Zub Tales

Today’s my birthday. 48.

Things are good!

Stacy and I are still in Japan, at least for a few more days. The friends we were traveling with headed home Thursday so it’s just the two of us now. Getting back here at last has been wonderful, but I can definitely feel a difference deep in my bones. Exploring all day wipes us out faster than it used to. There have been several days where we’ve run around in the morning and early afternoon, literally had a midday nap back at our hotel, and then rallied for more social stuff in the evening. We’re not in our twenties anymore.

That said, tons of walking and great food has also been good for us, even if my feet are sore and muscles ache. As always, there’s so much to see and do.

For my birthday we braved the line at Mutekiya, a famous no reservation restaurant and one of my favorite food spots in Tokyo. Incredible ramen and then cocktails at a nearby pub with the love of my life. A fine start to 48.

I posted up a gallery of photos from The Ghibli Park in Nagoya on Facebook and Twitter and will have other galleries for the Super Mario World theme park, Design Festa 59 and other locations once I have time to filter through the hundreds of photos we’ve taken.

Alien Gods and the Hyborian Age

Jeff Shanks, the Robert E. Howard scholar who writes the amazing essays in the back of each issue of the monthly Conan comic, talks up a storm about the literary and spiritual references that helped build the Hyborian Age, plus lots of interesting background on pulp writing in the 1920s and ’30s.

The official Conan the Barbarian YouTube channel is doing a great job creating original material for fans to dig into.

Current + Upcoming Releases

• D&D Young Adventurer’s Guide: Artificers & Alchemy – released April 16th.
• Conan the Barbarian #10 – released April 24th.
• Savage Sword of Conan #2 – released May 1st.
• Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #0 – released May 4th.
• Conan the Barbarian #11 – releases May 22nd.
• Conan the Barbarian Vol.2: Thrice Marked For Death – TPB releases June 11th.
• Conan the Barbarian #12 – releases June 26th.

Upcoming Appearances

Links and Other Things

• Five years ago on my birthday, I played Minsc the Mighty alongside an all-star cast at Dungeons & Dragons Live: The Descent. It was a milestone in so many wondrous ways, near and dear to my heart. If you haven’t watched the old liveplay video, it’s still on the official D&D YouTube channel.

• I mentioned playtesting and enjoying Keith Baker‘s GLIM game a couple months ago and it’s now on Kickstarter, so check it out.

• My buddy Ian Moss has designed a new board game called EVERBLOOM also worth checking out.

• Veritasium‘s video all about game theory and the Prisoner’s Dilemma is well worth watching.

I hope the rest of your weekend is a blast!
Jim