Star Wars Wednesday - Shows and Cons

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Time flies when you're too busy and traveling too much to post. Also, you know your flights are going to have some issues when your ultimate destination's airport evacuates for a tornado warning. No serious issue in the end, just some inconvenience. Among the items taking up time was one of many summer cons I'll be attending in some fashion...and it had a new Star Wars guest...

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Star Wars Wednesday - Rogue One Rolls Out

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Last week was new trailer week, with Rogue One's teaser trailer making a smash debut across seemingly all media outlets. One aspect I hadn't thought much about was the music, which features a composer other than John Williams. It will be interesting to see where that leads, and the how that influences Star Wars movie storytelling. I enjoyed the trailer, especially the appearance of the Death Star.

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Star Wars Wednesday - GamerNation Con 2016

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This past weekend brought GamerNation Con 2016, hosted in Dallas, Texas by d20 radio and the Order66 podcast. I had a good time last year and found a way to get a bit of time to return this year. The con is relatively small, but has a very dedicated Star Wars RPG fan base, and it hosts a wide variety of board games, RPGs, and...lip sync battle. GamerNation clearly extends well beyond the US and some attendees come from around the world - Germany, Australia, Scotland, Canada, Norway, and probably others I'm overlooking at the moment. It was fun to see those who returned from last year, plus those who I've met elsewhere, like GenCon or Star Wars Celebration. The guests of honor were Rodney Thompson (formerly of Wizards of the Coast, Star Wars Saga Edition and D&D 5e fame, now with Bungie working on Destiny) and Christopher West (Maps of Mastery).

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I'd Just as Soon Kiss a Mookiee Podcast Appearance

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Last week Jason Fry and Shannon Shark invited me on their Mets and Star Wars podcast called I'd Just as Soon Kiss a Mookiee, just before the Royals-Mets opening day. We talk baseball, stadiums, Royals, Mets, the Star Wars RPGs, Rebels and more. It was a lot of fun. Jason is a Star Wars writer (Atlas, The Weapon of a Jedi, and many more) and blogs about the Mets at FaithandFearInFlusing.com. Shannon Shark blogs about the Mets at MetsPolice.com.

Since recording the podcast, the Royals defeated the Mets in opener. Jason's blog recap entry is here.

 

 

Star Wars Wednesday - Nexus GamerNation Con

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There is a lot going on this week. I just finished watching the season finale of Rebels, so I will not be talking about that today. I mean, Rebels Recon has an even been posted yet. Suffice to say that you probably don't want to put off watching this one. Nexus of Power arrived so I will be talking a bit about that. I'll be putting it to good use this weekend at GamerNation Con, run by d20 Radio and the Order 66 podcast. And, just because I don't have enough to do between work and the convention and getting ready for the convention, I'll be making an appearance on a new (for me) podcast. I don't think they record it with a live audience, so I will post the link when it's available.

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Star Wars Wednesday - Sizing Things Up

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With the never ending run of new Star Wars films, TV shows, books, games, and comics, it's always been easy to fall behind. Add in work, freelance, or whatever else is going on, and the stack of reading material can really, um, stack up. I managed to make some significant headway the last few months. In a probably futile effort to dig out my office, I've added some new shelves for the ever-expanding collection of games and books. That's prompted me to look more closely at a few items that have been under a few layers of more stuff, before putting them on the shelf for the time being.

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Star Wars Wednesday - Future Power

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"Always in motion is the future." - Yoda

It is always interesting to see how a product I've worked on fits into the ever developing Star Wars universe. Nexus of Power for Force and Destiny is now listed as shipping on the FFG website, meaning it will be arriving relatively soon. Actually, Special Modifications for Edge of the Empire is also about to arrive, but that's another story. I'm going to touch on recent Rebels episodes, so spoiler alert. 

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Star Wars Wednesday - West End Style...Guides

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So, last week turned into another one of those unexpected travel weeks that crop up with my day job every so often. While I had been looking forward to trying to post from the road to the new website, in the end I had too little time and energy to do so. Posting to the old site from the road was always challenging. It was possible to do it from a phone or a tablet, but not easy. My web service theoretically had an app for blog posts, but in reality all it really did was accept drafts and refuse to actually post them live to the site. In theory the new site also has such an app, but let's say the reviews haven't been encouraging.

With the travel, I'm behind on Rebels, so I will catch up on that later this evening. Yesterday, however, Pablo Hidalgo came to my blogging rescue with images from the old West End Games Star Wars style guide. It truly was a great document for both Star Wars and RPG design advice. I still have my copy… Somewhere. As I just found out, somewhere is the key word. I was going to crack it open and share a couple of thoughts of my own. While rifling through my files, I found a similar document that was much shorter, as it was focused on writing for the game in general, rather than a full-blown style guide.

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Sterlinghershey.com Upgrade

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Welcome to the upgraded sterlinghershey.com. I finally foundsome time to switch to a more modern interface and update a few pages that were lagging behind or not all that visible on the old site. It looks like everything made the conversion without too many issues. I know there are a few missing images that I need to replace, along with all of the PDF file links (I think). Some of the lesser pages aren't live yet - like the Star Wars Miniatures scenarios list - because they need some more work.

I used the last format (squarespace v5) since 2009. This new one is v7 and much more mobile friendly. It has behind the scenes tech that makes it easier for me to keep some things updated. I've stuck to largely the same page names and types as the old version, so hopefully links back to the site won't break too often.

Here are some notable changes:

  • The front page features images of my latest and/or representative products of my freelancing work instead of going directly to the blog. If you want to skip the front page, you'll need to link your favorites/bookmarks directly to the blog page.
  • The blog page has three drop down menus on the right column, allowing one to search by category, tag, or month/date. I will eventually try to clean up the categories and tags a bit.
  • Freelance now features a couple of carousel galleries featuring my product covers and cartography projects.
  • The store is now the storefront. One of the reasons I made the switch was to improve this page and make it easier to manage. It's better, though not quite spot on. To buy items you'll need to use the "Buy at" links under the images. I call it a storefront because all of the actual purchases are at other sites. Only digital products are in the storefront. I don't currently have links to buy the physical products.
  • The cartography portfolio is easier to find and finally updated to include some of my work with the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether products.
  • The cover gallery is easier to find and is updated for a lot of recent work, as well as a few covers I didn't track down previously.

DMs Guild: Uncommoners Now Available

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My latest DungeonMastersGuild.com product is now available for Dungeons and Dragons (5e). 

Uncommoners is a collection of 10 new backgrounds for characters starting their adventuring careers from commoner roles and unusual jobs. These backgrounds are suitable for most characters, particularly those starting in villages, settlements, or cities. Some characters may continue to use their backgrounds while adventuring, while others have moved on to greater things.

Uncommoners includes the following backgrounds, complete with features, personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.

Apothecary
Boat Handler
Butler
Falconer
Lamplighter
Master Builder (Apprentice Builder)
Messenger
Sexton
Shipwright
Town Crier
Each background has flavorful story ideas to spur creativity for players and DMs alike. For example, the Falconer includes advice for using a trained bird in the game. The Butler features a table of reasons for their loss of employment that likely spurring them to a life of adventuring. Many backgrounds include possible ties to individuals at different levels of society. The Lamplighter is an expert on life taking place on the city streets at all hours. The Boat Handler knows vessels and waterways. The Sexton tends a religious site or building, often with a graveyard, and possibly one that requires extra precautions due to restless spirits.