Aaron Allston 1960-2014

News shotgunned through the wires last night that designer and novelist Aaron Allston collapsed at a convention, followed shortly by reports of his dead. Unfortunately, those reports were verified on Facebook and by email this morning.

Some may know of Allston's work through his Star Wars novels, or his original Doc Sidhe novel. Some may know of him through his work on Champions, Justice, Inc. or Lands of Mystery. Some may know of him through his revision of the D&D rules published as the Rules Cyclopedia, or the Hollow World setting for that. Some may know of him for his early work at Steve Jackson Games and on Space Gamer. He was all of these things and more.

I never knew Allston, but his work spoke to me, first as a gamer and then as a designer. He was one of a small handful of designers who were authoritative on the genres of comic book super-heroes and the pulps. Both Justice, Inc. and Lands of Mystery had an impact on my pulp gaming, and on my designs for pulp games. I don't know if he ever saw Pulp Fantasy, but he was one of the inspirations to which it was indebted.

His version of the D&D rules have been my definitive version for so long that, outside of my playing Swords & Wizardry, I'm not sure if I will ever have, or need, another version of Dungeons & Dragons.

I went through my game library and took a few photos of the things in it that he produced.

Today in the Daily Illuminator electronic newsletter, Steve Jackson had this to say:

Aaron was also the best GM I've ever known. The Champions campaign he ran for the SJ Games staff was memorable. A couple of us didn't actually know the Champions system at all, but Aaron made it not matter, and we all had a fantastic time.

Over on G+, +Allen Varney crafted this eloquent obtituary and tribute to Allston:

Aaron Allston, 1960 to 2014. You wrote large upon all of our lives, and you will not be forgotten.

Gygax Memorial To Honor "Father Of RPGs"

In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas continues to influence games to this day, forty years later. As Wizards of the Coast prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the brand in 2014, the “Father of Roleplaying Games” will be honored with a memorial statue in his hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin via a partnership between Wizards of the Coast and the Gygax Memorial Fund. Read more about the memorial at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/gygaxmemorial2 and https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/gygaxmemorial
 
To further honor the memory and work of Gygax, Wizards of the Coast created limited edition premium-covered reprints of his original three Dungeons & Dragons tomes that were released over the course of the last year. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of these monumental books was set aside as a donation to the Gygax Memorial Fund, in addition to a sizeable contribution from Wizards of the Coast to help further the development of the memorial.

Bruce Cordell Leaves Wizards of the Coast

courtesy Wikipedia

Over at his blog, Bruce Cordell announced that he was leaving Wizards of the Coast:

It’s with mixed emotions that I announce the end of my 18-year run at Wizards (and TSR before that). I gave my notice last week and will be leaving the company.

This isn’t an easy departure for me, both because of my long history with Wizards, and my recent good luck to be a member on the D&D Next design team. I’m thrilled to have been part of Next, and proud of what we accomplished: a kick-ass set of D&D rules. The team is on track to carry D&D Next to wide success.

 Hired by TSR in 1995, Cordell worked in both game design and fiction, writing adventures, sourcebooks and novels for both TSR and Wizards of the Coast. Outside of novels such as Plague of Spells and City of Torment, Cordell is probably best known for seminal adventures such as Return to the Tomb of Horrors and Die, Vecna, Die (both for AD&D 2nd Editions), as well as for writing (and re-writing) the D&D 3.5 psionics rules (both officially in the Psionics Handbook and Complete Psionnics, and "unofficially" in Malhavoc Press' If Thoughts Could Kill and Hyperconscious supplements).

Hopefully his next work will as inspiring to gamers. We all look forward to seeing what he does next.

Diana Jones 2013 Shortlist Announced

From a list of nominations that included traditional board-games, card-games, miniatures games and role-playing games, as well as events, books about games and gaming, and for the first time a PhD thesis, the secretive committee of the Diana Jones Award has built a shortlist of five items that it believes best exemplify ‘excellence’ in the field of hobby-gaming.

The Diana Jones committee is proud to announce the shortlist for its annual Award for Excellence in Gaming:

Dog Eat Dog, an RPG by Liam Burke, together with the Asocena supplement
Published by Liwanag Press
‘Dog Eat Dog is a game about colonialism that skilfully brings issues of violence and assimilation to the fore. A lightweight economy forces the native players to continually make agonizing decisions and the colonial player to be an utter dick. The Asocena supplement includes “setting hacks” that move the action from a player-created fictitious island to real-world settings – Italy under German occupation, for example – which shows off the game's true potential as a tool for empathy and understanding.’

Love Letter, a card game by Seiji Kanai
Published by AEG
‘A game like a fine watch mechanism: tiny, intricate and beautiful.’

Metatopia, a games convention in Morristown, New Jersey
Organised by Double Exposure, Inc.
‘Metatopia is a sui generis experience, in which game designers pay the con to demo their games for alpha gamers (who pay less for tickets, as they're the “attraction”) and/or experienced alpha designers. It's half retreat, half academic conference, half workshop, half game convention.’

Playing at the World, a book by Jon Peterson
Published by Unreason Press
‘A thorough, scholarly account of the history of hobby gaming in general and Dungeons & Dragons in particular. It convincingly traces the roots of D&D's core mechanics all the way back to chess, its tropes through fantasy fiction and mythology, and its community back to the wargaming societies that formed at the turn of the last century. Peterson's book is a must-read for anyone in the industry.’

Tabletop, a web series created by Wil Wheaton
Produced by Geek ‘n’ Sundry
‘Tabletop has brought a new energy and humour to the board-game field: its blend of good humour and gameplay is pitch-perfect and has introduced a range of titles from modern classics to indie RPGs to thousands of new players. The games hobby could not want a better public face than Wil Wheaton.’


PRESENTATION
The winner of this year’s award will be announced and the Diana Jones trophy will be presented at the annual Diana Jones Party, which will be held at the Cadillac Ranch, 39 West Jackson Place, Indianapolis, at 9pm on August 14th – the night before the Gen Con games convention opens to the public. All games-industry professionals are invited to attend.