Wednesday, May 24, 2017

When a Break is Not a Break and Other Madness

A Few Announcements

E-Mail List

Now, if you sign up for my e-mail list, you can get a free download of Heroism and Other Lies Episode 101: Pilot! If you've been waiting to start the Heroism and Lies series, this is the perfect opportunity to jump on board.

Link: http://eepurl.com/cKrLjf

If you sign up for my e-mail list, I'm not going to bombard you with a bunch of spam or talk a lot about random things. That's what this blog is for. The list is mostly for book announcements so that I can keep people informed of new releases.

Heroism and Other Lies: Episode 103: Monster of the Week

The third episode of the Heroism and Lies series is going to be released in ebook form on Friday (26 May 2017). It's already available in physical print. This is one of the most action-packed episodes so far!

Ebook: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/722906

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HTMR23

Physical: https://www.createspace.com/7152394

Now On To What I Was Going To Talk About

*Sits down*

Hi. Hello. How are you?

So, I'm on a break, as it were. Not from work or from life, but from running Toybox. We had a session last week, so there will still be another recap coming soon-hopefully. But we have two sessions off, so there will be a bit of a gap before the next one after that.

I have a lot of things I want to do with the break in the time that I would otherwise be planning for Toybox. I'll talk about them in no particular order.

Toybox

"Wait, didn't you just say that you were using time you would otherwise be planning for Toybox?" Yes, I guess I did say that. Still, I want to get ahead on plans. I've got some good general ideas of where I want to send the group for the next several things, but I need to actually get down in the weeds and figure out maps and enemies and other stuff.

One Shot

I didn't say I was taking a break from GMing altogether. I am still going to do a one shot for people with alternative work schedules sometime over the break. I've got it mostly planned already, so that won't really be cutting too much into my planning time. I'll probably post more about it here afterwards, but I'm not sure if I'll post my pre-notes, a recap, or just a general thought response.

Blog Update

The links and such on the blog have fallen somewhat into disrepair. I need to update *most* of the Toybox pages, the links on a lot of the recap episodes, as well as everything on my "Now Available" page.

Heroism and Other Lies: Mini-sodes

I am wanting to write some short stories for Heroism and Other Lies. More on this later.

GenCon Adventures

At present, I'm planning on running a Cypher System adventure and a SCRAM adventure at GenCon. I want to work on putting these adventures together before I get too focused on other things.

Other Things

Here are some things that I generally want to work on, but that I'm not necessarily as concerned about getting done over the break.

New Novel

I have an idea for a novel that I'm wanting to work on, but I've been having some trouble in planning it. Without giving away too much at this point, the novel has two parallel parts that are developed simultaneously. I am having trouble planning and figuring out logistics for one of these parts. However, it's not the part I was expecting.

Cypher System

I've got a lot of different ideas of things I'd like to do with Cypher System.

Scooby Doo Adventure
I don't know why, but one night I was kept up thinking about making the Scooby Doo characters in Cypher System. I sort of like the idea of trying to put together an adventure that sort of parodies a Scooby Doo style thing with investigating monsters that may or may not be real. Probably something with a bit more battles than a normal Scooby Doo episode though.

Fae Guardians Adventures
I've been thinking of a setting that's not quite a fae-based thing, but definitely inspired by fae style things. Something that feels partly like the Trollhunters tv show (which, if you like animated kids adventure shows, I'd recommend watching it on Netflix.) My "guardians" adventures, if I get around to making them, would be short self-contained "episodes" designed to be run with little or no prep on the part of the GM. (Using a format inspired by the Instant Adventures that MCG has come out with for Numenera or The Strange.)

Fae Campaign Path
I would like to do a longer set of adventures-a whole campaign path, taking players from 1st tier (or lower) all the way up to 6th. The idea I have presently would be something set in the same setting as the above adventures, but with a deeper and more developed plotline.

I also have a lot of space-based ideas, but they aren't taking my focus very much.

The Problem

Mostly, it's that without deadlines, I have a really hard time focusing and getting stuff done. So, I really need to give myself near deadlines to get myself to focus, but I don't have any way of enforcing anything like that. So...yeah...

And it's weird, because I feel so much better when I'm actually working on and producing creative stuff. I definitely feel my best when I'm GMing stuff, when I can bring people into my world. Writing isn't quite the same, but it's still better than the alternative. So why is it so hard to push myself to do it?

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you have a lot of creative ideas you'd like to pursue, as always! I admire that you prioritize creativity and use it as a great outlet.
    I too struggle when I don't have deadlines. I'd imagine if you sit down and decide how long you want to devote to each project, it'll be helpful to getting started!

    It's so easy to recognize that something is good for us or that it makes us better, yet we find plenty of excuses to not put those good intentions into action. There are so many distractions and ways to spend time that it's tough to prioritize. Hopefully with your list you'll be able to keep yourself accountable and excited for pursuing those fun outlets!

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