This year, it got quite a bit of hype from a third of the cast of Critical Role, a Dungeons & Dragons show hosted on Geek & Sundry's Twitch stream. The Dungeon Master himself and two party members were going, and they were going to skip an episode. The festival gets mentioned now and again through the show (which I binge-watched over a year's worth of broadcasts in something like six months, so it was enough to stick in my brain) and there was much excitement.
So I finally got curious enough to go, "So, what's the deal with this thing, anyway?"
Firstly, it's in the desert (WHY?!) in August (you have a death wish, don't you?), but as I read on, watching videos from other Burners, reading the literature... My perspective changed. "Radical self-reliance means WHAT? You people are crazy! *grins* Crazy in the best way! How do you manage that?!" As someone who left the Eastern shore of Virginia (no, literally - I was a five minute walk from the Atlantic) to chase the elusive mayfly called love (it did die, just shy of 3 years. Typical) in Tucson, AZ, I knew what they meant when they went on about how beautiful the sky is (every sunrise/set makes me want to paint, and I'm way too OCD about consistency for that nonsense, which is why knitting is a thing for me), and how gorgeous the stars are (you really don't have all that light pollution, makes a huge difference. How many humans have never actually seen star dust?), and watching the general tomfoolery and child-at-heart playfulness makes me just so happy.
Especially the clown noses. As someone who has been clowning for several years, the unabashed clown noses are absolutely wonderful to see. It's nice to see the joy of the circus without the PETA protestors going on about elephants (and antiquated practises that we haven't used for sixty years) BUT I DIGRESS.
I'm wondering what it takes to get there, and I know it won't be next year. As part of that elusive love of mine failing, I find myself presently without a place to call home (for the forseeable future, sure, but the lease is up very soon, and I need to find a place on my own) and so I'm taking advantage of the lack of roots to move to Los Angeles. It's been a dream of mine to get into voice acting (which lead me to CR, actually, and then here) and LA is the place to go. I'm also an incredibly talented writer (and apparently rather good clown and stand up comic, if the periodic laughter actually means anything) so I have confidence I can make a better living being a funny guy out there than here. Plus, if I'm going to be broke and homeless, being a starving artist is outright fashionable in LA (see? Black comedy. This shit gets rave reviews). I'm a crazy talented person, and I'm hoping a bigger town will give me more opportunity to monetize my myriad talents, but getting there is already a bit of a battle. For the forseeable future, I'm going to be struggling to get myself planted in a new town, so I can't possibly hope to be ready for Burning Man in '17, but maybe '18.
Maybe. Depends on what turns life has for me in those two years, what friends I make, and if anyone is willing to conjure up a camp with me (and I have a couple suspects-- err, friends on that already). I even have a concept that I've been making notes on as I watch/learn about this, and some input on that would help.
I'll start simple. I read tarot cards, so that's an easy enough gift for my first couple burns. I want to be sure I have a gift so that I'm "doing it right", so no worries. I've always had a Gift of Helps, and that's something I know I'm good at. But my eventual goal, my Burning Man dream, my art project concept is something I'm tentatively calling Drake's Dungeon.
Ironically, it's a gaming dungeon (no, I didn't mean that to coincide with the source material -- that's entirely serendipitous). For a very long time, I've wanted to run my own cafe, and in the last several years I've decided that this cafe should be very geeky in persuasion (with a library of sci-fi/fantasy novels, geek-themed drinks, a bookshelf of games (Catan, Call of Cthulhu, Cards against Humanity, Fluxx, Munchkin, Apples To Apples) and D&D source books and dice), and I think crafting one as a Burning Man project could be a great way to experiment with a short-term pop up to iron out business tactics as practise for the real thing. Eventually. This is the very beginning of an idea, and I like to experiment with logistics, even if I can't possibly do anything about it now -- I've never let present limitations stop me from dreaming. It's a big reason why I have unfinished books and a tarot deck I'm designing, and a myriad of other things I can't hope to afford to do: I have the idea and I pursue it, regardless of the cost (that I can't afford). All in due time.
Present notes: instead of paper and pencil for character sheets, I could laminate them and have players use dry erase markers to keep down MOOP and have them variable for multiple players and year-after-year use. This is partly inspired by the fact I've seen the CR crew (specifically Percy) use dry erase markers to mark damage dealt to their characters. Naturally, long-term players could bring their own character sheets (if they knew I was going to have a gaming dungeon and prepared accordingly, mind) but it would be a great way to break friends into the habit-- err, introduce them to a game if they've been adverse to trying it previously. Because what's better than a few drinks to lower the inhibitions and get your staunchly non-nerd friend to play a paladin for a night? D&D saves lives, science has proven it. Also, Cards Against Humanity attracts the best (WORST) kinds of people, and is just the sort of crowd pleaser that turns strangers into friends. Sick, twisted friends. Tea could be broken down into tins of loose leaf instead of individual tea bags, which not only saves on MOOP but also means customisable strengths of tea AND the better-for-you benefits of fresh leaves (and the option for participants to bring their own brews) because actually good, DECENT tea can be brewed more than once, so hey! Economy. I'm debating between coffee beans (fresh ground!) or instant coffee, (or, SCANDALOUS, making it tea only, but who are we kidding?) but powdered sugar and creamer could save on water weight and disposability. Mugs to clean out instead of paper. I think this would do extra well as a late night camping thing, as gaming can take a while, and the tea/coffee would keep people warm in the night. I wonder if the games are too "Brand Name" to work with the rule of de-commodification, because that will require some finangling if so. But I've a friend who makes a habit of supporting indie tabletop/card games on Kickstarter, so I could always endeavour for indie game makers to showcase new games here. That's the Burning Man way, yes?
Matt Mercer, if you're reading this, you are NOT allowed to spend your entire week of Burning Man DMing games. I'm watching you. We'll find someone who can have you play, alright?
(Not that you would, but just in case.)If I can grow this to be an actual full-service cafe (which will take more time to get money, because I am absolutely shite at crowd funding, and I need to find someone better at this than I am), volunteers as baristas would be needed, as well as volunteers to DM games, teach games, and generally watch over the shop. Donations of games would be appreciated, as well as tea and coffee and cookies or what have you. There's a very big red flag here that I know actual restaurants need food service licensing, so another grave concern is what the red tape is, and what rules there are with that. Anyone with experience doing a cafe/restaurant/diner at BM, I would appreciate some advice on that matter.
IF SOMEONE IS ALREADY DOING THIS, let me know. I'd hate to step on toes. Playful rivalries are better! (I'll be Desert Bluffs.) If someone has done something like this in the past, let me know how it worked for you! Sustainability options? Ways to sort out the logistics on hot water? (Is an actual urn of cooked water better, or kettling it?) Advice on power sources? (I have looked at solar generators, which are nice and pricey, and that's DEFINITELY the sort of thing I would want referrals on from people who've tried them.) I know, it's all pie in the sky, but dreams start somewhere. Considering the sort of madness I'm hearing on BMIR, I think it's an entirely doable concept, even if I have some significant problems to address. I also kind of wanted the idea of this to be a fairly lounge-esque place. More actual gaming, less drunks and sex (unless you're really into nerds, in which case I'm not going to stop you, because I'm on the hunt for someone tall, dark and snarky myself) but kind of a more chill vibe. I am sure that not all of BM is as 'oontz oontz' as it seems, (but even) so this could be a safe place away from all that. Maybe? I don't know. Can you do that?
Mind, I'll come to a Burn to get a better grasp on how to do things before I move on to that, but I can't help but think of what I could do to contribute to Black Rock City, and a variation on my dream seems like a good start on it.
ALSO, HAI! Call me Blake.
