Category: Uncategorized

Party like it’s 1986

Work proceeds apace on Heroes of the New Wave (see link a couple of entries down). I’ve been perusing some of the gems of 80s RPG design (Gangbusters, Chill (the original Pacesetter boxed set),James Bond 007 and I’ve managed to track down a copy of Danger International which hopefully will be on its way soon), and have spending lots of time reliving my teenage years at sites like The Eighties Club (probably the best general 80s site I’ve found…not too pretty, but LOADED with information).

It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m jazzed about the project like I haven’t been about anything else for a long while.

So there is something to be said for sad thirty-something nostalgia.

Question of the Day: Should I do a design column for HNW? I had fun doing one for UnderWorld–feedback with fans helps keep my enthusiasm level up. I suppose I could do it on RPGnet (although I’m not sure if anyone reads columns there any more), or I could just start a new blog, and link to the Adamant forum at the Forge for comments. Drop me an email with your opinion. I’m interested in hearing other folks’ take on this.

GMS

Glub glub…

So.

Yesterday. Working the KCRF for Ruth Thompson (see last post). 10:00 a.m. The opening cannon sounds, announcing the beginning of the 2003 KCRF season…and the rain starts.

…AND DOESN’T FUCKING STOP.

Hasn’t yet, in fact. I mean, it’s a good thing, I guess–the KC area was in a drought since about June, from what I understand, and for the month I’ve been back, we’ve had temps in the 100s and humidity in the low 30s. It’s been hot as hell, and so dry that your eyeballs feel like somebody is sucking the liquid out of them when you go outside. So rain, in that perspective is a welcome thing. It’s knocked the temperature down to the 70s, for example.

However, when you’re working on commission in a sales booth, it sucks to have the opening day filled with rain—it kept all but the fanatics away, and even some of those stayed home. We were slooooooooow all day. Not a lot of money made.

Made even worse by driving (in the rain, which still hasn’t stopped) the 20+ miles out there this morning, only to be told upon arrival that they’ve cancelled the entire day today because the grounds are so treacherous–too many hills turned into muddy rivers. So, on the plus side, I get an unexpected day off, which allows me to catch up on some writing.

On the minus side, though, an entire day of sales is gone. Bleah.

We’re supposed to dry out tomorrow, though, and it’s Labor Day, so hopefully people will come out.

Listening to the sounds of rain, blowing hard against the window of my office…

GMS

Long time, no update

Yeah, I know. I’ve been bad.

So…still pounding away on freelance projects, as well as a few projects of my own.

I backed out of consideration for a full-time gig with a D20 publisher today, because of a couple things–one, had I been chosen for the job, they would’ve required a non-competition clause, meaning I couldn’t work for myself or for anybody else. The more I thought about that, the worse it sounded. Then, item number two, I realized that I would only make about 2/3 of the money with them as I can by freelancing and working my own stuff. The answer suddenly became much clearer. I fired off a polite little note saying “no thanks”, and I’m feeling much better now. It sucks that I won’t get a chance to work on some of their really cool properties (since they pretty much flat-out told me at GenCon that they ‘blacklist’ people who back out on them), but such is life.

Work on Apollyon Noir has kicked into high gear finally–with a dedicated mail list for design and development keeping those of us working on it in contact with eachother, and on the same page. It’s looking like we’ve decided to make this sucker a huge tome, with pretty much everything folks could want in one package, rather than doing the core book + supplements model. As such, it’s most likely going be a Spring 2004 release, to give us time to put this magnum opus together.

In other news, I’ve also started design notes for my first new RPG since UnderWorld in 2000. It’s called Heroes of the New Wave, subtitled “neo-pulp adventures in the 1980s”, and you can read more about it here.

Oh–and this weekend, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival opens. Anyone in the area who wants to say “Hi”, feel free to drop by the booth for Ruth Thompson’s Tarnished Images at any point during the next 7 weekends, ’cause that’s where I’ll be.

GMS