The End of the Year is Nigh

And in its death comes the renewed possibility of creativity. This was a very busy year for me and like many of us filled with highs and lows. Join me on this recap of my year and what the future may hold if I get my shit together!

In the Beginning...

The year started off to a great start when I was hired as a Locations Asst. for the new Halloween movie (which at the time of filming was dubbed "Uncle Orange"). This high was short lived however, as on the first week of filming I stabbed myself in the palm of my left hand suffering only 1 hp of damage, but at least 2 pts of temporary Strength damage (my middle finger is still numb).

During the next 4 weeks me and my gimp hand tried our best to work as much as we could in the freezing months of January and February. During this time I was unable to write fully which begin a series of mental issues in the form of crippling self-doubt, that I've carrying forever probably, but seemed to manifest itself more this year than ever before. The last two weeks of filming, my hand was healed (though not fully) and soon we wrapped production on Halloween. Did you see the film? My GMC Jimmy in it! Best scene probably!

A week after filming, the lady and I took a trip to UK where I gained some much need XP and used those points to heal mentally, finding peace and tranquility in the Scottish Highlands and even stumbling upon an ancient caste that belong to the Campbell Clan (of whom were the protectors of the Thompson Clan).

The Middle Year...

So when I came back to the States I was ready to write! And write I did, for a time, until I was called to work on some commercials and then a shitty Hallmark movie and a little movie called Jungle Cruise and then some more commercials and then a crappy T.V. show. Now don't get me wrong, I like working in film (would I rather just be a screenwriter and get paid a ton of money sure), but the problem is that in order to do so I have to travel to SC or GA and then I don't get much time to write while I work.

The Year's End...

After working for 4 weeks on a TV show called The Passage, the lady, her brother, and I went on a 6 week trip to Japan and Korea. After these six weeks I definitely think I received enough XP to level up (not sure what level though, maybe I'm 3rd lvl by now?) We saw many a great temple and even greater temple cats (of whom are the true harbingers of wisdom). Though that trip was magical, life altering (I want to live there) event, that has help my mental health if not my physical (I ate too many treats), after 6 weeks I was ready to go back to my house to be with my books and kitties and most importantly WRITE!

2019 & Beyond!

And so this brings us to the present, where in all possibilities stem forth to new and greater horizons! The first of which is to finish this damn adventure module I'm been writing forever, the second is to work on the many other projects I have stowed away in my mind. From board-games to new adventures, campaign setting, and screenplays. I want to do too much and I know it, but hopefully I have time on my side this year and I can make the best of it!

G+ DOOM CLOCK:

With the impending demise of G+ I will be adding social media links to the side bar of blogger encase you wish to follow me on multiple social media platforms were I'm sure to rambling endlessly. Below are the current ones (note I'm most active on twatter and even then not that much).

• Facebook
• Twatter
• MeWeeeeeeeeeee
• Pluspora (no idea how this works yet)
• Discord- SonOvThrain (I also don't know how this works yet)

Greetings from Japan

Hello friends! It's been a while since we've spoke, but I and Sir Hooticus still live, we have just journeyed East. As of this writing I am halfway through my 6 week excursion through Japan with the lady and thus far it's been extremely insightful and inspirational. I've been thinking about putting together a zine for DCC that focuses Eastern mythology, classes, etc, for a while now and this trip is just furthering my urge! This plan is pretty far on the back burner as I still have several other things to finish and I'm beginning to think I'm as slow as ol' GRRM, alas... shikatagana!

I'll be back in the states early December, where I will promptly lock myself away in my dungeon and write till my fingers bleed. Which will hopefully result in a finished module!

- Cheers!

GenCon 2018: Aftermath!

The only shot I've manage to find of me running a game. This was The Emerald Enchanter. I killed 3 of the 6 PCs!

GenCon 51 has come and gone. Along the way I ripped my shorts drunkenly dancing to a Shitty Flute rendition  of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird whilst scarfing down way too many White Castle sliders at four in the fucking morning... Ran several DCC-RPG adventures, including one session of Sky ov Crimson Flame in which I killed all 24 PCs! (Sorry no pictures because I'm terrible at social media.)

I met up with a lot of old friends and made plenty of new ones along the way. My liver is probably on it's last leg and my memory of some nights are a bit hazy, but overall I'd have to say GenCon 2018 was a success despite the fact I forgot to pack my damn adventure modules... Ah well...

Here are some pics I found of myself... (Sorry no ripped shorts shots! Though I'm sure they're out there)

Talked to this Goat for a solid hour!

A life-like portrait of myself drawn by Doug.

A candid shot from the Goodman Games booth. (And no, I don't know what I'm looking at.)

An advertisement for Hobonomicon! #0

Finally a big shout out to my brothers in arms! Jarrett Crater, Reese Carter & Christian Kessler, who made GenCon and our Mongrel Haus a blast!

Sky ov Crimson Flame Purchases

If you happen to purchase one of the copies of Sky ov Crimson Flame at the Goodman Games booth and you'd like a PDF version, just send me a picture with your GenCon badge in frame and I'll shoot you over a complimentary copy!

On writing:

GenCon has got me pumped to write! I pitched the concept for Seekers ov the Other Worlds to some folks and everyone was stoked on the ideas I had, which in turn has me stoked! Hopefully I can pump out a first draft and get to playtesting. 

Cheers!

GenCon 2018

Hello Friends! As you may well know GenCon 51 is almost upon us! From now until August 6th Owl Knight Publishing is running a sale on all our products! Get 20% off everything in the Etsy store as well as 20% the physical copies of the adventure directly from the website!

For those of you attending the con you can possibly find me helping out at Goodman Games booth, running DCCRPG adventures, or at one of the after hours games! I will be carrying around copies of Sky ov Crimson Flame of which you can purchase directly from me for $10.

GenCon Games I'll be Running:

Thursday, 2nd:

• Sky ov Crimson Flame: 2pm-6pm
• Shadow Under Devil's Reef: 7pm-11pm

Friday, 3rd:

• Blights ov the Eastern Forest: 8pm-12am (why did I choose those times...)

Saturday, 4th:

• The Emerald Enchanter: 2pm-6pm

See you at GenCon!

On & On We Go!

So it's been about a month since my last post, figure it was time for a new one! Since then I've written approximately 70+ pages of the Seekers ov the Other Worlds (not including the pages upon pages of notes, b-sides and other bullshit). I've also manage to actually get a weekly game session going and introduced 4 new people to the magical world of RPGs with DCC-RPG. I've been running my Blights ov the Eastern Forest campaign and after in doing that I'm hopping to learn from some past mistakes, because... whew boy, there's some questionable things written in the module where I've had to ask myself, "What the hell were you thinking?"

On top of that I've been working on another project that I'll be keeping hush-hush at the moment, but it's been nice to step away from the other and focus on another.

All this will be coming to a screeching halt starting this week as I embark on a 3 week shoot for Hallmark. Oh joy! Afterwards I come right back home and then head off the Gen Con! What does that mean for Seekers ov the Other Worlds? Well unfortunately I won't have a first draft ready before GenCon, but I have been slamming pages out like there's no tomorrow, so maybe the days on this shoot will be short (doubtful) and I won't be dog tired and mentally drained (doubtful) after every day.

Anywho GENCON! (Who wants to grab a beer?)

I'll be running four DCC games there:

Thursday, 2nd:

• Sky ov Crimson Flame: 2pm-6pm
• Shadow Under Devil's Reef: 7pm-11pm

Friday, 3rd:

• Blights ov the Eastern Forest: 8pm-12am (why did I choose those times...)

Saturday, 4th:

• The Emerald Enchanter: 2pm-6pm

On top of that I'll be working the Goodman Games booth, meetin' & greetin', drinking heavily no doubt, and spending cash like I have it... So see you there!

The Next Adventure & Beyond!

I'm finally ready to discuss (or possibly just ramble on and on) in further detail the next adventure module that Owl Knight Publishing will produce entitled: Seekers ov the Other Worlds. This article contains SPOILERS for my previous adventure, Sky ov Crimson Flame, as well as the new one. You have been warned!

What's It All About?

Seekers ov the Other Worlds (hereto written SotOW) continues where the previous adventure left off. At the end of the Sky ov Crimson Flame (SoCF), should the players be victorious, and not massacred, they may well be in possession of the an accursed fleshy dagger known as Atma-khanjr. This dagger is a vile living relic that has a will and desire of its own. It harbors a sliver of the necromancer Balrothhaird's soul and is the key that can eventually draw him to the player's world should the dagger fall into the wrong hands.

Now I have ran this adventure many times with many different players and most of them wanted nothing to do with this dagger at the end of the adventure (rightfully so!). Some even went as far as to throw it off the Keep's battlements into the valley below. Is is all well and good for although SotOW is a continuation of the previous story it does not necessarily have to involve those particular characters. Most of which by DCC standards probably died in the expansion adventure Blights ov the Eastern Forest. That is why I'm considering opening the adventure with different adventure hooks and/or, because the story involves Fate, having a bit of deus ex machina written in. 

So the story goes as follows, the Necromancer split his soul into 5 parts which transcended into the Other Worlds that lie beyond the veil, but a sliver was in put into the dagger (not really put so much as left behind) as an anchor. The players, having acquired the dagger are summon by Fate's servant and are sent on a journey into the Other Worlds to destroy the Necromancer. On each of these Other Worlds the PCs must kill the Necromacner, siphoning his souls into the dagger, in order to destroy the thing (which cannot be destroyed until this happens) all while restoring the cosmic balance in the process!

What I've found while I've been writing this is that I have A LOT of story elements I want to incorporate, too many probably. This is the main reason it's been taking me so long to get anything down. I currently have 10 different word documents open filled with craziness!). I've also decided that, even though the Other Worlds will be unique, it could become monotonous to: Go to World A - Kill Necromancer - Go to World B - Kill Necromancer - blah, blah, blah. Thus I have devised a plan to write a modular adventure module!

Oh yes! Less rail roads, more randomness and in turn more words... My plan is to write all 5 of the Other World adventure settings, but your players may only got to 2 before X happens and their suddenly racing to stop Y and Z!  It's a big undertaken... but I'm going to do my best to write something interesting and re-playable!

The Goal!

My goal (and you people keep on me about this now) is that I want a full first draft before GenCon! I'm currently 50 some pages in and maybe close to halfway? Perchance we can play-test it, maybe we can just discuss it! Who knows! But I need this thing to come out first, because I feel like I have people waiting on both this and my other projects *cough cough* DCC Dune... *cough cough.* But I am determined to focus on this first and foremost.

Well that's about all I have for right now. If you've read this far... thank you! Let me know what you're thoughts may be... Your concerns... Your dreams... Your nightmares... Your FEARS! 

Whoa... Where has the time gone?

Hello all! It has been a long time since I've written a blog post. Five freakin' months! Jeebus, Dagon, Ra! Where hast the time gone? Needless to say, I've been a very busy boy. Unfortunately that business has not been of the gaming variety and frankly I see very little change in that regard. So what have I been up to and more importantly when is Owl Knight Publishing going to print a follow up to Sky ov Crimson Flame? Let's start from the beginning shall we?

Halloween:

During the few two months of the year I was working as a Locations Asst. on the new Halloween film. During that time I manage to fumble the die and stab myself in the palm of my left hand. So for a few weeks there I couldn't really use it. It has healed somewhat, but there is some nerve damage resulting in the numbness of my middle finger which may lead to a surgery to fix it (of which I'm holding off on).

Castle Crusading:

In the month following the wrap of Halloween, the lady and I went to the U.K. for two weeks, landing in London for five days and then journeying West and up through Wales and to the far reaches of the Scottish Highlands, thus gaining some much need XP!

Here I stand before Kilchurn Castle, once the stronghold of the Campbell Clan. In time's now past, the Campbells were the protectors of the Thompsons. Thus, this is as close to home as I can get!

I made a few friends on our quest!

Felt the Quickening!

Everyday was Adventure Time!

Dungeon Synth Album Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Damn vampires!

 Post Quest:

Now having leveled up, it was time to get to work! Soon after I came back to the States and began writing again, full steam, non-stop! Fueled by caffeine and a mind rattling with possibilities, but here's the problem... I work on too many projects at once... But I'm getting better at focusing, sort of. Then the film-work came pouring in and once I'm in a job, there's no time to write and when there is my brain is so much mush.

Project Update:

So at this moment I think I may have 1/3 of the next adventure Seekers ov the Other Worlds written. "Only a third," I hear you shout. Yes and no! The third is what I have deemed "Good," but I have so much more written; a mess of ideas, semi-fleshed out areas, maps drawn, multiple adventure hooks and endings. I wish I could just write a simple adventure, but I cant...

Believe me! No wants to see this thing finished more than I do. I come up with a different adventure daily, so the fact that I'm "stuck" on this one is extremely irritating... I'm really pushing myself to have a full first draft by GenCon, but it all depends on the calls I get for work. 

The Foreseeable Furture:

Here is what is going to slow me down.... Halloween re-shoots are starting in June, then I have two conventions in August (GenCon and Maskfest), then the lady and I are planning a trip to Japan and S. Korea in November, then Holiday crap... then it's the next freaking year! Ugh...

Here's to getting shit done!

- CHEERS!