There was a Valdron directors meeting today. A fair amount was accomplished, and some positive decisions were made, but at the moment I’m too tired and busy to try to sort out what should be reported. I’m sure you’ll hear of it as it comes to pass.

Some who came for the meeting spent last night at my house, and so there was a live game. Details will probably hit the forum soon, so I won’t put them here.

–M. J. Young

I wound up running a short but late game last night. I mentioned previously that a new player had been brought to my house by an old player, and that they were going to return on Saturday night for a game. The old player did; the new player was rather disappointed at having been called back to work a day early, and thus was not available. This might have been for the best, however, given that it was near eleven by the time we started (and only minutes after his arrival). We played until well after two–breaking my usual rule that games end between one and two, but the exception seemed reasonably appropriate since he had started in Prisoner of Zenda years before, taken a long absence from play, and recently picked up where we were (it often surprises me that we can do that). On Saturday night he managed, through many awkward moments, to rescue the king. It cost the lives of Fritz Tarlenheim, five soldiers, and seven chimney sweeps.

My wife had gone visiting in Delaware, so I put on the end of a taped episode of Burn Notice I had been watching (still not yet decided whether I like this), and then after that forwarded it to the beginning of the recent episode of Monk, and fell asleep watching this sometime after three.

Three hours later I was awakened. It seems that our dear daughter-in-law panicked over a dying kitten, and that there was an outrageous vet bill that had to be paid before it doubled. I had to travel to Delaware to sort out the matter, and had to be there before eight when the shift changed and another doctor would charge another fee. I knew I was asking for serious physical exhaustion, but it seemed the only way, so I went.

It was after ten by the time I was home, and that serious physical exhaustion was rising fast. I crashed, fully dressed, and did not move again until after five. By that time I knew I had to grill my hamburgers before I lost the light, so dinner became the priority. It was dark before I started my day; I still have chores to do.

I was not up very long before I got word that the kitten had died. That’s unfortunate, of course, but it was never really about the kitten.

Now that I have lost your attention entirely with those boring details of my life, I’ll quietly make a momentous announcement which no one will notice because you’ve stopped reading by this point. Years ago when we first went to print, we announced that if there ever were a “second edition” or updated version of the game, it would be one hundred percent compatible with the original. That means (as I keep explaining to the idiots who want to rewrite the game with an entirely new engine) that people who own the old book and people with the new would be able to sit at the same table and play the same game. Sporadically over the years efforts have been made to start work on this massive undertaking. However, it has now risen to a priority, and I have put myself at the helm of a reorganized rewrite.

It is fatal to make such announcements in this industry, because people assume that the new edition means the old one is obsolete. I will thus reiterate right now that the old edition is not obsolete, and will have some advantages over the new–the most evident one being that the old edition contains the full game system in a single book, and the new will be a three-book set. The advantages of the three-book set will be that it contains more material, more aids to play, and is better organized.

The first of those books will be the Multiverser Core Rules. This will take all the essential operating rules and put them together in a coherent and orderly fashion; it will include better character creation instructions, such as the on-the-fly character generation system. It will have what is needed to run a game.

The second book will be the Multiverser Skills System. This will primarily contain the skill listings, of which there will be some expansions and additions, more explanation of skill packages, umbrellas, and such, and some cleanup to remove mechanics that should have been elsewhere.

The third book will be the Multiverser Universe Creator’s Handbook. Material on how to set bias will be expanded with some aids that will make it clearer for the referee what is possible and impossible under any given bias curve. Explanations of special universe rules creation will be expanded, showing the spaces between the Multiverser Worlds, Story Worlds, and Game Worlds described in the original rules.

The appendices will be edited and included in the third book.

It will take several years before all three books are available, but the first is well underway (as I discovered when I opened the long-neglected file). I will keep you posted on my progress, as I am able.

We are also examining the possibility of releasing the old books in PDF format through an online e-tailer, but what I thought was a firm decision has become less firm, so we will have to wait on any announcement there.

–M. J. Young

Again my computer is giving me problems. It’s not surprising, really, as it is Sunday and I haven’t run the maintenance programs since Wednesday, so the drives are a bit uncertain where they left everything. I’ll deal with it, but I’ve had to reboot several times to get the system running at all, and a couple more times since then when it froze.

I did run a live game on Friday night. I missed church, but not because of the game–rather because when I reached the church parking lot I noticed an incoming call on my cell phone, and in calling back to find out the reason got diverted to pick up a few things at a store. I got my nap, although it was brief, and wrapped up the game on the early side, shortly after one, so I could get enough sleep and make church in the morning. The game was good; hopefully my players will post summaries.

Otherwise, the little time I stole to do some “work” was invested into editing my Romans study notes. The fact that the pastor is eager to have a copy of these is an impetus to pushing forward on that project, as also is the fact that I’ve reached the final chapter in posting it on the study list, and it would be nice if I could announce the availability of a print or file copy of the entire package to the group when I hit the end, probably about a month or so from now.

Meanwhile, I am hoping that in addition to everything else I can include my second opportunity to go swimming this summer, so if I am stalled in my forum postings, you’ll know where to find me.

–M. J. Young

I was up early for real this morning. The alarm rousted me at six in the morning; it was sometime between three and three-thirty that I had closed my eyes, and closer to four that I was asked to shut off the light. However, last night I was told that the girl who yesterday told me she would not need to be picked up today did need to be delivered, so it fell to me to drag myself out of bed and get her where she needed to be. I am still up; here’s hoping she does not call in the next half hour and say oops, she needs a ride home after all, because having stayed up all this time, I’m running on fumes already.

That’s not good, because I received word mid-morning that a couple of my co-workers are headed this direction. They are not really coming to see me; they are coming because one of my house guests is proposing a business opportunity in which they might decide to become involved. However, as long as they are in the area, we’re going to get a signature on those stock certificates, which is one less worry for me in the days ahead.

Also, I have been asked whether I am planning to feed them dinner and run a game. I’d had no such plans; in fact, it had not occurred to me that they might stay so long (brain fogged as I am) until the question was asked; my reaction is that I’d better get some sleep if that’s going to be on the agenda, because I’m already falling asleep in the first hour past noon, and I’ll never make it to the first hour past midnight. These things need more planning than that, but no one plans them.

I’d better go see to the forums. I am unlikely to get any sleep at this rate.

–M. J. Young