Recapsulation

In the interim of the site being down, I managed to wrap up some projects, and get a few more irons in the fire at the same time. Here’s a recap of what’s happened since the site went down again (again, again… again).

For my disclosure on this or any of my posts or pages… please visit my Disclosure page.

Adventure Hook

Aaron and I have been busy discussing all things related to our new Adventure Hook podcast. We’ve been particularly focused on figuring our what would make for interesting and enticing levels for our potential Patreon supporters. While we still need to hammer out the details, we both feel we’ve got a pretty solid framework to build on, with lots of room for growth. More on that when we’re closer to launch…

We’ve also gone so far as to re-record our standard intro along with the first half of our pilot episode where we introduced ourselves and discussed the conceit of the show. We still need to figure out, and then create what we plan to become our standard outro for each show, and once we have that, I can jump back in and finish the edits on the first episode. Our goal is to have the pilot (at least) ready to go live in mind-May… which meant I needed to get things moving again on the Blackspire front, since my plan is to start releasing those episodes on alternating weeks from Adventure Hook.

But I’d finally made the time to take a stab at creating the content that will comprise the “Season Zero” of the Blackspire podcast. I’ve taken a cue from the Red Moon Roleplaying guys, and have decided that while the Introduction episode will still be a part of the main free stream, all of the rest of that Season I’ll release as Patreon exclusive content. That will include all the PC character backgrounds, as well as my complete recap of all the sessions we played prior to recording Episode 1 of Season 1. This lets the audience chose their level of immersion, and lets me preserve my original storytelling device concept of Jim Meyer‘s character serving as the audiences eyes and ears as he was literally created in the show’s first scene, and discovers the world with the listeners as he goes. I’ve been quite pleased with Jim’s dedication to the game, and once we actually launch the Blackspire podcast  I’m hoping there will be some more possible Laughfinder crossover potential down the line.

However… while my SnoBall mic is absolutely fantastic for capturing the experience that occurs around our gaming table (warts and all) as its omni-directional nature makes the listener feel like they’re sitting right there at the table with us, when it comes to creating nice clean uni-directional audio for more voice over sort of applications, the mic’s extreme sensitivity unfortunately has the opposite result. I’d gone so far as to record over an hour’s worth of content before I realizes the sound quality (while good) was picking up too much ambient noise in the room. Since the first Season Zero episode is my pilot as well, I really need to make sure I’m putting my best foot forward, and I can’t have something of sub-par quality out front and hope to net the maximum potential listener retention. I’ve reached out to some friendly experts, who are going to poke around and see what new mic I should consider purchasing to achieve a more professional result… but in the meantime I’ll have to put creating that content on hold, but I’ve got plenty of Blackspire recording left to edit, so there’s plenty more to do in the interim.

In a way, perhaps its for the best I scrap what I’ve done so far and re-record it. While I think it’s alright, personally I feel much more comfortable speaking in a conversational way, than speaking alone to a microphone. From GMing around a gaming table, to having long conversations with Aaron for Adventure Hook, and even when I record a lecture in front of a room of people… in all these settings I feel quite at ease… but I have difficulty summoning the same relaxed, conversational tone when I don’t have other people’s energy to interact with. Even though the (quite long) script I’ve prepared for the whole of Season Zero is written in the style I speak (as is most everything I write, really…) there were definitely points I struggled to inhabit my own words… and so maybe a cool off period and some time to think will produce a better final result once I have the equipment I’ll need to capture it properly.

And another fun thing I’ve wrapped up during the gap is that I’ve completed the first Blackspire Studios miniature commission that was due to the plugs the Laughfinder guys have given me on the podcast. I really appreciate all this stuff coming together, and really had fun bringing a very old skool D&D character to life.

And so, behold… Grimsby, the dual axe-wielding dwarf with a magical beer stein.

Happily, the reason I’ve had the time once again to devote to this stuff is because I finally managed to complete the painting I’d done for The Friend’s book cover. That holy task is now complete… and while there’s nothing here I can show you at this point, at least I can get back to work on stuff that I can.

Additionally, my YouTube channel continues to show a slow but steady increase in both viewership and subscribers, and while I need over 1000 subscribers before YouTube will even consider caring about what I’m doing, hopefully once I get some more material recorded, edited, and live I might enjoy another spike.

But, my issues with solo recording extend to the field of my videos on magick as well. I really can’t conceive of a way (currently) where I’d feel comfortable creating this sort of content on my own, which I why I’m glad for the opportunity to give some more lectures at the Theosophical Society in Maryland and use the classroom dynamic as the vehicle for sharing my information. I’ve yet heard back on the specific open dates of the next talks, but when last I talked with the coordinator it sounded like May or June were likely.

Here are my initial write-ups for my next two talks.

***

All is right with the world.

Sunday 4/8/18-

Sun: Aries–

Moon: Capricorn (50% Waning)

If you’d like to start from the “beginning” of all this… you can read from my first blog post.

For my disclosure on this or any of my posts or pages… please visit my Disclosure page.