My pal Jeff Mariotte reminds me that the third and final book in his Age of Conan series is due out any minute now. The Marauders trilogy comprises the first young adult tales set in Hyboria since Conan Properties launched the new line of novels with Ace Books. Dawn of the Ice Bear wraps up the epic with a rousing tale filled with blood, treachery, and magic.
Battle Dice Previews: Mephisto
The fine people at Playmates Toys have given me five exclusive shots of figures from upcoming Battle Dice sets. I’ll post one every few days, just to give you a taste of what’s coming soon.
First up, we have Mephisto, dread schemer and lord of one of Marvel’s realms of hell. This Cosmic Level villain stands ready to make a deal with you to join your team. All you have to do is find him in Marvel Heroes Battle Dice Series 2, which hits stores in July.
Stafford eBays More
Game-designer legend Greg Stafford is still auctioning off more of his collection on eBay. This time around, he has some stunning pieces for Glorantha fans, including a couple unique pieces. There’s also a rare copy of the second printing of the first edition of Call of Cthulhu, which is already going for over $300.
The top piece, though, is a book about Gloranthan runes, which has run up to $600 in only a couple days. The author submitted it to Chaosium and then fell off the face of the earth, so this is the only copy that Greg can confirm exists. There’s a legend of the slush pile for you.
(Wow. According to Greg’s bio on the Issaries site, he’s been working on Glorantha for 40 years. That’s dedication to a vision for you.)
HUGE Battle Dice Update
I’ve been remiss in keeping up with the developments on the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice site. To make up for that, I’m going to cover a lot of ground fast. Since I last posted on the subject, the site has added:
- Details on organized play
- Computer desktop wallpaper
- Tournament rules
- Notes on tournament locations
- Marvel Heroes Battle Dice Series 2 checklist
- A contest for Series 2 (which is sadly over)
- More computer desktop wallpapers
- A screensaver for Windows computers
- Another contest for a case of Series 2 boosters (which is still on)
Whew! That’s a ton of stuff for you Battle Dice fans out there, and there’s more on the way. Check back soon for some exclusive details about upcoming sets!
Battle Dice in Magazines
The latest issues of Games Quarterly and Game Trade magazines feature the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice game. GQM has an article I wrote on how I came to design the game, along with some insight on the design process. GTM doesn’t have much to say on the game this issue, but it comes with a promotional Stealth Wolverine figure bagged with it!
Stackpole and Pulido Win!
My pal Mike Stackpole has been working on screenplays with Brian Pulido. It turns out they make a great team. They submitted their first complete screenplay to Fade In magazine’s annual contest and won the grand prize!
Congratulations to both Mike and Brian, two great writers who write great together!
Play This! Lunch Money
In my first few articles for Games Quarterly Magazine, I pushed some of my favorite games. I wrote an article about Lunch Money from Atlas Games for issue #2, but the editors decided that the game’s subject matter might be a bit too edgy for the family-friendly magazine they wanted to produce.
I just remembered the other day that this piece was still collected stray ions on my hard drive. Rather than let it languish further, I thought I’d share it with the world. Written in 2004, it’s a bit dated, but everything I wrote about Lunch Money is still true. It’s a great game.
Queen of Death Done
This week, I turned in the revisions for Queen of Death, the third in my Lost Mark trilogy of novels for Eberron. My editor, Mark Sehestedt, only asked for minor changes, and I burned through them.
I commented to Mark that it stunned me how far the trilogy had deviated from my original pitch. Few recognizable bits of the original remained. The story ended up surprising me as I went along, and I enjoyed it all the more for that. I hope those who read it feel the same.
Freshening Up
Some sharp-eyed readers may have noticed the site morphing around into different shapes at a moment’s notice as I played with the layout. Last night, I showed my wife a few new templates I was considering, and she said she liked what I already had here. Heeding her advice, I decided to just tweak things around a bit.
I changed the background color, added a navigation bar under the header, and tightened up the sidebar. I also made the main typeface a bit larger, which should make everything easier to read. Let me know what you think!
Prophecy Imminent
On Saturday, I got my first copy of Prophecy of the Dragons in the mail. It looks great. Emily Feigenschuh created a fantastic cover and her interior illustrations fit perfectly. Look for it on shelves everywhere in June.
This is the second book I wrote in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series of young adult novels I created for Wizards of the Coast. Other able authors have written most of the other books, and this one will check in at #13 in the series. It’s the first of a special two-part story that wraps up in book #14, The Dragons Revealed, due out in August.