LoL What? Beginner Guide to Kayle

Kayle the Judicator
Hybrid AP/Support

There is a world far away where an ancient conflict still rages. Kayle was a champion in her war, the fair bringer of justice, and there are those that call her an angel. However, there are many who would call her murderer or monster. Kayle tirelessly fought for her people, bringing enemies to their knees. That is, until the day she was summoned. Plucked from her conflict, Kayle at first raged - until she saw the cause for which she had been called. Now she has brought her role to Valoran, dispensing her brand of justice to the League of Legends in an attempt to salvage the very survival of the planet. She is a striking winged figure. Though incredibly beautiful, Kayle hides herself under armor, knowing that justice is so often an ugly thing. Despite her newfound life, there is still a part of her that yearns for her home. Kayle is, for lack of a more sophisticated term, a bruiser. She can sear enemies with what she calls holy energy, sucking the life and magic from a victim. She is capable of sharing the harm done to her with those who inflict it. Her ability to intervene can help an allied Champion return from death with haste then she can bless them with increased speed. When the time comes, Kayle can ignite her sword with holy fire, bringing out the true avenging angel within her. In the League of Legends, Justice comes on swift wings.

Kayle is a fun champion for beginners to play. She looks extremely impressive with her bright armor and wings, and her invincibility and heal gives some wiggle room that beginners can really appreciate, yet she still does enough damage to feel powerful. She can fit into most any team, and brings a lot of utility to a group so you'll be quite popular with your teammates. Your main job with Kayle is to save people's butts. If that sounds awesome, read on!

Champion Abilities

Passive: Holy Fervor

When Kayle attacks a champion, the target loses 3% Armor and Magic Resistance for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times.

This passive is pretty pathetic. However, the effect does work for everyone on the team, not just Kayle, so it's still worth trying to get a few hits on whoever your team is focusing down.

Reckoning (Q)

Blasts an enemy unit with angelic force, dealing damage and slowing movement speed. While the target is slowed, Kayle inflicts increased damage to them. 

This is your harass ability. Use it as an opener (allowing increased damage), or in particular, to allow you and your team to catch up to a fleeing enemy. It's also your longest range offensive ability, so it's useful as a poke.

Divine Blessing (W)

Blesses a target friendly champion, granting them increased movement speed and healing them. 

This is your main support ability. The heal is pretty much negligible, as Kayle is a hybrid rather than a straight support character. However, in addition to the heal, this gives a speed boost that can be significant at higher levels. This is great to use in conjunction with Reckoning to allow Kayle or her teammates to catch a fleeing enemy, or to help Kayle or her teammates escape.

Righteous Fury (E)

Ignites Kayle's sword with a holy flame, granting Kayle a ranged splash attack and bonus magic damage.

This is your primary damage output, and will help in farming as it allows your attacks to splash to nearby enemies. Additionally, combined with her other abilities, this helps Kayle chase down enemies as it allows her normally melee attacks to hit at range.

Intervention (R)

Shields Kayle or an ally for a short time, causing them to be immune to damage.

 The move Kayle is most known for, her ult. This makes one champion of your choice (including Kayle herself) invincible for a short time. It can be great for many things, including escaping a near death situation, tower diving, or throwing on a massive DPS to allow them to get off their full attack while the enemy team looks on, unable to stop them.

Summoner Abilities


Ghost (F)
Your Champion ignores unit collision and moves 27% faster for 14 seconds.

Ghost greatly increases your mobility. Combined with Kayle's already deadly mobility spells, it allows her and her teammates to catch or escape from enemies with ease.

Other choices: Flash

Exhaust (G)
Reduces a target's Attack Damage by 70%, Ability/Item damage by 35% and slows its Movement Speed by 40% for 3 seconds.

Exhaust is used primarily to slow an enemy. Like Ghost, it can be used both offensively (to catch a fleeing enemy) and defensively (to escape)

Other choices: Ignite, Cleanse, Clairvoyance

Mastery

Kayle works well with the go-to mastery set up: 9/0/21. This mastery set gets you the following at max level: 9% reduced cooldowns, magic penetration, increased experience, mana regen, move speed, and longer Neutral buffs. Now, this guide assumes you aren't at max level, so I'll give the order in which you should pick these masteries up.

Offense Tree:
3/3 Deadliness
1/1 Cripple (if you use Exhaust)
4/4 Sorcery
1/1 Archaic Knowledge

Utility Tree:
3/3 Perseverance
1/1 Haste (if you use Ghost)
4/4 Awareness
2/2 Utility Master
3/3 Meditation
3/3 Quickness
3/3 Sorcery
1/4 Expanded Mind
1/1 Presence of the Master

Skill Order

Skilling for Kayle is easy. Grab Righteous Fury first so you have it available, then level in the following priority:

Intervention >>> Reckoning / Divine Blessing >>> Righteous Fury

Items

This is the most generic item build for Kayle, but be prepared to substitute items in based on your opponents and the specific situation you are in.

1. Doran's Ring
2. Mercury Treads
3. Hextech Gunblade
4. Guinsoo's Rageblade
5. Nashor's Tooth
6. Rabadon's Deathcap

If you need additional survivability, a Guardian's Angel (if people are focusing you down specifically) or a Banshee's Veil are good substitutes - insert one of them between step 3 and 4 in the item list.

Laning

Kayle is a strong soloer, so mid or solo top is good. However as a beginner, you may want to stay paired until you feel comfortable.

Before Level 6
Your goal is to get as many last hits as possible while harassing the enemy and trying to keep them from getting as many last hits. Use your movement speed to keep on the move and only hit minions to last hit. Use Reckoning and Righteous Fury to harass the enemy and Divine Blessing to escape if needed. Reckoning is really your best friend in this phase, and you should do your best to make your enemies fear it.

After Level 6
Stay in your lane to harass and farm as long as you can, but coordinate with your team if you can and join up for the occasional gank using your Intervention.Do your best to get gunblade before the main teamfighting phase begins.

Team Fights

It's important to remember that while Kayle can be awesome on her own, she really shines as a support character. Remember that you can't save butts with Intervention if you are stunned or dead, so don't draw too much aggro to yourself.

• Let your teammates initiate. Your moves are usually better used in reaction to the situation.
• Hit the team's focus target with Reckoning, then follow up with Righteous Fury.
• Heal your weaker teammates with Divine Blessing
• Use you Intervention as soon as one of your powerful DPS allies begins being focused down, when they reach around 30% health.
• Only enter melee range if you seem to be winning, to help chase the enemy down.
• If you are losing, help everyone escape using Divine Blessing to boost their speed and Reckoning to slow the enemy down.

More Information

If you'd like more information, check out the guide by "I am the Walrus" on LeagueCraft: Kayle, the Saver of Asses. I have essentially paraphrased his guide here, making it as short as noob friendly as possible. He's got a lot more information about why this build is recommended as well as hard numbers supporting his recommendations.

Have fun!

Geek Girl Con Reactions

Recently I attended Geek Girl Con, a brand new convention taking place in Seattle, celebrating the female geek. The con was very content heavy, and much smaller than PAX - a very different experience for me. The bottom line is, I loved it!


I got there a little late the first day and missed out on one of the panels I was interested in, which was sad. After picking up my badge, I met up with a friend of mine and we browsed the exhibit hall. After that, we went to a panel on Feminism, Race, and Geek Culture. The panelists included Regina Buenobra (moderator), Michelle Hu, Nina V. Reyes, and Christina Xu. The panel was interesting and brought up some awesome ideas for broaching difficult subjects such as race and gender issues in online communities. My favorite was the idea of presenting these issues in ragecomics. Another interesting point brought up was the problems of cross race roleplaying and how it can sometimes help proliferate stereotypes.

Michelle is a friend of the person I was attending the con with, so after the panel, my friend and I went to lunch with the panelists and a few other people - including a writer for ArenaNet currently working on Guild Wars 2, and a lovely woman who writes and edits for Border House under the pseudonym Quinnae Moongazer. The lunch was awesome, and it was really cool to be able to say I had lunch with people from ArenaNet.

After that, I browsed the exhibit hall some more and picked up two purchases. The first was purely for nostalgia trip reasons - I grabbed Pokemon Snap for three dollars at a used game stall. I don't even have my N64 right now, it's at my parents' house, but I'm going to have them bring it up to me - emulation is grand and all but it's just not the same. My second purchase has already gotten me a bunch of jealousy from my friends - my cactuar. I decided instead of getting a shirt, which I have way too many of, I'd spend the same amount of money on something that makes me squee in delight. So, small stuffed cactus it is. I also really wanted a goomba hat but by the time I came back with cash, it was already bought. Probably just as well.

Next up was The Designing Women of Bioware. It was awesome to be in the same room with the minds behind much of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and KotOR. Their stories provided great insights into the operation of a game company. I noticed many of the level designers got their starts at Bioware as interns, and I'm a little concerned that I won't have that option available to me as there are no video game dev studios in my area. Despite this, I came out of the panel excited and inspired.

Sunday had one of the panels I was most looking forward to: Girls Make Games Too, which was about women getting into the gaming industry. I was a little disappointed that most of the people on the panel were on the art side of things, but there was one gameplay engineer as well as a team lead - in fact, THE team lead for Portal 1! The gals had some awesome advice for people getting into the gaming industry. They said they hadn't ever experienced blatant sexism, but there was a lot of unintentional separation that they'd had to break down. Often when a woman comes on to an all-male team, the boys worry that she'll ruin their culture, that they won't be able to joke around the same way or tell raunchy stories. Without any exceptions, the girls at the panel dealt with this the same way: be more raunchy than the boys. One mentioned that the first thing she did when coming into a new team was to crack a dirty joke. Another said she always makes sure to drop a "tactful" f-bomb during the interview. That sort of blew my mind, and jolted me into the reality that I'm in a creative industry now, not the dry boredom of typical engineering jobs. Almost all of the girls had tattoos and piercings in visible places. They dressed casually and stylishly, not in button up shirts and slacks. These are my people, this is where I want to work, and I'm just so excited to be getting started in this industry.

The last event I attended at the con was a spontaneous jam of three nerdy bands just outside the main conference area. They same some original nerd-feminist themed music, then had a sing-along for Birdhouse in Your Soul and Still Alive. It was an awesome note to end on, since I couldn't stay for the closing ceremonies.

Overall this con was a great jolt of inspiration for me, not only as a girl gamer but as someone who hopes to make games. The camaraderie and heartfelt support was palpable, and the issues discussed were thought provoking and important. It was a great start to an awesome new tradition, and I don't have any doubt that it will be continuing next year.

X in 10 Minutes

Hello, my wonderful readers!

I'm planning on starting a new series of videos called "X in 10 Minutes", in which I attempt to give a succinct overview of a game in under 10 minutes. These will have actual footage of gameplay, and will be targeted towards those who haven't played the game but who may be interested in trying it out, and just want a little more information about gameplay first. They'll have a very high level "how-to" but won't get into any details. There will be a very light element of review as well, just my basic reactions to the game, but that won't be the main focus.

Since I recently got into the beta for Wakfu, I plan to do a video about it first. After that, I'll probably just do a video based on whatever I happen to be playing!

I'm excited to start doing videos again, and hope you guys will enjoy them!

Session Summary: Worse Things Wait (Part 1.3)

Audio Log for Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

--- Continued from Part 1.2 --- 

The whole assignment seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Who cares about books? Can't they all be accessed by data slate, anyway? And this wasn't even an important book - it was just some progenium book for recent parents. There was also some political mumbo jumbo that the official explained that went right over my head, but I guess Gaius is pretty good at that kind of thing because he handled the meeting like it was nothing. The only good thing that came out of it, as far as I'm concerned, was a truly delicious meal.

Our mission was simple: a book had been checked out by an archivist, and hadn't been returned when it was due. Apparently this scribe wasn't involved in whatever political muck was going on, and was known to have a good service record. So probably she hadn't stolen it - something else must have gone wrong. Well, we located her house and found the place deserted, so I nicked the door open and we checked inside. We found evidence that the archivist and her husband and young daughter had previously left for an annual family vacation trip. Based on the family's travel plans, they should have returned one week ago. The book was nowhere to be seen.

At this point our best course of action seemed to be to head out to the vacation home, so we did. This is where things start to get really weird. The father, another scribbler, answered the door. He looked haggard, like he'd gone a week or so without bathing or changing clothes or maybe even sleeping. He tried to get rid of us, pretty bluntly I might add. Well, after having the door closed in our face, we decided a more direct approach was needed. Valentina snuck around back while Gaius, Cyniska, and myself readied ourselves at the front. Using our vox coms to coordinate, we charged through the windows and doors on both sides of the house all at once. Unfortunately, this made an awful racket - and woke the baby.

Until then I'd been blessed with never having to deal with any psykers or their cursed powers. So this mission... well, it was a crash course in the most literal sense. We barged into the entry room of the house just as this kid started screaming at the top of her lungs. We got a brief view of the parents, both sitting there with blank stares, like servitors with their circuits fried. Then the wave of psychic power hit us and threw us right back through the windows and out of the house - a good ten feet at least. It turns out, when you're being thrown through the air with psychic power, the ground hits like a fraking truck!

After that it was touch and go with the psyker. We tried a few tactics to calm her down, tried assassination from afar, tried kidnapping the father to get information. THAT was an exercise in futility. We managed to capture him, but all he'd do is babble constantly about needing to get back to the house, and he squirmed like a hive rat. We DID manage to grab the book during one of these sessions, but we couldn't exactly leave a rogue psyker on the loose.

Valentina even tried to befriend the witch. I agree that it didn't sit right with me to kill a young child, even if she was a psyker, but I wasn't about to get close to it after seeing (and feeling) what it could do. But Valentina - that woman has the Emperor's own courage. She walked right up to the girl, bold as brass, offering her some of the desert lizards that seemed to be common there. The child seemed frightened, though, and the mother told Valentina that she didn't want her there. We learned later that psykers can recognize the psychic signature of a mind, and that the little girl most likely remembered that Valentina had crashed into her house and frightened her badly only hours before.

Well, at that point all our tactics had failed and we'd been on the planet for a long time. It was time to report in, and to get some more powerful ordinance if we wanted to do this properly. I guess it never occurred to us to call Nomura in the first place - or that this wasn't the job we had been assigned to do. Shows how far I've come, I suppose. It makes sense that Valentina or Cyniska would see this as a threat to the law and order of the empire and want to stop it, but back in my hiver days I would have seen it as "not my problem" and left well enough alone.

Anyway, once we called Nomura, he offered to send down a kill team. As much as we wanted to prove ourselves, we decided that would be for the best. The witch had already bested us multiple times, and it was probably time to call in those who could properly deal with the threat.

Well, the sororitas came down and took care of the psyker.

+++ Sigh. Silence for 10 seconds. Nervous shifting.

I feel awful thinking about it. Imagining that scared little girl in that house as they descended on it with meltas and flamers, her mind blanked mother holder her. I know she had to be dealt with, but she was far to young to have comprehended or controlled the power she was using. Her father was outside, and I pleaded with Nomura to try to help him, at least. He said they would do what they could, and I guess that will have to be enough.

After that it was just cleanup. We returned the book to the administratum official, saying nothing about the girl or her parents. Then it was back to the ship, and here I am. My first mission for the Inquisition, and nothing went as planned. I guess that's only to be expected, though. As frightening and unpredictable as this new life is turning out to be, at least it's exciting!

--- To be continued in Part 2.1 (After the next session) --- 

Session Summary: Worse Things Wait (Part 1.2)

Audio Log for Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

--- Continued from Part 1.1 ---

+++ A pause, silence for 10 seconds. A sigh can be heard.


Well, once we were underway, there was a whole lot of nothing to do. Unlike my technomat friends, the team and I didn't have a job. I spent a lot of time with Valentina at the shooting range, and kept up my strength and wind in the gym. I also visited the temple with Cyniska several times. When all that stands between you and roiling madness strong enough to tear your soul apart is a flimsy bit of techno-craft, you tend to want to be on the Emperor's good side. But I guess we didn't pray hard enough, because only a few days into the trip, there was a fluctuation in the geller field.


I was alone when it happened, wandering the hallways of the ship, lost in thought and admiring the machinery around me. That same horrible, nauseating feeling gripped me, and I watched the ice climb the walls - it was like a delicate and deadly spiderweb. The feeling... I can't really describe it proper. I felt like the fire inside me, that glow that flares up strong when I pray to the god-Emperor, was being smothered. I felt like I couldn't breathe, like some great invisible hand had grabbed hold of me and was squeezing. And with it was a dread so strong...


+++ Her voice cuts out. A few deep, shuddering breaths, slowly calming.


It passed, though. Thank the Emperor on his Throne, it passed. I lay there on the ground, disoriented, until I heard Valentina's sharp command to report. That got me moving - when Valentina gives you a command, you don't ignore it. I met up with her and Gaius in the hallways on the way to the chapel - apparently Cyniska was in some kind of trouble there. Seeing Valentina with the steady, unflapable attitude I had become accustomed to did a lot to improve my mood - seeing my autopistol which she had brought me did even more. Gaius looked about as sick as I felt, but he held up well despite it.


We weren't really sure what we were going to find - but we definitely didn't expect what we saw when we got to the chapel. Cyniska was just kneeling there, praying, staring with her eyes wide as potholes at His great aquila. It feels like heresy to even say it... it was cracked. Right down the middle. And the two holy servitors who had frightened me so the first time I visited this place were on the ground in a bloody mess, their heads... gone. Splattered, really, all over the room. I've seen my share of violence, mind - but this was like nothing I've ever seen.


Wasn't long after that before the big wigs showed up with a whole mess of soldiers to clean up the place. They grilled Cyniska a bit, but we all stood up for her. She was still pretty messed up by the whole ordeal, and had seen something that frightened her badly in that chapel. I don't rightly understand it all, something to do with the servitors, but it definitely had her shook up. But, after investigating the seen, the man in charge commended Cyniska for her faith and her bravery, so I guess it was all alright.


Thank the Emperor, that was the only warp related event on our voyage. Later Valentina told me stories about other warp jumps, and talked about the procedures she and her security crew would go through if the geller field malfunctioned. I'm lucky, I guess - the most I had to worry about in my earlier life was hive rats, and maybe getting my throat cut in my sleep if I was careless.


One other noteworthy thing happened during the trip - we were introduced to our lighter. Not too much to say about that - it's a gorgeous piece of machinery, and Valentina and I spent some time looking the bird over. I wouldn't know the first thing about actually piloting her, sadly, but I guess Valentina is skilled in piloting light aircraft. She probably won't be driving this one, though - we had a pilot assigned too.


Well, after what seemed like forever, we finally got to our destination. It was an administratum planet, and to me, it seemed pretty much the most boring planet imaginable, as well as being bright and wide open and unnerving. Not really frightening, mind you - nothing so mundane as a strange planet could be frightening compared to what I'd already seen on the ship. But the white rocks and the bright sun and the lack of proper hab grated on me, I won't lie. Emperor bless Valentina, who thoughtfully bought me a pair of shade goggles to keep out the worst of the glare.


I guess I'd better explain why we were down there in the first place. Our ship was carrying a load of goods for the planet - we were traveling under the cover of making a Coblast Assay delivery. Upon arrival, one of our contacts on the planet sent us a request for assistance. Now, this contact was only aware of us as the Coblast Assay, and had no knowledge of our Inquisitorial association. So my team was sent down to do our best to help this contact out, but we were not to reveal ourselves as acolytes in the holy Inquisition. It's funny really - up until a month ago, I was working for the Coblast Assay as a reclaimator - someone who finds things. Now I had to pretend to be one again, because that's exactly what this administratum official wanted. Only this time, instead of machinery, I was helping to find a book.

--- To be continued in Part 1.3 --- 

Session Summary: Worse Things Wait (Part 1.1)

 Audio Log for Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

I was told I needed to make a log for my first mission. I'm not really sure where to start. I'm sure the others will be much better at this than I am, but Interrogator Nomura insisted that I record one as well.

+++ Silence for 15 seconds. Some nervous shifting can be heard.

I'd been on the ship for about a week when I met my new teammates. It's quite an experience. Being on the ship, I mean. Though meeting them was quite the experience too. I've never been on a ship before - never been off world before. Never been out of the hive before, actually. Funny how things turned out. At first I was really uncomfortable here, but once I started exploring... Well. I made friends with the technomats in my part of the ship and traded some stories, then some tools. I even got to meet one of the mechanicus. He was creepy, but also pretty interesting. I like machines and all, but I don't think I'd want to be one.

Anyway. The team. They all seem so experienced, so strong. I'm just a hiver girl, a scummer really. What's the likes of me doing with one of the Sororitas? And Gaius. I could tell he was trying to be nice, but he looked at me like I was something he scraped off his boot. Not anything malicious about it, mind. It's just how he was brought up. It's like he knows he's better than you, but he doesn't hold it against you, since it's not your fault. I mean, he's from a hive too, but... when I asked him about his home, he mentioned windows. Windows!

At least Valentina and I seem to get along. She's a strange one. She's huge, but as loud and brash as she is, she doesn't intimidate me, not like the other two do.

Well, I guess I ought to talk about what actually happened, and not just blather on about my teammates. When I met them, they had just returned from their last mission. Shortly after they boarded, our ship shifted into the warp.

I feel a little silly about it now, but when we first shifted, and I saw Cyniska start praying, I dropped right down next to her and started praying along with her. Now I know she prays pretty much anytime anything happens, but that first jump... I had never felt anything like it. For a moment, the whole ship was covered in ice, and I felt this feeling in the pit of my stomach like something was grabbing me and twisting me inside out.

+++ A shudder.

But that passed quickly, and we were sailing through the warp to our destination. I learned later about the geller field that protects the ship while we travel, and that in that instant when we first make the jump, the geller field takes a moment to snap into place. Kinda scary to think that in that instant, that brief moment, we experienced the warp in it's unfiltered, unshielded, raw form. Of course, that's a good deal less scary than what happened later in the journey.

--- To be continued in Part 1.2 ---

LoL What? Beginner Character Guides

Way back in my original League of Legends article, I mentioned that I wanted to write some character guides. Why should I, a beginner myself, make character guides to LoL? Wouldn't it be better to just read the guides on LeagueCraft? Well yes, it would, if you are looking for in depth strategy and tips relevant for high level summoners. If, however, you are looking for tips for summoners level 10 or below, just learning the game, the best person to ask is someone who just went through the learning process themselves.

Don't expect tips here for high level competition - this is guide is for lower level summoners who want help starting out. I plan to make LoL What? a series, and I'll be covering the following things:

• Champion Abilities: To even begin to understand how to build your champion, you must know what their abilities do. For each champion I cover, I'll describe in simple terms what their abilities do and how to use them effectively.
• Summoner Abilities: The recommended summoner abilities for the champion will be given, with a short explanation as to the reason for the choices.
• Mastery: The recommended mastery spec for the champion will be given, with a short explanation as to the reason for the choices. NOTE: Runes will NOT be discussed as this is intended for beginner summoners, and you shouldn't really buy runes until level 20. However, a more in depth guide will be reference at the beginning of every guide, where you can find Rune recommendations.
• Skill Order: The recommended order to setting up your skills for the champion will be given, with a short explanation as to the reason for the choices.
• Items: Recommended item choices and order will be given. I'll give a few choices for different situation but the focus will be on brevity.
• Laning/Jungling: This section will cover early game strategy and tactics for the champion. I'll give a few choices for different situation but the focus will be on brevity.
• Team Fights: This will cover late game strategy and tactics for the champion, revolving around team fights. I'll give a few choices for different situation but the focus will be on brevity.

In general, I will be trying to keep these guides as short and concise as possible. I will NOT be including much advice for specific situations or alternative builds. The idea here is to get someone up and running as quickly as possible, then point them in the direction of more advanced guides.

Look forward to my first guide coming later this week, for the champion Kayle!

Life of Jiya: What Free Time?

Hello everyone! With all the article style posts I've been making, I thought I should drop in and give you an update on what's actually been going on in my life.

I'm finally done moving and have settled in to my new apartment. It's a nice little place that's much closer to work, but it's frustratingly still a decent distance by transit. Luckily I've worked out a schedule with Andrew that allows me to drive most of the time, which saves me a lot of time. The downside to this schedule is that I'm away from home literally from when I wake up to when I go to bed. I have a feeling this is going to take it's toll over the course of the term, but I'm actually sort of delighting in the business of it right now.

I'm making a point of making new friends and contacts at school this term. I've got a few people who want to study together already, which is exciting. I've also made some friends at our weekly ACM (Association for Computing Machinery, the CS club) "meeting" - in which we sit around eating pizza and playing board games. Overall I have really high hopes for this term and I'm looking forward to seeing where it will take me.

Not only are my weekdays busy, but I've got plans for every weekend this month as well. Next weekend is GeekGirlCon in Seattle. It's the first year for this new con and I'm very excited to see how it goes. I'll be reporting back in with my impressions of the con next week.

Not your typical magician.

After that, I'm going to see the anti-conjuror, Dan Sperry. My aunt booked him in her local theatre as a benefit to the local humane society (she's a veterinarian). When my mom asked how much that cost, my aunt just told her not to ask. I'm really looking forward to the show, as I've always loved magic shows and this one looks like it's got that awesome blend of creepy and charming that I really enjoy.

After THAT, I'll be running Zee at my second session of a Dark Heresy group I've joined. I do plan to post a session log for my last session with them, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. This group has been a blast so far, and I'm really enjoying the "marathon" style session - instead of meeting weekly for a few hours each time, we meet monthly for the entire day. I've found I really start settling into the feel of the world after a few hours, and I just don't have time to do that with a three hour session. The GM also uses music to help get us in the mood for different scenes, and that's been fun to experience as well.

Best vegetable ever.
Except for maybe peas.

And, finally, this month would not, COULD NOT, be complete without pumpkins. I have a strange and overwhelming fondness for this fall vegetable, and October is it's month to shine. I plan to have a pumpkin party (as I do every year) where we'll carve pumpkins, eat baked pumpkin with butter and brown sugar, roast pumpkin seeds, make pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie, and generally enjoy everything involving pumpkins. I know, I'm weird.

Amidst all this, I'm trying to continue both playing and making games. I've begun playing WoW again, and am working on getting my rogue raid ready. It's actually going fairly quickly, and I'm hoping after my slew of crazy weekends I'll be able to start up a weekend raiding group within my guild (which sadly normally raids on weeknights). I've also recently played through the masterpiece that is Bastion, which I need to do an article on sometime soon. I picked up a new game for my DS recently as well - a remake of the classic Chrono Trigger. I started playing the emulated version, but I thought a portable might be easier for me to work in to my busy schedule. I'm planning on starting a play by post Rogue Trader game soon as well. And, of course, work continues on Pollinator. I just got some images from my graphics guy, and I'm super excited to see them in action. I'm also still working on getting a website up and running for Bounder Studios. More on that to come!

All in all, my life is totally crazy in the most awesome way possible. I'm loving it and hope it never stops!