I’m back to do a MERP! Yay. I missed last Friday because I was actually socializing. See the “ENJOYING” paragraph below.

MAKING:

Obviously, I’m not blogging as much these days. Mostly this is due to the fact that I’m busy fairly actively searching for new freelance clients, along with trying to spend some time teaching myself some of the latest design techniques so that I’m more marketable. But I’m also happy to report that some of my non-blogging time is being spent doing something I haven’t done in years – preparing to run an rpg campaign. Specifically, I’m running Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies. So in terms of “making”, I can share with you the following Website that I’ve added as a sub-site to Canon Puncture that will be a log and resource area for our S7S campaign: http://www.canonpuncture.com/swashbucklers

ENJOYING:

Last Friday I was in St. Louis for a family reunion that was capped off on Friday night by a Cardinals ball game at the new Busch Stadium. It was my first time in the new stadium and my first time ever in a “party box” – a half-inside/half-outside section with its own bar and snack counter all served up as part of the ticket price, which I did not have to pay. The Cardinals won, the nachos, hot dogs and BBQ chicken were quite good (I think I ate 7 cheese-dogs), and the beer was … well it’s Busch Stadium, so the beer was all Bud products i.e. watered-down American barley-piss, so I was having none of that. But still, it was a very nifty evening with about 12 members of Leah’s family and a night off from parental responsibilities (the kids were all back at the hotel supervised by Leah’s teenage nieces).

Not much going on TV-wise since many of the shows I enjoy are done for the summer. I’m very glad Chuck is coming back, I hope Castle does as well, and I’m looking forward to new Burn Notice episodes coming soon. Other than that, I think it’ll be a light summer for television viewing in our house.

I saw Wolverine while in St. Louis. I actually liked it better than the reviews of my peers led me to expect, but it was entirely on the performances of the actors and not because the action or story were all that compelling. I definitely would pay to see more of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Taylor Kitsch was awesome in the few minutes he clocked in as Gambit.

READING:

I’m waiting for my library to receive two books I’ve got on reserve – one of them being the new Dresden Files novel – so while I wait for that I decided to augment my S7S prep by re-reading one of my all-time favorites – Bard by Keith Taylor. It is semi-historical fantasy written in the 1980s that hews closer to R.E. Howard than J.R.R. Tolkien, and although I won’t claim it is stellar literature, it still clings to my story-loving heart even though this is now the fourth time I will have read it. It is not well known – Taylor is an Australian author and the series of five Bard novels apparently never really took off here in the States, but I really love books 1-4 and highly recommend them to anyone who might enjoy a sweeping series of yarns about an Irish Bard named Felemid mac Fal who starts off his adventures in post-Roman Britain and then ventures on to become the companion of a female Jutish pirate-queen for the next three books in the series. Yes, that’s right: an Irish bard and a woman pirate adventuring in a magic-is-real version of Northwest Europe in the 6th Century. The writing would have to be pure shit for me not to like that. But it is actually pretty good writing, in a pulpy-fantasy sort of way. Even after four readings, it holds up.

PLAYING:

Tonight Rich and I finish up Burning Wheel: Rome with Ogre Whiteside. Honestly, it is really a shame and a kinda big ball-drop for me not to have blogged about last week’s session already, because it was one of the best nights of roleplaying I’ve had in a long while. Rich wrote some stuff about it over on Canon Puncture but I really ought to have elaborated on it myself by now, I just haven’t taken the time.  Maybe a big overall wrap-up post is in order after tonight’s game brings the series to it’s conclusion. I’ll try. I’ve got lots to share about it.

Next Wednesday, we begin Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, our long-awaited and much-anticipated campaign. As I mentioned above, I’ve added a swashbuckling sub-site to Canon Puncture to act as a campaign log and you are all invited to follow along as we move through pre-play planni ng and into actual play over the next several days.

I’m also playing in a Spirit of the Century game with Mark Kinney, Clay Karwan, and Andrew Black. We had one meeting and it went really well. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Thursday night game this week but we’re planning on getting back to it next week.

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