The Holidaze

 Here we are, in between two of the major holidays of the year.

I wound up getting a pretty good grip on my All Outta Candy Canes scenario, but the holiday has been draining enough that I don't know if I have the ability to squeeze it in this year. The good news is that I've got some pretty well developed notes, so it shouldn't take much to get things into shape when I look at them again next year.

Speaking of next year, it's about time to talk about New Year's Resolutions. In spite of what people say, I'm not interested in being a "new me" in the new year. I just want to be better at being the same old me.

My resolution right now is to run a campaign. I've got a really ambitious campaign in mind, that I've been working on for years, but I don't know when/if that will be ready. To make things more manageable, I'm going to say that in order to fulfill this New Year's Resolution, I must run at least 2 sessions of the same game with the same characters and setting.

I've gotten to the point that I'm okay doing one-shots at the monthly Meetups, typically using improvised scenarios (my big games are Fiasco and Fate Accelerated using the It's Not My Fault! cards). My next steps are doing something a bit more scripted/planned and/or something that goes for multiple sessions. The ideal is both.

Did You Miss Me?

The reason that I didn’t update my blog last week is that I’ve been having internet connection issues and I wasn’t able to access Blogger. I actually still can’t, but I’m writing this offline and will upload it when I get a chance.

It has made working remotely more difficult. For a couple of days, I wound up hanging out in coffee shops most of the day using their WiFi. I eventually figured out a workaround, which consists of disconnecting and reconnecting to the router until it finally decides to let me online. And then it works for a few hours until it decides not to again.

I’m pretty much done with my All Outta Candy Canes scenario. At least, I think I could run it if asked. I almost ran it last Saturday, which was when my Meetup group has its monthly meeting. When we’re done socializing, we see who brought a one-shot game to play. Normally I’m one of only a few who brought something, but this time, there were enough that I didn’t get any interest. Which was fine. I got to play a fun game called Spire. It’s a game of revolution in a fantasy mega-city and I had heard many good things about it from my much cooler nerd friends.

If I have a stumbling block with the project, it’s figuring out how to define characters. According to the rules I’m using, characters only have one stat and it’s more of a pacing mechanism than an expression of competence. But players like to know who their character is supposed to be and what they do, as well as suggestions for any funny voices and shenanigans to get up to while playing. I think that's where most of my time is going. this week.

New Month, New Challenge

 Unfortunately, I will not be continuing with Apothecaria. It was fun and a good writing exercise, but it took most of my writing time for the week. Actually, even a little bit more than that. It does suck that I only really take my writing club time to write. One of the downsides of working from home is that I spend my entire day in front of my computer, so it takes effort to park myself back in the chair to do any personal writing.

And I do have a project that I'd like to be working on. For years, I've wanted to do a Christmas themed adventure using the system "All Outta Bubblegum" switching out bubblegum for candy canes to fit the seasonal mood. I had toyed with a number of possible scenarios, but it wasn't until just after Christmas last year that the best inspiration ever struck.

One of the more interesting holiday traditions of modern times involves NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. While there are differing stories about how the whole thing started, NORAD has released reports of Santa's whereabouts since some time in the 1950's. Which brings up an interesting question: With all of the stories that involve Santa getting derailed on his deliveries, what would NORAD's response be if that blip that they're tracking all of Christmas Eve were to disappear?

So the short version of the pitch is "The Expendables Save Christmas." I hope that I'll be able to get enough notes together that I can run it this year.

And if you liked reading my playthrough of Apothecaria, let me know. I might be willing to revisit it on slow weeks, or if I can get my butt in my writing chair for more than 2 hours a week.