Making Something out of Nothing

I will be working this evening at Playwrights Horizons, re-scheduled from last night, and doing some light work (in terms of hours and effort) tomorrow for a friend, so work is slowly trickling in, and there is much opportunity coming from auditions at Actor's Equity in the coming weeks. I have one on Friday, five next week, and more in the weeks moving into March.

Last night I made steady progress on the Vulgarian character class that I am developing for use with 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. The class started as a joke (and a disgusting one, at that), much as my first full-length play, Le Lycanthrope, started. Hmmm...anyway, just as with the play, the joke gets funnier to me the more seriously I take it by fleshing it out, which is what I have been doing.

Developing the class has been an inside-out exploration of the game mechanics of 4th Edition D&D as they pertain to the specific "roles" of the Adventuring Party (as opposed to the roles that people play as their character in the game), how the class functions as a class (with respect to individual builds, interplay in a combat encounter, concept flavour, et cetera) and what is required as a game designer in terms of its support. For instance, every power a character has in D&D has a power source. Makes sense, right? Power has to come from somewhere. Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards use the Arcane power source that is sourced in a parallel plane called the Feywild (where elves and fey creatures come from), Clerics and Paladins use the Divine power source from the Astral Sea (where most of the gods live), Psions and Ardents use the Psionic power source from the phrenic planes (realms of the mind), et cetera. In April 2011, WOTC is unveiling Heroes of Shadow, their upcoming book on the Shadow power source (from the parallel plane of the Shadowfell). Every power source comes from some different plane of existence.

So I created the Defiling power source for Vulgarian character class, which is sourced from the Far Realm, D&D's version of the "other places" that the denizens of Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos hail from, which are known as "aberrant creatures". As far as I am aware, there is no power source from the Far Realm specifically, as of yet.
Deeper and deeper we go, for just as with the character class, the development of the Defiling power source makes me consider more:

• What are the other classes (that fulfill different Adventuring Party "roles") that may use it?
• What kinds of characters are drawn to using it?
• AND (taking definite cues from Lovecraft): What are the costs and perils of such usage?

What is also funny, is that what I am developing is turning into something that I can send to Wizards of the Coast (publishers of D&D) as a sample of what I am capable of as a freelance writer/artist: a creation that works within the mechanics of their system, while expanding it, that is both original and audacious and plainly presents an offensive thing as inoffensively as possible.
The Vulgarian class will not be the only thing that I present to WOTC, but it will be among the first, if not the first. As I believe I have made clear, I don't expect them to take the Vulgarian character class seriously, or to take the character class at all (i.e. buy it from me). No, I am creating the Vulgarian and its Defiling power source for 3 reasons:

1. To generate somethng solid for the WOTC people to understand what I could offer them as a freelancer.
2. To better understand the mechanics of the system of 4E D&D.
3. To have FUN by making something that is both ridiculous and workable!

Blessed Be

Opportunity

Listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Winter. Going to work at Playwrights later on today for the first time in a long while. There are a great many auditions coming up at Equity as tis the time of year when companies cast for the upcoming Season. I am happy about all of the opportunity coming up for Work, and am grateful for that it is a week until those auditions start in earnest, which allows for plenty of time to prepare.

Summer now. If only. Actually, I quite enjoy this time of year, despite the cold and blizzarding. Winter weather during wintertime grants me a measure of comfort that things are happening in accordance with the rhythms of Nature: it is supposed to be cold right now in this part of the World.

Taking actions, letting go of results...

Times have been hard, economically speaking, very very hard indeed. The interesting thing about the way thngs have gone with respect to work (there is none) and money (there is precious little of it coming in), is that I am finding an increased self-sufficiency and a sharpened impetus to action.
I am walking more often when I travel within Brooklyn and in some cases into the city from home, as well, mainly depending on timing. My cooking craft has increased in terms of what I cook and how often I cook. I am happy to say that making soups and stews is becoming second nature.

I have been finding interesting creative implements in my path as I make my various ways to and from, namely pens, pencils, and even a paintbrush! I take this to mean something about making things, about creating, and about finding my way using creativity as a vessel.

I created an original piece of artwork entitled Traveler's Vessel: Destination 1805 (above), a pastel drawing for the Pernod Absinthe "Creator Of.." Art Contest. I missed their deadline last year, ecoming aware of the contest only after it had passed. This year I was on FB and saw that it was going on again, but this time I had 5 days to the January 31st deadline. I decided to enter, since there is nothing to lose by doing it. I did it in 3 sessions, beginning late Thursday night, again late Sunday night, and spent the morning of Monday the 31st finishing it up and electronically submitting it around 3pm, well before the Midnight deadline. HOORAY!

After finding the paintbrush on Tuesday, I arrived home and made up 60 cinnamon spice sugar cookies. I have baked pies, but had never before made cookies from scratch on my own. Yes, I have "helped" my Mother and Grandmother make up batches of baked goods while growing up, but the kind of assistance that was required of me in those instances was of the "lick the spoon" variety.

How did they turn out? Well, the cookies were eaten too quickly to be photographed, I'm afraid, falling prey to the appetites of the blonde and myself within a 24 hour period. YUM.

The week prior to this I was priveleged to work with a talented crew of actors (Gyda Arber, Steve Burns, Lex Friedman, Gavin Starr Kendall, Jeff Lewonczyk, Douglas Mackrell, Megan McGowan, Ben VandenBoom, Stephanie Willing, Morgan Anne Zipf) under the able and delighful direction of Hope Cartelli as part of "Team B" for "Piper McKenzie's Dainty Cadaver". There were 3 teams ("A", "B", & "C") each enacting an original play constructed Exquisite Corpse style by 6 different authors per team (18 in total), each of whom were responsible for 10 minutes of stage time after only having read the prior author's 10 minutes, and nothing before that. The results were CRAZY PANTS and excellently performed and directed. The culture surrounding the event was highly enjoyable, and palpably RICH in spirit, in joy, and in creativity. That's the kind of wealth that grants nourishment that sticks to your ribs. A "slice" of nice!

Also this week I began rehearsals for The Universal Rundle, one of 4 one-acts in Trav S.D.'s Tent Show Tetragrammaton. I am REALLY excited about this, and our initial meetings are pregnant with possibility...research deepens into Voudoun, cajun dialects, and the Blues...

∞ ♥

"per artem facit Magiam, arte faciendi magick"