Forbeck.com

I’ve been back from this year’s GTS for almost a week, so it’s past time I chipped in my con report. In short, I had a great, fast trip, met many people, saw a lot of friends, and did some business.
(more…)

The latest issue of the newsletter from the IAMTW features an article I wrote about how I became a game designer and a novelist. Every writer takes a different path to publication. There’s the short version of mine.

Just stop by the newsletter page and click on the link for the April/May 2007 issue. While you’re at it, sign up to subscribe to the bimonthly PDF, edited and produced by the able and wonderful Jean Rabe.

This summer, Wofford College in South Carolina is putting on its first Shared Worlds program. It proposes to teach kids entering grades 8 through 12 all about creating fictional settings for fiction, art, and games. Jeremy Jones, who sometimes comments around these parts, put it all together, and the lineup of teachers and speakers is phenomenal. It makes me wish I was in high school again.

Just among my friends, we find an all-star cast of guest speakers: Edward Bolme, Richard Dansky, Troy Denning, Jeff Mariotte, Jared Sorensen, and John Wick. Plus, Ken Hite and Doug Niles will be teaching all week.

Because of a scheduling conflict, I won’t be able to make it down myself, and it’s killing me. It’s sure to be a wonderful week. If you know of anyone who might be interested in attending, be sure to spread the word and let them know. It’s sure to be something special.

Two bits of news came out of Madison last week. First, the good news.

Big Rooster, a new studio founded by some of the people I worked with at Human Head Studios, has landed the job of computerizing Talisman (the classic board game from Games Workshop) for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. Congratulations, guys!

The bad news is that a serious fire damaged the offices of Human Head Studios. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the team recovered most of its data. A lot of their equipment was damaged, but that can all be replaced. I know how disruptive something like this can be, but I know that the people at Human Head are a resourceful and tenacious lot. Good luck in finding new offices and getting back on track soon!

This Monday, I’ll be in Las Vegas at the annual GAMA Trade Show, hosting a couple seminars. According to the descriptions in the GTS program guide, they are:

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)

Other than that, I’ll wander around, see what’s new, have a few meetings, catch up with friends, and make new ones. I’m only at the show through the end of Tuesday, so if you’re there and want to see me, be sure to drop me a line or hunt me down as early as you can.

My old pal Drew Bittner just started up a blog. In it, he reminisces about his days as an editor at WildStorm Productions. In this installment, he writes about the genesis of the WildStorms CCG I designed with him, including a bit about how I was brought into the project.

It’s interesting to hear the story from an insider’s point of view. Although I was heavily involved with the game and spent two weeks at Homage Studios developing it with Drew, in the end I was the hired gun they brought in. And that’s just the way I like it. (Cue the Ennio Morricone music.)

It’s true. Paizo just announced that the last print issues of Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine will ship this fall. Their license is up to be renewed and, well, it won’t be.

Wizards of the Coast plans to use the magazine brands as part of a renewed web presence. In the meantime, Paizo will transition to publishing series of d20 adventures instead, among many other things.

Dragon Magazine is the great-grandaddy of gaming magazines. It’s last issue will be 359. Little brother Dungeon (which covers adventures as opposed to material useful to all players) makes it a nice around 150.

I read Dragon religiously when I was a kid, and I’ll miss it for sure. Oddly, I bypassed the industry standard of placing an article in Dungeon and went straight to working on games instead. An article I wrote about the heroes in Secret of the Spiritkeeper appeared in Dragon in 2004, and a short-story prequel to Marked for Death showed up in issue #330.

Farewell, old friends. You’ll be missed.

Seems like my friends are breaking out all over. Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast finally announced its long-in-the-works imprint for creator-owned fiction, Wizards of the Coast Discoveries. The initial list of writers includes my pals Richard Danksy and Rob King. \

In other news, podcasting author Scott Sigler just sold three novels to Crown at auction. Scott’s spent some time at the University of Michigan about the same time as me, and among other things he wrote a couple Silent Death supplements after I handed over the reins to Donald Dennis back in the mid-’90s.

In yet other great news, more of my friends are publishing new comics through Archaia Studios Press, the company run by another friend of mine, Mark Smylie of Artesia fame. First, this June, David Rodriguez (who’s day job is with High Voltage Software) returns to Starkweather, with an original story penned by none other than Piers Anthony. Then, in October, Jason Blair and Leanne Buckley (both employed at Human Head Studios) launch The Long Count.

Congratulations to everyone! I’m looking forward to lots of great reading.

By now, you’ve probably heard of the shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech, the bloodiest such incident in American history. This struck closer to me than you might expect because Pinnacle Entertainment Group, the gaming company I co-founded with Shane Hensley back in 1996, is based in Tech’s hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia.

I lived and worked in and around Blacksburg for more than three years. It’s a beautiful place, quiet, isolated from the rest of the world, just the way you might think a classic college town should be. It was a hotbed of tabletop gaming for many years. At least four different companies were founded there, including Pinnacle, Charles Ryan’s Chameleon Eclectic, Joe Cochrane’s Wireframe Entertainment, and Greg Porter’s Blackburg Tactical Research Center. Many other gaming professionals lived or went to school there, like Green Ronin’s Hal Mangold, Wizards of the Coast’s Rich Baker, and John Hopler, Zeke Sparkes, Angel Leigh McCoy, and other’s I’m probably forgetting.

My son Marty was born when we lived in Christiansburg, Blacksburg’s sister city. Some of the wounded were treated at the hospital in which he was born, in nearby Radford.

I’m shocked, stunned, and numb. Most of the people I knew in the area have since moved on. It’s a college town. That’s how it works. But I still loved the place and remember it well.

Here’s to the Hokies and everyone else in Blacksburg. May the healing begin soon and go fast.

As I charge headlong toward my deadlines, I’ve been picking away at Bambi vs. Godzilla by David Mamet, the legendary screenwriter and playwright. This series of short essays about “the movie business” makes for easy reads in the snippets of time I can scrounge up in the course of a day. His style doesn’t suit my tastes, but I enjoy his insights and, as I said, the bits are bite-sized at best.

One footnote hit me hard:

A traditional recipe for genius: inspiration, a plan, not enough time.

Not that I’ll claim genius, but that’s exactly how the creative process—and much of my best work—goes for me.

Poking around the web, I found the covers for the Blood Bowl Omnibus and Rumble in the Jungle (a.k.a. Blood Bowl #4). I don’t know if these are final or not, but they look pretty darn cool to me. The Omnibus cover features an accurate image of the Bad Bay Hackers’ helmet as described in the books. and the Rumble cover seems dynamic and fun. I miss seeing Max Bertolini’s excellent work, but these still look like 110 yards of fun each.

I updated the “In Progress” page, with links for these books and most of the other stuff I’ve been working on recently. I also added to my “Appearances” page the news that I’ll be a guest of honor at this year’s Gen Con once again. It’s the 40th year for the show, and I hope to see you there.

My apologies to those who came out, but I didn’t make it to OddCon today. Between the various illnesses running through the house and some high-pressure deadlines, I couldn’t see my way clear to leaving town. My biggest regret is not being able to spend some quality time with my pal John Kovalic, who took a hard, personal blow this week. We made plans to have dinner at GTS next week, but I still wish I could have seen him today too.

Here’s to a better spring for us all, and a happy and healthy summer too!

The fine people at OddCon (read: Jerome Van Epps) have asked me to join them this weekend in Madison, WI. I’ll be there Saturday at noon for:

Turning your favorite story or show into a game. What kind of game would you make of Dr. Blink? Matt Forbeck, Christopher Jones, John Kovalic, Melissa S. Kaercher, Monica Valentinelli, Jerome Van Epps.

And then at 4:30 PM for:

All good things must come to an end: Looking forward to the last Harry Potter book. Matt Forbeck, Lisa Freitag, Greg Rihn, Ruth Nichols, John Wardale, Richard West

I’m looking forward to seeing many old friends and making new ones too. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop in and say hi.

It’s true. I found out from Mark Simmons himself last week. The official release is below.

It’s a crying shame. Mark’s been one of the industry’s biggest boosters, even from before he started the Games Quarterly Catalog 16 years ago. He turned around the Origins Awards before handing them over to Charles Ryan and then went on to rescue GAMA in the aftermath of the quiet doom that was the Miami GTS.

Matthews Simmons Marketing, which ran Games Quarterly Catalog, Games Quarterly Magazine, National Games Week, and the ill-fated Games Expo 2007 died because of the horrible contraction the tabletop games industry has suffered through the past couple years. MSM runs on ad money, essentially, and when companies hit hard times they cut their ad budgets—and sometimes don’t bother to pay their bills.

Still, it’s good to see that the two Richards (Hartnett and Martin Leep) will pick up GQC’s torch and continue along Mark’s path. I wish them luck.

For me, this means I successfully wrote an article for every issue of Games Quarterly Magazine. I just wish it had been a longer streak. The magazine had the best pay rate in the entire industry. Still, as I told Mark, I’d have written for him for free if he’d asked.

Here’s to Mark and his crew. I hope they all land on their feet and that we see them again soon. They contributed so much to tabletop games, and I can only hope that MSM’s demise doesn’t prove to be the canary in the industry’s coal mine.
(more…)