Chain Letters & Self-Revelations

Josh Graboff over at The Signe of the Frothing Mug has bestowed a Kreativ Blogger award on me (and six others)! My poor ten-year old self got a chain letter some thirty years ago - via snail mail, of course -, broke the chain, and felt lingering guilt for weeks. Now's my chance to put things right! =)

The format apparently means that one answers seven questions, reveals ten facts about oneself, and passes the award on to seven more blogs. I'll take the numbers (of questions, facts and blogs) as rough guidelines.

A. The Questions

1. What's your favorite song?
Wish, by Nine Inch Nails. I'm usually into softer stuff but during a month-long stay in the U.S. I got fed up with the CDs I had brought and borrowed NIN's Broken album at a friend's house. At first, I didn't like it much but today I've got most albums.

2. What's your favorite dessert?
Watching Oldboy by Park Chan Wook after a nice dinner.
(That makes it a dessert, right? I dare not change the questions but subverting's okay, isn't it?)

3. What do you do when you're upset?
I sometimes let off steam with a bullet hell shooter such as Dodonpachi Dai Fukkatsu.

4. Which is your favorite pet?
Owlbears. The cubs are sooo cute! If only I could get my hands on some eggs!

5. Which do you prefer? Black or White?
White, like a canvass I can paint with the blood of PCs.
(I just couldn't resist a reference to the name of my blog.)
 
6. What is your biggest fear?
Showing mercy.
(I am still answering from the perspective of a DM. Just so you know...)
 
7. What is your attitude?
Chaaaaarge! 
(I like to play dumb fighters, as a player and a DM.)

B. The Facts

1. I'm a teacher at a technical college / vocational school.

2. One of my best roleplaying moments happened when I ran a game of The Pool for a couple of students during a class trip. A shy student had let me do the narrating all night when he finally mustered up his courage and took narrative control. His whole face shone and the moment was pure magic.

3. I wrote a fantasy heartbreaker, not to mention numerous smaller homebrews. I am fortunate to have a circle of friends who are game for whatever experiments I cook up.

4. At university, I studied Middle High German and medieval German literature, among other things. I specialised in the medieval epics concerned with the crusades, such as the hack'n'slash Rolandslied.

The poem focuses on action rather than introspection. [...]
The warriors are stereotypes defined by a few salient traits; for example, Roland is loyal and trusting while Ganelon, though brave, is traitorous and vindictive.
The story moves at a fast pace, occasionally slowing down and recounting the same scene up to three times but focusing on different details or taking a different perspective each time. The effect is similar to a film sequence shot at different angles so that new and more important details come to light with each shot.

(Wikipedia, on the Song of Roland, the French original)

5. I play volleyball (and watch it on the web, though coverage is sparse). Fun fact: German spiker Georg Grozer's highest reach - i.e. the point where he hits the ball - is 3.74 m (12' 3"). Try to imagine that the next time you're standing at a volleyball net. I guess that's how a watchman feels when confronted by a 5th-level fighter.

C. The Blogs

James Maliszewski's Grognardia is arguably the most influential old school blog and consistently excellent. James hardly needs another award but I need to make a list of blogs I can honestly recommend, so there. =)

At the Howling Tower veteran D&D writer Steve Winter provides an inside view of the history of the hobby, for example by taking a closer look at Chainmail. Josh had this on his own list, but it's so good I'm pointing it out, too.

If you want to read about some of the most hardcore sandbox campaigns around you owe it to yourself to visit The Mule Abides which is authored by a whole bunch of guys.

Evan over at Swords of Minaria provides a lot of DCC goodness, so if you're into that check it out.

Der Goblinbau (in German) by Tarin currently features a very nice multi-part in-depth review of Dungeon Crawls Classic RPG. Here's part 1.

Von der Seifenkiste herab (in German) is a blog by Moritz Mehlem a.k.a. GLGNFZ. He is one of the people behind the translation of Labyrinth Lord into German and has an all-around interesting blog with a focus on the German OSR scene.