War...war never changes...

Let's rock!

Well, well, well...looka here! My latest book, Battlefleet Koronus, has been announced over at Fantasy Flight's website. Pay close attention to that flavour quote attributed to St. Drusus, I wrote that.

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

What the hell is this? Awesome, that's what.

So, today's post isn't going to be very long or insightful, 'cause I've got Rogues and Traders to write about. I've got something on my mind though, and that's the time-honored tradition of the mash-up.

Gencon

Man, the costume contest was intense this year*

Okay, here it is finally. Now that I've been able to catch up on sleep and unpack everything that happened, here's my post about GenCon 2010. Let me preface this by saying that this is from my point of view, and I'm just some opinionated smartass with a 'blog. I am, in no way, objective or unbiased and I implore you not to assume in any way that this is real journalism. If I miss stuff here, it's because I missed stuff at GenCon, and I wasn't going to pretend that I was a really real reporter with a fedora and a little card that read "press" in my hatband. So, keeping that in mind and without further ado, here's my report!

A Comedy of Errors

Welp, they made it. Our first night of Rogue Trader was a pretty rousing success. Here's last night's game log. Enjoy!

Let's Go To Work!

Meet our new art director...

Journeyman

jour·ney·man   

[jur-nee-muhn]

–noun, plural -men.

In modern apprenticeship systems, a journeyman is a man who has a tradesman certificate that required completion of an apprenticeship. This is the highest formal rank, that of master having been eliminated; it allows them to perform all the tasks of the trade within the area where they are certified, to supervise apprentices and to become self-employed.

As the descendant of hard-working and hard-drinking Eastern European immigrants, the iconography and symbology of the "working man" resonates in me like a genetic memory. For over a hundred years the men of my family have been creators. The first generation came to America from countries that don't evenexist anymore. They tilled the land, built towns, forged lives in a strange country, and toiled endlessly in the hellish steel mills of Eastern Ohio, Western PA, and Northern West Virginia. Their sweat, and much of their blood, tempered the steel that forms the bones of our great cities. Their sons were masons, carpenters, bricklayers, farmers, ironworkers, and steelworkers. They worked ceaselessly building this country, and in what they had of leisure time they built their own homes, made music and musical instruments, made art, brewed and distilled, and even found the time to win a war. Their sons, my father among them, were creators, too. Engineers, mechanics, contractors, welders, ironworkers, and entrepreneurs. Like their fathers, they created for work and they created for play. They built lasting things, great things, and took pride in a job well done. Now here I am, not a bricklayer or a carpenter, but a creator nonetheless. This is my inheritance, the creative impulse, an I'm here to tell you about a new creative endeavor that I'm about to embark upon.

Friday Mea Culpa: No Excuse Edition.

Mea culpa, mea culpa...

Okay, look. I know going over two weeks between posts is total bullshit. I know I've let down my tens of readers, and for that I'm sorry. I don't really have a good excuse, not one that holds water anyway. Let's just say that I took a little hiatus, and I'm in good company, but now I'm back. Instead of boring you with what I did on my hiatus, I'll just skim some important points, starting with what caused my absence, the train-wreck that was Origins.

Hey! You! Looka here!

Hot damn! My first assignment for Fantasy Flight, in which I developed a whole bunch of awesome new rules, has finally been announced! Just look at it. I couldn't be more proud of the work I did here. So, save up your pennies, kids, and get yourself a copy right here.

The Old Girl: Vehicles as Characters in Your Game

 

"She's not old, she's in her prime."

I'm not going to lie to you gentle readers, I'm an inveterate gearhead. I love machines of all kinds, but vehicles especially turn my crank, as it were. Anything from a 50cc minibike to a five-kilometre long starship capable of blowing suns all to hell and back, you give me an owners manual and a little time and I'll obsess over every little niggling detail from cylinder compression to the exact placement of the heads. I've also got this tendency to name and anthropomorphize my own vehicles, which is kind of a common quirk among gearheads. I name every vehicle I own out of a mixture of love and superstition, and feel that you can't keep a machine running without love no matter how well you maintain it. Sadly, in role-playing games, modern and future ones at least, any vehicles the players might have are often treated as background. Sort of a simple, bite-sized deus-ex machina that magically moves players from one spot to another in game without a thought. This is a missed opportunity, though. A missed opportunity for adventure and hilarity that can come from making the vehicle itself a character.

Fly Spaceships, Get Money, Cleanse Xenos: Getting to know Rogue Trader.

Before I started writing for Fantasy Flight, I'd never given the 40K setting much thought. Not for lack of interest, because there was a lot about the setting that I liked, but because it was a miniatures game and the last thing I needed was another expensive hobby. Well, that and I can't paint worth a damn. Anyway, I always observed 40K from the outside, enjoying the art in the books and the over the top, no holds barred feel of the setting, but never really getting that far into it. So when Ross from Fantasy Flight contacted me to do some work for Rogue Trader I had some serious catching up to do. Apparently I needed to know more than what I'd gleaned from my friends over the years, i.e. Squats Suck, Space Marines are Awesome and Red Onez Go Fasta.