Ten years ago I posted my first real blog entry here on Bugbears for Breakfast. It was a blurb for a new campaign I was prepping to run. The campaign didn't last very long as the players decided they were not that into D&D 4E. I can see their point, but I liked running 4E. I still think it is a good fantasy RPG, it's just not D&D.
[The first actual post was mostly a placeholder/announcement post, stating the blog existed and why it has its name. Not actual content, but it forced me to actually start writing and posting.]
After that I started documenting my next campaign, Southern Reaches, a Western Reaches-style game using the [at the time] new Pathfinder RPG. That had staying power and started me on posting campaign journals for campaigns I was running or playing in. I had a steady once-a-month group that meets one Saturday a month and eventually helped create a weekly group that still meets.
It took a while for me to learn to number session reports and add links to previous and following sessions. When I first started blogging, the navigation tree over in the right margin was small and easy to navigate, so it never occurred to me that better organization would be necessary. By November of 2010 I realized my error and started numbering session notes with the beginning of the Dyson's Delve campaign, which became The Aldelle Group. I also started numbering my posts for Southern Reaches, but never went back to add the numbering to earlier posts. I'll probably fix that when I compile the session notes for that campaign [now that I realize I started blogging it from the beginning].
In 2012 I wrote a sci-fi novel and posted status milestones for it. I got ahead of myself and asked my readers for grammar fixes when I should have asked for content feedback. I've tried to do re-writes since then, but never found the spark again. It still lurks around in the back of my mind and wants more writing on it, but I haven't mentally got there yet.
I also planned to publish adventure locales and modules despite having little experience in book publishing. In hindsight, I'm glad I delayed as publishing now is much easier and cheaper. I set up an account at DriveThruRPG to publish the session notes from the Barrowmaze Using ACKS campaign, but ran into issues with getting permissions. The PDFs are available for free from the sidebar of this blog as that is allowed, but I can't set them as PWYW, which was my plan. Ah, well. This year I'm going to publish sites from my Delvers Guild campaign as those are all my creations. The NPCs and monsters are in HERO System, so I'll probably need to convert them to some version of D&D to make them more widely usable. Still thinking over how I want to do that.
In 2013 I got back to posting session notes for games I was playing in or running or both [see the Pleiades Group Shadowrun campaign]. In 2016 I got laid off for the first time. I limped along writing, but my heart wasn't in it, so in 2017 I wrote almost nothing I didn't have to. In 2018 I got laid off a second time but decided that I wasn't going to let that stop me again. Two years later, March has again rolled around, but instead of another layoff, we got a global pandemic. This is slightly preferable, but only slightly. I'm able to work from home. In fact, as a contractor, it was expected that I would, so me going into the office regularly was considered a bit unusual. Now I can't go in and wish I could as work has heavily filtered air and my allergies are killer this year. Still happy to be employed, so I'll get over it.
I've also written some other stuff and posted it here.
So that's where I am now: still blogging session notes and employed at a job I like. Hopefully the next 10 years will not be as bumpy as this 10 years has been.
Later!
[The first actual post was mostly a placeholder/announcement post, stating the blog existed and why it has its name. Not actual content, but it forced me to actually start writing and posting.]
After that I started documenting my next campaign, Southern Reaches, a Western Reaches-style game using the [at the time] new Pathfinder RPG. That had staying power and started me on posting campaign journals for campaigns I was running or playing in. I had a steady once-a-month group that meets one Saturday a month and eventually helped create a weekly group that still meets.
It took a while for me to learn to number session reports and add links to previous and following sessions. When I first started blogging, the navigation tree over in the right margin was small and easy to navigate, so it never occurred to me that better organization would be necessary. By November of 2010 I realized my error and started numbering session notes with the beginning of the Dyson's Delve campaign, which became The Aldelle Group. I also started numbering my posts for Southern Reaches, but never went back to add the numbering to earlier posts. I'll probably fix that when I compile the session notes for that campaign [now that I realize I started blogging it from the beginning].
In 2012 I wrote a sci-fi novel and posted status milestones for it. I got ahead of myself and asked my readers for grammar fixes when I should have asked for content feedback. I've tried to do re-writes since then, but never found the spark again. It still lurks around in the back of my mind and wants more writing on it, but I haven't mentally got there yet.
I also planned to publish adventure locales and modules despite having little experience in book publishing. In hindsight, I'm glad I delayed as publishing now is much easier and cheaper. I set up an account at DriveThruRPG to publish the session notes from the Barrowmaze Using ACKS campaign, but ran into issues with getting permissions. The PDFs are available for free from the sidebar of this blog as that is allowed, but I can't set them as PWYW, which was my plan. Ah, well. This year I'm going to publish sites from my Delvers Guild campaign as those are all my creations. The NPCs and monsters are in HERO System, so I'll probably need to convert them to some version of D&D to make them more widely usable. Still thinking over how I want to do that.
In 2013 I got back to posting session notes for games I was playing in or running or both [see the Pleiades Group Shadowrun campaign]. In 2016 I got laid off for the first time. I limped along writing, but my heart wasn't in it, so in 2017 I wrote almost nothing I didn't have to. In 2018 I got laid off a second time but decided that I wasn't going to let that stop me again. Two years later, March has again rolled around, but instead of another layoff, we got a global pandemic. This is slightly preferable, but only slightly. I'm able to work from home. In fact, as a contractor, it was expected that I would, so me going into the office regularly was considered a bit unusual. Now I can't go in and wish I could as work has heavily filtered air and my allergies are killer this year. Still happy to be employed, so I'll get over it.
I've also written some other stuff and posted it here.
- I re-wrote the rules for the board game Greyhawk Wars! to make them more readable and understandable [and playable].
- I put together an Excel spreadsheet for use with domain management as put forward in the Kingmaker Adventure Path in Pathfinder #32.
- I also re-wrote and expanded on the rules for The Game, GDW's in-house game for creating the future history between Twilight 2000 and Traveller 2300/2300AD. I also recreated the map from photos of the original. [See the sidebar for the links to these.]
- I created a quick and dirt set of jousting rules for use with Pathfinder 1E.
- I wrote a how-to for running Barrowmaze that has application to running any RPG system that has been one of my most popular posts.
- I wrote a post about the difference between Adventuring (historical) and Adventuring (gaming).
So that's where I am now: still blogging session notes and employed at a job I like. Hopefully the next 10 years will not be as bumpy as this 10 years has been.
Later!
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