Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Grark!

Can't blog, madly prepping for Dreamation.

In related news, IPR is down to single digit stock levels on all my products, so I need to do a restock. Cool!

James

Labels: pimping my stuff, publishing

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Note to self:

James: IPR has sold out of Brick Battles. Go make more.

thanks,

me.

Labels: pimping my stuff, publishing

Friday, November 23, 2007

Googley Goodness

Hunh. Every once in a while, I'll google my games, just to see where they're falling and if there's any new discussion of them, or whatever.

It's kind of funky. All of my games are front pages results for searches on the title.

"blank shield" - Blank Shield Press is pretty close to the top (#4) when you run this (and pops right to the top as soon as you combine it with anything like game), which hasn't been the case in times past.

"blood and bronze" - I'm not stunningly suprised with results for Blood and Bronze - it's a unique-ish name, although having the top result is gratifying.

"brick battles" - Oddly enough, the BSP page for Brick Battles is no where to be found in the first several pages of links. However, the top 4 results are all different site results for BB - Board Game Geek, Brickwars, brickwiki and IPR. So that's cool. I also found a bunch of indications of actual play. Sweet!

"death's door" - this is the one that really blew my socks off. See, 'death's door' is a stunningly common phrase. Like, not just out there in general, but also in gaming circles - apparantly it's the whole "being at zero hit points" term for D&D and a bunch of other games. And there's a D20 supplement/module called "At Death's Door" and a couple other things. And there's a flash or java game or something like that splattered all across the 'net. And a movie called 'At Death's Door'. And a couple mainstream books published called "Death's Door". Not to mention the Gaimen "Death: At Death's Door" comic. When I did this search a couple years ago, the first mention of my game was buried about 15 pages deep in Google. Today? Result #3. Combine it with "rpg" or "game" actually drops it down in the ratings. Very, very cool.

Neat.

James

Labels: pimping my stuff, publishing

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

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

Monday, March 12, 2007

Now Taking Pre-orders

Hi folks,

Now taking pre-orders for TANSTAAFL T-shirts at $20 per. If you want one, post a comment with size preference. Plain black T's, with TANSTAAFL in white block lettering on the front, and small-text "www.blankshieldpress.com" on the left sleeve. T-shirt only, no babydolls this time around, unless I get lots of requests.

I need enough pre-orders to convince me I won't lose money, otherwise the shirts don't get ordered. TANSTAAFL.

James

Labels: geekery, pimping my stuff, publishing

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