The Old Ways

My homebrew AD&D campaign set on the world of Arkara is about to kick into full swing again I think.

When last we visited the world, Illanyra, high priest of Atos (the Holiest of Holies) had had kingship thrust upon him, bringing church and state together.

As you might imagine, this is not going well for church or state.

Especially since it seems like Atos might be going mad, and taking his high priest with him into madness.

Also, there are some upgraded maps of the setting in the works.

Silent Running

It's been pointed out to me by some folks that I've been quiet of late.

Well, I recently sold Vigilance Press, which I talked about. I also recently got a day job and moved, which I haven't talked about.

It wasn't planned, not that it matters. Sometimes life happens and we get to hang on, and during those times blogging winds up not happening.

Several months ago I interviewed at Mayfair Games. That ended up not happening and life goes on. In the meantime I sold Vig Press to James Dawsey, and my plan was to focus more on my writing while James handled the business stuff.

And then, out of the blue, Mayfair called back, and this time I got the job. Getting the job also meant moving... in two weeks.

So I've been finding a place, getting power, water and internet transferred (the latter is still in process because Verizon is sooooooo efficient) and getting my feet under me at the new job.

For the next little bit, unless you enjoy reading Mayfair press releases (and really, who doesn't), you might not see much of me.

But don't despair. I will be on real internet and not the free city WiFi Tuesday, so swears Verizon, and I had a dream about USHER last night, so maybe things are settling down a bit.

In the meantime, look for me here and on facebook, and like the Mayfair Games facebook page and you'll see me make regular posts there incognito as a spoke in the wheel of marketing, doing something I've had a lot of practice at over the years, selling awesome games.

Chuck

Vigilance Press blog is now live

We've started a new blog specifically for the new Vigilance Press.

Please mosey on over and read my thoughts about the very beginnings of Vigilance, as well as the future.

I imagine the new boss (not the same as the old boss) will be along as well.

You can still keep up with me here, as well, but for now, check out the new place!

http://vigilancepress.blogspot.com/

Savage Afterworld reviews Books of the Wastes!

Books of the Wastes is a little Mutant Future book I did, introducing some wasteland tomes that survived the Great Fire as well as a system for characters learning from books they find in the wasteland.

Find out what the Savage Afterworld thought of this terrifying tome they found amidst the rubble!

The tropes have it

For those continuing to predict the death of the superhero movie bubble- here is why that has now become impossible:

Superhero tropes are now officially everywhere.

Hanna Montana has a secret identity.

Don Draper has a secret identity.

Further- 9 of the highest grossing movies (adjusted for inflation) have plots or characters involving super-science or magic, or both. The number is 10 if you want to be a heathen like me and add the 10 Commandments to that list (Moses was SUCH a 20th level Cleric).

Now granted- these were all really PULP tropes- but for decades the keepers of that flame were comics writers and their fans.

And then, invisibly, these pulp/comics fans formed a 5th column and infiltrated every aspect of the entertainment medium, poisoning an unsuspecting nation with their worldview.

We're everywhere. We strike, and sink back into the night, often thanked by those we have converted to our cause, like Morpheus from the one and only Matrix movie (what? there were more? LALALALALA I can't hear you).

That show you thought was a soap about a plane crash?

Turns out it's a time travel show set in the nexus of all realities.

The spy show with the cute girl?

Her existence was prophesied several hundred years before she was born.

The most mainstream of cop and lawyer shows? Written by the guy who killed Gwen Stacy in a Spiderman comic.

In other words- there is no bubble to burst. Or there is, there are THOUSANDS of them.

Game Masters are entertainers

For those playing the home game since our last post (yes, that is the royal we), I am now no longer sort of drunk. I am now full blown drunk.

Anyway.

I often hear game masters called failed novelists, or wannabe novelists, or aspiring novelists, as though this is some sort of insult.

As TS Eliot once said, "they damn editors by saying they're failed writers- most writers are failed writers too".

I am sure that's not the exact quote, as sure as I am that it captures the essence of the real quote.

To be clear- none of those things are slurred. Wanting to write a novel, thinking you might in the future, or trying and failing- none of these things are bad.

Novels are awesome. Sharing one with the world, even if you don't succeed, is a noble endeavor.

Game masters are entertainers. Some of them do indeed want to be novelists, but I think this is just a deeper expression of wanting to entertain.

However, even game masters who never want to write a novel love to entertain- just like people who cook, or people who homebrew beer to share with their friends, or people who like to write games and bask in the pleasant glow of other game masters saying "hey, you made my task of entertaining my friends easier".

This is the same impulse that caused Homer to sing around campfires of the glory of Achilles.

It's noble. Maybe the noblest thing in the history of the human race.

If you think that deserves a snicker, then fuck you. I don't want to know you.

(slightly) drunk musings of a writer

Ran Modern20 tonight- post apocalypse gaming in the post-nuclear world of Fallout.

I think, along with USHER Dossiers, Modern20 has to be the book I'm most proud of that I was ever involved with.

A d20 game with no experience tables. Where the GM decides at his sole discretion when you gain levels (ha! how old school is that- eat it forgies).

6 classes (and never EVER going to be any more).

Where players build their characters as they go, each constructing his own class with the feats and skills he takes.

It's really a game designed in such a way that it has no business being a d20 game at all.

I love it.

Oh yeah, and I'm a little drunk, watching Mad Men on Netflix after a night of gaming (and drinking, and eating and uh drinking).

Currently eyeing a Dugges double IPA- it's a pint and it's 9% alcohol.

In other words, at this hour, this will take from "sort of drunk" to all the way there.

Hm...