[The Stronghold 'Zine] Not Quite Dead Yet!

So, for all of you who don't know... depression really sucks.

No, I mean that. Literally.

Not only does it metaphorically suck, it sucks...time, energy, will, desire, creativity. All of that stuff goes down the drain while you sit and watch and generally wait, helplessly, as life passes you by while you wish for...well, all sorts of dire and unspeakable things. "Writer's block" has nothing on this, folks.

But thank Heavens for my Muse and some weird, pain-induced dreams this morning. They inspired some cool items and, 1,900 words later, I have a new article for Issue #3 of the Stronghold 'Zine. I'm getting closer, gentle readers, and am about ready to start actively looking for artwork.

So buckle up...I'm hoping to get this new something out in the world in the next month or so. Call it a birthday present for myself.

[The Stronghold 'Zine] Pushing Forward

Finished up an article today for Issue #3 of The Stronghold 'Zine.  I'm already getting excited for #3 and this is only the first article. It's a random table article, it's a lot of fun, and my test subjects have shown a lot of enthusiasm for it. It'll be a bit less "repressed 14-year-old gamer" than those in the last two issues, but I think it will please both crowds.

But as I said, it's only article #1. My muse is fickle and doesn't want to work with me. It may be something I'm doing/not doing while I'm attempting to write.

Regardless of the lack of muse, push forward I must. And so I shall.


Meanwhile, there are still copies of Issues #1 and #2 available for purchase. Y'know, just to tide you over for a while.

Throwing in the April Towel--A to Z Reflections

That's it. I'm done.

I have three blog entries sitting here on my desktop: X, Y, and Z. Maybe someday soon they'll appear on the blog.

Some serious life issues popped up during April. Every week that went by the weight seemed to get heavier and the quantity increasing. Imagine trying to catch random drips of acid in a teaspoon. On a windy night. In the dark.

Yeah, kinda like that.

This isn't blogpression. This isn't a call for a hiatus. I just can't finish up April right now. I want to focus on my own game. I want to finish up a miniature painting project. I want to focus on helping my 14-year-old who's starting his first campaign as a DM (proud of him for that, btw). I want to focus on Stronghold #2.

Besides which, I noticed an interesting phenomenon this April. My page reads have actually decreased throughout April. I know that many readers go dark for April for a dislike of A to Z April posts. But every other year I've actually seen an increase in traffic, even if only a slight one.

Not this year.

To be honest, I rarely go to other A to Z sites simply because I don't want to risk unconscious plagiarism.  I've always found my own posts to be a creative spark, a spur to actually produce something.

Not this year.

Gives me something to consider in the coming 11 months. I put a lot of thought, time, and energy into each post every year; maybe too much time? Maybe there's just too many blogs involved? The topic tags are a good idea, but I don't think that everyone is using them. Maybe it's just the gaming readers don't want to deal with A-to-Z posts. Maybe, maybe, maybe. There's a lot of maybes. I don't know. In the past I've never been too concerned about the readership, partly because my blog is largely for me alone, but partly because traffic has always been steady. Plus, I have to admit that the freakin' Challenge Logo was just HUGE; it took up a lot of space. Maybe I'm just feeling like I let myself down; I'm the only one that was policing my work, after all.

I'm sharpening my pencil and getting back to real work. Thanks for sticking by me.

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.

Writer's Block!

Late Monday afternoon, I must have somehow been required to roll a save vs. Writer's Block.

I rolled a 1.

That great big gelatinous cube of stumbling landed squarely on my head, squashing me to the floor. And it's slowly digesting me. Crap.

Be back soon, I hope. I want to finish the September OSR Challenge!