Metapost 2: Post Harder

A.K.A. Metapost 2.0: You Can (Not) Post
A.K.A. Metapost II: The Slowening
A.K.A. Metapost 2: Electric Postaloo

A series of bullshit events that occurred in late 2016 and early 2017, along with my own personal faults and struggles, have left me demotivated in the ol' blogging department, as you can see by my decreased output as of late. However, things have improved for Jess and I in the last two or three months, and I'm back from a fantastic belated honeymoon, so it's time to get back on the horse!

I still have plenty of things to check off my list from the original Metapost, but there are some other tasks that take precedence at the moment. Here's what's on my mind.

"Current" projects I need to get on with:

1. I need to write out my interview questions for [REDACTED] and send 'em over, because he's graciously put up with my slow ass for a while now, and his work is really good (and if you ask me, tragically overlooked).
2. I haven't forgotten about the A to Z VG RPG Inspiration series - I'm like a third of the way done with the C entry. I knew I was going to take my sweet time on this one, but geez, I'm sorry my time is THIS sickly sweet, folks.
3. I also haven't forgotten that I was planning to do a read-through of Carcosa in the style of my Holmes Basic series of posts. I want to start that at some point.
4. I've made no tangible progress this year on writing my first published adventure, as per my New Year's resolution. I'm not sure what I'd rather take a swing at first. I'll list some possibilities below.
5. On Google+ I recently discussed the idea of using Prestige Classes as something to spice up the Fighter class in LotFP. I got some helpful feedback and cool ideas from +James Young and +Perttu Vedenoja, so I'd like to write a post on the topic.
6. In The Magnificent Joop van Ooms, Raggi mentions the possibility of using Joop and his associates as PCs. I can think of some other NPCs in various adventures that might make for interesting PCs - so that's something to write about.
7. More class tinkering: what if you wanted to run LotFP with demihumans only? I have some house rules for that. They could use some testing. EDIT: DONE
8. In Green Devil Face #4, James Raggi wrote a system for using spell points, and it's caught my attention. I want to take a look at how this system might interact with the LotFP spell list. I wrote down how many points each spell in the Rules & Magic book would cost, and that could be a handy reference for anyone who wants to try these rules out. EDIT: DONE

Adventure Ideas:

1. A sugar-and-candy-themed dungeon that some friends and I were sketching out a while back. I joking called this one "Death Frosting Doom," but I doubt I'd use that as the title of the finished product. Considering the ill effects of the over-consumption of sugar (both real and alleged), as well as the historical role of slavery in the European/West Indies sugar trade, there's plenty of room for horror in this topic, unfortunately. I probably have the most actual written notes on this one, but I haven't touched it in a while, plus I'm on the fence about how much historical tragedy I really want to incorporate in a fun fantasy adventure for use with elf games (albeit horror-tinged elf games). I think Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventures tend to pull of this kind of historically-grounded horror in a tasteful manner - they tend to be delightfully tasteless in other ways, but I think the historical stuff is generally done in a sufficiently respectful manner. I'm not sure everyone would agree, though, and I don't know if I'm up to the task of matching those standards yet. Anyway, even if I leave out the slavery and imperialism, there's still plenty to work with in terms of body horror when it comes to sugar.
2. A haunted forest/haunted cabin adventure in which some cruel supernatural force turns nature against those who intrude on the wilderness, a force of ambiguous origin which could be interpreted as anything from cosmic to satanic. Inspired by stuff like "The Great God Pan" and "The White People" by Arthur Machen, "The Events at Poroth Farm" by T. E. D. Klein, "The Willows" and "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood, "Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner, the illustrations of Lee Brown Coye, the illustrations of John Kenn Mortensen (A.K.A. Don Kenn), the Evil Dead series, Antichrist, Resolution, Valhalla Rising, The Witch, Marble Hornets, the Slender Man Mythos, and a whole heaping helping of awesome and terrifying posts over at Goblin Punch. Chaos Reigns.
3. A mash-up of The Keep on the Borderland and The House on the Borderland. I'm in love with this idea, but I don't quite know how to go about using it yet. Do I want to actually re-write B2 itself into a new thing, or just make a sort of homage to it, or what?

Games I want to run:

1. The Hateful Place one-shot or mini-campaign based on The Shining. EDIT: Done! Although I'd love to play "tHp" more in the future!
2. Stay Frosty campaign based on Aliens and/or Doom.
3. A new LotFP campaign with my home group. We just played our 60th session of our Lamentations of the Fallen Lords campaign (well, depending on how you count them), and I think this campaign may be drawing to a close soon, at least for a while. The next campaign is probably going to either take place on Earth in the 1600s, on Carcosa, or in the world of The Driftwood Verses (once it's released). EDIT: Or maybe I'll start with my "Separate Race and Class" house rules, Tomb of the Serpent Kings from Coins and Scrolls, the "Just Three Hexes" idea from Chicagowiz's Games, and these posts from Jacob Hurst on G+. We'll see!
4. An online LotFP campaign with some friends who no longer live near me. It'll probably take place on Earth and focus on supernatural investigations and haunted houses. The PCs will probably be members of a club which exists at roughly the halfway point between occult detectives and traditional D&D adventurers. Think of it like a thieves' guild whose members are all amateur occultists and ghost hunters on the weekends - a heavily-armed Scooby Gang with sticky fingers and loose morals. I'm tentatively calling this one Mansions & Mindfucks.
5. A campaign using BLUEHOLME and/or a mix of OD&D and Holmes Basic, starting with The Keep on the Borderlands and expanding into a wilderness hex map (from Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival) chock-full of other classic D&D adventure modules.