Hey fuckers.

[smartmonkey]

So I figured I'd post an update or six on what I've been up to for the last, what, 2 years?

Yeah. It's been awhile.

I'm still in Portland. I'm about six months out from an associates in Biology, at which point I'll be moving on to a uni here in Oregon (likely PSU, though OSU, OHSU and WWSU are strong options). Beyond that my current hobbies are racking up student debt, drinking, smoking, and running lights for the theatre.

In other words, but for the whole biology thing, ain't much has changed.

I worked for Schucks (same company as Kragen) for a bit. Commercial autoparts was a good gig, but I left it to work for a fancy-pants deli delivering box lunches to rich assholes. I was laid off in May, and now I'm pretty much riding my financial aid between 21 credit quarters and jobhunting.

I'm still single, though I wasn't for about six months. That's a long story that doesn't bear the telling.

I'm playing in a DnD 4e game which started at level 1 and has just hit level 4. I'm running a pick-up/fuck-around paragon tier game which pretty much revolves around me putting together the most insane encounters I can. I do it for the lulz.

I'm also probably going to be running a game of Shadowrun 4e in the near future.

The fuckers I hang out with up here gotten me into Hordes. Before I lost my job I snagged some Skorne mini's, and though I pretty much field the silver horde, I love my evil romulan elves.

The red Izod shirt is lost forever. Blue "geek" work shirt from thinkgeek.com has replaced it as the alcoholic shirt of choice.

Only one new scar to report - burn mark on my lower back from a falling lighting fixture. Earned that one working on Manos: The Hands of Fate. Yes, it was a staged production of the MST3k favorite. Yes, it was completely worth having my ass set on fire.

So, yeah. I'm hoping to make it down for Comic-Con this coming summer, if I can get my shit together.

Shittons* of pictures of me being a drunken idiot on my facebook profile.

So how's shit down south?

*And by shittons, I mean like twelve. Fourteen, at most.

[devlin1]

[quote="smartmonkey"]So how's shit down south?
[/quote]
Pretty much the same.

[jimmy corrigan]

hey morgan! good to hear from you. thing's here are as the great devlin1 professes. not too much to report.

still a load of games being played here. right now i'm in a 4e d&d game by sven, a sundered skies game by mordraine, an in nomine game by sadohara, and just finished up a campaign of fallout using spirit of the century by cthulhu. oh, and our last annual mini con (affectionately dubbed "hyphen con") was a blast and had our largest count of players yet. i still feel very spoiled to live around such great gamers.

d00d, mazel tov on the impending associates degree and everything else. and contrary to what you say, i think a telling of love lost is always worth the telling.

be sure to let us know if you're going to be able to go to comic con. it'd be good to see you again. peace!

[mordraine]

[quote="devlin1"]Pretty much the same.[/quote]

Yes, strangely enough, all of us have had our backs burned by falling lighting equipment while working on a stage production of Manos: Hands of Fate.



So pretty much the same.

[devlin1]

[quote="mordraine"]Yes, strangely enough, all of us have had our backs burned by falling lighting equipment while working on a stage production of Manos: Hands of Fate.



So pretty much the same.[/quote]
Dude, get over it. Shit happens.

[smartmonkey]

That is one thing I really miss about San Diego - there was always a shitton of variety in the gaming. I was stuck with nothing but DnD 3.5 when I moved up here, and though my current group (assembled from the cool people from the original group, plus some actors) is amenable to playing something different, Portland is pretty much a sea of DnD.

Nothing wrong with that - cos I love me my 4e - but I was -deathly- bored of 3.5.

[jimmy corrigan]

dewd, you should introduce your fellow cool gamers to the pantheon of non-traditional games! just run a one-shot of something off the beaten path every once in a while and you're bound to build some interest and win over some converts.

[Skyman]

Good to hear from you big guy

JC is write. Give them some exalted or AFMBE for Halloween

[Barrier Peaks]

I might have posted a "Hey, been a while," thread, but I certainly wouldn't have called you guys "fuckers."

G

[devlin1]

[quote="Barrier Peaks"]I might have posted a "Hey, been a while," thread, but I certainly wouldn't have called you guys "fuckers."
[/quote]
He means "fuckers" in the nicest way possible, though. It carries the assumption that everyone here is gettin' some.

[devlin1]

[quote="Skyman"]Good to hear from you big guy



JC is write. Give them some exalted or AFMBE for Halloween[/quote]
Exalted? Bah. Talk about mainstream. And yeah, AFMBE, but mechanically that's pretty traditional.



Spirit of the Century, Morgan. You know you want to. [i]Blow their God-damned minds.[/i]

[smartmonkey]

I actually hocked all my Exalted books. I love the setting to death, but the rules were made of murder, so I ditched them.

I'd really love to run Aces and Eights sometime, because it's pretty much Deadwood the Roleplaying Game, and that makes me deeply happy inside.

I'll probably end up running Call of Cthulu d20 for Haloween, and do some sort of zombie apocalypse shennanigans.

I own SOTC. I'll probably give running it a shot at some point. About half my current group loves the Dresden Files to death, so I'll probably be picking that up and running it when it comes out in RPG form.

In other news, I live about two blocks from a pretty awesome game store, and you would not believe how fucking dangerous that is. I own huge chunks of the NWOD line now, along with every Transhuman Space book, almost every GURPS 4e book, and a solid selection of old 2e stuff for nostalgia purposes. I'll take a picture of my bookshelf at some point.

[Barrier Peaks]

[quote="devlin1"]He means "fuckers" in the nicest way possible, though. It carries the assumption that everyone here is gettin' some.[/quote]

I wasn't intending to imply that he was being spiteful; nor did I intend to infer that you guys aren't fuckers (god forbid).



On a different note, it appears as if you all game a lot more than I do these days. I am quite envious.



Gary

[devlin1]

[quote="smartmonkey"]I'd [i]really[/i] love to run Aces and Eights sometime, because it's pretty much Deadwood the Roleplaying Game, and that makes me deeply happy inside.[/quote]
Huh. My experience with it is admittedly brief, but I found it to be more like Table Lookup: The Roleplaying Game, with the Whiff Factor expansion.



Seriously, it's a pretty book, and it's out on a living room bookshelf next to respectable works of literature, but the game itself is, to me, a baffling ordeal.


[quote="Barrier Peaks"]On a different note, it appears as if you all game a lot more than I do these days. I am quite envious.[/quote]
I don't mean to make you feel bad or nothin', but check this: Saturday night, we started a Star Wars: KOTOR game at, like, 12:30 am, and played until about 4:15. This was after our session of Sundered Skies, which was after about four hours of painting minis. So yes, envy away.

[Skyman]

[quote="Barrier Peaks"]
On a different note, it appears as if you all game a lot more than I do these days. I am quite envious.



Gary[/quote]

Hey your published and work in the field :wink:

[cczernia]

Sweet, sounds like things are going well. I'll be up in Portland around Thanksgiving. If you around we'll have to meet up.

[jimmy corrigan]

[quote="Skyman"]Hey your published and work in the field :wink:[/quote]exactly my thought.



back on topic: smartmonkey, if you and cczernia get together in portland, you should play something. yeah! then i would come over, too. or something. or maybe not.

[Wintermute]

Sorry for the late reply, I've been pulling 14+ hour days for the past two weeks. Nice to hear from you, glad things seem to be going well!

[smartmonkey]

Sorry it took me so long to check up on this thread again. School just kicked back into gear, so I'm spending most of my "free" time catching up on math/molecular biology homework.

Also, a recentish photo. Going away party for the fucker on the left - off to Virginia for grad school. Dude on the right is Josh, who plays the shifter rogue in the 4e game I'm playing in.




Also, my human warlord fucking rocks on toast. :-D

More photos on the facebook. I'm pretty sure you don't even need to register to see them.

[smartmonkey]

[quote="cczernia"]Sweet, sounds like things are going well. I'll be up in Portland around Thanksgiving. If you around we'll have to meet up.[/quote]

Awesome! It'd be killer to see you again man - I'll be working a show on top of school at the time, but my weekends are pretty damn open beyond studying. What's bringing you up here?

[cczernia]

[quote="smartmonkey"]Awesome! It'd be killer to see you again man - I'll be working a show on top of school at the time, but my weekends are pretty damn open beyond studying. What's bringing you up here?[/quote]

My brother moved up there last year and we decided to go up there for Thanksgiving.

[Barrier Peaks]

[quote="devlin1"]I don't mean to make you feel bad or nothin', but check this: Saturday night, we started a Star Wars: KOTOR game at, like, 12:30 am, and played until about 4:15. This was after our session of Sundered Skies, which was after about four hours of painting minis. So yes, envy away.[/quote]
I hate you. Can you feel it? Can you, punk?


[quote="Skyman"]Hey your published and work in the field :wink:[/quote]
Sure, but that doesn't mean I play as much as I'd like. Living the dream is one thing, but the reality of the situation is pretty stark. I write more Star Wars than I end up playing. Boo hoo.



Gary

[jimmy corrigan]

[quote="Barrier Peaks"]Sure, but that doesn't mean I play as much as I'd like. Living the dream is one thing, but the reality of the situation is pretty stark. I write more Star Wars than I end up playing. Boo hoo.



Gary[/quote]just move back to sd. problem solved.

[Barrier Peaks]

[quote="jimmy corrigan"]just move back to sd. problem solved.[/quote]
This creates an entirely new problem: how to feed my family.



G

[devlin1]

[quote="Barrier Peaks"]Sure, but that doesn't mean I play as much as I'd like. Living the dream is one thing, but the reality of the situation is pretty stark. I write more Star Wars than I end up playing. Boo hoo.



Gary[/quote]
I dunno, man -- consider this a prince-and-pauper situation, because writing for SWSE sounds pretty good to me.



(BTW, what're you working on?)

[Skyman]

[quote="Barrier Peaks"]I hate you. Can you feel it? Can you, punk?[/quote]
I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!


[quote="Barrier Peaks"]
Sure, but that doesn't mean I play as much as I'd like. Living the dream is one thing, but the reality of the situation is pretty stark. I write more Star Wars than I end up playing. Boo hoo.



Gary[/quote]

the horror...the horror

[Barrier Peaks]

[quote="devlin1"]I dunno, man -- consider this a prince-and-pauper situation, because writing for SWSE sounds pretty good to me.



(BTW, what're you working on?)[/quote]
By day, I work on Warhammer Online. At least that's what they tell me when I'm conscious enough to understand spoken language.



As for PnP writing, I am currently without a freelance assignment. I should be working on another unannounced Saga Edition supplement within the next week or two, though.


[quote="Skyman"]I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete![/quote]
Tempting. Very tempting.

[devlin1]

[quote="Barrier Peaks"]By day, I work on Warhammer Online. At least that's what they tell me when I'm conscious enough to understand spoken language.



As for PnP writing, I am currently without a freelance assignment. I should be working on another unannounced Saga Edition supplement within the next week or two, though.[/quote]
Very cool on both counts. I'm officially a sucker for just about any Saga supplement; they've all been pretty great so far, especially KOTOR. If nothing else, production values are always impressive. I think I prefer SWSE to 4E, to be honest. I'm also a sucker for things written by people I almost kinda know (I have a couple Green Ronin 3.5 softcover splats with your name on 'em that I picked up at 90% off), so whatever this SWSE supplement is, I'm doubly likely to get it.

[cczernia]

[quote="devlin1"]I think I prefer SWSE to 4E, to be honest.[/quote]

Have to agree with you there. I think the only thing I don't prefer is the condition track. More SWSA books are always a good thing.

[devlin1]

[quote="cczernia"]Have to agree with you there. I think the only thing I don't prefer is the condition track. More SWSA books are always a good thing.[/quote]
Huh. The condition track is one of my favorite features of SWSE.



We can never be friends.

[cczernia]

[quote="devlin1"]Huh. The condition track is one of my favorite features of SWSE.



We can never be friends.[/quote]

Well, guess who killed his father and gained 2 dark side points.









[SIZE="1"]yeah, it was you[/SIZE]

[Barrier Peaks]

[quote="devlin1"]Very cool on both counts. I'm officially a sucker for just about any Saga supplement; they've all been pretty great so far, especially KOTOR. If nothing else, production values are always impressive. I think I prefer SWSE to 4E, to be honest. I'm also a sucker for things written by people I almost kinda know (I have a couple Green Ronin 3.5 softcover splats with your name on 'em that I picked up at 90% off), so whatever this SWSE supplement is, I'm doubly likely to get it.[/quote]
I never did meet many of you guys, at least not that I know of, and that's one of my regrets. In fact, the only SDRPG.org personality I'm aware of meeting (and sort of gaming with) is your own Jimmy Corrigan. I don't know when (or even if) I'll ever get back to San Diego, though my wife will probably have my balls if we never come back. She hates Virginia.



I like Saga, overall. I definitely prefer it to 4E (which I pretty much can't stand, but the jury is still [partially] out on that one). I do miss some things about SWd20 R&E, notably the wound/vitality system. Then again, I also miss some things about SWD6, notably the flexibility of character creation, but I continue to resist total grognardiness.



I've got three more SW books due out within the next year. From what I've seen of them, they're really solid (and that assessment has very little to do with my involvement -- I'm not that egotistical [at least I hope not]). I still need to pick up [i]Force Unleashed[/i] and [i]KotOR[/i], partly because my kids are more expensive than my gaming habit, and partly because I have both books in preproduction PDF format. Payday is Friday. Mayhap I'll pick them up then.



I'm long-winded tonight. It's a nice night, and I'm on my balcony listening to crickets and smoking my pipe with a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest to keep me company. I'm in no hurry to go back inside, despite the fact that there's a brand new copy of GTA4 waiting for me in the Xbox.