A Quick Life Update

Hi friends and family,

It has been a little while since I did any sort of update. Things have been busy and I've been tired. Sitting down to write a family newsletter often just sounds like more work on top of spending an entire working in front of the computer writing. 

Well, anyway, I'm gonna take a little time out this morning to send a small update. Obviously, I can't remember everything that has happened in the last month and change or more, but it feels like there is a lot coming up. October is going to be a busy month. 

Work

As usual, work has been very busy. With the holidays approaching, my workload tends to increase tenfold. As the weather gets cooler, more people are staying inside--especially this year with Covid. Thus, people are looking for more indoor activities, which includes games. Not to mention I promised a couple of writing projects to other publishers which I'd almost forgotten about. 

In anticipation, I decided it was time to update the company website. I'd had a lot of people finding my games and being overwhelmed, not knowing where to start. I put out new products almost every week, so there is a LOT of stuff when you open my DriveThruRPG or Amazon pages. SO, I made a new website which people had found very helpful and liked a lot.

It is MicroRPG.Weebly.com

Halloween Games

For the Halloween season, I know people are looking for some spooky fun games for the season. So, this year I'm doing 2 adventure book series. The main one is for Hammer + Cross, my roleplaying game inspired by the Hammer horror films (Christopher Lee's Dracula, Peter Cushing's Frankenstein, etc). The book series is called the Lord VanDrac Chronicles and people are loving it. This is the first time I'm doing an ongoing multipart adventure that isn't contained in a single book. One customer in the UK said he and his wife are purchasing all the paperbacks and saving them to play the whole campaign on Halloween night. So far there are two gamebooks in that story arc. The second book, Candle of the Vampire, is loosely based on a story Taylor and I made up when we were young called "Candle of the Dead" where a candle woke up a skeleton vampire and his zombie army. 

With how popular that series was doing, I decided that the original fantasy version of the system could use one of its own. The Bone Lord Chronicles. With that one, however, I'm going to have it extend past Halloween and move into the winter months with a growing winter theme. I'm also giving the first book in this series away to get people into it. The first one is Cave of the Bone Lord.

Card Game

Another thing I've been working on is a card game version of my game system. I have done a number of physical games, but none have sold super well (despite the print and play versions being so popular)--but that is because the company I use for printing charges people an arm and a leg for shipping outside the U.S. Since SO much of my game community are in both Japan and the UK it makes it difficult to sell games that way. So, I'm trying a new card printing service through the same company I distribute my PDF gamebooks through. They are sort of a pain as far as the specifications for uploading print files, but I'm figuring it out. There will also be a print and play version for people. Crossing my fingers it does well. 

   

I went with an "old school Dungeons and Dragons" appearance for the card game with all black and white line art. I have 3 main artists I use. 1 I use mostly for color images for the book covers and he is a great guy. I support his Patreon, which is like a monthly donation to his art projects. I get art credits in return. The other artists put out batch files of line art like the ones above you can either get for free or for a good price. I love working with other artists in the community and they love seeing how their artwork is used in the games. On the cards above, the base artwork is theirs. The banners, layout, text, etc. are mine. 

Book Group

I recently decided to join a book group that reads WWII history and talks about it each month. It is hosted by the local bookstore. The book for September was about the assassination mission against Admiral Yamamoto, the man who planned and executed the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was such a good book that covered both Yamamoto's life as well as Johnny Mitchell, the pilot in charge of the flight squadron charged with the mission. 

I was so excited to talk about the book with the group. I showed up at the bookstore on that evening and was surprised to see it was pretty quiet and empty. I went to the counter and asked where the WWII group was. The woman behind the counter said I must be the first one, that some of the guys from the group grab dinner beforehand usually. So, I went over to take a seat and wait. However, before I could, the woman came back looking horrified. She informed me the group had met the previous week. Turns out that the bookstore website had the wrong date listed. Not only that but when I bought the book, the logbook at the front counter had them scheduled for that night I was there. I'd not only been told the wrong night but it was listed wrong online. 

I was really upset and sad but didn't want to let the employees know it. After all, it wasn't their fault. The woman who was helping me is one of the managers and she seemed really mad that the person in charge hadn't updated things properly. She kept apologizing and was trying to hide how angry she was with the employee who I'm sure got in trouble later.

Anyway, I told her it was no big deal and that I'd just try to get the next month's group. I know that the bookstore probably gets a lot of sales from book groups and most people would just say "forget it" to the book group after a mishap like that. Even though I was really upset, I decided it was no big deal. It sort of reminded me of that episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Lois (the mom) joins a book group and spends all this time reading the book. She shows up and no one discusses the book. Instead, they spend the whole night just complaining about their neighbors, husbands, etc. At the end oft he episode she gets home to her husband and cries. "I really liked the book. I just wanted to talk about the book." 

Anyway, I've started the book for next month. Countdown 1945. It is really excellent and I'm already almost halfway through. It's about everyone involved in the Manhattan Project for the Atomic Bomb. It also goes to the perspective of some of the normal Japanese citizens living in Hiroshima and not knowing what is coming. I did a report on the bombings in Middle School. Also, one of my favorite graphic novels is Barefoot Gen, which is a semi-autobiographical story about a young boy named Gen who is in Hiroshima when the bomb falls and survives. I read most of them from the library but recently saw them at the used bookstore. I was really excited about it but decided to wait to buy them because the entire series in hardback, even used, was 50 dollars. By the next time I got back to the bookstore, the series of books was gone! Guess that is what I get for waiting. 

 

Cool Weather

It is finally getting nice and cool here. I love the cold weather and always get so happy and excited when Summer finally goes away. Amber and I went hiking one morning when she had a half-day of work and it has been my favorite hike this year. The forest was so beautiful with so many different colored leaves falling off the trees and onto the trails, along with some of the green of summer still clinging on. I also saw a beautiful great owl take flight. It was so huge up close.  I also spotted a deer on the trail. We were also very close to it. They are so much bigger up close. Of course, when there are fewer people hiking because of the cold, we get more opportunities. I can't wait for some of the winter hikes we will do when it freezes. 

Christmas ALREADY?

So, one of the writing projects I'd agreed to which I nearly have forgotten about was to write a novelette for a Christmas mystery anthology. So, despite being in the "fall mood" I'm also a bit in the holiday spirit as well as I listen to old Christmas songs while I work on this story. It's only 10,000 words, so should only take 2 to 3 days of works. That seems like a lot on top of my other load, but oh well. 

I guess I'm already working on Christmas promotions and releases for my game systems as well. Winter themed fantasy has always been my favorite anyway, so it makes working on it fun. There is just so much to do, and next month, October, is so packed full of stuff I feel like I'm going to fall over. We have one thing every weekend in October and I'm not super thrilled about it. Just when I'm wanting to cozy up with a cup of hot tea and a board game I'm going everywhere, here and there. One of our friends is getting married and asked me to be one of his groomsmen. Oh, boy. Never done anything like that before. Thankfully, it is a pretty laid back affair with no tuxes or anything. But because I'm the only groomsmen of the three of us who actually live here in Omaha, it means I'm more in charge of the bachelor party. Thrills. Lol. 

I've also been learning the theme song to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawerence on the Uke. It doesn't sound great yet, but maybe by Christmas time, it will sound good. It is one of my favorite "Christmas" movies despite not being super Christmassy. But, its a WWII era film, so are you surprised? 

Speaking of Christmas, I remember one of you asking for a Christmas list. Or talking about Christmas gifts? I can't remember who? I know Mom said we quit doing the whole name exchange thing since some of the siblings weren't interested in doing it anymore. I always enjoyed it, but it got hard to get something for those of you who I don't talk to as much anymore. What are you guys even into? Lol. 

Anyway, here is a list for this year. 

Feel free to send out your own lists, if you wish. I'm not sure how many of us will see each other this holiday season, what with Covid and such. Don't know if we'll travel, but as of right now it isn't going to happen. It'll be weird if its just Amber and I alone. I know Omaha is our home, but it still never quite feels like "home" for the holidays. Home is the Patterson's house and Mom and Dad's house. I guess home really is just seeing the people we love. Eating good food. Sitting and talking together while bundled up inside around the fire. Playing games together. Watching Christmas movies. Exchanging gifts. 

I really love and miss all of you so much lately. I always feel this way when it gets cold. (I hated it in Vegas and Arizona how it never got cold). With us being so busy, sometimes it seems pointless to constantly be going, going, going when our lives seem to involve those who matter so much so little. 

I am so grateful to Taylor for being able to see him and play games over video chat once a week. I feel really connected to him because of it. 

Anyway, this letter ended up longer and taking longer out of my workday than I originally assumed. So, I better get a move on. I love all of you! I'll try not to let two months go by again before the next update.

Love Noah.