H. P. 8-Ball

Paul Tevis’s recent stab at being a prophet caused me to do some on-the-fly research concerning everyone’s favorite oracular device: the Magic 8-Ball. I chanced upon this enlightening article written the style of a Lovecraftian investigator probing the secrets of the mysterious artifact. Here’s a sample:

An Opinion was Obtained
The cylinder of fluid and device are still able to render opinions without the protection of the outer shell. At this point, the authors enquired whether the Oracle was enjoying the disassembly. “Outlook not so good,” was the pensive reply.

The Big War of the Worlds Release

No, not the Spielberg-Cruise film. Everyone knows about that. Instead, try War of the Worlds: New Millennium, a novel that updates the classic H. G. Wells tale for the 21st century, by none other than Doug Niles. Doug says it’s the best thing he’s ever written, and I’m inclined to believe it. I got to sample some bits of it during our monthly Alliterates meetings.

Doug and I have been fellow Alliterates for years, but I first met him when I was just a kid, although neither of us remembered it later. I discovered it when moving into my office before the quads were born, and I stumbled across my old Dungeon Masters Guide. As a new Dungeons & Dragons player at my first Gen Con, I ran around and collected autographs from every TSR employee I could find. Doug’s signature sits on one of that book’s end pages.

Anyhow, I’m looking forward to reading the whole of Doug’s latest masterpiece as soon as I can get my grubby little mitts on a copy, and you should be too.

A (Very Special) Gamer Olympics

This just in from a Gen Con press release at GamingReport.com:

Brand new this year – Gamer Olympics! Ever wonder if a person could accomplish some of the feats if a Dungeon Master lays in front of a role-playing character? Now is the chance to find out! Test strength by swinging a sword as hard and as accurately as possible at a target. Test accuracy by throwing a javelin at enemies. Test combat prowess against a warrior of Edhellen Armoury. Test dexterity when crossing the “Chasm of Doom” and running through heavily trapped “Passage of Death.” The final test will be one of grace and a keen eye: The Archery Range. Once a final score is determined, prizes will be awarded.

Ah, but here’s the best part, which isn’t listed in the release: play-by-play and color commentary by Keith Jackson (as channeled by Ken Hite) and Bob Eucker (as approximated by myself). If you’ll be in Indianapolis the weekend of August 18—21, don’t miss it.

Forbeck TV

A while back, Rehab Resources, the people who provide physical and speech therapy for some of our kids, came to us with a problem. The next state budget proposed to cut their funding by 30%, which meant they’d have to close, despite the fact that they are the only ones in our county who provide these federally mandated services. My wife Ann wrote a letter to our legislators on their behalf, and Rehab Resources asked us if we’d be willing to talk with a TV reporter about the issue too.

While we know that our quadruplets make for good news stories, we’ve mostly avoided such attention. We just want to raise our kids and give them a happy home. Putting them on TV doesn’t make it better for them, so we don’t bother just for the attention. We’ve talked to reporters before to thank the army of volunteers that have helped us out over the past three years, and to plug Rockford Memorial Hospital, which did a fantastic job of giving our kids a fighting shot at the life they now enjoy.

So, when our friends at Rehab Resources asked for our help, we said yes. A reporter and his camera man came into our home and filmed and interviewed us for a couple hours. The report (7.3 Mb) was broadcast later that night.

Within a couple weeks, we got some great news. The legislature removed that vital portion from the budget “for further consideration.” It could still get put back in, but we and the people at Rehab Resources are thrilled so far. That’s local politics at work!

Core Stories in RPGs

Over on his LiveJournal, Mike Mearls posted some provocative ideas about something any successful roleplaying game needs: a core story. This sums up the game’s central theme from a player’s point of view in a sentence or two. It sparked off a few thoughts in my own befogged brain, which I added to his comments there. So you don’t have to go hunting for them, I’m posting them here too.
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Blood Bowl Back Cover

I just got a pack of extra covers for my upcoming Blood Bowl novel from Games Workshop yesterday. When they print a book, they print the pages and covers separately and then bind them together. In the book industry, they regularly overprint the covers so they can send them out as advance advertisements for the book.

I’ve shown you the cover before. Here’s what the back cover text has to say about the book:
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Origins Awards Gamers Choice Voting Now Open

Just like the title says. Vote now, as the deadline is May 25!

The instructions are a bit obtuse, but you’re supposed to vote on your top five favorite games for 2005, no matter what category they’re in. Then rank those five from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best.

I worked on one of the games on the list, The Authority Roleplaying Game. If you liked it, consider including it in your votes.

Here’s the official press release, for those who care for such details:
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Good Days, Bad Days

Sometimes there are days you can’t ever seem to get going. Other times, you can do no wrong.

Today, for example, I got to sleep about 1 AM. Then two of the quads woke me up screaming (them, not me–although I was tempted) at 5:30 AM. I’m used to that kind of thing by now though. I’ll spare you the details of multiple toddlers ripping off their soiled diapers during their naps on other, worse days. I’d rather remember the less horrifying times.

For instance, the I left LA last month, I had a great meeting with a new game design client. We all really hit it off, and we came up with a great product we all have high hopes for. Everyone seemed to enjoy my work, and I walked out of there with a wonderful deal.

It used to be that when I went into negotiations over prices, rights, etc., I’d have butterflies in my stomach, but that day, I was just rock solid. I knew what I wanted, and I could explain exactly why I should get it. It was more than good. It was fun.

I left that meeting at 5 PM and headed straight into LA’s rush-hour traffic with just an hour to meet my friends from Conan Properties for dinner at LAX. Amazingly, it was smooth sailing, and even though I had to gas up a rental car, return it, hop a shuttle to the airport, and hoof it to the restaurant, I got there just after they did. We had a wonderful dinner at The Encounter, and I got to see an old friend and make some new ones. Better yet, I was asked if I’d be interested in consulting on a film script for a non-Conan property.

After dinner, I wandered into the airport hours before my 11:15 PM red-eye back to O’Hare. I discovered that the 6 PM flight–the last before the all-nighter–had been delayed. Apparently they’d had a mechanical problem and had to turn around in the air and come back to have it fix. Ignoring nagging questions about the safety of such a jet, I got a standby seat on that flight–a window seat–which got me home two and a half hours earlier.

To top it all off, the airline gave everyone on the flight a free voucher for another flight to make up for the delay.

Now that was a good day.

Sith’s Revenge

Ann and I took in Revenge of the Sith on Friday night. It seems like everyone’s posting their deepest thoughts about the film and what it means to them, so I’ll spare you running over such well-trodden ground as much as I can.

I liked the movie. The effects were stunning. Give me starship battles and lightsaber duels, and I’ll forgive a lot, and Sith had plenty to spare. I actually got a little dizzy during the opening sequence, as if I were riding a rollercoaster. It reminded me of the jetbike chase in Return of the Jedi, which was the first (and maybe only) time I was so immersed in a chase scene that I ducked.

Sure, there were lots of bits of the film that could have been better (some of the acting, some of the dialog, etc.), but I find that a lot of the movie stuck with me far longer than I thought it would. There were some truly memorable scenes and enough going on that, had I the time, I’m sure I’d find myself back in the theater again this week, waiting for those words to start scrolling up the screen.

That was the best scrolling start I remember since Star Wars too. It showed the pulpy spirit of science-fantasy adventure the movie tried to capture, and I don’t think it fell short.

I realized I’m going to miss having Star Wars films in development. Sure, they’re talking about two new TV shows, but it won’t be the same. This is one series that made the most of the silver screen.

Vote for Spiritkeeper with Authority

As I’ve mentioned here before, Secret of the Spiritkeeper and The Authority RPG both earned nominations for Origins Awards this year: for Best Fiction Publication and Best Roleplaying Game, respectively. The Academy of Gaming Arts and Design is now voting on the nominees, and the product with the most votes in each category wins the award.

If you’re a member of the Academy and you liked either of those books, please vote. If you’re not a member of the Academy, well, did you know that membership is free to anyone with three published credits in the gaming industry? You still have time to join the Academy and vote before the May 25 deadline.

So, whether you’re voting for my stuff or not, get to it! Then, on July 2, at the Origins Game Convention, we’ll find out who wins.