Engage Random Speculation Drive!

First WotC decides not to renew Paizo's license to produce Dragon/Dungeon. Now, Margaret Weis announces this: http://www.dragonlance.com/features/articles/10040.aspx

This isn't overly upsetting. These folks have produced all the d20 for Dragonlance anyone could want (OK, I really do want to see all of the classic DL mods updated; doubtful since the license expires at year's end). With this fresh news, the internet buzz can be heard even in the peaceful meadows of this blog. What does it mean? Is Wizards prepping for 4th edition? Have their corporate masters gone off the deep end? Eh, who cares really. This freelancer won't make any predictions because such time and thought is better spent on writing. (Of course, once official news is given, let the bitching or celebrating begin!)

Bless Review & Bells Aplenty

Chris Gath weighs in with his thoughts on Behind the Spells: Bless here: http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=review&reviewid=3472465 As always, I thank Crothian for his continued reviewing of the series. Now, if only one of these could coax a 5-star review out of him. :)

In non-RPG news, I participated in a bell festival today in Orwigsburg, PA. Comprised of about 10 bell choirs from various churches, the event was, in my opinion, poorly attended. Poor advertising? Or maybe bells alone just isn't much of a draw. That said, there were old and young alike and all seemed to enjoy themselves. My choir played in 4 of the mass choir pieces and performed our own piece. At Donna's (our director's) behest, I migrated at appropriate times to another choir to help ring the other 4 mass choir pieces due to lack of ringers. I find bell ringing relatively easy so while I was a bit nervous at the prospect of going in nearly cold, it didn't turn out too badly.

Today's bell activities lasted from just before noon until after 9pm. This included packing up our stuff, moving it to Orwigsburg, practice, break, practice, break for dinner, and finally the performance at 7pm. Needless to say, no freelancing was accomplished today. It's time for a shower and a cup of hot tea.

Vanishing Icons of D&D

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History of D&D

The background of everyone's favorite roleplaying game continues to surprise me the more I read about it. Here's an exhaustive recounting of D&D's history from inception to v3.5 that gamespy.com did for the game's 30th anniversary. It's in multiple parts which you'll see after clicking the link: http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/538/538848p1.html

New Game Fizzles

Well, we tried C&C and...it didn't work out as I had hoped. On the surface (i.e. before really playing it), the game had its charms for me. As one who waxes nostalgic for 1st edition (hand me those rose-colored glasses), I saw much to regain in playing C&C. Once the playing was done, however, and only the assassin PC survived, we decided that one adventure under these rules was enough. Look for my C&C ebay auctions soon. :)

To offer a bit more detail, I assumed that dropping the base d20 skills and feats would be a great idea (further streamline an already nicely streamlined set of rules). Beneath the surface lied chaos. Skills/Feats had morphed into oddly placed class abilities. The cleric couldn't Listen as well as the assassin because he didn't have that ability. Um...okay...maybe a bad case of ear wax? The stuff that seemed logical upon first look just turned out to be oddly cumbersome in play. We'll take d20, with all its quirks and faults, back now, thanks.

Old Job, New Game

For a number of different reasons, I gave my notice at the drug store on Thursday. My bosses appeared saddened, which I assumed would be the case, but it had to be done. Professionally, my life is quite stagnant. I tried to leave the druggie twice before, actually. The first was when I graduated high school and was prepping for my Moravian College life. However, the bosses at the time offered a substantial pay increase (IIRC). Since I was commuting and the cash would definitely come in handy, I stayed on. Upon graduating from college, I gave my notice a second time, assuming I was going to find something in my English field. Again, the bosses rose to the challenge and offered me full time with benefits. Since the job wasn't difficult and already familiar (I had been there 5 years at that point), I stayed once again. That was 10 years ago. Now, with 15 drug years under my belt, I desperately need a change.

A few years ago I was going to give my notice again but then my sister joined the crew and I thought that might give things a breath of fresh air (not to mention a pharmacist switch right before that). Things were good for awhile but around July of last years I sank into a depression that I still haven't quite fully shaken off yet. Now, anyone who knows me knows I'm a happy fellow, given to joke and laugh ad nauseum. But whatever it was that hit me suddenly last year really knocked me for a loop. Panic attacks, stress, and then depression were on my shoulders. And the more I tried to analyze things, the worse they got.

I managed to persevere without seeing a physician (stupid, I know) and finally crawled out from under the depressive blanket around the holidays. But things were different. I just wasn't happy at my job where formally I loved it. I didn't need a ton of bricks to hit me to know it was time to change. I had always espoused the motto that if someone wasn't happy at a job (or wherever) then they should just change it. Life's too short to be miserable. Well, giving my notice this time was the most difficult I've done in recent memory. I've been treated well at the druggie but you just know when change is needed. I'll miss the place and the folks inside and I hope they don't have too much trouble filling my spot. To soften the blow, I'm giving them until the end of August before I go. Well, I also gave them longer since my sister also recently left to take care of her two young boys and we're still down a man from that.

Do I know what I'm going to do come September? Not really but I can honestly say that it feels a weight is slowly lifting from my mind. There's a lot of brain flotsam left over from my mental struggle of the last 8 or so months but I have confidence that everything will be OK.

As for the "new game," the group is finally trying out some Castles & Crusades tomorrow. I've had the core books and a few supplements for some time. We don't have our whole crew tomorrow (although we do have a prospective new member) so it seemed like a good time to try something new.

Recognition

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but from time to time I'll Google myself or one of my projects just to see if there's any buzz about me or my scribblings. I don't check every gaming forum out there so Google is a handy tool for helping me keep my thumb on the net's gaming pulse. On tonight's search, I came up on the infamous therpgsite.com's forum (infamous for its no-nonsense founder). Much to my surprise, Behind the Spells, Temporality, and Dread Codex were mentioned (the last not by name but a link was provided). I consider myself a small fish in a very large pond so when I find any kind of recognition (much less favorable), it brings me no end of joy. Have a look (my name creeps into the latter pages)...
http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2196

Easter Greetings

In recent years, our family has become anything but typical. Instead of the grand Easter ham-filled feasts of yore, this year sees us huddled happily around a bucket of KFC and side viddles. Don't get me wrong though, I'm happy with some yummy fried chicken for the holiday and I suppose we're not all that atypical of families in this day and age. Scot, Zlaty, Katy and I plan on going to see TMNT after dinner which should provide some enjoyment.

In writing news, AE: Waterskin has been accepted and should be released before too long. I'd also like to thank Mark at Skortched 'Urf for his candid email discussion pertaining to his business sales for a starter pdf company. I've said it before but Mark's company, with its friendly attitude and product audio commentaries, will go far IMHO.

I also managed to cobble together a brief outline for my Crown short story for Dark Quest. I'm tackling one of the city setting's new races--ethereans. I hope my fiction muscles haven't atrophied too much since I started freelancing.

Technology Gone Awry

Today at work was an interesting day. Not 20 minutes after I arrived the printer decided to crap out on us with one big paper jam. After a call to our printer folks (which I think is the same as our software folks but don't quote me on that) and a step-by-step removal of printer sections, we were better able to get at the paper. Even then, removal of the jammed article was proved to be much like a poorly played game of Operation. In the meantime, customers were streaming into the place and, without label-making capability, we had to write Rx labels by hand (pretty cool I thought, if a bit time consuming). After about 5 hours, the printer was functional again...to a degree. The printer houses a compartment for Rx labels and for normal paper (for printing bills and information sheets). Printing from the latter caused a little toothpick-like lever to move which brought the printer to a halt. Labels were OK and since that is what is needed the most we were able to crawl across the finish line for the day. A new printer is on the way and hopefully will be at the store early in the morning (thank god I'm not working though).

I could segway nicely into a technology rant now but I'm not sure I feel like typing that much. Long story short, the more mechanized society gets, the more can go wrong. Sure, things will always break down at some point. But having more and more tech around just escalates that risk factor to an almost daily occurence. And what the hell did we do without our precious cell phones? People, let's use some common sense. When you're making a transaction somewhere, leave your phone call for after you leave the store. No one else wants to hear about where you are right now, what you're doing right now, or what you're about to do before you go home. You know what would be fun? Cell phones that explode if you run over 1 hour a day. Yeah, that's what I would like. No one needs to talk on the phone for over an hour a day unless it's their job. Superfluous use of cell phones is one of the many reason I think people are stupid. And, unfortunately, they're everywhere.

Pre-Blog Interview

Since my blog seems like a good place for information storage, here's a link to an interview from about 3 years ago. It involves writing for roleplaying games. I tried to keep the answers uncomplicated so as to be more beneficial to those looking to break into the industry (or those who knew nothing about the biz whatsoever). Have a look: http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/bret_boyd.htm