Low Energy Friday

I need to be up early tomorrow for yet another trip. This time it's Vegas for a trade show. I must admit I am real low energy at the moment and I do not feel prepared. Lately I have not been traveling with my laptop but I think may need to bring it this time. I've got a lot of things to do and I don't think I can just defer everything until the middle of next week.

Meanwhile I find myself wishing the presidential election was tomorrow so we could get it over with. The right wing slime machine is getting itself into gear and it just sickens me to watch it. November can't come fast enough.

Here Comes August

I've been slack about updating the ole blog lately because July has been crazy busy. Nicole and I are leaving for Finland on Monday and we have to tie up all loose ends and make sure everything is on track for Gen Con before we go. In the midst of that Nik and I went to the Portland area over the weekend for her high school reunion and various family visitation. That same weekend Flying Lab moved its offices from Queen Anne to Belltown. The new location cuts about 15 minutes off my commute each way and I can get here on only one bus. I have also escaped the bullpen at last and have a private office I share with one other person that has a lovely view of Puget Sound. Belltown is the north end of downtown and has lots of new options for lunch, which is great. The office is also a 5 minute walk from Singles Going Steady, the best punk record store in Seattle. Woot.

Usually this time of year it's all about Gen Con, but I'm actually more excited about attending Ropecon the week before. Don't get me wrong, I love Gen Con, but this is going to be my 19th in a row and I know what to expect. I will enjoy myself for sure, but it's unlikely to hold any surprises. This will be my first trip to Finland on the other hand and my first con in northern Europe. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Finland and Ropecon have to offer.

On the Gen Con front it looks like GR will (knock on wood) be able to debut the Wild Cards campaign setting for Mutants & Masterminds. This is the first of our George R.R. Martin projects and I think it came out great. Series author John Jos. Miller wrote a hugely comprehensive setting book, Steve made sure it's eminently gameable, and Hal made it look awesome. I think M&M and Wild Cards fans will be very pleased with the finished product. We've got some other Gen Con surprises in the works, but I'm not going to say more until I'm sure they'll make the show.

Now it's back to work. Much to still do before Monday.

27 Years of Galaga Pays Off

I got a promotion today at Flying Lab. I am now the company's Creative Director, in charge of all story elements and narrative design. Up to this point I've basically been isolated in my writing cave. I will now be stepping up into a leadership role at FLS, which I think I am well prepared for after 8 years of running Green Ronin. Now I must tell the crew that floggings will continue until morale improves!

Hey, July

I'll admit it, July; we've never had the best of relationships. You are in the middle of the summer and I am not a fan of hot weather. That's why I like the temperate Pacific Northwest. But hey, Son of Caesar, why do I feel like you are conspiring against me? I don't mind doing work, but it seems awfully strange that it's all coming due in the same damn month. Most of it in the same week even. So what gives, July? Do you have it out for me?

Mindless Violence on a Sunday Night

A little after 10 pm Kate and I got to Pine St. & 3rd Ave to catch a bus home. We had been out with my old friend and bandmate Amanda at a vegan pizza place in the U-District, which was pretty good but vegan "cheese" still doesn't melt. I wouldn't normally have Kate out that late on a school night but Amanda comes to town rarely and this was our chance to get together.

So anyway, we're waiting for our bus and I hate this stop late at night. It's a nexus point for drunks, wannabe gangstas, junkies, and other nocturnal denizens. There's always some bullshit going on and it's not a matter of if you'll get hassled, but how. Last year some jackass pulled an assault rifle out of his trunk and killed someone who insulted him a block away from our stop. Oh yeah, good times.

Tonight we walked up on a confrontation between a drunk guy and a middle aged guy with a walker. It may have been racially motivated, as I think the guy with the walker was native American and I heard him yell at the other guy, "I'm not your people." I don't know what the beef was, but the drunky insisted being a bigtime antagonist. I'm not sure what was wrong with the middle-aged guy (he seemed to have on some kind of knee supports as well) but he got so pissed that he picked up his walker and started swinging it at the drunk guy like a big club. Asshole kept dodging back and taunting him. He then caught the walker and started trying to wrestle it from the other guy's grasp. The two of them spilled into the middle of Third Avenue and continued to struggle.

This is when it got surreal. You see, normally Third Ave is a busy street. Even at this time of night, there's a decent amount of traffic. Minutes before, I could look down the road and see like six buses. Yet when these two moved into the street the traffic disappeared. For a good three minutes no cars or buses were visible anywhere on the street. I kept expecting a bus to come barreling down or the cops to roll up, but there was nothing but this brawl.

There were a good 40 people on the block watching this drama unfold. Older folks shook their heads in disapproval, while teenagers whooped and hollered and egged the fight on. Not one person tried to stop it. Finally, I said to Kate, "I really feel like I need to do something." Kate grabbed my arm, pulled herself close, and said, "Please don't!" She didn't want to see me hurt and I didn't want to leave Kate stranded alone downtown with Nicole still away. I felt like shit, but I stood there with everyone else. The drunk finally took a couple of hits from the walker but this didn't seem to faze him.

At this point our bus pulled up. It stopped right in front of them and started honking its horn. They did not get out of the street. I saw drunky eying the other guy's hat, which had come off in the scuffle. I picked up the hat and put it back on its owner's head. Then I turned to the drunk and said, "Give it a rest." They were both so focused on each other that neither noticed. Kate and I then boarded the bus.

As we were finding seats, somehow the tide turned. Walker guy had gotten his arms around the drunk and body slammed him head first into the wall. The whole bus went, "Whoah!" Drunky ended up on all fours, with the other guy on top of him. The last thing we saw was the now walkerless guy reaching up between the drunk's legs and cockpunching him. Can't say he didn't deserve it. Then the bus roared away.

I wish Kate hadn't had to witness that scene. I wish I had stopped it from getting that far.

Fun Time Is Over

My getaway is over, sad to say. Tomorrow it's back to both jobs. The weekend was a blast though. I ended up playing 7 games in 48 hours at Enfilade, something I don't think I've pulled off since GenCon circa 1992. Here's a brief roundup.

I kicked things off on Friday night with a WWII Wings of War game that used model planes on flying stands and oversized maneuver cards. The scenario featured six B-17s with fighter escorts on a bombing run over Germany. I commanded the worst German planes on the table, ME-110s, but I enjoyed the challenge. There were about 20 planes on the table, which was a big chaotic but overall the game was fun. We shot down three B-17s and won the game.

Saturday morning I played "Last Train to Smolensk," a Russian Civil War game in which Reds, Whites, and partisans fought over statue reputed to contain the bones of the Tsar and his family. The game won for sheer spectacle, with hundreds of nicely painted 28mm minis and not one but two armored trains. The rules were a convention friendly version of Heroes of the Soviet Union. I wasn't familiar with them but the one page summary gave all the info needed to play and everyone picked them up quickly. We ultimately had 18 people playing this game, and considering that it went at a pretty good clip. I ended up commanding Red Cavalry in the spirit of Isaac Babel, but unfortunately the table was so crowded and our starting position so poor that I had a hard time getting them into action. We started playing at 9:30 and I didn't roll an attack until 11:20. I think it would have been better with maybe 12 people and 25% less figures but I still had a good time. I don't know anyone in Seattle who has any interest in Russian Civil War gaming, so I'm glad I had the chance to participate.

In the afternoon I played in "King Batuve's Mines", a Sword in Africa game run by ex-TSR designer Steve Winter. In 19th century Africa English colonialists open a diamond mine on the land of King Batuve without asking permission. Mistake! The wily king marshals his forces and tries to capture the mine before a relief column can arrive. I commanded one of the African contingents and attempted to kill whitey. It turned out I was in the right place twice to sacrifice troops to better my side's tactical situation. I lost almost all my troops but King Batuve took his mine back.

That night I played in a "The Sword and the Flame on Mars", a Victorian scifi game that married the Sword and the Flame ruleset with the Space: 1889 RPG setting. This game was great to look at, with spider walkers and other steam engines squaring off on the red planet. I was on the British side, commanding the sole airship in the battle. I evaded Martian rockets, while pounding the ground with cannons and dropping liquid fire from above. It was a close fought battle but we pulled it out. Rule Britannia! This was my favorite game of the weekend.

After that long ass day I should have gone right to bed, but did not. Rick and I hooked up after his Medieval game finished and we threw down with some Memoir '44. I tried and failed to stop an American assault after D-Day, then finally went to bed.

Sunday morning Rick and I got into a classic Battletech game. We hadn't played any con games together the whole weekend and I knew he'd be up for it. I've played Battletech once in the last 10 years, so I was rusty on the rules but the GM was very good and did an excellent job of controlling the pace and keeping the action going. All the mechs started with some damage to even things out a bit, so my 100 ton Atlas was badass but didn't dominate. We had 8 players with one mech each and our team won. I took out the enemy Atlas but then went down in flames. In honor of the biggest Battletech fan I know, Chris Hanrahan, I used the Endgame dice he gave me in Oakland back in February and they served me well.

After that we ended up playing a pickup game of Space Hulk with people we met in the Battletech game (three of whom were also named Rick!). This is another game I hadn't played in a long time. A couple of the guys hadn't played before and they made the mistake of thinking they could fight the genestealers in hand to hand combat. Their squad of terminators was wiped out in less than 15 minutes. Our squad kept fighting and made some good progress but eventually we were overwhelmed by the alien horde. After the game we took our leave of Enfilade and headed back to Seattle.

Today was a holiday of course, so what to do? Hey, how about playing a game? I had Ray and Jon over this afternoon and we played Descent. I was the Overlord and they each played two characters. This proved a good idea, as otherwise they would have been giant bait. The scenario was a bit repetitious but we had a good time.

I call that a successful gaming weekend.

The Wacky Bus Driver

I have this wacky driver on my first bus of the morning. He's got this practiced patter that he uses every day. It starts when we get to the International District. He says, "This is the first stop in the Ride Free Area; welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the Twilight Zone." I'm not sure if that's a commentary on the International District or the Ride Free Area. As we proceed downtown, he calls the Federal Building "the protestor's Mecca" and the main branch of the library "the ziggurat of knowledge." I appreciate the sense of humor, but I think he needs to mix it up a bit. It's always the same thing.

'Tis the Season?

Nicole and I had a simple plan last night: get dinner, see Iron Man. After some debate we decided to try Malay Satay Hut. My morning bus route goes about a block away from the place and I've been meaning to try it forever because it has a great rep. We pulled up around 8 and saw that it was closed. Closer investigation showed that it was out of action due to a kitchen remodel. We sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, trying to figure out where to go instead. While we were waiting three more groups of people came to dine at the Satay Hut and left disappointed. We'll have to go back when it reopens.

We ended up at Shilla, a Korean place on Denny that we hadn't been to in a long time. We got beef and scallop BBQ and cooked it at our table. It was very tasty, but we didn't get over to the over to the movie theater until 10. The 10:15 show of Iron Man sold out as I was walking up to the counter. So no satay and no Iron Man but not a total wash.

Today Nik went out to get a new garbage disposal. The plan was that she'd stop off at Matt's Famous Chili Dogs in Georgetown and bring back lunch while I did the dishes in preparation for the installation. Nicole stopped by and found Matt's was closed. They are also doing a remodel! What the hell? Is it the season to remodel restaurants or what?

The Country Where I Quite Want to Be

Back in the dark days of the original Ronin Publishing (also known as the mid-90s), my business partner got invited to be a guest of honor at a convention in Switzerland. They offered to pay his way over and pick up his hotel. I told him he should go for it and he arranged to attend. I think many convention organizers outside the US don't realize what a cheap date American designers are. Offer us a ticket to someplace more exotic than Columbus or Milwaukee and odds are we'll come. Anyway, months go by and this Swiss show approaches. The night before the flight my partner has this dream in which his dead grandfather told him not to go. This freaks him out and he cancels at the last minute. I told him a free trip to Europe was probably the coolest thing he was ever going to get out of being in the game industry, but it was too late. He skipped the trip and a couple of years later he was out of the industry.

All of this is a long preamble to the fact that I've been invited to be a guest of honor at Ropecon in Finland and you can bet your ass I'm going. I was actually invited last year for the first time but it was on the same weekend as Recombination in Cambridge, England. This year I had no previous obligations so I was happy to accept. Nicole, being a proud Finnish-American, will be coming with me. We hope to arrive a few days early so we can see some of Helsinki and perhaps beyond. I, of course, am keenly interested in the Winter War and the Continuation War but I'll try not to drag her to all war-related sites. Anyway, very much looking forward to it. The only downside is that it's the weekend before GenCon. It seems likely that Nik and I will have a 15 hour flight home and then have to get on another plane the next day for GenCon. We may be quite zombiefied by the time we get there, but whatever: we're going to Finland, baby.

Service Interruption!

Last week I was poking around the internet looking for ideas on places to eat in Sin City. I ran across Larry's Las Vegas Restaurant Guide, which has reviews of many of the foodie favorites there. The reviews are generally useful but one of Larry's quirks is that he's a stickler for service. In many reviews he has notes like, "Service Interruption--15 minutes!" I was amused enough that I related this to Nicole on our plane ride down to Vegas. This must explain the poor service we got from several restaurants that I expected better from.

It started the morning we arrived. We had a 6 am flight on Saturday so we were at our hotel by 9:30 and our room was not ready. We decided to head over to the Venetian and have brunch at Bouchon. I had been to the Napa Valley original last year and looked forward to checking this one out. Everything went great through the beignets and then the wait began. About 20 minutes later they brought out my food but not Nicole's. I started eating so it wouldn't get cold and hers came maybe 10 minutes later. Pretty odd for a place of Bouchon's caliber, though I will add that the chicken and waffles Nicole got was truly awesome. My eggs with boudin blanc was good, but not in the same league.

Sunday night Hal joined us for a trip to Seablue, one of Michael Mina's places. The restaurant wasn't all that busy but seemed understaffed. Our waitress was very nice when she was around, but she routinely went MIA for 15 minutes at a time. We had told her we were in no hurry ("This is our show," we said), but that didn't mean we intended to spend the whole night there either. When the food arrived though, it was excellent. The lobster corndogs were not as great as they sounded (the batter overwhelms the lobster a bit), but the paella was hands down the best that I've had anywhere. It was just stuffed with high quality seafood of all sorts, as well as quail and rabbit. So no problem with the kitchen; only the service needed help.

I must therefore give meal of the trip to Wing Lei at the Wynn. The service was excellent all around. Our waiter was attentive but not obsequious and he had ample assistance. Nicole and I had the Imperial Peking Duck tasting menu, which was five courses of heaven. It started with a whole Peking Duck brought tableside. Choice bits were carved out and rolled into delicious crepes. They then took the rest of the duck back to the kitchen and used it to create the rest of our dishes. Fantastic and no service interruptions!

You can see why I don't gamble when I'm in Vegas. I save up my money to eat above my means, not to lose it shooting craps.

Work and Props

Somehow, a whole pile of work seems to have snuck up on me. I've got a new assignment at FLS, I have lots to do for GR leading into convention season, and for the first time in a while I have freeelance work as well. I'm writing and reading proposals while assigning and being assigned work. It's good that I was able to relax for a couple of days in Vegas.

Green Ronin is participating in the Origins Awards for the first time in years and we got four nods in the semi-finals. This is a relatively new stage of the process that provides a field of 10 in each category. The retailers at GAMA Trade Show are voting on those, which will winnow it down to 5 and those are the actual nominess. I was pleased to see the Pirate's Guide to Freeport, Hobby Games: The 100 Best, Walk the Plank, and Faery's Tale Deluxe make the short list. I still don't like the super condensed categories. I also really think the non-fiction category needs to be re-thought or re-named. This includes magazines, art books, and other oddball stuff. Somehow, the Grand History of the Realms (for the Forgotten Realms) is also in this category. Wacky.

I probably should skip gaming tonight but I won't. More Combat Commander awaits.

Back from Vegas

Although GAMA Trade Show goes on for three more days, I am back from Las Vegas. Kate is mature for her age, but not so much so that we'd leave her to fend for herself all week. I had three days in Vegas. Two were spent relaxing with Nicole, who I've barely seen this month. Yesterday, as GTS got going, I had a couple of business meetings, helped set up the Green Ronin booth, and caught up with some friends and colleagues. I also got in on Mike Webb's yearly GTS game of Kremlin and that was good fun, even if my best politburo stooges ended up dead or in Siberia.

I'll post more later on what Nik and I got up to (short version: eating well). I wish I had been able to stay longer at GTS, as the industry seems to be a strange place at the moment and I'd like to have had more of a chance to catch up with folks and talk things over. We are still awaiting clarity on the whole GSL issue and I'll be surprised if we hear anything concrete by week's end. I can tell you that was topic #1 for most RPG publishers I talked to. Interesting times.

A Strange Year

After finally getting a chance to watch the King of Kong (which was great, btw), we went to dinner at Voila with Ray and Christine tonight. Towards the end of the meal we were talking about this has been a strange year so far. And it's true. Not bad, but definitely different than how I thought it would go. I've actually had some interesting opportunities pop up lately (more on that if things if work out), but these are things that have come out of the blue. Things that I expected to happen didn't or did in a different way.

So we're talking about the weirdness of 2008 when Kate pipes up and says, "Nothing has gone right since the fireworks." We all laughed because it was sort of true. On New Year's Eve the big Seattle fireworks display was a total bust. It just went spectacularly wrong and for the first time I actually heard people booing fireworks. That was a bit of an omen about the year to come, but it took the mind of a 12 year old to make the connection.

Tomorrow, things may get even stranger.

Business and Pleasure

Nik and Kate are in NYC on a class trip, so I've been left to my own devices here in Seattle. This weekend was pretty much equal parts business and pleasure.

Yesterday I went down to Tim's place in Renton for a final game of Spirit of the Century before Tim, our most recent traitor, moves back to the Bay Area to take a job with Apple. It was a battle royale in Hong Kong, with our intrepid band of pulp heroes facing off against a horde of tong gangsters. We ended on a cliffhanger, with what seemed to be dragons heading to Hong Kong to eject the foreign devils, and we hope to be able to finish up the story when Tim is back visiting at some point. I spent my entire evening in the office, doing Green Ronin work of the most boring sort. Ah, the endless joy of contract writing and administration.

Today I woke up with a full blown cold that came out of nowhere, which was weird. Knowing I had people coming over at 1 pm, I just downed some medicine and went to work cleaning the downstairs. I got things in order and right on time Rick, Jimmer, Ray, Seth, and Wolfgang arrived. We were getting together for an afternoon of boardgaming, which I don't get to do as often as I'd like. Today's game: History of the World. This is the classic game of rising and falling empires. The game is exactly seven turns long, which each one representing an epoch of history. On each turn you play a different empire, while trying to hold together as much of your previous empires as possible. I had the good fortune to get the Romans (thanks, Rick!) and I was able to maintain a lead from that point forward. It came down to the wire, but I pull out a victory despite my various empires getting picked apart. We played a complete game and finished at 6:30. I really ought to try to organize days like this more often, though with convention season approaching I shouldn't kid myself.

Tonight it was back to work. I did not get as much accomplished as I wanted to because this cold is running me down, but I am continuing to check things off my to-do list. I am tempted to take a sick day from FLS tomorrow but I may hold out and take one Tuesday if need be.

A Useful Lesson from Junior High

When I was in junior high school, I took this craft-type class. We spent one quarter each in wood shop, metal shop, sewing class, and cooking class. In metal shop we learned about workplace slacking when, on the first day of class, the teacher said, "This quarter you can make a metal box or have a free period; what do you want to do?" We, of course, opted for the free period. The best of the four quarters was the cooking class. My friend Scott Piso and I were the only two guys in the class and it was apparently expected that we'd be dumbasses because cooking was not a male thing. Let's see, which is more fun, getting sawdust everywhere or eating fresh baked bread? One of the things we learned to make was classic mac and cheese. It was pretty easy, involving a simple rue and just a little patience, and it tasted so much better than Kraft's krap. I took that recipe home and started making it for myself. As I got older and mac and cheese became a less exciting culinary treat, I stopped making it. It's probably been 20 years since I busted it out.

Last night I revived my old tradition. Kate and I are on our own this week and, despite her food-loving parents, she's still a pretty picky eater. The couple of days previous I'd let her fend for herself in the pantry, but I decided I'd make something from scratch for her. Kate loves very little more than mac and cheese. When we go to Stellar Pizza, one of Seattle's best places for NY-style pie, Kate eschews pizza and gets their mac and cheese (which, she proclaims, is the "best in the world"). Luckily, she was not too curious about what I was doing in the kitchen. I was able to cook the macaroni, make the sauce, layer it into a baking pan, and pop it in the oven without her coming into the kitchen once. Twenty minutes later the timer went off and I called her in. She was delighted and ate a big bowl. Success. I think I should have used a bit less pasta so it would have been a bit creamier but it was pretty good all in all. As a bonus there are enough leftovers that Kate will have something she likes in the fridge for the next several days.

Post GDC

I am back from GDC and trying to catch up on all the stuff that piled up while I was away. I had hoped for some movement on the Game System License, but still no joy there. When I see things like classes getting fixed hit points at each level, it makes me fear the new edition will be so totally overdesigned that I won't even need to show up at the table; my character will play itself. Not going to worry about it until I can see the whole ruleset though.

GDC was great. I attended many interesting lectures, made new contacts, reconnected with some old friends from the game industry like Rich Dansky and Josh Mosqueira, ate some excellent food, and saw some of SF to boot. I would definitely go back and I'm already plotting on how that's going to happen next year. I may have more to say about the lectures later.

Later this week I have another sleep study, this time to fit me out with the CPAP machine that'll help me breathe better during the night. If things go as they should, I soon will enjoy the first good sleep of my adult life. Wohoo.

The Brief Version

I wrote a lengthy post last night about my first two days in SF, only to have LJ eat it. The computer I'm on apparently can't use the autosave function either. Boo.

In brief then, the trip is going really well. I spent Sunday at Endgame, one of the best game stores in the country. I hung out with Chris Hanrahan and crew and after dinner we recorded a podcast that GR will share with 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction. Yesterday I discovered that you can't judge walking distances in SF by using a map because it doesn't indicate where the giant hills are. I took part in the Casual Games Summit and that was very interesting indeed.

After a full day of lectures at GDC I took the bus to Haight St. and visited the Giant Robot store and Amoeba Records. The latter is one of the most awesome record stores I have ever seen. Acres and acres of records, CDs, and yes, even 7' singles. I had not planned to buy any CDs; I left with 11. My reason for the trip was that local punk legends Flipper were doing an in-store performance to promote a new DVD. Since I happened to be here the right week, well, I just had to go. Their noise-damaged aural assault was still powerful and the new songs sounded good as well. The funny thing about Flipper is that they've lost two bass players to heroin overdoses over the years and yet they somehow managed to recruit Krist Novoselic of Nirvana to take on those duties. You'd think that dude of all people would not tempt fate.

Today more casual games seminars and perhaps a trip to the Ferry Building.

GDC

I'm heading out to Game Developers Conference in the morning. If I owe you an e-mail, you may not see it until next weekend. If you'll be at GDC too, I'll see you there. I probably will have neither time nor capacity to blog while I'm in Callie, so please game companies, don't go declaring bankruptcy while I'm gone. Now I need to pack and try to get some shut eye before travel day begins.

Focus Group

I participated in a political focus group last night, which was a first for me. I was part of a group of about twelve people. The moderator asked a series of questions about what was important to us politically. Then we were quizzed on the efficacy of different types of advertising, from traditional print ads and mailers to banner and flash ads. Just about everyone said they put mailed brochures directly into the recycling, which was pretty funny and the moderator swore was at odds with their data on the topic. Later we were shown some different ads and asked to comment. At one point we were asked if we had ever been to a candidate's website. I said no and the moderator asked why. I said, "I'm interested in the truth about the candidates and I think their websites are not the place to find it." The whole thing took about two hours and they paid me $75 for participating. It was actually interesting to interact with a bunch of Seattleites I didn't know and talk politics. Something a little different and I'm paid for my trouble? Sign me up for that again.

Sleep Study and Stupid Music

Last week I did a sleep study, which will hopefully lead to a formal diagnosis of sleep apnea and treatment for the condition Getting full nights of restful sleep would sure be nice. The study was pretty wacky. One part of the hospital has these hotel-esque rooms. I checked in at 9 pm and made myself comfortable. I had brought multiple books to read and there was a TV in the room as well. After filling out a questionnaire, a technician came to wire me up (which took a full half hour). This was head to foot, with something like 26 connections. These sensors collect data while during sleep and help them diagnose the problems. In the end I had so many wires coming off me I felt like a cyborg. A bunch of them were pasted to my face and head with wax. The challenge after that was actually to sleep in all that gear. Lying on my stomach was right out, because there was a receiver strapped around my chest that the wires went in to. After Nik left I watched a bit of TV and read Sharpe's Escape by Bernard Cornwell. I eventually fell asleep but it was fitful. I woke up a fair bit, trying to find a comfortable position. I thought I might be up for the day at 5:30 am but finally managed to fall asleep again until a little after 7. I had planned to go home and shower but the wax on my face compelled me to do it there. Nik and I had breakfast and then I went to work. I've got a follow-up this week in which the doctor will present their findings. I may have to do the whole thing again so we'll see how it goes.

Yesterday Nik and I caught a matinee of Juno, which we've been trying to see for awhile. It is a good flick, maybe not Oscar worthy (except perhaps for Ellen Page, who was great) but definitely enjoyable. The one thing that grated on me was the music. A little Kimya Dawson goes a long way in my book and she did the entire soundtrack. Afterwards Nik and I both had one of her frickin' songs stuck in our heads, to our chagrin. By the end of the night we wer saying, "Screw you, Kimya Dawons!" This morning I was finally free of it. Or so I thought. The bus I take to work passes by Easy St. Records. Their sign today said: Live In-Store, Kimya Dawson, Feb 9. Apparently I cannot escape.

GDC

Last year I wasn't able to make either of the Game Developers Conferences. The one in San Francicso is next month and I had resigned myself to not making it once again. For the hell of it though I entered an online contest last week hosted by Mary-Margaret and then I promptly forgot about it. Who actually wins online contests? The answer: me, baby!

I got a call at work today and I thought it was a solicitor or something. Turned out to be a woman from Mary-Margaret, telling me that I'd won their VIP prize. They are giving me an all access pass to the show, two nights at the Marriott, and a year's subscription to Game Developer Magazine.

2008 is shaping up to be a pretty good year!

Those Were Some Fireworks

We had a pretty mellow New Years last night, which was fine because we were all still shagged out from the cocktail party we had here on Saturday night. After an excellent dinner of beef bourguignon and a bit more Riff Trax (Phantom Menace this time; eyaa), Christine switched the TV over so we could catch the local fireworks. I find it hard to get excited about fireworks displays these days, but I'm glad we caught the broadcast because it was a major and hilarious debacle. About 1 minute into the program, the fireworks just stopped. At first people thought this was part of the show, but it soon became apparent that something was wrong. The crowd began to boo and the talking heads from the local station tried to roll with it. The fireworks started up again and then two minutes later they stopped again. More booing. Finally they restarted but by this time they were hopelessly out of time with the music. The program did finish but it seemed like they just shot everything off as quick as they could. The display had to rhythm or artistry. The whole thing was a disaster and that made it far more memorable than any other New Years firework display I've seen.

Revenge on the Sith

It was back to Flying Lab today, but I can handle a work week that starts on Thursday. I was a little slow getting back into the swing of things, but I was not alone in that. Many folks are still out of the office and we've reached that point where there's little more we can do to the game before launch. At this point we have to just cross our fingers and count down to release.

Christmas day was a mellow affair and that was fine by me. We joined Ray and Christine at their place, crashing there so as not to have to deal with the snow. Nik and Christine teamed up for a great dinner featuring an herb-crusted beef tenderloin that was like buttuh. During the many hours of prep and cooking, we watched Revenge of the Sith with Riff Trax accompaniment. If you aren't familiar, Riff Trax is basically a bunch of guys from MST3K doing their patented mockery. You download an mp3, synch with the bad movie of your choice, and voila. Revenge of the Sith was an excellent choice because it is so godawful. Nik had never seen it and I told her that this was the best way to experience the ultimate betrayal of our childhood dreams. Without the mockery, she never would have sat through the whole thing. I had only seen Revenge once before, when I was stuck in a hotel in Ft. Wayne with nothing else to do. I didn't like it then but forgot how truly terrible it was. The Riff Trax delivered though and we laughed plenty. They also have one for the Star Wars Holiday Special, but I'm the only one who seems up for that. Cowards!

A Little Down Time

I had some vague thoughts of starting a new design project or maybe getting back to the comic book idea I've been developing, but for the most part I've just been chilling out at home with the family and relaxing. I could do this for weeks but have to settle for two more days. I've been reading, watching DVDs, gluing minis, and sleeping. Yeah, the good stuff.

Last night we went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets in Columbia City. Now you would think that a movie with Ed Harris, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, and Helen frickin' Mirren would have something going for it, but oh no. This was a complete pile of shit. It's really too bad as the premise of a team of treasure hunters solving historical is fun, but this script is a disaster. In the end it just makes no sense of all and the writers no idea when to stop throwing logs on the fire.

Today we got a huge surprise when a giant box from Amazon showed up. Inside was Rock Band, which I had tried and failed to get the family for Xmas. It was from Hal and he really scored. Kate and Nik were so happy and we soon had it set up and started our family band, Crimzon Ninja. Kate would not go for Carrion Crawler or the Beacon Hill Mob. It was funny because our discussion about what to name the band was exactly the same as arguments I've had to name actual bands.

Tonight we went over to Wolf and Shelly's for an appetizer and dessert party and it was a good time. I got to chat with a bunch of folks from my WotC days who I do not see all that often. Who better to talk about the recent Hobbit movie news than The History of the Hobbit author John Rateliff? I also had a chance to try absinthe. Wolf brought in the real stuff from Europe and he even had the correct spoon for making it right. It was like a stronger ouzo and had perhaps more anise flavor than I need from my booze. No one went crazy though, more's the pity. We had such a gathering of Lovecraft aficionados it would have been quite appropriate.

I Gotta Have More Cowbell, Baby!

Yesterday a bunch of the ladies got together at Ray and Christine's place to make an ungodly amount of holiday cookies. They had arranged this weeks ago and were all ready to rock with recipes, ingredients, and cooking gear. It so happened that Ray's old school D&D game was pushed back from last weekend to this one. This meant that while the ladies were baking in the kitchen, the menfolk were playing D&D in the living room (with Evan playing Niks' character since she was busy). I thought it was pretty funny that our manly activity was not watching football but killing carrion crawlers and evading giant ochre worms.

When both game and cookies were done, many of the remaining folks descended into the basement for some Rock Band. We had a full band going, with Ray on drums, Jess on guitar, Nik on bass, and me singing. My utter ineptness as Guitar Hero is well known, but I was happy to find that rocking the mic is much more my speed. The nice thing about the game's design is that you don't have to be a good singer in a technical sense to score well. It's more about timing and tone. You also get to do backup percussion (tambourines, cowbell, etc) with the mic during long musical interludes. To no one's great surprise the songs I got 100% on were by the Buzzcocks and the Ramones. More amusing was my 98% on (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. Only one thing accounts for this: more cowbell!

Die, Spammers, Die!

I hate e-mail spam as much as the next person, but the spam I loathe with white hot passion is fax spam. See, I can delete e-mail spam and that doesn't cost me anything but a second of time to click the mouse. Fax spam, however, uses up ink and toner and that really pisses me off. Look, fucktards, you aren't going to fool me with your bullshit. Even those cute ones with handwritten notes to "Kathy" about the great deals you can get if you are in the know. I'm not buying it and I don't want it. You want to send me shit in the mail at your own expense that I can then recycle without reading? Fine. You want to fax me something I didn't ask for and waste my resources? I'd break your fingers if I could.

Bits and Pieces

I haven't been in a blogging mood of late; not sure why. I've been to two punk rock shows in the last week and would have gone to a third if not for the damned snow storm on Saturday. Last Friday was Naked Raygun, a band I first saw in 1986 and who I've always loved. It was great to see them again. Tuesday was Flogging Molly, another one of those celtic punk bands I enjoy so much. They put on an excellent show and closed with "Seven Deadly Sins," a perfect song for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Speaking of PotBS the game launches a month from today for those that buy pre-order boxes, with a public release of January 21. NDAs are no longer in effect so I can talk about the game in more detail if folks are interested. It's looking pretty great now and all signs are positive for amassing great booty. Yar.

I have been greatly enjoy Rudy Giuliani's "Sex on the City" scandal. It perfectly exemplifies why that scumbag shouldn't be in charge of anything, never mind be allowed near the White House. He was a shitty mayor of New York and you can take that from someone who lived through his administration. Hero of 9/11 my ass.

Back to It

I had really been looking forward to Thanksgiving Weekend. Now that it's over I feel vaguely dissatisfied and I'm not sure why. I did some fun stuff, spent time with good friends, and finished several nagging tasks. Maybe it just ended too quickly or maybe I just didn't reach that state of relaxation I was looking for. Hurm.

I did get a double dose of roleplaying over the weekend. Saturday we played Spirit of the Century at Tim's for the first time in over a month. We kicked off a new chapter of the story and it's going well so far. I learned that when you show up at the herbalist shop covered in blood, the most reassuring thing you can say is not, "Don't worry, it's not mine." I still need a tenth aspect but can't settle on one. We've now joked about calling it "The Tenth Aspect" and making it some mystical mojo, but that doesn't quite fit my character.

Sunday we play Ray's old school D&D game for the second time. This is Rules Cyclopedia D&D, where elves and dwarves are both races and classes and plusses on your magic shield subtract from your Armor Class. I must admit that this game is turning into a huge amount of fun. I am just embracing all the things that bugged me about those rules back in the day and going with it. Ray's idea was to run the sort of deluxe game he always wanted to when he was a teenage but couldn't afford. He printed out a huge map of the first dungeon scaled for minis for example. I brought along tac-tiles and two cases of miniatures. So far it's been a blast.

It wasn't all fun and games though. Nik and I watched No End in Sight, an excellent documentary about the quagmire in Iraq and how it got that way. This is a really important film and I think folks across the political spectrum need to watch it. This is not a polemic by a bunch of wild eyed leftists. The story of the war is told in large part by eye witnesses and participants. Soldiers, administrators, politicians, officers, and journalists talk about what they saw and what they did. The film lays out very clearly what was done and shows the consequences of those actions. I could go off on a huge political rant here but instead I'll just say that I highly recommend No End in Sight.

Week Off to a Great Start

I woke up late this morning, got ready, and then took the bus downtown. I got off earlier than I usually do so I could go to the post office and mail a package and some letters. Forgot it was Veteran’s Day, so of course the post office was closed. I came out of the post office to see my bus going by. It is particularly cold, wet, and nasty today, so the walk up to my next bus stop was unpleasant. The stop happens to be right in front of the big food court in the building that houses a Borders. I moved inside to warm up a bit and keep an eye out for another bus that’d get me up to Queen Anne. The food court is always empty this time of morning because the places there are not geared for breakfast. There’s one other guy standing with me, looking out the window. We’re there for maybe two minutes when a rent-a-cop approaches and tells us that “building policy” is that the food court is only for patrons. If we’re just waiting for a bus, we’ll have to wait outside. Oh, and did I mention the city just recently ripped out all the bus shelters at that stop? I ask the guy if he’s serious and he assures me that he is. I am tempted to tell him that my policy is that cold and wet people should take advantage of big empty spaces that are warm and dry, but I see the #3 coming up the street so I let it go. This week is off a great start.

Out with the Old

For months now Nik and I have been talking about taking a bunch of books to Halfprice Books. Yesterday we finally did it. We easily filled up 8 boxes and brought them in. The books were an eclectic mix, though only one was full of RPGs. That one had about 40 books, mostly old and crappy d20 books I never needed to look at again. We got a few hundred bucks for the lot, which wasn’t great but the more important thing is that 8 boxes of books left my house. Now other books can graduate from piles in inconvenient places to actual shelving. This is progress.

I know Nik was worried that I’d just replace those books with different books while we were there. I did have a chance to browse Halfprice Books while we waited for them to assess our lot. They had tons of 3.X D&D books, so it looks like the dumping has begun. I only brought home 3 things though, and this was part of my project to reacquire game stuff I used to have but don’t anymore for some reason. These are things I loaned out and forgot about it, left in a dark corner of my parent’s basement, or just lost in one of my many moves. Yesterday I was able to get unpunched copy of the original Squad Leader game, a punched but in good shape copy of PanzerBlitz, and the original Unearthed Arcana for AD&D. That cost me $50 of the money I had just made selling books I didn’t want anyway. Score.

Hectic

The last couple of weeks have been hectic. First we had the GR summit. The day after that ended my parents came to town for a week long visit. Meanwhile Pirates of the Burning Sea is in its final sprint, so we are in crunch time. I haven’t had time finish things like proofing, I’ve been terrible about answering e-mails, and I’ve made no progress on any design projects this month. However, the summit is over, my folks are flying back to New England tonight, and though I do have to work at Flying Lab this weekend things should calm down next week. I think this means that next weekend I can relax a bit and try to get caught up on things. What I’d really love to have is a week long, honest to goodness vacation. One in which I don’t do GR work or read the internet. One without bullshit, drama, flamewars, deadlines, freakouts, and crises. I don’t think Nik and I will be traveling over the holiday season, so maybe that’ll provide an opportunity.

Look Out! Soul Is Back

Well it took me a month but I finally got this site up and running again. My old host just went out of business with warning. This wouldn’t have been so bad but I got the domain through them. That made getting it transferred tricky because there was no one there to deal with. Now I’ve taken care of that and gotten a new hosting company. The package includes 500 e-mail addresses and I have no idea what to do with those. If there’s one thing I don’t need it’s another e-mail address.

Last night Nik and I went to see the Comedians of Comedy tour. The Showbox (site, strangely enough, of WotC’s employee Xmas party in 1999) is a pretty shitty venue for comedy, having nearly no seats. I think the Moore Theater would have been better suited for the event. Anyway, other than having to stand up for three plus hours the show was really good. The always funny Patton Oswalt warmed up the crowd, then six other comics performed before he came back to give the final performance. Brian Posehn, who’s easily the best part of the Sarah Silverman Program, put in a great set. He and Patton are like the poster nerds of comedy. They totally need to play some Mutants & Masterminds.

Tomorrow the Green Ronin Summit starts. Once a year we fly everybody out to Seattle so we can spend a few days planning, kibitzing, and organizing. We’ve found that this face time is really valuable for a company that does most of its work virtually. There are GR folks in five states spread all over the country, so we don’t have “water cooler talk” or lunch time gaming. If I have a random idea, I can’t shout over the cube wall to Rob and ask him what he thinks. You can certainly do a lot with phones and e-mail, but it’s hard to replace good old human interaction.

Full Circle

In 1995 I visited Vancouver, BC for the first time. I was only there for a few days but I had a great time. Of the many fun things I did there three stand out. I got to hang out with Nicole outside the convention environment for the first time. We were just friends at the time and she was pregnant with Kate but she graciously put me up and introduced me to some of the cool stuff Vancouver had to offer. On Nik’s recommendation we ate at Tojo’s, a local institutions and what became one of my favorite Japanese restaurants anywhere. Lastly, it so happened that I was there the weekend local punk legends the Subhumans were playing out for the first time since 1982. The show, at the Starfish Room, was sold out and 300 people were turned away. I hung around in the hopes of scoring a ticket and lucked into a guy with an extra. The show was awesome and I left Vancouver a happy punk.

This past weekend Nik and I were in Vancouver together once again. Since 1995 I have been back more times than I can count and it’s always a good time. This trip Nik and I were celebrating our 6 year wedding anniversary. When we heard that Tojo’s had moved to a new and bigger location we just had to go. The new space is swanky and the food is as excellent as it ever was. The tuna tataki nigiri was particularly awesome and the sablefish was like butter. Since we had skipped lunch that day, we ate dinner early and were out of Tojo’s by 7:30 pm. I had seen a listing for a Subhumans show earlier in the week, but I thought it was the English Subhumans, who we just saw a couple of weeks ago. As we were walking down the street, I saw a poster for the show and was surprised to discover that it was the Vancouver Subhumans. It was too perfect, especially when we discovered that the venue (Pub 340) was about six blocks from our hotel. So to the show we went and once again the Subhumans rocked. While not what most folks would consider a romantic anniversary activity, the show completed a weekend that brought me full circle from 1995. Thanks Vancouver!

Busy Week

This is one of those weeks where I have something going on every night. Tonight we were over at Ray's for his birthday dinner. Nicole cooked Beef Bourguignon for the occasion and it was delicious. Since it was technically game night, there was some talk of playing Ticket to Ride Marklin but after a rich dinner and plenty of wine it was food coma time. I then made the mistake of having two cups of coffee and that's why I'm awake now.

Wednesday, as I'm sure you all know, is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Flying Lab is having a party down by the waterfront to celebrate. Not sure what that's going to be like. Apparently the founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day have recorded a video message for the event and they've named Pirates of the Burning Sea the official TLAPD computer game.

In other news I have finally sorted out the problems with my web page. A domain transfer is in progress and I've got new hosting set up. By the weekend I think it should finally be restored. Hooray.

A Gen Con Memory

Here’s a story I submitted for Atlas’s 40 Years of Gen Con book. From my skim of the book it didn’t make it in, so I’m going to share it here.

I went to my first Gen Con in 1989. I had some punk friends in Milwaukee I could crash with, but even though they were actually gamers too and major Cthulhu-heads, they had never gone to Gen Con. Nor did me coming all the way from NYC convince them to give it a shot. So I went to the con itself alone and didn’t know a soul. And I had an awesome time. I went back to NYC and told my friends about it. The next year a few of them came with me and the year after that a few more. Soon it became a yearly tradition. We’d rent a van and do a two day road trip out and back. The crazy conversations and legendary arguments of those long drives became part of the fun. We always came back from Gen Con totally energized about gaming too.

One year we were on the return trip and talking about how we wanted to break into the game industry. I’d say most of us were about 22 at the time. We talked about starting a general interest game magazine (though thank god we didn’t). At one point Sandeep said, “You know, our generation has yet to make its mark on the game industry.” He was right and that stuck with me over the years as I started freelancing and establishing myself as a designer. Sandeep himself never had a chance to do what I did though. He died very suddenly in the late 90s. His father had passed away just a couple of years before, from a previously undiagnosed heart defect. Turns out Deep had the same thing but it killed him decades earlier in his lifespan.

I think about Sandeep every year when I’m at Gen Con.

Post PAX

August is almost over and I'm ready to chill out a bit. I went down to PAX on Friday night, got my badge, and did my first tour of the exhibit hall. It was not as loud as E3 used to be, thank god. My friend Patrick, who moved to San Diego a few years ago to work for Upper Deck, was in for the show. We met Jess at the Palace Kitchen and had a fun dinner. Pat used to be in my game group, but now we see him mostly at cons and oftentimes only in passing. It was good to get to catch up for longer than 10 minutes. The fresh pasta with prosciutto, pea vines, and chanterelle mushrooms was damn good too.

Saturday morning I did GR work and then headed back to the convention center around 1. I hooked up with ex-SJGer Andrew Hackard, who was there with Wil Wheaton. Wil had given the keynote speech the day before, but I had still been at work so I missed it. Apparently over 5,000 people attended. The PAX goers clearly loved Wil, as every time he appeared at his booth a huge line formed. Andrew and I chatted while Wil signed and people snapped photos. This was right outside the exhibit hall, so just by standing there I ended up getting to see a lot of old friends. Handy.

At 6 I did a panel on the future of tabletop RPGs. My co-panelist was Chris Perkins from WotC. PAX was supposed to provide a moderator, but whoever it was didn't show so Chris I just did it ourselves. The result was a bit scattershot but came off pretty well I think. We filled up the theater and went half an hour over answering questions. I had feared it might turn into a "tell us about 4th edition" seminar, but it wasn't until the very last question that anyone directly asked about it. Chris rattled off a laundry list of things they want to improve in 4E. When he was done, I said, "I'm really heartened you guys learned so many lessons from True20." I think he took my good natured ribbing in the spirit it was intended. He's a good guy and man does he love D&D.

After the seminar I stopped into the two big parties of the night. These events are not normally my type of thing, but since fellow punk rocker Jenny Bendel had helped put them together I figured I'd check them out. Vivendi was promoting their World in Conflict game. Do you remember the shitty 80s movie Red Dawn? (Wolverines!) World in Conflict is basically the Red Dawn RTS, with the Soviets invading the USA. The party was one of those things that make hobby game publishers want to cry. I could probably run Green Ronin for a year on what they spent to rent vintage US army vehicles, hire an array of models to wear faux Red Army uniforms and carry fake AK-47s, and redecorate an art space with sandbags, chain link fences, propaganda posters, and the like. Plus the bar of course and the multiple stations showing off the game on big screens. The ArenaNet party was half a block away at Game Works. By the time I showed up all the game cards were gone. I did, however, run into Brian Campbell and it's always good to catch up with him.

When I had my fill of the parties, I considered going home. I was pretty tired after the previous couple of weeks. I gave Andrew a call though and ended up joining him, his friend Paul, and Wil Wheaton for dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery (why it almost felt like Gen Con in that regard). That was a good call because dinner was tremendously fun. Wil is a super nice guy and I'm glad we had the chance to hang out. He's a geek of my generation, so in no time at all we were talking about comics, games, shitty Star Wars prequels, etc. We also compared notes on punk bands and the challenges of being a step dad. I only wish Nicole could have been there, as she's a long time reader of his blog and would have really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, she was in Minnesota with Kate, so missed out on this and seeing Jonathan Coulton.

I got home late and decided to skip the final day of PAX. Instead Rick and I headed south Sunday to visit the Game Matrix, a store in the Tacoma area I have been meaning to visit for years now. It's a good store, with lots of game space and some interesting stuff you don't see often in a retail environment. I ate a Sizzler for the very first time. While it was the best food option we could find in the immediate area of the store, let's just say it was no Palace Kitchen.