Starting the New Year off on the right foot!

So, another year has passed... 2013 saw a single post here from yours truly, and many gaming things I was expecting to see realised didn't materialise instead. Does this mean it was a slow year, or an unproductive one? Well, quite the contrary! It was a very busy year, too busy to say the least…

I won't dwell on the details, as several are unpleasant ones. Suffice to say that I avoided an economical disaster by mere inches (scary!), but that same potential disaster has left me in a position to start 2014 with the turbo on (exciting!). What lies ahead: extensive house renovations (scary! And boring!) and lots of games (exciting again!)…

A few examples: Venetia arrived just in time to be considered a 2013 release, but it's reaching most shops only as I write - this is my new strategy game in a big box, filled with historical goodness and an average complexity, plus gorgeous graphics from Matteo Alemanno. The Battle of Five Armies production is in its final stages, so I expect this to arrive sometime around mid-year - think War of the Ring applied to the epic conclusion of The Hobbit. The Darkening of Mirkwood campaign book for The One Ring is awaiting the final green light to be sent out - with this book you get to determine what will happen to Wilderland along thirty years. And last but not least, Hobbit Tales is finally coming…

But I'll tell you all about this with a full photo report soon. So, please stay tuned!

Photo courtesy of Federico Zomero

A Small Hobbitish Intermission

...how did I like The Hobbit movie? I keep asking this question to myself these days. I have no clear answer yet. My opinions on movies tend to change a lot over the course of time, so I should probably wait a bit more. Right now I can say I enjoyed very much half of it the first time I saw it (I was hoping it could become some sort of a musical with all the songs!) and was a bit bored during the entire second viewing a couple of weeks later. But I know I need to see it again, this time in regular 2D to avoid any distraction and possibly enhance immersion (the first two views were in HFR 3D, not something I really look forward to experience again soon - not that it was bad per se, but the second time around it felt... unnecessary).

But, but... let's see if I can clear my mind a bit. This can get ranty...

I am becoming more and more convinced of one thing: I fear the movie didn't really have something in it that could really capture me. The Hobbit book has been with me for more than thirty years now; my itch to see Tolkien in theaters has been scratched thoroughly by the Lotr trilogy; at 45 years of age there are some things I appreciate in a movie, like intelligent dialogue (the movie had some, mainly Bilbo, but...), a script that is well balanced (the movie seemed handled by different directors in its first and second part), I like action scenes that drive the narrative (not self-contained 'action chapters'), I like deep and direct cultural references in my fantasy (yes, I missed some Nordic-style dwarves, especially for their weapons and gear, to me it seemed out of a D&D live action game)... I like a soundtrack that helps to create a mood (not one that seems only to reinforce a 'musical brand')...

Oh well, I warned you it could become a rant! I really need to see The Hobbit once again soon. For the moment, I think that to raise my old man spirits I'll turn on the DVD reader and go see the scene when young Arthur gets knighted by Uriens, knee-deep in the water, before the walls of Cameliard - it still brings a tear to my eyes every time...

The Shape of Things to Come, Part I

Well, here we are, on the brink of 2012, a busy year, an exciting year, a frightening year. Truly a year of crises! Among the many things to be worried about, luckily a few good things happened - especially as far as my game design activity is concerned.

For example, 2012 saw the return of our beloved War of the Ring strategy game, now published by Ares Games in its second edition, and the basic game was soon reinforced by its first expansion, Lords of Middle-earth, a neat box I particulary like, as I even got to design some of the plastic miniatures it contains. Then, the publishing line for The One Ring rpg saw the release of Tales of Wilderland and the Lake-town sourcebook and Loremaster's Screen, two fundamental supplements that have firmly established the foundations of the game.

But most of the things that I worked on in 2012 are going to appear in 2013 (barring delays), so let's have a look at what the future holds (at least at what I can write about!) - and let's do it using an optimistical lens!

The One Ring in 2013 will first see the release of the books I have been wanting to see since the release of the game: The Heart of the Wild and The Darkening of Mirkwood sourcebooks. Both penned by Gareth Hanrahan (with a little help from yours truly), the two titles show how the game can be used to create a saga set in Wilderland that is really worthy of the appendixes to The Lord of the Rings. The first is basically a geographical guide to Wilderland, filled with information about the places and inhabitants of the region, while the second is a historical sourcebook, detailing events great and small that will affect the same area for a span of thirty years (!).

But the beauty of the two books for me does not come from their density or completeness, but from their main writer's ingenuity: Gareth has really charmed me with his capability to weave original material with the writings of Tolkien, and he has given birth to a colourful vista of a land that may seem sparsely inhabited at first glance, but that is shaken by ancient conflicts and animated by interesting personalities - bottom line: Wilderland is not just filled with Goblins, Wargs and Spiders! :)

Back to the new War of the Ring line of games, here comes The Battle of Five Armies. Recently announced by Ares Games, this self-contained strategy game is based upon our Battles of the Third Age rules, previously released by Nexus as an expansion to WotR, but the rules have been changed and streamlined to make the game faster and to portray faithfully the epic conclusion to The Hobbit - where our Rohan and Gondor games simulated larger conflicts, The Battle of Five Armies is just that - a big battle, where individual characters and their  deeds can do much to affect the course of the game.

We had a lot of fun designing the new rules, as the characters of Bolg, Beorn, Bilbo, Bard (The Battle of Four Bs?), Gandalf, Thranduil and Dain all offered many suggestions about how to model their capabilities. Bilbo can use the Ring! Gandalf throws bolts of magic! Bolg's bodyguard is nasty! And don't forget the Eagles and giant Bats...

Last but not least, we arrive to the project me and Marco Maggi have been busy with for most of the year - a brand new strategy game that we designed from top to bottom, and that we shaped also graphically handling its art direction: Venetia! But it will be 2013 in a few hours, and I must leave the details on that for Part II.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Francesco

The One Ring "Living Rules": Journeys revised II

Hi all! Following a fruitful discussion over at the Cubicle 7 forums for The One Ring, I revised my alternate rules for journeys. As I explained before, these modified rules are aimed to reduce the number of required rolls, at the same time preserving (or enhancing!) the mood and objective of the original mechanics.

For those that read the previous version, know that, following the suggestions of players, I made all Fatigue increases be applied immediately (and not at the end of a journey). Additionally, companions now do not necessarily see their Fatigue increase at the same pace, as they are sometimes required to make individual Travel rolls.

All in all, a good result, that preserves the goals I set for myself when I approached the variant.

One thing: the writing is rather 'terse', meaning that I didn't make any attempt at adding flavour to the rules as written - it was already difficult to make everything clear (not sure I succede, you tell me). So, I didn't specify what the challenges that target a single travelling role or all companions are meant to represent. You are of course invited to suggest what kind of trouble is represented by a challenge requiring the Guide to intervene, or the Scouts of the company, etc. Luckily, the books are filled with vivid examples...

Journeys Rules Revision II (JRR II!) - removed!

Edit for the 28th of August

Time for JRR III already! This time including ponies! This new version is the result of the discussions over at the Cubicle 7 forums, and of my own ponderations with the help of Southron chieftain Amado Angulo. All I have written above stands, so click on the link at see how it came up. 

Many thanks to everyone who gave his comments on the subject matter, here and over at the Cubicle 7 web site. I hope this is going to be the final version, at least for a little while... :)

Journey Rules Revision III
(link removed, as I am pretty happy with the new Revised rules for TOR! :)

The One Ring "Living Rules": Preliminary Rolls

Here I am again ("So soon? What's going on?"). Does someone remember the discussion over at the Cubicle 7 forums about my 'revised journey rules'? Well, something interesting came out about unifying the mechanics that let player gain some advantages during the three main 'heroic ventures' of the game - journeys, combat and encounters.

Well, here's my first stab at simplifying those procedures, as suggested in particular by user Undeadtrout - basically, to treat the 'Planning ahead' of journeys, 'Combat advantages' and opening phase of encounters in the same way. The changes do not produce exactly the same results of the original rules (especially as far as journeys are concerned), but certainly streamline the design and are easier to remember. But see the linked .pdf to see what I mean.

Now, a disclaimer: again, this is not my attempt at 'officially' revising the rules of the game. These are just my 'house rules', devised to answer some of the criticism I see pop up here and there, or simply to answer my own gaming needs. These 'living rules' installments might eventually be taken into consideration for a future revision of the game, or just continue to exist only in your games (or mine). Use at your own risk! ;)

So, enjoy, and please let me know what you think.

TOR Preliminary Rolls Document

Thinking about TOR - Moderate Difficulty (TN 14)

One of the things that strikes me as most odd when I see someone play The One Ring as the Loremaster (the GM), is how frequently the recommendations I put in the rulebook about not changing the difficulty level (Target Number) of an action are ignored. It seems coded into the procedures of many gamemasters to consider closely every occurrence requiring a die roll, to evaluate it in terms of how ‘objectively’ difficult a task should be (“this wall is very high”, “this door is very sturdy”, etc.)

Now, I understand perfectly where this line of ‘simulative’ reasoning comes from, and I am not really interested in debating the amount of power this way of playing gives to the Loremaster, as many people went that way before. What I am interested about is to weigh the pros and cons of such behaviour in terms of practical play, as it is part of the everyday business of playing The One Ring. Of course, my aim is to demonstrate that you should really just stick to TN 14 for the vast majority of times! But you are free to try and prove me wrong. ;)

To change or not to change the TN - that is the question

Greg Stolze’s ‘How to Run Roleplaying Games’ (found here) highlights some of the factors GM’s consider when deciding how challenging a task should be. The reason I find to be the less interesting is: How difficult is a task within the game setting? Unfortunately, in my experience it is also the most popular one.

Now, is it really important to consider how something is ‘difficult according to the logic of the setting’? And especially, is it so important that you feel like considering it every time someone picks up the dice? Should you really care about how ‘objectively’ difficult it must be to move that pile of rocks blocking the entrance of the cave? Maybe this might be interesting if the heroes are hard pressed by pursuers, but under less dramatic circumstances it is hardly so. So, why not go for a simple TN 14 roll?

You might ask why roll at all in those cases. Of course you have a point, but there’s a reason to, the main reason why you roll dice in the first place if you ask me - and that is to highlight the differences in competence between player-characters. If there’s heavy lifting involved, let the big guy do it; if what you need is persuasion, let the silver-tongued guy handle it. Etcetera etcetera. 

But to achieve all the above it is not necessary to change the difficulty of an action - more proficient heroes will have better chances to succeed than less proficient ones anyway, and they will be easily getting higher levels of success. Defaulting most rolls to TN 14 doesn’t mean you are making it too easy for your players. TN 14 is a ‘moderate’ challenge, meaning that you have 3 chances out of 10 to fail even rolling 3 Success dice. 

And what do you get in return for not minding about how ‘objectively difficult’ is a task? Faster gameplay. If 90% of the times a roll will be vs TN 14, everyone at the table will quickly develop the ability to ‘eyeball’ a die roll, and rapidly assess if they made it or not. Change the TN often, and you’ll hear the same question over and over again: “How difficult is the roll?” Small ‘speedbumps’ placed along the course of play, but ‘speedbumbs’ nonetheless.

Next time: if you really want to change the TN of an action, at least give something in return (or, tweaking how you gain Advancement points).

'Interesting times', as they say... !

April, then the last day of June! Wow, time presses on... I won't bore you again with the details about why it takes me so long to post here, suffice it to say that I have been rather busy - luckily! As the economical juncture gently squeezes life out of most of the endeavors I am involved with, at least I can say I tried to do something about it.

But always look at the bright side of life! Here I have a couple of things to share... one is a snapshot of a game that I am developing that will probably tell something only to the most hardcore Tolkien (or WotR...) fanatics - but that I won't reveal right now, to leave whoever is interested a chance to guess...

Another is a document presenting a small tweak to the journey rules of The One Ring rpg that I came up with some time ago, when a few comments about the amount of dice-rolling involved with journeying started to pop up around the web. I am pretty happy about how this revised mechanic speeds up play, in my opinion making the whole process more fun and flavourful at the same time - also, it makes it more of a 'group effort', something that in a game about fellowships is never a bad thing!
If any of you wants to try the mechanics, just replace the appropriate step in the journey process, as specified in the document I prepared for you guys - let me know if you like it! It might end up being published somewhere sooner or later...

TOR Journey resolution revised (link removed! See the post for the 23rd of August)

And now for the final bit of happy news (at least for me): thanks to a very nice Norwegian friend who is going to let us stay in their house, I'll be heading to Oslo next week with my family. Fjords! Viking ships! Stave churches! Draugr! Naglfar! Well, maybe not the last couple ones... :)

Cheers!

Back from the Apocalypse!

I am back in Venice, after the six-days trip to Edinburgh for Conpulsion 2012! I had a fantastic time, thanks to the marvellous people I met there. Gregor Hutton, Phil Harris, Cat Tobin and their friends made sure I enjoyed the visit, caring for me and showing me around Edinburgh. Particular thanks go to Gregor, who made sure my luggage was packed with games, books and t-shirts on the return trip, and among other things has made me want to write an indie style rpg... I actually started on the plane! ;)

Also, many thanks go to all the green and blue shirts I saw every day at the con working to make sure everything was going well - the end result has been amazing, to everyone who attended the various seminars I was in, and my fellow players in the TOR game conducted by Gar - Liam, Steven, Gecko, Jo, Charles, and the other guy I couldn't grasp the name, sorry! I enjoyed myself a lot playing with you! Finally, I have met a lot of really nice individuals, gamers and professionals, and I hope I'll meet them again. I chatted pleasantly at the pub with artists like Dave Allsop, Andrew Hepworth and Scott Neill (Scotty?), and kindred spirits like Stuart Boon and Georgios Panagiotidis (aka Jo) to name a few.

The convention has also given me the chance to meet for the first time most of the people who work with me on The One Ring: I got to meet our fundamental pillars - Jon Hodgson (plus his lovely wife Nina) and Paul Bourne, and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, whose talent is turning into reality a number of books I could only wish one day would exist. Dominic McDowall was there with us too, and we even put together a twenty minutes business meeting at a local Starbucks! New things coming up for all TOR fans...

From the left: Gareth Hanrahan, Cat Tobin, Phil Harris, Gregor Hutton and Paul Bourne posing on the Antonine Wall.

...expanding boundaries

Now, why no two cartographers can simply agree? :)

Now look at that...

The picture above comes from Jan Pospíšil's blog found here. It was brought to my attention by TOR's very own Jon Hodgson, who unsurprisingly enough seems to feel a strong artistic bond with Jan (also known as Merlkir).

I was familiar with Jan's previous work, but something about this one strikes me as so just right. So, I wonder, is there anyone who like Jon wants to see more Middle-earth stuff from this talented czech artist? I certainly do.

Inner workings

When you design a game and go to great lengths to do something, you are bound to ask yourself whether anyone will ever appreciate the effort, or even be aware of the effort itself! So, when I read something like what Brian writes in his blog about TOR's skill points distribution among the various cultures of Wilderland, I see that all the hours I poured in them weren't really spent in vain...

TOR's cultural skills

Brian's commentary makes for an insightful read, one that could be profitable for anyone about to create a character for The One Ring. And surprisingly enough, I agree with most of his conclusions. Which is something, considering that Tolkien readers find reasons to disagree very easily on matters concerning Middle-earth! :)

Latest news

Well, well, it seems all too likely that next April I will be flying to Edinburgh to attend Conpulsion 2012! I am very happy that this is happening, and I wish to thank Gregor Hutton for inviting me (I am sure there will be more people to thank, but I will be more thorough when the thing will be official).

I am really excited at the prospect of visiting Edinburgh, as I have never been to Scotland before, and it's fantastic to have the chance to go there thanks to a game. I'll get to see somewhere new, I'll get to meet many friends I only met through the internet so far (see you there, Jon! Is Paul going to be there too?) and I'll get to see some of the gamers that basically made this thing happen. Can't really wait for this...

Alright, enough for something that is yet to be confirmed. I'll better go back under my little rock, to work on those things we planned for 2012 that should soon be made public... ;)

Thinking out loud...

A month has passed since my last blog entry. Way too long, considering my initial intentions. I can identify several causes for the delay, in particular the fact that I have been busy going to conventions and promoting the publication of The One Ring rpg. Essen Spiel in Germany and Lucca Comics and Games in Italy have been very exciting, but also time-consuming and energy-draining.
Lucca wrapped almost a month ago, you say? Well, it's true, but when I got back I was tired, and in no time I got sucked into a frenzy of deadlines and urgent projects that really have plunged me in a kind of perpetual twilight, where I enter my studio in the morning and resurface only when it's dark already. It's probably an experience shared by many western-world workers, and it's certainly not the worst...
Especially for one reason: I am basically doing something I like. I read and reference books, I look at pictures, I write and I play and I rewrite what I wrote, I discuss and brainstorm and argue with fellow game designers. In time I see something take form, and eventually be physically created. Every time it happens I marvel at the beauty of having played a part in the birth of that something, a new set of dice, a boxed game, miniatures, pieces of artwork that I didn't draw myself but that recreate something I described...

Prototype Feat die and final one compared

My map of Wilderland, after my daughter Anita

started using it as a pirate treasure map...

Someone might argue that I am not making a lot of money out of what I do (and I know some of those someones...!); especially since it seems I reinvest a lot of that money into books and games that someone else designed! But wouldn't I do that anyway, as any self-respecting gamer out there? I think so. 

So, no, I am not complaining, just thinking out loud. And it's very easy to feel comforted in my persuasion: all I need is to take a look around the studio here, and see all the prototypes of maps, and dice and counters I have lying around in heaps, or laid out on the table, and then look at the shelves where the final things sit, in all their production glory. Almost everyone I described my job to has commented what I do in the same way, even if with differing intentions: "You just never stopped playing games since you were a kid! Do you call that a job?" Well, yes, I do. But I do see what they mean... :)

But wasn't the Ring supposed to be One??

I just finished working on The One Ring basic set of books! Again!! Yes, as I wrote here before, I have been working on L'Unico Anello for Giochi Uniti, 336 pages of rules and background in Italian. And finally it is over... It's been exhausting, but it seems we did it! Many thanks again go to Marco Crosa who translated it, to Amado Angulo who spent some sleepless nights checking for errors (I don't feel sorry though, he doesn't sleep anyway...) and to Marco Maggi, who made the final editing pass. Judging from the pictures taken by Federico Burchianti of Giochi Uniti who received the galley proofs it will look as magnificent as the original version from Cubicle 7/Sophisticated Games. The cherry on top is that we had the chance to include the handful of errata that were found in the English-language edition so far. So, a big thank you goes to all The One Ring early fans out there!

It's a good feeling... now I am free to pack up my things and fly to Essen, Germany, for Spiel 2011, the biggest gaming convention in the known world: I cant' wait to see what our friends at Uhrwerk have done with Der Eine Ring...  wait! Yet another ring?

Eight is Company!

Last month I took a big decision as far as my gaming life is concerned... I gave up the hope of reviving my old playing group of buddies and I started looking for fresh blood. The reasons are manifold, but the main one is probably that I was tired of running after my old friends to get some gaming going.
They are good friends, and they are dear to me, but our gaming activity got worse and worse in recent years, and I have a nagging suspicion that on top of the usual trouble everyone experiences growing up - or rather, growing old... - my friends had some trouble dealing with my gaming having something to do with work. I can understand that - to a degree, but I can't do anything about it: I am a game designer, and I need to play games, many games, my games and everybody's elses games too. It's indeed part of my job, but I don't think it would go any differently if I wasn't designing games. I have always been interested in experimenting, and my taste for diversity has always clashed somewhat with the intention of my friends to play just a handful of titles.
So, to make a long story short, I dropped a couple of casual remarks with an acquaintance of mine who I once played a game of War of the Ring with: he is the owner of a Pizzeria, and in that occasion we played the game inside his place. Well, it didn't take much convincing, and in just a few days we agreed to meet again inside his restaurant with a bunch of his friends. And that was last night; when I got to the place at the appointed hour, with my copy of The One Ring in my bag, I was met by no less than seven people! Filippo, that's the name of the owner of the pizzeria, got together a bunch of friends, including his girlfriend Francesca, his sister Elisa, Elisa's boyfriend Tomaso (yep, one M, weird for an Italian), his friend Jacopo and partner Christiane, and a common acquaintance, Federico, a fellow Aikido practitioner!
You know, I am used to play rpgs with kind of smallish groups, three, maybe four guys, so I was pretty sure we were heading for some chaos... I was happily disappointed, as we spent a delightful evening getting to know each other and creating the company of characters for a new The One Ring game. Almost everyone in the group was new to role-playing games (!), and some was even green to gaming in general (!!), but everyone was enthusiastic and eager to start, and so it was relaxing and felt nothing like work... yes, for I must confess that I worked a little bit, playtesting some more of the new Men of the Lake alternative culture for TOR, a type of character two out of seven players picked up without any prodding from my part - probably because everyone found them somewhat similar to ancient Venitians!
So, that was it. New group, new gaming life. Next time we meet, it will probably be to start playing (playtesting?) one of the adventures out of Tales of Wilderland - it will depend on where in the area they will decide to debut their adventuring career. A breath of fresh air!

Collateral benefits

One of my goals behind the decision to write a blog was to relax a bit, to be relieved of the stress of a period where all I am doing all day is work... but in a period of such frentic activity it is very easy to just end up commenting what you are working on. For example, one of the my more time-consuming current endeavours is following the Italian edition of The One Ring rpg, due out by the end of October.
This is quite a funny story... I originally wrote the game in English, but I didn't get to translate it in Italian. In fact, I was very happy to hand out the job to Marco Crosa, one of the best out there, who has been working on Lord of the Rings games since another age of the world. He has done an excellent job, and reading my own words in a different language has been enchanting. His translation has been edited by Amado Angulo, a polyglot Mexican you might know from page 102 of the Loremaster's Book (and whose Distinctive features include 'Keen-eyed' and 'Trusty'), and then finally revised by yours truly. I am also doing the layout work for the books, and today I finished composing the character sheet. Since I was at it, I decided I might try to tweak its layout (by Paul Bourne) a bit, to fix one problem it had: the lack of space to record a character's Cultural Weapon Skill, if he has one (not Paul's fault, but mine!). And to be fair with our English-speaking fans I thought I might do a version in English too...

So, here is a link to a .pdf for my revised version of the character sheet. I'll post a link at Cubicle 7 forums too, so if anyone has any suggestions I'll be happy to read about those there.

TOR character sheet revised

A good read for The One Ring Loremasters

One of the things I will eventually blog about here is my The One Ring game. TOR is a tabletop role-playing game set in Middle-earth, the most famous literary creation of J.R.R. Tolkien, a legendary land known especially through his two masterpieces, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (hopefully I will return later to make amends for such a terrible summary!). The One Ring (a two-books plus maps slipcase) is making its way to game stores in the U.S. and Europe, and deals primarily with the region called Wilderland...

The One Ring at Cubicle 7

Now, writing a rpg is a taxing endeavour, and writing one about such a beloved literary work may be daunting. It took me more that three years, and I used every source I could to provide players with a playable environment. Among my many sources, direct and indirect, I found the writings of Michael Martinez to rank amongst the most insightful, provocative and entertaining. Michael is a true Tolkien enthusiast who combines his scholarly knowledge with a strong creative impulse. Over the years he has written many Tolkien-related essays, always succeeding in saying something interesting and fresh about the chosen subject. His work has certainly been useful to me, and I would have loved to have read the linked piece below before I wrapped up the rpg project, as it deals about one of my favourite ME topics: the unknown life and customs of the Woodmen of Mirkwood. Who has seen my game and read the chapters about Wilderland knows that there is a good deal of non-canon material in there, as Tolkien didn't give us too much to work upon. But he left us with many intriguing tidbits, details that can be connected to paint a wider picture. This is what Michael Martinez does in his piece 'Horror in the Woods', a must-read for every TOR Loremaster out there, ripe for the picking to set an adventure in the land of the Woodmen...

Horror in the Woods

Interesting places I have been this summer (1)

At the end of last August I finally took some days off, and once again headed for Puglia. It's my wife Beatrice's home region, so over time it has become a second home for me too (me and my wife Beatrice go back a long while together now...). It felt like I had my last holiday ages before (and it probably WAS ages before...) so we decided to do something we never did before, maybe also to show off a bit with our daughter Anita.
For starters, we booked a suite in a very nice (and usually expensive, we got it from booking.com) hotel in Lecce called Torre del Parco.
http://www.torredelparco.com/
'Torre' means tower, and the hotel is actually built in an structure dating back to the XV century... Anita was really excited at the idea of staying in a real castle, and the suite was everything we expected a suite in a castle tower to be: an extravagant place of luxury, with a four-poster bed, a large Jacuzzi-style bath (a small swimming pool as far as I am concerned), etc. ...

Anita was beside herself with excitement, and it was difficult to convince her that we actually had to leave the room to visit the city... luckily after much coaxing and bribing we succeeded, and spent some lovely hours in the city center: Lecce is one of the nicest towns in the south of Italy, with many archeological and architectural sights and places where to simply hang out and relax. When we finally headed to the hotel we were really happy at the prospect of resting under the vaulted ceiling of our unconventional suite... unfortunately, something went wrong - at least, for me...

I don't remember at what time it started, but that night I experienced the worst nightmare I had in years, possibly in my entire life. Just remembering it makes my skin crawl and look behind my back as I write. I don't remember the details, but it was me, Beatrice and Anita, we where walking together heading somewhere, and Anita lagged behind, so I was forced to stop once in a while and see what she was up to... and there she was, stopping on her tracks as I looked at her, and then suddenly moving very fast toward us, "The Ring"-like, when I was just turning my face away, so that only with the corner of my eye I could see her face twist into the most horrible demon-face, Linda Blair style! I was terrified, and slowly resurfaced from my sleep, only to enter in the worst half-sleep state I can remember, where I was conscious to be in the castle suite, but still capable to conceive that some terrible possession might have really occurred, and that my demon-daughter could be anywhere in the vast, silent and dark suite, as I curled in my bedsheets...

Needless to say, when I finally rose the next morning I didn't feel exactly that my money was well spent in the castle suite! Anita was as lovely as ever, but it took a while for me to dispel the scary images from my mind. I even spent some time considering to inquire about any possible hauntings in the hotel, but then concluded that it wasn't probably something the hotel staff might have been interested in discussing. I certainly didn't feel like talking about it at length yet. Writing about it now revived something of the thrill I felt (nothing even nearly pleasant...) but I felt it was worth recording somewhere!

Oh, why am I writing in English? Well, part of my job requires me to write, read and speak English, so I figured that blogging in English would help me with that. An additional stressful requirement I am enforcing on myself to get some discipline in my life...

There's a first time...

So here I am, talking (writing) to myself... a weak attempt at organising my work and time spent on the web. Will the effort needed to keep a blog reinforce my working output? We'll see... but I felt I had to try, I spend already so much time writing imaginary blogs in my head that I might as well write a real one. Will anyone read it? For the moment, that's not really the point. So. Let it begin. Press the orange button.