Steady as She Goes...

I got exactly NOTHING done last night on the game. I did get a fair amount of laundry done, though...

Basically, I have some backgrouond ideas, but no system yet. As I stated before, I'm working with an odd mix of player expereince levels. As a group, they need something simpler than average, but with more mechanics than say FATE. Still looking at writing my own game... I have to do one for the convention in January. I may as well use this as a test of basic mechanics. Now I just have to come up with some basic mechanics. =P

So... the earlier store opening has been nabbing us some sales I don't think we would have gotten otherwise, but it has really cramped into my ability to run errands. I desperately need to shop for soda for the store, but have not managed to do it in four days. Today didn't help either as I woke up about 45 minutes before the store was supposed to open at 11AM. I made it, but had no room for side trips, so... Still working out the kinks... ;)

peace... GopherDave

One Day at a Time...

Things are proceeding as well as can be expected. Plans are in place for the slow (re-)improvement of the store to bring it back to where it once was, and then take it a little beyond. It will all take time, effort, and a bit more money, but if we put the first two in, the third will come.

I have a game I am supposed to start next week, but I have nothing ready yet. I have a genre (superheroes), but no system. I also have some restrictions in what systems I can use to make things work for everyone. Player experience varies, and I don't have the prep time for a crunchy system like HERO or M&M. I'll work something out here shortly, though. I always do. =P

I already have some ideas on how I want the world to be. Now I just have to get them on paper. ;)

(I'll be over here laughing at myself for that last statement...)

-- GopherDave

Just Over a Week In...

Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday... I was off on Saturday... kind of...

So far, so good... The early opening times are slowly starting to catch on once again. After 2.5 years, it'll be slow going, but I am optimistic...

Game-wise, I am running three games, committed to running a fourth (why did I do that?), and trying to plan five events for the convention in late January. I not a glutton for punishment at all... (read: sarcasm).

Beyond that... all is as well as it could be... =P

-- GopherDave

Can It Be Sustained?

Not sure if I can keep it up, but I seem to be in a good place once again... This is three of the last four days for work. I had a day off, so I'm allowed to skip. Sue me... =P

In other news, I'm reopening up the store at 11AM on the weekdays beginning... well... today. We shall see how that goes as well.

Now I'm off to take a four-hour nap. See folks later...

peace... GopherDave

New Medium...

With hopefully more focus and less whiny "life stuff"...

Go here...

A Cry From The Dark...

Still alive... I haven't written much for the blog as I have not had a great deal of time to do so. I have noticed something, though. When I stop writing things here, I pretty much stop writing anything and my games suffer. As it stands, I am struggling with my creative juices with regard to both my Champions and my Feng Shui 2 games, but for some reason, my brain is trying to force another game out of me... sigh...

On top of that, Winter War is coming up and I have games to prep. I have one game sketch plotted, and the characters converted from the old edition of the rules to the new edition of the rules that came out earlier this year. The NPCs need to be put together and the plot needs to be fleshed out a bit for that one to be considered done. I have another game that doesn't even have a title, but the overarching plot for the series of eight is jotted down in note form. Both of the games I am discussing are the next installments in a couple of series that I ran last year. I'd like to do one more game, but I have no idea what that would be...

Beyond that, I've been running the store, listening to music, reading some comics, and trying to spend some time with my wife, kids and dogs...

Sleep is that thing that other people do...

peace... GopherDave

PING...

Just a signal to let folks know that I still exist...

Let's just say that things have been... interesting... in the intervening time, and leave it at that.

As far as this blog goes, I'm not certain how often I will post here, even if I get back up to semi-regular writing. The original purpose of the place has sort of come and gone, and I am at an impasse on what to write about anymore.

Most of my gaming projects are at a lag, and while I have been steadily acquiring music, writing about it just seems to take some of the fun away. Ehhh... who knows...

I will leave with this comic-related tidbit, though... If you are not reading the current iteration of the Inhumans (titled "INHUMAN"), you are cheating yourself out of a damn fine read...

-- GopherDave

Alive, Kicking, and Mending...

Okay... I'm not dead... Though I may have been closer to it than I thought...

Once I "recovered" from the whole sinus nastiness a few weeks back, I never really felt 100%. There was lingering fatigue that I just couldn't shake, and a barely there cough that showed up maybe six times a day, if that.

Then a couple weeks ago, I ended up in the ER with what I thought was just abdominal cramping and food poisoning. I did indeed have that, but what I didn't know was that I also had pneumonia. Whoops!

So, while I have been working, I've also been resting quite a bit more, and trying to take better care of myself. I'm not really wanting to go back to the gym, but I am eating a bit better, and I have kicked my 2-3 energy drinks per day habit I had built up.

Barring any other issues, health or otherwise, I am hoping to get back to finishing the Asylum in the next week or so. Beyond that, I promise nothing, as I have no idea how life is going to treat me...

So, if nothing else, this is an update post... Take it for what it is...

peace... GopherDave

In Sickness and In Health...

Work has been delayed due to a combination of MtG: Khans of Tarkir pre-release events and my getting heinously ill for a week plus soon afterward...

The KTK pre-release events did go well, though, and were our best events of that type in two years. The set is slow, but good, with a fair chunk of value within, thus insuring that sales will be steady for the coming period.

As for the sickness, in a day I went from having an annoying sore throat for the day to having my sinuses take a surprise dump into my lungs at the end of it. Drippy, draining, coughing misery followed... yay.

I am finally on the upswing. Still sick, but doing well enough to catch up on work. I've been reading through the contract that HERO Games sent me for all of this. It's pretty standard, though I am finding little bits that are apparently outdated according to their head honcho. That basically means once I parse it all out, we begin the contract back-and-forth and get things situated on that end. By the time that happens, I should have the Asylum done, the Gateway Guardians up and started, plus outlines for one of the other (now three) projects that are on the burner at least sketched out. Yeah, contract issues can take that long to work out to both parties' satisfaction.

I figured folks would like an update, and I wish I had more to provide, but extra-curricular work moves slower than pace of real life...

peace... GopherDave

Back To The PIts...

One of the last pictures that will be taken by my trusty Nikon CoolPix S3300. Shortly after I took this, I dropped the camera on the floor and now it does not function...

Tonight was back to almost non-existent money at the store... Yes, we made some cash, but far below the average amount needed to survive at the current space. Am I worried? You bet. Am I going to let it get to me to the extent that it has been lately? Nope... I can't afford to be in that emotional spiral again.

Overall, I'm still holding out. I had a fit of mania last night that left me moderately productive, but only in the sense of laundry. No real writing/gaming ideas came to mind, but to be honest, I wasn't trying to coax them out, either. As it goes, I'm going to try to get *something* creatively productive done tonight, and try to share with y'all.

So, that's pretty much what's on my mind, currently. A lotta nuttin'... =P

-- GD

Dude Interrupted...

Woke up WAYYYYYY later than I wanted to today. We had shipments due at the store dirt early, so I had no time for the uniform I'm trying to reinstitute for myself. Yeah, it's a bit of an excuse, but given how suddenly I reintroduced this to my life, and the fact I had slid into a "slacker" sleeping schedule of up-until-4AM-wake-up-at-Noon-Thirty, it explains things a bit. I'm exhausted and my body is fighting back. Whatevs...

I'm scheduled today until way late (think 2AM+) and I'm not scheduled at all for tomorrow, so it might be a day or two off from it.

Ran Tai'eres last night, and while not much happened to advance the story, we had a good time. The group has been faced with a couple of dilemmas in regard to their current situation that honestly, they had been it overthinking it all a bit. Near the end of the evening, they all kind of realized it and figured out a way through at least one of their issues, so things advanced.

I'm off to go do stuff, as there is much stuff to do and I've lost more productive hours that I would have liked this morning...

Toodles... GD

Seeing Stars Among The Steps...

Day three and the fun continues...

Woke up this morning around 8:15AM, and wen and sat on the couch to watch TV as I truly woke up and gathered my wits. Around 9AM or so, I went to stand up to grab a shower and truly start my day. As I stood, sharp pain shot up and down my left leg and I apparently blacked out, because that was the last thing I remember before waking up on the couch sometime after 11AM.

My left knee has been giving me issues recently. It has mostly been an aching I can attribute to getting older, heavier, and arthritic. Today was a level of pain I have not felt in a long while, and oddly, my knee currently feels okay. It's not pain-free, but it is at or below the level I have been dealing with lately. I'll probably have it checked out soon (sometime in the next week or so), as it is now passed the point of concern.

Tonight is my pulp-fantasy home-brew RPG, Tai'eres. We have lost a couple of players, but I am not certain I want to replace them yet. I have enough notes that a rules revision is probably a thing that should be done sooner rather than later. Mostly have to carve out time for that, which should be easier to do now that I am not swimming in a pool of depression.

Things are looking better, though... just have to keep juggling for a little bit longer... which means I have to keep on focus...

peace... GD

Boo...

Okay, This is sort of a check in...

The month of March sort of went like this for me...

Life: "Dave... Do me a favor and plant your feet about two... two and a half feet apart, okay..."

Me: "Why?"

Life: "Just humor me..."

(Like an idiot, I spread my feet to the requested distance)

Me: "Okay, now what?"

Turns out, "what" consists of life proceeding to spend the better part of a month kicking me straight in the proverbial nut-sack. I hate when that happens, and it has pretty much driven my bi-polar ass right into a swamp of emotional morass. I could reach a greater level of depression than I am already in, but that would probably involve a bullet to the head. Luckily, I have a few things in my life that will prevent that from happening.

• One, I have a kick-ass wife who is my rock. If it were not for her, I very well would have just said "screw it" and left the area with everything that has been happening.
• Two, I have three kick-ass kids (yes, I am counting the dog) who are more than worth sticking around for. 
• Three, I have a group of friends that keep my ass in check, and check in when I get the way I am now. Thanks, guys...
• Four, my access to guns isn't what it used to be. I can still get them, but it's more difficult than it used to be, and by the time I got ahold of one, my mood would change enough that I wouldn't need it anymore. Plus, I would remember a promise I made to myself just over 26 years ago and get some damn help.

As it stands, there are some aspects in my life that demand that I be a leader in order to right the various ships. I just don't know if I have the capacity within me to do that currently.

Completely changing the subject, on the musical front, a couple of  things happened to add to my depression, and one thing happened that has helped. First, two gentlemen from bands I have enjoyed for a long time passed away. Bob Casale (a.k.a. Bob 2) from Devo and Dave Brockie (a.k.a. Oderus Urungus) from GWAR have both shuffled off this mortal coil. I look to write pieces on both of them here soon. I just need to carve out the time and mood to do so. The good thing is that I finally acquired the new album from the reggae-metal band, Skindred, and it kicks ass! Kill the Power is one of the best discs to hit my player in some time, and I'll take all the small victories I can get at this point...

peace... GopherDave

Head-On With Life, Business, and Everything Else...

Well... that month hit us like a runaway truck... In the last few weekends, I've been a touch busy...

Jan 16th-23rd: Finalized our employee back-up for the local gaming convention (Winter War 41). discovered that the Loquacious one not only has most of the things covered, she actually wants me to run games at the convention this year. Something about keeping me out of her hair and what not. However, at the time we figured out this could happen, there is literally one week before the convention. No sweat. I submit three events and bang them out in roughly four days time. There's no pressure like self-applied high pressure.

Jan 24th-26th: Winter War happens. I help load up the store, run the booth as much as Lo allows me, run three events (all went well), and help pack up and move things back to the store.

Feb 1st-2nd: Pre-release weekend for the new Magic: the Gathering set, Born of the Gods. All goes well, and, as usual, I get far less sleep than I should. Good weekend, but tiring.

Feb 7th-8th: Release weekend for MtG: Born of the Gods. Also run much much neglected Champions game after the events on Saturday.

Feb 14th & 16th:  The evening of the 14th is spent playing prototype board games for a local design competition (CUDO Plays) for which we are one of many sponsors. The day of the 16th is spent at the culminating event for said competition. Played more games. Presented an award. Then came to close the store.

In between all of these days, business, like rust, has never slept, and has kept rolling along, requiring me to keep up.

Since it had been more than a month, I figured I'd update folks with how things are going. Overall, it's been good. Sales have begun to bounce back from the 30% kick-in-the-nuts they took back during October and November of 2013. We've managed to rehire some folks, though at reduced hours from before. While we are recovering, we are not where we once were, and may not be for some time. That's okay, though. It taught me a nice business lesson and made me realize I shouldn't have been taking certain things for granted.

Now, if I can carve some time out, I need to work on my Tai'eres campaign that hasn't run in more than a month *AND* get back to a question one of the players in my Champions game posited to me about a week ago or so...

Life only gets old when you do... =P

-- GopherDave

Sideswiped...

Been re-inspired lately...

Hadn't worn a French cuff shirt in a bit. I've always dug the hexagonal cufflinks...

Okay... I had this figured out... had a game plan to get back to this thing regularly. Then, Pumpkin (our daughter) threw a big fat monkey wrench in the works. I never thought I would actually have to babysit a 17-year old, but she's made some poor decisions recently and it looks like she will be hanging around Mom, Dad, and other approved adults for the near future. (probably a month, plus.)

The weather here in the Midwest has been its usual weird self. Drop eight inches of snow, followed by Arctic blasts for a couple of days. That was in turn followed by moderately cold temps, and today it's doing this odd rain-sleet thing where it is at the right temperature to melt the snow only to slowly refreeze. When the temperature drops further later on, it'll all just be a sheet of ice. Wheeeeee!!!

The Champions game is set to run tomorrow, and I am not certain if it will happen. One player is out of town for work issues and the other may get called in to work (he works on the local road crews) if the weather gets any nastier. Another player reminded me of what was going on when we last played (a month ago) and things cannot proceed with what I have in mind until that is resolved. Small problem is... one of the key players in that scene is the one who is currently out of town. At this point, I'm ready to play it by it by ear and see what happens...

-- GopherDave

Wow... I Did More Than Blink...

I really hate my camera phone... that plus I apparently suck at taking selfies...

Here I'd thought I'd get into regular posting only to go missing for three weeks. It's been an odd period in the household and the store.

There's not much to say, really. The games have been getting postponed due to weather/work issues. The holidays were good, in both a sales and Santa-esque way. Things are beginning to bounce back slowly, but enough that we have been able to pick AngryG and BigBank back up in very limited capacity. We'll see how it goes.

On another front, I apparently was the inspiration for another person to "tie-up" (a lighter version of "suit up") recently. Seeing Tim @bugeatergames (see Twitter) do his thing has rekindled me to do mine. I can't really fall down on the job anymore seeing as I have become a role-model of sorts. =P

I'd love to talk more, but the day's looking kind of hectic. I do hope to be back later, though...

-- GopherDave

What Am I Thinking..?

Another week has passed and the stabilizing continues... It would be easier if it were not the holidays, but one cannot always get what one wants...

Mood-wise, I'm still kind of meh. The games have been going "o-kay". The last Champions session didn't run due to inclement weather, and the last session of Tai'eres was down a player. Coincidentally, it was the player for whom the game was originally set-up. A few days after, this player drops from the game to run another a game himself, something which he expressly told me was the reason for begging anyone to run a game he could play in. At first I wanted to throat-punch him, but having been a LONG-TIME GM, I sort of understood. When the bug bites you with a game idea, it's hard to shake. On the plus side, he did find me another player to take his place. So... table-flipping rage averted by maturity and reciprocation. Who knew that could happen, hmmm?

As things go, life is not too terribly bad. They could be worse, honestly. General pressures aside, I am discovering I kvetch far too much, and am being productive far too little. I should change that. There were routines I followed that I have fallen out of. Good habits which kept me focused and directed that I have let drop by the wayside, and thus my behavior has been affected in negative ways. This blog is a good example of that. I used to write here once a day almost religiously. Now, it's lucky if it gets updated once a week.

Sounds like it's time for New Year's resolutions, except I've never been too terribly keen on those. So, I believe I am going to step back... adjust some things in my life... get back to where I once was. I realize I have been saying this a great deal lately. Time to own up, own it, and turn words into action...

-- GopherDave

Pits And Spirals...

It's been a bit, so I thought I would check in... The bleeding at the store has been slowed, but it has not been fully stopped. There are some other issues that are causing our woes that are not financial. I'm not certain how to approach these as they involve elements that are in delicate balance with other parts of my life. I lost one of these parts for an extended period of time a while ago, and nothing has made my soul ache more than that vacancy of being until things got rectified. I'm not certain I can go through that again...

In other news, there was a point very recently where I almost dropped my keys on the floor of the store and walked away. I have never felt more unappreciated in my own place of business as I did at that moment, and I am still not fully recovered from it. I am trying desperately to give our customers more of what they want in the way of events and regular games, but the overall response is that of  "no one caring" or "bitching that things aren't EXACTLY as they would like them". I'm not looking for people to be dancing in the aisles, but some acknowledgment that we are trying to make things even better than they have been before would be nice.

Currently I am encountering enough apathy from long-time regulars on some days that it is becoming difficult for me to care as well. Many folks are no longer showing up to things at the store because they are under the impression that what they like will always be there.... until it's not... Then they will whine and cry and moan and lament and they will blame me...

...and that is the point where I will either snap, or just not care enough to get angry...

Now, I am just stirring in the juices of my own self-pity, but there is some meat of truth in my soup of despair, and that makes want to curl up and disappear...

-- GopherDave

Falling Off The Radar...

Looking at the blog, it has been about three weeks since I last posted. A number of things happened in that time with games, life, and stuff in general, but probably the most significant thing that happened was that I kind of took a mental vacation from the bulk of life. Most (not all) of my gaming obligations got met, and I did most (not all) of what was needed to keep the store going in regard to behind the scenes work.

Last night, I caught up on some financials, as well as a small bit of backlog in terms of physical work that the store needed done, and when it was all done with, I came to a conclusion that had been staring me at the face for a bit, but that I hadn't wanted to face. As much as I have enjoyed my break, I can no longer be an absentee owner if I expect my business to survive, let alone thrive. There are too many things going on in the local scene, and deep down, I knew this already.

So, after six to eight weeks of not really being here, it is past time for DonGopher to come back and herd the Mafia back into fighting shape. Honestly, he (read: I) should have never left when he did. At the time where guidance and direction were needed most, I stepped away. Now my family and my store need me desperately to be "theMan" once again, and I know that it will take at least twice as long to put it all back together again, so it is the time to step back up or step aside...

Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely step aside... and this is not one of those times...

-- GopherDave

Working Day Off...

Well... the schedule said I had the day off. Too bad reality said otherwise... =)

In general, I am beginning to pull out of my funk. There's no doubt I'll end up there again sometime, but it shouldn't be anytime soon...

Took care of a couple of items at the store today, and ran a fair amount of errands. I'll be heading back to the store later after running another errand. What time I'll be going back remains nebulous. Just... later...

Over the last couple of months, we've been dealing with some employee turnover due to our employees getting better jobs. We cannot compete with $20/hr and benefits, and we are genuinely happy when our folks make good. That said, it means we've been doing some hiring and training recently. Tonight, AngryG will be running the store for the first time tonight. Skribl is there playing Warmachine, so the Angry One has back-up if he needs it. Another person (Z-Mo) begins training tomorrow, which means our staff is refilling up to capacity once again. Overall, these guys are young, new, and green, but they are teachable. We can work with teachable.

We've been gathering more folks as we are about to lose Double-L for at least two weeks, if not for good. He got a job that will pay him very well, but has some danger involved, and he's not certain he will be up to the task when push comes to shove. Working at crazy 300+ feet heights will do that to you. It's one thing to climb a tree. It's quite another to climb a 450' tall windmill with not a lot of safety equipment to keep you from splatting on the ground. He'll go through the training and see if he can handle it. If so, cool. If not, our door will still be open.

Unfortunately, errands will not complete themselves, so I need to get gone. I just wanted to get back some regularity in posting.

peace...

-- GopherDave