Diversity and Creativity

This blog site was originally intended to detail the trials and travails of adjusting to life in California after growing up in Saskatchewan. I recently created a new site about my hobbies and creative works. Check it out if you're interested in that sort of stuff: Creative Engines.

Dave Arneson R.I.P.

Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has passed away due to cancer. Dave created the first campaign called Blackmoor and later worked with Gygax to create the original Dungeons and Dragons.

Dave Arneson's Wikipedia Entry

Gary Gygax himself passed away last year due to heart failure.

Like Gary Gygax, I'm glad I got the opportunity to meet with Dave Arneson a couple of years back at GenCon and thank him for the work he did that inspired such a fascinating and creative social dynamic.

"Charmingly Self-Effacing"

So in a recent interview I was refered to as "charmingly self-effacing". Considering it was an English game journalist at an American game studio I'd like to think that he meant "Canadian"! :-)

To show that I'm not completely self-effacing, here's a couple of my recent online interviews:

They Are The Champions Online: Randy Mosiondz at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Champions Online Interview 1 at GameSpot.

Woot! Although the video interview makes me totally self-conscious. I should really get some sun and lose a few pounds...

Pop-Monkey Stuff...: "Pac-Samurai"

Fantastic!

Pop-Monkey Stuff...: "Pac-Samurai"

I ordered a print for framing a couple of days ago.

Sticks & Stones at KublaCon 2008

I attended KublaCon this year to run Sticks & Stones, a Savage Worlds skirmish game published by Jeff Valent Studios. This is the first game I've run on behalf of the Savage Worlds Explorers Society.

The game was a variant of the "Everybody Whack the Dinosaur!" scenario from the Sticks & Stones rulebook. There were four packs of stone age denizens drawn to the mysterious cave found at the base of a small volcano...


Stone age denizens approach the volcano...

The first of the packs was a group of stone axe-wielding AHS(Archaic Homo Sapiens) with their pet Tricertops named Gronk. Gronk was a bit near-sighted but was sure to trample anything the AHS pointed him at.


The AHS Pack emerges with Gronk the Triceratops

Next up was group of spear-wielding Dino-Sapiens freshly arrived from their steamy swamp and their pet Utahraptor named Snappy. Snappy couldn't stand up to Gronk but was good support for the Dino-Sapien leader, Sssmak.


Snappy smiles for the camera

Third was a group of nasty spear-chucking Neanderthals with their slow-moving but inevitable undead dino named Steggy. Steggy was nasty in a fight... if he could get their on time.


Steggy the Slow marches behind the Neanderthals

Last but not least were the Cave Pygmies! Decked out in warpaint with their chief riding a giant Chomposaurus named Rippy, they were determined to get their share of the fight!


The Cave Pygmies decked out for battle!

Highlights

* First dino-kill went to the Neanderthals who made short work of the Dino-Sapien's Utahraptor. Gang-up bonus and Wild Attack for the win!


First Blood!

* The Neanderthal pack leader named Haw was the first to make it to the cave at the base of the volcano. Despite having to deal with a cave-in, he managed to receive a blessing from an ancient neanderthal elder living there.

* The Cave Pygmies proved that size doesn't matter as they engage and tear apart the rest of the Dino-Sapien pack!


Chomposaurus: Om-nom-nom-nom

* Despite getting into A Bad Way and being surrounded by the entire AHS pack, Sssmak the Dino-Sapien leader actually manages to survive and take out most of his enemies!


Sssmak actually survives this...

* Haw the Neanderthal leader actually charges the Tricertops head-on and takes him out in one blow!


The aftermath

In the end the Neanderthals were the clear victors, but a good time was had by all! Special thanks to the KublaCon event staff for providing KublaBucks and the special edition Kubla pin for the participants.

R.I.P. Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax passed on today. For those of you who are not gamers, he's considered one of the fathers of Dungeons & Dragons. His work inspired generations of games and gamers to get together, roll some dice, and have fun.

I got a chance to meet Gary years back at GenCon and I thanked him for all he's done. I'm glad I got the chance. Rest in peace, Gary.

Order of the Stick Salute

The Cat Has Been Deployed from the Bag!

Well, it's official: Champions Online has been announced! This game is going to be awesome if I say so myself! :-)

EDIT: Check out the trailer on IGN:


Also, check out this Penny Arcade blog. I'm one of the three designers he's talking about! :-)

GenCon Indy 2007

GenCon was again, very much fun. It's a relatively cheap vacation and I always end up wondering why I ever think of NOT attending if I have the means to do so. Good fun, good friends, good geeking.

Pinnacle Entertainment Group released The Savage World of Solomon Kane for the Savage Worlds game system. For those who don't know, Solomon Kane is a character created by Robert E. Howard, more popularly known for his Conan novels. PEG acquired the license to publish a role-playing game based on Solomon Kane a couple of years back, and now here it is! I have an "Additional Material" credit for writing four of the adventures in there. It is being shipped out to your local gaming store soon. Check it out - it is "teh awesome"!


Oooooh! Shiny new book!

GenCon has a costume contest every Saturday, and there are a lot of AWESOME costumes there. TUO being TUO, she couldn't resist getting involved, and dragged cenobyte along with her. What did they come up with? Victorian Steampunk. How cool is that? Inspired by Girl Genius, of course.


"SCIENCE!"

You also start seeing the video game industry making its way into GenCon as well. A number of companies had exhibits there, and along with the video game exhibits comes the inevitable onslaught of booth babes.

I asked her what is best in life, but she seemed kinda confused. I don't think she's a REAL barbarian.

And a little somethin' for the ladies!

GENCON 2008! If you are interested in coming out with us to GenCon next year (Aug. 14-17, 2008), START PLANNING NOW! Start budgeting for the trip, making plans for meeting up with us, share hotel rooms, etc. Every gamer should go to GenCon at least once in their life, and it's worth some serious geek cred! :-)

KublaCon 2007

In late May I headed up to Burlingame with my buddy and co-worker Thomas to attend KublaCon. I was only there for a day, but it was a lot of fun!

First thing we noticed when we arrived at the place was a PT Cruiser decked out with Arachnos logos on the front and back! How cool is that!




"Strength Through Undying Loyalty"


Lord Recluse would approve

My friend Mike was running a game of Gunfight!, a minis game by Flagship Games (of which Thomas is a co-creator). Good fun, and I ended up cleanin' up the town with my posse of law dogs!

"No unlawful armaments this side o' the tracks!"

That evening at the con there was a group running through - get this - a live-action game of Aliens. It was kinda bizarre.


Wasn't that the Alien-human hybrid from Aliens IV?

All-in-all, another fun (and tiring) con.

GDC 2007

Last week some colleagues and I took a trip up the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Our company had a booth at the career expo set up there, so I had to put in a couple of hours while people tried to tell why they are AWESOME and should be hired. We had a few good candidates, but a swear I spent about an hour talking with people about comics. Hard life, I know...

I got a chance to walk the industry expo as well. It's kinda nice to be a name in the industry. There are people constantly looking to recruit you or work for you, and you get invited to parties! In the couple of hours on the industry floor. I was approached to work by about a half-dozen companies, and was invited to the Ubisoft, Icarus Studios, and CCP parties that evening.

After a meal, me and my colleagues attended the Icarus Studios Fallen Earth party where they had plenty of food, drinks, and post-apocalypse-dressed hostesses! Their game has a GREAT degree of interactivity and I look forward to playing it when it comes out. While we were there we had a chance to meet Tycho from Penny Arcade! Tycho is a really great guy, and I hope we can meet up with him at PAX later this year.

We went over to the CCP party next where they were doing heavy recruiting for the new White Wolf MMO. Their party was a LOT bigger, being held at a big industrial dance club called dieMASCHINEN. There was again lots of food and drinks, but with more women who were dancing in go-go cages. Man there's a lot of money being spent in this industry...

All in all, it was quite and good time. I put a lot of effort into my work, and it's nice to have events like this where you're treated like a rock star!

DundraCon 2007

It's a long weekend in the US due to President's Day. was this weekend so TUO and I ended up going on Saturday (technically, TUO went a-dancin' first in the city, then joined me later).

I really do love gaming cons. There's something really nice about kicking back and seriously geeking out for a day or so in the company of other gaming geeks. Everyone is there because they love games, and no is is judging because of it. It's gaming geek solidarity - hold your dice up high!

Saturday morning I mainly spend in the dealer's room and flea market looking for deals. I ended up picking up a number of board games including HeroCard: Champions of New Olumpia (and the two expansions), HeroCard: Rise of the Shogun, Order of the Stick: Dungeons of Durokan (note my new BoardGameGeek.com widget on the sidebar). I also got a deal on a bunch of Warmachine minis and a fully painted Plague Marines army for Warhammer 40K for $75! Woot!

Saturday afternoon I met up with my good friend Brent Wolke and I ran a game of Empire of Bone. The story involved the indiscretions of Cardinal Ravenswood of the Black Church causing him to contract a virulent plague which affects both the living and the dead. The heroes were asked to track down the Typoid Mary who caused the problem which involved a brothel in London run by a Rotter named "Gummy" Johnson. Secret societies, Grims, Bonetellers - all good stuff!

Saturday evening a friend of Brent ran another Savage Worlds game called "Fliegenhusaren" which involved dragon-riding hussars set in 1755 prior to the Seven Year War. Amy played in this while I caught up with Brent, but it was a VERY entertaining game to listen in on!

Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have pics to show from the con - maybe next time!

ConQuest 2006

At the beginning of September I went with my friend from work to ConQuest San Francisco, another Bay Area gaming convention.

Pirates!
Primarily I was there to play in my friend's Pirates! minis game. On Friday night it was a pirate hunt called "Icebergs Ahoy!" in iceberg-laden waters. The pirates had taken Davy Jone's treasure chest, and the English armada wanted it for themselves. Unfortunately, Billy Bones and Davy Jones came up from the ocean depths to recover the chest for themselves! On Saturday afternoon we played another large-scale battle called "The Battle of Squidway Island" where a dwarven armada tried to sink the goblin warship "The Goblimoto" and take control of a greenskin-controlled island.


The Battle of Squidway Island


Dwarven aircraft carrier with gyrocopters


My orcs unloading to defend Squidway

Gunfight!
Also got to try a cool western minis game called Gunfight!, another one from Flagship Games.


Awesome western town

Scairy Tales
I also had the good luck to run into my buddy Brent, another PEG writer. He was running a game of Scairy Tales, an upcoming Savage Worlds campaign set in a fairy-tale apocalypse. It's gonna be awesome! :-)


Me and Brent!

Mechaton
Finally, I got a chance to play in an upcoming game called Mechaton which involves mechs constructed from LEGO. As you blow off pieces of a mech you remove LEGO blocks. How cool is that!?!


The victorious mech amongst LEGO carnage!

GenCon Indy 2006

Circumstances allowed us to go to GenCon Indy again this year. I had to do a little bit of recruiting work this year, but it made the trip possible.

We ended up getting in Thursday night and booked in at the Crowne Plaza. It was overly crowded, and our room ended up being taken. It worked out for us though - we ended up being upgraded to one of their train car suites! The hotel was part of an active rail station servicing sleeper cars, and now has a number of stationary sleeper cars they rent out as a novelty. Each of the sleeper cars were named after a celebrity who used them at one time - we got the Greta Garbo car! Also by the cars and throughout the hotel were these fiberglass statues of the "ghosts of people past" who used the station and hotel - kinda cool and kinda creepy.


The Sleeper Cars


Inside the Greta Garbo car


Creepy fiberglass sailor eternally lighting his cigarette

GenCon itself was lots of fun, as always. It's becoming more of a place to meet friends, like Freelancer Five and his lovely wife, Don and Dan from S'toon, and a whole bunch of the other PEG folks.

One cool bit: I was at our recruiting booth, I was approached by Dave Arneson (co-creator of D&D for those of you not in the know). He said, "I really like your game!" I just stood there for a second, then said, "Well Mr. Arneson, I really like your game too!" :-)

Now on to other gaming and costume pics from GenCon!

Cool Gaming Stuff


Medieval castle under siege from The Miniature Building Authority


Massive MasterMaze set by Dwarven Forge

Costumes


Obligatory Star Wars costume


Dice head guy!


Obligatory chainmail bikini


Mmm... succubus


Wee fairies!


I am the Grand Wizard!


Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi


Our friend Jen and the Femtrooper


Look at the wee Boba!


Confrontation booth babe


It's Kitty! She's ALWAYS at GenCon


Who ya gonna call? Indiana Ghostbusters, apparently


I think they're from a video game

P.S. We also attended the Miskatonic Frat Party to celebrate the release of Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition. I lost some sanity.

P.P.S. We're thinking about attending Origins 2007 to help run this.

Contemplating Gencon Indy...

So, me and TUO are thinking about headin' to GenCon Indy. Of course, we are always motivated by meeting up with friends there. Any takers?

TUO Rocks!

I got TUO a PlayStation 2, Guitar Hero, and Katamari Damacy for her birthday. She's hooked on GH: she named her band The Ragged Magpies and has been rockin' out every day since!


TUO rockin' out!


TUO and Pandora, her GH alter ego

Katamari Damacy is a weird little game, and TUO can only play it in short stints without becoming motion-sick nauseous, but I think that one is a winner for her as well. The gist of the game is this: your father, the King of All Cosmos, has destroyed all the stars, and has charged one with making new ones. How do you do this? By rolling up things into katamari balls and making them into stars. Really simple concept, but it's tricky pushin' the ever-growin' ball around. Oh, and if you don't roll the katamari ball in time, the King of All Cosmos tears you a new one. Really, he's a big jerk. :-)

E3 2006

E3 has come and gone for another year. I was sent down to work at the AGEIA booth to show off the PhysX in Issue 7.

My co-worker Ray and I at the Figueroa Hotel. The hotel was older, but had a nice style to it.


Blurry pic of the Figueroa lobby

Fortunately, the hotel was just a couple of blocks from the LA Convention Center, making for a nice short walk to and from the expo every day. The building itself was covered in massive stories-high game posters; I heard the Gears of War one (pictured in the center of my pic below) cost $70K. Wow. I guess it's a small drop in the bucket for a big gaming company, but... wow.


Outside the convention center beside alien drop pods

The AGEIA booth was demoing a bunch of games using the new PhysX engine graphics, which enabled real-world physics for persistent debris, and all other kinds of groovy-cool stuff. For a more detailed explanation, read this. We incorporated PhysX into all the powers and destructible objects in I7, taking the CoV ragdoll physics to the next level.


My bleary-eyed self on day 2 of the expo


My co-worker Ray doing some Mayhem!

I gotta say, it was really a cool experience working as a CoV developer at E3. I did some interviews, met with a lot of CoH/CoV fans, and answered a lot of questions. While a CoH/CoV few fans were ornery (why does the training room download have to be SO big?), the majority were really great. More than a few said, "Thank you for making such a great game! We love it!" This truly gave me the warm fuzzies. Coupled with the experience of meeting other devs who who just as jazzed about making cool games, it really made me feel good about being in the industry and bringing enjoyment to so many people. Huzzah!

Cool Stuff at E3

NCSoft, publisher of CoV, had a great-looking booth this year showing off a LOT of new games. Some of the coolest ones included Tabula Rasa (sci-fi MMO), Dungeon Runners (an updated Diablo-style hackfest), and ExTeel (a mecha-combat shooter).


The band Mutaytor on the Play NC stage


The PlayNC booth area

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (MMO) had some demos running at the FunCom (makers of Anarchy Online) booth. While it could use a lot of polish, the game has potential. I mean, what red-blooded male WOULDN'T want to take on the role of a savage Cimmerian? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women! By Crom!


R:tAG the Ukrainian!

I got a chance to try out Hellgate: London as well. The feel of it is VERY cool, a sort of holy-techno-warriors-meets-demons-in-an-apocalyptic-future type feel. Check out the website, and watch for the release.


Hellgate: London booth

Webzen was really pushing Huxley this year, supposedly a "FPS MMORPG". I got a chance to play in a squad-vs-squad battle, which felt mostly FPS with little RPG. I'm cautiously optimistic about this one; it should be out this fall for the Xbox 360, so I might pick it up if there aren't any better contenders.


A sapien marine from Huxley

The thundering MMO developer giant Blizzard showed off the first expansion to the stupidly successful World of Warcraft. They revealed the new Alliance race, some blue-skinned hoofed critters called the draenei. So now the Horde has a pretty race (the blood elves) and the Alliance has these guys. Maybe things will balance out a bit more in the PvP zones? That remains to be seen.


Ow! I got a hangnail!

Pirates of the Caribbean Online is in development, and I got a beta invite. Woot! However, first glance makes me think it might be a bit too 'kiddie' to be fun, but I'll see how the beta plays. The ESRB might still rate it ARRRRRRRR! (sorry, couldn't resist)


The chair from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Yarrrrr!

The Obligatory Babes of E3

And of course, what would E3 be without booth babes? Those sultry sirens of silicon(e) may have restrictions placed on them, but that didn't stop them baring their... errr... 'talents' again this year.


These were soliciting for some hoop-shooting game


A Korean Webzen 'future-girl'


I don't even remember what they were promoting


Call of Duty 3 girl in her... fatigues?


Probably NOT their real hair