Refreshing Start

There’s not really a ton to say about this week, other than things all seem to be working out in tiny incremental, but generally successful ways…

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While I do feel like I probably could have lit them even better, I broke out one of my light boxes and after a quick photo shoot I now have some half decent images of the most recent miniatures I finished last week.

I have a lot more images than these, but upon the closer inspection allowed by these close-up pics (keep in mind these figures are only about an inch tall) I realize a number of fixes I want to go back and do on all of them…

As well as realize that my eyesight has definitely gotten poorer as I’ve aged and it’s actually much harder than it used to be to do all the minute detail work I usually pride myself on.

Inspector Claerydia Saxum of the Medusae

I try to use a desktop magnifier, but I can either just never get the angle right, or I have zero depth perception when it comes to the really minute magnification (which defeats the whole point of having it). I probably just need a better tool… or consider getting my eyes checked…

Akihoshi, the kitsune sorceress (human form)

Akihoshi, the kitsune sorceress (fox form)

Zoomed in I can’t help but notice all the mistakes I want to fix… still, at least here you can see the magnetic swapping heads of the Akihoshi miniature at work in these two last pics…

I may make some more clean images for Instagram, but for now at least these are done for the blog…

Now to repaint and eventually reshoot them…

We plan to all get together next week for our next Claerydia and Akihoshi side session adventure, and I’ve done an arguably exhaustive amount of research in preparation for some Jade Town hi-jinks (and beyond). Next week also marks the next get together of the White Hydra crew, and what I have planed for that session continues to grow more complex in my mind the more I think about it, and I really need to get that all well and truly hammered out by next week as well.

This week also marked the first new Blackspire teaser since taking the seven week break to release the Baator episodes. S2T13 is more deep dive stuff from the episode “Akihoshi & Golemoro” that’s for the higher Patreon supporters, and hopefully this teaser whets the whistle of those who what to hear more of that stuff…

The Patreon stream now has both the Jolly Paul recent adventures up for listening now (The High Cost of Trading Favors Parts 1 & 2) as well as the high level episode “A Day in the Life of Claerydia” which has all sorts of insider Blackspire stuff that’s only for the most dedicated listener. There will eventually be teasers containing a handful of excerpts from these episodes as well, but for now their content remains exclusively available to supporters of the show.

Another nice piece of good news is it turns out my YouTube channel was actually approved for monetization this week, and so while I’m not expecting to suddenly start raking in the cash, earning even a dollar more a week is still more than nothing…

It was also out turn to host dinner for our fun “punk rock” couple friends this week, and while I don’t have photographic evidence (that’s mine to share anyway) still Jenny confirmed I may have grilled up for us the finest four steaks of my somewhat storied career (thick cut hickory-smoked rib-eyes if you were curious… go Costco!). So that, as well as a few other very complimentary things expressed by our guests as well made me feel just as touched as if someone had expressed admiration for something I’d written or drawn.

Food is art after all… or at least cuisine is…

However, sadly Thanksgiving week seems to have thrown a monkey wrench into this month’s Flagons & Dragons gathering, as there turned out to be not enough people there free to play for me to run the Blackspire session that I’d prepared this week (my “revised” Cult of the Spire Initiation scenario). With next month’s usual gathering landing on Xmas Eve, looks like it won’t be until late January before I actually run a game for this group. Still the show organizer (and a number of my Blackspire players) are all fired up to play it, so while there’s plenty to think about before then, I’m definitely looking forward to finally getting the chance to unleash it upon a whole new crop of unsuspecting folks…

And speaking of Thanksgiving, with a bit of synchronicity (and a little Abrahadabrah) turns out Jenny’s getting Black Friday off after all, so turns out we’ll be spending the next few days up at my mom’s place with family than we’d thought we were going to be able… That’s the best gift of all!

We even plan to catch a play my brother’s girlfriend’s company is putting on (and she is staring in)…