Pandemic Over. Society Crumbling. What Now? Games, of course.

This blog is now over 16 years old, it has been completely ignored for the past 6 years. I suppose 10 years was a good streak. It landed me places that allowed me to buy a home, make lifelong friends, and prove to myself that I could be viable as a creative person. Things are very different now for me, for you too probably. Let me catch you up.

Uncertain Times

In the haze of the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 I was completely jazzed about games like Mork Borg and discovered that rules light games could actually still be games and not just “convince the GM you can do something based on vague words on your character sheet” or “let’s just sit around and talk” simulators. I was even in contact with Johan from Stockholm Kartel about publishing my first ever Mork Borg supplement, a class entitled “Quarantine Defector“…it uh…was timely to say the least, and it definitely would have been a bad look so it languished. I was discovering games like Forbidden Lands and Symbaroum as well (thanks, Sweden). However I was also overwhelmed by the daily exasperation of my chosen career, trying improve myself as a whole, going to therapy regularly, and learning that parenting teenagers is way harder than younger kids.

So…take a maelstrom of dissatisfaction with many aspects of my career (IT / Sysadmin) and side-gig (freelancing, blogging, the TTRPG scene at large) and I kind of just checked out and walked away in an attempt at self preservation. My Obsidian Portal years were behind me, Kobold Press wasn’t reaching out nearly as much anymore, and I nuked Twitter when the Nazis took over. I kind of vanished and although I do sometimes miss having the Twitter audience to talk about new projects to or just for banter – I’ve learned that my life is definitely better without social media. So here I am, writing into a blog post I’m almost certain nobody will read. I’m rusty and I can feel it. I’m not going to post this to say I’m quitting though, if there’s any one thing I can do, it’s adapt.

Unfortunate Truths

Aside from hating what I do for a living, and the volatility of the IT industry and the job market as a whole it all feels a bit banal. The truth is that the world is run by billionaire losers who have never had real friends or a single hug from their dad, and also pedophiles. It’s like shitty comic book villains came to life, except none of them are well spoken or look good in suits or have kickass underground lairs.

Everyone’s collective attention spans have melted into tiny poisonous puddles of ragebait and corporate slop that feed through us perpetually like a colostomy bag with the drainage port connected directly to our mouths. AI is doing a speedrun on ecological and social collapse all because corporations don’t want to pay artists for anything and lazy chuds can’t be bothered to write their own fucking emails or learn a new creative skill other than drop shipping marketing schemes and starting yet another uneducated podcast. We are getting all the cyberpunk dystopia cons but none of the pros like cyber eyeballs, hover cars, or sick ass neon lights and cool new haircuts. Everybody has a broccoli llama mullet or a bad mustache that makes them look like my dad did in the 80’s. Everyone wears sweatpants everywhere all of the time. Everyone has collectively given up for the sake of convenience or comfort because caring or being passionate about anything is “autistic”, just ask Tiktok. We are approaching Wall-E at a breakneck pace.

Dissent is Mandatory

All that said, what’s there left to do? So fucking much. We need to make art. Bad art. Weird art. Tell human stories. Connect with other human beings, preferably not through screens when we can. We need to make rad shit and make it for ourselves, but also for the wavering numbers of people who still appreciate these sorts of things while we can. So here I am saying I’m going to do my part.

I’m done doing nothing, I’m done procrastinating about finishing my projects. I’m making this post if only to hold myself accountable in some sort of public format. I’m going to make art, I’m going to make games, I’m going to publish my thoughts.

I will turn the crank on Black Candle Games social channels, and I will finish The Dead and the Damned by the end of this year. I will go back to school or somehow escape the IT industry. It all starts today. I hope you’ll check back in here from time to time if you do see this.

Until my next post, in the words of my old friend Randall: game excellently with one another.