This Saturday, December 6, I’ll be part of the lineup of local authors gathered at the Beloit Public Library from 11 AM to 3 PM. All sorts of other writers will be there as well, including the illustrious Jerry Peterson. If we’re lucky, local creatives like Aaron Wilson, Jessica Fox-Wilson, Tom Warren, and Kimberly Vogel will join us, along with a few other surprises.

I don’t normally haul stock of books with me to things like this, but if you have something in particular you want from me, let me know and I’ll see if I can dig up a spare copy to bring along. Either way, I’ll be there for a good chunk of the day, so come on down and keep me company and bask in the bounty of books.

Earlier this year, the folks at Outland Entertainment licensed my Shotguns & Sorceryâ„¢ setting from me for use as a tabletop roleplaying game. They’ve been hard at work since then, getting everything ready for a Kickstarter drive to fund the game’s publication. That Kickstarter launches tomorrow, November 18, at noon Central Time.

You can see a mockup of the cover here, of course, but better yet, you can go preview the Kickstarter right now. When you do, there’s a “Remind Me” button in the upper left. Click on that, and you’ll get a reminder email from Kickstarter the moment the drive launches.

Over there, you might notice that this standalone game will use the Cypher Systemâ„¢ engine from Monte Cook Games. Monte and his team developed this system for use with the best-selling, award-winning games Numenera and The Strange. It’s a great system, perfect for use with the Shotguns & Sorcery setting.

On top of that wonderful news, Outland lined up superstar designer Robert Schwalb to handle the crunchy bits of the game conversion while I concentrate on the background material. Add in the phenomenal artwork of Jeremy Mohler–Outland’s founder and CEO–and that’s one bang-up team.

So go check it out and let the Outlanders know what you think. And please help spread the word far and wide. I’m hoping for big things from this game, and I’m thrilled to have you along for the ride.

When I don’t update the blog here for a while, it’s because everything’s gone sideways, and I’m too busy to manage it. I just realized I haven’t written anything here since September, and that’s possibly a record since I launched this site back in 2003.

Much of that’s due to notable health issues in my family that I can’t discuss here. (Well, I could and maybe will at some time, but not quite yet.) But it’s also because of an overwhelming number of secret projects that I’ll be trumpeting from a mountaintop near you as soon as the time is right. Or at least from this blog. And Twitter and Facebook and all the usual suspects. Stay tuned.

One thing I’ve not announced here yet, though–and should have–is that I’ll be a guest of honor this weekend at What-Khan, down in Rockford, Illinois. It’s a brand-new gaming convention rising from the ashes of the classic show Rock-Con, which was held there for decades. Barring any disasters, I should be around on Saturday afternoon at least, playing D&D with my kids and enjoying the show. Stop by and join me if you can!

If you’re in Madison, Wisconsin, rather than Rockford, Illinois, you should also check out Gamehole Con, a great new show sponsored by many of the local gaming stores, including my pals at I’m Board! Games and Family Fun. They have a lot of great guests, including my pals Ed Greenwood, Doug Niles, Lester Smith, Frank Mentzer, Chris Perkins, Jolly Blackburn, Chris Clark, and Tom Lommel (the Dungeon Bastard).

I was hoping to get there myself on Friday, but I was called out of town until then. (I’m writing this from a hotel room in beautiful downtown Rochester, Minnesota.) Either way, it’s already on my schedule for next year.

tl;dr: More news soon. Play games this weekend!

My pal John Kovalic does many great things. He illustrates games like Apples to Apples and Munchkin. He draws the Dork Tower comic strip. He even plays a mean game of Fiasco. He dotes on his terribly dotable wife and daughter. And he does his best to help those in need.

Case in point, John’s riding his bike for 60 miles on Sunday to help get farm-fresh food to needy families around Madison. He did the same thing last year and raised $4,000. This time around, he set his goal at $5,000, and he blew straight past it. He’s now well over $11,000, and the drive doesn’t end until Sunday.

As an act of gratitude, John assembled a package of ebooks to give to those who back the drive. It features a stack of wonderful comics by him and his regular co-conspirators, and he’s giving away Munchkin artwork to some of the backers as well. On top of that, he asked some of his friends to help him show his appreciation to all those chipping in–and John has amazing friends.

I’m tossing in a free ebook of Dangerous Games: How to Play for everyone who donates, plus John asked me to write him a limerick. (Nothing like leaning on my Irish heritage for a good cause!) But he also lined up several other heavyweight authors to write limericks too, including:

• Neil Gaiman
• Pat Rothfuss
• Chuck Wendig
• Brian Keene
• Anton Strout
• C. Robert Cargill
• Andrew Hackard

Better yet, John (and possibly some of his artist friends) are going to illustrate each of the limericks. And to top it all off, the Doubleclicks have vowed to set Pat’s limerick to music!

So, head on over to John’s blog and check out the full roundup of glorious, fun things you can get. (He’s adding new things often, so the list may grow.) Then check out his Bike the Barns pledge page and give what you can. And make John bike like the wind!

Yesterday, Magic: The Gathering: The Complete Collection came out from IDW. This collects all of the Magic: The Gathering comics published by IDW over the past few years, including twelve I wrote and another five by Jason Ciaramella. Artist Martin Cóccolo did a fantastic job with the the bulk of the pencils and inks for the entire run, and J. Edwin Stevens breathed life into my issues with his amazing colors.

The book also features the original, stunning covers by some of the top artists in the industry, including Alex Horley, Dan Scott, Aleksi Briclot, Carl Kopinski, Christopher Moeler, Chris Rahn, and Ryan Pancoast. It also shows many of the variant covers by artists like Tyler Walpole and Menton3.

It’s a heavy book, weighing in at 3.5 pounds. It’s taller and wider than the original comics, and it’s printed on top-quality paper that shows off every bit of the excellent art. The cover features a gold-foil logo and embossed icons from the game. It’s a thing of true beauty that would grace any shelf.

I hear the writing’s not too bad either.

Go grab it from your local comic shop or your favorite bookseller, and enjoy the Magic.

At the moment, I’m tangentially involved in two different monster-themed Kickstarters: Cthulhu Claus Holiday Cards Wave 2 and Goblin Quest.

In the first, the talented Jody Lindke (who provided illustrations for Monster Academy: I Will Not Eat People) returns for a second round of holiday cards featuring the creepy yet merry Cthulhu Claus. These feature inscriptions from the master of all things Lovecraft, Ken Hite.

I backed the first set (of course), and the cards were just as excellent as you would expect. They’re almost too good to send out, but at the same time too much fun to keep to yourself.

I’ve been friends with Jody’s husband Christian for many years, which is how I wound up having Jody’s excellent artwork in my first Monster Academy book. For this drive, she’s offered to come up with illustrations for the second Monster Academy book as well–if the project funds.

That’s not “if we make it to a higher stretch goal.” It’s “if the project succeeds at all.”

That’s terribly generous of Jody, but the project does need some love. It’s just over 40% of the way funded at the moment, and there’s only three days left, so please check that one out fast.

Up second, game designer Grant Howitt has a hilarious tabletop roleplaying game called Goblin Quest up on Kickstarter right now too. This project has already raised more than five times as much as its initial funding goal of £2,000, and it still has nine days left.

Grant lined up a number of famous game designers to write sets of short adventure seeds for Goblin Quest. The pack I’m in already funded at the £10,000 level, so if you back the game, you’ll get some fun bits from me for sure. And there’s an excellent chance you’ll see more pieces from folks like Robin Laws, Rob Heinsoo, James Wallis, and even Ken Hite, who’s writing the Cthulhu Claus cards too.

While I have your attention, allow me to call out a few other drives I’ve backed with my own hard-earned cash.

• Girls on Games: A Look at the Fairer Side of the Industry: A book about women in tabletop games, edited by Elisa Teague and featuring friends like Nicole Lindroos, Peggy Brown, Tanis O’Connor, Gaby Weilding, Teeuwynn Woodruff, Jennifer Brozek, Carol Monahan, Jessica Blair, and Mike Selinker.
• Hero Happy Hour: On the Rocks: A graphic novel by Dan Taylor and Chris Fason. Funny stuff about superheroes and their favorite bar.
• Designers & Dragons: A history of the roleplaying game industry by Shannon Appelcline. I helped Shannon with a few facts for the excellent first edition, and this one promises to be even better.
• Mutiny of Dreamers: A book project about achieving your dreams, by Melissa Hawks, who used to live here in Beloit.
• Kaptain Brawe 2: A Space Travesty: An adventure video game written by Steven Ince.