2011 August | Forbeck.com

Geek.Kon Schedule

Aug 312011

Once again, I’ll be at guest at this year’s Geek.Kon up in Madison, Wisconsin, which runs from September 9 through 11. I’m joining a fantastic group of guests, including my pals Bill Bodden, Troy Denning, Jim Frenkel, John Kovalic, Matt McElroy, Aaron Pavao, and Monica Valentinelli.

I may be at the show Friday or Sunday, but I’ll be there for sure all day Saturday, September 10. So far, my Saturday schedule looks like this:

9 AM: Designing Game Mechanics
10 AM: Ebooks vs. Traditional Publishing
11 AM: Autographs
1:30 PM: Writing for Shared Worlds
2:30 PM: World Building
3:30 PM: Writing Panel
5 PM: Getting Published in Gaming
8 PM: Tie-In Fiction
9 PM: Guests Geek Out Panel

If you’re around, come on out and join us. It’s a fantastic weekend.

Wednesday Night at Noble Knight

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Aug 302011

Tomorrow night, I’ll be joining the Gamerati Tour at Noble Knight Games in Janesville, Wisconsin. I should get there around 6 PM and will spend the rest of the evening hanging out, chatting with friends, and maybe even playing a game or two. If you’re around, come on out at join us!

New Board Game Bits

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Aug 292011

It’s been a crazy few weeks since Gen Con as I scramble to catch up with deadlines and help Ann get the kids ready for school. During that time, I’ve written the first issue of an ongoing comic (details coming soon), polished off the first draft of the second Dust novel, and helped out with the Marvel tabletop RPG development team. Next I’m sprinting away on Carpathia, but before I put my nose to the virtual grindstone again, I wanted to mention another cool project I’m involved in.

My friend Dan Verssen makes some of the best military games out there. I played a lot of his Modern Naval Battles in college, and it was a real pleasure to get to know him in person as I joined the tabletop games industry. He’s tinkering with a new board game called Global Domination, and he asked me to help him with the color text for the game’s cards. It’s been a ball working with him, and I’m looking forward to playing the game myself.

Kansas City Book Club: Vegas Knights

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Aug 132011

I recently discovered that the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society has named my novel Vegas Knights as the subject of their next book club meeting on August 22, at the Oak Park Barnes & Noble. If you’re in the area, pick up a copy of the book and join in!

As far as I know, this is the first time any of my novels has been the topic of a book club meeting, and I’m tickled by the idea of people sitting around a bookstore and talking about one of my stories. Big thanks to whoever put it forward, and I hope all the folks in Kansas City enjoy the book!

The Reboot Mind Meld

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Aug 132011

Every now and then at SFSignal.com, they gather together a group of authors and ask them a question. This time around, they drew my name from the hat, and the question of the day is: “If you could reboot a book series, which one would it be?” Scroll all the way down to the bottom to read my heretical answer.

New Amortals Review

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Aug 122011

Cyril Pasteau gives Amortals an excellent review over at his website. Among other things, he says:

“Amortals is a very enjoyable summer read. It is packed with action and reads like a Hollywood blockbuster script.”

That’s just the sort of feedback I like.

Gen Con Seminars

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Aug 122011

A few people recorded a number of the seminars in which I took part at Gen Con. I don’t have details for all of them yet, but right now you can go listen to a whole bunch of the seminars over on Jason Pitre’s site. Scroll down there, and you’ll see “The No-Nos of Game Design,” on which I joined Stan!, Jeff Bellinger, and Daniel Solis. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

You can tell this one was early in the convention, as I still have most of my voice left. I always get hoarser as the days roll on.

On the Star Wars Book Report

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Aug 122011

The fine fellows over at Star Wars Book Report interviewed me just before I left for Gen Con. The interview is now up on their site and ready for your listening pleasure. The conversation ranged over a wide swathe of material, although it mostly focused on Star Wars vs. Star Trek, of course. I had a great time chatting with the guys over there, and I think you might enjoy the talk because of that.

The Marvel RPG

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Aug 112011

One other big thing happened at Gen Con. The Margaret Weis Productions team announced that their big license for their next roleplaying game is from Marvel Comics! MWP creative director Cam Banks asked me to join the team developing the base game, which puts me in the lineup next to folks like Will Hindmarch, Jeremy Keller, Amanda Valentine, Rob Donoghue, and Phil Menard.

More details to come as the MWP folks release them to be shared.

Back from Gen Con!

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Aug 112011

I had a fantastic time at Gen Con this past weekend. My eldest son Marty came along for the entire trip, and Ann drove the quads up for the rest of the weekend on Friday. The little ones (who are now 9) had never been to Gen Con before, but they’d heard all about it — and a lot of my friends at the show had heard all about them.

I’m jamming on several deadlines at once at the moment, so I don’t have time for a full recap right now, but the highlights include:

Hosting the Diana Jones Award party and announcing that the award went to Jason Morningstar’s RPG Fiasco.
Celebrating my birthday at Gen Con the next day — along with Rob Schwalb, who shares the day with me.
Playing in the True Dungeon VIP game on Saturday with Marty, along with Mike Selinker, Monte Cook, Colin McComb, Eric Harshbarger, Ray Vallese, and a fistful of other game designers. Even with that kind of dream team, we got barbecued by a red dragon at the end, but we had a ball.
Having my wife and kids with me at the show for the first time ever.
Catching up with old friends.
Making new ones.
Sitting on the writing and game design panels. I always learn as much as I offer up.
The Friday night Reactor 88 Studios after party.
Meeting puppeteer Jim Martin, who also directs on Sesame Street.
Playing games with Marty, Ron Magin, and Brad McWilliams in the Mayfair Games suite.
The way the Steve Jackson Games team treated my kids like royalty, especially Andrew Hackard, Paul Chapman, Phil Reed, and even Steve himself, who hadn’t been to Gen Con in 10 years. Blame John Kovalic for turning my brood into Munchkin addicts.
Hanging out with my ENnies Dream Date a bit on Wednesday and Thursday nights — and then seeing him for five minutes during the actual cocktail party we were supposed to attend together.
Watching Jeff Tidball and Ken Hite fight crime, ’70s style.
Giving a complete stranger the shirt off my back at a party while my consigliere Ken Hite negotiated the details of its return.
Having Dan Tibbles hand me a 24k-gold-plated Iron Die. Shiny!
Doing some actual business.
Having so many of my great friends meet my kids, who’ve they’ve heard me blather on about for years, especially John Zinser, who made sure to fill their arms with games.

Thanks so much to everyone who came to my seminars and especially those who came to my book signing. An extra special thanks to the Gen Con management and staff, my incredible friends who treat me and my family so well at the show and do such a fine job running it. This was my 30th Gen Con in a row, and I’m planning on at least another 30 more!