Greetings, disciples of Crom!
Now freshly uploaded to the Files section of the Savage Kingdoms Yahoo Group site (groups.yahoo.
So, if you get a chance, please check 'em out and maybe create a character or two either for Saturday or simply to help "playtest" the character creation process. Enjoy!
-MikeY
By Crom's thews, all, here's the "body count" thus far for Saturday's Savage Kingdoms smackdown/playtest:
ATTENDANCE CONFIRMED
Kristen
Diane
Leah
Steve E.
Magus
Randy
Justin
Mike
RUMORED/POSSIBLE ATTENDANCE
Heather L.
Bill
Deon
Greg
Roger
Aaron
Steve H. & Family
CONFIRMED NON-ATTENDANCE
Dawn
Tish
Ryan
Melissa
T.J. (or Y.J. ;))
My apologies if I missed anyone. By the way, has anyone heard from Patrick? Is he remotely interested? Also, I haven't actually heard from Bill, but I'm assuming he's interesting in coming out if available.
So, looks like we have a gathering, pending snow/ice and other odd portents. And if we have enough folks, the latter half of the combat practice will likely be a mini-adventure, with maybe something like three or four encounters.
-MikeY
Simply, and geekily, awesome. I wantz one. Now!
http://www.80stees.
-MikeY
Sounds like you need some 'Savage' release, Jacob! Come on out...and bring that brother of yours too! ;)
-MikeY
--- In ElfstoneLARP@
>
> I'll check and see if I can make. I'd really lhope that I can. It'll be a
> nice relief from the paper I'm going to be writing for the rest of the week.
>
> Jacob
>
> On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 11:02 PM, Mike Yow <rohirricbard@
>
> >
> >
> > Justin, this'd probably be a 1:00 or 2:00 PM type of deal, probably
> > depending on whether we do a cookout thingie or not. February weather is
> > quite fickle, after all.
> >
> > Oh, and costuming is optional, as we're mainly concentrating on playtest
> > some of the rules and getting used to the combat system. But if you wanna
> > wear it, that would be awesome. Your call! ;)
> >
> > -MikeY
> >
> > --- On *Sun, 2/7/10, Justin P. <jlp32782@..
> >
> >
> > From: Justin P. <jlp32782@..
> > Subject: Re: [ElfstoneLARP] Upcoming Combat Practice/Playest (please read!)
> > To: ElfstoneLARP@
> > Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010, 12:59 PM
> >
> >
> >
> > And I also forgot, what time r u planning on being there?
> >
> > --- On *Sat, 2/6/10, Mike <rohirricbard@ yahoo.com>* wrote:
> >
> >
> > From: Mike <rohirricbard@ yahoo.com>
> > Subject: [ElfstoneLARP] Upcoming Combat Practice/Playest (please read!)
> > To: ElfstoneLARP@ yahoogroups. com
> > Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010, 12:48 AM
> >
> >
> > Greetings, all!
> >
> > Alright, here goes once more. Trying to gather interested, and better yet,
> > available folks for another try at a second combat practice/mini- playtest
> > adventure for Saturday, February 13th. Call it Valentine's Smackdown, or
> > Sweetheart Melee, or some such, but regardless of fancy titles, let's get
> > some warm, or semi-warm, bodies out there for some sword-swinging mayhem.
> > Oh, and to playtest the "new" Savage Kingdom rules.
> >
> > I must admit, I've been very busy of late with a nicely coming-about acting
> > career, and quite honestly, probably don't really have the time to produce,
> > or help produce, another LARP. However, with some honest-to-goodness help, a
> > good deal of enthusiasism, and a bit of luck (and lots of magical energy
> > drinks!), I feel this might be well worth the effort.
> >
> > If Savage Kingdoms does take off, expect only four, maybe five, game-events
> > a year, though. Two reasons big reasons for this: 1) it's much more feasible
> > to produce a truly kick-ass event once every two or three months than it is
> > to attempt to do such every month, or even less. Just plain, hard,
> > mathematical fact. 2) I really won't have the time I once enjoyed to soak
> > into a LARP this time around, even with the help of some solid, talented
> > folks. And, so, less game-events, overall, but I believe higher quality
> > ones.
> >
> > By the way, the rules are coming along slowly, but surely, and I hope to
> > have at least a Beta playtest version available on this very site (in the
> > Database section) in less than a week.
> >
> > So, yeah, if you're in the least bit interested, please make plans to
> > attend a February 13th combat practice, probably at Wildwood and possibly
> > featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, and other cookout food. And I'm certainly
> > open to other suggestions, so post away (or email me)!
> >
> > Crom and Mitra await! ;)
> >
> > -MikeY
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
Greetings again, all!
Aye, it's that time, by Crom. Time to sound off about your availability this Saturday, February 13th in regards to a Savage Kingdoms combat practice! I'll probably not be in a mood to drive all the way out to Marietta from Buford for little to nothing, so please, if you're interested and available, please post such here! (Or, if you'd prefer, send me a private email off-list.)
How's about 2:00 PM, then, at Wildwood Park in said Marietta, a place most of us are familiar with from past LARP gatherings? In addition to some fighting and combat rules playtesting, we might also run a mini-playtest adventure, assuming I can find extra time in a busy week of rehearsals and work at the "day job".
So, please respond, as it makes planning these type of things much, much easier (as one might expect). If we don't get at least 10 pre-confirmations for attendance, then I don't see much worth in the haul out to Marietta. And then maybe, just maybe, if the gods are with us, try again at a later date.
It'd be nice to hold a Valentine's Smackdown, though, in honor of a holiday many of us would just as soon go rampaging mad in battle! So respond soon! ;)
-MikeY
To: ElfstoneLARP@yahoogroups. com
Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010, 12:59 PM
And I also forgot, what time r u planning on being there?
--- On Sat, 2/6/10, Mike <rohirricbard@ yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Mike <rohirricbard@ yahoo.com>
Subject: [ElfstoneLARP] Upcoming Combat Practice/Playest (please read!)
To: ElfstoneLARP@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010, 12:48 AM
Greetings, all!
Alright, here goes once more. Trying to gather interested, and better yet, available folks for another try at a second combat practice/mini- playtest adventure for Saturday, February 13th. Call it Valentine's Smackdown, or Sweetheart Melee, or some such, but regardless of fancy titles, let's get some warm, or semi-warm, bodies out there for some sword-swinging mayhem. Oh, and to playtest the "new" Savage Kingdom rules.
I must admit, I've been very busy of late with a nicely coming-about acting career, and quite honestly, probably don't really have the time to produce, or help produce, another LARP. However, with some honest-to-goodness help, a good deal of enthusiasism, and a bit of luck (and lots of magical energy drinks!), I feel this might be well worth the effort.
If Savage Kingdoms does take off, expect only four, maybe five, game-events a year, though. Two reasons big reasons for this: 1) it's much more feasible to produce a truly kick-ass event once every two or three months than it is to attempt to do such every month, or even less. Just plain, hard, mathematical fact. 2) I really won't have the time I once enjoyed to soak into a LARP this time around, even with the help of some solid, talented folks. And, so, less game-events, overall, but I believe higher quality ones.
By the way, the rules are coming along slowly, but surely, and I hope to have at least a Beta playtest version available on this very site (in the Database section) in less than a week.
So, yeah, if you're in the least bit interested, please make plans to attend a February 13th combat practice, probably at Wildwood and possibly featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, and other cookout food. And I'm certainly open to other suggestions, so post away (or email me)!
Crom and Mitra await! ;)
-MikeY
Greetings!
And welcome to my newsletter for February, 2010! Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested in keeping up with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, please drop me an email or subscribe online from my website (http://www.JefMurra
Pitchers ============
A number of folks have been asking about prints of my Tolkien-themed sketches and paintings. These have been unavailable from my website since early 2008, but that is now being remedied. Although all of my original Tolkien-themed paintings and sketches continue to be handled exclusively by ADC Art & Books (see www.adcbooks.
All will be limited edition pigment-based archival quality prints (Giclée), and all come signed and numbered. Just look up an image you like at www.JefMurray.
Ponderings ============
I̢۪m mulling over masks. This happens each year about this time, as Shrove Tuesday approaches. Mardi Gras materializes just as winter waxes full. Spring storms will stalk the weeks to come, but for now we are still Jack Frost bitten.
Mardi Gras masks hang ‘round our house in preparation for a feast this Friday. Mountains of okra, bushels of crabs and Andouille sausages heap the kitchen. Shrimps of all sizes and shapes swell ice box shelves. Peppers peek and onions peel. I am become the maelstrom and my name is Gumbo: behold me, ye of puny proportions, and quake!
Gumbo means “okra†in Creole French, and the word derives from the Bantu language of the Congolese people. Here in the Deep South the word means many things: it is the big soup of the bayous that wraps great-muscled arms around all that is tasty, wild or cultivated. It is made of all things; is eaten by all things; is all things. The culmination of French and African and Native American and Italian largesse, Gumbo is a soup like that of Tolkien’s Fairy Tales…made up of bits and pieces of all nations, all peoples, all mythologies.
Gumbo is like Mardi Gras. It is something magical molded from the mundane. As Tolkien says, “All that is gold does not glitterâ€: in this case, Mardi Gras glitters, but Gumbo is true gold.
But, appearances deceive on these February days. The grape vines look dead, and rosemary bush and bamboo seem to have taken Jack Frost a bit too seriously. I̢۪m checking to see if the honeybees are still humming their wintry lullaby, and am snipping old growth from scuppernong and fig. Next week begins Lent, and I probably need more pruning than anything else growing on this petite plot of land.
Shrove Tuesday means “confession†Tuesday…the day when we need to ‘fess up about our failings. And with Lent we get opportunities to make amends.
But this brings me back to masks. As I’m snipping off straggly tendrils that have grown into the gardenia bush, I’m wondering, if masks are so much a part of Mardi Gras, is it because on Ash Wednesday we’re supposed to strip them off again? And here I mean _all_ of them, not just the paper ones we don as we guzzle our Gumbo…?
Who is the wearer of the mask and who _is_ the mask? Do we ever stop to find out? If I were a grapevine, who would it be that would ask to be pruned?
Surely not this strand of grapevine-come-
Snip. There goes a little bit of temper.
Snip. That̢۪s some arrogance right there.
Snip. There goes just the smallest strand of self-centeredness.
Hmm. Looks like this is going to take a while. Truth to tell, it may take the rest of my life to find all the bits that need chucking. Worse still, the part of me that̢۪s doing the judging is, very likely, the one that̢۪ll get it all wrong. I̢۪ll end up keeping the arrogance and snipping off a branch of humility. I̢۪ll hang on to hamfistedness and cull compassion.
Maybe, then, this isn̢۪t something I̢۪m capable of doing. Just like Gumbo needs someone to season it, maybe I̢۪m the soup that wants salting. Maybe, when all is said and done, I̢۪m not capable of removing my masks and finding out what̢۪s beneath them.
And if this is true, then perhaps my job this Lent is something a bit bigger than I expected. Maybe my job is to sit still and let larger hands than mine figure out what parts of me need sifting and what needs savoring. If I̢۪m the soup, then there̢۪s got to be someone else tending the stove.
What I have to do this Lent is to trust the One doing the cooking. And perhaps that’s the point. My own certainty that I know what’s best for me is the biggest mask of all. And if so, then only by laying down that mask can I finally learn who it is that God intends for me to be….
May God bless you and yours this Lenten season….
Jef
Prospects ============
- The next full exhibition at Moreton in Marsh, “The Edge of the Wildâ€, has been postponed. There are multiple reasons for the change, not least of which is the desire to include a number of new pieces of artwork from Ted Nasmith, Ruth Lacon, Peter Pracownik and myself that would otherwise not be ready to show at the event. In addition, the extra time will help insure that the new Hilary Tolkien book, “Wheelbarrows at Dawnâ€, will be available at the show, as will copies of my own new work, an illustrated edition of “The Magic Ring†by Fouque. Look for details on the new dates and times shortly; they’ll be announced on the ADC Art & Books website (http://www.adcbooks
- The folks at the Festival in the Shire just launched the second issue of the online Festival in the Shire Journal (http://www.festival
- The current issue of the “St. Austin Review (StAR)†(January/February)
- Volume 3 of “Silver Leavesâ€, the journal of the White Tree Fund (http://www.whitetre
- For folks interested in original paintings and sketches or prints of my work, please take a look at the ADC Art and Books online catalog at www.adcbooks.
Justin, this'd probably be a 1:00 or 2:00 PM type of deal, probably depending on whether we do a cookout thingie or not. February weather is quite fickle, after all. Oh, and costuming is optional, as we're mainly concentrating on playtest some of the rules and getting used to the combat system. But if you wanna wear it, that would be awesome. Your call! ;) -MikeY --- On Sun, 2/7/10, Justin P. <jlp32782@yahoo.
|
| And I also forgot, what time r u planning on being there? --- On Sat, 2/6/10, Mike <rohirricbard@
|
| Is costuming necessary or optional? --- On Sun, 2/7/10, Mike Yow <rohirricbard@
|
That be awesome, Justin. Probably at Wildwood Park in Marietta, pending interest and weather, of course. Some minor buzz so far, but not a whole lot, so I guess we'll see. Watch these boards for future updates! -MikeY --- On Sat, 2/6/10, Justin P. <jlp32782@yahoo.
|
| where is this practice at? I would be very interested in comming. I just so happen to be off that day. Heh --- On Sat, 2/6/10, Mike <rohirricbard@
|
Greetings, all!
Alright, here goes once more. Trying to gather interested, and better yet, available folks for another try at a second combat practice/mini-
I must admit, I've been very busy of late with a nicely coming-about acting career, and quite honestly, probably don't really have the time to produce, or help produce, another LARP. However, with some honest-to-goodness help, a good deal of enthusiasism, and a bit of luck (and lots of magical energy drinks!), I feel this might be well worth the effort.
If Savage Kingdoms does take off, expect only four, maybe five, game-events a year, though. Two reasons big reasons for this: 1) it's much more feasible to produce a truly kick-ass event once every two or three months than it is to attempt to do such every month, or even less. Just plain, hard, mathematical fact. 2) I really won't have the time I once enjoyed to soak into a LARP this time around, even with the help of some solid, talented folks. And, so, less game-events, overall, but I believe higher quality ones.
By the way, the rules are coming along slowly, but surely, and I hope to have at least a Beta playtest version available on this very site (in the Database section) in less than a week.
So, yeah, if you're in the least bit interested, please make plans to attend a February 13th combat practice, probably at Wildwood and possibly featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, and other cookout food. And I'm certainly open to other suggestions, so post away (or email me)!
Crom and Mitra await! ;)
-MikeY
