Jack Nicklaus stole my roleplaying game

[ggreig]

Well, OK, maybe not literally. And it's not Jack's fault.

But Mr. Nicklaus was recently nominated for Honorary Citizenship of St. Andrews, an award in the gift of the community council - and failed to gain sufficient support in a democratic secret ballot. He shouldn't feel too bad, as the award has never been offered to anyone else in its five year history. Apparently it should only be offered to very worthy candidates and only on rare occasions. Fair enough: it's arguable that these things are often too cheaply awarded. Although Jack Nicklaus has been associated with the town long and favourably, I don't suppose he's likely to have done much directly for the community. Maybe he was just put up for the wrong award.

Unfortunately, detecting a "snub" (sigh), the press and a number of MSPs who obviously aren't doing any worthwhile work for their constituents have leapt on this and worried it with enthusiasm, roundly condemning our plucky little band of principled local dignitaries and generally causing hassle all round for a lot of individuals - none of whom are individually to blame, and all of whom no doubt had valid reasons for voting, or abstaining, in the way they chose.

Even more unfortunately, my favourite GM, who was considering running a one-off game for the first time in nearly two years, and also happens to be a community councillor, has been busy fending off unwelcome publicity instead of preparing a game.

In a suitably hypocritical measure, I have used Jack's innocent name to publicise my story while I have a go at the press and MSPs in question. Am I evil, bad and wicked?

Comments

[msinvisfem.livejournal.com]

Am I evil, bad and wicked?

I realise your question is rhetorical, however, I am still going to answer it. You are none of the above. You are only expressing your disappointment - which is perfectly alright. Though harping on about it leads to the dark-side...

And for your information, I am disappointed too. It would be interesting to see what one of Pete's games is like - or at least to witness first hand the style of games that you are used to.

[ggreig]

leads to the dark-side...

Would a Scots Darth Vader be called Scuba-dubh?

[msinvisfem.livejournal.com]

Sadly my pathetic response is, "Whoosh! Me no gets..."

What does "Scuba" mean? (I doubt you mean Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.)

Anyway, who am I to say whether a Sith Scots name is right or not? Though I do think you are better off sticking with Mekon... :-P (And if I am completely out in left-field, I refer you back to my opening statement.)

[ggreig]

I doubt you mean Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Yes, I did. The Darth Vader breathing sound effect not only sounds like scuba gear - it is scuba gear! And the Gaelic word dubh is pronounced "doo" and means "black". I thought the two words were a reasonable summation of Vader's image, but they come together to sound like someone who'd be terrified of him. Boom! Boom!

I suppose you think that nothing much is happening at the moment

[cavolo.livejournal.com]

I can now come out of the closet and say that I've always really liked Amarok since I bought it on a tape on a university taster trip to Sheffield in 1990.

I suppose that he knew he was leaving Virgin and had Tubular Bells II up his sleeve for the new deal with WEA, so he could really do what he wanted to do and have the full Janet Brown / African Drumming / Paddy Moloney works and not really worry whether it sold or not.

So thankyou for that. I'll be putting it in my car for the journey to work tomorrow. Unfortunately I don't work an hour away from home, but I can get started on it anyway.

Now, endings normally happen at the end...

[ggreig]

Nice to hear from someone else who appreciates Amarok. I think that attitude to the Virgin contract is what makes this album, by allowing him to be a bit off-the-wall - although the same frustration is also what makes the final Virgin album, Heaven's Open an uninspired stinker (IMHO). Still, the pleasure of listening to Amarok far outweighs that.

But as we all know, endings are just beginnings

[cavolo.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the one where they made him do the album they wanted him to do? I wonder which one sold better in the end?

You are right though - it's not very good, Courtney Pine notwithstanding. I quite like the title track though. It's the only one which has made it to the iPod.

But then, do you like any of the albums he has made for WEA?

It's a shame by the way that his computer games / experiences don't work on Macs (I've just got one). Although my computer game level doesn't quite extend to completing the beginner level on Marble Blast that comes built into this computer.

You know, once these things get started, it's jolly hard to stop them again

[ggreig]

I wonder which one sold better in the end?

It's still fairly easy to buy Amarok; I had to hunt for Heaven's Open, then wished I hadn't bothered. I suspect that anecdotal fact may hold the answer! By some oversight, all of it's still on my iPod - but at least I'll know what to remove next time I buy a new CD.

I like Tubular Bells II and III, and Guitars. Tres Lunas is OK, but nothing special. Voyager and The Millenium Bell; hmmm.

I also quite like The Songs of Distant Earth, which is Mac-friendly and not very PC-friendly. With my current drive/OS combination, I can at least play the music even if I can't get at the Quicktime stuff on the disk - but that's a first!

I did try the Tres Lunas game/experience and while it was mildly fun to play with, I found it a bit buggy. I don't think you're missing too much.