Been awhile...

Many things have happened, I did not expect that hiatus to hit me.  I apologize, I was working on a novel and then things sort of slipped away from me.  Yet, it happens.  This is just going to be a shotgun kind of update.

I have still been gaming, yet not as much.  I have run two sessions of my 1st ed. Sydell game for my Sunday group and that first session was great because I had more than one player finally.  We had a full group delve back into Stonehell.  Then, just last Sunday I took up the DM mantle again and only two people were able to show.  We soldiered on for awhile, then called a end of session when they had cleared out a nice chunk of a section.  I must say that Michael Curtis and his Stonehell project are amazing.  (I know I have been a little coy about what I was using for a bit.  Don't care.  I trust my players to not rush out and buy it or download the thing.  Plus, if they did, it wouldn't help.  I change a few things here and there to either make things more fun for me or to blend in more story to the game itself.)

The other game I have played a session or two of since I last wrote this blog was a steam punk sci-fi game my friend created called Into the Black.  Starting to really get into the meat of the game now, which I have been hoping would come a little sooner.  But, it hit with the force of a dump truck and sent us reeling.  I am more on board now than before.

Finally got back to reading the blog list, though I know I will never read all the ones I missed.  One that I saw recently grabbed me.  GROGNARDIA had an interesting idea.  The idea has some merit to it and I know that some of my players would love to give it a shot for the challenge.  Others would say I like "hard mode" to much.

Also, been playing some Diablo III and until recently, I wasn't impressed.  I have it on normal difficulty, plus I am a very casual gamer when it comes to video games of all kinds.  Yes, exploring the land of Sanctuary is fun and hearing the lore of the different creatures has a benefit.  But ultimately, it is a hack-n-slash and that never appealed much to me.  I am sure I will go back and play more of it, though there is no great NEED to finish it or keep playing.

Last Monday, Mike Mearls wrote up another column for Legends & Lore, talking about hit points.  It is an interesting read and I know many on the OSR blogshpere have already ripped into it.  I am going to focus on the survey option that he had at the end of the article.  It was short, and at one point there was a chance for me to give feedback.  Below is what I wrote verbatim:

I feel that there is a trend to get "back" those lost when the game went from 3.5 to 4.  Yet not enough is done to get back the older edition players.  To many of the "old guard" gamers are told we hear you, yet the feel of the column trends towards those lost recently.  I could be wrong, yet this is my opinion, and I have ever hope to swallow my words along with a big piece of crow pie.

Every word of it I feel is true.  So much of the D&D Next sounds like it is geared towards those who played 3.5 before the change over.  And, to many of us who stopped keeping up with the newer editions, though didn't stop playing the game, there is a sense that we were left in the cold.  I keep hearing the rumors that this game will allow for any edition lover to come to, play their favorite version and allow others to play their own without any problems.  And, if true, the last sentence I wrote will be just as true.

I LOOK FORWARD to being proved wrong by WotC.  I am LOOKING FORWARD to this new edition, for many reasons.

Because, if nothing else, I am sure I will find something that I can cherry pick out of upcoming play test or the rules whenever they come out, and incorporate them into my games.

And, I think I can add another writing project to my ever expanding list.  To write down my own house rules.  COMPLETE LIST, not hey that is a neat rule, hey that is cool.  Then, forget them six months down the line.  I know that is going to take a great deal of time because of all of the different games that I play.  It is something to think about.

Thank you for reading the post, I will be back, hopefully before next month.