Hi Reader, Welcome to my regular newsletter! It's a cheery place where we can talk about games and good vibes. I land in your inbox somewhere between once a week and once a month. Please, come in. Sit down. I've put a bunch of garden stars-of-Bethlehem in a bowl of cold water. There's a bowl of dice next to them. Don't put your hand in the wrong one! Tuesday, June 10th is my target date to relaunch Defy the Gods on Kickstarter. That gives us two weeks. With that ramping up, I'm getting into...
11 days ago â˘Â 2 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! It's good to see you again. Please, sit down. All the irises are in bloom, so I've put a few in a cut-glass vase. Spring is in its full glory. It's on a beautiful day like today that I had to cancel the original Defy the Gods Kickstarter. So close you can taste it It just wasn't going to hit its goal. Not the way I'd set it up. Valiant backers (like you) kept pledging, even as it became clear it wasn't going to clear the tree-line. I admit it, I got cocky. My raccoon...
21 days ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Make yourself comfortable. On the table, I've put a pint glass with bugleweed and butterweed blooms. They'll take over your garden if you don't get them outâespecially the butterweed. But they're cheery for all that. As the Defy the Gods Kickstarter continues, life here has returned to normal. Sort of. There's a rhythm. I'm posting to social media every day about Defy the Gods, which is its own kind of discipline/fun. I get to share details from the...
29 days ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, It's good to see you again. Please, sit downâlet me move these stacks of paper. And these. I'll put themâsomewhere. On the sofa. As you can see, this place has been a hive of activity since the Kickstarter launched on Tuesday. I meant to get together with you before now, but there's just been so much to do. Oh hey, didn't I tell you? The Kickstarter is live! If you haven't already, please go check it outâincluding all the art I'm showing off there. Yesterday, Jay Dragon released a...
about 1 month ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, Lovely to see you. Please, come in, sit down. On the table, I have a terracotta vase filled with chamomile flowers, sacred to Inanna, and Mesopotamian irises. The land of Gilgamesh has taken over the game table, as you can see. Because the Kickstarter for Defy the Gods launches on Tuesday! If you haven't yet signed up to follow the campaign, please do at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hecticelectron/defy-the-gods. Then come back. This book got a lot more personal than I...
about 1 month ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Let me take your raincoat. And your umbrella, and oh the galoshes. The horrors really are pouring down out there, huh? On the table, I put some sunny daffodils in a clay pitcher. I couldnât cut the crocuses, springâs tiny cheerleaders. But these daffs were fair game. My partner, M, is away this weekend, so I've been walking Udo in the mornings, and this morning, it was raining. Water streamed down the streets and gutters, but it wasnât cold. It felt nice...
2 months ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, How are you? Please, come in. Have a seat. I'll take your raincoat. The weather's been all over the place lately. These innocuous-looking white flowers on the table are bloodroot. Don't break the stemsâthe sap is poisonous. What a sword & sorcery flower. Last week, I went to GAMA Expo as a Horizons Fellow. "GAMA" is the Game Manufacturers' Association, and "GAMA Expo" is a professional conference of retailers, publishers, and distributors. The Horizons Fellowship is part of GAMA's...
3 months ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome back to game night. I'm briefly out of the smithyâUdo has to bury all the bronze swords in the backyard for that weathered look, so the ball's in his court. Still, I've been busy. I'm working on enamel pin designs. What do you think? Can you tell what B is? I've also been publicizing the game. I contracted with a consulting company called LaunchBoom to help me, because I don't know from marketing. Little did I know it would drop me into the crossfire of tabletop games...
4 months ago â˘Â 1 min read
Hi Reader, [heat, banging] Welcome! Please, come in. I'll be right with you. Just need to stick this blade in the quenching bucket ... [steam, hissing] There we go. Whew! It's sweaty in here. Put your coat wherever. No, not there, that's hot. Why is our game night in a smithy? I've been working on Defy the Gods. Turns out, in a sword & sorcery game, there are a lot of swords. So, thank you for coming to my workshop while I continue to hammer away. But look what I've turned out! I've scheduled...
4 months ago â˘Â 1 min read