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Edition Books Aftermath

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

First, the saga of the comics.

We ordered a somewhat ambitious print run of 100 copes of Fish for Fish from Comicxpress in the US about a month ago. Shipping should have taken two weeks. Even if there was a delay, we should still get them in plenty of time for the Edition Book Arts book fair.

Right?

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Off to the fair
deli & I will be selling our comic at Edition Book Arts in Temple Bar in Dublin. If you're around Dublin, pop in (entry is free) and support us!

Once again, I hunt the laptop

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

Apparently, my Toshiba A200 is suffering from water damage, causing the keyboard to glitch. Replacing the keyboard hasn’t helped, so it looks like I’ll be investing in a new laptop at some point.

Certain people are urging me to jump ship to the MacSide. Anyone else changed operating systems and lived to tell the tale?

Slammers on Sale

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

The Hammer’s Slammers rpg I wrote for Mongoose is apparently out on the shelves. Early reports appear positive, on the whole. The game’s based on the novels of David Drake, and I’m both amused and honoured by his comments that “the fellow who did the writing really understood the military and (I think) got the feel of the Hammer series“.

Edition Book Arts

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

This weekend (Sat. 4th July), deli and I will be at Edition Book Arts in Dublin. It’s a book, comic and zine fair, and entry is free. It’s on in Temple Bar.

We will - assuming the postal service co-operates - be selling print copies of Fish for Fish. Support would be very, very welcome, as this is our first real step into self-publishing.

4e thoughts so far, part 2 - upsides

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

My quibbles aside, 4e is a significant reinvention of D&D. It’s vastly easier to prepare material for than 3.5 was, and easier to run. Back in 3.5, the real tactical game was in spell stacking and preparation, and the DM had to outthink all the players. There were far, far too many options, especially in high-level play.

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4e thoughts so far - the downsides

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

The PCs in my ongoing Company of Heroes D&D4e game just hit third level, and I’m growing more comfortable with the system. As expected, the tactical side of play works very well, and encounters do usually hit the sweet spot where the players are nearly-but-not-quite overwhelmed. The little I’ve written for it was also great fun, but anything’s better than calculating skill points for 16th level 3rd edition NPCs.

I do have a few concerns, though.

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How to Write Con Scenarios, Addendum

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

Since writing thelast post on this topic, I attended the Scenario Writing Workshop in Cork, which was entertaining and moderately productive, although I’m not sure if entrenched opinions (mine or anyone else’s) changed.

The most useful part of the whole workshop was where people discussed their favourite scenario ever to write and to play. In almost every case, the ‘favourite piece of scenario writing’ was some over-complex and experimental game, like my Serene and Primal. By contrast, the ‘favourite game to play’ category was more varied, but there were a few interesting common elements:

The first time the person played a particular game
Simple, effective scenarios with plenty of scope for the players to drive events.
Games set in unusual locations or time periods. Even something as simple as running a Cthulhu scenario in, say, Mexico instead of Arkham made the game much more memorable.

A few other tips:

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A Very Busy Month

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

My blogging has been rather non-existant of late; it has been an absurdly busy month. Among the highlights:

deli & I got engaged. This should surprise no-one, as sharing webspace like this is just as much of a committment as marriage. Really, it is. Anyway, we’re both very happy, and will be even happier when the ring finally arrives.
We’ve done several new chapters of Fish for Fish, and even put a PDF version up on Drivethrucomics
I’ve written 90% of the Scoundrel supplement for Traveller, and am about to plunge back into Alpha Complex for more PARANOIA
I’ve also helped put together lots of material for the PARANOIA 25th anniversary DVD, and gotten involved with 1d4 new freelance projects.

I’m also running two ongoing campaigns. One is the Z-Space Traveller game I blogged about earlier, the other is a D&D 4e game.

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I have just written the following sentence.
"Barbarians do not qualify for medical care and so never incur medical bills."

It makes sense in context, really it does.

How to write con scenarios, part V: the Finale

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

The final scene is, obviously, the climax of the scenario, the denouement of the plot, the big epic fight with the villian. It’s also the hardest scene to plan. You’ll find that unless you keep a very tight grip on the possible actions of the player characters, the final scene ends up being an awful lot of if… thens and maybes.

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How to write con scenarios, part IV: Core scenes

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

Back in part 1, I said that as a rule of thumb, you can assume you’ll have three to five scenes between opening and finale. Each of these scenes should last around half an hour each. That’s actually quite a lot of play time. Depending on your game system, that’s one or two fights (or a lot more, in some lighter systems); it’s two or three conversations with an NPC; it’s exploring a few rooms in a dungeon; it’s a lot of planning and the quick execution of a plan.

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Day 46: still not a cylon
* Wrote lots of PARANOIA: The book is currently on track, although I need to make a serious push this week to get all the old material integrated and write more new stuff.
* Had a long chat with my cousins: They're the smart ones in the family. Lots of gossip and discussions of couches.
* Played board games: There were two players missing from the Traveller group, so we just played board games. In Battlestar Galactica, we got swarmed by more cylons than I've ever seen before. In the first twelve crises, I think we had six cylon attack cards. Our population dropped like a rock, we jumped (losing another three population) to Ragnar Anchorage, and then the toasters showed up again to finish the job. We also played the wild west Munchkin, which always makes me want to run that Western Cthulhu game that been in my head for years.
* Got a copy of Third Person.: Review forthcoming.

Chapter 5 of Fish for Fish is up, by the way. New readers start here, and the newly uploaded chapter starts here.

Daylog
It's been a while since I've had time to blog. Apologies.
* Went swimming: We've been good about going to the gym regularly, which translates as 'pain'.
* Went to the dentist: My teeth are fine; my gums are not. Huzzah. I've another appointment in two weeks, where my flossing will be assessed. The dentist is the secular version of confession.
* Bought a couch: and two chairs, for that matter. The couch here has lasted thirty-two years, but gave up the ghost a few months ago. It's time for a replacement.
* Wrote: PARANOIA continues apace, assuming 'apace' means 'throwing yourself off a cliff and learning to fly.'
* Ate all the chicken: There's no more chicken for you. I ate it all.

How to write Convention Scenarios, part III: the Opening Scene

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

This article isn’t about running convention games, but from this point on it will be impossible for me to entirely divorce writing the game from running it. I’ll keep the GM asides to a minimum.

The opening scene needs to:

Get the players’ attention
Introduce the player characters to each other
Start them roleplaying
Set the tone of the whole game
Describe the initial situation
Tell the players what they’re supposed to be doing
Funnel the game towards the next scene

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Strange Days
Went swimming: I used to be a good swimmer, but I've lost the knack. Now I swim much like a brick with arms.
Went sofa hunting: Final decision is made, now I need to get rid of the old sofa.
Work: I finally got usable guidance on the new PARANOIA edition, as well as my review for the year. (In short: good writing, but deadlines went to hell last year. In my defence, last year was unusual.)
Gamed: Traveller. The PCs rescued Dr. Stegner from the cruise liner (don't ask) and actually have a plan for next week. Huzzah. A good session all round.

I'll also add my voice to those mourning the loss of Dave Arneson.

Very quick update
Went to gym (painful), went to doctor (check-up), lunch with Aidan (eggs benedict yum), sent lots of emails (work), very tired now (but watching House in bed before sleep). I may be the only person in Ireland pleased with the emergency budget (I didn't lose the Artist's Exemption, which some doomsayers had suggested was a likely candidate for the chop.)

Catch-up Post
* Went down to Kerry: to spend the weekend with

delichan's family. All very nice, and I introduced her nieces to Settlers and Snorta
* Wrote some of my con scenario essay: I actually started that essay two laptops ago, but recent debate gave me the impetus to actually write it. It'll be at least six parts long, probably more. I can ramble on this topic a lot.
* Went to see Fred the Band: In the Pavilion. It was the first time I'd been there in years, and I was struck by immense nostalgia for Lee's dodgy indie club there. Good times.
* Went sofa hunting: Complicated by the fact that my mother is still housebound, so we have to bring sofa samples back to her for approval. Nearly there.
* Learned that there are balloon modeling cons: Apparently, the Belgians are well into their balloon modeling. I'm increasingly suspicious of Belgium. It may be a front for an alien invasion or something.
* Called up to 503: I haven't seen any of my Cork friends in a while outside of gaming, so I called up to the old flat...
* Played Roborally:...and gamed. We played what amounted to two games of RoboRally. In one game, Rob played solo, zooming across the board and winning without taking any damage or even seeing another robot. In the other, coterminous game, four other robots shot, bashed, pulled and crushed each other in an orgy of oily mayhem. I came second, which meant I hit the first flag several turns after Rob hit his second.

How to Write Con Scenarios, part II - Characters

Originally published at Figures of Text. Please leave any comments there.

First, check with the con; some conventions will specify how many players they want at a table. Normally, this number is five or six. If they have such a requirement, stick to it – it’s there for a reason. (Seating arrangements, mainly, plus it’s a lot easier for the rpg co-ordinator to look at a room full of tables and go ‘right, I need to rustle up two more players for that table, one for that one, and three for the poor guy in the corner’ instead of ‘agh, are there four or seven spaces in the GURPS: Combat Gardening game?’) Let’s assume six player characters.

What goes into them?

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