I Have the Nicest Friends

What a weekend! The last few days have been jam packed with awesome roleplaying goodness, a sprinkling of sunny outdoor activities, and heapin' heaps of hanging out with the loveliest of peeps. Friday The end of the working week is always a joy, as there is nothing like having to go to work 5 days a week to make you appreciate the weekend. Last week was a pretty average one in terms of work, so I was exhausted and mentally bamboozled as per usual. Debbie and I cooked delicious sweet and sour chicken, and enjoyed the warm feeling of freedom that Fridays brings. Later we were joined by Luke and Sam for some Buzz (which we bought just after school on Friday) and a viewing of the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The movie was well creepy, and featured excellent use of odd camera angles and framing of shots, and very spooky sound. I liked it a bunch, and it was interesting to watch and think about the scariness of it in relation to the discussions of zombies that's been going on over at NZRaG. Saturday Morning Debbie had dance class in the morning, so I got up and tried to get a few chores done. I managed to tidy up a little, and read quite a few blogs, so that was good. We finished tidying up and got ourselves showered and dressed just in time for the arrival of the Nick. He came bearing stories of 3L pineapple juice cans, ponchos, and being solar powered. All of this was wonderful and helped get my brain limbered up for the coming roleplaying experiences. We all headed off to subway, and discussed such concepts as horizontal bungy, where the bungyer would have to wear a jet pack or anti-grav belt of some kind to prevent falling, and would have to push off really, really hard. ROLEPLAYING THAT WAS AWESOME The event that we'd been looking forward to had finally arrived - Mega Roleplaying Redux! With something like 20 people involved, we were looking at 3 games running at a time. I managed to play in 3 games over the course of the weekend, and run one. Brief comments on each: I Know, Right? Run by Jenni, this game featured myself, Debbie, Sam, Morgue and Giffy as players. This was one of the most intimidating games I've signed up for in the past few years. As Morgue put it, it may only have been a game, but it was a game Debbie, Sam and Giffy had been playing for years. We were totally out of our depths, and were both frankly scared going into it. I started out as the Torn Bystander, basically wanting everyone to get along. Morgue was the Banker, the keeper of all secrets. Debbie was the Queen Bee, and Giffy was her sidekick. Poor Sam was the Target - part of our clique, so inherently cooler than everyone outside our circle of friends, but clearly the bottom of the pecking order. We were a drama clique, and had fixated (at Debbie's behest) on the term 'cockney'. We'd refer to things that were fetch as being cockney, and would eat, like, British food and everything. The games was absolutely awesome, and terrifying. We had the chairs set up to mirror the social status, and when the Queen Bee was deposed and we all had to move to new seats to reflect the new pecking order it was really effective. I was thoroughly impressed by everyone's roleplaying, by Jenni's GMing, and by the fact that nobody wanted to leave the room to go to the bathroom because they were too scared that everyone would plot against them when their back was turned. Big Mother Fucking Crab Truckers Morgue ran an hour and a half long session of this excellent game. The entire game - system and setting - was printed on a double sided A4 sheet. The premise is that you play giant crabs (6 foot high, 6 foot wide) who drive big fucking trucks, and ship stuff for the Crab Goddess. Each truck has a crew of 2 giant crabs. Debbie and I were a team, and were racing against 3 other duos to be the first to deliver our cargo from Crab Mountain to San Francisco. The cargoes were awesome - we had massive blocks of cheese (which we had to keep refrigerated); Luke and Frank had 600 live swans (which became very angry as Luke tried to train them to hate cheese); Norman and Nick C had hundred of wobble-headed dolls, interlocked to make a statue of the Crab Goddess; and Nick P and Sam had all the water from a swimming pool, minus the pool itself. The game was hilarious and heartfelt, with a lot of swearing, challenges to actions (with the official phrase "no fucking way!"), and madness. I have a few quotes, which I will put up shortly. Here's a taste: "A bunch of giraffes listening to Abba just stole my fridge!" Truth and Justice Paul ran a teen student supers game on Sunday. It was hilarious fun, with much crossover with Jenni's game. Nick C and Sam and I all played teen girls, and were much more worried about going to parties and getting dates for the prom than actually thwarting super villains. The game ended with us proving that a classmate was a witch by shining a cross shaped spotlight on her. Unfortunately this caused the 20 foot high demon inside her to come out, forcefully, through her skin. She kind of exploded on her date. We battled 2 villains in a deconsecrated church, then learned that the exploded girl had been voted Prom Queen, and had to contemplate the tragedy of her inevitable exploding. Me Run Game 'Twas OK. To Live and Die in Japan. Went well, enjoyed reminiscing. Other Business Some of us went for a short jog to the park, then met up with many others for Frisbee throwing and ball kicking. It was awesome. I remember looking around at all the people who were there and thinking "man, we know some great people." That pretty much sums up why the weekend was completely excellent - we know some great people. I am sure that a similar event will happen later in the year, 'cos it was just too much damn fun not to do again. My heartfelt thanks and congratulations to everyone for being your badass selves.