Melancholy Musings

Apologies. No, I haven't been doing any cool design stuff...some demographics info intersecting GDP with population and minority percentages as a means of justifying a specific super-world setting, but I've spent nearly as much time occupied with following the beginnings of football season. Mainly been hanging and doing stuff with the kids or getting too little sleep at night and thus working on catching up in my free time.

So there. I'm surprised traffic to this blog continues to be steady.

Had a chance to catch up on my blog readings today at least, so that's something. Got hipped to this post from Venger Satanis (by way of Trollsmyth), asking peoples' opinions of 5th Edition D&D now that it's been out-and-about for a full year. And...well, this is kind of sad, but I've never even seen any of the 5E books in print, seeing as how I've been living in this South American backwater for the last year and eight months. And I feel a little bit "left out" that I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation.

I feel so obsolete at the moment.

Which is, of course, ridiculous. Oh, not the obsolete part...that might well be true (though even if it is, I don't care too much about the fact...my desire to be relevant is Oh So Slight). No, the part that's ridiculous is that I desire to be part of a 5E discussion at all, after I was so vehement that folks should just go out and design (and play) their own fantasy adventure games (FAGs) rather than buy into yet another WotC-sponsored, cash-grubbing...well, you get the point without me dashing off into the usual rant. But perhaps I'm feeling lonely for the shared conversation of the gaming community. I've done so very little gaming in the last 18 months. None in fact, when it comes to the role-playing, FAG variety.

*sigh*

I'm not feeling depressed or despondent, but definitely melancholic. Yeah, melancholy is a good way to describe it. Even now, just writing this, makes me feel a little sad that I'm wasting the time to type the words, when I could be (perhaps should be) doing something more constructive with the moment.  But I've often said that this blog is as much a record of my feelings at given moments in time (as much as my ever evolving thoughts on gaming), and now is perhaps as good a moment as any to record for later perusal.

Plus, it's good to be writing actual text, rather than just notes, brainstorms, tables of stats, and conceptual models. I spent 90 minutes doing my yoga routines today for the first time in...hmm...a long, long ass time...and, man, am I out of shape. The muscles are still there (if diminished), but the extra fat I've put on sure gets in the way of doing what my mind remembers being capable of. Writing  a blog post...even a melancholic, throwaway one, is exercising Ye Old Writing Muscles, at least.

Baby steps. Yeah.

Reading folks' opinions of 5E (which I spent some time doing), and even reading Tim's kind words on my old book made me remember my old love of B/X (and old school gaming in general), and consider that there's still probably a bit more "left in the tank," D&D-wise. Things I could contribute...probably not to 5E specifically, but to FAGing in general.

Tomorrow's Friday and I should have some time to write...at least a couple-three hours. I'm really going to try to get something for you folks. I'm pretty sure that being even a little productive will help cure this melancholy.

Till then.