Glastonbury Festival to Hold Silent Disco

Here's a cyberpunk type of image for your upcoming campaigns:

Glastonbury Festival to Hold Silent Disco

"It's a scene familiar to any summer music festival � open fields full of sweaty young bodies writhing in time. But this one appears to be missing a vital element � sound.

"At Britain's famed Glastonbury music festival this weekend, festivalgoers can take part in a "silent disco."

"The music, instead of being pumped out through stacks of speakers, will be streamed to the audience through personal sets of wireless headphones, and it'll look like the dancers are jumping around to a nonexistent beat."

Romania Stunned by Nun's Death in Exorcism

Romania Stunned by Nun's Death in Exorcism

"The whispers started in April in the mind of the 23-year-old nun.

"In the heart of an Orthodox convent in Romania's impoverished northeast, doctors say, Maricica Irina Cornici believed she heard the devil talking to her, telling her she was sinful.

"She was treated for schizophrenia, but when she relapsed, a monk and four nuns tried a different method: exorcism."

Gossip: Prime Directive d20

This blogger has heard that a big part of the delay in Prime Directive d20, produced by Amarillo Design Bureau is in the fact that the publisher has said that he is uninterested in learning the d20 system in order to understand the manuscript turned into him from a respected d20 author. This disinterest has lead to internal strife between the publisher and the author, as the unknowledgeable publisher and playtesters who are just as clueless have forced enormous rewrites of the material, rewrites that in many cases do not fit with the workings of the d20 system. Many of these re-writes wouldn't even make sense to someone with a passing knowledge of how d20 works, such as requirements to spend XP at certain places in character development (which of course would mean that characters would not be able to advance as quickly due to having to use XP for things other than what they are intended for in the system.

This blogger fears that the resulting book may not even be compatible with other d20 products, due to a mistaken understanding of the nature of how d20 works. Hopefully, this will not be the case.

This blogger thought that the days of publishers attempting to exploit the d20 fan base with uninsipred and poorly implemented conversions of their house settings was a thing of the past. While Prime Directive d20 sounded interesting when announced, this blogger can not justify supporting a publisher who has expressed disintrest in learning a system and is only publishing for that system for the money of the fan base.

ADB Discussion Forum

From a posting by Steven Cole of ADB (in the above linked thread): "It is important to remember that SVC will do the production coordination and probably the page layouts but that he doesn't understand the D20 system at all (and doesn't want to)."

This blogger finds this attitude to be very disheartening.

Bar of soap sells for $18,000

For your discussion, a campaign seed. The world is always stranger than fiction.

Bar of soap sells for $18,000

"Perhaps the oddest piece of work at Art Basel is a bar of soap, displayed on a square of black velvet, purportedly made from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fat, removed during liposuction."

Origins Awards Ceremony Changes

Friends and Colleagues in the Games Industry,

We have taken a careful look at the Origins Awards Ceremony. Despite recent attempts to make the awards more interesting and entertaining (last year's 30th Anniversary show, in particular), Origins Awards ceremonies have been very lightly attended. We have concluded from this, and from the success of previous social events, that both gaming fans and industry professionals would rather celebrate the awards in a party-like atmosphere than sit down to a 2-hour ceremony.

As such, we've chosen to announce the Award Winners to the public on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. from the entrance of the Exhibit Hall, where the nominated products will be on display. We've replaced the Awards Ceremony with a celebratory Gala, scheduled from 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM Friday night in the Fusion Room on the Ballroom level of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, across the skywalk from the Convention Center. Origins Award statuettes ('Callies') will be distributed at the party to those winners in attendance.

The party is free for the primary creators of nominated products and Supporting members of the Academy, and $30 for others. Tickets for the party may be purchased at the Special Services desk at Main Registration.

We are confident that this approach is much more in keeping with the spirit of our industry, and we hope you will all take the opportunity to enjoy the celebration.

On the behalf of the GAMA/Origins Staff

Sean Patrick Fannon
Events Coordinator, Origins/GAMA
Events@gama.org
www.originsgames.com
www.gama.org

Hasbro Reacquires Game Rights From Infogrames

Hasbro Reacquires Game Rights From Infogrames

"French-headquartered publisher and developer Infogrames, recently in the news over the resignation of CEO Jim Caparro at its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Atari Inc., has made another major change to its line-up, with the news that Hasbro has reacquired many of its gaming rights from the company, for a sum of $65 million.

"Infogrames, which now publishes its games under the Atari label, originally acquired Hasbro Interactive in 2000 for $100 million, in a deal that included rights to all Microprose games, the Atari hardware and software, the Games.com online gaming site, and electronic rights to all Hasbro properties for a period of 20 years. Infogrames then merged the company with acquired U.S. property GT Interactive under the current Atari Inc. brand."

A lexicon of teen speak

Here's a great resource for those "evolved" languages for your near future campaigns. Use the right "teen speak" (this article is from the UK) and your can equal any doublespeak written by Burgess, Womack or even Orwell.

A lexicon of teen speak

"A new campaign aims to persuade people to become teachers because they will learn new words. Teen speak can be confusing for anyone who is not a teen. So here is the E-cyclopedia's first annual guide to youth-speak for the not-so-young."

Mike Mearls Hired as Developer at Wizards of the Coast

Mike Mearls Hired as Developer at Wizards of the Coast

"I've received my offer letter, so I guess it's kosher to publicly announce this. I've been hired by Wizards of the Coast as an RPG developer." [via Jeff's Gameblog]

Experiment IV: Israel May Use Sound Weapon on Settlers

Here's something that could be useful for your RPG campaigns. It reminded me of the old Kate Bush song, Experiment IV:

We were working secretly
For the military.
Our experiment in sound,
Was nearly ready to begin.
We only know in theory
What we are doing:
Music made for pleasure,
Music made to thrill.
It was music we were making here until

They told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake in the making.

From the painful cry of mothers,
To the terrifying scream,
We recorded it and put it into our machine.

Then they told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake in the making.

It could feel like falling in love.
It could feel so bad.
But it could feel so good.
It could sing you to sleep

"I'll bet my mum's gonna give me a little toy instrument!"

But that dream is your enemy.

We won't be there to be blamed.
We won't be there to snitch.
I just pray that someone there
Can hit the switch.

But they told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake we've made.

Hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.
And the public are warned to stay off.

Experiment IV: Israel May Use Sound Weapon on Settlers

"Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's
Gaza Strip evacuation — a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that leaves targets reeling with dizziness and nausea.

"Security forces could employ the weapon to overcome resistance without resorting to force, their paramount aim. But experts warn that the effects of prolonged exposure are unknown.

"The army employed the new device, which it dubbed 'The Scream,' at a recent violent demonstration by Palestinians and Jewish sympathizers against Israel's West Bank separation barrier."

Comics and graphic novels, not just men in tights

Comics and graphic novels, not just men in tights

"Who would win a fight between Batman and Balzac, Superman and Steinbeck?" [via Colleen]