Nice walk this morning, and I got a couple of really lucky photos. Looks like the does are starting to drop their fawns around here. Honestly, I take a lot of nature photos, but only a very few capture something as cool as the mother and child pic here.

Went out earlier today to check the mail ahead of the snowstorm. My New Wave Xmas CD and my DVD of Charlie the Unicorn showed up, and I found a copy of Jim Henson's the Storyteller on DVD while out as well. Then I went for a walk in the snow, grabbed dinner, and snuck home before it got too bad.

For this year's Xmas giveaway game, I'm revisiting my 2017 Xmas game, Pneumatic Santa, about a steampunk Santa setting up a pneumatic gift delivery system. Found some nice Library of Congress photos to tinker with, and mocked up a little cover tonight.

Instead of posting something absolutely pointless in frustration, here's a little doodle I've drawn for Bindlestiff. This critter is called a jellyfly, and they serve as some decoration on the game board. And like most decorations there, they also serve a game function, if the player discovers it.

All set for my local election tomorrow. Today I got a walk in and worked on Bindlestiff as well as another maybe project. Worked up a character sheet and the "Home" sub-board for Bindlestiff, which you pretty much hit right away and it gets you set up and playing, more or less.

The fall colors here are really pretty right now. On my walk yesterday I took some nice photos and came across a tree I remember from last year. Its bright yellow leaves make it stand out like something magical - maybe it has a quest for someone, or heals damage in a small radius.

Here's a more final draft of the Burial Mound board. If anyone gets a wild hair, grab a couple dice and let me know what numbers it tells you to read when you play through...

Here's a very rough draft of the Burial Mound sub-board for Bindlestiff. More proof of concept really, but I think it kind of shows that I'm shooting for something pretty weird and artsy on this design.

Just poked through the working files for Bindlestiff, a self-illustrated roll n' move game I started during lockdown, and I've got the urge to continue it. Even with some distance, there's the kernal of something really good and unique there. We'll see if inspiration boils up this week.

I never offered to go for FFG again after that, and it's never made financial sense for me to go as a freelancer, even before covid and such. So, I'm not really suffering any FOMO, but I do hope the folks that go have a terrific time. I'll just stay home and drink tea and tinker with game stuff.

Looking through recent photos, realized that I'd managed to capture a scene from Bambi. I saw two rabbits chasing each other around a deer and thought I'd missed any photo of them together fumbling for my phone. Shame the zoom isn't better, but it's pretty good for a phone. Anyway, it was adorable.

I use like 4 of these Akro-Mills 23 drawer storage bins that are meant for screws and such. Importantly for me, I can see through the drawers to know what's in them at a glance, though they are admittedly less photogenic that way. They don't make this exact model anymore, but there are many similar.

It's not a pet, but I managed a nice deer photo at the park today...

Went for a walk this morning and got a couple of photos. Sadly, the young deer I saw was spooked before I saw it, so no photo there. Still, was a decent selection of butterflies and a rabbit in there.

I've been enjoying taking walks in nearby parks and taking photos of various critters. I've posted this one before, but it's one of my favorites - a deer blepping out its tongue at me. I've also been thrifting cds, but the walks have been the most essential for my mental health.

2025 has been pretty bad so far, honestly. But today I got something in the mail that is a real bright spot for me. BGG included me in the Hall of Fame award for Cosmic Encounter due to the development work I did on the FFG edition, and that was kind of them. I deeply appreciate it.

Oh, by the way @elizhargrave.bsky.social, the sand fleas post reminded me that I wanted to post this up in case you hadn't seen it yet. I thought it was a pretty cool thing, and yes, I double-checked my answers in the back, just to be sure...

Lemon poppyseed cake came out pretty good. Lemon flavor, and little pops of the seeds as you eat it. That said, I'm not actually sure I like it better than pound cake, which is simpler to make.

Also, lest you fail to see the significance of a detail in that last photo...it is the dawn of a new age.

Well, the lemon poppyseed cake looks and smells good. Just gotta let it cool to taste it, now.

I've started to, with a game called Bindlestiff, but it's not been a super priority project, as it's more of a personal art thing than something to support myself with. Taking inspiration from Tom Wham, I've gone with more of a doodle-y style, knowing that that's something I can manage.

Had a nice walk this afternoon. Perfect weather today. No critters other than some fat ol' squirrels, but some lovely fall colors.

Here are some more examples...Emerald Abs is a mind-controlled hero, and breaks free on you sometimes. Robo Chad is programmed for high school drama, so gives the other players backstab cards, Backstab as I said is hilariously disloyal, and Don Fromage will steal anything not nailed down.

However, today I decided that I wanted to play up the "incompetent minions" angle a bit more, so I went through the various 3-strength minions and upped each of them to 4 strength, but gave them a drawback. Least Man, for instance, now makes it so your armory tokens in his location have no effect.

Typically, the villains have 5 minion tokens. A 3, two 2s with abilities, and two 1s that are nameless grunts. The Baron has Least Man, Eveela (who lets him use his spells faster), Swim Man (who can buy backstab cards), and his grunts.

But since I did so, here's one of the factions - Baron von Bones. He's a parody of Skeletor and his minions. I represented his spells by giving him a steady income of armory tokens, which can be used as either weapons (+1 to a minion) or shields (protect a mission from 1 hero die).

And one final one...

Here's another favorite of mine...

Here's a sample (I misremembered Dr. Insano's business, apparently).