Goals Against Malaise

I am strangely energized and also enervated; I have a million ideas (some good ones maybe) and all I want to do is sleep. I have no interest in pursuing them NOW, too much physical recovery and emotional blankness

But:

A random node-crawl for CoC; as suggested by an interaction I had with maybe +Cedric Plante. He asked for CoC without all the burdensome investigation (maybe what he wants is Pulp with Mythos elements)

I have the urge to return to unfinished projects - the classes for DCC that everybody prompted me with last year

The Space Dungeon events/shop charts

a bunch of reviews. I think it shameful that my friends have all these great things and I don't gush about them enough. My purchases have been limited since October - money's tight like everybody in America - but there's a huge backlog  of stuff to shout out about

Updates and ideas about more weapons for Space Dungeon, and some more races. I'm struck by the amount of space-themed stuff coming out for DCC at the moment and I think it's a positive thing.

Alex's challenge for Into the Odd (the dungeon awaits and is ready but lacks a sweet map)

Some updates on Alfgrim and Sir Maledoric Goreson

Obviously, now that HHSOLO1 is out, I am done (mostly). I think I may do a character sheet for it (the ones included are sort of chintzy IMHO but I haven't got the skill nor drive of late to make a good one so I made it utilitarian)

There's a sequel in my brain - The Ominous Alloy

I've got a fun idea for a podcast - gotta figure out the technical side but it's a sound premise

more on that later. I put these things here to remind me and maybe have some document of self-declared goals (which I find helps, and I tell people to declare these things and work toward them)

I am weary and heart sore and these things need to wait. Fatherhood and being a husband are terrific, and I'm a decent friend but I cannot commit, these days, to ongoing long projects and characters and campaigns that other people might be invested in. I feel like getting people hooked on cool things and then not following through with that is maybe a disservice to people I like

not flaking out or checking out - The blog and G+ will likely be as active as ever but other things (e.g. campaigns new and old) probably ought to simmer rather than boil

anyway, here's a record of goals and I will do my best to follow through soon

Rest In Peace, Grandpa

Mad Monks of Kwantoom - Delve 1

Just going to put the map up for this, I rolled up a Deep One Hybrid Thief, a Half Elf Lakshmi Cleric, and an Indian-flavored flexible-sword wielding Monk.  The Monk died in the first Pagoda, and was whupped pretty badly in his first fight trying to save a Tengu on Day 1 in the city.

Here's the map of the first pagoda:

I really dig this thing, this solo-game setting.  Lots of Saffron and Jade and Rare and Magical Spices, if you get my drift.  It's available for 5.00 now and well worth the price (as is the predecessor Ruins of the Undercity)

Let Loose The Hounds

Digital Cover

 I've finished it, it's done, and I am happy.  With some pride and some natural relief and reticence, I give you The Hounds of Halthrag Keep, available late last year in digital format, and now in a dead-trees style 6 by 9 (which was strangely the most requested format, almost unanimously).  The world's first DCC Solo-Gamebook, hearkening back to the days of Fighting Fantasy, Choose Your Own Adventure, and Lone Wolf is NOW and FOREVER, something you can hold in your hand (at least until the servers are taken over by super-intelligent AI and those resources are turned to the crushing of the sapient mammals from the Aereth)

Let me tell you about requesting artwork for covers some day

Anyway, enough blubbering and shit.

You can get it at:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/138653/HHSOLO-1--The-Hounds-of-Halthrag-Keep

Any questions or complaints, let me know.  Or not.  I'm probably going to jack the price down around late May for my 40th birthday, but if you want to self-abuse via a murderous band of villains and a haunted/alien-infested ruin, then feel free to try my thing and let me know how it goes.

I can't tell you how nice it is only to have ideas and to not have an actual project looming, but now I know exactly what the next thing is:

THE OMINOUS ALLOY OF THREND

being a diversionary night's entertainment for friends

and a satire of politicians

and bandits

and other species of crooks,

and oppression and the Rape of the Commons for profit
A funnel adventure and campaign base

six by nine - INCOMING

The finalized version of my 6 by 9 DCC solo game book - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep - is done, approved by OBS, and the proof is on its way from where the little elfs make these things.

I spent 20 bucks from my royalties to get it here fast, so (barring some terrible horrific blunder) it ought to be available next week - i.e. first week of February 2015

I'm glad to have no personal projects (aside from a mixed composition Necromunda gang and some private OBS-printed campaign cards) to work on, hanging there like a Damoclean Sword +1

Anyways, will drop a photo here or on G+ when it arrives. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, at least on the screen.

SPACE DUNGEON - Small Business Tuesday

Carl - owner of Carl's CloCloCloning

Carl is a Dralasite, and a quite handy bio-mancer.  With the smallest piece of tissue, he can grow you a mindless clone that has the equivalent memories of a like-new baby-thing, and there's a couple of new concerns cranking up to install memories into clones (wildly expensive just now!). Carl doesn't have that capability and only does the meat side of things, and mostly humans and Yazirians but dwarves and elf-like races are a special treat for him.  He won't clone a Dralasite for religious reasons except for a lot a lot a lot of money - like quintuple.  He's happy to provide referrals for memory-installers and indeed the folks at the local Rekall branch give a discount for a referral from him (and a nice kick-back to Carl)

Anybody can get a like-new clone of their favorite person or themself delivered in a week or two (so, 1 session later) but you need to reroll Intelligence and Personality and Luck, and change occupation to 'Clone' and cost depends upon 'How bad did you blow the turn the body over roll?' or 'what killed you and by how much?'  Elves lose all spells, as do Wizards!  Patrons may take exception to being cheated this way (and it's unclear if a soul comes with the clone but it'll depend on hilarious circumstance).  The bond for a clone can never be as high as the original Patron Roll the primary being had, until that original is dead for realsies.

D100xd20, with a special discount for Demi-humans (a d12 instead for the factor). Wildly Non-bipedal or exotic races or inherently magical ones are likely more but Carl takes it in stride. A very low price (like if you get Lucky on the d100) means that some defects are bound to occur, maybe a corruption or a couple of mercurial effects or something more fun (the threshold is about 100 creds).  Maybe that batch of aminos had expired, or something.

You can pay ahead of time, in which case Carl can take a tissue sample (brain works better, but hey) and you Spellburn some permanent damage and Carl keeps it on liquid nitrogen for your eventual demise and you don't need to worry about corruption and mishaps since he calibrates the PCR chambers and the in-house AI writes some DNA poetry as well as she can.  Velma, by name, who/which is weakly protected from hacking owing to Carl's being mystified by the whole silicon thing.

Velma is vindictive and sometimes makes clones just to mess with people that cruise her firewall and Carl imagines this is great fun - Velma's slam hounds once took out the whole board-room of NeoGroin Testicle Repair because she scanned their IP signature as she was cloning some third-rate low-G porn star

Carl laughed and laughed and laughed and it was like HHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHKKKKKKKKKKKKKLLLLLNMNNNNNNNNNNTTTTHHHH

They say he picked up her crystalline AI core in the tomb of a hideous evil necromancer, but he might have bought it off the surface. He doesn't recall very clearly, anymore, and anyways she works pretty nicely for what she does.

Carl will also buy raw materials and chems and occasional samples (don't push it) and a side-hobby is poisons and toxins but he doesn't sell those.