Hi Reader, How are you? Please, come in, sit down. Dry off. Lately, it's like all the rain we missed in the summer has come at once. This summer, I heard from an old friend about a disastrous game she played. Her gaming group had just introduced a buddy of hers to role-playing. After enjoying their first campaign together, her buddy wanted to GM the next one. So he did. For a year. It turns out that in the first campaign, Buddy bristled against its safety toolsālines, veils, a certain amount...
16 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Hi Reader, How are you? It's been a long time! Two whole months. It was the height of summer, all sun and runaway flowers. Now the locust trees are draping our local park in thousands of tiny golden leaves. I scooped some up on the dog walk, and I've spread them across the table. Blow on them if you need room. This summer, I went to Gen Con. Then I started a new job. After getting to concentrate solely on games for over a year, I went back to owing someone 40 hours a week. It swallowed me...
23 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Have some fizzy water. It's so hot outside. A neighbor gave me a bouquet of zinniasāthey're in a jam jar on the table. Do you ever check outādissociateāwhen you should be concentrating? Time you urgently need tickscdcr5t by and by. And then you realize you're doing it, and you feel like you're falling into quicksand? No? Just me? Then have you ever felt the opposite? You suddenly find yourself dialed in, not just mentally but emotionally? And something...
3 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 1 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please come in. It's been raining out, and the air smells clean. Here on the table, a tall glass bottle has a stalk of creeping bellflower. Apparently it's a noxious weed, but I admire weeds. They just don't care where you think they're supposed to be. They're irrepressible. Last week, Thursday through Sunday, I exhibited at Origins Game Fair. And I have to say, I love this con so much. The people, the vibe. Everyoneās excited to be there. I met tons of new queer people....
4 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 1 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Our dogwood is finally blooming, so I put some of its flowers in a bowl of water. Back in high school, I was a theater kid. Mostly tech, but on stage a few times. I hadn't decided if I was there to hide myself or show it. One day after school, I wandered past the auditoriumās stage door. On the door-glass, someone had taped a sign. In a high school studentās scrawl, the sign said: WE, the Bavarian IlluminatiāWHO CONTROL EVERYTHINGāissue you this warning:...
4 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome, please come in. This week, we're meeting a little, sun-baked apartment in Mexico City. A glass tumbler has some purple jacaranda flowers. I came down to Mexico to visit family, but I also bought a ticket to a great games convention here called MegaXP. Ā”Bienvenidos! Although I donāt know much Spanish, my phone does get internet, and it was easy enough to take an Uber to the World Trade Center Ciudad de MĆ©xico. Inside, I had to ask the person at the Registration desk if they...
4 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 1 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Itās raining a lot lately hereāI'll take your coat. I found some white starflowers in the woods, and I put them in a vase on the table. I love science fiction. I especially love āspace operaāāthat is, interstellar adventure. (No actual opera in it.) This genre gives me a sense of possibility that I need. I donāt care how realistic it is, so long as the writers sell me on it. And I'm an easy sell. For years, I needed to believe I could be an alien. Or a...
5 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. On the table, we have irrepressible daisies, rather hastily stuck in a jam jar. No, donāt go in the kitchen. If you want some water, I can get it for you. Just. Stay here. The thing is, in our house, M does all the cooking. I should cook more, but I keep passing up opportunities to learn. So, yesterday evening, when M was headed out for a work-related event, I said, āIām going to step up. Iām not getting take-out. No. Iām going to broil salmon.ā I...
5 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Make yourself at home. It's so good to see you. I brought in some wild violets and dandelion flowers from the back yard and put them in a bowl of water. Iāve been reading up on A.I. Itās mind-boggling what it can doāand how fast it's changing. It can write and draw things that look like a person made them. But it's not great on factual accuracy or single-point perspective. The thing is, it's always "hallucinating"āfumbling blindly, algorithmically, for...
6 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read