The Unloved Ones - Bloodlines and Black Magic

Game Master Patrick Curtin

Yeah

Hello all.

So, there really isn't a way to say this, except... sorry.

Maybe sorry doesn't cover it.

I haven't been active since the end of the summer.

This isn't the first time I've dropped off the map. As you well know.

I think it is a thing in my brain.

I get swept up in real life. Forces beyond my control consume me, and I get behind. My ADHD gets the better of me and my procrastination gets into a feedback loop and suddenly ... a month goes by. I'm embarrassed, then mortified. I don't want to visit because I am so embarrassed, and it gets worse the longer it goes. Meanwhile, life continues to pull at me relentlessly with its various emergencies, and suddenly it is Fall. Then Halloween. Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas.

So Merry Hallothanksgivingmas everyone, from your inconstant Dungeon Monkey. I have finally decided to pluck up my courage and return to the boards to see if perhaps I can pick up the pieces and restart the games. Because, believe it or not, I miss them dearly. They are never far from my thoughts.

A quick synopsis of my recent life: I have gone through some good and bad things. I have had some health scares. Nothing too horrible, but things I need to work on. I have lost 50 pounds. I quit social media. I have had a financial scare. another thing that I have been working on, which has cut into my free time. I am about to start a new job. This will hopefully help with the previous issue. I have been working on reorganizing certain things in my life, and this game, and the others I am involved in are a part of that.

So, I am asking who is still here, and who is still willing to continue. I know that you have no reason to trust in my constancy, and I can't guarantee I will be constant. However, I do love creating world for you all to play in, and I think you all like to play in them. It may take a bit to get to where you are going, but we've been this far, and I'd love to see where we can go in 2025 and beyond.

A small bit of trivia: the Littleton library (and by extension, the Halifax library, I guess) is one of the famous Carnegie libraries. My first semi-real job was processing and shelving returned books at a Carnegie library, the Black Watch Memorial Library in Ticonderoga, New York. There's also a Carnegie library a couple blocks from my apartment here in Iowa, which houses a small exhibit featuring some of the notebooks and WWI flying kit of James Norman Hall.

I was diving down that rabbit hole a bit when I went to see what the library would look like. The statue of Pollyanna was a nice bonus. Now I just have to figure out WTF creepy supernatural thing it does, lol >:)

I was diving down that rabbit hole a bit when I went to see what the library would look like. The statue of Pollyanna was a nice bonus. Now I just have to figure out WTF creepy supernatural thing it does, lol >:)

I mean... sometimes a creepy statue of an early 20th century children's book character is just a creepy statue of an early 20th century children's book character.

By the way, on the subject of oddball New England history, have you ever checked out Dime Store Adventures on YouTube?

I’m around, although I’ll be scarce until January 17 or so because of traveling. I miss this game!

I'm here

Hi Again!

Sorry folks, the new year has begun with a bang as my new job has taken my stress level up to 11. However, I have a long weekend coming up, and I hope that I can find time to post during this period.

I am trying, honest! :O

Man... I just watched Ghostbusters on VHS for the first time in at least a decade. Now I'm all fired up...

Heh. Coyote doesn’t seem like the Ghostbusters type.

OK. Well, a bit of explanation is in order….

Well, a lot of explanation is in order.

So, as you might have noticed, I have been missing for about two months. On top of another long stretch where I was just getting back to posting. I had just gotten a new job, and things were looking up. My life was settling down, and I finally had a great job working … in the federal government >.<

Yes folks, I am a probationary federal employee. Huzzah. So as well as learning a completely new and fast-paced job (with a five-day in office schedule), I have to worry constantly that I will be fired as a cost-saving measure. So, honestly, my heart hasn’t been into gaming.

However, I would like to get back to it. It seems like the worst of the culling is done. My department saves the Army a lot of money, so if there is any shred of common sense left in the upper echelons I should be safe. I miss our games together. I’m not sure who is still around, but let’s do a mic check. I’ll check in to see and try to post up in the next few days. I’ll ease out anyone who has wandered off.

I’m sorry folks, but it has been a very bad start to 2025. In a lot of ways

I’m sorry folks, but it has been a very bad start to 2025. In a lot of ways

Oddly enough, I was literally moments away from posting something to the effect of "Has anyone heard anything from Patrick lately?"

Patrick Curtin wrote:

I’m sorry folks, but it has been a very bad start to 2025. In a lot of ways

Oddly enough, I was literally moments away from posting something to the effect of "Has anyone heard anything from Patrick lately?"

Yeah I popped on after not going on in two months, not even lurking , and missed Rags posting on Silver Rose by like two hours. Weird. Maybe it’s the right time to come back.

Right after I posted, I checked YouTube and saw that Dime Store Adventures just dropped this video...

lol. New England is such a weird place

lol. New England is such a weird place

Iowa's a good place, but not a day goes by that I don't miss the Northeast.

Patrick Curtin wrote:

lol. New England is such a weird place

Iowa's a good place, but not a day goes by that I don't miss the Northeast.

Yeah I enjoy Virginia, but it's not my place, if you get my drift. I long for the eldritch shores of Innsmouth, and the demon-haunted forests of the ancient Appalachians

So, again folks, my apologies. I am trying my best to keep up, but life is being a difficult one. A combo punch of professional and personal crises have kept me busy these past 10 days. I finally have a few moments, and I will be updating. Stay tuned

So, in the interest of staying on top of things, I want to let you all know that life just gave me another kick in the scrotum today. The paralegal who was mentoring me ( and basically the backbone of our team which was running on 2 paralegals out of a normal three with me being one. ) has taken the Deferred Resignation program and will be leaving. One of the fun features of the program is that the billet of the person who leaves disappears. So, lil’ ol’ me, with a hefty two months in the job, will be the entire paralegal staff for five lawyers and 40-odd cases.

So, what does this mean for gaming? Honestly, I don’t know. I just want to let you know if I suddenly disappear again, this is the most likely cause. I will try to at least post up if I find myself overwhelmed.

Damn. Sorry to hear that man. Just hang in there and do your best. What you do is important.

Given that Treppa has checked out of PbPs for the time being, we could sideline Miren’s character for a bit. Maybe, in game, give her an instruction to call emergency services if she doesn’t hear from us after the meeting. And later run with three? We were able to run with three PCs for a while before.

Yeah, that makes sense