Human Head Studios shows its hard-core tabletop gamer roots with some of the special bits to come with its limited edition of Prey: three pewter miniatures sculpted and cast by Reaper Miniatures. They even have shots of the greens available in a 360°, rotatable view.
Ah, to have an Xbox 360 or PC gaming rig and the hours to spend on it… Fortunately, I got to play some of the game back when I worked at the studio. It rocks.
It seems that some of the people who heard of Palladium’s plight wanted to find out if Kevin Siembieda was telling the truth about his company’s troubles. They did some digging and found out the name of the perpetrator who harmed the RPG publisher so badly. Kevin got wind of this and issued a reasonable statement about it, urging people to leave the guy alone. It’s a horrible tale of trust and friendship gone wrong.
Just a reminder that I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Rockford, Illinois, tomorrow (Saturday, April 29) to meet readers, chat, and sign books. I’m scheduled to be there from 3—5 PM, so please stop by and say hi if you’re in the area!
I just turned in the manuscript for Queen of Death, the third and final book in my Lost Mark trilogy for the Eberron world. This started with Marked for Death, which hit stores in March of 2005, and continued in Road to Death, which saw print in January of 2006. The whole thing should wrap up this October, and I can’t wait to see it happen.
This also marks the first time in what seems like forever that I’m caught up on all my deadlines. Between the novels for Wizards and the Black Library, working on Marvel Battle Dice and REVs for Playmates, tackling countless smaller projects, and helping raise five young kids, it felt like I might never get back on track again, but here I am!
My next novel isn’t due until mid-June, and since it’s a shorter book (my next Knights of the Silver Dragon installment), I should be able to get that done on time. Woot!
In the latest issue of The Escapist, legendary game designer and Manifesto Games CEO Greg Costikyan offers up a history of tabletop gaming and shows how such games have inspired and informed the computer games of today. He argues that tabletop games will continue to do so, and I hope he’s right.
This essay should be required reading for any student of adventure games. The historical notes alone are well worth the time–and it’s all free for the reading.
My pal Richard Dansky commented on my Blood Bowl novel on his blog today:
You can tell this book was written by a Packers fan in, say, ten to fifteen seconds. Lots of fun and a good ride, though I’m disappointed that there weren’t more exploding spiked footballs.
Rest assured, I’m taking notes.
My latest novel, Blood Bowl: Death Match, hits store shelves in the US today! This is the third in the Blood Bowl trilogy, and it wraps up most if not all of the loose plot threads I left dangling throughout the first two books. The climactic match takes place in the Realms of Chaos. Talk about one Hell of a game!
To celebrate, this Saturday, from 3—5 PM, I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Rockford, Illinois, to chat with folks and sign books, games, or anything else presentable. That includes fresh-off-the-truck copies of Death Match. If you’re anywhere in the area, please be sure to stop by and keep me company for a while!
SuperHeroTimes.com is running a Marvel Heroes Battle Dice contest. To sign up, you just have to register in their forums and post a note saying you’d like to win. Those who do win get a free starter pack and a dice chucker to go with it.
Board game super-fan Tom Vasel writes tons of great reviews and interviews game designers and publishers of all stripes. On the website for his podcast, The Dice Tower, Tom presents excerpts from several of those interviews, in which he asks for advice for aspiring designers. It’s well worth the read.
I get a phone call at 3 AM on Saturday, and the first thing I think is that it must be something horrible–or a wrong number. No one calls with good news or to say hi at 3 AM, so I’m really hoping for a wrong number when I pick up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Forbeck?” Ouch. No wrong number here.
“Yes?”
“This is the Beloit Police Department.” Oh, dear.
I’m home. My kids are home. Has someone I know died, or do I have to go bail someone out?
“Yes?”
“The dome light in your car is on. We wouldn’t want your battery to run down.”
I pull back the curtain and peer out the window. Sure enough, there’s a squad car sitting behind my car, in which the dome light is on. (I think one of the quads turned it on while messing around in the car on Friday morning, and I never saw it.)
“Um, thanks. I’ll be right down to turn it off.”
By the time I get outside, the cops are gone, disappeared into the night without sticking around for my personal thanks, just like the heroes they are. But my battery–and by extension, my upcoming morning–is saved.