So a couple of weeks ago I was asked by a friend to help out at a fashion show in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Now the cause is a great one and I would do pretty much anything I can to help out a friend, so I agreed to fairly quickly.
My friend was asked as the shop we're getting our suits from for his wedding were donating the use of their dresses. Since I showed up in my utilikilt for my fitting I made an impression and they asked him to see if I’d show off their formal Kilt ware and escort one of the models in the show. A chance to wear a kilt and walk around with a beautiful woman, I told him I’d have to think about . . . for a second! He gave me the details for the night which I made a note of for later.
The night of the show came around and I headed straight from work out to Balbriggan to meet him at the Hotel. After a ride on the LUAS and a quick train ride I made my way to his house as the show was going to be later than we had originally been told. So I got to hang out with his Fiancé and himself for around an hour, talking about the upcoming Wedding and the other things going on in their lives at the moment.
We made our way from his house to the shop to get changed for the Show, and that’s when things started to go wrong. First off once we got into the shop the owner had one look at me and said the formal Kilt they had gotten sent over wouldn’t fit. The one they got in must have been for a midget. The shoes were a size 6 and the jacket sleeves stopped at my elbows. I wouldn’t even risk trying the Kilt on, for fear of castrating myself.
Then we were told that the organisers of the show just wanted to have us standing of to the side of the stage and not really involved at. Also instead of a section of the show featuring all the bridal dresses they only wanted to use her Debs dresses. This was quickly shot down as the Owner pulled the organisers aside and made it clear that the shop was called Balbriggan “Bridal” and she was doing them a favour by giving the use of the dresses.
When we first got there I had performed a quick scan of the models and called dibs on one of the girls who I liked the most. Strictly speaking I really didn't need to since he's engaged and getting married in a fortnight and all but I still followed protocol and declared it, granted I knew nothing would come of it as they all looked like they’d only date guys that looked like a shaved monkey after being kicked through a TopShop.
Anyway we went into the main hall to speak with his Parents and get a quick drink before we were needed. One JD & Coke and a Pint later and we get called to the back to sort out the running order. In the end they had three of the Models in the Brides Dresses and we were to escort them onto the stage flick out their trains as they went on to the stage and escort them back once they had finished.
Of the three Models wearing the Brides Dresses one of them was the girl I had called dibs on. Straight away I was thinking “Bonus!” The organiser says to me (pointing to one of the other Models) “You take her up first, then your friend can take her up (pointing to the one I had called Dibs on) and then you can come back and take me up. All I could think was “But I called Dibs!?”
So I walked out with the first Model, arm in arm left foot forward and all that. Helped her up the steps to the stage and flicked out her train and then escorted her back out of the hall; it went fairly smoothly and as we got back the next couple went out. She took off like a horse out of the gate and ran about five steps ahead of my friend both ways. He was a little put out but all I could think was “Well that's what you get!” And then I set of again with the final Bride. Once we were done we had another chat with his folks and then ran back into the shop to change before heading home. So all in all it was a good night, granted not everything went as planned but in the end I was hanging out with 15 Models,
And why the hell not!?!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
My Gaming History 1
Since things are a little slow till the Wedding in Rome (not mine) I've to post some of the finer moments of Gaming Sessions I've played in. I have for the most part be playing games with the same circle of friends for 7 or 8 years. Mainly we have played White Wolf systems, Vampire and Mage, but we have also had a few games from d20, B.E.S.M., Marvel Universe RPG, amongst others. There were usually a few good moments in every session but occasionally there have been those moments that you can look fondly upon with a gleam in your eye and that warm feeling in cockles of you heart.
This story takes place during a Vampire Campaign were I was playing a Gangrel. I had spent a lot of time with the GM planning and creating a fairly well balanced Character, a decent history and a good plot hook for future games. One thing that came up during the process was the issue of the Gangrel Clan Flaw: They gain an animal feature every time they frenzy. This could be things such as wolf or bat like ears, cats eyes, claws or fangs, patches of fur, etc. On top of that for every 5 frenzies they lose a point from a social attribute. Given most Gangrel are prone to frenzy they can become patchwork monstrosities that are just as big a threath to the Masquerade as the Nosferatu or Tzimisce can be.
I had decided I didn't want to have to deal with this so I pumped up my conscience and willpower to give me as good a chance as possible. Now the GM didn't quite like this idea, he thought that was half the fun of being Gangrel, the chance to be a powerhouse, running on instinct not reason. When I told him I didn't want to frenzy he said he'd make me in fact not only would he make me frenzy, he'd make me want to frenzy. The game progress as I had expected given what I had went through with the GM. He had a solid idea of how he wanted the game to go and could improvise his way out of most situations we had trapped him with. It's the basic rule, no matter how many options you think you have presented to the party they'll still come up with something that not only is something you didn't think of but also buggers the rest of your plans. But he rolled with the punches and was able to keep the momentum of the game going, mainly this came from not using dice for combat resolution, instead he used Rock, Paper, Scissors.
As the game went on I had narrowly avoided a couple of Rötschreck Frenzies, due to fire or other stresses and thought I had everything well in hand. This is when the GM unleashed his plan. We had been sent to examine an underground base that was controlled by Sabbat Tremere . As we went through the base the leads we had proved fruitless and we were getting no where but slowly. As we went through the lower levels we entered rooms filled with corpses, dissected and partially dissected, of one or two clans mainly Gangrel. I announced to the party that I felt uncomfortable with the surroundings pointing to the gurneys. After two or three more rooms with more bodies but less parts therin we finally open a door which has a "Surgeon" "operating" on one of the bodies in front of us.
Straight away I say "I kill him!" to the protests of the rest of the party. They gave valid arguments like we needed the information and so on but I was determined to kill him. After about 5 minutes of out of character discussion I relent and say fine I won't kill him. But I turn to the GM and say "I reckon that'll require a frenzy roll." He smiled and said "Yes it would" and we did a quick check against each other. Just a quick point on using R,P,S as a resolution system. If you are using it make sure that you don't, as my GM did, always start with the same one. (His was scissors in case you're curious.) So we engaged, whilst I look away from the GM towards my friends, 1, 2, 3 and throw paper and smile and say "Oh dear I lose" and quickly and violently proceed to kill the "Doctor". The GM and myself were laughing maniacally as my character went on a half hour rampage through 5 War Szlachta and was eventually found clawing at a door. After a few minutes of reveling in the ramage I finally told the party how to immobilise me so we could move on safely. My memory of the rest of the game is vague compared to the lead up but it's safe to say we got through the rest of the compound and back to our base.
After the session the GM and I sat down to decide what animal feature I had gained. After a lot of discussion I managed to persuade the GM to allow me to take a social trait as opposed to physical one. We decided that my character would now have to circle the ground 3 times before sitting down, be it a just on the floor or even walking around the chair at meetings. The only condition the GM put on me was I had to Roleplay this. So at the first session after my frenzy I had said nothing to the rest of the party, but everytime we mentioned we were sitting I made a point of standing up turning around in a circle 3 time and then sitting back down. I think the first 2 times this went mostly unnoticed but on the 3rd time one of the guys copped it figured out why I was doing it and proceeded to fall out of his chair laughing.
What can I say I dedicated to my Roles,
And why the hell not!?!!
This story takes place during a Vampire Campaign were I was playing a Gangrel. I had spent a lot of time with the GM planning and creating a fairly well balanced Character, a decent history and a good plot hook for future games. One thing that came up during the process was the issue of the Gangrel Clan Flaw: They gain an animal feature every time they frenzy. This could be things such as wolf or bat like ears, cats eyes, claws or fangs, patches of fur, etc. On top of that for every 5 frenzies they lose a point from a social attribute. Given most Gangrel are prone to frenzy they can become patchwork monstrosities that are just as big a threath to the Masquerade as the Nosferatu or Tzimisce can be.
I had decided I didn't want to have to deal with this so I pumped up my conscience and willpower to give me as good a chance as possible. Now the GM didn't quite like this idea, he thought that was half the fun of being Gangrel, the chance to be a powerhouse, running on instinct not reason. When I told him I didn't want to frenzy he said he'd make me in fact not only would he make me frenzy, he'd make me want to frenzy. The game progress as I had expected given what I had went through with the GM. He had a solid idea of how he wanted the game to go and could improvise his way out of most situations we had trapped him with. It's the basic rule, no matter how many options you think you have presented to the party they'll still come up with something that not only is something you didn't think of but also buggers the rest of your plans. But he rolled with the punches and was able to keep the momentum of the game going, mainly this came from not using dice for combat resolution, instead he used Rock, Paper, Scissors.
As the game went on I had narrowly avoided a couple of Rötschreck Frenzies, due to fire or other stresses and thought I had everything well in hand. This is when the GM unleashed his plan. We had been sent to examine an underground base that was controlled by Sabbat Tremere . As we went through the base the leads we had proved fruitless and we were getting no where but slowly. As we went through the lower levels we entered rooms filled with corpses, dissected and partially dissected, of one or two clans mainly Gangrel. I announced to the party that I felt uncomfortable with the surroundings pointing to the gurneys. After two or three more rooms with more bodies but less parts therin we finally open a door which has a "Surgeon" "operating" on one of the bodies in front of us.
Straight away I say "I kill him!" to the protests of the rest of the party. They gave valid arguments like we needed the information and so on but I was determined to kill him. After about 5 minutes of out of character discussion I relent and say fine I won't kill him. But I turn to the GM and say "I reckon that'll require a frenzy roll." He smiled and said "Yes it would" and we did a quick check against each other. Just a quick point on using R,P,S as a resolution system. If you are using it make sure that you don't, as my GM did, always start with the same one. (His was scissors in case you're curious.) So we engaged, whilst I look away from the GM towards my friends, 1, 2, 3 and throw paper and smile and say "Oh dear I lose" and quickly and violently proceed to kill the "Doctor". The GM and myself were laughing maniacally as my character went on a half hour rampage through 5 War Szlachta and was eventually found clawing at a door. After a few minutes of reveling in the ramage I finally told the party how to immobilise me so we could move on safely. My memory of the rest of the game is vague compared to the lead up but it's safe to say we got through the rest of the compound and back to our base.
After the session the GM and I sat down to decide what animal feature I had gained. After a lot of discussion I managed to persuade the GM to allow me to take a social trait as opposed to physical one. We decided that my character would now have to circle the ground 3 times before sitting down, be it a just on the floor or even walking around the chair at meetings. The only condition the GM put on me was I had to Roleplay this. So at the first session after my frenzy I had said nothing to the rest of the party, but everytime we mentioned we were sitting I made a point of standing up turning around in a circle 3 time and then sitting back down. I think the first 2 times this went mostly unnoticed but on the 3rd time one of the guys copped it figured out why I was doing it and proceeded to fall out of his chair laughing.
What can I say I dedicated to my Roles,
And why the hell not!?!!
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