The Designer Monologues

Joining our pre-order program for Thrilling Tales, announced earlier in the week, we've launched pre-orders for the True20 edition of The Imperial Age and our first licensed product for The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, The Tome of Secrets. Click on the cover images for each products' info:

      

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I've finally gone live with my personalized consulting services for games publishers, in variable terms, tailored to your company's specific needs.

I'm also offering a guarantee: I will increase your sales by at least the consulting fee, or I'll refund the difference.

Click the logo for more info.

We've just put the new edition of THRILLING TALES up for pre-order -- When it goes to the printer at the end of this month, pre-order customers will get the PDF, plus an exclusive PDF adventure, and also receive a copy of the book when it ships in October.

Click the link for more info.

A video of a live performance by Amanda Palmer at the Troubadour Club in West Hollywood last Thursday --

She does a cover of "Billie Jean" as a tribute to Michael Jackson, who had died earlier that day.

I would love for her to record this as a single (unlikely, given her label troubles). It's amazing.

(I'm not going to embed this one: Just go here and watch it on YouTube.)

Making carne adovada for dinner -- started the process yesterday, and it will be done in another 90 minutes or so. The smell is filling the house, and it's KILLING me.

For posterity's sake (and for anyone who wants to yoink it), my recipe:

1) 12 oz. of Ancho chiles (dried Poblanos). Soak em in water for 2 hours, to rehydrate. Then, take them out of the water, cut the stems and seed pods out (if you don't get 'em all, don't worry -- a few seeds will add a little bit of heat), and cut the Anchos up with kitchen scissors, and put them in a food processor with 1 chopped white onion, 8 cloves of fresh garlic (smashed), 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of oregano, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 cup of white vinegar, and 2 cups of hot water. Process the living hell out of it, making a sauce (basically, my version of a chile caribe).

2) Take 3 lbs of pork (I used 1.5 lbs of pork loin, and 1.5 lbs of pork chops -- i.e., what we had in the house), and cut it into 2-inch rough cubes. Put it into a glass bowl and pour the sauce over the pork, stirring to make sure it gets around all of the meat. Then, cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

3) The next day, bring the mixture back to room temperature, and then put it in a glass baking dish, and cover tightly with foil. Place in a preheated 425-degree oven, and cook for 90 minutes. Drain any excess water from the dish, and then cook uncovered at 325 for another 60 minutes.

4) Serve with tortillas, sour cream, cheese and/or guacamole; or over rice. (We'll probably be doing both.)


ARGH. The smell! I want it NOW. NOMNOMNOM..

So, Paizo has announced that they're going to sell the PDF of the 500+ page, $50 hardcover Pathfinder RPG rulebook for ten bucks.

Very, very smart.

Of course in various threads across the internet, people are saying that this means that "Paizo doesn't care about local game stores" and other nonsense.

Yes, kids -- we're back to the whole "PDFs are new-fangled jibbajabba, of De Debbil, and designed to put Game Stores out of business" bullshit.

Cue Marcus King editorial in 5... 4... 3...

Nah, screw it -- just read his editorial from back in April, replace "Green Ronin" with "Paizo", and that'll save him the trouble of writing a new one.


I posted the following on a thread at ENWorld, and I figured it was worth repeating here:



I'm sure this will irritate some game stores, and I'm sure we'll hear about it, on the internet.

I'm also sure that I, for one, couldn't care less.

Let me tell you a little story:

This past April, at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas, immediately following the whole WOTC pulls PDFs/Marcus King/Green Ronin spat, I ran a free seminar, entitled "Games Publishing and Retail for the New Media."

The stated purpose of the seminar was to present methods by which *everyone*, publisher and retailer alike, could make money via the changing new media paradigm in this industry.

It was scheduled in the space in between two WOTC seminars, detailing their release plans for MTG and D&D. Scheduled in the same room, in fact -- so the only effort that retailers would need to undertake was: Stay in their seats.

We had ONE (count 'em: 1) retailer attend.


The retailers attending GTS are supposed to be some of the best in the country, and even they couldn't be arsed to learn about how to make money from PDF sales and other forms of electronic delivery.

If they represent the best, what do you think the majority of the (let's be honest -- pitifully few) remaining retailers are like?

It's like the old saying -- except in this case, not only will the horses not drink, but they can't even be led to water.


So, really -- at this point, who cares what they think about PDFs? Most are going to stick to running their "Android's Dungeon" clubhouses until they inevitably go under, still complaining about how they were left behind by changes in the marketplace... Changes in which they've had every opportunity to take part, but ignored.

Here we go:

I heard this song on LOGO last week, quickly fell in love with it, and did a bit of research. Turns out that the group is fronted by the son of Shriekback founder Barry Andrews. I find that amusing, given what I consider to be the very 80s-alternative sound of the group. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, etc.: The Veils - "The Letter." I need to hear more from this band.

A bunch of us were watching the BBC series Being Human (about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost, trying to live normal lives and sharing a house together), when a song appeared, playing on a radio during a scene. My fellow viewers turned to the resident song-monkey and demanded to know what it was... and I had no idea! So, to recapture my honor, I did some digging. Turns out that the song is from 1988, and is one of those tracks that never really made it from the UK to hit big in the US (hence our unfamiliarity): Roachford - "Cuddly Toy."

Speaking of the 80s, this should make a lot of readers feel particularly old: This month, SPIN magazine is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Purple Rain. Yeah, let that sink in. As part of the month's coverage, there's a free download on their website of a covers album, where various artists do tracks from the original. I wasn't incredibly impressed, except for this one, which takes a staple of Prince's early-80s sound and gives it a Soul makeover: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - "Take Me With U."

Now, a genuine 80s track -- one of my favorites in a long list of favorites by this band: New Order - "Age of Consent."

Here's a song that the BBC has banned, because of it "making light of rape, religion, and abortion" -- Amanda Palmer chose to do it from the point of view of a vapid teenage girl, more obsessed with her favorite band than the events going on in the song. As she said, if she had done some emo, weepy, serious tone to the song, it most likely wouldn't have been a problem for the broadcaster. I love it -- though you should be warned that it's a serious earworm. You play it through once, and you'll be humming it all day: Amanda Palmer - "Oasis."

You ever have a band that you *hate* to like, because the lead singer is a complete waste of skin? Hole is like that for me. I really loved what they were doing musically, but Courtney Love just pisses me off. Here is my favorite track by the band I hate to like -- their absolutely stunning cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic: Hole - "Gold Dust Woman."

Lastly, Michael Jackson. Andrew Sullivan sums up everything I would say about him, so go read that. There is no denying the impact that the man had on music and pop culture, and so to mark his passing, I'm posting two of my favorites:

From Off The Wall, his pre-Thriller album, my all-time favorite MJ song: Michael Jackson - "Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough."

...and from Thriller itself, my favorite song from the album: Michael Jackson - "Wanna Be Starting Something."



...and there you have it. Enjoy.

The US will be playing Brazil in the Confederation Cup final on Sunday. A world-wide audience will watch.

Please go here to send the team a message, asking them to wear green wristbands for the match.

You can copy and paste this message:




To the U.S. soccer team players:

Please consider wearing green wristbands in your upcoming match in the Confederations Cup finale. It would be a sign of solidarity and compassion for your fellow soccer brethren who were banned from the game they love and face unthinkable repercussions for simply adorning a green wristband symbolizing peace and freedom. This is not politics, it is human rights. Any slap on the wrist you may face from FIFA pales in comparison to what the Iranian soccer team faced, and what the Iranian people face.

Make us proud. Make the world proud.

(Seen on various friends' pages)
Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
2. D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
3. Star Wars by Alan Dean Foster writing as George Lucas
4. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
5. Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock
6. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
7. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
8. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai by Earl Mac Rauch
9. Dune by Frank Herbert
10. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
11. Bare Bones: Conversations In Terror with Stephen King (a collection of interviews)
12. The List of 7 by Mark Frost
13. The Dark Tower (yes, the whole 7 books) by Stephen King
14. The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker
15. Sharpe's Rifles (well, the whole series, really) by Bernard Cornwell

The US just beat the #1 team in the world, Spain, in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup -- breaking Spain's world-record-tying 35-game unbeaten streak.

Holy crap.

Final score: 2-nil, and they played the last 7 minutes with only 10 men on the field due to a bullshit straight red card from the Ref for a routine tackle!

Holy crap.

Goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, but the real match-winner had to be goal keeper Tim Howard. He was being SHELLED out there.


Now the US moves on to the final against the winner of tomorrow's Brazil-South Africa match.


After an embarrassing start, the US finally woke up against Egypt, and now have pulled off what some are already calling the upset of the decade. If they can keep up this level of play in next year's World Cup....

...but no, it's too early. I can't even *think* that.

The official announcement of our print partnership with Cubicle 7 let the cat out of the bag about this October release, so I figured I'd mention it here:



More info and discussion can be found here at the Savage Worlds forum.

The cover image was released today -- the game will be out in October. It will retail for $59.95 US, and is a deluxe box set that contains a 144-page Gamemaster’s Guide, an 86-page Player’s Guide, a 30-page Adventures Book, 4-page Quick Start Guide, Pre-Generated Character Sheets, Blank Character Sheets, Gadget Sheets, tokens and dice.

The official announcement has gone out, which I'll repeat here:


Cubicle 7 – Adamant Entertainment Announce Partnership

Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Adamant Entertainment are pleased to announce they have formed a publishing partnership.

The deal sees Cubicle 7 handling production and marketing for Adamant’s print products, starting with Mars: Savage Worlds Edition in September. This fantastic Savage Worlds setting features sky-corsairs, ancient cities, warrior tribes and albino apes – the Mars of pulp fiction and Saturday morning serials.

Following in October is Thrilling Tales – a great blend of classic pulse-pounding excitement from the pulp magazines and cliffhanger serials of the 1930s and 40s, again using the award-winning Savage Worlds system.

“Adamant Entertainment are an Origins and Ennies Awards nominated company and Gareth-Michael Skarka is a visionary in the gaming field so we’re obviously delighted to have him, and his company, on board,” said Dominic McDowall-Thomas of Cubicle 7, “creating a partnership between the two companies has been something we’ve long spoken about and with the plans that Gareth has in place for the next few years I’m overjoyed that we can part of that process and dream.”

“I’ve been continually impressed by the talent, drive and enthusiasm that the Cubicle 7 crew bring to their projects, and I’m pleased that Adamant can now be a part of that,” added Gareth-Michael Skarka, Director of Adamant Entertainment. “We’ve been on the same metaphorical page for a few years now, offering each other advice and assistance from time to time, so having the partnership ‘go public’ is very exciting.”


About Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

Founded in 2006 Cubicle 7 Entertainment was set up by Angus Abranson and Dominic McDowall-Thomas, two gaming entrepreneurs who wanted to create a games publisher fostering some truly iconic brands. Since then the company has published role playing games from a growing list of properties including Victoriana, SLA Industries, Starblazer Adventures (based on DC Thomson’s 80’s Starblazer comic series) and 7th Circle’s Chinese fantasy Qin. In June 2009 Cubicle 7 announced it had joined the Rebellion Group.

Victoriana is a fabulous fusion of Victorian adventure and fantasy myth, SLA Industries is a gritty futuristic urban horror fuelled by classic British punk imagery, whilst Starblazer Adventures is set firmly in the heart of classic 80’s space opera where gigantic fleets prowl the starlanes and devilish scientists operate enormous engines of destruction. The English translation of French publisher 7th Circle’s Qin propels players in to the epic fantasies and tragic events of ancient Chinese legend.


About Adamant Entertainment

Adamant Entertainment has been at the forefront of the electronic publishing segment of the games industry for five years, offering innovation and standard-setting performance for digital delivery of RPGs. In 2007, Adamant was featured in an Associated Press article spotlighting the growth of the ePublishing industry, which was carried in publications ranging from the Washington Post to the South China Morning Post, and online via dozens of sites, including, CNNMoney, ABCNews.com and the Nintendo Wii News Channel.

Adamant Entertainment’s expanding list of RPG properties include the critically-acclaimed Thrilling Tales pulp series and the forthcoming Tales of New Crobuzon, a licensed fantasy role-playing game based in the world of acclaimed author China Miéville. The company is currently developing a number of web series properties, which will including RPG support among other merchandising options.



Cubicle 7 Entertainment
http://www.cubicle7.co.uk


Adamant Entertainment
http://www.adamantentertainment.com

"The Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve."
       --Peter Graham, *Void* magazine, 1957.

Bill Maher, this weekend, lamenting the fact that there is no true Liberal party in Washington -- in his words, "the Democrats have moved to the Right, and the Right has moved to a mental hospital."

A-fucking-MEN.

An absolutely brilliant cartoon by Sage Stossel.

Here we go:

First, a new group from NYC, whose performance I managed to catch on LOGO earlier this week. I'd first heard of them via Warren Ellis, who described them as: "PJ Harvey’s younger sister kicking electroclash back towards glam with big stompy boots while waving a chainsaw." Hells yeah. The Fire and Reason -- "Do It Again."

Next up, Mute Math, a group that The Minion has been gasping about since her return from college. A little on the shoe-gaze-y side at first, but pretty... and once the drums kick in, the whole thing comes together. Mute Math - "Stall Out."

I just found out that Muse has announced their new album will be released in September. No word yet on a title, or any advance singles. As soon as I've got something, you'll hear it. In the meantime, here's one of my favorite tracks from their last album, Black Holes and Revelations: Muse - "Starlight."

Speaking of advance singles, here's the single from the debut solo release from Del Marquis of the Scissor Sisters. This track moves away from the Sisters 70s-elton-john-plus-bowie-plus-bee-gees sound, and more into something like early to mid 80s pop-soul stuff. Del Marquis - "Any Kind of Love." If you'd like to download the entire EP (Litter to Society), Marquis has offered it for free, here.

Thanks to a Craig Ferguson video making its rounds through my friends' pages, I've had this song stuck in my head for a bit, so I'm throwing it out to you: They Might Be Giants - "Instanbul (Not Constantinople)."

And lastly, in honor of my turning 40 last week, a song from my misspent youth: Fear -- "Let's Have A War."

Enjoy.

I could paraphrase, but Sullivan's post nails it, in every way.

I am especially fascinated by the implications for media -- the fact that we're seeing, as Al Giordano says in a blog post quoted by Sullivan (and well worth reading on its own):

"...a great day when the corporate media got pushed out of the way by authentic media from below. What is occurring worldwide, with the Iranian crisis as catalyst, is the emergence of the very kind of media from below that the human race - particularly the working class and the poor - so desperately needs."

There are very few events in one's life where you can literally feel the shift of history. This, to me, feels very much like one of them.

The British Library has launched a site archiving British newspapers of the 19th century, available for reading online.

Most require a subscription fee (but the costs are very reasonable) -- however, The Penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic are available free of charge.

For Napoleonic or Victorian-era gamers, Steampunk enthusiasts, writers... This is a godsend!

From today's World Cup Qualifier match -- Iran v South Korea:



The players, who cannot hide their identities, wore green wrist bands in support of the uprising, knowing that the world is watching. That's a massive risk for them to take, given what's happening at home.

Amazing.