Back-to-School Estimation

 “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”

— Winston Churchill

My son returned to public school today, a constant gripe given the swampy weather and the lack of adequate environmental air handling in his school. So I offer apologies to regular readers; this piece is a bit more self-centered, having been pulled together late, after several false starts on other topics, and having dealt with several days of frantic back-to-school activities. Part of my deep mental programming still views the start of the academic year in the “autumn” as a time of new beginnings, new routines, and new goals, unlike my ever-growing disdain for personal re-evaluation and re-dedication to often unattainable ideals during the New Year’s holiday in mid-winter. In trying to organize my adventure gaming efforts, I look to projects foremost in my mind develop toward more refined forms worthy of sharing.

Summertime activities and the overall scheduling chaos have caused me to set aside several projects in various stages of development:

Battle of Great Bridge Game: Last year I developed the game and ran it at two public history events, including a well-attended re-enactment of the battle for its 250th anniversary at the site of the engagement. I have been meaning to adapt the game from a facilitated event on a diorama board to a print-and-play format with units represented by chits and a gridded map board. (I’d love to do so for a publisher to market it as a physical game, but I don’t really have the capacity or the contacts to successfully pursue that). Several participants at the re-enactment hoped a boardgame version might become available to explore at home. But I’ve only dabbled in drafting rules texts and maintain an internal debate how much additional contextual material to include like a brief history of the battle and game design notes. It’s the kind of thing I could offer for sale at a low price on venues like WargameVault, Itch.io, and even Lulu, so it has some promise of earning a little cash.

Event Planning: Thinking of my success running the Great Bridge game at the re-enactment last year reminds me to contact organizers of the two events I attended to seek an opportunity to facilitate the game in a public venue again. Even though this year marks the 251st anniversary of the battle, the engagement with history the game offered attendees proved both enlightening and entertaining for many. People come to these events with varying degrees of knowledge of the history surrounding them, so my game offered a chance to provide context for the battle as well as give them an abstracted first hand opportunity to command forces involved.

Pulp Egypt: The Portal of Thoth: At the other uplifting game event I attended last year, the Call to Arms game convention in Williamsburg, VA, I ran a Pulp Egypt roleplaying game using my beloved and easy-to-learn D6 System rules. I was fulfilling a request from friends, a welcome opportunity for some roleplaying gaming I’d not enjoyed in quite some time. I used a new technique for designing the scenario, and I revised my notes into a more publishing-friendly format. It needs some polishing, but the final adventure is destined for uploading to my electronic storefront venues as a pay-what-you-want PDF. When I manage to get around to it….

Pulp Egypt: The Floating Temple: Developing another Pulp Egypt game scenario for this year’s convention (in mid-October) remains a more urgent project. While I don’t have to polish it for publication yet, I do need to plot out design elements. I have some key pieces to develop, but the process often takes unexpected twists and turns. I hope to have a solid set of notes so the characters have plenty of options exploring the mysterious Floating Temple.

Advance Across the Rapidan: I recently outlined a double-blind game focusing on two American Civil War armies advancing on each other, the fog of war that conceals their positions, and the means of revealing their locations. “Advance Across the Rapidan” stands as my working title, though I’m not terribly happy with it. I need to decide on and draft rules, tidy them into a presentable order, and undertake graphic design tasks like creating a map and making pieces for the various units involved. It’s one of my less well-defined projects, still in the earlier development stages, but one with which, so far, I’m satisfied it has some potential.

Warsaw Uprising Wargame: The past few years I’ve immersed myself reading about the Warsaw Uprising and the general fate of Poland during World War II. I’ve had in mind a game simulating the logistical support bands of women provided during the turbulent two-month battle, specifically for the heart of the city, the Old Town district. I have some concepts for game systems, including one simulating the varied abilities of those serving in these teams, and other mechanics for incorporating historical elements like supplies dropped by air, German advancement against Home Army resistance, and the promise of relief by Soviet forces. I do face one obstacle that has discouraged me from progressing: I can’t seem to find a good map of Old Town Warsaw at the time of the uprising, noting the locations of command posts, hospitals, and barricades, as well as the progress of the German advancement. I have some resources for this, but they only offer partial or generalized information. This is perhaps the project that requires the most additional research and systems development, but one I have the most hope it might find a home with a publisher.

None of these include hobby activities purely for entertainment and relaxation. I have a huge pile of miniatures to paint across a broad spectrum of periods and genres: fantasy cat figures for my son; Viking age warbands for Skirmish Kids gaming; recently released early World War II tanks for Panzer Kids scenarios;

Of course overshadowing all of this is my continued and disheartening search for employment. The deck is stacked against me with impersonal AI application interfaces, a terrible job market rife with layoffs in many industries (and hence a flood of potential competitors for available positions), my residence in a backwater region of the country not known for employing people like me, an awful economy, and a general instability at all levels of American government and society. I am obliged to continue this effort, despite how much it hobbles my creativity and undercuts any sense of self-worth and confidence. My attempts to parlay game design and facilitation into any position, paying or volunteer, contributes to my overall weariness. So I must find some small satisfaction and, dare I say, hope (?) in my adventure gaming activities, when I can muster the capacity to cope with everything else. My successes uplift me, but even the basic act of creation provides a sense of accomplishment, ff not a sense of societal worth.

I hope as you enter a new academic year, whether you’re a student, parent, teacher, or a person with a sense of curiosity and open mind, that you find time to review your accomplishments, assess your aspirations for the coming months, set a few goals, and find the time, energy, and focus to pursue them.

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

— Albert Einstein