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Shockingly, even though it is months away, the time for GenCon planning is upon us. Event registration starts in January, and getting events in early is key to getting them listed in the event catalogue, as well as getting good locations for tables and hotels for said events. At this time, I have a full raft of things going on, Tunnels and Trolls, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and 2d20 from Modiphius. Dungeon Crawl Classics this year features a very cool "blast from the past" Level-0 funnel which can be summarized as "The Lost TV show comes to DCC." I am looking forward to that one. But they are all fun and enjoyable and I really look forward to running events and having a great time, plus teaching people new game systems and providing them with a certain level of amusement for a few hours of their busy convention.
If I can convince them to go out and support the manufacturers by purchasing product, then it is even better!
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Several of my writer friends (i.e. friends who make the bulk of their income from writing sources, albeit news articles, fiction, or non-fiction) have been telling me for years to use Scrivener for my projects. Year ago, one of them talked me into Ulysses, and I thought it was a great fit (and also cheaper.) In August of this year, Ulysses changed from a purchase model to a subscription model. How they did it was a bad move in a bad way, but I did not complain too much, as I have several other applications that I support via a subscription model and they are arguably less important to my work flow.
Then Ulysses rolled out a slew of patches, mostly to "fix problems" with their subscription system that ended up corrupting or breaking my file system. At the point where I was losing 20% of my time due to crashes and restarts, I decided to give Scrivener a shot. Version 3 had just been released.
It is a monster. It is a beast. I understand why "Scrivener Tutorial" books are available. I know why the recommendation is to work through the tutorial before doing too much else. There is an amazing number of features and settings that allow you to tailor your writing "world" to meet your needs. It is also amazingly beautiful. Within a week I found myself asking the question, "Why did I not buy this years ago?" Although, I found the answer that many of the things I really appreciate are listed under the "New Features" options. The sync between platforms using Dropbox works very well (and I am going Mac <-> Windows <-> iPhone <-> iPad).
In any case, if spending a few hours a week writing (for school, work, hobby, blogging, etc.) is in your life, you definitely should check it out.
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I was talked into the Delta Green Kickstarter from several years ago by a friend of mine. They finally delivered the last book from my pledge, which was just for the core books. In that regard, I guess the kickstarter could be considered a "success" but honestly, of the Kickstarters I have backed, it is one of the few that I consider a total waste of money. I just cannot see myself ever playing the game system, or using the books for anything other than "hills" in miniatures games.
What I like about the books:
- Much like the well done Pinnacle Weird Wars series, they do a good job of explaining a large number of historical events through the lens of "alternate history"
What I do not like about the books:
- Time to produce
- Production quality (editing, typos, and layout errors abound)
- Artwork (it is good, but it is not appealing to me, even as Cthulhu Mythos based artwork)
Anyway, moral of the story, buyer beware, and this is why picking up a book and flipping through it at the Friendly Local Game Store can be a huge positive sometimes!
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For domestic travel within the USA, if service is offered between two destinations by Southwest, I have no idea why any other airline is used. I recently had to fly cross-country for a family event, my flight plans had to be modified after I made them, and I had to check baggage. My cousin was in the same situation. I flew Southwest, he flew United.
Here's a comparison between my cousin's United flight and my Southwest flight:
United Round-Trip from CA to MI:
- $486 base fare + $200 for trip change + $50 for baggage fees = $736
Southwest Round-Trip from CA to MI:
- $286 round trip + $0 for trip change + $0 for baggage fees = $286.
So...umm....someone's paying off their Christmas bills way faster than the other guy.
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I have been a Creative Assembly fan for a long time. My favorite game is still Shogun 2 and its various expansions. There was a dark time before that though (Napoleon was neat, but did not impress me compared to Empire) and after that (I bought very cheaply, and still have not played Rome 2 or Attila.) There were mechanics and focus changes I disliked there. There were design decisions and graphics requirements I did not like. I might have also been suffering burnout by spending almost 500 hours of my life (sadly true) playing Shogun 2.
Along came Warhammer and Warhammer 2. Both are released in normal Creative Assembly fashion (i.e. wait six months for patches, DLCs, and optimizations to kick in) but conversely, they become these monstrous sprawling sources of amusement, aggravation, and constant nights filled with "one more turn, oh crap, that happened, I need to take care of it" and so on. I am still trying to get the hang of fighting the tactical battles (Shogun 2 admittedly did not have monsters and hordes of Vampiric Bats, which change the flow of a battle significantly). I found a rather helpful article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun (they have some, it's true!) which suggested, among other things, to practice with your chosen army in a few custom battles just to see how it worked. I've started doing that with my beloved High Elves - I used them regularly in tabletop games a decade ago - and found that they are a finicky but powerful force. In other words, how they play in the game is how they play on the tabletop.
If anything, Warhammer and Warhammer 2 are TOO GOOD - I've completely lost all desire to ever get out my dusty miniatures, as I can setup and fight an enjoyable battle in about 1/4 the time the tabletop would. Plus the graphics are far better than my painting ever was. Take a look, watch some Twitch streams, and if you like either Games Workshop or Total War games, these are well worth your time.
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