Update Update Update

Not much content lately. I apologize to all three of my readers (that might be an ambitious estimate). I've been working on secret projects.

For some quick content, isn't it cool when RPGs are written with a distinct style? It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's delightful. Some examples:

• The conversational (Trail of Cthulhu)
• The darkly comedic (Deadlands, Paranoia)
• The poetically academic (Houses of the Blooded)
• Whatever the heck Nobilis is

Some other styles a prospective author probably shouldn't use:

• The belligerent ("Of course you can't combine ability modifiers on a single challenge roll! What the hell is your problem?")
• The Ye Olde Harde Core ("Like the noble warriors of old would honour their weapons, honour thy dice. They are your sword and shield against the foul terrors of the dark!")
• The critical theorist ("Attribute is the linguistic container used to collect a number of different 'truths' or 'rules' that can, in the collective idea-space, affect the shared hallucination between the players/performers.)

Imagine your own terribly inappropriate game writing styles! Collective fun!

e-Webbing my iPresence

I downloaded a Twitter for my Internet! You all can e-follow my "Twitts" with your respective Internets at "@BonusGhost" or "@" that browser-button over on the right lane of the electronic megahighway.

Cough Cough Wheeze

After their well-publicized falling-out culminating in a small fire in a Memphis hotel, the members of Bonus Ghost (and their respective lawyers) have set aside their differences and are returning to the stage for a 37-stop blowout reunion tour!

Due to the mysterious forces that bind my blogging output to their musical and financial success, I will be resuming this blog.

The Hollow Tooth Diaries are long-since over (though I may do a few HTD Retrospectives), but I'm pleased to announce the fresh new travelblog stylings of the Quinine Chronicles (being a recount of interesting and noteworthy occurances during my visit to Kenya)

I'll be diving back into running my mouth off about tabletop games and sharing my amateur game design attempts. My biggest current project is a miniatures skirmish game tentatively called Spectrum Cosmos. I'll be posting its very work-in-progress mechanics as well as its fluffier side. When I've got nothing else to write about, I'll throw up some bits and pieces of my comprehensive overhaul of AEG's defunct 7th Sea or some other project otherwise decaying on my hard drive.

In essence, welcome to the BGH Volume II.

Introducing Crosstoberfest

October! The month of change! Closely following September, the month of never updating your blog.

In less than a month, the Hollow Tooth Diaries will necessarily come to a close, barring a backblog (like there is now, and boy is it hefty). For this last month of them, I'll be trying to unify its unique brand of overwritten, self-indulgent travel writing with the other regular features of this site - you know, the overwritten self-indulgent RPG writing.

But, as I mentioned, I am pretty behind. So to start with, I'll merge HTD and 5 Interesting, in order to clear some of that. Watch this space!

Departure 3: The Frenchening

Proving that I will spend lavish amounts of effort and money to stay on someone's couch for free, I am departing for points west today. Expect no updates for the next week. "But how is that in any way dissimilar to last week," I hear you ask, to which I magnanimously reply "shut up."

Welcome New Friends, Hopefully

I sent an unsolicited e-mail to bona fide internet celebrity Chris Sims re: the Saddest Heroes of Them All, who was impressed enough to throw them up on his legitimate comics journalism webiste, ComicsAlliance with a link back here.

So, for any potential new readers, welcome! There's probably nothing for you here.

This blog is about half overwritten, melodramatic travelblog and half overwritten, melodramatic analysis and development of tabletop RPGs. Not a lot of comics content here. I guess I played some Champions. I could write about some Champions. And I've been turning over a system solution for that thing villains do where they put innocents in danger to get away, which I have loosely titled "Peril", but no concrete ideas yet.

But hey, I know full well how nerdy spheres of influence can overlap, so maybe some of you are into this scene. If so, welcome! Here are some posts to get you started:

My first post outlines what I wanted to do with this thing when I started it back in May. You may notice that I've begun new columns. You may notice that I haven't done some of these at all. In fact, expect a post on why I haven't done Sourcebook Corner fairly soon. (I haven't done The Politics of Make-Believe because it's boring).

Baroque and Roll was fun, though it lacks a unifying conclusion.

You'll want to catch up on the latest exploits of The Old Witch of Riga.

Hey! Comics content! Inserted clumsily into one of my worst-written posts! I plan on revisiting the idea at some point.

Share and enjoy! And, theoretical new reader (and old readers too, I guess), if there's something you want me to write about, leave a comment, and I'd be (probably) happy to oblige.

Update Update Update!

Internet failure! Roaming Central Europe! Exchanging labour for wages, thereby alienating myself from my work, myself, and my fellow man! Or I would be if I got wages. Anyway, expect more updates in the days ahead. I've got a huge backlog of HTDs (interesting ones, even!) and a shiny new RPG project which I'm sure you're dying to hear about.

N.B. HTDs in coming days will not be in chronological order.

Connectivity Calamity!

Bad news, Hauntheads! Internet at the Casa de My Place is out-ish again! Expect fewer and smaller updates.

Back on the Bloggerhorse

So I've been silent lately. Apologies. Due to poor internet connectivity, business, and laziness when I'm not busy, I've not been taking this blog thing very seriously.

That changes tonight.

I hereby issue this challenge to myself: one update per day for the month of July. I've got tons I want to write about - RPG stuff mostly, plus of course more Riga news (in case anyone's concerned, I'm having a great time), with Sourcebook Corners to fill in the gaps. Hopefully, I can get into a groove, and be a King of the Internet by the end of the summer.

Hope I haven't lost all of you, my loyal readers.

Welcome, Friends!

... because at least for now, probably only friends will read this. Like, real, physical people who I know. You know who you are.

So what is Bonus Ghost? Bonus Ghost is more than a band - it's a total sonic/cultural experience. Their use of simple and traditional rock stylings mixed with blues and indie highlights is not a result of a lack of imagination, but rather a comprehensive understanding of the cultural and social forces that have combined to create their genre of sound. The sense of their self-awareness is only highlighted by their lyrics which, though seemingly simple, are littered with literary and pop-cultural references. Their albums can often be read as the post-modern odysseys of ordinary people drifting though a world of recycled culture and content to find greater understanding and meaning. They are also wholly ficticious, which means they won't mind if I use their Hauntarchy to blog about nerd crap.

Expect miscellaneous, uncategorized updates as the mood takes me, but here are the semi-regular features I forsee:
The Hollow Tooth Diaries - I am travelling right now and will soon be living in Latvia for several months. This feature will be my travelblog for my adventures in this post-Soviet wonderland. Any embellishments for the sake of exciting content will be suitably blatant. I reserve the rights to make as many Dr. Doom jokes as I want.
Workshop Tomorrow - Descriptions of my various game system projects, both additions to existing games and new inventions, including but not limited to an as-yet unnamed constructable card game, a cinematic fight scene game tentatively called Kumite! and Big Finish, the totally improvised RPG.
Sourcebook Corner - Character and plot sketches for the stories I would write if I had any faith in my abilities. Also, since I've managed to convince myself that most of them would work better as comics, they'll never see the light of day unless you are a talented artist who is totally willing to draw whatever I say. These include Alpha Faction, slightly campy '50s espionage/action story about the agency that started the Cold War as a distraction from what's really going on; Vth Quadrant, sci-fi-parody-farce; and Chronintel (If you have a better name, let me know), about a time-and-genre-travelling cosmic superspy and his supporting cast of weird sentient beings from across Known History.
The Politics of Make-Believe - Also known as Overthinking It: A Continuing Series, this is where I put my degree to work drastically nerding out over the economic/political/social/philosophical implications of various made-up worlds and concepts. Of all the regular features, this is the one I've developed least, so I would put out a request for suggestions of topics to tackle. I've got vague plans to discuss necromancy and religion in your standard, Blandsville D+D-style setting. After that, I dunno. The geopolitics of the Iron Kingdoms or something.

This is all subject to change. I'm mostly doing this to get in the habit of writing for myself and would welcome comments and suggestions for improvement. Really, I mean it. So, once more, welcome, friends. I hope we can both get something out of this.