Chris Monser's

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A brief description of my life.

I live in Pacifica, Calif. on a hillside overlooking the Pacific ocean and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I live with my wife, Laurie Ochsner, our daughter Gwyneth, and our two cats TuÐa (pronounced Toocha) and George (of the Jungle... Cat). I work in San Carlos as a Systems Engineer for Ledger Systems. On weekends I mostly work on our house ( I was a professional handyman for fourteen years, and can't leave well enough alone). My family has scattered to the four winds, so we are seldom all together.

My interests

Reading (primarily science & science fiction)
Backpacking
Game-playing (board games, card games, computer games (with the emphatic exception of shoot-'em-up arcade-style ones), physical games (volleyball, Rounders, etc.), and almost anything else that fits under the rubric "game")
Fencing (foil, épée, sabre, and rapier & dagger)
Costuming
Living History (In addition to the Renaissance Faire, I have been a docent (and crewed) on a 16th C. galleon, I have been involved in museum programs, and The National Civil War Association.)
Fiddling on and with computers (I like the Mac best)
Good wine (I tend to like reds) and good beer (English-style bitters are still my favorites)
Listening to music (jazz, classical (actually I don't much like Classical -- I much prefer Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic), rock & roll, bluegrass, Irish, musicals (Gilbert & Sullivan are current favorites), some country (but not western), and African & other World Music)
Woodworking

My current projects

Remodeling our house.
Building a retaining wall in the back yard (this is on hold during the remodel).
Keeping everybody working at work.
Mentally designing a woodworking shop (nothing yet is on paper).

My current enthusiasms

There are four novels by Parke Godwin that I highly recommend! They take legendary (and possibly mythic) characters and set them as if they were actual historical persons within an actual historical period - real people with real things happening to them. When read in order, they give in idea of the history and development of the modern Western ideas of the rights of the individual. Those ideas that lead to the formation of a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" in North America in the late Eighteenth century.
The novels are Firelord (about Arthur Pendragon) and Beloved Exile (about Gwenivere after Arthur's death); and Sherwood (Robin Hood) and Robin and the King (what happens after).
Magic: The Gathering: This is a great game! It is very fun to play and to design new decks and try them out against other players' decks. But it has been very expensive. I can only admire Richard Garfield, who designed the game, while at the same time cursing him. It is a collectible card game, which means that it costs a lot of money to keep up with the new editions that are continually published. You also end up competing with the card collectors for the older rare cards, even if all you want them for is the gameplay. Anybody in the Northern Peninsula area (Pacifica, Daly City, SSF, Burlingame, Millbrae, San Mateo, etc.) who is interested in playing please contact me: chris@chaosmedia.com
Cheapass Games: This company has published some very fun, very cheap, and very irreverent games! Most of the games cost about $4. My favorite two (right now) are Kill Dr. Lucky which is kinda a pre-Clue game, and Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond.
In "Kill Dr. Lucky", all the players (and Dr. Lucky) are moving around the mansion trying to get into a room alone with the good Doctor so that you can attempt to kill him. There are weapons that can help (Piece of Rope, Tight Hat, Trowel, etc.) to make it harder for your opponents to prevent the murder.
In "Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond", each player is an arch-villian trying to develop the inescapable Lair in which to trap Mr. Bond (and many other Spys). If you successfully trap a Spy, you can kill them without all the silliness (Bang! You're dead.). Of course, although this is the smart solution for an arch-villian, there's very little to be gained in doing this. If, however, you Taunt the Spy first (Before I kill you, Mr. Holmes, I must tell you all about my evil plans to conquer the World!). If you succeed in your Taunt, the Spy is much more valuable when you finally kill him. Of course, we all know that the slightly-too-slowly-descending platform into the pool of laser-equipped, ill-tempered sea bass is easily escaped, so your Taunt may fail. And of course, you must begin rebuilding a new Lair, because we all know that the escaping Spy always destroys the Lair behind him.
Great games! And cheap!