Gen Con Woes

 Con Report  19 Responses »
Feb 152008
 

Word is that Gen Con has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This comes on the heels of the news that Lucasfilm recently filed suit against the company over bills related to the latest Star Wars Celebration, which Gen Con put on last year.

This is not good news. I love Gen Con, and I love the people who run it. Peter Adkison, who owns the company with his wife Melissa, is a longtime friend, and this cannot be any fun for him.

However, it seems that the two recent announcements are closely related. The Star Wars Celebration was the first (I believe) without a new Star Wars film to help rouse the fanbase, and Gen Con likely lost money on it. Combine this with three years of trying to get Gen Con So Cal up and running, and you have some holes that have formed in this sturdy ship’s hull.

However, the core business of Gen Con Indy (the original and only in my heart) is reportedly solid, a good money maker on its own. Without the other shows draining Gen Con’s coffers, the company stands a good chance of turning itself around.

It’s possible that the Lucasfilm suit forced Gen Con into involuntary bankruptcy. The last time I checked, it only took three dedicated creditors to force this to happen, but there are ways to engineer such things if you’re determined. I’d guess that Gen Con would have preferred to settle the issue with Lucasfilm quietly, but that didn’t happen. Now they’ll get to negotiate a settlement in the open and with the help of a bankruptcy court instead.

Clearly, Peter (who founded Wizards of the Coast and sold the company to Hasbro) could pay this debt out of his own pocket if he wanted, but that’s why Gen Con is a corporation (an LLC, to be exact). One of the biggest reasons to incorporate a business is to insulate your personal assets from that of the business. Beyond your initial or continued investment in the company, it should be able to stand on its own. If it succeeds, the owners get to share in that success, but if if should fail or fall on hard times, creditors can only go after the assets of the corporation, not those of the owners too.

I’m hopeful that Gen Con will weather this storm and come out into sunny days soon. I’m not changing my plans to attend the show this summer—and every other summer to come.

Mutants Loose in Hollywood

 Mutant Chronicles  4 Responses »
Feb 152008
 
Mutant Chronicles

Mc PosterI got back from Hollywood last night after one of the smoothest trips I’ve ever had. The good people at Paradox Entertainment (particularly Fred Malmberg and Jay Zetterberg) flew me out for a preview screening of the upcoming Mutant Chronicles movie and supplemented that with a couple of excellent nights out.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m writing the novelization for the film, and I turned in the manuscript nearly a year ago. That was, of course, long before the film had been completed, and I worked entirely from the script, using my imagination and my long experience with the Mutant Chronicles games to bring it to life.

It’s no surprise that director Simon Hunter‘s film differed from the images in my head. As with most films, the story changed a bit during shooting and editing too, so there are some inevitable discrepancies between the movie and the script-based book.

To fix that, I watched the film twice. Paradox set up showings (for other business reasons than just helping out me) in a private screening room on the Sunset Strip, and I sat and took notes, tapping them out on my laptop as the film rolled on. Now I get to go back and polish the book until it more closely resembles the film. There aren’t all that many large differences to resolve, but being able to see the film means I can pay a lot more attention to descriptions of the people and places than I could before, and make them more accurate.

As for the movie, I loved it. I’m bound to be biased, of course, having worked on both this novel and for years on the games on which the film is based. But it looks great, the actors do a wonderful job, and there are some truly fantastic moments in it. I can’t wait until you all get to see it too.

Key Largo and Paul Randles

 Raves  No Responses »
Feb 142008
 

Pzotgl3000 500My pal Mike Selinker just had his latest game published: Key Largo. Mike’s a wonderful and imaginative designer and has created a number of excellent games, but this one is something special because of his co-designers: Bruno Faidutti and Paul Randles. Bruno is one of the great European board game designers, but Paul’s the one that makes this project something Mike cares about so much.

Mike and Paul were the best of friends, but Paul died of pancreatic cancer just over five years ago. At the time, they were working on Paul’s final game design, which eventually became Key Largo, a game we can now all enjoy. Anyhow, Mike can explain it all far better than I. It’s a poignant story, of course, but rather than being a tale of woe, it ends up being a tribute to a great friend.

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Bye Snow

 Professional  8 Responses »
Feb 112008
 

I’m off to Hollywood for a couple of days on a very-short-notice trip. I’m looking forward to trading my parka for a polo for a while. You all behave yourselves while I’m—

Ah, who’m I kidding?

A Practical Guide to Monsters

 Knights of the Silver Dragon  No Responses »
Feb 082008
 
Knights of the Silver Dragon

A copy of A Practical Guide to Monsters showed up on my doorstep the other day. It’s a fun book for kids, essentially a Monster Manual without any D&D stats, with witty writing and wonderful artwork. It’s a handsome and durable hardcover book that kids should love.

Nina Hess, my kind and insightful editor for my Knights of the Silver Dragon series, wrote the book. She chose an interesting voice: that of Zendric, the wizard mentor I created for that same series.

I get a small sense of cognitive dissonance reading a book written by a character I created. It’s as if we’re narrowing in on a narrative paradox. To cross that Rubicon, all that has to happen is for Zendric to start writing about me.

Michigan Bluegrass

 Raves  No Responses »
Feb 072008
 

One of my former college roommates, Dr. Mike Harmeling, plays banjo in a bluegrass band called Horton Creek. One of our mutual friends sent me the band’s latest CD a few months back, and it’s great stuff. I’m not huge into bluegrass, but it sounds fun all the way through. It also brings me right back to the days of hanging out with Mike in the house on State Street in Ann Arbor, while he picked his banjo and talked about his other hobby, refurbishing classic tractors.

Snow Day Redux

 Personal  No Responses »
Feb 072008
 

We’re snowed in here again at Casa Forbeck today. The snow stopped last night, but the road teams didn’t seem to think they could get the roads clear in time for school, so Ann and the kids got a second impromptu day off in a row.
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Gen Con Again for Sure

 Con Report, Professional  16 Responses »
Feb 072008
 

I’ve just confirmed that once again I’ll be an Industry Insider Guest of Honor at this year’s Gen Con. At the moment, this is the only convention on my schedule for the year. Unfortunately, Wizard World Chicago is the exact same weekend as Origins this year, forcing a choice between the two. Also, I’m still up in the air about GTS, Comic-Con, and the Austin GDC—but I’m always open for invitations to other exotic locales.

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