Shores of Night

 Oh no, I've managed to neglect this blog again, haven't I? Sorry, sorry. I'm awful at social media these days and half the time I spend my time completely ignoring these things. I do actually have an X account again but I've only posted on it twice, so gods know if its worth it.  All the same, I thought I should type up a quick "round up" of what's happening.  I guess the most important thing is that I'm divorced! My ex and I started the process back in February and it was completed a couple of weeks ago in wat felt like an anti climax, if I'm honest.. I don't feel any particular exaltation or happiness over the situation and its just a shame that we couldn't make things work - though we gave it a good try (we were together for over 20 years). Ultimately, we just drifted apart and became different people. It does feel like the future is wide open, ready for me to grow and develop, but even though that's not a bad thing, it still doesn...

 Hi,  I'm a roleplayer, as many of the regular readers of this blog know. I'm currently running a game of Vampire Dark Ages set in 13th Century Dubrovnik and focusing on Tzimisce weirdness, the Omen War, and the idea of a city picking itself up after a siege (this is a tangent timeline where Venice conquers Dubrovnik/Ragusa in 1242).  I'm also running some one-shots for games I want to try out - and last weekend, I ran a quick game of Werewolf the Apocalypse. Werewolf is a game that I adore, but I've never had much luck running it. I wonder if it's been the groups of players, or that I've never hit the right note; my attempts to get something off the ground have just never gone anywhere. Last Sunday's one-shot was really good though, even though it just brushed the surface - the PCs were told to go and steal some archaeological artefacts from a dig on a golf course, they fought some Fomori and a good time was had by all.  I've had some notes for a Werewo...

 Hiya,  Just a wee bit of news.  I just self-published a sword and sorcery story on Wattpad, and you can find it here: Six Circlets It's a sword and sorcery story set in a magical post-apocalypse story and features Markov, Clan-Warrior of the Shorr discovering something from before the world changed (for the worst).  I hope you enjoy it.

Years ago, I used to post five songs I liked on a Friday, and well, didn't keep it going because I tend to be quite forgetful about maintaining this blog. I wanted to share a song today that I love and that always speaks to me on a deep level. It often makes me want to cry, but at the same time, I find it uplifting.  It showcases the energy I want to put into the world most of the time because I'm conscious of how hard most of us have it, and how hurt many of us are once we reach past the superficial. In a world that seems so obsessed with rushing from place to place, where "facts don't care about your feelings" when in truth feelings are what drives most of us, it feels ever more important to stop and be kind.  I don't know if I always succeed in doing this, but I hope I do. Lyrics History's been leaning on me lately I can feel the future breathing down my neck And all the things I thought were true When I was young, and you were too Turned out to be brok...

 Or how I'm feeling today.  I hope you don't feel this way too.  Coda by Dorothy Parker There's little in taking or giving, There's little in water or wine; This living, this living, this living Was never a project of mine. Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is The gain of the one at the top, For art is a form of catharsis, And love is a permanent flop, And work is the province of cattle, And rest's for a clam in a shell, So I'm thinking of throwing the battle- Would you kindly direct me to hell?

 Hi,  So, I got this game a while ago, but haven't played it. A few months ago I started looking at it properly and looking for a way to start writing something I wanted to run - unfortunately, I bounced off the Great Parch. I just didn't feel it was real, somehow (I mean, obviously it's not, but it feels like it lacked the character that abounds in the Old World setting for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay). With that in mind, I asked ChatGPT about making me a spine for an adventure and it provided something about a haunted house. So far, so Call of Cthulhu, really, but it was decent enough. I asked for a sequel, and then a sequel to the sequel - specifying that I wanted the third adventure to involve pirates.  The LLM did its job, and it was an interesting opportunity to play around with that and the Age of Sigmar, so I asked it to start building this city - Greyhaven. It was an interesting experiment, though probably not one I'll repeat too often. The AI was usually able t...

 I've read the Guardian  newspaper since I went to university in 1994. I've followed and read the newspaper loyally since then, through their weird phases and their eternal quest for... something. I don't really know, because, on the one hand, they come across as very "woke", while on the other they're so bourgeois it hurts. Currently, it feels as if they are very busy chasing fashions, not setting them and it's been frustrating to see.  Basically, it's a weird paper, at once progressive on a large number of fronts but regressive on others. For example, it styles itself as feminist but happily refers to men as betas if they don't fit the largely imaginary status of being "an alpha". I don't know who that helps, as it seems to shame men who don't fit into the patriarchy... at the same time as the paper attacks the patriarchy. "Don't be a sexist arsehole... but at the same time if you're not an alpha male, you're no...

I got to wondering a few weeks ago - what games have I actually played in the almost 30 years I've been gaming?  So, I compiled a list and I *think* I've got everything down.  This isn't every game I've owned, and I hope the list will be a lot longer soon. Legend of the Five Rings 7th Sea Vampire the Masquerade Vampire the Dark Ages Werewolf the Apocalypse Werewolf the Dark Ages Mage the Ascension Changeling the Dreaming Demon the Fallen Wraith the Oblivion Adventure! AD&D D&D 3rd ed (Midnight and Etherscope settings) D&D 5th ed WFRP 1st ed WFRP 2nd ed WFRP 4th ed Dark Heresy Rifts SLA Industries Call of Cthulhu Serenity Hollow Earth Expedition Deadlands Conspiracy X Night’s Black Agents All For One: Regime Diabolique Shadowrun Victoriana Mutants and Masterminds Qin The Warring States FUDGE Homebrew games (a friend's creations) Savage Worlds (Necessary Evil) Dr Who Werewolf the Forsaken Atomic Highway Unhallowed Metropolis Feng Shui Scion Spire

 Hello! I have some good news. One of my short stories is out today!  Going To The Dogs  is an Urban Fantasy story published by 96th of October in their Spring 2023 issues. It features my favourite character, Armitage - also known as the Heavy Metal Magus. To give you an idea of the inspiration for the story, it all started when I worked in north Birmingham and went over a bridge which had bags of dog poo tied to it. My mind started wondering how that would work in Armitage's world and what effect it would have. It sort of went from there - though it took a while to get here!  I hope you enjoy the story, if I may be cheeky, if you do then please share it on social media. 

 So, I just pulled back from the social media site I was on, and from a couple of sites, I comment on (Bleeding Cool and the Guardian). I've been feeling overwhelmed by negativity and it's a constant thing. It feels as if no matter how much I try to be optimistic these things rise up in the form of back-biting, stupid arguments, and so on. It makes me despair of humanity, and what's worse it makes me feel like I'm trapped in a recurrent pattern where even though I know it's not good for me, I keep going back in hoping that things will be different this time. Like everyone, I'm looking for connection and a feeling of belonging, and sadly these sites don't provide me with it.  So I guess I'm going to be stepping away for longer and trying to find new ways to meet people - and focusing on the real world more. I suppose, ironically, that means I won't be stopping using Meetup, even though that's a social media site like all the rest. The goal though ...

 Sorry, I really am poor at putting things on this site and I do need to get a regular schedule.  Work is hella busy at the moment (and for some reason I've started saying "hella") but I've also managed to get a story into the 96th of october  - which will be published on the 1st of March.  So, that's good. I got my PhD application in for the university I work at this month, and I've been working on the novel I'm writing. My Vampire game is going well, too.  Lastly, here's a picture of me.  Have a lovely weekend, lovelies. Take care of yourselves. 

 Good morning,  I just wanted to say Happy New Year (rather belated I know, so please forgive me), but also to say have a good week, full of joy and purpose if you can. You are enough and your feelings are valid.