Steph and Jeff Writes

Jeff - So, in a few days I'm shutting down this Bluesky account in order to stop duplicating efforts. If you are interested in what I'm up to - and what Steph and I are doing - check out my main account at @drgonzo2022.bsky.social.

I love waking up with a great idea for a new story. I'd like to thank my weird subconscious.
#Writing

Up, Up, And Away! - Free League Publishing | Free League Work Shop | DriveThruRPG Up, Up, And Away! brings balloons into Vaesen. This module consists of a brief histroy of ballooning in the 19th century, rules for balloon operation, equipment options, rules for altitude, falling, f...

A new #Vaesen module is out. Up, Up, And Away! provides rules for balloons. The 8 page module includes history, new rules for flying (and falling), and a few balloons from the 19th century. Check it out... and take to the skies :-)

#TTRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...

I hope to get my American archetype book down for Christmas, but I'll be pretty happy if I can get these three items done.

#TTRPG #TTRPGDesign

3. Cross Foundation sourcebook - about 20 pages of background for the Cross Foundation, the main Vaesen hunting society in the US. Should be out by the end of November.

2. Salem - My Halloween module. What if some of the victims of the Salem Witch trials had actual powers and used them to take over the town, while waiting for a new age of magic. About 15 pages with history of the town, the trials, a description of the town in the 1890s, rules for witches. By Oct 31

Next three #Vaesen books (with loose availability):
1. Up, Up and away: Balloons in Vaesen. This will be short (2-3 pgs) and will be PWYW title. Useful with the newly released Airship module. Hope to have it out next week.

Watch The Skies! - Free League Publishing | Free League Work Shop | DriveThruRPG Watch The Skies! brings the airship phenomenon of the 1890s into the Mythic 19th century. Why are there strange, technologically advanced craft in the skies of America? Who are the mysterious visitors...

My latest module for #Vaesen is (finally) available. What are the mysterious airships in the skies of Mythic America? Find out with Watch The Skies!, a 13 page module containing history, lore, adventures seeds and new Vaesen. Available on #Drive-thruRPG.
#TTRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...

Fright Reads Book Festival | Horror Book Festival Home Page for FrightReads Book Festival, a Halloween and fall themed book and arts event in Maryland!

until about 90 seconds pass, at which point I will not shut up and we'll be friends for life. 😁

www.frightreads.com

#FrightReads

Oh, I'll be at the Fright Reads book festival on September 13 and 14 in West Friendship, MD. I'll be at the Curia Chronicles booth, hawking my wears. I'll be the one looking super uncomfortable talking to strangers...

More airship research today. I have a good handle on how to "Vaesenize" the stories. #TTRPG #Vasesen

Jeff here - today is game development day... for a game module I should have had done last week... but that I got side tracked by shiny things (Call of Duty Mobile and War Thunder... shiny and explody) for a couple of days. As a wise skunk once said, "Le sigh."

#TTRPG #Writing

Jeff here - Travel day. Begjnning of my 3-ish day train trip. Hopefully I'll get a lot of writing done. Will Amtrak deliver another pleasant experience? Or will I wish I'd flown... naw. Avoiding the concentrated annoyances of flying is a solid positive. #travelsky (is that a thing? Now it is.)

American Legends - Free League Publishing | Free League Work Shop | DriveThruRPG American Legends is the latest module in my American Vaesen series. In it, you will find statistics, background, and adventure ideas for six unique figures from American mythic history, Vaesen who hav...

www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...

Which might sound like a heavy lift, but I have a week-long train trip coming up, so i plan on getting a lot of writing done. Anyway, here's a link to American Legends, my latest #Vaesen #TTRPG module. Buy the base game - it's great - and then buy my modules. They're great as well.

Jeff here - Took a few days off after getting the last game module out. Next up - scripts for the YouTube series i'm working on (which starts filming in August) and the first twelve chapters of the next novel - the first in a series about witches in 1940s Hollywood - by the end of the month.

Jeff here - this is my latest #Vaesen module, American Legends.

Jeff here - A bit of happy news. I'm on track to complete my next #Vaesen #TTRPG module, American Legends, on schedule for release this Friday. If you are a gamer and want to get into a fist-fight with Uncle Sam or help John Henry bring down capitalism, check it out.

Jeff here - started the day on my other feed with George Owell... works here as well.

fair use requires creative or some other transformative action on the source material that serves the public interest. Using it to help a series of pattern matching algorithms make tech bros billions while zeroing out knowledge workers and creatives doesn't seem to fit this. IMHO, OC. 2/2

#AI

Anthropic wins key ruling on AI in authors' copyright lawsuit A federal judge in San Francisco ruled late Monday that Anthropic's use of books without permission to train its artificial intelligence system was legal under U.S. copyright law.

Jeff here - a Federal judge in San Fran said it was fine for the AI slop-factory Anthropic to use copy-written material without permission or compensation to feed our computer overlords. The judge bought the fair use argument, even though... 1/2

www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

Jeff here - Been radio silent for the last few days, mostly because I've been trying not to doom-spiral over Trump taking us to war with Iran. However, deadlines & the creative urge can only be put off for so long. Still on track for next week's American Legends Vaesen module release. #Vaesen #TTRGP

Oh, this is Jeff. Not sure what Steph is up to. Something about retrieving the Glaive... I think she might be Krulling this summer.

Writing update - progress is being made on the YouTube front. Should be able to start releasing regular videos in a few weeks. On the game module front, hit a minor snag (self-doubt, the writer's worst enemy... that and semi-colons), but am back on track for American Legends to be out on July 4.

I'm looking at using animation instead of being on camera, both to make eps more visually interesting. Not that my collection of facial tics isn't interesting...

Jeff here - So, in writing and creative news, I'm making good progress on the next episodes of Script Slayers. The format will be a bit different. Due to some scheduling issues, you'll just get to hear my soothing voice. Steph will still be involved in the writing.

I've done some work on gAI output analysis. Based on that experience, I would never use this tech for anything even remotely resembling therapy. Unfortunately, this is probably something that is inevitable.

Now, if if you want to talk about the use of A1...

#AI

YouTube video by BBC News I tried an AI therapist. Does it actually work? | BBC News

Jeff here - not a writing thing, but I am interested in AI and what it means to various aspects of our lives. And yes, that includes writing and art, things near and dear to me. But, this BBC piece is about the use of AI in therapy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9A-...

I love a good board game to play with friends and get away from all the screens. Recently played Settlers of Catan and crushed it!

Jeff here - got my new writing table set up on the balcony. I am happier about this than I have been about any table in the past 😄