Hey guys,

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I thought I’d clear up what’s going on.

In a nutshell, “Real Life” has taken over and made it impossible for me and Lonnie to get together and podcast for the last month or two. Lonnie’s web design business has taken off and he has been basically working 2 full time jobs (possibly a little more than that) for the last couple of months, and that is expected to continue at least into June or July.

For myself, the local renaissance festival I have been involved in for the last couple of years has turned into 2 festivals this year. We just finished the first one in April, just in time to start preparing for the next one that runs the last half of June and the first weekend in July. On top of that, I have been experiencing something that hasn’t happened for about 12 years or so–band practice. We are actually trying to work up a Pirate/Sailor musical stage act for the festival in June.

On top of that, because our schedules have not allowed time for ANY gaming at all, we were starting to run out of Ooomph (yes, that is a technical term) for talking about gaming. And that is the last thing I wanted to happen. Burn-out is a horrible thing, particularly when it happens to a pasttime we have enjoyed so much for so many years.

If it is any indication of what I’m goin through, my 4-hour a night World of Warcraft habit has turned into me barely logging on a half-dozen times in the last month, and most of those times I logged on and went, “I’m too tired to even enjoy this” and I logged off again within minutes.

All is not dark and dreary though. I caught myself thinking about putting together a campaign a couple of days ago. That’s more than I have had the desire to do for a few months. Lonnie and I have gotten together a few times over the past weeks and been able to hang out and remember why we were friends before we got into podcasting. Some of the burn-out is going away, and I have found myself anxious to do a bit of podcasting again.

So here is the plan. We are taking another short hiatus, much like we did about a year ago. I find that this is a necessary thing for us to do. Some podcasters don’t need to do it, and I look upon them with awe, but I want to continue enjoying this, and if the time comes that the podcast is a chore rather than a joy, then I will end it and never look back.

During the next couple of months, it will be impossibile for Lonnie and I to get together to podcast. I may be able to rope History Dave into doing a show or two, and if this is the case, we may release an episode or two “Lonnie”-less. This is not a snub to him; he is actually the one who suggested this to me. It will all depend on Dave’s schedule and my schedule and whether we can get them to mesh.

As to talk about donations, if you feel that you want to pull your $2 a month subscription, I completely understand that. A donation is just that - a donation. We do this show for the people who don’t donate just as much as for those who do. We have people who have been asking about sponsoring the show as well, and we will talk to them about it when we get close to the time that we can put out regular episodes again.

I am sorry if any of you are feeling misused with us taking a break from the podcast. I can promise you that occasional breaks like this will happen again in the future. My goal is to try to plan them better and make you all aware of them in advance next time. But if Lonnie and I were to try to continue at this point without taking a break, the show would suffer and possibly die. I don’t want that. I would miss you guys too much. So if you can bear with us through the break, that would be great. If not, I completely understand, and would like to thank you for listening and helping us have a great time while you were here.

I look forward to reconnecting with you all sometime in July.

Thanks,
Chuck

Hey everyone! We got together last night (that’s Friday) for a couple of hours to pull together new characters for the CORE playtest. Chuck is running it, and he decided on a very low-power modern fantasy based loosely on shows like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and X-Files. We’re using the excellent Quick and Dirty Magic System put together by Lord Z on the forums as the basis for our magic and psychic powers.

Unfortunately, the mp3 recorder had dead batteries and we weren’t able to find any others. So, next week, we’ll go over the characters, and the thoughts of our playtesters, which are: Chuck (as Director), Lonnie, Catherine (Chuck’s wife), and Alisa (Lonnie’s gf). A great collection of experience, from Chuck and Lonnie who have played for years, Cat who has played quite a while but doesn’t like rules, and Alisa, who is very new to roleplaying.

Don’t be alarmed.   We are not performing a scheduled podfade.  We are not going on an “indefinite hiatus.” 

Lonnie and I were talking, and here is what we have on our plates at the moment:

CHUCK-
Lots of deadlines at work
A database application that I am trying to finish
2 websites to put up in my spare time
A Renaissance Festival to finish
Some video editing for another side project I am involved in
Kids to raise
A wife who needs attention
A social networking website to work on (CritOrMiss.com

LONNIE-
Day Job
At least 2 HUGE websites that he is actualy getting paid for
Also CritOrMiss
Daughter of the Sun podcast
Sequel to Daughter of the Sun to write
Twins to raise (by himself, no less)
A girlfriend who also needs attention

And that’s just a quick overview.  I know I left some things out.  I’m about to pull my hair out with all the things I don’t have the time to get around to right now. 

I’m not trying to make excuses.  I’m trying to make time.  One of the greatest joys in my life for the past 2 years has been this podcast, and I don’t have any intention of stopping.  But I also don’t have any intention of letting the quality of the show drop because I’m trying to fit it in as an afterthought. 

You guys have become more than just listeners.  Through your emails, forum posts, blog entries (yes, I read what other people are saying about us on their blogs; call me narcissistic, if you must), voice mails, and all the other ways you have found to show your appreciation of the show, I feel like you are all friends of mine that I desparately don’t want to let down.  I have no intention of doing that.

So, as I said, no “indefinte hiatus” for us.  There will, however, be a “definite” hiatus.  Meaning that we are going away from our regular show and the regular format until probably late July/Early August.  I start to see why TV shows have lengthy breaks between seasons.  It’s hard to keep creative content going without taking some time here and there to “recharge the batteries”, if you know what I mean.

Now, the good news.  Lonnie and I have talked about getting a little CORE playing done, and in particular, we have talked about recording the play sessions and putting them out on the feed.  So, while the regular podcast may be taking a little break, we plan on filling the gap with a few sessions of roleplaying that you all can listen to.  If listenening to other people roleplay isn’t your thing, then I understand, and I’ll see you in a month or so when the regular shows start back up again.  But if you are interested, I’d love to have you listen in on our adventures as we give a little demonstration of what the CORE system is all about.

And Lonnie, I hope this is all agreeable to you.  We spoke about this for a couple of minutes yesterday, and I took it upon myself to get on here and post this for you so that you, our listeners and friends, wouldn’t be left out in the dark about our plans.

So, to repeat…. Not podfading …no indefinite hiatus …we’re not going anywhere.  Frankly, I’d miss you guys too much.

Chuck Tinsley
Co-Host and Chupacabra Wrangler
Dragon’s Landing Podcast