Mental note, do not read playtest forums right before heading to bed. I made that mistake tonight and have thus utterly failed to get to sleep. It’s still hot here, so that didn’t help either. I read for a half an hour (Jim Dunnigan’s incredibly interesting Dirty Little Secrets of World War II) and then lay there for an hour trying to get to sleep. Instead I just kept thinking about rules I need to add, tweak, throw out, or revise, sections I need to flesh out, examples I needed to write, and questions I needed to answer. Then I had to wonder how much I could get done before GenCon and how much during GenCon (probably not much, but I’m going to bring my laptop anyway). I guess it started earlier, because Tuesday is game night. We are, of course, playtesting WFRP and we had a good session that highlighted a number of areas for me to look at closely. Afterwards, I thought it’d be a good idea to see if any of the playtesters had encountered similar issues. The result: I am thoroughly awake.

The game was pretty funny. Nik decided it’d be cooler to play outside, so she brought out my minis battle board from the garage and laid it on top of a blanket. We sat around it on the lawn, drinks in hand. We had one light run out from the garage, but as it got later that didn’t provide enough illumination. Nik dug out a bunch of small candles and placed them around the battle map. It made the whole thing look like a low grade Satantic ritual, which we found pretty amusing in light of the accusations leveled at roleplaying games over the years. Completing the scene was Evan’s infant daughter Zoey, who was tonight’s special guest. Evil RPG? Check. Ritual candles? Check. Innocent child? Check. Guess we really blew an opportunity to please the Dark Master by being social and having fun instead. We were able to blame all of Zoey’s crying on Chaos though. It’s a new maxim: Chaos makes the baby Zoey cry.

Photo at Nikchick.com

Seattle has been unusually hot this summer, which is too bad because one of my favorite things about the city is the temperate climate. Today it was hot enough that the ceiling fans weren’t doing much good (and most homes here don’t have air conditioning). Nik suggested we catch a movie, so after a good day’s work we took a bus downtown and caught the Bourne Supremacy. Sitting in an air-conditioned box for a couple of hours was the perfect thing to do. By the time the movie was over, the city had cooled off and so had we. The Bourne Supremacy was good too. Made me want to write a spy story, as the running gag goes around here, “in my copious free time.”

It’s 1 am in the Emerald City and I guess it’s time to stop working on WFRP for today. The manuscript is in what I call the Hydra Stage. This means that when I fix one problem, two more grow to take its place. So I’m bouncing from chapter to chapter. “Can’t finish this career until I add this skill. Can’t add this skill until I finish the magic rules. Can’t finish the magic rules until I write the line of sight rules.” Etc etc. Not that any of this is bad, mind you. It needs to get done. It just means that my estimates are always off. “Surely I’ll finish Section X today!” Well, yes, I would have, but I was simultaneously working on Sections X, Y, and Z. All that said I should be sending out the second iteration of the playtest document this week. Huzzah. I shall then celebrate for five minutes and get back to it.

The celebration part at least should be easy. Nik and I were in a Flexcar, having just dropped off a staggering number of mail orders, when she spotted a liquor store. Since this was our day with the Flexcar this week, she immediately opted to take advantage of both liquor store and adjoining supermarket. We picked up, among other things, makings for a drink of her own devising, dubbed the Nikita by our friend Christine a couple of summers ago. If you like frappuccinos but think they’d be better with booze, you’d love a Nikita. We also ponied up for some Bombay Sapphire, an absolute necessity for refreshing summer gin and tonics. When libations are required, we are ready for action.

Just because something can bend, doesn’t mean it should. When you get a package that is clearly a book, please walk the one whole block from the mailbox to my porch and leave it there. Now maybe I just expect too much, but I’d really appreciate it if the next $30 art book I got in the mail wasn’t rolled up and shoved into my tiny mailbox like John Holmes violating a 14 year old virgin.

While I’m at it, I’d also like to make a note to convention goers. Please learn to use the toilet like a goddamned human being. It is not difficult. Do your business, wipe yourself, and flush the friggin’ toilet. That last part is particularly important because I don’t want to see you vile mess when I try to use the john. Also, do your best to confine your foulness to the actual toilet. Refrain from spraying it about the stall, as you are not a wild animal. I’m sure the collectible flumph miniature or the d20 half fiendish drow dragon assassins sourcebook or the convention exclusive Star Wars dildo with your choice of princess or the Galactus taking a dump on the universe statue will all still be there when you’re done, so take the extra few seconds and confine your crap to the crapper.

Thank you for your attention.

After wading through endless e-mails yesterday, I decided to reward myself with some brainless activity. I prepped a tray with minis, a hobby knife, and Zap-a-Gap, then flipped on the tube. I hadn’t planned on it, but I ended up watching the Democratic National Convention for a couple of hours while gluing together very small tanks. I hadn’t seen any of the previous speeches and whatnot for two reasons. First, I’ve known that I’d be casting my vote against Bush since November, 2000, so it’s not like I needed to be convinced. Second, Nik and I were on the road Monday to Wednesday, and political speeches were not what we had in mind when we checked into roadside motels after a full day’s driving.

As it happened, my timing was impeccable. I caught the lead in to Kerry’s big speech and then the whole speech itself. I found myself thinking, “This is it, Johnny boy. This speech is going to make you or break you, so make it count.” I was relieved to hear him saying all the right things. Not everything I would have liked him to have said, mind you, but the right things to get him elected. I watched the dog and pony show with a keen sense of appreciation. The strategists behind the event put the science in political science. Bringing out Kerry’s old shipmates from ‘Nam and continually referencing them as his “Band of Brothers”; hammering Kerry’s war hero status and contrasting that with W’s Vietnam-era shenanigans; slamming tax cuts for the rich and corporate welfare; restoring America’s integrity at home and on the world stage—that was all the right stuff to say. No doubt legions of super-patriot morons will still vote for Bush come November, but all we need is enough of the undecided voters to realize how they’ve been screwed for the past four years and we can get that monkey out of office.

I can’t say that I’m a bona fide Kerry supporter, as I have long-standing problems with the Democratic Party. As I’ve said though, I’d vote for a monkey in a fez to get Bush out of office. In the current environment, Kerry is good enough. I could take issue with a lot of points in his speech, especially the feel-good rhetoric about the good old days. It’s not like America using its superpower status to bully and manipulate other nations is anything new, more that the Bush administration did it so blatantly and egregiously. But hey, if some simplistic rhetoric is what it takes to more people to realize what the last four years has cost us all, I can’t complain.

Nik and I made it home last night around 10 pm. We took three days driving back, as we had no reason to push it on the way back. We had hoped to stop over in San Fran the first night and catch up with our friend Aaron, but the slow ass Pacific Coast Highway between San Diego and LA ensured that we couldn’t. We did drive through Napa Valley, which more or less defines picturesque. However, we got there after 5 and so didn’t get to do any wine tasting. Ah well.

Nik had a great idea on the return trip that really helped the time go by. We picked up several books on tape and listened to them during the long hours of driving. We had finished two complete books by the time we got home. The first was an old Nero Wolf mystery called Too Many Chefs, which was enormously entertaining. The voice actor did a great job portraying all the characters and his Wolf was spot on. The fact that the plot involved a gathering a world famous chefs and included a lot of food talk made it that much the better for Nik and I. After that, we listened to Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose’s book about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I must admit I didn’t know a huge amount about it and the book was fascinating. At a certain point the “and that was the first time Americans did X west of the Mississippi” got a bit tiresome, but hey, they were explorers after all. It was pretty amusing hearing about the Native American reaction to Lewis’s political overtures. Basically, he had a stock speech about how Jefferson was now the “great father” of the tribes. Lewis would give the chiefs medals, fancy jackets and hats, and sometimes some tobacco. In return they were supposed to stop fighting their neighbors and join the great (and at this point imaginary) American trading empire. In sharp contrast to the modern ideas of how easily duped the Native Americans were, time and again Ambrose relates how the chiefs were entirely unimpressed with the shiny googas. What they really wanted was whiskey, guns, and powder. One chief even showed up naked to the negotiation, to graphically illustrate how poor his people were. All in all, quite good.

Today I’ve been trying to dig out from under my accumulated e-mail, phone messages, and snail mail. Good god. It’s like I’ve been away for a month, not a week. Tomorrow it’s back into WFRP2. I’ve got a lot of ground to cover in August and I need to put pen to paper.

ComicCon started earlier tonight. They do this thing called “Preview Night,” which is short hand for “really, the show starts on Wednesday.” It’s supposed to be a time for press and pros to check things out, but they also let in people with four day badges as a special perk. I guess the thinking is that’s only the hardest core, but guess what? ComicCon is ground zero for geek culture and the hard core is big! So after a long day of setup and whatnot, we had three hours of show time and even on Wednesday night there were tons of people and lines everywhere.

Backing up a bit, the drive down was epic and all hail to my lovely wife for actually getting us down here early. Turns out there is literally nothing between Sacramento and LA, so we were able to average 85 mph for a good five hours. That helped shave hours off our travel time and even getting into a bit of traffic in always-wretched LA didn’t slow us down too much. And how can you match the excitement of places like the Dike Access Road, Jumpoff Joe Creek, and Mile of Cars Way? Oh yes, it was quite exciting. Really, the trip was better than I expected, though it did take us two days and about 20 hours of driving time.

Tomorrow the show opens at 9:45 and goes until 7 pm, which is longer hours than your standard game con. I’ve got some meetings and things to squeeze in, and of course I must make time to check out more of the exhibit hall. This show is huge, the equivalent of two to three GenCons. Onwards and upwards.

Well, it’s nearly time for round two of summer convention madness. This time, it’s San Diego ComicCon. Nik and I are leaving in the am, after an early conference call. Last year was the first time we attended ComicCon and we were feeling our way around. Not too many game companies go to ComicCon so it’s a different scene. We expect this year will be better all around. It helps that we have a a comic-related book to sell (Nocturnals: A Midnight Companion) and another one about to go to the print that we can flog there (the Red Star Campaign Setting). We have some interesting meetings scheduled as well. More of those anon.

 

I’ll try to do some updating throughout the week. We’ll see how it goes. Apparently, Buffy is doing her first ever convention appearence at ComicCon, so it’s sure to be a madhouse (a madhouse!).

 

In light of the Annual Origins Award dustup (now co-starring every yahoo on the internet), I’ve decided it’s time to launch new awards based on the gaming of our ancestors. Press Release follows:

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

ANNOUCING THE JESUS AWARDS

New Award to Revive Ancient Tradition

 

July 16, 2004—Seattle, WA: In 1980 a young Chris Pramas dug up two ancient lead tablets in a construction site near his Peabody, MA home. After some study, he realized they were not just in an unknown language but also in code. Armed only with an Aramaic-English dictionary, a 1st edition Dungeon Master’s Guide, and 3 12-sided dice, Pramas translated and decoded the mysterious tablets. The results were astounding. According to the tablets, Jesus of Nazareth was a gamemaster and the creator of the first roleplaying game, Harlots and Heresies. The Last Supper was, in fact, the Last Session of his long running campaign, which broke up due to the blatant rules-lawyering of Judas.

 

Miraculously, Jesus traveled to America in search of a new gaming group, while his remaining disciples spread across the Middle East and Europe to spread the word. Later, new player Paul would inadvertently invent Live Action Roleplaying when he took the game too far. His variant of the original Harlots and Heresies would achieve worldwide fame as “Christianity.”

 

Back in America, Jesus had little luck finding new players. He thus decided to institute a set of gaming awards to make his hobby appear more prestigious. The Native Americans didn’t understand his in-jokes, such as the ill-fated “Sure, Mom, Of Course You’re a Virgin” Award for Best Roleplayer. At this point, Jesus did the only thing that he could: he created instructions for handing out the awards and buried them so that future generations could revive them when the time was right.

 

“I’ve been preparing for this day since 1980,” commented Pramas. “The only thing that remained unclear was the final instruction: ‘give these awards to my people in the year of the lying weasel’. When the new board took over GAMA at Origins, I new the time was upon us!”

 

When asked to produce the lead tablets, Pramas insisted he no longer had them. “Hey, I melted those thing down years ago to cast my own miniatures, but you can trust the word of Jesus. You wouldn’t call Jesus a liar, would you?”

 

Categories and nominees for the Jesus Awards will be announced soon. Jesus and Pramas comprise the entirety of the jury. “I think having Jesus on the jury adds a level of transparency that no corporeal beings can match,” adds Pramas.

 

A year ago GR was at ComicCon in San Diego. Its dealers room is huge, equal to at least a couple of GenCons. As you’d expect, it’s comics, comics, comics. And as you’d expect from me, I found the booth in the back selling Hong Kong DVDs…

I picked up a couple of titles, including Legend of Zu. On returning to the booth, I told Hal about it and he went and picked up several movies as well, amongst them a film called Hero. Hal watched it, then loaned it to me at GenCon. 11 months later I finally watched it. This almost didn’t happen, as this was in import with no English anywhere on the interface. Took me 15 minutes of trial and error to turn on the English subtitles, but I was finally successful.

Hero is a film by Yimou Zhang, better known for more arty films like Shanghai Triad and Raise the Red Lantern. He assembled an all-star cast of Hong Kong talent, including Jet Li in the title role, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, and Boston’s own Donnie Yen. Two things immediately impress. First, the cinematography is great. The film is well shot and simply gorgeous. Second, the soundtrack is excellent. This may not seem like a big deal, but so many HK flicks have dreadful soundtracks full of Canto-pop (often sung by the stars of the movies) that a good soundtrack really stands out.

The film is reminiscent of Kurosawa’s Rashomon, with the story changing in a series of flashbacks. Interestingly, Yimou makes a visual distinction between each flashback by having the leads wear clothing of a different primary color. A nice touch, I thought. The movie begins with Nameless (Jet Li), a renowned swordsman, going before the King of Qin. He has slain the three legendary assassins (Leung, Cheung, and Yen) who had vowed to kill the king and now he is to receive an audience and his rewards. The flashbacks happen as Nameless and the king spar verbally, as the king tries to reveal the true story and Nameless’ real motives.

I won’t say much beyond that, as much of the film’s effectiveness rests on the way the story is told (quite a rarity in a martial arts film). There are many well-executed fight scenes, using all the classic wuxia elements (flying, bouncing off water, sword power, etc.). Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon before it, Hero pays homage to the work of King Hu back in the 60s. And that is not a bad thing.

Hero is one of the best HK flicks I’ve seen in a long time. While it is not exactly easy to find right now, there is an American release planned later this year. I believe that version will hack out 30 minutes of the movie though. Also note that Western liberals probably won’t love the political implications of the film, but those don’t appear until late in the film and are easy to forgive since they lead to a good story. Hero is definitely worth checking out.