alrightIt has really helped fulfill those minimal social needs that I'm now in two separate weekly RPGs (GMing the Fireborn campaign and playing Sascha the White in Mike's D&D game). That's two nights a week set aside purely for social interaction. And it's been a good outlet for creativity, too, even if very little of that has reached my wider circle of friends (much less the public).
Which is why Obsidian Portal is a much bigger deal than I think I give it credit for. It's a site designed to help gaming groups chronicle their campaigns. And as I've patiently put the Fireborn group's deeds down to the page, it's helped me remember what an epic story we're weaving. A glance through our lovingly compiled gaming quotes gives a sense of that:
"If you kids don’t stop that behavior I am going to turn this cave around and go home!"
- Bax, joking around with the PCs shortly after they look out of Jaaros’ lair and realize that his mountain is moving
I assembled the campaign header image myself, too, with a few Creative Commons source images and a bunch of elbow grease. (And might I just add here that Seashore is the most fantastic free Mac art program I've ever found? In terms of interface and utility-per-MB, it kicks the crap out of The GIMP, and while it's missing a few useful features, it was more than sufficient to produce this.)
So, yes, I've kept myself busy, if quiet. As usual these days, I have a lot to talk about here, and the backlog itself presses in with the heavy weight of writer's block. Perhaps as a birthday present, the universe will grant me a little self-leniency and time in which to actually share the vast amounts of epic running through my life.