Fellow Alliterate and adventure designer extraordinaire Wolfgang Baur has announced that his second patronage project–Castle Shadowcrag–is on. It’s too late to get in on it cheap, but it’s not too late to get in.
Beautiful BattleLore
On Wednesday, a preview copy of BattleLore showed up on my doorstep, courtesy of my friends at Days of Wonder. It’s a fantasy battles miniatures game based on Richard Borg’s Command & Colors system, also used in Memoir ’44. That alone would be enough to sell me on it.
I haven’t gotten through it all yet, but it’s beautifully done. Plus, it’s a dense box, full of all sorts of cool bits that collectively weigh several pounds. Sure, it’s $70, but for that price (roughly the same as a next-gen videogame) you get a lot of great stuff. It reminds me of the great Games Workshop boxed games in that way: chock full of toys and potential.
Manifesto Reviews
I just turned in my first game review for Manifesto Games. It’s a new website that sells downloadable computer games of all sorts–from independent developers. They give me a free copy of the game and then pay me to tell people what I think of it. This sounds like a sweet gig–until you remember how long it can take you to play through a full game. Still, getting paid to play games isn’t something you’d ever catch me complaining about.
I’ve been following Manifesto since it was a gleam in the eyes of its founders, Greg Costikyan and Johnny Wilson. Each of them is an industry legend, both in computer and tabletop games. Best of all, Johnny’s a fellow Alliterate, so I’m rooting hard for them to succeed. The state of innovation in computer games could be at stake–or so they believe–and they’ve staked their entire business on it.
Six-Word Halloween Story
Wired recently asked a bunch of writers to try to beat Hemingway at his own game: Come up with a good story only six words long. (His was: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) In the sprit of Halloween, here’s one from me:
“Brains!”
“Brains!”
“Brains!”
BLAM!
BLAM!
Click.
A Shared-World Education
A while back, Jeremy Jones wrote to ask me a few questions about shared-world writing. I thought you might enjoy the results of our conversation, which transpired over a slew of e-mails.
Helping Out
I’m going to be lending a hand at the Democratic HQ here in Beloit on this Saturday and on Election Day for as much as I can. I’ve done this just about every election cycle I’ve been in Wisconsin since I was able to walk, even the year the quads were born.
If anyone in the area would like to join me, I’m sure we’d appreciate it. Just drop me a line for details. Thanks!
Happy Halloween!
A happy All Hallows’ Eve to you all. We’re celebrating tonight with the traditional trick or treating. The quads plan to dress up at Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. My wife will be the Wicked Witch of the West. Our eldest will be a wizard of a different kind: Harry Potter.
Me, I’ll hand out candy and/or do my best to corral the kids as they swarm from house to house. After spending yesterday afternoon gutting and carving a family full of pumpkins, that’s about all I can manage.
New Dark Conspiracy Fiction
No, I’m not talking about the upcoming elections. Dark Conspiracy is a roleplaying game my fellow Alliterate and long-time pal Lester Smith created for GDW way back in 1991. It’s set in a dark and cynical future in which megacorps and monsters conspire to suck the life (literally and metaphorically) from humanity.
A new company called the Gamers’ Conglomerate landed the license to revise Dark Conspiracy for a new edition, which is planned for 2007. As a part of that, TGC director Marcus Bone (who had much to do with Demonground once upon a time) commissioned an introductory piece of fiction from me. I just turned it in last week, and I had the wonderful experience of creeping myself out as I wrote it–just in time for Halloween.
Cathy’s Book Debuts Well
According to ICv2.com, the ARG (alternate reality game) in hardcover Cathy’s Book hit stores well last month, with orders for 125,000 copies. That’s a fantastic number for this experimental book.
I worked on the Beast (the first big ARG game) with the book’s authors, Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman (and Jordan’s been a friend for years). I’m thrilled to see this doing so well for them, and I wonder if there’s room for something else in the same vein. Hmmm.
Stan!’s Doodles
Besides being a solid game designer, a wonderful writer, and great friend (and fellow Alliterate) Stan! is also a talented cartoonist. He’s just started up a new site called Doodle-a-Day. You can probably guess what it’s all about. Check it out.