[Roleplaying] Curse my brain
Oct. 19th, 2005 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Normally, by this time of the year, I'm swearing off gaming and promising I shall never run another game again. However, thanks to my brain hating me, this time round I've got the idea for my next production before I even run the latest. Dammit.
Somewhere over the Atlantic, 1933.
The low drone of the propellers was barely audible over the hum of conversation in the dining hall of the magnificent R-100 as she sailed gracefully westward at a steady twenty-five miles per hour. Although a whisper could not have been heard at any neighbouring table, I, Bertram Wilberforce Wooster, still lowered my voice and leaned forward to pass comment.
“I say, Jeeves”, I uttered. “Don’t look now, but you’ll never guess who is sitting with the Captain, not two tables behind you.”
“Indeed, sir?”
“It’s that film star chappy. You know, whatshisname. Plays a tramp a lot.”
“Mr Charles Chaplin, sir?”
“The very fellow! Sitting not fifteen feet away!”
Jeeves craned his neck for a surreptitious look around. “I think you’ll find, sir, that the gentleman in question is not Mr Charles Chaplin, but in fact Mr. Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, on his way to New York to address the League of Nations.”
“Good heavens. He’s the dead spit!”
“That is as may be, sir, but I should advise caution in making the observation. I hear that Herr Hitler only recently threatened to declare war on Czechoslovakia after their president passed a similar comment.”
“Cripes, so a bit of a humourless old stick, then, eh?”
“You might say so, sir.”
A look of concern fluttered over the usually blithe countenance of the Wooster. “But if that’s Hitler”, I said, thoughtfully, “then who the devil is that fellow over there?” I pointed to the other side of the dining room, where another man was dining alone. Jeeves nodded.
“I think you’ll find, sir, that that gentleman is in fact Mr. Charles Chaplin, star of stage and screen, recently returned from a triumphant tour of Europe. I’m sure with both Mr Chaplin and Herr Hitler aboard the flight the possibilities for humourous misunderstandings will be rife.”
I quickly took it upon myself to reassure Jeeves that the idea was beyond the realms of probability.
“Indeed, sir.”
A quiet moment passed.
“I say, Jeeves?”
“Sir?”
“Who was that fellow you were getting all chummy with over lunch, earlier?”
“A Mr. Pennyworth, Sir. He’s the personal gentleman to Mr Wayne, the American Millionaire you were introduced to last night.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Wayne, sir. The American returning from his tour of the East. I was talking to his gentleman, Mr. Pennyworth. Apparently Mr. Wayne is returning with some valuable archaeological artefacts.”
“Ah, the ones that other American was talking about? The fellow with the hat and whip? Welsh name?”
“Mr Jones, sir, a gentleman of Midwestern extraction. Yes, I believe them to be the very ones.”
“Are they valuable, Jeeves?”
“I hear so, sir. They are to be delivered to the Gotham City Museum. The Italian gentleman over there – Mr Corleone – runs an import and export business which is handling the shipping.”
“So what were you and this other fellow talking about?”
“You impending nuptials, sir. Since you rather rashly became engaged to Ms. Parker, I have, at your request, been looking for ideas to ‘get you out of it’. Apparently Mr. Wayne is a confirmed bachelor and I wished to compare notes with his man - your Aunt Agatha is most determined that this match of yours should come off, sir.”
I looked about just in case speaking of the dreaded Aunt might summon her up like Mephistopheles in a music-hall show. “Good thinking, Jeeves. Any bright ideas? You’d need to be the cleverest fellow in the world to get me out of this jam. The Aunts are dead fixed on me galumphing up the aisle in pretty short order.”
“I regret not, sir, although your words do remind me that Mr. Albert Einstein, noted scientist, is aboard. He is widely regarded as being the cleverest fellow in the world.”
“Is he, by Jove? I’ll have to have words. A smarter fellow than you? Why, he must scoff simply tons of fish.”
“I could not speak as his dietary requirements sir, although it does strike me that Ms. Parker writes for a famous metropolitan newspaper and one of her fellow reporters is aboard this very flight, sir. I might hazard to suggest you confer with him to see if he can give you any insight into the mind of the young lady.”
I nodded at the wisdom of this. “Sound thoughts, old egg. Who is the fellow?”
“A reporter by the name of Kent, sir.”
“Kent, eh? Sounds like a solid English name. Is he of the Berkshire Kents?”
“I rather think not, sir. I suspect that Mr. Kent is from considerably further away than that.”
David presents:
Hitler, Charlie Chaplin, Dorothy Parker, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, Bruce Wayne and impeccable buttling in:
Reginald Jeeves and the Lost Ark
Yet another Bloody stupid idea.
Somewhere over the Atlantic, 1933.
The low drone of the propellers was barely audible over the hum of conversation in the dining hall of the magnificent R-100 as she sailed gracefully westward at a steady twenty-five miles per hour. Although a whisper could not have been heard at any neighbouring table, I, Bertram Wilberforce Wooster, still lowered my voice and leaned forward to pass comment.
“I say, Jeeves”, I uttered. “Don’t look now, but you’ll never guess who is sitting with the Captain, not two tables behind you.”
“Indeed, sir?”
“It’s that film star chappy. You know, whatshisname. Plays a tramp a lot.”
“Mr Charles Chaplin, sir?”
“The very fellow! Sitting not fifteen feet away!”
Jeeves craned his neck for a surreptitious look around. “I think you’ll find, sir, that the gentleman in question is not Mr Charles Chaplin, but in fact Mr. Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, on his way to New York to address the League of Nations.”
“Good heavens. He’s the dead spit!”
“That is as may be, sir, but I should advise caution in making the observation. I hear that Herr Hitler only recently threatened to declare war on Czechoslovakia after their president passed a similar comment.”
“Cripes, so a bit of a humourless old stick, then, eh?”
“You might say so, sir.”
A look of concern fluttered over the usually blithe countenance of the Wooster. “But if that’s Hitler”, I said, thoughtfully, “then who the devil is that fellow over there?” I pointed to the other side of the dining room, where another man was dining alone. Jeeves nodded.
“I think you’ll find, sir, that that gentleman is in fact Mr. Charles Chaplin, star of stage and screen, recently returned from a triumphant tour of Europe. I’m sure with both Mr Chaplin and Herr Hitler aboard the flight the possibilities for humourous misunderstandings will be rife.”
I quickly took it upon myself to reassure Jeeves that the idea was beyond the realms of probability.
“Indeed, sir.”
A quiet moment passed.
“I say, Jeeves?”
“Sir?”
“Who was that fellow you were getting all chummy with over lunch, earlier?”
“A Mr. Pennyworth, Sir. He’s the personal gentleman to Mr Wayne, the American Millionaire you were introduced to last night.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Wayne, sir. The American returning from his tour of the East. I was talking to his gentleman, Mr. Pennyworth. Apparently Mr. Wayne is returning with some valuable archaeological artefacts.”
“Ah, the ones that other American was talking about? The fellow with the hat and whip? Welsh name?”
“Mr Jones, sir, a gentleman of Midwestern extraction. Yes, I believe them to be the very ones.”
“Are they valuable, Jeeves?”
“I hear so, sir. They are to be delivered to the Gotham City Museum. The Italian gentleman over there – Mr Corleone – runs an import and export business which is handling the shipping.”
“So what were you and this other fellow talking about?”
“You impending nuptials, sir. Since you rather rashly became engaged to Ms. Parker, I have, at your request, been looking for ideas to ‘get you out of it’. Apparently Mr. Wayne is a confirmed bachelor and I wished to compare notes with his man - your Aunt Agatha is most determined that this match of yours should come off, sir.”
I looked about just in case speaking of the dreaded Aunt might summon her up like Mephistopheles in a music-hall show. “Good thinking, Jeeves. Any bright ideas? You’d need to be the cleverest fellow in the world to get me out of this jam. The Aunts are dead fixed on me galumphing up the aisle in pretty short order.”
“I regret not, sir, although your words do remind me that Mr. Albert Einstein, noted scientist, is aboard. He is widely regarded as being the cleverest fellow in the world.”
“Is he, by Jove? I’ll have to have words. A smarter fellow than you? Why, he must scoff simply tons of fish.”
“I could not speak as his dietary requirements sir, although it does strike me that Ms. Parker writes for a famous metropolitan newspaper and one of her fellow reporters is aboard this very flight, sir. I might hazard to suggest you confer with him to see if he can give you any insight into the mind of the young lady.”
I nodded at the wisdom of this. “Sound thoughts, old egg. Who is the fellow?”
“A reporter by the name of Kent, sir.”
“Kent, eh? Sounds like a solid English name. Is he of the Berkshire Kents?”
“I rather think not, sir. I suspect that Mr. Kent is from considerably further away than that.”
David presents:
Hitler, Charlie Chaplin, Dorothy Parker, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, Bruce Wayne and impeccable buttling in:
Reginald Jeeves and the Lost Ark
Yet another Bloody stupid idea.
Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 02:48 pm (UTC)I'm in! ;o)
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 02:51 pm (UTC)That's what you said about League of Ornery Gentlemen :(
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 02:57 pm (UTC)However, I'm sure you could run your games at other times/places, too. Thinking back to last year, there were I think two people I didn't know personally (all the others were either Cammies and/or of the freeform crowd) so you don't need an impersonal event like GenCon to run it.
Book the pub where they run the London Cam games for a Saturday and you have a nice venue with onsite bar and food nearby, too.
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:07 pm (UTC)That said, the astonishing mismanagement this year has burned away pretty much all my GenCon-goodwill. If they want me back next year, there are two concessions I want to see from them or otherwise I won't be there for the first time since 1996, and I won't be running anything there for the first time since 1999. It would make me very sad for this to come to pass.
Basically, I'm giving GenCon pnce last chance. If it sucks this year and they don't make the changes which need to be made, I'm out.
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:19 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:22 pm (UTC)2) They must actively advertise and promote the event to the gaming community not less than four (and preferably six) months before the event.
If they do that, I'll probably go back. if not, it just isn't worth it any more.
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:24 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:25 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:28 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:32 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:32 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:34 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:37 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 03:54 pm (UTC)Our games have now crept passed the minimum requirements, so we will be running them -- which was looking by no means certain...
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-19 09:43 pm (UTC)I was going to suggest to the other LARP people that we form a negoatiating bloc to deal with GenCon next year, as I rather feel we've been treated very shabbily this.
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-10-20 08:09 am (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-11-14 02:04 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-11-14 02:22 pm (UTC)Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-11-14 04:03 pm (UTC)If you let me have your email, I'll send you what I sent ratty to see if we agree on things.
Re: Only you...
Date: 2005-11-14 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:01 pm (UTC)JmC
What ho?
A mixup of hookers
no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:09 pm (UTC)Champions would give far too much of an edge to Misters Wayne and Kent.
D20 Modern would give the advantage to Corleone and Professor Jones.
And a BESM-style freeform game would give Chaplin a difinitive edge.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:18 pm (UTC)Hate to break it to you, but it's "Pennyworth", not "Pendlebury". Unless I missed a reference to another butler.
Also, while it's highly unlikely that I'd ever get to play in said LARP, what're the odds that Mr. Kent brought a young photog named Parker to the shindig?
Pennyworth
Date: 2005-10-19 03:21 pm (UTC)The Parker in reference is Dorothy Parker, famous critic and ascerbic wit.
Re: Pennyworth
Date: 2005-10-19 03:31 pm (UTC)And I knew to whom you were referring. (Though only in passing.) I was giving a hint for an additional character. Though I suppose you could always have him bring young Jimmy Olsen, a.k.a. Elastic Lad.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 09:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:49 pm (UTC)Also, would Jeeves really use the word 'fellow'? ("He is widely regarded as being the cleverest fellow in the world.") It seems a little odd to me.
Otherwise marvellous. I applaud you.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 03:50 pm (UTC)Fantastic!
Date: 2005-10-19 04:16 pm (UTC)Re: Fantastic!
Date: 2005-10-19 09:46 pm (UTC)Re: Fantastic!
Date: 2005-10-21 12:27 am (UTC)Re: Fantastic!
Date: 2005-10-21 09:33 am (UTC)