First off, the president didn't ruin the adventure, per se, but as I explain it to you, maybe you will understand. For the last two Halloweens I have written a scenario for one of my favorite table top RPGs (role playing games), Call of Cthulhu. I have mentioned my love of RPGs before, and I will explain it very briefly for those that have no idea what I am talking about. Table top RPGs (Dungeons and Dragons is probably the most recognizable title.) involve people getting together and creating characters who have skills, attributes and abilities. Then these characters go through a scenario/story/adventure. You can usually get adventures from the companies that put the games out, find them online or you can write a story for the players to adventure in. One person is in charge of running the story. This person describes what happens to the characters and controls all the action. When it comes to figuring out whether a player succeeds at something with an element of chance, dice are used. Nowadays, computer games will do all this for you, which is part of the reason why table top RPGs are a bit of a niche hobby.
One of my favorite games is called Call of Cthulhu and is based upon the writings of the horror/sci fi/macabre master, H.P. Lovecraft. This is a great game to run at Halloween time because you can write some wonderful scary tales using this system and world. Last year I wrote a story set in the Old West and this year I decided to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and set it in Outer Space. I wrote the story, designed maps, designed encounters, created villains and made characters for everyone. We gathered together the Saturday before Halloween to play through my story and have a good time. (This was one of the reasons I was absent from blogging for the last 4 weeks or so, as any free time I had was spent working on this.)
My friends picked which characters they most wanted to play and we began the tale I had written. The players were all crew and passengers of a cargo ship that was travelling to a remote research facility in deep space. En route, they received a distress call from a large transport ship carrying colonists bound for a distant lunar colony. Apparently they were struck by meteors and the engines were destroyed. My one friend decided he was going play the security chief. (He was thinking of Jayne from Firefly -- I was thinking more Warf from Star Trek) The captain of the players' ship was not available for anyone to play, primarily so I could boss them around if I needed to.
They went aboard the transport ship and were greeted by a nice group of colonists who informed them that they were welcome on board but their religion prohibited anyone from bringing weapons onto their ship. At this point, my friend who was playing the security chief refused to leave his gun behind. The captain (played by me) tried to convince him it would be okay, but he refused. "I" suggested that he smuggle a gun aboard, but he insisted that this was not acceptable, and said that he felt they would be giving up their tactical advantage if they were unarmed. He decided that the group should go back onto their ship and wait. As soon as people started dying on the transport ship, then they would the security chief and the others on board with their guns. The captain then ordered him to go aboard the ship, without his weapons, and the security chief drew a gun on him. That told me that this was a battle I was not going to win, so I was forced to leave the security chief on the cargo ship, and my friend had nothing to do with the adventure for the rest of the night.
Let me tell you a little about my friend, first of all. He is very pro-NRA. How pro-NRA you may ask yourself? He actually brought an NRA magazine to one of our other gaming sessions with an article that had parts highlighted. He wanted to point out some interesting facts to another friend who was not 100% against gun control (neither am I). Also, my gun-loving friend hates Barack Obama. How much does he hate him, you may ask yourself? He has made several comments of how he would not lose a wink of sleep if someone John Wilkes Boothed the president. He is convinced that Barack has some secret agenda to ruin America, or put us under control of the U.N. (or both). The U.N. wants the U.S. to get rid of all of our guns. Therefore, Obama wants to get rid of all our guns. (Well, I have been told it is more Hillary than Barry, but why split hairs?) I did not think that someone would be so impassioned over an issue like gun control that they would actually bring it into a fantasy world that I created. He seemed to be fine with not taking any part in the story I had written, though he did sit at the table and look up anti-Obama stuff on his laptop while we played.
This whole exchange just got me thinking about the upcoming election. (Which will be today if I get this out when I want, or yesterday if it takes an extra day.) The thing that has struck me most about this 2012 election is the passion that both camps seem to be exhibiting. I am in no way saying that people shouldn't be emotional about this election, as there are some very personal issues at stake. It just seems that people are taking it to a level that I have never seen before.
I have a couple of theories about why things have gotten so bad: First is Facebook. During the last presidential election season I was not even on Facebook, and this year I see such vitriol flying back and forth from both camps it makes me sad. Many Mitt supporters (and non-Mitt supporters that are against Obama) seem to just haaaaate Obama. They make it out like it is going to be the end of life as we know it if he is re-elected, saying he is evil, a socialist and comparing him to Hitler. It is out of control. Those who are against Mitt are all about the corporations winning and the top 1% -- the further screwing of the middle class. (Whatever happened to the Occupy Wall Street movement? It seems to have been replaced by those terrible lower class people taking advantage of us middle classers. Just a thought...) All of this has been hard to avoid as people have been plastering Facebook with memes, and quotes, endless "facts" about who lied about what and when, etc. People have been unfriending each other over their political posts, blocking feeds and getting in arguments over this election. Is social media to blame? Is this a matter of people who were always very passionate about their politics having a very public forum to mount their soapboxes? I don't know.
Another theory I had was that it is not just social media but the actual media, whipping people up in a frenzy. Again, I am not trying to minimize anyone's feelings on the issues that they feel are important, but the news is constantly showing the worst of people's political behavior. There are, and will always be, people on the extreme of both sides of the political camps. Unfortunately these extremist viewpoints tend to get more media attention than the groups that are closer to the center (or more reasonable). The media seems to want emotions to be high, because that drives ratings. Or maybe it is a conspiracy to keep the two party system going. If you keep people so scared about one or the other candidate being elected then they will be too scared to waste their vote. Choosing a third party candidate would be considered wasting a vote. Could all this be an effort to keep the status quo? Far fetched? You decide! (Am I sounding all conspiracy theory?)
The sad thing is that it seems every year that I hear more and more people say that they are unhappy with both candidates. To quote Abe Lincoln from the Obama vs. Romney Epic Rap Battle of History, "Why do we have to choose between the shiniest of two turds?" What choice do we have? How do we change things? Where do we start? If anyone has the answers, please share it with America. The only thing I can suggest is to start locally. Take an interest in your town or county elections. Maybe the locally-elected official of today could end up in Washington tomorrow. Maybe it will be someone who you know, trust and actually believe in. But then again, maybe they will just get caught up in the corruption that seems to be prevalent in our nation's capital. Is that being a bit cynical? Maybe, maybe not.
Once again I am drifting far off the target that I was aiming for. Then again, I really don't remember what I was trying to say in the first place. I guess that I just hate election season. Now that it is almost over, I can look forward to being able to watch real TV again, getting a lot less phone calls each night, and viewing Facebook without all the hate.
And if you are wondering who I am voting for, well, I am not voting (as of the time of this writing). I actually sent in the paperwork to register, but unfortunately it was on the day of the deadline, so I haven't received my card yet. There is a chance it will arrive tomorrow, but I am not counting on it. If I was going to vote, I was leaning toward Obama. I'll admit it. In terms of economy, I don't think it really matters who gets elected. I believe they both have about the same chance of pulling us out of the hole both parties sank us into. Mitt has said that he is against gay marriage and that affects several of my close friends directly, which is the reason I am leaning toward Obama. To me, that says a lot about his character, and that does mean something to me. I wasn't going to vote for Mitt, but if he does win, there is no guarantee that he will implement the things he says he will (or even be able to). Politicians tend to lie and pander to their voters and basically say whatever will get them the most votes. That is why so many candidates are accused of flip-flopping, as their true agendas come out once in office.
Who knows what will happen after the election? But if you need someone to vote for (that isn't Mitt or Obama), how about Peace and Freedom Candidate, Roseanne Barr? First of all, who couldn't use a little peace and freedom? Second, Roseanne's party wishes to legalize marijuana. I have never imbibed, but feel that it should be legal. Lastly, and most importantly, maybe she could get us all a deal on macadamia nuts!
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