Turns out there's a reason I hate moving

Prior to returning to Fla, I had lived in one place for @10 years. Prior to that, I had had the same apartment for 4 years.

When I moved back home, I initially wanted to stay put for a long time. But it turns out, the trailer I picked on the internet was um... well, I was there 4 months, ok?

The new place is much better, but I did get a nice reminder of why I hate moving, even just moving across town.

I called the electric co last Friday, happy with the new place and ready to transfer power over, when I received a recorded message that they were away until Monday for Easter.

So- first three days in the new place were spent with no fridge, no fans, no AC, no TV- you know, all that good stuff that comes with electricity.

But... all that's behind me now, and the old ceiling fan at the old place has been replaced with Central Air.

And I look out my window and I see horses.

So- huh, maybe moving isn't always such a bad thing even when it means spending 3 hot miserable days in the dark.

Secret Project X-13

So I am currently working on the first ever new RPG I'll be designing from the ground up.

It's called Medical Mystery, and it's an attempt to emulate TV shows like House MD, ER, MASH and Scrubs.

The game has no combat.

Players are the members of a medical team, tackling cases that come their way, using their skills to advance through three stages of a case.

Cases (which are the equivalent of adventures in standard RPGs) are typically one "episode" comprised of three stages: Diagnoses, Treatment and Recovery.

Along the way players will make skill checks to successful tackle each stage. Failure in diagnosis and/or treatment makes recovery harder, and if the patient fails to recover the player suffers personal effects that impede his performance for a number of episodes.

However, Medical Mystery is not all about the current case.

As players move through the adventure, they can bring in complications from their personal lives to give them additional opportunities to succeed at a skill check.

Now, this might sound a bit like a soap opera, and certainly shows like House and ER had elements of that, but the three complications are Drama, Romance and Wit.

In Wit, you have elements of humor, which was especially important to shows like House, Scrubs and MASH (though all of these shows had soap opera drama and romance as well).

It's early goings for the game, but I will be talking about it more as the design progresses.

This is a very different sort of game than my usual, but I think this is a great genre that hasn't yet been successfully tackled in RPG form, and I think I'm up to the challenge.

Dry County

One thing writers do that most people don't imagine them doing is nothing.

Writers spend a lot of time just letting their mind wander, looking for that new field to plant a seed.

I suppose there might be writers who don't need to do this, that always have a great idea in their back pocket ready to go. But most of us need to do nothing for awhile until our mind latches onto the next thing.

I'm not talking about writer's block here. For me, that's something that occurs once you already have an idea and can't figure out how to get from the beginning to the end.

I also spend a lot of time returning to ideas that I haven't quite figured out how I want to handle yet.

You've probably heard of some of these, if you spend enough time reading this blog anyway. USHER Dossiers is an idea I was thinking about, and talking about, back in the days of the original Vigilance.

I was talking about it again during my RPGO days, when it became Blood and Secrets, and then a mini-campaign model in Blood and Vigilance. These weren't exactly false starts, but neither were they fully realized campaigns of the sort I always knew USHER could be.

For some reason the ICONS version clicked and bloomed.

Legends of Rome is another. I still think about this idea. I'm still wandering through the maze, looking into corners, looking for the way to handle it that will really feel right.

Prometheus Rising is the same way. I still don't think I've done my definitive work on that setting. I know this because I continue to think about it, think about finding a way to do it really really right.

I know when something is done because I stop investigating it mentally. I don't wrestle with Blood and Relics, USHER, or Blood and Fists anymore. They're complete. They've grown up and gone to college. They're yours now.

Prometheus, Legends of Rome, War of the Roses, Old School Combat and other things whose names I am not even comfortable saying, they're still mine. They're the kids, of varying ages and degrees of self-sufficiency, who still live at home.

Top 10 books, Jan through March

I've posted these occasionally, though I'd do it again for those interested.

Top Selling Books for January, 2011

1. Field Guide to Superheroes, Vol. 2
2. Moreau-1 Files (tie); Battlescenes: Death from Below (tie)
4. Stormtroopers of the Deep
5. Field Guide to Superheroes, Vol. 1 (tie); The Ice Palace (ICONS)
7. Crown Guard: Heroes of WWII (BASH) (tie); Battlescenes: Der Panzer Ritter
9. Battlescenes: Operation Bookbinder (tie); Battlescenes: Werewolves of the Gestapo

Top Selling Books for February, 2011

1. USHER Dossiers
2. Field Guide to Superheroes, Vol. 2
3. Field Guide to Superheroes, Vol. 1
4. Wargames: Heroes and Villains of the Cold War (ICONS)
5. Battlescenes: Gorilla Warfare
6. Eugenics Brigade: Villains of WWII (M&M 3e)
7. Crown Guard: Heroes of WWII (M&M 3e)
8. Moreau-1 Files Second Dispatch
9. Vigilance Force: Heroes of WWII (M&M 3e)
10. Battlescenes: Death from Below

Top Selling Books for March, 2011

1. Wargames: Heroes and Villains of the Cold War (ICONS)
2. Wargames: Copperhead Guard
3. Wargames: The Globalist
4. USHER Dossiers
5. Field Guide to Superheroes, Vol. 2
6. Field Guide to Superheroes, Vol. 1
7. Wargames: Battle Czar
8. People's Revolution: Villains of WWII (M&M 3e)
9. Eugenics Brigade: Villains of WWII (ICONS) (tie); People's Revolution: Villains of WWII (ICONS)

So, if anyone is wondering why Vigilance Press has thrown so much support behind ICONS, well, wonder no longer.

Wargames: Death Mask (ICONS)

Wargames: Death Mask (ICONS): "Wargames: Death Mask (ICONS)"

The next in our ongoing series of Cold War themed supers for ICONS is the devious, steel-headed villain Death Mask! Death Mask (aka James Moraity) is a brilliant but twisted genius.

While posing as a legitimate businessman, he channels his billions into P.H.A.N.T.O.M., a private terrorist force that uses subtle manipulation and corruption to weaken its enemies and increase its power.

Homefront Heroes: We Can Do It!

This is my personal favorite of the Homefront Heroes art pieces. I always loved propaganda posters from WWII from an art standpoint.

Homefront Heroes: Speed Racers

More art!