I'm Late, I'm Late... What Month is it, Again?

So, yes, it's almost August and I still haven't posted June's blogpost, which is seriously remiss of me, but the last couple of months have been utter bedlam, with lots of travelling thrown in for good measure. So much so that, every time I've sat down to try to write this blog, something else has cropped up that needed dealing with work-wise, or I realised I couldn't actually remember most of what happened in June without consulting the Oracle* because so much stuff has happened since.

*Not the late, not that lamented ITV teletext service (for those of you from the right country and old enough to remember it), or some ancient lady from Delphi, just one of my two analogue diaries that I keep notes and stuff in about what I've been working on and where I've been.

So, having consulted the Oracle, what exactly did happen in June?

Well, 1st June saw me scurrying around the exhibitors hall at UK Games Expo saying goodbye to everyone there after our flying visit. And, quite serendipitously, I bumped into way more folk than I was expecting to, as rather a lot of the lovely people I wanted to see where busily seeing each other as I bimbled past.

Three and a bit days later, we were in Berlin and on our way to the mini-Kraken. No thanks to the extremely hot weather and the German train service falling over just as we arrived, but we managed to find a work-around to our intended route and got there in the end after a (scheduled) overnight stay with a friend. We're also pretty certain that our bus driver recognised us from a previous visit, as she dropped us off at the bottom of the schloss' drive without us even telling her that's where we were going!

The mini-Kraken was great fun again. This was only the second one, and not only did I get to test out this year's con scenario (Breath of Angels), but I also got to play games! This is something of a rarity for me, and I had a crack at a Call of Cthulhu scenario set in Japan, Pendragon, Lonestar, and Pharos. In fact, if we include the board and card games, I actually played more than I ran this time, which doesn't happen all that often.

After we got back from Germany, it was back to work stuff. Now I'm full time at Chaosium, I have to learn the ropes re: all the paperwork I've so far managed to avoid having to worry about. Let's just say that there were a lot of briefs and contracts written up for Children of Fear's art and maps in June. I did get faster as I went along, but it still took quite a while. It was worth it, though. We have some fabulous people involved, so I'm really excited about what we'll be getting back from them over the next couple of months.

And then there was Free RPG Day weekend. Not only did I run Breath of Angels at Travelling Man Newcastle on the day itself (after going to say hello to Dippy the Dinosaur at the Hancock Museum), but our FLBGC, Meeple Perk had a follow up day the day after, where I ran a short session of Cogs, Cakes, and Swordsticks, as well as The Necropolis CoC scenario. I also ran a GM workshop at Meeple Perk this month, as well as a writing workshop at another FLGS, Meeple Games in Durham.

One of the more exciting things that happened the same week we got back from Germany was a surprise invitation to be a Guest of Honour at Ropecon in Helsinki. One of their original guests had to drop out, and they approached me as a last minute replacement. Thankfully, with not being at Gen Con this year, I was actually available, and everyone I spoke to about the convention had very good things to say, so I'll be off to Finland at the end of July!

In terms of editing, I was working on a couple of books besides Children of Fear, one of which has now been announced: The Shadow Over Providence, which will be available for sale at Necronomicon in August. The other one is still ongoing, so more on that another month.

In non-gaming terms, the highlight was another ladies lunch at the wonderful Dobson and Parnell's, this time a non-alcoholic one with one of the best of our local chocolate manufacturers: North Chocolates. Bev is lovely, and her chocolate is really tasty. She even showed us how to make something interesting from left over Easter eggs and fresh ingredients from a summer garden. And the food at D&P is always excellent, so that was a very pleasant day off!

Well, that was June. Let's hope I can get July's post out a little closer to time...