The title says it all. I went away for a short mini-vacation and brought home a souvenir I neither wanted nor expected - a summer cold. For the next week that little cold exploded into a major ailment and brought me to my knees. Either it had some super secret ingredient to make it more potent or maybe I'm just getting older and unable to recover as quickly. Either way, I felt terrible and spent my free time resting on the couch or going to bed early. Needless to say, both of my blogs suffered from my inactivity (apologies for the crosspost if you arrived here from the other blog). My cold is gone now though and I feel like a new man. It's time for a blog update.
* I've finished rereading both the Moldvay Basic Set and the Cook Expert Set. My notes are complete and ready to be translated into future posts.
* I have played several games of Moldvay Basic D&D via Google Hangouts over the last few weeks (the next session is this Thursday night). I'm working on a post right now about my experiences returning to the game.
* GenCon is all lined up. I just need to buy my plane ticket. I've signed up for plenty of games and activities so the convention should be loads of fun for me. Work is getting a bit crazy though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a conflict of schedule does not arise.
* I've downloaded the new 5th edition D&D rules. I've been following the play tests since the first release and I must say I'm rather pleased with the "finished" product. I'm still waiting for my preordered Starter Set to arrive on the 15th. After that, I'll write a post with my thoughts on this version of D&D.
* I have started work on my own campaign world. It's still very much in the planning stages but I can't wait to share what I have with the community and hopefully elicit some good tips and advice.
* Finally, though it's not related to D&D, I have another hobby item to share. I've been interested in photography for a long time and I'm always on the lookout for new ways to enjoy taking photos. I've wanted to try aerial photography for a while now but the cost has always been too steep for me to justify. No longer... Prices are now a bit more reasonable so I just dropped some cash on a new quadracopter and have been experiencing an entirely new side of photography. Allow me to share one of my early practice photos. Here is a shot of my neighborhood taken from 130 feet of altitude. We can call it a "dragon's eye view" photo to help tie in this blatantly unrelated photo to D&D.
That's all for now. Sorry for the unintended break and thanks for checking back in. Most of all, thank you for reading!