Writer Blues

Silence.

Nothing.

Unmotivated.

I haven't been posting much for a number of reasons.

My Day Job was affected by many, many factors, which led to a many changes. Changes can be scary, but they are also invigorating. Many of the great people left the team. I was named Team/Tech Lead. Long hours, a lot of hard work, and getting up to speed with a lot of new technologies. Still, losing great people hurts and affects motivation.

I have been writing a lot of material: I completed one adventure and one sourcebook for Akhamet, working on another, and have a skeleton for the yearly special for Rhym at Conglomeration. I won't say any of it was easy, they were labors of hard work over riding the easy street of inspiration. As other writers will tell you, the hard work lead to a product that forms itself. I started wanting to write one thing, and they evolved into something else, something much more interesting than what I originally planned, I will say.

I hate the month of March... it is a time where I feel blue and depressed. I don't know why but as March drags on into April, I find my motivation to do stuff more and more difficult. By now, I know it is a yearly fact of life. I just have to get through it.

Not helping: the FOE Patreon is not doing as good as I wanted it to. Doesn't help the motivation. Still, I believe in the products I am producing, so perceverance is the name of the game.

I have been fighting with Amazon about my dwindling stocks of books... I have not been able to get any new physical copies of books, and my supplies are dropping. And dropping fast. Especially after Midsouthcon where I sold quite a few books.

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All is not doom and gloom, April is coming and with it, the self-obligations of getting stuff done for Conglomeration, Origins, and Gencon. Nothing to get motivation like deadlines!

I have been running and playing games and having a blast with it. Playing does wonders for the morale! Been playing a lot 5e and some Arcanis.

Also, sales have been pretty good for many of our products: Akhamet and Rhym sell very well, and some products out on DM's Guild are doing pretty good.

British Shark and Blehc have been cranking up great works... Which reminds me, I have stuff to show you in future posts.

March is ending.

The good times are coming...

[Gencon] Need Replacement GM

FOE's events passed the first test before acceptance at Gencon.

However, one of my GMs had to step down because of his work, this leaves me with three slots without a GM. All three games are on Thursday August 1st,running all day.

As perks, you get the following:
- A free GM's badge, that will allow you to enjoy the last three days of Gencon!
- FOE swag, including a snazzy uniform
- Adulation of millions!

If you are interested/ available/ curious contact me at mailto:jp@foelegacies.com.

At this time, one of the adventure is written (and in need of editing), another must be completed, and the final one will involved a collaborative effort by all three GMs.

Be Seeing You, The Prisoner 1967

It is with a sad heart that today I complete my mini-marathon of my favorite TV show of all time, 1968's The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan. One of the biggest things about it: It is only one season. It leaves you wanting more, even if the final episode kinda leave you uncertain and has a strange ending. One which leave you with your most pregnant questions, in a way the X-Files are mere titillation.

It is generally agreed that the series is a sequel of "Danger Man" ("Secret Agent" in the US) because McGoohan plays the main character in both series, essentially the same way. Drake and Number Six's personality is very similar. (A few scripts of Danger Man were re-purposed for The Prisoner)

The Prisoner is a 1960s show that is difficult to classify and describe. Patrick McGoohan (whose name we never learn) is Number Six. He fights against the assignation, and claims, in the credits "I am not a number, I am a free man." It features a rather extended introduction wherein you are presented with a resume of how he got to "the Village".

You may not have seen it, but the show has so many iconic scenes and elements that if you ever watched TV, you have seen it. The odd 60s colors and detachment of people to things, the willingness of people to fit in, peer pressure, use of drugs and hallucinogens, abuse of authority, so many things we see today.

Now anyone who knows me and watches the show will understand a lot about how I see the world, particularly the episode "Checkmate". The episode where Number Six takes part in a game of human chess. Twisted and convoluted, with a plot twist that makes you go slam you head in that wall with a "how could I not see that coming, it was right there all along!"

I completely - and quite pleasantly - forgot how completely strange and un-resolved the final episode left us. It ends in a way that leaves questions as to whether Number Six really escaped. The final scene is the same as the first scene of the series. I could tell you what I think happens at the end, but you need to see it for yourself.

The aesthetics of the series and its location makes it a cult TV show I love to re-watch every few years, with twisted delight. I shout with joy when Number Six pulls one on the Village, and I cackled with gleeful horror when Number Six's escape plan inevitably fails.

By the way, I don't mean the garbage they vomitted in 2009. That was complete trash.

Be seeing you!