Monday Musings #112 🤬

Musings on My Indolence.

Good Monday, Gamer!

Photo by Charlotte Cowell on Unsplash

"I like the word 'indolence.' It makes my laziness seem classy."
— Bernard Williams, Curious Rogue

---

The Lazy Week

I’ve been reclaiming my old basement office—a roomy space with great light that I abandoned during the pandemic for my daughter’s old room upstairs. My workflow’s suffered for it, so it feels good to rearrange, purge, and rediscover the forgotten relics I left down there. It’s got me rethinking how I want to work the space going forward.

Also started Gardens of the Moon this week. I had some Audible credits gathering dust, saw a few intriguing reviews, and spent them! I’ve enjoyed Glen Cook’s Dread Empire series, and this has that same gritty, layered feel.Oh, and I played bocce ball! There’s a local restaurant where you can bowl, eat, and play bocce. I hadn’t played in about a hundred years, but it was fun teaching the game to my folks.

---

Sunday Morning Knights

Sunday morning—coffee in hand, smile on stream—Judd, Thomas, and I played the third and final session of our Mythic Bastionland mini-series: The Key Knight Cycle.

Hex, the Key Knight, and Braak, the Dust Knight, wrestled with the Mythic Mountain itself in search of the Peacock Knight, hoping to bring her back into the fold. Both knights were loyal to the quest, but their approaches and interpretations clashed—until, through play and the Mountain’s trials, those differences found resolution.

It sounds corny, but it unfolded naturally. I’m here for that kind of emergent play.

When Hex finally found the Peacock Knight, she had already seen a vision of the Highlord’s foul actions resulting in the restless dead. So when the Peacock asked, “What do you want of me?” we were all caught off guard by Hex’s reply:

“Help me defeat the Highlord, the Cosmic Knight.”

The final battle with the Highlord was a showcase of how much Thomas and I had grown into the combat mechanics. With the help of the Black Huntsman, Hex and Braak bested and exiled the Highlord. Hex took the Highlord’s mantle until the end of the age, the fight literally costing her time off her mortal coil.

We closed the cycle with the Peacock Knight ruling the Southern Holding, the Pearl Knight (once Squire Tannet) as the new Highlord, and old man Braak serving as the Highlord’s Eye.

It was a longer streamed session—but it needed the time, and we had it, and time for some big game reflections.

I love how much this game delivers with just three stats (Clarity, Vigor, Spirit) plus Guard, Armor, and the wild, thematic Knight and Seer abilities. Icing on an already rich cake.

We’re already talking about another three-session arc—maybe with younger knights, maybe with the new young Highlord and an aged Braak. For now, we’re just enjoying the Sunday morning sweet spot.

Mythic Bastionland. Great sessions. Get this game—or better yet, get Judd to run it for you!

---

ICYMI

• Mythic Bastionland: The Key Knight Cycle – Watch the finale on YouTube

• Roll for Origin: Lowell and I tackle Underground… and all the hard stuff around it. Listen here

• 5 Years of Indie RPG – Lessons and insights with Thomas Manuel. Read here

---

Hit reply or drop a comment if you’re reading on Substack. I read them all.

Thanks for reading, thanks for playing, and thanks for supporting the strange stuff.

Catch ya next week!