Looking Ahead...

I miss the days when this blog was much more active and I'm not happy with the minimal posting I've done over the last several years. I'm at a point where I need to make a decision about what I'm going to do moving forward.  I'm not going to erase the contents of this blog, but I might just shut it down and leave it here in case anyone tis interested in the posts or some of the other content; I do have people still downloading the Adventures in Fantasy character sheet from time to time so that's cool. Some of the things that will affect my decision or my ability to post regularly will be discussed below.

WORK COMMITMENTS

In January of 2024 it will be one year since I accepted a position in the Quality Assurance department of my employer.  Of course, the increased salary came with more responsibilities and more time commitments so that will definitely affect how often I can post on the blog.  Fortunately, the decision to accept this position was the correct one because I do enjoy my job and the challenges tremendously. On top of that, we are in the process of launching two new models of school bus so that will definitely be demanding on my time as well.  I would assume that from December of 2023 to the end of the first quarter of 2024, it will be the most challenging period for us.

SUBJECT OF POSTS

The main subject of this blog will still be roleplaying games and related subjects with various posts about reading, miniatures, fan films, and pretty much whatever else grabs my attention.  I know the OGL drama seems to have settled down, but I think I'm going to look into moving away from using the OGL to post anything.  I'm most likely gong to post nothing but house rules like new races, new monsters, etc. from my campaign but I think I'm going to play it safe and use a different format other than Delving Deeper to post the information. Make no mistake about it, Delving Deeper is still my game of choice and I will always recommend it and my home campaign will be ran using it. I just think for posting stuff in a public area such as this I'm going to use a format inspired by the old gaming products of the past that were "close but not quite D&D".  Maybe I'm being too cautious?  I'm not a lawyer by any means and I don't have the time to commit to writing a new clone from scratch at this point. I did take the time, however, to come up with this new format in a 2 page pdf.  It still needs a little bit of tweaking, but I will post it here in the near future.

POST FREQUENCY

At this point, I think the best estimate I can make for 2024 is committing to post once per week. I can use whatever subject I like so the post may come any day of the week.  I could post for "Miniature Monday" one week and then "Fan Film Friday" for the next.  That does NOT mean I won't pick up the pace at some point but once a week should not be an unrealistic goal. 

REACHING THE DECISON

I plan on evaluating progress every 90 days of 2024.  I've also started bullet journaling for work and for home/recreation so that has helped me quite a bit.  I like having concrete plans on paper that I can look at and track progress. I never used the bullet journal method before, but I used to track things much better and I lost that in my recreational activities, so it fell by the wayside and took a backseat.  Hopefully, I can maintain a healthy and productive work/life balance from now on.  It's not unhealthy right now but it is somewhat lopsided, and I need to correct the course.  Let's see what happens on the road ahead...

02/5 - 02/11 is a Wash

For the week of 02/05/2023 to 02/11/2023 there will be zero content posted other than this post.  My new position at work finds me really enjoying what I'm doing but this week was a curve ball and required an extraordinary amount of overtime.  I put in 70 hours, and I just don't have it in me.  A temporary lull in posting and then it should pick back up soon.   

Posting Again...

 

It's been a few months since I last posted. It hasn't been from a lack of willingness, but we have worked an extremely large amount of overtime this year.  I've got the itch to start blogging again on a (at least) somewhat regular basis. I've got some new ideas for posts, I have some posts already scheduled in the queue, and maybe even a surprise here and there.  Who knows?  I still have a secret project I am working on but it's not yet ready for extra eyes.  Stay tuned for more information...

Recent Happenings

 As the year is winding down to a close - ALREADY - and 2022 is approaching quickly I am posting about what I have been doing and what lies ahead for this blog.  

FOCUS: I had racked up a bunch of scheduled posts about fan films to help bulk up the posting in the second half of this year.  Instead of enhancing the experience, it became the focus because work got extremely demanding, and I coasted much more than I had envisioned.  I am going to reign in the focus back to games, related subjects, and geekery in general for most of the posts; anything else will serve to enhance the topics.

SUBJECTS: The games I plan to focus on in the coming year include AD&D (first and second edition), Arduin, Delving Deeper, and any other game that catches my interest such as Sanctions from Purple Crayon Games.  I also have projects of my own such as Grunts (a simple minis game using thhose little green Army men), Toldara (a campaign world for Delving Deeper or other old school games), and a secret project that I am keeping under wraps util it is further developed.  

OTHER: I set a goal of reaching 1,000 posts before the end of 2021 at The Ruins of Murkhill forums and I am currently approaching 1,100 posts.  I was also asked to be a member of the moderation team and I accepted.  I am pretty stoked about both accomplishments because the Ruins are my favorite old school gaming forums.  I will continue to post there in the future.  

That is a quick look back and forward at the blog. I really hope I can return to much greater posting in 2022.  What are your plans on your blog? 

Pretty Much Done

I am moved in and just taking care of small tasks like getting a bookcase or other similar items.  Things are rolling along smoothly so I decided to make a quick post with a few small updates.

Final Move

Barring any unforeseen life changes then this will be my final move.  I hate the whole process and I really do not want to undertake any more of them.  This was was not terrible or bad in any way at all.  I just hate the entire ordeal.

New Old Game Stuff

I bought another package of Dangerous Journeys items and I pretty much have all of the game products except for the run of Journeys magazine and maybe one rulebook.  I will have to double check.

Expanded (Game) Focus

I absolutely enjoy D&D and will continue to focus my gaming posts on the game and similar systems but these new purchases have really made me want to branch out into other games.  I am aiming to post more frequently about games other than D&D such as The Fantasy Trip, Dangerous Journeys, Palladium Fantasy, and others.

Moving In

I closed on my house and spent the holiday weekend moving in; if you can see the dog in the video you can tell the yard is chihuahua approved.  Now to do some tree trimming that wasn't done before I got here.  I'm making good progress and will be back to (somewhat) regular posting soon...

 

Small Update

It has been rough at work lately.  If you are waiting on the continuation of my DragonRaid observations post it will be coming soon.  We have increased our rate of production at work and brought in new temps.  That is great for manpower but not great for quality because upper management acts like you can just throw anybody out there and things will just be better.  Not enough time to properly train or be close enough to make on the spot corrections.  It is very frustrating and kills morale to just hear "go, go, go" instead of actual solutions.  I am seriously considering a bid on a job in the Quality Department. It would be much easier on my body - I am approaching 50 - and it is time to start looking at less physically demanding work if they are not going to allow us proper training time.  Enough of my rant.

I have nine Reaper Bones miniatures in progress to complete my small collection of Orcs and Goblins.  I am trying to paint a bunch of the usual encounters in my typical campaigns.  So far, it is coming together pretty good.  I will get them finished soon but I am currently at the point pictured below.

I am planning on my next gaming purchase to be the Colonial Marines sourcebook for the ALIEN RPG.  I dig the core rulebook and I am interested in seeing what new options and ideas are in this new sourcebook.

The house hunt is going pretty good.  I have received wonderful news on the financing so that makes things easier.  The only problem right now is finding a house that is not already in the progress of being purchased.  It seems that houses are going as fast as toilet paper was going when COVID fist started. I will find one but it just might take a little bit.

My daughter turned 13 on Thursday.  We are having her birthday party on Sunday. I got her a Roblox gift card and an Apple gift card.  I was out of ideas but I do know she will like both of them.  I am also going to take her to get new softball shoes.  She will be happy!

That is about it around here.  The schedule has been work, home, sleep, work, view a house, home, sleep, work, etc. and repeat for the last two weeks or so.  

Winter IS Here

The weather forecast is looking pretty grim for the weekend so I think it is safe to say I will be INSIDE working on posts*, painting miniatures, reading, and catching up on watching something from one of my streaming subscriptions...

* I am at a point on the DragonRaid post where I will either split it up or just make it one long post.  Leaning towards splitting it up. 

Getting Back Into the Groove

I had big plans for filling this blog with a wide variety of posts this year.  Obviously, that has yet to happen so far.  Real life reared its' ugly head and I got sidetracked.  First, we moved and the unlimited high-speed internet that we've had for the last 3 years and were assured would be available in our new location WAS NOT available after all.  We have Internet and it's plenty fast but it's restricted.  Second, I'm on the executive board of the local UAW 5010 and things have gotten pretty time-consuming in the last 6 months; it's required a lot of extra work but things are looking up in our plant now.  Third, my wife had a cancer scare that I'm glad to say she made it out in the clear.  I picked up a bunch of the slack around here with the kids, chores, and other duties while she was going through tests and getting everything in control.  She'll be going to a hematologist and will be on some supplements for a while but she doesn't have cancer.  

I will ease back into posting sometime soon but it will probably just be once or twice a week from this point on.  If Jamie Hardy would like to contribute more posts in the future then I would definitely be up for that.  I asked him for some guest posts and then all of this real life stuff accumulated and I took an unscheduled break on the blog.  I appreciate him keeping some new content going here and hope he wants to contribute in the future.  Thanks, Jamie!

A few posts to watch for in the future include:

1.  More resources and ideas for SteamCraft.

2.  Familiar rules for Swords & Wizardry.

3.  Incorporating Arneson's old D&D house rules into a retroclone.

4.  More on my campaign world.

5.  Updating some old ideas.

More later...

Regular Posting Returning Soon...

A month and a half has gone by with no new posts here.  I started off 2015 with a buzz but got taken off the tracks by real life stuff happening at the same time and the blog had to take a hit.  There are posts I am working on that will be up soon.  In addition, I also have a guest poster that will be published here soon.  I think his upcoming post has some great content and I hope he will pop in from time to time with more posts in the future....

Out With The Old, In With The New...

This post will serve as a general update and retrospective look at the last year with a glimpse of what is coming in 2015.

Looking Back at 2014

I am pretty satisfied with most of my output during the last year.  I tend to take on too many hobby projects and I continued to do so during 2014.  Naturally, some of these projects stalled and some flourished.  I had planned to have a total of 450 posts by the end of the year but I fell short of that goal by 31 posts.  I had enough in draft to surpass that mark and be on the way to 500 but that is the way things turned out.  The combination of two factors led to a reduced output.  First, production demands at work picked up and required the work week to be increased to five and sometimes six days a week instead of only four.  I decided to transfer to the night shift to avoid day care and fix a situation with an unreliable sitter for the children.      

Looking Ahead to 2015

Moving forward with posting in 2015 I am going to try to narrow my focus a bit.  That is the goal but I will not be surprised if I fail more often than not at task.  The fact is that I am just really curious about other games and have a big time case of gamer ADD so it is likely to be a challenge to force myself to focus my attention on a short list of subjects and games instead of many.  I am aiming at 600 posts by the end of 2015. The information below will give a look at the subject of many of those posts; of course, there will be other subjects pop up from time to time.    

Miscellaneous Updates

I do have some ongoing projects I post about and some other subjects for posts that I have committed to continuing in the future.  The following can be considered a tentative guide to what is coming up ahead.

A Megaversal® Miscellany: This is my other blog covering all of the Palladium Books® game lines. I feel there is a lack of blogs devoted to their games so I started one.  I fell off track in updating the blog but I am going to try to do a modest one post a month for 2015.  Yes, that is a grand total of 12 posts but I hope to offer more.  I had envisioned this blog as a player driven resource for material usable with Palladium Books® games; kind of by the fans, for the fans.  Simply put, a place to showcase a house rule or new O.C.C. etc. without going through the approval and editing phases for official material.  If anyone is interested in contributing, please drop me a line and we can get the ball rolling.  I do not care if it is a variant rule, a new race, an alternate setting, or whatever.  The only requirement I have is that it maintains full compliance with their online policies.  My only role would be host and ensuring your post on the blog has all of the necessary "®" and "™" annotations and does not violate their policy.    

AiF Restatement Project: I am still working slow and steady on the Adventures in Fantasy Restatement document.  I want to make sure that this is “right” because it is not really my work but an unsolicited fan update.  Every effort is going to made to keep things by the book but there are some instances where the original editing was just atrocious.  In those instances, I am forced to look at other sources for the answers.  As soon as I get the players section of the rules complete I will post it up for some feedback.

Back to the Dungeon: I have some support articles and documents I am getting ready for this neo-clone role-playing game. I helped out a bit with some of the rules sections and had some ideas for other areas of the rules.  I want to support since I helped get it where it is at now.  I have also begun outlining some adaptations to a other genres; particularly, a science fiction version, a supers version, and a zombie apocalypse version.

Dragons at Dawn: I was able to track down a copy of this Arnesonian game last year.  I plan on at least a post covering my impression of the game.  It is a fascinating read so far and if inspiration strikes then I will try designing some support material.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: I still think this is one of the best games out there now.  Reading this massive tome is fascinating and the dice chain is a real blast to mess with.  I have some ideas for a few resources to use with DCC RPG.

Perilous Journeys: I have the first edition of this game and the author, Jamie Hardy, is currently going through the rules working on a second edition.  I will clean up whatever resources I have for the current version but I am going to try to hold off on getting too far into the development of further resources until the second edition is released.  Who knows?  From the sneak peek I got at it the conversion work will not be an arduous task.

   

Robotech Reaction: I have started watching the series but I am not sure if I am going to stick with the plan and do a post after every DVD.  I am thinking that I may change to a post covering each series – Macross Saga, Masters, New Generation – and a post covering the bundle of extras.

S.T.A.G.E.: Short for Simple Tabletop Adventure Gaming Engine.  These rules are an experiment in a new direction for me.  In fact, I called in reinforcements and I am working on these with a partner.  I have played all sorts of games but I have very little exposure to the rules light or freeform rules systems.  I will work on them as inspiration hits.  When they are ready they will be available with a creative commons licensing if anyone is interested.

SteamCraft: I have some reference material I created that might need cleaned up a bit; it has been a while since I put some eyes on it so it is a good time to take a look and evaluate.  I plan on using this rules system for when I post adaptations of races, items, etc. from steampunk sources for my steampunk Saturday series of posts.

That is it.  Happy Gaming to all in the New Year and I look forward to seeing your new posts!

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...

Posting Still Sporadic For A Bit...

My posting has been sporadic and random as of late due to greatly increased work hours.  It looks like it is going to continue in that manner for a bit so I may just do one post a week or something like that.  In two days I am leaving for a week of training connected to the U.A.W. so it will most likely be at least a week before anything is posted.  See you shortly...

Playing Catch Up

Well, it has been almost a most without a post on this blog.  For anyone interested, I am not shuttering the windows and barring the doors.  The bus manufacturing business really picks up in the summer time and this year has been particularly busy so far.  While my pocket book might not be hurting, my free time has taken a hit so the blog had to be put on the back burner for a bit.  I suspect I will be posting somewhat regularly in the near future so here is a summary of what I have been doing and what is coming in the future.

Forums

While I have not had a lot of spare time to devote to blog posts, I have been reading and posting at OD&D Discussion and The Comeback Inn sporadically here and there.  I have become quite interested in further investigating gaming from the Arneson perspective.  I was even able to track down a copy of Dragons at Dawn through these boards.

A Second Look at Adventures in Fantasy

All of the discussion about Arneson and his gaming methods has prompted me to delve back in and take a second look at Adventures in Fantasy.  The main focus will begin on pointing out problem areas in the rules that need addressed.  Once that is completed, the solutions will be gathered together in a Book of House Rules & Clarifications.  From there, I plan on at least taking a serious look at assembling a game built in reaction to the problems I have had with AiF similar to the way T&T was developed as a reaction to D&D years ago.  Other posters at the forums above have expressed interest so I hope this little project takes off.

SteamCraft Kickstarter

The funding for the SteamCraft supplements has been successful with $2,077 of the $850 goal raised.  There is only 58 hours left to buy in.  If you are interested, then follow this link for details.  You can get the entire product line from core rules to all of these supplements & adventures in pdf or print through this offer and the prices are very reasonable.

Themed Posting

At some point in the future themed posting - Toldara Tuesday, Steampunk Saturday, etc. - will return to the blog on a consistent basis.

Vacation & MagiQuest

We recently went on a family vacation to Six Flags Over Texas and The Great Wolf Lodge for a very relaxing time away.  Among the various things to do on our stay, my 7 year old son noticed the live-action role playing game MagiQuest from all of the other young males wandering around pointing their wands at jewels, paintings, and treasure chests scattered around the resort. I am pretty confident about what my son enjoyed the most about vacation.  More details in a later post. 

Reading

I am currently reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin and Dragons at Dawn by D.H. Boggs. 

That should have all the bases covered.  I am going to return to enjoying the first Friday off in a while... 

Be Careful Out There...

In case anyone is waiting for me to continue with the March Madness Obscure Game challenge, regular posting will return shortly.  I haven't posted because I've been out of it for the last week with some sort of gastrointestinal bug going around.  Beware! If you should get it, then all strength and energy will be drained.  This is the first day since Monday that I haven't rotated my time between the bedroom and the bathroom.  Just typing this is making me a little drowsy....ugh.  Another day or two and posting will continue...

State of the Blog...

It has been almost two weeks since I last posted.  Work has been pretty hectic with extra hours and extra days recently but it always picks up during the winter in the bus industry.  I am just thankful that I have one of the “easier” jobs instead of the back breaking labor that others are doing all day.  We are on holiday leave until Jan 6^th so I plan on getting back to regular posting.  In an effort to do some catching up, here are some snapshot thoughts on various subjects.

Posts & Traffic

My last post was the 300^th post to this blog and there have been almost 45,000 page views since the start.  I know some of the traffic is the result of random search results but there are others that could be considered faithful readers and I appreciate it.  Thank you all for stopping by and also for commenting when the mood hits.  Even if we disagree, I enjoy reading the other viewpoints and experiences.

A Look Back

Starting this blog was a random thing for me.  I have always enjoyed writing but it isn’t always easy for me.  Once I get started it seems like words flow pretty easy but getting started is definitely the hardest part for me.  It often feels like I drag the words out while they are holding on kicking and screaming the whole way.  If I can keep up the writing it is much easier but if I go weeks on end then it becomes difficult again.  I would assume that – like any skill – you have to exercise it to keep it up to snuff.

The Way Ahead

I began blogging with real no plan in place.  I just started posting about Adventures in Fantasy and went off in other directions for the content of other posts.  While random ideas and concepts served me well for some time, there is something to be said for having a plan with a goal in sight.  I am going to try to get back on track with committed posts planned out – not sure of the frequency – to eliminate the mostly random nature of my blog posts.   

Adventures in Fantasy

I started this blog by examining Arneson’s Adventures in Fantasy game.  I got sidetracked and I still owe any interested readers the final post or two for this game.  I stated the same thing earlier this year and have yet to fulfill that goal.  I am making a commitment to complete that series of posts before the end of January 2014. I also have other resources for this game that I would like to make available – reference sheets and a character sheet, specifically. I have even tossed around the idea of making a game in reaction to Adventures in Fantasy similar to the way that Tunnels & Trolls was written largely as a reaction to D&D.

Perilous Journeys & SteamCraft

I am a fan of both of these games from Perilous Journeys Publishing.  I converse with the author on a pretty regular basis.  I am hammering out some fan support for both of these games and will post them on my blog in the coming months. 

The OSR

I am a fan of the movement and I definitely appreciate their efforts.  The professionally published games I have really been drawn to lately are Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG and Swords & Wizardry Complete; I plan on putting up some resources for both of these systems in the coming months.  Those two games really show both ends of the clone spectrum as far as I am concerned – one is closer to “by the book” and the other is closer to “by the spirit” – and I will probably hold off on purchasing any more of these types of games unless something really knocks me off my feet. 

That does not mean I am not interested in other clone games.  I really need to take a closer look at Raven Crowking’s work and I would be really interested in seeing a full blown game by Venger Satanis after seeing some of his other work and through conversations we have had.  I am also currently working on a Toldara sourcebook for the Back to the Dungeon RPG by Eldrad Wolfsbane.  For the most part, however, I believe there are probably enough of the core retro-clone systems available at this point.  I hope the movement starts spawning more supplementary material, more speculative material, and more neo-clone material.

D&D Next

I saw earlier that D&D Next will be released in 2014.  I will definitely do the cheapest buy in possible to check out the final design.  I am interested but I am also a little standoffish about the final product.  I am not confident in their “one system to unite all D&D fans” goal and I am pretty skeptical about how this will work in application.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out next year.  I am sure that it will sell like crazy initially and will most likely knock Pathfinder off the top spot for a short while.  Let’s see what happens after the hype dies down…

Other Games

Now, more than ever, I am curious about breaking out and playing other games.  I want to see how USR handles in actual play.  I am also interested in breaking out my copy of RIFTS and giving it another go.  After reading the game reports from Venger Satanis I am really interested in picking up the Vampire:the Masquerade 20^th Anniversary edition because I missed the original wave of popularity and I have become increasingly interested in the game over the years.  Unfortunately, most of my gaming experience these days is purely academic.  It is rather difficult at times to coordinate schedules to get people together and my wife works on the weekends at night so online gaming can be a real challenge with two young children at home; my 7 year old is autistic and that can be demanding at times.  Please, don’t forget about me when sending the Google+ Hangout game invitations because one of these days I am going to make it!

Board Games

I do not have a tremendous amount of experience with board gaming; I enjoy RISK and Axis & Allies.  Even though I have relatively little experience with board gaming, I do have some concepts for board games that I am working on with other bloggers.  Progress is going to be slow and there is a high probability that neither will ever get completed.  As much as the idea intrigues me, I am falling short on expanding ideas.  I have learned that when it comes to board games I can come up with concepts and ideas for the game but when it comes down to the nuts and bolts design there is something not clicking.

The End

That should just about cover it for now.  I am curious to see what the next year brings to the blogosphere.  I enjoy reading your posts and I hope to continue to produce more “good” than “bad” posts.  I know not every post is going to be gold and that is fine with me.  It is beneficial to get the clutter out of my head so I can move on to writing the next post.  I have put you through enough of my rambling and now it is time to post this so I can catch up on some of blog reading…

Sporadic Posting Ahead (short-term)

Business seems to be picking up in the bus business.  That is good news for my bank account with Christmas a few short months away but with the extra work commitment this blog will receive a little bit less attention than normal.  Never fear, posting will become more frequent in a short time.

Google+ Comments = Disabled

I came, I saw, I tried, and then I switched back.  I do not want to force people to sign up for yet another service, account, program, colonoscopy, alien abduction, or anything else similar. 

 

Look for an updated post on Steampunk RPGs later in the work that will re-post what I originally posted with additional information included that is inspired by the people that originally replied.  They will be given proper credit as a source and no animals will be harmed in this updating process.

Google+ Comments: Yay or Nay?

I'm just looking for some input here. I turned on Google+ comments and thought nothing of it. Now I realize that people are required to have a Google+ account and be signed into it to comment on my posts. I like the integration with Google+ but I could always just share or copy the post over. Any opinions on Google+ comments integration?  
Google+ comments have been turned off temporarily.  Thanks for any input.

Behind the Scenes...

I do not have a lot to report but here are the latest things happening in the background that will most assuredly lead to some posts in the future.

 

Escape from Camp Blood: I am still jotting down ideas but would really like to get some serious work done on this board game.  The truth is, I do not have a tremendous amount of serious board game experience so the going has been kind of rough.  Eric at Memories of the Mayfly has been tremendously helpful with providing insight and ideas but I just have not had any solid ideas yet.  It will come along eventually but in the meantime I want to say "Thanks, Eric" and hope that the game starts to take shape soon.  It kind of sucks to be stuck in brainstorm and research mode with no real progress to show.  Soon, I hope to have something for us to make available for download.

 

Swords & Wizardry: After a bit of investigation I believe that I have settled on Swords and Wizardry for my standard retro-clone of choice; as in, games that stick pretty close to the older editions of D&D.  I think S&W does a fabulous job of it and I am working on a project right now with Venger that should be completed later this year.  The DCC RPG is still my all time favorite neo-clone type of game for all of the little changes it makes in the rules.

 

Toldara: I have two ongoing projects for my campaign world.  First, I need to complete the B/X campaign handbook; who knows, maybe I will whip up a S&W version also?  Second, I need to update the map with some geographical changes and additions.

 

USR:  I am still working on the zombie apocalypse adaptation of the USR system.  Most of my work has consisted of background and setting material because USR tends to fade into the background.  The biggest change is in the name of my project.  The name, OUTBREAK, is already taken by a small press rpg and also used for the title of a supplement to another game.  I have decided to either use REMNANTS or REMNANTS OF HUMANITY. 

 

In case you were wondering what has been going on behind the scenes, there it is...