Resolutions and 2018 Blog Plans

It's that time again. time to review last year's resolutions and make new ones. And time to layout my 2018 blog plans.

2017 has been a rough ear. Rough politically, rough personally. My wife and I had our second child, renovated our house, went to live at my in-laws, endured a lot of drama and 5 month delay on construction (on what originally going to be only 3 months of work). Gaming went from biweekly to monthly to play by post to nothing at all.

To say I’m looking forward to 2018 is an understatement. I will soon be back home, the kids are sleeping better, I will have more free time with less outside judging about how I spend it, and my wife will be better able to contribute to the household tasks. Already the kids are sleeping better and next week my daughter starts daycare, guaranteeing 8 more hours of non-work time a week. So more free time, less stress.

But let’s look at last year’s resolutions and how I plan to go forward next year.

2017 Resolution Review

Diet & Exercise: I did not engage in more exercise though I’ve been walking more since summer. I did get serious about my diet again and lost over 10 pounds before the holidays kicked in. It’s hard to follow your own dietary plan while living in someone else’s house. Especially when they insist on doing all the cooking.

I feel more positive for this year. I have more time to work in exercise and I’ll again control most of the cooking.

Write Every Day: This was hit and miss. I had good months and bad months. I worked on more writing prompts and when I could ensured I wrote a little everyday. The 2017 RPGaDay challenge was pretty helpful. I tried to replicate the Q&A format for my personal writing but it didn’t work out. Again stress (of the house, of my in-laws, of the kids) overwhelmed me every couple of weeks.

Watch More Movies: I watched some more movies but not many. I did better on TV especially while we were still at our house. I think given full control of the TV after work that I’ll be able to catch up on the recent popular films and series soon.

New (or Renewed) 2018 Resolutions

Diet & Exercise: As I indicated above, I plan to keep up the diet and redouble my effort to lose weight in the new year. Fingers crossed, I hope to get to my 2016 weight by summer.

Write Every Day: With less day-to-day stress I hope the only barrier for this will be my own laziness. Additionally I had some success using the fractal method (link) to work on a long story in October/November. Hopefully I can complete it this year.

Submit something to a zine or gaming company: I really want to get my work out there. The trick is developing material for a system/setting for a game that I like and that I can sell/submit/distribute.

2018 Blog Plans

Last year I went to a weekly schedule due to a lack of time. Before this summer hit though I was starting to find the time to do more. I’d like to resume my twice weekly schedule at some point this year. That will depend on generating enough sustainable material but I think I have a rich vein in the reviews I’ve been doing lately. Expect more of them once I get settled back home.

The other thing I’d like to do is capitalize on some of my older work. To that end I’ll be reposting some of my older series on roleplaying games (with some revisions and perhaps more/better artwork). So if you want to read how Mage: the Awakening runs or find reviews on Powered by the Apocalypse games, I’ll be reminding you of my material as well as adding even more reviews, actual plays, and supplementary stuff in 2018!

Review: The Librarians

I'm continuing my review of inspirations for my new Mage: the Awakening game. This week I look at the TV series The Librarians.

The Librarians

This TNT show follows the tightly scripted adventures about a magical library and the team of librarians who protect it and the world from dangerous magic. Each episode they retrieve artifacts, face off against magical threats, and occasionally save the world. Developed by John Rogers, the mind behind Leverage, the series is now in 4th season.

My wife pointed the series out to me, explicitly saying it made her think of Mage: the Awakening. Since I plan to run a new Chronicle soon, I decided to see what made the series interesting.

The seasons are short, 10 episodes each, which means that there is little spare plot. Everything matters in the episodes. Even if it looks like a monster of the week story, eventually some item or lesson will prove crucial for the season climax.

The wirters have done a great job with the characters. The actors portray them well. Colonel Eve Baird (played by Rebecca Romijn), a former soldier, is the guardian and default leader to the new batch of librarians. She is our straight man, reacting to the constant weirdness with a mix of disbelief and tactical competence.

There three librarians recruited at the beginning of the series. Ezekiel Jones (played by John Harlan Kim) is a master thief and egotistical rogue. The rest of the team, especially Stone, regularly calls him the worst least trustworthy librarian. Jacob Stone (played by Christian Kane) represents the real person behind the five of the world’s leading historians and art experts (who exist as pseudonyms to protect his anonymity). He’s also a barroom brawler. Cassandra Cillian (played by Lindy Booth) is a mathematical prodigy who suffers from a brain tumor that will kill her someday. She is the one who dabbles the most in real magic.

Finally Jenkins (played by John Larroquette) is a stodgy old man who is conducting research at the library. As the series progresses we learn he is much more than he seems and much much older. Rounding out the cast is the flighty and often absent Flynn Carsen (played by Noah Wyle) who was the sole librarian before the rest of the team showed up.

I’ve seen three seasons thus far.

Season 1 focuses on the characters coming together and becoming a team. They must rescue the library from an interdimensional void and stop the Serpent Brotherhood from returning magic to the world. Arthurian myth plays a big part and the season villain has grand plans to return to his old home.

Season 2 brings in fictionals, characters summoned from books. The team must also deal with more fallout from the release of magic in Season 1. The characters all experience some personal growth as they evolve as librarians. Again the season villain has grand plans to remake the world and has a secret twist that even I didn’t see until the final episode.

Season 3 is a battle between good (the library) and evil (Apep, Egyptian god of Chaos). Thrown into this mix is the somewhat out of their depth U.S. government's Department of of Statistical Anomolies. I may have to steal that name for my game. Unfortunately the villian doesn't get as much characterization as previous years. While the season has some amazing episodes, the overall plot could have used some better pacing.

There’s a lot of ideas here to mine for story seeds from Minotaurs in the cubicles to a writer being possessed by one of his own creations. Even if you are not running modern fantasy I’m sure you could adapt several of these scenarios to some of fantasy game.

The series is really good. It feels much like the result of a well crafted roleplaying game. Especially if the game master aimed for a very serious tone with a typical batch of players. Which basically means that while the subject matter is well thought out and the story is exciting and interesting, the characters’ reactions and the joking between them lightens the mood to the level of somewhat goofy. Now all it needs is a GUMSHOE adaption.

Review: The Black Arts

As I plan my game of Mage: the Awakening I’m in search of real occultism to adapt to the Chronicle. I believe I was recommended this book by an episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff (probably a section of Ken’s Bookshelf or some sort of occult primer segment). The Black Arts provides an interesting overview of the field from Astrology to the Black Mass.

The Black Arts

by Richard Cavendish

Richard Cavendish covers the material with a fairly clear academic style. His otherwise dry prose is spruced up with frequent bits of historical details and the occasional diagram. He presents himself as a believer but maintains a quiet level of skepticism about the field of occultism, particularly with some of the divinatory practices.

The subject matter covered is quite broad. The Black arts covers the divinatory methods of Astrology, the Tarot and Numerology in detail. The author provides a primer on the Cabala and various correspondences. Necromancy, Satanism, Witchcraft, and other practices each get their own sections.

Overall I think this was most interesting from the perspective of seeing how occultists and sorcerers think. Understanding the magical thinking of occultists is helpful to me (I tend follow scientific rationalism and much less wishfulness). The book also illustrated the point that western occultism is extremely misogynistic. Overall, Cavendish did not make the black arts and those who practice it seem very attractive.

In terms of adapting the material to Mage: the Awakening however this is very helpful. My plan is to emphasize the dangers of power and how finding the proper path to wisdom is difficult. For that purpose the Black Arts is helpful. I will likely use this book when fleshing out the pretentious “mentor” who first brings the group together. My concept is a wizard in name only, a mortal who knows some rituals for manipulating simple spirits and possesses no real power of his own. The PCs first task will be realizing the limits of their teacher.

As a warning, the cover of this book is a bit creepy for some. Combined with the title and my habit of leaving books lying around in odd places, I freaked out my mother-in-law. Not sure if that is a selling point or not.

Review: Real Alchemy

In my quest to prepare for my next Mage: the Awakening game, I decided to delve into some real world occultism. I forget how I found this book, but it manages to remain readable while outlining the subject of alchemy.

Real Alchemy

by Robert Allen Bartlett

Real Alchemy provides a nice primer on alchemy as a modern practitioner might use it. The problem with many books on the occult is the amount of navel gazing and general craziness you need to slog through. While this book has its share of such “philosophical” chapters, the author balances them out with step by step instructions on the major processes used in the Great Work and other creations.

The book runs through the major alchemical beliefs (“as above, so below”, day/planet/herbal correspondences and so forth) as well as the various processes (digestion, fermentation and so forth). It provides instructions on creating the philosopher's stones and lesser works. There is a fair amount discussion of the intersection with other aspects of the occult from Astrology to the Qabalah.

The writing is clear and easy to read. The book is actually quite slim and quick to read while still feeling complete.

I particularly enjoyed the modern take on some of the classic alchemical methods. In addition to using modern methods of temperature measurement (alongside descriptions of historical tools) and purification methods, the book details how the author uses hot plates to heat ingredients and nylon socks to strain them. I will definitely be using such details for my next modern alchemist.

If you want to provide your fantasy or modern-day alchemist a level of realism, you could do worse than use the imagery described in Real Alchemy. I’d recommend it to any players or game masters of Mage (either version) or Promethean: the Created.