BLII - Out of Character Chat

[Jenara]

And now I'm away for a week.

Funny still have WiFi tho.

[BishGada]

Have fun Jenara!

[Stik]

I've been home for five days now, and have been putting in crazy hours at work. I'll be picking up the game presently. Stay tuned.

My vacation, the 45th annual Pennsic War, was enjoyable.

I fought some interesting battles during the day, and went to some great parties at night. I saw some old friends and made some new ones. I ate some good food, drank some good mead, and in general had a good time despite the extremely hot weather.

There were a lot of great moments, but perhaps the best part is this: My encampment, the Kingdom of Acre, holds a party every year. A few years ago I, a bard at heart, added a bardic circle to said party. (A bardic circle is generally held around a campfire, with performers getting up performing for the folks assembled there. It can be singing, playing an instrument, telling stories, dancing, whatever.) The Acre Bardic Circle has been picking up momentum. Last year (owing largely to my apprentice, Leonora attending several bardic classes in the process spreading the word to the instructors and other participants) we had huge number of performers - upwards of thirty, some of whom were very talented. This year despite a rainstorm shortly before the party began, we still had upwards of thirty performers at our circle, some of whom were famous bards in the society. We have apparently managed to establish a reputation as a happening place to perform to the point that performing at our circle is seen as a prestigious thing to do. But on top of that, our circle is still seen as a place where less experienced performers are welcome. It's truly the best of both worlds.

[Jenara]

I've been reading a lot of Falco.. Gets me closer to the Roman mindset.

[Stik]

Falco - isn't he the guy who wrote "Rock Me, Amadeus"?

[Jenara]

Lindsey Davies. The Falco Mysteries.. Imagine a Private investigator in Rome..

Shes really done her homework on Roman life, really detailed. Starts with a book called Silver Pigs, set in 70AD.

[Stik]

I was kidding.
I've heard of Falco Mysteries. Haven't read any of them, though.

Hey, if I can continue to gush about my vacation (and who's to stop me? I have a keyboard and a place to post. Nobody actually has to read the following) I have another story.

I am serving this year as King of Acre (King Niccolo II). We are a small splinter group of the SCA, the international medieval society that hosts the Pennsic War. Every year the War starts with opening ceremonies, where war is officially declared and the various kingdoms (there are about twenty of them) announce which side they will be fighting for. As a Kingdom, Acre gets to make a formal declaration. As such, we march into the ceremony and speak to the crowd assembled, which is something like 5,000 people.

One of my friends told me a story the next day. She said she was at opening ceremonies, and happened to be speaking to a total stranger in the crowd as the various royals were entering the ceremony about how some of the Kings and Queens really look the part, and have the attitude and gravitas in their appearance and body language that tells the world around them that they are royalty, whereas others are just dressed up and going through the motions.

The stranger said: "Like, look at this guy. He owns it. There's no doubt that this guy is a king. Look at his walk."
My friend looked and said: "He really does. Wow. Oh jeez, that's Nico."

[Jenara]

*Nudges Stik with a sharp stick*

[Stik]

*Nudges Stik with a sharp stick*

Waiting on you and Breila...

[Jenara]

She's away right now on her hols for a few weeks. I was waiting for him to excuse them, then we'd move away for a bit and you could carry on without us.

[Stik]

Gotcha.
I totally forgot she was going to be away.
So...onward.

[Breila]

One of my stops during the holiday was the Roman City of Aguntum. nestled in the Southern Alps: http://www.aguntum.info We've been following the excavations there since the mid-1990s. It's interesting to see the progress.

[TristenC]

Sweet. Welcome back, btw

[Stik]

Okay, so the weirdest thing happened.
For the past few weeks, I've been checking PADnD from my Android, and seeing no responses from anyone after my last post on September 14.
So here I was, thinking that I had alienated my players, and that you'd all walked out on me. And I've been trying to decide how to handle that.
Today was the first time I logged onto the site from my PC, and lo and behold, there are posts from you all after 9/14. Which means you're all thinking I had walked out on you.
Technology.

[Breila]

I'm glad the situation turned out to be a technology glitch. I had feared something bad had happened to you.