The Lazy Post: March Means A Lot of Work

I've been pretty bad at posting consistently lately. My job has been really busy (it's our busiest time of the year right now), which is good for me, but bad for the Dispatches. While ye olde bloge here has had to suffer, I've actually been working a lot on a number of different projects. Here's the stuff that's been taking up a lot of my time lately:

• Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad #3 
• I assure you, this is indeed forthcoming. I started getting art from Wayne this past week and now things are trucking along nicely. I've got a few more bits to finalize writing-wise, then this thing is off to Sr. Goodman for approval. I'll probably order the covers by the end of this week, which means you can expect a cover teaser here shortly. What to expect: 
• The Heist! - A system for quickly generating and running a heist-style adventure in Ur-Hadad or the metropolis of your choice.
• A Supernatural Patron by the Reverend Doctor EJ complete with 3 patron spells!
• Street Foods of Ur-Hadad - What's for sale on the street corner? Roll some d30s and find out.
• DSR Actual Play Podcasts
• I handle most of the bookings for DSR and write our notes for each episode. Traditionally, this has been a pretty cushy job. But, when we decided to do actual play episodes, I volunteered to edit them. Just the actual play stuff, not the actual podcast. So, I've had to teach myself my audio editing software, which is really just reaching back into my past to recover memories from my days as a touring/recording musician back in the very late 90's and the homebrew recording stuff I've done over the years since but left behind just before I got married. I'm still not terribly skilled (as anyone who heard the first "DSR Learns Fate" episode can tell you), but I'm getting better. This is taking time.
• Sandbox-As-You-Go Hexcrawl Project
• I've been talking and thinking about hexcrawling and sandbox play a lot lately. After a really great conversation with +D.j. Chadwick about hexcrawls and sandboxes, I realized that there's no one resource I can point to and say "I do it like this." That's what I'm trying to write, but doing so slowly. To express my philosophy on the matter concisely, I prep to improvise. 
• Secret Project for DougCon At GaryCon
• I kicked around an idea the other day which was entirely based on a potential title for a gaming supplement (we all know that this is where half of our best ideas come from: a snappy idea for a name) and I had a few folks close to me express interest. So, a select group of folks very close to home an d I are developing a thing that we'd like to demo at GaryCon, probably during DougCon. After that, I'll either not be able to talk about it at all or talk about it all the time, depending on which way things go.
• The First-Time Father Thing
• Sure, we're months away from having this damn kid, but that doesn't mean he doesn't take up a good chunk of time. First, yes, we know he's a he and his name is Stanley Isidore Muszkiewicz, but you can call him Stan or Izzy or Stosh if you're Polish. I know that real parents who've already broken in their kids have all sorts of shit to say about how much time they spend on their larvae, and that it by far outweighs the time drain that my larva is on me, but still, it's something I'm not used to and have all of a few months to acclimate myself to in order to have that particular acclimation rug ripped out from under me when the little guy finally shows up and breaks every single plan I've made in the past nine months. 

Before I go, I do want to make some general observations about stuff that I've been meaning to say more about.

• Check out Lair of Swords & Sorcery, both the blog and the project. This excellent guy +Ripley Stonebrook is making this fantastic game that's like a mixtape of classic D&D, HeroQuest (the real one, not the Issaries one) and a badass DIY project and releasing it in a comic book standard. Freaking cool project that deserves more attention. 
• Mythoard has been kicking ass, hasn't it? Every month, I'm getting little bits of great in the mail that's like a tiny geek Christmas. Maybe more like St. Nicholas Day since it's about enough to fit in a shoe. If you're listening, +Jarrod Shaw, but if you are, well done, sir. 
• +Kevin Chenevert's Red Kobold stuff is awesome! If you haven't seen his Blue Dungeon Tiles in person, let me tell you that these things are really cool and are designed to last. Since dungeon tiles are typically made of plastic, I either treat them gingerly or expect them to crap out and warp or something. That's largely the reason that I stopped using them. Kevin's tiles, though, man, these things are seriously laminated and feel like they'll be around with the roaches and twinkies. 

That's pretty much it from me for now. The Metal Gods are off in the Dreaming Dimension, the Iron Coast gents & lady are about to literally take a trip down the rabbit hole and everything else is falling into place. Catch you all later.