Do I have the face of a Dungeonmaster?

DungeonMaster from the 1983-85
Dungeons & Dragons series on CBS 

So on my way to work today I swing by my local coffee shop and get myself a cup of java to start my day (two cream, no sugar), and on my way out one of the staff says to me - "Let me know if you're looking for players!"

Now I've spoken to this fellow a time or two about whatever book I'm currently reading (usually something in the Horror, Science Fiction, or Fantasy genres), and he has mentioned that he enjoys table top role playing games. But that's been about the end of our discussions.

Now, seemingly out of nowhere, he suggestions he'd be up for playing a game if I'm running one.

The thing is, I haven't run a role playing game (or RPG as the cool kids call it) in about a decade.

To be fair, between the ages of fifteen and thirty, I consistently ran or played in weekly games ranging from classic Dungeons & Dragons to Science Fiction games like Robotech or Cyberpunk and my fair share of horror games (Vampire: the Masquerade) as well. I think the last batch of games I ran finished somewhere around 2006 or 2007.

But for some reason, something about me just said "DungeonMaster" (or GameMaster, Storyteller, or GM, depending on your particular poison) to this guy, and it got me thinking - do I have some sort of gamer tell? Some sort of gesture I do that says "This guy needs to be sitting behind a tri-folded piece of artwork explaining to me how many kobolds are about to attack me and my friends?

Because if so that's pretty cool.

What a neat, out of left-field compliment.

Things I think about while Installing Game Data

So I've been sitting for about five minutes this morning installing the game data for Batman: Arkham Origins for my Playstation 3 (which I just got from my local library by the way - I love epl)

As the game takes its time to load up I'm wondering exactly how far I'll be able to get over the weekend.

I've finished up much of my school work at a frantic pace specifically to be able to focus my weekend on this new game (and hopefully a movie) so now I'm simply waiting for the load to finish and get going on the new Batman Game.

I sure hope the game is worth the wait - not the wait on the hold queue at the library, but this amazingly long time spent loading the game onto my machine.

When I was younger and loading games on my old Mac or at friends houses watching games load up on the 386s, we could spend an afternoon watching a bar slowly move across a screen before we could start playing our Dungeons & Dragons or Civilization game.

This is actually taking me back, and not necessarily in a good way.

I'm now at 65% loaded…

…

…

67%

…anyway, I think I'll head off to drop my daughter off at her party and hope the game is up and running when I get back.

Batman!