Ars Mysteriorum

I've e-mailed him to see if he's interested!

The funny part: it could actually be an interesting game...

I like this set-up. It may be because I envision George to be much like the truckers I hung around with as a kid on my father's freight dock. Hard-drinking, hard-working, and privy to a world few know exists... the world of the CB radio. Some people use this radio to broadcast their own odd views on reality, but every once in a while, there comes something deeper than the usual ponderings of the all-night line-haulers. There are legends of people who vanished on the road, strange cargoes not of this world, shady deliveries to beings with pure, black eyes. George has seen his share of the weird, but answers it all with a shrug and an offer to tell you all about it if you buy him a few beers. He's no super-hero. He's just George... but, boy, does he have some yarns to spin. Some may think I'm picking bit of this up from Big Trouble In Little China. Well, they wouldn't be mistaken... but there's also an acquaintance I grew up with that has taken up the strange sub-culture of the line-haul. We were both in elementary school ULE (Useless Learning Experience) together. He was one hell of a bright kid. We were at odds due to our similar personalities, and we stopped hanging out. Last I heard of him, his uncle had disappeared on the road, and my friend got his CDL and decided to go on the line-haul looking for him. I admire something about that greatly, and can only imagine the strange adventures he's experienced.

I don't know whether that's really funny or the most terrifyingly horrible thing I've ever heard. Were they even marginally talented? Or was it all a front to get a captive audience and stroke their collective ego? What capitalizes these completely outlandish experiences is just how wonderfully and painfully polite the culture is otherwise. I think this is what makes it so completely unmanning when you suddenly and swiftly find yourself in the Leftest Left Field Ever. You're tempting me to put up a thread asking for international wackiness...

I still remember the AD&D 2e Tarrasque. Now there was a monster to behold... how the hell could a party, even one worth its salt, actually kill one? Despite how powerful we made our characters, we had a reverence for the Tarrasque. An awe. We refused to let it be slain. Ever. Giants, Dragons (one we fought was a mile long), etc. etc., yeah, those are fair game. The Tarrasque? No. Lay off. He's no-no territory.

Chaosium.com: News - BRP Rollin Post-modern, new-age, old-fashioned, extra-crispy trucker with the power to bring joy to all the girls and boys in this forum. Is anyone else enamored with his odyssey into the unknown midwest? Also, Wyoming is the Evil state. Be wary, good George.

Very cool. The third and first ones sound most appealing to me (in that order). There is something about those jazz places. I'd never listen to it at home, but it makes for fantastic background noise. But the master playing in a band? Far out. You're on to something about the bars and nostalgia. There's a strange appreciation that owners have of their places that you don't get here in the US very often. The owners somehow manage to work their asses off, and yet seem relaxed about it in a way that harried waitresses and overhelpful managers here in the states can't duplicate, save for the rare exception. And, holy crap, do the Japanese know how to dress up a place, or what? They could make the tiniest place seem tremendous and packed with knick-knacks that brought life and character to every tiny corner. They really are escapes there. Not places to just get drunk, but places to drink in. It's atmospheric intoxication with a side of inebriation. Hells yes. Then there's the other side. Holy crap, you haven't seen a DIVE until you've been to Japan! Thanks for sharing, you two!

Niigata-ken, Nagaoka-shi. It was a very nice little place that was nigh antarctic in winter and hotter than hell in summer (But the hanabi was amazing). Unfortunately, I worked for NOVA for the two years leading right up to their big crash. What a horrid corporate environment. We managed to get out just before it all came falling down, though only because my wife literally had a premonition: "I want to go home. Something bad's about to happen." We met an Australian co-worker there who became one of our best friends, and we all decided to leave together. This made for one of the most memorable nights. I had a cafe where I would go to smoke cigars (and get stared at for doing so... their reasoning was that only rich people smoke cigars). It was a place where no gaijin went because only the older, quieter crowd went there. The master would keep the place open late and we would talk with his broken English and my broken Japanese. He looked like someone straight out of film noir. Neat black vest, tailored white shirts with a collar. Always. His wife, though 60, looked 30, which lent to the timeless quality of the place. At night, the regulars would wander in and we would all talk, which would lead to them buying me a drink. In my time there I probably bought 10 or 12 drinks, but drank probably somewhere near 20 or 30. They'd buy me whatever I liked and I wasn't allowed to refuse. Master said so. I always went with scotch, but in small amounts, a concept the master didn't understand. He would give me a tumbler filled to the brim with scotch, and charge me for a single. I canNOT handle my liquor, and I get drunk on two beers. After the first time I staggered home, and every time thereafter we would usually have a go-around that became something of an inside joke: Me: "Scotch, onegaishimasu... TWO fingers." Master: "Hai, hai. TWO fingers. Wakarimasu!" Me: (With quirked eyebrow and a poorly hidden smirk) "TWO. FINGERS." (Gesturing with two fingers for emphasis) Master: (With a likewise quirked eyebrow and a poorly hidden smirk) "Hai! TWO. FINGERS." (Gesturing with two fingers for emphasis) Then he'd slide me a full tumbler with a big, shit-eating grin. "Two fingers, two fingers... FOUR FINGERS!" Me: "NANDE?!" Master: "My treat!" He just liked to see me become a drunken puddle. This would invariably end up with us well after closing time, him with a beer and a cigarette, me with a scotch and a cigar, talking the night away. When we left, they closed down the cafe and made a HUUUUGE dinner for our friend from Austrial, my wife, my wife's ex-manager (she had worked in Nagaoka for an additional two years with a different company, and the manager and her became close friends), and myself. He laid out a ridiculous spread of all the colors of sashimi, sushi, yaki-soba, fish, etc. etc. And drinks. We talked and were pretty silly until 1:00 AM, when they walked us to our train to Tokyo and saw us off. It was probably the best night we had the whole time we lived there. We get e-mails from my wife's ex-manager, in which the Master said he missed me. They're considering visiting us when we go to Maine. What an honor! That cafe was better than any tourist site, historic city, or what-have-you for me. It felt better than home. It was where my wife and I would escape to where work could never follow us. Sorry, I'm having acute nostalgia. :focus:

I want a Mammoth Donkey. I'm going to name it "Tank Ass."

All I know is that now I have mine pre-ordered.

A bit off-topic, but I think this is more than just the second time I've heard you mention living in Japan. I lived there as well! May I ask where you were?

Shall we petition the MadIrishman to do it?

VIGOROUSLY. ALIVE.

My doctor gives me pills to handle my illusions...

Very cool! It's nice to see this content readily available again. Sadly, my group has dissolved. I doubt I'll be running it any time soon.

More than just one. Mac here too

My lack of BRP experience other than CoC kind of limits me until the book comes out in print... sorry if I'm not as much help!

I was hoping BRP's release would mark the start of a new breath of life from Chaosium... from the sound of it, it's shaping up to be so. PDF's available to designers, new licenses going out... I think this is fantastic.

This made me laugh.

No! It's vigorously alive!

Harshax, you've already got some great ideas going there! I think I'll be using this model (or a version of it) when I design the races. Also, I agree. Balance has nothing to do with Talislanta in my mind.

I was thinking this was the new title proposal for Chaos & Catacombs. I mean, how evocative is "Horses & Ponies?"

:deadhorse: This horse isn't dead! It's vigorously alive!

Nope. I'd say almost ALL of them have no idea what the hell a BRP is, unless you mean the sound of expelling gas out of one's orifices.

This is totally me too, after my Great RPG Revival of 2004, where I went from my previous AD&D 2e knowledge from childhood into 3.5e D&D. Here I am!