My fellow Alliterate Steve Sullivan just launched a drive for his Tournament of Death 1 & 2 writing stunt. He’s setting up a live-writing event that pits fantasy characters against each other to coincide with the Olympics. He pulled it off in 2008, and he’s reprising it this summer too. He wants to start at the same time as the big games, so this is a short one, only 14 days in the whole drive.

My pal Greg Stolze is running Transmit and Other Stories, the latest in his Kickstarters that combine it with his ransom model. (Once he gets the money, he releases the story to everyone for free.) He’s already cracked open “Transmit,” and now he’s pushing for the other stories. Read some of his other work, and if you like it, give him a boost.

I kicked in as a supporter myself. If you’re into excellent fantasy writing and would like to help support Steven’s efforts at launching a new publishing house, check it out and consider chipping in too. Thanks!

Issue #10 features an interview with Paizo‘s Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood‘s Dwarven Goddess, Ecology of the Hill Giant, John Wick‘s unique (and slightly disturbing) take on Halflings, Secrets of the Halberd, Monte Cook‘s Game Theories,  Rampant Elf Lust, and more. We think it’s one of the best issues we’ve ever done.

I’ve long been a fan of Wolf and his work. Now, if you hustle on over, you can see why, for free.

As with the first, the best bits about these games (other than Les’s trademark wit and excellent game design) are that you can play them with components you already own–and they’re free! Be sure to check them out, play them, and let Les know what you think.

Best of all, it’s free! Les has posted the rules online, and all you need to play are a deck of cards, plus a pencil and paper for keeping score. It’s a fast and fun game, and it won’t cost you a dime, so be sure to check it out and give it a whirl.

By the way, if you haven’t checked out the game, I recommend it. The Mines of Moria expansion really rocks.

I’m also getting into Guild Wars these days. The fact that my friends Jeff Grubb (also an Alliterate), Will McDermott, and Ree Soesbee handle a lot of the writing for it helps.

Les has been working on this game in his limited spare time for a long time. I’ve heard about it in bits and pieces from him over the years, and I can’t wait to read the actual thing.

Be sure to check up on him as he goes!

My contribution to each was small. Robin interviewed me, along with dozens of others, for his book, and I wrote one of the 100 essays for Jim’s book. (My entry was about Space Hulk.) Sadly, both were up for the Non-Fiction Publication of the Year, and only one could win.

The voters at Origins chose Hobby Games: The 100 Best. My condolences to Robin, and many congratulations to Jim and the 99 other authors who chipped in on the winning book, among which I count several good friends. That includes many of my fellow Alliterates: Thomas Reid, Monte Cook, Steven Schend, Stan!, Tim Brown, Lester Smith, Wolf Baur, Steve Winter, Jeff Grubb, and Doug Niles.

Now, I can only wonder if GAMA will try to fit all 100+ names on to the trophy? If the rulebooks for collectible card games have taught us nothing else, it’s that people can read really small print.

Congratulations to all of the rest of the winners too! Notably, Jim Lowder’s Astounding Hero Tales anthology of pulp stories took home the Fiction Publication of the Year award too. (Robin was one of the book’s authors too, along with fellow Alliterate writer Thomas Reid, so there’s some small consolation for him.)

As Jim pointed out to me, this is likely the first time both awards have been won by creator-owned projects. Jim always stands strong for creators’ rights, and the contracts for both books show that.

Congratulations also to my friends at Paradigm Concepts for Codex Arcanis winning Roleplaying Game Supplement of the Year. I wrote a chunk of the original edition, although I’m told my work is only there in sprit in the latest, award-winning version.