Words about words

Family Games: The 100 Best Now Available

2010-03-15T12:10:00.003-05:00

The newest in the series of essays on great games is now out: Family Games: the 100 Best is winging its way to retailers even as we speak. I'm proud to be included in such august company, writing essays about games we love. Here's a list of authors with the games they wrote about; I've bolded the ones I've played. How many of them have you tried?

Foreword by Mike Gray

Introduction by James Lowder

Afterword by Wil Wheaton

Appendix A: Games and Education by David Millians

Appendix B: Family Games in Hobby Games: The 100 Best by James Lowder

1. Carrie Bebris on 10 Days in the USA
2. Steven E. Schend on 1960: The Making of the President
3. Dominic Crapuchettes on Apples to Apples
4. Mike Breault on The Awful Green Things from Outer Space
5. Jeff Tidball on Balderdash
6. Keith Baker on Bang!
7. Bruce Harlick on Battleship
8. James Wallis on Bausack
9. Paul Jaquays on Black Box
10. Lewis Pulsipher on Blokus
11. Teeuwynn Woodruff on Boggle
12. Fred Hicks on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
13. James Ernest on Candy Land
14. Ian Livingstone on Can’t Stop
15. Bruce Whitehill on Careers
16. Jared Sorensen on Cat
17. Wolfgang Baur on Cathedral
18. John Scott Tynes on Clue
19. Alessio Cavatore on Condottiere
20. Elaine Cunningham on Connect Four
21. Will Hindmarch on Cranium
22. Erik Mona on Crossbows and Catapults
23. William W. Connors on Dark Tower
24. John D. Rateliff on Dogfight
25. Robert J. Schwalb on Dungeon!
26. jim pinto on Dvonn
27. Gav Thorpe on Easter Island
28. Jeff Grubb on Eurorails
29. Kenneth Hite on Faery’s Tale Deluxe
30. Richard Dansky on Family Business
31. Warren Spector on Focus
32. Corey Konieczka on For Sale
33. James M. Ward on Fortress America
34. Stan! on Frank’s Zoo
35. Bruce C. Shelley on The Game of Life
36. Phil Orbanes on A Gamut of Games
37. Monica Valentinelli on Gloom
38. Matt Leacock on Go Away Monster!
39. Steve Jackson on The Great Dalmuti
40. David “Zeb” Cook on Guillotine
41. Jason Matthews on Gulo Gulo
42. Joshua Howard on Halli Galli
43. Bruce Nesmith on Hare & Tortoise
44. Mike Pondsmith on HeroClix
45. Anthony J. Gallela on HeroQuest
46. Chris Pramas on HeroScape
47. Ed Greenwood on Hey! That’s My Fish!
48. Colin McComb on Hive
49. Alan R. Moon on Hoity Toity
50. Jon Leitheusser on Ingenious
51. Uli Blennemann on Java
52. Luke Crane on Jungle Speed
53. Monte Cook on Kill Doctor Lucky
54. Emiliano Sciarra on Knightmare Chess
55. Todd A. Breitenstein on Liar’s Dice
56. Marc Gascoigne on Loopin’ Louie
57. Andrew Parks on Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation
58. Seth Johnson on Lost Cities
59. John Yianni on Magi-Nation
60. Bill Bodden on Master Labyrinth
61. Andrew Greenberg on Mastermind
62. Ken Levine on Memoir ’44
63. Scott Haring on Mille Bornes
64. Steve Jackson on Monopoly
65. Sheri Graner Ray on Mouse Trap
66. Kevin G. Nunn on Mystery Rummy: Murders in the Rue Morgue
67. Dale Donovan on The Omega Virus
68. Darren Watts on Othello
69. Charles Ryan on Pandemic
70. Michelle Lyons on Pente
71. Thomas M. Reid on Pictionary
72. Nicole Lindroos on Pieces of Eight
73. John Wick on Pit
74. Matt Forbeck on Pokémon
75. Robin D. Laws on Prince Valiant
76. Stephen Glenn on Qwirkle
77. Sébastien Pauchon on Ricochet Robots
78. Peter Olotka on Risk
79. Richard Breese on Rummikub
80. Jesse Scoble on Scotland Yard
81. Richard Garfield on Scrabble
82. Mike Selinker on Set
83. Rob Heinsoo on Small World
84. Hal Mangold on Sorry!
85. Jess Lebow on Stratego
86. Eric Goldberg on Strat-O-Matic Baseball
87. Andrea Angiolino on Survive!
88. Karl Deckard on Thebes
89. Dan Tibbles on Time’s Up!
90. Tom Wham on Trade Winds
91. Susan McKinley Ross on TransAmerica
92. Ray Winninger on Trivial Pursuit
93. Leo Colovini on Twixt
94. Matthew Kirby on Uno
95. David Parlett on Upwords
96. Lester Smith on Werewolf
97. John Kovalic on Wits & Wagers
98. Philip Reed on Yahtzee
99. Kevin Wilson on Zendo
100. Jess Hartley on Zooloretto

Geek Kon is this weekend!

2009-10-21T00:23:00.003-05:00

I'll be at Geek Kon this weekend and I invite anyone reading this blog to attend as well. It'll be held at the Sheraton Madison Hotel on John Nolen Drive, Across from the Dane County Coliseum and the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The Kon runs from Friday October 23 through Sunday October 25; I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, wandering aimlessly when not on panels.

I'll be on the panel discussions "Gaming Publishing" at 1 PM on Saturday along with Matt Forbeck and Aaron Pavao, and on Sunday at 10 AM I'll be discussing "Professional Writing" with Aaron, Matt and Chad Corrie. If you come down for the event, please be sure to stop by and say hello!

Madison Games Day 2 - One for the Books!

2009-10-18T21:21:00.004-05:00

I was able to spend some time at Madison Games Day on October 17, and had a great time. It was also terrific to see Jason Blair and his hot-off-the-presses Little Fears Nightmare Edition (which I anxiously await - be sure to ask your favorite local game store if they'll be carrying this gem of an RPG).

As always, thanks to the many people who make it possible; organizers Matt McElroy, Monica Valentinelli and Jason Blair, and regulars Team-Preston (Jeff and Kay), Cam Banks of Margaret Weis Productions fame, Sean Kelly of GrumblingDwarf.com, and many, many more good local folks. MGD2 was held in the Mezzanine level of the Pizza Oven on Monona Drive in Madison, and featured board and card games, tabletop RPGs and some outstanding miniatures and terrain by Team-Preston. Keep an eye open for MGD3, coming next Spring for your gaming pleasure!

Vote NOW!

2009-07-27T20:07:00.001-05:00

Voting for the ENnie Awards, promoting excellence in gaming, are now open. I might mention that Green Ronin has several products up for awards, including A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, the Mutants & Masterminds Deluxe GM Screen, and the Wild Cards setting book and Freedom's Most Wanted, also for Mutants & Masterminds. My friend Jess Hartley has an adventure nominated too -- Rose-Bride's Plight. Anything Jess writes is well worth reading, so give it serious consideration. Another good friend, Jeff Preston, had his illustration work recognized in the Best Electronic Book category for "The Death Mother."

Vote here.

Whomever you choose to vote for, I encourage you to vote. Don't delay though - balloting ends at midnight August 1.

Watching the Watchmen

2009-03-10T14:55:00.006-05:00

With the fannish craze and media blitz over the Watchmen film, it's difficult to avoid learning anything about the subject. I myself have had to delay seeing Watchmen for at least another week due to other commitments. However, a very important point needs to be raised on the topic: Watchmen is not a comic book for kids. Mature themes abound, and it's inappropriate reading material for nearly all pre-teens.

Unfortunately, there's a large segment of the population that believes comic books are ONLY for kids; stores that sell adult-themed comics are under threat on a daily basis from moral crusaders who are looking for easy targets to pick on, generating the publicity these bullies crave. Please, please consider making a donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of First Amendment rights.

http://www.cbldf.org/

Are you willing to accept being told what you as an adult are allowed to read? If not, then drop these folks some spare change; they'll put it to very good use.

Bill

New review with a technological twist!

2009-02-24T10:22:00.003-06:00

My latest review, co-written with my wife Tracy, has been posted to Flamesrising.com:

http://www.flamesrising.com/cthulhu-goes-to-the-movies/

The intriguing thing (for me, anyway, technophobe that I am) is that this review includes a link that will allow visitors to listen to part of the review being read - a huge advantage for the visually impaired. Awesome!

Bill

New review up

2009-02-13T18:52:00.004-06:00

My latest review, of White Wolf Publishing's board game Monster Mayhem, was recently posted over at Flamesrising.com:

http://www.flamesrising.com/monster-mayhem-review/

I've enjoyed this game quite a bit; I first reviewed it more than a year ago for Scrye Magazine, and in replaying it for the new review, I had even more fun than the previous playings. It's a well-designed game and will appeal to boardgamers and fans of Universal's classic horror films.

B.

Reviews up

2009-02-11T13:44:00.003-06:00

A couple of my reviews went live recently, courtesy of the good folks at Flamesrising.com:

http://www.flamesrising.com/little-nighmares-cardstock/

http://www.flamesrising.com/little-nightmares-pigames-dh/

More will be coming in the near future. I'll post the links as soon as I have them.

B.

Warhammer Career Compendium Arrives!

2009-02-02T16:19:00.002-06:00

I just got my contributor's copy of the Warhammer Career Compendium in the mail today, and boy does it look sharp! I have to say I'm really happy to have had the opportunity to work on this book along with talented writers like Steven Schend, Jeff Tidball, Aaron Rosenberg and many others. Be sure to check it out - it should be in stores soon if not already. It's a lunker at 256 pages, so remember to lift with your legs, not with your back!

Kudos to the folks at Fantasy Flight Games for putting out such a good-looking book, and also for paying their authors ahead of publication. Thanks to Jay Little for bringing me on board for this one!

B.

The Economic Outlook

2009-01-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

The world economy is in rough shape right now. Like the rest of the U.S., for many freelance writers the economic outlook is bleak. As a personal example, just since the first of the year I've lost two different sources of income to the difficult times. One magazine I wrote articles for once or twice a year has just informed me that they are eliminating the use of freelance writers altogether for the foreseeable future as a cost-saving measure. Another publication I've contributed to monthly for more than six years is closing up shop altogether. This certainly isn't good news for me, but is nowhere near a crippling loss... yet. I can't help but think of how many thousands of people have lost their sole means of making a living, and my heart goes out to them.

Every opinion I've heard agrees on one thing; our economy will get worse before it gets better. To put things into some kind of perspective, every job lost is one less person who can afford to buy the products we write. If you have the money to spare today, please consider making a donation to your local food pantry. Even a modest ten or twenty dollars can feed a family of four for several days. Please do what you can to help those less fortunate than yourself get back on their feet; there but for the grace of God go all of us.

Family Games: The 100 Best

2009-01-25T23:33:00.000-06:00

I'm just finishing up my contribution to Family Games: The 100 Best edited by my buddy Jim Lowder and published by Green Ronin Publishing. 2007 saw the publication of the first volume, Hobby Games: The 100 Best. I was fortunate enough to have been invited to contribute to that one as well, writing the appendix on finding the occasionally elusive hobby game titles.

If you aren't familiar with the series, Jim invites 100 game experts - designers, publishers and other notables - to write short essays on one of their favorite games in the given category. The likes of Matt Forbeck, Richard Garfield, John Kovalic and many, many more contributed to Hobby Games, and the line-up for Family Games 100 is no less stellar, including White Wolf mainstay Jess Hartley and Monica Valentinelli of Flamesrising.com fame.

I can't talk about which game I've covering, so you'll have to wait until Gen Con to find out for sure. Suffice to say, I'm very excited about this opportunity to contribute to such an interesting and influential book, and can't wait to see the finished result!

Welcome!

2009-01-17T15:42:00.001-06:00

Greetings! This is my blog about writing. Since a number of people cover the nuts and bolts of writing far better than I ever could, this blog will concentrate on the business of writing and being a freelance writer, as well as occasional info about me and my writing career. Thanks for stopping by; there will be more content here shortly so come back soon!

Bill