September Blog Meme Challenge Day 7

Well, that certainly worked out well, didn't it? That blog meme really motivated me to write more, no?

Actually, it really did. I was just a victim of (a) failed technology and (b) personal issues. I tried to post a second post while at Salt Lake Comic Con on September 7. However, we Con-goers apparently broke the convention center's tech; e-mails, texts, even cell phone calls--nothing was going in or out of the building. When I tried afterwards, from home, my cell phone ate several posts. Admittedly, it's likely due to user error as I'm still getting used to using a smart phone.

Sigh.

But the remainder is purely my fault. Purchasing a law firm is rough enough. Trying to sort out the various administrative and financial messes that the former owner left for me adds several layers of exponentially-greater difficulties to the process. I actually found a six-inch-square part of my desk top bare today. I don't plan on it being there very long. At any rate, the whole new-business-owner thing is still fresh and still causing a major hassle. It's a distraction from my distractions. But know I'm at least thinking about you all while I struggle through real life.

Without further ado, then...

DAY SEVEN

What is your favorite edition?

Well, that's easy enough: D&D. Period.

What? You want MORE, you say? You want specificity? OK. Sigh. Back in 2000, when I picked up the dice again, my group was playing 2nd Edition AD&D, and had been for some time. My favorite character was spawned during that campaign, and I maintain he could kick the tail of any later iteration of the character. The subsequent editions nerfed a lot of what made him great, effective, and fun to play.

We were dragged, kicking and screaming, into Third Edition, and soon thereafter, 3.5E.

And we enjoyed it. Sure, there are some hiccups, hills and valleys, and speed bumps. Every edition has its problems.

Let me say that again, clearly: every edition has its problems.

Enough so that our long-time Dungeon Master decided--with the advent of 4E--that he'd had enough of the vagaries of 3.x and jumped ship. He tried to get us to go with him, but for various reasons no one else in the group wanted to jump with him. Since then, we've instituted a grundle of house rules and incorporated a lot of Pathfinder (and some OSR). What we play right now would be classified as maybe 3.8E (if Pathfinder is 3.75 as it's so often called). We also have several rotating DMs, all of whom understand that there's rules and then there's RULES. There are ways to stay within the RULES and still have a speedy, fun, and technically "correct" game. We try NOT to refer to any books while play is going on. If a rule is found later to have been violated by either DM or player, appropriate rewards or punishments are meted out.

I've played 4E and found it wasn't my cup of tea. I've played 2E and enjoyed it, as well as 3.x. So, I guess I could fudge and say "D&D of any edition." But, long answer short, if you're going to pin me down and make me pick something specific: my favorite edition would have to be 3.8E.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 6

DAY SIX

What  it's your favorite deity?

Anyone want to take a guess?

OK, that may have been too hard of a question. I'll give you a hint:

His name is Moradin All-Father, the Soulforger.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 5

Whoops. Something happened yesterday and this didn't post.

DAY FIVE

What is your favorite set of dice or individual die?

Anyone that has ever read this blog for any length of time know just how difficult a question that is to answer. Just search "dice" on the Stronghold and you'll see. Maybe I can pare it down a bit, though. To start with, we have my everyday dice. This is the set that I carry in my backpack with me everywhere I go, complete with a little velvet drawstring bag. Yes, they also go to court with me. Why? Hey, Jack! Who knows when a game will break out? or a random encounter helps your client?

Second up are a couple of my d20s. I love d20s. I don't exactly know why, but they are very appealing to me. I have a full range of sizes as shown above. I have several colossal d20s like the black one; I like them, but they're not my favorites. However, the red d20 shown here is my "pocket die"--a lucky d20 that I carry in my trouser pocket with my pocketknife and keys. Again: you never know when you'll need to roll-to-hit.

These last two sets are my pride and joy. The first one here is a set of Crystal Caste Dwarven Stones. They're made of hematite and I find them glorious. Of course, that may be because I'm a dwarf. I love the Dwarven Stones series and have longed after several of the sets (the dinosaur bone and meteorite sets, particularly) but never seem to have a spare wad of cash when I think about buying a set. Maybe when I'm rich and famous. These have never been used, however, because I don't want to risk any kind of damage.

This is my other favorite set: pewter. I don't remember who sold these, but I bought them back in the early 2000s. I've used them once or twice; they roll terrifically and they're nice and heavy. The downside is that they're soft. Really soft. And they're dinged up from just a couple sessions' worth of use. So, they're the emeritus dice in the collection. They're the 600-pound gorilla on the dice shelf, just daring the other dice to step out of line.

Tracy Hickman's New Game

OK, so, I need to throw a shout-out to all my readers about this.

Tracy Hickman's Kickstarter went live last night and I'm pretty excited about it. It's for a new board game...well, that's like calling Buckingham Palace a "house." It's so much more than a simple board game. Put away Clue and Monopoly for a while, in other words. I can't wait to get my hands on it. In fact, I'm hoping to find the Hickmans at Salt Lake Comic Con and sit down for a demo, just so I can say I've played it.

Here's the link: Sojourner Tales Board Game.

From the Kickstarter description:

Sojourner Tales is a board game featuring new, downloadable ebook adventure modules that make the experience new every time you play.
...
In Sojourner Tales, you will use strategy and wits as you discover and collect the pieces of your mysterious story as you strive to be the first to complete the epic adventure. The tale is different every time you play ... or you can download new Sojourner Tales to explore from our website!

Number of Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes
Age of Players: 12+ (requires minimum reading skills)
Setup time: 5-7 minutes
Teach the rules: 3-5 minutes
...
Unique Ebook Story Modules: The story told in every Sojourner Tale is designed to be contained entirely in the electronic mobi or epub files. You also have the option to download the adventure in PDF format to print out and use with the game if you do not have a tablet or other device that supports the electronic book formats. However, the use of any touch-screen device provides a magical experience in storytelling and helps the game move faster.
Adaptable Design: The game components that come in the box and the rules of the game itself are specifically designed to be adaptive to a broad spectrum of storytelling. Each Sojourner Story Module contains information on which location tiles are to be used on the board with that particular story, thereby changing the look of the game board depending on the story being told. All of the flavor, setting, characters and narrative of the adventure are contained in the downloaded module ... meaning the game can adapt to any story you want to live.
Innovative Storytelling System: The board keeps track of your location in the epic story, making certain that the game flows back and forth between the board and the ebook with the story continuity left intact. For random encounters, an innovative 'Twisted Tales' system lets the players draw two twisted cards and one tales card and then 'stack' them in such a way as to make a phrase -- a phrase which takes them to a specific adventure entry for that combination of cards.
Grass-roots Licensing: We want YOU to write adventures for our game and so we are even providing you with a 'grass-roots licensing option whereby you can not only create your own Sojourner Tales games but (with our license) also sell those adventures on our official website.

Here's the link one more time: Sojourner Tales Board Game. Jump on over and pledge away; there are some great early-bird perks still available.

For now.

So act now, and act quick.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 4

DAY FOUR

What is your favorite game world?

Well, with the limited playing time my group has, it's interesting to note that we've had several home-brewed campaigns interspersed with our published worlds. I had a DM try and play us in the Amber universe. That failed miserably: all the players agreed with that assessment. We've had some interesting planar adventures and a jaunt to Pathfinder's Golarion setting. All in all, though, I'd have to say I enjoy the Realms the most.

Mind you, it's an "edited" Realms. This ain't your daddy's Forgotten Realms, in other words.

I found a kindred spirit in this respect this morning, perusing the other participants in this month's blogging challenge. I happened across The Tower of the Archmage and was interested to see that he plays in a similar Realms that we do.

All of the major figures/players are absent. If they DO exist, they are elsewhere, putting out fires. Elminster is the only one that really has been named as existing. Drizzt and his companions? Nowhere to be found, happily, although we HAVE had one player dabble with a Drow character. He did it well, and different enough from Drizzt to be palatable.

The events of the novels and the campaign settings do not effect our Realms, unless we are actually playing through one of the campaigns. Largely, we are in a Realms sandbox, and take bits and pieces from published settings as it suits us.

My experience with the Forgotten Realms in this way is one reason I do not understand people who say that they can't play in this-or-that Published Setting because they don't like the major characters, don't want to worry about canon, don't want to be stuck following the guidelines of the novels, don't want to blah-blah-blah.

Make it your own. That's all it takes. Just like complaining about a rule set--take what you want and leave what you don't. Just because it's in a book--campaign setting or rule book--doesn't mean you HAVE to use it, unless the DM and/or entire party decides to use it.

We've journeyed through Our Realms since 2000. We've gone through 2E, 3E, 3.5E, and now Pathfinder as we've traveled. We care nothing for Salvatore or Greenwood's opinions on the matter, and we certainly didn't bother with any 4E Spellplague drivel. It's our Realms. And it's going to stay that way.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 3

DAY THREE

What is your favorite playable class?

Some of my favorite recent Dwarven characters:

• Malgrim Irontomb, Rogue
  
• Kilvarn Dornkral, Sonnlinor (warrior-priest of Moradin)
  
• Thain Dorzring, Paladin
  
• Urdin Darjyr, Storm Druid
  
• Azarr Stonetower, Barbarian
  
• Boric Glanduum, Sonnlinor (warrior-priest of Moradin)
  

By and large, I've enjoyed what each of these characters brought to the table. Part of it may be the backstory I build into my characters. Part of it is the class itself. I'll be honest, of this list, my LEAST favorite was Thain Dorzring, Paladin. I hated playing the paladin. I didn't like the class, didn't like the build, and I didn't like the character. I couldn't even come up with a likeable backstory for him. But this post isn't about my least favorite playable class, but rather my most favorite. I will be honest, it's a kind of tough decision. It would probably be the dwarven cleric/Sonnlinor. The Sonnlinor originated in 2d Edition AD&D days, a character "kit" presented in Demihuman Deities, if I'm not mistaken. While not as powerful, necessarily, as a straight cleric build, it has a warrior aspect to it -- they are the elite warrior class of Moradin. Now, WotC has come up with some other builds that seem to trump the Sonnlinor, but nothing else had the same flavor.... So my group sat down and created one, just so we could have one in the party. Yep, it's my party's most favorite dwarven class too. Just enough oomph in melee with some divine magic thrown in to balance out the party.

Oh, yeah.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 2

DAY TWO

What is your favorite playable race?

Umm...

Have you seen the name of this blog? The graphic up top? Yeah, my favorite race is actually the kender.

--deadpan mode--

No, but seriously, it's the dwarves. I relate to them on many levels. I like their solid-ness, their hardiness. I like the traditional values and even the stereotypical gruffness (at least to outsiders). About the only thing I don't like is the ubiquitous Scottish accents and a penchant for writers to turn dwarves into the buffoons of the story. (**I'm looking at you, Salvatore, and your Cleric Quintet!**)

Really, though. Scottish accents? This LONG pre-dates Peter Jackson. Back in 2000 I wrote up a quick campaign journal for some extra RP for our campaign. My dwarf character had a unique vocabulary. The DM's response to it? "I had a hard time reading it because I couldn't reconcile his vocabulary with a Scottish accent." I'm sorry? Did I ever ONCE speak in a brogue when playing this character? NO. And yet the DM automatically assumed that he had one. Sigh. Yeah, it's a pet peeve.

I really do identify with them, though, in many ways. I love caves, rocks, jewels and semi-precious stones. I love to craft things with my hands. I would, someday, dearly love to learn ironmongery and blacksmithing. I'm gruff and impatient at times. Strong convictions and morals. The list could go on and on; suffice it to say, people who know me well are not surprised to learn I have an affection for dwarves.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 1

So, I haven't posted in about a month.

Yeah. I'm still alive. Suffice it to say there's been a drastic upheaval in my professional life, and I now own the firm. I'm the boss, the head cheese, the Leader of the Stronghold in more ways than one. But that also means an entirely new, elevated level of stress. Wow, does it. Not the least of my problems is figuring out cheap but effective advertising and, oh yeah, how do I pay the minions next month?

But all that's taken its toll. I haven't been gaming much, or doing much reading or writing.

And then this happens. Right over there, on the right. What better way to get me back blogging than a meme/challenge? OK, it's a crutch, but a darn fine one, and it comes at a good time.

So: let's get started.

DAY ONE

How did you get started?

I'm going to cheat here and refer back to my second-ever post on this blog, because it says it pretty well.

I was introduced to Role Playing Games (RPGs) in the late 70s by a friend at school. At that time, the game-play between us essentially consisted of moving the lead figures about in mock battles with very little regard to the rules or to dice-rolling, although there was more of the latter than the first. Stats meant very little. These were, at the time, essentially small, hard action figures to us. We used up A LOT of Testor's enamel paints painting up these little guys, and painting them up BADLY. Of course, they were masterpieces to our eyes.

My first mini, if I remember correctly, was a dwarf. I'll dig him out and post him up sometime.

I was one of those poor saps that went around the family and around the neighborhood twice annually selling gift wrap and greeting cards. You remember the school programs: here's a catalog of all the cool stuff you can "buy" with your sales points. Of course, they don't tell you that you have to sell the equivalent of Oregon's annual paper output to get enough points to earn the really cool stuff.

And of course, just how many people need to buy THAT much gift wrap twice a year?

But then came one year: 1981.

There in the catalog was this: The Basic Set. Erol Otus' adventurers worked their magic on me, even through the long distance of the catalog page. I was hooked: I ran my tail off selling cards and paper that year. My parents at the time had no idea what it was--they thought it was just another board game. To be honest, I wasn't much better educated than they were about it, but I knew that I just had to have it.

I can still remember where I was when I first opened up the box: in the basement, sitting on the floor in front of the couch. Blue and green shag carpeting in front of the enormous Magnavox console television.

I peeled the cellophane off the box and proceeded to remove every last item in the box, almost reverentially.

First thing I did? I colored the dice with a white crayon.

Then I rolled up characters for the rest of the night.

I think that was where my parents first started to worry. The worry quickly turned into a near-Jack Chick-like obsession against gaming. I played on the sly, going through reams of graph paper creating dungeon after dungeon, world map after world map. Then I added Star Frontiers, Doctor Who, and Star Trek to my list of games. I still have a binder full of starship drawings I made in High School when I should have been listening in class. [I forgot to include Car Wars and Champions in the list the first time around.]

Yup. Hook, line, and sinker.

I admit that I put them aside for a while through undergrad and grad school. Got married, enjoyed my first six years of marriage...then broached the subject one day on a long road trip for a job interview.

And I found out I'd married a past gamer myself.

And shortly thereafter I got reacquainted with my inner dwarf.

Since then, I've been a player once again.

Loads of New Magic and New Spells!

I'm kinda late coming to this particular Kickstarter party on this, but hey...every little bit helps, right? And this one has exploded. With a few more great stretch goals in the works.

There's less than 5 hours left, though. And they need another $2,000 to reach a stretch goal to include Dwarven magic. Reaver magic too.

But c'mon, people. DWARVEN MAGIC.

Head on over HERE. Get yourself a copy of Deep Magic: A Tome of New Spells for Pathfinder RPG. It's for a great cause. Just look at the contributors: Jason Bulmahn, Amber E. Scott, Richard Pett, Wolfgang Bauer, and Ed Greenwood. Yes, THAT Ed Greenwood.

Oh yeah, and Brom.

Look at the stretch goals: blood magic, new archetypes, fiendish Gnome magic, extreme battle magic, ioun stones, and curse magic.

Look at the add-ons: pdfs of divine magic; arcane symbol hand-outs; spell scroll hand-outs; maps; iPad, iPhone, and Android reference apps, and Hero Lab files for the spells.

It's some good stuff. Even if you don't play 3.x, there's stuff in this Kickstarter for you. C'mon. Jump on board.

Y'know you want to.

Free RPG Day Loot Report!

Yeah, yeah. I realize that Free RPG Day was several weeks ago. Yeah, I'm a little late at getting my loot report done. Y'all who know me well know that there's some serious negative juju going on in my professional life right now. Unfortunately that has to take precedence sometimes.

So, without further ado, here's what MY haul looked like at 5:00 p.m. on Free RPG Day 2013: First off, I took my kids with me to ensure a "shotgun" approach to gathering loot. Our FLGS allows two items per person; even though I'm well known by the staff, I try not to take advantage of that...at least, an advantage obvious to other customers, that is. As in past years, many of the publishers provide PDF versions of the Free RPG Day offerings after the fact (where available, I've included links to legal PDF copies of the materials as well.); I still prefer to get hard copies of these where- and whenever possible. For one, I like holding and reading printed materials; for another, the post-Free RPG Day offerings are not always free after the fact.

Starting at the upper left, we have the Hall of Bones adventure from Frog God Games, for the Sword & Wizardry ruleset. I haven't had a chance to go through this one yet.

Next to that there's Paizo Publishing's follow-up to last year's We Be Goblins!, the cleverly-named We Be Goblins Too!. This was one of the titles that I was particularly excited to get. I enjoyed last year's offering and this one, at first glance, appears to be as fun and interesting as the first. Unfortunately, my gaming group has no interest in playing goblins...so, this seems destined for good NPC fodder. In fact, our current DM is running an orc/goblin-centric campaign right now. I may just have to pass this off to him for inspiration.

Finishing the top row, there's Goodman Games' RPG offering. Like last year, they have stuffed two good modules within these two covers. One is a DCC adventure for 1st-level characters. The other is a Pathfinder Xcrawl adventure. This one is going to be milked for inspiration for sure.

The second row has the Flying Buffalo T&T Adventure Fire Dwarves of Zorr and Troll Lord Games' C&C Adventure A Pot of Broken Bones and Halfling Broth. Both of these are destined to be mined for inspiration for 3.x. The next two items are also for inspiration...I just have to find the correct Sci-Fi/Space Opera game system. Fantasy Flight Games' Edge of the Empire and Catalyst Games' flipbook for Shadowrun and Battletech. (This one will be doubly useful, as one of my gaming buddies wants to start working on a Mech game of his own.)

The last two are two others that were the reason for my foray into the shop: Lamentations of the Flame Princess' Better Than Any Man and James Porter Jr.'s NeoExodus Temple of the Forbidden God. I have plenty of lizardmen just waiting to come out of hibernation. I even recommended Better Than Any Man to a teenager who was struggling over what to pick out; his mother was standing there looking lost. Her advice was "Pick something that you think looks like something Dad didn't pick out himself." He had this one in his hand and I told him that Raggi's products were all pretty sound and quality. It wasn't until I was on my way home myself that I noticed the "18+" tag on the module.

Oops.

Still, though, it's impressive and amazing that Raggi puts out a book--yes, a literal BOOK--of this size for a Free RPG offering. Usually you can count on a dozen pages. This thing FAR exceeds it at 96 pages. NINETY-SIX. That's EIGHT DOZEN pages. Plus the cover is removable and contains a map on the inside.

Hopefully the kids' mom will forgive that anonymous "dirty old man" in the FLGS....

About an hour after leaving the FLGS, I received a phone call to inform me of the results of the in-store prize drawing: my oldest daughter's entry won the collapsible dice tower from Blue Panther. She, of course, gifted it to me out of the goodness of her heart. Then the manager laughed and told me I'd won the grand prize: the massive hardcover DCC RPG. Needless to say I was pretty psyched. (Of course, I may have to look at selling or re-gifting, because I'm not sure how much re-purposing I can do with this, and my game group isn't too OSR-friendly nowadays.

Finally, as some of you may know, I have an addition to dice. Dice. That's right I said: dice. Ahh, the mere word sends my heart racing and my hands shaking. Dice. DICE.

Did I tell you I like dice?

Well, the managers also know of my love of dice and when I went in to pick up our family's my winnings, he slipped me these little beauties. I really liked last year's offerings--a complete set (or nearly complete in my case)--mostly because I don't have a lot of uses for d6s. But they're pretty. And he even slipped me a second Q-Workshop for my daughter, who loves yellow. She "squeeed" just a bit at the gift.

Whew. All in all, a pretty successful Free RPG Day this year. I'm not sure I can match it. I was constantly reminded, throughout the day, of the generosity I felt from my fellow gamers last year, all those who were able to grab up extras at their respective FLGS for my library.

ANNOUNCEMENT! CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Do you ever find yourself wandering through your local Big&Name bookstore, looking at the rows and rows of so-called fantasy books? Do you find yourself waxing nostalgic for a good, old-fashioned Frank Frazetta-like cover on your fantasy? Do you miss swordsmen on distant planets, amazing heroes with massive thews, truly evil magic-users trying to bring about the End Of All? Do you miss terrifyingly powerful monsters threatening barely-clad damsels? What about santity-threatening entities? Do you wonder if we have modern-day Bradburys, Lovecrafts, Burroghs, and Liebers? Do you miss undead that don't sparkle and wizards that aren't still in High School?

If you can say "yes" to any of the above, then you're in luck.

Even better, if you can say you like to write about any of the above, you're in luck, and you're exactly who we're looking for

I am pleased to announce the formation of Pulp Mill Press! Pulp Mill Press is dedicated to provide those things we all miss, things which have seemingly vanished from our bookstore shelves. Tim Shorts (Gothridge Manor), Ken Harrison (The Rusty Battleaxe), Sean Robson (Tales from the Flaming Faggot), and I have banded together to form Pulp Mill Press in an attempt to offer an outlet and a source for those who share the same literary loves that we do.

We're all excited about this new venture. At first, it'll be a labor of love; ultimately we hope to make it a going concern. We hope to take this from e-copies to print, eventually. Sean said it best on his blog: "There are few venues for speculative short fiction these days, and even fewer of them are receptive to heroic fantasy and weird fiction.... We want to publish the sorts of stories that we love to read."

We're hoping there are some writers, artists, and gamers out there who share in that love and who want to share their talents with the larger world. We've opened submissions for our first anthology: Libram Mysterium. We hope to do well enough through this first effort that we can offer financial remuneration for future volumes.

If you're interested in joining the effort and throwing some artistic or literary work product our way, please visit the Pulp Mill Press home page and submission guidelines for more information. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at pulpmillpress4@gmail.com.

Digital Orc: Verloren (Review)

I have a whole slew of potential posts that are bouncing around in my head, including a recap of Free RPG Day loot-gathering. Unfortunately, my personal and professional life was turned topsy-turvy last Friday when my boss decreed that, in two weeks, he was shutting down the law firm and I'd be "self-employed."

My head hasn't been in the game since then, although I'm getting a bit more emotionally stable with the passing days.

But I was heartened this morning when I slipped over to the Digital Orc's blog to see what Dylan had in store. Lo and behold! Dylan's newest offering for Labyrinth Lord is up for sale!

(Disclaimer: I was an editor/proofreader on this project. I am not being compensated for this review, but will receive a copy of the final product for my proofreading services.)

I have not yet seen the final, finished product, but based off of the preview copy I saw as part of my proofreading? Wow. I should say up front that I do not play Labyrinth Lord, but all of Dylan's stuff has been fairly easy to port over to my 3.x campaign(s). My players have been known to recoil over some of his monsters. (Hello, backpack spider! I'm looking right at you, buddy!) This is more of the same.... From the evocative settings to the weird mutants, from the death-gamblers to the manipulative alien beings, from the sexy werewolf sirens to the hive-mind giant rodents....

Well, Dylan has done it again. This is some great stuff. He self-described this one to me as "weird" and it is. But that's not a criticism. It's weird stuff, but a cool weird. I liked what I saw and I think you will too. I can't wait to hold Verloren in my hands and let the ideas germinate for my own campaign.

You can buy the PDF on RPGNow.com for $3.99 or the limited run print version for $4.99. That's a small price to pay for 32 pages of cool gaming content. In fact, the only page I saw that was of little-to-no-use was the OGL page. Everything else had great content, maps, hooks, or images for in-game use.

From his own ad copy:

Verloren is a city hanging in the balance. Either it will fall to an ancient evil or triumph based on your actions. Enclosed are city details, maps, nine original monsters, and interesting non-player characters for encounters in and out of Verloren. In this fantasy supplement, players will face powerful monsters and explore a decaying city to discover the secret of The Change and save the thousands of inhabitants.

• 9 Original Monsters
  
• Over 20 Original Illustrations
  
• 3 New Spells
  
• Lots of NPCs and Story Hooks
  
• 2 Maps

So take a moment if you would and jump on over to the Digital Orc: he's got purchase links for each option there. Verloren--GET IT NOW!

I WON!

Thanks to Stelios over at d20 Dark Ages blog, I am the proud owner of a new miniature for my collection: Reaper's Angel of Death!

In honor of his 200th blog post, Stelios ran a give-away. A random drawing (ok, only a d6 roll, apparently...but still....) resulted in a win for yours truly.

And believe it or not, despite my love of Reaper miniatures, the Angel of Death is one I never had the chance to pick up for myself. And now it's winging its way toward me. I can't wait to start picking a color scheme for him.

Thanks again, Stelios!

And to all you who haven't had a chance to check out his blog, he's got some great stuff: reviews, gaming philosophies, soundtracks, and more!

[From the Mailbag] Playing Catch-up from Los Angeles

The recently-completed A to Z April Challenge took more out of me than just physical and emotional stress. It also pretty much kept me from talking about some very generous and terrific things I received in the mail during that time.

First up are some offerings provided by Christian Walker. Old timers will remember him for his several excellent 'zine offerings, most lately Loviatar, a 'zine which I credit for a resurgence in interest and production of self-published RPG 'zines. He called it quits on Loviatar in late December 2012. Since then, he's been re-charging his batteries and taking a break. However, imagine my surprise in walking in from work one day and finding a LARGE envelope on my desk...a large envelope with his return address stamped on it. I tore into it with excitement and confusion, as I hadn't been expecting anything from him. I'm well overdue for saying THANKS, CHRISTIAN!!! Inside the package I found this little beauty:

I must confess, I've never seen this or heard of this setting before. I'm not well-versed in any Labyrinth Lord material, to be honest. This particular gem was first published in 2007 and is the basis for Mr. Bezios' "Phoenix Barony" setting (the end of the book promises several more adventures/modules in the setting). The gift was completely unexpected and utterly appreciated. It came on a very, very bad day and helped alleviate some emotional pain. The material within looks generic enough that it shouldn't be too hard to adapt and modify for my own 3.x/Pathfinder uses. In fact, I'm already plotting how and where to fit the Phoenix Barony in my campaign world in relation to Coldtreath.

Heh. Good stuff.


Speaking of good stuff, imagine my surprise when I received this in the mail on Thursday. Christian had, last year, started sending out one-page gaming material letters together with (and eventually in lieu of) Loviatar. I really enjoyed them and found them useful in my own campaigns. Well, he's started a new one-page letter 'zine: a Los Angeles-centered Cthulhu-oriented campaign setting, Shudde M'ell Confidential.

This first issue was intriguing to me. So much so that I sat right down and scribbled out a quick map and a letter to his newly-introduced first NPC regarding some mysterious runes discovered in an unusual excavation in the basement of a downtown building.

Yeah, I've got a set of brass ones. I'm a bit forward sometimes. But as I said, the material inspired me.

To be honest, I've never even played in a Cthulhu campaign. I'd do almost anything to live in Christian's neighborhood and take part in this one, though. Every Lovecraftian game I've heard any of my acquaintances run have all been New England-oriented campaigns. One friend had planned a northwest/Washington State-oriented game, but it never left the initial "wouldn't this be cool" planning stages. The idea of investigators in early 20th-century Los Angeles really sets off a spark somehow. There's a lot of interesting individuals, personalities, events, etc. that exist on the West Coast during this time period; certainly sufficient to make for a fun and realistic campaign setting.

Sigh. And here I am, stuck in the Rockies.

[A to Z April] Wrap-up and Thoughts

My final entry for the 2013 iteration of the A to Z April challenge was to be titled: Z is for Zhurra’s Complicated Blade (spell). However, I also had some notes that I actually needed to swap this spell idea out for another map, because I'd swapped a map for a spell in my planned posts earlier in the month.

Sadly, this post may never see the light of day anyway. April just about did me in, blog-wise, you see.

As April went on, I was glad that I had taken the opportunity the first few days to pre-write and build a buffer. Stress at the firm is getting high, as the unknown creeps ever closer. Stress in the family because of that unknown, and worrying about my staff as well...well, suffice it to say it started taking its toll, mentally and physically. I suffered through a bad cold at the first of April, to be followed by a sinus infection in mid-April, to be followed by another bout of pink eye that hit on the last week of April.

I was simply in no shape to finish up the Challenge.

Truth be told, I haven't even thought about the blog in the last two weeks. I simply wasn't up to it.

The April Challenge is always a two-edged sword for me. It's like a mini-NaNoWriMo in some respects, as it forces me to be creative and to write. But it also burns me out.

True, the sickness didn't help.

It will take me a year to get excited about another A to Z April Challenge. Especially after this year, because I'm not sure what I actually got out of it. True, I have 24 posts of what I believe is good and useful game material. I am happy to have seen some positive feedback from this material. I feel like the Challenge was a success in that respect, even though it may remain unfinished (for now).

I'm not sure, though, that there was that much exposure to my blog this year. That's always one side-effect of the April Challenge: exposure and increased "follower" counts. It's not why I do it, but it's there. Problem is, my follower count only increased by eight in the month, and two of those have since disappeared. Not even remotely close to last year's effect. Ah well, their loss.

I was also concerned about this year's organization: each blog was supposed to have listed a theme or genre when they signed up, to aid in finding like-minded blogs. I noticed that a lot of bloggers didn't bother categorizing. This is one reason I didn't do a lot of reading across the Challenge's blogs: Blog names simply don't often tell you what the subject matter actually is; if it wasn't categorized as a gaming blog, I just didn't have the time to visit it.

I also think that it may have gotten just too big for its britches. There were a LOT of blogs participating this year: 1,656 of which I was number 815. It's easy for ANY blog to get lost amongst 1,655 others. I don't know if there's a solution to that, unless it's by having each genre hosting its own Challenge...but I'm not sure how that would work, or even IF it would work. It may defeat the purpose of the Challenge.

Now...to buckle down and get some more writing done. Maybe. If I can.