Talking To Guy Davis

An artist’s artist, Guy Davis’ detailed, atmospheric work has adorned many acclaimed projects, including Sandman Mystery Theatre, Baker Street, The Nevermen and of course his long run as artist on BPRD at Dark Horse.

But many fans consider his best work on his creator-owned series The Marquis. The violent and disturbing tale of Vol de Galle, a demon-hunter in the time of the Inquisition, who finds himself with the ability to see the real demons surrounding him. But the Marquis’ quest threatens his own sanity, and leads him into ever greater depths of darkness, including one of the most disturbing visions of Hell seen in comics or any medium.

Hive Five: Five Best FTP Clients

Whether you do you work on the web, run a home FTP server, or you just prefer a quick download from time to time, a solid, full-featured FTP client can be lifesaver. You've got tons of options--both free and shareware--for your FTP needs, so finding the right FTP client can be difficult. On Tuesday you shared your favorite FTP clients, and today we're back with the five most popular choices. Read on for a detailed look at the five best FTP clients for your money, then cast your vote for the app you like best.

Tampa Bay (FLA) Area Gamers

I started a group like this in Cleveland, and it was pretty successful for me (and others of course) to meet other gamers in the area. I figured that starting a system / setting / group agnostic list might serve the same purpose in the Tampa area. We'll see.

Are you a role-player in the Tampa bay area? Join up and find other gamers.

This is a networking group for role-players in the Tampa Bay area (including but not limited to Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach and many others) who want a method for finding other gamers and coming together with gaming groups.

Tampa Bay Gamers will organize meet and greet events that will allow gamers to meet each other in non-gaming situations so that they can see if other gamers would be a good fit for their campaigns and style of play.

Since this group is about meeting with other gamers and having discussion about play, it is preferred that members have their group settings so that they will receive some form of email notices from the group. Remember, you only get out of a group like this what you put into it so active membership is a plus!

Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games

In 2005 I was standing near the registration booths at GenCon, flipping through the event catalog while the posse debated where to go first. I had already scoured the listings online, but as I glanced across the pages I spotted a word I had somehow missed before: Braunstein.

I knew what Braunstein was (sort of) so I dragged my whole crew to the far, far outer reaches of the con, to a seminar in a very quiet room with very few attendants. And we sat, and we listened.

What did I know that made me drag them all that way?

I knew that Braunstein was the world’s first roleplaying game. Ever.

Most gamers have never heard of Braunstein. Sad but true. In the hierarchy of self-awareness you’ll find the circle of gamers who know what D&D is (a very, very large circle), then inside of that is the circle of gamers who know what Greyhawk is (large but smaller), and inside that the circle who knows what Blackmoor is (smaller still). And then in the very center, vanishingly small, are the people who’ve heard of Braunstein. Which is a pity, because Braunstein is the granddaddy of them all.

The Legion At 50: Paul Levitz Interview

In his role as president and publisher of DC Comics, Paul Levitz would know a thing or two about the Legion of Super-Heroes. The team of super-powered teens from 1,000 years in the future has been an important group of characters for DC Comics since it was introduced in 1958 and is the focus of this week's Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds event.

Wizards Announces New Organizational Alignment

Wizards of the Coast today announced new organizational alignment to focus on key growth strategies for core brands.

'As a company, we will continue to be the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer,' said Greg Leeds, President of Wizards of the Coast. 'Re-aligning resources ensures we achieve this goal for our most powerful brands.'

While restructuring results in some job eliminations, Wizards of the Coast is actively recruiting to fill open positions in multiple areas of the company.

'Organizational change is always difficult on those impacted,' said Leeds. 'But we will take great care in the transition, and continue to invest in the growth of the business, specifically innovation for our Magic and Dungeons & Dragons fans.'

Thailand says it will deport Glitter to Britain

Thai immigration police said on Wednesday they would deport shamed glam rocker Gary Glitter to London 'as soon as possible' despite his claims of health problems preventing him from flying.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, flew to Bangkok on Tuesday, having been kicked out of Vietnam at the end of nearly three years in jail for child sex abuse.

He refused to board an onward flight to London, claiming ear and heart problems, but Thai police said they were not convinced.

'We are barring entry to Paul Francis Gadd and will be deporting him to his home country, England, unconditionally and even if he does not wish to board the plane,' police said in a statement.

'We are now waiting to return him to England as soon as possible.'

Craz and Vi Do The Birdy Dance

GenCon Photos

Hollow Earth Expeditions: Secrets of the Surface World Wins ENnie

Hollow Earth Expeditions is a great game, and frankly they cranked up the setting a lot with the release of Secrets of the Surface World this past year. Mysteries of the Hollow Earth is something that I am REALLY looking forward to getting into my grubby little hands.

Congratulations to Jeff and all folks at Exile Games Studio for their win last night at the ENnies. Sitting in the back of the room must be a winner.

If you haven't checked out HEX and its supplement yet, and you're a fan of the Pulps, you really need to get out and find yourself a copy. They're here at GenCon with a great booth that you really can't miss.

Maid RPG

This game is going to be my big thing for a while. It is, by far, the best purchase of new or old material at this convention. I will be talking more about Maid as time goes on but for now I wanted to get something up and out there so that people could start seeing something about this wonderful game.

It's a Japanese game and you play maids in it. Yeah, totally not for everybody, but as I read through the book last night I couldn't go a couple of pages without coming across some idea for a game that I wanted to run.

Once I get a chance to do some actual play I'll be even happier but this is a game that people need to check out, and I am going to be talking about it for a while.

Seriously, be an early adopter. They are nearly out of their GenCon copies. If you are here and can't get one, you need to follow the above link and get this as soon as you can.

Ewen and Andy K did a great job with getting this together and out the door. Now, once Andy gets Tenra Bansho Zero out the door things will be even cooler (hopefully I'll get to play a demo tonight at the RPGnet meetup).

They're really raising the bar with anime RPGs with these releases, and frankly it is lighting a fire under my ass to crank up the greatness with HeartQuest. I think that the game is on, ladies and gentlemen...

GenCon: First Posting!OK

OK, so.....I've not been posting from GenCon. Bad me. However, I've been pretty busy and having so fun. So, if you aren't here and were hoping to live vicariously through me I guess that you will just have to deal.

Some highlights thus far:

* Paizo sold out of the Beta version of Pathfinder RPG yesterday. I think that this is a pretty big thing, also considering that Paizo led a sweep of the ENnies last night (most tellingly in the free product category for the Pathfinder RPG dowload).

* Yesterday I picked up what is the new purchase highlight of the con for me: Ewen Cluney's translation of the Maid RPG. Defintiely not for everybody but is a cool game. I will most likely be blogging about it more later.

* The Green Ronin booth rocked. They've got so many cool new things that I just can't decide what I want. Despite the cover art snobs on RPGnet, I think that the Wild Cards looks great. Of course, I am a big fan of the books so I am the target audiences. Saw Steve Kenson, and he is as nice as ever. I also met Chris Pramas in passing for the first time.

All in all, it has been a fun con and I've enjoyed my first GenCon.

Friend's London Trip

An online friend of my went to London recently and posted a diary of her trip. I thought it looked really cool.

Oh, and check out her blog here.

ECC @ Ingenuity Cleveland wrap-up

The Evolution Control Committee show was the highpoint for me of this year's Cleveland Ingenuity festival. I'm happy to see that they linked to my photos on Flickr and mentioned me by name.

A video that I shot (my first with my camera so it is a little shaky) is up on their video page as well.

Ingenuity Fest Cleveland 2008 was a grand success, and The ECC had a couple very successful and well-attended shows there, debuting new lights on the Thimbletron, new music, and more.

Very cool, and thanks for a great set!

The ENnie Awards - Voting Page

The voting is open now for next year's ENnie judges. These folks do a pretty good job of things, and they are a good bunch of people. Dorkland, like last year, supports the judgeship of Zachary Houghton. He's a dedicated gamer, a good guy and takes his judging very seriously.

Welcome to the 2008 ENnies voting booth. On this screen you will see the nominees for the 2009 ENnies Judges. Voting for the 2009 Judge Panel runs August 10th to August 15th.

Before voting, please take the time to familiarize yourself with the applicants. A complete listing of the nominees is available at http://www.ennieawards.com/voting.html

For this ballot, you can vote for a single candidate or all the candidates. If you wish to vote for more than one person order them appropriately by placing your first choice on the first ballot, your second choice on the second and so on. The computer discards duplicate ballots.

Blue Dragon TCG Uses Roleplaying Mechanic

Konami's new Blue Dragon TCG (see 'Konami Gets Blue Dragon TCG Rights'), which it was demoing at San Diego Comic-Con, will use a roleplaying mechanic and carry the official title of the Blue Dragon Role Playing Card Game (RPCG). Players battle against each other using Command and Skill Cards, attempting to gain Experience in the game to learn new abilities, level up, and execute attacks.

Lifehacker: Five Best Desktop Media Players

You've collected hundreds of thousands of megabytes (and maybe even gigabytes) of digital music and video in the past 10 years, and as your media library has grown, so has the necessity for finding the perfect desktop media player. Not only must the perfect player be capable of playing back your media, but it also needs to be able to help you search through and find any song or movie you're looking for at a moment's notice. On Tuesday we asked to hear about your favorite desktop media player, and over 600 comments later we're back with the most popular answers. Hit the jump for a glimpse at the five best desktop media players, then help us choose the best of the best.

Twitter

In a recursive move, I am attempting to push the feed for this (my blog) into my Twitter account. Will it work? Only time will tell.

SovLit.com - Soviet Literature Summarized

Here's a cool little site for those of you looking for interesting period literature but you don't want something from the viewpoints of the West.

I'm sure that there's a lot of useful information for gamers to be found at this site.

The ENnie Awards- Voting Information Page

Voting is open for the ENnie Awards from July 28th until August 6th. Be sure to vote.

The ENnie Awards- Voting Information Page

BBC NEWS | Why is John Barrowman gay?

Torchwood star John Barrowman has known he was gay since he was nine. But was he born that way or did his upbringing have something to do with it? Here, he explains why he set out to try to solve this mystery, for the BBC One show The Making of Me.

I was in the closet for three hours once in 1972. It was dark, uncomfortable, and really cramped. Plus, I was convinced I wasn't alone (a crumpled jacket lurking in the corner looked pretty dangerous). I was five and my brother, Andrew, then 10, and my sister, Carole, 13, had shoved me into the coat closet because, well, really for absolutely no good reason. I mean what baby brother has ever annoyed his siblings to the point of needing to be locked up or tied down?

This story still gets a laugh from my nieces and nephews. Depending on who's doing the telling, Uncle John was either locked up for 30 fleeting minutes or for three long, tortuous, oxygen-starved hours. As simple as the story is I think it's an apt metaphor for the way I've chosen to live my life - openly, honestly, with no regrets. And, whenever I can, I try to confront the monsters in the dark. As my favourite Jerry Herman song proclaims: 'There's no return and no deposit. One life. So open up your closet.'

Robert Kirkman Made Partner at Image Comics

This is pretty big news in comics, I think.

22 July 2008 - As reported by the New York Times earlier today, THE WALKING DEAD and INVINCIBLE's Robert Kirkman has become a corporate partner of Image Comics.

'Image Comics has been a huge part of my life for as long as it's been in existence,' said Kirkman. 'Being inspired by the creation of Image, I've entered into my comics career not wanting to write corporate characters as much as I've wanted to create my own. Being a partner at Image, having the chance to help run the company as well as continue to contribute strong creator-owned series to its publishing line is more than I've ever thought possible for myself. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to sit at the table across from my fellow partners, and steer the direction of comics as a whole.'

Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! is Waving

This week, Image Comics and Dynamic Forces will release a hardcover collection of Howard Chaykin's legendary creator-owned series 'American Flagg!' to comic shops across America. At least, that's what Chaykin's been told.

'My understanding is that it actually exists,' laughs the writer and artist, noting that he'll believe the long-delayed volume has been printed when he holds it in his hands. Announced over three years ago, the hardcover will include the first twelve issues of the series (originally published in the early '80s by First Comics) as well as an all-new Flagg tale by Chaykin. 'What delayed the process were the solutions to a series of technical problems that were created by a number of unforeseen circumstances - getting our hands on the film, things like that. That was what extenuated the process and made the process more difficult,' Chaykin says.

However, while the 'Flagg!' hardcover took a number of years to assemble, few would argue that the wait would not be worth it. While a number of younger fans today never experienced the series, the story of former TV star Reuben Flagg fighting his way through corruption in a giant, gang-infested mall in an America abandoned by the U.S. government for new digs on Mars is a keystone of creator-owned comics and Chaykin's groundbreaking graphic style.

Announcement of the Creation of Gygax Games

July 23, 2008 Trigee Enterprises Company announced today it will now be conducting business as Gygax Games. Gail Gygax owner of Trigee Enterprises Company and the intellectual properties created by the late E. Gary Gygax also recently brought on board, Spencer Wright as Director of Operations & Product Development.

Gygax Games will focus on a number of projects including Castle Zagyg™ and the Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds ™ products created by the late Gary Gygax.

Gygax Games has plans to re-launch the Legendary Adventure™ line in the future.

Gail Gygax stated she wants to focus on maintaining the integrity of the product lines and is dedicated to working with other authors to continue the legacy of her late husband.

Contact Gail Gygax
262 745 5577

Spencer Wright
gygaxgames@gmail.com

Castle Zagyg, Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds and Legendary Adventure are trademarks owned by Trigee Enterprises Company.

Calvinball Rules at Simply Calvin and Hobbes

Here's a compilation of Calvinball 'rules' through the years. Of course, they are all open to interpretation and contradiction...