I have seen Ilum and it was shut

Back in London, and with apologising to do. I was supposed to go to anubisgrrl and David sans LJ's English post wedding bash this evening, having missed the wedding itself in Virginia last month.

I recall clearly saying that "I wouldn't miss it for the world" but I have. A combination of incompetence on my part and the mysteries of that thing that is Virgin West Coast.

Apologies and profuse grovelling for another day, I think.

The rest of the weekend has been taken up with a NWO plot meeting in Birmingham, chez pax_draconis. Since the timing, if not the location of the meeting was my fault, I rather had to go; not to suggest that I didn't want to, you understand, but it's this kind of unthinking and relentless double booking that causes me grief with the newly-weds of this world. So, mea culpa.

Anyhoo, most of the group attended, Chalkie, Naughty Phil and Pete (all sans LJ), together with immerwahr, maleghast, lupercal, pax_draconis, of course and myself. As noted over in Pax' LJ, we managed to get a great deal done, including the creation of a newer, and hopefully more player friendly set of certamen rules (- although nyarbaggytep who popped in late on, and all too briefly, pronounced herself baffled and afeared of them). Certainly once mrcook the resident certamen master tried them out upon late arrival with La Baggy, he gave them his Seal of Approvaltm, so all is well.

Adapted as they are, on fencing routines from elsewhere, they have the potential for a rather theatrical and choreographed exchange which reasonably reflects characters' abilities without intimidating players who are uncomfortable with the more subjective word association approach which worked if you were confident, but reflected the players' abilities rather than their characters.

Needless to say, the 'trying out' of the new system caused a great deal of merriment as reported over in Pax' LJ; though I have to say that I do not recall the giggling fit ascribed to me. I'm not saying it didn't happen, you understand, but a great deal of BEER and wine had percolated the system by then...

Curse the early sunset in these Latitudes in early December. This afternoon, the remaining three intrepid writer/refs, pax_draconis, maleghast and Yours Truly headed out to Ilum Hall to take measurements for prop costings and such. By the time we got there it was after sunset and the mercury had already fropped to -2c within a quarter of an hour. The occupants of the Hall resolutely refused to come to the door despite much knocking and calling (and they knew we were there since one of them stood in a window and watched me walk up the drive...). This was particularly annoying since we had called ahead and obtained their prior agreement.

So we returned to Brum mission unaccomplished.

The only thing that baffles me about the weekend's plotting is that I somehow managed to allow myself to agree to writhing 14 of the characters up, plus a covenant sheet. I clearly wasn't paying as much attention as I thought...

Note:

I see that I typed "writhing" instead of "writing". That gives me an idea for character development. Hands up, members of il Duomo...

I have seen Ilum and it was shut

Back in London, and with apologising to do. I was supposed to go to anubisgrrl and David sans LJ's English post wedding bash this evening, having missed the wedding itself in Virginia last month.

I recall clearly saying that "I wouldn't miss it for the world" but I have. A combination of incompetence on my part and the mysteries of that thing that is Virgin West Coast.

Apologies and profuse grovelling for another day, I think.

The rest of the weekend has been taken up with a NWO plot meeting in Birmingham, chez pax_draconis. Since the timing, if not the location of the meeting was my fault, I rather had to go; not to suggest that I didn't want to, you understand, but it's this kind of unthinking and relentless double booking that causes me grief with the newly-weds of this world. So, mea culpa.

Anyhoo, most of the group attended, Chalkie, Naughty Phil and Pete (all sans LJ), together with immerwahr, maleghast, lupercal, pax_draconis, of course and myself. As noted over in Pax' LJ, we managed to get a great deal done, including the creation of a newer, and hopefully more player friendly set of certamen rules (- although nyarbaggytep who popped in late on, and all too briefly, pronounced herself baffled and afeared of them). Certainly once mrcook the resident certamen master tried them out upon late arrival with La Baggy, he gave them his Seal of Approvaltm, so all is well.

Adapted as they are, on fencing routines from elsewhere, they have the potential for a rather theatrical and choreographed exchange which reasonably reflects characters' abilities without intimidating players who are uncomfortable with the more subjective word association approach which worked if you were confident, but reflected the players' abilities rather than their characters.

Needless to say, the 'trying out' of the new system caused a great deal of merriment as reported over in Pax' LJ; though I have to say that I do not recall the giggling fit ascribed to me. I'm not saying it didn't happen, you understand, but a great deal of BEER and wine had percolated the system by then...

Curse the early sunset in these Latitudes in early December. This afternoon, the remaining three intrepid writer/refs, pax_draconis, maleghast and Yours Truly headed out to Ilum Hall to take measurements for prop costings and such. By the time we got there it was after sunset and the mercury had already fropped to -2c within a quarter of an hour. The occupants of the Hall resolutely refused to come to the door despite much knocking and calling (and they knew we were there since one of them stood in a window and watched me walk up the drive...). This was particularly annoying since we had called ahead and obtained their prior agreement.

So we returned to Brum mission unaccomplished.

The only thing that baffles me about the weekend's plotting is that I somehow managed to allow myself to agree to writhing 14 of the characters up, plus a covenant sheet. I clearly wasn't paying as much attention as I thought...

Note:

I see that I typed "writhing" instead of "writing". That gives me an idea for character development. Hands up, members of il Duomo...