Monday Game Day!

Sticking to my new way of writing, I will focus on the interesting items.

I picked up Emma after grabbing a quick, overpriced chicken meal at Popeye’s, going for spicy. My repast consisted of two pieces with two sides and a too-large drink for just under $16. F**k! I waited ten minutes before going to the desk. It seems nobody now orders for in-house eating. They ignored my order while they filled an endless supply of drive-through orders and online pick-ups. They smiled, said they would fill it now, and soon I had a giant chicken breast and huge thigh from chickens so large I would not want to meet them in a dark alley! I was late and rushed, but the red beans and rice and the potatoes with Cajun gravy were spicy and delicious instead of being the usual placeholder and calorie bombs. I did not finish them, as I did not need the calories, though the price made me regret that. I watched a march of huge orders getting picked up while I rushed my dinner.

Emma was ready, wearing a comfortable black T-shirt, perfect; I was in a tie, dress shirt, black vest, pocket watch and chain, swirling tie (clip-on I found recently), black dress shoes, and a black homburg hat. I want to look the part for a 1924 adventure. We soon arrived at Bone & Board, and Nick pointed us to one of the gaming rooms while Emma carried the wooden crate, American Embalming Fluid on the side. I found it years ago at an antique mall in Hillsboro, and use it to hold the Call of Cthulhu (CoC) stuff. Black tablecloths (plastic), candles (digital), and various theme-appropriate items, including “packs” of candy cigarettes, were assembled.

M@ shows up, and Nick, the owner of Bone & Board, joins. We got no other players. Still, three is a good group, as everyone gets the spotlight and no one lurks. I selected the adventure “Swamp Song” (here) for our first game, but I found the plot a bit hard to run, as I needed notes, not in the text, on how to connect things; but, as is my style for Call of Cthulhu role-playing, I just let it run and saw where it went. I could have used some canned text and maybe a flow written out ahead of time next time I play it—the PDF copy would allow me to copy out some words and rework them into extra documents and text to read. Next time.

I discovered that one of the handouts is not in the back-of-the-book section to print out (oops). I also backed off on the ghouls in the story, as they don’t do much for the flow of the story. This also matched the constant extreme success rolls that the player kept rolling, letting the players miss out on some unfortunate events. Wow! Combat was avoided until the end, and even then the players wisely stayed back.

Aside: I have game-mastered the two extremes when the players roll well or can never make a roll. It allows for a lot of fun. Today the players got a cake walk, but they did find their way and unlocked the mysteries.

We played from about 6:10 to just past 8 and had plenty of time to pack up. The storyline went well, and the players, Emma, M@, and Nick, seemed to enjoy unraveling the mystery and then confronting the horror at the end. The details cannot be covered here as it is published material; it was interesting and fun.

Turning off the lights and letting the digital candles create a mood was fun. Also drawing a tarot card for each player was fun, and letting them interpret them. We left the cards out for the game and collected all the handouts in the center of the two tables pushed together and covered in black. It created a pile of events and knowledge that worked.

After we packed up with M@ help, I thanked Nick (who had to leave just at the climax) and covered the ending with him. It does not happen often that CoC is a win. Emma and I then had a drink and snack at The 649 with another Matt as our bartender. It was nice to ramp down. The place was not too busy on a Tuesday night.

I took Emma home and was home soon after. After buying tickets to the Frick for my trip next week, I read some more CoC adventures for the 18th game on my return from NYC; I went to sleep. Just before I went to sleep, I did look up flights to Amsterdam in December on my phone ($1,200 for cheap seats). I am short some miles on Delta to make gold, and I love Amsterdam in the winter. Tired from running my first CoC in years, I slept well, though I dreamed of wandering the dream world. Maybe you, dear reader, passed me in the world. Wave next time.

Starting the day, I rose late, almost 8. After making coffee, I spent much of the morning writing the blog. Lunch was heating up a Trader Joe’s Indian-style frozen dinner. I found it defrosted in the fridge and think Corwin was going for that, and when I offered lunch out on Sunday, he put it back in the fridge. It was still good.

I watched some Ted Lasso, reaching the mid-point of Season 2. I really enjoy the show now that I have understood the characters (and I think the actors have adapted to their characters and their interactions are smoother). It was 90°F and smoky (air quality now 155), and I tried to install my key lock box but forgot to predrill the screw holes, and it went poorly. The rush did not help (I was in my dress clothing). Deborah, hearing about my misadventures when she called, thought it was madness to go out in the heat and smoke in a dress shirt, vest, tie, and dress shoes (and how could I forget to predrill the holes?).

With that over, time flew by fast, and soon I was headed out in Air VW the Gray.

That takes me full circle. We forgot to take a photo of our first game. Thanks for reading!