Bill Bodden's Blog, page 20
February 14, 2017
Tales From the Game Store, vol. 2: Phone Antics
Many years ago (back in the 1980s, in fact) I fielded a phone call.
Me: "Pegasus Games, how may I help you?"
Pause
Him: "Do you have any airplanes available?"
Me: "Yes, we do."
Him: "How big are they?"
Me: (Measuring) "Oh, they range from an inch to three inches, nose to tail."
Pause.
Him: "Seriously, how big are they - how many passengers can they hold?"
To read more of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2017/02/14/tale...
Me: "Pegasus Games, how may I help you?"
Pause
Him: "Do you have any airplanes available?"
Me: "Yes, we do."
Him: "How big are they?"
Me: (Measuring) "Oh, they range from an inch to three inches, nose to tail."
Pause.
Him: "Seriously, how big are they - how many passengers can they hold?"
To read more of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2017/02/14/tale...
February 6, 2017
A Few Updates and Some News
Glad to leave January 2017 behind, frankly - it was not my best month ever. It began with the death of my Mother-in-Law on January 9 -- between my wife and I, this was our last surviving parent -- followed immediately by having to euthanize my 17 year-old cat the very next day.
Midwinter Gaming Convention
the next weekend was a pleasant diversion, but I brought home the worst...
To read the rest of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2017/02/06/a-fe...
To read the rest of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2017/02/06/a-fe...
January 30, 2017
Will There Be Gaming After The Apocalypse?
Available from Drive-Thru RPG
This question came from Facebook friend Shawn Leisure, during one of my "give me ideas to blog about" pleas over there.
"Will there be gaming after the apocalypse?"
Short answer: of course there will be gaming after the apocalypse.
Gaming in its simplest form is escape: escape from problems, from bullies, even from your own loved ones. Escapism provides a safety valve, allowing us to blow off steam in a fun, productive way. After an apocalypse, people will need an escape more than ever. No doubt the search for food and other necessities will be paramount, but some kind of escape -- storytelling, daydreaming, telling jokes...
To view the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/01/30/will...
January 23, 2017
Trip Report: Midwinter Gaming Convention
Because of my job and my connections as a writer in the industry, I attend a fair number of gaming conventions. Mostly I attend GenCon in Indianapolis, because I have people like
Onyx Path Publishing
willing to pay my way if I work for them, so it's a less disastrously expensive proposition for me that way -- even if my time is not entirely my own. Recently I've also been to
Grand Masquerade
in New Orleans, again courtesy of Onyx Path in exchange for working their vendor table. When I was offered the chance to go to Midwinter for the entire weekend of January 12-15, I took it.
To read the rest of this post, please visit:
http://billbodden.com/2017/01/23/trip...
To read the rest of this post, please visit:
http://billbodden.com/2017/01/23/trip...
January 9, 2017
Tales From the Game Store, vol. 1: Wacky Customers
As many of you know, I work in a game store. Currently, I'm part-time, but I used to be the full-time manager of this same shop many years ago. I came back because A) being a freelance writer is not always so good for the cash flow, and B) a former co-worker convinced me to go back part-time. So here I am.
Anyway, as you might expect, retail work is full of opportunities for snark, but also some legitimate humor too. I'd like to share a couple of amusing moments from work with you.
***
Customer walks into the store, looking around. He picks up a box of miniature metal figures. The box is about 4 inches wide, nine inches long, and about an inch thick. It has a brightly colored, wrap-around label explaining exactly what is inside the box, and that the contents are supplied unpainted -- unlike the examples on the box label, which ARE painted. Customer looks at the box...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/01/09/tale...
Anyway, as you might expect, retail work is full of opportunities for snark, but also some legitimate humor too. I'd like to share a couple of amusing moments from work with you.
***
Customer walks into the store, looking around. He picks up a box of miniature metal figures. The box is about 4 inches wide, nine inches long, and about an inch thick. It has a brightly colored, wrap-around label explaining exactly what is inside the box, and that the contents are supplied unpainted -- unlike the examples on the box label, which ARE painted. Customer looks at the box...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/01/09/tale...
January 2, 2017
2016 In Review
From the title, this must sound like a desperately boring post, but please bear with me for a moment: I'd like to record a few summaries for future reference.
First of all, I passed the 10,000 page views mark in the very last days of calendar year 2016. This represents how many pages were looked at since I started this blog back in October of 2013, NOT the number of visitors to my site. The actual number of visitors is just over 8,200 since some people look at more than one page before departing. A huge chunk of those visitors came because of a single post: from May 16, "Controversy Over GenCon's Industry Insider List" . That single post in defense of GenCon's ongoing attempts to include a more diverse selection of game designers and artists in their program apparently got picked up by the folks at GenCon who cross-posted it somewhere. That bump alone drew a total of just over...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/01/02/2016...
First of all, I passed the 10,000 page views mark in the very last days of calendar year 2016. This represents how many pages were looked at since I started this blog back in October of 2013, NOT the number of visitors to my site. The actual number of visitors is just over 8,200 since some people look at more than one page before departing. A huge chunk of those visitors came because of a single post: from May 16, "Controversy Over GenCon's Industry Insider List" . That single post in defense of GenCon's ongoing attempts to include a more diverse selection of game designers and artists in their program apparently got picked up by the folks at GenCon who cross-posted it somewhere. That bump alone drew a total of just over...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/01/02/2016...
December 27, 2016
Should Writers Ignore Other Writers' Work?
Fellow author Chuck Wendig posted a very solid
piece
several years ago on his blog about why authors shouldn't slag off other authors in reviews. It got me thinking: many authors don't review the works of others at all. Amazon has a policy against posting reviews of authors' work by other authors, which they enforce rather selectively. On the surface, a policy such as this seems fair: it's too easy for authors to fall into the trap of trading positive reviews with other authors to mutually boost ratings. This kind of abuse has very clearly happened, as has authors creating dummy accounts to post glowing reviews of their own work.
However, I feel it's still important for authors to call out work they particularly enjoyed...
To read the rest of this post, please click this link: http://billbodden.com/2016/12/26/shou...
However, I feel it's still important for authors to call out work they particularly enjoyed...
To read the rest of this post, please click this link: http://billbodden.com/2016/12/26/shou...
December 26, 2016
Why Steampunk?
Four Steampunks cosplaying at Gen Con, August 2015
Because I'm a fan of Steampunk -- both the literary movement and Steampunk-oriented fandom -- I get asked from time to time to define steampunk as concept. To quote Reference.com :
"Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction literature that uses the aesthetics and technology from 19th-century industrial times. At its core, it maintains the idea that science and technology never developed beyond steam-powered energy. Steampunk can take place either in present day or in the 19th century. The term steampunk originates from the 1980s as a variant of cyberpunk, though some literature written in the 1960s and 1970s is now considered influential to the genre..."
To read more of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2016/12/19/the-...
November 14, 2016
The Problem With Food
Food is in the news these days, and it's a surprisingly controversial topic. The biggest problem with food -- as I see it -- is that there isn't enough of it for everyone. Perhaps the biggest news is the fight over labeling foods containing GMOs -- Genetically Modified Organisms -- and how major food conglomerates are generally against this labeling.
I have a relationship with food like most people; I love to eat. My parents always -- ALWAYS -- did their best for me and my brothers, but by the time I was old enough to understand much, we were poor. My folks - both of them -- were decent cooks, and I grew up, like so many of my generation, with the "clean your plate" mandate. We never went hungry when I was a kid, but we often had to do without other things.
My parents were also big on trying exotic foods. Exotic to them usually meant Italian or Chinese, but that was life in small town Wisconsin in the 60s and 70s. They instilled in me the value of trying new things, for which I am eternally grateful. Today there are very few foods I will not try, and even fewer that I refuse to eat at all. Though there are some things I wouldn't choose on my own, if they are served to me while I am a guest in someone's home I will eat them without discomfort or complaint.
With all this in mind, I'd like to talk for a moment about...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/11/14/the-...
I have a relationship with food like most people; I love to eat. My parents always -- ALWAYS -- did their best for me and my brothers, but by the time I was old enough to understand much, we were poor. My folks - both of them -- were decent cooks, and I grew up, like so many of my generation, with the "clean your plate" mandate. We never went hungry when I was a kid, but we often had to do without other things.
My parents were also big on trying exotic foods. Exotic to them usually meant Italian or Chinese, but that was life in small town Wisconsin in the 60s and 70s. They instilled in me the value of trying new things, for which I am eternally grateful. Today there are very few foods I will not try, and even fewer that I refuse to eat at all. Though there are some things I wouldn't choose on my own, if they are served to me while I am a guest in someone's home I will eat them without discomfort or complaint.
With all this in mind, I'd like to talk for a moment about...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/11/14/the-...
September 26, 2016
Grand Masquerade Trip Report, Part Two of Two
Day the Sixth (Saturday September 3):
Another dull day at the booth. Booth time was interrupted by a keynote address at noon. Since they closed the registration room and that's where the Onyx Path table was located, I was sprung to go listen. Big plans ahead for the World of Darkness, folks.
After we closed the booth for the day, Matthew Dawkins and I went in search of authentic Creole food, and man did we find some! RF's had delicious Po' Boys, Jambalaya, and Gator Bites, and we both ate more than we should have. At first we were concerned, as the restaurant was nearly empty and we'd had to pass by numerous places closer to Bourbon Street that were absolutely packed. Instead, we had a quiet, delicious dinner away from the "WOO!" crowd, and were much pleased.
To read more, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/09/26/gran...
Another dull day at the booth. Booth time was interrupted by a keynote address at noon. Since they closed the registration room and that's where the Onyx Path table was located, I was sprung to go listen. Big plans ahead for the World of Darkness, folks.
After we closed the booth for the day, Matthew Dawkins and I went in search of authentic Creole food, and man did we find some! RF's had delicious Po' Boys, Jambalaya, and Gator Bites, and we both ate more than we should have. At first we were concerned, as the restaurant was nearly empty and we'd had to pass by numerous places closer to Bourbon Street that were absolutely packed. Instead, we had a quiet, delicious dinner away from the "WOO!" crowd, and were much pleased.
To read more, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/09/26/gran...
