Big Plans Fulfilled

First off, Dark Heresy went really well. Even better than I had thought it would.

Nick and Sam were engaged, focussed, and thoughtful. There was practically no messing about and both of them stayed in-character flawlessly. I was able to describe what was going on, the setting and the characters, without feeling rushed or pressured to get to the action. When the action came along, both players had a strong sense of self preservation for their characters.

I gave long, detailed descriptions of the hab domes, space port hangars, and manufactorum levels of the hive that Sam and Nick were taking their characters through. Sam isn't quite as familiar with 40k as a setting as Nick is, but he picked it up very quickly and as a result the game was pretty smooth.

I feel as though there is still a border between narration and combat in which the players forget the mechanics of one while the other is going on. For example: while the two characters are riding a stolen motorcycle away from the scene of their latest... exploits, Sam's character fails his test to make a sharp turn and slams the bike sideways into a wall. This is brilliant, I think, you can imagine this happening in an action film! Unfortunately, the players quickly became more concerned with their dice rolls rather than their characters and instead of saying anything, Sam's character tries gunning the engine again and Nick's character draws a pistol to shoot at their pursuers.

But then, I'm probably expecting too much of my players. It was the first session and the in-game situation was more than a little hectic. So, I'm not complaining, the game was great fun and, naturally, the players took more than one twist or turn that I did not expect. I am looking forward to next week's session even more now.

Another thing I think I should mention is Marcos' plan to travel the world. I'm the eldest, Sam is the youngest, and Marcos is the in-between. He's been living on his own in a flat in Little Common for a while now. He has been mostly surviving on his disability living allowance, and has now decided to visit Thailand as the starting point of his journey throughout the far east. It's a big thing. Especially for him considering his condition.

Marcos is waiting/hoping for a cancelled flight out to Thailand before Christmas. He already has everything packed up and seems to have a plan of sorts. I think I know the feeling of being trapped in your own home and desperately clawing at a way out. This is a big way out though. Not so much a tunnel to the outside as a tunnel to another country.

In my opinion, it's a very brave thing to do and depending on how much of his plan is fanciful hoping and how much is hard theory, Marcos is either being very brave or very brash. However, the hour-long or so phone call he made to me makes me think he really has been thinking this through properly as he has done some serious research into the places he intends to visit. Time will tell, I suppose, how it goes. Hopefully well enough.