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Howdy, Farmhands!
Among the many ways I "failed" at traditional masculinity as a child, (as much as any one can do so, mind. Gender roles are bullshit!) I never became A Car Guy. While many a youth saw the wheels and hubcaps and fenders and was overcome with a desire to get behind the wheel, I couldn't really care less. I consider motor vehicles to be not unlike horses. Mysterious creatures I am to respect from afar, but never understand. The primary difference is that a car isn't born with hatred in it's heart.
This post and others like it are made possible by members of my Patreon, where you can see Game WIPs and Previews of future blogposts a week early! Thank you in particular to Backyard Critter for your continued support!
Howdy, Farmhands.
I am a newcomer to NSR/POSR game design. I spent the majority of the early 2020's being staunchly and loudly against anything even slightly resembling an elfgame! For all intents and purposes, I "don't go here." Being new to a community slash movement slash corpse that's been fractured into multiple sub-branches of design for about as long as it's exiswted means that I have a lot to catch up on. A barrier I keep bumping into is how much of the OSR's Wisdom is shared in maxims.
I got bored at work. It's one of those jobs with a lot of sitting in one location while waiting for very important things to happen, and depending on where you're stationed, you're not allowed to access your cell phone for the duration. Normally, my attention is needed frequently enough that I don't go stir crazy, but on slow days, it could be an honest to God HOUR before I'm required to do more than look pretty. This is the perfect time to let my mind wander and daydream, so I played a solo game in my head. Which is where most solo games are played, but I had no access to dice or prompts or rulebooks or anything.
I've got a new dog. A foster dog, to be precise. My Beautiful Wife (and I by extension) volunteers with a local rescue, specializing in Dachshunds. We've helped a couple of puppers find new homes, and acted as a weekend get-away for new arrivals who weren't sure where they were going just yet. This current baby looks like she'll be staying with us for a hot minute, though, as not only were we the first point of contact for the previous owner, we were the Fosters of choice while she went through some surgeries to remove calcium deposits that had formed in her bladder before she joined us on the farm.
Her name is Wendy, and she is a precious angel. People of earth, send your love to Wendy.
Having a Dog makes you think things you might not otherwise. For example, frequently now, I will find myself asking "What That Dog Doin'?" This requires I visually confirm the current activity of the dog and as a bonus, look at said dog. And I've already established that Wendy is a Very Good Dog, so that's hardly an inconvenience. Not all Dogs have to be dogs, though. It would probably be funnier to attribute Dog-status to things that are not Dogs. Like Bears. Deer, maybe. Particularly scraggly Opossums. Legally Distinct Ankhegs, whatever those are. Below is a d20 table of vague Dog-like behaviors that a "Dog" may be "Doin'" at any given point in time.
Now if you excuse me, Wendy has flopped over for a belly rub, and I cannot keep her waiting for fear that my mortal soul will be judged accordingly.
It's been a While, and I don't really have any excuse for that. No wait, yes I do- I got distracted. Did you know it's surprisingly easy to mod your 3ds? I didn't, but wow am I glad I did. Not only that, but Sonic Unleashed has a PC Port? Cancel all my plans! I have to mod Sonic's model into Spider-man and replace the BGM with the Pizza Time Music. Did you say I can play the Werehog levels as Donkey Kong? Next you'll say Chip can be swapped out for Hatsune Miku!
Finally, the game is Playable
But neither of these excuses are proper apologies for silence on my end. I could very well have simply live-blogged my experiences with both of these and considered those Content. The truth is that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and opening up blogger and getting back into the swing of writing just felt insurmountable a task and something I could always do "Later." Surely this time, procrastinating will have a positive impact on my creative work!
Wait hang on what's that over there oh SHIT
The large bulk of my creative energy has ACTUALLY been going into a new campaign! In-person, this time, with 4 players, two of whom I haven't run anything for before! And unlike my usual, online table of nerds who I've run multiple systems for over the years, these four didn't have any of the previous experience with my bullshit that usually acts as the foundation for expectations going into a new game I run. This meant I needed to not only prep a physical GM binder with the resources needed for a physical table, something I've always wanted to do but never invested the time in, I also needed materials that would adequately introduce them to my home setting and system of choice. It's a Cairn hack, by the way. If you've read almost any post by me, this shouldn't be a surprise.
This, then, is a bit of a follow-up to Another Post I Made, specifically my Pirate Game Rules that I shoved out onto the internet in the event someone else decides to scour the blogosphere for breadcrumbs and my meager efforts are useful in at least pointing them in the right direction. This is an updated version of that, written for 4 people who have no background in what nonsense I'm going to drag them on. You, dear reader, probably won't find anything unique and novel here, but this is my blog and if I want to document my life as it progresses until it doesn't, then that's what I'll do lmao. I'll make a third post showing off the work done on that GM binder in the nearish future. And I'll finish my 20 drafts and start posting them regularly again. And I'll load the dishwasher. Probably.
