So whatcha think???
Later... RHM
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Graphic Junkie At It Again...
I was looking at the logo I did for WoAdWriMo and I felt something was missing, so I played around a bit and... voila.
So whatcha think???
Later... RHM
So whatcha think???
Later... RHM
Friday, December 01, 2006
Open Mouth, Insert Foot... Again.
Once again my mouth has landed me in trouble. This time it's committed me to participate in Worldwide Adevnture Writing Month. This is kind of like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNoMo).
The particulars are still being worked out, the main organizer, Jeff Rients, wanted a little blippie graphic to place in various blogs and stuff. So, Here's my take...
Now to work on a couple of other projects, and wait for more details on WoAdWriMo or WoAdMo or whatever... =P
peace... RHM
The particulars are still being worked out, the main organizer, Jeff Rients, wanted a little blippie graphic to place in various blogs and stuff. So, Here's my take...
Now to work on a couple of other projects, and wait for more details on WoAdWriMo or WoAdMo or whatever... =P
peace... RHM
Monday, November 13, 2006
Hey, I’m No Longer A Virgin!
Well… ink virgin, that is. On Friday, November 10th, I went and got my very first tattoo. Was alcohol involved? No. Will there be others? Probably.
I have been considering doing this for roughly the last twenty years or so, but the reasons why it finally happened pretty much involve me shooting off my mouth and placing myself in a “put up or shut up” situation. Not the ideal as it forced me to consider what my first piece of body art would be in fairly short time frame. From the insertion of my foot into my eating/speaking orifice to the moment of truth was only about ten days. Yes, ten days is a fair amount of time for to accomplish a number of things, but this was something I couldn’t take back or redo. I mean, barring expensive laser procedures, a tattoo is a permanent thing. So… the mind went pondering… and this is what I came up with…
This is a design of my own creation, brought to life by Matt Diana at Vision World Tattoo in Urbana, Illinois. I think he did a nice job interpreting the ideas I brought him, and I recommend him highly. Plus if he’s not available, then you could always go with Ray Hughes, the shop owner. He’s good too. =)
For my first ink I wanted something that had some deep meanings for me. The infinity symbol represents a number of things, from my seemingly boundless creativity to the number of roles I’ve held in my life. I’m not talking about game roles here, but life roles. I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend, a gamer, a headbanger, a prep cook, a writer, and I can be so much more. I and my current desires are my only limits. The somewhat crazed eyes represent my wilder, more maniacal side with the red and blue touching on my bi-polar condition. The smirk is there to let others know and to remind myself when I look at the tattoo that I shouldn’t always take things seriously.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with it. Plus, my mother will freak when she finally sees it. Always a bonus! =P
peace… RHM
I have been considering doing this for roughly the last twenty years or so, but the reasons why it finally happened pretty much involve me shooting off my mouth and placing myself in a “put up or shut up” situation. Not the ideal as it forced me to consider what my first piece of body art would be in fairly short time frame. From the insertion of my foot into my eating/speaking orifice to the moment of truth was only about ten days. Yes, ten days is a fair amount of time for to accomplish a number of things, but this was something I couldn’t take back or redo. I mean, barring expensive laser procedures, a tattoo is a permanent thing. So… the mind went pondering… and this is what I came up with…
This is a design of my own creation, brought to life by Matt Diana at Vision World Tattoo in Urbana, Illinois. I think he did a nice job interpreting the ideas I brought him, and I recommend him highly. Plus if he’s not available, then you could always go with Ray Hughes, the shop owner. He’s good too. =)
For my first ink I wanted something that had some deep meanings for me. The infinity symbol represents a number of things, from my seemingly boundless creativity to the number of roles I’ve held in my life. I’m not talking about game roles here, but life roles. I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend, a gamer, a headbanger, a prep cook, a writer, and I can be so much more. I and my current desires are my only limits. The somewhat crazed eyes represent my wilder, more maniacal side with the red and blue touching on my bi-polar condition. The smirk is there to let others know and to remind myself when I look at the tattoo that I shouldn’t always take things seriously.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with it. Plus, my mother will freak when she finally sees it. Always a bonus! =P
peace… RHM
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Re-inventing The Wheel...
About a month ago, I posited a question to my friend, Jeff, about an upcoming game he was putting together. The exchange was good, and Jeff explained his reasons well. If you want to look at the whole story, go here.
The discussion with Jeff prompted me to think about my own games and some of why I do what I do. Pondering such led me to think about a question which has been asked of me more than a few times before; “Why do I feel the need to create my own rules for most of the RPGs I run when there are hundreds of rules out there already?”
Yeah… why reinvent the wheel? Why make a new set of rules when Dungeons and Dragons is already out there? Or Champions/HERO? Or GURPS? Or (insert RPG here)?
I guess it’s for a number of reasons. Chief among them, I love to tinker with game mechanics. Always have and always will. Trouble is that I rarely finish anything in written form. For most of my games, the rules pretty much remain in my head. This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse in that my players have almost no material to refer to when they have what should be an easy question to answer. It’s a blessing because some of my more rules-lawyer oriented players can’t bend words they don’t have access to, and are sort of forced into the wonder of the game.
That leads to another reason why I enjoy using rules of my own design; they fit the game I am trying to run better than anything else out there. See, I tend to run some pretty esoteric games. They may resemble the main genre on the surface, but somewhere along the line, I have really screwed with some genre convention or another that throws things out of whack.
For example, my current game (Tai’eres) looks to be pretty much a stock fantasy thing on the surface, just minus all the non-human races. So why not use D&D/D20? Simple, I have seriously screwed with the way magic is “supposed” to work in a straight genre high-fantasy game. That plus I think that D&D’s magic system sucks. I’m not going to go into why right now. It’s just my personal opinion. Does it work? Yes. Does it do what I need it do? Not in the slightest. See, Tai’eres was pretty much a magic-less world until the “Rain of Shards” occurred. These shards, dropped from the heavens, each contain some form of enchantment that is either mana-oriented, divinely-tuned, or spiritually-receptive. These crystals are rare and the enchantments they hold are pretty much self-contained.
What’s this mean in the game? Simple, since shards are rare, they are more valuable than gold. This scarcity and value makes them incredible adventure hooks and gives a spellcaster a reason to adventure. From a game balance standpoint, it means that my players do not have access to any spell that I don’t wish them to. I control the flow of magic. When my players come up with an idea for a new shard, I consider it. If I like the idea well enough, then I write it up and usually make them work for it by sticking it with some powerful shaman or in the treasure pile of some nasty critter. No, “I go buy a Fireball scroll” or other such non-sense. Maybe this makes me a control freak, but it also helps me keep my sanity in regards to the game.
Just some thoughts… RHM
The discussion with Jeff prompted me to think about my own games and some of why I do what I do. Pondering such led me to think about a question which has been asked of me more than a few times before; “Why do I feel the need to create my own rules for most of the RPGs I run when there are hundreds of rules out there already?”
Yeah… why reinvent the wheel? Why make a new set of rules when Dungeons and Dragons is already out there? Or Champions/HERO? Or GURPS? Or (insert RPG here)?
I guess it’s for a number of reasons. Chief among them, I love to tinker with game mechanics. Always have and always will. Trouble is that I rarely finish anything in written form. For most of my games, the rules pretty much remain in my head. This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse in that my players have almost no material to refer to when they have what should be an easy question to answer. It’s a blessing because some of my more rules-lawyer oriented players can’t bend words they don’t have access to, and are sort of forced into the wonder of the game.
That leads to another reason why I enjoy using rules of my own design; they fit the game I am trying to run better than anything else out there. See, I tend to run some pretty esoteric games. They may resemble the main genre on the surface, but somewhere along the line, I have really screwed with some genre convention or another that throws things out of whack.
For example, my current game (Tai’eres) looks to be pretty much a stock fantasy thing on the surface, just minus all the non-human races. So why not use D&D/D20? Simple, I have seriously screwed with the way magic is “supposed” to work in a straight genre high-fantasy game. That plus I think that D&D’s magic system sucks. I’m not going to go into why right now. It’s just my personal opinion. Does it work? Yes. Does it do what I need it do? Not in the slightest. See, Tai’eres was pretty much a magic-less world until the “Rain of Shards” occurred. These shards, dropped from the heavens, each contain some form of enchantment that is either mana-oriented, divinely-tuned, or spiritually-receptive. These crystals are rare and the enchantments they hold are pretty much self-contained.
What’s this mean in the game? Simple, since shards are rare, they are more valuable than gold. This scarcity and value makes them incredible adventure hooks and gives a spellcaster a reason to adventure. From a game balance standpoint, it means that my players do not have access to any spell that I don’t wish them to. I control the flow of magic. When my players come up with an idea for a new shard, I consider it. If I like the idea well enough, then I write it up and usually make them work for it by sticking it with some powerful shaman or in the treasure pile of some nasty critter. No, “I go buy a Fireball scroll” or other such non-sense. Maybe this makes me a control freak, but it also helps me keep my sanity in regards to the game.
Just some thoughts… RHM
Monday, October 16, 2006
Wow, It’s Been 10 Months!!!
So much for blogging more frequently. =P
What has happened in the last 10 months or so? A lot of stuff. I have purchased a LOT of CDs. The “Wall of Sound” approaches 1200 pieces. Winter War (local game con) came and went and I ran nothing. I did play in a couple of cool games though (Jeff Rient’s Encounter Critical and a Call of Cthulu game run by a guy named Mike Ebertz).
Any games that I was running or playing in have died, save WarMachine, the miniatures game I still dig greatly. Right now, I am running a fantasy game using a ruleset and setting that I am creating pretty much as I go, filling in things as needed. Once the rules get a bit of polish, I may post a link to a ZIP/PDF file so others can look at them. Then again, maybe I won’t. Who knows yet.
Back in August, my wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. That was a cool time. We had a bunch of people over (including the esteemed Mr. Rients and his family), fed them, and just reveled in their friendship as we hope they revel in ours.
Recently, I was asked by the Winter War convention coordinator if I was going to run any games this year. I think so, but what I am running exactly is still up in the air. At this point, it’s looking like Feng Shui book might get another workout, along with Politically Incorrect Games’ fine Iron Gauntlets. I have an idea in mind for a third event, a horror game too grisly for Chill and I don’t own CoC, so that one may get its own rules or just not be run.
Whoops. Almost forgot that we acquired a puppy at the end of March. It is a mostly black pound puppy named Cash (we named him). The shelter said he is a sheltie/border collie mix, but his coloration, size, and temperament leads me to believe that he has some German Shepard in him as well. Overall, he is a great dog, and a wonderful addition to our family. Our daughter used to be very frightened by dogs due to some early bad experiences, but now she’s like “Dog? Cool!”. The boy and the dog have become the best of friends, thus perpetuating the whole “boy and his dog” thing.
The last thing I can think of is the fact that I am starting my own freelance business (Maniacal Designs) at the start of the year. I will be doing text and graphic layout using Adobe’s InDesign and Illustrator. I picked up a shiny new copy of Creative Suite 2 a couple months back and have been teaching myself some stuff. I have done some work using a hacked copy of Illustrator 7, but I figured it was time to go legit. I was kind of shocked to realize that I was five versions behind in Illustrator. I have a LOT of catching up to do. =P
That’s it for now. I hope to blog a bit more often than this in the future. I would like to aim for a once-a-week sort of thing, but I make no promises.
Currently Listening to… Opeth - Ghost Reveries, GWAR - Beyond Hell, and Curtis Mayfield - The Best of… you should be too. =P
Peace… RHM
What has happened in the last 10 months or so? A lot of stuff. I have purchased a LOT of CDs. The “Wall of Sound” approaches 1200 pieces. Winter War (local game con) came and went and I ran nothing. I did play in a couple of cool games though (Jeff Rient’s Encounter Critical and a Call of Cthulu game run by a guy named Mike Ebertz).
Any games that I was running or playing in have died, save WarMachine, the miniatures game I still dig greatly. Right now, I am running a fantasy game using a ruleset and setting that I am creating pretty much as I go, filling in things as needed. Once the rules get a bit of polish, I may post a link to a ZIP/PDF file so others can look at them. Then again, maybe I won’t. Who knows yet.
Back in August, my wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. That was a cool time. We had a bunch of people over (including the esteemed Mr. Rients and his family), fed them, and just reveled in their friendship as we hope they revel in ours.
Recently, I was asked by the Winter War convention coordinator if I was going to run any games this year. I think so, but what I am running exactly is still up in the air. At this point, it’s looking like Feng Shui book might get another workout, along with Politically Incorrect Games’ fine Iron Gauntlets. I have an idea in mind for a third event, a horror game too grisly for Chill and I don’t own CoC, so that one may get its own rules or just not be run.
Whoops. Almost forgot that we acquired a puppy at the end of March. It is a mostly black pound puppy named Cash (we named him). The shelter said he is a sheltie/border collie mix, but his coloration, size, and temperament leads me to believe that he has some German Shepard in him as well. Overall, he is a great dog, and a wonderful addition to our family. Our daughter used to be very frightened by dogs due to some early bad experiences, but now she’s like “Dog? Cool!”. The boy and the dog have become the best of friends, thus perpetuating the whole “boy and his dog” thing.
The last thing I can think of is the fact that I am starting my own freelance business (Maniacal Designs) at the start of the year. I will be doing text and graphic layout using Adobe’s InDesign and Illustrator. I picked up a shiny new copy of Creative Suite 2 a couple months back and have been teaching myself some stuff. I have done some work using a hacked copy of Illustrator 7, but I figured it was time to go legit. I was kind of shocked to realize that I was five versions behind in Illustrator. I have a LOT of catching up to do. =P
That’s it for now. I hope to blog a bit more often than this in the future. I would like to aim for a once-a-week sort of thing, but I make no promises.
Currently Listening to… Opeth - Ghost Reveries, GWAR - Beyond Hell, and Curtis Mayfield - The Best of… you should be too. =P
Peace… RHM
Sunday, January 01, 2006
New Year, New Game Store…
Hey it’s only been two months since my last entry! Well, things have been hectic due to the holidays and the whole family has been a level of busy that I have never encountered before. In a word, phew… I’m glad that (for the most part) it’s over.
I’m going to keep this short. Champaign-Urbana has a new game store in town. It’s called Valhalla Games and is located on Neil Street, just above a couple of barber shops and a glass company. I like this store a lot for a number of reasons. The owners are friendly and knowledgeable, and if they don’t stock something, they’ll gladly get it for you. Mostly though, I now buy my game-related wants from Valhalla exclusively for some things that they don’t do/have that has become core parts of the other local store (which I’ll call “Store B”).
Valhalla doesn’t have cats. I hate the animals and my wife is highly allergic to many breeds of them. Store B has a cat (which my wife is allergic to) in at least three days a week because (and I quote the owner) “she gets lonely at home”.
Valhalla, despite currently going through a remodel, doesn’t feel as cramped and claustrophobic as Store B. Stuff is nicely displayed and nothing feels like it is piled on other stuff.
Valhalla is not cluttered. There are no seemingly random piles of merchandise lying on the floor just waiting to be stepped on. Store B has a plethora of these piles lying about. I can’t count the number of times I have almost fallen in Store B by nearly tripping on a huge penny box of Magic cards or some foam sword lying around.
The owners/staff of Valhalla are never too busy to take my money. A couple of times in Store B I have had to wait for the owner to find a convenient break point in his City of Heroes/World of Warcraft/Toontown/(insert MMORPG name) game so he could free up the register/computer and ring me up.
Before Valhalla Games opened up, I was seriously looking at taking all my game-buying business online because I had grown that disenfranchised with Store B. Now I don’t have to. Plus, I have met some really cool folks while hanging around there, and that’s just icing on the cake for me…
peace…RHManiac
I’m going to keep this short. Champaign-Urbana has a new game store in town. It’s called Valhalla Games and is located on Neil Street, just above a couple of barber shops and a glass company. I like this store a lot for a number of reasons. The owners are friendly and knowledgeable, and if they don’t stock something, they’ll gladly get it for you. Mostly though, I now buy my game-related wants from Valhalla exclusively for some things that they don’t do/have that has become core parts of the other local store (which I’ll call “Store B”).
Valhalla doesn’t have cats. I hate the animals and my wife is highly allergic to many breeds of them. Store B has a cat (which my wife is allergic to) in at least three days a week because (and I quote the owner) “she gets lonely at home”.
Valhalla, despite currently going through a remodel, doesn’t feel as cramped and claustrophobic as Store B. Stuff is nicely displayed and nothing feels like it is piled on other stuff.
Valhalla is not cluttered. There are no seemingly random piles of merchandise lying on the floor just waiting to be stepped on. Store B has a plethora of these piles lying about. I can’t count the number of times I have almost fallen in Store B by nearly tripping on a huge penny box of Magic cards or some foam sword lying around.
The owners/staff of Valhalla are never too busy to take my money. A couple of times in Store B I have had to wait for the owner to find a convenient break point in his City of Heroes/World of Warcraft/Toontown/(insert MMORPG name) game so he could free up the register/computer and ring me up.
Before Valhalla Games opened up, I was seriously looking at taking all my game-buying business online because I had grown that disenfranchised with Store B. Now I don’t have to. Plus, I have met some really cool folks while hanging around there, and that’s just icing on the cake for me…
peace…RHManiac
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Wow… It’s been five months…
Whoa. I can’t believe how much time has gone by since my last update. Well, yes I can. I am a big procrastinator of the highest order. A lot has gone on in the intervening time, but let’s see if I can sum up.
School started for the kids in August and my son brought home honor roll grades for the first time in his academic life. This development makes my wife and I very proud and has given the boy a shot of confidence. This combined with the fact that we have begun to let him pretty much wander the town at will has sown a remarkable change in the boy. He is truly maturing into one incredible little guy. =)
As for the girl, well, she can make friends anywhere. It took a bit longer than we thought, but with youth soccer and Girl Scouts she’s doing just fine. Academically, she’s the same as always, which is pretty darn good. (4 A’s & 3 B’s) =)
On the gaming front, the sci-fi game that D-Man and I started went down in a burst of apathy. It was fun at first, but then I realized that it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. That combined with D’s thing of not putting forth his best effort into projects that aren’t completely his led to the game just sort of fizzling out. Shame too. I was just starting to do some development work turning the RPG background into a miniatures game setting.
Then I picked up WarMachine. I can’t say enough good things about it. Suffice to say that it plays quickly once you know the rules, the background is interesting, and the figures are absolutely gorgeous. Part of what makes the figs so nifty is that NONE of them are made of plastic. They are ALL metal. The whole metal/plastic thing has been one of my secret beefs with Games Workshop/Warhammer 40K. I don’t mind plastic figs for basic troops, but if I’m going to pay $35-$45 (US) for a non-vehicle figure, it better have some metal in it. Sadly, I picked up a Space Marine dreadnought for 40K and found it made entirely of plastic. Thrilled, I was not.
Beyond that, the convention (Winter War) is coming up at a new location. New, because the convention home for the past decade or so was condemned and demolished this year. It wasn’t that the building was in bad shape, it was just old and WAY out of code. For example, it would have taken around half a million dollars or so to remove the asbestos that was built into the place.
Anyhoo… Winter War is coming up this year and I don’t feel like running anything at all. In fact, I am playing (not running) in only ONE RPG currently, and I’m fine with that. Weird. Burnout doesn’t even begin to describe my mindstate concerning RPGs currently. Abject apathy might be a better descriptor.
On the music front, My wife and I finally catalogued the CD collection (appropriately dubbed the “Wall of Sound”) and discovered that we are about 20 entries shy of 1000. And I wonder why I have a hard time trying to decide what to listen to… =P
I think that’s it for now. If I come up with anything useful or profound, I try to post it in a more timely fashion.
peace… RHM
School started for the kids in August and my son brought home honor roll grades for the first time in his academic life. This development makes my wife and I very proud and has given the boy a shot of confidence. This combined with the fact that we have begun to let him pretty much wander the town at will has sown a remarkable change in the boy. He is truly maturing into one incredible little guy. =)
As for the girl, well, she can make friends anywhere. It took a bit longer than we thought, but with youth soccer and Girl Scouts she’s doing just fine. Academically, she’s the same as always, which is pretty darn good. (4 A’s & 3 B’s) =)
On the gaming front, the sci-fi game that D-Man and I started went down in a burst of apathy. It was fun at first, but then I realized that it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. That combined with D’s thing of not putting forth his best effort into projects that aren’t completely his led to the game just sort of fizzling out. Shame too. I was just starting to do some development work turning the RPG background into a miniatures game setting.
Then I picked up WarMachine. I can’t say enough good things about it. Suffice to say that it plays quickly once you know the rules, the background is interesting, and the figures are absolutely gorgeous. Part of what makes the figs so nifty is that NONE of them are made of plastic. They are ALL metal. The whole metal/plastic thing has been one of my secret beefs with Games Workshop/Warhammer 40K. I don’t mind plastic figs for basic troops, but if I’m going to pay $35-$45 (US) for a non-vehicle figure, it better have some metal in it. Sadly, I picked up a Space Marine dreadnought for 40K and found it made entirely of plastic. Thrilled, I was not.
Beyond that, the convention (Winter War) is coming up at a new location. New, because the convention home for the past decade or so was condemned and demolished this year. It wasn’t that the building was in bad shape, it was just old and WAY out of code. For example, it would have taken around half a million dollars or so to remove the asbestos that was built into the place.
Anyhoo… Winter War is coming up this year and I don’t feel like running anything at all. In fact, I am playing (not running) in only ONE RPG currently, and I’m fine with that. Weird. Burnout doesn’t even begin to describe my mindstate concerning RPGs currently. Abject apathy might be a better descriptor.
On the music front, My wife and I finally catalogued the CD collection (appropriately dubbed the “Wall of Sound”) and discovered that we are about 20 entries shy of 1000. And I wonder why I have a hard time trying to decide what to listen to… =P
I think that’s it for now. If I come up with anything useful or profound, I try to post it in a more timely fashion.
peace… RHM
Monday, June 20, 2005
BUY THIS!!!
This is the cover of the new Aveneged Sevenfold cd, City of Evil. It is easily the best CD I have purchased in the last two years. You can find it here at Amazon. You can also get it through the Hopeless Records webstore where I think they have the band's two previous for much cheaper than anywhere else.
I would go into more detail, but I have a great album to listen to over and over and over and over...
peace... RHM
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Time Flies (and Sails and Passes and...)
Wow... I just realized that it has been over a month since I last blogged. Where does the time go?
Well, part of it goes towards work. The end of the school year puts a big strain on us at Ye Olde Pancake Hut. With Mother's Day followed by University of Illinois graduation, the closing of a local favorite breakfast restaurant (30+ years in business), then public schools letting out, we just had five weeks of VERY solid sales coupled with five weeks of solid overtime for me. Right now, I'm one of three people my boss has available to do the job that I do. One of the others can only work weekends, which limits her availability considerably. The other person is pretty much the boss' right hand person. She can do a little bit of everything and she ends up doing a LOT of little things, thus she is kept moving from task to task. All of this adds up for a very tired me. =P
More time is going towards grilling outdoors. With our new back patio slab, I have grilled out more in the passed six weeks than I have in the passed three years. Things are less stressful when you don't have unsupervised neighbor kids walking up every time you fire up the charcoal asking if they can have some of whatever you're cooking. Also, with the increased practice, I am getting quite good at this barbecuing thing. =)
On the gaming front, my Feng Shui game died a horrible, lingering death. In effect, it didn't survive my move here, since I put the game on hiatus for six weeks. Trying to pick it back up again became more difficult than anticipated. Conversely, my friend Joe's Mekton game that ran at the same time also bit the big one due to creator burnout. In effect, Joe had run out of ways to make big metal robots fight each other and still be plausible. So, after a bit of commiserating, it was determined that Dennis (another friend) and I would run a space opera game using Savage Worlds. Not my real choice of rules sets at the moment. I mean I like the game system (a lot), but I have been finding it doesn't quite fit the scope of game I like to run. Characters advance a bit too quickly for my taste, and I have found that I would like a bit more granularity in the wound system. Still, for quick and dirty systems, Savage Worlds is very tough to beat in terms of speed and completeness.
The new game is scheduled to run eight days from now. Dennis and I have a bit of work to do before then, so...
Peace... RHM
Well, part of it goes towards work. The end of the school year puts a big strain on us at Ye Olde Pancake Hut. With Mother's Day followed by University of Illinois graduation, the closing of a local favorite breakfast restaurant (30+ years in business), then public schools letting out, we just had five weeks of VERY solid sales coupled with five weeks of solid overtime for me. Right now, I'm one of three people my boss has available to do the job that I do. One of the others can only work weekends, which limits her availability considerably. The other person is pretty much the boss' right hand person. She can do a little bit of everything and she ends up doing a LOT of little things, thus she is kept moving from task to task. All of this adds up for a very tired me. =P
More time is going towards grilling outdoors. With our new back patio slab, I have grilled out more in the passed six weeks than I have in the passed three years. Things are less stressful when you don't have unsupervised neighbor kids walking up every time you fire up the charcoal asking if they can have some of whatever you're cooking. Also, with the increased practice, I am getting quite good at this barbecuing thing. =)
On the gaming front, my Feng Shui game died a horrible, lingering death. In effect, it didn't survive my move here, since I put the game on hiatus for six weeks. Trying to pick it back up again became more difficult than anticipated. Conversely, my friend Joe's Mekton game that ran at the same time also bit the big one due to creator burnout. In effect, Joe had run out of ways to make big metal robots fight each other and still be plausible. So, after a bit of commiserating, it was determined that Dennis (another friend) and I would run a space opera game using Savage Worlds. Not my real choice of rules sets at the moment. I mean I like the game system (a lot), but I have been finding it doesn't quite fit the scope of game I like to run. Characters advance a bit too quickly for my taste, and I have found that I would like a bit more granularity in the wound system. Still, for quick and dirty systems, Savage Worlds is very tough to beat in terms of speed and completeness.
The new game is scheduled to run eight days from now. Dennis and I have a bit of work to do before then, so...
Peace... RHM
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Not Much Happens Here...
Well, the move to Homer has been made. So far, it’s pretty good. I could do without the commute and the trains, but all in all, I could definitely learn to like it here. It’s peaceful and tranquil (save for the trains) and perfect for kids. Not just our kids, but ANY kids. Things look to be good.
As a side effect, moving into and getting the house set up has wound Heather and I up pretty tight. Overall, things are good, but edgy. I have no doubt that we’ll work it out though. We haven’t been married for 13+ years for nothing.
On the gaming front, I got back into my every-other Tuesday game the other night. Not bad, but I was anxious and it showed in how I played. My Feng Shui game is set to run this upcoming Wednesday at the pancake house. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep that up before having to move either the meeting place or the day we get together. It takes me about 35 minutes to make the drive at the speed limit, and I find myself not speeding during dark as I have NO idea where the county Mounties like to hide on my route home. During the day, I usually exceed the speed limit by 10 MPH or so since I can frequently spy the hiding spots out as I drive.
Beyond that, not much is going on. Heather and the kids got me the new Mudvayne CD (Lost and Found) for my birthday, and it kicks serious boo-tay!
That’s it for now. Not much to say, but not much happens in a town of 1200 people.
peace… RHManiac
As a side effect, moving into and getting the house set up has wound Heather and I up pretty tight. Overall, things are good, but edgy. I have no doubt that we’ll work it out though. We haven’t been married for 13+ years for nothing.
On the gaming front, I got back into my every-other Tuesday game the other night. Not bad, but I was anxious and it showed in how I played. My Feng Shui game is set to run this upcoming Wednesday at the pancake house. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep that up before having to move either the meeting place or the day we get together. It takes me about 35 minutes to make the drive at the speed limit, and I find myself not speeding during dark as I have NO idea where the county Mounties like to hide on my route home. During the day, I usually exceed the speed limit by 10 MPH or so since I can frequently spy the hiding spots out as I drive.
Beyond that, not much is going on. Heather and the kids got me the new Mudvayne CD (Lost and Found) for my birthday, and it kicks serious boo-tay!
That’s it for now. Not much to say, but not much happens in a town of 1200 people.
peace… RHManiac
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
No... No You're Not...
Wow… I just realized that I haven’t blogged or almost two months. It’s not for lack of anything to talk about, just been busy dealing with the buying of the new house. Speaking of which, we closed on the 8th, so the thing is all ours, which brings me to the main point of this entry.
As a person grows older they reach points in their lives when they feel ready for certain milestones. Things like, “I’m ready to be married”, or “I’m ready to be a parent”, or my most recent discovery, “I’m ready to be a homeowner”. These are great thoughts on life and show an increasing maturity about how things work. These statements are also among the biggest lies you can ever tell yourself.
Let me put this as plainly as I can. A person can feel as ready and as prepared for each of these milestones of life as they like. They can read all the books, solicit all the advice, and ponder all the whys and wherefores that they like. The reality of it is, a person is “ready” for one of these events all the way up until the moment it occurs. Then, things go to Hell…
Just a thought to chew on folks…
peace… RHM
As a person grows older they reach points in their lives when they feel ready for certain milestones. Things like, “I’m ready to be married”, or “I’m ready to be a parent”, or my most recent discovery, “I’m ready to be a homeowner”. These are great thoughts on life and show an increasing maturity about how things work. These statements are also among the biggest lies you can ever tell yourself.
Let me put this as plainly as I can. A person can feel as ready and as prepared for each of these milestones of life as they like. They can read all the books, solicit all the advice, and ponder all the whys and wherefores that they like. The reality of it is, a person is “ready” for one of these events all the way up until the moment it occurs. Then, things go to Hell…
Just a thought to chew on folks…
peace… RHM
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Music... Music... Music...
What have I been listening to lately? Well, right now, I’ve spent a lot of time digging through some older CDs and listening to things like Gwar, Megadeth, and Monster Magnet. However, I caught part of Headbanger’s Ball last night and ran into a band I had never heard of before. The band is called Seemless, and the video I watched was for a song called Lay My Burden Down. VERY Good stuff. Reminds me of Soundgarden a bit, which is always a good thing. I recommend you follow the link and listen to all three songs, especially Lay My Burden Down.
If you couldn’t tell, I like a lot of metal, but a good deal of the new stuff leaves me cold. All too often, I’ll hear the beginning of a song that I like only to have the “singer” open his cakehole and erupt with a voice of that sounds like he’s been gargling Drano for the last year and a half. Big turn off usually. There are exceptions to this. I like In Flames a lot, and both Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage have also caught my attention. While all of these bands have their “cookie monster” moments, the music is good enough that I am willing to overlook screamy-vocals, especially if the scream actually adds to the sounds instead of detracting from it.
Just my two cents…
peace… RHM
If you couldn’t tell, I like a lot of metal, but a good deal of the new stuff leaves me cold. All too often, I’ll hear the beginning of a song that I like only to have the “singer” open his cakehole and erupt with a voice of that sounds like he’s been gargling Drano for the last year and a half. Big turn off usually. There are exceptions to this. I like In Flames a lot, and both Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage have also caught my attention. While all of these bands have their “cookie monster” moments, the music is good enough that I am willing to overlook screamy-vocals, especially if the scream actually adds to the sounds instead of detracting from it.
Just my two cents…
peace… RHM
Gaming Stuff...
Well, Winter War is over and done with. The con was good. It also seemed really mellow, which is surprising considering we had a turnout of almost 500 people.
The games I ran were well received, though I feel they were a touch below my normal standards. I’m semi-scheduled to run the next installments of HeadHunters and Inbetween Days at the next convention, but I’m not certain I’ll be there. Due to the hotel sales staff being new and moronic, the con lost its usual weekend. That means the convention has been moved up a week to Feb 10th-12th. With the 12th being my wife’s birthday, I’m pretty certain I won’t be there. This isn’t a set-in-stone type of thing, but very much the way that I’m leaning. I’m a firm believer in not crapping where I sleep, so my wife and her happiness take precedence over a game convention, even one that I’ve attended the bulk of my life.
Game-wise, I’ve been in a bit of a swirl. During the convention, different people mentioned different home-brew systems that I’ve run before and how they’d like to see them come back. RPM, Casino, and Dicebag all got votes of support. Combine this with the two or three other sets of game mechanics I have on the hard drive that I feel are just as good as those systems, if not better, and it leaves me with a creative dilemma. After speaking with my chief sounding board (i.e., my wife) I came up with some conclusions about how I view myself creatively.
I am a storyteller. I like to tinker with game mechanics, but I truly enjoy creating settings more. I like constructing big sandboxes and then letting other people play in them. Up until now, I’ve never really done that. Perhaps this is the direction I should go. Build a framework for a sandbox and invite y’all to play around in it. If I want to do this right, I should explore the whole open license/GNU thing. No, not D20. Although I’ve softened my stance on D20 being the evil of game systems (D20 Modern and Mutants & Masterminds are responsible for that), I feel that D20 really isn’t my type of game. No, I’m talking about building a set of mechanics based on a set of principles, writing up a no-nonsense version and letting it loose for people to play around with. Everyone can add a brick or two to the foundation. Eventually, we’ll have a house. A bizarre, weirdly-shaped house, but a house nonetheless.
Any comments?
peace… RHM
The games I ran were well received, though I feel they were a touch below my normal standards. I’m semi-scheduled to run the next installments of HeadHunters and Inbetween Days at the next convention, but I’m not certain I’ll be there. Due to the hotel sales staff being new and moronic, the con lost its usual weekend. That means the convention has been moved up a week to Feb 10th-12th. With the 12th being my wife’s birthday, I’m pretty certain I won’t be there. This isn’t a set-in-stone type of thing, but very much the way that I’m leaning. I’m a firm believer in not crapping where I sleep, so my wife and her happiness take precedence over a game convention, even one that I’ve attended the bulk of my life.
Game-wise, I’ve been in a bit of a swirl. During the convention, different people mentioned different home-brew systems that I’ve run before and how they’d like to see them come back. RPM, Casino, and Dicebag all got votes of support. Combine this with the two or three other sets of game mechanics I have on the hard drive that I feel are just as good as those systems, if not better, and it leaves me with a creative dilemma. After speaking with my chief sounding board (i.e., my wife) I came up with some conclusions about how I view myself creatively.
I am a storyteller. I like to tinker with game mechanics, but I truly enjoy creating settings more. I like constructing big sandboxes and then letting other people play in them. Up until now, I’ve never really done that. Perhaps this is the direction I should go. Build a framework for a sandbox and invite y’all to play around in it. If I want to do this right, I should explore the whole open license/GNU thing. No, not D20. Although I’ve softened my stance on D20 being the evil of game systems (D20 Modern and Mutants & Masterminds are responsible for that), I feel that D20 really isn’t my type of game. No, I’m talking about building a set of mechanics based on a set of principles, writing up a no-nonsense version and letting it loose for people to play around with. Everyone can add a brick or two to the foundation. Eventually, we’ll have a house. A bizarre, weirdly-shaped house, but a house nonetheless.
Any comments?
peace… RHM
Monday, January 31, 2005
Huh...
So, what happens when your second game company dies in the formative stages? You do what all sane and rational people do. You buy a house. =P
Seriously, Heather (my wife) and I have been looking for a bit, and we found a house in Homer, Illinois that pretty much fit our needs. We made an offer. The sellers made a counter-offer. We accepted. I swear, buying our last car took more time and haggling than this.
It’s going to be a bit of a culture shock for me. The two places I’ve lived at for extensive amounts of time were at least 45,000 people if you include the student population from the local university. Homer is pretty much the size of the subdivision I currently live in. About 1200 people live in Homer. The school district is one of those consolidated organizations, comprising of kids from Homer, Allerton, Broadlands, and Longview, Illinois. Of those towns, Homer is the “Metropolis”. Champaign is only about twenty-five miles away, but it’s still gonna be different not being able to get something whenever I want. Homer pretty much rolls up its sidewalks at 8PM or so. Still, I look forward to it. It’ll be nice to own something for our money instead of dumping cash down the rent hole.
It’ll also be nice to let my kids play outside without being hassled by some juvenile delinquent whose parents are too busy to curb the behavior of their spawn. I have grown tired of being the only parent in the neighborhood who will actually stand up to people who mess with my family. In this day and age, too many people are too passive when dealing with any situation that could be considered adversarial. As a result, people whose family members are being little terrorists are not put in check and made to realize that their kids are out of control. This is a big disservice to both society and the people with the problems. By yelling at others, who then shrink away from them, the parents of dysfunctional children get to take the lazy way out of dealing with the situation. Other people go away, but they have to live with their kids. Heaven forbid they actually do the work of raising their children to be decent, moral people. Before this digresses any further and people get the wrong idea, I am not trying to be a racist, or even a classist. I have no problem with people be they black, white, Asian, rich, or poor. I have a big problem with lazy parents and the children their laziness produces.
Okay, enough with the ranting…
Wow… We bought a house.
peace… RHM
Seriously, Heather (my wife) and I have been looking for a bit, and we found a house in Homer, Illinois that pretty much fit our needs. We made an offer. The sellers made a counter-offer. We accepted. I swear, buying our last car took more time and haggling than this.
It’s going to be a bit of a culture shock for me. The two places I’ve lived at for extensive amounts of time were at least 45,000 people if you include the student population from the local university. Homer is pretty much the size of the subdivision I currently live in. About 1200 people live in Homer. The school district is one of those consolidated organizations, comprising of kids from Homer, Allerton, Broadlands, and Longview, Illinois. Of those towns, Homer is the “Metropolis”. Champaign is only about twenty-five miles away, but it’s still gonna be different not being able to get something whenever I want. Homer pretty much rolls up its sidewalks at 8PM or so. Still, I look forward to it. It’ll be nice to own something for our money instead of dumping cash down the rent hole.
It’ll also be nice to let my kids play outside without being hassled by some juvenile delinquent whose parents are too busy to curb the behavior of their spawn. I have grown tired of being the only parent in the neighborhood who will actually stand up to people who mess with my family. In this day and age, too many people are too passive when dealing with any situation that could be considered adversarial. As a result, people whose family members are being little terrorists are not put in check and made to realize that their kids are out of control. This is a big disservice to both society and the people with the problems. By yelling at others, who then shrink away from them, the parents of dysfunctional children get to take the lazy way out of dealing with the situation. Other people go away, but they have to live with their kids. Heaven forbid they actually do the work of raising their children to be decent, moral people. Before this digresses any further and people get the wrong idea, I am not trying to be a racist, or even a classist. I have no problem with people be they black, white, Asian, rich, or poor. I have a big problem with lazy parents and the children their laziness produces.
Okay, enough with the ranting…
Wow… We bought a house.
peace… RHM
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
OK... Now What?
Well, due to the collective indifference of many members (myself occasionally included), the e-Publishing venture known as Shared Lobotomy is no more. Does this come as a surprise to me? No, not really. Am I disappointed? Yeah, kind of. I dug the vibe that five of us had started to generate and was hoping that we could push each other to the point where this would be a good thing for us all. Ah well, no real amount of money was invested, so nothing is truly lost except time.
So what does this mean for me? I’m not sure really. I would like to persevere and hopefully get published by somebody. Eventually, I would like to own a company and publish my own game system(s) and adventures. Will I do the partnership/collective thing again? No. As far as I’m concerned, it all comes down to me at this point. It’s my dream so I should be the only one to chase it. Let others chase their own dreams and live their own lives. It’s all good to me.
For the immediate future, I have three events for Winter War to put together and just over two weeks to do it in. Can I do it? No sweat. I have done much more in much less time. Beyond the convention, I now have a regular Feng Shui game to plan for on a bi-weekly basis. If I can spend one or two evenings every two weeks planning that, then all should be well with it.
As far as long-term goals go, it’s probably best to take it as it comes to me. What that means is I’ll have around a half-dozen projects in various stages of completion at any given time. My bi-polar nature sort of leads to my having a “look at the kitty” attention span, so starting a new project isn’t the issue for me. The key is coming back to unfinished projects and inching them toward completion. If I can get just ONE thing done in this regard, it SHOULD make finishing others easier. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work, isn’t it?
peace… RHM
So what does this mean for me? I’m not sure really. I would like to persevere and hopefully get published by somebody. Eventually, I would like to own a company and publish my own game system(s) and adventures. Will I do the partnership/collective thing again? No. As far as I’m concerned, it all comes down to me at this point. It’s my dream so I should be the only one to chase it. Let others chase their own dreams and live their own lives. It’s all good to me.
For the immediate future, I have three events for Winter War to put together and just over two weeks to do it in. Can I do it? No sweat. I have done much more in much less time. Beyond the convention, I now have a regular Feng Shui game to plan for on a bi-weekly basis. If I can spend one or two evenings every two weeks planning that, then all should be well with it.
As far as long-term goals go, it’s probably best to take it as it comes to me. What that means is I’ll have around a half-dozen projects in various stages of completion at any given time. My bi-polar nature sort of leads to my having a “look at the kitty” attention span, so starting a new project isn’t the issue for me. The key is coming back to unfinished projects and inching them toward completion. If I can get just ONE thing done in this regard, it SHOULD make finishing others easier. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work, isn’t it?
peace… RHM
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
I Am An A**hole...
It’s taken me a long time to realize the above statement, but if you stare at something long enough, the truth will reveal itself. I make this blanket statement not because of any isolated or recent incident, but after making some very sobering realizations about myself based on how the people in my life act around me.
First, I’d like to say that I am very envious of my wife, Heather. She has a clarity of vision about people that I do not possess. For the first five years of his life, I had no real connection to our son, Marc. It took her repeatedly telling me that underneath his fussy, hard-to-figure exterior there was a really special little boy for me to actually get it. Now, as my son is getting ready to turn eleven, I am amazed on a daily basis in regards to his wit, his joy, and his thoughtfulness. Marc is a blessing that I am proud to call my son. My wife and daughter are also great blessings. I see what special people they are and how important they are in my life and I wonder what the hell they, or anyone else, see in me.
I am surly. I am un-medicated bi-polar. I talk a lot of shit and do nothing. I have friends, but it isn’t like they call me all the time wanting to hang out. I’ll admit as we get older, each of has other obligations that take higher priority. That’s just life. Lately though, it seems as if it’s always me doing the calling, asking what they’re up to and if they want to do something. Basically, about the only time any of my current friends call me is to see what the current gaming situation is. Is one happening? When? Where? Etc., Etc..
I look past to friends from high school and college and I have contact with none of them. I recently reestablished contact with my best friend from grade school and junior high. As friends, we were tight. Then, due to things going on in our various lives, we drifted apart. As I got back in touch with him, I got the impression that he was glad to hear from me, but that he really didn’t want to try to regain what we had. That got me to thinking about all the other friends I’ve had over the years that I have drifted away from and I came to a realization. No one wonders about me enough to call. It’s as if I am poison that people run away from, or at least keep at arms distance.
As I reread what I have written, it comes off as one big puddle of self-pity. Perhaps it is, but does it really make what I am feeling right now any less valid? I have no idea…
peace… RHM
First, I’d like to say that I am very envious of my wife, Heather. She has a clarity of vision about people that I do not possess. For the first five years of his life, I had no real connection to our son, Marc. It took her repeatedly telling me that underneath his fussy, hard-to-figure exterior there was a really special little boy for me to actually get it. Now, as my son is getting ready to turn eleven, I am amazed on a daily basis in regards to his wit, his joy, and his thoughtfulness. Marc is a blessing that I am proud to call my son. My wife and daughter are also great blessings. I see what special people they are and how important they are in my life and I wonder what the hell they, or anyone else, see in me.
I am surly. I am un-medicated bi-polar. I talk a lot of shit and do nothing. I have friends, but it isn’t like they call me all the time wanting to hang out. I’ll admit as we get older, each of has other obligations that take higher priority. That’s just life. Lately though, it seems as if it’s always me doing the calling, asking what they’re up to and if they want to do something. Basically, about the only time any of my current friends call me is to see what the current gaming situation is. Is one happening? When? Where? Etc., Etc..
I look past to friends from high school and college and I have contact with none of them. I recently reestablished contact with my best friend from grade school and junior high. As friends, we were tight. Then, due to things going on in our various lives, we drifted apart. As I got back in touch with him, I got the impression that he was glad to hear from me, but that he really didn’t want to try to regain what we had. That got me to thinking about all the other friends I’ve had over the years that I have drifted away from and I came to a realization. No one wonders about me enough to call. It’s as if I am poison that people run away from, or at least keep at arms distance.
As I reread what I have written, it comes off as one big puddle of self-pity. Perhaps it is, but does it really make what I am feeling right now any less valid? I have no idea…
peace… RHM
Friday, December 10, 2004
The World Is Full Of Senseless People…
As I write this, I am home from work, quite sick and doped up on cold medicine. Even with these factors, the idiocy of one isolated event shines through to me.
On Wednesday, December 8th, ex-Pantera/Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrel Abbott was killed as Damageplan began the first song of their set during a gig in Ohio. The gunman walked onstage, grabbed Dimebag in a headlock and shot him four to six times in the head at point-blank range. The gunman then started firing into the crowd, killing three more before a police officer shot him in the face (poetic justice).
Now, I was never a huge fan of Pantera or Damageplan. Pantera was good, and I at one time owned a couple of CDs, but those were sold off to help pay my car insurance at one time, but the band was not always my taste. Granted they were a HIGHLY influential band, just not my thing a lot of times. What I had heard from Damageplan didn’t get me going. Throughout all those recordings, however, one thing stood out. Dimebag could flat out play guitar. He was frequently among the top three guitarists ever in countless fan and magazine polls, and with good reason. Listen to the riffs in “Cowboys From Hell” or the lead in “Cemetery Gates” and try to deny that the man had talent. It can’t be done.
In this modern era, it seems like our musical icons are falling at an ever-increasing rate. Three-quarters of the original Ramones are gone, Johnny Cash has left the planet (granted he was old), and now this. Dimebag’s death is the most senseless of all due to the fact that it was plain, calculated, cold-blooded murder. Even more ominous, December 8th is the same date that John Lennon was killed. I no longer believe in coincidence and that everything happens as part of God’s plan, but this was one fragment of the plan that the world could do without.
R.I.P. – Darrel Lance Abbott a.k.a. “Dimebag Darrel”
peace... RHM
On Wednesday, December 8th, ex-Pantera/Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrel Abbott was killed as Damageplan began the first song of their set during a gig in Ohio. The gunman walked onstage, grabbed Dimebag in a headlock and shot him four to six times in the head at point-blank range. The gunman then started firing into the crowd, killing three more before a police officer shot him in the face (poetic justice).
Now, I was never a huge fan of Pantera or Damageplan. Pantera was good, and I at one time owned a couple of CDs, but those were sold off to help pay my car insurance at one time, but the band was not always my taste. Granted they were a HIGHLY influential band, just not my thing a lot of times. What I had heard from Damageplan didn’t get me going. Throughout all those recordings, however, one thing stood out. Dimebag could flat out play guitar. He was frequently among the top three guitarists ever in countless fan and magazine polls, and with good reason. Listen to the riffs in “Cowboys From Hell” or the lead in “Cemetery Gates” and try to deny that the man had talent. It can’t be done.
In this modern era, it seems like our musical icons are falling at an ever-increasing rate. Three-quarters of the original Ramones are gone, Johnny Cash has left the planet (granted he was old), and now this. Dimebag’s death is the most senseless of all due to the fact that it was plain, calculated, cold-blooded murder. Even more ominous, December 8th is the same date that John Lennon was killed. I no longer believe in coincidence and that everything happens as part of God’s plan, but this was one fragment of the plan that the world could do without.
R.I.P. – Darrel Lance Abbott a.k.a. “Dimebag Darrel”
peace... RHM
Sunday, November 28, 2004
I Hate The Holidays...
My chief reason for this statement comes not from dealing with all the family and friends that one happens to be around during those times. That actually can be pretty good. No, I despise the holidays because it is a disruption to my and my family’s routines. I like routines. I am very much a creature of habit. So when things enter the picture to alter my usual schedule, I tend to get cranky and thrown off of my rhythm for a bit.
As a result, some work I wanted to have finished by this past Saturday remains incomplete. Granted, I can make a up a big chunk of it tomorrow on my day off, but I wanted this particular bit of work done so I could go on to some other work. The bulk of this work has to do with the whole Shared Lobotomy thing, but a few items deal with more personal and family issues (mostly house related). Oh well, the current chunk of work is 65 percent done, and I’m fairly certain I can get the remainder done tomorrow. Once that is done, I can spend an evening typing it all in and then I get the enjoyable task of playing with contracts and contract language. Yea me! Go Me!
Overall, this past holiday wasn’t TOO bad. I’ll also admit that my work schedule had a touch to do with how AI handled some of it (i.e., my day job made me cranky). Together, with a little help from each other, my wife and I made it through. The kids seemed to have a good time, and that’s more important to me than my own enjoyment, so… (shrug)…
peace… RHM
As a result, some work I wanted to have finished by this past Saturday remains incomplete. Granted, I can make a up a big chunk of it tomorrow on my day off, but I wanted this particular bit of work done so I could go on to some other work. The bulk of this work has to do with the whole Shared Lobotomy thing, but a few items deal with more personal and family issues (mostly house related). Oh well, the current chunk of work is 65 percent done, and I’m fairly certain I can get the remainder done tomorrow. Once that is done, I can spend an evening typing it all in and then I get the enjoyable task of playing with contracts and contract language. Yea me! Go Me!
Overall, this past holiday wasn’t TOO bad. I’ll also admit that my work schedule had a touch to do with how AI handled some of it (i.e., my day job made me cranky). Together, with a little help from each other, my wife and I made it through. The kids seemed to have a good time, and that’s more important to me than my own enjoyment, so… (shrug)…
peace… RHM
Sunday, November 21, 2004
So It Begins...
I got together with most of the folks in the Shared Lobotomy endeavor, tonight. Dennis was unable to attend due to family stuff. We talked a bit about company set-up and then laid into our schedule of products.
We pretty much decided to put together six products or so before we even release the first one, just to give ourselves some lag time to work on other stuff.
Jeff is handling the bulk of the writing for our first offering, Foe File1: Cheap Thugs, while Sean and I will crunch the numbers for the characters. Once the text is done, either Sean or I (probably both) will proofread and edit Jeff's text. Dennis will (hopefully) provide the interior line art. Finally, Pat will distill all the elements into a usuable PDF document.
Our second offering is looking to be as yet unthought of adventure for D20 Modern. From the sounds of it, I will handle the overall design and writing of that one, with others to edit and check my mechanics.
Third, we at Shared Lobotomy are looking at producing an original card game. We have three ideas on the table, the first one created and through playtest gets the green light.
That's about it from me for now. I have things to print out, characters to create, and contracts to write.
peace... RHM
We pretty much decided to put together six products or so before we even release the first one, just to give ourselves some lag time to work on other stuff.
Jeff is handling the bulk of the writing for our first offering, Foe File1: Cheap Thugs, while Sean and I will crunch the numbers for the characters. Once the text is done, either Sean or I (probably both) will proofread and edit Jeff's text. Dennis will (hopefully) provide the interior line art. Finally, Pat will distill all the elements into a usuable PDF document.
Our second offering is looking to be as yet unthought of adventure for D20 Modern. From the sounds of it, I will handle the overall design and writing of that one, with others to edit and check my mechanics.
Third, we at Shared Lobotomy are looking at producing an original card game. We have three ideas on the table, the first one created and through playtest gets the green light.
That's about it from me for now. I have things to print out, characters to create, and contracts to write.
peace... RHM
Monday, November 15, 2004
Hot LAN Action...
Last Night, I gathered a bunch of people over at the Pancake House (thanks, Eric) to do some Halo 2 action. We brought a bunch of stuff and ended up with four Xbox-es, four TVs, and four copies of Halo 2 all linked up and going. It quickly turned into "Bust-A-Cap In Your Friend Night"! It was an absolute buzz, and all involved seemed to have a good time. Kudos to Cookie on being the most improved of the bunch. Special mention goes to my 10-year old son, Marc, who basically busted out a can of whoop-ass on almost all of us. He has become so good it's scary. You rock on toast, Son! =)
Other than that, not much is happening. I'm still researching all the hoops we have to jump through to start Shared Lobotomy, and trying to coordinate with Jeff the skeletons of our first offerings. Work proceeds slowly, but it proceeds.
Take care all and, as always...
peace... RHM
Other than that, not much is happening. I'm still researching all the hoops we have to jump through to start Shared Lobotomy, and trying to coordinate with Jeff the skeletons of our first offerings. Work proceeds slowly, but it proceeds.
Take care all and, as always...
peace... RHM
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