May the Road to Adventure Go Ever On and On...

Happy New Year to one and all in the gaming blogosphere! May you have much high adventure in 2016! I dedicate Bowie's Ballad of the Adventurers to you!



Sickened by sun, with rainstorms lashing him rotten
A looted wreath crowning his tangled hair
Every moment of his youth apart from its dream was forgotten
Gone the roof overhead, but the sky was always there
Oh you, who are flung out, alike from heaven and from Hades
You murderers who've been so bitterly repaid
Why did you part from the mothers who nursed you as babies
It was peaceful and you slept and there you stayed
Still he explores and rakes the absinthe green oceans
Though his mother has given him up for lost
Grinning and cursing with a few odd tears of contrition
Always in search of that land where life seems best
Loafing through hells and flocked through paradises
Calm and grinning, with a vanishing face
At times he still dreams of a small field he recognises
With a blue sky overhead and nothing else

End-of-Year Elmore (Farewell to 2015!)

Well, here we are again: on the cusp of another new year! I will be making an effort to get at least some roleplaying in as 2016 progresses. The itch to roll the funny-looking polyhedrals never leaves me completely, and I'm sure I will have to scratch the itch before I go crazy!

I also want to make use of the board games that have been gathering dust on my shelves for too long...and I'm looking forward to getting the massive Conan board game finally!

What are your new year gaming resolutions?

I'll be back later today for my 40th post of the year...my 40th year!

Lost Post: I love Dragonlance, and I don't care who knows!

I'm about to wrap up the least productive writing year this blog has ever seen. Don't really feel great about it, but it is what it is. I have my reasons for my lack of attention. Long story short: I'm doing other things with my spare time other than gaming.

But gaming will always be on my mind and in my soul. Rest assured of that. Which means I will continue to occasionally haunt the roleplaying blogosphere and will post now and then here.

As for this soon-to-end year, I have some final plans: just for the proverbial shits and giggles, I'm going to post 40 posts this year, the year I turned 40. Please believe me when I say I didn't plan this out. That would just be too corny, even for me.

As one of my final 2015 posts, I've decided to dig out a post I started writing this year but never published. Call it a "lost post." I started it early in the year, and rereading it reminds me how one's priorities can change over the course of 365 days.

Here's the post:

I've put things off for too long.

I want to pay homage to the world of Krynn in campaign form. Not just from nostalgia, though that is part of it. No, I am truly inspired by the setting. I think it is definitely viable. And being inspired by a setting is what I need, to engage my full attention as a GM. Because as any long-term reader of this blog will tell you, I'm nothing if not riddled with Gamer ADD!

I tried to start a Dragonlance campaign once a few years back but didn't feel ready. But I feel it is now time.

Krynn needs a champion on the blogosphere, and I will take on that mantle!

So, how's this for a declaration: My choice for system mastery is Castles & Crusades! My choice for setting mastery is Dragonlance!

End post.

Wow, that was some hyperbolic stuff. How do I feel now? Well, I still love Dragonlance, and have since I was a kid. I won't ever apologize for that fact. The world may be a much-despised one among the grognard set, and perhaps the creative teams behind the setting did it a disservice over the years.

But I still want this blog, if and when I do write here, to be a haven for Dragonlance love.

As for C&C system mastery, well, I think I've had that for some time now. Even having not actually played using the rules for over a year, I'm very confident I could jump right back on that horse, no problem. I still think I would use that system to run an eventual Dragonlance campaign. It upholds the character archetypes that I still love to this day, and which are the solid backbone of the Dragonlance world.

Anyway, there you have it. A glimpse into the mind of this blogger. See you soon for another post!

Happy Holidays to All the Gaming Fools Out There!

Happy holidays to all you fellow gaming enthusiasts around the world! I hope the holiday spirits were kind to you! I was just reflecting on my own yuletide experience, both this year and years past...

The last few solar cycles I've received some gaming goodness during the Christmas holiday. Last year, it was the Dungeon Crawl Classics Chained Coffin box set and the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic hardcover. The year before that, it was the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow RPG.

This year, I don't have anything in my hands...yet. I'm looking forward to receiving the 4th printing (and associated stretch goal goodies) of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG next Spring. Also, I'm hoping that the massive Conan board game Kickstarter will come to fruition soon, considering they've missed their October 2015 deadline. 

So what about YOU? Have you received a gaming product you're particularly psyched about, either this year or in the past?