Monte Cook's Blog, page 155

Tesseracts

Tesseracts

The fourth level of the dungeon I'm creating for Dungeonaday.com involves a tesseract. I'd made a "dungeon" based on a tesseract once before, in college, but it had been a long time and frankly I didn't even fully remember how the whole concept worked. Thanks to a quick question I put out on Facebook, I got it worked out. Basically, I just needed my memory jogged a bit.

I first read about four-dimensional cubes in junior high, in the Best of Dragon, Vol. II, one of a short list of game

I'm a Twit

I'm a Twit

I'm on Twitter now, as MonteJCook. I resisted Twitter for a long time because I didn't see the point. Friends kept bugging me about it. But I finally came up with a way to distinguish what I'd use my Twitter account for that I wouldn't use my blogs or Facebook page to do (not to mention the two different websites, montecook.com and dungeonaday.com, my messageboards, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting).

I'll be using my Twitter account to recommend things. Music, books, games, comic

Podcasts

Podcasts

It's almost summer, and that means that it's a good time for me to ramp up my activity level. I'm not really into sports much, and I'm not a jogger, but I like to go on long walks. Which is a good quality for a dog owner, I figure. In the winter, my walks are short, fast, and not too fun most days. But I live close to Lake Michigan, and my ability in the other three months to stroll down to the lake is really nice.

Even with beautiful scenery, however, walking around the same area for yea

Stephen King's On Writing

Stephen King's On Writing

When I was a teenager, and somewhat into my 20s, I liked a lot of art rock bands like Yes, Rush, Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, and so on. And if you asked me, I'd still say that I liked them quite a bit. But I almost never listen to them anymore.

Similarly, when I was a teenager, and somewhat into my 20s, I read a lot of Stephen King's books. I don't really anymore, but that's not to say that I don't think that Salem's Lot, the Shining, or the Stand aren't great. They still

I Love Chicago

I Love Chicago

Sue had a conference in Chicago last week, so I tagged along. We have a lot of friends in Chicago, but we didn't tell them we were coming because we wanted to keep to ourselves mainly--it was an anniversary trip.

Our hotel was right on Michigan Avenue in the heart of the city, and we took the train so there were no driving hassles. (Chicago is like an egg--it's great in the middle but to get there you have to pass through a tough shell in the form of car-clogged tollways.)
 
May is a

Gran Torino

Gran Torino

While I've little doubt that this will get lost in the flurry of reviews of the new Star Trek movie (hey, I'm excited too!) last night Sue and I watched the Clint Eastwood movie from last year, Gran Torino. This was a fairly low-profile release, and I suppose in the scheme of things it is a "little" film. But wow was it good. Some of the tightest scriptwriting I've seen in a while. Elegantly directed and visualized, Gran Torino is too-easily dismissed as a "cantankerous old guy bonds

Lucky Thirteen

Lucky Thirteen

Sue and I have been married thirteen years as of today.

Thirteen really good years. I'm a lucky guy.

Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day

Thumbs up to the comic book industry for actually supplying retailers with cool free comics that actually have a really good chance of hooking new readers.

Thumbs down to my nearest local retail shop, which put a limit of two free comics per person. I went in the mid-afternoon and well, judging by the piles of free comics still left, they're going to be stuck with a lot of free comics due to that limit. I realize that some kind of control has to be put on the situation when you

Last Day to Get Atomic

Last Day to Get Atomic

As I mentioned before, listening to Atomic Array can get you a special discount code for dungeonaday.com. But today is the last day you can use this code to get "Atomic" savings. I won't give you the code here, but it would be an "Atomic" shame if you missed out.

Knowing me and my "Atomic" forgetfulness, I might not remember to turn the code off until tomorrow sometime.

Family Games: The 100 Best

Family Games: The 100 Best

In the wake of the fun and successful Hobby Games: The 100 Best, editor James Lowder and publisher Green Ronin are going to release a follow up, Family Games: The 100 Best. As the name suggests, this book covers board and card games meant for a more casual audience. Like the previous book, I contributed an essay to this one. I can't wait to see what other distinguished game industry folks like Alan R. Moon, Richard Garfield, and James Ernest wrote about. 

The book should