Author: john wick

Of all the antagonists I’ve created, I must admit, Mr. Finger is one of my favorites. The TT players haven’t seen much of him, nor do they know anything about him, but they HATE HATE HATE him all the same. Devoted to his destruction, you might say.

Well, as it turns out, I get to play Finger as a PC in San Diego from time to time… but lately… I’ve been inspired. Don’t ask me why — I can’t tell you why. I mean, I do know, but I’m not telling.

In short, I’d like to play Finger in the LA Sabbat chronicle. The problem is that he would require at least 2 Regional Approvals and at least 1 National Approval to play. And with only 1 year left in the Chronicle, there just isn’t enough time for any of that.

I’d write up a killer app. Finger’s history is long, bloody, and beautiful. And terrible. And there are people he just has to meet. People he just has to play with. Meddle with. Toy with. And destroy… so they can be born again. It’s that whole Metamorphasis thing, you know.

So, anyway, I’ll just sit back and think about it for a while. Then, later this weekend, I’ll go over the apps with Trekhead and he’ll tell me why they’ll never get approved, destroy my illusions, and I’ll get on with my life.

Until then, I’ll be dreaming in the arms of the Dragon…

“Old bad eyes… old bad eyes… old bad eyes…”

(I swear to Shosuro I didn’t cheat.)

(And the irony of that sentence… I’ll just leave it right there and trust that you won’t question my sincerity.)

Duty and Loyalty: You serve your purpose and do
what you must do. People would consider you
someone to rely on, and one who keeps his/her
word when he/she gives it.

Which Characteristic From the Samurai Code Matches You Best? (You may find out your best trait)
brought to you by Quizilla

THE DOCTOR IS IN!!!

latentblue is the Cookie Queen, Mistress of Sweets, Keeper of Crumbs, and the Goddess of Goodies.

To her, I pledge my devotion, my humble worship, admiration, and adoration.

She who brings me cookies, who chills the milk, and warms my tummy with sweet caresses.

She who knows secret alchemies, who makes her own dough, who bakes them in an oven made when the world was young.

She who told me one of the world’s Great Secrets: that a cookie is a hug you can eat.

She is the Cookie Queen, and I kneel in her presence, and wait with hope that she will bless me with her labors.

“My Queen, I am not worthy to recieve your blessing, but only say the word, and I shall be healed.”

Welcome to SAVE

You are a Tortured Conceptual Artist. Your fellow
postmodernists call you an anachronism, but
you’ve never cared much about the opinions of
others. After all, most of them are far too
simple-minded to appreciate the nuances of your
work. They talk, while you are part of a lived
tradition.

What kind of postmodernist are you!?
brought to you by Quizilla

01. I’ll eat pizza, but I don’t love it.
02. I admire passion.
03. I like honest, unclever poetry.
04. I also enjoy leather.
05. I love vegetables.
06. At present, I don’t support any political party.
07. I love LA, but she makes me crazy sometimes.
08. I don’t worry. In fact I don’t worry enough.
09. I’m thinking of shaving my beard and dying my hair.
10. I like shopping by myself.
11. My best friend is a better game designer than me.
12. I love having my home to myself overnight, which is quite a rare event.
13. I love oranges.
14. I don’t think Buffy The Vampire Slayer was all that great.
15. I have aches and pains the doctors describe as “getting old.”
16. I hated school, no really hated it.
17. I love cats.
18. I have a sleeping bag, lantern, and other camping supplies; all ready to go.
19. I think you can definitely have too many shoes.
20. I like getting things in the mail (as long as they aren’t bills)
21. I like truisms (little truths whose opposites are also true) and think they reflect reality more than we suspect.
22. I like pro wrestling — as long as it doesn’t include Hulk Hogan.
23. I hope that I don’t fall in love with you.
24. I’m a friendly drunk.
25. I don’t like chocolate.
26. I miss being in a band.
27. I love hearing new kinds of (good) music.
28. I am a fan of heavy metal music.
29. I am a LiveJournal regular.
30. I can’t sew.
31. I would love to start making my own clothes.
32. I own my own company.
33. I think the word that best sums up Tom Waits is “alchemist.”
34. I like to listen to the same CDs over and over again.
35. I am sceptical.
36. I think drunk driving is one of the worst things you can do.
37. I think rape is even worse, though.
38. I’ve always wanted to see Germany.
39. I have a silver streak in my hair.
40. Physical features are not secondary (or even tertiary) on my list for selecting a lover.
41. I really enjoy thoughtful gifts, even if they cost nothing. Still, I’ll like almost anything just because the person took the time to pick it out.
42. I have a very high Sincerity roll.
43. I suck at drawing.
44. I can speak French very badly.
45. I also suck at playing basketball.
46. I don’t own a lot of video games.
47. If I’m not doing something, I feel I’m wasting my time.
48. I like meat. Meat good. Yay.
49. I love my parents.
50. I always say hello to cats or dogs I meet on the street.
51. I love my brother.
52. My memory was permanently damaged in a car accident.
53. I believe it’s possible that all the world’s theologies may be right.
54. I am very irritable when I’m tired.
55. I’ve never tried eating cous cous with my hands.
56. It takes a long time for me to lose my temper, but when I do, it’s bad.
57. I love Chinese food.
58. I am a damn good cook.
59. I am patient.
60. I love dogs and cats.
61. I dream about my friends.
62. I drive late at night just to drive.
63. My bed is sacred; I don’t share it with strangers.
64. My ex-wife and I are still very close friends.
65. I don’t drink enough water.
66. I work very hard at everything I do.
67. I hate being too hot. And too cold.
68. I give people too many chances; I have a Buddha heart.
69. I don’t always tell people how I really feel.
70. I… have a guilty pleasure for pop music.
71. I drink way too much Coke.
72. The Family Guy is the shiz.
73. I don’t like tomatoes.
74. I want to travel more.
75. I love the guitar (even though I barely play it).
76. I’m barely in touch with anyone I went to primary school with.
77. I take more enjoyment in making others happy than I take in making myself happy.
78. I often say things I shouldn’t.
79. I loved “The Ring”.
80. I love rainstorms.
81. My job rules.
82. I love buying people presents.
83. My cat died last week — she was being taken care of by a friend.
84. I’m re-writing and re-designing one of my favorite rpgs of all time.
85. I resent supermarkets.
86. I love open fires.
87. Listening to music makes me happy
88. I like listening to deep voiced men sing.
89. There is probably something else I should be doing rather than this.
90. People tell me I sing rather well.
91. The only language I speak is English.
92. I don’t burp.
93. I hate most poetry.
94. I am unsure of our country’s future.
95. I can’t enjoy sex unless my partner is satisfied first.
96. I live upstairs from a beautiful family that I adore.
97. I don’t work enough.
98. I fight depression with a shotgun and a chainsaw hand every moment of my life.
99. I love new music.
100. The only reason I want to play in the Camarilla is because certain people there won’t play anywhere else.

My LiveJournal 12 Days
My True Love gave to me…
12 crapdaddys a-raving.
11 danthedragons a-singing.
10 latentblues a-breakdancing.
9 learsfools a-tickling.
8 mctony522s a-bowing.
7 savageplanets a-smooching.
6 smashandgrabs a-gyrating.
5 light yellow sweetchilis.
4 sniffing tas527s.
3 Israeli theglares.
2 salamander trekheads.
And a xianvox in a tangerine tree.
Get gifts! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

(Um… um… uh… yeah…)

1. What’s my favorite band? Rush
Anyone who knows me well knows this one. The first record I ever bought was All the World’s a Stage. Neil Peart inspired me to play drums, to write poetry, to read something other than fantasy and science fiction. Their new album, Rush in Rio, is amazing. So’s Vapor Trails. You should check out both of them.

2. Who’s my favorite singer? Tom Waits
Another dead give-away for those who know me. Although, I have to admit, the Jimmy Buffett answer threw a lot of people off. Yeah, Jimmy’s a damn close second. That’s why you got 7 points for that answer — but 10 for the Raindog.

3. Who’s my favorite author? Chuck Palahniuk
Anyone who answered Tolkein got NO POINTS. Everybody else got 7, and Chuckie P got 10. I had to stop reading Diary because I was crying at the end of each chapter.

4. What’s my favorite movie? Big Trouble in Little China
L5R fans all over the world can only suspect how much influence this movie had on the Clan War storyline. Watch it again, and think of Egg as Shinsei and Lo Pan as Fu Leng.

5. What have I NOT been? Short order cook
I was a shantyman, a counselor, all those other things. But, I’ve never been a short order cook.

6. Which girl is NOT my type? The Blonde Bombshell
Never again. Never ever ever ever. The rest are worth equal points. That is, zero.

7. What concert have I NOT seen? Johnny Cash
Never got to see the Man in Black, and I’m poorer for it.

8. What company have I NOT worked for? Lucas Arts
And I’m pretty sure I don’t want to.

9. What Path am I on? Path of Lilith
In college, I wrote a philosophy paper about luxury, making the allusion of the Quest for the Grail as a spiritual quest for pain and adversity. Luxury brings us nothing. It is when we are faced with ruin that our true natures emerge, when our souls and convictions are truly tested. Our culture wants us to be luxurious. To sit down, watch the tube, and admire the accomplishments of others. (There are entire books devoted to studying the works of Tolkein; imagine if all that energy went into an original creative effort. Just imagine.) We are not creatures of luxury. Our souls do not shine when we are at rest. Only when we are in motion. Only when we are challenged. Be careful what Grail you seek. Some are filled with wine. Others are filled with shit.

10. What’s my favorite Clan? Scorpion
This was the gimme.

Thanks to everyone who played along! And remember:

Just between us
I think it’s time for us to recognize
The differences we sometimes fear to show
Just between us
I think it’s time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow
— Rush, Entre Nous (lyrics by Neil Peart)

FANBOY: Fellow L5R fan here….
FANBOY: Do you have a moment?
ME: Hi.
ME: (I’m an L5R fan??? Okay… ;-))
FANBOY: Hi!
FANBOY: Hahaha! How can you not be a fan?
ME: You’ve never worked in the game industry, have you? 😉
FANBOY: Too much history there….I figure at the very least you maintain a bitter relationship like and ex-wife of sorts.
ME: First things first. You know who I am, but I don’t know who you are.
FANBOY: No no…not creative enough, unfortunately. =)
FANBOY: My name is John Hughes.
ME: Hello there.
FANBOY: Just found your handle on RPGnet and wanted to pick your brain about Dragon. =)
ME: Okay. But make it quick. 😀
FANBOY: Assuming you can stomach some fan boy Q&A.
FANBOY: What the hell was the point of that clan?
FANBOY: Not trying to be critical but they seem like a gaggle of “do nothings.”
ME: Okay… first things first.
FANBOY: Well except for Hitomi who seems to angry to think most of the time.
FANBOY: (PS This all stems from my GM challenging me to play one in a campaign he’s putting together.)
ME: You AIM me out of nowhere, don’t introduce yourself, I don’t know you from Adam, ask to “pick my mind,” then you say, “What the hell were you thinking???” Do you believe this is the best way to approach me?
FANBOY: Hahaha! Sorry about that.
ME: Did you read Way of the Dragon?
FANBOY: I just want to know where they, specifically, are coming from….
ME: ME: Did you read Way of the Dragon?
FANBOY: The rest (being the other clans) I understand, I think. but the Dragon elude me…maybe that was the point. (Ya, I have read it.)
ME: Maybe it was.
ME: Maybe the Dragon represent things that cannot be understood or explained.
FANBOY: Some of the Dragon characters depicted seem so full of life and others seem so aloof. I understand enough to know what you were doing when laying the ground work for all of this so I figured you would be my best source. =)
FANBOY: I think my issue is I get too hung up in the sterotypes, none of which seem to fit the Dragon extremely well.
ME: That’s right.
ME: The symbol of the dragon is a symbol of enigmas and mysteries. Dragons are like storms. You can’t “understand” a storm. You can only ride it out.
ME: Does that make sense?
FANBOY: And, as a result, I seem incapable of indetifying with them.
FANBOY: Ya, that makes sense.
ME: They aren’t a rational Clan.
FANBOY: Do they get played a lot in your group?
ME: Each Clan represents something. A samurai virtue. The Scorpion are loyalty, the Crab are Courage, the Lion are Duty… the Dragon are… the Dragon. The enigma. Things that cannot be explained. That’s it.
ME: Anything else?
FANBOY: SO technically speaking you can find ALL of the sterotypes among the Dragon, right?
ME: :-\
ME: Think about what I’ve said.
ME: As Musashi writes: “You must consider this carefully.”
ME: Did you know the bumblebee cannot fly?
FANBOY: C’mon, man…I am IM you out of the blue with a barrage of questions. Patience, understanding, social tact…these things elude me. =)
ME: It can’t fly. It’s aerodynamically impossible for the bumble bee to fly.
FANBOY: No, it makes sense.
ME: *points* there goes one now. Flying.
ME: That’s the Dragon.
ME: Okay. First question done. You get one more.
FANBOY: Hmmmm….I’ll have to ponder. Can I save my question for a later date? =)
ME: Nope.
ME: Now or never.
FANBOY: Then I will have to say that I am done. I appreciate the insight.
ME: 😉
ME: see ya later.

*BLOCK*