My son Marty has been pestering me to run a D&D campaign for him and his friends this fall. I’m going to try 4E, mostly so I can check out the new material in full. I have the basic books, of course. Can anyone recommend other must-have bits for the game? I’m heading to Gen Con this week, so I’m looking to pick them up there. Thanks!
Full DJA Shortlist Press Release
The Diana Jones Award committee has a new, expanded press release about the items that made this year’s shortlist. Be sure to check it out.
The DJA Ceremony Invitations
The Diana Jones Award ceremony is held the Wednesday night before Gen Con, or August 12 this year. It’s held in a bar, which offers a chance for gaming industry professionals to get together for a beer or three after setting up for the show and relax before the tsunami of gamers they hope to see crashing against their booths the next morning. In the middle of this, we take a short break for the Diana Jones Award committee to present this year’s award for excellence in gaming and then to celebrate this accolade.
If you qualify to attend this industry-only party and haven’t yet seen an invitation, e-mail me, and I’ll get you set up. I hope to see you there.
The 2009 Scribe Awards
At Comic-Con, the IAMTW announced the results of its annual Scribe Awards. As you might recall, my novelization of the Mutant Chronicles film was nominated for Speculative Fiction, Best Novel, Adapted. It lost out to Bob Greenberger‘s excellent Hellboy II novelization, but I got to sit between Bob and Jim Rollins on the panel. They both won awards, and basking in their reflected glow took the sting right out of the loss.
It really was an honor to sit on stage with all the nominees who could make it to Comic-Con, many of whom I met there in person for the first time. Keith R. A. DeCandido gave a clever Grandmaster acceptance speech, and Lee Goldberg did yeoman’s work leading the post-ceremony panel. We had lots of different people on the panel, and it’s not easy to come up with enough great questions for everyone to chip in on, but he handled it well.
The photo here comes from Lee’s Flickr set of the event. Check out the rest of the pictures there, and see below for the full awards results.
The 2009 Diana Jones Award Shortlist
The Diana Jones Award shortlist was announced today! Congratulations to all the nominees!
Storytellers and Cons
My latest essay is up at Storytellers Unplugged, and in honor of Comic-Con this week, it’s about “The Season of the Con.” Be sure to check it out, and if you happen to be going out to Comic-Con too, be sure to give me a shout-out. I hope to see you there!
The Marvel Encyclopedia Cover
Earlier today, I spotted the cover for the new edition of The Marvel Encyclopedia, which I spent a few jam-packed months revising earlier this year. As the gorgeous cover states, this version is updated and expanded. There’s likely not a two-page spread of that book that didn’t get some sort of update, and it weighs in with 48 extra pages of brand-new material. It’s slated to be released on September 21, 2009, so be sure to add it to your holiday shopping list.
I’m a huge Marvel fan, and working on this book was a real delight. It gave me an excuse to wallow in years and years worth of great comics in a way I hadn’t been able to justify in far too long. I can’t wait to actually hold a copy in my hands.
My Star Trek Toy
The Star Trek movie toy set I designed for Playmates Toys is going on sale in August. The Star Trek Interactive Utility Belt comes with a phaser and communicator that allow you to interact with the belt and communicate with Starfleet Command. I designed the game play and wrote the dialog with some help from a couple of excellent TV writers–who I’m not sure I’m allowed to name at the moment.
There’s a wild story about my involvement with this that involves last year’s Comic-Con. While I’m at Comic-Con this week, I’ll have to see if I can get clearance to write about it. Once again, those non-disclosure agreements make me bite my tongue–which is why it took be so long to be able to mention this in the first place.
Now that it’s public knowledge, though, woot! I can’t wait to play.
Hobby Games Essayists Assemble!
The esteemed editor Jim Lowder has given a hundred or so people permission to release the list of essayists they’re joining for Family Games: The 100 Best, the follow-up to the award-winning Hobby Games: The 100 Best. I happen to be one of those lucky souls, and here’s that amazing list.
We can’t say what we’re writing about yet. The only real rule was that we couldn’t cover a game we worked on. That, of course, left plenty great games to choose from.
The book should be out in late August. I can’t wait to read it.
Kars for Kids
My friend Clifford Meth recommends this charity–Kars4Kids–which turns your old car into summer camp time for needy kids. It sounds like a great cause and an easy way to support it. Just keep away from that jingle on the site’s front page, which will earworm you in seconds.
I donated one of my first post-college junkers to a charity like this back when I lived in Colorado. You get the tax write-off for the charity, and you don’t have to hassle with selling the thing and wondering if an irate buyer will come after you later when something breaks! (I actually had a brake line burst once while I was in the middle of negotiating the sale of a different car. He got an extra $50 off right there.)