As ICv2.com reports, Palladium Books (publisher of the Rifts roleplaying game, among others) is on the ropes. In an open letter to the company’s fans, president Kevin Siembieda announces that the company fell victim to treachery from within to the tune of $850,000 to $1,300,000. I don’t know if it’s that Kevin can’t or won’t pin down an exact number. …

I’ve just agreed to be this year’s guest of honor at Protospiel, a small convention dedicated purely to novice game designers. It’s scheduled for July 13—15 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to my alma mater, the University of Michigan. If you’re an aspiring game designer–especially for board or card games, although games of all types are welcome–I recommend attending, if …

This weekend, I finally got around to updating the site’s software to WordPress 2.02. At the same time, I added some cool bits to the comments. Now, the site can automatically e-mail you a notification whenever someone comments on a particular post. You can even subscribe to a post without commenting first. (Of course, if you already subscribe to comments …

The fine folks at Gen Con Indy have asked me to be a guest of honor once again at this year’s show. This will be my third year in a row to be so honored. Best of all, it’ll be my 25th summertime Gen Con in a row. Back when I was a kid, my father would pack me and …

Since a few people have asked about the seminars I held at this year’s GAMA Trade Show, I’ve posted the notes from them in my Downloads section. “Seven Habits of Effective Freelancers” is for beginning freelancers, while “Advanced Freelancing” is just what it says. They’re incomplete, of course, since they’re just my speaking notes. I used these for the first …

This Saturday and Sunday (April 1—2, 2006), I’ll be at Concinnity, a gaming and science fiction convention held on the campus of the Milwaukee School of Engineering. My tentative schedule looks like this: Writing and Freelancing. Learn the basics of getting published and dealing with the challenges of writing fiction, RPGs and more. Featuring authors Matt Forbeck, James Lowder, and …

When I was at the GAMA Trade Show last week, Paul Tevis grabbed me, sat me down, and interrogated me about all sorts of things. The recording of this somehow turned up on Paul’s excellent podcast, Have Games, Will Travel. (I suppose the large microphones should have been a clue.) Give it a listen, and you can hear how I …

The GAMA Trade Show will no longer be held at the Riviera. Next year, it’ll be at Bally’s instead, and a month later in the year to boot. Perhaps not too coincidentally, this moves it away from the inaugural Games Expo, which will be held in Las Vegas also, near GTS’s traditional dates, but at the SouthCoast. See the full …

The latest issue (#169) of Comics & Games Retailer, a trade magazine for two tightly bound industries, concentrates on the state of the gaming industry. Along with the regular doom and gloom, editor James Mishler commissioned an article from me about how the industry looks from a freelancer’s point of view. The answer in short: confused but hopeful, with an …

Dennis Mize, one of the first two sculptors at (legendary and now defunct miniatures company) Ral Partha, died this week. He also created gorgeous figures for Dark Sword Miniatures, Reaper Miniatures, and others. The Miniatures Page has an excellent memorial post about him. I never knew Dennis, but like anyone who starting gaming in the ’80s, I appreciated his work. …