GAMA World

So I am in Las Vegas this week for the GAMA trade show.  I'm interested to see how many manufacturers are here this year, and to see if more or fewer retailers are attending.  About 3 years ago the show took up 2 big show room floors.  Then it went to 1.5, and last year it was just one floor.  So fewer manufacturers are probably in the market or at least willing to spend on attending.

Clearly the sinking economy is one issue, but that's tough when numbers came out saying hobby game sales were actually up as reported in an article on ICV2:

Game sales in hobby stores were up from 5 to 10% in 2009 despite hte worst economy in generations, according to a report in the new issue of Internal Correspondence (#70).  The growth was driven by a huge resurgence in Magic:  The Gathering Sales and by board game sales up by double digit percentages.  Yu-Gi-Oh! and the return of HeroClix also helped support improved sales.  Non-collectible miniature sales were down a little, and RPG sales were down around 10% in 2009.  

That's not a huge surprise as people tend to look for more value in a difficult economy.  Thus a $30 board game can be played multiple times with the family versus a video game at twice the cost and in general is a one or 2 player experience.  Speaking of that RPG's then should be the ultimate value as they should be relatively inexpensive ($20) and other than adding dice all you need is paper, pencil and imagination. Yet RPG sales are one of the few declining categories.  I have my own theories on this but suffice to say the hardback college biology sized rules texts don't exactly say "fun" nor "easy to learn"  I often wonder if RPG's would have exploded had they been delivered in their current format 200+ page hardback tomes for $20+

Anyway, looking at a map of the trade show floor, it looks pretty sparse this year with companies like Konami, Bandai, Wizards and Upper Deck taking huge positions on the show room floor (about a 4 booth space each) Fantasy Flight also has a large presence and I always look forward to seeing what they will do next!


I wonder if an OSR booth isn't a missed opportunity.  I mean you would have to be a crass capitalist trying to sell a few hundred retailers, but once you get over that issue, it seems like a few of these efforts could come together and split a booth or two and really try to get their product out there at retail.  Retailers are here, distributors are here...and the games are??  Maybe when I finish my Collapse game and my Roguish RPG I'll buy a booth, have my lovely wife run it and then offer to sell space to other OSR guys who want their product shown/ sold?


More from the show floor later...

War Against the Chtorr: A Matter for Men

I stumbled upon this GURPS setting book ages ago, and picked it up on a "75% off" whim.  It was an interesting read but not anything I'd run.  A couple weeks a go I found someone on ebay selling all 4 (of the planed 6 or 7 books series) online and bought them ($10 total).  I am halfway through the first book and its a really good read!  You have strange alien (purple worm!) invaders, post apocalypse setting (both nuclear AND alien invasion) so its a pretty lively read akin to Starship Troopers in terms of action and tone.

David Gerrold is the author.  The first book was written in 1983...and here in 2010 we are still awaiting the rest of the series to finish.  Much like my thoughts that George RR Martin will not finish the Song of Ice and Fire Series, I doubt Gerrold will finish his.  Even so if you like a good sci-fi action story, you could do a lot worse than this.

(Odd historical footnote for today, March 23rd: The U.S. Health Care bill is being signed into law today by our President, and it is also the anniversary of Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech.)

Epic Fail

Liberty 

1 : the quality or state of being free:

a : the power to do as one pleases  

b : freedom from physical restraint  

c : freedom from arbitrary or despotic control  

d : the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges  

e : the power of choice


"He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

--George Orwell, Animal Farm

 

Winter is coming...

Well, in a manner of speaking it is as the picture is from the opening shot of the HBO adaptation of GRR Martin's Game of Thrones. (No worries fellow hardball fanatics, spring has definitely sprung...PLAY BALL!).

I have a love hate relationship with these books. In fact I started the first book multiple times and finally at some point I stuck it out and became hooked. There is much in GRRM's writing style I loathe (over much detail on clothing and food, the entire Daneyrs plot) and much that I really enjoy (political plots in Westeros, handling of the super natural elements, character building)that keeps me coming back.

I doubt very much he will ever finish the series. Much like Stephen King's random writing schedule on the gunslinger/ dark tower series, it may take a near fatal event to motivate him to focus and finish the damn series. GRRM is seemingly easily distracted into strange side roads or editing collections and what not, rather than finishing the Westeros tale he started. He has a lot of talent and is clearly a motivated writer, but for whatever reason the success of A Song of Ice and Fire series has become something of an unpleasant burden. For a fellow who writes so much, the books have to be split up into various releases, it would seem he could crank out 400 page books yearly instead of delivering 1000+ page tomes every 5 years. Regardless, I think much like Alice down the rabbit hole, he has discovered something quite strange and quite intimidating in size, and now isn't quite sure what to do with it or how to handle it.. Not sure the HBO series will help that or harm the series ever seeing a textual end, but its a gritty dark fantasy world and I look forward to it being brought to life on screen.

In the not that matters to anyone but me PS to this post:  One of my favorite actors (Sean Bean) plays Eddard Stark in the HBO adaptation of his GRRM series.  For whatever cosmic coincidence, Bean's played nearly every one of my all time favorite literary characters: Richard Sharpe, Boromir, Odysseus, and now Eddard Stark.  Outside of the possibility of his playing Beowulf, or a movie adaptation of the Odyssey where he can show more of his take on Odysseus than he did in TROY, he has pretty, much defined on film some of my all time favorite characters...what are the odds of that happening??  PSS Sean Bean, or Hollywood if you are reading-A real adaptation (true to the story) of the Odyssey would be huge especially following The Clash of the Titans relaunch this summer....OH and while you are finishing that, adapt "Eagle in the Snow" by Wallace Breem and put Sean in as General Maximus.  I only want 5 % of the gross door revenue for giving away such genius easy money ideas, you can thank me later.

Erol Otus wasn't here...

In discussing D&D, most OSR fans often comment on the art and the artists. In fact the art really seems to have had a massive impact on how one viewed the game and to some extent even played it. There are iconic images: the cover the Moldvay Red Box, The cover of module B2, The Cover of the AD&D Players Handbook or DM's Guide, all have become iconic.

Not so GDW'S Traveller. In fact its almost illustrative of the exact opposite philosophy of design. No cover art, and nearly no interior art. A few rough sketches, silhouettes, and ship diagrams. Really not much of anything and one could argue outside the stark design ethic of the book covers, there isn't a single iconic "art" image for Traveller. The cover is iconic simply for what it lacks-art-thereby the simple design alone IS the art.

Yet no one seems to mind or feel cheated in the least. I have never read or heard anyone say 'Traveller sucks because there are no pictures!' Yet I have heard and read people lamenting what they consider to be terrible art or that an artists decline (in their opinion) takes away from their enjoyment.

Is one better off then designing their game material with limited artistic interpretations? Is less more?

First wave...

I have always liked heroes that were mortal, from heroes like Odysseus, Beowulf, and Boromir to Flash Gordon, Batman, and Captain America. To me they are just (extra?) ordinary guys who have all of our ordinary faults and yet still try their best to overcome the failings of being mortal. It’s how I run my games and colors a lot of what I like in movies books and TV.

Well, if this sounds like your kind of thing, then I need to point you to a new comic line launching from DC comics, It’s called First Wave and it centers on a noir like world where the heroes are ordinary guys trying to do the right thing in a world gone wrong: Doc Savage, Batman, the Spirit, Black Canary and more.
I have high hopes, and hope it becomes a long running popular line of books.

Hand-crafted gaming goodness

I am hoping you might be able to help me. I have decided that when I finish the revisions to Roguish I am going to print and assemble them myself into digest sized booklets. Not out of some sense of trying to be throwback, more in the sense of I want to finish doling it my self. I'll probably only sell 50 or so game sets so I'd rather they go out handmade, for better or worse. :)

My question is can you guide me to a blog or site that discusses the trials and travails of doing this?

thanks in advance for your guidance!

Shouldn't Toy Fair be fun?

So I am back from a LOOOOOONG week in NYC working the ToyFair booth for the company I work for. Holy Cow 9 hours a day on your feet selling sure was easier in retail when I was 24 then it is now @ 40. Anyway, while it is BIG BUSINESS (so busy-so important dontcha know) it always amazes me how grim, dour, and down right crabby a lot of folks are at the show. It could be buyers or another companies booth crew stopping to talk, but damn they make Eeyore look like Chuckles the Clown.

Look I am no Mary Poppins, but damn if you come to my booth I am going to smile shake your hand and talk with you friendly and casual. I may be a "sales guy" but I am not going to "sell you." To often as I visited booths or had other folks come to ours, I was amazed by how little they knew about their own games and toys, and by how little they cared.

Stopping at one booth I saw a couple of new kids games I thought my nieces might enjoy. So I asked a sales rep in the booth "can you tell me about these games? Are they out yet?" Her reply, "It's a game for little kids, can't you just read the box?" Then she quickly looked away and studied the remainder of what smelled like a tuna fish sandwich. I smiled, set the box down, wished her luck, and left.

Maybe it was the fact my lanyard and name badge identified the company I worked for and she had issues...or maybe she just had a bad meeting or a bad day. Either way-she lost a sale as I would have probably tried to find them online, instead I'll go out of my way to avoid the whole company now.

In fact MANY booths had vaguely interesting things, but the staff in the booth either ignored you, or at times were hostile. In fact the only genuinely friendly booths were the limited "hobby game" booths at the event. By limited I mean less than a dozen. There is a difference between having a passion for what you are doing, instead of having to (to lift a phrase from Nike) "Just do it."

If you can't be happy in the game and toy industry might I suggest a different career path? The absolute best parts of the show (for me, outside of successful business) were when fans or kids came to our booth and overflowed with stories or excitement at seeing some of their favorite stuff RIGHT THERE! No matter how tough the job gets sometimes, seeing how happy the end result makes kids feel makes it worth it.

If you are frowning more than smiling at the end of your work days (especially in a game and toy business) then get out! Life's way to short to be miserable, and at the show I saw a whole lot of misery.

Gleep Wurp the Gamer Namer

I think it's somewhere in the back of the G1-3 module, but there is a D&D pre-gen character named Gleep Wurp the Eye-biter. That name has stuck with me since the first time I read it as a wee lad chucking dice for the first time.

I hate that name.

In fact I hate all sorts of faux fantasy names. Most are just some sort of strange mash-up of consonants and vowels attempting to sound fantastic and foreign. Too often the only serve to make me realize how absurd (or potentially how crappy) the book is I am reading. It takes me right out of the world because I have to puzzle over what the heck does this word sound like,and how do you pronounce it anyway.

This is part of my hang up with the Simarillion (say that 3 times fast)and why no matter how much I want to read it, I simply chuck it in frustration. Contrast that with the Hobbit or LotR trilogy. I can easily sort out the names in those and though strange (Boromir, Bilbo, Frodo, Smaug, Sauruman) I can reasonably assume how to pronounce them.

Contrast that with some from my favorie offender R.A. Salvatore: Drizzt Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre,Ilnezhara,Tazmikella,Eilistraee, Fraehlern. (note one of those is not an actual Salvatore character...but its poop-like nature fits right in.) I have about 6 different Salvatore collections on my shelf that were gifts...and attempts to have me overcome this prejudice. I have not been able to finish let alone get beyond chapter 3 in any of them.

I am sure we all have our own pet peeves, but nothing takes me out of reading, or for that matter gaming, quicker than some absurd or unpronounceable merger of letters masquerading as a name.

If you think I am going to call you by a character name like Flexelgramhult Von Rubtyyrst for the next hour, let alone months of a campaign, my friend pick up your dice and head for the exit now.

Okay so you know what I hate, what do I do to get around it? I simply mix up the letters from common words we already know. It makes them seem familiar but different at the same time. Examples? Sure, guess the real stuff I made these names out of:

Vany Dray
Nolerad Tamlin
Wred Ebres
Det Millaws
Mrebun Xis
Sajon Shewa
Noj Darnbon
Drowl Reises

Is it perfect? Probably not...but they are unique, somewhat fantastic while still being pronounceable and reasonable.

Peeca Tou

Ancient Odysseys

Well Precis Media dropped a note in my in box letting me know the PDF of their new fantasy system is available now! I picked up 2 copies of the boxed set which ships out next week so I am anxious to read it.

I am not overly fond of their 2d6 system used in games like Earth 2, and happily Ancient Odysseys does NOT use this system!! Below is quick overview based on browsing the books.

The boxed set (and pdf) comes with 3 books: Basic Playbook, The Dungeon Adventure, and Further Adventures. A pair of Reference sheets and blank character sheets are also included.

Basic characters creation:
You have 3 stats (Fitness, Awareness, Reasoning) each ranked 1(weak) to 5 (strong). The four classic fantasy races are represented (hoblings are hobbits) and 3 fantasy classes are available(fighters, wizards, rogues) There are a total of 16 pursuits (skills) in the game and what you start with depends on your class. Pursuits are ranked from 1 to 3. To accomplish a task you roll 1d6, add your stat, and add your pursuit trying to beat a 7 on an average task.

The basic rules and character creation are in a slim 37 pages. The Dungeon is a complete single player or group referee-less adventure that is simple in execution but perfect as an introduction to the system. For new players or young kids, it actually seems pretty fun.

The Further adventures book contains rules on creating adventures and being a referee.

Overall I really like this little RPG. As a Basic Set it is complete, simple, and could provide a great stepping stone into further adventures. My hope is the system grows a bit deeper or additional options become available in supplements or additional boxed sets.

Buy it: If you want a simple elegant system and to see how a great introductory RPG boxed set should be put together.

Don't buy it: If your only measure of a good game is how many charts, spells, blood demons of Yog-Mis-Fyrl, and character options/classes determine a games worth.

creative kismet?

FRAK!! So as I have worked on my Collapse RPG I passed my basic rule set and character creation to a friend last week.

Him: Hey, have you read the Barbarians of Lemuria rules before?

Me: No, should I?

Him: Maybe, maybe not...because you just kind of rewrote them...HA!

Me: FRAK!!

Well I spent yesterday jumped up on Dayquil and Robutussin DM reading the Lemuria rules. I'll be damned if I didn't come up with almost the same rules. I have a number of differences but in essence its the same 9+ on 2d6, 4 stats, which influence your roll but I added skills and fleshed them out tied to careers. Frak me, this also means the "Barbarians of the Aftermath" rules book due in February must be similar in some way to my own rules set.

I am (was) writing mine up in the manner of a government issued field manual with various Blue Book reports focused on specific collapse events...but at this point I kind of feel suckered punched. So do I continue or not? Seems sort of pointless...but hell with so much OSR reprints of D&D rules out there...why not? Off to get more Dayquil to help me make my decision...

WWYD?

Well I am home fighting a terrible cold and in between bouts of delirium and sleep I have concocted the following as an introduction to my RPG: Collapse

Think about what you would do tomorrow if:
You can’t get food from a grocery store…ever again…
You can’t call the police, fire department, or an ambulance for help…ever again…
The hospital is closed, and the pharmacies are empty…
You can’t get gasoline for your vehicle from a gas station…
No one has a job that pays them money…
Credit cards are worthless, no one uses them or can use them…ever again…
The banks are no longer open and all your money there is gone forever…
All the paper money in your wallet is worthless except as a way to start a fire…
Then you hear a knock at your door…and it’s your neighbor…wearing a backpack…and holding a rifle…

What do you do?

The play is the thing...

I feel sorry for folks who aren’t baseball fans.  Not in an I am superior you are inferior manner, more in the sense that there is something truly special in life and damn I wish you could share in it.

For a lot of folks, baseball is nine guys standing around in a grassy field.  There are 3 bases, a home plate and a pitcher’s mound.  One guy is throwing a ball and another guy is crouched down near home plate catching it..  Interrupting this game of catch is a guy with a big stick trying to hit the ball.  If he manages to hit it, the guys out in the field go from standing around to doing something.  Then you rinse and repeat for what seems like forever and eventually we all go home.

If this describes your view of baseball then it’s not surprising the sport is not too exciting, let alone interesting. Baseball is in my opinion the best of all sports and in many ways for me reflects a lot of my philosophy on life.  The odds are stacked against you.  As a batter, you stand alone at the plate facing a guy hurling one of many different pitches into a location only he and the catcher know.  Then you have less the 4 tenths of a second to decide to take a swing or not and most of the time, you are going to guess wrong.  Even if you do manage to guess right and hit the ball, there are 9 guys in the field trying to stop you from reaching first base.  Should you manage to leave home plate and reach base, you now rely on another teammate to get you home again.  Baseball is about failure and consistently attempting to overcome it.  Not quite Sisyphean in aspect, but when you pick up your bat and step into the box, you realize the outcome at least 7 out of 10 times is going to be a walk back into the dugout, and thus failure.  Yet, you gamely pick up your bat and head to the batters box at least 3 times a game, trying your best to beat the odds.  One against nine, odds stacked against you, and you dig in ready to have another go.  Remember there’s no crying in baseball.

Baseball is a game of strategy.  It may look like the pitcher just waits for the catcher to show some odd figure gesture and then he chucks the ball hard trying to fool the batter.  To some extent, yup that’s it-but that’s also like saying a kiss from your wife is the same as one from your grandma.  There are all sorts of different kisses right? There’s the kind you give your grandma, the kind you give your mom, the kind you give to some Euro types as a greeting and the kind you give your spouse.  Trust me, if you’re not giving your spouse or significant other a little extra effort in that kiss, I am here to tell you son you’re doing it wrong and missing out on a lot!  On the other hand if you’re giving your grandma that same kind of effort, I’d recommend you dial it back a few notches.

Like different kinds of kisses, the same is true for pitches.  There’s a pitch your throw to a home run hitter, and there’s a pitch you throw to a fast guy who slaps the ball.  The kind of pitch thrown depends upon the number of different pitches you can throw, the batter being faced, how many times the batter has faced you, how good you feel, which pitch is working, the weather conditions, the number of men on base, the inning, and the score.  Yup that’s a lot of data to figure out before you throw EACH AND EVERY pitch. Then you have to figure out if you are going to pitch it high or low, inside or outside, or maybe you really screw with them and throw them something they could hit. 

Don’t get me wrong, no one is out there with a slide rule and an iPad figuring this out in between pitches, instead it’s simply a hard learned skill or talent. The manager, the pitcher, the catcher and even fielders are all in concert pitch by pitch trying to figure out how best to fool the batter and steer the course of the game to favor their team by making the batter get an out.  So much like a duck swimming, it may look effortless or simple, but there’s a lot of going on under the surface.

That’s just one little aspect of the greatness of baseball.  How about the fact that there is no clock in baseball? There is no arbitrary end to the game based on some sort of time limit. A game lasts 9 innings and each team gets an equal amount of 27 outs, no more-no less.  There is no clock control, not time outs, no time of possession. A game lasts as long as it takes for each team to get 27 outs, and in that way every game is a little story of its own.  There is a beginning, middle, and an end to each game.  In that most American way, each team gets an equality of opportunity (27 outs) but the equality of results is not guaranteed.

Baseball is also all about hope.  The pitcher and catcher hope to get each batter out.  The batter hopes to get on base and score a run, and every spring, every team and baseball fan hopes that this is their year to win it all.  Spring training is coming and I have had baseball on the brain since, well since I first played T-ball at 6 years old.  I have a lot of hope as pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks.  I hope my team wins it all, I hope I get to see more games live with my friends and family and enjoy a good hot dog and a beer under the summer sun.  I hope I get to create a lot of new memories as I cheer my heart out with every win and take my lumps with the inventible losses knowing we have chance next time.  I hope most of all, that you may give the sport a chance and study it.  Pick a team, watch a couple games and head out to a ball park.  You do not have to go to an MLB game, it can be minor league game or just as fun, a local little league game.  Get outside and enjoy the little story played out amongst strangers and friends on a green diamond under a blue sky and a warm yellow sun.  Play ball!

Post Apocalyptic Progress

So I had a lot of time to think about my rules set while trapped on a plane over the past week.  Here's how it will breakdown (no pun intended)  The book will be formatted digest sized and short possibly 64 pages.  I will out line the basic rules, character creation and then provide potential Collapse event scenarios followed by reference materials (books, comics, movies, TV shows) to be used by referees as a springboard for further development.  Then supplements will be Blue Books or Case Studies: They will focus in a brief 24 pages on a particular Collapse scenario in depth: Zombies, Mutants, Rise of the Apes, etc with possible scenario hooks included.  I do not necessarily want to create adventure modules, instead I'd rather have a mini source book with ideas for referees to build on their own.

 The rules them selves and character creation are going to be very easy. 2d6 system roll 8 or better to succeed.  A life path character creation will be available to make generic characters, and a system for generating you and your friends into characters for the Collapse event will also be included.

Overall the rules are quick, light and easy (so far) to pick up and play allowing the focus to be on creating adventures and playing instead of gaming the rules.  Now I just need a few more plane flights to have time to type it up from my notes!

PS-If you have not read Day by Day Armageddon yet...do it quick becuase the loooooong awaited sequel is coming this Spring!  AMC has announced they are making a pilot of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic into a TV show, so read the comics now my firends, you will be glad you did!