Holy Crap, It's July

Boy, have I been busy.

It has been non-stop Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, designing, creating, throwing away, redesigning, re-creating, streaming, and new game playing for the last two months. So much for the schedule I'd set for myself.

Here's what I have worked on, and I hope that I can write about it a bit more in the coming weeks:

-Kylind Campaign is going to be adapted to the Pathfinder system. I have a lot of reasons for doing this, but the main one is because Pathfinder is all published under OGL, or the Open Gaming License. As a writer and designer, this is a god-send because I don't have to worry about stepping on toes when I'm working on my own mechanics. If I like how something works, now I can reference it for players. If I don't like how something works, I can provide alternate rules in my document. Really, it's less of a mess and headache, so that's what I'm working on now - full scale conversion.

-Streaming! I now stream approximately five times a week on Twitch.tv. My channel is located here and has been added to the sidebar links. At the moment, I stream two things regularly: Diablo III on Mon/Wed/Fri and Minecraft on Tues/Thurs. I may swap a day here or there in and out for other things by request, but that's my general schedule. Be sure to catch me between 1PM-5PM PST/PDT Monday through Friday if you want to see me fail miserably (okay, maybe moderately succeed) at gaming.

-YouTube Videos. This was requested by the few people who currently follow me on stream. Right now, I'm drafting out ideas on what I can make videos for and how often. So this is in the pipeline, just not sure when or what just yet. I'll see what I can do. =) Because there's nothing there right now, I'm not planning on linking it. Just keep an eye out for it in the future.

-THE BOOK. And yes, I do mean THE book (my dad's). Book #3 is on the gamut next for editing and release. It has been in my backlog for two years now, and I have nothing but time to get it done now, so I want to take advantage of that. Other projects will likely have to go on hold for it, but that's okay. I owe it to myself, my father, and to the people who enjoy it to get it out there. That, and if I finish it sometime this year, maybe next year I'll have Book #4 to work on!

-THE GAME. There is a game of the video variety that I have had tumbling about in my head for quite some time now. Unfortunately, I think someone may have gone and made it already, though it isn't out yet. So now, I need to decide if it's worth developing on my own with a few trusted associates as competition. That's a whole other project on its own, and likely the lowest in priority as a result. Definitely has the most work to do.

Last but not least, I am still job searching. You may remember several months ago I posted about what to do when you find yourself without work. Regrettably, I haven't been very good at taking my own advice, so now it's time to hold myself accountable. Feel free to hold me accountable too! Poke me on Twitter. Comment on my blogs. Yell at me about why I haven't posted anything recently.

I owe the world so much for being so kind. It's about time I pay it back by letting all these head goblins out and producing something wonderful. I hope you enjoy it.

[D&D] Kylind Campaign - Philosophy

Rather than just copy paste something else out of my source documentation, I wanted to talk a little bit today about inspiration and philosophy for my campaign setting. This week has been particularly rough in terms of motivation, and I couldn't help but feel like the best exercise I could provide to myself to get out of that was stepping back and attempting to analyze what it is that I want to do with this campaign.

[D&D] Kylind Campaign - Class Preview: Chronologist

Hello everyone,

I need to be much better about having a regular schedule with this blog. I've done a poor job, and it doesn't reflect well on me. So, at least look for a weekly update every Friday with a new look into my unique D&D campaign. Today, I'll be giving a taste of one of my unique classes - introducing the Chronologist.

Bear in mind that as a sneak peek for this base class, I'm only revealing some of the description and the first two levels of the class. This is the current iteration, so there may be changes when the supplement as a whole is considered complete. In addition, you'll see a few things referenced that you won't find in another supplement. For those, I may preview them later, or perhaps once the supplement is finished, you'll have to pick it up to fill in the blanks!

I'd like to thank Bill and Ashton for their work in helping me tune this class. Bill has had to put up with a class that was extremely under-tuned at first, and Ashton helped me with much of the research done to improve the class. Without either of their input, I'd likely have scrapped the idea before fleshing it out. Thanks guys!

[D&D] Kylind Campaign - A Short History

It has been a hectic few weeks, let me tell you. But you don't come here to read about my (mis)adventures in unemployment. You come here (I hope) to read interesting topics on gaming. So today, we're going back to my biggest roots and talking about D&D.

Today, I want to introduce you to a campaign I'm running for a small group of friends. Ultimately, when everything is said and done, I'd like to compile, proofread, format, and send this campaign off to a publisher. If you're interested in 3.5ED D&D and looking for a new world to explore, that's what I want this to be.

At this time, I plan to have Kylind offering a map of the region, a base adventure (crafted by me, but guided by my group of clever and hilarious friends), five new races, one new base classes, and four new prestige classes. There will also be a cluster of new items, spells, and feats for you to try out. I'd like to preview a bit of it, in hopes to generate interest, and perhaps gather some feedback on what I'm doing right and what I could do better. Enjoy a short history of the region as well as short descriptions of my races. My apologies if the reading's a bit bland - history tends to read that way.

AFK - BBS!

Just a quick note.

I'm in the middle of studying for my finals for bartending school and moving to a new home. Needless to say, the last week or so has been very busy and not allotted much time for writing.

I have a few blogs planned, including a review of gender in the current gaming community climate, but that will have to wait until I have the time to really devote to it. I want to give that one the attention it deserves.

I'll be back next week once we're all settled in. This was the last chance I had to type this up before unplugging for a few days, and felt I owed it to anyone who's actually following. =)

Thanks guys, be back soon!

[Design] Community in Games

I've had this one in the works for like a week now, because I've wanted to get it just right. This topic is pretty near and dear to me, and if you wanted insight on how I view community and community management, this is probably the most in-depth look I've written. It's a long read, but I hope it's worth your time.

As a community manager, what naturally attracts me most to games are those that are intrinsically built to support meaningful and positive player interaction. Everyone lately is saying that the MMO market is dying, and that it's on its way out. I agree, but for likely very different reasons than most others might suggest. MMO's today aren't just struggling with a good financial business structure - they're struggling because they've lost sight of what made playing an MMO appealing in the first place. When was the last time you were proud of the community you were part of in an MMO? How often do you hear "Oh, that game has a great community?" rather than "I'd rather gouge my eyes out than spend time on that game's forums?" I think there's only a few contenders out there that could boast this, and surprise - they're the ones that seem to be doing the best.

[Review] Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (3DS)

So, one of the many things I'd like to do with this blog is review many of the video games that I most enjoy. I've always been a very avid and dedicated Harvest Moon fan, and I love my mobile gaming, so naturally when a new 3DS Harvest Moon game was on its way, I made sure I'd have it as soon as it was available. If you'd like to skip the in-depth review, feel free to Ctrl+F your way down to "Final Verdict" for the short synopsis.

It's been out for a while now (released November 6th, 2012 in North America), but this one takes a long time to get into, and I find most Harvest Moon games to be best enjoyed in small bursts. Harvest Moon is a bit about monotony, and trying to play through in a marathon can get mind-numbing, no matter which entry in the series you're playing. With A New Beginning (abbreviated to ANB for ease), this is even more true, as this is one of the slowest paced Harvest Moon games I have ever played.

Free Time - Handling Job Elimination

I'm just now getting into a mindset to sit down and write today. It's been a long and emotional day, even if I only spent about two hours at the office.

Today, I was released from my job, as my position has been eliminated.

This is not a new experience for me. I was part of the "Blizzard 600," as some of us called it, so I'm simply grateful for the opportunity to expand my creativity and pursue greater horizons without having to make the difficult choice - leaving my job.

I have no plans to leave the gaming industry. Right now, I have the wondrous opportunity to apply to the jobs I want rather than immediately need, and I can look into pursuing independent ventures as well. The chance to weight the two against each other without willingly taking the dive on my own is really a blessing in disguise.

In the mean time, I know I'm not the only one out there who's lost their job, losing their job, or going to lose their job. Change is prevalent, and in the ever-volatile gaming industry, unfortunately it's quite frequent. This is my second experience, so I thought I'd share the mental and organizational process I go through when these things happen.

Toeing the Line

Hello friends!

If you've popped in and seen this and used to read my blog back in 2010 or earlier... Holy crap man, you probably just forgot to unsubscribe when I stopped writing. I'm deeply sorry for being gone for so long, but there were a lot of reasons I couldn't blog.