This thread is dedicated to all of those gamers out there who MUST go through some sort of ritual-like experience to PROPERLY prepare for their game, be it fantasy, Superheros, sci-fi, or any other genre. This is your opportunity to share with you geekdom moments.
Me?
Desk Washing: I wash my desk off with a damp cloth. This includes removing any books, the light, dice box, miniatures, books, pen, pencil, erasure, calculater, or anything else that is on the desk and wiping underneath.
Dice Sorting: Depending upon the game I play, my dice sorting varies. When I'd play D&D, I would arrange the dice by size, putting each d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 in its own pile and line them up in a row from highest to lowest. Being the DM, these dice were used strictly for gamemastering and were placed directly in front of the DM screen. I'd then put the dice box off to the side.
I would then place my character's dice on their own dice bag off to my right side.
Now when I played Top Secret/S.I., I would select three dice of each size, one of each color and put them in a single pile, leaving the remaining dice in the dice box I bought and put it up by the Administrators Screen.
I would then place my character's dice on their own dice bag off to my right side, just as I did for D&D.
Now that I'm playing Legion (or rather trying), I need to develop new dice habits.
Gaming Clothes: When I played D&D, I would have a specific gaming shirt I wore, in fact everyone in the group would wear the same type of shirt.
With Top Secret/S.I. I would wear a fine silk shirt which portrayed a dragon and tiger on it. My character is half Caucasion and half Japanese but only acknowledges her Japanese heritage. I would also put on a necklace with a green dragon on it, as it matched her codename.
With Legion, I'm wearing my Phantom Girl Girl (t-shirt from Walmart with a iron on picture of her). We made similiar Legion shirts for the other 2 players as well. I have Superman pj's bottoms to wear as well.
Drinks: I have a glass gaming mug I would use for soda pop. It would hold just less than a can of pop. Recently I upgraded to a much larger one. This thing is so big it takes 3 cans of pop. The glass is so heavy that that it requires 2 hands to drink from it.
Gaming Room: I have a room dedicated to gaming, the decor of the room changes depending upon the game I am currently involved in. When I played D&D I filled it with Greyhawk posters. I had two posters of the City of Greyhawk on the wall, a felt scroll hanging of a griffon coat of arms I picked up at the Rennasaince Fair, a few weapons on the wall and desk (2 sais, a ninja-to, and a shuriken), I have several Xena 8x10 pictures framed and put on the wall, as well as a few Xena posters as well.
When I switch to Top Secret/S.I., I take down most of the D&D stuff and put up other things. The posters get replaced with Top Secret/S.I. posters that have come with modules. One is of the island of San Cristobal, one is a blue print of a submarine, another a bluepring of a train. I have another which is the blueprint mansion of a villain and yet another which shows the blueprint of Monte Carlo casino. The weapons remain on the wall and desk. These are the weapons my character uses (she's a modern day ninja). I also have a t-shirt of my character as well which hangs on the wall. I have several Japanese ordainments within the room as well. Two fans, one on top of the sterio another on the wall (its like 4' long). I have portaits up of the characters as well. I have many, many, and even many Jame Bond 8x10 pictures all framed which get strategically placed throughout the gaming room and adjoining bathroom. They are separated by themes of the pictures.
For Legion, I have some Supergirl posters I've found, My Legion books out (the 12 hardcover archive books on the desk), 3 videos from the Legion cartoon, two action figures, a small telephone booth of Clark Kent entering and tearing off his shirt to reveal the "S" on his costume. Flip open the other door and Superman is flying out of the booth fully costumed. I have some Legion hero-clix miniatures as well on the desk. I've printed some Legion pictures and they are framed on the desk as well. On the walls I have a Legion poster. I also have a Superman pillow case mounted on the wall. I've printed several 4x6 pictures from my Legion screensaver and put them in frames which hold several pictures. Finally, I have a picture of planet Earth framed and on top of the electric fireplace.
Regardless of which game I'm playing, I have my gaming table for my two battle mats, along with miniatures spread out nearby. With Top Secret/S.I. I also use toy cars, helicopters, boats, and the like to assist in game play.
So what do you do to celebrate your gaming geekdom?
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I feel like I should surrender my geek card. *sigh*
All I do is insist on having Diet Mountain Dew (or Firefly Vodka) to drink and one or more of a few preferred snacks:
*a fresh tub of hummus with some pita bread
*frozen Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies (when in season)
*Hickory Farms Smokey Bar (when in season)
*Fried Pork Dumplings from any clean, reputable chinese restaurant
I usually change into one of my geek-theme t-shirts if I get a chance. My favorite: The blood-splatter surrounding the phrase, "Pass me another character sheet and some better dice."
I wish I had a dedicated gaming room/dork cave. *sigh*
I feel like I should surrender my geek card. *sigh*
All I do is insist on having Diet Mountain Dew (or Firefly Vodka) to drink and one or more of a few preferred snacks:
*a fresh tub of hummus with some pita bread
*frozen Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies (when in season)
*Hickory Farms Smokey Bar (when in season)
*Fried Pork Dumplings from any clean, reputable chinese restaurantI usually change into one of my geek-theme t-shirts if I get a chance. My favorite: The blood-splatter surrounding the phrase, "Pass me another character sheet and some better dice."
I wish I had a dedicated gaming room/dork cave. *sigh*
I like the shirt, where did you find it? Actually, very awesome if you ask me.
I have a strange habit... I use Carmex,the tiny jar version. Well, anytime I use one up I switch the new one's lid with this old one I've been using for years. Its almost completely polished of any paint and I've managed to create a quarter-sized crater in the lid over time. When gaming I take my wedding ring off and balance it in the Carmex crater-lid on the gaming table.
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I feel like I should surrender my geek card. *sigh*
All I do is insist on having Diet Mountain Dew...
Your drinking of Diet MD is reason enough to turn in your geek card. That vile swill is just plain wrong.
/Still in an argument with an old DM over whether Diet MD is "battery acid" or "liquid sadness".
As for my own prep work, it's pretty much just find where I was in the adventure last time, update the files on my laptop, and get the dry erase magnets on my GameMastery Combat Pad freshly marked up with PC and monster names.
Um.... my whole life not spent gaming is a pregame ritual... does that count?
I'm either:
1. Doing character concepts (on paper or in my head)
2. Creating new prestige classes/items/senerios
3. Figuring out my next several plans of actions for my character
4. Printing out gaming aids (index cards et al).
Unfortunately, I still go through a lot of prep work even for pre-written games. For each session I have a check list for prep-work;
1. Review all PC sheets.
2. Type up an outline of the session's encounters and events
3. Type up a summary of all NPCs
4. Type stat blocks for all encounters on a few handy sheets.
5. Draw out or print encounter maps
6. Print relevant art-work, and player handouts.
7. Print out major spells that will be used by NPCs or monsters.
I do this so I feel I have a really good grip on what is going to happen, and I rarely have to open a book to reference.
Fresh toilet paper, quick ring round to make sure the other bake fiends aren't planning to make the same thing as me; winter = mulled wine/hot chocolate, enough fuel for fire; summer = fruit juice punch concoction and open door to garden.
For some reason gaming gives people the hugest appetites ever. Food is the priority here. Not enough food = grumpy players.
It's not very geeky, just practical.
You forgot feed cats.
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Your drinking of Diet MD is reason enough to turn in your geek card. That vile swill is just plain wrong.
/Still in an argument with an old DM over whether Diet MD is "battery acid" or "liquid sadness".
Did you try it from a 2-liter, a 20 or 24 oz. bottle, a store soda fountain or an aluminum can? It tastes different according to the container.
I find 20 and 24 oz. bottles to be best. Cans are the worst.
"Battery Acid" could definitely describe a skunky can of Diet Dew.
But "liquid sadness"??
Well, we do have a gaming room with poster maps of Golarion on the walls. I have a post-game ritual of putting away all the minis in their appropriate places in the boxes so they can be easily located next time. So other than making sure that any homework or toys that got left on the gaming table gets put away I don't really have to do anything to get the room ready.
I start the evening by putting the kid to bed, and then make two pots of coffee. One is not sufficient. I often have to make a third pot partway through. Sometimes I will make scones or pie or something, but not always.
I have a ring binder for each of my characters with the character portrait in the clear plastic sleeve on the front. I made my own character sheets, and I also keep typed spell lists, campaign notes, photocopies of condition summaries and of the DM screen (lots of useful reference stuff there) in my binder. I also have to make sure that I have my post-its. I use them for taking notes which I later transcribe for printing purposes. And I always line up my dice so that the highest number is facing up. I'm training them.
Cuchulainn, you're right, liquid sadness doesn't adequately describe Diet Mt Dew. It's more like concentrated cat piss :P
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This thread is dedicated to all of those gamers out there who MUST go through some sort of ritual-like experience to PROPERLY prepare for their game, be it fantasy, Superheros, sci-fi, or any other genre. This is your opportunity to share with you geekdom moments.
Me?
...
Holy smoke! Can I play in your game??? That just sounds like WAY TOO MUCH FUN!
*pulls out geek card and cuts it in half* I'm not worthy...
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Your drinking of Diet MD is reason enough to turn in your geek card. That vile swill is just plain wrong.
/Still in an argument with an old DM over whether Diet MD is "battery acid" or "liquid sadness".
Did you try it from a 2-liter, a 20 or 24 oz. bottle, a store soda fountain or an aluminum can? It tastes different according to the container.
I find 20 and 24 oz. bottles to be best. Cans are the worst.
"Battery Acid" could definitely describe a skunky can of Diet Dew.
But "liquid sadness"??
Dude, there are TWO reasons to drink Mountain Dew.
1) Caffeine2) Sugar
What is the point of Diet Mountain Dew? It's like ordering pizza without cheese!
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Your drinking of Diet MD is reason enough to turn in your geek card. That vile swill is just plain wrong.
/Still in an argument with an old DM over whether Diet MD is "battery acid" or "liquid sadness".
Did you try it from a 2-liter, a 20 or 24 oz. bottle, a store soda fountain or an aluminum can? It tastes different according to the container.
I find 20 and 24 oz. bottles to be best. Cans are the worst.
"Battery Acid" could definitely describe a skunky can of Diet Dew.
But "liquid sadness"??
Dude, there are TWO reasons to drink Mountain Dew.
1) Caffeine
2) SugarWhat is the point of Diet Mountain Dew? It's like ordering pizza without cheese!
And with Aspartame, the next horror-story chemical on the horizon that most diet sodas have that has been show to cause brain tumors in rats. I'm sure the US will get around to reviewing it sooner or later......
Here is an article(just one of many, do a search) if you want to check it out.
This thread is dedicated to all of those gamers out there who MUST go through some sort of ritual-like experience to PROPERLY prepare for their game, be it fantasy, Superheros, sci-fi, or any other genre. This is your opportunity to share with you geekdom moments.
Me?
...
Holy smoke! Can I play in your game??? That just sounds like WAY TOO MUCH FUN!
*pulls out geek card and cuts it in half* I'm not worthy...
Thanks, I thought people would look at me as if I was really strange (that is if they could see me, which they can't since its a computer screen they are looking at, unless of coarse you want to consider the avatar, then it's a representation, which could be considered the same as looking at me. I guess its a matter of perception.)
One thing I forgot to mention is that we roll for music as well. For each game we have set soundtracks or other categories of listening music. The winner of the die roll gets to choose what they want for the night.
If we play D&D, we roll d20, high person wins.
If we play Top Secret/S.I. we roll d% and the person with the lowest roll wins (as that is how the game mechanics work). If you roll a Lucky Break of 01-04 you automatically get to play your theme song during game set up and if you roll a 00 (zero), you get to pick out music for two games in a row. If you roll a bad break (95-98 you can't roll for the next game and if you roll a 99 you can't roll for the next two games.
Legion is based on d20, so I guess we will have to go with a high roll as well.
You forgot feed cats.
Which is far and away the most important part of any pre-game ritual.
Because i am anal retentive about peoples opinion of me, i make sure the house is at least considered clean (dishes done, trash taken out, etc.) i dont keep a dirty home, but damn does it get cluttered, hence the powerdrill on the coffee table. I have my own gaming room that doubles as my everything else hobby room, so i gotta make sure my painting and drawing supplies are put up, my tattoo machine is cleaned and stored away, my chainmail tools are put away and all the gaming stuff we're gonna use is out, and the stuff we're not is put away, then i light some incence and prepare my own spot (usually DM'ing) so i break out the adventure, select the night's minis (and hide them for dramatic suprise) and re-read my notes one last time. Oh and as an added mood setter, i like to play Motorhead's "The Game"
I pretty much sacrifice a goat in an effort to propitiate the elder gods of the TPK. But I never get one. Stoopid elder gods. Never get me anything I want...
I pretty much sacrifice a goat in an effort to propitiate the elder gods of the TPK. But I never get one. Stoopid elder gods. Never get me anything I want...
We are a fickle bunch ain't we? lol