Monday, May 07, 2007

Camp Nerdly 01

Camp Nerdly was amazing. All fun, all the time.

My Nauvoo Legion game went very well, very well indeed.

Hilde got sick while I was away and poor Michelle had to deal with her throwing up in the car (multiple times) on the way down to Culpeper for a baby blessing we were determined not to miss (I drove up from camp, then back to camp after to help clean up).

I played Agon with with Remi, Frank Manna, Fred Hicks, Don Corcoran, and Joanna Corcoran on Friday. I was rolling SO BADLY and not getting any glory. Poor Antiphus, the gloryless brother. Good fun, though. Nice to see this become a Nerdly tradition (I played with Frank & Remi on Friday night at Camp Nerdly 0, too).

On Saturday morning, amidst the trading of regional sodas and books and games at the Nerdly Bazaar, I ended up playing City of Brass with Clinton (the author), Kevin Allen Jr, Jeff Wills, and Travis Casey. This is sort of the bastard stepchild among Clinton's games, but I love the 'Dark Continent' explorers feel to it. Fun characters and amazing setting, plus great players made this SO MUCH FUN. Made Clinton wear my pith helmet, so bonus points for me. The challenges are named, but perfectly vague in what they tell you: The Devil's Teeth, The Hunting Lodge, the Reptile Queen, Cobras!, etc. We had a lot of fun leaving eachother behind and facing the terrors of the Dark Continent.

Then Michelle and the kids came, because we were going to have a hike, but it started raining and the kids were starting to lose it, so we canceled the hike and they drove back home. Then I took a nap.

I woke up and prepped for my Dogs in the Vineyard game. The setting is based on Deseret-era Utah, with the supernatural dial set higher - demons attacking the Faithful because of Sin, the players as wandering priest/gunmen whose job it is to set things right. I was drifting it back into the source material, using real people like Porter Rockwell and Wild Bill Hickman (shout-out to my Hickmans). See the link above - it went REALLY well.

Before we played Dogs, though, I played Ganakagok, which was like taking Inuits, Crouching Tiger-type movies, and a sad romance and mixing them into a beautiful story of tradition vs. love on the endless ice. So fun. Don C. ran this for me, Jeff Collyer, Patty K., and Joshua Seigler. The imagery from that game (which ended when my tradition-bound character was eaten by an enormous ancestral orca) will stick with me for a long time.

Sunday I woke up early and went to church in Culpeper for the aforementioned baby blessing, then back at camp I helped clean up and just chilled with some of my new friends. I know a lot of these people from the internet, and it was a real joy to have faces to put with names and be able to have a whole new circle of people I enjoy.

4 comments:

Disco Mom said...

It's like reading another language...in English. Glad Wild Bill made an appearance and you had a good time. Glad Michelle survived, sounds like she has earned a long weekend off with her friends sometime soon.

Jeff said...

To paraphrase Cyndi Lauper:
Nerdlies are good enough for me.

Anonymous said...

I apparently also earned the right to catch Hilde's stomach bug. No fun.

Maren said...

Dave: I'm so glad you had a good time and it went well. Kudos to you and your friends for pulling off such a good time that so may people got to enjoy.
Michelle: I feel your pain. Good karma coming your direction for letting Dave go and taking care of sick kids without him.