Shameless Plug!

My business partner and I, for our joint birthday gift a couple weeks ago, brought to life a new company called Beta|Read.

It is a fiction manuscript review and accreditation service. A cheap but welcome birthday gift idea for us: Visit our Facebook page and give it a "LIKE." In lieu of cake, please share the page with your fiction author friends and tell them about us!

Thanks in advance!

https://facebook.com/betareadreview

http://www.betaread.com/

[The Stronghold 'Zine] Get the Cigars, Boys! The Stork's Arrived!

What you see is the cover image for Issue #1 of The Stronghold. That's right, boys and girls, we have a new baby. And I'm a proud, proud papa. Like I've said before, I think there's some good, fun, and useful stuff between these pages.

Plus, I'm humbled to have been graced with a magnificent cover image by none other than the great Jay Penn and two wonderful illustrations within by the extremely talented (and quick-penned) Jim Magnusson.

The first copies have already hit the US Mail system, hot off the press. I can't wait to see what y'all think. The link to buy your own copy is below; sorry, for the time being, it's a "Print Only" 'zine, in the old-school-style tradition. Also, unfortunately rates to places outside the US are a bit higher, due to postage costs. Hopefully that won't dissuade you from picking up a copy. Or two.

**You can see a preview of the contents here or click on the link below to go ahead and buy.**

When you do pick up a copy, please drop me a line, especially if you use anything from Issue #1 in your game.

Rates:

USA $5.00 USD Canada $5.50 USD Europe & Australia $6.00 USD

Not Quite Dark

Yes, I have to admit, the blog has gone a bit dark of late. Not through any intentional act, but suffice it to say that depression, family problems, car problems, career problems, and money problems have all descended upon me all at once and have made it hard to really find any joy in anything right now.

Heck, I even tried to map my way out of it and the result came out looking like...well...it wasn't pretty.

One bright spot was being able to sit in the living room of Tracy and Laura Hickman on Sunday and have a nice 2+ hour chat. Catching up, gossip, that kind of thing. I was also able to pick up my Kickstarter-funder copy of their game, Sojourner Tales. I can't wait to get the families schedules all worked out so that we can sit down and play. The final product looks TERRIFIC. Tracy and Laura know what gamers want, know what board gamers want, and this product fits the bill. Just PHYSICALLY you know that when you pick up the box. This thing has heft.

I believe you could kill a kobold with it. Although that might scratch up the box a bit.

This past weekend was my birthday, too. I received a copy of the Hickmans' latest book, Unwept from some close friends. Couldn't wait and stayed up most of the night to read it.

I loved it.

I'd highly recommend it. Great dark gothic work. I told my wife I kept expecting someone to mention how much Rebecca was missed, or "Look, over there. There's Mandalay." (And I mean that as a compliment. I LOVE Rebecca.) I was truly sorry when I reached the end, because of course, there wasn't any more.

Work continues on the Inaugural issue of the Stronghold. Slowly, but surely. I hope to have some more news for you soon.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] The Plunge is Taken

I may regret this, but I'm gonna jump in on this one. Mostly to throw a little karma into the celebration of D&D's 40th Anniversary. The challenge lasts only through the month of February 2014 and the list of topics is largely your "firsts" in the game/hobby/lifestyle.

Click here to jump aboard or at the bottom of the Linkylist below. Hurry, you only have a few days left to be an "official" participant...if that matters to you.

And here's what the list of daily topics looks like.

Reborn...with Miniatures!

Well, I'm back at the office today after a well-deserved and well-used ten days off. Those days were spent in a borrowed cabin up in the mountains, away from the cell phone and internet, and spent lying around, watching movies, and sitting in a hot tub while watching the kids swim in the pool.

I fully intended to get some gaming done with the kids, but whoops! Time just zoomed by, so that didn't happen.

I did have the time to peruse a couple new items to my collection. The first was the first issue of the Pathfinder comic book. Review coming soon on that one.

The second was an old 3.x module I picked up second-hand and cheap: The Forge of Fury. I don't know why I never picked this one up before. It didn't even sound familiar, but was apparently published in 2000. Hmm... I had to pick it up, though, because my kids are almost at 3d-level. Also: abandoned Dwarven stronghold? Hello? Is there really a question here? Seriously, I needed a good module to throw at my kids, a proven product. I've started another page here at the Stronghold for the game reports (also a way to review the module as we go).

But now I'm back to the grind. A bit refreshed, but also a bit under the weather. I suppose that's what I get for enjoying myself too much. The only highlight of being back is the fact that I have a truly wonderful, understanding wife.

"Why?" I hear you ask.... Well, for my birthday she "dragged" me to the FLGS, pulled out some cash that she had saved up, and allowed me to purchase an entire brick of the new Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder minis...as well as the Gargantuan Runegiant miniature. Needless to say, she bought a lot of goodwill and "honey-dos" with that gift.

The unboxing was a blast, although I'm quickly approaching the point at which my miniature storage needs to expand somehow. There were quite a few points at which I confess I squealed like a little girl when I opened a booster, particularly when I encountered the Warchief Ripnugget. He was one of the rare figures that I've wanted ever since the previews from Paizo. True, I've heard others express a reserved appreciation for this figure...saying that it's a great looking piece, but "how often will I need a goblin on a gecko?" Excuse me? My answer: I now have a great cavalry officer to LEAD my goblin attacks from now on. I'm going to LOOK for an opportunity to place this guy on the field. In fact, I may have to seek out a few more singles of this miniature, just so I can field a cavalry force.

Anyway: reviews of some of the other afore-mentioned products coming soon, I hope. I have to live through this infection first.

Ugh.

Anyone in the party have a spare Potion of cure moderate wounds they can spare?

[A to Z April] H is for Happy Birthday!

By a happy coincidence today marks the second anniversary of the Stronghold's construction!

It's been a fast two years. While I don't necessarily have a large number of blog posts to commemmorate that time period, I am proud of what I do have. I feel that I have made a lot of personal progress, both in my creativity for my game as well as my map-making skills (looking back at my first map is an excercise in cringing for me).

I've had a lot of personal struggles and growth this past two years as well. I've lost some of those who were closest to me. Our family dynamic has changed and grown. I think I'm more fortunate than many; I know that all of these struggles and trials are for my own personal growth and strengthening.

I've grown from nothing to having 35 followers, for all of whom I am grateful. (Although I must confess I would dearly like to know who you "anonymous" followers are. You know who you are; yeah, right there...you. I'm looking at you, buddy.) All of you readers who have not followed but who drop in on a regular basis, I am grateful for all of you, too. I'm especially grateful to you all for sticking close to me during my depression; I'm feeling a bit better, even though I still do have my down days.

[Intensely personal section]

More than anything else, I feel that I have been blessed by my Heavenly Father and my Savior: I have a wonderful family; I have a roof over their head; there's food on the table; we all have our relative good health. I know, I don't normally get this deep here, I suppose I was more aware and more reflective this Easter season than I have been in years past. I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude for still being here and still being in a good place after these past two years. I know that my Redeemer lives and cares about me. It is by His grace and love that I am still here today. Everything I have today has come from my Heavenly Father.

[/Intensely personal section]

Hopefully I can maintain a more regular posting schedule; I'd like to try and post at least two to three times per week. We'll have to see--you may have to tolerate some more posting about my kids and the family games. I'd like to start painting minis again and share some of that work with you. I'd also like to do some more reviews. If you all have any suggestions of something you'd like to see, feel free to throw out the suggestion for consideration. Or you may just have to tolerate my random ramblings. It all depends.

Anyway, thanks to all of you for making this grumpy dwarf feel a little bit better these past two years--I know the rest of the Stronghold appreciates it too! And here's to 200 more!

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Last year's "H": H is for Hargrim, the Soulhammer
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