My good friend Jim Kitchen, late of Games Workshop US, came up with a great idea today: Gamers should donate games and novels to their local libraries.

Many of us got started on our lifelong love of genre fiction (whether in movies, novels, games, or something else) in our local library. I know I went to mine every week to read everything I could find on the shelves. Many libraries, though, have what might charitably be called “a good start, if that” when it comes to fiction or game books from the adventure gaming industry.

One way to solve this problem would be for gamers to donate such books to their local libraries. This allows you to not only support your favorite games or books and your local library but also to hopefully get more people interested in such products.

The trick, of course, is that most libraries aren’t interested in your battered, well-loved DMG. They want new products in pristine shape. Their members will give the books enough abuse without them already having a head start.

So, Jim suggests, why don’t the companies allow gamers to buy games and novels from their favorite publishers at some sort of discount to encourage such donations? (He suggests the standard retailer discount of roughly 50%.) To make sure that unscrupulous souls don’t just use this as an excuse to order their own games at steep discounts, the company would ship the products directly to the library.

If I was running a company, I’d be all over this idea. Not only do you get your best fans to buy your books again, but they also then give them to a good cause, to a place where loads of people can see and enjoy them and maybe get hooked on your products. As long as you trust that there aren’t a passel of ethically challenged gamer-librarians out there trying to bleed you dry, there doesn’t seem to be a downside to this.

Of course, I’m often not as right as I’d like to be. I’d love to hear some feedback on this. Hit that “comment” button hard.

Sometimes when you write games and fiction all day long, you wonder why it is you’re not doing something more important. Fortunately, my wife is a social worker, so I can console myself with the thought that she, at least, is helping to make the world a better place. In the meantime, I try to do what little I can with my craft.

Case in point: the Asian tsunami disaster grabbed the attention of people around the globe. In this respect, game designers are no different than anyone else. When confronted with a crisis of that magnitude, we want to chip in somehow. To that end, Chris Helton of Battlefield Press is producing a charity jam book called Gamers for Hope. Contributors include such game industry luminaries as Aaron Acevedo, John Kovalic, S. John Ross, Steven Kenson, Robin D. Laws, Aaron Rosenberg, Marcus Rowland, Lester Smith, and Jeff Tidball, among others.

Gamers for Hope will be available as a PDF sometime soon. When I know more about it, I’ll be sure to post here so you can do the right thing too and snatch it up right away.

The brand-new, hardcover, d6 edition of Jerry Grayson’s Godsend Agenda roleplaying game is shipping to stores now. The game features an intricate backstory that weaves aliens, gods, and superheroes together into an epic story that spans millennia. (Those of you who remember the secret backstory behind my Brave New World RPG probably won’t wonder why this kind of thing pushes my buttons. If you don’t know about that, do a search on “Brave New World” on this site for all the details.)

Jerry asked me and a few other adventure game designers to give him a short take on how we’d each run a Godsend Agenda campaign, and I happily chipped in. It’s only a tiny fraction of the whole of course. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole book as much as anyone—except Jerry, of course.

It seems some people still remember Mind Lords of the Last Sea, a boxed set supplement for the now-defunct D&D world of Dark Sun. The fine folks at Athas.org (who keep that dark flame burning) asked me some questions about it. You can find the answers up on the Wizards of the Coast forums in this thread.

I just went through all the static pages and updated them a bit. This includes new entries for “Current Projects” and “Upcoming Appearances.” I also posted a new picture of me and my family under “About Matt Forbeck.” Check it out if you want to see exactly why I do what I do.

As I mentioned before, the fine folks at GAMA have asked me to handle their freelancers seminar track at this year’s GAMA Trade Show. This is in Las Vegas from March 14 through 17. I’ll be moderating two seminars: Freelancing for Beginners and Advanced Freelancing. I’ve managed to wrangle some top-notch talent to help me out: Keith Baker, Kenneth Hite, Brian E. Lewis, and Aaron Rosenberg.

If you’re interested in learning more about freelancing in the adventure games industry, this is the place to be. Monday, March 14, is the big day, with six hours worth of seminars running the gamut. If you miss those, each of the two three-hour sessions will be repeated later on in the week.

While not running seminars, I’ll be wandering around the show. I’m not with a company this year, so catch me when you can. I hope to see you there.