Hello everyone!

Well, on the good side, the kidney infection I had that started last Saturday has cleared up. That had really gotten in the way of things, but now I can hopefully dive into things with more gusto.

This should be a shortish blog post because of that, but I have got a fair amount done, despite that.

First off, straight into writing news, I left last week with having completed all the background and notes for a swashbuckling fantasy background that I'd like to write several stories in. I'd got the setting and characters done and also had laid out synopses and chapter plans for a short story and a novella. This, by the way, is the setting that I'd researched a lot into the history of the Anglo-Scottish borders between the Norman Conquest and the end of the Elizabethan period. I still intend to delve into that and things are ready for when I do.

What I did do, instead of knuckling down and concentrating on those two stories, was... to plan a Gwaeloch Irisgarth story - the setting that I have several first drafts in about an elven barbarian. I've the plans down for that now. I wanted to do something that was like a dungeon delve, with a party of heroes sent to defeat an ancient subterranean terror. I know its based on a cliche, but I really wanted to give that cliche a twist. So, I wanted all the heroes to have turned on each other by the end, for greed or their own personal agendas to have screwed the party over by the end. I though twisting a cliche would be a really fun concept.

So, I was going to knuckle down and get that story down as a first draft, but got distracted again.

On Twitter - I still use it a lot and has still found it to be a very useful tool despite a certain owner's tampering - I seem to have fallen in with a few Splatterpunk authors to some degree. One of the author's I've done a review on some of her work. the review you can read here. Anyway, I wanted to try my hand at a Fantasy Splatterpunk story, doing a Grindhouse style story, something in the veins of Dirty Harry or Death Wish, but in a fantasy setting. I'm currently in the process of planning that out. I also wanted to turn the Sword and Sorcery concept on its head a little where instead of some burly barbarian going up a wizard and his retinue, an apprentice goes up against gangster and outlaws, mundane troubles in search of getting revenge for his master's death, whether I make this a single novella or a series of short stories, I'm unsure at the moment. I think it could be fun. I'm going to try and not channel some of Kim Newman's Filthy Harald stories while doing it.

By next week, I should have knuckled down to actually write one of these stories. I may even have returned to that extra long novella I started a few months ago, but I think I still need a break from that and will get some other projects done.

One thing I really want is to have two or three novellas ready to release as soon as I can. I'm not sure why I'm having difficulty getting that aim completed. I have a few thoughts that I have some anxiety about it to the point that its a bit problematic. I sort of want to rush these and bust through a set of first drafts, but getting an adequate set finished seems to not be on the cards yet. I think I'm pressurizing myself too much about it, which gets in the way.

Anyway, that's the writing updates over.

Now onto a bit of gaming. This week I managed to get my copy of Crypt of the Devil Lich by Goodman Games. It's a Kichstarter that I backed about two years ago, and after a bit of a kerfuffle trying to organise the courier properly, I finally got my grubby mits on it.

If you'll excuse the quality of some of the photo's, I don't have the best of phones to take photos with. I hope to do an actual review on it and I'll have better photos up for that. This is basically a sort of unboxing. So, here's what I got:

Crypt of the Devil Lich,
by Goodman Games,
entire Kickstarter pledge
with stretch goals

Crypt of the Devil Lich DnD 5E cover

Stretch goal pack
for Crypt of the Devil Lich

Goodman Games Gazeteer with
Crypt of the Devil Lich postcard

Designer Diaries for
Crypt of the Devil Lich

The Lost Level for
Crypt of the Devil Lich
DCC edition,
Doug Kovaks cover

Player Handout Booklet for
Crypt of the Devil Lich,
for DCC and DnD 5e,
Doug Kovaks Cover

I got wasted by the Devil Lich poster,
New Doug Kocaks edition

I got wasted by the Devil Lich poster,
original version

What I had done originally was to back both the Dungeon Crawl Classics version of the scenario, and also the 5E DnD edition too. I'm really pleased with what came with it all. It was a really big Kickstarter and many of the stretch goals were reached, including a couple of posters of the modern cover and the original. There were a couple of options for covers too, with a holographic option, a Sanjulian cover and one by Doug Kovacs. there was a lost level in its own booklet, and handout likewise printed, and also pre-generated characters in their own booklet too. there was even a designers notes booklet too. I'm quite impressed by what is included. Though it took two years to arrive, and there was a couple of bits of drama along the way, I do appreciate the amount of extra effort that went into their production.

If you would like to get a copy, they are currently at the time of writing, able to be pre-ordered. If you would like the DnD 5E edition you can get it here. If you would like the DCC edition you can get it here. I'm unsure if much of the Kickstarter stuff will be included in the pre-order volumes, but you can always get in touch with Goodman games and ask.

I have the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules system and it's sci-fi Mutant Crawl Classics version, but wanted to get a couple of scenarios in before investing in the DnD rules set. But to be honest, because of all the drama surrounding Wizards of the Coast, I'm currently reluctant in investing in the 5E DnD rules set just yet. Regardless, DCC is a great game, really fun, based in the OSR and has some quirky stuff to do with magic and the dice used and has a real pulp feel to them. I'm probably going to have a lot more fun running that than I would DnD 5E to be honest.

I should eventually do a review on DCC at some point, or some game play blog posts or videos.

That is pretty much it for this week. All that I'm left with to say is that for those that have read to the end and quite enjoy this section, while I've been writing this post, I've had a couple of mugs of lovely builder's tea and I've been watching an MWG Table Top Games battle report of Warhammer Fantasy Armies Project where Lizardmen battled against the Vampire Counts.

All the best for the coming week and I hope to see you all soon.

Hello everyone!

It's the time of week when a new blog post appears. I'm writing this just after a kidney infection appears over the horizon, which is 'lovely'. So lets see how this next week goes.

But a few things have happened this past week that are good. I got a book I ordered before Christmas finally arrived. It's a collection of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique Cycle called Zothique: The Final Cycle and is released by Hippocampus Press. I've only had a quick flick through and read the introduction so far, but I always enjoy Clark Ashton Smith. His stories are reliably entertaining and poetic. It should go well with my Averoigne collection of his too. I'll try and get reviews up of those once I've read them. There is also a collection of Averoigne pastiches that I'm about half way through that I'd like to review too.

Zothique: The Final Cycle,
Clark Ashton Smith,
Hippocampus Press

A copy of Zothique: The final cycle can be purchased here, for anyone interested.

Now, a bit on wargaming. I think I mentioned that I was expecting a few things through the post because I'd finally made the plunge into buying some Aeldari - Eldar for the old school - for Warhammer 40K. Well, it arrived. I'm now the pleased owned of two of the Aeldari Combat Patrol boxsets, the codex and a Fire Prism.

Eldar/Aeldari force
for Warhammer 40k

Sorry for the bad photo, it was taken on a phone that in phone years, is possibly considered a penshioner.

If I keep referring to them as Eldar, its because I'm so old, that's what they were before I gave up for a while. I still think the game is fun, but I see that there have been numerous bits of drama in the community which has felt a bit daunting for someone wanting to casually start up in the game again.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to painting them up. I've been chatting with a few folks in an Eldar group and am in the process of reading the codex from cover to cover. The only problem now is, I want to buy a load more.

Also, I still do have a big hankering for investing in the Barons' War game by Footsore Miniatures, the makers of Saga. Their Welsh and Romano-British miniatures are lovely, and they're in the process of releasing a early Crusades supplement, possibly with Richard the Lionheart and all. It looks curious, but my eyes are still currently on the Welsh and Romano-British.

Barons' War Wargame Rulebook
Footsore Miniatures

Welsh force for Barons' War
by Footsore Miniatures

Arthurian/Romano-British Cavalry,
for Saga or Barons' War,
by Footsore Miniatures

Also, I see that the DnD subculture is in uproar about Hasbro's OGL. Having expressed an interest in TTRPGs and RPGs on here numerous times I thought I might just mention that, for the foreseeable future, I'm happy with the numerous other companies that provide us with many enjoyable evenings, rolling dice and slaying great beasts in catacombs. Of my favourites, Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawl Classics and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition are three of my favorites, and well supported. There are others too out there.

Old School Essentials Player's Tome
RPG

Dungeon Crawl Classics Rulebook,
DCC RPG

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
4th Edition

But onto some writing. I've had a really productive week. I've been planning a new series of fantasy stories inspired by the Anglo-Scottish Borderlands, with the Border Reivers. I've completed all the background information for the series. I found George MacDonald Fraser's The Candlemass Road and The Steel Bonnets a great help and great for anyone wanting to look into that region during the years 1066 and 1600. It can also give greater context to the Sawney Legends which has influenced things like The Hills Have Eyes.

The Candlemass Road,
George MacDonald Fraser

The Steel Bonnets,
George MacDonald Fraser

But there have been a few other things that have been influential, like the galloglass mercenaries from Ireland and Scotland.

I also managed to finish a pile of notes planning a novella and a short story in this series, with loose plans and plot hooks done for numerous other stories depending on how these ones are received. These will be a sort of fantasy, swords and sorcery swashbuckler, with an exiled noble and a galloglass teaming up and heading out around a land similar to the Anglo-Scottish borders.

The plan is that on completion of these two stories, I then start editing the big stack of first drafts I have piled up. They'll join the heroic fantasy/swords and sorcery stories about Gwaeloch Irisgarth, the Elf Barbarian.

I really need to start getting some stuff ready for publication soon. I want to have two or three novellas as the first stories out there, and then work through editing a hand full of short stories for magazines and anthologies. There had been a time when I was getting bogged down by all of this. I was working on so many stories that I was feeling that I wouldn't see the end of it.

I feel things renewed now. I'm eager to get some stuff out there. It gets a bit tiring trying to also think ahead of what writing will make good 'business sense' but things are coming along. If I can get into the swing of things, increasing my daily word count three-fold, that could help, at least with getting the first drafts out in quick time.

Here we are near the end, and because I quite liked it last week, its the bit I might call the Refreshment Watch segment. While writing this post, I was drinking nothing very exciting, it was a lovely refreshing glass of water, gasp. For what I was watching or listening to in the background, it was a Gopher Live playthrough of The Outer Worlds: The Murder on Eridanos. Let me know what you were drinking and listening to while reading this.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Hopefully this infection won't be two disruptive and I'll have plenty to tell you about in next week's writing blog.

Bye bye everyone!