Surviving the Crazy Times -- The New Home

Dante & I successfully completed our cross country trek and are settling nicely into our new home in Colorado.  Life here is pretty much the same with some very notable exceptions.  One exception, a very happy one, is the fact that we can see the mountains anytime we leave the house.  Another exception, not so happy, is that we haven't played D&D in a Very Long Time.

Around all the unpacking and trips to various stores to buy those things that a) didn't make the trip or b) we didn't need before and now we have to have, we have been trying to keep up with the gaming culture via World of Warcraft.  It's something, but it just doesn't have the same level of interaction and spontaneity that I truly enjoy in a good RPG.

A couple of our readers have mentioned that they live in the area, and I'm hoping after the first of the year, when things should (hopefully) be more settled, we'll be able to get together to meet the local gamers.

In the meantime, with little happening in the way of RPG in our household, Dante & I are a little stretched for RPG-related content.  You may see fewer posts on RPGBloggers.com, but you can still expect to see some random posts, as well as WOW-related content showing up on our site.

So far, we are surviving the crazy times.  I'll keep you posted if that changes. :)

Monstrous Advice

Surprise!! I'm still around, but with the move, I've been a little busy lately.  I hope you all didn't miss me too much! With the holidays, I'm sure things will be a bit chaotic around stupidranger.com, but I'll try to be here more often for you!

I had one of those blog moments... when you read someone else's blog, and it sparks an idea that sinks into your brain and rattles around until you decide to do something about it.  Shelly Mazzanoble posted a funny and insightful look at the fact that geek girls do not often fit the general profile for popular women's magazines, especially the advice columns.  And it got me to wondering what kinds of letters would be submitted to monster women's magazines.  Here's what I think we might see:

Dear Popular Monster's Magazine:

My awesome monster boyfriend has invited me to move in with him.  I'm really excited, because he's so awesome, but his cave is less than fabulous.  He works in a dungeon as an adventurer-control technician, and he is always bringing home bones and armor fragments that he leaves all over.  Worst of all, he brings home every wand he comes across, and they are just sitting a pile in the main room of his cave.  It's a disaster!  I'm afraid that if I try to organize his collection, he'll be mad.  I really want this to work because I think he might be The One. Please, can you tell me what to do about the mess?

Monstress in Love

And for the monsters getting ready for their big wedding day:

Dear Modern Bride-Zilla:

My future monster-in-law is driving me crazy!  She insists that the wedding should be in the old-fashioned swamp instead of the up-scale dungeon my fiance and I both want.  She thinks all the bridesmonsters should carry swamp weed bouquets instead of the stink blossoms I want.  We are not getting along, and my fiance wants to give in to all her demands.  How do I find the right balance without compromising on my dream wedding and not alienating my future monster-in-law?

Worried about the Wedding

It's all starting to come together now...

Stupid Ranger and I are finally getting settled into our new home! Fortuitously, as if by some divine plan, I received a sales email from the guys over at Geek Chic lauding their new demi-Sultan table that will be released to the masses on November 23rd.

Cursed Consumerism!

This just threw a healthy splash of gasoline on the fire for me to plan my new gaming sanctuary at my new home. While I might not be able to afford the Sultan (unless their big reveal is more economical models!), I certainly would like some sort of a custom gaming area to inhabit with my motley band of adventurers.

The space itself needs some finishing, so once that is done I am looking ahead for some good multi-purpose ideas for using that space as a gaming/recreation area. I'm thinking a big, home-rolled whiteboard would be nice both for drawing encounters or keeping score for the ol' dart board. A more high tech solution might come along depending on how my research into multitouch surface technology goes... that may take a back burner until warmer months when I can comfortably build things outdoors again.

Other necessary components, aside from a place to rest one's butt:

• A food/drink/alcohol dispensary of some kind.
• One to many book containment units
• One to many miniature containment units
• Some sort of music system to provide some mad roleplaying tunes
• The all-important ambiance factor, meaning a place to display the ample Lord of the Rings prop/sword collection
• Some sort of glorified display for my autographed OD&D sourcebooks, perhaps with mini Gygaxian Shrine (seriously not a joke here people, I want this!)
  

I will provide updates as they develop... or when the guys at Geek Chic finally get the hint and drop ship me their newest model for... uh... review and testing purposes. Heck, I'll even take their slightly loved used equipment off their hands!

As I return from dreamland, feel free to shout out whatever random stuff that comes to mind when you think about your ideal gaming space. Coolest ideas I haven't thought of already will likely get you hugged if we ever meet IRL, and have a distinct possibility of being implemented in the final Roleplaying Dungeon!