When not in Ancient Egypt - films, computer games and roleplaying

Normally, I'd be hacking my way through ancient Egypt on a Wednesday evening (Titan Quest). However, this week my partner in crime heroism has stood me up (that's Alistair J), possibly for The Secret World (which I haven't yet looked at, but was created by Dreamfall's Ragnar Tørnquist, so is likely to be impressive). So instead I'm writing an LJ update and trying to ignore the fact that I might be half-way through my annual leave already.

On the virtuous/work side (also known as I like a cleaner house than I tend to live in), I have managed a fair bit of housework in the last week-and-a-half. I've cleaned both bathrooms fully, washed the kitchen floor, de-moulded and cleaned a number of windows (along with washing numerous net curtains), done more clothes/bedding washing than I care to think about and a tiny bit of vacuuming. The house could still do with a lot more. In addition, I've been able to do a fair bit of cooking which I enjoy when I have the time.

On the sofa-bound/leisure side, bateleur and I have spent more time watching films on the television than usual in the last week. This is mainly because I finally got around to buying the last two Harry Potters.

( The two Deathly Hallows films and Equilibrium )

I'm not sure whether this ends up counting as leisure given it was bloody hard work, but after several days of trying (limiting myself to a couple of attempts per day) I finally took down the end boss of Diablo III. I've mostly covered this in a previous post - but it was difficult, time-consuming and, after learning the strategy to do it, I had to turn the video quality down to reduce the game lag to succeed. It'll be a while before I try any of the other character types (my completion was on the standard difficulty using a wizard with the Templar as my follower).

After much swearing at Diablo III, I decided my next PC game had to be easier. In this, I have succeeded. I chose Drawn which turns out to be aimed at Bea's age group and she and I have been playing together. It's a pretty fairy tale type of game, quite fun, rather mini-game heavy and mainly point and click (although, as the title suggests, provides opportunities for me to prove that I can't draw for toffee). I've also been playing a bit of Dynasty Tactics 2 on the PS2 for contrast (it's a turn-based strategy game). When Bea goes off to Sherwood with Ryan and my parents I'll pause Drawn and start on one of various horror games I have lined up: Dark Fall: Lost Souls, Penumbra Collection and the recently bought Darkness Within collection which is apparently "for Lovecraft fans". Darkness Within arrived with a soundtrack which I am now listening to (and may use in a future roleplaying game).

bateleur's game Revolution is continuing (the local gaming group - sessions are two or three hours long roughly once a week on a weekday evening) and we are slowly learning more about the plot. And developing higher levels of paranoia. We've identified the local weapons merchant and found there is a cordon around our town.

Following a sudden flux of roleplaying posts (mainly OxCon), I'm thinking more and more about my GMing plans post-Meteor (which I expect to complete before the end of the year). I have a copy of Dark Heresy which I have been ignoring while Meteor was still to run. It's been a long time since I ran anything with a published system and so I think I'd like to use one for once. Whether it will be a one-off or a mini-campaign will depend on what I think of the system once I've read it. Also, I'm starting to get ideas for various one-offs and I'm writing them down with the aim of coming back to them when I'm ready to plan something. With the exception of Ghost Hunting at the British Museum, I haven't run a one-off in years. When I do games, it tends to be campaigns, so I think that when Meteor ends, it might be a good time to run a few one-offs for once.