Happy Thanksgiving & a Peaceful Long Winter (Patreon)

Dear Heroes,

First, a deep thank you for your patience and support in this strange winter that is come upon us. Second, a deep apology. I had thought to have seacat in a readier state by today, but I do not. I will explain all in course of words.

First, Longwinter

Finally. A year later than hoped, it is finished. At first, I thought I would do a small nip and tuck to the text, compleat it and then be ready to share it. In the end I realized it could do with a bit more art ...

... so I added c. 30 more pieces of color art this month.

... and a few tables to round things out.

The players' book (the visitor's guide) now rounds out to 104 pages, while the referee's book (harsh mistress) comes to 114. Giving an elegant total of 218, which isn't terrible.

I am thinking of tweaking the covers a little more, perhaps for print, but ... I could not hold off on releasing this book to you anymore. It cannot miss another winter. Particularly not a strange harsh winter like the one come upon us.

I will see about setting it up for sale at some point next month, so for now you are the only humans on this fair Earth to own it.

It is version 0.99 because I suspect more typos might pop up between now and then. If you find any, do let me know — whether here or in the discord, both should do (the discord link: https://discord.gg/67xKAtc8SE)—and once those are ironed out I'll upload version 1.0 as well (or 1.0 final FINAL FINAL).

Second, seacat

I didn't make as much progress this month as I wished. I made some art, I made some words, but ... I had no layout drive, as I was already preoccupied with Longwinter. I will upload the next iteration of seacat as soon as it is ready, so hopefully twice in December.

Why this lassitude and delay?

Frankly, I've been ... slower to write this month than I am accustomed to. I could blame this on the circumstances of year (pandemic rising), home (dog and shared work stress), and more ... but in all honesty, my suspicion has fallen on my ankle. I still haven't fully recovered from the dreadful sprain in August (probably the worst I've yet experienced) and it has made it hard for me to sit at a desk for longer periods (because it hurts) or stand at a standing desk for longer periods (because it hurts).

I never would have thought something like this would combine with other circumstances, but there you have it.

Holy Mountain Shaker

Ok, this is an update that should really go to the OSE server and that kickstarter, but I managed to run two playtests of HMS this month, which was quite an eye-opener.

Thanks to the efforts of all the playtesters, including several from among your ranks, it will be a much better adventure than I would have otherwise thought. They've helped me trim a lot of waffle and gristle from that work. I just hope Gavin Norman won't mind too much that it will fit very well into the Lastlands cycle ... and that he won't mind me being a bit late with the first draft!

As most every rp referee discovers when they try to turn a game they've run into a published adventure, there is a gaping chasm filled with nibbling things between game notes and a written product! :D

Finally, Autumn's End and Thanksgiving

I'll round back again to the real world.

Whether you are celebrating thanksgiving or black friday or nothing at all today, I wish you a graceful and kind end of November and end of Autumn. I hope the impending year's end will greet you well and safe.

Take care, heroes all.

P.S. - and the discord link again: https://discord.gg/67xKAtc8SE