A bit of good news this time.

My schedule at work finally allowed me to attend the monthly gaming meetups that I have been missing the last few months. As usual, I debated what I was going to run before settling on Fiasco. Though I did mix it up a bit and used the card-based version.

I typically use "Fiasco Classic" with notecards and dice for a couple of reasons.

1) Familiarity. I had been playing Fiasco Classic before it was classic and that's what got me excited about the new Fiasco when it came up on Kickstarter.

2) Convenience. I have a "portable gaming kit" in a small backpack. Fiasco, Fate Accelerated, Microscope and InSpectres all ready to go at a moment's notice. The notecards and dice that I have included in the kit can be used for the other games as well as Fiasco.

3) Saltiness. Here's the deal. During the Kickstarter, I was enthusiastic. A new version of something I already liked! The pre-printed cards would save on index cards (I hadn't upgraded to the reusable ones I have now). I quickly signed up for the maximum reward tier to get all of the stuff!

Then the stretch goal hit. One of the stretch goals was a new collection of playset decks beyond what had been planned for the initial set.Yay stretch goal, right? But that meant that the "maximum reward tier" I had signed up for suddenly wasn't the maximum anymore and I had to decide if I wanted to cough up extra in order to make sure I did in fact, get the maximum reward.

In practice, it was something like a $15 dollar difference, and it did get me more physical product. But having to re-assess my pledge in the middle of the campaign was something that I didn't enjoy. It's something that I look out for in all the Kickstarters I've backed since.

Someone in the meetup group suggested that since the new version only really needs the Engine Deck and whatever playset deck you're using, and not the whole box, it could fit easily into my portable gaming kit, either replacing or supplementing Fiasco Classic. Not a bad thought, necessarily, but it did mean confronting my feelings about that Kickstarter.

Though I'm now realizing that another part of my reticence is that I strongly dislike breaking up a set. I have all my Fiasco card decks in that box and taking them out for play is fine, but leaving the box at home and only taking a couple of deck with me makes me anxious. Might be a neurodivergence thing. Not diagnosed, but I feel like it fits a pattern.

Now that I've psychoanalyzed myself for all this time, the point of the story is that I decided to bring the card-based version of Fiasco (the whole box) to try to dilute some of that saltiness. We used the Poppleton Mall playset and had a wild ride of drug deals and potential extramarital affairs. All in all, a good time.

We'll see if I'm able to attend next month and if I'm able to prepare an actual one-shot.

For all that my goal for the year has been to game more, I'm actually gaming less. I've missed 2 monthly meetups of my local gaming club, which had been a ritual since they restarted after COVID. It's fair to say that I haven't been gaming at all this year.

It's easy to blame the job for scheduling me on those Saturdays. I could request the day off, but that's something that I'm terrible at. I still remember my first job and my boss, Shawn, telling me "The more time off you request, the more time off you're going to get." It typically takes me a while at a particular job before I'm comfortable requesting time off for gaming, and I've only been at this for 2 months now. Worse, I only have 2 months left. I'm working at a tax office that is only open for the tax season, so once April 15th rolls around, I'll be cut loose.

Which means that I'm still looking for other jobs. And I haven't gotten any significant nibbles. No emails, no phone calls, no interviews all year. I'm learning to spot the devilcorps: the unscrupulous people who send out armies of poor schlubs to knock on your door and plead for donations or sell you AT&T services. I worked at one of those for a week when I first arrived in San Diego 7 years ago. It's one of two experiences that tell me that I'm not a salesman.

If things don't start looking up, I'm planning to go back to school in the fall. I graduated high school and never moved on to college, even to drop out of it. But I have gotten suggestions for careers that would suit me well, but would require the education. Typically teacher, but I've also gotten theologian. I'm not particularly religious, so I don't know how that last one would work.

It would mean getting financial aid of varying types and navigating that whole process. Not student loans, of course. Just seeing everyone else having to deal with those is enough to put me off. As many grants and scholarships as can be managed, though. Starting at the local communnity college to keep my costs low, then transferring to a 4-year school. I hope there's a gaming club. That would be fun.