Today, I present something All-New and All-Different for the Dorkland! blog (please always remember the exclamation point)...a guest post from someone wanting to break into the fine art of blogging. Today I present Annah Shilts, talking about the Maid RPG. I'm sure that many of you who follow me (the Chris me) here and on the various social media sites around the web know that I'm a big fan of the Maid RPG, and picked up a copy from the initial press run a couple of years ago when it debuted at GenCon. I've been lucky to talk with the translators/publishers of the English-language edition of the game (and I've worked with Ewen on Open Anime for Battlefield Press).
What we have are Annah's thoughts and impressions from her first time playing a game, that just happened to be Maid. After the jump you'll find more about her experience.
So imagine my surprise when at the ripe old age of 26 I met people who actually played these games. Lo and behold they didn't hold Satan worshiping sessions in their basement turned sanctum. The games they played were fun and had more in common with kids playing with their action figures than a pathway to hell. After a year of watching my friends go on about it I decided what the heck. Therefore in November 2011 I took the plunge. I was given a set of funny sided dice for my anniversary by my boyfriend and set up a date to play Maid.
Everyone else had already rolled up their characters so it was just up to me. The DM loaned me another D6 (since I only had the one) and pulled up the Maid PDF on her laptop. She had be roll 2d6 and chose from the two options available. I came up with Charlotte. 17 years old, dark skinned, gray hair, gray eyes, pink outfit, boyish figure, sexy. Her weapon was spear, she was easy going but had a stress explosion of "Rampage." She had a hero worship of maids and viewed them as glamorous.
Our mansion was a green and cream military estate. Our Master was young Mao, a 15 year old evil genius dictator of our small country. Yes he had a cat and laboratory with a shiny red button labeled "Do Not Press."
Morning arrived and saw Esther fixing breakfast, Sarah (with her inhuman speed) cleaning the mansion top to bottom, and Charlotte organizing the master's extensive collection of motivational posters.
Here is where I flailed at first. If someone drops me into a scene and immediately asks "What are you doing?" I tend to freeze. New gamer and all. I can't think on the spot like that! So I tend to come up with the most ridiculous scenarios. Like further in the game we had guest coming and I decided to wash the sheets. I didn't have a tub large enough so I filled one of Master Mao's giant copper drums will soap and water. After layering the sheets down Charlotte then proceeded to run around in circles to agitate the fabric.
Unfortunately for Charlotte Master Mao wasn't finished with those drums and they were coated with chemicals. Charlotte ended up with a third eye in the middle of her forehead. Quick thinking Sarah has prepared with any emergency and provided my character with a headband, color coordinated to her outfit, to hide this third eye.
I quickly got a handle on the rules. They were simple enough and looking back I they were well done. It took me a while sometime because the other players would roll for seemingly random things and I couldn’t follow why. My wonderful GM would tell me when I’d have to and I soon understood. Whenever Charlotte did something I had to see how well she did it. Like how Esther had a gourmet breakfast but burnt lunch. I still look forward to dice rolls and the anticipation they bring!
My first impression of Maid was that it was a simple and sweet shojo RPG where we could be girly and frou-frou. But I quickly learned we were expected to not only take out the trash but battle for our master! We could even battle other Maids! One of Charlotte’s special abilities was she could punish one of the other maids if they got out of line. One Maid, Sarah, was ex-military and her player acted her out clipped and strict. Esther was soft spoken but could brawl.
The setting we lived in was a bizarre stampunk/Europe/country side. Our maids had goggles or gears and Sarah had a clockwork arm. The garden out front, which Charlotte tended, was full of nightshade and yew trees. Basically everything on our compound had the potential to hurt you in a big way.
It was quick, lighthearted and goofy game. Being only my second time playing it was a steep learning curve. I learned the difference between NPCs and PCs, what random events were (third eyeball), and how to roll play in character. My fellow gamers were infinitely patient with me and encouraged me when I took chances. By them laughing at things I had Charlotte do I overcame my shyness of acting so silly.
I’m learning fast. RPGs has done more for me getting over my shyness than anything else. I’m getting faster at my reactions and don’t sit there going “um…uh….ummmm,” quite so much. I’ve met so many fascinating and fun people. My head is bursting with character ideas and games. I have several excellent mentors who are willing to listen to my many and often repeated questions. I’m learned to stop doubting myself and just hit things. Worst that could happen is they die a horrific, mortifying death and I’d have to come up with a new one. Oh awkward fate! I’ve learned people can be snooty about their characters, there are bad GMs, and there are so many lovely people who aren’t Satan worshipers, but even if they are they’re often lovely people. My personal house rules are remember it’s a game and have fun!
The link above is to Annah's profile on Google Plus (where she I and first encountered each other). If you're a gamer and you're not on Google Plus you really should look into it. It is a hotbed of gaming discussion and perspectives, with only a minimum of the hassle that you will find in online forums for gaming. I have another couple of people who have discussed wanting to do guest posts on here, so I guess we will see where this one goes.
What we have are Annah's thoughts and impressions from her first time playing a game, that just happened to be Maid. After the jump you'll find more about her experience.
First, a little about this random person writing to you: Hi, I’m Annah. A twenty-seven year old librarian with lots of red hair, not enough time and way too many hobbies. I’m classically trained operatic singer, dream of being a voice actor, and have a David Tennant cardboard cutout in my living room. I’ve been playing games since my father brought home a very old Pong console when I was four. Since then I’ve gone the gauntlet of Sega Genesis to Play Station 3.
I am new to tabletop RPGs. I was raised a (fairly) well behaved Christian home schooler from kindergartener through high school. Dungeons and Dragons were demonic and RPGS nearly so. Lord of the Rings and freaking Chronicles of Narnia were considered too full of magic and witchcraft for little old me.
This was only the second time I've ever played any RPG. I was nervous and excited. My gaming group enjoyed turning it into improve theater and my shyness sometimes got the better of me. Act out in front of people? Ludicrous! But I was determined! The worst that could happen was that I discovered I didn't actually like RPG and I stopped playing. There were three of us players and the GM, all females. We even ordered pizza! With my dice and my pizza I was so ready! I felt like a true gamer!
Everyone else had already rolled up their characters so it was just up to me. The DM loaned me another D6 (since I only had the one) and pulled up the Maid PDF on her laptop. She had be roll 2d6 and chose from the two options available. I came up with Charlotte. 17 years old, dark skinned, gray hair, gray eyes, pink outfit, boyish figure, sexy. Her weapon was spear, she was easy going but had a stress explosion of "Rampage." She had a hero worship of maids and viewed them as glamorous.
Our mansion was a green and cream military estate. Our Master was young Mao, a 15 year old evil genius dictator of our small country. Yes he had a cat and laboratory with a shiny red button labeled "Do Not Press."
Morning arrived and saw Esther fixing breakfast, Sarah (with her inhuman speed) cleaning the mansion top to bottom, and Charlotte organizing the master's extensive collection of motivational posters.
Here is where I flailed at first. If someone drops me into a scene and immediately asks "What are you doing?" I tend to freeze. New gamer and all. I can't think on the spot like that! So I tend to come up with the most ridiculous scenarios. Like further in the game we had guest coming and I decided to wash the sheets. I didn't have a tub large enough so I filled one of Master Mao's giant copper drums will soap and water. After layering the sheets down Charlotte then proceeded to run around in circles to agitate the fabric.
Unfortunately for Charlotte Master Mao wasn't finished with those drums and they were coated with chemicals. Charlotte ended up with a third eye in the middle of her forehead. Quick thinking Sarah has prepared with any emergency and provided my character with a headband, color coordinated to her outfit, to hide this third eye.
I quickly got a handle on the rules. They were simple enough and looking back I they were well done. It took me a while sometime because the other players would roll for seemingly random things and I couldn’t follow why. My wonderful GM would tell me when I’d have to and I soon understood. Whenever Charlotte did something I had to see how well she did it. Like how Esther had a gourmet breakfast but burnt lunch. I still look forward to dice rolls and the anticipation they bring!
My first impression of Maid was that it was a simple and sweet shojo RPG where we could be girly and frou-frou. But I quickly learned we were expected to not only take out the trash but battle for our master! We could even battle other Maids! One of Charlotte’s special abilities was she could punish one of the other maids if they got out of line. One Maid, Sarah, was ex-military and her player acted her out clipped and strict. Esther was soft spoken but could brawl.
The setting we lived in was a bizarre stampunk/Europe/country side. Our maids had goggles or gears and Sarah had a clockwork arm. The garden out front, which Charlotte tended, was full of nightshade and yew trees. Basically everything on our compound had the potential to hurt you in a big way.
It was quick, lighthearted and goofy game. Being only my second time playing it was a steep learning curve. I learned the difference between NPCs and PCs, what random events were (third eyeball), and how to roll play in character. My fellow gamers were infinitely patient with me and encouraged me when I took chances. By them laughing at things I had Charlotte do I overcame my shyness of acting so silly.
I’m learning fast. RPGs has done more for me getting over my shyness than anything else. I’m getting faster at my reactions and don’t sit there going “um…uh….ummmm,” quite so much. I’ve met so many fascinating and fun people. My head is bursting with character ideas and games. I have several excellent mentors who are willing to listen to my many and often repeated questions. I’m learned to stop doubting myself and just hit things. Worst that could happen is they die a horrific, mortifying death and I’d have to come up with a new one. Oh awkward fate! I’ve learned people can be snooty about their characters, there are bad GMs, and there are so many lovely people who aren’t Satan worshipers, but even if they are they’re often lovely people. My personal house rules are remember it’s a game and have fun!