So - not doing the character challenge this year

I decided that I was going to take a break from the character a day challenge this year. Work was crazy late into December, and there are a few other things going on. I felt I would have just made empty characters and that, to me at least, defeats the purpose. That and if it starts to feel like a job instead of something I want to do, it is time for a break. I'll probably still do some characters in the blog as I will be running at least a couple games this year.

Anyway, to catch up: I've taken a brief hiatus from the Traveller software. As mentioned, work got silly. But I also doubt it will ever get used and that puts a certain damper on things. However - I think I am going to run a mostly Classic Traveller game this year as the itch came back. So perhaps I'll get motivated as I am going to use it for MTU so we don't have the 50 years of universe building of OTU. 

I've been managing a little painting and stuff but nothing to write home (or blog) about really. 

We played the Western Zombicide game last weekend. One of my characters got killed pretty quickly which ended the game. Slightly different mechanics as per each Zombicide genre game.

we died. of course.

The minis from Wildspire showed up as mentioned previously (long live the failed Blacklist Games in infamy). It does have a minotaur, but next to the one from Archon it seems a bit tiny. But honestly is the correct size for a character or NPC. Far left is an old dwarf from the 80s. The archer next to him I am actually pretty proud of.

giant minotaur - maybe a god or spirit

I am also in a bit of a fugue - working on a lot for work but really have no one to talk with about a lot of the decisions. I miss having other senior devs I can bounce ideas off of. I am asking AI to do some reviews, and I do have to worry when it says "take a deep breath". But at least an AI review is better than none, and it does have several good suggestions I need to work with.

And entirely non sequitur, I think K-Pop Demon Hunters is ending up in my top 10, maybe even top 5 movies. Superman (the original) is my all-time favorite. After that things get a bit fuzzy but do include The Incredibles, Superman II, and now K-Pop. These are movies I'll watch more than once which is pretty rare. Looking back, it is because I think they all have happy endings and are optimistic about things. Dark movies just depress me, so I tend to stick to lighter fare. I even bought the soundtrack to K-Pop as it does have a lot of songs I like (yeah, I have a lot of movie soundtrack CDs, and tapes way back, as I do listen to that sort of thing. And I have an odd music preference but that does vary based on what I am doing). 

And of course, welcome to 2026. Our Monday night (now Tuesdays for reasons) started playing Nimble this week. Another D&D sort of clone that promotes meaningful combat, it has some interesting and fun mechanics. Though if you want tactical fantasy combat, I still feel that The Fantasy Trip is your go to for that. It did evolve from a tactical game! I'm playing the only human - figured everyone else was playing something else and I could be the token human. A wizard with a pointy hat - that hat was important. Sadly, I feel I am playing him the same as the last 2 characters I played, Jem & GigBee. Though with the lightning cantrip he does have GigBee powers basically. And he killed a bunch of goblins early on then took an arrow (to the chest, not the knee) and almost died. But the fairy we rescued brought him all the way back. But the last 2 rounds or so I just lay there - I had 1 action I could take but it may have hurt me more. I'm going to try and change up how I play him a bit if I can. 

maybe we should visit a different fountain

a place to hang your hat