I thought this was worth sharing.
New project
So, true to my geeky self, I have started a new project. Actually, I have started an old project, which I originally began back in 1995 and never really finished.
I have decided to pack all my old writing into one single file and create my own Dragonlance compendium. The project included a friend of mine, who has now left these shores, so I will take the liberty of rewriting some of his stuff as I see fit.
At this point, I am deciding whether the War of Souls should be part of the setting, since we originally started to write this compendium, because we didn’t like the War of Souls. However, there are so many cool changes in Dragonlance, that I think I will try to incorporate these in order to move the setting forward.
Needless to say, this is a pretty big project, and if I ever finish it, it will take me a long time. However, instead of complaining about a dead world, I will try to put my money where my mouth is and actually make a contribution to it.
Gaming session – Live
I am finally sitting down with my group getting ready to play a round of Dungeons & Dragons. We are playing in the Mystara setting, so not Dragonlance this time.
Right now we are trying to find our characters and remember the rules, so I have a little time to write a blog post. Luckily I keep my character online, so I could find my wizard right away. You can see my wizard here.
Check out the table. Gone are the character sheets replaced by software applications. The flowers are not our idea by the way.
Done for now
Well, I finalized my blog redesign for now. I was looking around for a couple of extra social networks to add, but I decided to stick with Twitter, Picasa and Google Friend Connect.
I played around with StumpleUpon, but I could not find any way to syndicate the feed, so I have abandoned the idea for now. I might look in to it at a later point. I am considering a new de.-icio.us account to share various links, but I think I might be able to do that using Twitter. Time will tell.
As for some content, I have been working a little bit on a few ideas lately, so with a little luck I might one day start to upload things that are relevant to the D&D game, instead of complaining about how there is no more support for Drangonlance.
Blog redesign almost done
As I have talked about on numerous occasions, I have been looking into redesigning my blog. I don’t think it will make much if a difference in terms of how many people read it, but I like the idea of using a customized template, which hopefully gives the blog a more personal feel.
There are many templates out there on the Internet, but I decided to use Google own tool for the mew template. The template allows me to easily change colors, backgrounds and all other stuff, and I find that important because change to the template makes the blog seem more alive, hopefully.
Currently, I am looking into setting up a social page, which will house all my social stuff such as Twitter. I have no followers on Twitter, so it makes sense to move that feed to a separate page. I might also add Stumple Upon or Del.icio.us to that page, as I tend to stumble across quite a few links that I like to share on my blog.
Finally, I am considering adding the Google friend module to my blog. I think it might be a good way of getting to know more people in the community and hopefully make a new friend or two, who share my passion for Dragonlance.
Since it is raining cats and dogs today, and my daily run might be somewhat limited, I hope that I will get around to finishing up the blog redesign today. Stranger things have happened.
Mother F*cker!!
I went to my bookstore today to pick up The Gargoyle King. I had my daughter with me so she could see all the cool books, but in all the excitement I picked up The Fire Rose in stead. It wasn’t until we were on the train home, that my daughter told me: “Daddy, you already have that book at home”.
Anyway, I started Dragons of the Highlord Skies, so I guess I can wait until I get a chance to exchange the book.
Summer classics
So, I just finished the Dark Disciple trilogy the other day, and of course I started yearning for another Dragonlance fix right away. The sad thing of course, is that there are no new books to read, so I had to go to my stash and see if there was anything that tickled my fancy.
I am a big fan of the Lost Chronicles series, and since I recently read Dragons of the Dwarven Depths I decided to read Dragons of the Hourglass Mage for the third time in a year. It dawned on me, that Hourglass Mage is my fast becoming my summer book, meaning I have to read every summer. I am not really sure why that is the case, but when I look at my reading habits, I can tell that Chronicles are my winter/Christmas books, Legends are summer books as well and I always read The Legend of Huma after finishing either Chronicles and Legends.
As it is, I have a few days off this summer, so I am planning one last trip to my book pusher, so I can get my sticky hands on the last book in the Ogre Titans series The Gargoyle King. I have already read the spoilers over at the Dragonlance Forums, so there won’t be many surprises for me, but true to my collective nature, I have to have the last book of the last Dragonlance trilogy. I am a huge Richard A. Knaak fan, so I am sure it will be a pleasurable read nonetheless.
As for future books, I think I need to broaden my horizon just a tiny bit, in order to still have a steady flow of books coming into my office. However, principles of software development does not have any black robed wizards or dragons in them, so maybe I should look for a new fantasy series.
I guess I could also get around to actually redesign this blog as I have been talking about for eons and eons.
Recommendations are more than welcome.
What to do now?
Well, it has been a very long time since I posted anything on this blog. In all honesty, I have not really had anything interesting to blog about, and I have been pretty busy with my “regular life”, so to speak.
Fortunately I have been reading quite a bit lately. Last night I finished the Dark Disciple trilogy, which was only the second time I read it. I enjoyed it immensely, while at the same time being a little bit sad that Wizards of the Coast has killed off Dragonlance. I think the world Margaret Weis portrays in this trilogy is very exciting, and it could have made a good foundation for further Dragonlance gaming products and novels. Alas, that is not going to happen.
So, what am I going to do now in terms of my gaming? Well, unexpectedly, I received an email from my DM, and it looks like we will actually be playing again in August. At least we are going to make the attempt. Of course, that means I have to find my wizard and give that second level he earned a year ago.
The world in which we play is not Krynn, it is Mystara. I always liked Mystara a lot, so I am fine with that. However, I have little hope or expectation that we will ever become a tightly knit gaming group, or that we will play with the frequency we used to, but I will take what I can get these days.
As for this blog, I have been looking into a redesign and I am now down to three options. One of these evenings I will make the transition, which will hopefully make the blog a little bit more appealing visually. As for the content part I am still at a loss. I have not produced any new material that I can post here, and since there are no new novels coming out there’s not much left to do but to complain about the state of things.
I’d rather not have this blog turning into something negative, so at least I will write about the campaign in which I partake. I have thought about getting more into the community as well, so I will be looking into that as well.
Should anybody feel inclined to get in touch with me, I can be reached via email: dragonlance (at) gigaboot (dot) dk. Drop me a line if you have any suggestions for the blog, or if you just want to say hi.
PS: I have created a new Gmail/Google Id, so future posts will seem like they come from a different author. That is not the case though. I am the person behind both handles.
Dungeons & Dragons in a box
I was looking through our shed the other week, and I came across my boxes containing all my D&D. Since it has been far too long since I last leafed through my old modules and core books, I promptly brought one of the boxes into the house.
True to my geeky self, I had to take a couple of photos of my collection for the blog. The pictures do not give the collection the justice it deserves, but since I have not had the time to unpack the whole thing yet, it will a while longer before I can take some real photos.
Dragonlance sale @ Paizo
The Dragonlance Nexus has a post about Paizo’s Dragonlance sale. So if you have a couple of extrra dollars to burn this month, I suggest you give it a look.
Check it out here.