My pal Jim Pinto and his friend Jon Hodgson just released George’s Children, a post-apocalyptic, tabletop roleplaying game set in a world without adults. They created this for the first National Child Safety Day, and all proceeds are going to charity. Be sure to check it out.
Cool Things at GTS
By the third day of any convention, the standard question is, “What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen?” I didn’t make it that far into GTS this year, so I never had a chance to answer that. To make up for it, here’s three cool things I saw at the show. That’s not to say there weren’t tons of other things, but these stuck out at the show and are things I remember even now.
Dust: The Game: Paolo Parente–a pal from the Mutant Chronicles RPG days–is an amazing artist, and he has his own project called Dust. He puts out toys, comics, and models kits irregularly, but they’re always full of sharp and sexy imagery. A stand at GTS showed off an upcoming board game for the setting, a Risk-like game with all sorts of cool components. Paolo’s day job is with Rackham, the French miniatures company that makes incredible things, but I always enjoy seeing what he does on his own.
Titan: Valley Games announced that it’s bringing back all sorts of classic games, including Hannibal and Titan, the all-time classic, plus others from the old Avalon Hill bookshelf line. Can’t wait to see these.
Phoenix Horizons: Damage Control Games showed off a preview of their upcoming starship battles miniatures game, and it looks great. It’s a spiritual successor to Silent Death, of which I’m a longtime fan and had the honor of working on the second edition.
There were many more things, of course, but these surprised me, as I hadn’t heard of any of them before. And now I’m looking forward to them all.
RIP Tom Moldvay
I learned a while back that Tom Moldvay had passed away around April 9 (some reports say March 9) of this year, but I hadn’t been able to verify it independently. I’ve seen enough details now to believe it’s true.
Along with Mark Acres, Tom developed one of my favorite roleplaying games ever: Gangbusters. As a teenager at Gen Con, I made it to the finals of the Gangbusters tournament two years running and absolutely loved it.
Tom also made many substantial contributions to Dungeons & Dragons while working at TSR. My pal Steve Winter, who knew Tom far better than I, sums it up well in his appreciation.
I never met Tom in person, but I had the privilege of talking with him on the phone and working with him on some material for Silent Death: The Next Millennium, back when I developed the line for ICE. That never saw print, as Tom’s poor health prevented him from finishing the work before I left that gig. That was something like 15 years ago, and I’m sad to say we lost touch over the years. Still, I remember being thrilled that I would get the chance to talk games with someone whose work I’d so admired.
Farewell, Tom. Wherever you may be, I hope you’re finally resting easy.
IAMTW Newsletter
The latest issue of the newsletter from the IAMTW features an article I wrote about how I became a game designer and a novelist. Every writer takes a different path to publication. There’s the short version of mine.
Just stop by the newsletter page and click on the link for the April/May 2007 issue. While you’re at it, sign up to subscribe to the bimonthly PDF, edited and produced by the able and wonderful Jean Rabe.
Wofford Shared Worlds
This summer, Wofford College in South Carolina is putting on its first Shared Worlds program. It proposes to teach kids entering grades 8 through 12 all about creating fictional settings for fiction, art, and games. Jeremy Jones, who sometimes comments around these parts, put it all together, and the lineup of teachers and speakers is phenomenal. It makes me wish I was in high school again.
Just among my friends, we find an all-star cast of guest speakers: Edward Bolme, Richard Dansky, Troy Denning, Jeff Mariotte, Jared Sorensen, and John Wick. Plus, Ken Hite and Doug Niles will be teaching all week.
Because of a scheduling conflict, I won’t be able to make it down myself, and it’s killing me. It’s sure to be a wonderful week. If you know of anyone who might be interested in attending, be sure to spread the word and let them know. It’s sure to be something special.
Madison Developers News
Two bits of news came out of Madison last week. First, the good news.
Big Rooster, a new studio founded by some of the people I worked with at Human Head Studios, has landed the job of computerizing Talisman (the classic board game from Games Workshop) for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. Congratulations, guys!
The bad news is that a serious fire damaged the offices of Human Head Studios. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the team recovered most of its data. A lot of their equipment was damaged, but that can all be replaced. I know how disruptive something like this can be, but I know that the people at Human Head are a resourceful and tenacious lot. Good luck in finding new offices and getting back on track soon!
Off to Vegas
This Monday, I’ll be in Las Vegas at the annual GAMA Trade Show, hosting a couple seminars. According to the descriptions in the GTS program guide, they are:
Monday, 11 am—Noon:
Getting Your Game Published
Come learn how to submit your games to publishers and get them published. Discover the obstacles you may face in getting your game on shelves, and discuss strategies for overcoming them. Explore the option of self-publishing your game instead. (Skyview 1)Monday, 2—3 p.m.:
Career Freelancing
Getting your first game, book, or article published is only the first step. To keep from being a flash in the pan, you need to educate yourself about how to turn your hobby into a business. Learn how to set up your business, act professionally, pay taxes, and get that next gig–and the next and the next and the next. (Skyview 1)
Other than that, I’ll wander around, see what’s new, have a few meetings, catch up with friends, and make new ones. I’m only at the show through the end of Tuesday, so if you’re there and want to see me, be sure to drop me a line or hunt me down as early as you can.
Wild(Storms) Days
My old pal Drew Bittner just started up a blog. In it, he reminisces about his days as an editor at WildStorm Productions. In this installment, he writes about the genesis of the WildStorms CCG I designed with him, including a bit about how I was brought into the project.
It’s interesting to hear the story from an insider’s point of view. Although I was heavily involved with the game and spent two weeks at Homage Studios developing it with Drew, in the end I was the hired gun they brought in. And that’s just the way I like it. (Cue the Ennio Morricone music.)
Good-Bye, Dungeon. Good-Bye, Dragon.
It’s true. Paizo just announced that the last print issues of Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine will ship this fall. Their license is up to be renewed and, well, it won’t be.
Wizards of the Coast plans to use the magazine brands as part of a renewed web presence. In the meantime, Paizo will transition to publishing series of d20 adventures instead, among many other things.
Dragon Magazine is the great-grandaddy of gaming magazines. It’s last issue will be 359. Little brother Dungeon (which covers adventures as opposed to material useful to all players) makes it a nice around 150.
I read Dragon religiously when I was a kid, and I’ll miss it for sure. Oddly, I bypassed the industry standard of placing an article in Dungeon and went straight to working on games instead. An article I wrote about the heroes in Secret of the Spiritkeeper appeared in Dragon in 2004, and a short-story prequel to Marked for Death showed up in issue #330.
Farewell, old friends. You’ll be missed.