harlancore

Happy new year.

Maybe I should have posted that on January 1st. I think I may have even wanted to. It is hard to say, so much has happened since the last time I posted something. Dec 24th was it? ( I had to cheat to know that of course^^) Not that long ago, but it seems much longer.

For the most part, I have been working hard on HEAVY PAPER, trying to create a sort of sample issue, something I could parade around to other artists who might be interested in the concept. I also have been playing Dungeons & Dragons with my roommates. This is something nerds like me do. We haven’t played it in weeks though, further back than the last post even, but it is worth noting that over the years we have made characters on more than one occasion, played thru various modules, tried different classes, had various types of fun. So even though we don’t play all the time, we do play often enough that it would be fair to say we are always in the middle of an adventure.

I had been thinking for a while that I might like to run a game. I have before, but it has been a while. I have run games using various systems, ranging from D&D to Mage: the ascension to Cyberpunk 2020. Vin and I together have run live action Vampire: the masquerade games, on more than one occasion…full-on hardcore nerd and lovin’ it, thankee-sai.

If you hadn’t got this before, the boxpunx photographer and the boxpunx creator are very good friends. Boxpunx wouldn’t be what it is without his touch.

What was I going to say again? Oh yeah, what it is I had been doing recently….so anyway I wanted to write a game and after playing Fallout 3 I thought what a beautiful time to run a Gamma World adventure! Let’s play the first three modules, old rules and all. I even as time went by decided to not just play using the old stuff, but to maybe “re-write” the old stuff, just enough, so that my friends and I could play with the old flavor, but with my own twist.

This is also something nerds like me do.

That was when Vin insisted I go and see Roland first. I really needed to. In a way I knew that I needed to, it came up too often. I guess now was as good a time as any.

Harlancore began following the gunslinger, who was following the man in black.

Vin suggested, “Before you write a Gamma World adventure, maybe you should read The Dark Tower!“. So I did.

Or I should say, so I am. I am not done yet, it’s a seven-book long series, and I am somewhere in the middle of book 5 at the moment, “Wolves of the Calla”. I am not going to say anything about the story. Not a word. But I will state a few things and then briskly move on.

1.) I have never read a Stephen King book before now, but have seen pretty much every film and TV mini-series. Although I know the books are better. ( How can I not? it’s the kind of thing people never stop saying! )
2.) I have heard about The Dark Tower books from someone somewhere pretty much since they came out. Seemingly all my life, and always glowingly.
3.) I have spent perhaps too much time dedicated to reading mostly comic books. Perhaps way too much.
4.) I am madly madly in love with these books! It’s like the coolest RPG I have ever played, entirely in my own head!

It hasn’t completely distracted me though, on certain days definitely, it couldn’t be helped really, but for the most part, a large chunk of time has been dedicated to the new project. I am so very close to being so very close. I need to make a couple new models and post them to pass the time. Maybe I will go do that now…( …as I reach for the Stephen King book lying by the bed…calling me…Ka is like the wind… )

Next time I will post something actually from the ‘zine, like maybe the cover or an un-colored page from the boxpunx comic strip. You can see some of the photos Vin has taken NOW if you can find his link in my blogroll, it’s called VIN’S TUMBLR SITE. Good luck. Here’s a clue: it’s alphabetical…