Friday, November 14, 2014

A Little Bit of Necromancy...

I have not posted since my birthday two months ago so I will give a few words on what has been going on around here.  The slowed pace of posting has been due to work demands;  while that sucks for free time it is good for other things.  I do hope it cuts back a little bit though.    I would like to get back to posting at least once a week and will attempt to do so soon.  So, on to some assorted updates.

House Hunting: We are this close to making the jump to home ownership.  We have been browsing a lot but we have not found the perfect match yet.  There has been several that we really like but we also have to take into consideration the special attention that my oldest son will require at times in school.  We were assured that his current school would have an isolated classroom with a specially trained and certified teacher.  In short, the school failed to make that happen but they are not required to transport him to a school that is set up like that because they have a designated classroom; yeah, that's a loophole that means just because the space is there and the teacher is not then they do not have to provide that service.  I suspect that they get a tax break, kickback, discount, reimbursement or some other such incentive for just having the space available but that is unconfirmed.  There are two schools that are much better qualified but the rules say we have to be in the school district for him to attend.  I think we are on the right track and may have some packing to finish soon...

Reading: I am still plugging away at A Song of Ice and Fire.  I have currently read 617 pages of A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book of the series.  I am still enjoying the series but I am definitely going to do some lighter reading next;  maybe something similar to the Narnia or the Prydain books.  I am curious about taking on Jordan's Wheel of Time series or Sanderson's Mistborn series but I may wait until I get some less dense reading completed.  

Watching: I just completed watching the entire fourth season of The Walking Dead this weekend.  I may just be my favorite season yet. It was interesting to see everybody get separated and then come back together in the final episode.  The ending has me excited about seeing the conclusion of the Terminus story-line.  It looks like some intense stuff is coming soon on the show.  I am really curious about the spin off show coming soon.  I also discovered Deadwood and I am currently halfway through the second season.  If western gaming was as intense as this show then I would definitely be doing some!

Gaming: I am really interested in the Dragons at Dawn system after reading the rules.  Expect some posts about this great game in the future.  I have also started a new project - I am going to attempt a clone game of Adventures in Fantasy.  I can understand more and more of it with each examination but I would rather have the rules restated in a fashion that is more player friendly to understand.  I think there is a reasonably well done game hidden in the boxed set but it is a jumbled mess as the rules are currently presented.  No telling how long this will take but there will be some posts and previews coming soon...

Kickstarter: I recently received notification that the products rewarded for backing the SteamCraft RPG: The Supplements Edition project have been shipped!  There will be posts about the adventures and supplementary material I will receive in a short time.  This was the first Kickstarter I backed and I am looking forward to seeing the end results.  Hopefully, my shipment makes it today...

2 comments:

  1. Good luck on the house hunting, Mr. Warren! I'll have my fingers and toes crossed for you and your family.

    So you've made the leap into kickstarters, huh? I'd love to hear your opinions on crowd funding, as my own have turned to the sour variety.

    As always, a fan.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mr. Baker! I can definitely use it. Ugh...how I HATE packing, moving, and unpacking it all again. Oh well, it is for the best so here's to a quick process.

      I've just kinda dipped my toes into the waters, so to speak. I've only backed one and that's from a friend I met through purchasing and corresponding about his games, Perilous Journeys and SteamCraft. Him and his team have kept regular updates throughout the process and have also been completely honest about one minor setback that would cause a slight delay. In my eyes there's no harm, no foul at all. I have been completely satisfied and I am anticipating receipt of my products. :-) I will back some more but it might take some time before I just dive in to any old crowd funding effort that sounds cool. I'm keeping it close to center - proven successes - but I will do it again. If I wasn't in the middle of doing a family move at this point I would have back the latest one from Venger Satanis and probably 2 to 3 others as well.

      I think crowd funding has a great potential for getting creative work into the public by those that might not - probably not? - be able to do so otherwise. From what I have seen, the most rewarding kickstarter projects seem to be those that have most of the writing completed or "that close" to being completed and use the fund to put some gloss and glitter on the item. For example, publishing in hardback, getting professional illustrations, some bonus color plates, etc. Stuff that will make it pop.

      On the other hand, there's been many projects that have generated a ton of negative publicity and drama. While many of them have been run by amateurs, the pros have produced plenty of crap themselves. I don't keep track of all the failures - I believe Tenkar's Tavern has an ongoing feature - but it's plenty easy to dig up the goods on all the ball dropping that's been going on. Tephra, for instance, last time I check has failed to put up a thank you list to all of their backers on their web page. I don't check on it anymore but that's just an utterly ridiculous failure on their part. Hey, at least they got to print while others are still YEARS late. That's what concerns me.

      So, what's turned you sour? Good to hear from you!

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