A Little Reorganization & Some Thoughts

I have been pretty satisfied with the posting so far in this new year.  I aim to keep the momentum going and add much more content in the upcoming weeks and months.  Here are a few highlights of the reorganization I have done around here and some thoughts about what I need to do from here on out.

It is almost time to revise the About Me tab again.  The final paragraph could use a little bit of updating but I will probably hold off for a few weeks to see if more changes take place.

The Collected Posts tab at the top of the page is gone.  It had grown bloated and messy so I split up the contents.  There is now a separate tab for Adventures in Fantasy and Perilous Journeys instead; of course, the contents of those tabs correspond to their respective labels.  The other information that was previously contained in the tab is still available on the blog but I just took this opportunity to clean up some of the clutter.  

The Adventures in Fantasy tab will see some expansion with posts covering the AiF Restatement project.

The read through of Perilous Journeys is complete but that is not all I have planned for the game.  Expect posts covering new resources such as magic items, new flaws, new edges, and other resources.    

I have added links to two posts focused on religion under the Toldara tab. The other posts covering religion will be added upon completion.  My goal is to offer something more than "there's a religion that people can join" by giving some actual details.  I fully expect a lot more information to be added to this tab over the next year.  There should be plenty of details on a Swords & Wizardry adaptation to come.  

The Projects & Downloads tab has several things listed that I need to get completed.  In no particular order, the SteamCraft character creation reference and the MicroToldara rules are the two I am aiming to complete first.

That is a pretty good summary of what has taken place so far and what is coming up.  The only other additions I can see that I need to mention are that I am going to start posting Steampunk Saturdays at some point and the Robotech Posts are probably going to start with the extras DVDs. 

It is time to wrap this up and get back to reading posts by all of you...

    

[Steampunk Saturday] The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello

I was searching for steampunk stuff and found this short film from 5 years ago.  

[Steampunk Saturday] The League of S.T.E.A.M.

I was originally going to take a look at Progress episode 2 but I have been unable to commit the proper time to come up with some commentary about the episode or some related gaming information due to a family situation that needs my attention.  I could make a half-hearted effort and just post a link to the episode but I do not want to do that.  Without further delay, here is a little bit of information about a steampunk performance group.

The League of S.T.E.A.M (Supernatural and Troublesome Ectoplasmic Apparition Management) has been "serving all your supernatural elimination needs since 1884" and all sorts of information related to the group can be found at their website.  There is information on the members, a gallery, a theater with videos, podcast information, and a store.  This steampunk performance group has been around for a few years and it looks like a fun time!  Go check it out and see what you think.

Steampunk Saturday will return next week with the regularly scheduled post about Progress episode 2.  My son is getting some in-house treatment and therapy.  Things have been a little hectic around here without him and I was unable to properly focus due to other family demands.  Tomorrow is the first visiting day and that should smooth things out a little bit; especially with his mother.  I may have some delayed posting while we are getting him the help he needs but I will do my best to keep up.  

[Steampunk Saturday] Progress Episode One: iAm Involved in Mystery

This is the first "official" Steampunk Saturday post.  I have posted steampunk content before but I am now devoting one post a week towards steampunk.  I have enough ideas to run with this for a good chunk of time so I will do this for the next several months at a minimum.  There were several web series that I posted about previously but I decided to take a look at something fresh and relatively recent.  After a quick search for "steampunk web series" this is one of the results.  It appears that they are only 3 episodes in on a scheduled 10 episode run.  For more information, you can go to Progress: the Series to read about the cast, crew, sponsors, events, and other topics. 

This episode begins with a short narration mixed in with the opening credits.  During this time the narrator informs the viewers that "it's 1888 and only the aristocracy has toilets but all of the empire has the internet". Then it is explained that "internet is a series of tubes" with steam coursing through them.  The steam comes from coal-burning furnaces that have to be maintained by immigrants shoveling in more coal constantly.  This makes for an appropriately dystopian setup for this story.  For the rest of the episode, a hacker is surfing the net  and breaking into several websites.  Upon further viewing the hacker stumbles onto a horrific event displayed on the web.

Progress does a superb job of setting the mood and atmosphere in this initial episode.  The visuals and design help bring the world to life.  They also throw in some modern internet references such as one character proclaiming that "I'm trolling" and the "Goggle Glass" device that makes an appearance.  Just imagine a steampunk version of Google Glasses and you are on the right track!  If you are a steampunk gamer, the best thing to take away from this episode include the immersion details and setting touches like the computer device that resembles a manual typewriter that shoots steam to open up a new page.  I did not have enough time to stat anything up yet because work was busy this week.  I needed to get this posted so I could get the ball rolling on my blog reorganization but at some point there will be SteamCraft stats for the appropriate stuff.

Enough talking - check out episode one below.