Long Time No See

So it's been awhile since I've updated this. November was the last time I posted anything. The last several months have been a whirlwind adventure of job searching, role-playing, family time, crafting, and organizing.

I was a part of a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire campaign that finished last week and in that game I got to alternate weeks playing 2 different characters (1 per week) in the same universe and working for the same employer. It was a blast, but that's not to say that there were some hiccups. There were a few people who seemed to have taken player knowledge and used it as character knowledge which caused a large enough issue that made somebody leave the game (or at least that is the reason I gathered he left). Overall though, I really enjoyed it. The GM is one who encourages role-playing as opposed to just stating what your character is doing and rolling the dice as was my experience with a few games at Armored Gopher Games. What was great was that the system really encourages role-playing in which the dice have triumphs, successes, advantages, despairs, failures, and disadvantages to gauge how an action gets accomplished. Depending on what you roll something could fail but if you get enough advantages, something good comes out of that failure. I also got to create Dia (pictured below) a Twi'lek Assassin who was trained by a slave master but was mysteriously freed and spent some time trying to change herself into a scholar. That is until she got herself arrested for protesting alien slaving and was freed and employed by Honest Cid who knew about her special skills. It was fun playing a Twi'lek who is not very typical even though by end game she had lost almost everyone she had come to love.

I have joined a few other games to take up the time that this game after ending, left open. So I will be giving 13th Age another try as well as a Star Wars: Age of Rebellion (I will be playing without the book until the finished copy comes out as the game is still in Beta, with the finished copy coming out some time this quarter). I have also joined a Shadowrun game which is a very complex game with a lot more strategy than I am used to, but based on my older character concepts, I have had some practice in. Basically I will be playing a B&E expert with a bit of a Catwoman fetish. She grew up in a Russian immigrant household and fell in love with the character Selena. So when she turned criminal and became a Shadowrunner she took the name Selena with her secret identities being named for actresses who had played the femme-fatale on screen.

I plan on keeping up with this blog again now that I am not in school, having graduated in December with an Associates. A Bachelors is to follow but not for a little bit at least.

Torn Up Character Sheet

I get really into the characters that I create and the longer I've played them the more I let myself sink into the story. This is a post about the Irraka from my World of Darkness: Forsaken pack, the one that was taken.

We went searching for him but not before I made those that work go to work since they had been neglecting to do so. Delilah went off to a meeting at a gallery who had been interested in her paintings. She was given a run around and left frustrated. Were they buying her paintings or were they just displaying them until they sold? When she got home she had no idea where to start, the two who did not work (Jayden and Mickey) were off looking for Cote and I didn't know where they were. Leila, her twin had arrived home at the same time after the courthouse had been closed due to a bomb threat (Mickey's anonymous phone call). That was when the howl was heard, it was a nervous excited howl that he had been found buy help was needed. I heard the answering howl of my beta, Jayden that he was on his way and I shifted into wolf form and sprinted in the direction of Mickey's howl with Leila following suite.

There was another howl for anyone to help and I answered this time, telling them that I was on my way. When we arrived Jayden was digging, avoiding swinging branches of a tree. He informed me that Cote was down in the hole with Mickey who was trying to pull him out. Leila and Jayden took to grabbing a large root and managed to pull it back. I shifted into near human form and started to help Mickey pull Cote out. It took awhile and we finally did. It was terrible what Dark Reaches did to him and I immediately jumped into tending the wounds. Mickey ran off to hunt rabbits for Cote to eat. As I tended to him I realized that if Cote was going to get out of this, he was going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Then I finally understood what he had been trying to say through his pain. "End it."

My heart sank, Delilah started crying, I started crying for real. Delilah said that there was no other choice and that I was going to do what Cote asked. She said that Mickey cannot be here when this happens to protect him. Jayden went off to stop him from coming back until Delilah said it was okay. Cote smiled at me, "Challenge." She couldn't bring herself to do it, she didn't have the will power to do this. Leila stepped up, she could bring herself to do it. "1 Rule," he said. "Rabbit is awesome," Delilah sobbed as he closed his eyes and relaxed so that it would be quick. The "rule" of the pack had been in place since Cote, who was going by the name of Rabbit then, saved Delilah's life two times in one night. Leila killed him, Delilah started hugging him and crying as Jayden and Mickey came back.

Mickey saw the blood on Leila's hands, saw Delilah broken down. He shifted into full form and destroyed the tree that had helped Dark Reaches hide Cote. We all carried him home and laid him to rest there. "Number 1 Rule," Delilah reminded the pack as she sprinkled dirt over the body.

When we had finished Mickey ran inside and started turning all the lights on as it had grown quite dark. Then we saw headlights pull up and two people get out. Jayden moved to stand between the grave and the car, Delilah walked towards the car. We knew they were werewolves too, we could sense it. "What are you doing here?" Delilah demanded. They didn't answer the question, instead the old man asked what we had been doing. Mickey came out with his rifle telling them to get off of this land. The old man stood up straight and became intimidating, Delilah ordered Mickey to stand down and he did as he was told. "Again, why are you on our land?" Delilah asked.

"What are you guilty about?" the old man asked and that sparked anger in Delilah.

"This is not a good time for you guys to be here," she stated, eyes narrowing.

"Why?"

"We lost a pack mate tonight," Jayden told them. The old man turned to Mickey and put his hands on his shoulders.

"You're going to get the one who did this and you're going to make him pay, that's what you're going to do," the old man told him. Then we noticed it got unnaturally dark, Dark Reaches was coming. We were not in any shape to be facing him. Cote's death probably fed him so he would probably be stronger.

"If you want to be safe you will get in the trailer," Mickey said before turning and walking away. We followed inside and they did as well. Night had come and we had reached the end of game time so we called it a night. There was the tearing of Cote's character sheet that night upon his death, the player tears up the sheets instead of keeps them. I however am the type of person to keep mine for sentimental value.

Delilah has proven to be quite the medic, this is the second time she has had to make rolls tending to another's wounds and has done phenomenally. I think the dice are trying to tell me something, maybe Delilah should start training to be an EMT... she has the smarts for it, she just needs to medicine to back it up.

D20 Flower Hair Clip

I try to craft as often as I can. Doing something crafty gives me something creative to do, it gives me something that I can focus on for a little while and I have a finished product by the end of it. Totally beats surfing the Internet. So this past week has been D20 Flower Hair Clips. I came across the project and knew I wanted to create one.

The one on the left was my first run though. Armored Gopher Games was out of D20s so I had to pull some out of my bag. I settled on my blue with white numbering one. For the second one, which was a request from a friend of mine she wanted a red D20, but the moment she saw my black D20 with red lettering she said she had to have that one. So I made a black and red flower to go with it. By second run through was by far superior to my first. I can't wait until the Gopher gets more D20s in so I can make more of these hair clips.

Here is a the walk through I used to get these flowers completed from Swords & Stitchery on Youtube. For the 2 color flower, I added another layer of petals, stepping those squares down to 3/4".

Happy Crafting!