Forbeck.com

Ain’t It Cool News sent a correspondent to the set of the Mutant Chronicles movie last summer, and I just discovered the report. I got there by way of the revelation of the new teaser poster for the film. It’s evocative.

I recently joined the just-formed board of the Madison chapter of the International Game Developers Association. Together with Eric Francksen, Norb Rozek, and my old Human Head boss Tim Gerritsen, we’re ready to take on the world—or at least Wisconsin.

At the same time, I’m helping edit the quarterly newsletter for the IGDA Writers SIG. It seems like no matter what field I find myself in, there are always cool people hoping to work together to make things happen.

Gen Con So Cal has been cancelled. For details, see the official press release and my pal Peter Adkison’s open letter about the decision.

I’m sad to see the convention go away. I made it out to the first two and had a wonderful time, but Peter’s an astute businessman. If a part of your business is losing money and there’s no new plan to turn it around despite four years of trying to do just that, then it’s time to cull it.

Word had it that Peter and his team had hoped to turn Gen Con So Cal into a replacement (at least partially) for the radically altered E3. Apparently that didn’t work out.

Still, there’s a silver lining here. Now that the Gen Con staff isn’t spending time and money trying to prop up So Cal, it can concentrate on building Gen Con (the original, in Indianapolis) instead. Anything that makes my favorite four days of the year better, I’m all for, even if it means no other Gen Cons in the US again.

I recently picked up the Xbox Live Vision Gold Pack, which comes with a camera and a year’s subscription to Xbox Live Gold. I don’t play a whole lot of online games through the Xbox 360, but enough to make it worth my while, at least as professional research. My gamertag is mforbeck. If you’re interested and you’re on Xbox Live, feel free to add me as a friend.

The fine folks at the Black Library have asked me to join them at Adepticon, a convention for Games Workshop fans. It’s held in Schaumburg, Illinois—just northwest of Chicago—from March 30–April 1. I’ll be there on Saturday, March 31, to sign books, shake hands, and have fun.

Coincidentally, I should have my fourth Blood Bowl book polished off by then. With luck, I’ll have teasers to share with those who attend. Hope to see you there!

I just finished reading A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster. Despite being 256 pages long, it’s a short, easy read. Raph illustrates his ideas with single-drawing cartoons on nearly half the pages, and the layout does not fear whitespace.

In short, Raph claims that creatures (including higher-order animals) are wired to play games as practice for the real world. As humans, we excel at this, and that’s why we find them fun. We also use our pattern-recognition skills to analyze and reduce games to their simplest forms once we grok what they’re about.

It’s a good basis for understanding how and why we play games, and Raph’s writing is clear and accessible throughout. While he mostly talks about video and computer games, he’s also played many tabletop games, and you should be able to take his ideas and apply them to just about any sort of game.

If you’re a game designer, would like to be one, or just enjoy games, be sure to check it out.

My friends at Atlas Games have set up a website at GenConHistory.com to collect stories and photos from the Best Four Days in Gaming: Gen Con! Those who share have a chance to snag a free copy of the book and even a four-day pass to Gen Con Indy 2007.

This is all to support their upcoming 40 Years of Gen Con book, written by my pal Robin Laws. So, if you have a thing for the best gaming con on the planet (I have my biases), pop by and share a tale or a photo or just bask in the communal love.

I just added a new plugin to the site: Snap Preview Anywhere. Just hover your pointer over any link on the page, and you can now see a preview of the page it leads to. Pretty snazzy.

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) just launched a blog, to which I plan to contribute. In the meantime, you can read the posts of my fellow writers Lee Goldberg and Jeff Mariotte, with many others to come.

Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast asked me to pitch a story for a Mirrorstone anthology, a collection of short stories for young-adult readers, edited by Steve Berman. I jumped at the opportunity, and now I’m told my story will accompany those of Eugie Foster, J. D. Everyhope, Sean Manseau, Tiffany Trent, Gregory Frost, Jim C. Hines, Janni Lee Simner, Lawrence M. Schoen, E. Sedia, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Craig Laurance Gidney, Beth Bernobich, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black.

Look for Magic in the Mirrorstone in Spring 2008.

My son Marty, who’s in second grade, asks me this as I put him to bed:

“Dad, is there such an equation as E equals MC triangle?”

Bent my brain.

Sometimes I slip smaller assignments in between the larger ones. There are days when tackling another novel seems daunting, especially when I can polish off a magazine article in just a day or to and savor that sense of accomplishment. For instance, I just turned in an article for an upcoming issue of The Escapist, an excellent online magazine. It’s mostly about video games, but the editors aren’t shy about crossing that boundary when there’s good reason. Tabletop writers like Allen Varney, Will Hindmarch, and Mur Lafferty appear in its virtual pages too, and they and the other writers generally do a fine job.

By way of another example, one already published, check out my review of Laser Dolphin for Manifesto Games. It’s apparently been up since November, but if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s still fresh to you.

This is just in the gestation stages still, but a Aldo Ghiozzi of Impressions is heading an initiative to start a Free RPG Day in the vein of the hugely successful Free Comic Book Day. Here’s hoping it’s an idea that gains some traction and does some good.

I’ll be at the GAMA Trade Show again. It’s still in Las Vegas, but this year at Bally’s in April. I’ll probably have to zip in and out of the show, but I’m giving two seminars there on Monday, April 23. If you’ll be at the show, I hope to see you there!

Monday, 11 am–Noon:
Getting Your Game Published
Come learn how to submit your games to publishers and get them published. Discover the obstacles you may face in getting your game on shelves, and discuss strategies for overcoming them. Explore the option of self-publishing your game instead. (Skyview 1)

Monday, 2–3 p.m.:
Career Freelancing
Getting your first game, book, or article published is only the first step. To keep from being a flash in the pan, you need to educate yourself about how to turn your hobby into a business. Learn how to set up your business, act professionally, pay taxes, and get that next gig—and the next and the next and the next. (Skyview 1)