Its art.

Another year of me missing Gencon. And every year, I say that I'll make it next year. Its tough for me at home this time of year, with most of my friends either at the Pennsic War or Gencon.

My Castles and Crusades game made up for it a bit yesterday. I don't know that I can say that the slightly rules-light system has contributed to more character and story development at the table. Not to say that slightly more complex rules or more book-keeping has kept character or story development down (my Star Wars Saga game was built on personal character development and having the players take a strong hand in dictating how the story would progress). I can say, though, that it feels easier for me to design adventures and encounters, and it feels like less of a chore to run.

Really, this is what Castles and Crusades feels like to me:



Its the dirty notebooks filled with hand-sketched maps and notes jotted down in the margins. It feels like beat-poetry.

Persona in the SCA: re-evaluating re-enactment

There's a romantic ideal that I look for, and its what I want to portray. In the same way the the idea of chivalry that we play with is more a construct of romantic-era literature, so is the notion of the Renaissance swordsman that I want to portray based on Cyrano deBergerac, The Three Musketeers, even as far as The Gray Mouser.

I want to portray someone who is in love with life because he knows how short it can be...someone who speaks too loudly, laughs too boisterously, and carries a mercenary attitude towards church, king and country. Someone who loves every gulp of wine and every bite of food because it could be his last. Someone quick to draw a sword in defense of his own honor, or the honor of a lady, or of whatever cause carries his attention that day.

Its an easy character to play when you consider that I can rush into a duel and leave with only minor injuries.

My life is comfortable. So is yours. What better way to step out of oneself than to be someone whose life is dependent on a twist of a knife or a draw of a sword.

That doesn't mean I wold want to abandon historical accuracy...I would like my kit to be a little more authentic for a Venetian stuck in London. I prefer to study historical swordsmanship (and teach it as well, when the opportunity is there). But that all helps take me away form the modern.