Bill Bodden's Blog, page 24

Do Awards Really Matter?

So the question I would pose to readers is this: Do you buy a book or game, or have a greater degree of interest in it because it won an award?

A perfect example would be the American film industry's Academy Awards. Regularly, film buffs are given a second chance to see the films once the nominations are announced, as film distributors and theaters often bring some nominated films back into theaters to help drive buzz surrounding those films. Giving a film greater exposure than it would ordinarily have had is priceless promotion, and can mean the difference between success and failure, financially speaking.

This is the heart of what awards are really for: Marketing. Most awards claim they intend to honor exceptional quality using whatever metric is deemed appropriate, but my take is that in actual practice, awards are about trying to convince people to buy something.

Another question, this one directed at all of you out there who've won awards for projects with which you've been involved, is do the awards help sales directly? Is there perhaps an intangible push after the fact, where people remember that you won an award and look for future releases from you?

My personal experience in the gaming industry is that the awards don't really create new customers. Perhaps they convince someone who was on the fence, but they don't inspire anyone to check out your work sight unseen. Does this jibe with your experiences too?

As a writer, I can honestly say that awards are an important boost to the ego. For the most part writers labor in solitude, and most rarely hear feedback about their work. Winning an award not only says someone noticed your work, but also that they appreciate it, and feel it was of sufficient caliber to be recognized publicly. Sometimes it seems like there are too many awards out there, or that they don't reward anything other than mediocrity, but just raising awareness of who and what is out there strikes me as reason enough for awards to happen.

My Work On Store Shelves Again!

Achtung! Cthulhu Keeper's Guide

I finally got to see the first books for Achtung! Cthulhu on store shelves recently. On Tuesday April 29 I discovered the Keeper's Guide and Investigator's Guide at my Favorite Local Game Store. I've put in a fair amount of work in so far on this product line over the last 12 months, and I'm relieved to see the logjam of products I contributed to finally making their way to market.

Of these first two volumes, I worked exclusively on material for the Keeper's Guide. Most of what I did for this book was to research Word War Two vehicles of all sorts -- tanks and planes mostly, but ships to a lesser degree -- and convert their capabilities into game-ready stats for the Basic Role Playing system. I also researched and wrote about some basic information on transport and travel before and during the wars to offer some perspective on civilian travel. The BRP System is used by Chaosium for, among other things, their Call of Cthulhu product line. The Keeper's and Player's Guides for Achtung! Cthulhu also contain stats for the Savage Worlds system to give gamers options.

I have to admit feeling a bit jaded about seeing my name in print these days - not because it's happened so often, but because it just isn't as big a thrill as my younger self imagined. In this particular case it may also be because I've had my author's copies in hand for a while now, so seeing them isn't much of a surprise.

Being a writer is largely a solitary endeavor. In cases like this, however, I'm working with a team of talented folks, and we chat online every now and then just to keep each other in the loop regarding what's happening with our respective sections. It's often inspiring as well, seeing what other people are doing and thinking up ideas of how it might connect to my own work.

Just this week I received an advanced peek at the Achtung! Cthulhu Guide To the Pacific Front, and it looks great as well. Alex Bund and I were the primary writers on this upcoming book, and with my share being over 30,000 words, it's the single largest word count I've contributed to a project to date. It'll likely be a month or more before the Guide To the Pacific Front hits store shelves, but as soon as I'm able, I'll share the cover art with all of you here.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Monica Valentinelli for recommending me to the folks at Modiphius Entertainment for this project, to Chris Birch for giving me a shot, and also to my editor on the project Lynne Hardy, for being wonderful to work with and for her patience. It's been great working with Modiphius; if the fates allow it, I look forward to working on many more projects with them.

Are the Muppets Selling Out?

First of all, let's throw something away from this discussion. While it may be convenient shorthand to reference the situation, I don't care for the phrase "selling out" -- it reminds me too much of the jealousy of one artist towards another who is more financially successful.

That being said, let me digress for a moment. I LOVE the Muppets. I remember sitting glued to the television when The Muppet Show was broadcast in the United States, and eagerly bought tickets as an adult to the various Muppet films. It's been a long dry spell with not much Muppety interaction until 2011's release of The Muppets to theaters. I was delighted to see the Jim Henson's creations making a comeback in popular culture.

Cut to the last few months, when Disney Studios begins to hype the newest installation of the Muppet franchise, Muppets Most Wanted. The trailers for the film have definitely piqued my interest, but something is bothering me: The Muppets, in promoting the film, are being used as shills for everything from Cars to bottled tea .

While it's great -- and I mean great -- to see the muppets making such a strong comeback, I can't help but wonder where this is going. The Muppets -- a spin-off from the classic characters used as educational tools on the TV program Seasame Street -- have never been anything other than a commercial venture as far as I can tell. Perhaps I haven't seen as many commercials featuring the Muppets simply because no real opportunities existed previously on a national scale. Now, with Disney's unbelievable marketing power behind them, perhaps they will occupy a niche they were always meant to.

Even so, it makes me uneasy. Perhaps my discomfort comes from remnants of childhood naivete in seeing the Muppets as some sort of quasi-holy icons, pure and unsullied by mere commerce. In doing a search for links to the recent commercials, I came across THIS : a Wikipedia site dedicated to all the many appearances of Muppet characters in commercials.

Clearly, the Muppets have been hawking a wide variety of products for decades. I was well aware of their work for non-profits and government agencies -- spots from the 1970s promoting good nutrition, and in the 1980s on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, spring to mind -- but I had conveniently forgotten how many commercials they've made over the years - some of which I've even seen before as part of bonus features on DVDs, or included in documentary programming about the Muppets.

In light of this, to say the Muppets have betrayed some sort of creedo removing themselves from commercial advertising is obviously ludicrous. The folks at Disney are smart; by placing the Muppets in other people's commercials, they not only get to build the Muppet brand once again, but they also get a free plug for the upcoming film inserted into each such advertisement as part of the deal. I would guess they're actually making money from this arrangement, and having to spend virtually nothing to promote Muppets Most Wanted.

I'm grateful that the folks at Henson Studios had the foresight to -- with one or two notable exceptions -- separate the Seasame Street characters completely from those that went on to fame as the Muppets. It avoids those beloved characters whom kids and parents rely on as teachers and mentors promoting products to impressionable youngsters, which is strangely ethical in these seemingly lawless times.

I'm looking forward to seeing Muppets Most Wanted. My inner Muppet can't wait to see Kermit, Gonzo, Pepe the King Prawn and the others in action one more time.

One of My Favorite FIlms: Buckaroo Banzai

Warning: This appreciation contains a few modest spoilers.

The first time I saw The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension, was at Wiscon in February or March of 1986. I sat down with a friend to watch it in the film room, and was instantly hooked by its quirkiness, the fun dialogue, and the imaginative story. I came out of the film room only to find someone had stolen my coat and hat from the easily accessible coat rack; walking home in subfreezing weather was decidedly less fun.

Directed by W.D. Richter and written by Earl Mac Rauch, the story concerns the exploits of a scientist/musician/genius/celebrity, Buckaroo Banzai, and his band of associates. He and his crack team of scientists discover a way to travel between dimensions, and this attracts the attention of the world. A group of aliens, the Red Lectroids, stranded on earth since the 1930s and masquerading as high-tech defense contractors for the US Government, find Buckaroo's inter-dimensional travel inspiring; they've been trying to develop similar technology themselves in order to return to their home planet (Planet 10) and seize control, having been deposed by the more numerous Black Lectroids.

The cast is a pretty stellar list today, though back then most of them were relatively unknown actors: Peter Weller in the title role; Jeff Goldblum, who had already appeared in The Big Chill and would have a subsequent role in Silverado; Ellen Barkin co-stars as Buckaroo's love interest, but her role seemed forced, as if the writers felt they needed a female lead but weren't exactly sure what to do about it; John Lithgow, in perhaps his most over the top performance ever, plays the chief villain of the piece, whose backstory is possibly more complicated that the script itself.

Also appearing in this film is a veritable who's who of character actors: The late Vincent Schiavelli (Batman Returns, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest); Clancy Brown (Highlander, The Shawshank Redemption, Starship Troopers) in an all-too short role but with a dramatic death scene; Christopher Lloyd (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Back to the Future, Addams Family) does his usual great turn as an alien; veteran voice actor Carl Lumbly (perhaps best know as the voice of Martian Manhunter in the Justice League Animated Series) also as an alien; Dan Hedaya (The Addams Family, Alien Resurrection) as another alien; even comedian Yakov Smirnoff gets into the act, playing a vaguely Kissinger-like Secretary of State.

Despite an obviously low budget, the film is put together well. The pacing is near perfect, the various performances are entrancing, funny, weird, and delightful, and the premise itself was highly creative. Buckaroo relies heavily on his cohorts for support and even rescue, making this far more of an ensemble cast than it would appear to be at first. The sets are low-budget as well, but they work, and are believable and not distracting. The production design for the alien technology was fascinating and highly inventive, delivering a view of beings that are totally alien to humans quite successfully.

One thing this film was full of is background activity. When in the lair of the Red Lecrtroids, one hears recorded, inspirational messages over the loudspeakers, exhorting the workers to work hard and be loyal to their leader. There is even the classic "Watermelon" scene, a reference to a bizarre bit of set decoration, that is quoted endlessly by fans far and wide. These factors give the film strong rewatch value, as there are constantly new things to discover.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension had an interesting array of cross-marketing ideas attempted, including comics books and a variety of tchotchkies and knick-knacks, none of which seemed to catch on. Today graphic novels expanding the exploits of Buckaroo and his band, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, are readily available and reasonably popular - especially for a thirty year-old film franchise with no new films or TV series to help drive sales. The only thing I wish had been produced but wasn't is a soundtrack album. Several original pieces of music from the film are catchy and quite danceable, though I suspect there just wasn't enough material for a full album.

I was unable to find figures for the film's production budget, but it only grossed $6.25 million domestically in theaters; not an auspicious figure, to be sure, even for thirty years ago. It has continued to earn revenue since then however, being a staple of sci-fi and adventure-based programming on a variety of television channels.

Buckaroo Banzai, despite its 80s fashions and obvious cheesiness, remains relevant to this day in terms of its exploration of sci-fi themes. Well worth the time to track down, it's a fun film to watch and has developed into a cult classic. Even today Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension is frequently part of the film offerings at sci-fi conventions, and attracts both veteran and novice viewers. This year marks the 30th anniversary of its release, which makes it even more timely to find a copy for viewing.

***

On an unrelated note, I wanted to mention that I've been invited back to Geek-Kon again this year as a special guest. My schedule isn't finalized yet, but I know for sure I'll be involved in the "Game With the Guests" charity event on Friday night. Check out the Convention/Event Appearances tab on my home page for updates and further details.

Crushing Hopes and Dreams

Last week I was invited by friend and gaming buddy Aaron Pavao to judge two groups of student game designs last week at the high school where he teaches — among other things — game design and theory. While I can think of several people in the area who might have been better choices — they having actual board/card game design credits to their names — it’s likely none of them could have spent an entire day doing so as I did. In my defense, I did spend several years writing reviews about boardgames for a number of publications including Scrye and Games Unplugged magazines, and have literally played hundreds of boardgames — many of them more than once! I’ve also written material for a number of tabletop roleplaying games, so it’s not like I’m unqualified.

Aaron himself has a number of designs to his credit, including co-creating the Let’s Kill card game, published by Atlas Games, and extensive work on the Shadowrun universe for Catalyst Game Labs, and even some work on a support book for the Leverage RPG for Margaret Weis Productions.

When I arrived at the school prior to my first judging session at 10 AM, I had to speak into an intercom to be let into the building. After signing in, I was given a sticky badge with “VISITOR” marked on it, and a student was sent to escort me to the classroom. After the morning’s announcements, the students split up into their teams, all ready to demo their games for me and several other judges. I have to say I was impressed; the amount of thought and planning that went into most of the games was laudable, and several of the designs I would be more than willing to play again. A few needed tweaks here and there, and none of them were actively bad. I found out later that each group was assigned a random theme to give them somewhere to start; I think this helped tremendously, though some students seemed less than thrilled with the subjects with which they were saddled.

A stack of blank judging sheets was provided for me to fill out, and while I didn’t actually savage anyone, I was as honest as I could be about any major flaws we discovered. One or two designs were more complex than was strictly needed, which may have had more to do with the judging criteria than with the idea behind the design. Chance was a major factor in most designs — not a flaw, but certainly an unpredictable element. When coupled nicely with strategy, chance can be a delight; when left to its own devices, chance is more likely to bite players in the ass, so I like games that work at blending the two elements.

Class two was two hours later, so Aaron treated me to lunch from the cafeteria – which was delicious, by the way — and we went back to the classroom to eat, enjoying a quick game of Dominion while we talked and munched on our tacos.

In a couple of the groups, it seemed that one or two people had done most or all of the work; they knew the rules and could explain quirks easily, while other team members deferred to them on nearly every question. This wasn’t always the case, but I found myself spending nearly as much time analyzing group dynamics as I did judging their designs.

If I was disappointed in anything during the experience, it was that there weren’t many women in the class — two in the first session, one in the second — out of roughly two dozen students in each. Game design is not a guys-only thing, but in my admittedly unscientific observations, guys seem to be more interested in exploring games at that age.

I had a great time, and want to thank Aaron Pavao and his classes at Waunakee High School for having me as their guest judge. Even if the students decide that game design is not for them, I hope they continue to enjoy games as a hobby throughout their lives.

Walking Dead Still Walking

When I first saw the preview trailers for Walking Dead, I was sold. They were effectively put together, gripping, and tense. I was ready to see it, even having no experience with the comics or graphic novels.

After the pilot, I was completely sold. This was something fresh and different; a decent treatment of the zombie apocalypse. The show was being well-written, and I enjoyed the different locations.

Then came the way Frank Darabont was unceremoniously shown the door. It showed a remarkable lack of respect for the man who championed the show and helped make it a spectacular success in it's debut season. Couple that with AMC's decision to immediately cut the budget of perhaps the most successful cable TV series in history, and it was clear AMC had little respect for their audience, much less for their talent. I was growing disillusioned.

SPOILER ALERT: SEASON TWO

What iced it for me was the mid-season hiatus episode, "Pretty Much Dead Already". In that episode, pre-teen girl Sophia has been missing since the first episode of season two. When she finally turns up, it's as a zombie. For me, this was the perfect note to end on. The ultimate fate of every character in this show will be to become a zombie, unless they are killed via horrendous head trauma. The death of Sophia -- a child -- was a perfect metaphor for the death of hope.

END SPOILER ALERT

At this point, I was no longer interested in the show. The second season, because of AMC's counter-intuitive, draconian budget cuts, took place almost entirely at a single location. It lost a lot of its sparkle for me from that point onward. With the event I described in the spoiler section, I felt I had reached a good stopping point. There was a poetic ending, but little joy left in the show for me; the ongoing bleakness was wearing me down -- it's too much like real life right now. I prefer my escapism to actually make me feel better, not worse.

On the other hand, The Walking Dead is enjoying continued success, and is more popular than ever. After a shaky second season, the third season has everyone talking about it, with seemingly everyone I know eagerly anticipating season four. Except me. I feel like I've taken that ride and had all the enjoyment out of it I'm going to get. I've missed enough episodes that most of the characters I knew are gone, which particularly includes two I cared about: Dale and T-Dog.

Eventually people will tire of a diet of nothing but zombies, so having regular conflicts with other humans adds a little variety to keep things fresh. Still, the whole "man's inhumanity to man" trope is so close to home in these selfish times that I can't find that aspect particularly enjoyable.

Walking Dead has been a runaway hit, and I'm happy for AMC that they have an enormous cash cow on hand that will allow them to produce more original programming. My interest in the show may be gone, but clearly I'm in the minority.

***

I had a great time this past weekend at Odyssey Con in Madison, Wisconsin. I didn't sell any books, but the panels I was on were successful, and I got a chance to talk to a lot of other writers and fans about everything and anything under the sun. Guests Troy Denning, Richard Lee Byers and Peter Lee were friendly, accessible to their fans, and fun to talk with and be around. Next year's guests will be Heather Brewer, Matt Forbeck, and Jonathan Maberry. The dates are April 10-12, 2015. For more information, check the OdysseyCon website periodically.

OdysseyCon is THIS WEEKEND!

I’m appearing on panels at OdysseyCon, one of my hometown conventions. The guests of honor this year are authors Richard Lee Byers and Troy Denning, and game designer Peter Lee of Wizards of the Coast. I’ve never met Richard before, and know Troy and Peter only a little. Getting to know all of them better should be fun, and a great way to spend the weekend!

My schedule looks like this:

Friday April 4, 2:30 PM
What Has Gaming Done For (To) Me?
I am one of two people on the panel actively employed in the game industry (that I know of for sure), so we have a nice mix of fans and pros.

Saturday April 5, 10 AM
Local Reads – a discussion of local authors and their work, and why/how to support them.
There are a surprising number of local authors to talk about. We hope to have a handout available listing the various authors’ websites.

Sunday April 6, 10 AM
Beyond Facebook OR Don’t Quit Your Day Job (Program listing undecided as of this writing.)
Either way it should be fun, and hopefully the panelists will all have useful advice and suggestions to offer for either topic.

Sunday April 6, 1 PM
Double-Feature! The Romance of Horror AND Just the Sidekick
Richard Lee Byers and I plan to cover both topics to the greatest extent we can manage, with substantial allowances made for audience interest and participation.

In the evenings I can probably be found in the bar, or at other panels during the day.

With two “first thing” panels I guess I’d better be more bright-eyed and busy-tailed than usual!

If you plan on attending, don’t forget that OddCon has moved to a different hotel.
They are now in the Crown Plaza, 4402 East Washington Avenue. Call 1-800-404-7630 for reservations.
I hope to see you all there!

My Social Media Dilemma

I was a little under the weather last week. I also had a very time-sensitive short project fall into may lap that required some immediate attention, so I was not able to post as usual. I’m back in the saddle now and ready to talk about all kinds of stuff. As soon as I get word that I can talk about this project I’ll let you in on the secret.

***

Like many of my friends and colleagues, I spend a great deal of time flipping through various social media forums. It’s an enjoyable way to pass time, is occasionally useful, and can sometimes lead to reconnecting with an old friend, or making a new one.

On the other hand, I’m noticing more and more that most of my social media interaction is literally worthless. Friends post “Which Pound Puppy Are You” type polls on Facebook, and many people jump at the bait to take these information-harvesting polls that serve some corporation somewhere, selling your data to people who want to pester you to buy things.

Twitter is not much better. While still seeming less tainted by pure greed on the part of its owners, it’s nearly impossible to have a meaningful exchange with someone in 140-character lumps.

I’ve been looking at social media a great deal lately in terms of self-promotion. As a no-name author, getting my name out there is as important as it is challenging, and with new restrictions Facebook is putting in place (and has been implementing for a couple of years now, IIRC) to limit the number of people who see my posts, it becomes less and less worthwhile from a business standpoint for me to spend much time there.

The rapidly declining utility of social media is one of the reasons I pushed to get my website up and active. That, and having Goodreads, the previous site for my blog, purchased by Amazon.com. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of the business world, and they’re throwing their weight around with a ruthlessness that makes me uncomfortable. While they have made few changes to Goodreads so far, it is naive to think they won’t leverage everything the site does to promote their own brand and create new revenue streams. I have no doubt I will need to rely on Amazon at some point, at least in part. For right now, I’d rather not help them drive everyone else out of business.

I heard a saying about social media that really hit home: “If you’re not paying for it, YOU are the product.” In this day and age, it’s difficult to NOT have hundreds of companies harvesting your information and preferences in an attempt to sell you stuff. I want to sell you stuff too, but I try to keep my sales pitch to a minimum. I figure the majority of people who come here to read my blog probably already know about my work, and have either already bought stuff I’ve worked on, or simply aren’t going to do so. The occasional reminder might help those who intend to pick up “my” books, but too much and I’ll turn people off. To me, driving people away is worse than having someone forget to buy a book of mine in which they were interested.

I’m not totally jumping ship from social media just yet. However, as my social media experiences become more and more frustrating, with fewer instances where I feel my time was well spent, I will gradually phase them out altogether. Before that happens, I hope you’ll bookmark this site, and maybe come back for a visit once in a while.

Interview

I interviewed author Matt Forbeck about his newest novel, Monster Academy: I Will Not Eat People. Here's the link to it:

http://www.flamesrising.com/matt-forb...

Judge Dredd: Keep That Helmet On!

I've been a fan of Judge Dredd for years, thanks to my brother Mike's comic collection from the 1970s and 80s. One that amused him and me greatly was Judge Dredd, published in the UK in the pages of 2000 AD. Part satire of American culture and part futuristic crime story, Judge Dredd lives in Mega-City One (the Boston-Washington D.C. corridor along the US's east coast), and fights all manner of criminals, from the petty to the psychotic.

In the world of Judge Dredd, Judges are judge, jury, and executioner of the sentence. Punishment is harsh in this dystopian future, where littering can earn a sentence of several years in isolation.

Part of Dredd's charm is that the comic didn't take itself too seriously. One example of this was that Dredd would never remove his helmet, not even when critically injured and in hospital. This is where the Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd film fell down; Stallone clearly takes himself far too seriously to not show his face every possible moment of screen time. For that, I must commend Karl Urban; as an actor in films, it's important for the audience to see your face, both to identify wioth you and to help remind them what you look like to help drive your popularity; not doing so can be a big risk. The fact that the most science-fictional elements were apparently too weird for Stallone's version is also obvious; it remains to be seen if the Karl Urban films can incorporate any of the highly weird stuff that went on.

When I say Karl Urban filmS, I am referring to a campaign to make more of them. One group supporting sequels has an active Facebook page "Make A Dredd Sequel" . I wish them luck; my understanding is that the Karl Urban version was marginally successful, but has been getting good press ever since, and seems to be winning people over. Karl Urban himself has recently said publicly that discussions were taking place regarding that possibility.

Judge Dredd has a lot of weirdness in it that means it isn't a comic for everyone. The crimes range from the mundane (arson, murder) to the silly (slow driving) to the incomprehensible (Stookie Glanding, Umpty Bagging). Stookies are an alien race with glands, that, when harvested properly, can provide a serum to prolong a human's life -- at the expense of the Stookie's, of course, who can't live without this gland, which is why Stookie Glanding is illegal. Umpty is a candy that is highly addictive, and therefore banned.

The criminals are interesting and highly creative lot. My favorite is the Angel Gang, a family of thugs who are manageable one at a time, but a holy terror when acting as a group. One of the siblings, Fink Angel, was exiled to the cursed earth -- the nuclear wasteland in between the walled Mega-Cities. While in exile, Fink was exposed to a heavy dose of radiation, causing him to resemble a walking corpse more than a living human. And Fink, he loves his poisons, which (if I remember correctly) was what got him kicked out of Mega-City One in the first place.

The storylines for Judge Dredd were no less epic. One had Dredd and a few other Judges battling their own when a Caligula-like character -- Judge Cal -- subverted the daily briefings into brainwashing sessions, taking control of Mega-City One and ruling like his despotic namesake. In another, an agent from one of the Soviet-Bloc Mega-Cities slips chemicals into the drinking water, causing riots and mass hysteria as a prelude to the Sov-Judge invasion of Mega-City One.

Really, there's too much ground to cover for one blog post. I refer you to the Judge Dredd section of Drive Thru Comics where you can purchase downloads of the comics inexpensively and read them yourself. You can also look for Judge Dredd in your favorite local comics shop.

Judge Dredd is one of my favorite comics, combining creative stories, interesting characters, and subtle -- and not so subtle -- social commentary. I hope that there will be another Judge Dredd film in the same vein as the more recent picture starring Karl Urban; I enjoyed the first one, and hope they films director and writers take a few more risks by introducing audiences to some of the things that make Judge Dredd more unique. If a sequel doesn't happen, we still have the comics -- and plenty of them -- to read and enjoy.