It's been awhile, and my muse and I are back on speaking terms, so it's time to dust off the blog and get to writing again. Even though it seems that blogs have gone the way of MySpace and Google Glass, I don't see a lot of other options for young, aspiring, game writers like myself, so I'll be using this dinosaur to get my ill-informed opinions out to you, the people.
Also, I recently lost my job, so I've got more time on my hands and I need to do something before I starve to death.
What have I been doing all this time? Well...
I've discovered 'Zine games, namely Mothership and Mörk Borg and its variants. At first glance I wondered if games these rules-lite were even playable. I asked myself, Self, how many rules do you need to play what is essentially a grown-up version of "let's pretend?" Then, after a few sessions at home and conventions, I came to the conclusion: Not as many as you think?
I also rediscovered the Cyberpunk genre. It's not that I ever really lost it, but it fell by the wayside as I pursued other gaming interests. However, after CD Red released (and they fixed all the bugs) Cyberpunk 2077, based on Mike Pondsmith's classic TTRPG, I was over the moon. I've started to reread old books and short stories of the genre, collect and paint cyberpunk minis, I'm even trying to come up with a sandbox hexcrawler for Cy_Borg set on a O'Neill space colony. Also, let's face it, our current state of economic and political affairs could have lifted straight out of a William Gibson novel. You want an idea for a cyberpunk campaign, just turn on the news or read Elon's Twitter--or whatever he's calling it now.
I've struggled with my love of Tékumel and the revelations about M.A.R. Barker's clandestine fascism and Holocaust denial. On one hand, the last decade of right wing shenanigans have made me militantly mistrustful of anything coming from the mind of a closet Nazi. On the other hand Tékumel is still one of the coolest fantasy settings ever created and Barker seemed to have kept most of his fascist baggage out of his game. I suppose it falls right along side my love of Burroughs, Howard, and Lovecraft; try to separate the art from the bigoted, out-of-touch artist. Some might be able to, others won't and I can't say I blame them.
I've gotten BIG into 3D printing. Believe it or not, this is the future of miniature gaming. No longer do you have to go to Games Workshop, Reaper, Ral Partha, or any major miniature manufacture, hoping they make something you like or can convert into something you like. Now, there are hundreds of creators who create awesome 3D objects you can purchase and print. Also, after the initial equipment investment, you can print out armies for a fraction of the cost of traditional figures. Even Têkumel has gotten in on the action with their own line of 3D models.
As for my own gaming, I've been involved with a group of Old School Essentials players at one of my FLGS since last summer and things are going pretty well. In fact, they let me run for the first time last week, and it seems everyone had a good time. Otherwise, I'm still looking for other people willing to do other non-fantasy rpgs, but I haven't been able to find one that aligns with my interests and schedule. I may have to go back to Roll 20 or Foundry for that.
But enough about me, what have YOU been up to?
