Catherine Fitzsimmons's Blog: Jinxed, page 12

Gen Con 2018 games wrap-up part 1

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Another fantastic Gen Con has come to an end. I had a blast, as always, particularly since I took a cue from last year and scheduled my evenings full, rather than leaving myself to my own devices. I also came away from the convention feeling very inspired and actually have some time to do something about it, so hopefully I can get some work done on some of my projects this month.

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Our haul this year

Strangely, though, I didn’t find as many events in the evenings that interested me, so despite my desire to game until midnight this year, two nights ended (or at least were scheduled to end) at 11:00, one at 10:00, and Wednesday night I was done by 9:00. (I was glad for that early night, however, after getting up at 3:30 that morning to make the drive.) Then the other nights ended up finishing early as the games wrapped up before schedule. I didn’t mind going back to the hotel early, though; adding a few hours of gaming onto an eight-hour work day is pretty exhausting.

And I did play some great games I’d never discovered before. So, without further ado, here comes my 2018 games wrap-up post.

Wednesday – 7:00-9:00 p.m. – The Reckoners

For the past couple years, I’d been wanting to play Mistborn: House War, a board game based on Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, one of my favourite book series, which I did end up playing on Friday. I didn’t even know that a game based on his Reckoners series, another favourite, was coming, but once I saw it at a time slot I could attend, I had to jump on it.

[image error]The game is cooperative and pretty complex. Each player takes one of the Reckoners, who each have different strengths and weaknesses, and moves around the districts of Newcago to research the weaknesses of the Epics ruling there and to defeat them, working their way up to researching and defeating Steelheart. Actions are dictated through dice rolls, the players use pooled money to buy gear to help them along the way, and they must also keep the population of Newcago from being wiped out by the Epics. The Epics hinder player progress by adding barriers and enforcers and using their abilities to strengthen Steelheart and cause more damage.

[image error]I had fun while I was playing it, but I’m a little ambivalent about the game after the fact. Part of the problem, I’m sure, is that I was playing more of a support character, which I don’t generally lean toward, though I was also wondering about a mechanic that is probably not viable, but seems to me like it might make a lot of the game unnecessary. The fact that the game is also so complex with so many elements to take into account is also a bit of a hindrance for me; not because I didn’t enjoy it, but I don’t think there are many in my personal circle of friends who would find as much enjoyment in it. Still, I fully support the development of games based on books, particularly ones I enjoyed, and perhaps if I get to play it a few more times, I might enjoy it better.

Thursday – 7:00-9:00 p.m. – Imperial Assault Hunger Games

[image error]As fans and semi-regular players of Star Wars: Imperial Assault, my husband and I were highly interested in this Hunger Games-style event, in which players each get one hero from Imperial Assault and engage in a battle royale to attempt to be the last one standing, while dealing with obstacles and hazards and picking up equipment (or exploding boxes) along the way.

This game was super fun. All the players were familiar with Imperial Assault, so there was little rules explanation needed and we were able to get started quickly. The GM did a fantastic job setting up the scenario and keeping the game play rolling swiftly, so that even though we had ten players each taking their turn one at a time, I never felt bored or waiting for things to move on. My only regret is that we didn’t have more time, since my husband and I had to hurry out a few minutes early to get to our next game and things ran a little long, partially because the GM was also fielding questions from other GMs in his group. Still, we both had a lot of fun with it and my husband did get a nice prize for getting first kill:

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Astute viewers might notice that the label on the print says X-Wing Hunger Games 1st Kill, but the GM decided that he had to offer it as an option for my husband’s prize because his kill was the Mon Calamari sniper Loku.

Thursday – 9:00-11:00 p.m. – Head of Mousehold

[image error]This was one of the cute-sounding games my husband and I saw in the event catalogue and decided to try because we didn’t see anything else we particularly wanted to play. The second mouse gets the cheese, of course, so in Head of Mousehold, players take turns putting down mouse cards to try to be the second mouse at the mousetrap, though event cards and other factors make that far less simple than it appears.

This ended up being a much more strategic game than it initially seemed. One’s hand of mice are all colour-coordinated, and the order of colour priority changes every round, so that the third or later mouse put down at a trap might be the first to reach it. Half the cards are played face down and the other half face up, so players get a partial but very incomplete view of the lines at the traps. Further, there are mice that squeak and alert the cat, which, if it ends up first in line at the trap, also gets the second mouse eliminated.

I played pretty conservatively my first round while I was still understanding the game mechanics, but ended up getting a lot of points, possibly more due to luck than any skill on my part. I tried playing more aggressively and/or strategically for the rest of the game and didn’t do quite as well, though as I recall, I finished second or third of five players. It was quite fun and a really interesting system despite fairly simple game play, and we ended up picking this one up.

That’s all for this post; Friday and Saturday to come soon.

Super Dungeon Explore

Off and on over the past several months, I’ve been painting miniatures from Super Dungeon Explore (the Forgotten King expansion), and now, I thought I’d finally share my progress so far.

The Forgotten King

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Rabid Squirrels

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Billman

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Pets (The Colonel and Admiral Fuzzybottom)

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Thunder Vale Huntress

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Treasure chests

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New art: Garrick

Awfully late with this one, but I wanted to share this fantastic drawing of Garrick from Enduring Chaos by Stephen Peterson of TriCity Studios!

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Scenes from the mountains

Sharing some shots from a recent trip to Colorado and Taos, New Mexico. Among the outings were a ride on the Royal Gorge train, a visit to the Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO world heritage site, and the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A few of these were taken with my phone, but most were using my camera. In my usual way, no editing of any kind was done on any of these pictures.

Click to view slideshow.

Finding light out of darkness

Once again, mental health is on our collective consciousness. The reasoning is tragic, but I’m glad that it is, because sometimes, those still fighting need to hear that others are thinking about them, that there is help available. Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain show us, once again, that depression doesn’t care how successful or inspiring one is. Even people who seem like they should have nothing to complain about can suffer from it, and I guarantee you that those so afflicted berate themselves for feeling so miserable.

We need to talk about it. We need to hear that there are so many people out there – friends, family, and strangers – who care and who want to see sufferers improve. We need to tell the un-afflicted that sometimes it’s not enough just to say you’re there, that you need to actively reach out when someone withdraws. And we need to share our stories, especially the stories of success, so that those in the deepest pits know that there is a way out.

With that in mind, I just wanted to add a few things to the conversation, based on my personal experience:

1. Get help if you’re hurting. You go to the doctor when you’re sick, so go when your mental health is suffering. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But there’s a wealth of reasons why the afflicted don’t seek help when they should. I waited entirely too long to seek help for my anxiety, probably mainly due to pride. But I’ve been on medication for a couple months now and it has made all the difference. And don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t immediately make a difference; I got lucky this time, but when I was fighting depression in high school, I went through at least half a dozen different medications before I found one that worked for me.

If you don’t have a family doctor or you live in the U.S. and don’t have health insurance, Google is your friend. Search for mental health resources; they are out there. You deserve to go through your life without hurting. The search may be exhausting but you are worth the effort. You would do this for someone else, wouldn’t you? So put in the work for yourself. Look for what you need to get better, whether that’s medication, therapy, support groups, or just getting out more.

2. If physically possible, get some exercise. I have neglected this one much more recently and managed to forget that it is a crucial part of my treatment. Medication alone just isn’t enough for me, and it’s an easy way to work on feeling better while working out other treatment options. You don’t need any special equipment to do it. Couch to 5K is a free smartphone app and is an easy, gradual way to start jogging. Wii Fit and dancing games can be done from the comfort of your home and offer rewards and incentives for continuing. Do twenty minutes of jumping jacks if you have to. I know that when you’re in the throes of depression it’s extremely hard to do, but force yourself to do it.

3. Repeat after me: it is okay to take care of yourself. This is something I frequently have to remind myself. It doesn’t matter how much I truly believe it, I still have to convince myself that I’m allowed to take a break from work. Your health, and your mental health, are a priority. So go ahead. Cancel that event if you have to. Buy that blended coffee drink. Take the long way home and take a drive out into the country. Go to that local attraction you’ve always wanted to see. Go to the movie theatre alone. You take care of you. I know it can be hard, particularly if you work retail (hat’s off to you folks), but sometimes you need it, and you definitely deserve it. Mentally ill people are some of the hardest working and most caring and giving of themselves, because they tend to be so concerned with others. You deserve a break, in whatever form that may take.

I was there. I remember those days, and occasionally still have them, when I feel worthless and unlovable and ugly and a waste of resources. Frankly, it hurts a little just to write those words. But I’ve been fighting it long enough and I’ve learned enough to know that it isn’t true. So if you don’t believe it yourself, then take it from me, someone’s who’s gone through it and (mostly) made it through to the other side:

You are worth the effort.

You deserve to be happy.

You are allowed to help yourself.

The world is better with you in it.

Your friends and many others want to see you feel better.

You are not alone.

New art: Thunder Vale Huntress

On the topic of badly delayed posts, it’s time I shared some art I did only a full month ago. For Christmas, we got ourselves a box set of Super Dungeon Explore. As soon as I saw the Thunder Vale Huntress figure, I wanted to paint her.

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However, I wasn’t crazy about her in-game colour scheme.

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I saw her differently, so I decided to paint her my own way.

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Then, for some reason, the night I finished painting her, I was overcome with a desire to draw her as well. My muse, ADHD as it is, decided to devote my weekend to it. Not only that, but I broke out art supplies I haven’t touched in years, such as my 11″ x 14″ Bristol board (now possibly my favourite paper for markers, which I hadn’t tried before) and the brush pen I had yet to seriously try. I even went and attempted some serious comic inking, as well as more detailed horse anatomy than I’ve ever tried drawing before.

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Admittedly, I am pretty happy with this drawing (even if most of my shading on the horse body disappeared when I added the brown). I just wish my muse would get this excited about the projects I’m actually supposed to be working on.

Sisters of Chaos book 2 update

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I haven’t said anything about the progress of the sequel to Enduring Chaos in a long time. It’s intentional, though I’m not exactly sure why. Some nonsensical, subconscious mix of not wanting to get anyone’s hopes up, feeling like people would just be frustrated with me posting about what I’m doing while still not having the book ready, feeling like I’m making too big a deal of it, still taking blog posts too seriously to just sit down and write one, or perhaps some straight-up pride (or guilt). But, it’s coming up on five years since the first book was released, which makes me groan, and I owe you, the readers, if nothing else, an explanation.

If you’ve been waiting for book two, all I can say is I’m sorry.

I have been working on it. After making a push last year and in late 2016, I finally finished the final first draft last summer. I then spent the next few months doing my preliminary edits before sending it off to beta readers in late fall. My beta readers gave me fantastic feedback, which came back in winter. Unfortunately, they made it clear that the story still needed some significant editing.

The editing has been a slog for the last few months. Just trying to figure out how to portray what I was trying to show instead of the less favourable impression the readers got, on one scene alone, held me up for a month or more. This has proven to be a very challenging book to write, and subsequently edit. There are particularly complex conflicts and character interactions, a whole wealth of new characters with their own cultures and histories to introduce, struggles not to bog down readers with too many characters or too much info in a notably bigger story than the first book*, dealing with all the backstory that a sequel entails (which I have never written before), remnants of earlier drafts that more often than not end up mucking up the works and have to be reworked, even hints of character development that the characters themselves aren’t aware of. Getting everything to align properly has also been tricky, because unlike every other book I’ve written, I wrote consecutively occurring storylines one POV at a time, and balancing timelines and spreading out scenes from different characters when I put it all together has required a lot of tweaking. It’s a lot of work and a lot of aspects that are difficult to handle.

* Spoiler alert: I completely failed at that one. Still working on some scenes there.

However, the beta readers are in agreement that it is a much better book than the first. Even though it’s not where I want it to be yet, I am quite pleased with it so far and have high hopes for it when it’s finished. The manuscript has already been through a lot of changes over the years and it has become a much stronger book for all the work I’ve put into it. I briefly considered trying to push it out for Gen Con this year, but I don’t want to rush it just to get it done. I want this book to be as good as it can be before I release it, particularly because it’s already better than the first book.

I have vowed not to write any other novel until I’ve finished this trilogy. I will, though, have a new short story related to the series in this year’s Missing Pieces volume at Gen Con. (It features a minor character introduced in book 2.) I do have at least a soft goal of having the book ready by next year’s Gen Con, if for no other reason than that the short story I have planned for next year’s Missing Pieces will contain a major spoiler for the book. I will admit that a couple years ago, I wrote a mostly unrelated novella that was intended to be for an earlier volume of Missing Pieces, but after finding that it needed much more editing than I could reasonably accomplish within the time frame for the anthology, it has been entirely back-burnered. Aside from that, and despite my muse occasionally (*cough* since last weekend) giving me a massive burst of inspiration for some other story, I have not written anything else.

I have a working title for the book which might end up being the final title, but I don’t want to share it yet because I’m not 100% satisfied with it.

For those who have been waiting for the book, thank you for your patience and I apologize again for the lengthy wait. If there’s anything you want to know about the book or any hints you’d like to see to hold you over until it’s ready, please don’t hesitate to comment here or send me a message through my contact form.

Meanwhile, I hope to see you at any of the Brain Lag events coming up this summer:

June 17: Brampton ComiCon – Brampton, ON

July 13-15: Ad Astra – Richmond Hill, ON

August 2-5: Gen Con – Indianapolis, IN

September 22: Forest City Comicon – London, ON

Worlds in miniature

I’ve recently discovered the joy of (gaming) miniature painting. So, I thought I’d share my progress here. Most of these figures are from Star Wars: Imperial Assault. For those who aren’t familiar with it, these minis are about 1.5″ tall.

Gaarkhan

Loku

Imperial officers

Verena Talos

Imperial probe droids

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Medical droid MHD-19

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Gideon Argus

And my latest, R2-D2 (I used a wash for the first time on him, to give him that “seen a lot of action” look)

I also painted an expansion mini for Super Dungeon Explore, ninja Cola (I did not paint the base on this one)

Words left behind

It takes a lot of work to write a novel.

All authors say that, but how can a reader understand what that means? Some authors throw out numbers like it took X hours of work, or X months or years. And yet, as a reader, one might look at one author who releases one book every five years, and another who releases a dozen in the same time, and wonder why the first can’t match the second. Especially with series. The world and characters are already established, right? Shouldn’t it be easier?

I think the true measure of what’s involved in writing a novel is in all the work you don’t see. Agonizing for hours over a single word. Dialogue rewritten ten times or more. Entire backstories, enough to write short stories or even other novels, for characters who appear only in one chapter. Characters, scenes, entire plot points that an author loved that had to be scrapped. The way it’s constantly on your mind – on a bus, at a grocery store, at a party, at your day job.

For Enduring Chaos, I wrote over 300,000 words that ended up in the trash before it came to the point it is now. At this point, the tally for the series overall is at least 400,000 deleted words. The first book went through three complete, start-to-finish drafts of which nothing remained in the published book. At least two scenes in the final draft were completely rewritten four or five times.

Hours upon hours of research, probably enough to fill a full-time job for a week at least. Conversations with half a dozen different people just for information on horses – some for no other reason than to determine a particular horse’s size, merely for the sake of a single comparison in the book. Research on weaving and weather patterns and etymology and much more. An hour-long conversation with my resident expert, along with taking over a page of notes, about the behaviour of a character who has exactly one spoken line.

I have pages of notes keeping track of the timeline and the distances characters have crossed. I have my own private wiki for notes on the series – characters, locations, artifacts, and more. I have notes everywhere – on my computer, my tablet, my phone, a notebook by my bedside, the cloud. I have pages of notes written for a single scene – and I’ve done that multiple times. I have pages of notes about the backstories that inform each character’s decisions. I even have pages of notes I never kept – writing down dialogue or actions as I was working it out, only to delete it when that conversation passed, or never even happened on page.

And then there’s the unwritten work. Character sketches and maps. Planning out movement during battle scenes. Those thoughts always on my mind. Hours of conversation with my husband about aspects of the book. Hours spent in so many sessions of staring at the screen, working out in my mind how a scene will go. Determining the impact of a certain event upon a character. Thinking. So much time spent inside my own head.

How do you quantify that?

Well… you don’t. A reader only gets the finished book, and a writer has to accept that that’s all most people will see. Sure, you can discuss the writing process at conventions or meet-and-greets, bemoan the struggles of editing with other writers, friends, family, or other witting or unwitting audiences, or write how-to articles or blog posts about it, but the truth is, no one is really going to appreciate the scope of how much work went into your novel except you.

As an author, it’s just part of the job. Writing means rewriting, and it means a lot of writing that will never be seen, not necessarily because it’s not good enough, but because it’s not necessary. We do this and we suffer through deleting words we adored time and again because it’s part of the process.

Because we love writing.

But don’t mistake that for meaning it isn’t hard work.

Gen Con 50 games wrap-up part 3

And the conclusion of my Gen Con gaming posts. Read on for Pinball Showdown, The Sword of Zaldor: A Fantasy Escape Room, and Here, Kitty, Kitty!

Saturday – 7:00-8:00 p.m. – Pinball Showdown

[image error]As a fan of pinball games, this one immediately caught my eye from the name alone. Players take the roll of the pinball during multi-ball and try to score the most points by collecting playfield devices.

It’s another fairly simple game. Each player starts the game with 20 tokens that can be used for speed or control. Playfield device cards, which are played each turn from player hands, require a certain number of speed to claim, and players can use control tokens to claim them. Bonus cards and Wizard Mode (when points are doubled) offer more opportunities to accrue points.

It was a fun little game and the only one I picked up this weekend (budget was very tight, but I couldn’t say no to limited-edition Kickstarter rewards). I’m skeptical that it would be as fun with two players, as the box suggests is compatible, but it was great with four and I imagine as well with three. Plus, with the large number of playfield device cards and bonus cards, there is a huge randomness factor to the game. I’m looking forward to playing it again.

Saturday – 8:15-9:15 p.m. – The Sword of Zaldor: A Fantasy Escape Room

I had never done an escape room before, but as with the LARP on Thursday, Gen Con seemed like an excellent place to give it a shot. The story was a little more complex, but the premise was simple: we had to work out the clues and solve the puzzles in the room to obtain the Sword of Zaldor before time ran out. I signed my waiver, we got an introduction from the GM, and in we went.

I suppose I’m used to more linear puzzles such as in video games, so I spent a bit of time trying to examine clues and see if I could figure anything out but not making much progress. At the time, I didn’t feel like I made much of a contribution to the game, but I did help sort out a handful of clues. While I don’t know the GM group‘s plans, I will still spare details to keep from spoiling the game, just in case.

Suffice to say, it was challenging. The GM told us that this particular escape room had a low success rate on the weekend. Our group had to ask the GM for help three times, something he said that other groups were reluctant to do. With his hints, however, we were able to work out all the clues and obtain all the relics we needed to get the sword of Zaldor with about six minutes left on the clock. Even if I wasn’t a primary architect of our success, it felt good to help solve the puzzle and win.

Saturday – 10:00-11:00 p.m. – Here, Kitty, Kitty!

An aside before I begin: as an exhibitor at Gen Con, Sunday has always felt like a complete, regular day to me. It ends earlier, of course, but I still have to work a full day like the other three. I don’t lament the end of the con until the lights dim at 4:00 on Sunday.

Not so much this year. Since I was actually gaming in the evenings, it was a sad moment when I had to hand over my last event ticket, knowing that I still had a full of day work coming up.

[image error]It was only a brief disappointment, however, and I greatly looked forward to trying out a game in which the purpose is to collect the most cats in the neighbourhood and essentially be the best crazy cat lady. Each player receives a board that is their home, divided up into yard, porch, and house, each worth a different amount of points. Players are then dealt a hand of cards, which fall into one of three categories: cards which a player plays on his turn, cards which may be played at any time (usually in response to a card played by another player), or cards which must be played immediately upon drawing them. The cards’ sole purpose is to move cats around, whether to or from one’s own home, to or from another player’s home, or to or from the ‘neighbourhood’ (the communal pile where all cats start the game). Players take two actions per turn, which can be to move a cat one space or play a card.

[image error]I loved both the aesthetic and the dynamics of the game, and it felt as though the game only worked with both of those together. It was an adorable way to play through another pretty simple game – with cards like catnip luring cats to your yard or an open window causing your cat to escape from your house to your yard. The rulebook and the GM made scoring out to be more complex than it is, with a level of detail only slightly more involved than, say, end-of-game tallying in Carcassonne. (In contrast, when scoring Pinball Showdown at the end of our game, one player rightfully used a calculator to tally all her points).

I am certainly interested in picking up Here, Kitty, Kitty! sometime. It was quite fun and very cute, particularly with the pile of little plastic cats that make up the game.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing games at Gen Con and am really glad that I scheduled my weekend as well as I did. For next year, I think I will do the same thing, except that I might extend my solo evenings until midnight. At the moment, I don’t even feel sad that next Gen Con is so far away because I had so much fun.