And here we are again
So thngs that have happened
weight is still coming off - almost certainly going to hit target ( and then some)
Going to put my plans for hitting the gym on hold for a while for a couple of reasons
Firstly I can't really justify it at the moment, I mean I'm still losing weight and I haven't even started on home calesthenics or even walked as far as I can prctically do before or after work - so where is the sens in paying a monthly fee to go to another building across the street to do a load of stuff I can do at home. So got some handles for push ups off Amazon (£6) got that piece of inspiration from Dels Amazon wishlist of all things and Rob is giving me some free weights - Little Room a gym? - and the program goes on
Secondly I'm concerned abouit my knee (the bad one) sometimes it locks or seems to catch and then release which is a little unbalancing also the hernia (both to be checked in the new year regardless as they are in the way)
Work is crap!!!!!!!!
My job is undoable (in the larger sense) an impossible to do I think normally and we don't have apprpriate resources for it anyway - so I plod along every day going through the motions achieving little and trying to ignore the futility of it all
When I started this plan of mine it wa incredible the buzz you get off changing things for the better and seeing people looking at you differently and feeling better more confident
Now it's calmer and I still have the confidence but I'm more measured and every day become more certain that the path I'm on is right
Gaming
I have some issues (insert obvious joke here)
Not with Sundays thats great
It's Thursdays - I sometimes dread the idea of reffing it and sometimes just spend Friday angry because of it
Last Thursday is a fantastic example - I have 5 players 3 of them I have been gaming with for than 20 years and the other 2 for about 10 maybe
3 of the players don't know all of their character abilities they make assumptions about what they can do and when thats shown to be wrong they take a poke at me for pointing it out
In my opinion the GM is supposed to ref the plot, the NPC's (including Monsters) and the fights and ride the rules (changing them when that has to be done
The players are responsible for creating, maintaining and playing the characters they bring to the table
some of these players don't and have on occasion said they expect me to monitor their charactesr for them (once they said they wanted me to take notes for them I said no (actually said more words than that and I think some of them were rude))
So anyway Friday was an angry day - and by lunchtime I'd come to the conclusion that I was going to try and compromise and make things better and if things weren't showing signs of improvement in the next 6 months that was it no more campaign and hanging up my reffing boots
On the way home I thought of something, well 2 things actually, I have been roleplaying for over 31 years now and reffing for most of them, now I may not be a brilliant ref (but I think that good refs should always be insecure about it and my players keep turning up so must be doing something right) but no body has the right to force me to give up something I love as much as this game - so they bloody well won't I won't let them
and secondly I used to write out a 'combat pack' a summary of rules stuff and campaign material that is used as a reference tool - the theory was that people learn by doing and by writing out (yes handwriting) the pack I got a better grasp of the rules and reffed better - now 1 of the thursday nighters doesn't own the rules and some of them just don't read the ones they should do so once more the pack is created (this time on the PC thank God) hopefully this will go some way to fixing the problem
Also if some of these slips of theirs happen and cost them I am not going to be cutting them any slack (we'll see if this kicks things back on track)
Christmas is coming and so is my 43rd year of dodging death on this planet
On the 27th December a sect group of people have been invited to the flat to play Talisman (it's my birthday and I'll play Talisman if I want to) after (about 6ish) I think we are going to the Tap and Tumbler - and I will be in my favorite pub for the evening take over the juke box and partyay and stuff - this will also be the start of me spending mre time at the Tap - I realise that it's not everybodys cup of tea but it is mine and some of the old Tap crowd have started drifting back so once a month I will be 'striking out on my own' to reestablish old ties anyone is more than welcome to join but it will be loud and dark and hopefully like the old days)
as for the flat some shelves are up, I'm going to look at carpet tiles early next year and maybe some redecorating (I am getting alittle sick of white walls everywhere)
oh and got a Kindle Fire HD this week it is by far the coolest thing I have ever owned
That is all
seeya next time
Jules
I know that some of us get some of the rules wrong or have a different opinion on how they work but thats the way it goes. I have been playing for years but still got it wrong about Blue Johns axe the otherday. And to be honest you get rules wrong as well. I have to admit that i think John was right with the whols ghost sound thing. I f we have a differnce of opinion about a rule we are going to question it. I dont think anyones having a poke at you and i realy dont think its worth getting angry over. I think that its just part and parcel of the game. On sundays we have been playing together for a very long time and almost know how each other think and have over the years come to agree on how the rules work. There are thousands of spells, feats, powers,abilities and nearly as many ways to interpret them. As i said before i just think its part and parcel of the game.
ReplyDeleteCheers Rob
I think that you are the best ref I have ever been "reffed" by. The bottom line is are you enjoying reffing? If not then I think you need to sit down with the group and tell them what you put in your blog. If you vent on here and lose your temper then nothing will change and it will fester. Spend a session going through peoples characters and working out exactly what abilities and things people have. That way everything is out in the open and everyone will benefit from it.
ReplyDeleteoaky lets do this in order - I wasn't talking about the ghost sound thing at al the rules did not support his use of the spell the Zombies didn't hear the spell therefore it will not work it's that simple - but what I do have to deal with is the 'oh don't worry Julians just changed the rules again' comment that happens almost weekly
ReplyDeleteIt's quite simple I do mostly enjoy the game and I KNOW I make mistakes but I do not need the nedling comments every time The ref and the players dissagree - I haven't lost my temper I am pointing out an issue I have and am trying to correct it really is that simple
The issues that are coming up are not about interpretation of the rules it's about people not reading them all the way through and they seem to be based around movement, actions and abilities of characters and weapons
I'm not sure which comment you were referencing when you mentioned losing your temper, but I was talking about you being angry on Fridays.
ReplyDeleteI still think that if you sit down as a group and discuss the issues, and figure out people's abilities and how to use them correctly, it would do more good than airing it publicly.
I know how hard it is when you try to get a point across and people won't give you a chance to have your say.
I hope you can work it out. As I said you are the best ref in that group, and quitting would be a tragedy.
Thank you whoever you are - narrowed you down to a couple of possibilities - I dobn't plan on quitting as I have a plan - gotta slap some stuff together for the next session - as for the group discussion I tried that before with getting them to write down their boosts and not talk to me at once/make sure I'ved heard them and know whats going on (I do this after work and am not usually quite as sharp as i would be otherwise) but they haven't listened so far - then becasue I have apparently missed something they said when I was looking something up or talking to someone else they get bent outta shape about it - I think I can turn this around :)
ReplyDeleteIt's matt. And I hope you can turn it around. :)
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading the comments I have a question. Is a rule ever played wrong? Aren't rules, some anyway, open to interpretation? I think that sometimes there are "too many refs" in a game and it leads to disagreement. A better way of proceeding is for the ref to have the last word on a rule, and then when others ref, they can play the rule the way that they interpret it. It would avoid disagreements, and speed up the game in general.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I always preferred playing a character, and not obsessing about the rules (ok, rogues all the time).
I remember the character that Mark played (Jonathon Cade I think), and I envied him the kind of comittment he had to building that character up (with reputation, and buying businesses in the town).
Also, players have to realise that a ref has so much to do during a game that he may simply not have time to answer every question instantly, so it makes no sense to have a go at him.
like I said it would be interpritation but some of the rules in question aren't being read entirely and therefore the assumption is just plain wrong example earlier on in the campaign a player thought that Damage Reduction stops energy damge when it doesn't at all, it says clearly in the rules what it stops - not interpretation just not checking the facts
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean. It seems to be a lack of communication then, which is unfortunate. I can see why you are finding it so frustrating. What system are you playing? Maybe you should go back to 3.5 (assuming it's a d&d game).
ReplyDeleteHow did your game go? Any better?
ReplyDeleteAlso, is a Kindle Fire basically a kind of tablet computer, or an E-reader?
ReplyDeleteinteresting how confirming my identity seems to kill the conversation. :D
ReplyDeleteJust a joke. :P
ReplyDeleteSorry just busy
ReplyDeleteI can relate. Open University course is kicking my ass. :D
ReplyDelete