MUSICAL MONDAY: Gemini (Ginny Di)

A new four-track EP from Ginny Di celebrating the anniversary of playing her bard character, Gemini.

Six Degrees of Separation

The movie Hombre is one of my favourite Westerns. It was recommended to me by a tutor on my scriptwriting degree course (as inspiration for the Western I was writing as part of my finale project).

The movie is based upon a novel by the late and lauded Elmore Leonard.

The other day, randomly, I picked up my copy of Hombre and read the first chapter. This got me wondering what stories were included in the chunky hardback, The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard, which I'd purchased last year.

The book flopped open to a title page I hadn't seen before... revealing that it was signed by Leonard himself.

This made me grin like a loon, as I'm a sucker for such dedications in books. Remember my excitement when I found the signed book in a sale at our local second hand book store.

Being a homebody generally, it's very unlikely that I'll get to pose for selfies with my favourite authors, actors etc

So I prefer "signed items" instead. I have a collection of signed Philip Reeve books (my favourite author) and head shots of stars of Classic era Doctor Who - from Carole Ann Ford and William Russell to Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy. These latter pictures are proudly framed and displayed on the office wall, while my Philip Reeve library has its own shelf in one of the lounge cupboards.   

Back in February, I acquired from an online store (not Amazon) a limited edition (#365 of 750), first edition (with red page edges) of Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone (which was signed by the author).

I was most delighted by this, and then when I shared it on BlueSky, Gail herself replied, hoping I'd enjoy the book.

The other week, a postcard winged its way across The Atlantic, signed by Dungeons & Dragons YouTube "influencer" Ginny Di.

This was a reward for supporting her Patreon (which I've been a member of since 2020).

It wasn't just Ginny's signature - and the details of an enchanted weapon to be used in a RPG - that made this magical though. It was the fact that a postcard had managed to find its way over here to the UK without getting mangled or lost. 

A signature is a sign of caring (I know many things get signed in a production line-like setting, but the fact is the creator is still doing it).

I may spend 90 per cent of my life within the four walls of our house, but receiving a signed item from someone whose work I admire (even it's purely by chance, such as the Elmore Leonard book) is a connection.

At one end of the process, the artist has signed their work and at the other end I get to hold it in my hands and appreciate the time spent both creating their art and signing my book, picture, postcard etc

How Do You Handle Romance In Your Games?

The greatest thing, you'll ever learn,
Is just to love, and be loved in return.

- Nature Boy, David Bowie (from Moulin Rouge OST)

"Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam wifin a dream! ... Twoo wuv will follow you forevah, so tweasure your wuv."

- The Impressive Clergyman (Peter Cook), The Princess Bride (1987)

It's Valentine's Day, so I have a question for my fellow gamers: how do you handle "romance" in your games?

I'm not talking about a quick bunk-up with a barmaid (a cliché of most teenagers' D&D games) but genuine courtship, marriage etc

Has such a scenario ever cropped up in your games or don't your campaigns run long enough to contemplate the need for love and heirs?

Has anyone been involved in a game (non-Pendragon or Blue Rose) where a player has gone the whole hog in his attempts to woo a maiden fair: cards, flowers, dancing, cinema dates, meals out etc?

Since I first started thinking about this aspect of long-running roleplaying game campaigns many years ago, it feels as though the topic of in-game love and romance has become more de rigueur with the younger generation of gamers.

However, that still doesn't mean it's easy to deal with in a satisfying manner.

Romance is a staple sub-plot of many comic books (Comic Book Resources has a list of the 15 most screwed-up relationships, if you need reminding) , but have you, for instance, introduced it into a tabletop superhero campaign?

I know this is something that Aaron Allston advocated through 'blue-booking' in his legendary Strike Force campaign; is this how you would handle romance in your game, would the process be entirely role-played or would there be some mechanics and dice-rolling involved?

Personally I'm in the "more roleplay, less mechanics" camp.

Is romance - either being player-characters or between a PC and an NPC - something you'd even think about or encourage as a gamesmaster or player?

Do characters date? Do their iPhones come with Tinder, Ashley Madison, Grindr etc installed?

Then, from romance, comes the question of children....

While the concept of a generational game is integral to Pendragon, do you think about it in other long-running campaigns?

In a contemporary game have your player-characters become parents and had to deal with daycare, nannies etc while they run off to fight crime? Or is this too close to the real life that they are escaping from in your games?

The delightful Ginny Di has produced a couple of videos on this topic, including a round-up of possible Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics to help navigate this touchy subject:

MUSICAL MONDAY: All I Want for Christmas - A D&D Christmas Carol (Ginny Di)

MUSICAL MONDAY: A TPK Carol - D&D Parody (Ginny Di)

MUSICAL MONDAY: Carol of The Spells (Ginny Di)

Thank you so much to the amazing Ginny Di for this classic track, taking my favourite carol and giving it a Dungeons & Dragons spin!

Bringing The Horror of Mothership to Your Games