Kick-Ass Kicked Ass

So I am late to this party, but my wife and I sat down and watched the movie Kick-Ass this past weekend. Despite our normal penchant for heading to bed once the kiddo falls asleep, we watched eagerly late into the night – you know, like 11:30 pm.

I’ve got to say… it was everything I had expected and heard about, and yet strangely more. What a great flick! Yes, it was crude, extremely so in some places. But it had a childish sweetness to it, too. It was mostly devoid of the typical snarkiness that is piped into most “geeky” endeavors these days. There was less “wink-wink” humor (although the “with no power comes no responsibility” joke got both my wife and I, pleasantly so) and more a honesty and warmth of what makes comic books so well loved.

Unlike most comic book-turned-movies that are full of cheap thrills and cheap laughs, there was a lot of heart to Kick-Ass. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t Oscar-worthy material, and let me also say, there WERE a lot of cheap thrills and laughs. I mean – SPOILER – the main villain gets blown out a window with a bazooka. But there was a sweetness to it.

The geek got the hot girl, yeah… but in a way which was both comical, outrageous and still somewhat sweet. It delighted the inner geek in me in a big way – that this kid that was a total dork got to WIN. And of course, as has been said a thousand times before, Hit Girl was completely inappropriate and so totally funny, sweet, and special.

Yeah, ok, so it was a comic book movie. But it was just another comic book movie – in the world of constant drivel that pours out of Hollywood these days, Kick-Ass was a fun and welcome respite.

Finding the Path

Odd how we meet people. Take, for instance, my introduction to my latest gaming friends. It all started with Twitter and a pain in my ass (sort of literally).

Working in the ecommerce industry, it was necessary to be connected. So I started a Twitter account. I then decided I wanted to keep professional separated from personal/gaming hobby, so I created an account for that. I figured out hashtags and found some gamers. Soon, I heard talk of Pathfinder.

My current gaming group (CGG) had decided to forgo 4^th edition D&D, since it seemed incompatible with the stack of 3.0/3.5 books we already owned. But when I heard about Pathfinder, my interest was peaked.

Around last spring, I had a wedding planned for summer. Problem was, I was having complications from severe “unspecific colitis” that I had the previous summer. I was sincerely afraid of having issues during our wedding or honeymoon. I bit the bullet and elected to have surgery on my digestive system in order to (hopefully) prevent any further issues and add some very missed comfortableness back into my life.

As a little care package (to me, from me!), I decided to pick up a few things to get me through my home- and bed-restricted post surgery blues. Samurai Champloo, Surrender (an erotic memoir – don’t ask), Rocco DeLuca’s I Trust You To Kill Me dvd, and the Pathfinder Core Rulebook.

My immediate reactions were, “these new caster abilities are amazing – more spells!” and “holy s#|t, CLERICS!” Sure, the other classes seemed improved too (particularly the ranger and paladin), but the caster classes? Revolutionized from 3.5, I tell ya! Of course, I dove in, got some more books, and by GenCon I was running it for my CGG.

But, ah… life gets in the way. My CGG had a way of not staying current. Players came and went all the time, usually during crucial campaign moments. I tried to structure, organize, add more players (Dragonlance campaign with 7 PCs, oh my), subtract players (Ptolus campaign with 3 PCs)… nothing work. I grew frustrated, a good deal of it because I was putting in the work to write and run these campaigns. Finally, I threw in the towel.

Then, a light from heaven… I clicked on the Pathfinder Society link on the Paizo site. Responded to a post on the message boards. Found a game in the Indianapolis area.

PFS opened up a whole new world of possibilities. And a whole new can of worms. Like, guys who really don’t shower, or guys who belch in your face as you move your mini on the battle-mat. But the worms were worth the possibilities – which included three cool guys with the same sense of humor, the same gaming style, and the same dedication to the game as I had.

I like to think of myself as a geek elitist, which I s’pose means I am hard to please. So falling in with a group of guys who don’t belch in my face when I move my mini pleases me. The fact that they like to see a campaign through to completion pleases me. They have lives, jobs, other interests, and this pleases me.

The great thing about this hobby isn’t your favorite system, or the cool miniatures, or the opportunity to be creative. Well, those ARE all great, but so to is this: people you can relate to, who are just as organized/dedicated/anal as you are.

Or, guys who belch in your face when you move your mini. If you’re into that sort of thing. I'll tell you one thing - it sure beats a knife in the colon and a pain in the ass!

A Kingdom So Far

It all started with a fearsome book, package of record sheets, and a cherry-picked set of solid and gem dice. It was my first role playing game experience, and like so many, it happened because of a friend. Sort of.

See, my friend, let’s call him “Horse,” had this wonderful book. The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2^nd Edition Player’s Handbook. On the front was a mounted soldier with bluish armor and a sword riding a charging steed. That’s all a junior high school kid needed to see.

So I got the same stuff – the PHB, the Character Record Sheets (oh how I miss those green sheets), and the dice. Problem here – no monsters, no dungeon guide or adventures. We didn’t quite get it at first… but maybe that was no problem at all.

We made characters. Lots and lots of 1^st level characters (to which I surely owe my steadfast approach to nearly always insisting on starting a new campaign that I am GMing with new PCs). And then… we played. Not by the rules, but by the only way we knew how.

We told each other stories.

Now, this was such a benefit, because a lot of the time during these story-tellings, we were mobile. On horseback. In the middle of the woods.

I grew up in rural, conservative Indiana, a farm boy on a small horse ranch. From the time my parents moved away from the city in 3^rd grade until I graduated high school, my life was surrounded by horses – riding, training, some breaking, lots of showing. And during the summer, a lot of trail-riding.

Exploring parks and trails on horseback is something truly unique and exhilarating. You’ve got speed, power, trust, all kinds of factors that make it fun and rewarding. But, when you’re 13 years old… it can also get boring. You need something to fill up the space in your head, because you likely don’t appreciate the serenity of it when you’re that young. At least, not for 2-10 hours of it. So… we told each other stories.

The heroes were our characters, and we raided castles, visited strange cities, and did other fun and generally heroic things. It was awesome. I still draw from the well of those stories to this day, though not too much – there’s only so much a 30 year old can relate to that comes from the mind of a 13 year old.

Long story short... he moved away, got into other things. We lost touch before we could drive. We moved on.

But… I still have those mismatched dice.

Live and Let Die... or Dice. Roll.

Bad pun notwithstanding, it's been a spirited day in the twitterverse and the blogosphere. Some folks said some stuff that rubbed people the wrong way. It happens. I think the endgame has to be, for everyone, that some games are for you, and some games are for me, and we may never meet in the middle... but damnit, for the sake of the community we should try.

Be it Math, History, or English... or Pathfinder, AD&D 2nd edition, or D&D 4e... we've all got our opinions on what is easy, what is hard, and what we like and dislike. Throughout the course of this blog it'll be pretty easy to pick up which games I love, and which ones I don't know much about, and which ones I don't like. But, I promise I'll do my best to be honest about why I like or dislike something, or someone, or some place.

I really, really hate Creed. A lot. Just a shitty band, all together. Pompous lead singer, reused Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots riffs. Not for me... I prefer the latter examples, actually.

So yeah... rants like that, from time to time. But honestly, I think the best policy is to say less of "you play yours and I'll play mine," and more "let's play yours and then play mine." Experience both worlds, and don't trash the other's treasure while you're at it. If you honestly don't appreciate it after an expert runs you through... politely move on. Leave your bridges unburned.

Stone Gossard (he of Pearl Jam fame) once said he used everything he heard, drew inspiration even from music he didn't like... because you never knew where you'd hear a good idea. Likewise, we should approach the gaming hobby the same way - with eyes and ears open, if for no other reason than to find a good villain to steal, adventure thread to pilfer, or pocket to pick.

Live and let the dice fall where they may. Love what you gotta love. Except for Creed... they fuckin' suck.

Quick Mission Statement

Greetings. Welcome.

The plan? To talk about geek stuff I like and don't like - games, movies, music, books, you name it. It may or may not be "geek culture." It may or may not raise your ire. The blog may not look fancy, but it's more about the words and the discourse than pushing an agenda or selling a product. Ain't gotta be flashy, just sound good.

It's about geek done right, damnit. Elitism at it's finest, making no bones about it. I am a geek - this is my roar.