2006-04-06 - 9:36 a.m.
I just discovered that the Contact link, to the left, has been malfunctioning and bouncing emails that were supposed to be directed to me. Looks like it got clicked off, at some point, but I have no idea when, why, or how. Anyway, I'm hoping that I fixed it, so, if you have been trying to get in touch with me, please try again. If that doesn't work, just use my old address: dmattsonATkermodeDOTnet (change "AT" to "@" and "DOT" to ".", of course - I wrote it like this to confuse spam-related web spiders). Make sure you put something in the subject line that will catch my attention (e.g. Quick Draw, Paragon, or whatever), as I get a lot of spam at that address and, so, tend to junk emails from unknown addresses fast, without necessarily looking closely at them. Sorry for any inconvenience!
2006-02-27 - 8:49 a.m.
Well, I finally finished off the Quick Draw supplement that I mentioned earlier, here and in the FAQ. It ended up being bigger than planned (a few pages longer than Quick Draw, itself, actually), mainly because of the large magic chapter and the bestiary, that I decided to add, near the end of the project. Now, I can get down to doing that actual campign stuff, letting the players make their characters, and so forth. Fun time!
Unfortunately, as I also mentioned earlier, I'm reluctant to release this one to the general public, due to copyright issues. I may be worrying needlessly, since I have noticed several related play-by-post games around the 'net that don't seem to be attracting legal sharks, but... well, I'll just have to think about it.
Anyway, the good news is that this also brings QD: Sorcery one step closer to completion, since the magic chapter of this first book (including the alchemy section) will form the core of that one. Parts of the bestiary may also make the transition (the format used for listing critters, if nothing else). The bad news is that I have no idea when QD: Sorcery will be released. Since I am going to be working on this other campaign, for a while, I won't have a lot of free time to work on projects that I don't need for my own players. The simple truth of the matter is that I have had virtually no feedback on Quick Draw, so far, which is kind of discouraging, given that most of the d20 thingies I wrote resulted in dozens of emails. Based on this, I have to assume that any QD supplements will have a pretty small audience - which doesn't exactly push them to the top of my priority list. End result: unless there is a sudden influx of outside interest, QD: Sorcery, QD: Supers and any other QD supplements will get written whenever I have need of them, myself, and then released to the public. For obvious reasons, this prevents me from giving even the vaguest of release dates.
What I might do is release a slimmed-down version of the magic chapter, minus the world-specific references, as a sort of preview of QD: Sorcery. It really just comes down to how much free time I have. In the meantime, I may decide to release the recently finished complete supplement to a few specific people, without posting it at RPG Hoard or anywhere else, where it will be available to the world. Anyone interested in this should contact me, with questions, comments or suggestions, so that I have at least a vague idea as to the general interest level.
2006-01-30 - 9:37 a.m.
Hi! Just letting everyone know that I'm still alive. I've been kind of busy the last few days, so I haven't had much time for on-line stuff. The Quick Draw expansion that I mentioned in the FAQ is coming along nicely. Unfortunately, as I also mentioned in the FAQ, it may never be released to the public, due to copyright issues. On the bright side, the magic system I am creating for it will probably be used, with some modifications, in QD Sorcery. That will be released to the world at large, one of these days, so at least some progress is being made in that department, as well. I'm still not sure exactly what the contents of QD Sorcery will look like. Given that QD is designed to be as generic as possible, I would like to include several different magic systems in the expansion, so that readers can take their pick. Currently, I'm thinking about three: Classic Magic (based on the system I am working on now), Glamour (faerie magic), and Occult Magic (kind of what you would find in a Lovecraft book). There will probably also be a chapter that substantially fleshes out the Alchemy Skill.
Speaking of Quick Draw, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it currently has a rating of 9.5, at RPG Hoard, with the combined .doc and .pdf downloads sitting at well over 300. Given that it has only been out for a few days, and that I gave no advance warning of its appearance whatsoever, that's kind of nice. Thanks to everyone who took the time to rate it and, of course, especially to those who rated it so highly. ;-)
2006-01-16 - 1:32 p.m.
Wow -- I can't believe how long it has been since I lasted posted here. This is just plain embarrassing... My only excuse is that I have been very busy with other stuff, the last while, and have not really been on-line much, for any reason.
I took a long break away from D20 and got heavily involved in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG for quite a while -- over 50 episodes worth, believe it or not. We tooks turns sharing the load as the Director, and it was a blast -- definitely some of the best gaming I have ever been involved in (not to mention, the longest campaign). Maybe I'll post the TV Guide-style episode summaries I wrote up, one of these days, if anyone is interested.
After that, I dabbled a little with Iron Heroes (and intend to do so again -- great game) and played in a Smallville RPG for a while. The last couple of months, I took a bit of a break from RPGs and got heavily into board games (Arkham Horror, Runebound, Shadows Over Camelot, etc.).
But now I'm back -- and with good news. A have just finished a new free RPG, called Quick Draw. As usual, you can find a link to it on the Links Page. Actually, "new" may not be quite the right word. This particular game system was started over fifteen years ago but only just got finished. That has to be some kind of a record for me. Of course, I wasn't working on it during all of that time. I just happened to stumble over some old notes last month and decided that they were worth updating. This is the end result, and I'm fairly happy with it. Naturally, there may be a few wrinkles that will need to be ironed out through playtesting, so drop me a line, if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.
Anyway, that about wraps it up for now. I'll try not to wait for another year and a half before posting here again... ;)
(And before anyone asks: No, the Smallville RPG cannot be found through commercial sources. I wrote it as a large expansion for the Buffy game. I'm not sure whether or not it will ever be released on-line, due to copyright issues. Pity, really...)
2004-05-27 - 8:06 a.m.
Well, I just had a reminder of how long it has been since I updated this page, when I got several letters telling me that it had vanished. Looks like Diaryland shut down my diary, due to lack of updates (I'm not perturbed at them, since it was my fault, entirely -- they can't leave seemingly dead files on their main server indefinitely, of course). Obviously, that problem has been rectified, since you are reading this now. Sorry, though, to those who tried to access these pages and couldn't. Hopefully it won't happen again.
Having said that, I'm still not quite sure what I'm going to do with this journal, beyond leave it open so that people can get to the old Dark Ascension notes and so forth. Seems a shame to let it go, since it has just about reached 4000 hits and still gets a half dozen or more, every day, despite its seemingly obsolete status. I have some ideas, but we'll just have to wait and see how they work out...
2003-10-20 - 7:46 a.m.
Well, it looks like the RPG Hoard links are operative, again, so I guess it was a temporary problem, after all. Still no idea what caused it or why it lasted so long, though, since the site has no news page of its own and, thus, makes no mention of it. Ah well. Just remember that the alternate links are there, should anything like this happen again.
2003-10-17 - 9:05 a.m.
Just popping in for a minute to say that, no, I'm not dead, and, yes, I have noticed the problem with the RPG Hoard links on the links page. It looks like RPG Hoard has lost, removed, or otherwise annihilated a huge number of files -- whole sections worth, in fact -- including most of the stuff I have sent them, at one point or another. I don't know whether this is temporary or permanent, since there is not even a whisper about it on the site, but I suspect the latter. I really have pretty much had it with RPG Hoard... I mean, you would think that, at the very least, they could have posted a message telling people what is going on...
Anyway, for those who are still trying to track down some of the files that used to be at RPG Hoard, I would suggest using the alternate links (I know they still work), that is Platinum Heroes for Paragon stuff, and Community 3E for Tolemica stuff. For the D&D classes and such (Mephits, the Witch, and the newer versions of the Duelist and Healer), you will just have to contact me, personally, using the great big link to the left.
2003-06-12 - 12:17 p.m.
For some reason, all of the links for graphics in every entry here got broken. I'm not sure what happened, but somebody obviously changed something without telling me, either on this server or the one that stores the graphics. Anyway, I think that the problem is fixed now.
Unfortunately, I found another problem that I can't fix, because it seems to be related to the wave Diaryland stores its weblog-style files. Hitting "Next" at the bottom of some of the more recent pages just takes you back to the same page you were on. This means that anyone wanting to sift through old entries cannot easily step through them, one by one. The only thing I can suggest, if you are in that position, is to use the archive page to find old stuff, instead (hit the Older link, on the left, for that). That way, you will be able to access every single page and not miss anything. Sorry for the inconvenience!
2003-06-06 - 10:36 a.m.
Hi! I've been really busy lately, but I'm still alive and still checking in here, now and again.
As proof, I've updated the page of links, to make sure that they are all still functional, and added four new articles to the list: Mephits, an improved version of the Duelist, an improved version of the Healer (a PC variant for what was originally an NPC class), and a brand new Witch class. The last three are part of a project I'm working on, to create a campaign world using entirely new classes. It's sort of a casual effort, though, so don't hold your breath waiting for regular updates on this one. :)
On other fronts, I've been playing around with the new Marvel Universe RPG. Yes, yes -- I'm a traitor. ;) Don't worry, though: I haven't given up on Paragon -- I'm just trying out someone else's take on the superhero scene, for a while. Anyway, I have kind of extreme feelings about the game. On one hand, it has a really neat system, similar to that used in Nobilis (which, as regular readers will know, I think is pretty spiffy). The book's presentation is also clean and colorful and, since it is published by Marvel, it is about as "official" as you can get. On the other hand, the rules seem to be kind of sparse, with quite a few gaps (some of them kind of obvious, e.g. a lack of rules for Spidey's web shooters). This makes it less "newbie-friendly" than I think the designers intended; in fact, a few us us old-timers have even been having some problems. I think the game has real potential, but we'll have to wait and see whether it ever lives up to it.
If you're interested, you can find more info in these forums:
X-Fan
Marvel Universe RPG
Marvel Universe RPG List
I visit them semi-regularly, so say "hi", if you do pop in. :)
2003-02-25 - 11:11 a.m.
Just another very quick site update...
I have switched over to a new image host, so that should prevent the rash of broken links that I was expecting any day now. It took quite a while to update every affected blog page, but everything should be working. I sure hope nothing like this comes up again, as it turned out to be a royal pain. I hadn't realized just how many entries I had made on this site until I had to go through every one of them, searching for images...
2003-02-14 - 1:41 p.m.
Hi!
I'm back, but only for a couple of minutes, with a piece of news. I just received a note from my "free" image hoster informing me that their service is no longer free. Since I can't see paying money for a site which is on hiatus, anyway, I'm assuming that they will nuke my account in the next couple of weeks. As a result, some of the blog's graphics -- most notably, the fancy section headings (as on the Links page, for example) -- may go *poof* soon. Just thought I should mention it. Of course, if and when I come back to the blog full-time, I'll clean it all up, find a new image host, etc.
As for when that will be... Sorry, still no idea. I've been very busy with other stuff and will probably continue to be in the coming weeks. I can hardly believe that it has been a month since my last post. Sure doesn't seem like it... Anyway, rather than make a promise I may not be able to keep, I would prefer to just leave my options open for now. As the saying goes, expect me when you see me.
Pax!
Cwylric
2003-01-13 - 2:40 p.m.
Hi!
I'm on vacation for a while. If you're wondering where I went and why, you can read the details here.
If you are trying to track down Paragon or other game-related stuff, you will find a page of useful links here.
If you are trying to track down the Dark Ascension-related blog entries, they start here. Just hit "Next", from there, to find all of the rest (there are ten, in all).
If you have no idea what this site is all about, just hit the "Previous" link (below) to work your way backwards through it. Or, better yet, check out the introductory post, here, and then go forward from there, by hitting the "Next" links. Things will make a lot more sense that way. :-)
Pax!
Cwylric
