ancientsensai

[varianor]

I can't figure out how to PM you, or find an email. So I'm posting here.

How in heck do you know lou agresta? He was my top DM at Gen Con two years running.

(Feel free to email me if you would prefer. Before the mods boot this thread to the cold lightless spaces of the ether. It's bill followed by a dot followed by collins and that at thingy plus gmail.com.)

[Steven Helt]

I dunno how to do that either.

Lou is a werecabbage, so he is one of the DnD writing superfriends that includes Wolf, Nic Logue and several others.

I first gamed with Lou at GenCon two years ago, in an event run by Nic, and also attended by fellow werecabbage Tim Hitchcock, a dude named Neil I haven't heard from since, a woman whose name I never caught (very fun and funny, though), and some poor guy who I invited to the game because I had an extra ticket, and had wiped out his party in the DnD open the day before. Let me tell you guys that that game was one of the most awesome roleplaying experiences I've had. Everyone there great in character, tuned into the theme.

I like my DnD a little more serious and moody than some of those guys seem to, but they are as funny as hell, and seemingly allergic to mere PG-13 role playing. But they had a way to interject really poorly timed an inapproriate humor in the middle of drama, and still not ruin that moment. I didn't know how they managed that, but I knew then I had to stalk them..erm...game with them more.

Later that con I lost the Iron DM tournament to Iron DM Dreads by .02 points. The next year leading up to Gen Con, some of us were invited to do some adventure writing and creation for Hellfire Congress, a unique idea hosted by Nic and Lou.

This last year, Hellfire Congress and winning Iron DM made for the best Gen Con of my life. I should throw in here shaking hands with Erik Mona, because as my wife will tell you, Erik and Wolf are the kinds of guys I look to for learning more and playing better DnD. They hold the keys to the kingdom as far as I am concerned, and I told my wife and friends over and over 'Erik Mona might be at Iron DM. Wolfgang Baur might be competing at Iron DM. I'm going to throw my stuff against Wolfgang Baur.'

Sadly, Wolf didn't compete in the tournament and I missed the chance to meet him. Maybe I can kick his arse when I defend my title, but hopefully he'll be managing the KQ booth and selling new products while other writers look on and wish they had the keys to the kingdom.

Anyhow, that's pretty much how I know any of these guys, which is not as many as I'd like. Hoping the friends I have made here and in that group will let me strut my stuff in print some day, and getting to know quality people and great gamers like that is certainly a big motivator.

So, I am a new guy in this community, and I just want to say that I love Paizo, the people who hang here, and everything that seems to be going on. I am a committed fan and if you'll all forgive my self-important opinionizing, I'll be around for a while. : }

[varianor]

Cool. I've been more and more interested in Iron DM in the last two years. Have to check it out. Thanks for the explanation!

[Steven Helt]

wait...on my account it says my email address is [e-mail]

You should try that. Anyone can email so long as you are either nice, funny or well...you know.

[Great Green God]

ancientsensei wrote:

wait...on my account it says my email address is [e-mail]

You should try that. Anyone can email so long as you are either nice, funny or hot.

Coming....

;)
OGWC Triple G

[Steven Helt]

or divinity, sure.

[propeliea]

Great Green God wrote:

ancientsensei wrote:

wait...on my account it says my email address is ancientsensei at gmail.com

You should try that. Anyone can email so long as you are either nice, funny or hot.

Coming....

;)
OGWC Triple G

I'd break that up unless hot was meant to be bot. ;)

[Steven Helt]

ooh...yeah..I don't want that. fixing it now. Thanks, I am not so internet savvy. I am more into the table-top version of sex.

[varianor]

Strangely, email addys do not display on this site. Or maybe that's purposeful. I suspect Erik Mona gets enough daily Greyhawk lovin as is.

[Erik Mona]

Not only did I show up at this year's Iron DM competition, I brought the judges White Castles.

MMMmmmmmmm. White Castles.

[Wolfgang Baur]

I will show up at the 2008 Iron DM event. I may or may not bring White Castles, though.

[Steven Helt]

You show up, and I'll bring the Whitecastles.

Erik: you should have seen my kids when I toted in that big-ass sword. The ten-year-old says without anything else being spoken: "I promise I won't touch it because you'll come home and use it on me."

Now, how to top a total party kill to defend my title.....

[Adam Daigle]

Erik Mona wrote:

Not only did I show up at this year's Iron DM competition, I brought the judges White Castles.

MMMmmmmmmm. White Castles.

Until that asshat from the hotel came and took everyone's food away!

[Nicolas Logue]

Everyone should know:

Ancientsensai is one of the finest DMs in existence, in any universe. Not only did he emerge victorious in the most vigorous contest of DM skill ever. He didn't just use this year's three ingredients...he used the ingredients from EVERY past Iron DM competition too.

This isn't the half of it. He's also an INCREDIBLE player, whom I'm honored to have at my table any day. He brought a werewolf chieftain whose people had fallen on hard times to life like no other. He also plays a mean shadowrunner.

More gaming to come next year Sensai, not to mention another Iron DM competition for you to tackle...oh and if you thought Hellfire was a workout, wait until you see what madness awaits you at Gencon 2008.

MUUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

@Erik: Thanks for the White Castle!!! You prove yet again that you are a god among mortals!

@Wolf: You MUST come to Iron DM next year. I would love to meet you finally, and you won't regret taking in the madness that is Iron DM.

@Daigle: You are the King! Thanks for all the amazing help last year Daigs!

[Clinton Boomer]

I just wanted to come in here and tell you:

Ancientsensai, you can be my wingman any time. Hope to see you at GenCon.

I'll be the one wearing a bunch of belts.

[Sean Huguenard]

thatboomerkid wrote:

I just wanted to come in here and tell you:

Ancientsensai, you can be my wingman any time. Hope to see you at GenCon.

I'll be the one wearing a bunch of belts.

PLEASE also wear a shirt, or, at the very least, a pair of pants.

[Erik Anderson]

Sect wrote:

PLEASE also wear a shirt, or, at the very least, a pair of pants.

I just experienced the rather unsettling sensation of having Mountain Dew fountain forth through my nostrils as I read this.

[The Jade]

ancientsensei wrote:

Wolfgang Baur might be competing at Iron DM. I'm going to throw my stuff against Wolfgang Baur.'

Sadly, Wolf didn't compete in the tournament and I missed the chance to meet him. Maybe I can kick his arse when I defend my title, but hopefully he'll be managing the KQ booth and selling new products while other...

Wolfgang wasn't at Gen Con this last year sensai, he had other obligations. This year, you should find your chance. (Edit: Oops, Wolfgang responded already)

I'm still amazed you had room in your car for that gargantuan prize sword Paizo gave away.

The Jade = Rone = tall longhaired guy who brought your wife and the other saddened and vibed out gods chocolate at Hellfire and pelted your players with plush dice at Iron DM.

[Steven Helt]

Great to hear from you, Rone! My wife and I were looking at the pics (still on mylaptop as the Iron DM site is still deathly ill) and remembering everyone we met this year.

Email any time!

[The Jade]

ancientsensei wrote:

Great to hear from you, Rone! My wife and I were looking at the pics (still on mylaptop as the Iron DM site is still deathly ill) and remembering everyone we met this year.

Email any time!

Will do!

[Steven Helt]

Thanks for the uber-kind words, Nic. I'm not much for kissing ass, I really mean it when I say this community has become important to me, and it all started when I played in your first tourney.

Man, how I over-reached in that epic game!

But I have learned every time I have ran a game here and at genCon. The biggest challenge now is fighting off the ideas in my head until next Iron DM - which is a lot harder when I'm not running a campaign!

Good luck to everyone in superstar, and long live Paizo!

[Steven Helt]

I just wanted to note that it's 'sensei'. hehe. The thread was misspelled and everyone started spelling it 'sensai' in their posts.

Very amusing. Works suks and I don't want to be here today.

I want to make my character for Iskandria. Who's running that game again? Can we start at 8th level?

[The Jade]

ancientsensei wrote:

I just wanted to note that it's 'sensei'. hehe. The thread was misspelled and everyone started spelling it 'sensai' in their posts.

That's true. I know perfectly well how to spell sensei, and yet I rushed to cliff's edge like a proper lemming once I saw the mispelling convention.

Wheeeeeeeee!

[Heathansson]

Is somebody running Iskandria?

[Steven Helt]

Why? Are you volunteering?

[Heathansson]

Meh...I was thinking a Marco Polo type adventure, where somebody went on a loooooong journey and encountered a few of these new and bizarre countries might be cool.
I've got kindofa full plate at the moment.

[Steven Helt]

hehe. I am retarded. when i was advised to 'split that up', i thought you meant split up the word hot so the message boards didn't get spammed with porn or something.

I even thought to myself "seems like there'd be no hope to prevent that since poeple on the boards say hot or sex or ass or somesuch all the time.

Just now I realized you meant split up my email address like bill did. What a maroon!

Honestly, when it comes to tricking players into really uncomfortable situations, I am possessed by Asmodeus. Please do't judge me for my internet naivete.

At last, an answer to all that spam in my inboxes! Stop giving my email addresss away to people I don't know. Who knew?

[Tim Hitchcock]

Erik Mona wrote:

Not only did I show up at this year's Iron DM competition, I brought the judges White Castles.

MMMmmmmmmm. White Castles.

The smell still haunts me...

actually, that was my favorite meal of Gen Con. I was starving, suddenly I smelled white castles. I turn around, and there stands Erik with a giant sack of burgers. Soon afterwards the Con Security came and confiscated everyone's food.

[Tim Hitchcock]

ancientsensei wrote:

I first gamed with Lou at GenCon two years ago, in an event run by Nic, and also attended by fellow werecabbage Tim Hitchcock, a dude named Neil I haven't heard from since, a woman whose name I never caught (very fun and funny, though), and some poor guy who I invited to the game because I had an extra ticket, and had wiped out his party in the DnD open the day before. Let me tell you guys that that game was one of the most awesome roleplaying experiences I've had. Everyone there great in character, tuned into the theme.

Bloodlines!!!!!!!

That game kicked serious arse. AncientSensei's werewolf character was killer. Kudos for ditching your battlemap during IRON GM as well. A tactic that seems to have won you this years mantel.

For the rest of you folks out there, Nick still occasionaly runs the adventure Sensei's talking about. Its a one shot d20 D&D thing, with werewolves verses vampires called Bloodlines. If you can get yourself into bloodlines, do it. that was probably one of my favorite games as well.

Although the Shadowrun game that Nick ran for the Paizo staff and freelancers at ORIGINS last year was pretty buttkickin' too!

[Steven Helt]

Nic, did you run the same Shadowrun game that you ran for us? I played the guy with the cyber arm, and Tabby was the "old man".

[Erik Mona]

Daigle wrote:

Until that asshat from the hotel came and took everyone's food away!

By then I had made my daring escape.

There couldn't have been more than a bag of burgers left anyway, so HA!

[Nicolas Logue]

ancientsensei wrote:

Nic, did you run the same Shadowrun game that you ran for us? I played the guy with the cyber arm, and Tabby was the "old man".

Nope. That's a different one. Also a goodie of mine. That one is far more High Espionage, while the one I ran for Erik, Josh, Tim and the Crew was far more "meat and potatoes" shadowrun feel. They even had Diamond D as a fixer...there is no more iconic Nick-Style-Shadowrun feel than that provided by Diamond D - he's kinda like my metaphor for the whole world of the game.

[Michael Raper]

*le Sigh* The chances of me getting to Gen Con anytime soon is nil even though it would be like traveling to Mecca or Graceland in a gaming sense of course. All of this talk of what goes on there though is just making me want to find someway of making the trek.

Origins however is a bit more managable considering it's over THERE which is only 4 hours away.

If I ever do go to Gen Con I'd have to make sure to take a big enough van with shackles properly mounted... *makes list* Hmmm gotta kidnap Mister Logue, Mister Mona, Mister Baur.... *mumbles* The guy with all the belts... :)

[Clinton Boomer]

Sheyd wrote:

Origins however is a bit more managable considering it's over THERE which is only 4 hours away.

If I ever do go to Gen Con I'd have to make sure to take a big enough van with shackles properly mounted... *makes list* Hmmm gotta kidnap Mister Logue, Mister Mona, Mister Baur.... *mumbles* The guy with all the belts... :)

I'll be at Origins, too. It's six hours away for me & the girlfriend, and since SHE intends to be there, I'll probably tag along.

Plus, you can leave the van as-is: I come with my own restraints!

[Michael Raper]

thatboomerkid wrote:

I'll be at Origins, too. It's six hours away for me & the girlfriend, and since SHE intends to be there, I'll probably tag along.

Plus, you can leave the van as-is: I come with my own restraints!

Ah Cool! Another reason to do my best to make it to Origins this year. :)

[Nicolas Logue]

Sheyd wrote:

thatboomerkid wrote:

I'll be at Origins, too. It's six hours away for me & the girlfriend, and since SHE intends to be there, I'll probably tag along.

Plus, you can leave the van as-is: I come with my own restraints!

Ah Cool! Another reason to do my best to make it to Origins this year. :)

I shall also be at Origins this year!

[Michael Raper]

Nicolas Logue wrote:

I shall also be at Origins this year!

Ah HA! Another reason to do my best to get there!

[Clinton Boomer]

Sheyd wrote:

Nicolas Logue wrote:

I shall also be at Origins this year!

Ah HA! Another reason to do my best to get there!

Okay, so when we all meet up, can we do a slow-motion high-five?

[Nicolas Logue]

thatboomerkid wrote:

Sheyd wrote:

Nicolas Logue wrote:

I shall also be at Origins this year!

Ah HA! Another reason to do my best to get there!

Okay, so when we all meet up, can we do a slow-motion high-five?

Awww yeah!

[Michael Raper]

Nicolas Logue wrote:

thatboomerkid wrote:

Sheyd wrote:

Nicolas Logue wrote:

I shall also be at Origins this year!

Ah HA! Another reason to do my best to get there!

Okay, so when we all meet up, can we do a slow-motion high-five?

Awww yeah!

You betcha! Ah now I just HAVE to find a way to get there!

[Sharoth]

Where is Origins? Just wondering.

[Michael Raper]

Sharoth wrote:

Where is Origins? Just wondering.

Columbus Ohio. At least I HOPE that's the Origins we're all talking about otherwise I'm gonna be mortified! :)

[Nicolas Logue]

ancientsensei wrote:

I dunno how to do that either.

Lou is a werecabbage, so he is one of the DnD writing superfriends that includes Wolf, Nic Logue and several others.

Lou is a mighty werecabbage and an amazing writer to boot! I'm currently co-writing several projects with him...he is a genius!

[Fiendish Dire Weasel]

Just wanted everyone to be aware that ancientsensei is presently without phone or internet due to the lovely ice storms in Oklahoma in the past few days. He will rejoin the conversation as soon as he is able. :)

He does at least have electric and heat apparently. :)

[gbonehead]

Fiendish Dire Weasel wrote:

Just wanted everyone to be aware that ancientsensei is presently without phone or internet due to the lovely ice storms in Oklahoma in the past few days. He will rejoin the conversation as soon as he is able. :)

He does at least have electric and heat apparently. :)

Jeez!

Think any of the top 16 are in the same boat, and are going "Holy crap, I've got now power, how am I going to submit my entry?!?!?!?"

[Clinton Boomer]

gbonehead wrote:

Jeez!

Think any of the top 16 are in the same boat, and are going "Holy crap, I've got now power, how am I going to submit my entry?!?!?!?"

I was very, VERY nearly in that boat - sick as a dog, with my town iced in, plus a spotty internet connect at best . . . but I dug in, lucked out and got it done.

Hooray, me!

[Heathansson]

Fiendish Dire Weasel wrote:

Just wanted everyone to be aware that ancientsensei is presently without phone or internet due to the lovely ice storms in Oklahoma in the past few days. He will rejoin the conversation as soon as he is able. :)

He does at least have electric and heat apparently. :)

My wife's got relatives up there. It's a royal byoch when it ices up up there.

Hope you're okay, ancient dude.

[Joseph Yerger]

I went through the blizzard that hit the east coast in the 90's (which froze Atlanta to New York) without power and such. I also lived in Northern Minnesota for several years, enduring -60 degree temps before wind chill was factored in.

Layers!

Remember Layers! It is always easier to take them off when needed, than to put them on if you don't have them. Funny, all the old folks from the north and mid west who come to Florida forget this fact and do nothing but complain about being cold when the temps hit 65 degrees.

Layers!

[Steven Helt]

ancientsensa...erm...ancientsensei lives!!

no phone or internet for over a week! three fantasy football teams started play with no management whatsoever (and it looks like i'll be 3-0), and an abrupt end to all dialogue in this here magnificent commuity.

but i'm back to continue making friends and root for my superstar favorites...of which there are none at this time but a few people have pulled marginally ahead.

good to be back - can't wait to see the villains.