Wilson Waffling

Well, the students have all left uni now and despite popular belief I am not on holiday from May until September but busy with planning and preparation, research, visiting and working with schools, and getting back into blogging on this site. I am currently enjoying a week working in school alongside teachers on a variety of STEM activities including investigating skittles, creating an eco-classroom and investigating bridges and bug hotels. As well as this, it would appear that many NQT's are actually heading out into school to work alongside their new classes. These transition hours/days/weeks are very important but there is always that discussion what you should actually do within this time. This seemed to be a perfect opportunity for me to give you some idea which I have done in the past and what I think are the important elements of a transition day.

Okay, Okay – I need to start of by premising this waffle by stating that we all make mistakes. Sometimes these are taking the wrong turn when heading towards an unknown destination, sometimes it is just picking the wrong letter in the multiple choice test. Sometimes it saying something when you ought to keep quiet and other times it is pushing for what you believe just to discover that you are wrong. Well last week I made a bit of a mistake in the Dungeons and Dragons game which I DM on a Saturday night at 20:00 GMT on Twitch. In my vision of dramatic and epic battles I forgot that the characters were only 3rd level and also to multiply my challenge rating but the number of monsters which were attacking, rather than just adding up their experience. The result – carnage! As character after character hit the dust, I realised that something was not correct and stopped the session early. Although some players thought it was something to do with the terrain, it was purely that there was too many harpies attacking the party. As the dust settled I started to wonder what kind of DM I was/am and what my role/job description would be if there was one actually written down.

Have you seen that advert when the woman is using a Microsoft computer which allows her to draw on it etc. I really like the advert, not because it’s Microsoft – heaven forbid!, but because of the title she gives herself. I sit in a lot of meetings when it comes to that moment when we all have to introduce ourselves and we go round the table. People have so many wonderful and impressive titles and jobs and when it comes to me I just say my name and suffer the resulting silence when people await further mentions of esteem only to be disappointed. When the woman in the Mircosoft advert introduces herself she says, author, travel writer and blogger – what a great job title! – I want it so bad! Anyway, this week’s waffle is all about being a pedestrian, not a blogger, author or travel writer, and how perilous it is becoming!

Well it is Saturday again and I am sat in my favourite local Costa about to write another blog post and, as the caffeine kicks in and I brush the crumbs off my lap from the toast (had to suffer brown toast today – it was very nice although I’m not sure of the reaction it will have on me!), I start to write a blog post on a completely different topic to this one and started to think – why am I doing this! It didn’t take me long to reach the answer because I have known for quite a while why I write this and my other blogs. So, rather than talking about what I was going to, I’ve decided to write about why I write and enjoy it so much.

With this blog I have to be careful not to allow it to just become a list of past adventures from my Twitch Streams. Why? Well first of all it is a blog, and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts with you. A few months ago now, I was going to say weeks but I think more time has past than I originally thought, I wrote a blog post describing a day in my life, focusing in on a ‘usual’ Saturday. Well I suddenly realised that I never wrote the follow up waffle from that post so here it is, a day in the life of- my usual Sunday.

As I start to play more and more RPGs again on the stream I need to get back into the habit of actually creating adventures/encounters on a regular basis. Initially my idea was to play until an adventure came to an end and then take a week off to create the next adventure using the 'playing session' to create it. Although this initially appears to be a good idea, my own hectic timetable often means that things conflict with this idea and players often don't want to miss their playing session - hopefully because they enjoy it so much! I guess missing a session also means that there might be a gap in my own production of videos for YouTube etc so more of a constant playing schedule might be more desirable. However, although both players and viewers see the finished product, there is some work which goes into actually creating an adventure and in this waffle I wanted to share with you my own approach to this and hopefully get some feedback and hear about how other Game Masters (GMs) engage with the process.

Okay – I know I have failed already with one of this year’s target for this blog, but things have changed and because of this so have my priorities. I’m currently trying to develop more of a split between personal and work life, mainly for my own sanity, but also because my activities with my game streaming and the radio station are taking up loads of my time away from work and I don’t really want to complete writing for this blog while ‘away’ from work. Because of this, I am trying to write and hopefully record my waffles at work since essentially I see this blog as part of my professional work life. I’ve planned some time into my calendar and hopefully, if my bosses allow it, I will be able to contribute more regularly once again on this site. It seems strange to be waffling while I am at work, but I am currently taking a break from writing references to eat my ‘wraps’ and write this. This actually leads me onto the topic of this waffle – no, its not about wraps – its about jobs. As I have been writing references it has got me thinking about what would be my advice for searching out, applying for and succeeding in securing that elusive first job.

Have you watched the original Karate Kid film? The one with Daniel in it and Mr Miyagi? Near the end of the film Daniel as the karate kid enters the karate tournament in order to get to the final, defeat the bully and finally get the girl! There is a wonderful piece of music which accompanies the scenes as he progresses through the fights. It’s called You're the Best and I always like to read the lyrics. Although I realise that I am never going to be the best at anything, there is the element of hope and that gives me something positive to work towards. Because of this I am always on a constant quest to improve and I thought I would detail in this waffle how I am planning on improving as a DM/GM.

Well, I am just coming to the end of a two week break from work and looking back on what I have achieved, I am somewhat disappointed that I haven't actually streamed more than what I usually do. You would have thought, without the time sink of work, I would be able to complete everything that needs to be engaged with in 'normal' life in the mornings and then stream for the majority of the afternoons and evenings. However, if you have been following my Twitch Channel, you will be aware that this has not been the case. Why? Well when it comes to streaming I always seem to have a lot more other things to do apart from the actual act of streaming...

I’ve decided that I am a very nosy person? Why? well as well as really enjoying sitting in coffee shops people watching and listening into conversations, I always tend to fall into interview mode whenever I meet someone new asking loads of questions (probably why I never get invited out or on dates). If someone mentions something which really intrigues me then again I dive in, asking questions, many of which people would never ever ask but always want to – yes I am that person who just asks it. A few months ago YouTube was awash with ‘Draw my Life’ videos and, although I really like watching these, I much prefer, if I can find them, ‘Day in the Life’ videos. Well, if they can do a video about a day in their life then so can I – so here is my usual, Saturday!