A few victories at a time.

One of the big points pressed in It's All Too Much!, the book that got me on my cleaning and decluttering jab long before we were evicted and had to move, is that a collection that can not be displayed and admired is not a collection, it's clutter. You could have the world's greast collection of Elvis commemorative plates, but if they're packed in boxes taking up closet space, why bother?

kshandra and I have several things that would qualify as collections, although we're not collectors in the traditional sense. We don't go out of our way to acquire certain things. But acquire we do, and now we can finally show off those collections with some very basic cleaning and organizational tricks.

( A little tour, sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures. A new camera is one of my priorities. )

This place is almost livable. Alas, doing this little bit of work has completely wiped me out.

Call for players.

OK, I'm ready to start putting together an Ars Magica game. I'm looking for 3-4 people who are interested in not only playing, but also taking turns as GM and helping to build the Saga. The setting will be the one I've been talking about, the Novogord Republic circa 1220 AD. The "hook" is a group of mages have moved in to occupy an abandoned Covenant in the wake of it's last magus fading away into Final Twilight. Or dying. Or wandering off. No one is really sure.

I will happily do the brunt of the period research. I love this era and area. Contributions welcome, of course.

I'm hoping for at least one face-to-face gaming session a month. A lot of the Covenant gaming stuff can happen in email. Which brings me to an important point. Anyone interested in playing is going to need a copy of the 5th Edition Ars Magica core rules. So much of playing on a mage is based on laboratory research and the like, I really can't see how to run a game with one copy of the rules going around (this is one time I'd prefer a PDF.) That, and having your own copy of the rules means that you can always create a new Companion or grog, or if you feel like it, an apprentice to abuse. There is just too much going on for me to handle in exposition or hand outs. Looks like a couple of copies are up at eBay as well.

This is also one time when I'm welcoming players and input from outside the area. I'd love to have gamers who can't make the regular games play other Covenants, villains, and like, coming up with plots and complications to throw at us. The need for the rulebook is a lot less for anyone wanting to do this, as this will be far more a "role" than "roll" situation.

Let me know if you're interested here or by mail at dberry49er(at)gmail(dot)com

EDIT: The rulebook is up for download at http://www.mediafire.com/?9webb2nq3cj

Thirty days, Day 30

Day 30- Who are you?

A tough guy, a helpless dancer.
A romantic, is it me for a moment?
A bloody lunatic, I'll even carry your bags.
A beggar, a hypocrite, love reign o'er me.

Haven't done this in a while...

20 first lines. All drawn from placing my Top Rated iTunes folder on random. Some editing to remove repeats of bands or genres has occurred.

( Coming at you with a count of one, two, 1234! )

That last one is going to be a killer, I think.