The late, great Jazz pianist and composer Duke Ellington always used to say, "Give me a deadline" to inspire him to work. I kind of guess it's the same with me, as our esteemed editor no doubt knows. Here it is, just shy of two weeks before Origins and I still have to:

• paint two fleets
• paint several astronauts
• make flight bases
• build at least three models for my NSDM game
• do some miscellaneous terrain work.

Most of it is simple and shouldn't take too long. Still, I somehow I feel I'll be at this in the wee small hours before Origins. Why do I, or better yet, do WE do this to ourselves? I mean think about it for a minute: Any of us who have signed up for Origins have know about this for HOW MANY MONTHS?! OK, yes, we have job, family, and other commitments and pressures to contend with. Still, you'd think somewhere in all that we could get most of what we needed taken care of long before we needed to worry about it.

No, some of us (I raise my hand) wait until April or May to start on our masterpieces. Why? I personally think it's for the challenge of seeing if we can make the deadline or not. Of course, that's very altruistic of me to say, considering that in my own case it's as much procrastination as it is any artificial need of a "challenge." Do we really need that pressure? No, but I think in the end that is all part of the fun of it, too. Will we make the deadline, or fail miserably and have to use "proxy" forces? Can we get that beautiful terrain done and packed before the show? Will we EVER get the notes and scenario written to our standard of "perfection" to keep the players riveted on the game? Can we pull the mission off?

Ninety percent of the time the answer is yes, perhaps 9% of the time it's "Well, I could have done it better if..." My guess is that in only about 1% or less of the cases it is NO. Who ultimately decides the success or failure of our games? The public, that's who. I've always gotten positive and helpful feedback from my players, and believe me, I DO APPRECIATE THIS, FOLKS. Thank you for it all, because, without it, I couldn't improve the way I run my games and how I teach the rules. I've yet to hear of any players really disliking any of my games. Frustrated, yes, and I apologize for the poor scenario setup in those cases. Those games became learning experiences for me and I will do better this time out.

What makes this all seem more compressed and tense is the number of events we have coming up. This will probably be hitting my mailbox around the time I get back from Origins. By that time another successful convention of gaming and fun will be closed. Next weekend I have two gaming events -- one at a friend's house in Hastings, the other at a Japanese Anime and Gaming convention in Grand Rapids running a debut of my NSDM space game. I'm also planning on running a Friday night version of one of my other naval games for Origins just to test out some ideas on deployment for Origins.

Then comes GenCon, which will be a treat. For the second year in a row, I'll be running the Historicals at GenCon program (HAG). Some of you will be going to Historicon (lucky devils), and I wish you loads of fun there. One of these days, I'll make it out there -- I swear it. Some of you may even have enough time to make MichiCon or Warparty in between Origins and GenCon, too. Then, in August there's Peninsular campaigns here in Michigan, then onto September and Advance the Colors! Hoo boy! What a convention season. I'll be glad when the leaves turn and the air turns crisp. I can then prepare to go into winter quarters and relax until next year, and then next round of great conventions. Until next time, Good Luck and Good Gaming!