Things Change

Camp this weekend was dire. With Kaylee gone, my entire cabin was in a bad mood. Getting them to smile and laugh was quite a trick, one that I only partially achieved, because I was just as down as they were every time I looked at her empty bunk.

But we managed, and there's only one week left before the camp stops for the summer. It's... Normally I'm really sad when we end for the season, I fall in love with my kids and I hate to see them go, but after what happened last week I'm all nervous around the trees-and we have a lot of them. I hate that whatever happened has corrupted my haven like this. Hopefully by the winter I'll be able to enjoy it again.

In happier news, my game is tomorrow. It's looking like we're going to have a good turn-out, so that'll be fantastic. Damon and Penny and I are getting together this afternoon to do the last minute stuff we need to get done for tomorrow. Any of you reading this that are planning to show, you're in for something amazing.

I'll see you then!

Camp

I've been debating on whether to say anything about this here, because it's kind of private, but I don't have a whole lot of readers and most of the ones I do have will go away as soon as they figure out that this isn't a gaming post. I need to get this out SOMEWHERE.

I work at a weekends-only camp for kids with terminal diseases-cancer, mostly, but we have all types here. I love working with the kids, and if it is a little depressing thinking of how many of them aren't going to make it, I try and make up for that with remembering that I'm brightening their lives.

This is my third year working at the camp, and honestly it's the only reason I came back to Tampa this year instead of doing summer school like most of my friends.  The credit hours I get are nice, and as pediatric nursing is my chosen field I love the experience I get.

That's... that's not the problem part. The problem is with one of my campers. A little eight year old I'll call Kaylee. The first weekend I found her crying in her bunk and took her for a walk to cheer her up, and ever since, she's been my best friend among the kids. She has a heart defect, and before she got to camp she'd never really been allowed to run and play outside for fear of overexerting herself. She loves it, and she's always SO EXCITED to arrive Friday afternoon.

Saturday night she was feeling rather down so I took her for another walk before lights out. I remember the two of us leaving and laughing as we strolled into the woods, and then I remember her being on the ground and frantically calling everyone to help as I tried to keep her heart going. I wish I could remember what happened to give her problems.

She's in the hospital now, and she's in bad shape, but she'll last a while longer. It got her bumped up the transplant list, which is good, if scary. I went to see her this morning, and she seemed terrified. Wouldn't talk about what happened, said she didn't want to go back to camp. It's probably nothing-odds are high she hallucinated when she went down due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. If it were something scary, it would explain everything.

But still. I worry. It just doesn't feel quite right, and I don't know why

Going As Planned

Planning and prop making is going well, if perhaps a bit more expensively than I would have liked.  It's a good thing I've been working at the camp all summer, otherwise this would completely destroy my budget. It's worth it, though, to know that I've really gone full out for this. I'm really excited and I know my players are going to have a blast.

And yes, I actually have players for certain! The emails are coming in now, so far I have four. Two veterans, two newbies, but it's a new system so everyone starts on even footing. There's still plenty of time before game so I'm hoping I'll have at least double that.

Anyway, lots to do getting ready to leave town in a few weeks and also go work the camp this weekend.

I'm an Idiot

Sorry to scare any of you watching this. Last week was a little test. I wanted to see if I could pull off writing a slenderblog. The answer is no, I'm thinking, so I'm going to go back to my normal reviews. Starting Wednesday.

Sorry for the insanity. I didn't mean to scare anyone.



Maybe if I tell them it's a lie I'll start to believe it.

The Rules

Right. Enough with the panicking. Apparently there's an eldrich horror on my tail that wants me to start doing... things for him. I have news for him. I'm not going. I don't hurt people and I don't help other people hurt them either. I'm not going.

In the spirit of that, I'm going to put up some rules of horror to remind myself and enlighten you all. Maybe taking some control of the situation will make the whispering GO AWAY.


First. Avoid basements, cornfields, small towns in the middle of nowhere that you've never been to before, creepy woods, and abandoned houses. If you MUST go to any of these places, make sure to bring friends, stay close together, and don't stay after dark for any reason. Particularly relevant to this is the small town and woods section of this. I don't want to run into any slendycults.

Second. While it is tempting to allow the situation to distance you from friends, family, and the rest of humanity, either make it a clean break and get the fuck out of there or stay close. Emotional distance without physical distance just puts them in more danger-because then you have the heartbreaking 'I never got to tell them I loved them' situation.

Third. Don't tempt fate. Seriously. Don't be that guy. You know the one. Don't say 'surely we must be safe HERE' or 'We can hold out till morning' or anything similar. The shit hits the fan immediately afterward. And everyone hates that guy for starting it.

Fourth. Remember. This is an eldrich horror. Do not be the idiot who rushes it with a sword. That always ends badly-for the swordsman.There is no fighting, hiding is iffy at best, you have to run. And keep running. Slendy doesn't give up the hunt.


...I'm going to start getting stuff together to run. I'm glad I have some money put away from working all year.

Real

Oh shit.

He's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's realHe's real

I'm Completely Mad

He's fricken everywhere. I keep seeing him. In the park, outside my window, in the corner of my eye when I'm at the store... I'm losing my mind.

I'm having a psychotic break. He's everywhere, and the whispers... Oh god, the whispers. I never... I'd read about them, but...cripes this is bad. This is really bad. The things that they want me to do...

No. This is crap. I've got to just be going nuts. I need to just ignore it, it will go away. It WILL. It HAS to.

Because right now the voice sounds so good....

What the Crap?

Starting to think one of my friends is playing a prank on me. No review today, too busy freaking out over the tall guy in a suit that is standing outside my window. That's got to be pantyhose or something over his head, right? He can't ACTUALLY not have a face...

DnD Week!: 4.0

Fourth edition has been highly debated since it came out, in the grand tradition of DnD fanboys and girls everywhere. Every edition isn't as good as the one which came before-especially for the first year or two.

hespeakstome






What fourth edition is best at is random encounters. It's a system that's MADE for one shots and minis-style battles, whatever it lacks in the rest of it's gameplay. If you're looking for good fighting fun, 4th edition might be just the system for you. If not, I'd give it a pass.

DnD Week!: 3.5

DnD week!: ADnD/2.0

Think back to the old cliches of unwashed teenaged boys playing DnD in their basement with vague costumes. This was back in the days where DnD was still complicated and confusing enough to feel like an exclusive club.
Back when THACO was the order of the day and you couldn't play monsters.

This, ladies and gents, is exactly what they would have been playing. ADnD has survived to this day as a game people play, despite three editions afterward-an honor which First ed and third ed never achieved. It's got a different feel to it,

Hi, Welcome to the Blog

Hi, my name is Jessie. I'm a sci-fi/fantasy nerd and a tabletop gamer. I'm starting this blog out of the singularly egotistical belief that perhaps someone on the internet would care what I think about the latter. VIDEO GAME review blogs and video series are really popular these days, so why not a tabletop reviewer?

And why not me? I've been gaming for seven years-a third of my life, in fact. Well, a little less than that, but still. I've played with a lot of systems, and I've run some damn good games, if I do say so myself. Pretty much any system I've run I've worked with from both sides of the table and I feel pretty good about my ability to discuss them intelligently.

In any case, it'll make a good summer project. It's dull being back in Tampa for the summer. My first review, tentatively planned for the New World of Darkness,  will go up Wednesday. Stay tuned, guys!