Rambling about Real Life, D&D, and a side of AI Art

You know, I seem to have lost my passion for blogging about video games lately, which is pretty unsettling. I mean, I know what's changed, but I don't know why my writing here on The Friendly Necromancer just doesn't excite me right now.

Random thoughts for context:

• The constant drip of cancer in my life is incredibly loud, and I don't know if it's made me naturally more reclusive?
• I don't want to be known as Tom, the dude who has cancer, but I guess it's too late for that. It's part of my story now.
• My new job isn't as satisfying as my old one, but I really love that I'm able to provide for my family. I'll take having a job over not having a job any day of the week.
• I'm just not thinking about video games as much anymore.
• I enjoy playing, but why does blogging about it feel exhausting at the moment?
• I mean, I have been blogging a bit, but just not here on TFN . . . and that's the more exciting thing that's been going on. I'm blogging about a weekly D&D game.  
• That said, the blog I'm working on now reeks of AI art because I'm not an artist, I never have been and I feel guilty about using AI. ARGH.
• (I think in bullet points sometimes.)

Sigh. Ok, let me break down that brain dump . . . for my own sake:

Cancer -- Gosh dangit. Having cancer really sucks. There's the physical pain, but there's also the trouble of just going for infusions, money woes, mortality considerations, and just everything else. It's just a part of me now, and I can't escape it. The recent relapse made me realize that I'm far from being through the woods. This is going to be a lifetime battle.

I'm working on an album of music where my cancer story is the major theme, but it's slow going lately.

Job -- Gosh dangit. I'm just not passionate about my job now. It's just . . . a job. I do it well. I like my coworkers. I like the importance of what I'm doing. It's just not games nor blogging material. I mean, I probably could start a blog about Project Management for a government contractor, but it'd be kind of lame. I've learned a lot but . . . 

I think someone out there might be saying, well, go get another job in the games industry then! Um, it's not that easy, plus the recent cancer diagnosis makes me feel like I can't put myself under that stress and uncertainty right now. It's a bit of a drag, but best to stay put.

New blog -- I'm playing D&D on Wednesday nights at a local game store! That's right, I actually found an interesting group, and rolling dice once a week with people around a table is really fun. I'm playing a goliath rogue, a walking paradox: the sneaky giant, Thotham. I love him!

AI art -- Gosh dangit. I mean, I feel a bit bad about this. I hate the idea that I'm using AI and being part of the massive social problem in front of us. On the other hand, AI art has made leaps and bounds from three years ago, and it's only getting better. 

As I type that, I hear a cacophony of voices saying, "Yeah, better at stealing other people's art." You're right. You're right. And that's why I feel guilty.

Exhibit 1 -- Back in 2016 I was playing a D&D game with my family, Jeff Toney (an artist from work), and his daughter. We had a lot of fun, and I started a blog back then called "Althea and Company." Althea was the name of Jeff's daughter's character. She was a DPS monster.

I would draw a short three-panel comic to accompany the blog post. Obviously, I don't have a lot of talent when it comes to drawing, but Jeff seemed to love my little three-panel comics that went along with the post.

Now with AI, I'm able to take a sketch like that and fully flesh it out into something kind of cool. That new comic now looks like it could have come straight out of Dragon Magazine, and all it cost was a piece of some random artist's soul, my little sketch from 2016, and 10 minutes of AI time. 

So now if you drop by Thotham's Journal, my new D&D blog, it has all my writing (I didn't use AI to write any of that), but the art is all AI. I will say that after using AI to make a bunch of storyboard panels, I am finding that telling AI what to draw is a bit like trying to creatively direct an incredibly talented 5-year-old with a continually melting crayon.

I've always been more of a storyteller than an artist. If I was rich, I could imagine dropping 100 bucks on an artist to hand-draw me a cartoon to go along with a blog post, but I'm far FAR from rich . . . so AI it is?

But what about Windrose -- Oh yeah, we finished what's available to play in that game, and I have lots of thoughts, but I just got blocked wanting to write about it. I don't know why. Maybe because Tipa already covered it? (She's still excited about blogging about vidja games, but where's my passion?) I guess I could just start typing and see what happens.

Anyway, I'm torn lately, and a bit blocked. I'm still here. I'm still writing. I'm still playing and enjoying games, but I'm also questioning my old passion. I guess more than anything, I just need to force myself to do it more often -- even if it is a rambling post with no central point. 

Happy Dueling!

Russian Pirates Rushin' Goals in Windrose

The other day, my youngest looked over my shoulder while I was playing Windrose. At the time I was running around my mishmash rock-and-thatch villa with a dock, goofy giant rock arches, and a farm full of hot peppers and flax. He seemed a bit shocked and asked me what this game was (how could dad be playing a game he had never seen or heard of before). 

My homage to the Wasatch Mountains?

Windrose is, as I told him, the newest survival game, but with pirates, and he was like "survival game?" Now, THAT question, threw me off . . . like he had never heard of survival games before? I mean of course he had! So I took the opportunity to remind him of my library of games on Steam.

Ever heard of Valheim? Survival game but Vikings. Ever heard of V Rising? Survival game but Vampires. Ever heard of Dune Awakening? Survival game but Dune  Ever heard of Ark? Survival game but Dinosaurs. Ever heard of 7 Days to Die? Survival game but Zombies. (I could have kept going on . . . but he got the point . . . of course he had heard of survival games.)

"Why do you have so many survival games?"

Uh . . . they're fun? (I think sometimes he likes questioning me just to see what I would say . . . I should have told him it was all research for a VR Survival game, like Green Hell or A Township Tale, but I would have been lying. It would have been pretty great to work on a VR Survival Game though. Ain't gonna lie.)

So, Windrose is fun. I like it. No one should be surprised I like it, especially after having so much fun in the Demo a couple of months ago. When we saw that Windrose had a full early access release, the entirety of Team Spode (minus Mr. Spode himself, love you, Joey) jumped on board and started going overboard on the newest pirate-themed survival game.

There is a lot more to do here than in the Demo! The quests have all been fleshed out. Factions, Big Boss Fights at the biome end caps, ship crafting, skill trees, new enemies, new exploration types, farming, and more and more were all added in. In fact, two full, entire quest areas of stuff to do were added in, with a fourth promised in the wings!

Dylan and I are once again roleplaying it up and having fun together. Dylan named his character Boris the Blade and suggested Russian Gangsters. I loved it, but my Russian gangsta' ain't typical, see . . . I've been watching a metric ton of hockey and now that my beloved Utah Mammoth are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I named my pirate Sergy the Slapshot after Mikhail Sergachev, my favorite Russian hockey player. 

Close enough for hockey pirates . . .

And of course, what ship does Sergy the Slapshot sail?  The mighty Utah Mammoth!

Love the name detail on the back of the ship to be honest . . .

What weapon and armor set does Sergy the Slapshot don?  Definitely the heavily padded Conquistador look with as close to a hockey stick as I can get in game . . . the good ol' Executioner's Halberd.

I get called for High Sticking a lot . . .

Heated Rivalry jokes aside . . . our Russian Hockey Duo is ready to scorch the seas! (Thanks for the joke, John.) 

So many muscles . . . so much heated rivalry . . .

So, I'll be posting more thoughts about the game as we play, but just wanted to get it out there so the readers of the Friendly Necromancer knew what was fascinating me these days.

Happy Dueling!

Chemo Round 2 and a visit from the Austin Crew

Team Tom! It's been a long time, but I have news to share, so I'm going to get the bad stuff out of the way. I've had a little pain in my back and the latest CT Scan confirms that I've some new evidence of cancer in the lining of my left lung. The result is that we're going to do another short round of chemo and monitor how it goes. It's upsetting, but it is what it is. I had a nice 8-month stint of nothing but cancer shrinking or stability. Let's get that back.

Had I made this post a few days ago, I probably wouldn't have even talked about the pain or cancer and instead just let you all know that life has been pretty cool, actually! My good buddies from Austin paid me a surprise visit last weekend, and it was so good to see them and hang out. 

The Austin crew hanging out in Gilgal Garden

The story: Renee and the uber wife had been planning a surprise for months and kept it from me. After I had an immunotherapy infusion last Friday, my wife said, "Let's go to Spaghetti Factory!" When we arrived, she said she had a reservation for five. I'm like, what?!?! Are the kids coming?!?! She just rolled with it and let me believe the story I was making up for her.

After a few minutes of waiting, Mercedes ( good ol' Art of Warlord) comes up from behind and asks me if I dropped something (presenting me with an old Beckett's Magazine Writer Card of mine). I just stared with disbelief. Is this real life? Next thing you know, Kayly (good ol' Mythdust) sneaks in, and I'm surrounded by my old buddies. THE COOL KIDS CREW FROM KI! 

Took the crew to my favorite local game / card store

My non-plans for laying around all weekend were suddenly gone and instead we went all up and down the Wasatch Front visiting game store, seeing sites, and catching up with what's been going down. 

Just a tiny bit of snow at Snowbasin this year

What an absolute honor it was to have them come in to pay me a visit and what great timing. I'm going to need that boost going into another round of chemo. Here we go again!

Happy Dueling!

The Music of Mewgenics -- "Chasin' the Rats!"

Part of the fun for me of playing Mewgenics is that my middle child (longtime readers of the blog will know him as Kyle Skystaff), has been playing as well.  We've been sending Discord messages back and forth to each other on the daily just talking about our current status in the game, which classes we've unlocked, and just general thoughts on how our current runs are going. I think Kyle might be a bit more invested in the game than I am . . . that said, we're pretty close to being around the same point in the game with each other.  

Preaching the good word to the Throbbing King

One thing he mentioned to me the other day is how he had tier-ranked his favorite songs he'd unlocked in the game so far. It made me realize I had neglected to mention how cool the Mewgenics music is! Ridiculon (Binding of Isaac fame) put together a soundtrack that is really well done and has some of the catchiest lyrics I've heard in a game. Definitely worthy of a mention.

In fact, the whole family has been singing Eatin' Rats for the past month or so. You can check out a couple dozen of the tracks over on Spotify. But if you REALLY want to get into it, there's a collection of 82 tracks for sale for 10 bucks on Steam.

Cool cats making cool music!

Below is Kyle's tier ranking of the music (he said he couldn't rank any of the songs below a C-tier hehe):

S-Tier

• The Alley (Eatin' Rats): S
• The Bunker (Alone in the Dark): S
• The Crater (Feline Invader): S
• The Moon (So High): S
• The Lab (Endless Misery): S

A-Tier

• The Sewers (Flush): A
• The Junkyard (Chumbucket Kitty): A
• The Caves (Crystalline Dreams): A
• The Core (Down With The Devil): A

B-Tier

•  The Path (Kat Fight): B
• The Boneyard (Them Kitty Bones): B

C-Tier

• The Desert (Lonesome Road): C

If you've been playing and love the music, drop us a line!  You're in good company here.

Happy Dueling!

Pain and Pawnishment in Mewgenics

Team, I've put 80+ hours on this game now, and it's both simultaneously infuriating and amazing. Just a few days ago, I saw the credits screen roll on the game (WOOT), but, much like, say, Slay the Spire, you'll see the credits screen, but then they suddenly offer you up more content to play with a whole new class and challenges for you to undertake.

Who knew the Man in the Moon was a Sumerian demi-god?

I have to tell you, as Thee Friendly Necromancer, the moment I unlocked the Necromancer class was when fun, mild curiosity became my new leech-throwing addiction. So you're telling me I can make a slovenly cat necromancer lord and summon undead kittens? I'M HERE FOR CATMAGEDON!

I am the Nine Lives Necomancer!

After that, things started to get weirder with the classes . . . butcher . . . psychic . . . tinkerer. There's a surprising amount of depth and replayability to this game, which makes sense because that's 100 percent needed in a roguelike where you're going to be running the game over and over (. . .and, if you're like me, somehow dying every time in the final battle).

Ohhhhh . . . so you lure the hands out to the middle and make him hit himself, got it.

That is perhaps the most infuriating part of the game. You feel like you've mastered your class combo and found some good synergy (tons of possibilities here tbh) only to fight a boss for the first time and get wrecked . . . only to return back home with mostly empty pockets and lost time. (Time melts away quickly playing this game.)

Been there, killed that x3

Besides gold and food, your cats themselves are a currency.  Depending on which townie wants to do whatever they will with your old cats (or new kittens), they'll offer new unlocks for your game. What I mean by that is, for example, for every 5 cats with diseases or mutations, you can trade them into the mad scientist (Dr. Beanies) for a new inventory item that strategically changes your game during the next run . . . or giving cats older than 5 years old to the store clerk (Tracy), which then causes her to offer you more items at the store. The best return on investment so far seems to be giving away cats for a bigger house or a bigger inventory.

Boon County . . . where you, uh, trade cats for boons.

Ultimately, I've had a lot of fun with this game. Super lighthearted, surprisingly difficult, and easy to play. I give it two dirty paws up.

Happy Dueling!

Skip and Julia Sailing the Hungry Seas in Windrose

After our last foray into Diablo 4, Dylan and I have been looking around for what we could play next. We have a lot of ideas, and with lots of demos available on Steam right now, we decided to give Windrose a try. Actually, it unfolded like this . . . I get a text from Dylan saying he's ready to play Windrose, along with this character picture attached:

The scurvy looks have just begun!

This was not just a Skip Legday, but a whole gosh-dang Skip Gymday. In my mind, it just looked like a sorry bag o' bones Pirate that needed to be fed, so who better to join Skip Gymday than Julia Child.

Sailing the good ship Quiche Lorraine, mind you . . .

Thankfully, Windrose didn't disappoint, and there was a whole slew of things Julia could cook up for Skip in this Pirate-based Survival Game Demo. I was making coconut smoothies and grilled dodo kabobs a plenty! 

. . . also smelting a lot of copper ore

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this demo, but I came out of it pleasantly surprised. There was a nice quest system tied to our experience, and even a few islands beyond the "tutorial isle" you could get to. Ultimately, it was all about crafting a camp, finding a shipwreck, fixing it up, freeing your crew of jailed buccaneers, and sailing the seas to engage in broadside combat.  End of demo.

A pirate with a whole crew out to cause trouble on the high seas!

The combat was satisfying and fun, and t'was also incredibly familiar. To be honest, it felt a lot like a less realistic Icarus crossed with Valheim and a side of Pirate101 (or perhaps Sea of Thieves). Pirate101 you say?  Well, not a turn-based story-based game, but that broadside combat alongside Skip felt really good: both of us shooting cannon fire at a ship, get the enemy ship's health low, then dock and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the scallywags on deck . . . you know, THAT part of Pirate101 ship combat.

Treasure and Charging Boars await us in the ruins!

The Windrose Demo lasted about 7 hours in total, and if there was more to play, we'd still be playing it. I'm going to keep this one on my wishlist and give it a real play when it releases. Let me know if you've played it and what you think!

Happy Dueling!  

Mewgenics is Meowvelous!

My oldest picked up Mewgenics yesterday, and since we are on a family Steam account together, I decided to give it a spin. 

Sorry Skisee . . . General Grievous and Dotsy were just too alluring as my first two.

I had heard so much about this game already . . . just from buzz alone. First off, the list of meowing cameows is pretty amazing. (That's more influencers than you can shake a cat toy at.) Then there's the conpurrent player count that made Forbes news from Paul Tassi. I've even had a couple people hiss me up about it, so . . . I had to try my paws in the litterbox.

I used that same randomized naming string functionality in a Game Jam game once. Love it!

Mewgenics didn't disappoint. I can see why it's so successful. What do we have here . . . a turn-based quasi rogue-like with disposable units? Yeah, that's a great recipe. OH, what else do we have . . . freakish looking cartoon cats making babies (doing-it-like-they-do-it-on-the-Discovery-channel mind you) that are a visual combination of the parents? YES PLEASE! That's some primal, stupid humor stuff I can get behind.

OH MY WORD! WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS!?

Not to mention the game feels really great. Everything from the tutorial to the feedback of the gameplay to the synergy of items and powers. It's incredibly clever and well done. I've only played it for 3 hours and I could see myself dumping hours of my life into this game.

Go Crunkite!  Make your parents, Jordy and Walkyria, proud as a new fighter class cat!

So far I really like what I'm seeing with this game. Hope you're enjoying playing it as much as I am. Let me know what you think.

Happy Dueling!