RIP Black Isle
Well, I write this shortly after I have had a partial root canal (always fun, plus the promise of more!) and moments before I pack and head to GenCon Anaheim. John and I managed to find a hotel a block away from the convention center for cheap. So if you're going to be there and want to spot me (and if they'll let me take it in with me) I'll be taking my 'Critical Staff' with me. It's a walking stick I had custom-made with a D20 carved in the top of it. Hope to see you there and hope to have some good news to report, since, thanks to the root canal, I was unable to get the next cartoon finished,

December 3, 2003 - 7:00AM - I'm Going To A Con! I'm Going To A Con!
They all seem so far away from here in Vegas. However, now that GenCon has a venue in Southern California and John scored some tickets, I shall be in attendance! All four days. Got the hotel reservations and the drive from Vegas to Anaheim is only four hours so if you wanna chat, be on the lookout for me. If I can put "Hoody Hoo Cartoons" on my badge, I will. Don't know what games I'll take part in yet, but I will be bringing all my Warlord cards.
On an unrelated note, check out Plastic Hammer by A17roolz! It is to Warhammer what my toons are to RPGs. Funny stuff.
Oh, and just so I don't get bombarded with "When's the new toon coming out?", I'm working to get the next toon up before I go to the con.

The freakin' figures are freakin' DONE, man! All 1700 of them! And it only took me two weeks instead of three! The burden has been lifted, loyal Knights! Cartoon nine moves forward! Hoody Hoo!

As you can see on the progress, I'm very close to getting the next cartoon out. However, an unusual situation has come up, that I have to spend the next THREE WEEKS rectifying.
Games Workshop has seen fit to change their numbering system for all their products. Figures, rulebooks, paint, everything. This is how we enter product into the computer here at the store. Sooooo, I have to spend the next three weeks taking inventory of ALL our Games Workshop product and changing every number on the product AND in the computer.
I will see when I can squeeze in time to get the cartoon finished, and I don't intend to let THREE WHOLE WEEKS pass by without getting the cartoon out (I WANT this cartoon out now!) , but this 'snafu' takes precedence.
If you'd like to express displeasure you can write to or or

Remember, that's GAMES "Oh, I'm sure 'WARMACHINE' is just a phase' WORKSHOP

March 20, 2003 - 3:40AM - GAMA: Wednesday
Another big day all around. First up, the shoutouts:
Nick Scott of Arcane Games for Tower Siege. The game has been out for a while, but, hey, they won't retire any cards like certain games...
Chris Davis of RPG Objects. Makers of Darwin's World and the GM Mastery books.
Possibly the hardest working salesman in GAMA, Mike Demetro of Guildhall Press. Makers of Scared Stiff: The B-Movie Horror RPG.
Dan Sivils of GamingReport.com! A most excellent news site of all things gaming! Very cool and worth checking out.
Matthew Spange of Mongoose Publishing, with the new mech game: Armageddon 2089. Very nice 3D color graphics of all the mechs available.
(The extremely cute) Christine Monachos of XIG Games with the most uniquely premised RPG I've seen in a while: Starchildren: Velvet Generation. Basically, our world has been purged of all art and music and become a dull and dreary place. However, aliens have intercepted our old radio signals and discovered the insiprational sounds of rock and roll! Now they have arrived on earth and live among us to bring our music back to liberate us. Sure it sounds like a Styx concept album, but I think the idea is pretty cool. If all you can embrace in RPGs are medieval dragon battles and futuristic mech clashes, then how much of a roleplayer are you? It's getting good reviews, so give it a look-see.
Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games with quite possibly the best book of the creepiest monsters to come out in a long time: Monsters of the Endless Dark! I was quite impressed with this book, and the second the DMs see the pictures alone, they will squeal with glee at the the thought of unleashing these nightmares on their players! Keep an eye out for it.
Oh yes, someone close to my hometown, the legendary Tom Jolly! Creator of Wiz War and Drakon. He's a good friend of my brother, too. When I asked him what he was doing at the con, he said he was looking to sell some new game ideas! Coolness.
Well there was much tiredness in the feet by the time I got to the evening's dinner which was themed like a birthday for AEG's 10th anniversary (shoutout to Andrew Snow). They announced quite a lot of new stuff to come out that's very exciting. How about a Stargate SG-1 game to go with Spycraft? Isn't that the coolest?! You now have an excellent way to transport your characters from one campaign setting to another! They also have a new card game aimed at younger kids called HumAliens, so if you think Yu-gi-oh is evil incarnate, there just might be an alternate to steer your little brother or sister too. Also snagged up as a gaming license is purportedly Japan's hottest anime property aimed at teen boys: Initial D. All about car racing, the cartoon is nothing like Speed Racer. It blends 2D animation of the characters with 3D renderings of the cars and racing. And also, they announced a Warlord RPG. Yup. An RPG based on the card game. Coolness indeed.
After the party, we all walked out with a box of Legend of the Five Rings decks, a box of Warlords: Black Knives boosters, a Farscape RPG book, the book Lords of the Peaks: The Essential Guide to Giants, and the When Darkness Comes game. Happy Birthday indeed.
I felt a little too tired to get into any demos and elected to go home and rest. That's when I see the headlines come up. All of a sudden it's a bit hard to get excited about all our fantasy battles when the real thing is going on right now. It's almost good timing that tomorrow is the last day. Well, I'm gonna watch a few more bulletins and then sleep. Good night wherever you are.

March 19, 2003 - 4:45AM - GAMA: Tuesday
Wow! The first day with full booth exhibitions. It was quite daunting to say the least. And there's still more to go. Anyway, here is the summary and shoutouts:
To Kristen and Andrew Looney at Looney Games. They publish games like Flux and Chrononauts. Met up with Tony DiGerolamo. As well as being part of Wingnut Games he also created the RPG comic The Travellers. Very cool, guy. Got some very funny games in his camp like Og, Stuper Powers Deluxe, and Battle Cattle!
Frank Bustamante of Third World Games took led me through a demo of two of their card games, Battle of the Bands, and The Testimony of Jacob Hollow, a quite gruesome yet easily played card game. Pretty fun to play.
I got to meet Jeff Bellinger, creator of the Killer Bunnies card game. He was very cool to talk to. Sadly, he had already run the demo on Monday and would be heading back tonight. I got the gist of the game, and I'll probably have to get some people interested in running a game sometime.
Although I didn't get to test the new Spongebob Squarepants card game at Upper Deck Entertainment, I did get to run through a few hands of Yu-Gi-Oh! with Brad Lapin of All Ways Gaming. Many kids play the game at the store (very rapidly, I might add) so it was nice to have a slow game with someone who could answer my questions.
Of course, in talking to the exhibitors and bagging free swag, I also pimp and plug the site to no end. Not at Fast Forward Games! I already had fans there in the form of Jamie and Renae Chambers.
Oh yes, I ran into John Kovalic of Dork Tower. It was fun to see him again. He's got quite a lot with all the things he's illustrating besides Dork Tower (Munchkin, Munchkin D20, Apples to Apples) The evening dinner held by Wizkids was very cool, since they handed out figures for their new Shadowrun Action Figure Game! Not only that, after dinner the battle lines were drawn at each table and skirmishes between rival Shadowrunners were fought. My team won at our table, and my share of the booty was a Limited Edition Johnny Storm figure from Heroclix. After that the good people at KenzerCo roped me in for a demo of their new minis game Final Days. Remeber the scene in Army of Darkness where the good battled the maurading zombie army attempting to overrun the castle? It felt like that's what I was playing. The good guys may have big guns and loyal dogs, but the evil guys have a whole zombie army to unleash on you. I quickly got into the rules, which uses playing cards rather than dice to determine initiative and to-hits. Very cool. Won that game too. :)
Finally, a nod to Mel Nash of Well Red Press. Looks like a cool up and comer site covering comics and games. Check it out. Me, I have to sleep now. Even more to cover tomorrow.

March 17, 2003 - 11:00PM - GAMA: Monday
That's right, boys and girls! It's GAMA time in Vegas! Can you say "gaming convention swag"? Sure I knew you could. "Swag" is a special kind of free loot, isn't it, boys and girls?
Anyways, I got the Orleans (the off-strip casino where the convention is taking place) and registered. The booths were still being set up today so it was mostly seminars and makeshift demos.
Wizkids had their big feedback meeting, but I couldn't get into that. The line extended to the length of the convention floor. John got in, of course, and got the huge Mechwarrior Dropship figure they were handing out, which now resides in the shop window.
A couple of demos I played that were of note:
Daniel Vujovic of Dust Bunny Games ran a demo of their soon to be published card game Seasons. The game plays similar to rummy, but the four decks used are each based on one of the four seasons, complete with it's own special 'power'. You make runs by linking days together. There are also special holiday cards that can add to your score as well. About the most complicated thing about the game is the scoring system, but once you get past that, the game is quite enjoyable. I had fun with it, and hope it gets published soon.
On the other end, we have Ken Burnside of Ad Astra Games drumming up interest in his space combat game Attack Vector: Tactical. I admit I found the game a bit daunting, but I didn't have much time to absorb the rules. Ken did come up with a unique way to get people into playing the demo. His map was set up with small chocolates as various targets which you won if you successfully 'damaged' it with your ship. Ken does scientific consultation with sci-fi publisher Baen Books and obviously enjoys the mathematical side of things (The shirt he wore said this and the other side of the shirt has all the math to back it up!) On the other hand, he has done great work in making the game playable without an advanced mathematics degree. His motto is "We do all the horrifying math so you don't have to!" It's already been compared to Full Thrust and Babylon 5 Wars and is getting a growing following so this is another one to keep an eye out for.
Well, that's it for today. And now to sleep! There's more to come!

But Cartoon Eight IS completed! Go see it now!
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