I promise that I'll return to my "Rediscovering TSR's Later Settings" stuff soon. I really only have one or two more posts on that subject before it becomes something very, very different. As it stands, the lovely +Kathryn Muszkiewicz & I got back Sunday night from our weekend at the Pulaski Days festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan and it's hard for me to get back to writing. It doesn't help that, on Sunday, we stopped by the inimitable Argos Used Books & Comics in Grand Rapids (probably my favorite bookstore on the planet so far) and picked up the 1st omnibus edition of ElfQuest, which collects the first 20 issues of the series in 700 pages. Then, I read it all. In a day. Good thing it was my birthday (thanks for all the kind words & wishes, folks!) and Katie didn't hold it against me. With all that ElfQuest (which has pretty damn good writing, I must say) in my brain, and getting over the sudden withdrawal of kielbasa and kapusta, my brain has been taking a while to get back to writing.
Which I feel pretty terrible about.
And so, here's a bit of a preview of what I'm working on, however lazy a post about what I'm working on actually is.
Which I feel pretty terrible about.
And so, here's a bit of a preview of what I'm working on, however lazy a post about what I'm working on actually is.
- Finishing up "TSR's Later Settings." Here, I'll have to polish off Mystara (and her sub-settings Red Steel and Hollow Earth). A few folks have asked me about some of the other 2e-era settings I'm not talking about. Thing is, I probably never played them, so I don't know much/enough. Happy to learn, though.
- Delving Deeper Week! A little while ago, I started trading emails with +Simon Bull about his excellent OD&D retroclone, Delving Deeper, as the new Reference Book is out in POD. Over the course of DDWeek, I'll dole out the interview I did with Simon about Delving Deeper as well as give my own review of the new book. Good times!
- Metal Gods #3 is coming along nicely. We're currently in a "research stage" which means +Wayne Snyder & I are watching lots of "heist" movies. If you saw my G+ post the other day, you may have helped add to our "must watch" list; even though we've already seen many of these films, it helps to have a refresher course, right?
- I'm also working on an RPG talk show podcast with +Donn Stroud called Drink Spin Run where we talk about our influences (what we're reading, listening to and even what we're drinking) with our guests in one episode, then tackle a theme en masse in the next. Our first round of guests include +Edgar Johnson, +Jason Hobbs, +Mark Donkers & +Tim Callahan. The first episodes should be hitting the web soon, with more to follow hot on their heels (I presume). Episodes will be around 1/2 hour to keep things nice and digestible. We'll need guests for future episodes, so keep an eye open.
- Once DD Week is over, I'll be returning to the later TSR settings with my attempt to make them make sense or live up to what they desperately wanted to be (or what I desperately wanted them to be).
- Looks like this Saturday, the Hyperbarbaria kids will get to play again for the first time in many months. Hopefully, we're back on track to play more regularly now. I miss these kids, even if +Brooke Schuette did join the Iron Coast team.
- Iron Coast is still kicking, speaking of. The team finally made it back to Port Scourge; I don't think they've been here since December or January last. Lots of plots are resolving, thickening and/or quickening and the choices the players make over the next few sessions will determine an awful lot about what happens in the world (or, at least, on the Iron Coast). Between their two treasure maps, their bid to claim a barony on behalf of the party's collective "ward" (he thinks of them as his advisors and protectors so far), the looming threat of war from both east and west and a gangland takeover in Port Scourge itself, there's plenty of stuff going on that will likely keep them busy and out of dungeons for a very long time to come.
- At the same time, I'm writing the first campaign material for the Metal Gods campaign that I've been happy with in a very, very long time. I'm sort of in this loop of giving myself more and more ideas that I need to try out and develop. I'm excited to see where this stuff goes.
- There's also a possibility of the Kickassistan Ministry of Tourism putting out a few more non-DCC zines. I'm tempted to turn each of my campaigns into a different zine, which would also each cater to a different sort of D&D. Hyperbarbaria (played in Delving Deeper) would be for/about OD&D gaming, while the Iron Coast (playing in ACKS) would be for/about BX-style gaming. Not sure if there's the market, but I thought it would be fun to make.
- My new Tuesday night DCC game has been on hiatus for a few weeks due to some party members' scheduling irregularities. Until two players can come back to the fold, we've been playing Labyrinth Lord using +James Maliszewski's excellent Dwimmermount dungeon. Say whatever you want about the Kickstarter for this thing, I don't care. What I got in the end is a beautiful, awesome dungeon, steeped in the Appendix N source material, that is pretty much everything I want in a megadungeon and stuff I didn't even know I wanted in one. Thanks, James!
There you have it. My incredibly lazy post that exists merely to get me posting. I hope some or any of it was remotely interesting, which I feel I have to do since it was mostly me babbling in run-on sentences about stuff that I have up my sleeve. Right now, though, that sleeve has to get on to other stuff. Adios, folks and, until next time, make mine metal!