Howard Andrew Jones's Blog, page 57

How Did I Miss This?

I think I live in a fog too much, or else that there’s too much white noise out there.

For instance, why didn’t I ever hear about this WizKids pirate game, which was alive from 2004 up until about 2012? What great naval miniatures, even if you don’t even use the game mechanics! I love ‘em!

In case you missed out, here’s a pic showing one to scale.

I’ve got to say, the map in that pic (which I pulled from a French site) looks pretty danged cool as well. Maybe if I had taken French instead of Latin I’d know where the map came from.

Here’s another (lifted from a convention report by Angelo Porazzi) showing some monsters:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, a huge fleet, pinched from this site. And you know what, that pizza looks pretty good too… I think I’m going to hunt e-bay for a few. Not a whole fleet, but a few ships.

 

Racing for the End

I used to think that being a writer was glamorous, but now I realize it mostly consists of me staring at a computer screen and typing. Or pacing back and forth. Now I realize that holding a book that you wrote is awsome, and getting to create stuff for your living is way cool, but that the PROCESS isn’t remotely glamorous.

Anyway, as I get closer and closer to wrapping up my next Paizo book, I’m afraid the web site is looking a little fallow.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about while not writing.

First, I’ve been watching a little Firefly with my wife and son (my daughter has given up, saying she doesn’t like cowboys in space. Yeah, I know… oddly enough, though, she doesn’t mind the original Star Trek, despite its age, which is just fine with me.) There isn’t much Firefly, of course, but we’ve been stretching it out. One every other night or so. 

Second, I poured a bunch of effort into creating an epic jungle hex crawl campaign to run with the family and I’m afraid while my wife thought it was pretty cool it didn’t exactly captivate the rest of the family. So, rats. It’s going back on the shelf. The kids are wanting to try something supernatural, so I think I’m going to run some Solomon Kane, Savage Worlds style. It’s a gorgeous book. I’ve played some Savage Worlds before and enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to trying it again. A new gaming friend, Scott Carter, pointed me to a site that helps explain the whole “shaken” status a lot better than it had been explained ot me in the past. It’s here, for those of you who are savagely curious.

Third, I was really looking forward to the next X-Men movie. A lot of people loved it, but I’m afraid I just didn’t think Magneto was scripted as intelligently as he had been in First Class, so I ended up walking away disappointed. I ended up thinking I should just have watched the second Captain American movie again, which I thought was one of the finest superhero movies I’ve ever watched.

Fourth, Spears of the Dawn is an excellent, excellent game setting. One of my favorites, ever. I hope to give it the time it deserves in a forthcoming review. As a matter of fact, there are a number of things I’d still like to tell regular visitors about, including the spectacular Wade/Miller noir writing team. And I have a stack of books I want to read. But, as I mentioned a few weeks back, it’s a lot easier reading non-fiction than fiction when there’s a deadline so close.

 

 

Dresden Rewatch

My wife and I are big fans of the Harry Dresden books — although I’m two books behind at this point — and are noodling around with the idea of playing the Dresden game with the kids.

We’re a little concerned that some of the book content might be a bit much for our 13 yo, so we got the series off Netflix.

I recall seeing an episode or two of the series when it was airing and kind of enjoying it, but we’d never seen most of these, and I had no idea how good the writing and acting was. Sure, some of the differences are jarring — especially Bob — but by the middle point of the very short one-and-only season I was pretty impressed.

I was really sold on all the characters and their world. All of them were a little different than how I’d pictured them from the books, but I loved the portrayals of all the leads: Paul Blackthorne as Harry, Valerie Cruz as Murphy, Conrad Coates as Morgan, and, most surprising of all because his role was the most different from the books, Terrence Mann as Bob. Heck, I think I might actually have liked this version of Bob better than Bob in the books, which is probably heresy of some kind.

A little Internet fu reveals a muddled explanation for why the series was cancelled. According to some, it was Blackthorne’s fault that the show died, because he took a lead elsewhere, but it turns out that was AFTER the show was cancelled. According to SciFi, it didn’t do well in the ratings, but according to other sources it was consistently one of their most highly rated programs.

I wonder if it just came too early? Now we have a whole spate of supernatural shows on television… but I have to say that of them all, I believe I’ve enjoyed The Dresden Files the best. It surely worked on the kids. Of course now my daughter wants to read the books even more… and will still have to wait a couple years…

Firefly Rewatch

I’m still deep in draft and revision mode, but I wanted to mention that our family has been re-watching the Firefly series now that the kids are old enough to view the episodes with us.

My guess is that most of you reading this are already well aware of how excellent Firefly is, and know full well what a terrible shame it was that we got so little of it. You can probably find innumerable discussions of its many strengths all over the web, but one that I’m re-noticing is just how well defined every character is from the start.

Even if we don’t know all of their backstory in the first episodes, each time one of the characters speaks or acts we get a very strong sense of who they are and what they believe. This show should serve as a model for anyone drafting dialogue: its construction should be studied and emulated. And enjoyed.

What a great show.

When the Moment Passes

I got to thinking about the Simonson run on Thor yesterday, as regular visitors probably noticed.

I missed the whole Simonson Thor run when it was on-going, discovering it about five years after it was over when my friend Bruce and I traded favorite comics series. That was, of course, long before the days of Thor: Visionaries and other graphic novel collections, AND I was a poor college student, so I had my hands full trying to track down copies of all those issues (as well as the Baldur the Brave mini-series).

Now I’ve got all the Thor volumes on my shelves, and all those carefully collected comics are in plastic bags in the basement. Sometimes, you just need to be patient.

But sometimes, if you’re too patient, the moment has passed. When I was very young  Gold Key had a line of Star Trek comics. They weren’t very true to the characters or the show, for the most part, but I was a kid who loved Trek, and they were Star Trek, and so I wanted to read them. Anyway, one day when I was 7 or 8 I walked into a department store with my mom to discover a rack of 4-6 volumes of  these Star Trek comic books — not just comic books, but COLLECTIONS of 8 issues. The first “graphic novels” I ever saw.

I begged Mom to buy them for me, but while we weren’t exactly poor, we weren’t exactly rolling in extra cash, so she got me one of them. When we finally returned to that store (it was on the far north side of town) weeks later, the awesome display was gone — the other 3, or 5, collections had vanished into the ether, never to be hungrily devoured by young Howard.

For years I dreamed of those unplundered riches, wishing I’d found a way to obtain them. And then, at DragonCon five years ago I wandered into the dealer’s area and lo and behold someone had reprinted every single one of those Gold Key Star Trek collections. They had the same covers and everything. Not only that, they were showcased  in a stand-up display that looked nearly identical to that one from my childhood. There they ALL were, even ones I’d never seen before (I found out later that another company had reprinted the entire Gold Key run).

I stopped, stared, smiled sadly, and walked past.

By then I’d realized I didn’t even really LIKE the Gold Key Star Trek’s very much, because they weren’t really Star Trek. The characters in them didn’t act very much like the characters I loved, the stories were simple, and the equipment didn’t even look right (turns out that the original artists hadn’t had anything to work from but publicity shots, but later issues do look more like the show).

As I walked away I couldn’t help thinking that if I’d somehow been able to purchase them and pass them through a window in time to my younger self, I’d have made me very happy. Older me just felt, well, old and a little sad.

He Stood Alone at Gjallerbru

The finest “holding the pass” scene ever written lies in a relatively obscure issue deep in the celebrated Walt Simonson run on The Mighty Thor.

It doesn’t matter how many times I read it, this moment brings me to tears every single time. Over the years I’ve checked the value of the individual issue and I’ve always been stunned that it’s not a collector’s item. It’s just stunningly good. You talk to anyone who’s read it and I’ll be their reaction is nearly identical to my own.

Visit here, at scans_daily, for a great recap of the lead-up and the incredible denouement. You miss a little, but you’ll get the gist, and I think you’ll still feel the power.

Gaining Pathfinder Steam

Yesterday I finally turned the corner on the new Pathfinder novel I’m writing. My writing process means that I go on with a very detailed plan, then write the book almost like a screenplay, mostly with dialogue before going back in to fill it up with description. What that means, though, is that I can’t be sure how well it’s really going until later in the process. As recently as Monday I was still worried about whether or not I could pull this off and get it to have the tone I was looking for, maintain the pace, and develop the character arcs.

By end-of-day Thursday I finally had the first three chapters clicking along properly, and now some of the middle sections are falling into place. Because it’s gained momentum and I’m now better acquainted with all the characters, little scenes and more climactic chapter conclusions are popping out of thin air.

It’s still going to be a bit of a challenge to wrap the whole thing up in the next two weeks, but I’m starting to think I can pull it off, and I’m pretty sure now that this is going to be the most exciting, moving Pathfinder novel I’ve yet written, with the most fully realized characters.

Anyway. Talking about writing is probably kind of boring unless you’re really into writing, so I’m going to send you to two interesting links.

First, a fascinating oasis town in the Americas that must be seen to be believed. Really, my description wouldn’t do it justice. It’s so cool it looks like a film set. You can see one image of it at the top of my blog. Go look at some more.

Second, here’s an ancient city famous for its libraries that now lies almost completely abandoned due to the encroaching Sahara sands. Martin Page pointed me to this one, and it’s one of the most fascinating real-life adventure sites I’ve heard about in years.

 

World of Aetaltis

Today I want to point all my regular readers to a nifty new Kickstarter. Here’s the official word from my friend and project runner Marc Tassin:

The project is centered on a Pathfinder Compatible roleplaying game adventure called The Temple of Modren designed to introduce backers to a fantasy setting I created called the World of Aetlatis.  It’s edited by Steven S. Long, has maps from Mike Schley, and includes art from Mitchell Malloy.

The adventure, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. The project also includes some awesome stretch goals, including an anthology of short fiction, more Pathfinder Compatible books, and new cover art by Larry Elmore!

 All the stretch goals are great, but as a writer I’m especially excited about the anthology. Larry Correia, David Farland, Matt Forbeck, Ed Greenwood, Dave Gross, John Helfers, Steven S. Long, Mel Odom, Jean Rabe, Lucy A. Snyder, Michael A. Stackpole,  and Elizabeth Vaughan are all writing short stories set in the world of Aetaltis. John Helfers is editing the book, and if we hit our goals we’ll print a mass market paperback edition of the anthology.

It’s me, Howard again. Marc’s the secret weapon behind the success of the GenCon Writer’s Symposium; he’s just an incredibly pleasant and organized guy. If HE’s behind a kickstarter, I fully expect it to exceed expectations. So, apparently, do a whole load of other people, because with 17 days still left his kickstarter has already met its funding and is now climbing towards stretch goals.

For more info on Mark’s game world, visit his World of Aetaltis site by clicking here.

 

No Distractions!

I sure hope this web site isn’t your only stop for entertainment, because I haven’t been providing much lately. Trust me, I’m getting some great writing done, but with a deadline looming I’ve felt less call to do any writing HERE.

When I’m deep in the final stages of a writing project I’m usually not reading anything but reference books. Heaven forbid I start some great novel or even short story and get sucked in to reading it through to the end. It’s happened once or twice and I vowed never to make that mistake again.

Still, there is a little downtime, and one of the things I often do to relax at this stage in a novel project is leaf through role-playing  books. (There isn’t the same kind of unstoppable narrative hook in a game manual that you find in a novel, even in a great one.) I mentioned the d30 Sandbox Companion the other day. Well, I picked it up, and it’s just an excellent source for planning an overland campaign, and I think a secondary source of inspiration for writers. It’s  an amazing value. The web site of its creator is chock full of samples from the work and lots and lots of free tables for generating all kinds of cool stuff to enliven your game — or story. You can find it here.

I’ve been a big fan of Kevin Crawford’s gaming work ever since I was introduced to it by James Maliszewski. I just picked up Crawford’s Scarlet Heroes and Spears of the Dawn and love what I’ve seen of both. Scarlet Heroes is  a game system set in Kevin’s fascinating Red Tides world, but the rules can be used separately from that to enhance play between a GM and a single player in all kinds of creative ways. It also includes a means of solo gaming that reads brilliantly, though I’ve yet to try it out. Spears of the Dawn is hands down one of the coolest settings I’ve ever read, and IS the coolest African campaign setting I’ve ever read.

I hope to got into more detail about all of these products in the coming weeks. When I’m not, you know, racing to finish my book.

 

Link Man’s Further Adventures

I’m still hard at work on my next book, and liable to be pedal to the metal for a while. You see, ’round about the 2/3 to 3/4 mark of the rough draft I started to feel like the ground I was standing on wasn’t very firm, so I decided to go back and revise what I’d written. I discovered that the opening chapters weren’t very entertaining, so I threw them out, started from scratch, and am now nearly up to the good parts. Anyway, it’s time consuming but fun to be getting it right.

But I promised interesting links.

First, here’s a site an old school gamer like me should have known about before, Grubb Street. Throughout April famed game designer Jeff Grubb was writing about famous game worlds. I think the one that interested me the most was Stormfront, because darned if I didn’t think up nearly the very same idea many years ago and just never implemented it. I still believe it’s wicked cool. Turns out it was very, very close to being turned into a TSR campaign setting.

Second, a few days back I was talking about gaming stuff and mentioned Richard J. LeBlanc Jr.’s d30 Sandbox Companion. I decided to go ahead and snap it up and wow, was I pleased with the product. Now if I could only get him to join forces with Kevin Crawford. Between the two of them they could create the ultimate sandbox generation booklet (I know I’ve mentioned Red Tide and An Echo Resounding before). Anyone who has an interest in designing a fantasy world for play NEEDS these books/pdfs. I just can’t recommend them highly enough. I wish I’d had these on hand when I started trying to build my own fantasy gaming worlds 30 years ago. I think they’d be useful for writers as well as game masters.

Sandbox gaming means you put the pieces in place on your hex map and you simply let your players wander across them and discover their own story arcs. Using the information in the above products, you can create locations and landmarks with hooks and subplots and other interesting aspects just waiting for discovery by your players.

LeBlanc maintains a web site of his own where you can see samples of his fine sandbox work. You have only to look at last April to find a whole bunch of fascinating, creative tables that randomly generate useful things for the harried game master.

Lastly, want to know more about sandbox construction and how useful some of the preceding tools can be while doing it? Look no further than the site of Keith Davies.

Link Man, away!