The dogs were understandably angry with us. Not only were we gone, but we put them up with people who gave them haircuts.
“I’m going to pee on everything.” -Indy
There’s a reason why I have the rule of “get everything on the floor put away” when we come home after a long trip. Not ten minutes after getting home, the corgi was peeing on any bag I hadn’t gotten to yet.
“I’m not getting 5 feet away from you for two days.” -Korra
The Goldens are old enough to understand that sometimes we leave, but the youngest of the pack, Korra, still doesn’t like it if we’re gone for more than a day.
Now that we’re all settled back at home, it’s time I prepared for the Main Arc session tonight! So much to do, such little time.
Stay safe out there, readers. I’ll write about how they did sometime tomorrow.
I had established my rules for players on attendance a while back: they’re welcome to join the Main Group, but if they can’t meet the Main Arc session schedule, they’re welcome to explore Side-Arcs and will get my full attention just like everyone else.
One of these players, whose character will be introduced when I write up Arc 2, gave me a fun challenge: Can we make a Mech suit in Star Wars?
The short answer is: Yes, of course! But designing the concept has been tricky. I’ve been looking at the design as a kind of powered armor, but more and more often, I’ve thought of the concept as a vehicle. I’m going to have to go over my notes again and see what I need to do.
Unfortunately, it’s a short post for today. My day, while away from work, has still been pretty busy, and I haven’t slept more than 7 hours in the past two days. I was told that I need to finish up my writing work and head to bed.
But it’s been productive! I can promise that!
Welp, I’m off to sleep. Stay safe out there, readers, and good night.
I haven’t gone out of town for months and months, and it shows for this awkward little postman. We’ve gone out of town for a quick trip and upon arrival, Sarah wanted to stop by a few shops. She also knows me well and said “go look up the food available at the place”.
We got here with closing time coming soon, so it’s at the crowd level I like: sparse.
Not 5 seconds later, I’m debating religion with 2 proselytizers. My life.
As the day was spent preparing for the trip and traveling, there hasn’t been much writing just yet. But once we’re settled in the hotel, I’ll have my tablet out to whittle away at Mardek’s Side-Arc.
This is being typed during the middle of the biphasic sleep cycle, so apologies for misspelling. I’m half-asleep.
In what I consider the greatest of ironies, the character who has the most in-depth background written by their player was one of the biography pages that took the longest to write as a wiki-article. But, it’s finished!
There’s irony at the other end of this spectrum, as I tackle the final biography page for the Arc 1 player-characters who said during creation, “GM, I’ll let you fill in the gaps in his background”, but that’ll be something for next week. At the moment, I have a Side-Arc story and the final details of the upcoming Main Arc session to write out.
I should probably get to bed as well, at least for a couple hours. I’ll schedule this to post with the dawn. Good night, readers. Stay safe out there.
A Monday morning broke over our little rural home and something was different about it.
Namely, that I wasn’t scrambling to get my postal gear together. It’s a day off. A week off, actually. I’m off from the day job all week until next Monday, as we prepare for a trip out of town and catch up on all the other chores/projects that have been needing attention. The kids were all kinds of confused to see me in civilian clothes while they were readying for school, but even they were glad I was off work for a little while. “You work too much, Dad,” Han said during the drive to school. “You can get some sleep!” Ben said as I helped him out of the car.
Sleepy small town not happy about the workweek starting.
I wish I could, son. But just because Dad isn’t in his postal uniform doesn’t mean he is free of responsibility, be it self-imposed or house-spouse necessary. I’ll be writing some today, namely getting Votosh’s article finished with editing and posting, but also Mardek’s Side-Arc before Arc 1, Adventure 2 gets my full attention. As one of my players said during the sit-down discussion on Saturday: “No pressure on getting everything up, but I wanna read it!”
I’m not feeling pressured, don’t worry. That they are anxious to read the story is very encouraging. But before I can, I need to get the house in order. Sunday was spent on the backyard (wonderfully destroyed by overly excited dogs who love digging) and vehicle repairs (I am all kinds of an amateur with automotive mechanics but I can do some work), so it’s down the priority list I go.
At least I’ll have company while I wander around the house and property, as Old Man Casey refuses to leave my side when I’m home.
“That’s enough typing, please give pets.” -Old Man Casey
He’ll find the moving of topsoil entertaining, at least. So long as he doesn’t try digging through the bags.
I’m off to house-spouse and eventually write. Lots to do today and I can’t procrastinate. Stay safe out there, readers.
I did promise myself that I would get these updates done before I dove into my story-writing, so here are the Home-Brew skills and feats I’ve been working on.
I will be writing about the events of the day, especially the Arc 2 Aftermath session, but I wanted to take a moment to be an overly-excited nerd.
I’ve been rebuilding my Star Wars Expanded Universe novel collection, very slowly. I had one box in my storage building that had my surviving novels, which contained twenty books out of the eighty or so that I used to own. I lost the majority of my collection through multiple moves across the country and simple theft. But this one box had a true treasure.
Picture pulled from online, my actual copy is in good condition, though.
I took down my copy of “Vector Prime” by R.A. Salvatore early last evening with the intent to go through the series again. I personally enjoy the series, and I wanted to shore up my knowledge for future writings. But I had a moment of curiosity, so I checked the book to make sure it was one of those I had kept all these years.
Turns out, it was. In fact, it was the copy I bought when I was thirteen-years-old, back in 1999. My copy was a first printing.
Put simply: holy shit.
It wasn’t something I had thought about, but that I still have a first printing of this novel…well, I had a nerd moment. I immediately reached out to Salvatore and begged for an autograph on the book. “Vector Prime” had been one of my favorite novels, and the New Jedi Order series was incredibly impactful for this little nerd.
Will this autograph ever happen? I don’t know, but best believe I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen.
I did manage to get some sleep, but thanks to Old Man Casey thinking he’s still a puppy if he tries hard enough, that sleep was intermittent as I had to push the 80-lb Golden Retriever around. Felt like fighting a sibling for sleeping space.
With everyone else sleeping in for their Saturday, I went through my morning routine and snapped a photo of the sunrise for Hannah.
Pretty, but makes me wish I lived somewhere with elevation.
With the scheduled posts up and my priority list for GameMaster notes finished, I’ll be looking at the list to see what I can work on during the weekend. Come Monday, however, I’ll be whittling away at the stories every day until the Main Arc session.
The Field Group had put in a request for an hour this evening so they can go over the Aftermath. Arc 2 ended on some high notes and they want to be ready for the next Arc.
On that note, I’m off to sling letters and get an answer for today’s question: Can a postman outrun a storm?
Well, I took the evening to work on the plot for the upcoming Arc. I labeled it as “Wartime Diaries”, with a focus on what the Field Group would be handling during one of the most violent periods of Star Wars history: 1-2 ABY.
And… well, I did always pride myself on being a history enthusiast with the World Wars. I took that enthusiasm and put it to my plot-writing.
When I was done, I had to walk away from my tablet and take a moment for myself. Sometimes, the stories I write are visceral and painful, and I’m going to have think on how to pare it back so it can be a playable Arc, but when it comes time to make it a story, I’ll be going all-in on writing war.
I took the small moment I had to consider peace for what it was, and oddly enough, I got a good metaphor out of the starlit sky.
I interpreted it as a simple message: those who want war will always be bright and loud, but those who want peace are quieter and have so much more behind them.
I hope so. Man, but I should sleep. At least I can get through the first half of my biphasic sleep pattern. I’ll check in around 3AM, most likely, and see if I forgot to post anything.
I was handling the early morning chores, taking the trash out while kids were getting dressed and wolfing down breakfast. Stepping onto the carport in the predawn light, I noticed a strange but familiar sensation.
It actually felt cold outside.
Twenty minutes before dawn in rural Louisiana
It looks like we’ll have an actual Fall season here in the Southern US, and who knows: it might last a full week! I’m not going to get my hopes up on that, though.
As it’s Friday, the mail is lighter and I’ve rested some after the Side-Arc session, so I’m confident I’ll get more on the writing list taken care of. I also packed the tablet for lunch (and might even take a lunch break) to handle what I can in the afternoon.
Best to check the Session Schedule and see what to expect during the day. This also reminds me to update the damn thing. Takes a while for a new habit to settle in.
With that, I’m off to sling letters. Stay safe out there, readers.
Swift's Corner 