The Future Oncoming

This blog has been pretty darn quiet as of late. It’s because new and exciting tools have come into my life that cover 90% of the occasional-post style of content that I’ve generally used a blog for.

My twitter is, of course, my go-to for quick thoughts, one-liners, whining, and advertising.

Over the last year, Google+ has grown to encompass pretty much everything else that I used to blog. From observations on trends in gaming, to making updates about my own works-in-progress, even to being the main place that I publicize new products and projects. The gaming community has really embraced the service in a way that I find to be a perfect blend of forum, social network and cool-shit-sharing, for me.

I am technically still on Facebook, as well, but that’s almost entirely about remembering people’s birthdays and getting event invitations.

Oh! And, if you just want to know about new products, sales, and other me-as-business things, I started an email newsletter that you are welcome to sign up for.

So, what to do with the blog? Readership is generally pretty low, and I’m almost positive that everyone who reads the blog is also following me on the other services. There’s a decent amount of content here that I’m happy to remain existing as an archive, but if you want to actually know what I’m thinking about, working on and doing, I would recommend the above places as the best ways to keep tabs on me.

And who knows, maybe I’ll figure out something cool to do later!

Cool Things: Review + Hack

Here’s a couple of cool things, one new and one I’ve been totally forgetting about for months.

First! Michael Wight, aka stupidgremlin, wrote up a really cool hack of Witness the Murder of Your Father and Be Ashamed Young Prince inspired by the recent film release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It’s called The Bear Is Loose Within The Circus (direct download link). I particularly like how he added a layer to the stones used in the game, calling the ones you keep secret Secrets, representing literal secrets each agent has, and those on the table Assets, and now that they’ve been revealed they’re “part of the Public Record.” If you’re more into spies than feudal succession, check this hack out.

Second! Paco Jaen, mastermind behind the scarily comprehensive G*M*S Magazine site, recently posted a very perceptive and complimentary review of Annalise.

The dynamic approach to story, setting, character and plot development could become the perfect remedy for writers block, and a wonderful game for people who need great story telling combined with near complete freedom to invent and imagine…5 Stars to this gem of a game that everyone should know about!

Read the full review here. Thanks Paco!

Post-Soviet Post-Apocalyptic Robot Action

In case you haven’t had your fill of giant fighty robots, I present to you the Kickstarter for my next microgame publishing project. Check out the project page for all the details!

Winter Cleaning

Just a little heads-up – I did some resorting of my website, hopefully to make it parse a little easier at first blush.

Also, I finally put up a fun little project that I’ve had sitting around for a while. They originally came out of some of my early casting experiments for my thesis work, and I ended up finding them charming in their own right. I present to you: Nubs. Little things, just for fun! Check out more ways to use them at my site, or if you want some of your own, I have sets available at my store for only $5!

Hard white Nubs, as miniature elements.

Thus, I strike against February malaise.

Annalise En Français

The fine folks at Les Editions Boite à Heuhh have translated Annalise into French, and as far as I know it’s now available through their website. They also posted a cool video walkthrough of the book (in French, which I have only the most basic understanding of, but it sure sounds & looks nice.)

Thanks to Ludovic and the team over there for the nice work, I look forward to seeing the book!

End Of Days Sale

If you’ve been thinking about picking up Annalise, carry, The Dance and the Dawn, or Be Ashamed Young Prince for yourself or, perhaps, as a gift for the discerning gamer in your life, now is the time.

carry digital dispatch

A long overdue digital offering…carry is now available as a 47 page hyperlinked PDF, including printable play aids and character reference cards. I tried to preserve the grittiness of the print layout while adding the digital features, and I’m pretty happy with the result!

For now, it’s available for $7 from my store; it’ll be up at IPR and OneBookShelf sooner rather than later. I’ll also be offering an $18 print+pdf bundle once I have books back in stock, expect to see that at IPR as well.

5 years old and still strong, I think. I’m pretty happy to bring it into the digital age, at the very least!

Be Ashamed Young Prince Review

Amy Garcia (disclosure: friend and member of the Design Matters family) has some nice things to say about Be Ashamed Young Prince.

If you are completely unaware to the things I LOVE in roleplaying games, well tangibly is my deal. Having physical objects that represent ideas or rules causes the game to be on a completely different level.  Tangibly forces the characters to behave differently simply from the physical and visual feedback of having a token.

Because this token is considered currency in games, players will begin to act as if they have real money. Do I invest in this?  Do I hold off and use it at a different juncture?  It’s completely brilliant.

Read the full review here. Thanks Amy!

Oh, and the PDF is now up on IPR, as well.

Kickstarter Analytics 1

I thought it would be interesting and helpful to do some numbers-crunching on my first-ever Kickstarter. With graphs!

(I’m composing another post about the raw investment/return numbers, for the edification of others thinking about doing this kind of project, FYI – this one is long enough for now!)

I was primarily interested in my survey responses – what was the primary reason for people to back the project, and where did they hear about it in the first place? (click to embiggen)

And I got a couple of good questions on Twitter as well. More graphs after the jump.

Be Ashamed Young Prince Is Go

Witness the Murder of Your Father and Be Ashamed, Young Prince is now available for purchase.

Here’s all the info

Here’s the MagCloud page to buy it in print for $5

Here’s my page to buy it in PDF for $2

Bam.