Hey all! Sorry for the long silence, life has be pretty hectic the last few months: work, laptop dying, trying out new anti-depression meds, calking the bathroom floor, learning Outer Mongolian, etc.
I've got an old laptop working for the time being. I had to swap out the hard drive and re-install Windows to get it working. I'm still in the process of swatting bugs, but I'm back up and running with a portable computer. However, it also means that I a lot of my Mu material is on the old hard drive, so I had to put the old drive in an enclosure and hunt for the various, partially-written files I written since April. If anything it allows me to revise somethings and put together something a little more usable. For what... I'm not yet certain.
We're nearing the time when GaryCon registration is upon us, and I'm a little concerned if I'm going to make it next year. In April we got the news that my beneficent and altruistic employer will be closing the call center where I work to move down to sunny, Republican, Florida where the taxes are lower and they can pay their wage slaves employees less than shit. (Isn't the free market grand?) Since I have neither t he means nor the inclination to move, I'm going to be out of a job unless I find something by November 1. The illustrious job creators must be truly busy since all of my efforts to secure a new position in the months since the layoff announcement have be met with utter silence. Since the resort doesn't accept bits of lint and string as legal tender, my annual pilgrimage to OSR-Mecca is in danger of being trampled to death before it starts.
Well, we'll see what happens. If anything unemployment will give me a chance to write, even if it's only to pen my suicide note.
As can be expected from Pinnacle, they doubled their goal in less than 24 hours. Digital add-ons will be awarded to backers as they are reached, and since the book is more-or-less done, the PDF will be available as soon as the campaign is over with the print release scheduled to drop around Saturnalia... I mean, Christmas.
This actually comes at an opportune time as I have recently read some of Richard Tierney'sSimon Magus stories and I'm on a bit of a historical horror kick right now. While it will most likely be set in the Weird Wars universe, I'm pretty sure that the rules can easily be ported out to work with Realms of Cthulhu. I've got a couple of contubernia of plastic legionaries from Warlord that I'm painting up now that should do quite nicely for this.
Tis a prize that's more than worth a fewsestertii.
(This is turning into the all Savage Worlds crowdsourcing blog, isn't it? Well, that should be changing soon enough.)
Yeah, I'm back again. So much to talk about, so little time.
Anyway, I just thought I bring up a new product looking for Savages to back it. Ronin: Chrome & Shadow is a new savage setting from Glove & Goggle Labs that bills itself as a "post-apocalyptic cyberpunk setting for Savage Worlds. Massive metroplexes, syndicates and megacorps in an irradiated wasteland..." Here, I'll let the setting's creator, James Barbery, make his pitch:
Currently, all of the pledge levels are only offering a .PDF of the game rather than a physical copy. James writes: "This is, unfortunately, intentional. A print edition is planned, but it will be included as an add-on because the book may need to be offered at or near my cost in order to be priced fairly to you. That means that I need to make sure that the project will be out of the red (which happens the second I hit goal) before I make any promises."
However, if you want a preview at what Ronin has to offer, as well as a glimpse of the setting, monsters, and character examples, you can download this free sneak peek .PDF.
A couple years back, Tim Snider over at The Savage Afterworld came up with his own handy-dandy homemade GM screen that he built with a couple of three-ring binders, page protector sleeves, and duct tape. While snooping around at Google+, I came upon this YouTube video that's along similar, albeit simpler lines.
Hmmmm... Interesting. I might go one step further and hot-glue the binders together for a more lasting bond and to save on binder clips. One problem I considered is that a lot of tricksey publishers are now coming out with GM Screens that are printed in landscape rather than traditional portrait formats. While they do make landscape-style binders, they're much more expensive and harder to find than the standard binders you find at the office supply aisle of your local big box store.
The best workaround that I can think of is before printing your GM screen sheets, reduce them to about 80-75% then trim off the excess. They might not look as pretty and the print will be a touch smaller, but they should fit.
Anyway, I'll make one of my own and let you know what I think.
Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that my Presario CQ60 laptop, despite all of my best repair efforts, died at approximately 11:30 PM CST this evening. This machine helped me create many, many blog posts, slog though Java and ASP.Net, entertained me when I was down, and connected me to the world. It's hard drive will live on as soon as I find an enclosure (most of my Mu files are on that drive). Donations to the next of kin can be make out to the Help Mark Buy a New Laptop Fund.
Accepting the award for Mr. Siefert is... OH MY GOD!
I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible: I'd like to thank Matt Finch for creating S&W in the first place; Erik Tanner, Christopher Helton, and the folks at Frog God Games who organized the event; and my long-neglected game group who I haven't been able to play with in months. I'd also like to thank my cats, Fred and Victor, as well as my brittany spaniel, Duke; my anime body pillow, Kyoko; Arthur Compton, the inventor of the florescent lamp; Ms. Gertude Torgelson of Minon, Wi; and my personal lord and savior, Ksárul, Prince of Blue Room, Keeper of Secrets.
There is going to be more Mu coming soon. Like one of the Insects of Shaggai, the idea has crawled into my brain and whispers blasphemous thoughts into mind. (Either that, or I really need to change out my meds.) Right now I'm revising and expanding on my original post, as well as working up a Savage Worlds/Realms of Cthulhu version. There has been some talk about whispers about re-printing my notes in Knockspell, and I'm seriously tempted to look into publishing it if I can get it fleshed out enough.
