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Sorry I haven’t posted in a while…a combination of a couple of things: a big project hitting at work (well, two big projects hitting simultaneously, as these things always seem to), and the preparations and performances for the one-weekend Buck’s County Renaissance Festival, where I performed under the banner of Period Productions, a living history/education/performance company run by some friends of mine.

We provided the main storyline (which included opening, living chess match, archery show, live steel demonstration and closing, as well as general improvs and the like) for a small faire in eastern Pennsylvania. We did it on a Robin Hood theme, and I portrayed King Richard– which means I got to spend the day posing as a “blind” beggar (including an absolutely wicked chessboard fight with a quarterstaff–blind fighting is always interesting), and then got the big reveal in the full shiny armor and crown at the end of the day. The show was great, my fellow performers were spot-on brilliant (as they always are) and the kids really ate it up…I actually got cheers when I made my big “It’s King Richard! TA-DA!!!” entrance at the end of the day. Fun.

…and exhausting. Doing two shows in two days, 8 hours each, in the sun, with combat and wrapping up the day in 60 pounds of full plate is a great way to wear a guy out. Back to work (and those two projects) tomorrow as well. *sigh* Such is the life of the King of England.

More when I’ve fully recovered…

GMS

Just a quick note tonight:

I’ve posted a mock-up of the cover of Apollyon Noir over here, at RPGnet. Check it out, if you’re interested.

The mock-up features an all-seeing pyramid (from the Great Seal of the US) over Old Boney’s head. Apparently this may pose a problem, since Steve Jackson Games has a registered trademark for the “eye in the pyramid” symbol’s exclusive use within the game industry, so I’ll be adjusting the image according. Ah well.

GMS

Started up my Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG campaign on Friday night…well, sort of started it. Had the players create characters, which, with only two rulebooks present, and dinner, and general socializing, ended up taking the whole night. We start playing next session.

Got a nice bunch of characters–I’m setting up the campaign as more similar to Angel than Buffy, and set in NYC. The characters are all residents of a Boarding House in the Village. The characters so far are the owner/landlady of the house, a tabloid reporter who uncovered the supernatural, a former Vamp-groupie Goth chick who is now a hunter (sort of the ex-girlfriend from hell), an urban witch (described by the player as a “straight Tara”), a member of the Watcher’s Council who happens to be on the run from several terrorist groups and intelligence angencies, and an honest-to-god angel (basically the player wants to explore the flip-side of all the demons we see in the shows). Looks to be a fun collection. Now I just need to decide which of the dozen or so plot ideas that I’ve worked up (not to mention any of the others which appeared in this thread on RPGnet ) I’m going to use. Good to have a regular, non-business-related game going again.

Speaking of business-related, design work on Apollyon Noir is proceeding nicely. I’ll probably post snippets of it here when it’s in a more presentable state. It’s strange…I originally intended to back out of the industry, mostly for the reasons that I cited earlier in this blog. However, I’m enjoying the hell out of the creative buzz that accompanies producing a new game, and Jason and I are approaching this product with the sure knowledge that this is a niche product and is never going to be a huge success, so it frees us up from a lot of hemming-and-hawing about business concerns. We’re doing this as an artistic effort, rather than a financial one–doing it for the work itself. This may be considered “pretentious”, but screw it. It’s working.

Last night I picked up a copy of the 1970 film version of The Dunwich Horror on DVD. I had seen the film when I was a little ‘un, and it scared the bejeezus out of me then, so it seemed like a good use of ten bucks to pick it up (it was on sale). Sure, it’s bell-bottomed and white-guy-afro’d all over the place, but damned if it doesn’t hold up well. It’s still a pretty good Lovecraft adaptation (even though the box copy claims that Wilbur Whately is the son of Satan…however “Yog Sothoth” is the only name you hear in the film itself), and for the budget, it’s really damned creepy. Seeing it uncut, with the nudity and sexual content intact, was interesting as well. If you can grab a copy, do so.

GMS