Hey all. I thought I’d post a bit of an explanation as to where the hell I’ve been of late. Or rather what I’ve been up to (and not up to!).

‘Course, if you’re wondering, “Hey, who the hell is this guy, and why do I five a flyin’ F?” then just tune me out.

Here’s the deal, oh fellow Forgers. Post GenCon, my inbox bloated like crazy, mostly thanks to Dust Devils good showing at the con. Yay! Also because of the great contacts and friends I made -- and in some cases re-made -- there. What a GREAT time that was. Truly.

Anyway, that was straw one -- sort of overwhelming, hard-to-keep-up-with-response. Problems could be worse, you know? Not to mention I had been working in the layout sweatshop before the con to help everyone’s kick ass games make a great showing. (It worked, as many of us know).

Then, I had the leftovers from freelance layout gigs, and a couple more lucrative gigs from the con. Straw two.

Add to that mix an insane work schedule. Yeah, you know, that day job. The thing that pesters me in between obsessive-compulsive bookmarked checks of the Forge and other RPG sites. I’m like a rat getting shocked for food pellets. Anyway, work was nuts. Just a couple weeks ago, I was putting in 14 days and one 16 hour day. Straw three, and stressful, tiring straw it was.

And of course the straw that broke the camel down -- in September my wife lost her job, and all hell broke loose. Like “How the hell to pay the mortgage” hell. The good news is that she basically got her job back after the bungling superintendent at his school decided not to pull his Scrooge routine. Still, it made for an extremely stressful and trying 16 days.

So, once that was cleared up and work decided to let me go home at a normal hour, I had some much-delayed freelance projects, like hardcoremoose’s Charnel Gods.

Now, the plate is clear on nearly all fronts. What a relief! It’s really refreshing to be out from under all those straws, if you will. So now what? Well, onward and upward, right? I’m very likely going to make the Dust Devils PDF available for sale tomorrow. FINALLY!

I’m being very choosy about freelance layout gigs right now, mostly because they often require so much time that I’m leaving my own creations behind a bit! Gotta work a lot on Dreamspire, and I’m crafting another little game called Nine Worlds. I should be sharing some more information about that one soon, once I actually have something to show for it! More to come soon, and I should be offering up more responses to folks, too!

One last bit I’ll reiterate -- thanks to the Forge for being such a great, creative community. I missed being able to drop in, say hello, or get some great feedback. Looking forward to more.

Hi Matt,

So, busted-hump camel-boy, good to see you back!

This is as good an opportunity as any to identify one of the key features of everyone here at the Forge who did indeed get that game made and done - the willingness to put one's head down, bull ahead, stay on top of the shrapnel, and, if necessary, to grope and kill in the darkness.

Shit's gonna come down. Read my enraged posts during the final stages of getting Sorcerer into print and distribution. Read Rafael's about the computer going demonic. Read Michael Hopcroft's posts - he's not whining; that stuff is real.

Game: Sorcerer
Game: Dust Devils
Game: Dread
Game: HeartQuest

It's insane just what happens at the worst moments during a game's later stages of production. And life is real; you gotta deal with it. Delays are one thing, periods of "can't talk, gotta work" are the same thing, and plain old prioritizing (set it aside, deal with kids' health, spouse's job, make sure the day job is totally solid) is always necessary. There's no deadline.

But when it can happen ... then the game gets done, no compromise. There's kind of a funny look in the eye of someone who's really pumped it into existence in the self-publishing biz. Jared, post-Schism, was a whole new Jared-look; the stare was no longer quirky, it was scary. Mike Holmes got it at GenCon and it hasn't faded. Michael Hopcroft had it at the end of GenCon, for the first time since I'd met him. Jake had it in his eye when I met him at Origins. I know that look pretty well; I've seen it in the mirror five times now (Sorcerer, two supplements, Elfs, Trollbabe).

Matt's got it. I'm looking forward to seeing it in lots more people, over the coming year.

Best,
Ron

Amen, Ron. Amen. Of course, I'm only taking a short break in working on writing Alyria (you heard right!) to post a snippet on the Alyria forum before getting back to work. :-)

When I was working on my wargame Junk, I told myself that my goal was to finish it. Nothing else. Just finishing it. The same goes for Legends of Alyria. Life has been weird and all sorts of delays have cropped up.

But I'm going to finish it.

Seth Ben-Ezra

Matt,

On a slightly different note than Ron's, I just want to say welcome back, and also that I'm glad all is well on the homefront. I had imagined far worse, and I'm relieved things have resolved themselves for you and your wife.

And I'm relieved that Charnel Gods is all layed out. ;)

Kidding aside, it was a privilege to get to work with you, even under such inauspicious circumstances. I can't wait to see what project you have up your sleeve next.

And don't let me forget...I still owe you the beer I promised at GenCon.

- Scott

I knew I should have hired better aliens to kidnap Matt - foiled again!

Glad to hear that you and your wife are back on track, and now Dust Devils can move on to kicking even more ass. :-)

Gotta chime in here. Hello folks! I'm still alive, too. I just came back from the Essen game fair, where my first publication "Der Letzte Exodus" was released. I had to fight with some major freelancer fuck-up, which caused a hell lotta work in the post-GenCon weeks 'til now, but it's done and the book turned out really good after all.

I'm planning on increasing my online presence again, now that I have more time on my hands. And there's already another RPG project in the works (which means another delay of Hebrew Waitress World, I fear).

Can't wait for next GenCon
Jürgen