David Chart's Blog

David Chart’s Blog

Latest News

  • Ars Magica Crowdfundings

    My first professional publication for Ars Magica came out in 1993, in White Wolf Magazine. Things rather grew from there, and I spent over a decade as the Line Developer. When I retired from that position, I ended up taking a break for a few years, but now I’m back.

    First, I prepared the text for the upcoming Definitive Edition. The text is now done and is being laid out, and the crowdfunding launches in a few days.

    Second, part of the crowdfunding is the release of Ars Magica under an open license (CC BY-SA), and I have a Patreon at which I am writing for that license. The licensing has not happened yet, but I have permission from Atlas to do that. When you have been working with them on the line for years, you can do that.

    I am looking forward to writing for the game again!

News Archive

My Writing

Fiction

I have written some fiction.

Academic

I have published a few peer-reviewed academic works, on philosophy and Japanese history.

Roleplaying Games

I have written for roleplaying games.

Mimusubi

Mimusubi is my project for non-fiction writing about Shinto. It has its own website.

Recent Blog Posts

  • Waiting for Wolves in Japan

    This is a very interesting book, concerned with attitudes to wildlife in the mountain villages of a small region in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. It’s more interesting than that makes it sound, because that draws in attitudes to nature more generally from all across Japan, although the focus is on the one small region where the…

  • One Month Checkup

    Today was Mayuki’s one month check-up. She’s fine. Right, well that’s that, then. OK, a bit more detail, although there really isn’t a lot more to it. I had an interview with a potential new student immediately beforehand, so I had to go straight to the clinic from Mizonokuchi. Fortunately, I made it in time,…

  • Shadowrun, Fourth Edition

    Shadowrun is a cyberpunk roleplaying game with elves and magic. It’s set in, in this edition, 2070, after magic returned to the world in 2012, awakening dragons, elves, dwarfs, orks, trolls, and magic. The player characters are freelance criminals who do dubious work for corporations. Although, since large corporations are effectively countries, they might better…

  • Better Not Die, Then…

    Today, I got a letter from the life insurance company saying that they wouldn’t insure me. I didn’t know I was that sick. Actually, I suspect I’m not, but the combination of asthma, slightly high cholesterol a year ago, and non-Japanese may have put them off. This means that I can’t get really useful life…

  • Atheism and Agnosticism

    Recently, atheism has become a a major topic of discussion. One of the most notable proponents is Richard Dawkins, professor of zoology and originally author of The Selfish Gene (which is, incidentally, a very good book). The debate has even made it into the Guardian with some frequency. All this attention to the topic makes…

  • Mayuki is a Good Girl

    So, one reason why I’ve not been posting much about Mayuki is that she’s been good. Sleeping, particularly at night, drinking milk, using nappies, and waving her arms and legs around in a generally uncoordinated fashion. Pretty good for a baby of her age, really. She’s also been cooperative with my teaching; she’s been quiet…

  • Growing Bigger

    Oops, I seem to have skipped a few days there. We went back to the clinic on Monday to have Mayuki looked at, and she now seems to be putting on weight at an acceptable rate. We’ve increased the amount of formula she’s getting in addition to breast milk, because she’s still a bit behind…

  • A Routine?

    Things seem to be settling into a bit of a routine now. Obviously, it’s still a routine that gets disrupted and moved about by Mayuki’s moods, but even that can become routine. I don’t know when in the evening i’ll have to carry Mayuki around the living room to keep her calm, but I can…

  • Taking to the Bottle

    We took Mayuki for another check-up yesterday, and her weight is not climbing quickly enough. It looks like Yuriko’s milk has not come in fully yet. Mayuki’s weight has been going up, so obviously milk has been coming through, but there hasn’t been enough. So, we’re on to supplementing with bottle milk for a little…

  • Life Insurance

    Yesterday, I applied for life insurance. Now I have a daughter, this has become rather necessary. As is normal with these traditionally complicated and intimidating things, I had to do it in Japanese. (At some point, I will have to make a will in Japanese as well. The main reason that hasn’t happened yet is…