Wednesday, July 08, 2009

The summer, it is full.

So, umm... Where did June go? I swear it was here just a second ago.

Summer is pretty full this year. To borrow from my favorite 6 year old philosopher, The Days Are Just Packed.

I just got back from Go Play Northwest, which was a fantastic weekend of gaming.

I've been doing a bunch of writing for Reality Cops - mostly compiling from various scribbles, playtest notes, brainstorming notes, and the dark recesses of my brain, and producing the text which will be the ashcan edition for Gencon.

From July 18-26 (roughly), we're camping at Greenwater, the first weekend in August is Quad War, the weekend after that is batizado, and then we're back at the previously mentioned Gencon on the week/weekend after that. Then two weeks of breather, and school's in again.

Somewhere in there, I need to finish the brick patio under our balcony, and do a bunch of work on the Quadwar cabin, and hey, it would be kinda nice if we were able to take a few days with the new tent trailer (we're cabin-ing at Greenwater, because we didn't know/weren't sure we'd have the trailer when we had to book).

At least I don't need to fit time in to make more bowls for Blood and Bronze... I re-injured my frakking wrist, which means it will be probably a month or more before I can swing a hammer. So, no new sets of Without Peer for Gencon this year. :(

James

Labels: Blood and Bronze, capoeira, geekery, Reality Cops

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Brought to you by the letter "ow"...

So folks in my immediate circle already know this, in the specific, and most everyone knows this in the general case, but: I can sometimes be pretty stupid, and it makes my life complicated.

This particular example of stupid is, while sporting a sprained left wrist from falling badly in capoeira on the 4th (a week ago Thurs.), I went to the roda on that Saturday, because people (myself among them) were being given their capoeira names.

Capoeira names is kind of a big deal, because it, even more than a corda or whatever, is a "you're a capoeistra now" change. It's a tradition that grew out of the need for secret names from when capoeira was still a hidden and persecuted slave martial art. So anyway, super-enthusiastic newly minted capoeistra me wants to go and get his secret name, so he goes to the roda.

And get my feet swept out from under me. And fall badly. Again. I stopped myself with both hands, and the blinding pain shooting up my left arm managed to distract me for quite a while, so it wasn't until the roda was almost over* that I realized my right arm was kinda sore.

Yeah, that kind of stupid. So here we are a week later, and I've got soft tissue (tendons or muscles or ligaments or all of the above) damage to both my left wrist and my right elbow.

Leaving aside that this complicates work (can't lift things, turning a screwdriver is actively painful), home (can't lift things, opening things is tricky), capoeira (can't put any weight on my hands), and a bunch of other stuff (clean out the garage? Lay more laminate floor? Hah!), we come to, finally, the point of this post.

I can't make more bowls for Blood and Bronze right now. And all of my product is now carried through IPR, which includes Blood and Bronze Without Peer!. And, drum roll please...

I have an order for one. And no bowls to fill it with. Spider Robinson was right. God is an Iron.

James

*Yes, I stayed until the end. I even played once or twice more. What? Why are you looking at me like that?

Labels: Blood and Bronze, capoeira, publishing

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Gencon!

So, now that I've lollyblogged my way into no readers, here's an update.

I'm getting on a plane for Gencon on Tuesday (technically 00:30 Wednesday) for Gencon Indy 07. I'm really looking forward to this year. I'm not running any Brick Battles events, which frees up my luggage and my time, and I'm table custodian at least once at the Games On Demand area. It's unfortunatly way far away from the dealer's hall, but conveniently downstairs from our hotel room, so I may end up spending more of my time there than I might otherwise. Which is good, becuase - hey, games - on demand.

Evenings will again be spent gaming in the lounge/open area at the Embassy Suites, and I hope to get in lots of good gaming this year. The night that is the exception is Wednesday, which I'm spending getting interviewed again for Theory from the Closet, which should be interesting. This time out, it's less about me and my stuff, and more about game design/theory in general. I'm not sure when I became an authority in this stuff; someone must have pinned a note to my back while I wasn't looking.

My days are going to be taken up in the Dealer's Hall, as I'm again with the forge booth - this time as a primary sponser. As best I can tell so far, that means I shell out more money, earlier, and get a bit more weight when I bitch about things. :)

Blood and Bronze IS ready, and there will be a good stock of regular editions, as well as five of the handcrafted Without Peer! editions. From the rumblings I've heard, I kinda wish I had more, but it was not in the cards - handcrafting is time consuming, and as you may have guessed from my last couple posts, I've been a touch busy.

Labels: Blood and Bronze, geekery, pimping my stuff, publishing

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Some days I'm slower than others...

So, one of the things I've been stumbling over is whenever I talk about Blood and Bronze, and the two versions coming out, I haven't had a good shorthand name for the fancy version. I'm calling it "the one with the hand-hammered bown and metal tokens and round rules and playaids and..." which is good for description, not so good for naming conventions.

Today, I realized the answer was staring me in the face the whole time. I am releasing Blood and Bronze in two editions. Regular and Without Peer!

Labels: Blood and Bronze, pimping my stuff

Monday, May 07, 2007

Interview with a Game Designer

I'm a game designer. Who knew? Any, the excellent Clyde Rhoer ofTheory From the Closet cornered me at Forge Midwest a few weeks ago, and sat me in front of a microphone. I had my revenge, though - nobody warned Clyde that I don't know how to shut up.

Anyway, it's a really excellent interview, although, due to the aformentioned "don't know how to shut up" also quite long. Clyde asked some very insightful questions, and really drew me out about some of the thinking and reasoning behind my games.

Check it out. Also check out his other interviews from Forge Midwest. Aside from little ol' me, he managed to corral Ron Edwards, Luke Crane, and Paul Czege.

James

Labels: Blood and Bronze, geekery, pimping my stuff, publishing

Friday, March 30, 2007

CH-ch-ch-changes

It's been a busy week, and the weekend promises to be even busier. One of the things I've done is a mild update on the website. Poke around and see what's changed. Let me know if you like the cover for Blood and Bronze.

Friday night gaming still is, this week, but without me, 'cause I'm off to be a hedonistic Edwardian vampire. But I have it on good authority that Raven is roasting a big lump of cow. Moo.

Also, my Tuesday eggs was actually on Wednesday. Oops!

James

Labels: Blood and Bronze, Friday gaming, publishing

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Joy of crafting

I just spent a bunch of my afternoon pounding out flat circles of bronze and brass, turning them in to bowls to get packaged with Blood and Bronze.

Metal-working is something I haven't had much chance to do since I was an active heavy fighter in the SCA, and I'd forgotten how much joy I took in the rythmic hammering, turning the metal, seeing it change and warp before my eyes and under my hands. In knowing when to turn something, and how to make a dishing post. In learning how brass and bronze shape differently, and how both are different from steel. In sitting in my garage watching people walking dogs and kids on bikes and all the other activity of a community on a warm spring day, and imagining in my mind's eye that this was one of the reasons a blacksmith's forge was often open to the street, so that they could be a part of the street and still work. In the stiffness and pain of my hands, knowing that it is my hands saying 'enough for now, we're still remembering how to do this'. In thinking ahead, and contemplating bringing these tools out to our SCA cabin, so that I can work metal and watch the community go by, and be like that blacksmith in my mind.

I hope I sell a bunch of these, 'cause, well, I hope I sell a bunch of these. But there's a little corner of my brain that's saying "So that I can make more bowls!"

Do you craft?

James

Labels: Blood and Bronze, geekery

Saturday, March 10, 2007

So, after pretty much totally giving up, I had one last lead actually follow through, and it looks very much like I will be able to produce a high-end version of Blood and Bronze with metal tokens, a hand-made brass bowl and all the rest for a fairly reasonable "boardgame" kind of price.

This will run parallel to a plain version of the game, which comes with cardstock counters, and is priced more in line with the "typical" indie game.

The high end version won't have a margin that will ever see it in a retail store, but will do fine for convention and web sales.

I'm totally stoked about being able to actually get something out that matches my initial plans for the game!

James

Labels: Blood and Bronze, publishing