Life, and a little bit of perspective.

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I really posted any real new content on my blog, other then updates to my 2D20 Conan extension. And I wanted to keep this site active, as it seems in the last several months my viewership has increased, both on Twitch and on Twitter. With those numbers going up steadily, I want to make sure there is something here of note for my readers to follow.

The other thing, is dealing with the shutdown of the Google Plus pages. I have been struggling with the loss of G+, as I thought it fit my style of social media perfectly.  I recently moved my social media needs to MeWe, which is an OK site, but it doesn't quiet feel right, not yet anyways. I have been so busy with life in the last 6 months, to fully explore MeWe has been something I have not really had the chance to do. So I plan on getting back on track with that.

Life Status.

The end of 2018, ended on a real sad note for me in my personal life. Since my accident in 2016, I have been dealing with my recuperation of a totally shattered ankle, one large metal plate and a dozen or more surgical screws. Which effectively put my main hobby of Hiking/Climbing in a semi permanent state of hold. When one door closes, other doors open, so I spent a lot of my time focusing on my other Hobby, running RPGs.

2017 and 2018 saw a steady growth in my gaming. Starting with trimming the fat down in my online associations. When I had this done, I started to slowly build up a network of people who had actual similar interests in gaming, and gaming alone. Along the way I developed a really good friendship, with a person who I could count on for real solid advice, support and someone, who more importantly I could trust. Thanks @ionfarmer! I mean it! You are a real talent in the RPG world, and having you as a friend has been awesome!

Then in 2018 my gaming ramped up in a way I never could have thought was possible. Being a person, who can only game every 3 weeks due to my work, I was flooded with games in my time off. With 2 or 3 games every weekend, and asked to host other games through out the week. It was total madness and I loved it. I reveled in it! I put every ounce of my creative processes into it and I was telling more stories then I ever thought possible.

Overtime, and with some investments into online streaming, software, and other hardware in late 2018 I was about to really make a move into a whole other realm of  gaming. I was in my prime when it came to roleplaying. Everything had lined up perfectly.

And then disaster struck.

Late November, my wife's health which has been marginal since 2007 after a very serious car accident, took a turn for the worse. In mid - late December my best friend of 16 years, Jack, collapsed suddenly and passed away in my arms when he was brought low by a degenerative heart condition. For those who do not know, Jack was not a person, he was much more. He was my Dog. Jack was my outdoor companion, he hiked with me, he hunted with me, he went with me on rock climbing trips. Jack and I were inseparable. Jack was by my side, for more then 3 months as I recovered from my fall. Having him suddenly ripped away from my life, and the impact that had on myself and my already ailing wife was more then anyone of us have ever dealt with before.

So I shut down. Emergency re-set required. Cancelled all my remaining games for my time off, put away all my books, stopped writing. Just one total full stop!

When I got back from from work Mid January I decided it was time for my wife and I to take a short break away from it all. To get away from the pain and memories of the last several years. We decided to go on a trip.. in total, 13 days! Seeing I am only ever home for 21 days, this was a large chunk of my time. It was great. Warm waters, hot sands, and bright sun! It gave me a chance just to re adjust to the way things were going to be going forward. It allowed me to put things into perspective.

I got home from the trip with just 3 days to spare before having to head back to work for another 3 weeks, I am totally exhausted. By the time I do actually get a chance to run a game again it will be roughly 10 weeks since I last played anything. But I am excited about it.

I may have lost some momentum with a campaign I was running that was just short of a year in length when December struck. But that is OK, I am sure I will slowly build it up again.

Two systems this year I am really hyped with. 2D20 Conan and Coriolis. Man, I love those settings and I love those systems.

This year, I am going to be focusing on Coriolis a little bit more. And maybe run a campaign game for it. As the mechanics of the system is super slick, fast and very fun. Furious even! (A little dig towards you Savage's out there)

I am going to keep running the 2D20 Conan. But I am going to run it more on a game by game basis, which will allow me to run more Conan One Shot games and let me be more flexible in allowing players to jump in and out of the game.

My twitch channel is slowly getting more exposure too. Even with this recent setback of missing several weeks of gaming momentum. I am confident I will be able to get that back on track.  Having managed to receive some tips and advice from a real life audio studio recording professional, I am eager to put my new found skills to use and produce for everyone some super gaming content over the next year.

So stay tune, subscribe and buckle up for some great fun, original content and raucous behavior.

Best regards.

Jolly!