More High Stakes Drifter Goodness

It seems that the people at WizKids have taken advantage of the slight delay in releasing High Stakes Drifter to post one bonus preview of the game. Stop by and see what “Cavalry Support” can do for your deck.

This is just after Gen Con So Cal, but I suspect if you stop by the WizKids booth during the show, you might be able to persuade them to part with a few early decks and boosters. I won’t be at the convention myself this year, barring any unforeseen emergency trips to California in that time frame. It’ll be the first time I’ll have missed the show in the three years it’s been running, but it can’t be helped. To those who do go, have a great time!

Grand Marshals Times Five

Here in Beloit, WI, our Downtown Business Association sponsors a lighted holiday parade every year on the Friday night after Thanksgiving. This year, the theme is “Through the Eyes of a Child.” As such, they asked if our kids would be willing to lead the parade, since we seem to have a lot of children with eyes to see through around here. If you’re in the area, stop by and cheer us on. The details:

Santa makes his grand entry to downtown Beloit, cheered on by large crowds and a glittering procession of floats from businesses, civic organizations, and spirit-filled families! Along Grand Avenue West to East. Begins at First National Bank Plaza at 5 pm. with music, 5:30 pm choral sing, 6 pm Santa arrives and tree lighting, 6:30 pm parade, and 7 pm Santa stops to visit at Turtle Creek Bookstore. Free admission.

The highlight of the event is usually just after Santa’s sleigh lands on the roof of the First National Bank. Shortly after, one of the city’s fire engines runs up to the bank and picks Santa up off the roof with its extended ladder. You have to see it to believe it.

Dealer’s Choice for Choice Poker

I’m right in the middle of Dealer’s Choice: The Complete Handbook of Saturday Night Poker, and it rocks. If you ever thought about setting up a regular poker night with your buddies, this the how-to manual you need. Even if you’ve been playing in such a game for years, the book comes with over 200 poker variants for you to spring on your friends in the middle of your next session. I haven’t been in a regular poker game for years, but this book makes me want to set one up and give it a whirl again.

Best of all, some game designer friends of mine wrote the book: James Ernest (of Cheapass Games), Phil Foglio (of Studio Foglio and Girl Genius), and Mike Selinker (of Wizards of the Coast/Avalon Hill and now, with James, Lone Shark Games). Phil’s one of the funniest cartoonists around, and between James and Mike they’ve created some of the greatest games of the last decade, including Pirates of the Spanish Main from WizKids. When they turn their attention to poker, it’s by turns riveting and hilarious. If you have any interest in poker at all, pick up this book.

Geek Mafia for Free

My friend (and former Pinnacle freelancer and co-creator of the hit computer game City of Heroes) Rick Dakan has just self-published a new novel: Geek Mafia. It is, as the tagline says, a novel of comics, games, and crime, subjects dear to my own geek heart. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but it’s high on my virtual stack. The book won’t be out until February (you can pre-order it from Rick’s website), but you can download a PDF of it for free right now.

High Stake Drifter Delayed

Due to some problems with getting the custom poker chips for the game made, WizKids has pushed back the official release date of High Stakes Drifter until November 23.

In the grand scheme of things, waiting a couple weeks to get great components for a great game is no big deal. In the meantime, WizKids has also posted its final preview of this collectible card game. This features not one but three new cards for the game. It’ll give you something to wring your hands over while you wait for November 23 to roll around.

Free Tomb of Horrors

The fine people at Wizards of the Coast have updated their classic Dungeons & Dragons module The Tomb of Horrors for version 3.5 of the game. Best of all, it’s free!

I have fond memories of this, the most lethal of the TSR-published adventures, despite the fact that my cleric got slaughtered in a horrible and arbitrary way. If you’re looking to kill off an entire party of heroes in a single night, be sure to download this right away. 🙂

Keith Parkinson Dies

Keith Parkinson died of complications from leukemia on October 26, four days after his 47th birthday. A service for friends and family will be held on November 1 near his home in southern California.

Keith was one of the greatest fantasy artists of our time. In the five years he spent at TSR, he created dozens of amazing covers for the company’s games, magazines, and calendars. As a freelancer, he painted even more award-winning covers for fantasy and science-fiction novels for the top publishers and writers. In 1995, he helped design the Guardians CCG for FPG. More recently, he painted the covers for the best-selling EverQuest computer games. In 2002, he co-founded Sigil Games Online and became the company’s art director. 

We’ve lost one of the greats here. Keith’s work has influenced and amazed just about anyone who’s worked in our industry. His widow Donna has asked that any donations in Keith’s memory be made to the the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

I saw Keith at many conventions over the years, selling his artwork out of his own booth, but I never managed to find the time to stop by and say hi. Finally, at last year’s Gen Con So Cal, I ran into Mike Stackpole at Keith’s booth, and the three of us chatted about life and work for a good long while. I’m glad that I got to finally meet Keith and get to know him, even for just that too-short slice of time.

My World Fantasy Convention Schedule

The World Fantasy Convention is coming up November 3—6, the weekend after Halloween. I’ll be there, along with several hundred other devotees of fantastic tales. This will be my first time at this traveling convention, but since it’s in Madison, Wisconsin, this year, I couldn’t pass up the chance to check it out.

I’ll wander about the place most of the weekend. If you’ll be there, too, be sure to give me a shout. I’m only scheduled for one event there:

Saturday 9:00-10:00PM

Other Forms of Storytelling
Capitol B

These days, books are competing with a number of alternate forms of storytelling. We know about movies and graphic novels, but we rarely consider role-playing and video gaming. The most compelling of these games are popular because they provide the player with a pretty good story, in which s/he takes an active part. Our panel of experts discusses the most popular games and the way in which they offer an entirely different technique of involving the player in a story. How are they produced? What do they offer that books do not? Are there any lessons to be learned by traditional writers?

Panelists: Richard Dansky, Matt Forbeck, Lucien Soulban, Michael A. Stackpole, Walter Jon Williams

That’s a panel I’m both pleased and proud to be on. I’ve known Rich, Loosh, and Mike for years, and it’ll be a great chance to catch up with them, before the panel, during, and after. I don’t know Walter, but I’m a fan of his work, so it should be a lot of fun. Stop by if you can!

Heretic of Set Out Soon

Heretic of Set, the second in J. Steven York‘s Stygian trilogy for the new Age of Conan line of novels, should be in stores soon. Amazon lists the book available on October 25, but a copy for me showed up in the mail earlier this week. Steve did a great job with this series. If you’re a fan of Howardian fantasy, you should pick it up. If you’re the kind that wants a taste first, the Conan website has excerpts from the first two books in the trilogy available for free. Dig in!