Tuesday Filler: GTFO

Thanks for all your hard work! By the way, get the hell out...

So, a year ago today, I got laid the fuck off from Palladium Books. With one little phone call on a Monday Morning, I lost everything I'd wanted. I'd lost a job, I'd lost Robotech, and I'd lost my rudder. After a bit of heavy drinking and some beating of breasts and gnashing of teeth, I said "Fuck this" and set about forging a new direction for myself as a freelancer in the contracting and increasingly niche Trad Games industry. It hasn't been easy. It hasn't always been fun. It's been slower than I'd like. I've made some progress, though. Shall we see what the passing of a year has brought us Gentle Readers?

Friday Highlights

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No witty picture today. After spending a night on the floor in an undisclosed location, I'm not sure I even possess any wit. Anyway, here's a few nice things about Friday at Gencon:

• Crowd: Happy, (mostly) healthy nerds in their glory. Costumes are good for the most part. People are nice. Lots of exposed flesh, some of it even worth being exposed! Also, there are a ton of people here.
• Vendor Hall: I see game companies. They're everywhere, and they don't even know they want to hire me! But they will. The vendor hall is rockin', Fantasy Flight has a huge-ass booth with a large demo area wherein I played Descent and where I'll go mad today playing Arkham Horror. Sadly, White Wolf seems much reduced, has no product for sale, and their booth is essentially a sad imitation of a New Orleans beer hall. I've been in LARPs that were better outfitted than that booth.
• Panels: I sat one panel with Sam from Fantasy Flight discussing Rogue Trader. I attended another given by Matt Forbeck, Bryan Tillman and his afro, Owen K.C. Stevens, and Jeff Tidball. Very informative and I took copious notes. They were all, to a man, gracious, generous and hilarious.
• Ennies: I went to the Ennies last night as a guest of Fantasy Flight. Unsurprisingly, Paizo swept everything, earning about a brazillion awards for Pathfinder. Eclipse Phase and Diaspora also won some very well deserved awards, which was nice.

So, yeah. There you go. I've already had a good time, met some great people, and ended up with my business card case more full of other people's cards than my own, which is pretty good I'd say. I'll be driving tomorrow, so I can't promise anything in the way of an update. Y'all have a good weekend.

Thursday Filler: En Francais!

So, check this out. A couple weeks ago a nice young Frenchman from Guide du Roliste Galactique, a Francophone RPG blog/site/thingy, contacted me out of the blue. Seems that he discovered me in the credits of a Rifts book I worked on, and wanted me to knock together a profile for him to post in his RPG Pros section. I'm big in Japan France, apparently. Here it is, all in French of course, none of which I can read because my high-school French teacher wasn't so much concerned with teaching us French as she was with teaching us all 874 verses of the Champs Elysees song.

One From the Vaults

It was a mercy killing...

Dicking around in the depths of my harddrives, I found this little gem. I wrote this in 1998, while I was finishing up my culinary externship in Ann Arbor, MI. It was, in fact, three o'clock in the morning. It was foggy. Early spring. I lived in a big-arsed house with a bunch of other dudes across the street from the copshop, and was just learning how to operate as an adult (and failing miserably). God only knows what I was writing, probably some Star Wars fanfic or something that was only a thinly veiled copy of something by William Gibson. Anyway, here it is, unmolested, in all its over-written new writer glory. Enjoy.

Old School Filler

Here's a little something to warm your heart! Mario learns a fundamental and terrible truth about the Mushroom Kingdom, and pays dearly for that knowledge.


"bit and run" -- Mario's Ladder from Cory Godbey on Vimeo.

Courtesy of Topless Robot

Saturday Filler: An Important Announcement!

Gamers, friends, and Gentle Readers. I've just been hipped to a bit of research being done into the social benefits of face-to-face tabletop RPG/wargames playing. There's a survey to be done, and I'd like you all to take a moment to visit and fill the survey out. Let's help spread the news that gaming is, in fact, good for you. You can find the survey here.

Monday Filler - Lydia Strange

Girl Mechanic image courtesy of David Cousens and Cool Surface. 

http://www.coolsurface.com/

Okay, kids. So, I've got a heap of shit to do and not enough hours in the day to do it. Since I've been lagging on my makeposts here, I figured I needed to get something up but didn't have the time to wax philosophic about, say, class/level systems. That's for later in the week. Right now though? Oh, yes. Yes Gentle Readers, it's time to meet another cast member. This time it's Lydia Strange, a tall, red-haired drink of water with a tendency toward both fast machines and fire magic. Here she is with everyone's sidekick Bela, awaiting the arrival of some friends from out of town.

Friday Bonus Post: Marines! We Are Leaving!

Oh, Marines. Look at how awesome and over-the-top you are...

Guess what, Gentle Readers! You know who has two thumbs and just landed an assignment writing for Fantasy Flight's Deathwatch line? *points to self* This guy! How awesome is that? Pretty awesome, I'd say. So, if you're keeping score at home, this is now three projects I have running with Fantasy Flight right now. Have I mentioned that I like working with these guys? 'Cause, you know, I do. So, yeah. Space Marines. I'm stoked. Plus, you know, at least there'll finally be a book out there about marines in space with my name on it. As usual, I'll keep you abreast of the situation.

Wednesday Bonus Post: Good News, Everyone!

Didn't see that coming...

Good news, indeed. I got an email from the guys at Pinnacle Entertainment Group this morning. You know, the guys who make Savage Worlds and Deadlands? Anyway, looks like I have maybe an opportunity for some work with them, which'll be great because I absolutely love Deadlands, and have ever since it came out. All I have to do now is fit research on a new system and setting and an accompanying essay test/writing sample  in with my regular work of Fantasy Flight stuff, changing diapers, and begging for work. As usual, I'll let you know how it goes.

Friday Bonus Post: Into the Mouth of Madness...

Delicious, delicious madness. Here, in all it's hilarious glory, is my Cthulhu themed birthday cake. It was enjoyed by one and all, then we were all dragged screaming into the maddening void. Which, you know, is typical for a Thursday. Ia! Ia!

Friday Filler: A Very Special Episode

Eldernerds passing on their knowledge to a new generation...

So, I had this great idea for a post today. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond my control (wicked chest cold, lack of sleep, hungry babby) it just didn't get done. To make up for it and maintain my herculean rhythm of two whole posts a week, I give you this. An article in the Christian Science Monitor showcasing the very real positive aspects of trad gaming. Enjoy the article, and I promise you that I'll have this awesome article all sewn up by next week. Seriously.

Saturday Filler: Turning Wrenches and Busting Knuckles

The engine is good, but the code looks like hell...

So, I've been tinkering around with the Gamewerks, and I'm a little closer to done. Not a bad way to spend my Saturday, along with playing Blaster Master and Dragon Warrior and making chicken stock. It's also Zombie Saturday here at the ranch, and we're gonna eat snacks and have cocktails and play Zombies all night. Then, of course, back to work tomorrow. So, enjoy the new look. See you all next week.

Tuesday Filler: The Brew Abides, My New Remote Office

 I've told you a thousand times, I don't roast on Shabbos!

So, as a freelancer who works from a home office, and who is soon to be now also a stay-at-home dad, I spend a lot of time cooped up in the house. Yes, yes, I know, writing is a lonely business, the most solitary art, etc, etc. There are times though, when it gets to be too much. So, when I've been in the house too many days in a row, my focus starts to slip and I'm ready to turn into Jack Torrance (all work, no play, fire axes, etc.), I throw all my stuff in the car or on the bike, and head to one of my remote offices. I know I've talked about them before. There's the awesome little Eurotrash Polish place in Hamtramck full of comfy chairs and a mix of Hipsters, Hamtown homeless and loud and glittery Polish ladies from the bank up the street. There was the sadly gone and lamented place downtown, with their anemic, eight dollar paninis and their Miami Vice backlot interior and where the clientele was so hip they couldn't see over their collective pelvis. Now, though, I've found a new place. A great new place close to my house with delicious, home roasted coffee, a friendly staff and a great atmosphere. A new place that is, without a doubt gentle readers, Jewish as f@#$ing Tevya...

Friday Bonus Post! They're Crafty, and They're Just My Type!

Obligatory Beastie Boys Reference...

So, looks like maybe I'll be picking up some work with Crafty Games here soon. I'm pretty stoked, as I've been looking at porting AEGIS vs. SPIDER over to a cross between Spycraft and Mutants and Masterminds. Crafty Games does some good work, and I'm looking forward to whatever they scruple to throw my way. I'll keep you informed, gentle readers, if anything should come of it.

Friday Night Bonus Post: Crass Consumersim

 

Greed is good etc. etc.

 

Well, would you look at that! I've finally gotten around to writing up a decent bibliography. It's over there in the left column with the rest of my widgets, go have a look. Now, I realize that it's not a lot, and it's rather, shall we say, limited in scope, but rest assured I'm working on it. So, yeah. There's my work. If you don't happen to have any, and I can assure they're each one a ripping good read, why don't you pop over to Amazon and pick one up for yourself?

I Love It When A Bonus Post Comes Together: When Life Imitates (sorta) Art...

As one of the bajillion children born around our nation's bi-centennial, fully half of whom were named Jason and the other half Jennifer, I had the pleasure of growing up in the golden age of affable, cartoony, fantasy violence of 80s television. It was as fun time, a lighter time, a time before every other program was a Law and Order spin-off about rape. These were the days when you could trust Sledgehammer to shoot that big-ass magnum of his willy-nilly and blow up half of LA to catch a purse snatcher and no one would get hurt because he knew what he was doing. A time when Hulk Hogan could tie the spine of some poor, nameless heel into a pretzel on Friday night and be solving mysteries with the whole WWF gang on Saturday morning. And, most importantly, when you could watch a fugitive secret commando unit who had been imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit, and were currently operating as soldiers of fortune in the LA area, blast through the streets of Riverside or Glendale or wherever in a homemade IFV welded up from an old Delta 88 and some rusty-ass sheet steel while hanging out the windows rattling off full-auto bursts from their M-16s or Uzis or whatever was in the budget that week and generally having a ripping good time while no one really got hurt. "But Jason" you ask, "What does all this nostalgia for hilariously weak plots and hokey, poorly delivered dialogue have to do with games?" I'm glad you asked, gentle reader. It has everything to do with an idea I had about the A-Team as a party of player characters. Would you like to know more? Well, carry on..

Thursday Bonus Post: Tweeting from the Shadows

Just to let you all know, I'm going to be live tweeting our Shadowrun/In Nomine/Cthulhu mash-up game tonight. Let me bring you up to speed:

The Characters:
Hunter: A famous Matrix personality and paranormal investigator who is mildly magic proof.
Yuri: An unstable Russian mad bomber and safecracker with a developing PTSD problem (me)
Moretti: A UCAS military contractor. Combat medic and mage.
Lt. Franco: A dwarf Shaman and CAS Navy SeAL. Played by Palladium's Wayne Smith.
Maj. Nigel: A detached SAS special operative: Orc, Combat Mage, Wanted International Terrorist
Bogart: A private investigator and the group's face. A physical adept with a wicked punch
Cleric: A clandestine operative of the Church of Rome with amnesia. Hell on wheels with pistols

The Lowdown:
A secretive philanthropic organization seeks the raising of Atlantis to bring about world peace. Unfortunately, this will also raise R'lyeh and wake mighty Cthulhu from his dreaming death. The hosts of Heaven and Hell have put their ancient war on hold long enough to keep the fish people from bringing the Old Gods back to Earth, and the characters are stuck right in the middle.

The Run:
The players, working for the secret international quasi-governmental organization Operation Majestic Lantern, have just busted a crazy but popular simsense actress out of a tony private psych hospital in Beverly Hills. Upon interrogating her, the players learn that she was filming The King in Yellow, a play that drives people who read or see it insane. Now they need to find the "Lost Carcosa" that the actress was babbling about, and shut down filming with extreme prejudice.

The Result:
Hilarity will ensue. Oh, yes. Yes it will. Stay tuned!

Saturday Bonus Post: Welcome back to the continuing saga of Robotech!

A few months ago, I was asked to do a guest column about Robotech for my buddy Zach at RPGBlog II. He's been nice enough to let me repost it here, so here it is.

Imagine, if you will, an event so profound that it changes not only your fundamental views of yourself and your place in the universe, but also alters the course of human history forever. Imagine living in a world much like ours, a world full of too many people and not enough resources. A world that has seen a bloody decade of global armed conflict with no end in sight. Now imagine that one day, it could be any day, you're at work or school or a recruiting center or wherever your day may take you, and it happens.

Friday Bonus Post: My Iron Kingdoms Gamemaster's Kit

Here's my IK GM's kit. I bought the wrench on eBay and the goggles are part of my motorcycle riding gear. They're US Army issue open cockpit flying goggles from the early 30s.