I’m really not sure how to feel this week… other than maybe letting myself enjoy a general sense of accomplishment that might actually border on something akin to pride (or at least satisfaction)… but all tempered with a much stronger sense of gratitude…
For my disclosure on this or any of my posts or pages… please visit my Disclosure page.
So, the first To Baator and Back episode is out there and thus far I’ve had somewhat limited, but thus far 100% positive feedback. And the second is poised to drop tomorrow. The first part is really just setting the stage, and things start getting interesting from here…
It’s a fine start, and there are six more weeks of releases yet. My hope is each week more listeners get curious about my other work, and since episode 1 came out a week ago I have seen a small, but significant spike in downloads of the Blackspire podcast, and only builds from here.
I’ve had trouble trying to color the PC portraits this week, but upon retrospection I thought we might actually get the most bang for our buck using classic Planescape art from in/around this adventure for the other promo art. So instead, I went ahead and mocked up something for Episodes 2-7 of the rest of them. I may still do other stuff with that art later anyway, but for now at least the Red Moon guys have something for all remaining releases…
This week Aaron and I also recorded the next episode of Adventure Hook. Our plan was to actually record two episodes (which didn’t happen) as well as our next installment of the Patreon-exclusive Legend Lore (which also didn’t happen). Instead we opted to release the older Blackspire: Legend Lore we recorded way back in September 2018 after our first Red Moon RPG session instead.
He did manage to get Episode 26 up today, which given his insane schedule is a feat in and of itself…
We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled program next month, but since we’d planned to wait for the RMR releases to put that one out anyway (which in all honesty took way longer than I’d anticipated) hopefully this tie-in makes more sense to finally release now anyway.
I also finally mocked up the hexagram (for show notes purposes) for AH26 and more…
Still, the episode we recorded (which is my turn to edit) was a pretty good one and I did take a stab at an initial promo mock-up, which I do think works, but I’m not sure yet if I’m quite done with it…
And this week I also managed to run and record two separate Blackspire games, and I’m pretty happy with the results of both. The first game was with Jim to create the eerie “fey-like” epilogue to Season One, but first we had an out of game chat with Jenny to start setting the stage for Season Two. I really have to make the edits on that a priority, as well as starting to amass a backlog of Patreon exclusive tracks and get those releases scheduled, but so long as that’s all squared away by the time Baator 7 releases, I think I’ll be in good shape.
And speaking of more backlog, the second exciting Blackspire game ended on quite the exciting note… and with many unanswered questions still. It’ll probably be a while before we play again, as I actually have quite a bit of White Hydra game-play saved up at this point, which this may make a thrilling end-cap to.
It was also cool to find Blackspire on Spotify this week, though I guess without a subscription here you can only hear excerpts…
Still most excitingly, Jenny and I have been talking all week (still off mic) about the cool new character she’ll be taking on. It’s going to give me a whole new arena of storytelling, and into sections of the world that can only enrich it. From Blade Runner to Film Noir, she’s been looking at all sorts of different inspiration to start creating the ideas around her character. We should start recording our initial brainstorming soon, and we’ll then use HeroLab to actually make her mechanically as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what initial ideas she’ll bring to the table and then what we’ll create together. Should prove to be fun, and something we can easily do together whenever we want… it’s all good content in the end.
Once we have this all fleshed out, and maybe even side-sessioned a bit, I’ll have a much clearer picture of what direction to take Season Two. I’d not be able to do any of what I’ve done so far without Jenny’s love and support, but to have her involved directly makes it all the better… with so much potential too!
And on the real world front, another opportunity presented itself that I feel I need to pursue (I’ll say no more) but the Universe seems to have sent Jenny the two new (near perfect) employees she’d been hoping to hire to replace team members she’s lost/losing. After just one day (their first mind you) they’ve not only exceeded all her expectations, but all gel well and have the right like-minded attitude. I know this will only give her even more opportunities to excel at her job, and so all around things seem to be ordering themselves to our advantage.
Well, perhaps not for our cat General, who we just noticed today seems to be having strange sudden trouble with his eye again, and we’re trying to get him in to see his vet ASAP.
***
Monday 6/10/19-
Sun: Gemini–
Moon: Virgo (50% Waxing)
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.
