New Project

It is with great frustration that this project has been delayed time and time again, primarily due to my head injury. But I have decided that I cannot delay anymore, I just have to do what I can when I can.

Enough babbling;

The Wife and I are starting a blog, website and eventually youtube channel where we will discuss games and game culture. The Blog is up and you can find it here. As my condition improves I will begin to update this page again. I started this blog both as place to discuss my ideas and as a place to host information about the RPG worlds I've been creating. Hopefully that can happen again.




So please come check us out. I wish I could promise weekly updates, but I have to be true to my injury.

Where I've Been

This update has been long overdue. TLDR: 2015 was the worst year of my life.

Soon after my previous post, I was assaulted at work. The results were a second work-related concussion and my being unable to work for going on now almost a year. In fact, my entire life stopped.

I was no longer able to continue my college education. The super secret project I've alluded to has had to be put on hold. For months I have been unable to fully engage with my children or my pastimes. In fact I spent a good portion of my summer knocked out from muscle relaxers or wishing I was.

Exacerbating all of this, my injury has lead to many other complications. Using a cellphone, computer, watching TV or even reading range from being challenging to impossible (it has taken me several days simply to write this). You have difficulty speaking, thinking and moving.

You find yourself quickly becoming isolated, life continues and you stand still. You have to combat depression, anxiety, sometimes PTSD. You gain weight (I've added 40 lbs since the incident). You feel unreal. Life continues.

You stand still.

All of that is bad, but what is worse is when you feel discounted. When you feel like your condition is downplayed. A co-worker once remarked how we couldn't explain to people our experiences working with severely disturbed youth in a residential setting. Unless you worked there, it was impossible to relate to. I've learned that having a head injury is the same.

Having to fight with insurance companies and, other organizations when your condition makes it hard to communicate feels hopeless. And has left me untreated.

But I am lucky. I don't expect my condition to be permanent. I've lost at least a year, but I will endure. I remain untreated, but I will cope.

I guess I wrote this to let folks know about my absence. I also wanted to shed some light, even a tiny bit, on my experience with a head injury. I've lost a year, but I know I will recover.



Too Long, Didn't Read? 2015 was the worst year of my life. But my life is far from over.

I'm still here

So this update will have to be brief because I am simultaneously writing a paper for a class.


Apologies about lack of updates, life got real, real quick.

I re-enrolled in college changed jobs, got married and had some health/family issues.

In the meantime, the Shadowblack campaign is on hiatus, I have to go back to the drawing board on some things. FATE may not be the proper system for it, but I also should've maybe picked a setting, or forced my players to pick a setting I was more familiar with to learn the system.

Anywhoo,

I'm still working on some super secret side projects but my focus has to be school right now of course. I will try to post something on here when I have a chance (included finishing my articles on Shadowblack).

Much Love

Shadowblack: The Awakening Taint and Power

In our first article on Taint, we briefly discussed my basic views on character alignment and morality. Choices that may weight on your psyche make it harder for you the resist the taint. But what about those who wield supernatural power?

Shadowblack: The Awakening - Taint and Alignment

The taint system is something I know I'm going to tweak until the end of time. The idea behind it is that the supernatural is just that, unnatural. It infects, corrupts and ultimately consumes the mind, body and spirit.

In Shadowblack: The Awakening players will generate something called taint. Taint represents how corrupted by "The Dark" the character has become. Generate too much taint and you may find yourself being something worse than that which you hunt.

These next three Articles will explore taint from a story and mechanical side. Hopefully it will relay my vision.

Shadowblack: The Awakening - The Hunter's Mark

The group of people who fight the night collectively call themselves Hunters. Most of these men and women have been “touched” by the dark forces known currently as the Shadowblack. Touched individuals are called "The Awakened”, representing their knew knowledge, if lack of understanding, of the supernatural world. The evil forces have begun to corrupt their soul, and it in turn has granted them great power.

Shadowblack: The Awakening Setting

As stated, Shadowblack: The Awakening is a re-imagining of an old campaign I never got a chance to run. The System will be FATE Core by Evil Hat Productions. It is a slightly action-y horror campaign in the vein of Supernatural, Buffy, Dr. Who, Reaper and X-files. Meaning that there will be a fair share of butt-kicking but without the proper investigation and plan, it will be the PCs getting walloped.