Month: November 2022

11/10 Been Down with the Sickness

And now the song is stuck in our heads. I’m not sorry.

I apologize for not posting for the past week, but I had come down with a double whammy of illnesses.

Sarah caught the flu on Saturday night, and my son Ben caught strep throat on Sunday. My caretaker brain kicked in and I looked after them on both days, only to find myself in a very strange lucid dream at 3AM on Sunday night.

I find it amusing that, even in a fever dream, I’m still focused on ‘progressive’ issues, as the setting was a world overcome by climate change and in a constant state of sweltering heat, and the narration was all about what could’ve been done to prevent it. I eventually woke up and checked myself, noting the 103-degree fever, which didn’t go down for nearly a full day.

That Monday morning, I checked in with my doctor (pediatrician and family member) and made a mental note that I had not seen an actual look of concern on his face in a very long time, but he looked worried when I came in. I caught both illnesses and my immune system was working overtime to keep me alive. I was put off work until this Saturday, given some very strong medications, and told to eat as much as possible. Also, a steroid shot, and there’s only one place someone with my BMI can take a steroid shot.

I couldn’t sit down for most of that day.

I’ve recovered enough since then to be considered ‘my old self’, which is to say a surly and cranky old man when I can’t have coffee. Lots and lots of green tea, though. This means I haven’t done any writing at all the past few days, unfortunately. Not even anything plot-relevant.

But as this post should indicate, I’m on the mend! I hope.

I owe a player a Side-Arc session, which I hope I can do an impromptu hosting tomorrow afternoon, and the Main Arc session is this Saturday. I also have a special request for a Sunday session, and that is looking to prove very interesting.

There’s a lot of writing to catch up on, and I’m afraid I have a strict time limit before the last of my evening round of medications kicks in and knocks me out.

Stay safe out there, readers!

-JB Swift

11/3 Forced Half-Day and the kids’ brushing out of hair (plus, a Weather Photo!)

Today was my regular non-scheduled day, but as I had a doctor’s appointment for my son around noon, management could only work me for a half-day.

Cue the childish behavior of pulling a face and saying neener-neener at the adults.

I managed to get some time set aside to work on the plot for the upcoming session, but I’ll have to take my tablet and notebook with me to work tomorrow and get to work on the list I’ve jotted down. I’m hoping to get a Side-Arc session (I’d really prefer two but I keep having to be responsible and go to work) set up, as well as finalizing a new Archetype for the newest player. Those are fairly simple to write up, but they can be tedious.

Han went in for her Kung Fu test today and passed! Her ability to kick my ass continues to develop and I couldn’t be prouder. Ben went to the test and has determined that he wants to study Kung Fu next year, but for now he’s going to copy my training in the carport.

No pictures of Han’s test for the site, as she said she didn’t want them posted because she didn’t like her hair today. I can respect that.

But that didn’t stop the two from brushing out their old man’s hair into a cloud of poof.

fwoomp

Han did go over my options for the weather photo today, though, so here’s the one she liked the most.

All things considered; I was ready to be waterlogged.

All in all, it’s been a full day, and it’s not over until I prep my meals for tomorrow. Time to wreak havoc upon the kitchen!

Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift

11/1 Tuesday’s Half Day and Returning to Stellaris

If there’s one very simple truth about myself and the concept of gaming, it’s this: I don’t actually get to ‘play’ that often. It’s actually very rare. I run the games, set the scenes and challenges, craft the outcomes and rewards.

To my players who are fanatic looters of downed enemies looking for items, yes you do get rewards in the campaign, they’re just intangible or are set aside until the adventure is over.

But how often do I sit down with the intent of actually playing? Rarely, if ever, especially these days. Not just with tabletop RPGs, but also console/computer games. Up until a year ago, those were a prime means for me to decompress, but my Xbox has a fine layer of dust on it (dusting is on the chore list, I swear, I just hadn’t noticed it until recently) and my Steam account hadn’t been used in months and months.

This isn’t a complaint, really. I’m a nightmare to run RPGs for, namely because I’m so used to being at the helm that I don’t know how to function if I’m not always in control of the scenario (which is ironic, considering that ‘being in control’ of an RPG session just doesn’t happen) or proceed as if I know everything. I harp on my players about meta-gaming (acting with knowledge their character wouldn’t possess) because I know exactly how tempting it is to use said knowledge and how difficult it can be to not use it.

The console and computer games, however, mostly just fell by the wayside. I work most of the day, and though I do sit at my desk for a majority of the evening, I prefer seeing and being with my family more than a screen. I give myself enough anxiety over how I barely get time with my wife and children already.

But I’ve found myself with a late evening to myself. My family was already in bed and I was at my desk, but I wasn’t really wanting to write or plot or craft something. I wanted to react to something rather than make the cause of a reaction. So I booted up Steam and sat through the updates needed to go back to Stellaris.

Ah yes, relaxation via superior firepower. Just the thing.

This game has bittersweet emotions to it. I love RTS games; being able to direct giant-scale battles and oversee the chaos of large governments appeals to my feeling of controlling the scenario. There are also the long, quiet moments when I can simply watch a society develop and come up with stories about them. Stellaris is actually the base I’m using for an upcoming novel I’m working on.

But it’s also a world that I was introduced to by my friend Brady. I could expect a deeply involved conversation about the game every day, but as he died last year, I’ve not been able to step into this game without remembering my lost friend.

In a way, it’s also comforting, going back to such a large-scale strategy game, even if I don’t have my friend to bounce socio-political ideas off of. I still get to think of a story, and I can easily suppose his reactions to my ideas.

All in all, I think he’d enjoy what I’ve come up with, and if that story ever gets published it’ll be dedicated to his memory. For now, however, there’s an enemy fleet that needs devastating.

Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift