my Word Map was this: “Black—death—depression—drugs—pharmacy.” Suddenly, my character came sharply into focus. He’s a drug dealer. That’s what his “home business” is.

Everything else fell rapidly into place.

Character: Lester

Player: Seth

Favorite Color: black

Conflict: Illegal Job

Starting Traits:

Self: poor, black, allergic to cats

Work: drug dealer

Play: amateur astronomer, weight lifter

Character: Candy Cane

Player: Crystal

Favorite Color: Pink

Conflict: very busy

Starting Traits:

Self: passionate, white, wealthy, parents were hippies, anti-drug, naïve about men

Work: Army reservist, programmer

Play: karateka, landscaper, herbalist

I love the character sheet for Breaking the Ice. Or, should I say the characters sheet? For those of you who don’t know, both characters in Breaking the Ice are written on the same sheet, with their Attraction score and Compatabilities written in between them. Elegant and thematic. Plus, as an interesting emergent property, the sheet works best if the players are sitting next to each other. Added bonus!

So we have the poor black drug dealer falling for the rich white career woman. This couldn’t end well at all. At some point in here, I laughed and said, “Are we actually capable of being light-hearted?” So much for Meg Ryan.

Or so I thought.

I tend to cheat with Actual Play reports and post them in several different places. That way, I only write once, but I can publish in several places. However, I know that the folks who read this blog probably aren’t interested in the massive reports that I write. At least, not all at once. Therefore, on this blog, I will begin releasing the AP reports in smaller chunks over a period of time. As normal, I will include links to other places where I’ve posted the report.

This way, more of you will actually read them.

I’m back from GenCon. Actually, I got back around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, but I’ve been too tired to post about it. So, rest assured that I’m home and that further updates will be forthcoming.

Though, as a note for those who track such things, Dirty Secrets was the seventh best seller at the booth. Since the top sellers included games like Spirit of the Century and Reign, I’m pretty happy about this result.

More later.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be leaving to go to GenCon. I find myself torn between being excited and being nervous. I recognize the feeling, though. It’s stage fright. I know that I will enjoy the experience of being there, but I’m looking ahead to running demos of my games for people, and I find myself on edge.

I also know that I’m not looking forward to being away from my family, especially Crystal.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to being able to meet folk face-to-face who have only been Internet handles, hang out with people that I know, play some games, and spend money.

See you in a few days!

As of Thursday, August 16, 2007, you will be able to purchase Dirty Secrets at GenCon at the Forge booth (#1739) or on Lulu.com. (This link will be active on Thursday.)

Dirty Secrets will also be available in print and e-book from Indie Press Revolution in the near future.

Dirty Secrets is the latest game being released by my imprint, Dark Omen Games.