Sin City: Journeys (Geist)

Something something sorry about last-minute post. Been working on the Scion book and my sleep schedule's been utterly borked for a while so that ain't helping.

Anyhow, on with it.

Sin City: Special Delivery (Geist)

Oh, hey, didn't see you there.

Okay, look, after a while I have trouble thinking of way to introduce these posts. Doing weekly write-ups means there's less room for interesting events and stuff to talk about. One thing I will mention, that I could (and possibly should) have announced before is that I'm working on the upcoming Realms of Magic and Mystery book for Scion 2nd Edition. It's a bit of an adjustment to me, because it's the first non-Æon freelancing gig I've had in the last three years. Which honestly feels like it's been longer because of a) our rapidly-slipping sense of time, and b) the sheer amount of Æon work I've had. Probably a couple of other reasons in there, too. But either way, yeah, unless I totally screw something up (nervous laughter) I'll be adding a Scion book to my writing resume.

So with that out of the way...

(BTW, CW for mention of Nazis, but in a historical sense)

Sin City: Investigations (Geist)

Ooof. Okay, so this is pretty far behind, even for me. We didn't get to play this week anyways due to Thanksgiving's impact on players' work lives, but even still I should have done this sooner. But a combination of being kind of 'blah,' a fucked-up sleep schedule, and some freelancing duties (with an assist from video game distractions), has just left me unable to sit down and focus on it.

So, um, yeah. But first: If you follow me on social media you'd have seen me post this on the day in question, but if you're reading this I'm thankful for you. This year has really wrung me out, but know that I'm thankful that you're all out there, and I hope you're all being safe, and I hope that we come out the other side of this in one piece and I get to see you all around whether online or off.

And now, we get to it.

Song in the Dark, Day 4

So I've had a bunch of delays on this, in addition to the plague year. But I've finally gotten the fourth chapter of Song in the Dark ready to go. Huzzah!

There are alternate sites where you can download this if you need to, but I suspect if you follow me you already know about those so I'm not gonna fiddle with links right at this moment.

Not really sure what else to add to this other than my disclaimer:

Disclaimer: Events of this story overlap with events of the video game, as Eric Hostetler and Mae Borowski are having largely separate-but-parallel adventures. I'm not rewriting game events to fit it, but there will be a "canonical" series of story choices that may become evident. This and future chapters will spoil certain events of the main game as well as the 'Lost Constellation' side-game. (These last two chapters in particular touch on a major event in the game.)

And now, find the new chapter underneath the cut! Enjoy!

Sin City: Fly in the Ointment (Geist)

So hey, I'm back with another last-minute write-up. No major news I feel up to talking about at the moment, other than Terra Firma is currently available in PoD for those of you interested in such things. (I've also got a freelancing assignment in the works but I'll be more comfortable talking about that when I'm a little further along on it.)

And now, back into Vegas. This was kind of a short session for reasons that will become clear in time.

Sin City: Acquisition (Geist)

Hey there, folks. Sorry this is a little late. The past week just got away from me. Circumstances came up that means that we didn't get to play this week anyways (but hey, we got 17 uninterrupted sessions in before the first disruption, I ain't sneezing at that), and in my mind it's not late unless the next session has happened, so I'm still good.

Honestly, I can't think of anything I particularly want to add to this other than I finally got another chapter of my furry cyberpunk story finished. I'm behind on that on the blog (but you can currently find it here), but honestly I think anyone who could or would be reading it here is already reading it over on FA anyways.

Anyhow, let's get on with the show.

Actual Play Index

It's occurred to me that rather than just throwing people at the Actual Play tag, I could put together a detailed description of the games listed by system, setting, etc. It also allows me to basically have ratings, content warnings, and so on if need be. For the record, however, the vast majority of my game sessions run in the range of 'you could show this on network television before 11pm.' Also, this allows me to point out which games are running, which games are on hiatus, etc. If there are any questions, just ask.

Each entry lists the number of posts you'd have to wade through to read it, as well as the current status. For ease of quick browsing, anything current or complete has its status bolded, while anything on hiatus is underlined.

For the most part this is just going to be stuff I've run, though some of the linked posts related to conventions may include stuff I played in as well.

Ongoing:

Exalted

Welcome to Creation, the world of Exalted. Exalted's an epic fantasy setting reflecting a broad array of cultural storytelling tropes and devices. Here's a setting primer if you need one.

Also, as the Exalted game is being handled as kind of an 'episodic' thing story-wise, I'm also providing a little guide to the individual story arcs, grouped by series.

The Road Between Light and Dark

A Solar, an Infernal, and an Exigent walk into a bar patrol the Traveler's Road between the Northern cities of Whitewall and Gethamane, protecting travelers and assisting the villages along the route. Character intros here. Ongoing.

Episode 1: Off the Beaten Path -- So far, just a typical trip from Whitewall to Gethamane. Road, near-spring weather, ghost attack... pretty normal. What isn't normal are those strange lights out in the woods... (3 posts)

Episode 2: A Bandit By Any Other Name -- A group of Realm soldiers from House Ragara are raiding the countryside like common bandits. Some wandering heroes should probably find out why and put a stop to it. (2 posts)

Episode 3: The Territory is Not the Map -- When Lecht is uniquely suited to decipher a 'wrong' treasure map, the Circle finds themselves off on a classic treasure hunt! (2 posts)

Episode 4: Burning Daylight -- The group's brief stopover in Fella is interrupted by people and animals turned into monsters by liquid sunshine! (2 posts)

Episode 5: The Snare -- The town of Larmik is under attack by raiders from the Broken Antler tribe. Despite the raiders' seemingly-fearless nature, this seems like a relatively mundane problem, except for the fact that the town's protective god is mysteriously missing. (4 posts and a mini-fiction)

Episode 6: Eggshells -- The Circle once again crosses paths with the Ragara survey project, discovering they've fallen victim to a cockatrice! Time for some old-fashioned monster-hunting! (1 post)

Episode 7: Silverpost -- As Gethamane approaches, our intrepid heroes stop in the market city of Silverpost, where some sort of phantom creature has everyone staying inside after dark! (3 posts)

Episode 8: Descent -- The tunnels beneath Gethamane contain a treasure that Lecht needs to pay a debt. But what threats await in a darkness known to house untold horrors? (3 posts)

Episode 9: Nightmare -- Drawn back beneath Gethamane by a forgotten voice from the past, Wandering Dawn leads the group to find out if the city is doomed or if hope can be found in the tunnels. (4-ish posts)

Episode 10: Leaves -- As the group starts to head back to Whitewall, they stop in Silverpost to find that the death of Marku Liczka has thrown the city into turmoil! Is Lecht responsible, or is something else simmering beneath the surface? (7 posts)

Episode 11: Freezing Below -- The group's journey to Larkim has crossed paths with a possible danger from the Underworld! What really happened to the mining town of Echo Gorge, and what does the Guild want there? (3 posts)

Episode 12: Bills Come Due -- Rhion Bryn's long-overdue reckoning is at hand. What is his connection to the demon Elmorze, the city of Larkim, the Broken Antler, and a mysterious stranger who knows a disturbing amount of information about the Circle? (still in progress)

Tales of the Moonlight Maiden

A Circle of Lunar Exalted wandering up and down the Southwestern coast and islands, fighting evil and saving people and so on.  Story arc complete!

Episode 1: The Grim Vortex -- The small fishing village of Beacon has been press-ganged into helping a crew of pirates led by a necromancer recover an important treasure from a shipwreck. What could be so important as to enslave an entire village? (3 posts)

Episode 2: Fedan's Puzzle Box -- The Circle takes the artifact from the shipwreck to An-Teng, where it was intended to go. But only by saving the shipping company can they find out who's receiving one of the most precious treasures in all of Creation. (3 posts, covering 4 sessions)

Episode 3: Hunt for the Admiral -- A Wyld Hunt has come to chase an Anathema... but they're not here for our intrepid heroes! Can the Circle catch up to them in time to save a potential ally? (3 posts)

Episode 4: The Slain Scion -- An abandoned island, a forlorn manor, a dark secret... what mysterious tragedy befell the Dutan family? (3 posts)

Episode 5: The Buried Past -- A lost age collides with the present when a group of adventurers uncovers a forgotten danger to Creation. (2 posts)

Episode 6: Port in a Storm -- What should have been a normal stop to meet a Lunar contact has put the group into the middle of a conflict between two Dynastic houses! Can they do something about this without putting the island in danger? (3 posts, covering 4 sessions, and an associated mini-fiction)

Episode 7: Ill Omens -- A ship of the dead leads the Lunar trio to an island under the 'protection' of a rogue disease god, and have a rare opportunity to fight an outbreak with their fists. (2 posts)

Episode 8: The Lost Pages -- Lathe, at last! But wait, why is someone taking books out of the city's occult libraries, and why have a bunch of those books wound up in Xương's clinic? (5 posts)

Episode 9: Depths of the Past -- From Beacon, to Dutan Island, to Lathe, the Circle has been stumbling over pieces of what's turning out to be a larger mystery. Research in Lathe has pointed them towards a sunken island deep in the Southwest, where hopefully they'll get some answers about the Eternal Wave, the Captain of the Ashen Umbra, and who was really after that Exigence. (3 posts, and an associated mini-fiction)

Episode 10: The Mirage Kingdom -- The trio venture inland, in search of a mythical kingdom run by a trio of powerful Lunars. Can they cross the harsh, forbidding land of the far Southwest? And if so, will they find the Three Devil Princes or a story taken too far? (4 posts)

Episode 11: The Empty Palace -- From one First Age relic to another! The crew has crossed the dangerous desert to find a possible obstacle to resolving Xương's vision of an underwater fortress. But has someone gotten to it first? (3 posts)

Episode 12: Burn Scars -- Blackened Bone Whispers' sanctum has been located, and now it's time to put an end to the rogue volcano god. But doing so means Haifeng must face the ghosts of their past. Can they pass through the flames, or will they get burned? (5 posts)

Episode 13: Crossroads -- With a little bit of room to breathe, the crew returns to Lathe to unwind. But strangeness surrounds a Gateway tournament that has brought pirates, monsters, and even a luminary of the Realm to this corner of Creation. What has drawn such attention, and what does it have to do with the mysterious Game of Scribes? (10 posts)

Episode 14: The Arena -- Calibration has arrived, and a mysterious invitation to an exclusive martial arts tournament means that the crew of the Moonlight Maiden is spending the five weirdest days of the year... in Heaven? (17 posts)

Episode 15: Embers -- New year, familiar places! The crew, headed back east, has stopped off in Smolder. How has the place fared since their last visit, and what fires are about to flare up? (7 posts)

Episode 16: Pulling Strings -- The group travels to Goldenseal in Zhaojūn to help out Hǎifēng's associate and friend Copper Orchid, but in the process find themselves tangled in a web of intrigue. Who's pulling the strings on this particular puppet show? (8 posts)

Episode 17: Matching Set -- The second puzzle box has arrived in Creation with a bang, ending the Circle's vacation in Goldenseal. Can they retrieve it before it winds up in the wrong hands, and what does it portend for the future of An-Teng? (3 posts and a minific)

Episode 18: Dark Clouds on the Horizon (The Battle of An-Teng, Part 1) -- Captain Ash has attacked Smolder on their way to An-Teng with a fleet! The crew of the Moonlight Maiden rush to Salt-Founded Glory, seeking allies and delivering warnings in the hopes that they won't be standing alone against the impending attack. (3 posts)

Episode 19: The Ashen Fleet (The Battle of An-Teng, Part 2) -- The season finale! The Ashen Fleet has arrived, and the Circle faces their greatest test yet, as they take on a Deathlord's forces with An-Teng's future on the line! (2 posts covering a total of 5 sessions, as well as an additional post with some behind-the-scenes details)

Promethean

I am also doing updated write-ups of my old Promethean game (albeit very slowly). I mean, you can read more about what it's about just slightly further down the page, so here I'll just point towards a handy link for the current write-ups. 12 posts, covering 13 sessions. Ongoing posts, though the game itself is long-over.

Past Games, Completed and Otherwise:

These are games that've been finished or abandoned or on hiatus. 

Chronicles of Darkness

These games are all part of a continuous setting I've referred to as the 'Woodburn Chronicles.' (The link not only takes you to the games listed below but a good bit of fiction not directly tied to said games.) Most of them take place in the modern-ish day (usually around the time the first sessions were run and posted and diverging from there), in and around northern West Virginia. The Chronicles of Darkness setting (originally called New World of Darkness, a label that may persist in some of the older entries) is a horror setting so expect death and murder to be semi-regular occurrences - enough that I'll only put warnings on specific stuff, and some specific posts will have their own warnings. But, as pointed out above, nothing you couldn't show in most episodes of the X-Files or Millennium.

From earliest to most recent:

Burning Footsteps (Promethean: The Created 1st Edition) -- A group of Prometheans, monsters made from the parts of dead people and learning how to be human, come together in 2006 and get drawn into the wake of destiny. This was originally written up on my LiveJournal and has since been archived on Dreamwidth, and the above link just goes there rather than any other posts on this blog. But this means that some of these posts are going to have write-ups of other games not included here, a lot of broken links and images, and just a lot of bullshit that seemed clever on LiveJournal back in the mid-late 00's. You've been warned. 29 sessions if I've counted right. Unfinished on-screen ('finished' off-screen via player discussion), though it got an epilogue story a decade later.

The Morgantown Project (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition) -- A coterie of vampires from Charleston, WV investigate goings-on in Morgantown and become entangled in the machinations of one of the Strix. This game started as a LARP that became a tabletop game so I don't have any notes from before that, and between that and the fact that I started this blog while the game was going on it means that the entries kind of pick up at the start of the last act. 5 sessions posted, including a 'summary so far.' Completed.

Return of the Inquisitor (Hunter: The Vigil 1st Edition + Mortal Remains patch) -- A one-shot I ran at Gencon 2016, featuring a team-up of Task Force: VALKYRIE and the Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit teaming up to hunt down a supernatural serial killer. Also references an old Hunter LARP and an earlier one-shot that never got written up, but it should stand on its own well enough. One-shot. Completed, of course.

Digestif (Mixed game, all 2nd Edition) -- A follow-up to the Morgantown Project, building off of some Very Bad Choices made in the final session of that game. It features one of the vampires from Morgantown Project (and has cameos by another down the road), and also includes a mage, a beast, and a demon. 16 sessions. Completed.

Sin City (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) -- In 1951 Las Vegas, a group of Sin-Eaters (people who've died and been brought back by entities called geists and now straddle the worlds of the living and dead) finds themselves wrapped up in mobster-related trouble that rapidly becomes less and less mundane the more they dig into it. Part of my Woodburn Chronicles setting (see below). 28 posts, a few of which comprise multiple sessions, and a wrap-up post. Completed, sort of.

Other Games:

Dead Suns (Starfinder) -- The Dead Suns adventure path from Paizo. A ragtag band of Starfinders investigate a strange rock and wind up on a quest taking them across the universe and stumbling into the remnants of a beyond-ancient war between two long-dead civilizations. Also organized by module: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six. 24 posts, some of which comprise multiple sessions; ended unfinished by the pandemic.

No Rest For the Wicked -- A fan-made Borderlands RPG. A group of mercenaries (not quite Vault Hunters, not yet) explore mysteries on a planet with its own non-Pandoran weirdness. 5 sessions (plus a preview post and a character intro post), ended unfinished by the pandemic.

Cave of Secrets (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition) -- A Classic World of Darkness game starting in summer of 2011, in which a group of werewolves rediscover a lost caern and build a new sept around the town of Marlinton, WV. (This one, moreso than the CofD games above, is pretty heavy on the murder and mayhem, so expect occasional gore and in one session some torture.) 36 sessions. Completed.

What Lies Buried and Space Brigade's Legacy (Trinity Continuum: Æon) -- A pair of one-shots I ran at Gencons 2018 and 2019, where the members of the Æon Trinity's disavowed covert-ops group Section Minerva investigate goings-on in the Lunar criminal underworld. 2 sessions. Technically the first two parts of a trilogy, but I haven't run the third one yet as Gencon 2020 was cancelled. But they still stand on their own, so consider them Completed.

Department of Homeworld Security and Old Fashioned Mummy Hunt (Monster of the Week) -- A pair of one-shots I ran at Gencons 2015 and 2016, featuring a government monster-hunter squad. The first one has the group investigating some weirdness in West Virginia, while the second, well... it follows up on the first, I don't want to spoil it. 2 one-shots. Completed.

Studio Crew, Unnatural Method, and Unfilmable (Monster of the Week) -- A trio of one-shots I ran at Gencons 2015 and 2017 (the second and third sessions are both at the same post, I didn't screw up the link) about investigators of the supernatural operating in Hollywood. At some point after the first session of this I ran I came up with the name 'Supernatural Studios' for the mini-setting, but I haven't done anything with it in a few years for Reasons. 3 one-shots. Completed.

War Orphans (Doctor Who) -- A group of young Time Lords steal a TARDIS and go on an adventure, and find themselves flung into the period after the Last Great Time War. They have to find their way in a dangerous universe where the Time Lords are gone and they're hunting horrors of the Time War that have followed them... 10 sessions, Unfinished and left off on a cliffhanger.

Sin City: The Vagaries of Chance (Geist)

Howdy there again, folks. In a much more timely fashion than has been the case as of late, we've got some more Geistly goodness for you. Well, I mean, I do. I dunno where I got this 'we' stuff from. Anyhow...

Sin City: Loose Ends (Geist)

Alright, so I'm a little behind on this one. But on a more positive note, I got my final drafts in for [REDACTED], and that's what matters.

That does mean that this write-up covers two sessions' worth of material, which also means that there might be details from the first session that've been lost to time and memory. I'm 99% sure anything really important gets copied down in my notes, but I can't rule out an interesting detail here and there slipping through the cracks in the more conversation-heavy scenes. (See also those times when I include a footnote or a parenthetical with just such a moment when I can't recall how it fit into the conversational flow.)

Anyhow, with that disclaimer out of the way, here we go.

Sin City: Discovery (Geist)

I know, another last-minute one. Still working on freelancing edits, which have been unexpectedly brain-frying in places. In fact, the only reason I'm able to get this out when I did is because the deadline wound up being slightly later than anticipated so I've got time to step away from that and bang this out. Admittedly it's kind of a light one.

And with that, on with the show!

Sin City: Closure (Geist)

Yeah, I know, these write-ups tend to be either right after the session or at the last minute, and this is the latter. In my defense, I've been working on edits for a freelance assignment.

Speaking of which, because I'm shameless, here's another reminder that Terra Firma, a book I worked on, is out! Rather than getting into a huge thing I'll just link the blog post I previously made on it.

And now, let's get to it.

Sin City: History Lessons (Geist)

So first off, I actually have some news before I get into this week's write-up. A book I worked on is out!

Terra Firma is a supplement for Trinity Continuum: Æon (which I also worked on), expanding on Earth (and nearby environs) as it's presented in the Æon setting. It fleshes out 10 nations (including the moon) with a detailed city for each. There's also material for various threats and weirdness on and around Earth, as well as a bunch of technology both mundane and fantastical and new Paths and Edges for player characters. (Terra Firma requires the Trinity Continuum core and Trinity Continuum: Æon books to use)

And now, with that out of the way, let's venture back to 1951 Vegas...

New Release: Terra Firma!

One of the books I worked on for Trinity Continuum: Æon is out today! Terra Firma is a supplement fleshing out chunks of Earth and the moon as they appear in the future of Æon. I worked on the sections for China/Shanghai, Luna/Olympus, and I did some of the 'Relics of Mad Science and the Nova Age' section. I'm not really sure what else to say about it, but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

Right now it's available as an 'advance' PDF, found here. What this means is that there's still going to be a round of errata and proofreading, but those of you who purchase the book will receive a link to report any problems you find. The print-on-demand version will be available when the final version of the book is uploaded, and anyone who purchases the book before it comes out will get a code to buy the PoD at a discount as if they'd been able to buy a PDF/print combo from the start. (Also, in case it needs to be said, using the book requires the Trinity Continuum core book and Trinity Continuum: Æon books.)

Sin City: A Breather (Geist)

I'm knocking this one out pretty quickly while it's fresh in my brain and I've got the time. As the title suggests, this is a pretty light session, as dealing with Mel wrapped up a story and there's other stuff to deal with on the way, as Geist is pretty good about having plenty to do.

So without further ado, let's get into it.

Sin City: Double-Sized Issue (Geist)

Hey there again, folks. Sorry this one's running a bit late, my writing time has been taken up by freelancing. But that's taken care of, so this write-up is going to cover the last two sessions of my Geist game. So it's going to be longer than usual, and the details on some of the in-character conversations might be a little shakier than usual in the first half of the post as it's been longer.

Sin City: Into the Depths (Geist)

Greetings again, my good folks. I can't believe it's only been a week since the last one of these, as I've been pretty busy on my end. (Which is partially why, more and more, they're turning up the day before the next session.)

But anyhow, the time is upon us, the bell tolls, etc. and so here we go!

Sin City: Reconnecting (Geist)

Howdy there, folks. Back with another write-up from my Geist: The Sin-Eaters game.

Not a whole lot of news to add. There haven't been a lot of personal changes in my life worth talking about as of late, and there's not much else worth getting into that you aren't already reading this post to avoid. 

Before I get into it, a quick word -- I've mentioned before that the Geist game should have a general content warning because it gets into some heavy topics in places, particularly towards the end of this session. So this has been your warning before you go forward.

Sin City: Treasures (Geist)

So here we are again, continuing the adventures of the Crossroads Krewe. I'm not really sure what else to add here -- as I think I've pointed out before, actually doing these every week means there's less news and updates and stuff to talk about during the pre-game show, as it were.

So let's just get to it.

Sin City: Season of the Witch (Geist)

Welp, here we are again. This one's running a little behind -- I realized as I was writing it that I'd actually made a mistake in the session, and wanted to sort it out with my players first before finishing the post (reflecting the correct version of events), and then got tired last night and forgot to post it. Apologies.

Sin City: All That Glitters (Geist)

Greetings once again, folks. We've been on a pretty good roll with these so far. But having regular posts does mean these pre-game bits are less interesting because I usually have less news to report or comment on.

That said, I do hope folks are being safe with everything going on right now. In a better year, I'd probably be lamenting the month flying by after Anthrocon, preparing for running Æon at Gencon and trying to get it ready before the last minute. Here's hoping we all make it out the other side of this stronger than we went in.

And after that little downer moment, let's get to the fun stuff!

Sin City: Bringing Down the House (Geist)

Oh crap, two of these in a single month. Been a while since I managed that.

So yeah, back with my coverage of my Geist game, which for the moment I'm calling 'Sin City' (because sin-eaters). If you need a refresher on the cast, the first entry is here. I can't really think of any additional commentary to add here, other than to hope everyone's safe and wearing their masks.

And awaaaaaay we go!

Sin City: What Happens in Vegas... (Geist)

Hey there, folks, dusting off this blog a bit. I dragged my feet on it, but with everything going on I'm running a game for some of my tabletop folks via voice chat (or at least trying to). As I don't want to go to the trouble of learning any special software for running stuff online unless I have to, I'm holding off on Starfinder as it's a little tactical for running like that. Instead, I've worked something out with a few of my players to dip back into the Chronicles of Darkness for a bit. Specifically, we've started a Geist: The Sin-Eaters game.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, Geist is a game of second chances. The player characters are sin-eaters, people who've died and in the moment of death made the Bargain with a ghostly entity called a geist who's brought them back to life. Now they walk in the worlds of the living and the dead (both metaphorically and literally), driven to resolve what's brought them back (referred to as their Burden), and what keeps their geist going, and along the way they have to decide how to deal with the ghostly remnants of people who are now stuck in a half-existence designed to chew them up and swallow them into literal nothingness. They organize into groups called krewes made up of both living and dead members who work together to help the ghosts under their charge and maybe -- if they're lucky and put in the work -- reform the Underworld itself.

(Note: Geist is a game about ghosts and the raw deal that being a ghost is. It's not inherently darker than other CofD games but death and the roads that people to take to get there can be touchy/tricky subject. So consider this a general content warning.)

This will take place in my Woodburn Chronicles setting, but with a bit of a twist... this game is taking place in a different place and time. Almost none of the existing setting elements I've established in my other games are likely to matter, aside from maybe some cosmic behind the scenes stuff. It's taking place in (or at least starting in) Las Vegas in 1951. We just sat down and started talking about what we wanted to play, and that's how the conversation played out.

So Vegas it is, hence the appearance of one-time mascot of Vegas, Vegas Vic up above. And further down, below the cut, we'll meet our krewe and get started!

Some built-up personal stuff

So a quick ICYMI from a couple months back: At some point, probably next year, I'm going to try and put out an RPG supplement for my Conversion story setting.

And in some more recent positive news, a short story of mine won a Leo Literary Award a couple of weeks ago, for my story "Swipe Right, Now What" in the FANG 9 anthology from FurPlanet. (ebook available here) I didn't say anything at the time because this was right when the BLM protests were picking up and I didn't want to be all "Hey, everybody, stop paying attention to important things and acknowledge this random white dude and his minor writing accomplishment."

Speaking of which, in case it needs to be said: Black lives matter, ACAB, trans women are women, trans men are men, and Rowling can go fuck herself.

And now that that's out of the way, to some other business. I don't often talk about personal stuff here, and I'm not going to get too deep into it in any case. But I've just been struggling with a lot of burnout, largely from the state of the world around us. But that burnout has made it hard to write, which is difficult because writing is one of my best de-stressers, and one of the few available to me with the pandemic closing certain businesses and keeping me holed up at home. On top of that, thanks to the weather and certain other issues, I haven't been sleeping great so I'm just kind of falling apart in general.

One of the few things I do have, which sometimes helps, is cooking. Like a lot of folks I've been cooking at home a lot more during the pandemic, and I've been expanding my recipes and such. But I often post pictures of the food I make to Twitter, just to share. I've refrained from doing that for the last couple of weeks because it just feels inappropriate to dump food pictures on folks' timelines when they're sharing info about the protests, ways to help the protesters, etc. So I saved them up because I thought there would be a good 'breather' moment to share them. But now the collection has grown large enough that it's going to be just annoying as hell to everyone if I were to just dump a thread of food pics on the timeline. So I decided to post them here instead. Check them out below the cut.

A Follow-up and an Announcement (UPDATED)

To start, I'd like to apologize for the melodramatic mood I got into in this other post. Fact of the matter is, while preparing the post, I saw something that put me in a mindset of questioning whether or not this would be a project worth tackling at all, and why would anyone buy my book instead of this other thing put out by serious professionals, and so on and so forth. That's something I struggle with in general, because to be honest any sort of feedback or response to my writing is already pretty sparse (not to restart the pity party, but I got two responses to my previous post, and one of those was a rando on Mastodon) and doing something that I'd actually be charging money for felt a bit futile. So, y'know, sorry about that.

But I've had plenty of time to get over it and gather my thoughts, and I'm gonna go into more detail on what I was discussing before. I imagine for one or two of you it will probably be pretty obvious where that was headed, but I'll just be transparent now.

So this is Chris stepping in a little under three years later. Obviously, what I talked about below hasn't happened. I don't know if/when it will happen. The last few years have just been too frigging much, and as of January 2023 things are up in the air enough I can't really commit to any long-term plans at the moment. I'm leaving this post up because I feel like taking it down would be either letting myself off the hook too much, and even if nobody would notice it feels like it'd be melodramatic to do so (well, more than this). Here's hoping I'm able to come back and fix all this later with better news to share.

I'm going to write my own RPG setting book for my Conversion setting -- the one from the furry cyberpunk stories I've been writing for the last few years. 

(As I type this, I just realized I never got around to posting the ninth chapter on this blog, and I need to rectify that at some point. But until I can get around to PDF-ifying it and linking it, you can read it here.) 

I've been kicking around the idea on and off for a while, pondering whether it'd be worth it and whether I'm a good enough writer to even try it. Last year, while at the RAWR writing workshop, one of the instructors suggested out of the blue that I seriously consider doing that, and since then I've given it more and more serious thought. Eventually, I realized that there's no good reason not to do it, and that the only thing stopping me is myself. So it's a thing that is going to happen. It's a when, not an if.

However -- and this is a big 'however,' with italics and underlining and such...

However...

It's going to be a while. I have enough projects on my plate at the moment, and I've had to put enough aside for freelance writing as it is. I've written down some notes, worked up some rough ideas of how I'll arrange such a book, and all that. I have at least a concept of an outline of a blueprint and some stuff is subject to change, but there's something I absolutely need to do first:

I need to finish my 'main' Conversion story, the same one I've shared here before (and linked above). I've been working on it for too damn long, and I really want to get it done before I tackle anything this size. I've recently started work on chapter ten, and either that's going to be a long chapter that'll wrap up the main story with an epilogue to follow or -- and this is a lot more likely -- it'll be a shorter chapter leading into the climax and then an epilogue after. We'll see how it feels as I hit the story beats I want to hit.

And while the RPG book wouldn't necessarily assume familiarity with the story (or any of the others I've written and published in the setting), I feel like wrapping up that story, the one that started the setting to begin with, will be the best spot to leave off for a 'Day 0' status quo for gaming purposes.

(On a related note, I'm going to take that story, edit it, and put together a collected edition as a self-published thing somewhere since no publisher is going to spend money to print something I've made available for free already. That has no bearing on the rest of this post and it shouldn't interfere with the RPG project as a whole, but I wanted to mention it.)

Once I get that done, I'll take a little bit of a breather, maybe briefly poke at something else as a creative palate cleanser, and then dive into the RPG book's text. I may post previews here or ask if anyone wants to beta-read it, I dunno. This'll likely be a while off before I'd have enough material to be worth sharing in the first place.

My current plan for the book is that it's going to use some version of the Fate system (probably Fate Condensed as the assumed default), and probably run about the length of the Fate Worlds books when completely finished. So that'll be probably around 50-ish pages, give or take, but I'm not shooting for a specific word or page count. But who knows what might happen, as this will be a learning experience for me.

And when I say 'completely finished,' I mean 'with art.' Yes, I'll commission original art for this, but first I plan to put out an art-light 'ashcan' edition as an inexpensive PDF. (It'll probably just be a commissioned cover with all-text interior, though at least that text would be formatted and put through some rudimentary layout and such) I think I'll have a better chance of getting this all done at all if I put out a half-finished version I can update, rather than write 95% of it and stall out as I tweak it to make it 'perfect.' Hopefully, sales of the ashcan edition will help pay for art for the full book, and once that's happened everyone who purchased the ashcan will get a free upgrade/update to the final version including the art and any edits/errata I have to make based on feedback. (At that point I'll likely raise the price of the PDF a bit to reflect the increased value of the book.) And while that's getting finished, I'll look at my options for doing a print-on-demand physical release as well.

But again, this is all a ways off. I know in my earlier post I said I didn't want to go into too much detail for fear of somehow derailing myself, but I've decided that anyone reading my blog at all deserves a little better than that, especially after the pity party I threw myself last time. So here we are.

If anyone has any thoughts, questions, encouragement, or anything like that, feel free to leave a comment here or whatever website or social media linked you to this in the first place. Thank you very much for your time and patience.

Thoughts on a possible future project

Like a lot of writers, I'm usually working on a couple of things at any one point and my brain keeps trying to throw other stuff at me because it's always exciting to work on (or at least consider new ideas). And there's one that's been popping up on my mental rotation for a while that I'm giving some serious thought towards, perhaps when I've got a few things off my plate. I don't want to go into too much detail because:

1. I haven't decided for sure if I'm going to do it and don't want to make promises I might not be able to keep.
2. Even if I do it, I can't make any promises as to when I'd get it started and I'd rather not encourage anyone to ask me how it's coming along until it actually starts, y'know, coming along.
3. Talking about stuff like this too much can cause you to lose enthusiasm because your brain gets the same amount of satisfaction (there are actual studies on this).

But the relevant info (and the reason for this post) is this: The project in question is a small RPG supplement, likely using Fate Core or Condensed. But what I'm unsure on is the setting material. It'd be an original setting, and while I have a pretty good picture of it all in my head, I'm not sure what needs to go into the book. I mean, I could probably write up the basic pitch and character creation guidelines and call it good, but this is something I'd actually like to put up somewhere (probably DriveThruRPG) and sell, and I can't justify going to the trouble just to make what would amount to a pamphlet. In terms of size and quality, I'm shooting for something on par with Evil Hat's Fate Worlds line.

So my question is this:

What do people think would be essential for a basic glimpse at a setting, something that could be used for people to run games with just the one book without that book needing to be huge? What would you want to see in a basic setting supplement?

I've got plenty of books both big and small, physical and PDF, and I could easily just study any or all of those, but I've got so much to look at I don't know where to start, and that's what I'm looking for now. What do you all think would be useful starting points?

Also, in doing a bit of research while writing this post, I've discovered there's at least one book out there that (going by the blurb) already seems to come pretty close to what I've got in mind. So I guess I've got a second question:

Is there any point in me going to the trouble of writing my own supplement and asking people to spend money on it when it'd probably be about as productive to just write up a blog post and point it at the other book?

I mean, yes, I guess at this point I'm blatantly fishing for encouragement, but I think I've reached the point where I'm just going to need that nudge. It's not something I do often, it's not something I want to do at all, but to be totally honest I'm discouraged enough that it's all I can do to even finish this blog post rather than just say 'screw it' and delete the whole thing.

Sorry, that went into a tangent I'm not proud of. A lot of little frustrations are getting to me.

If you're still reading this, I'd appreciate feedback either in the comments here or in a reply to wherever you initially read this. Thanks for your time and your help.

Dead Suns: Hangar Country (Starfinder)

(So this is Chris from the future chiming in. If you're looking up my Starfinder stuff, you'll notice this is the last post. This is because, well, Covid basically did in our gaming group's ability to meet in person as well as fucking up everyone's time and schedules. I apologize that it just leaves off right at the beginning of the sixth Dead Suns module. Couldn't be helped.)

So this is really behind. We played these sessions last month, but since then things have been tangled up with scheduling issues and me trying to get a draft finished early for the upcoming Trinity Continuum: Æon book, Under Alien Skies.

But having scheduling difficulties has given me a bit more breathing room to get this post done, so that's something.

Dead Suns: The Gate Opens (Starfinder)

Hey there, folks, sorry this is coming in so late but I've been busy with stuff and scheduling-wise the holidays have been rough for getting people together to play. And for most of that time, I didn't think I had enough material to make a full blog post, but upon sitting down to type this up I realize it just beats my standard threshold, so here we go.

With this post, we begins the sixth and final volume of the Dead Suns Adventure Path, Empire of Bones. So let's get to it.