“In fact, cliche is at its core a communicable disease.” — Cat Valente
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I just put the finishing touches on a short D&D setting hack that I’ve been working on for the past week. I play D&D biweekly with some local friends, and we have a deal where we swap off between two GMs (and campaigns) every three sessions or so. We’ve just shifted around to a different pair with Nelson running his first campaign with us. That started me thinking about planning ahead so I can take over for Joe when his campaign ends, assuming Mark doesn’t have something to run. I’ve had an idea for how to kick off the campaign for a little while now, but not much else. So I started thinking about overall plot. Now, I suck at the looking-three-moves-ahead thing, and developing a plot is my Achilles heel. So, when the barest thought struck me for a hack to the standard setting, I dove into it with gusto. See, that sort of stuff I can obsess over. It’s pretty much all I’ve been thinking about for days. I thought, why not explore a world where magic comes easily to everyone? Rather than having your standard spellcasting classes, anyone can learn to cast spells through feats. I ran with it from there, and now I have three new classes (which are probably overpowered, because, hey, it’s me, right?) and a nifty way of handling spells and psionics. So, now I have to get back to considering plot and long-term structure. Which never survives the first encounter with the players anyway. Once we start playing around with these rules and new classes and see how they balance out, I plan to share them with the world at large. Slàinte, Q I recently completed the entry test packet for the Long Ridge Writers Group. The test comprises 6 parts, most of which are simple writing assignments. For the fourth part — Tap into Your Experience — I wrote the following, and I thought some of you might like it. Enjoy! How to Make a Delicious Cheese Sauce.As the late, great Justin Wilson used to say, “First, you make a roux.” Heat a quart-sized sauce pan over medium heat for a few minutes, then add two tablespoons of butter to the pan. When the butter is thoroughly melted, reduce to medium-low heat, add two tablespoons of sifted flour and whisk it for about a minute to make a slurry. Add two tablespoons of finely minced shallots and keep gently whisking the roux every thirty seconds or so. You don’t want to make a traditional dark, chocolate-colored roux, because it will discolor and overpower your sauce, but you want to take the raw-flour edge off and impart a nutty flavor. When the roux reaches a gentle tan color, pour in a cup of half-and-half while whisking continuously. The roux will start to thicken rapidly. Add a cup of chicken or vegetable broth to the mix and continue whisking. When the thick gravy is smooth, add a tablespoon of minced garlic (jarred minced garlic works well here) and a fresh crack of black pepper. Stir until well mixed. Now for the cheese. Switching to a spoon, mix in about half a pound of shredded cheese. Ideally, you should shred it yourself rather than using bagged cheese, for better flavor. I like to use well-aged white cheddar. An excellent mix to use is one quarter pound of store-brand cheddar with one quarter pound of a complex cheddar, such as Dubliner brand Irish cheddar. This will impart depth to the sauce, without being overpowering. Try experimenting with soft cheeses, such as fontina, edam, or gouda, mixed with hard cheeses such as parmesan, asiago, or grana padano. Once the cheese is mixed in, reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Keep stirring the sauce every minute or two as the pan cools and the cheese melts, so the mixture does not scorch. Depending on the cheese you used, you may need to add some salt. You can keep the sauce going over very low heat for the time it takes to boil your favorite pasta. Just be sure to stir it occasionally. When the pasta is ready, pour the cheese sauce over it and enjoy! I’ve been working with artist Liz Radtke again on concepts for the Kalens of Star Lost. Can I just say that she so frickin rocks! Her first attempt (the golden retriever) was too dog-like and too butch. That stemmed from my inadequate description. The next iteration (the other four pix) was awesome. I don’t claim that she reached into my brain and pulled out the perfect image. I can’t because I didn’t have a fully formed image in mind, just pieces of what I knew should be there:
From that, and a short critique on the first draft, she has managed to create a fully formed creature that looks like the best stuff you see in the special features menu of a scifi movie. Sweet!
Life is sweet.
Morgenstern’s Spellbook is a collection of 60 new and original spells. It’s designed to be used whole, as a treasure item, or as a new source of spells for your campaign. It was originally conceived during a spate of productivity while guest-DMing for Joe Levy’s recent D&D campaign. As with all my RPG work, the pdf is available through DriveThruRPG. I’m also setting this one up for print on demand, since it’s around 26 pages. Slaintè, Q
I just set up the product page for Caltrops at DriveThruRPG. It’s awesome! I’m also getting the Hudspeth Games website up and running. It’s barebones, right now, with placeholder text for all but the Caltrops page. But I hope to flesh it out more over the next couple of weeks. I’ve also started the layout process for Morgenstern’s Spellbook, a collection of quirky spells recently used in our bi-weekly campaign. Look for that in the next few weeks as well. Q Well, I’ve finished self-editing the 400 page tome that is Star Lost. I’ve just sent the PDF off to a couple of friends who agreed to look it over. When I get their comments digested in about a month I’ll see if Colin is still up for layout duty, or if I’ll be on my own, or something in between. While Word is a great word processor and can do some swanky things like hyperlinked ToCs and indeces, it’s pretty lousy for making a pretty document. Since I gots no $$, I’m going to have to publish without art (unless someone is crazy enough to provide free art), so I’ll need the tidiest layout I can get. But for the next stretch of time I won’t be thinking about Star Lost, instead working on some smaller projects I’ve started along the way that are near completion. There’s Gaming the Market, a small cross-genre supplement for randomizing the shopping experience. And there’s also Caltrops, a dice game involving everyone’s favorite pyramidal dice. I’ve also got to get the Hudspeth Games website dressed out (anyone out there want to help? Know Drupal?). After that we’ll see. I’ve been kicking around an idea for both a novel and new game within the same setting. I think I want to focus on the novel, but my lizard brain keeps throwing other ideas at me instead. Enough updates. Gotta go think about what to cook for dinner. Q Currently listening to Various Artists – Jazz Mixes – Jazz Mix Tape III Side One I’ve just finished the editing and revision of the Star Lost text through page 205 (of ~399). There is a wavery light at the end of the tunnel, and I don’t feel the tell-tale vibration of an oncoming train. Up next is the editing of the alien equipment section, followed by the looong section of Abilities descriptions. These haven’t changed much over the years, so I’m worried I’ll get complacent and miss a lot. Which reminds me. I won’t be able to afford to pay a pro to edit this for me, so I’m relying on my own meager (but still pro) skills. If any of you would like to do me a huge favor and give the manuscript an edit when I’m done, I’d owe you big. I’ll take you to dinner or cook for you or something to pay you back. Not to mention a free PDF of the final jobby. IF you’re interested, send me an email.
Q So, lately I’ve been working mostly on Igor!, while still thinking about other stuff. I’ve had two recent playtests of Igor! that have gone well, but I’m still having trouble with length of game. So far, everything I’ve done to shorten aspects of the game have lengthened aspects of others. However, I’m told by my playtesters that we are quickly reaching a playability state that is comparable to commercial games out there. And not the crappy ones, either. So that is good. I’ve got some ideas for changes that Joe, Karen, and I worked out after the last playtest, but I want to let things sit for a while before I subject the same people to yet another playtest. Perhaps I shall hunt up some fresher blood… This week I want to get back to work on Star Lost; tackle more of those fiddly final finagles that need to be addressed*. But before I do that, I want to take a quick look at Joe’s comments on the latest Playing the Market version. He had some very astute questions, and thankfully some solutions to go with them. But I haven’t had a chance to digest them with the work on Igor! So, that’s about it for work related updates. We’re still getting our minds around the upcoming Disney trip. That’s in a week and a half. I hope the weather is nice then. Looks like the entire eastern part of the country was primed to float away for a while there. Q * Let’s see, there’s
And there’s the continued line editing and revision process. |
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