Spes Magna Games

Well, Giant Boy and I are off to OwlCon tomorrow and part of Sunday. I’m running two rounds of Spes Magna‘s first for-sale adventure, tentatively titled The Mad Monk’s Revenge (which is one of a few titles I’m considering; perhaps I should do a poll?). After the con, I’ll write up a report of how things went.

In the realm of Spes Magna announcements, we have these:

Fencing & Firearms/Rewarding Roleplaying

Both of these products are undergoing revisions and corrections, thanks in no small part due to the feedback I’ve received from a few subscribers plus members of my face-to-face group here in Houston. It’s looking like a good idea to bundle both revised PDFs into a single package for sale to the general public. As is the case with anything Spes Magna sells, Quid Novi? subscribers will receive a substantial discount.

Speaking of The Mad Monk’s Revenge

We’ve been pretty quiet about this convention-style adventure due to go on sale in March. Due to health issues, we’re behind the curve a bit on producing the sale-ready module. Fortunately, work is progressing. I’ve contracted with the excellent Darren Calvert to do the cover art and some interior illustrations. I couldn’t possibly be more psyched about Darren’s involvement. He is one of my favorite freelance artists, and his enthusiasm for the project and professionalism both tickle me pink.

As already announced, 50% of the sales generated by this module will go directly to Mission of Yahweh, a faith-based shelter that “has empowered homeless and abused women and their children for over 47 years.” As someone who’s been unemployed three times in the past four years, I can certainly appreciate the need for community support programs such as Mission of Yahweh.

Awesome On-Line Radio

Okay, this one really isn’t a Spes Magna announcement, but it’s too good not to share. If you like on-line radio, check out Pandora. It’s free and you, the listener, are the station manager. You enter artists and songs that you like, and Pandora searches through its music archive and the Music Genome Project to program what you want to hear. If you don’t like a song, you can give it a Caesar-like downward-pointing thumb and never hear it again. If you like the song, give it an upward-pointing thumb to put the song into your rotation.

Pandora could very well be the best thing since sliced bread, and I say that as someone who eats a lot of sliced bread.

I especially enjoy it since my musical tastes are rather eclectic. Sure, there’s a very short commercial every fifth song, but that’s still more music aired than a traditional radio station plus the added bonus that I get to hear what I like instead of what some corporate music programmer thinks I like. For example, here are the last ten songs Pandora picked just for me:

1. Don’t Be Cruel by Elvis Presley
2. In the Middle of a Heartache by Wanda Jackson
3. Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys by Willie Nelson
4. You’re Lookin’ at Country by Loretta Lynn
5. Short Supply by Tracy Chapman
6. Can’t Find My Way Home by Alison Krauss
7. Do You Need the Service? by Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army
8. Dead Heaven (Live) by Gary Numan
9. After the Snow by Modern English
10. Burning Down the House by the Talking Heads

Well, that’s it for this post. I’ll be back in a few days after OwlCon with something else to while away a few minutes.