Something cool

I have not been much into web-comics.  My consumption of media is sporadic and ecclectic due to being busy and possibly a bit unfocussed.  However, this: Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is going to rock.

Not much art has leaked out, but the beautiful drawing of a sabre promises much, and I have seen samples of other work by this artist, Rick Burchett, and it is wonderful.  The writer is none other than Greg Rucka, known for writing mainstream comic characters like Batman, Batwoman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Daredevil and Punisher, as well as his independent comic work, Whiteout, Queen & Country and Stumptown.  Also, he has a long resume of excellent suspense novels. 

Disclaimer, I have known Greg since we were both in high school, so I am totally biased, but I promise, if you read his work, you will not be disappointed.  He knows how to build a character, set a scene and he writes action like nobody's business.  He has been nominated and won multiple comic book and writer's awards, so he is a good bet.

Lady Sabre is going to be a new venture with elements of fantasy, science fiction, swashbuckling action and that ineffable aesthetic, Steampunk. 

I think it will be all good, because, even though there has not been much of a medium for Greg to write in this mode before, he knows it, loves it and will do right by it.

I can't wait for release day, July 11.  It is going to rock!

Variety of news

It has been busy and I have been remiss in getting updates into this blog.  Unfortunately, it appears to be a modus operandi with me a blogging.  Still, I am paving the road to Hell and all . . .

So, I have a couple of Zeppelin Armada reports to give, which may or may not happen.  We did play twice with the second round playtest rules and some of the changes were awesome and some made us wish for the old rules.  All in all, though, we were impressed with how responsive the designers were to the questions raised by the first round of testing.  The game is going to be really good, and I just hope it has good success once it is released.  The good thing about the company releasing it, Evil Hat, is that they don't push out products just to get them out.  They test and review very carefully, and I think we might be in a third round of testing.

In other news, a game I have been supporting is coming out, with the PDF already released. 

The game is Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple - A Storytelling Game.

The game might be considered unusual until you realize that you have done this more informally around the campfire since you were a kid.  Essentially, you tell a story by taking turns in adding elements.  However, it is more structured, in that you use the mechanics of the game to help guide the development of the story (e.g. you may have a result that tells you the story requires some serious trouble to crop up, or alternatively you might have a result that tells you that it is time to narrate some great success or triumph).  It also has an interesting setting for the stories and gives a certain structure, because you are solving a problem or set of problems presented in a letter (the conceit is that people out in the world write a letter to the Flying Temple when they have a problem they cannot handle; some problems are serious, some humorous, some just off the wall, but they all provide a fun structure to the story you tell). 

So, I was interested in the game, and I contributed a letter that was to go in the first expansion to the game, a special Book of Letters.  However, much to my surprise, my letter did not get chosen for the Book of Letters.  Instead it appears in the main book! 

That's pretty awesome.  So, yes, I am biased, although I had no idea that something that I wrote would be published in the main game when I first signed up to preorder the book.  Modern publishing is pretty amazing.

So, check that out or ask me about it.  I am going to print out the rules this week and try to find some time to play.

On other fronts, my daughter finished elementary school last week, and I now no longer have any elementary school kids in my house.  It is a pretty strange feeling.  Some sense of pride, some sense of loss, happiness and bitersweetness all bound up together.

Of course, since the swim season quickly ensued, I have had little time to contemplate things as our Whetstone Whales swim team has a crackerjack season to get through over the next six weeks.

So, I may not blog again for a while.  In the meantime, join me is saying:

GO WHALES!