Freshman, Post-May Day and Natter
Altclair is Naomi's campaign, set at the college of Altclair, which is somewhere in Minnesota. Think Pamela Dean's Tam Lin or GURPS Illuminati IOU. Other source material (that Naomi's not familiar with) might include Elizabeth Hand's Waking the Moon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and most of Charles de Lint. Players are me (Justin Thorne), Josh (Michael Conaway), Manny (Jim Gaffney), and Beth (Diometra).
From the Desk of Justin Thorne:
Letter to Angela
Dear Angela, (1)
If you'd rather not hear from me, just toss this letter and don't respond. I'll get the message.
I hope you're doing well where you are. For some reason, the Board's letting me direct again. You'd think they'd learn. So, I'm directing Noises Off which goes up this week.
The juicy gossip is that Sarah plans to graduate at last. (2) Not that this means Altclair won't have her to kick around -- she plans to be the drama club manager and a TA for the next two years, then probably go to grad school at Yale or NYU.
Jim's seeing Kristi, and Steve's back on campus. Steve's directing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for the 10th week play. Modesty prevents me from naming the designer of the dreamcoat.
I may have a photo exhibit, if I can get my act together. That's most of the news. I'll leave out one of my all-time stupidest exploits -- pure Thorne and pure Altclair.
So, how's life in a saner climate?
Wishing you well,
Thorne
Uncle Justin's Utterly Unauthorized Guide to Altclair
This is going out to Michael, Delilah, Jim, Helen, Annmarie, and Ash, with a somewhat less complete version going to Ken, Beth, and Diometra. What you guys are missing is the stuff that I don't have the right to pass on without permission. If you don't want to get this edition of the gazette in the future, let me know. I will not be offended.
To prevent the problems we had last time (3), I am going to walk one copy around to all of you. Should you wish to make a copy for yourself, we'll do this. Your copy then becomes your responsibility. I would like to send the Postal Mages a copy as well. If there are any objections, tell me.
Project Gargoyle (4)
I haven't yet learned anything more about the gargoyles. They've told me all they can. I'll get the material everyone's already gathered, do some more research, and so on. I've sent email to Chicago, following Beth's suggestion. Any other ideas?
For those of you who don't know, if and only if we can't find the information we need in the twentieth century, I intend to travel to the nineteenth for answers. I have a train schedule with timetables and fees. It's expensive, but not as much as Mongolia.
Now, I was told several times, in no uncertain terms, not to go alone. (5) The ideal travelling companion is someone who is both a magical and a physical powerhouse. Unfortunately, our ideal candidate (6) will be practicing for the Olympics this summer. The next couple are ineligible for other reasons. And soon after that, the list, which is shorter than many I've written, runs out.
However, a couple of lunatics decided that they'd like nothing better than to spend their summer in the previous century. Understand, this is not a tourist run and we are not going to have fun. If we think that way, we'll wind up dead, something I will continue to repeat as I slip off to the opera house.
So, Jim and Delilah have volunteered, and we'll set up a way of contacting Michael via the carpet. Jennifer can hypnotize him, and Jim and I both took notes when she did this the last time, so, with a rehearsal or two, we can probably hypnotize Delilah. Michael has agreed to be the cavalry to ride to our rescue, should it become necessary. Let's make sure that it isn't. (7)
Now, there is the question of funds. Our money will be no good there. I have made a ring with a cubic zirconium in a sterling silver setting, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. True, it is a diamond for all intents and purposes in the nineteenth century, but that diamond will reach the twentieth century eventually, and someone will be in for a nasty shock when he or she tries to sell it. If I could know in advance who would have it, I could perhaps make sure that this person had a stamp from the last century that would make up for not having a diamond. Possibly the postal mages could help, but this is convoluted enough that I am not sure they can do it, let alone whether they would agree to do so. (8)
I do have about two thirds of an ounce of silver left. Ash has probably sold the emeralds, but if he hasn't, perhaps he'd let me have them. There is also the travelling medicine show, but that leaves an even worse taste in my mouth than the cubic zirconium.
Beth, Michael, talk to Professor Hillary. See what she can give us in the way of advice. Jim, sound out folks in Classics, but you may want to be vague. Use your judgement. Also, we'll need to watch our language, possibly grow beards, except for Delilah (I'll check on this), and get our story straight. (9)
Anyone else fool enough to want to spend a summer vacation this way should let me know asap. Remember, that train ticket is expensive. Also, guys, we're starting a flu epidemic. Stockpile that penicillin. (10)
Sarah Lacey
Sarah and my mother were stalking around each other last quarter, and according to my mother, she dunnit because Sarah did, and Sarah had no reason to unless she knew more about my mother than she could have known.
Sarah has often shown that she knows something which, as far as I can tell, she could not know. Mother says that while it may not be the stars themselves that tell Sarah, it's probably something that might as well go by that name.
She can also get into my room, and presumably other places as well, without leaving a mundane trace. So, she goes places she can't go and knows things she can't know.
Is this a problem? I don't know, but Daniel is worried about her. This means that if we do learn what Sarah's up to and it is a problem, Daniel would probably help.
On the other hand, I'm not sure how hard to look. At the moment, all I know is that she's weird. I tried to find out a bit more, and here's what I got.
She's impressed at what I learned already, and said that my mother had lost her nerve after my father died. She also said that if I wanted to know more about what she's selling, to find out about my father. When I asked her which one, she said "Yes" in both contexts. (11)
Mother doesn't know any of this, but she's made it clear that she doesn't approve of my baiting Sarah. I know that it's breaking tradition for a college student actually to listen to his mother, but under the circumstances, that might be best. I'm not about to poke around in areas that would hurt my mother just because it would amuse Sarah. But I'm putting all of this into the gazette in case I get stupid and forget.
The Econ Building
We may have attracted some unwanted attention from the Econ Building. Now, with one exception, all photos I took of it were taken when I was in a foul mood, so I don't know if it's quite as bad as the pictures would indicate. The one I took when I was not in a foul mood made the building look extremely inviting, although this fly would prefer not to return to that particular spiderweb.
On the night of the hunt, I took a brief detour through the building. This would probably have been safe enough were it not for my bright idea that playing with strange equations might help. The Econ Building was not happy about its equations being erased and modified, and I did sign my name to the work.
So far, there do not appear to be any repercussions. Now, I have an idea about how to get on the building's good side, either to patch things up or if there are any indications of trouble. However, it may be ethically dubious, so I'm going to have to check the math. (12) In the meantime, if anyone catches so much as a whiff of trouble, let me know. Also, if you need to go into the building, please make sure someone knows where you are and when you plan to return. Am I being paranoid? Let's hope so.
Hunt Aftermath
People, we are not out of the woods. There is likely to be another hunt on Halloween.
No, I did not decide that the last one was so much fun that we simply had to do it again. However, Michael has pointed out that he is now the Summer King. This means that if his premonitions are accurate, he will be prey on Halloween.
I am going to talk to Daniel about this and try to find out just how much trouble we'll have in the Fall. If at all possible, I would like to get the stakes lowered to the level we originally intended. If this is not possible, I'll try to get Daniel to play the same role he did this time, i.e., that of negotiator/mediator, and to otherwise stay out of things.
Yes, Michael, I know he stayed out of it this time, but that might have been a courtesy to a fellow Theater major. He doesn't like you.
Assuming that we have to do this all again, I would like to keep the home turf advantage of Altclair. Michael, if you really want to change this, let me know.
One rule will be dispensed with. Magic will be allowed this time. Ideally, I'd like to set things up so that our side can use it and theirs can't, but this may not be possible. Michael, Jim pointed out that you might want to consider having Ash strip you of your magic for the duration. Keeping the no magic rule in effect might be safer.
I will not be leading the hunt. As Michael pointed out, the way to break the cycle, as far as we are concerned, is to give the hunt back to the Good Folk. Short of stopping the flow of the seasons, which, even if possible, is almost certainly not desirable, it is our best option.
Note that Michael is operating at a disadvantage that I did not have. The hunt was not after me personally, although I drew its attention. It wanted the blood of the god.
However, by acting as the leader of the hunt, Michael became the summer king, so the hunt will be after him personally. I'm not sure if the decoy trick will work, but I'll see what I can do about creating a dummy. Michael, give me the clothes you were wearing when you got shot. This might make it more effective.
[Page break for stuff that Ken, Beth, and Diometra don't get to see]
Also, a certain person may wish to cause me great physical harm for saying so but had better realize that this person is magically identical to Michael. I am not going to bother telling you not to get involved, but for all our sakes, use the curtain and be careful. (13)
Jennifer Update (14)
The lady behaved with remarkable restraint. She used her magic to move Mr. Conoway back three steps when he loomed over her, calling her nasty names. The baby is alive because she wished with all her heart that Mr. Conoway would not hurt the baby.
Michael's current plan, after the funeral, is to learn the truth. If our suspicions are correct, he will ask for blood price to be paid towards child support.
Please understand that I am not blaming Jennifer in the least by suggesting that she learn some martial art. I am full of admiration for the woman. (15)
To the Honourable Order of Postal Mages:
It occurs to me that the latest issue of the Utterly Unauthorized edition of my gazette presumes knowledge of one of my stupider escapades. I am, therefore, enclosing an edited version of the relevant entry from my journal. While I have removed personal ruminations, I have not omitted any of the facts. To these facts I have appended some additional material.
Sincerely,
Justin Thorne
[I am not going to reprint the write up from last ish!]
--In the course of preparing for October, I discovered that the Good Folk have no makers among their kind. If they gain possession of something created by a maker, they can steal the craftsmanship. As I understand it, this means that the maker cannot recreate the item and is quite likely to be unable to create an item of that type again. In addition, the maker's creativity will suffer, since at least part of it will have been stolen by the Good Folk, who have little, if any, of their own.
I have already passed this information on to Dicey Tillerman, the only other maker I know. Please warn any makers of whom you are aware. As you may imagine, this is a matter of great importance to me, and I would be extremely appreciative of your help in spreading the word. (16)
-- As you will have noticed, I carried the handcuffs with me, and I swung them at one of the Good Folk. If, as I believe, I struck one of the Good Folk with the handcuffs, then I broke the rule about not using magic. (17) The fact that I did not realize that the handcuffs were enchanted is irrelevant; the only relevant fact is that the rule was broken. At the time, the Good Folk had no need to raise the issue, and once the hunt ended, they lost the chance to cry foul. However, the matter is likely to be raised should I find myself on their bad side for some new offense. Given our preparations for October, and given my habitual lack of common sense, I cannot assume that this will not happen sooner or later. I am, therefore, going to begin making what plans I can. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. I do not think that the Good Folk will have any interest in how the handcuffs came to be enchanted, but in case I am wrong, I suggest you make whatever plans you deem necessary, if any. (18)
-- It is unlikely that what happened in the Econ Building constituted a breach of the rules. However, it is possible that it did constitute the use of magic, in which case, the Good Folk deliberately chose not to cry foul. If this is the case, one possible motivation would be to convince me that what was done in the Econ Building was not magic, causing someone to act on that mistaken belief at a later time, no doubt to the advantage of the Good Folk. This presumes either that the Good Folk knew that I would survive the hunt or that I am not the person they intended to burn with trick. I suspect that what happened was not magic, but I would like to find some way to know for sure, without arousing the wrath of the Econ Building or the Econ Department, and if it does turn out to have been magic, I would like to find out who is likely to owe the Good Folk for it, and how I can ensure that it will be me, rather than someone else.
-- We are making plans for October, and I have learned more about the gargoyle situation. As soon as I am able, I'll send out another issue of the Utterly Unauthorized Gazette with information on these topics.
Letter to Dicey
Dear Dicey,
I have done it again. Fortunately, this time, I did nothing stupid, and no one got hurt. However, I am at my wits' end about what to do in the future.
Noises Off has run three of its four performances. I planned what I could, recalculated several times, asked the opinions of two mages, and stayed focused on what I wanted. Focused, but not obsessed, Dicey -- I worked hard on the set, and I let the play lie when I was not on the set. I kept up with my classwork. I worked on a couple of other projects, including an ever-refilling water bottle for my roommate. This has safety features built in, and I'll send you a copy of my notes, if you like. I did research on gargoyles. And you know what I did on May Day and the following night.
So, all in all, I was a happy medium. I didn't drive my cast more insane than any other director, and I was much better than last time. But I knew that something would go horribly wrong when we had an absolutely perfect dress rehearsal. All Theater people know that this is a sure recipe for disaster.
Well, disaster struck, in a way. On opening night, the entire cast had forgotten their lines and their blocking. I think I must have died a thousand metaphorical deaths during the first half of the first act. It was at that point that I realized that the mistakes were actually creating a new play, one that made sense and one that was utterly hilarious.
The actors thought that they were reciting the correct lines and going through the correct blocking, at least until the play ended. (19) The same thing happened the next two nights, but differently. That is, my cast has performed three different plays, and will, no doubt, perform a fourth tonight. All are similar -- variations on a theme, where the theme is the play I -thought- I was directing -- but they are different plays.
The Theater Department thinks that what I did was brilliant, even if I've some nerve calling it Noises Off. Most people think I did this deliberately, and I suspect that I shall allow them to continue thinking this.
Those who do know what happened cannot understand why I am not entirely pleased. After all, I did what I set out to do: I directed a successful play (or four) which made everybody laugh.
But it is not the play I set out to direct. I know that accidents and odd quirks of fate cause a play to mutate in performance, but this strikes me as going a bit far. It would not bother me if I had intended something like this, but I did not.
Dicey, am I being an idiot? I mean, I know no one got hurt and a good time was had by all. Hell, I can probably publish the best of the bunch, and my AD/Stage Manager has already suggested the title Noises On. But, if you will forgive the ignorant attempt at metaphor, it is rather like setting out to build a sailboat and discovering that you have created a catamaran instead. Why can't I even get enough of a handle on making to direct the play I chose to direct?
Don't get me wrong -- I don't to stop being a maker. But I do want that much control -- is it asking too much? Too much simply to be able to decide, when I'm a famous director on Broadway, that when I set out to present The King and I for audiences paying to see that play, that I deliver The King and I, and not Carousel? What if you never know what kind of a boat you were making? Or is that normal?
Am I in danger of hurting my talent as a maker if I insist on attempting to control it? Should I just shrug and figure as long as no one's hurt, this is a fine thing to do? Perhaps the only reason it happened was that it was perfect in so many ways -- safe, funny, appropriate -- but this attitude feels too much like trusting to luck, and I feel that if I do that, my luck -will- run out, and probably sooner rather than later. Or am I being foolish by worrying?
I hope you can at least understand why I am climbing the walls. No one else seems to. I'm not trying to wallow in self-pity, but I'm finding the whole situation extremely frustrating, particularly since I don't know how seriously I should be taking it or how much of a problem it is.
All performances are being taped, and I can send you copies of the tapes, as well as a copy of the script I -thought- I was using. Or would that be pointless? Or would it be useless but entertaining? The original play is good, and the performances thus far have been excellent.
Hoping you've got more of a clue than I do,
Justin
PS: What is it that sets us Extremely Rare maker types apart from non-maker types who seem to make things just fine? For that matter, what makes a mage a mage? Or would I just start centipeding if I tried to study this?
Note to Diometra
Diometra -
I hope you're settling in well. Will you still be around in October? In any case, I'm lay a bit of groundwork. If we're using magic, I know a musician who may be willing to help. The question is, will his music be more effective than that of the Good Folk? Also, while he is a fine musician, as far as I know, he doesn't write music. I know someone who does, but he may be on the other side. Now, if the musician is playing music written by a composer on the other side, can the composer do something to swing the balance against us? And would you be willing to lend your own musical talents to seeing that Michael has a better chance of surviving?
-Justin
Letter from Dicey
Justin:
No, you're not crazy for wanting more control, but you should know that you need to give up control sometimes if you want to get it. What I mean is, you used the example of my trying to build a sailboat and ending up with a catamaran. Well, if I've got wood that feels just right for a catamaran deck and doesn't have the right flavor for a sailboat hull, I don't try to build a sailboat with it in the first place. A lot of what's usually called my "precision" (and I'm a lot better at it than most, maybe because I'm not particularly a creative type, just a craftsman) is really just sensing which way the things want to go, then changing my purpose to fit. It doesn't give me control in the sense that I can do anything I want, but it pretty well makes sure that I get what I thought I was going to get.
I'm not sure how you could do this with theater. One thing that occurs to me is, maybe you could pick your plays based on the kind of effect your mind feels like it's trying for, not just finding a play you like and then deciding on an effect based on the play? Another possibility might be to draw more heavily on your actors, learn more about what they see in the play as a whole, as well as in their parts. They're "materials" for you, and you've got an advantage over me because they can talk to you directly. I've just got to tell from touch and smell and a weird sense of what's right and wrong with the stuff.
About what makes us different from other people who make things: Not an awful lot, actually. The theory is that when we make something it's automatically a little enchanted, and we can enchant it more if we want. In the real world, well, it's different for everyone. You use a lot more magic than I do in your work (yes, I know this isn't always on purpose!). I'm basically just a boatbuilder, and I do good boats but they generally don't do anything special. I once met a maker who used even more than you do; he was a mage as well, and liked to make things *solely* out of magic, without any materials. I could never do that. I don't have the power and I wouldn't want to anyway.
Mostly, it's like saying, "I'm a writer," or "I'm a carpenter" or something. Everyone who wants to learn can do a little of it, and some of the people who call themselves makers don't do much more of it than the ordinary guy, but it's a higher range.
Take care,
Dicey (20)
Footnotes
(1) Angela is a Theater Major who was dating Matt Denkla, a mage about a century and a half old. They broke up and she transferred to a college in Florida.
Justin had a skewed idea of the situation. He'd recently leaned that Matt and Daniel had been lovers on and off for about a century, part of which he would have figured out Fall Quarter if he hadn't been afraid of half of his own department, including them. Nevertheless, Matt was seriously considering marrying Angela.
The couple had some problems during Fall Quarter. This was not helped by the fact that Michael, the college Ladies' Man, had slept with Angela. Despite this, Matt and Angela were back together by Winter Quarter, and Matt cast a spell on Angela to make her irresistible to Michael, explaining that he wanted to show Michael the meaning of despair.
Michael had had a terrible Intersession. His daughter by Jennifer had been left to suffocate by her husband. This happened because Jennifer, not realizing she was a mage, had wished desperately that her husband would give her an excuse to leave him. So, when Matt explained why he had cast the spell, Michael decided to show him the true meaning of despair. He threw his memory of watching his daughter suffocate at Matt. Justin jumped between them, catching most of the memory, but Matt got enough to give him nightmares for the rest of the quarter.
This was because, decades before, Matt had seen his house burn to the ground with his wife and children inside. Daniel spent most of Winter Quarter taking care of Matt (this, mind you, while Matt was directing Torch Song Trilogy and Daniel was acting in it and being Justin's AD for Wait Until Dark), and Angela spent it being hurt and confused. She knew that Matt was a mage, but none of the other details, like his age or that he'd been married before.
When Justin learned that Matt and Angela broke up sometime around the beginning of Spring Quarter and Angela transferred to Florida, he thought it was because, after throwing magic at Michael to punish him for sleeping with Angela, Matt had decided that he didn't want her, and that Matt hadn't bothered telling Angela any more about himself. Justin thought Matt was being a real jerk, but he kept his mouth shut.
This was good because Justin was completely wrong. Angela had broken up with Matt, and she'd done it because he had started to tell her more about himself, and she decided that she couldn't deal. Justin didn't learn that for over a year, but he did have enough sense to keep the Weird Stuff out of his letters. He was pleasantly surprised when Angela wrote back. Currently (almost two years after he wrote the initial letter), Justin is getting unexpected good karma for keeping in touch with her.
(2) Sarah attended Altclair for 6 years, making sure not to have enough credits to graduate. The Theater Department is abuzz with speculation as to why she chooses to graduate now.
(3) Justin's first gazette went postal. That is, the postal mages helped themselves to a copy of the edition intended only for Justin's circle of friends, rather than for the entire campus.
(4) The stone gargoyles at Altclair used to be mobile, but the founders of the college drained their magic. When Justin took pictures of them, they asked for help, communicating by sign language, letter by letter, in each photo.
(5) Jennifer insisted that Justin travel with someone. Justin agreed that this would be a Very Good Idea, but carefully stopped short of promising to do so.
(6) Michael.
(7) Delilah and Michael have a telepathic link. Michael created Delilah as an imaginary friend and she came to life when he first attended Altclair.
(8) And, as Matt pointed out to Justin, the cubic zirconium might well not survive from the 19th to the 20th century, as it is more fragile than a natural diamond.
(9) Beards, I gather, would not have been necessary.
(10) As I told Naomi, it would be poetic justice if Justin actually came down with a nasty case of the flu after pretending to have it so often so he could stockpile penicillin for trips back in time.
(11) Justin doesn't remember his biological father, who died when Justin was very young. He accidentally killed his stepfather about a year before he came to Altclair.
(12) Justin figured that the enticing picture of the Econ Building might be enough to patch things up, but he wasn't sure letting the Econ Dept. have it would be a good idea.
(13) Justin's talking about Delilah, trying not to blab her secret for the umpteenth time, even though everyone reading the paragraph already knows it. The curtain is Michael's magical privacy curtain which Justin thought might be useable as a cloak.
(14) Michael's father attempted to convince Jennifer to marry Michael because she is pregnant with his child. When Jennifer used her magic to make Mr. Conoway back up, he beat her within an inch of her life, then left with deep gashes in his arms, courtesy of Jido, who turned into a dragon, and convinced that Jennifer was an evil witch who had messed with Michael's mind. Jennifer's teacher, Iris, gave Michael's father a fatal heart attack by sending Jennifer's experience of the situation at him, although Naomi said that if Mr. Conoway had been able to admit that he did something wrong, he would probably not have had a heart attack.
Michael was not eager to get into a war with Iris, especially since he believed that his father deserved what had happened to him, but neither did he feel he could let the matter drop. He came up with the compromise of asking for wereguild. Iris agreed, but warned Michael that if did not tell the truth about where the money came from, she would. Jennifer was annoyed with Michael for assuming that she'd agree with whatever he decided and for putting Michael's teacher Ash in an uncomfortable position, as Ash did not want to think ill of Iris.
(15) Manny argued that martial arts would confuse Jennifer's instincts:
Manny: Jim would say much of this, but he does have an ulterior motive. He's not comfortable with the idea of women hitting.
Lisa: Whereas Justin's been flipped over Michael's shoulder and has seen Michael get flipped over Ken's shoulder, so he thinks this martial arts stuff is cool.
Manny: Oh, so Justin wants to get flipped over Ken's shoulder?
Of course, as Naomi pointed out, Jim's sister is not merely learning how to hit, but also how to shoot, something which would make Jim very uncomfortable indeed.
(16) This is stronger language than Justin usually uses with the postal mages. More usual would be a simple "I would appreciate it if you would pass this information on" etc. "Please warn" etc. is an imperative, if I remember my grammar, albeit a reasonably polite one, and one Justin half apologizes for in the next sentence which could be translated as "Please excuse the strong language, but this is really, really important to me" with an implied, though not stated, "You can take it out of my hide."
(17) Justin mail ordered these handcuffs some time ago, using them as shtick when he was directing. When Daniel told him that ordinary steel did not affect the Good Folk, Justin was baffled since he hadn't made the handcuffs and no one had enchanted them. Jim pointed out that mail ordering them meant that the postal mages probably did something to them. Justin wrote to the PMs, asking if they'd had anything particular in mind. Their response was, "Yes." As far as Justin can tell, the handcuffs are enchanted to protect whoever is wearing them.
(18) Translation: Protect yourselves and whoever enchanted the handcuffs if they are not one and the same. I apologize for any inconvenience I might have caused; you had no way of realizing that I would be foolish enough to get into such a position.
(19) Jim's comment after the play: Justin, not that I mind, but then why did you make us memorize all the lines?
(20) Naomi wrote the letter from Dicey.
Natter
Comment to Myself about the May Day Write Up
Diometra was brought to Altclair by Jim, who'd been sent by the Classics Dept. Before going through the time machine, Jim asked Justin if he'd go after Jim if something went wrong, since Jim had a large role in the play Justin was directing. Justin assured Jim that he would and loaned him some penicillin, just in case.
Naomi assumed that I would expect what she did with the May hunt. I had absolutely no idea she was going to do anything with it. I thought of it as just another of Justin's performance arts pieces. The session was like a causality loop as defined in Phil Foglio's Stanley and his Monster. That is, everything the PCs prepared got used. This is SOP for many fine books and movies, but it only rarely happens in an rpg. Beth decided that Diometra would write a poem about the hunt. Actually, she wrote 2 poems.
Beth: I rolled an 8 for the one she wrote while sober and an 11 for the one she wrote while drunk.
This was appropriate as the hunt was Dionysian. Josh suggested that Dionysius was the patron deity of Altclair. Manny agreed, adding that the scary thing is that all of the PCs are underage, but never have any trouble getting alcohol. He says that this is typical of college campuses and we wonder why this is so. Michael never described his dream to Justin, successfully distracting him with the only bit of information Justin needed to know.
Comment to Simon Reeve on Dictated PC Action
I generally don't like dictated action. However, there have been times I did not mind. Fr'ex, at one point, Justin was making sure not to sleep on campus or anywhere else in Burnham County, since a dragon less benevolent than Jido was sending him dreams that he couldn't remember, but that he woke up from scared. At no point did I specify that he went to sleep in Burnham County; nevertheless, Naomi informed me that he'd fallen asleep on campus. Why didn't I object?
Part was that we both knew it was required for plot purposes, so I felt like collaborator, not a victim. Part was that Naomi doesn't overdo it. WW does--one scenario, after explaining that players don't like being forced into situations, has them get captured no matter, what at -least- twice. Several of their supplements have utterly pre-ordained plots. But the other reason that I did not complain is that it made sense that Justin would forget under the circumstances. He'd expected to get into a fight with Ken about how he was going to spend his summer vacation (retrieving one of Michael's kids from post-WWII France), and he'd been prepared to fight very dirty. When Ken only agreed that Justin had to do this, a combination of relief, surprise, and general stress pretty much guaranteed he'd spend the night in Ken's room. And, while Justin knew sleeping on campus was inadvisable, he had no further details. He had no idea what the dragon was telling him in his sleep. It was not unreasonable to suppose that he might fall asleep at some point in the night; it was not bad art.
At another point, Justin was using a magical gearshift to control his state of mind. He set it to let his emotions hang out for a specific project, then wrote a letter. Naomi decided that this letter was very whiney in tone, not Justin's usual style at all, reminding me that I had not specified that Justin reset the gearshift. Under some circumstances, I'd have considered this anal and annoying. I don't like having to be a paranoid player. In this case, I had no problem for the reasons I listed above and one more: This had no effect on the plot. Justin simply burned the letter, re-set the gearshift, and started over. It was a cute touch that did not burn the PC nor mess up anything the player wanted to do. In neither case was my intelligence insulted, as often happens in a Vampire scenario; i.e. NPCs find the PCs havens, regardless of precautions taken, and the PCs have no chance to realize they're being followed.
