Tom Wright

Facebook - Twitter - Patreon

Okay, a bunch of new stuff is now public so I can talk about it.

##

First, many of you have heard that bestselling author John Ringo loved my Monster Hunter International series so much that he was inspired to write a book set in that universe (without telling me!). You’ve got to understand, John is one of those authors with the muse thing, where he won’t write for months, and then all of a sudden he’ll get in this mood, and write like 50,000 words a week, no sleep, living off of caffeine. The dude is a machine. Baen fans joke about the Ringo Book of the Month Club, but they aren’t kidding. That’s how John rolls. He gets spun up, and he’s brilliant at it.

(me personally, I’m a plodder. I average 10k a week, working normal job hours, but that’s every week, and I’m consistent).

By the time I got to see this book, John had already written the second one of the trilogy.

Now, pro-tip, even if you are taken by surprise, when one of the most successful authors around says that he wants to write books set in one of your universes, and he already has, you make that work.

I went through the first book last week. I loved it. Freaking awesome. He’s been posting tons of snippets on Facebook. Fans are loving it too.

But as John discovered, I’m an accountant at heart, or as he said, I’m somewhere on the OCD scale. And I’ve got 5 big books, more planned, and an RPG worth of continuity to make sure everything matches. John made a tradition of killing Joe Buckley in all his novels because Buckley once sent back one of his manuscripts with like a hundred comments. He said he doesn’t know what to do with me since I sent back twice that, and some of them were a page long. (but to be fair, before John violently red shirts me in some other series, many of those comments were things like “LoL” or “awesome scene” and the long ones were about the detailed secret history of monster hunting, or me putting my firearms expert hat on, because the story itself was cool as hell).

So anyways, long story short. These books are now collaborations. I don’t know if Toni has approved the titles yet. And I don’t know the release dates. But probably next year there will be the beginning of a new MHI trilogy, set in the 1980s. They are the memoirs of a Hunter from a period of time before the regular MH series started.

##

There is also going to be an anthology of short stories set in the Monster Hunter International Universe from various authors.

From editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt: I am very pleased to announce that Larry Correia and I have signed a contract as co-editors with Baen for an anthology with the working title MONSTER HUNTER TALES which will feature stories set in the universe of his NYT Bestselling MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL series. Besides Larry, authors will include Jim Butcher, Jonathan Maberry, Jessica Day George, Faith Hunter, John Ringo, Sarah A. Hoyt, John A. Pitts, Jody Lynn Nye, Mike Kupari, Maurice Broaddus and more. For release in 2017.

And he is right on the And More, because we’ve got a bunch of awesome authors lined up for this project. I think we’ve got 6 or 7 NYT bestsellers in there, which is pretty impressive for an anthology.

We’ve also got a bunch of talented up and comers and new authors too. Bryan didn’t list all the names, so I don’t know who is confirmed and who has signed contracts, so that’s all I’ll say.

I’m really excited for this one.

##

I’ve got a couple other really exciting MHI related projects in development, but I can’t say anything further about those yet.

##

Then there was this press release from Baen last week:

Baen Books Announces Eleven New Science Fiction and Fantasy Acquisitions

Works include Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga Novel, and Original Novels from Best Selling Authors Larry Correia, Michael Z. Williamson, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Catherine Asaro, Brad Torgersen, and Charles E. Gannon

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, a new Vorkosigan Saga novel by award winningNew York Times best-selling science fiction author Lois McMaster Bujold, is among eleven recent acquisitions by Baen Books. The new Vorkosigan novel was agented by Eleanor Wood of the Spectrum Literary Agency.

Baen has also purchased two new entries in the best-selling Liaden Universe® science fiction series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, agented by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Three new books from Hugo finalist Michael Z. Williamson—two of which will be set in the universe of his time travel novel A Long Time Until Now  (May 2015)—and one set in the world of Williamson’s long running and popular Ripple Creek series are on the slate.

A new novel by Hugo finalist, Audie Award Winner, and New York Times best-selling author, Larry Correia, titled Wendell, will be delivered by the creator of the New York Times best-selling Monster Hunter International contemporary fantasy series.

Baen has also acquired two new novels in the Caine Riordan science fiction series from Nebula finalist and Compton Crook award winner Charles E. Gannon.

Further acquisitions include a new hard science fiction novel by AnLab award winner and multiple Hugo finalist Brad Torgersen, and a new Skolian universe science fiction mystery novel from two-time Nebula award winner Catherine Asaro, via agent Eleanor Wood.

“We are extremely pleased with this wonderful selection of new novels we will soon offer eager fans,” said Baen Books publisher Toni Weisskopf. “And we’re very happy to work with a group of such fine writers whose work engages and entertains hundreds of thousands of readers.”

##

I have no comment on what top secret project Wendell is.

I believe that with these latest deals I’m now back up to 14 or 15 books under contract.

Right now I’m working on the third and final Dead Six novel with Mike Kupari. Up next, two other Monster Hunter novels that take place at the same time (details to come). And the next novels after Son of the Black Sword (by the way, I’ve been getting really positive buzz on the eARC, which you can get here http://www.baenebooks.com/p-2688-son-of-the-black-sword-earc.aspx ) House of Assassins and Destroyer of Worlds.

So back to the plod!

Molly is still recovering from dental surgery, so enjoy her cute lisp while you can. And enjoy Batman! Say it with me now: I’m Batman!

Facebook -Twitter - Patreon

100% true story. I did finish the ice cream, but I felt terrible afterwards for a good while.

–I’M THE WORST COMIC DAD–

Invisible Bread turned four years old a week and some ago and I didn’t even notice! It always comes right after ECCC, but this year, the weeks after ECCC were a busy mess.

But more importantly, this has been a really great four years. I’ve met some really amazing people because of this comic and things keep getting better and better. So, to everyone reading this down here, thank you so much for reading the comics. I hope they’ve been able to put some quality smiles on your faces and maybe even make a crummy day feel a little better =)

–PST–

Invisible Bread Volume 3 is available in the store!

 

bonus panel

Molly is recovering from dental surgery, so enjoy her cute lisp while you can!

by W. Eric Martin

In 2015 U.S. publisher Fireside Games plans to release two expansions for existing titles and one new title, starting with Castle Panic: The Dark Titan on April 1, 2015. This expansion adds new monsters, new castle deck cards, plague tokens, support tokens, and The Dark Titan Agranok, a huge monster that has five different difficulty levels so that you can start easy and work your way up to full strength. Designer Justin De Witt shows off everything in the box in this demo video:

Youtube Video

• Bears! Trail Mix'd is an expansion for Anne-Marie De Witt's dice game Bears! that adds a new die which is rolled at the start of each round and puts a new rule into effect. One round you're scoring double for runners, the next your rerolls are limited — or maybe you're trying for bonus points by shooting the most bears. Watch it, bears.

• Anne-Marie De Witt is also the designer of The Village Crone, a 1-6 player game with a $50 MSRP that's due out Q4 2015. Here's a short rundown of the gameplay:

Become a witch and enter the medieval world of Wickersby in this worker placement, resource management game with spellcasting! Make villagers fall in love, turn them into frogs, or teleport them to different locations. Use your familiars to gather ingredients and cast spells on the villagers to achieve goals and score victory points as you vie to be named the village crone.

The Village Crone includes a modular game board as well as rules for solitaire play.

by W. Eric Martin

The release of Bruno Cathala's Five Tribes from Days of Wonder in September 2014 was greeted with many huzzahs for the gameplay, but one aspect of the components upset many of those who otherwise enjoyed the game — or kept them from trying the game in the first place.

Yes, I'm referring to the inclusion of slave cards in the marketplace deck alongside the gold, ivory, cloth, fish and other non-human goods. In the game, players can discard slave cards to take certain effects, and in the mind of some, this came across as players offering human sacrifices or trading in human suffering.


Original marketplace cards in Five Tribes

Before the game had even been released, DoW's Mark Kaufmann had responded to complaints about the inclusion of slave cards in the game:

In the thematic world of the Arabian Nights tales, in which Five Tribes is set, slaves were a frequent part of the story telling, sometimes even as a central character. In modern times, even the mention of slavery causes very strong reactions, but glossing over the historical fact that there were slaves in Persia in the 10th century felt like we were ignoring the realities of the world that Five Tribes takes place in. Calling them servants would have been the safer and politically correct decision, but in that time and place, nearly all servants were slaves. We felt that we wanted to stay true to the historical theme of the game.

That said, many people still complained and now Days of Wonder has announced a change of plans for future editions as well as new printings of Five Tribes, with the slave cards being replaced by cards that feature a fakir. (A look at the back of the box will likely show you which cards are inside. Rules for the Italian edition of Five Tribes (PDF) already show the fakirs.) As for those who already own the game or who want to purchase a current edition but replace the slave cards, Days of Wonder has created a pack of 18 fakir cards that will be available for purchase through the BGG Store.

Here's part of a press release from DoW's Adrien Martinot announcing the card replacement:

As we already explained very clearly in the past, we did not intend to harm anyone when we included slave cards in Five Tribes. (They were in the game from the very beginning.) Despite being part of the Arabian Nights tales folklore, we do regard slavery as an important matter and condemn it.

Still, we understood that this very precise element was preventing some people from fully enjoying Five Tribes. As a publisher, we thought it was important to offer the same joyful game experience to everyone. That is why slave cards have been replaced by fakir cards in the new reprint of the game. While the name and illustration are different, the purpose of the card in the game remain the same. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy these new fakirs, as they will be precious allies to summon powerful djinns and help your builders and assassins in completing their more or less noble tasks.

In order for everyone to have access to these new fakir cards, we worked with our friends at the BGG Store. They will be able to distribute an exclusive fakir replacement deck very soon.

by W. Eric Martin

• Following the 2015 GAMA Trade Show, Cryptozoic Entertainment posted a recap of its activities at the show, noting that mere days after shipping out DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Crossover Pack 1, which features characters from the Justice Society of America, and having just recently announced DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Crossover Pack 3 – Legion of Super-Heroes, in 2015 it also plans to release DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Crossover Pack 4 – Watchmen. No details on characters or art yet, but I'd hope none of the new stuff will show up in it.

• Cryptozoic also notes that it's partnering with "Looney Labs to release a Batman edition of the game Fluxx". I expect riots on the streets; I also expect the combination to be a dose of 1960s silliness and fun. (An article on ICv2 notes that Adventure Time Fluxx is also in the works, along with Fluxx Dice, an expansion that can be used with any standalone Fluxx game. I contacted Looney Labs for more details, and LL's Amber Cook confirmed that the title are in the works, but the publisher needs approval for artwork and is focused on getting out Just Desserts first in April 2015 before moving on to these releases.)

• Cryptozoic showed off components from Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game, which from the most recent reports I've heard has a Q3 2015 release date.

by Ted Alspach

First off, One Night Resistance isn't a knock off of either One Night Ultimate Werewolf or The Resistance. It's a totally different game that stands on its own.

If you love The Resistance, One Night Resistance provides these new features:
-----• Variable Spy counts (0-3 in each game)
-----• As much fun to be Resistance as it is to be a Spy
-----• Shorter (~10 minute) games
-----• Unique abilities for each player
-----• Engaging at player counts as low as three, all the way up to ten
-----• Role changing

If you love One Night Ultimate Werewolf, One Night Resistance provides these new features:
-----• The ability to play without an app
-----• Lots of public information to discuss following the night phase
-----• The structure of The Resistance, including a Leader and rotating around-the-table gameplay
-----• Roles and abilities are separate
-----• The great artwork and feel of The Resistance universe

Background

I've known Travis Worthington of Indie Boards and Cards for several years, as those of us in the gaming industry "know" each other from seeing one another at trade shows a few times a year. Of course, with Travis it's a bit different because he's local; we both reside in the Bay Area of northern California (though on opposite ends). In early 2014, he approached me to see whether I was interested in having IBC do a "retheme" of One Night Ultimate Werewolf into the Resistance universe, something that had been really successful for Coup. A straight retheme didn't seem particularly interesting, though I knew that there is a huge group of Resistance players who will never give One Night Ultimate Werewolf a chance because of the theme and/or its association with "regular" werewolf.

What did interest me is somehow combining the "Resistanceness" of The Resistance with the "One Nightedness" of One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Let's step back for a moment so that you can understand why this would be interesting.

First off, let me say that I love The Resistance. (As a gamer, I like Avalon more, but that doesn't change how I feel about The Resistance.) My first play of the game was a little rocky, with other gamers who didn't quite get it at first. But I warmed up to it quickly, and I really liked the similar social deduction feeling it had to werewolf. I've probably played hundreds of games of Resistance and Avalon.

Of course, at the time The Resistance was first published in 2009, Ultimate Werewolf was just starting to take off. Ultimate Werewolf was my way to address what I thought the issues with werewolf were (or at least, the issues of all the commercial versions up to that point were): It was the first version of werewolf to have a comprehensive set of rules (including pages and pages of moderator tips and guidelines), names and role descriptions written on the cards, and an appropriate art style for the genre. It also had lots of other innovative things like a moderator scorepad and a built-in game balancing system. It was werewolf for people who already really liked werewolf...and many of them loved it as a result of using the Ultimate Werewolf set.

However, Ultimate Werewolf didn't address the two primary issues werewolf-haters had with the game: the need for a moderator and player elimination. Personally, I like both of those as a good moderator can make any werewolf game better, and player elimination in werewolf creates a tension that you just don't get in any other game; the threat of elimination is the real mechanism here as it drives the game forward with intensity. That said, many people will never play werewolf because of one or both of those mechanisms. The Resistance found a way to solve both of those issues in a novel way.

Most importantly, The Resistance added a very firm structure to the narrative of the game. There's a Leader who appoints a set of players to go on a mission, and those appointees are voted on by all of the players. The players on the mission vote secretly and simultaneously on whether to make the mission a success. It's all very organized and logical, and while the number of mechanical decisions are limited (and thus easy to understand and use in the game), the possibilities are immense, and the discussion during each game is always lively and engaging. The Resistance also simplified the role structure by making each player simply a Resistance member or a Spy. (Of course, this was expanded upon in expansions and more notably in Avalon.) The Resistance is a game that a Vulcan would enjoy (though they would never show it).

Skip ahead a few years to One Night Ultimate Werewolf, which addressed those issues as well, but entirely differently; while The Resistance had a solid structure and limitations on character powers to avoid a moderator, One Night Ultimate Werewolf had an app act as the moderator. (Yes, you can play without it, but the free app is the way to go if you can.) The Resistance addressed player elimination by never voting out players, even though you play 3-5 rounds and some players could be outed as Spies before the game is over. One Night Ultimate Werewolf addressed player elimination by limiting the game to a single night, so the "death" of a player at the end of the day didn't matter as another new game would simply start up because the current game is over.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf added some other novel things as well: Role switching, impossible in "regular" werewolf in one of the two directions for a variety of reasons, gives the game its hook. Now not only are you trying to figure out who to kill, you need to figure out if you're still on the same team you started on (a prerequisite for figuring out who to kill). The addition of three mystery cards in the center of the table eliminated the ability for all players to have perfect information, and also provided the possibility that there might not be any werewolves at all, in which case the village has to agree not to kill anyone in order to win. And of course, the game takes less than ten minutes to play, and can be played with as few as three players.

One Night + Resistance = AMAZING

Combining the essences of these two games would result in a social deduction game that had both a solid narrative structure and the possibility of role switching. And maybe, while I'm at it, I could make it so an app wasn't required, and there would be a way to get the initial conversation of what happened at night moving along.

That was my frame of mind as I sat down and started putting concepts together for the game, which in many ways designed itself based on the framework above. Fortunately for me, the resulting game was as compelling as the two originals, and even more so in some ways.

The first set of rules, written about one month after Travis and I first started discussing this project, is remarkably close to the final, shipping game. There were lots of tweaks and balancing of abilities ("specialist" cards in the game), but the core is still there. Here's what I came up with initially:

There are three Spy role cards and one Resistance role card for every player in the game. Always. No chart needed. There are several specialist cards, many of which allow Spies to do one thing and Resistance to do another. The Leader starts the night out by telling everyone to close their eyes, having the spies wake up to see each other, having them close their eyes. Then the Leader does his night action (on his specialist card), and when he's done, he says "Mission accomplished". Then the player to his left does his night action and says "Mission accomplished", and so on until it's back to the Leader, who gets to look at his role card one more time before waking everyone up.

Starting with the Leader, everyone says what action they took during the night (they may lie), in clockwise order. In the final game this is even better as they are required to take a specialist token. This jumpstarts the conversation right away. Players can discuss amongst themselves for five minutes — in the final game the timer is optional; instead the conversation goes until the Leader calls for a vote when a majority of the players agree a vote should take place — at which time everyone must point at someone; the player with the most fingers pointed at him reveals his card, and if he's a Spy the Resistance wins. If he's not a Spy, the Spies win. The Leader token passes to the left and you can play another game.

That's the core of the game right there. Through playtesting and development, the following items were added, removed or modified:

The Specialist cards were modified several times, making sure they were balanced properly. A double-sided reference card was created, with one side being the basic "first game" specializations, and the other having the complete list. The Specialist tokens were added and required to be taken upon waking.

One session of playtesting really stands out: At the end of BGG.CON 2014, Travis and I recruited Jeremiah Lee, Alan Gerding and Sean McCoy of Tuesday Knight Games (Two Rooms and a Boom), and Dan "Game Boy Geek" King to playtest a few games. They wanted to keep playing even after multiple games over a few hours, and even after both Travis and I repeatedly crushed them. (Note to everyone: Travis is not bound by "the truth" in any way.)

While a great deal of playtesting was done with this game, it came together pretty quickly. I'm really proud of the resulting game, and I think Travis and I have managed to create a game that will appeal to both One Night Ultimate Werewolf fans as well as The Resistance fans, and hopefully pick up a few more fans on the way.

Ted Alspach

10 points to Gryffindor! A comic by Julia Lepetit from Dorkly.

[Source: Dorkly]

The post Dorkly Comic: Snape’s Tragic Backstory appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

You can look like a hero when you’re working out in these new Avengers: Age of Ultron shirts from Under Armour. You can choose from Captain America, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man in a compression shirt. There’s even a pair of Iron Man leggings for men.

See more pictures after the break.

Shirts/Leggings ($59.99/$49.99 Geekologie)

People in relationships can get some real answers for those real questions.

bonus panel

As one user says on BGG, I have Mouse Dyslexia.

Also, there’s a Tara Dactyl in this review.

The biggest ever wipeout of life on Earth was indeed the result of the oceans turning acidic according to researchers. They say unearthed rocks provide the first clear evidence to prove a theory behind the mass extinction 252 million years ago.

The Permian-Triassic extinction event, also known simply as the Great Dying, killed off around 96 percent of all marine species and 70 percent of land-based vertebrates. It’s likely the only such event where the majority of biological families were made extinct.

Scientists have previously worked on the theory that acidification of the oceans was the key factor. That theory is looking much more solid now that a team at the University of Edinburgh has analyzed rocks from the United Arab Emirates [pictured] which were on the seabed at the time.

The rocks show the effects of changes in the ocean and allowed the researchers to put together a climate model. They believe volcanic eruptions in Siberia released such large bursts of carbon dioxide that the gas was absorbed by oceans and turned more acidic. That proved fatal for the marine species and likely had a knock-on effect on the ecosystem as a whole.

The research has naturally prompted debate about parallels with climate change concerns today. While volcanic eruptions might sound like a rapid event that’s very different to any factors affecting carbon dioxide levels today, they were only sudden in comparison to the history of the world.

The release and the resulting acidification actually took around 10,000 years. While the actual amount of carbon dioxide released was huge (likely more than the equivalent of all remaining untapped fossil fuels today), the researchers say the rate of release following the eruptions was “similar to modern emissions.”

(Image credit: Donatella Astratti)

The post Acidic Oceans Caused Largest Mass Extinction appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

Pacapong is a game that gloriously mixes Pacman, Pong, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong in just one game.

Download Pacapong HERE (Windows, Mac & Linux)

[Alpha Beta Gamer]

The post Pacapong: A Game That Mixes Pac-Man, Pong, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

Why is it so hard to wait those extra five minutes for it to cool down?