Ex-Teenage Rebel

15 Books, Pramas Variant

2009-06-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

The original meme: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

In my variant I'm dividing the list into three parts. Five books I read from ages 10-19, then five I read from 20-29, and finally five I read from 30-39. It wouldn't be fair to do one for the next decade since I've been 40 for less than two weeks and the only book I've read in that period is Halting State by Charles Stross. I enjoyed it once I got past the wall of tech babble Stross seems so fond of, but I don't think it'll stay with me forever (but Githyanki will, so you're safe there, Charlie!). In any case, on to my list.

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
2. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
3. Black Company by Glen Cook.
4. Living My Life by Emma Goldman.
5. 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion by Caroline Coon.
6. L'Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory.
7. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer.
8. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.
9. God's Chinese Son by Jonathan Spence.
10. Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln.
11. Stalingrad by Antony Beevor.
12. American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 by Sally Denton.
13. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman.
14. Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad.
15. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain.

One Ring to Rule Them All

2009-06-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a chance to play a couple of games of the War of the Ring miniatures game by GW and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. It's late so just a few points:

* The game plays quickly, in big part because you can you resolve an attack with one roll. While in Warhammer, you have to roll to hit, roll to wound, and then the enemy gets an armor save, here you roll to hit vs. the enemy's Defense and that's it. Skill gives can you more dice to throw but one roll resolves it.

* I like the hierarchy of melee attacks; monsters go first, then cavalry, then infantry. This really makes cavalry feel right, with crashing charges and sweeping advances. It also makes monsters fearsome despite them generally having fewer attacks.

* Movement by company makes it much easier to get your troops where you want them without a lot of mucking about with ranks, files, turning, and wheeling.

* I like that the rules for having allies in your army are generous. That fits the spirit of Middle Earth (Battle of Five Armies, Last Alliance of Men and Elves, etc.).

* You really have to be on the ball when using your heroes and their Might Points. Picking the right time for heroic actions is key and the game rewards good tactics in this regard.* I find it strange that longbows have the same Strength 2 as normal bows. Crossbows have a Strength of 4, so it seems like it'd make sense to give longbows a 3.

* It is also a little strange that the game has a "decree of rarity" to balance common and rare units, but allows you take as many legendary units as you want. Perhaps this is meant to encourage use of characters from the books.

I've dusted off old elf figures for the past couple of games but once I like a game it's almost inevitable that I get more minis for it. I am beefing up the Easterlings and the Riders of Rohan I had collected for the skirmish game, taking advantage of nice sets of plastic minis. I would love to do a Dol Amroth army but those figs are only available in pewter and thus too pricey for the numbers I'd need.

You may be wondering, why Dol Amroth? It's a good question and one I've been thinking about as I read through the army lists of War of the Ring. There are several secondary characters in Lord of the Rings that I thought were cool when I was a teenager. They don't have many lines and they don't do nearly as much as other characters, but for some reason I developed a fondness for guys like Elfhelm, Erkenbrand, and Prince Imrahil. The fact that I can field all those guys in War of the Ring is a nice touch and I find the idea of a huge wedge of Swan Knights of Dol Amroth quite appealing.

Party Like It's 1969

2009-06-13T23:08:00.001-07:00

I'm turning 40 in two days but Monday is no good for a party so Nicole threw me one today. Friends came in from San Francisco and Vancouver, BC and my evil friend Jim found a unique way to make his presence felt from Edmonton. Many great folk and tons of tasty food from Nicole. If friends were a measure of wealth, I'd be a rich man indeed. Thanks to everyone who came; I had a blast. Extra kudos to my awesome wife for putting together a memorable shindig.

Snapshots of New York

2009-06-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Manhattanhenge: I happened to be in New York during the biannual occurrence of Manhattanhenge. Basically, the setting sun aligns with the east-west grid of Manhattan's streets. My friend Chesley and I had just finished a lovely dinner at a vegetarian teahouse on Park Avenue and we caught the event on 34th street. It was pretty cool watching the sun set between the buildings and shine right down 34th. People were in the streets checking it out and taking pictures and the drivers did not like that. Ches was trying to get a picture of us while a bus barreled towards us. It did not slow down, so she snapped a pic and we jumped aside.

Duck on the Beach: I took the B train out to Brighton Beach one day and spent some time walking around "Little Russia by the Sea." Then I stopped for lunch at a place called Tatiana, which was right on the boardwalk. I got pelmeni and duck with a cherry-wine sauce, which was delicious. I sat outside, enjoying my meal while a cool breeze came off the water. I could have stayed there for hours.

Meet the Author: At Book Expo they have this big area for book signings. Authors come in for an hour apiece promoting a new book. If you are willing to stand in line, you can get the book for a $1 donation. I'm not one for collecting autographs, but I noticed that Bryan Mark Rigg was signing Lives of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers. I had just read about this book and was interested to check it out, so I went to his line. When I approached the table, he looked at me and said very confidently, "I know you!" I was pretty sure he didn't, but I asked, "Do you perhaps play roleplaying games?" He didn't so I couldn't say why he thought he knew me. I gave him a card in case he figured it out. I'm reading the book now and it's quite interesting.

Dinner Music: My last night in the city I went to the Spotted Pig, a gastropub I've heard a lot about. It's open until 2 am, so I thought I'd go late so I could just walk in and get a table. No such luck. I got there at 11:15 and all the tables were full and both bars were packed. The staff found me a stool by a window and that's where I ate. It was busy and it was loud, but I didn't care once I was eating marjoram potatoes fried in duck fat. Then over the noise I heard a song come on: "I Love Livin' in the City" by Fear. The timing couldn't have been more perfect and I thought, "Goddamn, I do love living in the city."

Where I Get It From: My folks came down from Boston to see me while I was on the East Coast. We had several meals together, the last a breakfast at Junior's. I show them copies of my game stuff from time to time so they can see what I'm up to, but they are not gamers. I thought they might appreciate Hobby Games: The 100 Best though, as it's a book of essays. So I brought a copy and gave to them at breakfast. My dad looked at it and said, "Hobby Games, what am supposed to do with this?" I said, "You could read it." He looked at it again and then asked if it was one of my books. I had mentioned that when I pulled it out but he has two hearing aids and I think he missed it. "Yes, I published it and wrote one of the essays," I confirmed. "Oh," he said dryly, "then I'll treasure it."

I'll try to write more about my week in NYC when I have a chance. I squeezed a lot into my time there and I can't do it justice in one post.

Gaming Marathon

2009-05-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

I spent an hour writing this, only to have Livejournal eat it. This version is going to be briefer.I spent the weekend in Olympia at Enfilade, a convention put on by the NHMGS (Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society). This has become a yearly event for Rick and I, and I enjoy the opportunity to go to a con just for fun. No business, no booth duty; just playing games. This year turned into something of a marathon because we added in a pickup game of 40K. Rick, Jefferson, Stephen, and I brought down armies and threw down on Friday night in an empty conference room we found in the hotel. We started at midnight and finished up around 4 am. Then I was up at 8 for the first session. By the end of day Saturday, I had played five full games in 28 hours and then did one more Sunday morning. I certainly got my fix for minis gaming. Here's what I played (and there are pics on my Facebook page).

Kashgar, October 1920: A four way battle in Central Asia between Red Russians, White Russians, warlord Chinese, and Afghan tribesmen. We were all fighting to seize the lost gold of Alexander the Great, recently unearthed by American archeologists. I played the Chinese and it was a vicious battle. My "Dare to Die" troops overran the American marines and seized the pack mules with the gold, but then fell before White Russian firepower in their exposed position. The battle used The Great War rules by Warhammer Historical and most of the minis were from Copplestone Castings' excellent "Back of Beyond" range.

Unlikely Allies: This is the aforementioned pickup game of 40K. Jefferson's Necrons and Stephen's Black Templars (I said they were unlikely allies) took on the Imperial Guard. I think this was the first time I fought Necrons and they were disconcertingly tough. The Imperial Guard battle line held but it was a close run thing.

King Philip's War: A skirmish scenario set in New England in 1675 during this little known conflict. I was part of a force of American colonists and their Native American allies assaulting a Wampanoag village. The first part of the scenario was the advance of the attack force through the woods. Then we recycled our figs for the attack on the village (sensible, since we only had 3-6 minis each). The game used the Black Powder Battles rules and they had some peculiarities. Had the hang of them by the end though and we took the village for the win.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck's Cross Border: I've recently been reading a book called Tip and Run about World War I in Africa, so I knew I had to play this game. I commanded a German force attempting to capture a British train in East Africa. I think the rules were the GM's homebrew and overall they played quickly and were fun. He didn't expect much hand to hand combat though, so those rules were slight. Naturally, our guys did a lot of charging into hand to hand! We blew the tracks, stopped the train, and then successfully assaulted it in the name of the Kaiser.

Venus gehoert Uns!: Last year I played in a Sword and the Flame game set on Mars. This year Chris Bauermeister (a college friend I see but rarely) was running a sequel, a big game with 12 players on a 5' x 16' table. This time the colonial powers of Victorian Earth were trying to impose their will on Venus. Having just played imperialists in the last session, I opted to join the native resistance this game. The first hour was slow, as I had only one unit to command. As the game went on, Chris would periodically hand us additional units as more and more Venusians emerged from the fog and mud to attack the Earthmen. It was like the Battle of Isandlwana with scaly Venusians instead of Zulus. We gave those imperialist Earthmen what for too.

Punic War: My last game was a classic matchup of Rome vs. Carthage using Warhammer Ancient Battles. This was four players and two GMs, and it was a nice change of pace after the mayhem of the previous night. I played Hannibal and had a ball. I thought we might have lost on turn 2 when my co-general's cavalry assault went disastrously wrong and our entire right flank broke and began fleeing. Most of them rallied though and we were able to turn the tide. Our elephants and veterans punched a hole in the Roman line that they could not recover from. No salting my fields this time, Rome.

I had planned to try out Grand Armee, a Napoleonic game, in the final slot but Rick was beat so we headed back north early in the afternoon. We talked about maybe running a game at next year's show, and that reminded me of when I started going to GenCon. I just went to play for the first few years but then I started running my own games. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to do that Enfilade, as putting on a big convention minis game is a lot of work and it would make the weekend less relaxing. Still tempting though.

Downtown Eating

2009-05-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

I started trying to write a helpful post for people visiting Seattle for PaizoCon and looking for good places to eat. I had planned to suggest some eateries in other parts of town (like Saffron Grill, Stellar Pizza, and the Schwalb approved Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon) but I never got out of downtown and Belltown. So if you are looking for somewhere to eat when in Seattle, here are some options.

Bamboo Garden: Kosher vegetarian Chinese food. Yes, really, and it's good. Near the Space Needle.

Cafe Yarmarka: Unpretentious but delicious Russian food. They've got about three tables and plastic chairs, but they deliver on the food. Great pelmeni, stuffed cabbage,and soups. In Post Alley in the market.

Can Can Kitchen and Cabaret: Have dinner and a show here or just the show. The Can Can has a resident cabaret troop that includes burlesque dancers, gymnasts, and even a goth belly dancer. Not cheap but fun. In the market.

Ipanema Grill: As much grilled Brazilian meat as you can eat. I had dinner here with Erik Mona once and even that stout Midwesterner eventually surrendered to the relentless waiters and their giant skewers of meat. Near Pike Place Market.

Le Pichet: French bistro with pate, sandwiches, and other country fare. The same folks run the equally excellent Cafe Presse in Capitol Hill. 1st Ave near the market.

Macrina Bakery: You can get great baked goods to go or sit down for soups, sandwiches, and the like. 1st Ave north of the market.

Panos Kleftiko: This Greek proclaims this the best Greek food in Seattle. They have a huge variety of small plates and we usually just pick a half dozen of those and call it dinner. Close to the Space Needle and the EMP.

Pike Place Chowder: They have excellent clam chowder, and I say that as a New Englander. Salmon and other varieties also tasty. In Post Alley in the market.

Shiro's Sushi: Traditional sushi place but high quality. Good for omakase dinners. 2nd Avenue.

Umi Sake House: Excellent Japense food and hip decor. They have many unusual sushi rolls, some of which are tempura battered and fried. Mmmmm. 1st Ave north of the market.

Wasabi Bistro: More good Japanese. If you go for lunch, they have a great pick and choose bento. 2nd Ave.

Wild Ginger: Family style Chinese food. If you are a vegetarian, make sure you ask for their special veggie menu. On 3rd Ave near the post office.

Zig Zag Cafe: They have food here but the reason to go is the drinks. Murray Stenson, one of the best bartenders in the country, is the star attraction. His knowledge of mixology is amazing and he ensures the Zig Zag drink list is always interesting. If you are feeling bold, just ask for Murray's choice with the alcohol of your choice and he'll surprise you. On the Pike Street Hill Climb.

I could go on but I need to go to bed. If you are looking for a specific cuisine, just holler.

Punk Rock Archeology

2009-05-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

I was watching some live footage of bands like the Bad Brains and Black Flag on YouTube today when it occurred to me that some shows I had actually been at might be on the internet somewhere. I started doing searches on ABC No Rio, CBGBs, and other clubs I used to go to in NYC in the late 80s and early 90s. I discovered a bunch of clips from the False Prophets, one of my favorite local bands in that era, and it looked like the band itself had put them up. I was particularly excited to discover that they had clips from the Rock Against Racism show at the Central Park bandshell on May 1, 1988. I was a sophomore in college at the time and remember that show well. The False Prophets and Nausea were the punk bands on the bill on both put on great sets. I started watching the footage and it really brought me back. Then I noticed something: me! Yes, you can see young Chris at age 19 down in front. So follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN4hJyYP-Mw

If you go to the 7:15 mark you will see someone wearing a black trenchcoat with a big white cross in a circle* on the back. That's me. If you then go back to the 5:45 mark and watch for that jacket, you'll see me pogo across the screen and back as the band kicks into "Marat/Sade". Then go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKsa0AeBlYE

At the 1:46 mark the camera pans by me as I'm turning and you can see my face. So young and dour.

I also discovered a clip of Sham 69 playing at CBGBs in 1988 and I also attended this show, though I'm not in the footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbC12RuzAuo

The clip has the band playing "Borstal Breakout," one of their classic sing-a-long anthems. This was one of the high points of a show that overall quite disappointing. You'll note the presence of a keyboardist and saxophonist on stage. On this tour they were showcasing a "new sound", which was some weak-ass pop bullshit.Let's just say the kids were united in not wanting to hear that out of Sham 69.

* I painted that trenchcoat with the symbol of Social Unrest, a California band that I was really into at the time. Social Unrest was, as I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out, a lefty political band. Wearing that symbol almost got me beaten up by black skinheads once though. I was coming out of a diner on 6th Ave at like 3 in the morning when a group of black skins confronted me and asked me if I was a Nazi. I was boggled by the question and said hell no. They asserted that the Social Unrest symbol looked like the cross of Odin, which the Nazi skins had adopted as one of their signs. I explained the Social Unrest connection and they grudgingly accepted that answer. White paint = bad idea.

War of the Ring

2009-05-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

When I was a budding young nerd, the two events that had the greatest impact on me were reading the Lord of the Rings and learning to play Dungeons & Dragons. Tolkien's rich fantasy world and gaming have always been closely linked in my mind, which makes the torturous history of Lord of the Rings gaming sad. Oh, there have been many Tolkien-based games, but few of them managed to be both good games and faithful to the source material. I would still love to have a crack at doing a great Lord of the Rings RPG, but the rights situation is such that it's unlikely to happen. News is better on the miniatures gaming front.

Games Workshop got the Lord of the Rings miniatures rights during the production of the movie trilogy. They have since published a series of games and sourcebooks and a beautiful line of accompanying miniatures. The Lord of the Rings miniatures game is fun, but at heart it's a skirmish game. You might command a force of a dozen or two warriors, though the game is designed to accommodate the presence of mighty heroes like Aragorn, Theoden, and Faramir. I have enjoyed playing the game over the years, but I have to admit it's not what I really yearned for.

No, what I've wanted since I was a lad was a real Lord of the Rings mass combat game, something that'd simulate the clash of armies seen in the Two Towers and Return of the King. I was therefor delighted when I learned that Games Workshop was publishing War of the Ring, a scaling up of their previous game designed for the big battles. I picked up the rulebook a few weeks ago and I must say it looks great.

First of all, it's gorgeous. War of the Ring is full color throughout and takes advantage of all those years of minis production to show off hundreds of painted models. Second, it's complete. It includes full rules and comprehensive army lists, so no waiting around for the army book for your favored force. Third, the design choices to scale the game up seem solid. The biggest problem moving into mass battle territory is that the minis range has been sold with round bases and you can't really rank those up. War of the Ring gets around that by using movement trays as the organic element of army construction, each holding 8 infantry or 2 cavarly. It thus doesn't matter how your figures are based, as long as your movement trays are the right size.

I haven't played a game yet, so we'll see how the rules hold up in play, but my first impression is quite favorable. The only weird thing I noted is that they held over way Ballistic Skill is expressed from the skirmish game. It's formatted to tell you what you need to roll on a d6 to hit (so 4+, for example). The thing is that missile combat is done differently in War of the Ring and the BS score isn't used as is. You take the BS and use it figure out an Accuracy score and that's the number you use. You would think then that the army list would do this simple calculation for you, and list the Accuracy instead of the BS but it doesn't. Every stat line in the game preserves the format of the skirmish game, presumably for the sake of consistency. I think it would have been smarter to provide Accuracy in War of the Ring, and then give the formula for BS if you wanted to use any of these stats in the skirmish game. Not a big deal but a strange design choice.

A couple of folks at Flying Lab are putting together armies, and Rick is game (as always). In the short run I'm going to use the many elves I have from other games to get playing. In the long run I'll probably scale up Rohan and Easterling skirmish forces into full armies.

Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

Secrets Revealed

2009-05-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

As you likely have read already, we announced our mystery license today and it is Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare's upcoming fantasy CRPG. I will be talking more about the game over the coming months, but I thought I'd start by going through the clues I sent out over the past week via Twitter and Facebook. They certainly led to some lively discussion, but here's what I had in mind when I came up with them.

"Next week we herald the beginning of a new age."
The new age is the Dragon Age, of course. I even thought about adding a second sentence to this with the word dragon in it, but I didn't want to give the game away on the first clue. "New Age" is also a song by punk legends D.O.A. and both the band and BioWare are Canadian but that's just a coincidence.

"Something old, something new, something needed, something overdue."
Here I was getting at the nature of the game and what I'm trying to do with it. The pen & paper game shares some structure with the computer game, but uses its own system. "Something old" refers to the class and level nature of the game, which go back to the dawn of RPGs. "Something new" is the system I buit using it and other structural elements of the computer game. As for "something needed," I was talking about a really good intro game for new roleplayers. I don't think D&D has had that since the early 80s (hence "something overdue") and the tabletop roleplaying hobby needs new blood. It is not a coincidence that the first release is a boxed set.

"You'll find great adventure beyond the gate."
Here I was referring to BioWare's Baldur's Gate, one of the best CRPGs of all time. Dragon Age: Origins is the "spiritual successor" of Baldur's Gate, with all that implies. It is the next step, a journey beyond the gate.

"If you want to be a knight, you better be prepared to earn it."
You get two clues for the price of one here. First, knights in the realm of Ferelden (where Dragon Age: Origins takes place) can win the title through their deeds. In the tabletop game you will not start as a knight, but you can strive to become one. Second, this is an oblique reference to Knights of the Old Republic, another classic BioWare game for meatbags like you.

"No time for a day or rest when the world is imperiled."
Another reference to the Dragon Age setting. There are those who do not believe that the threat to Ferelden is so serious, and they of course are gravely mistaken. I posted this on a Sunday, and meant to type "day of rest." I realized later I had actually typed "day or rest" but I let it stand that way. Figured it couldn't hurt to be more mysterious!

"Few believe the threat is real. Will there be mass hysteria when the truth can no longer be denied?"
This is similar to the previous clue, but allowed me to use the phrase "mass hysteria." The pertinent reference is Mass Effect, yet another awesome BioWare game. "Mass Hysteria" is also a classic old punk rock song by Social Distortion, which has nothing to do with Dragon Age but it made me smile.

Now all the secrets have been revealed, I need to get back to finishing the game!

Countdown

2009-05-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned a few times this year that I've been working on a new licensed game. Well, the clock is finally ticking down to when I can talk about, and I mean that literally. We have a countdown clock to the announcement going on www.greenronin.com. I've also been sending out some cryptic hints on Twitter (@GreenRoninPub) and Facebook. This has caused some interesting speculation on various forums. Some good guesses but also some that are far from the mark. To whit:

"Green Ronin is going 4e!" After all the long and ridiculous saga of the GSL, do you really think we'd suddenly reverse ourselves?

"Green Ronin is going to do the 4E version of True20." We don't even know what that means.

"He said gate. It must be Stargate." C'mon, I'm not that obvious.

Yes, I know, I'm teasing you, but not for much longer. Only a few days to go.

Odds and Sods

2009-04-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

* Turns out I had almost an hour of usable material from the Norwescon Game Publishing Goes Digital panel, so I did release that as Green Ronin Podcast, Episode 9. You can find that here: http://greenronin.com/2009/04/green_ronin_podcast_episode_9.php

* I got a wicked flu last week that knocked me on my ass for four days. I went back to work today but am still not feeling 100%. I don't know what that was, but I don't want it again.

* While up in the middle of the night Friday, I ran across Starship Troopers 3 on TV. I had no idea they made a part 3, and weirdly it starred the Vulcan chick from Enterprise and Amanda Donohoe from Lair of the White Worm. The writer tried to emulate the satire of the original movie and it was funny in spots. The leader of Earth is a cross between Bush and John Ashcroft, who sings super cheesy songs about patriotism and sacrifice. Overall though, it was pretty terrible and thus eminently suitable for late night TV.

* GAMA Trade Show was last week. Nicole, Hal, and Bill repped for GR and it sounds like it went well. There were not as many retailers as previous years, but also far fewer swag hounds who were only there for collectible give-aways. Nicole said she got a lot more face time with retailers and had a real chance to engage with them. I'll take that over crowds of frantic people with giant, bulging shopping bags yelling, "What's free?" at me any day. I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to hang in Vegas with GR peeps and old friends, but I just can't do every show anymore.

* I finally got a copy of the Trafalgar minis game from Warhammer Historical. With the recent layoff of Rob Broom and the moving of Warhammer Historical under Forge World, the future of games like Trafalgar and the Great War is uncertain. I wanted to make sure I got a copy in case it went out of print forever. If you dig the Age of Sail, it's a lovely book. I don't want to rush out and buy ship minis, but I do have a bunch of Pirates of the Spanish Main pocket model ships from WizKids and while they are from a slightly earlier period they would probably work.

That Would Have Been Timely

2009-04-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

Months ago I agreed to be on a panel at Norwescon called Game Publishing Goes Digital. With the events of last week in the game industry, it was quite timely. I ended up moderating the panel, which included Jeff Combos from Exile Game Studio, Erik Mona from Paizo, Donna Prior from Flying Lab, and David Stansel-Garner from Catalyst Game Labs. I asked the Norwescon staff and the other panelists if they minded me recording the affair. I thought it would make a good episode of the Green Ronin podcast.

I need to listen to the file but I fear it isn't going to be usable. For one thing, there was a woman near the front with a cold and she was sneezing and blowing her nose throughout. The con hotel was also in Seatac, so the occasional jet would fly overhead. Then at the end of the panel I noticed my recorder had shut off. I had tried to get fresh batteries beforehand in the hotel shop but despite being an airport hotel they had no AA batteries. So I'll see how much got recorded and whether the sound is OK, but I may have to do something else for the next episode of the podcast. Too bad, as the panel went well and the topic is on everyone's minds in gamerdom.

Norwescon overall was a good time. Tim Nightengale did an excellent job on the gaming panels and the con was well run. All but one of my other panels went well. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the Orc one, but I was joined by Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez and he had some interesting things to say about the literary side of things. I also attended two seminars, one about writing for comics (because one day that proposal I put in last July might go somewhere) and one about the pulps (in which Erik Mona was in full effect). It was good to catch up with folks I hadn't seen in awhile, though I also missed seeing many others. It's wacky that we all live in the same city but often only see each other at conventions.

My Norwescon Schedule

2009-04-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

I am a guest at Norwescon this weekend. If you are in the Seattle area, come on down, play some games, and have fun. Here are the panels I'm on. So little has happened recently in the game industry, I don't know what we're going to talk about...

Saturday

I’m not dead yet…..sticking with 3.5
3:00 PM; Evergreen 2
Not thrilled with the new edition? Stop by this panel where prominent gamers and industry professionals share options for sticking with 3.5 via Pathfinder, True20, or other 3.5 variants. Learn how to get involved in organized play events, find other gamers, and keep playing the game.
Wolfgang Baur, Jason Buhlman, Darrin Drader, Chris Pramas, Sean Reynolds

Comparative Study: Orcs
5:00 PM; Cascade 5
They are easily recognizable by their green, grey or brown skin, tusks and fangs...not to mention the fact that they are almost definitely trying to kill you. Orcs have haunted our nightmares (and therefore, our stories) for decades, but what do these creatures have in common with each other? Comparing Tolkein, Salvatore and other literary works with games such as Warhammer and Warcraft, this panel analyzes the origins and history of Fantasy's favorite barbarian horde.
Dave Butler, Michael Martinez, Chris Pramas, Dylan S.

Writing for the Gaming Industry
8:00 PM; Cascade 8
How do you write for a game? How does it differ than just writing a novel or short story? How does writing for a video game differ from RPGs or board games? What are they looking for? Our panel of Editors, Publishers, and Gaming Authors and Freelancers share what is wanted - nay! What is needed! – from writers in the gaming industry.
Mike Mearls, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, Teeuwyn Woodruff, Jason Buhlman

The Future of Gaming / Future of Game Design
9:00 PM; Cascade 8
Join our esteemed panel of gaming industry professionals in a discussion of their views on the current status of the industry. How has it changed in the past year or two? Where is it going?
Mike Mearls Gwen Kestrel, Chris Pramas, Teeuwyn Woodruff, Jeremy Holcomb, Darrin Drader

Sunday

Those Who Forget History - Are Just Plain Doomed…
1:00 PM; Cascade 4
Exploring “Lost-History” themes such as are illustrated in Professor Tolkien’s work as a means to inspire up and coming authors and screenwriters, as well as History and Humanities students of all ages.
Cymbric Early-Smith, Chris Pramas

Game Publishing Goes Digital
3:00 PM; Cascade 7
Pdfs “versus” print. Blogs. Online content. Podcasts. More and more gaming companies are finding a way to move their marketing, and even their products, onto the Internet. What does this mean for the future of the gaming industry? What does it mean for your local gaming store?
Chris Pramas, Donna Prior, Randall N. Bills, Jeff Combos, Erik Mona

Falafel Truck

2009-04-06T00:55:00.001-07:00

When I first moved to New York City, I lived blocks away from Mamoun's Falafel on MacDougal St. I could get a hot and fresh falafel for $1.50 or go crazy and get the falafel/hummus combo for $2.00. I was a vegetarian at the time, so a cheap and tasty sandwich I could get as late as 5 am was most welcome.

For years Seattle was a vast wasteland for falafel. I finally discovered Zaina on 3rd Ave and that was at least reasonable. Then that location closed, but it reappeared in Belltown. In fact, the Belltown joint is like a block from Flying Lab, so falafel problem solved, right? Well, not quite. I've eaten at the new Zaina a few times and while their food is pretty good, I keep getting cold falafel. The cook wouldn't make it hot, just scoop it out a basket cooked who knows when. This is all too common in Seattle for reasons I can't fathom. Falafel should be served hot, so it's crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. The otherwise excellent Cedar's in the U District also serves it cold.

On recent trips to Georgetown Nicole and I noticed a yellow falafel truck parked near our yoga studio. I was intrigued, so we finally made it down there to try it out this week. The Hallava Falafel Truck is apparently run by just one dude and he serves only two things: falafel and schawarma sandwiches. We got one of each and headed home to eat them. It was hard not to tear into them in the car because they smelled great.

Now these are not traditional sandwiches. Hallava puts in some really interesting fixings like beet relish, peppers, and zucchini tomato spread. I did not see any hot sauce at the truck and lamented that until we tasted the sandwiches and realized they already had some spice going on. The falafel was prepared fresh and was hot and delicious. The schawarma was tasty as well. It's different than Mamoun's but in a really good way. And the truck parks in front of the 9 Lb Hammer on weekend nights. I predict many visits in the future.

For You 4E Freeport Fans

2009-03-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

Once Green Ronin had made its final decision not to sign the revised Game System License, my thoughts turned immediately to licensing. While Green Ronin could not do a Freeport Companion for 4th Edition D&D, a company that had signed the GSL could. One of the points of doing the Pirate's Guide to Freeport as a systemless setting book was that mechanical support for different RPGs could be provided. Since it had begun as a d20 setting, I knew there were Freeport fans amongst the 4E community and I wanted to support them with a companion if I could.

So I started thinking about companies who could publish a 4E Freeport Companion. I wanted a company with a reputation for quality products who would treat the property right. It didn't take long for Expeditious Retreat Press to bubble up to the top of my list. I contacted Suzi and Joe and asked if they were interested in licensing Freeport for a 4E companion. It took us less than a week to hammer out a deal and a contract. They announced it today.

I'm glad we were able to work this out. There are already Freeport Companions for True20 Adventure Roleplaying, Savage Worlds, Castles & Crusades, and D&D 3.5. Warriors & Warlocks, a sword and sorcery sourcebook for Mutants & Masterminds, has a section on Freeport and acts as a default M&M companion as well. That's heading to print any day now and the PDF will be out next week. Once XRP gets the 4E version out, the Pirate's Guide to Freeport will have mechanical support for six different game systems.

I look forward to seeing how XRP models the Freeport setting with the 4E rules.

Frak You, Apollo! [BSG Finale Spoilers]

2009-03-23T13:33:00.001-07:00

I hope someone reads this someday. I'm going to carve it into a cave wall if I have the strength. Or maybe I'll just carve one thing: Frak you, Apollo!

It's been 10 years since we arrived on "Earth" and now I know why Lee Adama's call sign was Apollo. He obviously thought the sun shone out of his arse.

Oh sure, his plan sounded great. We'll fly our ships into the sun and live off the land. We won't bring our petty squabbles to this pristine new planet. After the hellish journey we had just finished, we probably would have agreed to anything. I ask myself daily why we listened to Lee Adama. We should have remembered that he was the guy who defended the traitor Baltar (who still isn't dead, by the way; what the frak!).

It was a beautiful day when we landed, but winter was a different story, especially for those of us lucky enough to be sent north. A quarter of us died during that hellish freeze because we didn't have enough food, warm clothes, or medicine.Or say the shelter of a landed spaceship.

We could have stayed together and used our technology to tame this planet. Our numbers would have counted for something. Our ships could have scouted out the best places for new cities. Instead we are scattered across the world, weakened and divided. We must deal with predators, the savage natives, and the breakdown of our culture and laws.

When we were on the run from the Cylons, at least there was a hope that some day things would get better. Now thanks to the high handed Adamas we're trapped on this hellhole forever. It's only a matter of time before we start frakking the natives and ultimately we'll lose everything that made the Colonies special. But what does Apollo care? His wife killed herself, his best friend was a frakkin' ghost, and he's off climbing mountains somewhere. I wish I had gone with the Centurions instead of staying here.

So frak you, Apollo. I hope a moutain cat eats your whiny ass. Oh, and God, if you exist, frak you too for your great divine plan. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to starve to death.

The End of My Grim and Perilous Adventure

2009-03-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

I thought I was done with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay after Black Industries closed and Fantasy Flight licensed it and other properties from GW. Then one day I got an e-mail from Jeff Tidball asking me if Green Ronin would be willing to do ease the transition by doing some final work on the line. My initial reaction was no but then I thought about it some and changed my mind. Rob Schwalb had left Green Ronin by this point, so I would be handling development duties myself. This made it a double return; WFRP to GR and me to development.

I pitched several ideas (including a Career Encyclopedia, which I guess FFG liked because they did it later) and we settled on a book of organizations. I sent out an e-mail entitled "Getting the Band Back Together" to some of our most reliable WFRP freelancers (Jody Macgregor, David Chart, Andy Law, Steve Darlington, and Eric Cagle) asking for pitches on flavorful organizations. I worked out a format for each organization, and made clear that I wanted each one to be a group PCs could join, as well as being suitable for GM use in adventures and intrigues.

I also decided to write up an organization myself. I hadn't done any WFRP writing since Children of the Horned Rat, so I thought I'd take the opportunity. The group I chose to do--the Knights of Magritta--had their origin in a proposal I wrote for James Wallis at Hogshead around 1995. It was for an adventure in which the PCs went looking for a legendary group of knights who had left Estalia centuries before. I took the basics of the group but then changed their history after leaving Estalia, turning them into a secret society more like the Freemasons than the Knights Templar. It was fun taking something I had created at the beginning of my professional work on WFRP and reinterpreting it for the end of my WFRP work.

The finished book, Shades of Empire, came out a couple of months ago and for a project that had to come together quite quickly I'm pleased with the results. WFRP stuff is so often centered on cults and Chaos, it was nice to do a book that explored some other aspects of the Old World. Cheers to my co-authors for helping GR leave WFRP in style.

For now it seems my professional connection to WFRP is at an end. It remains one of my favorite RPGs and I'm glad I had the chance to help bring it back for a new generation of gamers. While the road was sometimes dark and perilous, I only really regret the products I most wanted to do that never happened. Here are the top three.

A Proper Starter Set: My initial product proposal for GW included a boxed starter set to recruit new players into roleplaying. I argued that most roleplayers got their start with D&D and then other companies had to win them away. Wouldn't it be nice if we recruited them directly so they bypassed D&D entirely? I proposed using single piece plastic minis already developed by GW for other products like Warhammer Quest. With the molds paid for, producing the minis would cost very little. As it was to go throughout our relationship, any suggestion of mixing roleplaying with minis was a no go. That was a real shame.

The Age of Sigmar: I wanted to do a series of campaign setting books that explored the Empire in different historical periods. The Age of Three Emperors was high on the list, but the one I wanted to do the most was the Age of Sigmar. This would allow a campaign to take place at the very founding of the Empire as Sigmar united the various tribes under his banner. We'd replace Renaissance trappings with brutal barbarians, doing WFRP Conan style. GW was reluctant to do this book because so little had been written about the era and basically if anyone was going to detail it was going to be them. It's their IP so fair enough, and subsequently Black Library did some books about Sigmar so there's more info now. I should probably just do this as a home campaign some time.

Orks and Blackfire: There was a point where we were pairing a sourcebook with a tie-in adventure. We had an Ork book on the schedule for awhile, planning to do for them what Children of the Horned Rat did for Skaven. The tie-in book was to take place in Blackfire Pass, allowing us to detail that out as an adventuring area. These two books got pushed back several times for various reasons and then went off the schedule altogether. The Orks haven't gotten a lot of love in WFRP and it would have been nice to have that chance.

I will be interested to see how the line develops under FFG. I also hope that GW itself explores other areas like Araby and Ind some day. For now I can just go back to being a WFRP and Warhammer fan and that is pleasantly liberating.

Hurm

2009-03-10T00:58:00.001-07:00

Whenever a new Harry Potter book came out, Nicole would get it right away and plow through it in a day or two. She said she felt like she had to do that before the internet ruined the book for her. It was defensive reading in a sense. Now watching practically everyone I know talking and writing about the Watchmen movie, I know how she felt. I could not go to the movies this weekend. I had too much writing to do, and with my current schedule I figured I'd wait a few weeks before checking it out. I'm starting to feel like I either need to see it or stay away from the internet until I do.

America's Lost Decade

2009-03-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

There's a really good post today on Daily Kos on America's Lost Decade. I'll quote the penultimate paragraph because I think it's spot on, but the whole thing is worth a read.

"We have spent a decade -- and yes, it should be said, under the proud banner of conservatism -- doing nothing, as a nation. We have wasted our advantages, and put our own infrastructure in hock, and allowed the greediest and most crooked among us to dictate how the rest of us should live. We were told that giving money to the rich was good, and giving respite to the poor was sinful. We were told in supposedly serious books by supposedly serious men that giving up our jobs and industries would make our nation rich. We were told that our companies knew more about how to govern a nation than our citizens -- and we let them draft our laws, and lobby our government, and we squeezed the middle class at every possible opportunity. We were told many, many stupid things by people who now, by any rights, should end up on street corners wearing nothing more than rags made out of their own past pronouncements, but who sadly will never be nearly as inconvenienced by their actions as you or I have been."

Once More into the Breach

2009-03-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

I didn't want to write this post.

The revised version of the Game System License, which allows third party companies to publish support material for the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons, came out this week. I dutifully looked it, noted a couple of improvements, but quickly realized it wasn't enough to get me to change my mind about using the license. An e-mail discussion with my Green Ronin cohorts confirmed that they felt the same way. I didn't really feel like talking about it public though, so I was going to let it lie, but then queries started rolling in. Lots of folks wanted to know what GR's plans were regarding 4E with the license change. I realized then I was going to have to say something, so here we are.

The reason I was reluctant to get back into this discussion goes back a couple of months. I was trying to remember something I did last year and went back to look over the entries in my blog for 2008. Paging through my entries I realized how much time I spent thinking, writing, and analyzing D&D4E, the OGL, and the GSL. And the upshot of all that was that we did one product, the Green Ronin Character Record Folio. It's an awesome accessory but ultimately the time I spent on all this was not well spent.

Now you will see people on message boards say that GR never seriously considered supporting 4E because I hate WotC, blah, blah, blah. While our ultimate decision is to go our own way, that was in no way predetermined. We had discussions about what 4E could mean to our various lines as far back as 2005. After it was announced, we brainstormed a bunch of ideas. I started doing some research and taking notes for a potential new campaign setting. We look at what sort of adventure support we might provide. We considered a 4E Freeport Companion to join the four we had already done. I even commissioned a conversion of an unpublished 3.5 adventure so we'd have something to release if the license looked good.

Had the rollout and the terms of the license been better, perhaps things would have ended up differently. The fact that it took 10 months from the announcement of 4E to the actual release of the GSL was in itself a problem for a company of Green Ronin's size (never mind the fact that the announced plans changed several times throughout that period). GR sells into the book trade, and that means that ideally we want to solicit new books 9 months in advance of release. Well, I certainly wasn't going to solicit books for a game I hadn't even seen using a license who terms I didn't know. Nor was I going to start designing blind in the hopes that it'd all work out.

It became clear during this period that there was a faction with WotC that wanted to close the door to third party publishing all together. There were also advocates, most notably Scott and Linae, but it seemed they were in a constant battle to make anything happen at all. The resultant license, the GSL, looked like an attempted compromise between the factions within WotC that probably pleased no one. It certainly pleased few of the established third party publishers. So within two months of the release of the original GSL, a revision was announce to address some of these concerns. It took over six months for that to happen, and while the revision has some improvements the core of it is very similar indeed to the original.

Now while this was all going on, Green Ronin was by no means standing still. We had existing lines like M&M and True20 to support, a new game line in A Song of Ice and Fire to launch, and new deals to negotiate. The company had begun diversifying away from d20 material many years earlier so it was really just a case of continuing that momentum. While d20 was good to us and we published some great books in that era, we ultimately got to a place where we controlled all of our own lines and were beholden to no one.

So when the GSL revision came out, I had to ask myself if I wanted GR to get pulled into WotC's orbit, even a little bit. The answer had to be no. I don't ever want to have to wonder again what a new edition of D&D means to my business. I don't want to worry about whether 5E or 6E is going to be open to third party publishers. I don't want to live with the spectre of the wrong person becoming an exec at WotC and wrecking my business with the stroke of a pen. It's just not worth it, particularly for the level of sales we'd be likely to see doing 4E support. (The best anyone has been able to say about sales of third party 4E stuff is that it's better than late era 3.5 sales, which is like saying that Friday the 13th Part 13 sold more tickets than Friday the 13th Part 12.)

And even leaving aside all the business talk and analysis for a moment, it might still be tempting to publish something for a game that we were excited about. I spent the second half of last year both running and playing 4E. I would play it again, but I have no burning desire to design for it. Nor do my GR cohorts. It has been my experience in the game industry that you don't do great work on a game that you aren't passionate about. You may recall during the d20 boom, a bunch of established companies jumped into the pool once they realized there was money to be made. They didn't really know or care about the rules and that was clear in the resultant products. Fans quickly sussed this out too. Well, I don't want to be one of those guys who is designing through gritted teeth because that's what he thinks "the kids" like these days.

I know there are some GR fans who were hoping we'd end up doing some 4E support. I'm sorry to disappoint you but I know that I'm making the right decision here. We can be much more successful working on games that excite us and that we control. Creatively and financially, it just makes more sense for us to chart our own course.

Thrilling Tales of Retail Hell, Part 3

2009-03-03T00:17:00.000-08:00

I had moved to New York City to go to college and ended up staying there for 9 years. I loved the city and still do. Before I moved to Seattle thogh, I had a brief detour back to the Boston area where I grew up. After several years of freelance writing for roleplaying games, I had decided it was time to move into publishing. I started a company called Ronin Publishing with my brother Jason and an old friend named Neal who was also from my home town. We decided that we really had to all be in the same city, so we got a place in Somerville, MA and I moved up from New York.

Overall, that year was pretty dismal. I had some savings when I moved up but that wasn't going to last. I needed to find a day job because selling the Whispering Vault RPG was certainly not going to pay a livable salary. After four years slinging coffee in NYC, I desperately wanted to do something else. I signed up with a temp agency and did some horrible office jobs here and there, but kept looking for something steadier. My resume at this point was a bunch of retail jobs and RPG writing credits that meant dick to anyone outside the game industry. I sent out resumes and went on interviews, but could not find anything decent. Then one week I saw in the paper that a new coffee place was opening in Kenmore Square and it needed an assistant manager. I bit the bullet and applied. I thought at least being an assistant manager might not be so bad and Kenmore still had some life in it at that time.

With all my coffee experience, they of course offered me a job. They said, however, that the new cafe wasn't going to be ready for several months. In the meantime, I could work at their other location and get trained in to their way of doing things. And where was this other location? South Station, the main train station in Boston. And when I say South Station, I mean right in South Station. There's a series of doors that lead out to the tracks and their coffee stand right in the middle of that wall. Thousands of commuters pass right by it every day as they rush for their trains.

So I had to get up around 5 am to be there for 6 am opening. For the next four hours it was sheer pandemonium. Endless commuters wanting their coffee now, now, now. Things would slack off a bit around 10 and then rev up again around noon. There was no time to get to know my co-workers, no time to interact with customers,no music to listen to, nothing. It was, at best, soul crushing.

Management, of course, can always make a situation worse that was the case here as well. During my first week when I was racing to fill orders, the manager stopped me as I was lifting up a carafe of milk to pour it into a customer's coffee. She said, "Didn't anyone tell you about our signature tip?" I had no idea what was she was talking about and feared to find out. "No," I said, bracing myself. "What's that?"

"We don't pick up the carafes and pour. We hold them by the top and tip them to cream the coffee. It's our signature tip. Customers expect it so you have to do it."

I can only imagine what my face looked like in that moment. This is the sort of mindless coporate bullshit that makes me seeth. Still, I needed the work, so while I thought that not one customer in a hundred had any fucking idea about their signature tip, I grunted something noncommittal and went about my business.

A few days later I had another run-in with the manager. She had noticed that I had a nose ring. Yes, she was a perceptive one; I had gotten it in France a couple of years before. "Well," she said, "You can't wear a nose ring while you're at work. It's not sanitary."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. "It's not like I'm dipping my nose into the coffee as I serve it.

"Sorry, it's our policy."

I desperately wanted to give her my signature fist at that moment, but I held back. I took out the nose ring and tried to find a way to make working at that hellhole palatable. I kept hoping the Kenmore location would beckon so I could escape, but that didn't seem to be moving at all. In the end I lasted at that place for less than a month. The money was not worth the aggravation and work was mind-numbing. The manager was not surprised when I quit. She didn't think I was fitting in too well on their team. No shit, lady.

The funny thing is that now I cannot even remember what the place was called or the manager's name. Just as well.

The Clash by The Clash

2009-02-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

Short Review
If you are a Clash fan, buy this book immediately.

Long Review
At the end of last year a new book about The Clash was released. It's a year by year history of the band and it's terrific for three reasons. First, most of the book is simply the band telling their own story. Many hours of interviews were recorded during the making of Don Letts' excellent documentary Westway to the World and these form the basis of the book. There are many entertaining anecdotes and I learned quite a bit about the band's history, the origins of the various songs, and the tensions that led to the breakup. We are fortunate the interviews took place before Joe Strummer's untimely passing. Second, it's packed with great photos and other interesting visual bits like pages from songbooks, Topper Headon's postcards, and record sleeves. Third, it lists all the dates of the various tours and recaps the set list on each one. It's cool to be able to see how the set list changed over time and the covers they chose to do. I think the bridging material could have used another edit, as there were a few errors that crept in. One tour had its final date in Turku, a city in Finland, and this is correctly listed in the tour schedule. The text, however, says the last show was in Turkey. That stuff is generally minor though and perhaps it'll be cleaned up in the softback edition that's due this year. Overall The Clash by The Clash is a essential document of one of the greatest punk bands of all time. No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones in 1977!

Thrilling Tales of Retail Hell, Part 2

2009-02-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

Since part 1 was foul, I'll tell a less hellish story this time.

It was 1989 and I was in college at NYU and working at a video store in the Village called The Video Store (yes, really). It was originally a small home grown chain of stores called New Video but some corp from the Midwest bought it out and re-named it. It wasn't bad as retail jobs go and getting free access to the entire video library was a nice perk.

For several months I had this regular customer, a woman of about my age who was smoking hot. I would always chat her up and she was charming and friendly. Of course, she had a boyfriend.

She came in one day and was clearly upset. It seems she and her boyfriend had broken up. Turned out she had been dating one of the Beastie Boys (MCA, IIRC) and renting on his account so now she needed her own. I thought, "Ah ha, here's my chance." But of course you don't want to ask a woman out when she's just broken up with her boyfriend.

She continued to come in and rent and we continued chatting. One day one of my co-workers said, "You're getting pretty friendly with Heather."

"Yeah," I said. "She's nice; I like her."

"Did you see her in Drugstore Cowboy?" he asked.

"Uh, no. She was in that?"

"You didn't know?" my co-worker laughed. "That's Heather Graham. She's an up and comer."

In my defense, Drugstore Cowboy had been her only role of note to date and in fact she was a year younger than me. I never did ask her out though and probably should have. She almost certainly would have said no (she later dated James Wood, who was old enough to be her dad; ew) but it would have been worth a shot. I think she moved shortly thereafter because she stopped coming in. A year and change after that she showed up on Twin Peaks and I thought. "Cool, she's got a shot at a career." Yeah, you could say that.

Thrilling Tales of Retail Hell, Part 1

2009-02-18T00:09:00.000-08:00

Until I finally got a full time gig as a game designer, I had a succession of shitty retail jobs. My first job was at a department store in Danvers, MA called Ann & Hope. That was also the first time I got fired. Years later in NYC I spent about four years working for the Porto Rico Importing Company, first at the original Bleeker St. location and then at the St. Mark's store. Porto Rico was an old school Italian coffee importer dating back to 1907. The business was mostly selling beans, but the St. Mark's store also had a espresso bar. I learned a lot about coffee working there, but retail in NYC is nothing if not unpredictable. One day I'm selling chocolate covered espresso beans to Dee Dee Ramone and the next I'm having to kick out the heroin junky who comes in periodically to harass the customers.

One day I was chilling out during a lull when a unassuming guy walked in. He looked over the many burlap bags of beans and then asked, "Which one of these is best for my enema?"

I laughed, assuming he was joking. "Well, I guess you want something low in acid, so it doesn't burn your insides."

He looked at me coldly. "I'm serious," he said,

"Oh," I replied, stunned. "Well, in that case I suggest you get this week's sale coffee. It's only $2.99 a pound and it should do the job."

I thought that would be it, but no. He began asking me questions about the qualities of the different beans. I answered his queries for a good five minutes, all the while thinking, "Just buy the cheap one, you're going to be putting this up your ass!"

Eventually, he decided to go with a coffee that was $7.99/pound instead. I never saw that guy again, so I don't know how it went for him. And I'm totally OK with that.

Overload

2009-02-12T14:41:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I have to step back and just gape in wonder at how much information and entertainment is at our fingertips compared to just 25 years ago. I have a friend who has a tablet PC with almost every comic published by Marvel and DC ever that's updated on a weekly basis. Other friends have hard drives with thousands of albums ripped to MP3. You can own every episode of your favorite TV shows going back to the beginning of TV or stream them to your TV through your X-Box. Basically, if you want it, it's probably out there. On the one hand, this is awesome. On the other hand, it can be overwhelming. I find I just can't keep up with all the things I'm interested in. I don't have enough hours in the day to read all the books and comics I want, watch all the movies and TV shows I want, and play all the games I want. It's sometimes just too much; it's overload.

I look back on being a teenager, when my tastes were forming.

I remember when buying any gaming book was an event and each purchase was carefully considered.

I remember hunting through the used bookshops of Boston trying to find all the Eternal Champion books by Michael Moorcock. Elric was easy and Hawkmoon not so bad. But Corum and Erekose? It took me years to track them down.

I remember reading about games like Swordbearer and Lace & Steel in Dragon Magazine but never seeing copies until I started going to GenCon.

I remember endless searches for out of print albums by bands like the X-Ray Spex, Toxic Reasons, and Negative Approach.

I remember coveting this red leather single volume edition of Lord of the Rings. I read the books every year back in those days. And I still don't have it.

I remember watching Hong Kong action movies and anime on VHS bootlegs because they simply weren't available any other way in the US.

I remember reading issue #20 of White Dwarf magazine over and over because I could neither find or afford any other issues.

Today it is certainly cool that so much material previously hard to find is available easily, but there are downsides. We miss the thrill of the hunt. I remember my glee at finding a bundle of all the original issues of the Watchmen in the era before graphic novels or finally finding a copy of "The Kids Will Have Their Say" by SSD. I think we also sometimes miss out on a deeper appreciation of the things we're consuming. These days I read a book or watch a movie once for the most part. Many games I play just a few times and they go on the shelf. Some things really benefit from repeat use. Sometimes you only really get what an author or artist is driving at after having the experience multiple times. With so much stuff to choose from, there's always something new trying to get your attention. More games, more movies, more books, more comics, more TV shows, more music, more performances--more, more, more. Overload.

Oftentimes I love the way the world is laid before me. Other days I just want to shut everything down, forget the world, and read the Lord of the Rings again.