Gen Con Ho!

I’m in the throes of preparing for Gen Con this week. The show, the greatest adventure gaming convention on the planet, runs from August 19–22 in Indianapolis. I miss having it in Milwaukee, but last year Indy proved itself to be a fine venue, and you couldn’t ask for a better group of people to run the show than Peter Adkison and his crew.

I plan on spending much of my time in the Green Ronin booth, running demos of Dracula’s Revenge. We worked out this great promotion that I can’t quite tell you about yet, but it involves a chance to win some pretty cool prizes if you play in one of the demos.

However, I also have five different seminars I’m working at the show, along with two signings of Secret of the Spiritkeeper, my new young adult novel from Wizards of the Coast. For details on my schedule, just click here

If you’re an industry professional coming to the show, be sure to drop me a line about the Diana Jones Award party. It’s Wednesday night at 9 PM, and all industry folk are invited.

I’m going to be busy next week, so there won’t be an update then. Look for news from Gen Con the week after though. If you can make it to the show, be sure to stop by and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll be back in two weeks.

ENnies Voting Now Open!

You can now vote in the ENnie Awards. Just click here. The voting is open to the public, and it uses a system designed to level out problems with voters unfamiliar with all of the nominees. So go vote now!

While I won’t tell you what you have to vote for, I should mention that The Redhurst Academy of Magic, which I produced for Human Head Studios has been nominated for three ENnies. The recognition came for Best Cartography, Best Graphic Design, and Best Campaign Setting. Vote your conscience, of course, but please do vote.

Spiritkeeper in Stores!

I stopped into a Barnes and Noble in Madison, WI, yesterday, to check up on Secret of the Spiritkeeper. They had nine copies in stock, which seems like a good sign. They also had the second book in the series, Ree Soesbee’s Riddle in Stone.

This is my first mass-market novel in print, and it’s a great thrill to finally see it on shelves. If you’re at all interested in fantasy stories for young adults, please check it out!

Games Quarterly Magazine #2 Ready

Issue #2 of Games Quarterly Magazine ships out today and should be in stores soon. You can also visit the website to download the content of the magazine for free. I wrote an article called “Spiele Uber Alles.” It’s about the two top gaming awards given out in Germany. Did you know that the game that wins the Spiel des Jahres usually sells 100 times as much as it did before? If you’re a fan of quality board games, read the article to learn more.

Hungry Little Monsters

Sean K. Reynolds is just over a week away from releasing the latest of his charity jam projects. (Anyone remember Swords into Plowshares?) Hungry Little Monsters is due out August 15 as a PDF. It’s a monster book with contributions from all over the adventure gaming industry. I wrote up a creature known as the doubler, a cannibalistic doppelganger. You can find a color illustration of it by Scott Purdy here.

All proceeds from this project are donated to Food for All , a project of the food industry to end hunger via teaching self-reliance. It’s a good cause, and although I haven’t seen the final version yet, I’d put money on it being a great book.

The ENnies Recognize Redhurst!

The Redhurst Academy of Magic, which I produced for Human Head Studios has been nominated for three ENnies, the roleplaying game awards given out via EN World. The recognition came for Best Cartography, Best Graphic Design, and Best Campaign Setting. It’s always flattering to see that others enjoy your work, and I’m looking forward even more to the awards ceremony at Gen Con on August 20.

The voting in the final round is open to the public. Once that’s announced, I’ll be sure to let you know when and where you can cast your ballot!

Undefeated Previews Dracula’s Revenge

Issue #7 of Undefeated, the premier adventure gaming magazine from Paizo Publishing, features a preview of Dracula’s Revenge (which I designed for Human Head Studios) on page 66. This features quotes from me as the game’s designer. It’s funny that the article states that I’m best known for my work on Blood Bowl and Space Hulk for Games Workshop, since I haven’t done anything with either of those games for around 14 years, but overall it’s a nice piece.