Archive for the ‘Jeff’s Blog’ Category
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 in Jeff's Blog
I’ve got Bot Wars on the way, Free Trader cooking away and Fleet Action up in the air.
I’m also publishing Lifeboat in 5 different languages.
A lot of stuff is happening this year.
I’m excited to be working.
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Monday, December 14th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
My dear friend Lawrence Sheffield passed away last week of heart failure right in front of my eyes. He was 46 years old.
I dedicated the planet of Dr. Moreau to Lawrence because he had been such a great friend that he was family. Whenever I went to a convention, Law was either at my side helping out or back home helping with my kids.
Lawrence was a great buddy and a great friend. This world is larger for his having lived in it and sadder for his leaving.
His motto was Honor First, Courage Always, Family Forever.
My brother Lawrence will always be in my heart reminding me of my courage and honor.
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Friday, November 27th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
Gaming is make believe with enough rules to tie up your left brain so your right brain can have a good time.
It isn’t enough to be the baddest swordsman in the world (or the richest sultan or prettiest, prettiest princess). The world you are in has to be worth being in. I’m often surprised to hear that all-around gamers are the exception rather than the rule because I feel like this is universal. Everybody wants to be cool. Most non-gamers just lack the ablity to convince themselves that being cool in this pretend world is enough fun to make it worthwhile. I think this extends to boardgames as well. If you suck World War II out of Axis and Allies, you could make it about gathering toys in a sandbox and it would lose a lot of its appeal. Mind you, if you do the sandbox thing right, you can draw in a whole different crowd.
One of my gaming buddies summed up roleplaying as energy balls reducing the energy of the target energy ball. Not coincidentally, he doesn’t game any more. His connection to the imaginary power rush of pretend greatness failed him. He is still my buddy but we’ve lost that connection.
I’m going to design a roleplaying game. I’ve come to realize the following:
1. I want to make a difference in a cool world.
2. I don’t want to be in charge of (or know all the secrets of) the cool world.
3. I want a balance of tactical and strategic action along with personal time for my character.
4. I want the other characters in the world I’m in to be on the same wavelength.
5. I don’t want the other characters in the world I’m in to be in lockstep together.
6. I want the crunchy rules to work. They need to be interesting enough to provide texture and simple enough to be playable.
7. I want real consequences.
8. I want dungeons. Some of the stuff my character will do is going to be within the framework of a situation with objects, obstacles and objectives that behave realisically. Those places feel real.
9. I don’t want dungeons. I don’t want nonsensical situations or situations that are specifically scaled to match the party’s strength.
I’m going to come back to this. This is who I am as a gamer. A gamer is who I am as a person.
Comments OffFriday, November 20th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
I just reallized that I’m not blogging often enough. I’m really not sure what this blog is about. I’ve got some radical political and religious views I could espouse. I’ve got game ideas and rants.
It is bizarre to have a forum and not know what to say. I’ve got a lot to say but maybe I should have two forums or three. As this is on Gorillaboardgames.com, I’ll stick to the gaming stuff.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about roleplaying games. What is the sweet spot for me between tedium and frivolous hand waving. Does this sweet spot change over time or fluctuate. Sometimes, you just want to put down the thug and get to the next bit of story. Sometimes rolling the dice anyway leads to an unexpected result that creates a great substory.
One thing I’m thinking a great deal about is tactical relevance in roleplaying. I’ve heard the new Warhammer RPG allows you to choose a defensive or aggressive stance. I like this distinction. I want the crunch to be intuitive and generate results that are both flavorful and crunchy. This is what I think about when I go to sleep at night.
Last night I dreamt I was hanging from a hot air balloon and landing in hostile territory. I’m going to write a game “Adventurer’s Club” about this kind of stuff. It might even be a kid’s game? I don’t know. I usually get excited and make it for me. The problem is that there aren’t enough “me’s” in the world to buy the games I write for me.
Never trust people who don’t write for themselves, though.
Comments OffMonday, September 28th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
September is slipping away and what do I have to show for it?
I’m working on “Bot Wars” and planning for Essen. I’ve also got “Free Trader” in the works and I’m waiting on “Star Fleet Battlestations”. All of this is taking so much time that it is taking its toll on me. I’d like for this to be a happy blog about how much satisfaction I get from creating cool stuff and making a living at it but sometimes (especially when I have Sciatica) it is hard to be up.
I’ve been blowing up my playtesters 5 out of the last 6 weeks. I’m dialing down the difficulty on Bot Wars but I hope I don’t go too far.
I”ve been writing a page a day of my novel set in the Battlestations Universe. It is hard to write.
I just got back from Napa this weekend. I visited my father in the hospital with pneumonia.
Perhaps, this blog entry will be the last of a disjointed bunch.
Comments OffMonday, September 7th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
I made the distinctive blunder of scheduling games on the Saturdy of my wife’s birthday but Jacob Sprunck and Jim Pinto were able to bail me out by running my events for me.
I was able to get to the show on Friday night and Sunday and enjoyed some Lifeboat as well as some other stuff. I was pleased to get in a playtest of Jim’s Gondolier game and his Dominaria. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in Dominaria and the Gondola game looks like it will be light tile-laying fun.
I really enjoy going to game conventions. I’m going to have to do it more often.
Comments OffWednesday, August 26th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
Yes, I am back from GenCon but of course, I’ll never be back. It was a long, fun, grueling week with lots of games, setting up and working the booth and demos.
This year I didn’t get enough time with my friends. I saw everybody but didn’t really get a chance to hang or game because I was running demos until 11 every night. I’m going to have to fix that for next year.
Deep Ones debuted here and the fans loved it. Jason ran packed games (even overfilled and overflow games) every day and everybody just went er, crazy for Deep Ones. (sorry)
I went off to Carpinteria with the family to visit my dad right when we got back so I still haven’t had time to recover. School starts for the wife and kids in a couple of weeks so maybe then I’ll have time to finish Bot Wars or Free Trader for Battlestations or put in the next round of fixes for “Delusion”. Of course, I’ve still got my top secret project in the works and I need to reprint the sold out “Lifeboat” and there are preparations to be made for Essen…
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Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
I am back from Origins where I earned much and learned more.
Running the huge balloon game (5 foot diameter balloons soaring 25 feet over the miniatures hall) was a whole lot of hassle for not a lot of response. The 8 people who played in the event were very happy with it but we just didn’t generate the kind of amazement I was anticipating. To top it off, convention halls don’t want helium balloons getting sucked into air conditioning ducts so we had to restrict the regatta to half the room. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can figure out how to do so. It was amazing but it isn’t likely to return.
“Who Would Win?” debuted to rave reviews. It was great to be able to give a one minute demo and have people either love it or leave it. I’d rather play Battlestations but it is easier to sell “Who Would Win?”
Jason ran the Battlestations events and pumped up the “Deep Ones in Deep Space” fan base. We’re excited about our August release.
That’s enough for now.
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Friday, June 12th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
I just picked up Who Would Win? and sent it out.
It is a lot of stress to put out a game but it really let me know I’ve got a great support network.
Of course, I can’t thank them by name or I’ll be tipping everybody off to my source of support. It would be like letting everybody into my fortress of solitude (or in this case fortress of togethertude). Suffice it to say, the best thing about doing anything is finding out how connected I am to the rest of the world through a network of really luminous beings.
I’ll write more tomorrow.
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I’m going to be in a chat interview
Thursday, June 4th, 2009 in Jeff's Blog
Woo hoo!
I’m famous enough that I’m going to be interviewed on rpgbomb.com in a chat. Jason will be there too.
I read their archived interview with Monte Cook to prepare so I have all of his answers memorized. People might expect my own answers but if Monte Cook isn’t good enough for them, they’re out of luck.
I wish Tweet had never been invented because it makes my blog entries look trite and trivial.
See you soon!
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