10/21/2003 Entry: "I Summon The Forces Of Room Service."

No, Jason's right. I don't have a lot to add to the story about NERO in the Park either. We went down to a suburban neighborhood in Los Gatos, right near where I went to high school. I know a few of the NERO folk already, so of course it was good to see Leon and Jeremy. They're good people.

I have played a few roleplaying games before, but most of my experience, if you'd call it that, is from reading the rulebooks or posting to a newsgroup. Highly esoteric. If I wanted to be a great swordsman or a superhuman creature, I could. I only had to be able to describe what I could do to do it in-game. NERO is different. Not only is it Live Action Role Playing, but includes an actual combat system; if you want to attack, you swing a foam padded weapon at your opponent. If you want to dodge a spell thrown at you, you're the one who has to duck in time. If you want to run back to town like a little girl, you're the one who has to do the crying all the way. This realization brought the reality of working up a sweat and getting pummelled a little too close to my fantasy; I chose just to watch.

So it was good to cheer Jane on, and fun to make faces at Jonathan, who played a Gargoyle for a battle scene. Jhames and Min Jung and I sat on the sides and watched and threw leftover spell packets at each other. "I call forth a Furry Fetishist!" "With mystic force, I make you wear Strawberry Shortcake Underwear." It was fun to follow along like a spirit, taking pictures.

It was even more fun to watch Jhames get hit on by the elf. The man was an equal opportunity flirt, so he tried a little charm magic in my direction too. And really, he was a reasonably handsome fellow but...well, to be blunt about it, elf ears just make me go totally flaccid. Sorry. "Resisted."

Truth be told, I somewhat regret not playing; I suppose I could have at least played as an NPC (one of the monsters that the NERO people beat up.) Then again, I also saw Jonathan rolling around on the ground after an errant foam sword clocked him in the nuts. So maybe I made the right decision after all.

I am a geek at heart, so when I came home I started to reread the rules of Magic. I started to come up with a Celestial Scholar character, and was writing myself into the story line I saw on Saturday. This was starting to frighten me. I really don't have time for yet another hobby that takes up all my spare time. But I was considering it. Even to the point that I was starting to consider going to the upcoming weekend event. I mentioned this tonight on the phone to the boyfriend. He sighed. "Just don't fuck the elf, OK?"

The food that was in my mouth came out my nose.

He asked me a little about it and I mentioned that it was up in the Santa Cruz mountains. "Camp? You mean, with cabins and tents?" he asked. I hadn't put those two thoughts together before. Suddenly I realized I was in imminent danger of breaking one of the more fundamental Rules for Being Me: Casey Does Not Camp. Not even with bunk rooms and showers. If it involves a lot of dirt, it doesn't involve me. That's pretty high up there on the List, probably somewhere around the rules about drinking decaf and wearing sweatpants in public. If there's a game night planned, though, I think I may need to make my roleplaying experience a little less hypothetical.

In the meantime, if anyone needs me I'll be here, snuggling up in bed with a nice big rulebook.

And wearing Strawberry Shortcake Underwear. Rules are rules.

Replies: 6 comments

I've been reading about the "Elf Incident" these past couple of days. Very funny. Still have to head over to MJ's site to see her pics.

I'm with you about camping. I've stolen Lea Delaria's line about it: "My idea of roughing it is a hotel with no room service"

Posted by Lee @ 10/21/2003 01:37 AM PST

"clocked him in the nuts"

My officially saying of the day!!!

Posted by Nala @ 10/21/2003 05:34 AM PST

I'm about to do a tour as a NERO NPC myself, to help out a friend who runs the local NERO group. Ilve action games have always been a little alien to me (Yeah, I know how you feel about the elf ears, but they can be done properly. Prosthetic foreheads, now...those are tricky)

Posted by Sherri @ 10/21/2003 09:46 AM PST

"Banish Elf" is almost as handy a spell to know as "Dispel Drunken Nun"...

Posted by Sister Edith @ 10/21/2003 08:34 PM PST

I always say that Jews don't camp. If it can't be seen while driving by at 60 mph, it's just not worth seeing.

I'm baffled why anyone would think that sleeping on the ground, getting dirty, and peeing in the woods are acceptable ways to spend a vacation.

Meet me at the hotel.

Posted by jadedju @ 10/22/2003 11:11 PM PST

It's not really like real camping, you big sissy. And hey, hotties in Ren Faire garb!

Posted by Jeremy @ 10/23/2003 02:32 PM PST