Martial Arts20 goes on sale

This is a book I wanted to write even before Modern20 was finished. I started to see the possibilities in the new rules to add even more depth and flash to unarmed combat, and was literally chomping at the bit to write this before M20 was even done.

And now, here it is. Hopefully you guys like it as much as I do.

Modern20 editable character sheet

Kerry Harrison was kind enough to provide me with an editable character sheet that automatically calculates bonuses for ability scores to attacks, saves and skill as well!

Thanks Kerry for making this and giving me permission to share it!

Fantasy Adventurers

Fantasy Adventurers is the light, fun strategy game where you explore dungeons, kill things, take their stuff, return to town, heal your party, gain some levels, then start all over again with an even harder dungeon. Sound familiar? As a strategy game, rather than a RPG, in Fantasy Adventurers you manage a party of four characters rather than a single character.

What you need to play: Fantasy Adventurers is designed to be a light, simple and fun two-player game that can be played almost anywhere. All you need to play is a sheet of paper, something to write with and a single d20. It’s that easy.

Customer Service. Or not.

Ok, that title's a little harsh, because my Capital One credit card is the best, least pain in the ass credit card I've ever had by such a wide margin it's simply ridiculous.

But everytime I checked my balance online or what have you, I always saw this little "message" tab, where I could basically email customer service from within Capital One while logged into my account.

I thought, that's cool, I can just fire them off a question!

So eventually, a couple of years after having this card, I actually DO have a question while checking my account, so I type it in and fire it off! Yay, way better than calling Customer Service.

And lo, within 24 hours, I had an answer waiting for me. Yay again! No more customer service calls ever, right?

Except, the reply I had gotten was "thanks for your question, we'd love to help, here's our customer service number".

Bangs. Head. On. Desk.

Ah well.

Being on the "inside"

So my aborted attempt to fund Fantasci through the ransom model (aborted mostly because I really had no idea what I was doing and blundering around) has sort of morphed into something I like better.

I asked the folks who had donated if I could sell it, and offered to keep the private group open for them and post updates as I worked on the book.

So basically, they got a book pre-order "plus", with the plus being an ability to see the work being created (I've uploaded 6-7 drafts at different stages of development) as well as the ability to chime in and offer suggestions before it's too late.

Basically, it's a much more detailed version of what you get here. More detailed because, since you've already bought the cake, what do I care if you watch it bake?

Honestly, I'm giving serious thought to doing this in the future.

Not only does it seem to have been fun for the guys involved, it's actually fun for me to share drafts with people in a way I feel safe and confident about.

Another Fantasci update

So, the draft is up to 22 pages, which is a pretty nice chunk of speed for 8 days or so full time on this project (so... 3 pages a day?)

So far the draft is all mechanics, and mostly spells and monsters. But hey, it's a science fantasy game.

One thing I'm totally still in the dark about though, while I follow inspiration down the magic-monster road, is races.

Since this is science fantasy, and in the style of Japanese RPGs, I can go completely bananas, and I want to.

Still, most of my ideas so far have been closer to lame bananas than awesome bananas.

Eventually, either inspiration will strike, or I'll do the thing I actually get paid for and grind a hole in that millstone with pure force of will.

Marvel Adventures Avengers: How to win Chuck to a comic in one page

So I checked out the Marvel Adventures Avengers via the Marvel Digital Comics service I recently signed up for (and raved about).

Marvel Adventures are all-ages titles, so they're for the kiddies, they're continuity-free and are meant to be that doorway drug for the next generation.

I'd been tempted by these before, but never taken the plunge. Since everything in the Digital Comics section is "free" (defined as not any more than I already paid) I checked them out.

Issue 1, page 1, a general tells the Avengers they're being fired. Why? Because they have a new automated defense system to handle threats the Avengers used to face.

They call it Ultron.

FREAKING. AWESOME.

So you take Ultron, and you mix him with a healthy dose of Skynet. By the end of the issue they were fighting Ultron tanks, Ultron planes, Ultron ships. Basically military stuff with Ultron faces on them, controlled by the Ultron mainframe.

Did I mention how freaking radical this idea is to me?

And to top it off, they somehow made Ultron equal parts cute, funny and creepy, all at once. It was definitely for the kiddies, but definitely not just for them.