April Conventions

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I’ll be at two convention is April: JordanCon and RavenCon. Scroll down for details. Come say hi!

JordanCon

April 17-19 at the Crown Plaza at Ravinia in Atlanta, GA.

This is my tentative schedule so far (but make sure to check the final at the con):

Friday 2:30 PM Gaming Rules versus Storytelling A discussion on the pros and cons of freedom of narrative versus the structure of rules in RGPs. What fits a type of game better? 
Friday 5:30 PM Gaming Rules Light, Procedure Heavy The difference between simple and easy. The art of minimalism in game design. At what point are you overwriting and at what point is it not a game? 
Saturday 1:00 PM Gaming The Rules you don’t Write The things you don’t want to define in a game. What rules are better left out, and what do you not want to control. How to avoid designing the fun out of a game.
Saturday 4:00 PM Gaming Layout and Graphic Design in Gaming Books How art, layout, and graphic design can add or take away to the readability, aesthetics, and marketability of a game. 
Saturday 5:30 PM Gaming Pitch to Playtest Back by popular demand, the round table pitch session is an exercise to take a game from idea to translating it into mechanics. This is a panel with audience participation to help provide ideas with the goal of demonstrating development of a game from the inception. 
Sunday 10:00 AM Gaming Gaming in the Dark Future How to create an engaging world for your Dark Future RPG using themes ranging from the Hi-tech chrome and neon environments of a cyberpunk setting. How to best incorporate government, politics, economics, social systems.

RavenCon

April 24-26 at the Virginia Crossings Hotel near Richmond, VA. Here’s my tentative schedule:

Friday – 5pm – Jefferson Building – King William – The Greatest Geekiness Of 1976
Saturday – 5pm – Madison Building – Brunswick – Under the Moons of Mars: Authors of the Scientific Romance
Saturday – 7pm – Jefferson Building – King George – The Writer’s Mind: Nurturing Mental Health in a Creative Life
Saturday – 9pm – Jefferson Building – Albemarle – Watching the Monsters Fade Away
Sunday – 2pm – Jefferson Building – Henry – Happy 50th Birthday, Micronauts

it’s franken’ time!

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The season of Frankenstein is upon us! Be of good cheer!

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is now playing on Netflix. I caught it in 35mm during its limited theatrical run. Loved it. Surely, once you’ve watched it, you’ll then ask, “But how can I keep my love for Frankenstein going at the tabletop RPG table?” My friend, I give you Promethean: The Created. It’s a White Wolf game I created (along with the brilliant creatives in the office and working freelance) nigh 20 years ago, where you can play Frankenstein-like creatures stumbling your way toward humanity.

Follow this link for a way to get a copy. (There’s a later 2nd edition, but I didn’t work on it and haven’t read it, so I’m giving you the link to the version I’m intimately familiar with.)

I should note that the game does require the core rulebook, titled World of Darkness (which I also designed and co-developed). Get that here.

Return of the Werewolf Tribe Novels

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My Werewolf: the Apocalypse tribe novels — Bone Gnawers and Stargazers — from many years ago are now available again. The link below is for the amazon Kindle; print books coming soon, as well as an audiobook. You can also follow the link there to the other tribe novels in the series (the first four are available, others coming soon). Get ’em — don’t let the Wyrm win!