Kind of a Mental Health Day.

Lots of things going on outside of my own personal blogosphere today.

We’re going to do bullet points on this one. I recently heard Hankerin Ferinale talk about bullet point lists and how they seem to help some people remember details more clearly. I like to write down a lot of my thoughts in that form and come back to them later for refinement, especially when it comes to planning campaigns and plotlines for novels and TTRPGs.
The Delaney House Investigation for Monster of the Week is becoming a task in and of itself. I’m working on a way to refine the MotW Keeper’s Timeline model for haunted houses. I want to simulate a lot of the better haunted house movies without completely killing off the whole cast of characters in one session. It’s taking time to bring out the details and history of the house because I know players are going to want specifics.
I like the old joke about Kirk, Spock, McCoy and two redshirts beam down to the planet. Guess which ones aren’t coming back? That’s kinda how I like to do NPCs in horror games. Get the group attached to the new intern right before something gruesome happens to him. I think that could almost be a Keeper move. Just sayin…
Randomly, my 14 year old son plays for his Freshman High School baseball team. We’re super proud of him. He’s having a great season. Unfortunately, he’s had to miss a few games because of all of his other talents and commitments. He’s rockin it this summer so far.
Why do blog posts and social media posts have to be negative and hateful to get the most attention? Truly, I don’t enjoy posting that kind of thing. Yes, I have negative feelings toward certain corporations and certain people connected to them. I don’t take “Go woke, go broke” as advice. People do get on my only good nerve at times. But why does that have to be the driving force behind “popularity?”

I’ve noticed my own demographics show a spike when I go off on said large corporation. I accidentally came off as too negative toward some social media content creators a while back and it got a lot of views before I pulled the article. It still really bugs me that it got more views than some of the more positive articles where the same people are mentioned. Seriously, why do things have to be inflammatory to get noticed?
My gut instinct when online arguments start is to attempt to diffuse the situation as rapidly as possible. It breaks my heart sometimes when people get dragged through the mud over something that was simply taken the wrong way on social media. Let the Internet trolls go by like flotsam and jetsam. The valid criticisms and genuine concerns can be addressed in a calm manner. The rest can drift away with love and peace.
Any other Game Masters out there feel strange not being behind the screen? Call me a control freak, but I actually find it difficult to just be a player these days. That, and it’s hard not to want to feed the GM stuff I know I would act on. It’s probably why other players shoot me dirty looks and my wife occasionally stomps on my foot, I guess. I’d rather be the in driver’s seat for most games.
Tome of Essential Horrors by Necromancer Games just wrapped up their successful Kickstarter campaign. It’s basically Tome of Horrors for Old School Essentials RPG. I liken it to having the Fiend Folio coming out for OSE. I also snagged Monstrosities while I was at it. Good old school stuff there. I think Necromancer games really stands out because they pour a lot of themselves into their products. That, and OSE is always a refreshing break from other, more complex fantasy games. This project inspired me to dive into one of my own for OSE.
I heard NuTSR is on their way out financially. Oh shucks, I guess. I think they could have made far better decisions all the way around. My only hope is someone responsible and trustworthy buys out the whole franchise and does a better job with it.
WotC didn’t drop the ball much this week. It’s almost been a little too quiet.
Renegade Game Studios is going to start making Heroscape. I love that game so much…