Month: September 2008

Return from the PA Ren Faire

As I mentioned in my previous post, I visited the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire this past weekend. As promised, no 13-part saga this time.

The weather predictions were correct: it was wet and rainy both days I was there. Many acts were cancelled or reduced.  But H’s shows went on.  What a trouper!

I’m normally found at the NY Ren Faire, but other folks who’ve visited both have told me that the PA Faire is better. Now that I’ve seen them both, I’m forced to agree: Even in rainy, miserable weather, the PA Faire is clearly better than the one in Tuxedo, NY.  The entertainment in PA is more professional, the shops are larger and more attractive, and though the acreage is smaller they make better use of the space.

If I can find a major fault of the PA Ren Faire, it’s in the way they’ve treated H.  They’ve relegated her performance opposite some high-powered acts, in a rather obscure corner of the site, have mis-labeled her act, and don’t even mention her name in the program book.  That’s a fine way to treat the most talented performer there!

Road Trip… again

I’m going down the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire this weekend to visit H.  It’s actually been a few years since I’ve had the chance to see her perform at a Ren Faire.  I’m looking forward to it.

Of course, as must happen in all ventures of this sort, the weather prediction is not good: 70% chance of rain.  Oh well.

Hopefully, this trip will be relatively uneventful, and won’t merit a 13-part saga describing my adventures.

On “Crytolos”

What does the name "Crytolos" mean?

Crytolos is the Demon Ruler of Aeykia. You see, when the Mekatrig defeated the forces in Ironmaw Mountain with the Argothald, he appointed a Demon Ruler to rule over each one of the Twilight Kingdoms…

Your eyes are beginning to glaze over, aren’t they?

OK, let’s try a human explanation. Crytolos was a creature in a table-top fantasy role-playing game I designed. The name of the game was Argothald, which is why my LiveJournal blog is called the "Argothald Journal."

Yeah, I’ve just given you enough clues to figure out my real name, with a little help from Google. Like you couldn’t figure it out before this post. (If you couldn’t figure it out before this post, subtract 2 from your web-fu. If you still can’t figure out after this post, subtract 5 from your web-fu. If you don’t care who I am but read my posts because you’re interested in what I have to say, add 10 to your overall Humanity talents.)

I enjoyed playing Argothald. It represents a time in my life that I’d like to recover someday. But for that, I’d need players, and mature table-top role-playing gamers are a rare breed these days.

There’s a number of things that I got out of playing Argothald:

– The face-to-face social element.

– The shared creation of a story.

– The mental exercise of creating a world that, if not believable, was at least entertaining.

I ran the Argothald campaign from 1979 through 1989. Unfortunately, my face-to-face gaming life came to an end. My fellow players moved away, or developed other life commitments of their own. Argothald gradually petered out.

As I discuss in another post, I found substitutes: live-action role-playing (for about 12 years), and World of Warcraft.  But I missed Argothald, and still do.

The story of the Argothald, the demon ruler Crytolos, the planet Tala, and the characters who lived in this world will probably never be finished. It will join one of many unfinished tales in the universe, living on only in the memory of those few who choose to remember it.

At least I can get some small joy by keeping a few names alive from that time in my life.  "Crytolos" is one of them.