The Lunatics Are Running the Asylum

Today, we inaugurated our president, elected, perplexingly, by the popular vote. Why did he win the popular vote this time? Was it because he sought the support of all Americans? No. Was it because he represented a way to rebuild our country's reputation in the world? No. Was it because he built his platform on a basis and tolerance of American people, a guarentee of our rights as citizens, or because he embrace the policies and statesmanship made us a global player? No, no, no. He has built his legacy on the corpses of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens, prayers of evangelicals and the money of business and special-interest groups. He has built his legacy on arrogance, intolerance, lies and good old blind American pride. We will be paying the price for 4 more years...and for many years after.

But we won't stop our bad decisions at politics
Cause we must remember that diversity is wrong, and difference must be squelched. This week, the FCC has begun a review to investigate whether the Olympics are lewd and pornographic. It's not enough for John Ashcroft to order the statue of Justice, bearing her breast (much like that hussy Janet Jackson, but without so much as a 'nipple shield'!), to be draped, but no, now we must extend our puritanical, self-righteous crusade to ancient culture. Right now, a crack squad of Delta Force operators are on their way to Greece with disc sanders to grind all boobies and wee-wees from statuary in order to preserve our national morality. Huzzah!

And now conservative Christian group Focus on the Family has declared that Spongebob and Winnie the Pooh are gay. How dare someone have a policy that includes tolerance of *everyone*? I mean, we must assign sexual roles to asexual creatures because otherwise, our children will turn out all twisted and messed up...like their parents, perhaps, who are encouraging this drek? Remember, these are people who grew up watching cartoons whose characters didn't wear pants (Donald Duck, Woody Woodpecker - what a name!) or dressed in drag frequently (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd).

Whatever happened to my America?

The Passing of a Giant

I just found out that Will Eisner passed away on January 3rd of this year - a revelation that truly saddens me. Though I have been designing games for a long time, my first true hobby love was comics - specifically, creating and collecting them. When I was in middle and high school, I wanted nothing more than to write and draw comics, and threw myself fully at the study of pen and ink art, writing, and the great masters of the medium like Bernie Wrightson, Frank Miller, Barry Windsor Smith, Jack Kirby, Alan Moore, Steve Ditko and Will Eisner. Eventually, the comics bubble burst, and I discovered a new hobby - Magic: The Gathering - which drew my money and attention away.

But I still love the medium, and in the years since, I've gone out of my way to stick with the old and new greats, like Frank Miller's Sin City, Azzarello and Rizzo's 100 Bullets, and almost anything by Brian Michael Bendis. I've come to appreciate comics as a unique visual storytelling medium, one that has grown up as I have grown up, with 'adult' titles forming a valuable and interesting sector of the market. Today, I can realize when I pick up Eisner's A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, that the evolution of comics into something other than 4 color funnybooks is almost entirely due to Will Eisner's efforts. Books like Contract and Last Day in Vietnam were the trailblazing first steps into the now-popular graphic novel format - stories not afraid to run hundreds of pages, like an actual book, instead of biweekly exploits and shallow plots; to address adult issues, realities and sensibilities. I believe that this contribution alone, the revelation that comics could be more than "just comics" to the world at large, may have saved the medium from death, and instead allowed it to thrive.

It's little secret that the stories I created from those first days in comics not only inspired my love of storytelling, but sharpened my talents as a creator and businessperson to allow me to do what I am today. From that love of creation, I learned about dedication to a purpose, hard work, good storytelling, and ultimately of the importance of chasing your passion. So thank you, Mr. Eisner - may you rest in peace.

Yeah, That's Me



Inane? Check. Rambling? Occasionally. Rarely updated? Check. Looks pretty good so far...

Welcome back, folks. Have you got your copy for the Informant yet? C'mon, you know you want it! Even if you don't for my surprise, there is some excised material from World Militaries in there as well that would come in mighty handy for y'all.

2.0 Update
The first little peek at 2.0 has been opened over on the Spycraft forums recently. Get on over and check it out, if you haven't so far.

I'm almost done. *Almost*, then I'm onto pure, smooth-drinkin', never-bitter Project X. Does it bode well for a project that I'm still giddy about it 3 years after I first proposed it to a publisher?

PDFs?
The continuing debate over AEG's apparent policy to never enter the PDF market continues to rage, as exemplified in this thread on the Spycraft forums. We all know AEG's track record with PDF products has been less than stellar, as evidenced by the quick but unannounced demise of the SFA Interactive serial, but at least they never charge. There seems to be a certain level of expectation for PDF support of a line on behalf of the fans, however, and this is something I want to consider as I plan the life and times of Project X and other items.

So, for the 5 of you that read this blog regularly - what's your interest in the PDF market? I have some Project X pieces that I'd definately rather push out as smaller, standalone work, rather than stuff them into an admittedly overstuffed book, but the PDF market and the occasional vampiric publisher (say, the guy who puts together *a* class as a 3 page PDF and sells it for $2) have created some trepidation about the viability of the medium.

If you could get high-quality PDF work - maybe light on art, but full of fluff n' crunch by your fav Spycraft authors - would you pay for it? What would you pay for it...$1 for 5 pages? $2? $3? I'm still a n00b at these things but I'm interested in hearing your voice. Comment away, below.

"That's No Moon..."

This is the most awesome news of the day.

Back in Black

Hey folks, and Happy New Year to you all. I'm just coming off a pleasant holiday break (at least, from the day job) myself, as well as a busy holiday which also was marked by sickness in my entire home. Ugh.

2.0 is steaming right along, in spite of every loose virus in sight conspiring against me. This game will be...revolutionary, let's say. You're going to love it - and I think the way you judge other d20 games thereafter is going to be quite different.

Read the Informant #2
Trust me. Beat up that annoying little kid who always beats you at CCG games if you need to, but get it.

I love the smell of rampant speculation in the morning
For all of you who replied to the Christmas gift over the last few weeks, thank you. The speculation has been nothing short of wildly entertaining, and gives me great hope for the future.

Battlegrounds
I got my first peek at the Battlegrounds layouts, and I must say, the team did an excellent job. This final book in the Spycraft Militaries trilogy features background information, characters, and missions set in historical military hot zones, from the jungles of Vietnam to the undetermined battlefields of the Last War. The team has done their homework on this one, providing in-depth information on the combatants, motives, and theatres of each conflict, all from the grunt's eye view. I would go so far as to call it the keystone product of the trilogy, helping to gel and realize more fully the ideas and factions presented in the first two. Good work to my colleagues, especially Clayton Oliver and Patrick Kapera who came up with the project. Look for it in late February or early March.