Graduation

My son graduated from his elementary school today. Nine years ago he started his journey in kindergarten; it's been a long haul. I was all sentimental.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and there was a lovely party for the graduates afterward. Diego was honored with the Father Leahy Award for the 2025 class; it is given in recognition for the student that best demonstrates the traits of leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship while participating in school sports, while also maintaining a high level of academic standing and commitment to the school and church community, as voted by the teachers, administrators, and coaches. 18 seasons of sports he played, during his time at the school.

It's a nice award: he got a plaque. And his name gets etched onto the trophy that records the winners of the award. That's nifty. But now he's on to high school...the journey continues.

It's been a loooong day, and I'm turning in...we have championship track meet to go to in Renton (Diego's in three events; my daughter, Sofia, is in two). New A to Z post scheduled for the morning.

Cheers.

Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned...

I said I wouldn't put any more money into the pockets of WotC/Hasbro, and yet today I dropped over a hundred bucks to pick up the shrink-wrapped, leather-bound, re-issuing of the AD&D Players Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide, and Monster Manual...three books I already own in duplicate (variant covers).

And, of course, I don't even play AD&D anymore.

Well, I haven't yet broken the shrink-wrap, and I've decided to give myself a couple days to decide whether or not to return them to the store (for now, I guess you can say I'm removing them from the marketplace). And I was feeling pretty generous...since putting it on sale Thursday I've sold more than 10% of the print run for The Complete B/X Adventurer...sight unseen and with zero reviews. My readers' faith in me is fairly astounding (considering this print run was double the size of any of my previous ones for my B/X Companion). I really, really hope they find it useful to their games, inspiring and fun. That was my goal anyway (oh, yeah...and to make enough money to fund my next book).

So with cash in my pocket, I figured I could afford to pick up the new AD&D books. While I haven't opened my own copies yet, I did have a chance to look through an opened copy of the Monster Manual. The quality of the pages is, well, meh...the equivalent of the 2nd edition Vampire book (kind of shiny without being nice) and everything appears to have been scanned (which is probably the case)...and the fact you can tell it's scanned should inform you on the quality of the scan.

Still the gold leaf and leather is great and if I decide to hang on to 'em they look sturdy and completely useable. My own copies (all of 'em) have water damage and ripped (or removed) pages and pencil marks (and erasures) scattered throughout. The binding on the originals is still quality but the volumes look like they've been well-used (and hard use at that)...which is, of course, the truth.

The marketing department of WotC has let it be known that purchasing these books will support the Gygax Memorial Fund, though I am skeptical about just how much of the profits are going to said fund. 1%? $1 per book? The Gygax family isn't saying (and why should they? ANY extra money for the fund, I'm sure, is welcome...even a pithy amount), and neither is WotC. Which leads me to think that this is mostly a stunt to milk the ca$h cow one more time (like they did with the "fake Basic set box") and inject their own accounts with a little capital provided by the nostalgic.

At least this time buyers will actually be getting the game they grew up playing. If I was a 35-45 year old who had somehow missed the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions and wanted to return to the game of my youth (perhaps to play with my own kids or old friends) this would be the set to buy to "get back into the game." And I am still amazed at how much goodness is packed into these slim volumes. Stacked on top of each other, they're still not as thick as the Pathfinder core rules...and Pathfinder's core doesn't even include a monster list. You can play for years with the information in these three books...I know because I did. And with all the old school web sites and forums existing these days, you can probably find good insights for cutting the dross and running the game (helpful considering the organization of info within the AD&D books).

I wonder if WotC understands the possible consequences of their money grab. I mean, 4th edition alienated a large group of fans from the D&D flagship, and while an AD&D release might bring back customers, it's just as likely (in my opinion) to drive them away from playing 4th or 5th edition. I mean, AD&D IS the real deal after all. But perhaps they're cagier than I give 'em credit for. It's not like they're re-publishing the most coherent earlier edition of D&D: 2nd edition or B/X or BECMI are much more thought out and better organized.

On the other hand, maybe it IS all on the "up-and-up;" no other edition is as associated with Gary Gygax as AD&D. His name is the one on the AD&D books, not Arneson's. With the exception of The Keep on the Borderlands, all his adventure modules were penned for the 1st edition AD&D game, as was his World of Greyhawk. If you really wanted to collect some scratch for a Gygax memorial, this would be the (appropriate) edition to use.

*sigh* Obviously I am a jaded cynic that needs to stop worrying about other game companies and focus on my own enterprise. Hell, I just found out this afternoon that I was nominated for an Ennie award (fan favorite publisher: Running Beagle Games). This I was informed of when I was at Gary's Games today (apparently, it had been the subject of some in-store discussion). If they hadn't told me, I wouldn't have even known...are nominees not informed of their nominations? Am I eligible for a cash prize of some sort? And if not, is being nominated recognition enough or does one have to actually win to have any kind of crowing rights?

And who the hell nominated my company anyway when I've published exactly two books (and the second only a couple days ago)?

[I suppose someone might have been counting my one-page micro-games published on the blog over the last couple years...]

Ah, well...the Ennies are a subject for a different blog post (if that...); the subject of this blog post was the confession of my WotC support (by purchasing their books). I haven't even taken them out of the bag since I got 'em, I'm that ashamed. Either I'm a big-ass hypocrite, OR I'm a fawning nostalgic, OR I'm a weak-willed waffler who can't stick to my guns when it comes to my principles.

And it just gets worse when...as I write this...I find myself leaning more and more towards keeping the books.

Hmm...maybe there's some way I can atone for my transgression. Baby D and I went out for a beer tonight with one of my old high school/college buddies (an ex-gamer...no he did not buy a copy of the new book) and our discussion reminded me of much of the dumb-assedness of AD&D. Maybe I need to actually RUN an AD&D game and house-rule the hell out of it...publish a series of posts or PDFs or "corrections & clarifications" in aid of those who would rather run the familiar game of their youth but have hard time reconciling its craziness with their mature, adult minds.

Maybe.

Damn, there are so many things I want to do, or wish I had more time to do. But we all do, right? Just the usual pain associated with growing up.

Thank goodness you can grow up without growing old.

; )

Back On-Line, (Near) Awards, and Reflections

So it appears my internet woes have finally been resolved as of this time yesterday. Turns out my internet provider upgraded the technology of my area without upgrading my modem, causing me to have on-going "spectral interference" for the last several months. And because the "tech support" people I've called, oh, half-a-dozen times are in f'ing India (or some Asian country overseas) they had no idea what the hell was going on and simply read me the same damn script every time I called.

Bunch o BS.

Anyway, now I've got the new modem and I can get on-line and check my email without running down to the damn library on my lunch breaks (only open Monday to Thursday) and I can stream the Bakshi/Frazetta film Fire & Ice from Netflix without wanting to throw something through my TV screen.

[by the way, if anyone was wondering why I hadn't posted anything till now, the weather's been absolutely gorgeous this weekend, and me and the fam spent most of the day down on the waterfront, feeding seagulls and browsing high-class toy stores for rubber blocks. Nice]

But right now it's back to business...catching up on forums and email and the blogs and such. Found out that my B/X Companion placed in the Indie RPG awards this year (no, I did not enter it in the Ennies, though I was tempted to do so). "Placing" isn't really the right term, as there was no 2nd place award, but I came in as 1st runner up to the winner for Best Indie Supplement of the Year with 20 points. Pretty good considering this is my first (self-)published product and I didn't do anything particularly innovative (um...compared to many indie RPG game designers that is...).

You know, I used to spend a LOT of time over at The Forge and swimming in indie waters the same way I now sail through the OSR blog-o-sphere. I enjoy playing other games, especially the weird and intimate or desperate or innovative or straight-up bizarre...but I don't get the chance to do so as much.

And that's fine. I mean, my current game group is a bunch of guys who work in the computer industry and are returning to Old School tabletop gaming for the first time in years (or ever, for some). This process of starting a game, theorizing, and testing has allowed me to do some serious deconstruction of the D&D game, and I've just gotten a greater and greater appreciation for it over time (as well as gotten a lot of good insight into game design).

One thing I've noticed...just about all the "house rules" I've implemented have been discarded by this point. They just haven't been necessary at all to the play of the game and the game works better without 'em. Other than the new classes I've been play-testing, there are only two house rules that continue to stick around:

- Clerics don't need to "memorize" spells at the beginning of the day

- Thief skills automatically succeed

Oh, yeah...we're also continuing to use the "two-handed weapons strike last and do D8 damage" (as opposed to all other weapons, which do D6), but since no one is using a two-handed weapon, it's kind of a moot rule.

I'll have a chance to write more about B/X game play in the coming days, as I fully expect to be drawing comparisons between it and the game play of DCC (have to go make some characters!). But it's just something on which I've been reflecting lately.

All right...that's enough blogging for now. Have to go check some forums!

: )

Another Blast from the Past

Mmm...no gaming last night and no new writing on the game project today. Just "stuff" getting in the way: basic tiredness (last night) and attempting to be a good parent/spouse with a fussy baby today.

But right now, I have a spare moment.

I should probably write about...oh, I don't know...D&D or game design or my B/X Companion being selected as a finalist for the Three Castles Award.

Instead, I just want to say that I finally got in contact with my old friend, Jocelyn, of whom I've written many times in the past. Now granted, I never went out of my way to track her down (I mean, I knew how to find her if I'd wanted), but considering I didn't do anything other than the "laziest possible approach" to people searching (i.e. facebook)...well, I'm just pleased that it worked out at all.

Strangely enough, she has seen the blog (?!)...or maybe not so strange (our mothers still talk to each other after all). I wonder what she thinks of the things I've written. Probably, "JB has too much time on his hands." Or maybe something about living in the past.

; )

A while back, I started writing my "personal gaming history," chronicling my life as seen through the lens of a life-long gamer. No, no...none of it has been posted to the blog (yet...)...it's loooong (as one might suspect) and possibly only of interest to yours truly, even if it was to be finished and posted. Jocelyn certainly figures prominently in the early years of that history.

Huh...anyway, just hearing from her makes me try to remember back some 23+ odd years ago. My life was much different back in those days. I wonder who will be my son's friends as he grows through childhood. I wonder what (or who) he will remember fondly from his past when he's closing in on his 40th birthday.

You know, maybe my parents have similar (or had similar) thoughts about me...but I'm so oblivious I've never wondered whether they did or not.

Ugh. That's enough ruminating in that direction. Diego's still asleep, but I need to go grab a shower before dinner tonight (we're going out with non-gamer friends, so I should probably smell presentable). Hopefully, I'll have a more game-related post later.

Happy Friday, folks!

: )

Three Castles Award - Doh!

Ugh! I completely forgot to get my B/X Companion submitted to the North Texas RPG Con by the December 31st deadline to be considered for the 2010 Three Castles Award! Darn family holidays time.

Oh, well...more books for sale this way.

; )