The Hunting Party, Part 3: Democracy Kills

Click here to read from the beginning

Jimmy Bob, I said, reckon you could figure out where we are before we're set upon by wolves and big ass ravens pluck our fucking eyes out?

"I imagine," Poot said, "that we're standing outside a village peopled with woe begotten shit farmers."

"Are you not going to ask me what you know," Neverwas asked.

"I could," Poot said with a thoughtful look, "but I'm afraid that my asking you such questions would only encourage your delusions of grandeur." I can only guess what Neverwas had in mind to say because Poot rolled with a result of 22. "What does my feeble bardish knowledge provide me with on this out of the way locale?"

"You don't recognize it," Neverwas replied with a coy smile.

"I told you that it would only encourage you further," Poot said, "and now I'm not going to feel bad about anything that happens after this."

"As though you guys have a conscience when it comes to these games," Neverwas began the familiar lecture. "If you would consider the implications of your actions beyond the immediate gratifi-"

"Look," the Master Planner broke in, "if we wanted to have a lecture on morality we damned sure wouldn't be taking it from a recidivist and moral reprobate."

"I'll have you know that I'm a deacon in my church," Neverwas said with as much dignity as he could muster.

"I'm sure the Lord must be very proud of you," Icarus said, "but if you don't mind I'd like to know if anything is approaching us. It's my axe, you see, it thirsts for blood." The whole table turned toward Icarus as he began to mime licking his axe.

"You're Chaotic Good," Neverwas said with a touch of exasperation in his voice.

"I'm also a barbarian."

Family, I said, it seems that Jim-Jim has gone too long without killing something and that his homicidal urges are beginning to take over. Let us explore the town before us and find some trouble to sate his appetite for destruction.

"You make your way into the town and after asking a few of the local peasantry where you might find a decent place to rest you're directed to the Ghostly Lady," Neverwas dryly read from his notebook.

Cousins, brothers, did one of you knob-gobblers decide that we should take our rest before we let Jim-Jim slit some evil fuck's throat when I wasn't looking and drag me here against my will?

"I don't remember making the choice," Little Boy said.

"Smells of magic and heavy handed Dungeon Mastering to me," Step said as he leaned forward in his chair. "Bob Jim Lively, veteran of more than a dozen campaigns along the disputed boarders -"

"What disputed boarders," Neverwas asked.

"All of them," Step said with a tone that brooked no argument. "But like I was saying, Bob Jim Lively is a veteran of a dozen tours and he loosens his sword and casts a weary gaze about the inn."

"Jim Bob Lively," Little Boy said, "has taken notice of his older brother's weary gaze and has begun to move towards the shadows in an effort to hide away from the view of any who might be watching him."

"The bar is crowded with patrons," Neverwas confusedly answered, "there's no way you can hide."

"Then Jim Bob slides under the table and uses the space to make himself small and forgetable," Little Boy countered. 

"Good plan," Icarus said, "Jim-Jim, for his part, is going to set his axe on the table in easy reach and look for anyone giving him the 'eye.' He counts anyone foolish enough to meet his gaze as having done so."

"Bobby Jim, Master of Illusion and Manual Manipulation," the Master Planner announced, "is checking the bar for any magical residue and looking over each of his family members for any signs of compulsion magic or signs that some illusion has been cast on us."

"Guys," Neverwas said, "I think you're taking this too far. I was just trying to move the story along."

The story has moved along, I said, and we're reacting to things that have moved beyond our understanding for the Lively-Roberts Clan takes nothing for granted and destroys what we don't understand. 

"Jesus," Neverwas said as he ran his hand across his forehead.

Never mind him right now. I'm looking for anyone who seems to be taking exception to our behavior.

"The whole lobby full of patrons seem to be giving you all a wide breath."

It's clear that they know how we arrived here, I said looking about the table.

"Of course they do," Neverwas said, "they watched -"

We attack. 

"No, you don't," Neverwas practically shouted. "You're all taking this the wrong way."

"Are you telling us that we weren't given a choice in how our characters were allowed to behave and that you're now doing so for the second time in less than twenty minutes," Poot asked. "That's a bad precedent to be setting for a game that's supposed to be the most epic fucking thing anyone's ever played."

"Especially for a man who wants to pretend that he's the center of the role-playing universe," the Master Planner added. 

"Is that what he was saying out there," Little Boy asked. "I was too busying trying to get that girl wearing the dog collar's number to really pay attention to him."

"I didn't say I was the center of the role-playing universe," Neverwas scrambled. "I mearly stated that if one wants to play the game correctly that not only do you have to develop a story but you have to allow your players the freedom to make their own decisions."

Interesting that when your theories meet the game that things go off the rails. 

"Look," Neverwas said as he placed his hands on the table, "perhaps I was a bit hasty in forcing you all along the storyline of this particular game. But if you'll just work with me you'll see that things will come out better in the end."

Come climb into my web for tea said the spider to the fly.

"What?"

Don't worry about it. I'll put it to a vote of the table. If you all want to allow Neverwas to force our actions then I'll abide it with disgust, but I'll go with it all the same. Or we can kill the whole bar and set it on fire since clearly the devil is at work here. 

"Open ballot or secret," Poot asked.

Tradition holds that we do it in the open. Everyone fine with that?

"I'm not," Neverwas said, "there shouldn't have to be a vote."

Yes, yes there does. You want us to take back our declared actions and to pretend like none of this ever happened so that the storyline you've plotted out in that notebook of yours comes to pass just like you wrote it. Only the game doesn't work like that. Our characters are ours and their decisions come from us - not from a script. 

"I get that," Neverwas said with his hands up, "but you guys took this the wrong way."

"We took it the only way we could," Icarus said. "I say we vote in the open."

I looked about the table and asked, Any objections to a vote in the open. None came so I called the measure. The question has come before the table: do we resend our actions and take the party back to the top of the hillside where we can then control our own destinies going forward or do we launch a bloody attack against a tavern filled with the Devil's children and set the town to the torch?

Poot counted the results, "Six for burning the town and slaughtering the vile inhabitants of this accursed village and one for going back to the top of the hill. The town burns."

"You guys are going to regret this," Neverwas said with a warning tone, "I'll give you one last opportunity to pull back."

"I rolled a natural 20 for my first attack," Poot said as way of our reply. 

Click here to read Part 4: Recipe for Disaster

Feel like you're missing something?

Part1: Careful What You Wish For

Part 2: The Lines are Drawn

Part 3: Democracy Kills

Part 4: Recipe for Disaster

Part 5: Fire and the Knights

Friday Artfest: Training of the New Girls by Valentine at the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Training of the New Girls by Valentine at the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Sometimes it's just nice to remember how wonderful it is to be alive and nothing does that more for me than Toulouse-Lautrec. This painting in particular just makes me ridiculously happy. From the haughty lines of the crowd to the delicate features of the woman in pink in the foreground. 

How about you?

The Hunting Party, Part 2: The Lines are Drawn

Click here to read from the beginning

"Look at that bullshit," Poot said as we pulled into the Lifetime Loser Lounge parking lot. I followed his gaze and found Neverwas leading a revival out front.   He was standing in the center of a dozen or so teenagers who were pressing in close and nodding their heads to his pronouncements on the 'right' way to play Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering. They were so enthusiastic in their adoration for him that I almost felt bad as Poot announced, "You know this means we have to take that fucker down a notch."

"Let us go do God's work then," the Master Planner replied as he crossed himself.  They joined the crowd and soon began to work their magic, turning the mood of the congregation against Neverwas with each passing moment. Normally I would have joined in the fun but a phone call from one of my bosses had me sitting on the bench out front and putting out fires on my day off. I was too involved in the minor emergencies to notice that Short Stack had joined me on the bench. She was a sweet girl who could be so quiet that you'd forget she was there. As I hung up the phone she cleared her throat and said, "What's going on over there?"

Neverwas is doing his messiah shtick again.

"What a prick," she said with a giggle. I smiled as she scooted closer to me and whispered, "So when are you going to ask me out."

I'm not, darling, I whispered back, you're too young.

"You know you're going to keep telling me no and I'm going to start throwing myself at someone else." I slid my arm about her shoulders and listened to the revival turn sour as the Master Planner started swinging his metaphorical cock about the crowd bruising egos as he went; while Poot began loudly performing excommunications on all the faithful. "Why is it that you guys are always at the center of these sort of things?"

We're the favored of God. Spit from the heavens fully formed and filled with bellies fed on the tears of a thousand lamenting women and the broken dreams of fools. 

We sat there on the bench in silence for a bit while she snuggled into my shoulder. Her hair smelled like Autumn and for a brief moment I actually wished that I had asked her out; but it was just a moment that passed like all the temptations in life. "I've got to go to work," she sighed. "How late will you guys be playing tonight?"

No telling. We're coming into this game with evil intent and hate in our hearts.

That brought a smile out, "Do you mind if I come by after work and watch?"

If you'd like to. She kissed me on the cheek. You shouldn't have done that, I whispered.

"I know," she cooed in my ear and left me behind. 

"You know," Poot boomed, "if I didn't know better I'd swear that girl wants you."

"It's easy to be fooled," the Master Planner replied, "but rest assured that Charlie will soon break her of that."

You guys done with Neverwas so soon?

"We were done five minutes ago," Poot said as he leapt onto the bench and laid his head against my shoulder, batting his eyes at me. "But you were too busy fooling with Short Stack to notice. Tell me."

What?

"Am I as pretty as your French girls?"

Get the fuck off me.

"Neverwas is inside with everyone else and he's bitching about you wasting his precious time with some sandy-blonde whore," Poot said.

Did he call her a whore?

"Not directly," the Master Planner replied, "you know he's too afraid of what will happen to him if he calls her that directly. Instead he's doing his veiled thing where he implies his insults so that we don't have a clear-cut reason to throw him down a flight of stairs."

Let's go break this dumb fuck.

We walked inside, down the hallway, and into the last room. Little Boy and Step were in a quiet conversation with their heads together while Icarus had busied himself with a marker. "It's about time you made it in," Neverwas loudly proclaimed, "I was about to cancel the game entirely on your account."

Don't put yourself out. What's the set up?

"Straight to the point then," Neverwas said as he pulled the bill of his DuPont ball cap over his eyes. "Good to see you all being serious for once. Pass your character sheets up and I'll make sure everyone has complied with the character generation rules."

We passed up our sheets and he began looking over them. "Nice," he said, "it looks like everyone is going to be stretching their limbs and trying something new." Then he got to my character sheet, "Charlie, you're going to be playing a paladin?"

That's the plan.

"I don't think so. Make something else."

The whole table looked up at him and exploded in a cacophony of protests while Neverwas stood there smiling at me from across the way, waiting for me to rise to the bait. When at last everyone else quieted down I said, Just why the fuck can't I play a paladin?

"Because you're not capable of playing Lawful let alone playing Good. Pick something else."

It was a challenge and I always rise to the challenge. Fine, I said, I'll play a fighter. My name is James Roberts but you'll remember me as Jim.

"Fuck," Icarus whispered, "this is going bad quick."

The Master Planner looked from Neverwas to me and announced, "My wizard's name is Bobby Jim Lively and I'm his cousin, twice removed but loved like a brother."

"My bard is Jimmy Bob Roberts and I'm the brother he loves like a fourth cousin," Poot said. 

"I'm Jim Bob Lively," Little Boy said, "first cousin and I grew up next door to Jim. We've been close all our lives."

"I'm Bob Jim Lively, " Step declared, "my mother and Jim's father fooled around and I'm his bastard brother. He treats me like I'm legit though, so we're tight."

"Fuck me," Icarus whispered, "we're all going to die." Then he looked Neverwas in the eye and said, "I guess that makes me Jim-Jim Roberts the Destroyer."

Neverwas' jaw slacked and he stared about the table going from face to face, but avoiding mine. "You guys really want to go down this road? This game's serious!"

We're dead serious, I said. So kick us off.

"Fine," he said with a huff, "if you guys want to make this a joke th-"

There are no jokes left in us, I interrupted.

Neverwas started chewing on his beard and I could see the wheels turning in his head. He knew that a line had been crossed and that I had just taken the first step towards something. He just didn't know what I was getting ready to do, but Icarus did. I could see that he wanted to ask why hearing the name Jim come from my lips had gotten Icraus' attitude to change. It played across his face; the doubt and worry that what would come next would be too much for him to handle. Then a decision was reached and he said, "You all have been traveling for days heading to the city when a thick mist came up on you in the night. The cloying mist clung to you and made your clothing stick to your bodies and your hair matted down. For what seemed like innumerable days you wandered until at last you found a road and made your way clear. The world that greets you on the other side is like a nightmare given life. The trees are bent and gnarled; the buildings look like something out of an old Transylvanian horror flick; and off over a low rise sits a castle of Gothic proportions. 

"You can see some peasants meandering about in the center of town though it's hard to tell what's happening from your vantage point. A large raven sits on the high branch of a dead elm ahead, and somewhere in the distance you can hear the mournful howl of a wolf." He looked at me then and said, "What do you guys do?"

Click here to read Part 3: Democracy Kills

Feel like you're missing something?

Part 1: Careful What You Wish For

Part 2: The Lines are Drawn

Part 3: Democracy Kills

Part 4: Recipe for Disaster

Part 5: Fire and the Knights

Listening to the Sound of Success (Adam Warrock)

I'm sitting here listening to Adam Warrock and enjoying the hell out one of my favorite music artists. There's something so wonderful in listening to a guy who makes just some fantatic music and doesn't give two shit about the fact that he's talking about a bunch of hardcore nerd shit (to quote Ice T).

Here are a couple of my favorites. If you like them head over to his website. He posts free tracks all the time and if you like what you're hearing I highly suggest dropping some coin on him as he's absolutely amazing.

The Hunting Party, Part 1: Careful What You Wish For

What do you mean he's running a Halloween special? Does he not realize this is June?

Poot just shrugged as he lit a cigarette, "I told him that."

And?

"He says that's why it'll be so fucking epic that people will be talking about it for the next decade. It's his place in history."

Seriously? This is why we need to expand our pool of friends.

Poot laughed and said, "Neverwas told me you wouldn't be willing to roll with us on this one."

You're only saying that because you think it's going to get me to come along, I said as I poured a glass of whine. Why not? Okay, who else is going down this rabbit hole with us?

"Little Boy is rolling a cleric," Poot said as he began to count everyone off on his fingers, "Step is a rogue. I'm going to be a gnome wizard, and Icarus says he's going to be a druid."

So it's just me that you're waiting on?

"Neverwas claims that he's thinking about letting the Master Planner come in," Poot said as he let loose a long sigh. "It's like he thinks that by keeping the Master Planner waiting that he's got some power over him."

Fuck that guy, I said with as much gusto as I normally saved for Sartre. Tell the prick M.P. is in and I've already called him to let him know. 

"He's going to be pissed you made the call," Poot said with a smile. "I think I'll tell him that I made the decision to take some of the heat."

Why would you want to do that?

"Because I like pissing on him from time to time - it pleases me."

Fair enough, I said as I dialed the Master Planner and started getting everyone together for a pre-game meal at the China Hut for a strategy session. I worked the phones while Poot explained that we had already brought in the Master Planner. By the time I was finished setting up the meeting and caught up with Poot's end of the conversation I found him telling Neverwas that he was a load his mother should have swallowed.

Things going well, I asked as Poot continued pacing with a trail of smoke following his route. 

"Yeah," Poot said with a wink as he hung up the phone, "he tried to get all 'this is my game and you have no right' so I had to put him in his place."

I feel like tonight's game is going to go well now.

"Me too," he said. "Let's get on the road or we're going to be late."

We climbed into Poot's car and he started telling me about the setup to the game. "According to Neverwas we're going to be starting in this old village with these Germanic peasants who are really superstitious."

It's a dark and stormy night, I intoned.

"Yeah, it sounds like he's going for a heavy handed Ravenloft to me, but you know him."

You guys just don't understand how to properly role-play, I said in a mock of Neverwas' voice. If you'd just take long enough to understand how the characters connect to the world then you'd get more out of the game!

"Full on," Poot said. "He even hit me with, 'Now you guys have to be serious about this one.'"

Are you shitting me?

"No."

This is definitely going to go well.

We pulled into the China Hut, grabbed some plates, and joined the rest of the group at the table. Gentlemen, I said solemnly, we're officially fucked tonight. He's got a god damned story he's going to tell and we're to be actors in this little drama.

"Are you fucking serious," Little Boy said as he threw his fork down. "I told him that doing that shit only pisses everyone off."

"He's not," Icarus said, "I heard him telling Little E that this storyline he was going to take us down would change our lives."

"Fuck me," Poot sighed, "so do we back out of this suck fest before it starts or?"

"Or we hit him where it hurts," the Master Planner said. "Listen, we all know that he's got this whole thing plotted out in that black notebook of his."

"You mean his novel," Little Boy asked.

Yeah.

"Has he ever let you read that thing," Icarus asked.

No.

"Don't take him up on the offer," the Master Planner answered. "Look, the book is going to have a lot of his script in it and he's going to be reading directly from it."

Are you sure? He doesn't normally read during these things.

"It's coming," Poot said, "you've just never been in one of his 'story driven' games before."

So what are you suggesting, Master Planner, that we steal the book?

"Absolutely."

The table got silent for a moment as we all slowly got grins on our faces. He's going to get mad.

"Apocalyptic more like," Poot giggled.

"Before we do this does anyone want out," the Master Planner asked as he looked about the table, "because once this goes down he's going to be on the war path with all of us."

"I'm down," Poot said as Step and Icarus nodded their willingness.

"I want in too," Little Boy said, "but I don't want to be the one left holding the notebook when everything is said and done."

I'll take the fucking book, I said, and I'll be the one who gets it back to him when everything is over.  

"How are you going to do that without letting him know it was you," Poot asked.

Don't worry about that. So what's our plan?

"You know that he's going to want to give us that creepy feeling only it's not going to work," the Master Planner said.

"Because he's going to be reading from the fucking book," Poot interrupted.

"Until we take the damned thing from him," Little Boy finished. 

"Right," the Master Planner said. "So we've got to lull him into thinking that everything is going to plan. That means that we have to react just like how he expects us to. That means playing the time period in how you talk, faking fear at the right times, and no killing NPCs." 

That last part came with a look directly at me and Poot. In the last four campaigns Neverwas had run Poot and I had killed 9 out of every 10 NPCs we met. The ones we didn't kill we used for monster bait and trap testers; it infuriated Neverwas. Personally I thought it was a brilliant strategy.

"So you're saying that we're going to be bored for the first few sessions," Poot said.

"Try just the first one," the Master Planner countered. "We snatch his book at the end of the night after he drops everything off at his truck and comes back to shoot the shit with us."

Who's grabbing it?

"I can do it," Step said, "but it's going to be pretty obvious that it was me."

"No," the Master Planner said, "let me handle the book."

We sat quietly for a few moments, each of us contemplating the task ahead of us, before I spoke up. That means we need to decide how we're going to build the party. Any thoughts?

"He's expecting me to play a cleric and Step to play the rogue," Little Boy said, "so I'm thinking that we shouldn't."

"What are you thinking," Poot asked.

"I think we should flip the script entirely and throw him off his plan early."

Now you've got my attention.

"I'll play the rogue since I haven't played one under him before. Step?"

"He's never seen me play a fighter. So I'll roll one of those."

"Icarus," Little Boy said, "what sort of crazy bullshit are you bringing?"

"I was going to play a druid, but I'm thinking that I need to switch it up too," Icarus said as he rubbed his chin - always a sign of fun times ahead. "I'll bring a barbarian to the party. He's seen me play one before but he's never figured out how to handle me as one."

"I know he thinks I'll be coming as the wizard," Poot mused, "so I'll come as a bard."

What about you Master Planner?

"I'll roll a wizard. Illusionist?" he said with a shrug, "You?"

I'm coming as a paladin, I said and they all stared at me. What?

"Are you sure you can pull that off," Poot asked me with far too much doubt in his voice. "You know he thinks of Lawful Good as Stupid Good right?"

Yeah.

"Charlie," the Master Planner said, "you know that means you can't do your normal game plan, right? No murdering NPCs for no reason. No screwing everything that walks. No stealing. None of it."

Look, we all agree that we need to flip the script on him so that he'll be off his game. Nothing will do that faster than me playing a Lawful Good paladin. 

The Master Planner smiled and gave me a nod, "Well boys, if Charlie playing a paladin doesn't throw him off his game I don't know what will. Let's load up and go kick his ass."

Click here to read Part 2: The Lines are Drawn

Feel like you're missing something?
Part 1: Careful What You Wish For
Part 2: The Lines are Drawn
Part 3: Democracy Kills
Part 4: Recipe for Disaster
Part 5: Fire and the Knights

Blog Notes Q3, 2014

Coming off the heels of the most successful Quarter to date for the blog I predicted that no quarter for the remainder of the year may match it. This one certainly did not. Unlike previous months there were more unexpected stoppages in posting than at any point since the blog began. 

There were two major events that occurred during this time period that affected my ability to post articles to the blog: my Uncle Don died in August; and I was without internet access for much of September (see Shush! The Two Year Old is Listening! for more). Combined these two events lead to a full month of days without an update (31 days). That the absence of so much daily content from the blog affected the total views for the month cannot be denied, but that was not the only reason for a lower page view than the previous quarter. The largest draw of this quarter, by far, was the Basic D&D series which was abandoned when it became clear that the updates would be coming too regularly for me to do an adequate job with the project. Additionally the lack of any completed series in this quarter decidedly hurt the draw of the blog as those projects are consistently the most followed and reread. Moving away from covering any news items with the blog saw a slight downturn in overall traffic but not enough to be considered a major reason for the decline in page views.

Disappointments

By far the biggest disappointment for me was the Underdark Wars game that I attempted to run. I foolishly thought that it would take up a few moments of my time here and there and was not fully prepared for the amount of attention it required. Still, I was having a ridiculous amount of fun with it but then my internet was gone and I just have lost all enthusiasm for it (as have almost all of the players).

I learned a lot from the experience and before I attempt something like it again I am going make sure that I have all of the major things sorted out before I launch. So that means that the map, rules, and community will all be established first. Accomplishing those three things would have drastically improved my time management and enjoyment in the game; and I think that it would have helped keep the game going. The other thing I'm going to do is appoint a secondary referee who will rule whenever I'm not available so that the game never drags or has any lulls in play.

Highlights

I had two articles published on EN World that have done very well in my estimation. The first, Ten Blogs Everyone Should Be Reading, has garnered 164,231 page views since it was first published on August 31, 2014. The second article, Ten Gaming Blogs That Will Make Your 5e Games Better, was published September 30, 2014 and has picked up 26,676 page views in about 24 hrs. I've seen a slight increase in traffic from both articles but due to the dearth of new content coming from the blog the influx was not sustained.

Adsense continues to plug along steadily increasing its revenue month over month, but the lack of new content definitely slowed its potential and decreased what revenue was generated.

Performance on Established Goals

Posting Schedule: I continue to have a daily posting average even though I have not actually posted on every single day. After witnessing the impact of missing so many days on the blog it is clear that for the continued growth of the blog I need to ensure that an article is posted every day.

Comment Response Time: Like the posting schedule this too was completely missed during this quarter. I don't like not responding to people who actually enjoyed a post I've written enough to comment on it. So this upcoming Quarter will see a return to the 24 hr response time window for the majority of comments (sometimes people don't need me to answer them so those won't have one).

Statistics of Note

Month	Google +1s	Comments	Page Views	Total Posts
July	488	251	7,725	30
August	541	340	7,552	47
September	327	125	3,891	20

Days Without a Post: 37
Total Page Views: 19,168

Q2 vs Q3 Performance

	Q2	Q3
Total Posts	163	97
Total Comments	1,575	716
Total +1s	2,087	1,356
Total Page Views	35,366	19,168

Difference Q2 v Q3

Total Posts: - 66
Total Comments: - 859
Total +1s: - 731
Total Page Views: -16,198

Adsense Revenue

Days Active | Revenue Generated
     107    | $23.60

While Adsense is not bringing in a ridiculous amount of money that I can put into a huge pile and swim in like Scrooge McDuck it continues to improve month to month (excluding September) which speaks both to the ad placement and the bits of tinkering I've done with them.

Closing

I cannot express how much I appreciate everyone who comes by the blog and enjoys it enough to leave a comment, share it with their friends and communities, click on an advertisement, or just drops a plus one. It means a lot to me that you guys and gals have enjoyed the blog and I really hope that I can continue to provide you all with the sort of things that keep you coming back time and time again.

Thank all for coming back to this blog and keeping me going!

October, You Glorious Bitch! I'm All Over You

I love the month of October!

This is the time of year when everyone starts thinking about Fall in a serious way and the trees start announcing to the whole world that it's time to start getting your winter clothes out of the attic cause it's about to get cold. The nights start getting that pleasant feel and the crisp air starts biting at your nose! 

God it's a glorious time to be alive and to be out in the world!

So I Did a Thing on EN World

I wrote another article for EN World! It's really cool that Morrus let me write another one and hopefully this one will do as well as the last! This time I decided to talk about 10 blogs that will help make your 5e game better because there's so much good stuff coming out right now that it's making it incredibly hard to keep up.

By the way, doing research for this article was part of what lead me to my 5e theory, but not the reason why I've been reading so many blog posts over the last few weeks. Would anyone like to guess why?

I Have a Theory about 5e

Over the course of the last few weeks I've read nearly 7,000 blog posts for . . . purposes that aren't important right now (nailed it), and I've developed a theory about why 5e is enjoying the level of success it's seeing right now as opposed to previous editions. Where many of the previous editions* of the game tended to present themselves as an authoritative version of the game that all of us should attempt to live up to, 5e has been consciously designed to mold itself to our needs. In other words: by making 5e so malleable the Wizards of the Coast design team has created an edition of the game that its consumers have taken full ownership of. 

I've never run across a version of the game that so many people are sculpting to their own needs without seeing the stereotypical backlash that seems to come when someone goes away from the rules as written. If you think that I'm wrong about this, what accounts for the way that people have been reacting to 5e?

* Clearly I'm referring to the more formalized rules and not the free form fun that was Chainmail and Original D&D.

Friday Artfest: Ark by Manabu Ikeda

Manabu Ikeda Ark (2005) [click the picture to make it bigger]

I love pen and ink art, and over  the last twenty years I've spent a lot of time working with that medium. Nothing I've ever done or seen has compared to Manabu Ikeda. His unparalleled work with ink has made my jaw drop and this piece in particular has forced me to rethink what I've done and what I'll do in the future. 

What do you all think about it?