I feel like I'm going to be screaming at a brick wall here, at best. At worst, I'm going to get dogpiled by Kickstarter fans and those who use Kickstarter as their primary means of business funding. But this is something that's been on my mind for awhile and I feel the need to sound off about it. Kickstarter is ruining our hobby. "What's that?" you say. "How can you even make such an accusation when Kickstarter has given us amazing games that we wouldn't have had otherwise." "Wait a second," you'll follow up, "don't you work for a company that uses Kickstarter, like, a lot? " Yes. Yes, it has, and yes, I do. On the first point, I'd say that's what Kickstarter is for. It's to launch brand new things that otherwise wouldn't have ever been able to see the light of day. It's not designed as a primary means of funding for an entire business, project after project after project, with reprints of...

Wow. It's literally been years since I posted here. I don't even know if I have readers left. Guess we'll see. This post isn't about gaming unto itself, but it may be of interest to fantasy and sci-fi fans. So, many many moons ago there was a huge book store called Borders. Millennials may be too young to remember it; Gen Z definitely is. Okay, saying Millennials are too young is stretching it; Borders was still alive into the 21st century. In any case, back in the day I liked Borders better than Barnes & Noble. It had a very "homey" feel to it; they even had a lounge with a fireplace. They went the way of the dodo because they foolishly ignored the ebook craze; while B&N was busy creating the Nook, Borders failed to produce an e-reader, and when they finally did, they partnered with Kobo, a floundering company that used a proprietary format and store that nobody ever heard of. It was too little too late. But that's neither here nor there. ...

UPDATE 12/18/2021 I am always tweaking these recipes. The one here now more closely resembles a classic chocolate chip cookie and makes use of Carbquik, which is an outstanding baking mix that behaves much like flour. I have also moved to using Erythritol and Monkfruit sweeteners as they are closer to normal sugar, and you can get Swerve (Erythritol) in a brown version that works just like brown sugar and still has a GI of zero.  Back in September I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It was, as it is for many people, a devastating discovery and it's been a hard road. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm learning to manage it. Of course, this means finding substitutions for a lot of carb-y treats I used to love (I'll be revisiting my lembas recipe to work on how to make that more Type 2 friendly soon as well). One of my favorite things in the world is chocolate chip cookies. How could I live without them? Well, fortunately, I don't have to. Here's a recipe I'...

Low-res concept for SHAMA issue 1 cover Just keeping everyone in the loop. Working on getting a video together for the Kickstarter while awaiting the paperwork for the LLC and freelancer contracts from my attorney. Hopefully within a few weeks I'll be ready to launch the Kickstarter and get Shadows & Masks out the door! Meanwhile I'm plugging away at several freelance projects plus some staff work for Troll Lord Games . These include a Fifth Edition Book of Familiars and Companions that is currently in Kickstarter itself. I'm also working on getting those miniatures battle rules for the O.R.C.S. system complete so I can get those playtested and released. I plan to get a few adventure modules for Spellcraft & Swordplay contracted, written, edited and out the door as well. There are irons in the fire, but we've announced a few things that never came to pass, so I'm going to play it all close to the vest for the time being till we have things about ...

Big news, in the pipeline, folks! As you all have doubtless noticed, Elf Lair Games has languished in some degree of obscurity for several years, now, as I've pursued other projects. Well, a lot of things have come together recently that have put me in a position to make some big announcements. Elf Lair Publishing will soon launch our new quarterly periodical, Shadows & Masks , a literary magazine in the style of the old dime novels, penny dreadfuls and pulps of the late 19th through mid-20th century. Featuring a stories, poetry and articles in a wide variety of genres from authors both new and established, we're looking to bring short-form pulp-style genre fiction back to the general public! Watch for the Kickstarter coming soon. I've already got a couple outstanding artists signed on for covers for issues 1-3, and industry names like Bill Coffin (Formerly of Palladium Books)and Steven Long (of Hero Games) are planned as featured fiction for the inaugural is...

Spellcraft & Swordplay - Where it it all began. You know, it strikes me that the best stuff from Elf Lair Games is stuff I just piddle around with and decide, "What the Hell?" That's how Spellcraft & Swordplay came to be, after all. It was originally just a thought experiment based around how OD&D was intended to use Chainmail combat, and before I knew what had happened, I'd drafted a pretty unique and individual yet still old-school feeling, game. It's been popular enough, too. Without me pushing it or putting out constant support materials, it's still selling copies here and there. I shudder to think what could've happened when it was still on peoples' radar if I had the wherewithal at the time to actually make a go of it. Ah, well. Missed opportunities and all that. Anyway, it looks like we're coming up on our next new major release. I've been putzing around with some rules for a...thing. A Fantasy thing. Which sho...

A couple more days, folks! We're officially down to counting HOURS, now, and are only 12 backers away from $200! Check the Kickstarter--we have unveiled a TON more really cool stretch goals! Let's see if we can hit $21,000 in 2 days!!! Science, sorcery, pugilistic pummeling, gun-toting, sword-wielding, B17-flying, gadget carrying adventure. Own it! http://bit.ly/amazingrpg