The BNW Movie Shoot

Imgp1121This past Sunday, I drove down to Chicago for the final day of shooting for the pilot (proof-of-concept short) for the Brave New World movie that Reactor 88 Studios is working on. I can barely begin to tell you how much fun I had and how impressed I was with everyone involved.

The pilot brings to life the 8-page comic book that opens up the original Brave New World RPG core book. In it, Lisa Stanski (played by the lovely and talented Natalie Victoria) is on the run from the government supers known as Delta Prime. As she dashed through an alley, she literally runs into Patriot (played by the rugged and talented Chuck Wagner), once a Delta Prime hero and now a leader of the rebellion known as the Defiance. They try to escape, but Charge (played by the handsome and talented Zachary Laoutides) corners them in a helicopter that Patriot blasts out of the sky.

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As you can imagine, this is an ambitious, action-packed sequence to tackle, but as a proof-of-concept, it’s perfect. If the team can handle this, they can handle anything, and from everything I saw they’re doing a bang-up job.

I’ve rarely been part of such a polite, respectful, gracious, and grateful group of people. Besides the tremendous amount of skill and talent they brought to the project, I never saw or heard of a cross moment all day long, even on the third, long day of a rigorous weekend shoot. They all treated me with such kindness that I instantly felt like a part of this family that had coalesced around this project.

Imgp1164 While many people thanked me for creating the game that’s the basis for the film, I told them they should talk to Darren Orange, Reactor 88’s president, instead. The kind of vision and passion that he and his team displayed for this film would have to find some way to express itself, and I’m just thrilled that it happened to focus on Brave New World.

Imgp1178I took these photos here from a distance, mostly trying to stay out of the way, but the material they captured on for the shoot is utterly stunning. I actually got chills watching the playback on the monitor for the scene in which Patriot shoots down the helicopter. The actors did such a wonderful job reacting to things that only existed in their heads, like the explosions and such, which will be added in post-production with computers.

Images Rpgdb Pin7002Chuck, in particular, looked perfect as Patriot. He seemed like he’d leaped off the cover of Ravaged Planet. Seeing a character I’d created walking around and even chatting with me was surreal.

Imgp1176Director Joe Martin even insisted on giving me a Stan Lee moment in the film too. When the pilot is ready later this summer, you’ll see me crossing the street in front of Dearborn Station just before the big battle goes down. I’m in a suit and tie, so no one will be able to recognize me, I’m sure.

I can’t wait to see the final production when it’s ready. As soon as I can share more, you’ll know about it too.

Rumble in the Jungle Away!

Last night, I turned in the final portion of Blood Bowl: Rumble in the Jungle. This book, the fourth in the trilogy (as Douglas Adams used to say), took me a bit longer than the last one in the series, mostly because I had to come up with all-new plot threads after tying off most of the ones I’d left dangling around in the first three. Still, I had a great time with it right up until the end. At that point, some of the things I’d been tossing around the book just for fun coalesced into the perfect climax. It should hit shelves in the UK in December, and a few weeks later in the US. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing it.

Great Geekerati

I had a great time on Geekerati, Christian Johnson’s online radio show tonight. As always, Christian proves to be an excellent conversationalist, as did his other panelists, Eric and Bill. You can listen to the entire episode online now. If you listen for the trivia questions right around the 1-hour mark, Christian’s offering up free copies of my Blood Bowl and Eberron trilogies for the first right answers. Be sure to get your entry in fast!

Geekerati Radio, Monday, July 2

This Monday night, July 2, 2007, join me in a live radio show on Geekerati Radio at 7 PM PDT. Geekerati is the brainchild of Christian Johnson, frequent commenter on this website and head wrangler of the excellent and intelligent Cinerati blog as well, where you can find the full details.

While I’m perfectly happy to blather on with Christian for hours and have done so in the past, this will be even more fun if people (that’s you folks) join us for the event. As an incentive, Christian will be giving away a number of free copies of both Blood Bowl and The Road to Death to some of the lucky callers.

So, if you want to chat about books, games, and more, and wouldn’t mind ending up with a free book or two to boot, be sure to mark it on your calendar and then call up to say hi. Hope to hear from you soon!

Harvey Birdman, Gamer at Law

I’ve finally been given clearance to mention one of my favorite upcoming projects. Earlier this year, I worked with the fine people at High Voltage Software on a brand-new video game based on the hilarious Cartoon Network show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. It’s slated to be released this fall for both the PS2 and the PSP.

I had an absolute blast working on this game. At the moment, I’m not allowed to say anything that’s not been publicly announced, or I’d be lavishing my talented co-designers with praise and cackling wildly about the incredible actors who will be voicing our dialog. However, as has been reported elsewhere, the game is being published by Capcom, creators of the excellent Phoenix Wright series of courtroom-drama games for the Nintendo DS. It’s going to rock, and I can’t wait to play it.

Good-Bye, Dan Matheson

From reliable sources, I’ve heard that Dan Matheson died last Sunday from a heart attack. Most people in the gaming industry know Dan from his decades as the warehouse manager of Black Hawk Hobby Distributors, located in northern Illinois, just south of my home here in Beloit. That’s where I met him.

Black Hawk was the first game distributor I ever visited, back when I was all of 16 years old, and I had a short-lived fanzine I wanted to flog. I drove out to the barn that used to serve as the company warehouse before a fire took it in 1988, and I met Cliff Wilson, the owner, who told me he couldn’t carry it. Even so, I learned a lot from both Cliff and Dan over the years.

Cliff passed on of a heart attack himself, back in 1997, crashing his car as he tried to drive himself to the hospital. They were both that kind of stubborn and tough, honest men who were always ready to point out when you’d done something wrong and shake your hand when you’d done right.

Dan retired in 2005, but I still saw him at conventions from time to time, and even pulled up next to him at a stop light here in town once or twice. Most of the time I knew him, he had a beard that would have made Gandalf jealous. I only ever saw him without it once, and he had it back almost full in by the time I saw him next, almost as if he’d always worn a false one and I’d just caught him without it once by mistake.

Dan served his country in Vietnam, and I understand he had some health issues related to Agent Orange. He never let any of that slow him down that I ever saw.

From friends in the know, I discovered that Dan actually was the first head of security for TSR back in the days when Gary Gygax still ran the company. I can only imagine he tackled that job as he did everything else, with a fully developed set of senses of honor, duty, and humor.

My condolences to Dan’s family, especially those closest to him: his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. He was a good man, and we were all blessed to know him.

BNW Pilot Film Shoot This Weekend

In one of my earlier posts about the Brave New World RPG film in the works, Reactor 88 Studios producer Darren Orange comments:

We are ahead of the game. Just FYI for everyone out there. We are filming this weekend in Chicago June 30th and the 1st of July. Thanks for all the support. This pilot will be excellent thanks to all the excellent hard working talent involved on the cast and crew sides.

Darren kindly invited me down for the whole shoot, although due to deadline pressures I think I can only make it for one day. Despite that, I can’t wait to see the cast and crew in action. They’ve been fantastic so far, and here’s where it all comes together.

Nephew for Council

As I’ve mentioned before, John Nephew of Atlas Games is running for city council in the city of Maplewood, Minnesota. While I know next to nothing about Maplewood, I know John, and he’s just the kind of candidate any city needs. I’ve counted John as a good friend for years, and I’d trust him with both my checkbook and my kids, much less helping run a city in which he and his wife Michelle live.

If you’re interested in supporting an honest, smart man with a streak of integrity as wide as the Mississippi, consider donating to his campaign. I was happy to do so myself. We need more people like John getting involved in politics, both local and otherwise, and I’m glad to put my money where my mouth is on that.

[Total Disclosure: I wrote an RPG book for Atlas Games many years back (Seven Cities), and you never know, I might do something like that again. Atlas also sponsored the Diana Jones Award ceremony at this year’s upcoming Gen Con, for which John and Michelle and all the other sponsors have my gratitude.]