Since July

There was about a six month gap in my posting there.  I should probably fill in some of the blanks, now that I’ve gotten the whole pain thing off my chest.

August saw the launch of a project that I’ve been working on for years; the core rulebook of the Victory System.  I’m actually really proud of this product; it’s the culmination of not only my writing career, but my gaming career as well.

Along with my partner, Victor Gipson, we took everything that worked from the Inverted 20 System that we created for Hot Chicks: the RPG, threw out all the stuff that didn’t work, and hammered it into a system that could be used for any genre of play.  It’s a good start, I think.  The next book that we’re producing in that product line, the Victory System Equipment Manual, will flesh out the basics in the core rule book allowing folks to create brand new elements, from swords and guns to castles and spells.  I’m hoping that book will be out early next year.

We released the Victory System core at GenCon, this year.  I went personally, with the help and support of one of the best people in the world, my friend Lisa.  GenCon… well, I’ll mostly sum it up by saying it could have gone better.  The Victory System was buried under some VERY excellent competition; next year, I’ll focus more on running events than trying to represent in the Dealer’s Room.  GenCon is also the event that mostly wrecked my personal health for the near future, but I’ll do it again in a heartbeat.

In other news; I was, in fact, able to help my good friend Lisa with the roommate issue, and while there have been some hiccups, her health is much better than when last I talked about it.  She may be relocating to a locale much nearer to me; her trips out this way have netted her a good group of friends and a support network.  She can almost keep up with my wife during one of Anna’s brutal shopping marathons, a rare gift indeed.

My family is doing well; my wife Annalisa is still plugging away at the task of being one of the managers of our apartment building (along with me) and the office manager for the property management company that owns our building (and numerous others).  She is ruthlessly active in my son’s Boy Scout pack (or den, or whatever it is Boy Scouts collect in).  This is a good thing; camping in the great outdoors is anathema to me.  Not only is it beyond my physical capabilities right now, but I like beds and cable tv and room-service.  That one scene in the movie adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic where Keanu rants about wanting room service?  Yeah, that’s me.

Speaking of my son… Andrew is a sixth-grader now, and attending Jefferson Middle School.  He is receiving assistance with this learning disabilities through the school’s resource center, and they are good.  I mean they are really good… it takes ‘Drew about two weeks to find a new way around doing his homework, and a new “anti-non-homework” strategy takes only about a day to implement.  It doesn’t help, of course, that there’s really nothing new under the sun; I’ve used just about all of the homework-avoidance tactics that he’ll ever know, so he can’t get away with much.  He’s doing quite well in school, actually; there are a few things he needs to step up on, but he’s eleven years old.  His whole life is about improving, right now.  One thing, though…

…that boy is smart.  I mean, scary smart.  Smart, articulate; if he can learn to write the way he talks, he’s going to be unbeatable.  He’s gettin’ a nice desktop computer for Christmas; that’s partially because he’s at the point where he needs one for school, and partially because he constantly outstrips the capabilities of his mother’s computer.  I’m extremely proud of that boy, and I need to watch him like a hawk.  My friends and I have a pool on how much longer it’s going to be before he starts noticing girls; if I thought that he was wiley when it came to not doing homework, how’s he going to be when he develops an interest in the ladies?  If I’m any indication, his mother and I are in for some terrifyingly interesting times.

Let’s see, what else?  Work is proceeding apace on a project I can only call the OmniCosm, right now; more on that here when I’ve got more to say on it.  For the moment, I’ll just say that it’s been an interesting project in working with a larger group of people than I’m used to.

So, since the day seems to have dawned without the threat of an actual Mayan apocalypse, and Christmas is only four days away, I’ll take this opportunity to wish the world Merry Holidays and Happy Christmas!  Now to see how many more projects I can put work into while I still have sunlight.