Pat: I know you're reading this.

My buddy Pat does a better job than me when it comes to navigating the vasty array of d20 products on the market. I try to follow some of the things going on in the indie rpg scene, but that's about a zillionth of the size of the d20 world. Heck, Mongoose alone might release more products in an average year than the entirety of the Forge regulars. (Not that the Forge is the entire indie scene. That's something that can be easily forgotten.) So anyway, I usually let Pat be my point man for what the crap is going down in d20sville. In this capacity he comes up with all sorts of interesting stuff that look interesting to play. But as of yet we make very little use of it in terms of actual play. Partly this is because we are both naturally lazy DMs. I admit it and I know Pat's ego is tough enough to endure me acknowledging that fact in this vaguely public space. Why do you think I'm currently running a campaign that does little more than rip off an old Gangbusters adventure? I'll tell you why: sheer laziness. That's also the reason why my Six Islands campaign blog remains un-updated. Making a new campaign world requires that one actually expend effort.

But at least I'm trying over here. My next project (pimp pimp pimp) doesn't come with a prewritten script swiped from some musty old TSR product. My Catch Me When You Can Jack the Ripper game is requiring serious effin' research to pull off in a manner that I find satisfactory. And running World of Synnibarr at all will take some serious brain-muscles. I may be a Synnibarr apologist, but that system is like Hackmaster minus the clear writing and logical rules. But enough talk about my and my current irons in the fire. Pat clearly has the talent to run a kickass game and he has the resources to put together all sorts of crazy ass d20 stuff. He just needs to effin' do it.

Personally, I think Pat should combine d20 Adventure! with OGL Steampunk and "Greyhawk 2099" (or whatever that Polyhedron article was called) to produce two-fisted pulp-action steampunk Greyhawk Victoriana. Spring-heeled Jack loose on the streets of the Free City. Zeppelins over the Pomarj. That sort of thing. But then, between Mob War and Catch Me When You Can, I'm on a bit of a historical kick lately. I can't tell Pat what kind of game to work on anyway. Nor should I. Each GM has to make their own way in these things. I'm a big believer in polling player interest, but in the end the person buying the book and doing the pre-game prep has to be the one making the call. So I guess the main point of this post is simply to urge Pat to pick a project (not easy, as anyone who reads this blog can attest) and get cracking on it. I speak from hard-learned experience when I say that twenty unfinished projects don't amount to jack when compared to one session of actual play.