53 Years a Nerd. [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

In a strange confluence of timing, I am writing this blog on my actual birthday, and the occasion made me think about the kinds of presents I’m hoping for. A Big Finish third Doctor Who audio adventure, an In Search Of boxed set hosted by the inimitable Leonard Nimoy, a collected Promethea series graphic novel by Alan Moore, and the last season of Justified. Which pretty much suggests, no, confirms! that I am a nerd.

But I wasn’t always a nerd. Oh, I was into the same sorts of things (Ultraman, Space Giants, Prince Planet, Rocket Robin Hood, Batman, and Spiderman– the one with the catchy theme song. Wild, Wild West, Star Trek, The Avengers, and the very first episodes of Doctor Who in the US all b&w and snowy on our old set) nerds traditionally liked in grade school, certainly. But before I was ten, we didn’t have a name in my area for people with our particular, non-athletic, interests. It wasn’t until Happy Days started running that “nerd” entered our vocabulary.

At least in my neck of the Northeast Philly woods.

That’s a metaphor or an idiom; we had to walk a bit to get to any woods. But my neck of the twin houses with thin strips of lawn between them just doesn’t sound pithy.

Of course, puberty hit and so did Junior High School, so I hid out in the library and read Heinlein and Tolkien and Moorcock. I watched The Prisoner and got even more stubborn and resistant to authority. I devoured comic books – strictly Marvel at the time – and discovered John Buscema, Gene Colan, Barry Windsor Smith, and Frazetta, and wrote and drew comics and fantasy and science fiction imagery at every opportunity. I watched hours and hours of old b&w movies.

Talked my grandfather into taking me to the 1975 Marvel Comics Convention at the Hotel Commodore and Stan Lee yelled at me because I blinded him with a flash bulb. How could he have seen it through those dark glasses of his?

Although I had a few Avalon Hill historical wargames with chits for your forces and fold-out cardboard maps, there was no one I knew who was interested. I played chess with my dad. Beat him. We never played again.

Don’t be sad, I would soon have all the challenges, in a good way, that a teenager could desire. The door to fellow nerds was about to open and my life was never to be the same.

Central High School. America’s first magnet school before there were magnet schools. 99.9% college bound. We didn’t have a principal, we had a President, and every graduate over a certain GPA received not just a HS diploma but a Bachelor of Arts degree.

I tell people this and it sounds like I’m either bragging or lying, but no, for us, it was just a mixing pot for what were supposed to be the best and brightest teens in Philly. Star athletes, South Philly mobster wannabes, certified geniuses, and we all quoted Monty Python, and SNL, and Star Wars. My friend Michael Thau (Goggle his philosophy books) translated and performed an entire scene from the Marx Brothers in French class. Our nerdiest impulses were looked at as eccentricities.

And there was an entire Strategy & Tactics club dedicated to war gaming where I, and a whole room full of other guys, could play Squad Leader, and Wooden Ships and Iron Men, and then.

And then.

D&D.

Three years of playing at least once a week.

That and the finest art major program in the city set the twin courses of my life. Got to art school, was dissuaded from creating fantasy illustrations: “not serious, not cool”, but the nerd would emerge in film classes and animation. In making a chain mail vest and a silver wolf’s head ring in jewelry class.

My undergraduate years were bracketed by Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Indy comics like Cerebus and ElfQuest mixed in with my ongoing Marvel collection. I may have been at Fat Jack’s Comic Crypt at the same times as M. Night Shyamalan. (Another nerd for sure). Tom Baker as Doctor Who enabled a conversation that started a relationship that turned into my first marriage.

I studied film and film theory. Cahiers du Cinema anybody? Took my normal (er) friends to art school film festivals. It took Johnny I. two Long Islands Ice Teas before he could formulate words after the Pink Flamingos and Polyester double-feature.

Played D&D every week with a regular gaming group, at least 75% of the time with me DMing. Dressed them up in belts and furs and junk, took them down the woods, and filmed a post-apocalyptic fable inspired by Harlan Ellison’s writings.

I only wore light blue button down shirts and dark blue slacks. Purple sneakers or cowboy boots. Army coat and a cowboy hat or a derby (both black).

So by now, dear reader, you might be aware of a couple things. One, I’m a nerd as the title suggests. Two, I’m an old (er) nerd. Note the complete absence of anything computer related so far. Three, I seem to be doing a biography here, with no end in sight.

“What’s your point, Thomas?!” You might say.

Well, a hint to my point might be found in the factoid that the quote one line above actually was said to me by Harlan Ellison.

While I had to fight to get the review board to let me do a graphic novel based on my ongoing D&D world as my Master’s Thesis, and I had to fight the budget committee at Channel 29 in Philly to bring in the first desk top publishing graphics and animation system, and I had to convince the Illustration department head to let me add sequential art to the illustration class I was teaching, the nerd world I loved was soon to be more and more the world I lived and worked in all the time.

With White Wolf, I was creating gaming art. We all talked the same language. Wes and Josh taught me about Manga and Anime and Street Fighter and Army of Darkness. Marathon was played on the office computers. I hired artists I studied for years like Michael Wm. Kaluta and Berni Wrightson and Mike Mignola and came within days of hiring an ailing Frank Frazetta. I had dinners with Harlan Ellison and Michael Moorcock.

I’m not name-dropping here for status, these were my idols, my inspirations. In. My. World.

A world that got fuller and busier as I and a host of incredibly talented creators poured our hearts and souls, our sweat and blood, our spinal cords and sanity, into the books and fiction and cards and board games and ads and other projects WW put out. It was an amazing time.

The other, bigger, world was changing too. I sometimes think it was Tim Burton’s Batman that did it. Coming only a few years after Miller’s brilliant Dark Knight rejuvenated Batman for us nerds, his Batman brought that same milieu to the masses. It successfully buried the camp aesthetic of the TV Batman, which was honestly the Batman the majority were familiar with. OTOH maybe it was this damn internet that changed things.

Whatever the reason, here I am, a nerd with his ongoing nerd interests, in a world that is actively waiting to view new superhero shows and movies. Where most people have seen at least one of the Lord of the Rings movies. Where the new Star Wars film is the most financially successful film ever to fill up a theatre.

Wow. Things sure have changed from my 53 year perspective.

It is a great time to be a nerd.

It is a great time to create games and art and celebrate my nerd interests.

I’m just getting started!

(In all my excitement to get out this retrospective about how being a nerd is actually pretty cool, I forgot to mention that the illustration at the top is for the Wall of Darkness spell from Scarred Lands. Which has a Kickstarter going into its last week and going strong – see below).

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

In the heady days of the D20 explosion, White Wolf created our own fantasy setting featuring a world devastated by the brutal war between gods and ancient titans. The Scarred Lands will return as this Kickstarter for the new edition of Scarred Lands Players Guide was funded last week! Hosted on KS by our partner, Nocturnal Media, this Kickstarter is not only for a new edition but for a print run to get Pathfinder AND 5E editions into stores!

Here’s the link! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1861515217/scarred-landsfrpg-setting-in-both-5e-and-pathfinder

Starting at the end of this week, we will be presenting the Pugmire kickstarter! Pledge to enable us to create a beautiful full color, 180+ page, 7″ x 10″ core rulebook that we can also get into game stores. Before we start the KS, we’re pre-releasing the KS video featuring a brief audio drama of our adventuring party on the quest of an artifact of Mankind, as well as Eddy Webb and Prince Murray Pug explaining just what we are doing with this Kickstarter campaign. It is a treat, so Be Good Dogs, and check it out: https://youtu.be/DeggUirLIiU

ON SALE!

Gauntlet of Spiragos is a 5E D&D adventure for the Scarred Lands and is now available free as a PDF. Just like the Pathfinder version of Gauntlet of Spiragos, this one will eventually have a physical copy Print on Demand version as well. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/171523/Gauntlet-of-Spiragos-5E-OGL-adventure

Condition Card PDFs for both Chronicles of Darkness http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/171574/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Condition-Numina-and-Dread-Power-Cards and Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/171573/Werewolf-the-Forsaken-2nd-Edition-Condition-Cards are now up dealt up at DTRPG, with PoD cards soon to come!

The Tales From the Age of Sorrows Exalted 3rd fiction anthology is now on sale at DTRPG in PDF/ePub/Mobi and PoD versions! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/145501/Exalted-Tales-From-the-Age-of-Sorrows

The Demon Storyteller Guide has dropped its cover and is on sale as an Advance PDF on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/170165/Demon-Storytellers-Guide

M20 How Do You DO That? is now available at DTRPG in PDF and PoD versions! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/162241/M20-How-Do-You-DO-That

The Pugmire Pamphlet we had available at Gen Con is now ready for PDF download. Read about the world of Pugmire from the enthusiastic and optimistic pen of Princess Yosha Pug, as well as notes from the gruff and worldly hunter Pan Daschund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/153518/Pugmire-Gen-Con-Brochure

There are also six Pugmire posters available as free PDFs or $.99 physical posters, suitable for framing:

Spike Mutt: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150845/Spike-Mutt-Pugmire-Poster-6

Pan Dachshund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150844/Pan-Dachshund-Pugmire-Poster-5

Jack Rat-Terrier: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150944/Jack-RatTerrier-Pugmire-Poster-4

Sgt. Leo Bulldog: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150843/Sgt-Leo-Bulldog-Pugmire-Poster-3

Princess Yosha Pug: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149750/Princess-Yosha-Pug-Pugmire-Poster-2

Sister Picassa Collie: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148516/Sister-Picassa-Collie-Pugmire-Poster-1

Start spreading the Code of Man!

CONVENTIONS!

Gen Con 2016 planning has started.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (Scarred Lands)

Ex Backer Charms (Exalted 3rd Edition)

DA Tome of Secrets (Vampire 20th Dark Ages)

Redlines

Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

V20 Ready Made Characters (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Cavaliers of Mars

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes (Beast: the Primordial)

Dagger of Spiragos (Scarred Lands)

EX3 Quickstart (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Shattered Dreams in-book stretch goals (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Development

StoryPath System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

VtM Lore of the Bloodlines (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Beast Ready Made Characters (Beast: the Primordial)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

WtA Kinfolk (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Editing W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dark Eras Companion (Chronicles of Darkness Dark Eras)

WtF The Pack (Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition)

CofD Hurt Locker (Chronicles of Darkness)

Post-Editing Development:

V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Scarred Lands Player’s Guide: Ghelspad (Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Indexing:

Chronicles of Darkness Core Book (Chronicles of Darkness)

Beast: the Primordial Core Book (Beast: the Primordial)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

V20 Ghouls – Awaiting text.

– Awaiting text. W20 Shattered Dreams – Going over notes from Stew and figuring out buy.

– Going over notes from Stew and figuring out buy. Promethean: the Created Second – Ron art is all in…. probably in the layout queue post Awakening 2.



– Ron art is all in…. probably in the layout queue post Awakening 2. Scarred Lands PG – Still wrangling.

– Still wrangling. Dark Eras Companion – Getting roster together and starting on artnotes this week.

Getting roster together and starting on artnotes this week. The Pack – Contracted.

– Contracted. Secrets of the Covenants – Notes going out to Mark and Sam.

– Notes going out to Mark and Sam. Necroplis Rio – Getting artist for cover. I’ll deal with the rest of the buy post Dark Eras Companion AD.

In Layout

Guide to the Black Hand – Working on it.

– Working on it. Mage: the Awakening Second – Awaiting approved text. In the queue after Dark Eras.

– Awaiting approved text. In the queue after Dark Eras. Pugmire Early Access – Waiting on the last of the art to come in.

– Waiting on the last of the art to come in. Beast Anthology – Awaiting approved text.

Awaiting approved text. Dark Eras – Art on expansions continues. Sketches coming in from a couple of artists already.

– Art on expansions continues. Sketches coming in from a couple of artists already. Lore of the Clans Prestige Edition – Cover and End Pages.

Proofing



Ex 3 core book – From RichT: Maria has returned her corrected PDF layout to me just this afternoon, and I am going to review it and pass it on to the devs. Now, working on getting an index for it.

– From RichT: Maria has returned her corrected PDF layout to me just this afternoon, and I am going to review it and pass it on to the devs. Now, working on getting an index for it. Truth Beyond Paradox – Off for approvals at Paradox.

Off for approvals at Paradox. Beast Screen – Off for approvals at Paradox.

At Press

M20 – Deluxes printing (Screen is finished and awaiting book).

– Deluxes printing (Screen is finished and awaiting book). Demon STG – Awaiting errata doc.

Awaiting errata doc. Dreams of Avarice – Awaiting errata doc.

– Awaiting errata doc. Gauntlet of Spiragos 5e – PDF available for download.

Forsaken 2 Condition Cards – Available for download. Prepping PoD .

– Available for download. Prepping PoD Chronicles of Darkness Cards – Available for download. Prepping PoD.

Special- projects on hold in the art and production area until an external factor is resolved

Wraith 20 – Can’t go further until art notes come in, still being developed by Rich Dansky.

Can’t go further until art notes come in, still being developed by Rich Dansky. Pentex Employee Indoctrination Manual – Some added and amended text needs to come in.