Bill Bodden's Blog, page 11

With a Little Help From My Friends

I've spent a fair amount of time, space, and words here to recommend the work of a number of my fellow authors in this blog. Now, I'd like to take  a moment to remind myself (and others) that writing is far from the only art form out there. I have quite a few friends who produce a wide variety of fascinating, cool, and useful things that you may...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/02/18/with...

First Time in Decades

A group that I game with regularly has decided to have me run the game for a while. I've run games as a Game Master/Dungeon Master before, but it's been years -- too many years -- since I've run a D&D campaign, and there are more than a few things I'd forgotten about running a long-term series of adventures vs. running a one-shot adventure for a single evening.

The current setting of choice for our game is the Scarred Lands https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e&affiliate_id=234579. Based loosely (very) on Greek Mythology, it postulates a world where the titans and gods went to war, and the titans lost. Instead of everyone going on their merry way, the setting has the world devastated by the conflict. Giant, all-powerful beings slugging it out over the landscape...
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Transitions

I've come to realize, over the last couple of years, that I know quite a few people who either have, or are in the process of, transitioning to another gender. My first experience with this came in the mid-1980s; the place I worked at the time brought in a manager from another city to take over operations after the current manager was fired. That person was someone I had met years ago, but hadn't seen for quite some time. When she was introduced, I was startled to hear the name change, and indeed, her dramatic change in appearance. Having not seen her for years at that point - and not having been all that well acquainted with her in the first place, calling her by her new name was an easy transition for me to make.

Since then, quite a number of people I've known...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/02/04/tran...

Taking the Joy Out of Life

Word got out this week about a blog post from "comedian" Bill Maher regarding the death of Stan Lee. He wrote:

"The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess. Someone on Reddit wrote: “I'm so incredibly grateful I lived in a world that included Stan Lee.” Personally, I’m grateful I lived in a world that included oxygen and trees, but to each his own. Now, I have nothing against comic books – I read them now and then when I was a kid and I was all out of Hardy Boys. But the assumption everyone had back then, both the adults and the kids, was that comics were for kids, and when you grew up you moved on to big-boy books without the pictures."

So Bill Maher is a condescending, self-important windbag; no surprise there. The thing is, a lot of people hold this opinion: that things cannot evolve.  Comics have undergone a tremendous shift, both in the complexity and in the maturity of their stories. To say that an average comic book written today is no more sophisticated than one from the 1940s or 1950s shows a staggering lack of awareness, and an obvious lack of common sense. The whole world has changed in the last 80 years to such an overwhelming degree that I'm not convinced people who were adults in 1940 would even recognize half of culture today. Maher's comments are no more than a scared old man screaming at kids to "Get off my lawn!"

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/01/28/taki...

A Failure of Technology

So I had some trouble with my phone last week. The screen became unresponsive to touch. I tried rebooting, per the suggestion given by some (apparently) random person on my phone company's help site, but to reboot, I need to tap buttons appearing on the screen, so if the screen doesn't register those taps...

Whenever stuff like this happens, I feel helpless. I'm not terribly tech-savvy, and I'm bad at troubleshooting problems. I'm also kinda cheap. -- it comes from a combination of growing up poor, and not having a ton of disposable income right now. The thing is, we're doing fine; I just hate spending money when I feel like I'm being ripped off, which is exactly how I feel right now. My Motorola G4 Play only lasted for just over a year and a half: decent return on a cell phone, I suppose, but "in the old days, phones lasted FOREVER!" Yeah, and they were bolted to the wall, too. Get off my lawn.

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/01/21/a-fa...

Triumphant Return!

Sunday I got back home from Midwinter Gaming Convention https://www.facebook.com/midwintergam... which has become an annual, can't miss event for me. In the past, I've gone as booth monkey for Onyx Path, but this year they didn't need my help at the show, so I volunteered to run three sessions of my convention one-shot, set in the Scarred Lands and using D&D 5E rules. I had 20 of 21 slots filled going into the weekend, so I was really pleased with the turnout. Despite a 45% no-show rate, I still had 11 players (the 12th showed up late due to a previous game running long) for three sessions. They all seemed pleased with...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/01/15/triu...

2018: The Year That Blogged

The first blog of every year is where I go over a few important points of my blog from the previous year. As usual, there have been a few ups and downs this past year, and despite starting off slowly, traffic to my site finished strong, for which I am pleased. In the first bit I go over some stats from my site in a general way: please stick with me!

I did a fair amount of blogging last year. I failed to blog every single week, but still managed to post to my blog in 47of 52 weeks last year, for a total of 48 posts. My highest traffic month was October: my lowest was November. My most visited post was "End of an Era" http://billbodden.com/2018/10/01/end-of-an-era/ in October, wherein I wrote about retiring from working retail at Pegasus Games after many years. That post also inspired a fair amount of commentary, both here and on my Facebook page. Second most visited was a post from spring of 2017, "What the Hell is Wrong With Gamers", http://billbodden.com/2017/04/10/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-gamers/  which people are still finding via Instagram and other external links.

To read more of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/01/07/2018...

The Solace of Snow

I love the snow. It brings solace to my soul every year at a time when I most need it, as the days grow shorter and I get more and more depressed. The blanket of white puts me in mind of far more pleasant than bad things, and I happily stand at a window watching the snow fall.

The end of the calendar year is a time for reflection: on what has gone before, and on hopes for what it to come. During these days of horror and malicious indifference, I find it difficult to be optimistic; We are pissing away the only world we have so the value of rich people's stock portfolios go up a few more points. The US is showing signs that SOME things will turn around, but...

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Kitten Update

We've had these kittens - Mina and Monty - for just over three months. Despite a few unfortunate incidents (more on those later), they have settled in nicely and made themselves a part of our home.

Monty has become the house love-bug. If we're sitting on the couch watching TV, he walks up on our chests, giving us a head-bump or slide-by with his face. Mina is only a little less personable: she loves to play, and will bring us a toy to throw when she wants some action.

Since they're only 9 months old, they still love to play, and have TONS of energy. They chase each other back and forth, sounding like a herd of elephants rampaging through the house. Luckily, they mostly do this during the day and evening, and for the most part have been kind enough to not wake us in the middle of the night with their antics. They are growing fast, and are substantially larger and heavier then when we first brought them home. Monty continues to be the more moderate eater: Mina, who we suspect was the runt of the litter, is always desperate for food, and dives right in whenever fresh food is added to their bowls. Both seem to be tempering their appetites as they grow older: the last couple of weeks has seen them not eat every scrap of dry food for hours at a time.

Monty, alert for playtime.


To read more of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/12/24/kitt...

Next Year's Convention Schedule

Having quit my part-time day job, I'm having to cut back on convention appearances for 2019. There are several favorites that I wouldn't miss, but I have to be a little more careful about money for a while. Also, Onyx Path is changing the way they attend the bigger gaming conventions, so they don't need my help covering the booth this year for GenCon. Being super-expensive -- and not terribly productive, professionally speaking -- not going to GenCon is probably a wise move for me.

January...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/12/17/next...