"I have no conscience, being creative."

A new computer equals a hope that I'll put in a bit more work. So lets hope for the best.

I wrote an article for an SCA publication recently. I've submitted it to the editor of the publication and am waiting to hear back. Writing on the netbook was difficult. My eyes are already starting to go, and there were limited options when trying to edit the document. Plus, I was using Google Drive, which isn't the most intuitive thing I've ever worked with.

Yeah, I'll use that as an excuse for why I'm not producing.

So gamers...what have you done to increase your productivity?

Game project updates, complete with...um...words!

Progress!

Okay, not all that much progress, but some progress, still.

Like I said in a previous post, I'm working on a project for National Game Design Month...a little miniatures wargame that I'm calling, "TAKE THEM TO THE ARENA!" My fist step was to pull together some old notes and try to form one consistent, comprehensive product out of them. I found that while I was compiling everything, there was very little coherency through my rules and ideas for play style. Once I really pinned those elements down, my ideas would just ramble, and eventually dissipate into smoke.

Here's what I came up with: I want a small, simple game that could be played with few additional materials. I want to keep the simplistic aesthetic of the old Ziploc-packaged wargames, or even little-black-box games of the old Steve Jackson Games days. I want rules that have little complication or cross-referencing (two pages would be ideal). I want a game that can be picked up and played at the drop of a hat, something that can take a little bit of time, that can be carried in a pocket. I want it to reflect what I love about playing games, particularly those styles of games.

So everything I write has to comply with the above paragraph. Last night, I wrote out an outline for sequence of play. Its two pages in a Moleskine notebook. Now that I look at it, I may have to amend how many pages I'm willing to take make the rules. Charts will be necessary, but I'm thinking of just adding them to the character dossiers (I would like to make as many things immediately reference-able that I can).

There will now be a short Q&A, where I invite my imagination, subconscious and sense of insecurity to ask whatever they like.

Q: How will your game be distributed?
A: I'm thinking PDF, and then I'll package some in plastic bags. Seriously, I wasn't kidding about Ziploc.

Q: How much are you going to charge?
A: I was always told, "If you're good at something, don't do it for free." So I'm probably giving it away without cost.

Q: What are you doing for artwork?
A: ASCII? Pencil drawings? I have no idea. I'm going to need that. If i have to charge an illustrator, then I may have to actually make a marketable product, so I'm still thinking...

Q: Have a schedule?
A: Yes. I'm hoping to have a playtest available in the next week. Then I'm going to play the hell out of it and tweak it.

More later...maybe even pictures from my notebook.

Short thought about Western Martial Arts

Sunday evening, I took my new hand-and-a-half sword out of its scabbard and took a file to some nicks that were across the edges. I checked each edge carefully, taking different files to the areas that had some burrs or dings. I oiled the blade, and then polished it with an old washcloth.

Its different than with my rapier, where the dings and burrs are much less pronounced. Contact between weapons in the SCA is less dramatic. In this western martial arts class I got to participate in had much more drastic attacks, attacks that were delivered with greater intent And the edges of my sword showed it.

National Game Design Month! Also, I'm Bad At Updates!

Really, was my last post in August? Man, I'm really bad at updates. No wonder I only have five followers.

Hello, people!

For the last bunch of years, I felt sort of bad that I never had enough motivation to finish a NaNoWriMo project. Things always got in the way, I ran out of steam, I'd find something else to amuse me, blah, blah, blah. Yet, this year, I hear about National Game Design Month (http://nagademon.com/).

Okay, this I can get behind.

Do I believe I have enough motivation to take a game from inception to finished product in a month? Sure! Will my game be fun? Possibly! Will it be commercially appealing? Probably not! But hey, what do you want in a month?

The game is a miniatures-based skirmish game, set in a gladiatorial arena. Its inspired by a post I saw on Google+ about an old gladiator wargame designed to fit in a cookie tin. I've been twisting ideas around in my mond for a while after that, and jotted down some ideas. Now, I'm ready to make it happen.

The mechanics are coming pretty easy. I'm using a simple matrix comparing an active and resisting stat for each opponent. The matrix will provide a target numberm which has to be beaten on a single die roll. Die result gives the character result. I'll see how that works out.

I've found the biggest problem so far is in deciding the tone of the game. A gladiatorial game can be pretty grim, but I'm not sure I want to go that route. I'm thinking something a little more farcical. We'll see what heppens when pen gets to paper again.

For artwork, I'm thinking all pen and ink sketches. Give it an old-school wargame-in-a-ziploc-bag feel.

So, I'm off to work on it. Tell your friends to follow my progress, if only to point and laugh.

Artisian Dice Bags!

So excited! My new dice bags from Greyed Out Productions came in the mail today. I'd ordered two: his Ork-inspired design, and a reversable grey/red flat-bottomed bag.

The ork skull looks fantastic. The bag is a kind of linen...not something you expect for a dice bag, especially when felt (and Crown Royal bags, for some of us old-timers) is the norm. There are a couple of layers to the bag; it feels like it will pretty hearty.

The reversable bag is something different. I haven't seen many flat-bottom bags. Its deceptively large; it looks like I could keep a nice bit of my collection in there. The black and gray interior is sharp. I can see myself actually swapping my dice out, just to be able to reverse the bag. Sound odd? Yeah, but I'm funny like that.

The craftsmanship on these bags is extrordinary. The seams are very well-done. There's obviously a great deal of care that's been taken in the design and construction. The positions of the drawstrings, for example, is thought out to make better "seals" when they're drawn. They feel like they will last.

The bags are a little more expensive than I would normally pay for dice bags. However, when I finally decided to make my purchase, I looked at it as buying art. Buy these bags, and you're buying quality products made by an artist.

Check out greyedout.etsy.com for artwork, dice bags, and even shirts.

A month and a half since my last post! How horrible! I fear I may never take this blog seriously enough.

Gaming-wise, I can't complain about my schedule. I'm running The One Ring finally...a friend and I have traded spaces..he gets to play while I run the game. I have to say, running One Ring and planning for it is like writing a research paper over and over. I love the experience (not what you expected, eh?). Castles and Crusades is still going strong.

I've had an on-again/off-again game of Battlestar Galactica going. I don't have the heart to tell my players they're really playing Twilight 2000.

"Don't fear anything for your letters, they are burnt one by one and I hope you do the same with mine."

The above quote was attributed to the French sculptor, Camille Claudel. I can sympathize with the notion. I've burned a lot of letters, as well as notebooks, sketchbooks, blogs-posts, photos...I've never had a problem destroying my own art. It takes a great deal of willpower to destroy letters sent to me, though. I still have birthday cards and letters sent by friends years ago.

There's something special about written correspondence. The feel of the pen across the page is an important element. I go to letter writing with the same spirit I go to a canvas or to a notebook. When I'm letter-writing, I feel like I'm crafting a work.

You real a great deal of letters when you study literature. The correspondences between authors and their friends, professional acquaintances and family provide much-appreciated insight into why their works. I gained a greater appreciation of artists like HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard, CS Lewis, Kurt Vonnegut, JRR Tolkien, etc., etc., when I read their personal correspondences.

I recently joined a correspondence club, with the finally getting a chance to use the nice stationery and my fountain pens. I received a nice letter from a young woman in the UK. She likes geo-caching with her family and horseback-riding. I told her about the pine barrens of New Jersey, and sent pictures from a historical site in Pennsylvania. I appreciate the opportunity to share. Great experience, and a good opportunity to share art.