If rainy days AND Mondays always get you down, you’d be hating life in Southern California today.
For what seems like the first time in years, it is raining heavy today in Los Angeles. Here in Venice Beach, the home of the homeless and day laborers, the smell of old urine and unfulfilled dreams are being washed out into Santa Monica Bay along with around 18 tons of sewage, McDonald’s wrappers, and body parts.
For as long as I can remember, rainy days have made me think of two things. One – my several visits to Scotland with my parents when I was young. Sometimes on a rainy day, when I pass a house with a fireplace, the combinations of scents takes me right back to the cobbled streets of my mom’s ancient home town of Sterling. The second thing the rain makes me think of is gaming.
I know for sure that for decades whenever it was raining outside, or if I heard it was going to rain, I would immediately think “Oh man, I gotta work on the next game a bit tonight.” Something about it just stirs my imagination. There is a lot to be said of the famous literary story opener “It was a dark and stormy night…”
The only thing better than sitting in a cozy spot and working on an upcoming game when it is rainy outside is actually running a game when it is raining outside. It’s weird, even when I can’t smell it, hear it, or see it, the fact that it is just raining gives me so much inspiration and pep in the gaming process. I think some of my most brilliant “performances” as a GM occurred when it was wet outside. If I could run a game right next to an open door (as I usually do, standing up the entire session, with my latest group) where I can see and feel the downpour, all’s the better. Of course, it hasn’t rained on game night in the last year or so of this group, but that’s global warming for you.
OK, a cool clear night with a full moon is pretty bitchin’ for gaming too, but I like rain the best.
Bruno “Rainman” Mac
