Just a little thing I forgot…

Because I have a worse memory than Finding Nemo‘s Dory, I had to forget to add a little something to my latest post. Of course.

If you want to read some posts from an actual Game/Dungeon Master, pay Scott’s blog a visit and check out his Game Night posts! You won’t regret it! Or maybe you will because you’ll get addicted to them!

I claim no responsibility if you do! See you on the next post!

How does roleplaying work?

Hello, my pretties! How are you all? Doing well, I hope! I’m doing well… a bit bored of being home and waiting for my turn to be vaccinated to come (we’re still working on the elderly population here, so I need to be patient). How is vaccination going where you all are? I’m curious!

Pleasantries aside, I came here to talk about roleplaying today. Again. First things first, I want to add the disclaimer that this is not about anything sexual. That’s better left for another blogger, I suppose.

This is about the game or collaborative writing kind of roleplay. I do mention it here often, so I thought I’d talk about it in more general terms just so we’re all on the same page

We’re going to talk about two kinds of roleplaying here: roleplaying games and the kind of roleplaying I do, which has very little of the “game” aspect and a lot of the “roleplaying” aspect.

Role-playing games, or RPGs, are something a lot of people has probably heard of. If you have ever heard of Dungeons and Dragons, you have heard of RPGs. There are other systems as well, of course – such as GURPS, the World of Darkness (old and new), and others. If someone can remember others, please comment on them, I’m sure I’m forgetting something important!

Roleplaying, without the gaming element, is what I usually mean when I post here. It’s simply when a group or pair of people come together, choose a setting, create characters, and start creating a story together, by playing their main characters and several other side characters (those would be the NPCs on role-playing games) to craft a plot until completion, or until everyone involved gets bored.

This second kind is much more flexible, in my opinion. You get to choose the venue – face to face, via some voice chatting system, email, discord, forums, or pretty much any kind of communication system you choose. When it’s a one-on-one relationship, you get even more flexible, as you don’t have to worry about turns. When you have a group, you need a little more work on making things organized, storing character sheets, recording the important info, whatever it happens to be, etc. In my case, I tend to store everything in a Google Doc or shared folder, so everyone involved can have access to the important info in one place, or, if everyone is in agreement, create forums to store all of it within the same site we’re writing our stories. If the roleplay involves a group, I usually also create some house rules to deal with chance, establishing what we dice roll for and what each result means. I do try to keep the roleplays dice mechanics-light, though, as I don’t usually do combat-heavy plots.

Well… I’m thinking of more things about how I deal with roleplays, but I can’t really think of much more to say, as I currently only have a few one-on-one stories happening on Discord, and those are with a close friend and my girlfriend, so we have much more leeway to do things as we please!

I might come back to this in the future, if there’s any more to say! Do you have questions, opinions, or anything to add that I might have forgotten? Talk to me in the comments!

See you on the next post!

The roleplay story I dropped

Hello, my pretties! How are you all? Well, I hope!

I’m doing well-ish, let’s say. My wisdom tooth decided to bother me, but such is life. It happens every now and then, because screw me, that’s why! It’ll pass soon, so let us move on and try to ignore it, shall we?

In the comments of the latest post, there was some mention of the roleplay idea I had tried to start and ended up dropping, and some curiosity about what it is. It’s nothing big or really overly original (note: I believe there are very few fully original ideas, and what ends up making a difference is the execution), but it was something I was really looking forward to.

So, here goes nothing: The original idea was loosely based on the TV show The Tudors, and sort of a do-over to another roleplay we had already done in the past. The story had been put on the shelf when the old forum where it was happening closed down. I have to confess stopping it at that moment was sort of refreshing, as it was already getting tiring due to some of the core characters (all written by the same person) interacting only with each other, even with attempts to get them to break the group and interact with others, which was necessary for the plot to actually work.

After a new site was opened, I decided to try the do-over, with less characters and a simple rule: if you have more than one character, they can’t be spouses or lovers (which had been part of the undoing of the latest attempt).

Of course, that didn’t really work out, did it? The person who had those three characters – and who is an admin on the forum – said they wanted to claim those three again, even though it would put them on the wrong side of this specific rule. I have to confess I didn’t see any reason to try and fight it, so I withdrew the pitch. Back to the drawing board, I guess. Maybe I can look for another group who’s into courtly intrigues and wants to branch out and interact with a diverse cast of characters, who knows? I’m learning from my mistakes, as I tend to be too lenient and let people do whatever they want to keep the peace. That’s 100% on me.

Fellow roleplayers and game masters, how about you share a big mistake you have made in the past with me? Just to make me feel better?

See you all on the next post!

Not sure what to do with this blog…

Hello, my pretties! How are you all? Doing well, I hope!

I’m… alright, though I feel a bit meh about some things. Including this blog. Not really meh, just… I feel like there isn’t much more to say here? Not if I stick to what I have been doing, and keeping this blog strictly personal. I don’t know. I keep thinking about what I can do, or what I should do. I also keep thinking about what I could put here. Maybe my brain’s just getting lazy.

I will not delete the blog, that’s for sure. Even if I eventually stop posting here, I won’t want to lose everything I have ever written here, and all the contacts I’ve made through this blog, and all the blogs I follow with this account.

I’ll just have to think about what I will be doing and what I will be posting here in the future. While I work on that, if there’s anything you’d like to see here, please share it with me in the comments! I’ll be happy to oblige!

See you on the next post… whenever that happens!

I miss having a roleplaying group, but…

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m still alive and kicking. Things are complicated, staying home for so long hasn’t been easy, but I’m doing the best I can to stay sane-ish. Can’t really expect much sanity from me, can you?

Well… I’ve come here to whine a bit today, but before I start whining, I’ll advise you to visit Scott’s blog, where he talks a bit about his own roleplaying group.

Click here for his latest Game Night post.

This is the kind of thing I’ve been missing, to be honest, but at the same time, I know I haven’t quite been doing much to get it. There’s so much to do to get there – choose a core concept, a gaming system, a venue – discord, roll20, forums, etc – and, more importantly, people who are interested in that.

I know I should probably stop complaining and start working on a concept, but… the energy just isn’t here. A friend tried to start a group, but it ended up falling through, and I did try to start a group myself, but it also fell through for a few reasons – namely, creative differences within the group.

Oh, well. I guess I’ll go back to the drawing board – and maybe one day I’ll find the right group.

What have you been missing during these times? Share it with me in the comments!

See you all on the next post!

Where’s the logic?

Hello, everyone! How are you all doing? Well, I hope! I’m doing just fine (well, as much as possible in these times)!

After playing a bit of a disappearing act, I’m here to talk about… things. As usual.

So, very recently, we have had three confirmed cases of COVID in my parents’ building (we live in the same complex, but mine has no cases so far). This led to them begging me not to use the elevators anymore when I visit them, which I’m happy to do. It’s just two flights of stairs, and I understand why they would feel that’s unsafe.

The logic there is sound. Until you look at their own behavior outside of that.

Basically, in their personal logic, these things I do are going to kill us all:

Using elevators;
Doing my grocery and other shopping online and having things delivered;
Ordering the occasional take out.

While these things they do are perfectly fine and safe:

Going out more than once a week to buy whatever they need (even though both myself and younger neighbors have offered to buy their groceries or order online for them);
Since they’re already going out anyway, visiting multiple households on the same outing (none of those people – not even themselves – have been vaccinated yet, and some of them “don’t believe” in masks).

Can you find the logic there? If you can, please explain it to me! Is there anyone in your life who has this kind of interesting logic? Share it with me in the comments!

See you on the next post! (Whenever it happens)

When you lose someone you didn’t love

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m doing as well as one can be during this current situation, and I’m back here to share a little reflection with you all!

My father’s mother (I hesitate to call her my grandmother) passed away a week ago. It was a surprise, even though I knew she was sick. I think we never expect anyone to actually die, no matter how much we know the person is sick and it’s only a matter of time. Other than the surprise, though, I didn’t really feel much. I felt bad for my father and his siblings, and the other grandchildren who had a much closer relationship with her.

My brother and I were always kind of pushed aside because she didn’t like my mother. That alone always made me wary and uncomfortable around her. Even the attempted gestures of affection felt fake. I remember the day when she basically said “not you” when she called all of the grandkids to come sit near her. At that point, I mentally disowned her. What else could I do?

During the next years, I was forced into a relationship with her, because I was a minor and none of my parents would take no for an answer. My visits happened like this: I’d come in, greet everyone, grandma would sometimes leave her room for seconds, say hello and go back into her room. I’d sit on the couch chatting with my grandpa (he was actually nice to me and I loved hearing his stories from his years as a police office in the 50s) for a couple hours, and then hear her complain that I was going home so soon.

The last straw was definitely when she tried to give me an aspirin after I had told her I couldn’t have it (I’m allergic) and she tried to insist I was making it up. I was about 13, and I had enough after that. I still went through the motions, but whatever love was there just faded out at this point. After I moved out of my home town and to where I live now, I went no contact. It just felt easier then, because I couldn’t be forced to visit or call anymore.

When she passed, I will have to admit I felt… nothing. I didn’t feel like I had lost a grandmother, because I didn’t have one in her. But I wonder what that makes me. Am I evil? Heartless? Cold? I don’t know. It’s hard to figure out. It’s not flattering to admit that I felt relief, not grief.

Oh, well. If you want to share your thoughts, please do! I’m open to anything!

See you on the next post!

Short Sunday post – Brazilian AMA

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m doing alright, though it’s been a very, very long week, so I thought I’d make a short post and open up the comments for questions.

A lot of my readers (all of you?) are from countries other than Brazil, so I thought I’d leave this post open for questions you all might have! Feel free to ask any questions – cultural customs, population, food, History, language, etc. If you do want to talk politics, please understand I’m less political than most people, but I will answer your questions to the best of my ability!

As for when this AMA will go on the blog, probably next Sunday! Feel free to comment here (best choice) or send me your questions via email, Instagram, Twitter (dms), Discord, or any other form of communication you choose!

See you all on the next post!

A small step forward

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? I hope you’re doing well and staying safe!

I’m alive, and still COVID-free, which is not that surprising as I work from home and haven’t really gone out other than to stock up on groceries once or twice a month.

I’m still tired, and stressed, and, I have to admit, I did break down a little earlier this week, as everything at work feels way too heavy, way more than I can do being piled up on me.

Yesterday, after trying to talk to my boss several times and getting nowhere, I finally lost my shit. I threw caution to the wind and just told him I can’t take it anywhere, and that something needs to be taken off my plate. Despite my stress, I had a plan of action, and proposed it to my boss. He did agree, which doesn’t make my life easy, but it does make it easier and a little bit less stressful.

I’m still considering quitting, because it should never have to reach a point where one of your employees is breaking to do something about it, but that gives me a little more time to breathe, think and plan.

In the meanwhile, I’m trying to keep the blogs updated, and doing a little side gig teaching English conversation. It’s some extra work on my plate, not much money, but preparing lesson plans and teaching has been a lot of fun and a welcome break from the kind of work I do.

What about you all? What have you been doing? Anything new? I’d love to read about it in the comments!

See you on the next post!

February 1st, 2021 – Small life update

Photo by Anna Tazarevich on Pexels

Hello, my pretties! Are you all alive and healthy? I sure hope so! I am… well, alive. And COVID-free so far – thank God (or insert your deity of choice here)!

I have been dropping so many balls lately I’ll eventually slip on one of them and fall, but hey – life’s hectic right now, so I’ll do what I can and try not to worry too much.

With all that babbling out of the way, I just came here to share some life updates, because why not? Without further ado, here we go.

1- I’m obviously back to WordPress, because I’m too lazy to keep posting on two different blogs in the same language;

2- Despite eating like an elephant, I’m keeping my exercise routine and slowly losing weight;

3- I’m eating a lot less meat lately, but fish is still a staple at home. And broccoli. And lentils – I love lentils;

4- Carnaval has been canceled due to the virus, so there will be no break this year. Bummer;

5- I’m considering compiling a huge list of the things I like from A to Z and just doing one mega post. But I still need to get past I… or O… I forget.

I guess that’s pretty much it… what is happening in your lives? Share it with me in the comments! As a wise man says, a dialogue is better than a monologue. ;)

See you on the next post!