D&D Total Gut Blow-Out

Hello, friends and (probably long gone) readers!

It has been a long time since I updated this thing. Such is the fate of many a blog, of course, although I had sincerely hoped that this one would fare better. The truth is, I haven't been blogging about D&D because I haven't been playing, thinking, or even reading about D&D for most of the past month.

Shortly after my last post here, I was running a Labyrinth Lord session- using a module for the first time in my life ("B4 - The Lost City") and introducing a new player to the fold. We were having fun, it got exceptionally silly in the best way possible, and I just... had a nervous break-down mid-game.

It wasn't really D&D's fault that I was reduced to a blathering mess on my bedroom floor, but it got some of the blame because it was basically the only thing I had been paying attention to in my life- probably as an escape mechanism to avoid what was really making me upset and listless. The psychodrama of all this is not the point, though, the point is: I backed off form D&D for a month.

I am making small inroads back towards D&D, though. After four or so weeks of avoiding all gaming blogs, I slowly started reading Grognardia and A Rust Monster Ate My Sword again. I'm trying to avoid the zeal I was going at it with, because I think I over-saturated my being with D&D of all stripes. Juggling editions, running two campaigns before I had finished my first ever, spending every waking moment reading about D&D- it was newbie's lust, I admit, and I took it Too Far, all the way to D&D Edge City. Which is a fairly quiet, nerdy Edge City as those things go, but it was still Too Much for me at the time, and I cracked like a cowardly dog.

For my birthday (which was on July 30, presents still being accepted, hint hint) (not really) (well I wouldn't say no) I went camping with some good friends. We went up to Nelson Ledges Quarry Park in Garretsville, OH- one of my favorite spots on earth- and had a time of it all, watching Buckethead and Ekoostik Hookah rock the Quarry, swimming, and basically not being in the City. It was the balm I needed, and while I've been sort of bored since I came back from all the adventurin' to a life of a part-time job, I've been in much better spirits than I was previously. In fact, for the first time since I was unemployed in January, I am not actively depressed about life in general.

Anyways, I'm not sure when I'm going to be jumping straight into D&D again. Like I said, I've been slowly getting back into reading Old-Shool blogs. This is kind of funny because while I love the Old School stuff, if/when I start running games again I think I'm going to concentrate on my 4E campaign. It's not my preferred rule set necessarily, as discussed before, but it was the campaign I set out to run when I started playing D&D last year, and it's the campaign my players are most invested in- even the players who are learning to love Labyrinth Lord as a rules-set.

I think I need to focus on one thing, not let it take over my every waking thought, and run with it. I'm not positive it will happen anytime soon, though. Yesterday I started writing a young adult novel that I've been thinking about for years, and if I hope to not abandon it like most long-term projects I get involved in, I have to keep it on the front burner and not get distracted by something more- pardon the word- novel.

And to make matters "worse", I've also been mulling over reading up on Traveller (so I can run a Firefly inspired game), Pathfinder (I have no idea why, I have no interest in 3e), and I recently read HarnMaster and kinda want to roll up characters (though I'm not sure I'd ever want to play).

So I'm not sure, moving forward, how often I'll be updating this blog, as D&D is not going to be a big part of my life in the immediate future. I'm probably not done with it forever as I pledged to be soon after my breakdown, but I am definitely taking it easy. A friend is starting up a Labyrinth Lord campaign soon- actually, it's Brett Day from Late to the Adventuring Party, humorously enough- and I don't know that I'll even roll up a character for it right away, despite wanting very badly to be on the other side of the LL table. I'm just not quite that ready yet.

That's me in relation to D&D. I just didn't want my two readers to think this blog was gone for good. It's not- I just went a little sane for awhile, is all. Happens to the best of us, no matter how hard we fight it.