A Tribute to Dogmeat from Fallout 3

Oh Dogmeat. I used to love the way you played with piles of bottlecap mines, bouncing off of the stratosphere and flipping your way into the horizon.

"Where did you go?" I often wonder. Are you having adventures, or helping those in need?

Nah. You probably just scared the all living shit out of some wastelander as you screamed on by at about mach 3, splattering into bloody chunks as you took out what's left of the washington monument.

I miss you ol' pal...

Which Hogwarts house are you?

I'm a Hufflepuff!

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y0Z5_wipT2o&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3Dy0Z5_wipT2o

Internet Hiatus for a bit...

I think I'm going to stay off the internet for a while and spend time with my kids. Talk to you all in a while.

Busking on the Digital Streetcorner

Wether it's music, painting, making barrels, or telling diarhea jokes, honing skills in one's craft and producing things for you to enjoy and/or use takes time and a considerable amount of effort. If you enjoy what someone's producing, send some money their way.

This is the age of the creative commons. Artists are now buskers on the streetcorner of the internet. If they can make a living creating the things you enjoy instead of working a day job, they can make more for you, faster, and cheaper than a major publisher. Given enough capital, they can even release that cheaper product with just as much polish.

You both win. :)

Craptastic Tuesday

I got one of those Facebook things from a friend asking me to put two things together to make my  superhero name. This is what came of it:

"Because of events this past Tuesday, I think I may already know what my superpower is. I was pooping like, every 10 to 20 minutes for 23 hours, and I don't think a normal human can do that without serious permanent damage.


Technically, you can't really call it poop, per se. Brimstone it's more the word, if in fact brimstone enters this world through a portal in my rectum leading straight to hell. Judging by the sulfurous stank and the scorch marks on the toilet and my poor, tortured sphincter... I'm pretty sure it does.

The dudes from Supernatural even showed up to sprinkle my smoking star with salt, and practice their mantra to exorcise the demons. At least I think it was them, and not some random salt sprinkling pervy types. They were mostly behind me, so I can't really say for sure what was going on. I'm better now though, so... Whatever works I guess.

It was not an ideal Tuesday."

Remembrance Day

From 11:11 until 11:12, I paused and thought of fallen comrades and family. I also thought about of the civilians who've died as "collateral damage" in war, or who died at the hand of whatever monster we needed to go out and fight.

I also thought about what that silence means, what it represents. I pictured soldiers, huddled in their cold, wet, smelly trenches, yelling down the line "Shut up! Everyone shut up!", and then just listening. Listening to a sound that some hadn't heard in years.

Silence.

No artillery. No machine guns. No rifle fire. No battle cries and screams of death. Just silence. I can only imagine how it sounded, how it felt. A sound so beautiful, so profoundly sad, that it brought the toughest men in history to tears.

This sound... this Silence, in the end, is what they were fighting for all along. Their gift to us, which we've largely ignored. The Silence that says... screams...

Please...

Never Again.

Over da' Boards - Kids' rules done

Testing update: Over da' Boards rules for little kids run really slick. 4-6 year olds understood it and loved it! :)

It's a pared down version of the main rules that allow little Coaches to learn the core mechanics and basic strategies of Over da' Boards.

A full game using the kids' rules can be played in 20 minutes to an hour, depending how lucky and/or focused the little ones are. ;)

I'll post more as it happens.

If you're here...

If this is the first post you're reading, chances are you've arrived here because you've interacted with Ben, Chantal, or me at one Con or another, and saw a demo of the board game Over da' Boards(tm) and/or the web comic The Sacred Ice (c).

The sites for Shared Weave Games(tm), Over da' Boards, and The Sacred Ice are still in development, as we still need to collect the money required to pay a web designer. If you haven't seen The Sacred Ice yet, here is the first panel of the Web Comic. The character featured in the panel is in Over da' Boards, and his player card is shown below the comic.

Punching The Monkey

Some people get an iPad when they punch the monkey. All I get is a moment of pleasure followed by shame. And blindness. -- Doc Wilson (@DocDraconis)

We Two, Through The Ring of Fire

Man, what a night. I'd had six burritos with refried beans and extra hot tamale sauce, chased by half a two-six of texas whisky and most of a jar of pickled eggs.

Somehow I'd managed to make it to the biffy, and something evil was about to breach the gate I'd inadvertently opened to hell through my tortured bowel, if the gutteral growling from underneath was any indicator.

I heard from the stall beside me, "Sweet jimminy cricket! Are you all right in there?"

That's when most of my innards exited my body, along with three metric tonnes of what felt like molten brimstone. I answered, "Bgaaahhhgg!"

Without missing a beat, you started yelling, "Puuuush! Puuuuuuuush!"

This prompted three others who'd apparently entered while I was otherwise occupied to start yelling the same...

"C'mon! Puuuush! Puuuuuuush!"

I grabbed the stall walls, braced my feet and pushed to beat hell. "Ghaaaarghaaaaghaaaa!"

My bowels answered in kind with a sound not unlike a mighty river throwing a heard of bison into a half-full olympic swimming pool.

In what seemed like an epoch, I emerged from the stall sweating, bleeding, and raggedly breathing. I found you, like a Canadian soldier at the Somme, still at your post when the others had apparently fled.

"Thanks.", said I, and we wandered off to enjoy the rest of the Con'.

"No problem, man, no problem."

Things I never thought I'd text to my wife:

1. Tell Brooke that she needs to scoop princess' litter box every day. Buddy eats cat poop like they're dog treats.

2. I should sell that on the web site. "Shared Weave Shit Snacks". I could have different flavours... persian, calico, and tangy tabby!

3. Why did I find 2 pairs of Mikey's underwear in the woodshed?

Hi all! I'm preparing to launch www.sharedweave.ca. The page is still under development, but it will be launching in a couple months. It will have the Shared Weave Games store, the Over da' Boards manga web comic, some cool video, and of course... this blog.

I hope to see you at the site, but if you feel like talking or want to ask some questions, feel free to comment here, tweet me (@docdraconis) or circle me on Google+ (Doc Wilson). There will be a Facebook page soon for Shared Weave Games and Over da' Boards, but not quite yet.

Talk to you soon. :)

Bad Guys Don't Always Win

We insured my wife's new classic Mustang, and she was hit by a drunk driver who then sped away from the scene.

I made sure her and my daughter Brooke were alright, then gave chase.

He panicked on the highway, made a mistake, and got the pickup truck stuck trying to cross the ditch between the divided highway. He and his passenger ditched the truck and ran away on foot.

Big mistake. Now they're going to jail.

My Homeostasis

One thing that has been in my life since the day I was born, is this constant state of balance, some sort of cosmic homeostasis that permeates every minute and every event.

For everything good, something bad. For every terrifying, heart breaking tragedy, something heartachingly beautiful.

This is where I draw my inspiration. This terrible, wonderful, despairing and hopeful experience that's been my life... infused in every word, in every game mechanic.

It's not long at all now before the flagship games are released, and not a moment too soon, as I don't know how much longer I have left. It could be 50 years, but it's not looking good right now.

I hope you like what I've come up with as much as my playtesters, my family, and my friends have. No matter how things turn out, and if you like what I have to offer or not... it sure has been a hell of a ride.

No regrets, and thanks all. :)

Doc

Hope for a brighter future...

Those of you who have known me in the past, or know me in the present know my anguish. From coworker, to gamer, to friend, to lover... you have seen the hope in my eyes die a little each time.

You are now witness to the end of an era... to the dawning of a new day... to hope fanning from ember to flame for a brighter future!

The age of Aquarius is truly upon us, for after a long  twenty years full of heartache, sorrow, betrayal, and disappointment...

...I won a donut.

#RollUpTheRim #FinallyAWinner #FreeAtLast

Nearing the End of a Long Road

Blinding flashes of insight and inspiration have been happening more often over the last year than they have in a very long time.

I think the one I had today has resulted not only in the final rules edit of OdB, but in the base concept of the third expansion.

The card art is coming along at a nice clip, and I really like the way Ben Hofer has brought my vision to life.

If my gut is correct, my final closed beta session will be next weekend, and I'll be opening it up to open blind testing the week after that.

If there are any local game shop owners in Winnipeg or surrounding areas/towns who want to host for me and become a part of the process, let me know. Otherwise, I'll be announcing times/places/dates as I can arrange.

My Absence

I lost both a friend, and a man who was like a second father to me very recently.

My friend Shae was a good man whom I admired greatly for his dedication to and immense love for his wife and children. I can only hope I will be as brave, strong, and dignified when my time comes. I will miss his love of things both social and nerdy. He was an avid role-player and Magic: The Gathering player, a lover of everything pirate, a fantastic cook, and a skilled host with a gentlemanly character. The world is a considerably darker place without Shae Hagarty in it.

Mr. Alan Impey is my best friend's dad. I spent as much time at their house from the ages of 9 to 21 as I did my own. Their family was mine, and my family was my buddy Brian's family. Our dads are both gone now, with only Mr. Cooper, our other surrogate dad, remaining. I can still see Mr. Impey's face, and hear his voice, like my own father's.

Shae and Mr. Impey lost their respective fights with cancer within six days of each other. A hard couple weeks.

I heard it said somewhere... though I can't remember where... that there comes a point in a person's life where life stops giving you things, and begins taking them away.

Am I really that old?

Fuck.

Is anybody out there?

Is anyone out there listening? Can you hear me in this digital ocean?

Hello?