The Name of the Game (OPEN! Tabletop Gaming Group)

[Molly Kingsley]

It was another Sunday, which meant another meeting of the Tabletop Gamers group. Molly had, as per usual, set up the basement with a few good tables, as well as those up in the sitting room. Since it was an open door policy, she wasn't surprised to see people wandering in well after the 1 o'clock starting time. In fact, most of the first hour was spent on the main floor chatting and eating (though she managed to do a game of Zombie Dice as well - which she lost miserably).

As people broke off to go play different games, Molls wandered around for a while, just keeping an eye on things. It was the unfortunate downside of being the only organizer who made it to this particular meeting. She might be able to play a strategy-light game, or a short one, but she had to keep watch and be available for people to ask questions and things, so she'd just stared longingly at a game of Zombicide that was a few turns in.

She rocked back and forth in one of the legless rocking chairs, and pondered. Maybe she should consider getting more people to be considered 'organizers', so she could actually play a game every once in a while. That was why she and Felix had started the group, after all.

[Darian Barker]

Since the New Year, there was really only one resolution Darian had.

Less time in the pond, more time trying to make friends.

There were a few places he'd looked at, though none he'd tried. But when he heard about the tabletop club, a rare enthusiasm came across him. He had to assume that tabletop games were either Chutes'n'Ladders or Pathfinder. Or maybe both? He did actually like Chutes'N'Ladders, so there was nothing wrong with that. At least gaming gave people a good reason to interact, and a good reason to have fun.

He stepped into the room, staring expressionless at every which table and surveying the area. Everyone seemed to be busy playing... maybe he'd come a little late? He kept a firm grip on his own short stack of Uno cards, hidden away in his pocket, and approached the only person here who didn't seem to be occupied. She also seemed to be an adult.

"Hello, excuse me... This is the... gaming club, right?" he asked her, eyes still wandering left and right, bouncing on the balls of his feet. A little smile curled at his lips and he shook his head, "Actually that's a really stupid question, huh...? Did I come too late?"

[Molly Kingsley]

Her own home, surrounded by fellow gamers, was one of the few places that Molly felt comfortable (though, admittedly, the more people there that she didn't know, the less comfortable she was). She even managed to smile at the kid who'd just made his way into the basement, even though she didn't know him. Maybe it was his own nervousness that made it easier for Molly to claim some control over the situation: with the confident kids, she felt more overwhelmed than anything else.

"You're, uh- well, we're come and go all day, so you can't really be late," she explained, glancing around. "I'm sure one of these games will finish up soon, if you're, um, looking for someone to play with. There's some games out and about, but if you want to search through the game closet... feel free."

If she'd known of Darian's UNO cards, she would've had some doubts- doubts that his thoughts on Chutes and Ladders would've furthered. Yes, Chutes and Ladders may have been a tabletop game, but it was so luck-based and poorly designed that Molly had some gamer-scorn for it. Plus, that artwork was atrocious. UNO, on the other hand, while not very creative in theme, at least offered some aspect of strategy. ...She may be a bit of a game snob. She mostly played the newer games, after all, the kind made for people over ten years old. Or the sort that won Spiel des Jahres at Essen.

"Oh- I'm Molly, by the way."

[Duncan Valentine]

When Duncan was a child, he played the standard childhood games. When he was a preteen, he played a little scrabble, and later, in college, he played a lot of Settlers of Catan. He also used Settlers and Blokus as teaching tools during his student teaching days, but since getting a full-time gig teaching computers, tabletop games where you had to find a group of people to play with had been replaced by video games you could play online.

Duncan saw the posters about the tabletop gaming group and assumed it would be all D&D, mostly due to his inability to bother actually reading the thing, until he was linked an episode of a popular Youtube series about tabletop games. Settlers of Catan was in it!

So, Duncan put on his Half-Life 2 hat and a t-shirt with a Portal reference, and headed out to meet new people and play some games.

Duncan went inside the house, and spent some time wandering as he observed the decor, before he actually made it to the basement. His first stop was to watch some game he had never seen being played.

[Darian Barker]

Darian didn't come off as an overconfident boy, particularly. He was stably confident in himself, of course, but generally he seemed very calm, and little things often made him smile. Other times, he'd just stare right ahead. Some people would actually call it being 'dumb' or 'simple', others; 'Serene.'
... But mostly the formers.

When he was informed that he wasn't altogether late, it brought him one of those toothy grins, though his eyes were still partly lidded. He
"Hey, Molly. I'm Darian. It's nice to meet you." he greeted, eyes and body turning around on the tables full of students, and trying to get a glimpse or understand what they were playing. They were all so busy, though...

He turned his head back on Molly, pale brow furrowed, "When this is tabletop gaming... do they mean, like, playing Pathfinder? Or is it other games...?"

[Molly Kingsley]

"Hey, Molly. I'm Darian. It's nice to meet you."

She followed the kid's gaze to the nearest table, where four kids were playing Zombicide. To be honest, Molly was a little disappointed at the ratio of students to adults that showed up to play, but that was what she got for posting the flyer up at both Hammel and the Pilot Ridge comic store and various other community bulletin boards. People probably didn't realize that she was a grown woman (ish). Oh well, there were definitely kids who were great players, or at least enthusiastic, and that was all that mattered. And maybe tact, too - no one liked a braggart. 

When he asked for clarification, Molly was a bit relieved to hear that he knew Pathfinder. The chosen system was D&D (3.5) for their soon-to-come campaign, but he should be able to fit in well. "We do have a couple of different D&D campaigns that should be getting off the ground soon - as soon as everyone gets themselves sorted out," which could really be quite a while, now that she thought about it. "But by tabletop I mostly mean board games, card games - the sort of thing you'd find at Gen Con, or in Essen." 

She probably should've realized that these conventions were not well-known to the majority of the population. But she was slightly clueless. "The only thing we don't really have here are your old Hasbro/Parker Brothers games, and war games." War games were way too big and complicated to keep track of, in her opinion. "I've got a ton of stuff by Atlas and Fantasy Flight and Rio Grande and those. If you were looking for a game of Elder Sign or Dominion or Settlers - something like that." She'd totally be up for a game of Elder Sign. 

She was about to suggest he go watch one of the games that looked close to finishing, but she was distracted by an adult entering the room. With a Portal t-shirt. And a HL2 hat. Oh hallelujah, it was her people! But she was not so excited to exit her comfy chair on the floor. Standing up from those things could be easy and graceful, but not when done by Molly. She rocked back briefly, and then tried to stand up all at once.

It wasn't especially pretty. One might compare it to a calf's first steps: awkward and kind of falling over.

Or maybe a calf's first steps mixed with a tornado, because that move was also slightly disastrous.

The first step was a little off-kilter, but it was when she put a hand out to steady herself that it all went wrong. Because right at hand level was the Zombicide board she'd been watching. This wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for her second step, which was hurriedly redirected when she spotted the chip that had fallen to the rug (like she would crush that chip into her nice white rug, please). And that redirected step only furthered to unbalance her, and she almost got her foot planted, but then she was down. As was the board and the zombie figures that had been so carefully placed and moved.  

She picked herself up pretty quickly, face reddening, but couldn't avoid the surprised (and somewhat upset or annoyed) faces of the group that had been playing. "Um..." She started to gather up the pieces, haphazardly placing them back on the table. "Sorry," she mumbled. It didn't take long to collect the pieces, and she straightened, recovering but still flustered. "On the plus side, that game is frequently unwinnable." She didn't want to mention that now they had people that were free to start a new game.

[Duncan Valentine]

Duncan barely had time to figure out what Zombicide was all about before the whole thing slid out from his view. He didn't even react before she began putting the pieces back on the table.

He had to hold in a chuckle at the situation (Embarrassment was hilarious!) and couldn't even make it up to her by helping pick up the game bits. He was across the table and basically as far away as a person could be without being at another game table.

Although, she seemed embarrassed. There were ways of helping that.

"Hey! I guess we're all free to play a new game, huh?" Duncan offered, looking from the players, to the student that the woman who wrecked the game had beentalking to, to the woman herself.

[Molly Kingsley]

"Hey! I guess we're all free to play a new game, huh?"

"Yes!" Molly agreed a little too eagerly, grateful that someone else seemed to be diffusing the situation. "Silver linings!"

Her eyes were hopeful and pleading and sort of screamed 'please don't hate me' to the players at the table, and they seemed to accept that. Enough that no one outright scoffed, anyway, though there were definitely some eye-rolls. She had a feeling that not everyone in this group would be eager to invite her to play with them - and, judging by the two that immediately mumbled something about getting a snack, she wasn't wrong. The other two seemed willing enough to hang around and either play a game or watch another that was happening in the basement.

"So, umm..." She was about to say something about choosing a new game, but then realized she should introduce herself to Awesome Guy, and turned quickly to address him. "I'm Molly, by the way." That didn't seem like a very good introduction, but she'd never been the best with those. "I like your shat - I mean I like your shirt and hat." she quickly corrected, eyes wide at her mistake. Shit. She'd basically just... oh god, she couldn't even think about it. Her face was blossoming into a rosy pink and she looked mortified at the words that had somehow escaped her mouth.

[Darian Barker]

When Molly tripped, that brought a brief laugh out of Darian. It wasn't mean-spirited, he didn't always know when was an appropriate or inappropriate time to act a certain way. He did bend down to help gather up the pieces, almost immediately, until it was all cleaned up.

It was around then he noticed the 'awesome guy.' On quick observation, he still wasn't sure what to think. He knew Portal, though not Half Life. The way she stumbled over her words when she introduced herself brought him another small laugh, about the same as when she'd stumbled over her feet. Even a thick kid like he could tell what was going on, namely based on the beat-red tint of Molly's face.

He looked from one of them, to the other, and back again, appearing amused.
"Three people is enough for some kind of game, I think..." he decided, cutting in before the man's introduction, "We should start something up ourselves."

[Duncan Valentine]

Duncan couldn't help but frown at the two past players who excused themselves after the game offer. As near as he could tell, the two that stayed didn't have their mind made up, since they were chatting to each other.

So Duncan stepped around the table to be closer to the ungamed pair.

"I like your shat," from Molly made Duncan grin. Perfect greeting. 

Duncan glanced at the two remaining players at the table. "Three is good for a game," he agreed, looking from Darian to Molly. "I don't know what everyone wants to play, but my name is Duncan."

Not the most socially logical order of words, but he had expressed everything he wanted to express.

[Molly Kingsley]

Molly wasn't really in a position to judge others social skills, considering just how hypocritical that would be (not that it didn't happen occasionally), so ordering games before names wasn't a big deal to her. The other two who's game she'd ruined didn't seem horribly annoyed that they might be cut out of the next game, which was a relief, cause Molls really didn't want to be making enemies in her own home. 

She glanced to the game closet and shrugged. "I'm up for anything, as long as it doesn't take too much attention, I'm supposed to be running this shindig." Yeah, shindig... and it wasn't used ironically, either. If Molly was more aware of how dated her words were, she might've cringed, but she didn't think they were a problem. As it was, she was finally recovering from her earlier stupidity and klutziness, the prospect of a game cheering her quite a bit, and the flush began to drain from her cheeks, leaving her as freakishly pale as ever. 

[Darian Barker]

"Oh, cool!" Darian exclaimed, immediately moving for the gaming closet and fishing around among the multitude of boxes. Some he knew, most he didn't. For the most part, really, he was gauging their ability to be a fun game by how fun the cover illustration looked. He picked a few out and set them aside, still looking through the rest. The others were welcome to look with him, as far as he was concerned...

One of the boxes stood out to him. At first glance, it had two big gingerbread cookies in cartoon on the front, and 'CANDYMAN.' But on closer inspection, wrapped around the top of the bubbled-font were the words 'Run for your life!'
His face lit up, "I know this one! This is brutal! Wayyy fun though."

[Duncan Valentine]

Duncan peeked over Darian's shoulder to get a look at the game. It looked goofy and childish, except for the rocket launcher-like object one of the gingerbread men was holding.

"Never heard of it," Duncan said, looking at Molly. "But it looks fun. I'll grab a table." With that, he sat down at the nearest empty table.