Right, so, last week, I posted about how I did a bunch of stuff that wasn’t on the #spuc list.

I did it again.

Not only did I take on new projects, I put up an album for sale. So the list is going to get all wonky for a bit.

However, the new work was from my Will Work Or Design Game For Food post, so that’s a Good Thing.

I also finished something. GO ME!

On The Table:

1. RPBGN – I’ve shut down new applications until I can get some infrastructure updates in place. Some of them are a direct result of the survey that I ran last week.
2. Codename: One Hour Night – I’ve been contracted to develop a custom board game. It’s an exciting project that I can talk about more in six weeks or so.
3. Codename: Lunar Kitsch Missile – I’m very excited to be working with
   David A Hill Jr, Ryan Macklin and Will Robot on this project. There will be a more formal announcement as things take shape.
4. Shambles Source Material #1 – I got a few more pieces done on this, but not as much as I wanted.
5. Codename: Insignificant Diversionary Anaconda – I received an unexpected bit of art update in the mail for this earlier in the week. I have a question out to them to see if the things I thought needed to be done still need to be done, but I haven’t heard back.
6. Codename: Pandoran Apothecary Chest – Unchanged
7. Codename: Gremlin Persistent Malice – Unchanged
8. Codename: Simulated Jocular Anaconda – Unchanged
9. Codename: First Rural Delusions – Unchanged.

In The Closet

1. Mobile Audio Rig v2.0 details here- Mothballed 2/24/10
2. Unfinished – (NaNoWriMo 2009 Entry) – Mothballed – 01/28/09
3. Codename: Enormous Intersected Automaton – Mothballed 11/04/09
4. Codename: Big Audio Dynamite – Mothballed 11/04/09
5. Codename: Unwashed Repeat Pedestrian – Mothballed – 11/04/09
6. Codename: Cackle Smash Soup – Mothballed 10/28/09
7. Codename: Tactical Plastic Laser – Mothballed 10/28/09

In The Trophy Case

1. NEW – Maschine Zeit Material – I did some work for the upcoming game Maschine Zeit (mostly some fiction stuff to flesh out part of the setting). I knocked this out over the last week, and it’s in the can! I’ll share details when it’s made available.
2. A Single Moment Of Weakness – A piece of Flash Fiction I wrote for a little roundup. Read it here
3. Shambles – My RPG about life as a Zombie. First revision. (read about it here) – Completed on 2/17/10
4. Obnoxious Howler Monkey – An Arduino driven, VMUSIC2 bases soundboard designed for use as a mood-setter for tabletop games. (read about it here) First Revision. – Completed on 11/18/10
5. The Grognards Of Gygax – My entry into the “Best Quest” contest for Legends of Zork. It won Second Place – Completed on 11/11/10

Excuse Of The Week: Still not getting the things done I NEED to be getting done.

Every now and then, there comes a need to raise some extra funds on the quick. Maybe your car blew up. Maybe you need to make an unexpected flight back home. Maybe you’re trying to bail someone out of the drunk tank after they threw up while trying to give a lap dance to a traffic cop who was really just doing his job.

Yeah. I’m there.

It’s nothing quite so exciting in this case. I’ve just been whacked with a poorly timed bill for several hundred dollars that I wasn’t expecting, and cannot shift. You might have noticed my getting a little creative lately in terms of hocking my wares and that’s all coming from this.

So this is me, putting out the call for work. If you need a little writing done, I’d love to do it. If you need a LOT of writing done, I’ve love to do that too. I’m open to creative suggestions. Feel like getting a few people together and sponsoring a Creative Commons game? I’d love to do that too. Ever wondered what it would be like to play an RPG that used cheese instead of dice? I’m your man. Want someone to write an RPG based around that sci fi show you love that never got enough respect? Hit me, I’m open. I can even give you a flat fee for “Write up the weirdest RPG Idea you’ve ever had.”

If you’re interested, or leave a comment below.

Over at Robertson Games they ran a little contest where they asked people to design a room for a dungeon that fit on a single page. They’ve announced the winners and you should really check it out. I tossed in an entry of my own. It didn’t win, but it was fun to write. Plus all the entries have been made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Below is my entry:

Room Name : As Through Fetal Hell

Description : This room is round, 50′ in diameter with a single door leading into the room. Spaced evenly along the interior walls of the room are thousands of small holes, too small for a human finger but large enough for a dart, flechette or crossbow bolt. The roof disappears into the darkness some 100′ up, but if illuminated the ceiling hangs with large, sharp stalactites, some of which look quite precarious.

The room is floored in cobblestone, some of which are subtly different colors than the rest. The cobblestones are laid out in an uneven mosaic that with lines that, on closer inspection, occasionally converge into pentacles. The gaps between the cobblestones are inconsistent. Some of them have no mortar between them, while others appear to be more recently mortared into place. Along the outer edge of the room, right up against the wall, is a six inch gutter that appears to have been carved out of the native stone. It is in one solid piece, and drains into five small drains spaced equidistantly around the outer edge of the room.

In the center of the room is raised, star-shaped dais. In the middle of the dais is a large stone statue depicting a creature of indescribable horror. It does not correspond to any monster they have encountered, or any monster in any book the players might have read. The statue is rendered in perfect detail, as if someone summoned a monster into this room and turned it into stone. It appears to consist entirely of eyes, teeth, claws and muscle, and in several of its many mouths and claws one can see the unmistakable bits of several adventurers (also rendered in stone) who were in the process of being torn apart and devoured. The statue itself exudes evil magic at am extremely high level. If at any point no one in the party are observing the statue, the room fills with the sound of stone grating against stone. This sound stops when anyone is observing the statue.

Underneath the center of the statue is the unmistakable glimmer of treasure, though it’s hard to tell what it is. The treasure itself is giving off good magic at a reasonable level The bottom of the statue is covered in sharp teeth, and two of the many arms of the statue appear to be in the process of reaching under the statue. On close inspection (someone will have to get under the statue to see for themselves), the item appears to be an amulet of some kind. In order to dislodge it, the adventurer must reach well into the toothy mouth from which it hangs and dislodge it. The amulet will give the wearer a +2 rating in whatever stat would used to determine their Courage.

Notes : There is only one trap in the room, it is magical in nature and is tied to the statue. If the adventurers attack the statue, the stalactites will fall from the ceiling on everything but the statue. The statue is a work of art. It is also the focal point of a scrying spell cast by the owner, who thinks it’s both beautiful and funny to watch people tiptoe around the room in fear. The grating of stone on stone is another spell from the owner, an intentional trick to make people think it’s moving. The amulet is a genuine reward to anyone who has the balls to just go for it. This room is probably only going to work on new players. It would probably work best if it was in a dungeon where every other room was filled with death-dealing traps and hazards. I’ve written the description to be generic, so that it could be used in any system. The name is an anagram for “The Halls Of Laughter.”

This work is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ca/

Here’s the deal.

Over the past 5 years or so, I’ve put together a few different things of an audio nature. I can’t even bring myself to call them songs, because well… most of them aren’t. They are mostly just weird bits of audio that I cut up and mixed together in ways I thought were interesting. I always joked with the guys on Sneak Attack that I should cut an album.

Then, I got this huge bill that I have to pay in three weeks (with no room for error). In the process of scrambling to put together some things to sell, I realized that there was no time like the present.

So, I put the tracks together in an album over at Bandcamp. it’s 5 bucks. And it’s a terrible album. But if you’re into that sort of thing, then you should head over, give it a listen, and if inclined do please drop a fiver on it. I would appreciate it in Many Many Ways. If it’s not your cup of tea, tell your friends to try it. If you think it’s terrible, then sucker your enemies into buying it.

Wanna hear what it sounds like: Check it out below:

I am a terrible person.

Back in SEPTEMBER, I was contacted by someone who wanted to do an Instructable that expanded on the work I did for the ‘Duino Tag guns (originally as Paranoia props). He was seeking my blessing to proceed, which I gladly gave.

He posted the Instructable in NOVEMBER, and I am only just now getting around to linking to it.

I am a terrible person.

It’s a good read, and if you’re interested in taking your ‘Dunio Tag guns one step further, here’s a good place to start.

j44industries’ ‘Duino Tag Instructable

It was even picked up by Hack-A-Day – which made me green with envy (though that had nothing to do with the delay in getting these links in place. That was just me flaking out.)

In more general update news, I’m running a new Shambles scenario at the Endgame Oakland Minicon and you should come play it.

I’ve also put some pendants and such up for sale in my Etsy store – it’s mostly backstock I’m clearing out, but we’ll see what else turns up there.

Also, it’s GM’s Day tomorrow, and there’s a big sale going on at DriveThruRPG.

Finally, threw down a piece of Flash Fiction that I’ve added to the Trophy Case.

As for the regular SPUC stuff… not a lot of traction. At all. On anything.

On The Table:

1. RPBGN – I put up a member survey, and have collected some good information from that.
2. Shambles Source Material #1 – I got off to such a strong start, but I’m not much further than I was last week.
3. Maschine Zeit Material – Mostly in the planning stages still.
4. Codename: Pandoran Apothecary Chest – Unchanged
5. Codename: Gremlin Persistent Malice – Unchanged
6. Codename: Insignificant Diversionary Anaconda – Unchanged (double erp).
7. Codename: Simulated Jocular Anaconda – Unchanged
8. Codename: First Rural Delusions – Unchanged.

In The Closet

1. Mobile Audio Rig v2.0 details here- Mothballed 2/24/10
2. Unfinished – (NaNoWriMo 2009 Entry) – Mothballed – 01/28/09
3. Codename: Enormous Intersected Automaton – Mothballed 11/04/09
4. Codename: Big Audio Dynamite – Mothballed 11/04/09
5. Codename: Unwashed Repeat Pedestrian – Mothballed – 11/04/09
6. Codename: Cackle Smash Soup – Mothballed 10/28/09
7. Codename: Tactical Plastic Laser – Mothballed 10/28/09

In The Trophy Case

1. NEW – A Single Moment Of Weakness – A piece of Flash Fiction I wrote for a little roundup. Read it here
2. Shambles – My RPG about life as a Zombie. First revision. (read about it here) – Completed on 2/17/10
3. Obnoxious Howler Monkey – An Arduino driven, VMUSIC2 bases soundboard designed for use as a mood-setter for tabletop games. (read about it here) First Revision. – Completed on 11/18/10
4. The Grognards Of Gygax – My entry into the “Best Quest” contest for Legends of Zork. It won Second Place – Completed on 11/11/10

Excuse Of The Week: Still not getting the things done I NEED to be getting done.

DriveThruRPG is having a HUGE sale for GM’s Day. It’s a good chance to get Shambles for 25% off!

Shambles isn’t the only thing available, of course. Lots and lots of PDFs at 25% off, from publishers all across the spectrum.

The sale only lasts until March 8th, so you’d better get while the gettin’s good.

A few weeks ago, I caught wind of this little thing via Twitter about Daniel O’Shea hosting a little flash fiction event for March 1st

I don’t know why, but I decided to jump in myself. Here’s my entry. Enjoy (or not).

–

He kept telling himself that it was just one time, a single moment of weakness. Surely, he could be forgiven.

Being an associate minister isn’t really any fun. You give the sermons when the other guy is golfing, you might get to give a night sermon every now and then. You go see the poorest of the elderly in the worst of the nursing homes. When people see you, they’re always looking for “the real minister” – someone even said that to him once. There was probably opportunity there for him to learn humility from it all, but somewhere after he turned 40, he’d just lost interest in the whole ordeal. He was never going to be allowed to do God’s Work. He was relegated to doing God’s Busy Work.

Yet every Sunday, he’d sit in the front row, and smile. There was nothing else for it, really. He had to try and make the best of what he had. He was too old to start over now, and too used to what he was doing. He was coming to peace with his circumstances, even if that peace didn’t involve prayer anymore. Besides, those cast-offs, those people too unimportant or unattractive to talk to the other guy, they still needed a minister.

She was a bit of a lucky break, really. She came to their church for the first time while the other guy was out of town. She was going through a rough divorce, and tearfully was looking for someone, anyone to that could help, just to talk. He was only too glad to offer his services, and they spent the entire afternoon in his office, talking. Everything he ever learned in seminary, everything he’d learned on the job, everything he’d ever been told, it all said the same thing: she’s emotionally vulnerable, weak, hurting and will become attracted to you if you aren’t very careful. There are things you do in those situations to help mitigate the risk. He knew what they were, all of them. But he ignored them.

A single moment of weakness.

They met again later in the week for some Bible Study. And every Sunday and Thursday after that. He could tell there was something there, something special for both of them. Sometimes they would read scripture and talk well into the night. If he had been the other guy, tongues would have set to wagging. But nobody gossips about the associate minister.

It was one of those late night sessions where she decided, abruptly, that she was ready to accept Jesus into her life. She was ready for peace. She wanted to be baptized, right then, and so off to the church they flew.

They parted briefly, awkwardly, to go into their changing rooms, and each listened quietly, minds racing, as they could hear the other fumbling on the other side of the wall, removing their clothes and putting on their respective robes of ceremony. He closed his eyes trying simultaneously to drive away and embrace the image of her flesh, how yielding she would be, how soft and tender. He beat his lust into submission.

A single moment of weakness.

He was waiting in the baptistery when she came out, her robe clinging to her body in ways contrary to intent and design. He forced eye contact as she came into the water, clapping a mental hand over the voice in his head that was providing ceaseless narration. Taking her hand, he showed her where to stand, what to do and how to cover her nose lest the water get inside.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

She leaned back into the water, and he dunked her in deep. And for reasons he’d never fully understand, he held her there. He held her there through the surprise, through the panic, through the noisy splashing and scrambling for purchase on the baptismal floor. He held her there until her frantic flailing quieted. He held her there until she found peace.

Now she floated before him, his single moment of weakness, and he prayed for forgiveness.

Let’s talk about CthulhuTech

When this game first came out, I didn’t pay much attention to it. It’s not normally the kind of thing I play, and I’m coming to feel like games based on the Cthulhu mythos have just lost their magic. There’s a solid market for mythos inspired games, and it seems like everyone’s angling for a piece of that market. Sometimes, the games are excellent. But the bad ones are really bad. If you combine that with me being more or less an indy snob, this game just wasn’t really on my radar.

After having met the brains behind the game at a private horror gaming event, I added the book to “The List Of Games I Need To Look At Closer.” When I was offered a review copy of the main book, I jumped at the chance.

Obvious things first. The book is 50 bucks (with PDF it’s $60). It’s gorgeous, and it’s full of stuff. The setting is a mixture of Cthulhu Mythos and Giant Mecha Anime. There’s more than enough here for you to start running your game or writing a campaign. If you’re already on the fence, then I’ll say it now: You Want This Book.

The system used is called Framewerk, a custom job that will probably remind you of White Wolf’s Storyteller system. They mix up the dice rolling a little by letting you pick different combos of dice from your dice pool for success, which is cool but may seem a little too fiddly for some. There’s some structure in place to spend points to affect die rolls, a mechanic I always like. And they stress pretty heavily throughout the book that telling a good story is the most important thing.

Which brings me to the setting. As far as the Cthulhu Mythos goes, if you’re looking for something that sticks closely to what Lovecraft wrote, this game isn’t for you. I’ll go further, and say if you are looking for something that sticks to what people traditionally think of as the Cthulhu Mythos, this game isn’t for you. The game takes great liberties with the source material and the Mythos – indeed, there would be no way to write this game if it didn’t. The question is, is the end product worth it. In this case, I have to say yes. The book lays out a rich history and background for the setting, and a judicious use of fiction in the book helps bring the setting to life. There’s a lot of meat there, and it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into it. The setting alone can suck you in.

As for the Mecha, when you’re dealing with any game with giant robots, there is only one question to answer: Are The Giant Robots Awesome? In CthulhuTech, I can pilot a Mecha that has a plasma cannon, a tentacle sheath, and a tongue I can use as a weapon. The Mecha are also partially organic, and they heal on their own. In other words – yes. Yes, the Mecha are awesome. But as with the Cthulhu Mythos, if you have particular ideas about what Mecha are and how they work, you may not like how these Mecha work.

You can also play what they call a Tager – a human merged with a creature from beyond time and space in a kind of symbioses. Shifting between human and alien forms, Tagers are strong, but horrific. It’s a nice touch to the game, and I could see a lot of great story coming from dealing with being a Tager.

I’m not so into the idea of running CthulhuTech. I’d much rather play it. And I haven’t had a chance to do either yet. I don’t think it’d make a good game for a brand new player. As a game it just feels a little too involved to use as someone’s introduction to gaming. But if you dismissed it off hand, like I did, then I’d encourage you to give it a chance. It’s a great looking game, with a lot of meat to it, and conceptually it just works.

Clearly, at 50 bucks, the game is not aimed at people who want to run a one-off. I think it would take a couple sessions to get into the swing of thing. Buy this book to set up and play a campaign. If you want more detail than that, you’ll need to do some more reading:

• WildFire: CthulhuTech Quick-Start Rules
• Atomic Array: Episode 013: CthulhuTech RPG
• Mad Brew Labs: CthulhuTech: The Game That Almost Wasn’t
• Critical Hits: When Horror Meets Awesome: CthulhuTech
• Kore Dice: Interview with CthulhuTech’s Mike Vaillancourt
• Stargazer’s World: Review: CthulhuTech
• Stan!: The Stars Will Be Right
• Arcane Underground: The Saga of CthulhuTech (Updated)
• Atomic Array: Episode 040: CthulhuTech
• The Village Barbarian: Review: CthulhuTech Core Book
• Dice Monkey: Review: Vade Mecum
• Blog of a new RPGer: Review: Dark Passions
• Stargazer’s World: Review: Damnation View
• allgeektout: Review: Mortal Remains
• The Spirits of Eden: Review: Vade Mecum
• Creatively Anomalous: Review: Dark Passions

So I have this problem somtimes, as you may have noticed from my Secret Project Update Club posts.

Sometimes, in the middle of working on a project, I get hit with an idea that I just HAVE to work on. Sometimes they are little things, sometimes its a short project. Sometimes, it’s a massive undertaking that would require several months of work by more than one person.

Like the one that hit me today.

To say that I got kicked in the head by the muse today would be like saying I have a couple irons already in the fire. The idea is fantastic, compelling, exciting, and everything I want to work on right now.

And I can’t. Not without shelving every other project I have on deck. Some of which have deadlines, others of which have momentum. I can’t just drop every other game I am working on right now to work on the new one.

I know other people deal with juggling projects. What do you guys do when this happens? Do you sit on it? Do you clear your table and dive in? Do you try and juggle? How do you keep you brain from catching fire?