The Struggle

I don't really consider myself an artist though I do think I'm a pretty creative person (you will see below I did add some old drawings I did back in the college days in a sketch pad I found in a box recently - when I used to draw all the time) They have to be pretty close to the same though, no?

What most of you will probably find extremely funny is that I don't feel like I really accomplished a lot or what I wanted to on this break.

I felt like I was all over the place - the photos below (stuff I've been working on the last few days) kind of show that - and felt like I didn't hit that homerun like I did the last couple of years during the break with the wife and horses down south. I have two weeks left before everyone, both two legged and four legged, returns and then I go back to normal work schedule.

Last nights workbench

I read an article yesterday on how creative people are nonlinear, imaginative, and introspective. And the shadow side of those characteristics is that most creative people struggle with productivity, authority, and insecurity. It's like I alone was the case study for this article.

Thought it would be neat to get some retro Stark/Iron figures

Productivity - because creatives are often nonlinear, they tend to not be “process” people. Therefore, they don’t usually think in terms of cause-and-effect as much as they think in terms of raw potential. Possibilities. Dreams. Aspirations. These are the lifeblood of a creative.

The unfortunate result of this is that it is quite feasible for a creative to come up with a bunch of ideas that don’t connect to each other at all, causing you to spin your wheels without gaining any traction. This is me 100 times over - possibilities, endless possibilities all the time.  This really sums up my Jonny Quest campaign to a T, with absolutely no real direction.
It’s hard to be creative and productive.

Authority - most creatives struggle somewhat with submission to authority or with adhering to bureaucracy. Because they are imaginative and visionary, they can often see a better way of doing something, or simply a different way. This was me all day long at every job I've ever had, especially those corporate ones over the last 15+ years. If all the other managers in the district were turning right, me and my store, we were turning left. This one really hit home for me from a workplace standpoint - it was never really me being blatantly defiant, but more 'Umm, I don't care what the policy is, there's a much easier and smarter way to do that people, how do you not see that?'.

If the “powers that be” are not open to change or being questioned (and not all are), then a creative will most likely struggle in such an environment. Most creatives don’t make good soldiers.

Insecurity - most creatives struggle with insecurity at some point in their lives. Because they’re introspective and often sensitive, they are prone to identifying closely with their work. They tend to be their harshest critics. For me it's a constant, not an 'at some point'.

The Jonny Quest lost tomb pieces and parts

While this can be overcome through experience and maturity, the natural tendency of a creative is to be hard on themselves. At the same time, they may be somewhat defensive and not receptive to feedback. It’s hard for creatives to separate their identity from their activity.

Why share this? Well, it immediately made me feel like someone actually understood the struggle I have every time I walk up those steps to the studio or even back down them - and even way back in the day when I would stair at a blank sheet of paper.

I had my game and table I ran at Historicon published in Wargames Illustrated last year and all I could focus on looking at the pictures were 10 things right off the top of my head that I knew could have been done much better. Madness, right?

I can only imagine a lot of you are the same way - I see the creativity on every single blog I subscribe to. Especially being your own harshest critic - I never really feel it's good enough. Something could always have been done better.

As I mentioned, I'm about two weeks away from everyone returning home from South Carolina, as well as two weeks away from submitting a game to the PEL for Historicon in July. And as you can see by the photos I shared, I am all over the place again and not sure what I'm doing for Historicon. But one thing I can tell you is that I've got a ton of really great ideas!!!!!

Not really a turtles fan but thought they looked cool

Hey, look what else I bought.

Apologies for the off topic post, and we'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming as quickly as possible, but as it is right now... the struggle is real :)

As always, thanks for looking!

Ivor

Jonny Quest Pulp Alley - Clues In Cairo Chapter 2

When we last left the Quest gang it literally was mayhem at Musgrave Manor. Professor Musgrave and his wife have gone missing, presumed kidnapped. And the priceless ancient Egyptian artifact that the professor brought back from Cairo has gone missing as well. http://saturdaymornings13.blogspot.com/2017/02/jonny-quest-curse-of-anubis-chapter-1.html

Intelligence One has placed Dr. Benton Quest and Roger 'Race' Bannon on immediate duty to find the missing couple and stolen artifacts.

Chapter 2 - Clues In Cairo

The McLagan gang has just arrived in Cairo by rail and are on their way to meet with Dr. Kazim who will be able to translate further the hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus they have stolen from Musgrave Manor - this will give the location of a long lost tomb.

I rolled for initiative with the McLagan gang winning - and everyone made their way towards the truck waiting outside the train platform except the two followers. They attempted to move the sarcophagus towards the truck using the dolly.

Apparently neither realized exactly how much the sarcophagus weighed! They each had to pass a might challenge and in true Ivor form, I rolled two 1's!

And the health check? Let's roll each one separately, maybe that'll improve my luck. Yeah, not so much, another 1 - so for those of you scoring at home I started the game off by rolling three 1's in a row!?.

Unbelievable. Well, not really. I did pass on the second one :) but straight off one bad guy out with a broken foot.

The Quest gang started in a jeep and drove their way straight ahead with no problems. I did roll a challenge for Race to recognize McLagen as they passed the train station, which was a success. This had Race immediately hatch a daring plan.

McLagan won initiative again, and he immediately sent Amon Sighn back to get the sarcophagus on the dolly and on its way towards the truck. Now with way more muscle the sarcophagus was easily loaded on the dolly and pushed towards the truck. Zedlock jumps into the cab of the truck, as does the other baddie, and backs it up to the dock at the station. McLagan jumps into the back of the truck, and the sarcophagus gets loaded into the back after the challenge is successful - minor plot point completed.

Race's plan - I rolled a series of challenges as Race attempted to jump out of the jeep and Dr. Quest took over the driving duties as the jeep passed the fountain. Everyone succeeded, but the switch did make driving for Dr. Quest more difficult until he regained total control of the jeep as you'll see - I took one dice away on a challenge rolls.

Dr. Quest drew an immediate peril card and succeeds that challenge but one of my perilous areas also came into play with the camel caravan. Dr. Quest made an attempt to swerve out of the way and miss the animals, but this attempted failed and he blasted his way right through a market tent!

With fruit and cart debris flying everywhere the unfortunate victim was Bandit! He failed his health check and his recovery check. Knocked out by an orange right to the noggin!

Race jumped into the fountain to gain a bit of cover and takes a shot at the front tire of the truck and succeeds. This makes the truck harder to turn and it doesn't travel it's normal full distance anymore.

Jonny jumps out of the jeep and makes his way towards their contact, and succeeds in finding out that the next clue is 'Dak' Osbourne back at the Blue Parrot Market. Minor plot point to the Quest league.

The truck drives forward but the damaged tire doesn't take them ahead far enough; it takes them just out of line of sight for any attempts to shoot at Race out of the back. An attempt can be made if a baddie leans out holding the top of the truck, so a challenge card was drawn.

It's a failed attempt and the goon falls out of the truck - the truck must have hit a rock or hole and bounced him right off! A health and recovery check was failed too.

Sighn jumps out of the moving truck successfully though with a "Free Pass" challenge.

The Quests won the initiative to start this turn and saw Race play the 'Foul Play' card hoping that Sighn would fail another challenge, which he did not. Race then ran straight ahead into hand to hand combat with Sighn.

Dr. Quest backs the jeep up and starts to head back across to the Blue Parrot.

Sighn and Race battle in hand to hand combat, with Race taking two hits but passing his health checks. Meanwhile the truck drives ahead to Dr. Kazim's office but passes through the perilous area with the patrolling police. An 'All Clear' challenge gets the bad guys out of any possible trouble and McLagan get the sarcophagus out of the back of the truck.

Next saw McLagan win the initiative and he immediately made his way up to Kazim's office, passing his challenge to get it upstairs. Sighn and Race continue their slugfest in the street - not choosing to match dice this time each take two hits, with each failing one of the two health checks.

Meanwhile, Dr. Quest slams on the gas pedal heading directly towards Race and Sighn, much to the dismay of Jonny and Hadji!

A finesse challenge was made by Sighn to jump out of the way, while Race pulled a Hollywood move by succeeding in jumping onto the back of the jeep with the 'Move Along' card!

Dr. Quest pulled the jeep up to the Blue Parrot and Race headed in to find 'Dak' Osbourne. He just barely passes the challenge with a 10, 4, and a 1, but the Quests now have the location of the lost tomb! Minor plot point achieved. Hadji finally gets in the game and also runs in to get information from Osbourne - a bit of "Sim Sim Salabim" and Hadji now has the location of the missing Stark technology. Three plot points to one in favor of the Quests.

Meanwhile in Kazim's office, McLagan passes his challenge and now he too knows the location of the lost tomb! Minor plot point achieved. Our bad guys exit the truck and begin shooting at the Quest jeep - the first shot misses, but a second shot hits Benton in the arm after failing to dodge and a failed health check knocks him out of the game.

Sighn runs forward and throws his sword at Jonny but Jonny is too quick and jumps out of the way.

Race runs to the edge of the balcony and passing the perilous challenge jumps down onto Sighn! He fails his dodge attempts and takes two hits and fails both health checks and is knocked out.

Hadji yells down to Jonny and tells him that the Stark technology is hidden in the small building next door. While running towards the building the wandering police officer attempts to stop Jonny, but a mysterious person inside the red car shoots a laser stun gun out the window freezing the police officer in his place. Who could this have been?

Jonny continues running using the 'Jonny Slide' and a sprint card to get him well inside the building.

With the last plot point so close I decided to roll on a D20 to see if we would go one more turn and give Jonny a shot at the final plot point. I gave a 25% chance so a roll of 16+ would do it, and remarkably a 19 came up!

The youngest Quest grabs the final plot point by passing his cunning challenge with three successes.

And what does Jonny find inside those boxes?

It can't be... but it looks like it's Howard Stark's notebooks and formulas for a particle accelerator!?  The same technology that was used in The Manhattan Project?! What in the world could this possibly mean?

Stay tuned for Chapter 3 Into The Desert.

As always, thanks for looking!
Ivor