For new players especially, I think the rules as written are just fine -n- dandy…
I just saw an post on Twitter complaining that the long rest rules were unrealistic. This makes the Old Sellsword in me shake his head. I think 5th Ed has the most forgiving healing rules of all of the editions. I kind of like it, but I see the point that a lot of Dungeon Masters, writers, and YouTubers are making about it.
Back in the day, some almost 40 years ago, back in the BECMI and 1st Ed AD&D days, healing looked a lot different. Probably why my first real character as a player was a Cleric, but I digress. Healing used to be a game of waiting for the party healer to get his spells back and/or a tedious, boring long wait as I recall. I would dare say most of us have used a homebrew fix for healing between adventures for a very long time. I think 5th Ed has taken strides to fix this instead of the DM just saying, “You’re all healed up now.”
Hit Points used to have a different flow back then.
In almost four decades behind the screen, I’ve seen more versions of health, hit points, wounds, and relative armor systems than I care to remember. I’ve used some of them. I’ve adapted my own from other systems such as Role Master and Warhammer Fantasy RPG. All that experimentation and I still go back to the old notion that I believe Gygax intended with D&D.
Hit Points represent fatigue, exertion, shock, and trauma in combat more than just the squishy red stuff flowing from you gaping sword wounds. So rest and recovery would also take into account the fatigue, shock and trauma from being in a combat with orcs twice the characters’ size. Eight hours of meaningful sleep in a bed maybe should help heal some of that. Not to mention all of the spellcasters get to recover their stuff and isn’t that great?
Do you really want hours and days to go by outside of a dungeon crawl?
To a certain extent, all RPGs are abstract. If/when you look past that fourth wall, crawling around in a tomb full of death traps and horr
I came to #ttrpg Twitter at a time when I was pretty frustrated with the internet in general, social media in particular, and Twitter specifically. We had a lot of a fiasco over on #ufotwitter that really left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to community participation. The Añjali drama was just too much and the UFO Twitfologists proved to be by-and-large a toxic, egotistical bunch. Truthfully, after the last few months in my life, toxic people are not something I choose to include in my life.
So I went back to my roots in the world of tabletop roleplaying. Do you know what I found? A LOT of very warm, welcoming, caring people who look out for one another. They don’t judge. They don’t get nasty. They support one another. They’re kind. Read that again.
People on #TTRPG Twitterare KIND to one another!
I have found it to be a safe space even when people are having a rough day. We’re all-inclusive of neurodiverse, LGBTQIA++ folks. I regularly see people lifting each other up and doing shout-outs to one another! Holy buckets! I’m home! It’s a real community. Other groups on Twitter could learn a lot from the #ttrpg family.
I have several points in the article that caused me to raise an eyebrow, but I’ll just touch on a couple of points from my old guy gamer point of view. Yeah, I’m “old” officially. I turn 49 in June. Sigh. My last trip to Gen Con was almost 20 years ago. Dude… But we’re not here to discuss that.
Yes, D&D in particular has become big business since 5th Edition happened.
With Critical Role and D&D 5th Ed causing quite a stir and pushing the game into the limelight, we’re no longer just nerds rolling dice. Obviously Hasbro has money to go around from years of action figures and board games. It’s truly sad that the lawsuit baggage follows D&D around like a hungry revenant or a pack of ghouls. This has not changed since, um…. ever? Those new to the game might not be aware the #TTRPG world is littered with bitter lawsuits from way back in the day.
I don’t think it’s fair to say “money ruined the game” so much as greedy people are ruining the game. That’s been the case for a long time, as the article mentions. D&D 2nd Ed was a result of Gygax’s divorce. You can’t even hint about a lawsuit in front of certain Palladium folk. Same thing with Paizo if I’m not mistaken. The current debacle over Dragonlance is probably going to kill whatever chance we had of the 5th Ed official setting. It’s sad.
What hope is there for the future?
There are a lot of fresh faces in the #TTRPG field. Again, it’s not just all of us old farts sitting around a table laughing and rolling dice. Yes, books have gotten pretty pricey. As the article mentions, you used to be able to outfit your entire gaming library for less that $50 USD. I think my 1st Ed PHB was $15? Maybe? Now you can’t even get a pdf sourcebook for much less.
And who thought it was a good plan to charge paper prices for PDFs? Seriously, if you want to talk about greed? There you go. Bless One Bookshelf for their creations, DriveThruRPG, DMSGuild, etc… They’re great sites and they help new designers get pdfs out for (usually) reasonable prices. Which is not to say I approve of certain industry giants who dominate the market and charge the same for pdfs as they do for print.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” –Snake Pliskin, Escape from L.A.
So, I tracked down one of these $35,000/year jobs the article mentioned. Then, I sighed the old familiar sigh when I read the requirements:
Not naming the company who posted this. My goal is not to shame, just to educate.
“Previous published game design experience.” Gosh, it’s like 1985 with T$R all over again. It’s like saying, “We won’t hire you until you’ve been in the industry for a while,” but then no one will hire you to give you the experience you need to get into the industry.
Solution: Self publish a pdf or know somebody with their own company. Only back in the day, there were no pdfs. It’s still the same old, tired, song and dance. Pretty sure the people you’re looking to hire already have jobs. Just sayin.
The rest isn’t all that surprising or hard to come by even for someone fresh out of high school or more likely college. Although I would be curious to hear what “Deep hobby or professional experience” looks like sometime.
And as another side note, the preferred qualifications made me sigh the same old sigh again. A year or more self-employed or freelance game design work and “Experience as a game designer and writer without formal guidance…” Seriously? No offense intended to whomever wrote this description, but I think you’re reaching considerably. Without formal guidance? So, no editor. I mean, I get it, but if I was doing all of this as a self published writer, why on Earth would I want to drop everything and work for any other company?
We’ve had other recent events in the RPG industry that really make me scratch my head. Paizo employees just formed a union because they wanted better pay, benefits and working conditions. Jolly good for them. Interestingly enough, Pathfinder Infinite and Starfinder Infinite started at about the same time. There is no such thing as coincidence, folks.
What are the odds?
Do I personally think I have a snowball’s hope in Hell of getting hired? Not really, but what’s the best that could happen? I did apply for the one quoted above, btw. The problem is, and I suspect this for many of us, is that my actual resume and my gamer resume look nothing alike. Gaming has been my hobby for the most part and my side hack at best.
Is being a game designer/writer my dream job? Ya think?!? Of course it is! I ate, slept, ran and played RPGs for years before I “settled down.” My college degree is in Sociology/Journalism. Think about it. People + Writing/Editing = RPG Industry. There were no classes in 3D printing or Diceology back then. Heck, I’ve watched the publishing industry go from print and hand-drawn layout to completely online publications and I still have the border tape and Pica ruler to prove it.
I’ve been getting turned away by publishers since Gary Gygax ran T$R and the RPGA was still around. Gen Con was still in Lake Geneva for crying out loud. The first two RPGs I ever ran both came from T$R and came in a box with dice you had to ink yourself. I remember Star Wars RPG before it was a 30th Anniversary reprint. I used to play with one of the original play testers for that game.
Writing for RPGs has literally not changed in almost 40 years. You need a good imagination, a grasp of game mechanics, and a certain degree of map-making as well as writing skills. It hasn’t, sigh, changed on the publisher end, either. As I mentioned above, it’s pretty much easier to start your own company before you can get hired by the big guns. If you’re going to do all that, why not just stick with your own company?
I still drive by the abandoned building that used to be The Game Shop (Yes, that was literally the name.) where I bought my first books, minis, and dice. I still have the dice, too. The thing that amazed me the most about old-time game stores was the cottage industry that sprouted around the various game products. People sold minis they painted for resale. Writers sold copies of rulebooks they printed and stapled themselves. Art and jewelry used to be sold right alongside comics in many places.
Grouchy old men used to talk about 14mm scale Historical battles in front of the same counter where us nerdy kids went to buy the latest copies of Dragon and White Dwarf. Anyone could make a game with little cardboard chits and plain paper hex maps and get it published locally if they had a little startup cash.
The RPG industry has the greenest of grass roots. Only the labels and the technology have improved. There was literally a company here in Iowa that started in a little old abandoned schoolhouse. They published the most epic and phenomenal D&D 1st Ed adventure modules. Why did they break up? Beer in the vending machines. Even if that were legal, the fistfight that ensued because the employees were drunk wasn’t. Tis sad, but illustrates a point. Indie RPG publishers can turn a few dollars even off of licensed properties. Just maybe no beer in your office vending machine?
What’s the takeaway?
The original article is basically correct. The RPG industry is a cottage industry first and foremost. Big corporate mentality might work for games such as Magic: the Gathering and Warhammer 40,000, but the RPG industry has always been and industry by fans, for fans, and primarily made up of fans.
I hate to say it, but D&D may be the top dog forever, but the massive wave of popularity the game is riding currently will eventually die down. WotC is already gearing up for a new edition as early as 2024 in anticipation of this happening. If you look on Kickstarter today, the number of 5E products from indie publishers is phenomenal. (Hey, I’ve backed some. I get it.) Looking at DMSGuild.com, the number of published alternate rules, adventures, and supplements puts good ole 3rd Ed to shame. That’s quite a feat if you think about it. (Yes, I went there.)
I’m not even anticipating people getting burned out on the hobby. The fire has been lit. RPGs aren’t going to up and vanish overnight. The hobby will still be going years, if not decades from now. Board games have been around for, um… ever? RPGs can probably expect good longevity. I think the large corporate mega-giant RPG companies may never become a thing, however. The industry will probably keep going, just more spread out and diverse.
Also, if by some fluke a game company exec reads this:
I want there to be a rich, positively huge world. I want to build a world so big that my first group might have to hex crawl at first just to find their way around. Nature will be lush and grow very rapidly…
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to building a fantasy new campaign world for the Fifth Edition of the World’s Most Renowned RPG and deciding what all I want to have go into it. I know several things I don’t want that I’ve seen over my many years of running games that are too numerous to list here. I will go over the highlights of some things I think would be fun.
First off, I want there to be a rich, positively huge world. I want to build a world so big that my first group might have to hex crawl at first just to find their way around. Nature will be lush and grow very rapidly, which is why there could be ruined cities buried beneath the dirt and in the trees. Needless to say, druids and shamans will have a fun time.
Awesome Warforged Samurai Image created using HeroForge.
Speaking of classes, I want to bring back some old favorites of mine and build upon the preexisting ones in ways that haven’t entirely been covered yet. Samurai will play a large role in things socially and politically, as well as their weapon-mastering cousins- the Kensai. Obviously I plan on Ninja, Shugenja, and the Wu Jen making a comeback. I keep looking at ways to integrate Sohei as well without sacrificing any of the PHB classes. Races: Simply put, I love elves. There will be lots of them. There will be several of the old favorites and a race somewhat similar to the Warforged of Eberron fame. I also want Gnomes to play key roles, too,
Dragons: Here there BE DRAGONS!!! I love dragons. I don’t think enough campaigns or adventures feature enough of them. Fizban’s Treasury looks to be a fun book for me to draw resources from. I also have some great ideas that I need some serious art talent to have help with. Not everything can be done up with stick figures and protractors.
I love dragons!!! Image c/o WotC. Used without permission.
Ancient and recurring evil: Part of my style of D&D has always been good vs evil. Since I know Blizzard will never cut a deal with WotC ever again, I figure I can incorporate some Diablo style elements into my game. I’m also a big WoW fan, but I want to stay away from some of that material for fear of looking too much like WoW. I may borrow bits and bobs such as magic items and monsters, just with my own spin on them.
I’m angling for this guy and his bros to show up in a game someday. Used without permission. Please don’t sue me. Thank you.
I know WotC has said they plan to resurrect two of their old campaign worlds, and possibly a third sometime before 2024’s revision of the game. My educated guesses so far are: Dark Sun, Planescape, and possibly Spelljammer. We’ll see what they do. I think they should bring back Mystara and possibly Greyhawk. Honestly, I think the rights might be a bit tricky on some of the older properties, though. I’d also love to see Birthright or Al-Qadim, but I’d bet against those after seeing what WotC put on DMsGuild as a disclaimer regarding some of their older games. (Personally, I think they’re trying to hard to appear sensitive, but…) I’m seriously doubting OA will ever make a comeback in any way.
Anyway, my world will pull a little from Birthright. I loved the way Regents were connected to their lands and gained powers from it. What if any character could draw additional powers from their homeland? Or if they had spirit helpers? What if rulers could shut down their borders by spells or natural abilities? Yeah… Makes me salivate. Lol!
I plan on rebuilding the weapon list from scratch. Like many DMs, I take great pain in what has become of some of my favorites as well as those of the players. The same can be said of the armor table and many spells. It will be time-consuming and I won’t have it all worked out right away. Spell revisions and changes tend to take a long time.
Of course, no world would be complete without the presence of many of the classic monsters. The undead will certainly make a large appearance. Sorry, as hard as I try to avoid the clichés, I know there will be liches, vampires, skeletons, and zombies to fight. We’ll also see the standard spread of elementals, hydras, manticores, yokai, kodama, and dozens of other creatures from European and Asian sources. That’s kinda my thing.
I want the campaign to center around exploration first and foremost. We can dig into politics and religions once the campaign has been going for a while. I really want this to be the type of game where the PCs get to decide where they’re going. I want to try to avoid any heavy-handed NPCs and massive secret agendas that no one can do anything about. (Sorry, burned out on FR and Eberron that way.) I also want to avoid NPCs looking at the group and saying, “Been there. Done that.”
My intention is eventually to start putting pieces on here and some pdfs out for some of my basic things, such as weapon and armor revisions. I don’t want to charge much/anything at all until I start getting some basic maps made and a little bit of the lore written. Eventually I’m going to have enough built up to consider a Kickstarter or getting some money together for artists and possibly mapmaking. By the time 5.5 or 6.0 rolls around, I might have something concrete.
If you made it this far, thanks for hanging out with me. I appreciate you! Stay safe and see you again soon.
I’ve been liberated from the grind of 12 hour work days for three months!
I want to preface this with the thought: Be responsible! Don’t do anything rash on account of what somebody on the Internet said. I wouldn’t be here right now were it not for the kindness and understanding of my family. For that I am extremely grateful.
If you’re working hard to keep food on the table, keep going. You got this!
Things I’m grateful for since freedom came to me:
I’m my own boss and my own employee of the month.
Freedom from McCorporate Team environment.
The slow 12 hour workday trudge to the grave is no more.
Time for my family.
Time for my own health and sanity.
Setting my own schedule.
Deciding my own fate over putting money in their pockets.
Hallelujah! I am so happy and grateful to be free on this day! This is proof that the Law of Attraction really does work. It’s not always easy or painless, but it does come together in its own special way. We live in a benevolent Universe. I believe in good things and they are there for me. I AM realistic. I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!!
I’ve worked toward manifesting this moment right here, right now. I’m my own boss, working my own hours, reporting to me. I’m my own employee of the month. This guy is truly moving onward and upward. I give me all kinds of praise and good reviews. Gotta keep that vibration up, though.
My Chairman of the Board. Taken from my mobile office/studio. I love this guy!
I’m so happy and grateful to be free from the corporate environment. If that’s your thing, great. You do that. Me? I’m my own boss. Technically still unemployed by the current socioeconomic cultural matrix standards, but that’s their label, not mine. I find things that are awesome about me.
It’s like finding inner peace on a whole new level. I set my own standards for success. I’m happy being me. It’s beautiful. There’s no one breathing down my neck. There are no performance “SMART” goals. No upper-middle-lower management clowns to bug me. No one setting standards they can’t meet themselves. My life is beautiful now that the greasy corporate mentality is all washed out of my system. I only get on my own case if I need to, and I’m learning to be more gentle with myself.
Teams? I’m it. It’s just me. The whole corporate team concept is broken. I’ve seen it fall apart or just plain fail for over 20 years now. You have a group of five to ten employees (sorry, “teammates” because we can’t just call people what they are) sitting around a table, forced to make small talk and participate in fakey fake team-building exercises that no one truly enjoys, and then one or two people end up doing any real work. It’s sad. I’m so happy and grateful to be a one man show.
I’m going to do a whole article on why the team thing doesn’t work. I’ve always had problems with it as a sociologist. It looks great on paper, but then you come out here in the real world and well, it looked great on paper.
I’m so happy and grateful to be free of “the trudge.” I report to me, on my time, and I love it! I know I say it a lot. Before I started working toward manifesting my dreams, it was a long, slow, painful, miserable, insufferable trudge toward the grave. Every day and night looked the same. Now every day- Every. Single. Day. is an adventure! Sometimes it’s just a nap with the cats or sitting on the couch while scarfing junk food and playing video games, but I’m allowed some free time. I’m excited to wake up in the morning. It’s genuine.
Time for my family is very important to me and I am grateful now that I have more of it. I missed out on over a decade with my three older boys while I was working nights. I’m happy to be free to take them to school, pick them up, and just spend some quiet time with them. I see more of my wife now. I’m happy to be supportive on the home front.
Time for my own health and sanity is so amazing now! I suffered so much at my last job, I mean truly suffered, that I put myself back in therapy. I’m still dealing with some psychological junk in the trunk, sure. I still have chronic pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and depression issues. Sure. that’s the tired old labels talking. Here’s the kicker- I’m healing. I don’t have to rush out the door after barely having enough time to eat, sleep, shower, and maybe wave at my family on the way by. I’m here to tell you, being free is its own reward.
I get to decide when I eat, work, even nap now. My wife is about the only person who gets to object to anything, and she’s pretty cool about my schedule most days. Thanks, Honey!
It might not make sense to a lot of people. Many do work weird rotating 4 x 12 hour nights or some other freaky calendar nightmare. We can still exchange knowing looks. Working oddball, non-nine-to-five hours really can take a toll on one’s sanity. I’m glad to be free. I’m still and always will be a Nocturnal American, though.
I’m looking at NaNoWriMo next month as a serious possibility. Pretty sure I can hit word counts and page goals per day and then some. It’s just so nice to be able to sit down and work on things without all the pressure. My wife might roll her eyes, but I can make it work. It’s ideal this year, really. You’ll know if I go quiet for all of November.
No longer getting up every day to put money in the pockets of people who don’t care about anyone else.
If I do anything now, it puts money in MYpocket. I love helping people out, sure. That’s what we’re here for. But the thing I’m absolutely loving more than words can tell is that I’m no longer subjected to artificial concepts like sales goals, target savings goals, and other artificial standards that all translate to putting money in some executive’s pockets. Seriously, why bust my hump every night, just so the company I’m working for can outsource everything from custodians to human resources in the name of saving money.
You know who profits from the toils of corporate employees? Corporate executives. These people are no different than anyone else except for the fact that they got a slap on the back and a handshake that put them in a corner office. We no longer live in a world where you work your way to the top from the ground floor. (Not sure if that ever really existed.) These managers and executives don’t care if one of their cubicle inmates works hard or knows what they’re doing. It’s all about the bottom line.
Here’s the kicker- Entrepreneurs worry about their own bottom line. That’s were I am today. That’s the threshold I’m presently standing on. It’s exciting! I’m a writer first and foremost now. The whole profits-before-people thing is dead to me now.
I encourage writers, artists, musicians, dancers and anyone else with a dream to shed the corporate grind and go have a free life. Yes. Be responsible. Take care of yourself and your family first. But beyond that? Please go on out and live your dream life!
Create the life you want to life!
Thank you for being here. Stay safe. See you again soon.
I take my writing very seriously, even for the hobby.
I’m plugging away on my latest sourcebook idea and I started doing a little research in an effort to avoid too much overlap with what others have done and make sure I covered most/all of my bases. I made a discovery that almost derailed the whole project. I froze in my tracks when I noticed a fairly big name in the industry did a sourcebook on almost the exact same topic. The. Exact. Same. Topic.
My thought process spun out for the better part of a week. I didn’t even have the heart to keep going. I was pretty bummed. I mean, who am I to compete with that guy? My book isn’t going to be nearly as cool or sparkly, right?
After agonizing for days over this, (because I take my writing very seriously, even for the hobby,) I finally broke down and spent the two bucks on DMSGuild to pick up a pdf copy of the book. Surprise!
Much to my surprise, it looks nothing like what I’m working on! I was actually kinda shocked that this came from what I consider a leading writer in the industry. I mean, yes, it’s clean, thorough, and well-composed. But it’s way shorter than I expected for the money.
*Side note, I’m not naming names because I don’t want to cause any undue ill will toward this person or sound like I’m trying to brag. He’s got some good stuff. I’m continuing on doing what I know how to do without borrowing a word from it. All’s well.
I learned something today. Actually a few of things, to be honest. First, I do belong in the tabletop RPG industry. This is my jam. Second, there’s more than enough room for newcomers, even at this point in 5E’s development. Third, it’s not a competition. We’re all crazy. Maybe a better way to say that last part would be, there’s plenty of room to stay competitive without stepping on one another’s proverbial toes. It can be done.
So, on that cheerful note, I’m getting back to work. I have tables to craft and flavor text to write. If all goes well, my new sourcebook should be getting uploaded to the DMSGuild in a couple of months. No more brushes with Imposter Syndrome. I promise.
I won’t lie. I start a lot of projects. I don’t necessarily finish them. I get sidetracked rather easily. Okay, more like derailed.
And I have a TON of ideas. Heck, I’ve got ideas for getting more ideas. Creativity fountain for days. I have that in spades, hexagons, even. Heh heh… makin up my own card suits. See?
My latest venture, among others, is creating my own D&D Campaign world. I have some challenges to overcome. I also have a ton of cool stuff I want to do, probably more than I can fit into one book or even one world. I get really excited because they’re all things I’ve wanted to do for years and years.
I have all these cool plans for kingdoms. Challenge: Mapping I have all these neat ideas for various race/culture combos. Challenge: Fitting everything on a map Races have become the new hot topic in D&D as of late. Do we even call them races any more? Some folks are struggling with gender and pronouns. Where do we draw the line? I want to rewrite the weapon/armor tables. Challenge: Players are going to freak out. Possibly in a good way, but still. Classes are one of my favorite things to tinker with. Challenge: How will players and DMs react to certain traditional classes being tossed out?
I think world design and campaign design should break certain rules and go outside the guidelines. Creativity isn’t about stressing over who’s getting offended today. Maybe coming up with new ways of not-stressing the audience out, sure.
So my plan here is to simply start the damn thing and see it all the way through. It may take me 20 years and be published after my death, but hey- we’ll get there. More to come as I develop it. Prepare to be freaked out, possibly.
Beloved family, make your own decisions based on the information you receive and what you believe in the most.
Here’s an article I’d been putting off.
Are we all tired of the Icky Cough-Coughs yet?
In spiritual and conspiracy circles, I hear A LOT of talk about Covid-19. On a daily basis, I even see folks in the world of Ufology talking about it. Well, not the disease specifically, because ya know- we’re not doctors, nurses, virologists, biologists, zoologists… one of the thousands of people actually qualified to talk about the Icky Cough-Coughs. (That’s the name my 14 year old gave it to make it sound like Doc McStuffins.)
Btw, I haven’t been sick. Knock on wood. This has been one of the healthiest years of my life. It has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve sequestered myself at home for a lot of it whenever possible. I rarely leave the house except for work (when I was still doing that.) Now? Good luck prying me out of the house for anything short of food, money, or nature.
It’s a disease in the real world as far as I can tell. How severe it can be, as far as we know is fatal. A couple of older folks who lived down the street from it died early on during the event. The nastiness itself has gotten all kinds of names such as the “Plandemic” or “Scamdemic,” and others. We’ve seen all kinds of predictions surrounding this thing, many of which have not come true.
It’s not the zombie virus of Z Nation fame. It hasn’t wiped half the planet as of August 2021. It also hasn’t dried up and vanished completely, lovely though that would be. The economy is still plodding along, with small businesses struggling more than large, slimy corporations. Some big, slimy corporations have even profited considerably from this. (Mask sales have gone up how much percent compared to two years ago? Yeah…)
We’ve had our shots. Well, some of us have. Maybe not everyone. We’ve spent more time indoors with family and pets. We got to know our political leaders’ characters better than ever for better or worse. All around, as experiences go, it hasn’t been… well, it’s been okay for some. 2020 was still the Earth went haywire. (Sounds like a 1950’s B movie title.) But, for the most part we’re still here. Life goes on for 7.8? billion of us.
I saved this from my Instagram feed. News to me. Notice it said “Liked.”
Jeff, why are people getting banned on social media for talking about the Icky Cough-Coughs?
Because it’s still a touchy subject for big, slimy corporations and world governments. Not to go all David Icke, but well, there might be a bigger agenda that doesn’t want all us regular folk talking about their plans for world domination. (Sounds like a plot for a James Bond movie. Lol!)
Most of the people I see getting hit with the “misleading information” ban hammer are talking about one of about three things. It’s either masks, vaccinations, or the disease itself while not being medically qualified. Also, Facebook and others don’t like being called out on their nonsense and their paid fact checkers (who work FOR Facebook) will get (sometimes petty) revenge.
These Earth-shattering events were brought to you by: The Interweb and other Mass Media. Part of the trauma from any major issues these days is caused or aided by global mass telecommunications. Back in ye olden days the mass media acted as gatekeepers of information. Now, instead of one person getting information via a train of witness/official source-reporter-editor-broadcast source it just goes witness -> world. This means we’re all reporters and there really are no editors when it comes to getting news now. We are literally finding out what’s going on in the world from the people it effects as fast as videos can upload and messages can send.
The only real gatekeepers for information, aside from the governments of certain countries blocking the internet, are the mass media corporations themselves. This is a blessing and a curse because one should probably ask “Who watches the watchers?”
So if the Zuck-Blofeld Media Syndicate* wants you kept quiet, well… they probably will. See my other rants about censorship and secrecy elsewhere. It gets discussed frequently.
Here’s why I’m here writing about this today:
You have to do what you feel is best for YOU. Get your shots. Don’t get your shots. Wear a mask or two or three. Or don’t wear a mask. Beloved family, make your own decisions based on the information you receive and what you believe in the most. That’s all there is to it in the end. Please be a sovereign being. My point is, I can’t tell you what you should do and neither should anyone else.
The best is still on the horizon.
Other centuries and other epochs have survived plagues worse than this.
I have a somewhat similar view of the phenomena in Ufology. Seriously, dreadful diseases are nothing new historically. Someday, probably sooner rather than later, Covid is going to be right up there with Spanish Flu (Influenza A,) Rubella, Mumps, Whooping Cough, or the Bubonic Plague. This pandemic too, shall pass. The world will move on and any day now the mass media/powers that be will come up with the next newest, biggest, scariest thing on Earth for us to be afraid of.
We’re getting though this, together. The same way ascension is coming, we’re all going to make it through kicking and screaming. We’re all going as one big, happy collective of love and light, whether we want to or not. The progression of linear time moves on regardless of struggle and toil. Sol still rises and sets. Gaia keeps on turning and dancing through the Universe.
Stay safe. Take care. See you soon.
*Zuck-Blofeld Media Syndicate is a name I made up. No real big, slimy corporations were called out in the making of this blog. #dontsueme
I haven’t written poetry in a couple of decades. Enjoy.
This isn’t poetry exactly, more just my thoughts expressed here.
Love my Bitmoji.
As I sit here and stare at a blank page, Admiring it, in all of its pristine glory, Looking all clean and neat, Like a pond with a calm breeze,
I sit and wonder, “Where to start?” “What to say?” It comes naturally. In this space, I can say almost anything I like.
No one lording over me here. Never a deadline or a single care. I’m my own editor, So I say whatever I dare.
Sometimes the rantings of a madman come. So I unleash them upon the page with reckless abandon. Consequences be damned! Care and caution in the wind.
I appreciate you!
Rant mode is a dangerous place. Would I say that to someone’s face? Yeah, probably. You’d be surprised what I’m capable of.
It’s not like I can’t self-edit. I have the skill set and all. Maybe I just choose not-to. My choices are what matter in this space.
The question is always where it ends, To reach some sort of positive conclusion, Pray tell, what is my point to all of this? Pretty sure there’s something to tie this all together.
Sometimes calm, loving thoughtful passion strides in, So I choose carefully the words that come forth. Love and Light to you all. Let’s come together as family.
Ever pour hand sanitizer on an open wound? Yeah. Ouch. I’m sure someone will read this looking for something to hang me on. Good luck. Consider it sanitized for your protection. Or keep reading to harvest the fruits of your sadistic handiwork. Up to you, really.
Hurts me more than it does you, but whatever. Not like the world cared before and it probably won’t after. I try to keep things positive. But today is one of those days where I need lots of puppies, kittens, duckies, and bunnies. Lots of em…
You can’t overdose on cute. Not for a lack of trying.
It’s also really difficult to be upset with the world when there’s soft, cuddly, adorable cuteness around. Yes, I misplaced my proverbial man card a long time ago and replaced it with pictures of fuzzy, little, yellow peepers and bunny whiskers. Sorry, macho fam. We can toss cabers, belch, fart loudly and swear like drunken sailors later.
So, I’ve been looking for a new job lately. I’ve come across this interesting form regarding “disabilities.” Now, I don’t consider myself differently abled, or at least I didn’t until more recently. Then I applied for a couple of jobs that are roundabout tied to the government. I kinda cringed because I check multiple boxes.
This is a readily available form online and through Amazon. I clipped the relevant portion here.
So, I actually qualify solidly under Fibromyalgia (check,) Depression AND Anxiety (Check-Check,) Diabetes (Check,) Gastrointestinal disorder (euww Check,) and “Psychiatric Condition” (Check because somehow ADHD often gets lumped in along with depression/bipolar disorder being on there twice.) Damned if I ain’t neuro-diverse as all get-out. Who knew? Okay, besides my doctors, therapist, cats, wife, Facebook, Instagram… and now employers. Sigh. It just gets better and better, don’t it? Without even getting into the physical crap like pain and fatigue, let’s talk about how bad the depression thing really is.
What I’m currently annoyed with is where it puts me on the scale.
Depression is mostly in the 100-150 range, sometimes lower.
No one likes being depressed. Some of us manage to reach a comfortable state of homeostasis with it through therapy and medication, sure. Personally I lean toward meditation and raising my vibration through natural means as much as possible. (It’s called laughter, okay?) I find having a strange and broad sense of humor helps. But the low end of the scale also leads one open to a state of dis-ease. Right now in this day and age, that’s a somewhat frightening proposition.
I mean, we can talk about this scientifically, too. It has been shown that depression lowers the immune system, thus ushering in other diseases. I’m already three or so checks into auto-immune issues if you tack on arthritis. Eesh.
Manifesting anything from the lower vibrations, in Law of Attraction terms is bad news when you’re in these lower states. I’m pushing as hard as I can manage every day to get to neutral. There’s no sense risking the Universe saying, “Oh, this guy loves being miserable. Here’s another big, steamy, pile of smelly crap to deal with.”
I saw this today:
It’s little alarming when I can reasonably agree with 13 our of 15. I mean, geez. That’s not good.
Luckily for me, I’ve been in this state before many times in 49 years. I saw this one coming and called my therapist. Haven’t seen her in almost six years. Things had been going pretty well. I’ve just hit a massive downturn as of late with my changing job situation and a major hit to my self esteem. After all this time, I do know what to look for.
Let’s be honest.
It’s on me, family. I’m not really blaming anyone else. Sure, there are outside stimuli and variables to consider. But in the very end, there are no victims. Everything is a reaction to those outside factors. If I seem bitter, it’s because I’ve chosen to react to something.
In the end, I hope this is a teachable moment. When you’re depressed, a lot of people try to cheer you up or tell you, “You just gotta pull yourself up be your own bootstraps.” One of my favorites, said by a so-called therapist was, “Man up and get over it.” Needless to say, I believe firmly in things that work and “just suck it up and deal” has never been one of them.
In spiritual circles, they say not knowing or admitting you don’t know is sort of a taboo. We’re supposed to be here to have experiences and remember higher states of being. We’re here as God or the the divine experiencing itself. But sometimes, I don’t know why life has to be hard. I really wonder why Source wants to experience the same awful emotional junk over and over.
I look at what I can be grateful for every single day. Hooray for affirmations. Yay meditation. Love of family and pets is a good thing. Therapy will reinforce all the above. Waiting for the outside temperature in Iowa to drop down to a reasonable level before going outside again. We’ll get there. Lastly, everything is a learning experience.
Take care, family. More to come. I’m still here. We’re due for a UFOlogy discussion again soon.
Jeff's Game Box 