December 2022 – Swift's Corner

12/31/22 Auld Lang Syne

2022 is ending, and while it’s been another day of work, it’s been a day of recollection and contemplation.

It should be worrisome that a majority of the year was a blur to my memory, but that is a sign that I’ve grown older. As time goes by, our minds accept the routine of a normal day and doesn’t commit it to memory, so it feels like the time spent had simply gone by. It’s one of those things that always interests me: the older we get, the faster time seems to go.

But I did have a few firsts. I got to see my children grow a little more. I saw them experience Disney. I experienced what it was to have a tabletop campaign be enjoyed by people all over the United States. I’ve made a couple of new friends, and said goodbye to a couple of old friends, either by the inescapable grasp of time or the distance that develops as people grow.

I’ve been humbled by my experience of time moving faster. I’ve tried to enjoy those moments I knew I’d remember. But as the evening comes to a close, and I fully expect myself to be asleep before 10PM, I’ll go ahead and say it here:

Happy New Year, readers. Thank you so much for following me, and I promise to give you more stories in the next year to read and enjoy.

To my players, I’m also thankful. I’m grateful you’re willing to dedicate your time and help me develop these stories. I hope I will make your investments worthwhile.

Stay safe out there, readers, and be sure to raise your cups for auld lang syne. Cheers.

-JB Swift

12/30 US Mail Collection Addition!

This may be surprising to everyone, considering the amount of stress it puts on my shoulders, but I’m very proud of being a United States Postman.

If management could stop throwing their authority club around for five minutes, they’d be surprised at how well I do my job. But alas, some people shouldn’t be in power and it shows.

That aside, I’ve been collecting US Mail memorabilia over the past few years. They’ve been small things, really. Clothes, mostly. But a Postmaster caught wind of this and showed me something that, she believed, would be a welcome addition to my collection. Also, a way to clear up some clutter in her office.

And she was right on both counts!

I have no idea where to put this thing, but it’s going up on a wall somewhere, by thunder.

Stay safe out there, readers!

-JB Swift

12/29 The Black Dog Returns

If you know me personally, then you’ve heard that title used since I was 12 years old. If you don’t, you’re about to be somewhat confused and eventually exasperated. My apologies.

Now, there is such a thing as a Black Dog in folklore. It’s an English legend that is seen as an incredibly large black dog with red glowing eyes. They were associated with evil or demonic entities, or were the harbingers of death (I prefer the word ‘doom’, but that’s the storytelling nerd talking).

Storytellers have used them before. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles used the Black Dog as major plot points. I even have a D&D short series campaign that has a Blink Dog take on the motif, somewhere in my files.

(That plot line may never be used, sadly. I like writing horror campaigns, but players never seem to want to get into the setting.)

For me personally, though, the Black Dog is a tavern I’ve never been to but always wanted to, and a shirt that I wore so habitually I could’ve given Doug Funnie a run for his money. Unfortunately, due to nearly 15 years of wear and washing, that shirt had fallen apart, and while I have a collection, I never owned another red colored shirt.

Until a friend of mine in Virginia sent a parcel down for Christmas.

And so begins a new era of the Black Dog. Thanks, Jason!

Stay safe out there, readers! I’ll be working on the next session this evening.

-JB Swift

12/28 Possible New (To You) Player!

One of the greatest compliments I can receive concerning my RPG writing is when a veteran player, especially one of my old players, expresses interest.

As much as the mainstream of gaming society has moved away from the systems I write best in, going on to 5th Edition D&D and similar, having one of those players say they’d be willing to step back into old rules for the sake of the story is something I take very seriously and am grateful for.

So, I’ll be sitting down this evening and doing the prep work of introducing a new Solo or Small-Team player, which means I’ll also be reaching out to one of the other players I’ve had going over their work and seeing how she’s coming along.

The next year looks promising for the campaigns! Now I just gotta carve out some time and turn the sessions into stories for all of you to read!

And remind myself that the Assassin’s Creed fan-fiction I have in my head is not what I should be working on. Shame, though. It’d be a good read if I did it right.

Back to slinging mail. Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift

12/27 Getting Back on Schedule

While I told my players that we would not be resuming the campaigns until the 7th of January, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be getting back into the campaigns then.

With Christmas now behind us, and facing a sheer mountain of follow-up work (parcel returns and the beginning of tax season), I’ve packed my tablet and notepads to work with me.

It’s time to finish out the plot details of the upcoming sessions and send the schedule reminders. The Main Group sessions have priority, but I’ll be lining up the Solo and Small-Party sessions as well.

I’ve been wanting to get back into this part of my storytelling, and it’s a haven during the Heavy Season. Hopefully, the story will be good enough to get everyone else’s attention.

Time to write! Take care out there, Readers.

-JB Swift

12/26 And I can Never Escape

During the mad scramble of house chores that routinely plague me on a day off, I heard the kids in the next room and repeatedly requesting a certain movie.

“Dad! Dad, could we watch that one?” they asked, pointing at an animated movie I was unfamiliar with. I also did not have my glasses on, so I couldn’t make out the finer details on the screen.

I knew it said “Klaus” and figured it was just another Christmas movie, so I agreed and went back to the dishes. Little did I know that the plot of the movie involved points I was very familiar with.

I will never escape work, even when I put away everything that could remind me of it. Eventually, I’ll unknowingly start a movie that revolves around a postman.

Never fails. Stay safe out there, readers. I’ll be writing this evening.

-JB Swift

Late-Night Christmas Return

I’ve been gone from here for nearly a month, but I’m back! Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to my daily postings and writing routines, but December is the Post Offices’ ‘peak season’, and I haven’t done much more than work and sleep.

It’s probably for the best that I haven’t been active within social media this month, though. I’ve never been a fan of December (yes, the whole month), and the stress reaches spectacular levels leading up to Christmas. It tends to make me into a surly old bastard who’s only thinking about his budget and what he needs to do to maintain it.

I become Ebenezer Scrooge, readers. There’s no getting around it.

But the day has passed, the kids are asleep, Return of the Jedi is playing in the background, and I’m finally able to sit down at my desk and handle the work I enjoy doing. Of course, this means I’ll only get maybe 45 minutes of actual work done before exhaustion decides it’s time to sleep even if I don’t want to.

Until next time, readers. Merry Christmas, and stay safe out there.

-JB Swift