Howard Andrew Jones's Blog, page 7

The Magician’s Skull will Return

The mighty Skull has made an official announcement. Yes, there will be more issues of the sword-and-sorcery magazine!

No, the Skull is not yet open to submissions. The stars are not yet right. Also, I wouldn’t have time to read them. But mostly the stars.

You can read the announcement here!

I haven’t seen any reviews yet of Issue 2, which leads me to think maybe going quarterly would be too frequent. I mean, if people haven’t found time to read the second issue yet in the last few months, how would they find time to have read TWO issues in the last few months?

As the time for the new Kickstarter nears, I hope you’ll help spread the word. I want to reach even more readers this time.

Existing issues can be purchased here. Note that the PDF of 2 is not yet available. Soon, though.

Link Day

Copyright Darian Jones

It’s me, Link Man! I’ve returned to assist Howard while he toils away on numerous important and mysterious projects, none of which probably involve mucking the stables!

First, Deuce Richardson’s authored an interesting article over at DMR books you really ought to look at, especially if you’re a fan of sword-and-sorcery, H.P. Lovecraft, and/or the origins of modern fantasy.

Second, the redoubtable S.E. Lindberg has interviewed the talented Richard Lee Byers, and you really ought to check it out.

Third, Inwell Ideas has released two new encounter decks. I’m a big fan of these — they’re adventure outlines on cards, with a location map on one side and an adventure outline on the other. It’s great stuff if you’re an experienced game master. Each outline comes with the situation, possible hooks, possible complications, and conclusions. If you’ve got the books with rules and monsters, but you need a quick plot, these things are awesome, and highly recommended by yours truly.

Link Man away!

GenCon 2018 Part 3

Leonardo da Vinci, apparently caught in a stasis field at my Indianapolis hotel.

Last week I mentioned that I was, in a way, wearing four kinds of hats when I attended GenCon 2018, and spent most of a post talking about looking around at nifty game treasures and working at the Goodman Games booth.

Wearing the ‘ol writer’s hat, I approached various friends and friendly acquaintances and asked if they’d be interested in considering my upcoming novel for a blurb. As I mentioned early last week, it’s much, much simpler to approach people if you already know them, which is why it’s good to begin attending conventions sooner rather than later, although I wasn’t that mercenary or clever. I first started attending conventions to meet the writers and editors of the stories I loved and to try to find a way into the industry. Doors I didn’t even realize  opened for me when I made friends and contacts with like-minded folks.

It was wonderful to talk shop with other writers. I always find that experience helps recharge me. I spent a lot of time with Steve Diamond (with me in the pic to the left), Kelly and Laura McCullough, Scott Lynch, and Elizabeth Bear, and reconnected with Max Gladstone and Maurice Broaddus, who showed us the cover of his new book. Backstage at the Writer’s Symposium there were more great conversations than would be possible to list. I chatted with Richard Lee Byers and my old roommate Aaron Rosenberg. I talked story with David Mack, finally met the charming Alethea Kontiss in person, and heard a hilarious e-mail read aloud by Patrick Tomlinson. I chatted with Chris Jackson and Anne Jackson and gamed with Dan Wells and Steve Diamond and Jim Minz. I talked story with Mike Stackpole and Matt Forbeck, discussed world building with Erin Evans, and made a number of new friends, like Dana Cameron. I could go on and on and even then I’d leave people off!

Kelly Swails and Melanie Meadors took control of the symposium this year and did a bang-up job. Even with unexpected challenges that cropped up things ran smoothy and they maintained a calm demeanor. The panels were a blast, as usual. And the staff, both new and old, were a delight, and kept the convention running like clockwork. Despite a painful injury Stephanie Beebe was in fine spirits and joined me for some spontaneous crooning when I could no longer resist a grand piano tucked into the corner. She didn’t seem to mind that all I can remember anymore are Beatles and Badfinger tunes.

As an editor, one of the things I’m doing is seeking out the very best writers of sword-and-sorcery and adventure fiction, so I naturally approached or finalized some conversations with some authors I’ve been wanting to see in future issues of Tales From the Magician’s Skull. My editorial preferences for the Skull have much to do with future work I’d like to pursue when editing for Perilous Worlds. While I am NOT IN ANY WAY ACQUIRING FOR THE LINE (note the capital letters so that this point is absolutely clear) it’s good to get a feel for what books some of my favorite writers are working on, or are planning to work on.

Speaking of Perilous Worlds, when I left for the convention I had no idea that the overall company was going to have a presence there, so it was an unexpected pleasure when I was invited to a company reception Thursday evening. I thoroughly enjoyed discussions with the owners and many of those working for or with them. Machiavelli wrote that the first impression one has of a ruler is by looking at the people he has around him, which also speaks well of Cabinet, for they’re associating with fine folks like Bill and Cheryl Cavalier, Ennie award winner Jason Durall, Matt John, and many others. One of the highlights of the entire convention was the talk I, Jason, Matt, and Fredrik Malmberg had about Robert E. Howard and existing or potential future products. Fred demonstrated a deep and passionate knowledge of Robert E. Howard’s work that thrilled me. (And I also liked that both Fred and Steve Booth, Cabinet’s Chief Operating Officer, were fellow fans of Barbarian Prince!)

In addition to all this, I caught up with old friends, like Ennie award winning writer Sarah Newton, who gifted me with the fabulous hardbacks of two new game books, one for her excellent Mindjammer game and the other for the glorious Capharnum, a gorgeous book that really must be seen and held to be believed.

I met up with Black Gate‘s roving correspondent Matthew Wuertz, cosplaying as both Rick AND Morty, and it may be that the universe finally shifted in some way, because after almost a quarter century I FINALLY met my old friend Joseph McCullough in person. It was a real thrill. Joseph is now the mastermind behind Osprey’s Frostgrave game and living in Wales. Once, though, we were young men of about the same age dreaming of getting published, and struck up a friendship as we kept appearing in the same small-press zines of the early ’90s. It was a sincere pleasure to finally sit down face to face.

There’s plenty more that I could share, but I have a pile of work to do, so I’ll sign off and attempt to resume more regular blog updates in the coming days. I’ve temporarily put my site re-design on hold, pending some free moments, but I still have plans for a revamp, so things might shuffle around from time to time in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll let me know if you find any broken links or dead ends!

 

 

GenCon 2018 Part 2

One way to think about my GenCon presence this year was as a wearer of 4 hats. Hat 1 was as a writer, meeting other writers, editors, and fans. Hat 2 was as a magazine editor and employee of Goodman Games. Hat 3 was as an editor for Perilous Worlds. And hat 4 was as a big fan of role-playing games, boardgames, and books.

I didn’t get as much of a chance to wear hat 4 this year, in part because I was so busy (and gratefully so) wearing the other hats. But I was also constrained in part because of an endless basement remodel. With a lot of our budget still tied up in turning our cinder block storage area into a nice living space I just didn’t feel right buying all the nifty things that interested me, which is why I made only two game purchases. One was a book of magic items for the Arcanis roleplaying game, which I mentioned yesterday, and the other was a nifty looking Viking solitaire game from Decision Games. Online here it’s showing up as $14.00 but I’m almost positive I only spent $12.00 on it at the convention. Anyway, it looks like it’s going to be fun.

That’s not to say I didn’t come home with some other treasures, and I’ll be talking about them next time. This post, feast your eyes upon the wonders I acquired from working at the Goodman Games booth.

I love the artwork featured so prominently through the main Dungeon Crawl Classics game book and every other official product. By working at the booth, I even met some of the artists, as well as the writers! Working at the booth became one of the surprise highlights of the convention for me. Not only did I get a cool t-shirt and these great books, I got to know the Goodman Games creators, and the intelligent, articulate, and dedicated fans — not to mention some curious newcomers. The talented Stefan Poag gifted me with an autographed copy of his newest release, Mother of Toads! If you’re not familiar with him, check out the link, or look at the special art feature in issue 2 of Tales From the Magician’s Skull!

I also got to shake hands with the first Legion of the Skull member I saw in the wild. He was wearing his secret pin, you see, so I knew where his allegiance lay! I wish I’d had the presence of mind to get my picture with him.

I did, however, get a picture of Joseph over in a popular section of the Goodman Games booth — the Appendix N corner. Those old paperbacks were a constant draw for passers by. Many ancient treasures were acquired.

Joseph and I got to visit at length, and we discussed the future of Tales From the Magician’s Skull, old pulps, art, and short fiction and generally just had a great time. We met for breakfast Friday morning joined by Michael Curtis, the man behind the Goodman Games Lankhmar line and the primary author of most of the fine products featured in the picture above.

A few weeks back I gassed on about great gamemaster resources, and there at the con I found four more, all of which Michael had a major, or solitary, hand in writing. They’re fantastic stuff.

I had to leave Saturday evening, so I missed the big Goodman Games announcements that night, as well as the raffle Sunday afternoon. Joseph snapped a picture of me at the Goodman Games booth on Friday, holding up a copy of issue 2 (almost) hot off the printing press.

Next week I’ll probably tackle the rest of the great things I got to be involved with in two more posts.

 

GenCon 2018 Part 1

I had so much fun at GenCon this year it’s hard to know where to begin, but as I’m running late already today I’m just going to show you a few of the treasures I picked up.

First, while I was walking to the Modiphius booth with my friend Sarah Newton (talented writer and game designer) I glimpsed a nifty looking role-playing book with what looked like a Roman Legionnaire on the cover. I’ll share some more info about the treasures at the Modiphius booth in the coming days, after I’ve had more of a chance to absorb their glories.

I was so taken with what turned out to be the Arcanis booth that I dropped back by, looked through the books, and met Henry Lopez, the campaign setting’s author. He turned out to be a fan of my work, and after leafing through one book he generously gave me and another I bought I’m now a fan of his. Any of you regular visitors know what a sucker I am for the ancient Mediterranean as a setting. Lopez created a secondary world highly flavored by ancient Rome and other nations, dosed with some Robert E. Howardisms (like serpentmen) and then creatively applied new twists on some old tropes. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the system and its future releases. This is cooool stuff.

 

GenCon 2018

I’m back from GenCon with some amazing memories, some fine stories, and some gaming treasure, and I’ll probably be talking about some of it in the coming days. For now, let me just say that it was certainly the most enjoyable experience I’ve ever had at a convention.

Maybe you’ve met someone you’ve really admired, or reconnected with an old friend, or made a new one, or grown closer with a friendly acquaintance through shared experience. Maybe you’ve heard an inspiring lecture, or gotten some great career advice, or seen some amazing products you’d like to own, or played a great game session, or made important business contacts. If you’ve experienced any of these things, it might be the highlight of the day, or week, or month, or year. At a convention, those things can all happen over the course of a few days. What would normally be the best moment of an entire month or maybe even year can happen the next hour after another similarly memorable event.

That’s what happened to me this year.

I’ve tried writing about why writers should attend conventions before and I don’t think I’ve ever quite summarized it as well as I just did here. Now not all of the above happened to me the first time I went to a convention, or the second, but some of it did. The more times you attend, and the more you mingle, the more friendships and connections you forge. That is, if you’re kind and decent and socially skilled and passionate, but presumably all of you reading this meet that description.

For all of my readers who’re wanting to break into the business, I say again, go to conventions. And try to make one of those conventions your home con and get involved behind the scenes. Work hard, be pleasant, and doors will open. Never be that guy who chases down the editor and thrusts a manuscript into her hands as she’s sitting down for lunch. Play the long game. That can be hard to do if you’re impatient, but it will certainly increase your chances of success, and you won’t come off like a desperate fool instead of your normally pleasant self.

Also, go to good conventions. The Writer’s Symposium at GenCon is one of the very best, and I can hardly wait to return next year.

New Developments

I’m heading off to GenCon in just a few hours for a whirlwind of activity, but before I go I wanted to thank Troy and Dale and Mick for alerting me to the pre-order cancellation issue with my new book. Because you told me so swiftly, my publisher was able to get to the problem in a timely manner. For the Killing of Kings should be available for pre-order again by the end of the week.

I also had some exciting news to share. I’m now the Executive Editor of the Perilous Worlds imprint for Cabinet Entertainment. There’s an article here discussing the imprint itself. I’m very impressed with the team and their plans and thrilled to be a part of what they’re building. When I return from GenCon, one of my first duties will be to begin editing John Chris Hocking’s second Conan novel, Conan and the Living Plague. Any of you regular visitors know that I’ve been championing this book for years, and I am pleased and honored to be involved in seeing it finally reach the audience it deserves.

This doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop doing all of my other activities, although I may need to change some things — like possibly hiring someone else to trim this big property! Between writing, and Tales From the Magician’s Skull, and this new post, I’m going to have a lot to do. But I’m going to be very happy.

I finished the copy edits and a slow, careful read aloud of For the Killing of Kings and returned it to my publisher yesterday. Just made the deadline! After this week I’ll get back to revision of it’s sequel, which is starting to smooth out nicely

At GenCon, I’ll be on two panels Thursday, one at 10:00 in historical fantasy, and one at 11:00 titled Creating History in your Speculative World. Friday I have one panel, at 11:00, What’s Hot and Not: Fantasy. Apart from that, you’re most likely to find me either wandering around the panels (especially Thursday) or hanging out at the Goodman Games booth in the Great Hall. Friday I’ll be there most of the afternoon until the booth closes, and Saturday I’ll be there from 10 until 2.

I’ll have a lot going on for the rest of the week and I may not be able to report about it until my return. Here’s hoping I see some of you in Indianapolis!

News

Every day, most of this week, I’m sitting down with the manuscript of For the Killing of Kings and slowly reading it aloud. I’m addressing any copyeditor questions and suggestions, and also making some minor tweaks. This is the next to last chance for me to make any changes, and the last real chance to make any substantive changes — adding entire lines and paragraphs and the like. I’ll have a final shot to correct typos, but this is about it. So it’s kind of important.

GenCon is taking place next week, and I’m looking forward to that. I’ve been leafing through some cool game stuff I traded away for on my birthday. One of my favorite acquisitions is a compilation of the first four issues of Fight On! magazine. I’m late to the party, for I think at this point the magazine is defunct. If the first four issues are anything to go by, it’s a wonderful resource for creative old school gaming, with inventive adventures and hex crawls and dungeons, suggestions for alternate rules and classes, and various other goods that are quite inspiring. It really is a treasure trove.

I haven’t been reading much, although two books I’ve been wanting for a while recently arrived, again courtesy of my birthday. Fire Dance, by Illana C. Myer, sequel to Last Song Before Night. I’ve sung the praises of the latter on the site before, and am definitely looking forward to the sequel.

The second book is from the Robert E. Howard Foundation, and collects some final weird fiction uncompiled in any of the other book releases either from Del Rey or the fine line of publications from the foundation. There are a few stories in here I’ve never read, and I realized the other day that I’m actually putting off reading them because (apart from juvenilia, which doesn’t much interest me) they will be the LAST Robert E. Howard stories I read for the first time. It still stuns me how much great fiction that man wrote in so short a span of time. (That book would be Pictures in the Fire, and you can find it here.)

I am in the midst of some really exciting career developments. I hope to announce them prior to GenCon. Watch this space!

 

Calamityware

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, well, fine china is cool, but it needs more sasquatches, giant robots, and sea monsters, have I got a site for you.

Why settle for the ordinary when you’re hosting a fancy dinner party?

Seriously, these things are cool. My friend Nick pointed these out to me a few weeks ago and I thought it high time I share them. Visit the Calamityware site and look around!

I am nose to the grindstone for the next week, so my posts are apt to be a little less frequent. Bear with me — I’m getting important writing work done.

Tabletop Gaming: Hexcrawls, Campaign Settings, & Adventures

In my last entry in this four-part series, intended to be of use to fellow gamers when they pop by RPGNow in the upcoming Christmas in July sale, I’m discussing some more of my favorite game mastering tools. And I’m going to cheat.

I get a lot of my adventure advice from the review columns written by Bruce Lynch over at Ten Foot Pole. Bruce ruthlessly looks at every adventure he can lay his hands on, and mostly he finds things he doesn’t like. When he DOES enjoy an adventure, though, it’s almost always for the same reasons I like a pre-packaged adventure — cool places to visit, neat things to interact with, great characters to meet, a compelling hook, prose that’s engaging and organized, treasures beyond the ordinary, and so on. And like me, he despises the Tomb of Horrors and similarly styled player killer adventures. He also shares my love of strange faerie elements and bits from folklore.

I differ with his preferences only a little in that A.) I’m not as big a fan of mixing in weird science fiction elements into my fantasy settings, aka “gonzo” material (but Bruce always indicates whether the adventure includes those) and B.) I’ve yet to run a megadungeon that my players care for. The latter places me in the minority of game players, I guess. It seems like every other game master I meet has his players in a megadungeon.

With that preamble out of the way, allow me to point you towards the best adventures listed on Bruce Lynch’s Ten Foot Pole site. And then permit me to point you towards his “no regerts” category (yes, that’s spelled that way on purpose) where he lists the runner-up adventures, some of which I’ve found just as good as those on his best-of list. Look closely, because some of those on both lists are actually FREE. That’s right, wonderful, top-rated free adventures, like the one in the picture there. Bruce’s thumbnails don’t always indicate if they’re free, so look around.

I’ll call out just a few adventures he discusses for extra emphasis. First, the material created by the Hydra Cooperative is wildly inventive, engaging and fun, and has a weird fantasy Russia flavor. Second, the new Dungeon Crawl Classics adventures are pretty much dependably excellent. If you’re running standard OSR games, they’ll require a little retooling, though. There are many, many more that I absolutely agree are wonderful, and more that he’s recommended that I’m hoping to buy and read very soon.

As far as big campaign books and hex crawls, I’ve already mentioned Sine Nomine, but I’ll mention them again because anything Kevin Crawford writes is awesome. If you’re interested in gaming any one of the settings he covers in his books, pick it up. Even if you’re not planning to run his exact setting, just one that’s similar, you’ll find a gold mine of ideas. If you want confirmation about the excellence of his work you can always try out the free version of Stars Without Number.

Some years back Goodman Games came out with two hex crawl supplements, Points of Light and Points of Light II. The first dealt with four kinds of mainland campaigns, the second with four seagoing campaigns, and each book is a pretty great start for a campaign setting, with built-in mysteries and complications.

I wrote a detailed review of Monster Island over at Black Gate a few years back, and I stand by its excellence. The booklet is intended to be used for Rune Quest, so OSR users will need to do some conversion. It’s worth it, especially if you want a fully-realized tropical setting. My earlier review is here.

Speaking of tropical settings, check out the absolutely free, and also absolutely wonderful, Fire in the Jungle. I loved it so much I paid for a print edition of the booklet. It has an awesome map, the tomb of a monkey god, great jungle encounter tables and cool people and things to interact with, and much more.

Here’s another great tropical hex crawl, , which deserves all of the sterling reviews it’s received. It may be the finest organized hex crawl yet written, and might well (hopefully) usher in a new model for how these things can be put together.

I’ll point you towards an earlier review I did of my three favorite James Stater hex crawls. I found that I ended up with mixed feelings about some of his other work because I’m not as much of a fan of mixing gonzo elements with straight fantasy settings. But three of them that he did for the Hex Crawl Chronicles line are among the finest role-playing supplements I’ve ever read, and one of them brings the wonderful weird and haunting otherworldly vibe without making it “gonzo” as well. I’ve been using a (somewhat modified) version of one of those three as a setting for years. If you don’t want to go back and read the details of why I liked them, here’s the buy link to the three I enjoyed most, Hex Crawl Chronicles 2, 3, and 4.

Talislanta is one of the most wonderful campaign settings every set to paper, and now the whole thing is available as a set of free downloadble PDFs. It’s like Vance crossed with Robert E. Howard, and there are multiple story hooks on nearly every page. If you’re a gamer you owe it to yourself to go look it over and see why I love the work of Steven Michael Sechi, and while I’ll never part with my hardcopies of the books even if it may be years yet before I use them again.

Sechi’s likewise the original creator of the Atlantis: The Second Age setting books, now expanded upon by like-minded souls at Khepera press. These are full-color and beautiful and still in print — and more Atlantis material is coming out every year. You ought to be reading these.

Both Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and Crypts and Things have good sword-and-sorcery campaign settings built into their books, and so does the unjustly neglected Legends of Steel. Even if the settings are painted in broad strokes, their creators really understood the feel and the vibe and bring it in style. Barbarians of Lemuria is a different system, but likewise has a cool little campaign world and what is a flat-out genius story generation system for sword-and-sorcery adventures. I liked it so much I even created a little add-on for it.

Beyond the Wall and its two expansion supplements bring the feel of YA adventures like The Chronicles of Prydain, and come complete with their slightly modified OSR system and delightful adventure generators.

Yoon Suin is a weird little southeast Asian inspired place, populated by curious monsters and written by a mad genius with immense creative gifts. I’ve yet to run it, but I won’t part with it, either, because it’s so brilliant. If you want to take your characters to some place strange and beautiful, you ought to pick this up.

I’ve said before that 50 Fathoms is one of the finest campaigns I’ve ever read. Even if you’re not a Savage Worlds reader, if you love storytelling you ought to check out this pirate themed high-seas fantasy campaign.

Lastly, I want to give an honorable mention to a product line that looks pretty darned cool, but that I haven’t yet read, Dolmenwood, by Gavin Norman. He’s the creative fellow who came up with the Vivimancer class I mentioned in a previous article, along with some really cool B/X rules and character classes. I was so taken with what he’d done with the Rogue class that I provided some initial feedback on his rules for the warrior class.

My previous posts have covered Treasure, Design, and Tableside Resources.