Just before Gen Con, the fine folks at Paradox announced a new deal with Millennium Films for new Conan films. Congratulations to my compadres at Paradox. I can’t wait to see the fruits of this deal.
Read More
Hobby Games 100 A-Go-Go
James Lowder‘s Hobby Games: The 100 Best made it to Gen Con, and I picked up my contributor’s copy there. It’s a great book and belongs in the bathroom of every fan of tabletop games. As I’ve mentioned before, it contains 100 essays from 100 of the world’s top tabletop game designers. Each of these is about 1,000 words, just the right amount for a little light reading on the throne of your choice.
My essay in the book concerns my favorite tactical combat game ever: Space Hulk by Richard Halliwell, published by Games Workshop. The book also includes an essay by Dale Donovan about Silent Death: The Next Millennium, a game I developed for ICE, based on Kevin Barrett’s original edition.
Call them hobby games, tabletop games, adventure games, or whatever else you like. If you enjoy them, pick this book up. For the games you’ve yet to play, it will inspire you to track them down, and for your old favorites, it will remind you why you like them so much.
Mmm… Donut
Jared Sorensen and Luke Crane, both men of the brilliant game design kind, have been teasing me for months with hints about their an upcoming game: Project Donut. This is the first game these two have worked on together, and it promises to blast the airlocks off RPGs. Sight unseen, you can sign me up for it.
Here, so far as I know, is the first online clue as to its nature.
The Frodo Franchise
A couple weeks back, a copy of The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson arrived in the mail. In it, Kristin describes how The Lord of the Rings went from literary classic to licensing powerhouse. For this, she interviewed 76 people, including me in my capacity as one of the developers of Decipher’s The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game.
If you’re interested in the big business behind turning books into blockbusters–using Tolkien’s especially winding road as the example–be sure to pick this up. My contribution only amounts to less than two pages in the 332 pages of actual text, so it’s not a personal plug. I haven’t had time to read much of it yet, but what I’ve seen so far intrigues me, and I’m looking forward to devouring the rest.
Cons and Storytellers
It’s that time of the month again, and my latest post is up at Storytellers Unplugged. Given where I’ve spent the past week, I ramble on a bit about the nature of networking at conventions and how I like to view such things.
Back from the Big Con
I rolled in from Gen Con late last night, but I can barely talk about – mostly because I’ve all but lost my voice to the show. In short, I had a wonderful time, saw lots of old friends, and made lots of new ones.
More soon.
Off to Gen Con
I’m leaving for Gen Con in about 12 hours. I hope to see many of you there. If you’re around, please show up to the Brave New World film short and documentary on Thursday evening at 8 PM. To whet your appetite, see the BNW movie MySpace photos page, which features posters for the film. Here’s my favorite of the bunch:
Gen Con Schedule Update
I’m scrambling to get ready for Gen Con next week, at which I’m a guest of honor once more. Here’s my updated schedule, which includes brand-new panels showing off details on the Brave New World film pilot. I hope to see many of you there!
Pre-Gen Con Goodies
Two of the books I’m looking forward to most at Gen Con are Hobby Games: The 100 Best and 40 Years of Gen Con. I had a tiny hand in each of them, just enough that I don’t have to pay for copies, but I’d be happy to hand over my cash for either.
For the first, Jim Lowder collected a who’s who of game designers and asked them to each write an essay about their favorite game. On the product’s page, be sure to scroll down and click on the “Author List” link for a breathtaking array of talent.
For the second, Robin Laws interviewed dozens of people about their Gen Con experiences, from Gary Gygax right down to yours truly. This makes for a gorgeous coffee-table book that would do any con-going gamer proud. Robin has also provided online the DVD-extras equivalent of interview-snippet MP3s. This includes James Wallis‘s account of the origins of the Diana Jones Award, for instance. The best of the lot, though, has to be Peter Adkison’s rousing tale of the creating of the theme song for Wizards of the Coast.
Birdman Date and Blog
While at Comic-Con, I stopped by the Capcom booth and checked out their demonstration of an early build for the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law videogame I worked on with the fine folks at High Voltage Software. It looks great, and I can’t wait to see the final package.
A postcard given out at the show, though, tells me I’ll have to wait until November 13, 2007, for the game to hit shelves. In the meantime, we can keep up to date with a new Capcom blog devoted to the game.
P.S. GameTrailers.com has gameplay footage from the Comic-Con booth.