Ho, Ho, Ho.....Frugal Xmas 2023

In a previous life I worked retail management at Fred Meyer and I was (unfortunately) in charge of my store's Seasonal Department. From just before Thanksgiving until New Year's Day my 45 hour work-week turned into 65+ hours a week. The holiday bullshit, especially dealing with Christmas Trees (both fresh cut and artificial) really took it's toll on me and these days I'm largely "Eff Christmas". I'm not so much Ebenezer Scrooge or Grinch, but maybe more like Margo Chester....

......and now you're looking up who that is. It's ok, this can wait.....

Thing is, I do like gift-giving. Receiving not as much, but I am a single guy in my 5th decade of life.....one could argue that everyday is Christmas for me. I wouldn't, but some could....

What I normally do is buy stuff throughout the year and save said stuff to give on Christmas. That's more for close friends and family at best. I do make gifts for most of my friends and co-workers and at my workplace I'm pretty much the only one who gives gifts....which is internally humorous to me since I'm not a fan of Christmas.....yes, I'm cognizant that so much of my life is oxymoronic.

See, I love tinkering and usually have a large handful of projects that I'm ignoring in order to watch TV or play video games.....but I do have fun with the projects when I get around to them. Being as I am a single guy there's only so much my cats and I need, so a lot of projects produce a surplus.....which means if I play my cards right I can have fun with the tinkering and then I have stuff to give away as needed.

Seeing as Christmas is now just over a week away I have a few projects/gifts to finish up. I did, however, get on top of my Gaming gifts this year and I can share what I did this year since my local group has already gotten everything and the two...ok three people I missed in the initial mailing have their packages enroute....

This year I picked up a few mystery dice bags from the Mystery Dice Goblins and I had some custom notepads made up with my version of the OSE PC Sheet. I do wish I had upgraded the backing, but overall I'm happy with the notepads. For the record, this was an edited copy of an "Official" OSE sheet that I had made just for my use, but I was given permission to share/distribute as long as I actually attached my name to it (which I thought was weird, but ok). The notepad is 5x7 inches with 25 front & back printed PC sheets. While it is small, there's more than enough room to handwrite a new PC, unless you like to use a fat sharpie or china pen.

Now my group plays B/X, so these sheets work well, and now I have more than enough left over (bought enough in bulk to get enough of a price break to justify the expense) that the cats and I will not need to print a new sheet off for a while...

From Grinch to Giver(?)....It's THAT Time of Year

There's a few things I'd like to chat about today, but it's the first weekend in December and we generally have one particular day, towards the end of the month, that kind of dominates this time of year.

Yes, for the dense one at the back of the room I am actually talking about Christmas. What, the red & white cap in my pic didn't give that away?

Undoubtedly I have mentioned before that I spent a decade or so in retail and the majority of that was spent overseeing the seasonal section of a larger box store, which has kind of biased me against Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, I like Christmas and I enjoy the season, but so many things rub me the wrong way this time of year and I know it's all me. Please don't ask me to to assemble another fake Christmas tree as I've done enough for several lifetimes (the idea of "fluffing" an artificial tree makes the back of my hands itch....like it used to back in the day). Christmas cards....meh. I'd rather visit with friends and family than send a card and maybe a letter of what I've been up to. 

...and presents for the sake of buying presents for people....no thanks.

I'm at least self aware enough to know that I'm a bit....grinchy during Christmas and when kiddos are involved I can and will suck it up. While I am making note of my more negative feelings of the holidays, don't think for a second I don't participate. I do, just on my terms.

I do like giving gifts, I just loathe the obligation of gift-giving. I tend to get things year-round as I see them for friends and family. I may or may not hold off on giving them until Christmas, but with one exception (and not kids) I'm not going to feel bad if I didn't get someone I call friend or family a Christmas gift. I also don't feel the slightest bit unhappy if I don't receive anything from others this season. Like a few of us I'm a grown-ass adult with no children and grandchildren. Everyday is Christmas for me!

One thing I do this season though, is make gifts.....more for my friends and co-workers. I probably spend more than I should doing so and I don't leave any of my coworkers out, and this flies pretty much in the face of everything I've typed out so far. The thing is I really enjoy making gifts, probably much more than I should. I'm like 20% hoarder to begin with so the collecting of raw materials and tools required to make said gifts is sometimes a scavenger hunt that takes months. Often there is a fair amount of research involved, maybe some test runs and tweaks.....it's a freakin process!

My gaming group is definitely part of my extended family (sorry guys, that's how I roll) and they may or may not be in my recipient list.......last year Christmas came in May or June because my elf had dissemination issues....which are only being pointed out to make fun of him today (Hi Richard!). Last year I did something special for the group in addition to the "normal" gift I made which was a small collection of homemade bitters.

Now clearly I've been rambling on a bit, as I do, but if you're still with me and haven't said, "Screw this, Elf is playing on Netflix, or somewhere..." you might be hoping I'll come around to a point, which is....if you are the "normal" type you might want to get something for your fellow gamers. Again, for my home group, I really hope the previous paragraphs highlight how I'm 110% not needing anything, but for anyone/everyone else the thought of having to add a few more gifts to your Christmas shopping list might be a bit much, so maybe we can brainstorm this thing....and (obviously) I'm going to have some biases thrown in.

If I was feeling any pressure to get some gaming gifts my inclination would be to make something, so that's where I'll start. I like to double-dip somewhat so my initial recommendation would be to get some printed "books" from a small publisher. I'm d30 biased and the man behind New Big Dragon Games Unlimited is my home GM, so I'm suggesting heading over to Lulu.com and getting some of his materials. You can also do DriveThruRPG if you want to print it locally (a quick trip to FedEx Kinkos can work in a last-minute pitch). Now I'm a dice snob, so generally giving me dice (not that this is about giving me anything) isn't ideal, BUT I've recommended Monday Knight Adventures DCC compatible dice sets before. I gave out a few sets last summer and I used some in a game and I actually liked them. The D30s rolled well for me and after my "lost dice" scare this summer I'm totally using one of these as my relatively-expendable travel dice.

I'm also a big fan of Inkwell Ideas and Inked Adventures. Giving the gift of some mapping software or cool map dice from Inkwell Ideas or getting some of Billiam's (Inked Adventures) token or dungeon tiles is cool. As I'm thinking about it I'm seriously considering getting some IA dungeon tiles printed out, glued to some cheap Dollar General foam core, and then cut out as maybe a gift to myself........

I like the idea of getting some digital products, supporting those creators, and then using that to make some physical products as the gift. It does take a little more work, but it isn't that expensive (cash-wise) and I'm really burying the lead here.....at least for me this kind of creation is mentally and physically relaxing during what can otherwise be a stressful holiday. Can't get some normal games in and things are feeling a little hectic? Spend some time building terrain as a gift.....

You could take some of JV West's character sheets and printed them up as a small pad of PC sheets. If you have a decent enough printer you could print them to blank 4x6 index cards and then take some binder clips (to use as a vice) and some white/rubber glue to make a pad.....might even find a small tin/box at the dollar store that can hold a pencil and some dice (let them supply the dice.......) and you're good. Honestly I'd buy a package of gridded index cards for a buck or so and toss in a few so they could map if needed, but you do you....go nuts.

These are just some gaming related things......if your gaming group's waistlines can handle it a plate of cookies or fudge always works in a pinch. Yet, again just me.....I'd go off-book a bit and do something like some Hot Sauce Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies......

......now as a small gesture of goodwill and kind of a present to you for suffering my ramblings not just today, but all year......here's a cookbook I put together a few years ago of previous food gifts I've made over the years. I do recall adding a couple of different "family" recipes and I'm 110% that some of these came from other unattributed sources, but may or may not have been tweaked by me. At least one recipe is totally mine because it took me a good 10 years to get from the initial, somebody-else's recipe (actually a conglomeration of like three recipes) to mine. 

I'll have to update this cookbook 'cause this year I'm making my own concoction I'm calling Triple Fermented Mustard.

PS. IIRC the cookie recipe is on page 23.

The Time to Start is Now!

I'm going to post something probably a bit unpopular here, for readily apparent reasons, but bear with me: you should be starting to think about your gaming group and Christmas, like now.

I now, I know.....some of you are probably going, it isn't even fall yet! *SPOILER ALERT* It is! Fall started last week even though its still in so much of this country clearly Summer or Summer-ish.

Now I spent too many years in retail and I can tell you that even if you don't see it, odds are there are Christmas items in your local store. This week I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, Christmas ornaments on a wing panel at my local store. That's not a big deal as sometimes those go up as early as July, but seeing as October starts next week, a lot of stores are going to have Halloween stuff up (if they haven't already) and might have an "Early Christmas" section as well. Most of the larger chains will backfill in Halloween season items with Christmas stuff as they can, but this post isn't about retail, well not directly.

You may or may not realize that Christmas falls on a Saturday this year, which means at least one weekend is shot for gaming because most of you have families and such. That leaves three weekends in December before the big day, and even if you game every single weekend (lucky SOBs), you know damn well that you'll have at least one, if not seven, Christmas parties to attempt to attend between those three weekends. Work,, Church, neighborhood, clubs, etc......it will probably feel like everyone is vying for your otherwise prime gaming time in December.

When you couple this with all the other holiday shit you have to get done I'm just saying it is probably a good idea to write off December when it comes to gaming or getting together with your regular group. I know a lot of you will manage it anyway....but for planning purposes, best to assume otherwise.

Now if you want to get your fellow gamers anything for the holidays that means you're effectively down to two months. No problem if you just plan on buying some stuff off of Amazon or at a local store. Plenty of time to grab some dice or what you think is a good unpainted mini for their favorite character, but if you prefer to build vs. buy...well two months might not be a lot of time.

Clearly we're all different so I can only speak for myself on this, but I'm a grown-ass man with no kids and no local family. I make a decent enough wage. Pretty much everyday is Christmas so I'm 110% happy not getting Christmas gifts period, much less from my fellow gamers. I do enjoy a little bit of gift-giving though, but usually only if I make something. I really enjoy the creative process and Christmas is sometimes more an excuse to take on projects that don't make a lot of sense if it's just for me.

Anyway, I already have an idea for this year and two months might be a little tight, but we'll see. I've got my main idea for "everybody" which might translate well for my gaming group but I have some other ideas that...well again we'll see.

What kicked all this off was a quick side-stop to my local hobby store and I thought, "Hey, what if I make XXX for my group this year. Is this something they'd like?" I went to check on some supplies I'd normally make instead of purchase and found out that the store put out a whole bunch of stuff I could use on clearance for 75% off. I may or may not have bought out that entire store and driven the hour down to Wichita Falls to buy out the other store as well.......

Now in retrospect the idea I had won't be a good one for my group since we play virtually, but I can still use the supplies so anything I did pick up would be worth the expense.

My entire point is that Christmas is kind of around the corner and if, like me, you want to create gifts for your gaming group, you might not have nearly as much time as you think. Between planning, prepping, and creating, you have essentially two months, tops.

 

Gift-Giving Around the Gaming Table

 

Now that Chrismahanukwanzika is just a couple weeks away....and yes, I actually use this term, more ironically than anything (I like to offend everyone equally this time of year).....you might be wondering what to get for your gaming group this time of year.

I can try to make suggestions, but I don't know your group and your fellow players, so a) take these suggestions with a grain of salt and b) maybe take more go heart suggestions of not what to get.

1st off, the best thing I can recommend is something picked out special for your players. I know, this is a huge "Duh" things, but let me step it back a bit and specify that this special pick is NOT directly gaming related. This is an important distinction because grabbing some gaming gear can actually backfire a bit. If you've got a dice junkie in your group it makes sense to buy them some dice, right? Yeah....no. You buy some Chessex dice and then find out they prefer Gamescience dice. You get the Gamescience dice and no, they only want to use translucent purple ones. What about a cool mini of their PC? Yeah.....thanks, but no thanks...."that's not how I envision my PC" or "Great, another mini I need to paint." What I suggest as far as gaming-gear is more generic-type stuff. If you know they like to use a certain kind of pencil (I like to use .9mm metal engineer pencils, for example) or a certain type of notebook, that's the kind of thing that can make a good gift.

That's maybe a bit on the easy side. Stepping up your gift-giving a bit might be making or having made some custom gaming gear, like a dice-rolling-zone (DRZ) or a storage box. If you have access to quality leather/wood, and the appropriate tools/skills, go nuts. One year I was able to go to my local hobby store and purchase some inexpensive wooden boxes. Some sanding, staining, and sealing....then lining with stiff cut leather and I had some nice little storage boxes that could double as a DRZ. It wasn't a Christmas gift, but I was able to get a nice wooden storage box for a Scotch bottle (thanks to working in a Liquor Store) and make one of these for Mrs. Tenkar. I've seen great (and easy) dice bags made of leather and/or felt, custom coasters, and even some custom dice towers. Now if you don't have the resources, motivation, or inspiration to do this work yourself there is always the option of farming it out. Etsy is a good choice and I've seen one enterprising GM hire the services of a mini-painter to have PC minis (of the player's choice) painted up as a gift. If you want something customized though.....for the likes of Etsy it might be too late.

A 3rd idea, is one of those things I'm normally not a fan of giving in general: gift cards. Not just any gift cards, although if you've got a Starbucks snob in your group that could be an easy choice. No, I suggest you try to get a gift card/certificate to your Favorite Local Game Store (FLGS). This way you get to support a valuable resource for the gaming community and your recipient can get something they actually want/need....maybe a bit more on that later.

If, like me, you don't have a local group, but an online group.....getting a FLGS gift card/certificate might require some extra legwork, or you can get a virtual one from the likes of DriveThruRPG. You could also give a gift certificate to the likes of HeroForge (let them make their own mini).

In general, as I might have alluded to earlier, I would avoid gifts of special "stuff" that people tend to get picky/choosy about. The best I can do is suggest you think if you'd like a gift that was a little bit off from your preferred thing. I mentioned my specific pencil preference, but would I get worked up if I didn't get a 0.9 Pentel GraphicGear 500? No, but if I got a mini of my PC that I was expected to use at the table....probably. OK, I'm overblowing things by stating "worked up". This might be just me, but I'd avoid gifting food items/snacks as well, unless the recipient is known for liking something specific. If they're big Pocky fans and you can get some unusual flavors not normally available.....go for it. A generic plate of brownies like everyone else is getting....between holidays and COVID I don't need more food to shove in my face.

In the end though, this time of year is...or at least should be...more about the people in our lives and less about the stuff. A gift given is far less important than the shared experiences and time spent together at the table. People tend to undervalue what I truly think is the most valuable resource we have....the one thing we can never get back: the gift of time.

I hope you get more opportunities to share the gift of time around the gaming table not just this season, but for all of next year. Hopefully 2021 will be a much better year for gaming.

Guidebook to The City of Dolmvay (Print) Goes to...

I got back from NTRPG Con last week and I'm finally playing catch up. Phew!

Anyhow, here goes the first gift to be given out for the Post 5k / NTRPG Con Celebration - it's a print copy of Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay:

After appealing to the Random Gods (or is that Petty Gods?):

+Allan Bray

Congrats! I'll need your snail mail address. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing.

(I'll be awarding one or two gifts a day until we get through the backlog - and then more gifts to give away ;)

Did You Get Your Gift of Choice for the Holidays, Gaming or Otherwise?

My wife did awesome by me, and ordered me the Cooper's DIY Beer Brewing Kit Bundle (linked). I haven't home brewed since we were courting a few years back and I used to supply home brewed Cooper's Sparkling Ale on our "stay home" date nights. Nothing says "I love you" like home brewed beer. Now I have all new supplies (and enough supplies on hand to brew 4 different 5 gallon batches of beer. Woot! Beats that year my mom got me 8 different pairs of lounging around the house pants that were all 4" to long...

So, did you get what you REALLY wanted for Christmas? Not the shirts, ties, soap, etc. - something you were really jonesing for.

Tell us. I will pick the person that got most screwed out of what they want (or tells the most amusing story) to receive either a $20 RPGNow Credit or a $20 Amazon Gift Card (via email). Totally subjective on my part ;)

I can't give a gift to all my readers, but you might be the one that gets the gift.

Open to comments until sometime Friday afternoon, December 27th.