This blog will be short compared to what I typically write and a day early for several reasons.

First, my father in law passed away at 3 PM Tuesday, August 5^th. We knew this was coming, as he had been quite sick and was not improving. We had hoped that we would have had a chance to see him one last time before he passed and had been preparing to leave when he finally passed.

My wife is understandably devastated because of this. I did not know him all that well, but it hurts to see my wife grieving as she is.

So as a result by this time tomorrow I will be about half-way to Tokyo and from there Manila. I am going to try and post my blogs every week as I have been now for since November 2013, but depending on how busy we are with the funeral preparations and all the niggling details that go along with that, I can’t honestly say if I will be able to keep up with it.

But I will be returning to Canada on September 12^th, so after that my blogs will return to normal.

It also stands to reason that I did not finish ‘Traders’ this week. I barely broke 3000 words. I had to leave on Tuesday and spent the past several days running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off getting things done.

And due to the fact that I have to take so much time off I will probably have to look for a new job when I return to Canada.

Ah joy.

Other personal news – I got reading glasses. I used to have serious issues with using the computer. My left eye would tear up and after using my computer for even as little as half an hour, I would have blurred vision after I was done.

Reading glasses changed that. I can literally see the difference and as such I can get back to using my computer more regularly and writing up the conversions will not be such a pain any more.

Speaking of which, I have two that I will be working on. One was suggested by a guy I have known for many years, Michael Richter. The other is from the Kim Harrison Hollow’s series.

Maybe I can get one or both written up before I hit the sack tonight. If not, I’ll see about writing both in flight or during my numerous stop-overs on the way to the Philippines.

While I am in the Philippines I will try to finish the two shorts and begin work on the sequel. That should not be an issue, as once the funeral is done we can relax.

Who knows – I might even be able to work on the Power Armor and Robot book that I have in the works. The two that I started working on during my last trip to the Philippines.

Speaking of work, I am also hoping (there I go, using that word again), to finish off several issues of Wisdom from the Wastelands while I am there. Most you already know about, but after playing a few mobile games, I have decided to work on another one.

This one is tentatively called ‘Game Changers’. The idea behind it is to borrow from several existing sources to create points that can be gained through play to be used to modify potential outcomes.

In Pathfinder they are known as Action Points. You get a +8 to your roll if you declare you are using it beforehand. If you decide to alter your roll after it has been made then you get a +4 instead.

There are also numerous variations to this theme and so I would like to dedicate an issue to covering these. But not just that, but also taking your action point (in this case I’m calling it game changer point) and rolling on a chart before say the beginning of combat. Your result will vary and you can only use once, but I see it giving bonuses to damage, maybe negatives to the opponents to hit roll, that sort of thing.

Just another issue of new material to make the Mutant Lord cringe and the player laugh. Or maybe the other way around depending on the Mutant Lord’s attitude.

I also managed to catch ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ on Monday before everything went into the crapper.

Yes, I loved it.

It was a perfect fun flick, simple as that. Not much in the way of plot, pretty simple and straight forward, but lots of action, some really funny lines and overall a perfect summer popcorn flick.

So go ahead, see it.

Also speaking of movies I will be heading out shortly to finally watch the latest Transformers: Age of Extinction movie. I have been trying to get to it for almost a month but things kept getting in the way. Here’s hoping it will be fun.

And that’s it. Hopefully I will be posting a new blog in a week but we shall see what life has in store for me.

Here we go again. As I do every week, I would like to invite my readers to like my personal Facebook page, and maybe follow me on Twitter.

Until next week(?) Peace.

Chris Van Deelen is the author of the Skirmisher Publishing LLC sourcebook Creatures of the Tropical Wastes sourcebook, co-author of its Wisdom from the Wastelands game supplement and contributor to the 'Sword of Kos: Hekaton' Anthology.