As of this writing, I am now a student at American Military University, majoring in Military History. I have ~60 hours to go on my Bachelor's, and then I'm going to roll into their Master's program with an eye toward teaching History at the college level. Parenthood, studenthood, and game-masterhood are going to be an interesting juggle in 2011 but I'm sure they will be well worth it. The whole package will help make of for some of the time I feel I've wasted marking time in my current job at my current education level. Sometimes it takes a while for a person to build up the giveadamn to press on. I think it took me way too long.
So what have I been up to gaming-wise? Lots of stuff. I hope to elucidate a bit over the holidays, but snippets of fun that I've had recently-
- The discovery of a new video arcade here in Austin. Check out http://www.pinballz.com/ Seriously. This place was like stepping back into my childhood. 13,000sf of arcade awesome. I played Centipede, DK Jr., Asteroids, Galaga, Tempest, Gyruss... and the pinball machines. Sadly, when I tried to enlist in the K.I.S.S. Army, they declared me 4F.
- The introduction of my younger brothers to Marvel Superheroes. See, despite my being a bad brother and being 95% absent from their childhoods save the few holidays Dad managed to get them to Mammaw's, I'm making up for lost time by showing them some of the best hobbies in the world now that they're old enough to really enjoy them. Upon arriving in East Texas for Thanksgiving, my oldest little brother Cody was wearing a Secret Wars shirt. It was on. Dustin, the younger of the two, commented on how the game system really made it vivid in his mind's eye, just like reading a comic book. Damn, that was fun.
- My friend Cort got cast in a stage show about Dungeons and Dragons. Problem is, she'd never played. Her only GM has ever been our mutual buddy Andy, who is pretty much GURPS and Cyberpunk 2020 only. So I got to introduce her to D&D. We played a basic D&D game rolling 3d6 straight down, rolling for HP, the whole nine yards. Two character deaths within 45 minutes, and that was just to Zombies and Kobolds. FUN! Her husband Jon and I waxed nostalgic with Clint and Dixie, the other players in this historical demo about "old school" D&D. We explained about Orcus. And the Temple of Elemental Evil.
- I continue to work on my Renegade Legion campaign idea. I still want to do my game badly. Thanks to C-in-C miniatures, I have some things to paint this holiday break. A couple of Centuries of grav tanks, and two flights of Interceptors. Oh, and I found a MIP Unseen Thunderbolt and Locust as well.
