Nothing's In My Wallet!

Linda, Kristi (her daughter), and I had a great time on Tuesday but only Kristi came home with any money to speak of (less than she went with so don't get excited). I made sure to have enough money left to cover tolls. Still, it's always fun just to go. My biggest mistake was sitting down at an out of the way $1 slot machine when the girls went to the bathroom. In the space of a pee break, I lost $40!! So much for willpower. The table games at Caesars (where we always park) were surprisingly busy but it may have had something to do with the fact that half of the casino floor on that side was walled off as they added a chinese noodle bar. Who the heck needs that?

In RPG news, I'm slooooowly piecing together Disintegrate. There's no module this weekend so I've got extra time. All in all I'd rather be out and enjoying the 70+ degree weather scheduled for today but real work calls.

Edit: I just saw that Brad (see Chilled Monkey Brains in the linked blogs to the right) posted his thoughts on the module with the bloody battle against the jaguar-folk. Check it out!

What's in Your Wallet?

My wallet will hopefully be bursting tomorrow evening when I return home from Atlantic City. Although it's more likely that, after a good 4 hours, I'll be broke and lucky to have enough money to make the tolls and re-enter PA. But let's think positive! Since there will be little time for writing tomorrow, I'm going to try and do a lot of the prep for BtS: Disintegration tonight but there's heavy distractions what with Prison Break and 24 on the tube.

Prestidigitation

Now on sale is BtS: Prestidigitation. Pick up your copy at the local venues. Here's a handy link to RPGNow: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=6746

Behind the Spells 20th Issue

This week's issue--Prestidigitation--marks the 20th release in the Behind the Spells series. I've had a great deal of fun writing these but was informed today that sales are, apparently, not going in the upward direction. Phil mentioned that there's going to be a time where they won't be worth my time anymore. Such a pity as I'd planned on doing all of the PHB spells that can be traced back to the 1st edition D&D. Here's the series timetable as it was mentioned today: release a few more, then take down the subscription, and lastly finish out the final 13. I'll have to start intentionally picking what to do ahead of time so I don't miss the really good spells unwritten so far like lightning bolt and dispel magic. If you haven't picked up a subscription yet, now's the time to do so!

The good news is that after the end of the pdf run, the series will be slapped together (with errata I'll forward) in a limited edition hardcover book. But there's still 15 weeks or so left to the series so I won't mourn it's passing yet. I'll have to think of something really suited to a finale for dear Maxolt.

Module Wrap Up

The PCs work for an organization called the Protectorate. This group began in the Realms and is now branching out all over the multiverse. The characters all work for the Embassy in Sigil (Planescape). The last installment of the adventure had them attempting to track down an archaeological team from the Protectorate working on a world the PCs went to called Theygrim. This is where my jaguar-folk are from (think cat folk but more fierce). To sum up the jags, they were recently (as of 50 years ago) in possession of a cruel empire before being defeated by a coalition of servitor races. Now, the jag-folk factions remaining are grabbing power where they can. They captured the archaeological team and tortured them for information about the Protectorate--who wouldn't want to get their claws on the treasure garnered from an organization comprised of mostly adventurers!?

Well, the PCs were defeated in their previous attempt to locate the team but this time they went back armed with two dozen Prot. soldiers and one kender (my new NPC). The jags knew they would return and set a trap which caused black powder in bulk to destroy their urban center of justice (the jags had controlled a town on the fringe of the new government). With the soldiers dead it was back to the PCs to pick up the pieces. A former rebellion member told the group about a mine where jags were recently sited. To make a long story short, the PCs found the jags but were nearly slain in the rescuing process. Only after one of the group of six characters were left standing was the archaeological team discovered. Three PCs made it back with the team but two perished as did my lovable kender *sniff*. We had a grand finale within a three-tier strip mine against the jags, their ogren muscle (ogren are hobgoblin-ogres from Tome of Horrors II), and cat-headed obsidian quasi-elemental (same source). There was also a CR 3 danger (the PCs were mostly level 1) in the form of a guardian jaguar. The whole thing played out quite nicely. Now it's back to work for the new week.

Hold Person

Now up for sale is BtS: Hold Person. Grab your copy here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=6706

Time to game. Let's see how the PCs handle diving into the den of jaguar-folk! Film at 11.

New Reviews

Although they're not verbose (much like this blog entry), there are new reviews for BtS: Shield, Cone of Cold, and Burning Hands over at RPGNow. Just click the Behind the Spells Series link to the right and then click on Comments in the blue box. This trio will appear near the top of the list.

No News Is...

...you know the rest. Not much to report this week. Finally got the new glasses yesterday which I paid for three weeks ago. I really must check out other optometrist options. I'll be finishing up BtS: Hold Person today and begin working on the module for my planar campaign for Sunday. Last time they got their butts kicked by jaguar-folk (my own variant of the cat people from Races of the Wild). Should be fun!

Getting Closer...

Today I arrived home to find a pdf copy of Temporality in my Inbox!!!! It looks really good and I'm ecstatic that it's almost out for public consumption/praise/ridicule. Not jam-packed with art, but that's OK since it's the words that really matter. Once this book is released, and I have a print copy in my grubby little hands, I'll have fulfilled my greatest wish for game writing--to pen a time travel book for "D&D." No matter how Temporality does in terms of critical reviews, it is my own magnum opus. If I were to then put down my pen and walk away from professional game writing, I'd be satisfied with the experience. Thanks, OGL. You've granted this gamer his humble brush with fame.

Roll Call!

Just for my own curiosity, I would like everyone to post a comment here if you read my blog (either regularly or not). Feel free to state why you visit as well--freelance news, work stories, just nosy? This inquiring mind wants to know.

Acid Arrow

Now up for sale is last week's Behind the Spells release: Acid Arrow. A little late due to Phil being ill, but you can now grab it here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=6626

I think this week's issue will be about Teleport but since I haven't started yet I can't say for sure. Finally got some quality reading done over the weekend; finished Forsaken House and am now about a third of the way through Specter of the Past by Timothy Zahn. This one is the first of two about "The Hand of Thrawn." I'll probably finish off both of these in short order before reading the follow-up to the above Realms novel--Farthest Reach. It amazed me that the Star Wars book I'm in is from 1997. I could barely believe that it had been sitting on my shelf (along with many others!) for nearly 10 years. No longer! I vow to read for enjoyment much more frequently than in recent years. Buying a book and letting it sit is just stupid.

Interesting Work Day

So, today at work one of the older ladies who I know well was in for meds. She'd been sick over the last couple of days and only went to the doctor this morning after having a sleepless night. We learned this after she collapsed in front of our counter!! We were counting pills and waiting for her insurance to work on the computer when I saw the woman slide off the counter out front and hit the floor with a loud thump. David and I looked at each other and ran out front. He knelt and asked if she could hear him. Thank god, she responded immediately. I was ready to call 9-1-1 as I feared the worst. We helped her into a chair and she seemed alright (a scratch from her glasses scraping her temple) but on "automatic pilot" with her responses and movements. I offered to drive her home but she said she's be alright. I walked with her to her car (fortunately she was parked in front of the store--parking isn't the best in Hamburg) and she was on her way. The whole ordeal really scared the crap out of me for a few seconds.

The other interesting thing that happened today was our freezer. For whatever reason, a large freezer is in our back storage room. It's a waist high, flat-topped jobbie on which sat our old computer since July. Well, it seems that the unit had been unintenionally unplugged recently and whatever was inside from god knows when now stunk up the place. David said there was a couple inches of water and this bag of rotting...something. Before we left today we decided to refreeze the whole thing and then chip the bad stuff out when it wouldn't stink as bad (probably next week). Thank goodness the store isn't open tomorrow.

Happy March

A new month means....well, nothing really. Same old, same old. Unless I spend too much time blogging and surfing the net, I should finish up BtS: Acid Arrow tonight. Then it's time to start the new project I picked up over last weekend for Reality Deviants. With any luck, I'll also get back to reading some Forsaken House and watching a new dvd set that showed up today: "Gargoyles: Season 2, Vol. 1". This animated toon from Disney is one of my faves and the episodes contained in this set make me want to pop them into the player right now. But, duty calls so it's back to hobbylancing.