Matt Forbeck's Blog, page 51

New Amortals Review

Cyril Pasteau gives Amortals an excellent review over at his website. Among other things, he says:

"Amortals is a very enjoyable summer read. It is packed with action and reads like a Hollywood blockbuster script."

That's just the sort of feedback I like.

Gen Con Seminars

A few people recorded a number of the seminars in which I took part at Gen Con. I don't have details for all of them yet, but right now you can go listen to a whole bunch of the seminars over on Jason Pitre's site. Scroll down there, and you'll see "The No-Nos of Game Design," on which I joined Stan!, Jeff Bellinger, and Daniel Solis. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

You can tell this one was early in the convention, as I still have most of my voice left. I always get hoarser as the days roll on.

On the Star Wars Book Report

The fine fellows over at Star Wars Book Report interviewed me just before I left for Gen Con. The interview is now up on their site and ready for your listening pleasure. The conversation ranged over a wide swathe of material, although it mostly focused on Star Wars vs. Star Trek, of course. I had a great time chatting with the guys over there, and I think you might enjoy the talk because of that.

The Marvel RPG

One other big thing happened at Gen Con. The Margaret Weis Productions team announced that their big license for their next roleplaying game is from Marvel Comics! MWP creative director Cam Banks asked me to join the team developing the base game, which puts me in the lineup next to folks like Will Hindmarch, Jesse Scoble, Jeremy Keller, Amanda Valentine, Rob Donoghue, and Phil Menard.

More details to come as the MWP folks release them to be shared.

Back from Gen Con!

I had a fantastic time at Gen Con this past weekend. My eldest son Marty came along for the entire trip, and Ann drove the quads up for the rest of the weekend on Friday. The little ones (who are now 9) had never been to Gen Con before, but they'd heard all about it — and a lot of my friends at the show had heard all about them.

I'm jamming on several deadlines at once at the moment, so I don't have time for a full recap right now, but the highlights include:

Hosting the Diana Jones Award party and announcing that the award went to Jason Morningstar's RPG Fiasco.
Celebrating my birthday at Gen Con the next day — along with Rob Schwalb, who shares the day with me.
Playing in the True Dungeon VIP game on Saturday with Marty, along with Mike Selinker, Monte Cook, Colin McComb, Eric Harshbarger, Ray Vallese, and a fistful of other game designers. Even with that kind of dream team, we got barbecued by a red dragon at the end, but we had a ball.
Having my wife and kids with me at the show for the first time ever.
Catching up with old friends.
Making new ones.
Sitting on the writing and game design panels. I always learn as much as I offer up.
The Friday night Reactor 88 Studios after party.
Meeting puppeteer Jim Martin, who also directs on Sesame Street.
Playing games with Marty, Ron Maggin, and Brad McWilliams in the Mayfair Games suite.
The way the Steve Jackson Games team treated my kids like royalty, especially Andrew Hackard, Paul Chapman, Phil Reed, and even Steve himself, who hadn't been to Gen Con in 10 years. Blame John Kovalic for turning my brood into Munchkin addicts.
Hanging out with my ENnies Dream Date a bit on Wednesday and Thursday nights — and then seeing him for five minutes during the actual cocktail party we were supposed to attend together.
Watching Jeff Tidball and Ken Hite fight crime, '70s style.
Giving a complete stranger the shirt off my back at a party while my consigliere Ken Hite negotiated the details of its return.
Doing some actual business.
Having so many of my great friends meet my kids, who've they've heard me blather on about for years, especially John Zinser, who made sure to fill their arms with games.

Thanks so much to everyone who came to my seminars and especially those who came to my book signing. An extra special thanks to the Gen Con management and staff, my incredible friends who treat me and my family so well at the show and do such a fine job running it. This was my 30th Gen Con in a row, and I'm planning on at least another 30 more!

MWP Panel Added

I recently added another panel to my Gen Con schedule: Capes, Capers, and Cannons: Margaret Weis Productions Q&A. This is Friday at 1 PM, and while I cannot guarantee I'll be there for the whole two hours, you can bet I'll be around for the big announcement of their new roleplaying game license. Join us if you can!

Reactor 88 Gen Con Afterparties

I host a few parties at Gen Con, notably the Diana Jones Award Ceremony shindig, which is for industry professionals only. (If you qualify and need details, just ping me for them.) Over the past few years, I've also helped out with the Reactor 88 Studios afterparty, traditionally held on Friday at the SubTerra Lounge (250 S. Meridian St., in Indy). This starts at 9 PM and is open to any and all who care to join us.

That's been such a success that the Reactor 88 folks have decided to expand the party to Saturday night as well. Join us at the same place and the same time, just the next night. Hope to see you there!

Lots of Star Wars vs. Star Trek

I've been on the road for the past few weeks, wandering about the Northwoods of Michigan and Wisconsin, but I'm back now, trying to catch up and gear up for Gen Con at the same time. Since I last posted about it, I've done a lot of press for Star Wars vs. Star Trek, including the following bits.

First off, I was on the Sean Moncrieff show on Ireland's Newstalk Radio, and I chatted with the pleasant and funny show's namesake for about 10 minutes and had a grand time. You can find a recording of it on the show's highlights podcast on iTunes.

I also was on This Week in Geek with the Birdman. We had a bit more time to spend, and the chat ranged over a broader spectrum of topics, but it highlighted Star Wars vs. Star Trek for sure. 

There's also a great review of the book over by Tabz over at Quadruple Z. She loved the book, writing "kudos to Matt for not making it another academic discussion."

At Cinema Sentries, Mary Kay enjoyed the book too. She writes: "For any lover of science fiction, fantasy, or just plain debate, this book is full of real life facts and lots of fun "what-ifs"."

At J.K. Woodward's website, he got a kick out of the book: "I cannot reccommend this book enough!!"

Also, at the Daily Blam!, David Anderson gives the book high praise. "I found this book to be instructive, detailed, and most importantly, fun."

 

Far West Fiction

My longtime gaming industry pal Gareth-Michael Skarka recently put up a tabletop roleplaying game project on Kickstarter called Far West. This is an idea that I've watched him kick around for years, and I was thrilled to see him return to it with a renewed sense of purpose. The Kickstarter campaign went so well that it got funded in record time (15 hours!), and Gareth immediately set to figuring out how to offer his supporters even more for their money.

To that end, Gareth tapped a number of his writer friends — myself included — to write tales for a Far West fiction anthology. It's a fantastic lineup of writers:

Tessa Gratton (Blood Magic, Werewolves & Shapeshifters, Corsets and Clockwork)
Dave Gross (Prince of Wolves, Master of Devils, former editor of Amazing Stories)
Shane Hensley (Deadlands: Perdition's Daughter; The Good, The Bad and The Dead)
Will Hindmarch (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, The Bones: Us and Our Dice)
Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves)
Ari Marmell (The Conqueror's Shadow, Agents of Artifice, The Goblin Corps, etc.)
Aaron Rosenberg (various novels for Star Trek, StarCraft, Warcraft, Eureka, Stargate Atlantis andWarhammer)
Eddy Webb (Senior Transmedia Developer, CCP/White Wolf)
Chuck Wendig (Double Dead, Blackbirds, Irregular Creatures)
…and, of course, the FAR WEST development team of T.S. Luikart and Gareth-Michael Skarka
Plus me.

If you're interested in the anthology or the game, be sure to chip in on the Kickstarter project and pick up an ebook version of them both for your troubles. Gareth's lined up all sorts of additional incentives for those of you who might want to kick in a little more too, so be sure to check it out.

Carpathia Cover

The sales drive for Carpathia, my next original novel from Angry Robot, is gearing up. This Titanic-themed horror novel will be out in time for the 100th anniversary of the tragic loss of the "unsinkable" ship, which means we've less than eight months to go. Part of getting that marketing machine in motion involves the release of the cover, which you can see here.

The fine folks at Angry Robot showed me a half-dozen ideas for the cover, and we unanimously settled upon this one as the best of an excellent lot. Look for it on shelves in March, 2012.