Evil Hat Productions » books http://www.evilhat.com/home Swallowing Your Soul Since the Twentieth Century! Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:26:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Dreamation 2010 Report http://chadu.livejournal.com/780219.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/780219.html#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:21:53 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/780219.html morningafternoon, Internets! Did you miss me?

If anything cool, fun, or important has happened since Thursday night, please let me know in comments.

Behind the cut, below, I'm going to talk about what I did at Dreamation 2010 this past weekend. LJ usernames will not be used to protect the innocent because I'm too lazy to look them all up. (I apologize in advance for misspellings and flat-out wrong names; mea culpa.)

Onward!



Events

FLIDAY

  • Drove up to Rob Donoghue's house at ZOMG o'clock.
  • Got on the road around 5:30 am.
  • Much great gaming geekery discussion, ranging from design matters to personalities to industry ideas.
  • Got to the Hyatt in Morristown; half-hour parking lot hell.
  • Check-in, got ourselves situated; see many people, many handshakes and hugs; lunch with Ryan Macklin and Matt Gandy.
  • General hanging out, with a particular "gobsmack Chad" moment:

    • MACKLIN: "You think you're pretty damn cool, don't you?"
    • YOUR HUMBLE: "Yup."
    • MACKLIN: "I bet you think you deserve a motherfucking medal for just being you, for just being Chad Underkoffler, don't you?"
    • YOUR HUMBLE: "Abso-friggin'-lutely."
    • MACKLIN: "Alright, then, bitch!" (fumbles in bag, produces a medal)
    • YOUR HUMBLE: (pole-axed; gapes like a goldfish; starts laughing hysterically)
    • MACKLIN: (to puzzled onlookers) "It's the Silver ENnie for S7S I accepted for him at GenCon."
    • [Well played, sir. Well played.]

  • Sushi for dinner with Gregory Phillips, Brennan Taylor, and the delightful Lilith Taylor (who we all bored to tears for awhile talking about -- God help me, that I did this -- the economy, CDOs, the Move Your Money concept, yadda yadda. (Sorry, Lilith. The three of us we being old farts.)
  • Played in a game of 3:16 -- Carnage Amongst the Stars (which I got from the "Haiti Bundle" on RPGNow/DTRPG), GM'd by Matt Weber. Much bug-huntin' and "officers are idiots/douchebags" fun. Think Aliens meets the Starship Troopers movie.
  • Through the kind introduction of Darren Watts, and the sufferance of Vinny, got into the late-night Texas Hold 'Em game ($20 buy-in). Only had to wait about a half-hour before a seat opened up. I was writing off that $20 as an "entertainment and education expense" -- you see, almost all of my poker playing has been computer/online, so I have very few table skills. I saw this as an opportunity to learn those, and was happy to pay for the privilege, and said as much going in. I made mistakes, I learned, I had fun, and in the end, I made money: when I cashed out at 3 am, I was up $29. (That money helped with some of the Purchases below. Thanks, guys!)
  • A little under 3.5 hrs sleeps, and then...



SABADAY

  • When taking my morning shower, one of my greatest fears happened:

    • I slipped and fell in the extremely slick hotel tub.
    • I fell completely out of the tub, ripping the shower curtains free.
    • I narrowly missed cracking my skull open on the toilet, avoiding a porcelain slam to the brainpan that would have resulted in leaking blood and brains onto the lineoleum.
    • As it was, I landed on my... pride. (And we all know my "pride" is very well-padded.)
    • Lesson learned? I don't care: I'll wear my fake Crocs into hotel showers from now on.
    • BONUS: It's also darkly funny, in a way: "WET NAKED FAT MAN FALLS DOWN IN BATHROOM; FILM AT 11."

  • Paid $20 for coffee and a small plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.
  • Played Ganakagok in the am, GM'd by Jeff Collyer. Think tribal mythopoetical "Inuit-esque" folks, before the first rising of the Sun. The first Ganakagok game I'm been in NOT run by the author/designer (Bill White), and the most soap-opera-y thus far -- much of the play was all about social ties, relationships, status, and the Village.
  • Pizza for lunch with Joanna and Connie and others.
  • Spent first part of the afternoon sitting at a table in the hallway between the hotel lobby and the conference center with Rob Donoghue:

    • Shootin' the shit with whoever passed by.
    • Gave an academic interview to Bill White on North American jeepform/freeform play.
    • Talked with Vinny regarding some of the stuff I'll touch on in the Sunday Indie Roundtable discussion below.
    • Farted around with Rob and a deck of cards, trying to see if there was a good card-based resolution system for the sort of "give-and-take" in conflicts one sees in fiction and movies.

  • Played in Dan Solis' Happy Birthday, Robot. It's a fantastic all-ages game, and can RAWK as a "generic" party game with non-gamer geeks. (Any game that can credibly survive the input of an over-caffinated/over-sugared 7 yr old has serious chops.) This one's a winner, folks. ([info]muskrat_john, this is an Out of the Box game just waiting to happen. SRSLY.)
  • Dinner, with much discussion of semiotics. ROCK ON!
  • While waiting for the stars to align, Jared Sorensen (that magnificent bastard) tricked a bunch of us into playing several rounds of JUNGLE ADVENTURE, a Parsely game. . . and thus assured I'd buy ACTION CASTLE the next day (see below, Purchases). (Parsely games are PERFECT party games, BUT I do have to note it may be only perfect for those of us at a certain age. I don't really know if the whippersnappers would get into infocom-style text adventures. I welcome insights.)
  • My attempt to Make Macklin Cry (by running Mythender) more or less fails. Mac's on top of his game, and handles it with aplomb and fun. CURSES!
  • Awesome lobby socialization.
  • Sleep the sleep of the Dead.



SUMDAY

  • $20 bacon and eggs, again.
  • Looking at the sched, I figured there was a decent chance of getting into a Fiasco game: many tables, early Sunday, rock on.
  • Have ridiculous amount of fun with Fiasco. (Jason, was it "Besting" or "Breaking" or "Busting" when talking about one's "Jonx"?)
  • Fantastic, if short, chat with Remi Treuer.
  • Many hugging goodbyes.
  • The Indie Roundtable, where:

    • Vinny laid out some ideas for a separate, Indie publisher/designer-focused mini-con. More deets will be forthcoming -- but I find the idea of a robust practical game design seminar track, a publishable academic "Proceedings" document, the idea that demos could be video'd and YouTube'd, and a central online forum/resource site VERY HOT. (Think of this mini-con idea as "Indie Roundtable, all the time!")
    • I offered my arrogant opinion on many topics.
    • Kudos to the Robs (Bohl and Donoghue) for emcee-ing.

  • Saddlin' up with Rob D. for the drive south.
  • Much great discussion, ranging from gaming stuff to fiction stuff to genealogical/family history stuff to philosophical explorations.
  • Get my car from Donoghue land; drive home; magically find an appropriate parking spot. Unpack/do required chores. Crash.

    Purchases



    And now I am doing laundry.
]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2010/02/dreamation-2010-report/feed/ 0 [dresden] Links! http://chadu.livejournal.com/769210.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/769210.html#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:41:45 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/769210.html
Happy Birthday, Harry: We Have A Target

and

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDresdenFiles

(That latter link will keep you reading for HOURS.)

ALSO, because I am a tres geeky fanboi, I was thinking today that if I saw a story where Harry Dresden and Vlad Taltos teamed-up, I'd probably plotz.

(Then, I thought about Vlad teaming up with Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen, and I DID plotz. Then, I thought about the Three Musketeers teaming up with Cyrano and Captain Alatriste, and plotzed halfway through the thought. We shall not speak of the Kirk and Sheridan team up, or the Matthew Gideon and Malcolm Reynolds team up.)]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2009/10/dresden-links/feed/ 0 Edit edit edit http://chadu.livejournal.com/762669.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/762669.html#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:21:28 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/762669.html
#1. The Dresden Files RPG. I've been pitching in a bit with the other editors for the past month/month and a half on the manuscript, editing what chapters I can in a piecemeal fashion, reshaping the text presentation (not the rules; that is left up to better system-heads than mine) in preparation for the full-on, chapter-by-chapter "tone and continuity pass" I'll be doing in November, before the book goes to layout.

I really dig that Fred and the team dug my idea that the DFRPG is Billy's attempt to write a new version of Dracula for the Dresdenverse. (That is, a handbook/Dummies Guide for whacking nastybads.) HOWEVER, this means that much of the text -- written over several years, by diverse hands -- needs to be restructured, so (since it's my fault) I'm trying to pitch in and smooth the process.

An interesting thing: the book is theoretically being written between Small Favor and Turn Coat. Mostly because SmF came out JUST as we were finalizing "canon issues." Then, in the fulness of time, TC came out -- and we're too far along in the process to add new stuff, since we're getting close to PUB.

Making sure that the game is back-compatible with the new stuff in TC, without actually going there, has been a fun and interesting challenge.

#2. Strange Tales of the Century. Let me just say that I love [info]ratmmjess with a mighty man-love. So everything I say after this, take that into account. IT'S SAID WITH LOVE!

Now, see this post of his first. Go ahead, I'll wait.

. . .

Back?

Jess dropped a manuscript 157% over projected wordcount, because he's a VERY NAUGHTY BOY.

And it's all awesome.

So, as editor, I am faced with a very, very CRAP position: I need to tighten the text up -- but every cut is a razorslice against my fanboy skin.

LISTEN UP, NON-GAMERS: Are you pissed you haven't been able to get a copy of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana? Upset that The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes hasn't yet been published?

You need Strange Tales of the Century -- when we're done with it.

Sure, there will be gamey-stuff in the book, but the lion's share of text is collecting, analyzing, and reifying (pulp) fictional archetypes, with numerous examples, for the time period from (at least) 1850 to 1950.

I'm talking about HUNDREDS of pages that aren't specifically game-oriented. A casual non-gamer reader will still get a tremendous amount of value from this book.

When it's done. Which is what I'm working on.




Lastly, I sent in three pitches for the Unknown Armies call for ideas for 3 PDFs. Because, hey, It's UA, and I loves me some UA.

My three pitches (djinn, thin black line, and perchance) are substantially mostly stuff that's been sitting on my harddrive since the UA heyday.

([info]bibliorex, ping me.)



So, yeah, that's the State of the Chad at the mo. Busy, busy, busy; wrapped in text; wielding the Blue Pencil.]]>
#1. The Dresden Files RPG. I've been pitching in a bit with the other editors for the past month/month and a half on the manuscript, editing what chapters I can in a piecemeal fashion, reshaping the text presentation (not the rules; that is left up to better system-heads than mine) in preparation for the full-on, chapter-by-chapter "tone and continuity pass" I'll be doing in November, before the book goes to layout.

I really dig that Fred and the team dug my idea that the DFRPG is Billy's attempt to write a new version of Dracula for the Dresdenverse. (That is, a handbook/Dummies Guide for whacking nastybads.) HOWEVER, this means that much of the text -- written over several years, by diverse hands -- needs to be restructured, so (since it's my fault) I'm trying to pitch in and smooth the process.

An interesting thing: the book is theoretically being written between Small Favor and Turn Coat. Mostly because SmF came out JUST as we were finalizing "canon issues." Then, in the fulness of time, TC came out -- and we're too far along in the process to add new stuff, since we're getting close to PUB.

Making sure that the game is back-compatible with the new stuff in TC, without actually going there, has been a fun and interesting challenge.

#2. Strange Tales of the Century. Let me just say that I love [info]ratmmjess with a mighty man-love. So everything I say after this, take that into account. IT'S SAID WITH LOVE!

Now, see this post of his first. Go ahead, I'll wait.

. . .

Back?

Jess dropped a manuscript 157% over projected wordcount, because he's a VERY NAUGHTY BOY.

And it's all awesome.

So, as editor, I am faced with a very, very CRAP position: I need to tighten the text up -- but every cut is a razorslice against my fanboy skin.

LISTEN UP, NON-GAMERS: Are you pissed you haven't been able to get a copy of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana? Upset that The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes hasn't yet been published?

You need Strange Tales of the Century -- when we're done with it.

Sure, there will be gamey-stuff in the book, but the lion's share of text is collecting, analyzing, and reifying (pulp) fictional archetypes, with numerous examples, for the time period from (at least) 1850 to 1950.

I'm talking about HUNDREDS of pages that aren't specifically game-oriented. A casual non-gamer reader will still get a tremendous amount of value from this book.

When it's done. Which is what I'm working on.




Lastly, I sent in three pitches for the Unknown Armies call for ideas for 3 PDFs. Because, hey, It's UA, and I loves me some UA.

My three pitches (djinn, thin black line, and perchance) are substantially mostly stuff that's been sitting on my harddrive since the UA heyday.

([info]bibliorex, ping me.)



So, yeah, that's the State of the Chad at the mo. Busy, busy, busy; wrapped in text; wielding the Blue Pencil.]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2009/10/edit-edit-edit/feed/ 0 Roll Credits! http://chadu.livejournal.com/746293.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/746293.html#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:05:53 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/746293.html
It's harder than I thought it would be (especially for an egotist like me!)... apparently I did not keep adequate track of ALL of the work or award nominations I received.

Still, I can say, with some assurance that, since 1998, I have worked on...

20 RPG books

and wrote

50 articles or columns.

. . .

Whoa.

Still assembling data; will let you all know when the credits page on the ASMP site goes live.]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2009/07/roll-credits/feed/ 0 Vitamin U! It makes all things… shmoo? http://chadu.livejournal.com/605022.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/605022.html#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:29:22 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/605022.html
http://highmoonmedia.livejournal.com/125166.html

Also, last night, I wrote a new Zorcerer of Zo-related fairytale, as a birthday present for one of my girlfriends.

Given her response, I may do this for everybody's birthday this year.

Two benefits to this:
1. People get a personalized piece of prose art for their natal day.
2. I get another story for my eventual Tales of Zo collection (which I really want to finish before Xmas 2008 for pub in 2009).


EDITED TO ADD:

This is awesome on stilts:


Battle Scene!
Battle Scene!
From SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

]]>
http://highmoonmedia.livejournal.com/125166.html

Also, last night, I wrote a new Zorcerer of Zo-related fairytale, as a birthday present for one of my girlfriends.

Given her response, I may do this for everybody's birthday this year.

Two benefits to this:
1. People get a personalized piece of prose art for their natal day.
2. I get another story for my eventual Tales of Zo collection (which I really want to finish before Xmas 2008 for pub in 2009).


EDITED TO ADD:

This is awesome on stilts:


Battle Scene!
Battle Scene!
From SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2008/03/vitamin-u-it-makes-all-things-shmoo/feed/ 0 [dfrpg] Vitamin U http://chadu.livejournal.com/516649.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/516649.html#comments Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:33:37 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/516649.html Dresden Files RPG prep work thus far:

I've been Chaddooed!

That's the way I roll.

:)]]> Dresden Files RPG prep work thus far:

I've been Chaddooed!

That's the way I roll.

:)]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2007/06/dfrpg-vitamin-u/feed/ 0 Game Bookery! http://chadu.livejournal.com/514164.html http://chadu.livejournal.com/514164.html#comments Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:36:45 +0000 I Have Powers http://chadu.livejournal.com/514164.html REIGN this morning at the post office -- it came registered mail, from Lulu.com, from Spain.
Haven't opened the package yet; it's down in the car.

And last night, I finally got a copy of an RPG I've been looking for for some years: Prince Valiant, which I have heard folks I respect rave about. Haven't looked at that one yet, either.

After I finish some work tonight on my Dresden Files project for the Evil Hat dudes, ONLY THEN will I peruse my mad phat loot.

Work ethic!

ALSO: Reading Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto for the first time. I haven't even gotten past the Introduction and the Prefaces, and I already love this book.]]> REIGN this morning at the post office -- it came registered mail, from Lulu.com, from Spain.
Haven't opened the package yet; it's down in the car.

And last night, I finally got a copy of an RPG I've been looking for for some years: Prince Valiant, which I have heard folks I respect rave about. Haven't looked at that one yet, either.

After I finish some work tonight on my Dresden Files project for the Evil Hat dudes, ONLY THEN will I peruse my mad phat loot.

Work ethic!

ALSO: Reading Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto for the first time. I haven't even gotten past the Introduction and the Prefaces, and I already love this book.]]> http://www.evilhat.com/home/2007/06/game-bookery/feed/ 0