Ask Me Anything: Qralloq

In an attempt to get to know the community and other users on GP better, we want to allow a different member each week to step into the spotlight.
You can find more information here.

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About me:

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This AMA will run until 25 April 2022.

When I look at your profile I see that you're playing/running like millions of games. Are all of them active? If so how are you keeping up with this and can you share your secret with us? I've had the chance to play some games with you here and it's not like you're scarcely posting etc. You were very much active in all of them.

Oh sure, go right for the hard question.

Cannot say. Saying, I would know. Do not know, so cannot say. Let me say instead that I've eased into it, one game at a time, over many years. There was a time about three years ago, when I think Naatkinson and I were in a ton of games each, and we both kind of slowed off from there as for both of us, for difference reasons, it was too much. Jabes.plays.rpgs has had a similar experience.

So I'd say, that when you join a game, give it your fair attention, and solidify your character in your mind. After that, it's easy. You just play this character you've already established. I'm talking here about the personality, the mechanics of a character are irrelevant really, we can look those up when we need them. The game is grounded in your character, so once your character is real to you, you can add another. The events of the game stick better when they're so grounded.

Now repeat 35 times.

That's a good point. Character is what matters to me when playing. It's what I get attached to and what keeps me coming back to a game.

That said, what's your favorite character(s) you've ever played on GP?

You seem to be very close to the Rockies, you lucky duck. Do you hike? I imagine there are loads of gorgeous trails in that area.

You said you like speculative fiction, which doesn't surprise me. I watched some of your Youtube videos in which you mention Solomon Kane (a Robert E. Howard character) on more than one occasion. Who are some contemporary weird/speculative fiction authors you enjoy reading?

Yeah totally. Except that both Naatkinson and I have stayed at a slow(er) level of involvement. No matter, what's important is that one is comfortable and able to contribute quality posts. Which, amazingly, you absolutely nail despite the insane number of games!
I'll follow up with: What's your least favorite character you've ever played on GP, and why?

I think my favourite PC on GP was a Cypher System game, The Stars Are Fire. Jake Aeneas is a Stealthy Explorer who Works the System. What made him memorable is that even though he was from a floating city on Venus, he was a noir PI, and I monologed intensively in the game in italics. These monologs would ground and frame and add a ton of complexities to his responses, after which I'd respond properly to the scene, sometimes in the opposite way of what he just thought about. I later tried to recreate Jake as Johnny Scotch (named for a favourite noir character by the brilliant indie author John Dover), in a cyberpunk game run by BedzoneII. The first attempt was better.
I love to hike. My skyline is perpetually drawn in the jagged lines of the mountains, perhaps a 100 kilometers to my west. My town has many hiking trails, and the foothills around me, and the mountains beyond them, are brilliant for the amazing varieties of hikes. Waterfalls, galore!
I've spent a lot of the last few years exploring indie authors, as I count myself one. Three great authors I can mention are: John Dover (see above), who writes noir plus some weird horror; Spanish writer P.C. Darkcliff who just wrapped up a Celts vs. Romans trilogy, but his book The Priests of Orphagus was brilliant modern weird horror, that sticks to me to this day; and Emery Leeann, who is this kindly grandmother who writes just truly visceral torture porn (no other author has caused me to smack myself in the head to jar loose awful imagery) -- extreme R rating here.

Anything you've written that we can read?

I'll probably have to say that it was Trudy X-7 (which was a rehash of another robot PC for a short Starfinder game, Trudy Mark III). The problem with Trudy X-7 was I made him the property of another PC, but when that other player had to step back from GP for a time, I ended up with difficulty in keeping any sense of agency or independent action. Whatever plan I had for Trudy will have to be resurrected at some other date; for now, he remains only partially realized.

You can find my published works at eastontales.com. Thielindra is also featured there, and an anthology that she is published in is currently free (The Ringed Giant - science fantasy stories involving Saturn, the god or the planet) for a limited time.

You've been on GP for some time now. Which is the newbie that really made an impression on you and why is it me?

What's your favorite B-movie?

What is the thing that you do/have as a hobby that probably none of us would guess?

You know it's you. You've immersed yourself in our community so thoroughly and unabashedly, willing to try anything and helping out where you can. Also, when I found out you were from Crete, an island long admired, I was taking the characters in a game to Crete, for the first time in any game I've played or ran, at that moment. Kismet!
Howard the Duck. Fight me. Unless The Highlander counts as a b-movie, but it probably doesn't.
What would none of you guess? I can't answer such a broad question. I will say that I enjoy a modest level of home repair -- I'm not really all that good at it, but I enjoy a fair bit of woodworking and so forth. Building and fixing things.

First of all, all hail Howard the Duck.

A bit of a handyman huh? And an intellect as well. You're such a catch Q.
😂

If Anti is from Crete, does that make him a cretin?

And also, after Trailer Park Sharks, do you need access to my library of shark movies for your next game? And if not, what's your favorite shark(-adjacent) movie?

Are we having the turkey leftovers for supper, or should I make something else?

A library of shark movies begs a question of you, bowlofspinach, rather than me.

My favourite shark(-adjacent) movie would be Jaws, but if that's too obvious (but seriously, the Blu-Ray version, while long delayed, is worth it), I really loved was (I think it was called)Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis about the famed ship in WW2 (and mentioned in Jaws).
I'm eating light tonight, probably just fruit and vegetables. Tomorrow, however, used turkey sounds great.

- How did you find GP?

- What's a skill you have that we don't know about yet?

- How are you doing today?

You know, I really don't remember. I think it had to either have been Twitter or Facebook. Did you know Gamers Plane has (had) a Facebook page?
I'm a friggin rock star on Microsoft Excel. I've created workbooks that create copies of themselves, email that copy to each person on a client list, gather the results automatically from the returned workbooks, and generate reports based on that.
My eyes are itchy but other than that, tis a good day, thanks for asking!

What's a skill you don't have that we might expect you to?