My alter-EGO

So, many years ago I wrote a simple, universal role-playing system called EGO: Endless Gaming Options. I basically borrowed all of the best little rules from the multitude of RPGs that I have played over the years, and combined them into one system. Was it perfect? No. Even after several revisions and re-writes, it's still not perfect. But it's mine. I wrote it, and I self-published the PDF online. Of course, later I took it down, revised it again, and began adding stuff to it. Then I put up a "playtest" version on my webpage. Sadly, it never took off. No one seemed to care or be interested in it. So, I eventually let it languish, along with the rest of the website. It's all still there, but the web hosting service I used has ads all over it, and the PDF is no longer downloadable. But, what did it matter, right? No one seemed to miss it. Not even me.

Then I got an email the other day from someone wanting to download the PDF so they could run a Firefly game with it. Awesome! So, I immediately created a new PDF from the Word document I had, and emailed it off. Will I ever hear any feedback? Will they even enjoy it enough to actually use it? Who knows? But I'm still a little jazzed that someone wanted to even try it. Score one for the wannabe game-designer.

Anyways, the writing is going ok. I have been marinating the idea in my head for Agesilaus, and I'm pretty sure I know how far into his life the book will go. Probably until he is made king, leaving the rest of his story for subsequent books, should the idea take off. I even went so far as to write the first "chapter" of sorts. Granted it's short on details, and needs a lot of polishing. But, I think it has some good characterization and dialogue.

However, the one snag I have run into is the one that always seems to get me. Focus. I am a highly impressionable person. As a writer, that means that my writing interest wavers from genre to genre easily. Currently my interest is starting to lean into Westerns. I love western movies. And I have read a little Western fiction, but not much. So, I'm going to try to get that out of my system as quickly as possible. I'll probably read some quick, lite western fare, maybe write a tale or two, and then let nature take it's course (meaning I'll be burned out on the subject in no time). Meanwhile, I am going to continue on my ancient Greece kick, and continue to develop Agesilaus. And the only reason this will all work is because I don't have a deadline. Well, other than the self-imposed one of having something written to completion by year's end. And who knows, maybe that one will be a tale of a lone gunfighter on the trail of ruthless killer...