My copy of For Gold & Glory just arrived in the mail today! It arrived much sooner than expected, which is fortunate since I'm planning to get my AD&D game back on its feet in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to having a single-book rules reference to use in-game, and I'll likely post a more in-depth review of it once I've actually gotten to use it as such.
For now though, I can comment on its physical quality. I opted for color hardcover, and even then the price was just over $25.00 USD (including shipping). It uses matte paper, which doesn't show off the art as well as glossy (and some of the art - mostly drawn from Renaissance and later paintings, as far as I can tell - is very good), but it looks like it'll take pencil much better. Since I'm using this as a reference guide, and it's not a vintage or rare item, I will try to overcome my compunctions and make some notes of my own! It's also quite easy to read, being in my absolute favorite format: serif font, somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 pt, two-column layout.
More to come! (...at some point)
(Unrelated note: I'm so glad for the new, larger mailbox that was decided on after the previous one fell over in a storm. The whole book fit in it easily!)
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Sunday, August 28, 2016
House Rule: Cloud Giant (B/X Class)
(Okay, here's something I whipped up in about half an hour. Some background: One of my players is willing to rejoin my AD&D2 campaign if he can play a giant character. Due to size, abilities, and its presence in The Complete Book of Humanoids, the best candidate for 2e is the Firbolg. However, I've been thinking of possibly, maybe converting that campaign back to B/X, so I put together this write-up based on the Expert Rulebook and the method of giant PCs from the aforementioned 2e splatbook.)
CLOUD GIANTS
Hit
Level Title Dice Experience
1 Giant Veteran 1d8 + 12 0
2 Giant Warrior 2d8 + 12 2,500
3 Giant Swordmaster 3d8 + 12 5,000
4 Giant Hero 4d8 + 12 10,000
5 Giant Swashbuckler 5d8 + 12 20,000
6 Giant Myrmidon 6d8 + 12 40,000
7 Giant Champion 7d8 + 12 80,000
8 Giant Superhero 8d8 + 12 150,000
These fierce giants have white or gray skin and hair, and stand 20' tall. The prime requisite for cloud giants is Strength. A Strength score of 13 or greater will give the cloud giant a bonus on earned experience points.
RESTRICTIONS: Cloud giants use eight-sided dice (d8) to determine their hit points, but they gain a bonus of 12 hit points at 1st level. They may advance to a maximum of 8th level of experience. They may not wear armor, and may only use human-scaled weapons that are designed for two-handed use (such as battle axes, two-handed swords, and pole arms), which they wield with one hand due to their great size. A cloud giant character must have both a minimum Strength and Constitution of 9.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Cloud giants use the same saving throws as dwarves and halflings. They have a natural Armor Class of 4; due to their great size, this cannot be improved by Dexterity bonuses (although Dexterity penalties may apply). When using standard weapons, cloud giants deal two dice of damage (roll the weapon's typical damage die twice, and add the results). In addition to the use of human weapons, cloud giants' might is such that they can hurl large boulders up to 200' for 3d6 damage.
Any time a cloud giant character has enough money, he or she may construct a castle. These are typically built in the sides of mountains or (with the assistance of powerful magic) atop masses of clouds. The guards will be 3-18 (3d6) giant hawks in the clouds or mountains, or 6-36 (6d6) dire wolves in the mountains.
CLOUD GIANTS
Hit
Level Title Dice Experience
1 Giant Veteran 1d8 + 12 0
2 Giant Warrior 2d8 + 12 2,500
3 Giant Swordmaster 3d8 + 12 5,000
4 Giant Hero 4d8 + 12 10,000
5 Giant Swashbuckler 5d8 + 12 20,000
6 Giant Myrmidon 6d8 + 12 40,000
7 Giant Champion 7d8 + 12 80,000
8 Giant Superhero 8d8 + 12 150,000
These fierce giants have white or gray skin and hair, and stand 20' tall. The prime requisite for cloud giants is Strength. A Strength score of 13 or greater will give the cloud giant a bonus on earned experience points.
RESTRICTIONS: Cloud giants use eight-sided dice (d8) to determine their hit points, but they gain a bonus of 12 hit points at 1st level. They may advance to a maximum of 8th level of experience. They may not wear armor, and may only use human-scaled weapons that are designed for two-handed use (such as battle axes, two-handed swords, and pole arms), which they wield with one hand due to their great size. A cloud giant character must have both a minimum Strength and Constitution of 9.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Cloud giants use the same saving throws as dwarves and halflings. They have a natural Armor Class of 4; due to their great size, this cannot be improved by Dexterity bonuses (although Dexterity penalties may apply). When using standard weapons, cloud giants deal two dice of damage (roll the weapon's typical damage die twice, and add the results). In addition to the use of human weapons, cloud giants' might is such that they can hurl large boulders up to 200' for 3d6 damage.
Any time a cloud giant character has enough money, he or she may construct a castle. These are typically built in the sides of mountains or (with the assistance of powerful magic) atop masses of clouds. The guards will be 3-18 (3d6) giant hawks in the clouds or mountains, or 6-36 (6d6) dire wolves in the mountains.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
The Mithgar Dilemma
Okay, some background. In my campaign setting (hereafter referred to as "Duemerus", after the kingdom in which it primarily takes place), there are three main ethnicities or tribes of orcs, each with its own traditional society. Lately, the orcish communities tend to mingle more and more with the non-orcish ones - especially since distinct "human", "elven", and "dwarven" cultures (plus countless others) are slowly merging into a general "humanoid" society. For the people who grew up in the United States, this is kind of like how people from different states might have different cultural values and norms in their own homes and neighborhoods, but can still relate to people from other states without too much trouble. The narrower "Texan" or "Pennsylvanian" identity is only part of the broader "American" identity, and the latter can easily take over when necessary; this is especially true when said people are further united by a common language, currency, infrastructure (such as the highway system), etc.
Anyway, the three main "tribes" are the Vrothgar (mostly Lawful), the Grullgar (mostly Neutral), and the Mithgar (mostly Chaotic). Members of the "tribes" are identifiable by some physical variations, even if they are not active members of the tribe from which they are genetically descended; these distinctions are less visible among those who grew up entirely in the broader "Duemeran" cultural context, and all but intangible among cross-breeds (typically individuals with one human and one orcish parent). Vrothgar society is highly regimented, based heavily on honor and bravery; Grullgar society is less honor-focused, more like the usual informal hierarchies that tend to arise in human and demihuman bandit groups; and Mithgar "society" as such does not exist, for reasons I'll get into shortly.
When I was sketching out the campaign, I quickly decided that I didn't want to have any entire race that is evil. The big reason for that is the racist overtones that would carry, especially if said race is partly or wholly based on a real-world culture, but a second reason is that I don't like stereotypes in general, and more can be gained from being optimistic about human (humanoid?) nature than from being pessimistic. If the goblins always attack, the party just kills them; if the goblins are willing to trade, barter, or even just talk about things the party wants to know, then interesting in-game relationships between different groups can form. (My last AD&D session involved a friendly kobold who was happy to share the abundant food and drink he had found in the pantry, and one of my players remarked afterwards, "That was cute.")
So, why would the Mithgar tend to be more Chaotic in their behavior (Chaotic Neutral, not necessarily Evil)? I thought of a solution: they sometimes practice cannibalism. This does not, in and of itself, mean that a person, race, or culture is evil in my game; after all, the lizardfolk eat their dead, but they're still mostly Neutral in almost every edition of the game. Rather, the Mithgar tendency to consume the entire body - including the brain and cerebrospinal fluid - means that the resultant prion diseases are fairly common. This makes it rather difficult for them to form an organized society, especially since some of the nastier conditions have a chance of being passed on genetically, even before the standard vectors and mother-to-unborn-child infection are taken into account.
I was thinking that this was a way to have a reason for the standard "orcs are evil", while allowing a condition whereby some orcs (actually, the majority of them) could turn out NOT evil. But then the thorny question of nature vs. nurture comes up. Assume that psychologists, sociologists, etc. somehow made their way to Duemerus, and decided that intervention was necessary in order to ensure higher quality of life for Mithgar children. Is their Chaotic tendency a function of their genetic heritage - in which case they would have some inborn negative traits - or of their environment? And if it's the latter, wouldn't an especially presumptuous and egotistical person postulate that the Mithgar culture should be dissolved, and the children raised by "acceptable" adoptive parents?
Most readers will begin to see some major problems with either "solution", in that these types of arguments have been part of real-world concepts like eugenics and ethnic cleansing. And these supposedly "scientific" concepts have done a lot of damage to both individual people and entire cultures; some of these attempts at genocide were, sadly, successful. It's fucked up, and I realize that I've introduced a thorny issue into my game without a good solution. Either the Mithgar's genes are evil, or their culture is. The former is a slippery slope leading to the fantasy equivalent of white supremacist thinking, and the latter, while not impossible or even confined to racial lines (just look at how toxic "gamer culture" can be), brings up the issue of cultural homogenizing that the "assimilated" people (in real life or in Duemerus) would certainly object to - and would be completely justified in doing so.
This is already a campaign where I've introduced such controversial topics as cannibalism, and where I might end up introducing pregnancy and its related controversies in the future (depending on how a similar situation is resolved in a Godbound game I'm playing in... remind me to post about that some time). I realize that it's important to discuss topics like racism and cultural appropriation, but is it right to spark such discussion within the game universe itself? More importantly, will it lead down a road that the players don't want to follow?
Anyway, the three main "tribes" are the Vrothgar (mostly Lawful), the Grullgar (mostly Neutral), and the Mithgar (mostly Chaotic). Members of the "tribes" are identifiable by some physical variations, even if they are not active members of the tribe from which they are genetically descended; these distinctions are less visible among those who grew up entirely in the broader "Duemeran" cultural context, and all but intangible among cross-breeds (typically individuals with one human and one orcish parent). Vrothgar society is highly regimented, based heavily on honor and bravery; Grullgar society is less honor-focused, more like the usual informal hierarchies that tend to arise in human and demihuman bandit groups; and Mithgar "society" as such does not exist, for reasons I'll get into shortly.
When I was sketching out the campaign, I quickly decided that I didn't want to have any entire race that is evil. The big reason for that is the racist overtones that would carry, especially if said race is partly or wholly based on a real-world culture, but a second reason is that I don't like stereotypes in general, and more can be gained from being optimistic about human (humanoid?) nature than from being pessimistic. If the goblins always attack, the party just kills them; if the goblins are willing to trade, barter, or even just talk about things the party wants to know, then interesting in-game relationships between different groups can form. (My last AD&D session involved a friendly kobold who was happy to share the abundant food and drink he had found in the pantry, and one of my players remarked afterwards, "That was cute.")
So, why would the Mithgar tend to be more Chaotic in their behavior (Chaotic Neutral, not necessarily Evil)? I thought of a solution: they sometimes practice cannibalism. This does not, in and of itself, mean that a person, race, or culture is evil in my game; after all, the lizardfolk eat their dead, but they're still mostly Neutral in almost every edition of the game. Rather, the Mithgar tendency to consume the entire body - including the brain and cerebrospinal fluid - means that the resultant prion diseases are fairly common. This makes it rather difficult for them to form an organized society, especially since some of the nastier conditions have a chance of being passed on genetically, even before the standard vectors and mother-to-unborn-child infection are taken into account.
I was thinking that this was a way to have a reason for the standard "orcs are evil", while allowing a condition whereby some orcs (actually, the majority of them) could turn out NOT evil. But then the thorny question of nature vs. nurture comes up. Assume that psychologists, sociologists, etc. somehow made their way to Duemerus, and decided that intervention was necessary in order to ensure higher quality of life for Mithgar children. Is their Chaotic tendency a function of their genetic heritage - in which case they would have some inborn negative traits - or of their environment? And if it's the latter, wouldn't an especially presumptuous and egotistical person postulate that the Mithgar culture should be dissolved, and the children raised by "acceptable" adoptive parents?
Most readers will begin to see some major problems with either "solution", in that these types of arguments have been part of real-world concepts like eugenics and ethnic cleansing. And these supposedly "scientific" concepts have done a lot of damage to both individual people and entire cultures; some of these attempts at genocide were, sadly, successful. It's fucked up, and I realize that I've introduced a thorny issue into my game without a good solution. Either the Mithgar's genes are evil, or their culture is. The former is a slippery slope leading to the fantasy equivalent of white supremacist thinking, and the latter, while not impossible or even confined to racial lines (just look at how toxic "gamer culture" can be), brings up the issue of cultural homogenizing that the "assimilated" people (in real life or in Duemerus) would certainly object to - and would be completely justified in doing so.
This is already a campaign where I've introduced such controversial topics as cannibalism, and where I might end up introducing pregnancy and its related controversies in the future (depending on how a similar situation is resolved in a Godbound game I'm playing in... remind me to post about that some time). I realize that it's important to discuss topics like racism and cultural appropriation, but is it right to spark such discussion within the game universe itself? More importantly, will it lead down a road that the players don't want to follow?
Thursday, July 28, 2016
A Belated Gygax Day
I completely forgot to write a post about Gygax's birthday yesterday, but I thought this might tickle one or more fancies.
My friends and I have been trying to start up an actual RPG club at our university. It's finally getting through the approval process, and several officers have been chosen, so in the group chat two days ago I mentioned off-hand, "Too bad we couldn't time it [the founding] for Gygax's birthday or something." The president of the club then told me that the next day was, in fact, Gygax's birthday.
Everyone was stunned, and I chuckled to myself. "Synchronicity at work, people." :D
My friends and I have been trying to start up an actual RPG club at our university. It's finally getting through the approval process, and several officers have been chosen, so in the group chat two days ago I mentioned off-hand, "Too bad we couldn't time it [the founding] for Gygax's birthday or something." The president of the club then told me that the next day was, in fact, Gygax's birthday.
Everyone was stunned, and I chuckled to myself. "Synchronicity at work, people." :D
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Games I Will Never Run
Here's a short list of games that I will never DM/GM, for any number of reasons.
AD&D 1st Edition - Confusingly organized, even more so than 2e. I do like the tone of 1e much more, though, so there's a slight possibility that I might run it with a heavy dose of house rules to remove some of the dumber things (like alignment languages, material components, and the massive mess that is the unarmed combat system). I recently met someone who loves DMing it, though, so I wouldn't mind being on board as a player.
GURPS (any edition) - I tried to figure out the 4th edition "GURPS Lite" document. I still haven't. I'm not a big fan of point-buy systems in general, and this one is just way too fiddly for my tastes. I would probably not play this one either.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - I love this book (not surprising, since I loved the movie), and the Tri-Stat system is a bit less complex than GURPS in terms of point-buy. I'd imagine that in play it's pretty fast and simple, but the problem is that I have zero ideas for a modern-day crime game. I certainly wouldn't mind playing it, if someone else had ideas.
The World of Darkness - The system isn't too bad, and my brief experience playing Mage: The Awakening would help me get a handle on things, but I only have one story idea. I'd hate to make everyone make human characters for a mini-campaign, but if players would be up for it, I might be convinced. I wouldn't mind playing, either.
Star Wars (any post-WEG version) - I don't know nearly enough about the universe to make for a satisfying game for the players. My entire experience with the franchise is the movies, some of the video games, and a couple of kiddie novels I read as a youngling. I obviously wouldn't mind playing, considering I already have and had a blast.
Pathfinder (the full edition) - Nope. Way, way too much crunch. Wouldn't mind playing, but I will never upgrade to the non-Beginner Box edition as a GM.
You might notice that D&D 4th Edition isn't there. To be honest, if I had the time or the desire, I wouldn't mind DMing 4e, but I doubt that most of my players would want to put themselves through that. HackMaster 4e is also not there, because as much as I would want to run it (and endure all of the rules arguing and struggles thereof), it's based on the AD&D engine that two of my players hate so much, and few others would want to struggle with the rules.
AD&D 1st Edition - Confusingly organized, even more so than 2e. I do like the tone of 1e much more, though, so there's a slight possibility that I might run it with a heavy dose of house rules to remove some of the dumber things (like alignment languages, material components, and the massive mess that is the unarmed combat system). I recently met someone who loves DMing it, though, so I wouldn't mind being on board as a player.
GURPS (any edition) - I tried to figure out the 4th edition "GURPS Lite" document. I still haven't. I'm not a big fan of point-buy systems in general, and this one is just way too fiddly for my tastes. I would probably not play this one either.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - I love this book (not surprising, since I loved the movie), and the Tri-Stat system is a bit less complex than GURPS in terms of point-buy. I'd imagine that in play it's pretty fast and simple, but the problem is that I have zero ideas for a modern-day crime game. I certainly wouldn't mind playing it, if someone else had ideas.
The World of Darkness - The system isn't too bad, and my brief experience playing Mage: The Awakening would help me get a handle on things, but I only have one story idea. I'd hate to make everyone make human characters for a mini-campaign, but if players would be up for it, I might be convinced. I wouldn't mind playing, either.
Star Wars (any post-WEG version) - I don't know nearly enough about the universe to make for a satisfying game for the players. My entire experience with the franchise is the movies, some of the video games, and a couple of kiddie novels I read as a youngling. I obviously wouldn't mind playing, considering I already have and had a blast.
Pathfinder (the full edition) - Nope. Way, way too much crunch. Wouldn't mind playing, but I will never upgrade to the non-Beginner Box edition as a GM.
You might notice that D&D 4th Edition isn't there. To be honest, if I had the time or the desire, I wouldn't mind DMing 4e, but I doubt that most of my players would want to put themselves through that. HackMaster 4e is also not there, because as much as I would want to run it (and endure all of the rules arguing and struggles thereof), it's based on the AD&D engine that two of my players hate so much, and few others would want to struggle with the rules.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
When Players and the DM Disagree
So, in the two months since I announced my hiatus from blogging, I thought I would pop back in and explain a little bit about what's been going on.
One of my longtime friends - who was, in fact, a member of my very first RPG group - recently moved back to town, transferring to the same university that the rest of my "Thursday group" attends (except for L., who had to drop out of school due to personal concerns). She has finally been able to make her druid character, and among the other things going on in the AD&D2 campaign, she decided that her 6' 2" half-elf druid will be getting married to B.'s 2' 6" halfling fighter. This gave me a lot of food for thought, as I had to do some figuring out as to how the different races, and society overall in the campaign setting, would react to not only a gay marriage, but an inter-species one.
Unfortunately, not all is well in AD&D Land. Besides the two players who now live out of town, and can only rarely jump in over Skype, I have had two players drop out of this campaign due to dissatisfaction with the rules system being used. One of them pretty much refuses to play anything other than D&D 5th Edition; the other feels that a game is useless without a d20 System-esque skill system, and also gets really attached to his characters. As a cherry on top of this disappointment sundae, one player who doesn't mind 2e (after all, he started with oD&D and then went to 4e, so he's pretty flexible) is in a predicament where his character is, if not definitely dead, then almost certainly dead and requiring a hell of an explanation as to why the character is alive.
The solution? Well, the possibly-dead character can be the source of an interesting plot development I've been turning over in my head, but the two players who've left won't come back unless they're happy with the rules. Neither of them want to play B/X, since it lacks both rangers and separated race/class. I don't want to run D&D5 for a few reasons: first, I'm not nearly familiar enough with it to run it; and second, the magic level is way, way too high to mesh well with a campaign that started off in B/X. I've already told of my incredulity at how overpowered magic missile is in 5e, and I started to realize that the reason for wizards quickly overpowering fighters in 3e and later editions is because of the removal of class-specific XP levels.
That being said, I wouldn't mind running a higher-magic game. We recently had a "Drunk D&D" session for B.'s birthday, that involved me running them through the introductory scenario in the Pathfinder Beginner Box. The BB is a good system, fairly restrained, and I certainly wouldn't mind running it... except that it would mean putting my "Continent" campaign - the one I've spent the better part of a year working on - on the shelf.
As for dissatisfaction with the underlying rules system... I've brought up Basic Fantasy to my group, and they like the idea even though they haven't yet seen it in action. They like the ascending Armor Class, separated race and class, and large number of supplementary material available; I like the low power level, light rules, and free availability of everything needed to play (or at cost, in the case of printed materials).
As much as this seems like the best solution, I still wish I could get those two players to stick with 2e. Not the least because I've put a lot of time and money into the system (I bought B. a copy of the PHB for her birthday, and am awaiting a premium reprint of the same that I ordered from my FLGS). But I was watching one of Spoony's older Counter Monkey videos, and he said something that struck a chord with me. Much like me, 2e is his favorite rules system... but he realizes that it isn't necessarily the best system. I find myself agreeing, but I still want to at least bring the current story arc to a close before converting.
And when I do so, I might hand the reins over to B. for a while... and she might decide to just use what she knows, and run us through something using AD&D2.
Well, a DM can dream.
One of my longtime friends - who was, in fact, a member of my very first RPG group - recently moved back to town, transferring to the same university that the rest of my "Thursday group" attends (except for L., who had to drop out of school due to personal concerns). She has finally been able to make her druid character, and among the other things going on in the AD&D2 campaign, she decided that her 6' 2" half-elf druid will be getting married to B.'s 2' 6" halfling fighter. This gave me a lot of food for thought, as I had to do some figuring out as to how the different races, and society overall in the campaign setting, would react to not only a gay marriage, but an inter-species one.
Unfortunately, not all is well in AD&D Land. Besides the two players who now live out of town, and can only rarely jump in over Skype, I have had two players drop out of this campaign due to dissatisfaction with the rules system being used. One of them pretty much refuses to play anything other than D&D 5th Edition; the other feels that a game is useless without a d20 System-esque skill system, and also gets really attached to his characters. As a cherry on top of this disappointment sundae, one player who doesn't mind 2e (after all, he started with oD&D and then went to 4e, so he's pretty flexible) is in a predicament where his character is, if not definitely dead, then almost certainly dead and requiring a hell of an explanation as to why the character is alive.
The solution? Well, the possibly-dead character can be the source of an interesting plot development I've been turning over in my head, but the two players who've left won't come back unless they're happy with the rules. Neither of them want to play B/X, since it lacks both rangers and separated race/class. I don't want to run D&D5 for a few reasons: first, I'm not nearly familiar enough with it to run it; and second, the magic level is way, way too high to mesh well with a campaign that started off in B/X. I've already told of my incredulity at how overpowered magic missile is in 5e, and I started to realize that the reason for wizards quickly overpowering fighters in 3e and later editions is because of the removal of class-specific XP levels.
That being said, I wouldn't mind running a higher-magic game. We recently had a "Drunk D&D" session for B.'s birthday, that involved me running them through the introductory scenario in the Pathfinder Beginner Box. The BB is a good system, fairly restrained, and I certainly wouldn't mind running it... except that it would mean putting my "Continent" campaign - the one I've spent the better part of a year working on - on the shelf.
As for dissatisfaction with the underlying rules system... I've brought up Basic Fantasy to my group, and they like the idea even though they haven't yet seen it in action. They like the ascending Armor Class, separated race and class, and large number of supplementary material available; I like the low power level, light rules, and free availability of everything needed to play (or at cost, in the case of printed materials).
As much as this seems like the best solution, I still wish I could get those two players to stick with 2e. Not the least because I've put a lot of time and money into the system (I bought B. a copy of the PHB for her birthday, and am awaiting a premium reprint of the same that I ordered from my FLGS). But I was watching one of Spoony's older Counter Monkey videos, and he said something that struck a chord with me. Much like me, 2e is his favorite rules system... but he realizes that it isn't necessarily the best system. I find myself agreeing, but I still want to at least bring the current story arc to a close before converting.
And when I do so, I might hand the reins over to B. for a while... and she might decide to just use what she knows, and run us through something using AD&D2.
Well, a DM can dream.
Saturday, May 14, 2016
My A to Z Reflection post
Just thought I'd share the reason that I won't be returning for next year's Challenge (this is copy-pasted from the survey I took):
I enjoy blogging in general, and I'm actually thinking about starting up a blog about one of my other hobbies - music. But yeah, both in the blogosphere and in my real-world social life, I'll be taking a break from blogging. In the second area, I'm going to try to wrap up the current "story arc" of my D&D game in order to (hopefully) hand the reins to one of my very left-brain players, who I feel would do an excellent job of rules mastery and internally consistent world design even if said Schrödinger's DM would make a few mistakes - hey, we all do on our first attempt.
So... hiatus, I suppose?
"I found the daily schedule draining creatively, with finals going on at the same time as the latter half of the challenge; it also felt stifling to have to stick to a prescribed theme (even a self-prescribed one), and as a result several of my posts were far shorter and of much lower quality than I would have wanted them to be."My few semi-regular readers will undoubtedly have noticed that I've been mostly quiet since finishing the Challenge, and this is why. The key word to take away from this is burnout - I'm feeling burnt out, and I honestly don't have the enthusiasm to write up any of my (relatively few) gaming stories or ideas... not even the marathon seven-hour AD&D2 session I ran is getting me excited enough to write another real post.
I enjoy blogging in general, and I'm actually thinking about starting up a blog about one of my other hobbies - music. But yeah, both in the blogosphere and in my real-world social life, I'll be taking a break from blogging. In the second area, I'm going to try to wrap up the current "story arc" of my D&D game in order to (hopefully) hand the reins to one of my very left-brain players, who I feel would do an excellent job of rules mastery and internally consistent world design even if said Schrödinger's DM would make a few mistakes - hey, we all do on our first attempt.
So... hiatus, I suppose?
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