Health-Care Woes

The New Yorker has a great article by Malcom Gladwell about just why our health-care system in the US is as screwed up as it is. As the father of quadruplets plus one, health insurance and health care occupy a lot of my attention. No matter what side of the issue you stand on, this essay is a feast for …

Scion of the Serpent Out Now

In addition to writing novels and designing games, I’m Conan Properties’ guru for the Age of Conan line of novels published by Ace Books. J. Steven York‘s first Age of Conan novel, Scion of the Serpent, is in stores now. This is the first in Steve’s Stygian trilogy that follows the growth of a young heretic as he infiltrates the …

Ransom a Game for Katrina

Here’s another way to do something good while getting a great game out of it. Greg Stolze came up with Executive Decision, a live-action game set in the White House, and asked a few of his friends (other gaming geniuses like Dennis Detwiller, Chad Underkoffler, Ron Edwards and D. Vincent Baker) to come up with scenarios for it. Greg has …

Promoting Games

Like lots of people, I think playing games is a great way to spend your free time. If you agree and you’d like to help spread that message, you have a few huge opportunities coming up in November. On November 5, it’s Worldwide D&D Game Day. Teach people to play Dungeons & Dragons or, if you don’t know how, it’s …

High Stakes Prizes

Over the weekend, WizKids posted pictures of the prizes for High Stakes Drifter tournaments held in November. These are all limited edition kicker chips, which can have incredible affects on the game. It’s great to see WizKids giving High Stakes Drifter the full treatment, including supporting organized play.

Comics for Katrina

Some of the greatest people in the comic book industry have gotten together to auction off some truly amazing pieces to raise money for relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina. They call their effort Inkwell Relief, and they’re auctioning off all sorts of things on eBay, with all net proceeds going to the American Red Cross. If you’ve been looking …

Who Did That?

One of the interesting things about raising quadruplets is trying to figure out who did what. For instance, a couple years back, I had to take Nick to the hospital for a gash in his forehead. He got it while we were in another room, and while he had a brother near him when he was bloodied, we’ll never know …

Road to Death on the Road to Print

I just got the galleys (final proofs) of The Road to Death in from Wizards of the Coast. This is the sequel my Eberron novel Marked for Death, the second in The Lost Mark trilogy. So far, it looks great. Mark Sehestedt did a fine job polishing my prose, and he tells me it’s a far better book than the …

Capsule Monsters Coming Soon

I keep forgetting to mention Yu-Gu-Oh! Capsule Monsters, a new collectible figure board game that saw its first public showing at Gen Con Indy. It’s based on Capsule Monsters Coliseum, the videogame for the Playstation 2. You can read an article about it on the excellent ICv2.com. I didn’t design the game (that honor belongs to Mattel’s Tyler Kenny and …