This post is going to be different from some of my more recent ones in that I'm using it as a scratch pad for ideating and expanding on ideas I've had in the past for our Skies Over Aefala campaign. I'll try to keep it clear and easy to follow, since the process can be messy, stilted, and jumping to seemingly random points, but I don't want to polish it too much because I want to capture that creative mess. There are two primary stories: Cael's/Efiál's and the overarching Ski

The Year of Ranges As November encroaches upon us, I experience the same feelings that a runner must as they turn the final bend to the finish line. The stretch feels endlessly long, and yet the gap will close faster than the next inhale. I find this time of year to be the perfect season for reflecting on the year thus far so that I can finish it as strong as I am able. One of the biggest differences this year compared to previous ones is how I've approached the blog. The fir

No post next week, because my partner and I will be on vacation, and I intend to maximize my loafing time as much as possible. No time for loafing now though! We've got a post to bottle up and cast into the Sea of Bottomless Blogs and Ocean of Endless Opinions. Sploosh. ...or not! As the season transitions into fall, daylight grows more scarce, and it becomes more precious. Left to my own devices, I wake with the sun, rising earlier in the summer months, sleeping in during th

One of my closest friends recently shared an Instagram short with me from a small-time, self-published author whose solution to pacing problems was, "Make waiting dangerous," which prickled me enough to make me ask why and want to unpack it. Let's assume for the moment that 1) AJ is sincere in his attempt to help newer writers with pacing and 2) the story told is true: AJ's best friend approached him and admitted that she's been having an affair behind her husband's back the

Just a heads up, I won't be posting a blog next week, since it's nearing the end of the quarter. In the first draft of last week's post, I originally deviated from discussing the pros and cons of writing so soon after a session vs waiting to talking about Ernest Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory," otherwise referred to as the theory of omission. The iceberg illustrates that the elements the reader sees on the page such as character dialogue or action, the tip of the iceberg, are al

I want the world to know ♫ (I'm starting to notice a trend with these recent posts....) Embers Hot, Embers Cool Rereading transcripts so I can catch up on (re)writing Cael's journal entries months after playing the relevant session(s) has its perks. It's not the same as writing them while my creative synapses are in full tilt, which also has its uses, but maybe that's because both modes are two sides to the same coin, like the constant flip between the faces of discipline and

(This has absolutely nothing to do with the post; it's just a masterful performance. Elaine Paige's singing and acting are top notch.) One of my favorite pastimes while working on a story is imagining how that story will end and what the "after" story entails. Running with the assumption that everyone will survive, what will the characters go off and do once they've handled the story's main threat? For the longest time, I struggled to imagine the kind of life Cael would want

"Sail" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game" continue to lounge on their sofa cushion in a growing squirrel pile of items that migrated from the office out into the living room, which my partner and I really should address. I would say the games haven't moved far, and while true to a degree, we played a couple more chapters of the LotR game, losing more often than we won. And still it didn't bother me! Well, okay, one of the times we lost m

Two boxes sit on the couch cushions, set aside from the gaming table in preparation for our Skies Over Aefala campaign session. The first and smaller of the boxes depicts artwork by Weberson Santiago, a ship sailing in the vast openness of the sea, vibrant yellows, blues, and greens rendered in watercolor's likeness. The ship takes center stage, the focal piece with its many sails reflecting the colors of the surrounding horizon, the bow of the ship nearly glowing with a bron

What a wild work week. By all accounts, I shouldn't have finished transcribing Cael's Session 0 material in the least. We had the scare with Salad, which persisted into Thursday (8.6) and Friday (8.7) before she really started to recover; my partner and I then had a 3-day weekend because of the way his work schedule aligned for this next week; and then yesterday was his once-a-month odd workday, so he got off at 11:00 instead of the usual 15:00. Between Session 139 from last

Today's post is a brief accountability update, because my partner and I are keeping a close eye on our senior cat, Salad, whose health has been rapidly declining the past few days. We took her to the vet Monday, and they gave her an antibiotic shot to help with a UTI, but it's difficult to determine at this moment in time if her lack of appetite is the consequence of the shot or because her body is starting to shut down. We're hoping for the former while steeling ourselves fo

My diet growing up was trash. I ate sugary cereals or pop-tarts for breakfast, which shifted to ramen when I entered high school; sandwiches on white bread for lunch; and a whole slew of fatty dinners from over-cooked steak to fried chicken to boiled hot dogs to frozen pizzas and more. Oh, but let's not forget dessert. We kept a shelf in our pantry dedicated to fudge rounds and cosmic brownies and oatmeal cream pies, and we had boxes of Mt. Dew cans sitting on the floor. Tech

The imitation sun rises daily at 6:30, accompanied by humming wind chimes meant to stir you from slumber. Yet your eyes fluttered open sixty minutes before, when the artificial dawn first lifted night's curtain. You sigh that quintessential sigh of someone waking into lethargy for the fifth, sixth, eighth consecutive day. Turn away from the sunrise with its looming orange glow instead of reaching over to press the button that would see your room darken again. Fifty-four min

On March 13, 2024, my partner surprised me by ordering a pull-up bar for me to hook onto the top of the office door's frame. I'd been hem-hawing on whether to buy one immediately or wait until I could invest in the bench I wanted, so he made the decision for me. I didn't order resistance bands for another 2 and 1/2 months. What can I say? From computers to simple rice containers I fall into a research loop death trap that lasts weeks, sometimes months, all because I need to f

I have been listening to this piece on repeat since ~18:00 yesterday. I'll admit, the first time I listened to it, I thought it was alright but wasn't overly impressed. The buildup toward the end sounded muddied to me and removed me from the experience. However, shortly after that first listen through, I received a message from my father, which got me thinking about Teyr'loch Delter Pach and wondering how I'm going to up the ante for Cael's next (final?) performance. It can't

During 2020's lockdown period, I bought Gary Chapman's, "The Five Love Languages," on my Kindle to better understand how I myself feel most loved. Up until that point in my life, I never had a solid understanding of what it meant to truly feel or express "love." As a teenager, I had closed myself off to most others except for a very small circle of teachers, friends, and one or two family members, because I quickly learned that most of the people with whom I interacted feigne

(No blog post next week, seeing as how it's the 13th week.) Statblocks When I first downloaded Obsidian and began using the ITS Theme, I avoided one of the primary features that makes it a powerhouse for TTRPGs: the statblocks callout. First, many of its elements centered around D&D mechanics, which Daggerheart renders irrelevant, such as the Initiative and Death Saves. Second, the code block intimidated me: > [!statblocks] > ![Char Image|cover right circle htiny wtiny lp]()

You know how some people thrive(d) in school while others struggle(d)? I was one of the former. I graduated near the top of my class in high school and graduated Summa Cum Laude for my Bachelor's Degree. Post-graduation was where I struggled, suddenly finding myself standing amidst the collapsed walls where structure had once existed and not eager to rack up even more student debt by aiming for Master's or Doctorate degrees. Certainly, such pursuits would have given me the st

I currently have 41 plug-ins installed in Obsidian. We'll be lucky if I make it through this post without installing another. I can't help it. I get bored and start wondering, "What other cool plug-ins do people use? How can I optimize my setup further?" Then, within minutes, I find myself browsing articles or Reddit and installing new plug-ins to tinker with, which, to be fair, is a much better pastime than doom scrolling. You've seen the Theme already, but look! Look at how

Humble Beginnings Roughly 9 or 10 years ago, I played a session or two of D&D online with some people I knew. I couldn't tell you what edition, but I created a Warforged Wizard who was on an adventure to search for their creator, who had gone missing. Brand spankin' new to the concept of TTRPGs, and my giddy little nerd brain was thrilled at the idea of being able to cast magic. My giddy little nerd brain also could not grasp how to properly use magic. The descriptions were v