Release Party Day

Short post. Much ado about something.

Welcome to another weekly update - things are getting more and more upsetting out there. I hope you are all taking care. I wish we could just fast-forward to the trials, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. We’re getting ready for the release party - a thing that is shaping up to be an exciting event.

News

Obviously, I’m going to blather on about the release party. This was a passion project, and we want to share it with the world. So maybe I don’t need to blather on about it after all.

I’ve been asked to come back and sit in on another Fitz of Writing Podcast. These guys are great. They typically talk about writing, all aspects really. I like that they appreciate that so often writers work in a void. Essentially, it’s you and your madness stuck on a small rowboat. Other voices and opinions are welcome, even if perhaps not heeded. Don’t quote me on this, but I think I’ll be discussing magic mechanics and character badassery. I hope I didn’t let the displacer beast out of the proverbial bag of holding, but get excited! This is going to be a fun podcast.

New Name

I’m changing the title of this substack to Carpe Mania. Vasccilating between depressions and manias, one neurodivergent writer has determined that that is what must be done. During those chaotic moments of manic creative inspiration, one dive into the paint bucket, the word processor, the pottery - whatever you do, do it when you’re feeling the mania come. You’ll vent energy, make better decisions, and hopefully have a product when it’s all over with. As well, while in depressive states, you won’t feel so bad about not being productive. Believe me, I know the cycle. So welcome to Carpe Mania (The Substack!)

New Games
Tomorrow, I’m heading out around town, with a body-doubling assistant, anxiety meds and fingers crossed, to leave flyers and promote the party event. That means stopping at ALL the FLGSs I can find. I’ve got four on the schedule at least. There is no way I can go to FOUR game stores and not buy a game. (I’m also hitting arcades, book stores, co-ops, cafes, and interestingly enough, tanning booths - you’ll just have to show up to the party to see why.)

This is what’s on my purchase list:

• Pendragon Core Rules

• Sentients kickstarter

• Triangle agency

• Mek-Borg

• Vecna: Eve of Ruin

• Division 6

• Tomorrow in Revelation III

• Warhammer fantasy: corsairs of flariel

• Mythic America

• Dragon bane: Bestiary

• Lex Arcana

• Faecraft

• Utopia Planitia (Star Trek)

• Mielle borns

• Cast Away

• The Between

• Pendragon: The Grey Knight

• Dragon Age

• Five Parsecs from Home (Modiphius)

• Obscure (horror)

• Bioma

• The Zone

• Xenolanguage

• Otherscape

• Coriolis

• Tether

Obviously, this list would blow the budget, but I am keen on finding a few. So, next week, I’ll have something to report.

The Game Masters Companion: The Darkest Age
The rewriting process is going slowly. I want to add a few essays from other GM/DMs about how they deal with zombies and player characters—still looking for anyone as interested in zombies as I am.

Fun Thing
I went to a new location to write this. Sitting next to me is a little old couple talking about… GAMING. She had short hair colored blue, yellow, and green, and glasses. So cute. Husband, I didn’t see well, but he was hunched over, nodding about her critique of the local FLGS.

Burn Your Transponder

This project is growing in scope dramatically. Character creation is growing, shrinking, streamlining. I was originally considering having a “background” in lieu of a “race.” I feel like “race” is an old term, a loaded word these days. If it’s sensitive to folks, there are plenty of synonyms out there. And, in this setting, civilization is spreading out amongst the stars, but not enough time has passed for evolutionary divergence. I’m hoping to bridge that in a supplement called “Dilation,” where I wax poetic about time, space, and moving faster than nature intended us to.

Today I want to sound out my idea for ship creation. Lots of systems have rules for vehicle creation, from the original Car Wars to Cyberpunk’s Chrome Book, to West End Game Star Wars to Traveller (praise be!). I don’t want to make something that’s already been made. I don’t want to duplicate what need not be duplicated. I think that the concept of hard points, which I believe came from Cyberpunk 2020 (Mike Pondsmith is a manifestation of the Muse Calliope). Also, Palladium games (The ‘Nam, TMNT, After the Bomb, Road Hogs) had the hard point feature.

For those who don’t know, hardpoints are places on a vehicle that are reinforced, armored, wired, and designed to house or mount a heavy or vehicle-class weapon. So, that would be anything you can’t easily carry.

For ships in Burn Your Transponder, I think there have to be three basic sizes. Small, medium, and large. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. Sure, there’s a Personal size, but it’s too small to modify and generally a one-piece, minimal-crew lifeboat or puddle-jumper type of thing. Then on the other side of Large, there’s Huge, and Upsetting. Large, would be say the Enterprise-D or a Nebulon-B from Star Wars. Upsetting, well, after a certain size, things become mega-constructs and have more in common with moons and planetoids than other ships. Anything ¼ the size of the moon is going to have noticeable gravity. So, ships that size are going to be available only to a corporation or someone with a CR (Credit Resource is a game Mechanic designed to avoid tracking coins and dollars and credits) score similar to that of a corporation. I mean, right?

No Time For Love, Dr. Jones

Today is the release party, and there’s no more time for anything else. See you there!