I suspect that introductions are in order. Hi, I’m Boots. I am one of many people who find writing introductions incredibly difficult, mostly because I want to reference almost every single tired old pun that is in the “book”. I’m from Ontario, Canada and given that knowledge it is easy to presume that I spend the vast majority of my time at home buried under an incredible amount of ice and snow. When I get a chance to escape my hovel, I’m an avid board game nerd, miniature aficionado, and one who infrequently reads comic books.

I’ve been blogging for a couple years now, under this alias, though in the past my time has been spent behind a camera as opposed the keyboard. I do a fair bit of convention traveling; I have seen the steampunk mysteries of Templecon, the countless wonders of Gencon and the Hallowed Halls of PAX. I would love to call myself world-weary but that just makes me think of the Travel Network and I don’t believe I’d be a very good travel critic. I’d likely just end up writing reviews along the lines of: it’s too hot here, or not enough snow. Not exactly Outdoor Life Network material.

So now that the blog is running, my Boss (Monsieur Northblade.  I’M CANADIAN, so I can talk French) approached me about writing an article series.  My initial reaction was something along the lines of:  You mean managing the website, gathering the images, making sure the forums are up and running isn’t enough?  “Nope” was the only response that I got.  (Was there another response required?  Get back to writing, I want a follow-up to this post on my desk by Monday AM. – NB)  So that brings me here.

Disclaimer: He isn’t actually my Boss, I just like to call him that.  We’re actually working together on this Blog. He calls me Partner, I call him Boss.  It’s a Love/Hate relationship.  (In that he loves to hate me, and I hate to love him.  It’s complicated. – NB)

The initial concept for my series was to do a “Letter to the Editor”, however after further review that didn’t seem fitting for right now.  I know I’ve got a lot of friends (Something in the order of 100 on Facebook) but my guess is that those people wouldn’t be enthused enough about writing in about random nerd topics for me to make a fool out of myself with; I know I definitely wouldn’t.

So my Boss scratched that idea off the drawing board and we moved forward from there. After some research the next concept we came across was to write reviews on forms of entertainment. We both agreed (for once) that it was a great place to start. (Lies.  I liked my idea better. – NB)  I like to be entertained and people like to understand what they’re getting into before they purchase or invest.

“Okay.. So what do you want to write about?” my Boss inquired.

My response was almost telegraphed: “Heck if I know. Stuff? I like stuff”. If anyone has read any of my previous articles they have been more geared towards looking at the society of nerds and trying to glean from it some kind of anthropological insight. That’s BORING (If you’re actually interested in that I’d love to have a discussion, otherwise I’d direct you to the National Geographic channel).

“So you want all the topics given to you?” my Boss retorted.  (He left off my choice of adjectives and invectives. – NB)

EXACTLY! That’s exactly what I want. I want to be just like Mike Roe and the dude named Ed from the Barenaked Ladies.  I want to do, write about, review and partake of what people want to see. If you’ve ever seen, and liked, Dirty Jobs (it’s more for the act of getting right up in there as opposed to doing the really really gross things that you would never dream of doing, even though someone has too) this article series is for you. You want to try something out, but don’t want to spend the money on it, be it a board game or minis game? Want to try that Roleplaying System that everyone’s been talking about? Are you scared of what those LARPers are going to do to you at that Weekend Getaway? Whatever you want, I want to explore it on your behalf. Mostly because I’m incredibly lazy and wanting something more interesting to do than sitting outside watching the traffic beacon in the center of town flash because we’re not cool enough to have a traffic light.

So are you interested? Jeez, after this many words, I REALLY hope so.

I should probably go into how I’m going to do this.  My Boss has setup an email, requests@hobbyhysteria.com, and I’d like to handle submissions there. I’ll also accept Facebook messages and possibly Facebook posts from the Hobby Hysteria page. Though email is likely the easiest way to keep track of all of it, maybe we’ll even setup some kind of prize for the most interesting ideas that we post.

“What do you think Boss?

“THAT’S A GREAT IDEA!” he would say.  If he actually got back to me.  (How about “Who’s going to be paying for these prizes?”  EEK! – NB)

That all being said and done I now need things from you, the audience.  I need you to get the ball rolling, send me your questions, send me your requests.  FRIENDS!  ROMANS!!  COUNTRYMEN!!!  Lend me your idears.  I’m lucky to already be successful because I’ve got one topic waiting for me!  However I get the feeling that I’m going to need a few more.  So if you have something you’d be interested in knowing more about?  Drop me a line..  As was previously established,  I’ve got the time. (No you don’t, Monday is closer than you think! – NB)

Coming down the pipeline will be my exploration in the magnificent and malign macrocosm that manifests its marveling majesty as Malifaux!

– Boots