The Magic Comic

Earlier today, IDW announced that it is publishing a brand-new series of comic books based on Magic: The Gathering, the original, bestselling collectible card game from Wizards of the Coast. It’s being illustrated by the fantastic Martin Cóccolo, and the excellent Denton Tipton is editing it. Most amazing of all is that I’m writing it.

This is the first comic I’ve written since the Blood Bowl series I handled for Boom! Studios, and I’m loving it. Writing a comic is the most structured sort of prose challenge around, but it’s so satisfying to see a talented artist bring the images I describe to life.

This isn’t, though, the first time I’ve been involved with a Magic: The Gathering comic. Way back in 1996, I wrote backup material for Fallen Angel, a Magic comic from Acclaim Comics written by Nancy Collins. This time around, though, I’m handling the main event, and I can’t wait for you all to read it.

Here’s the press release, in full:

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Geek.Kon Schedule

Once again, I’ll be at guest at this year’s Geek.Kon up in Madison, Wisconsin, which runs from September 9 through 11. I’m joining a fantastic group of guests, including my pals Bill Bodden, Troy Denning, Jim Frenkel, John Kovalic, Matt McElroy, Aaron Pavao, and Monica Valentinelli.

I may be at the show Friday or Sunday, but I’ll be there for sure all day Saturday, September 10. So far, my Saturday schedule looks like this:

  • 9 AM: Designing Game Mechanics
  • 10 AM: Ebooks vs. Traditional Publishing
  • 11 AM: Autographs
  • 1:30 PM: Writing for Shared Worlds
  • 2:30 PM: World Building
  • 3:30 PM: Writing Panel
  • 5 PM: Getting Published in Gaming
  • 8 PM: Tie-In Fiction
  • 9 PM: Guests Geek Out Panel
If you’re around, come on out and join us. It’s a fantastic weekend.

Wednesday Night at Noble Knight

Tomorrow night, I’ll be joining the Gamerati Tour at Noble Knight Games in Janesville, Wisconsin. I should get there around 6 PM and will spend the rest of the evening hanging out, chatting with friends, and maybe even playing a game or two. If you’re around, come on out at join us!

New Board Game Bits

It’s been a crazy few weeks since Gen Con as I scramble to catch up with deadlines and help Ann get the kids ready for school. During that time, I’ve written the first issue of an ongoing comic (details coming soon), polished off the first draft of the second Dust novel, and helped out with the Marvel tabletop RPG development team. Next I’m sprinting away on Carpathia, but before I put my nose to the virtual grindstone again, I wanted to mention another cool project I’m involved in.

My friend Dan Verssen makes some of the best military games out there. I played a lot of his Modern Naval Battles in college, and it was a real pleasure to get to know him in person as I joined the tabletop games industry. He’s tinkering with a new board game called Global Domination, and he asked me to help him with the color text for the game’s cards. It’s been a ball working with him, and I’m looking forward to playing the game myself.

Kansas City Book Club: Vegas Knights

I recently discovered that the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society has named my novel Vegas Knights as the subject of their next book club meeting on August 22, at the Oak Park Barnes & Noble. If you’re in the area, pick up a copy of the book and join in!

As far as I know, this is the first time any of my novels has been the topic of a book club meeting, and I’m tickled by the idea of people sitting around a bookstore and talking about one of my stories. Big thanks to whoever put it forward, and I hope all the folks in Kansas City enjoy the book!

Gen Con Seminars

A few people recorded a number of the seminars in which I took part at Gen Con. I don’t have details for all of them yet, but right now you can go listen to a whole bunch of the seminars over on Jason Pitre’s site. Scroll down there, and you’ll see “The No-Nos of Game Design,” on which I joined Stan!, Jeff Bellinger, and Daniel Solis. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

You can tell this one was early in the convention, as I still have most of my voice left. I always get hoarser as the days roll on.

The Marvel RPG

One other big thing happened at Gen Con. The Margaret Weis Productions team announced that their big license for their next roleplaying game is from Marvel Comics! MWP creative director Cam Banks asked me to join the team developing the base game, which puts me in the lineup next to folks like Will Hindmarch, Jeremy Keller, Amanda Valentine, Rob Donoghue, and Phil Menard.

More details to come as the MWP folks release them to be shared.