We are in a world where we are inundated with some fantastic stuff. These things assail us remorselessly. We, in turn, cannot help but be mesmerized and amazed. There are some sweet things out there right now. The Avengers, The Hunger Games (the movie and the books), and all these great video games out here which are even a bigger time sink (Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, or The WItcher 2, anyone?) This is not even including the roleplaying games which surround us (and the growing pile which we, here the Blur, unapologetically contribute to) or the magnificently dangerous PC games, such as the newly released Diabolo III. And I read a lot of fiction from such excellent authors as Chuck Wendig, Matt Forbeck, and Jonathan Mayberry. And watch such kicking shows as Leverage from our friend, John Rogers.

I could spend all my time simply consuming this stuff. There is so much good stuff out there, it’s more important to pick and choose. I do so quite carefully. I’m sure you must too. Still, I cannot help but be attracted to the newness. I, at the very least, try to at least have a passing familiarity with what comes along. I just can’t keep up with each and everything. The choices I do make–the ones I think worth passing on–I do. We have to share what we know within our communities.

These things are not work in and of themselves. Don’t get the idea that I sit slack-jawed paralyzed by choice. I know what I like and often hone in my choices on certain things (often, some of these things are directly or indirectly related to what I work on). If I have a passion which overwhelms my free time, I find that cannot help but be good. My passion, our passion, shows in our work, our finished products.

How do you deal with the entertainment onslaught? Love to hear it!

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Personally, I enjoy noir, but the real difficulty and danger of noir is the genre is typically attached to atmosphere, and rarely locked into a setting as rich and robust as Deadlands. I, for one, find this a particularly smart move on a lot of levels. It increases the attraction of the new book to the existing fanatical fan base of Deadlands while expanding their property into a whole new space. In other words, it shakes things up quite a bit and should be tremendously fun.

To see John Goff’s name attached to the property thrills me to no end. Having worked with John in the past, he did Unstill Waters for us, and knowing how intimately familiar he is with the creep factor and the factual details of investigation, and his overall mastery of words, I cannot wait to see this thing materialize. And Cheyenne Wright? He most recently did the fantastic art for Agents of Oblivion. And Shane Hensley? C’mon? Do I even need to let you know he’s the maniacal mastermind at Pinnacle pulling all the strings? Really? This thing cannot help but be terrific. Right? Right? I don’t generally rave about stuff, especially sight unseen. In this case, I think it’s a pretty safe bet.

Put your money down on Deadlands Noir over at Kickstarter before you find yourself swimming with the fishes.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. When we’re working on a thing, we could stop at a certain point. The point would be the enough point where everyone would be happy. The thing is, we go past that point into the, wouldn’t it be really cool if?, area of things. We go to the places where grammar fails me and I gush out ideas and leave other folks, the crew, to come pick up behind me, and make sure I don’t set myself on fire in the process. (These are really good people I work with.)

In early phases of projects, I’m often very much doing my own thing. I prefer to work in isolation on a lot of the initial creative aspects, as I can go through iterative phases very rapidly. Remember? This is what I do all day. Some of my cohorts don’t have the same luxury. So I think and write and think (even while I’m working on layout).

What I’m working on right now, this project I’m working on while awaiting some materials back on some other things, is compartmentalized enough where I can wander and return to work on it as the circumstances demand. It’s nothing I’ve talked about publicly, not yet. And it’s something pretty cool and different and may well end up being our first Kickstarter. (I’ve been wanting to do one for a long time and have been trying to work through what, exactly, to do.) I’m kinda talking about it in a roundabout way, but it’s still too early to start blabbing about it directly. Just know this: it’s occupying a healthy portion of my mind-space and we’ll leave it at that for now.

The interesting thing, the point of the matter, however, is I could very well not include this particular portion of what I’m working on in the final project and the project would still be quite decent. Only I would really know it’s missing. And, once you find out about this part of the project, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Let’s recap things:

Q: Why do I create so much work for myself?!

A: I honestly can’t help myself. I love writing. I always have. I’ve done it ever since I was a kid. If I didn’t do it professionally, I’d still be doing it somehow or somewhere.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Okay. Let me reel that back a bit. Game design requires one to be somewhat schizoid. Got that? A good, old fashioned mental disorder used for good.

You have these voices in your head. Some say do this. Some say do that. Ultimately, they are broken down into four discrete camps.

1. The Creator: This is the voice you’re most comfortable with. This is you who is all shaved and shiny and professional like. This is the you which drips with professorial wisdom, like a, um, err, professor.

2. The Lazy Bum: This is probably the real you. The guy who wants to veg out on the couch and eat nachos while playing Call of Duty at the same time. You know how’d you do things and rules, schmoolz. Lucky for this guy, the Creator keeps the lights on. This guy just wants his next video game fix. Or, hey, more nachos. And razors? Those are for antelope and mange-ridden grizzly bears.

3. The Audience: Okay. I said there are four voices, and, bear with me, there are, but we have an A and B swooping in on you. (See Mr. Hester, I did pay attention in AP: English.)

A. The GM: You’re writing to tell this guy the whys and wherefores, fleshing out the bits of information not covered in the character’s section. You want to use your wits and wiles to be succinct and entertaining and convey what you need to convey. Don’t mince words. Serve ‘em up whole.

B. The Player: Who can ever please this guy, right? You know, because you are him. You know what he wants, because he is the YOU who is sitting at the table. The one who is participating in the GM’s wonderful stories.

Okay. All these voices can create a cacophony unless you separate them out. What is one to do?  Let’s find out.

1. Brainstorm: If your creative well is dry, make it rain. Come up with stuff that you’d like to play. Don’t worry if it’s been done. Let go of the filters like a drunk at two a.m. in a bar.

2. Scrutinize: Now, hungover from your blissful list, examine it with a more critical eye. What interests you most? Put a check by it. What doesn’t exist? Put a check by that. What exists but you think you could do better? Put a circle by that.

3. Prioritize: You have your pretty list and it is now battle scarred. (“Fritz! They killed Fritz!”) If you have a lot of x’s and circles, which you most likely do, then start numbering them like you would if you had a tiny lifeboat and your ship was sinking. What idea would you save first, and so on. A lot of these cats are gonna drown. Don’t mind the sackcloth, you’ve got work to do.

4. Visualize: You have this idea. (Yay! Finally!) And it’s just taking up space. What do you do with it? Kick back and think of the possibilities. What is this thing about? Really? Go nuts. Yes, you’re kinda brainstorming again, but you’re looking for purpose and intent. You’re tricking yourself into the first phases of a design document. Just don’t tell your brain. It shouldn’t really be listening at this stage anyway.

5. Particularize: Okay. Wake your brain up. You’ll need its critical thinking. You have all these groovy ideas, like everyone plays robots. Okay. Vague. Whatever. Where’s the story. We’re just hanging out going to the Jiffy Lube or what? Give me more to sink my teeth into. This vampire’s hungry. Okay. We’re part of a robot army. Are we transformers? Nope. Too easy. What if we’re off on some alien planet. Let’s get off earth. Okay. We’re there. It’s a rancid, humid planet. This ain’t good. We were sent here for a three day tour. And we’re getting rusty now. Both sides of the war lost. However, we have our programming. The other army is still out there and it has its agenda. And, yeah, we’ve been fighting this war for a thousand years. New civilizations have arisen around us. Some treat us like gods. Others as demons. Still others as protectors. So, let’s tighten it up a bit. Robot Army is about mechanized soldiers who fight for survival and a way home. Why? As our story begins, we find out the other army has found a way home, a way back to earth,and that army (built by some funky aliens) want to eat Earth for lunch. It’s not Shakespeare, but I’d play this game, I suppose.

6. Mechanize: What do we need to make this game happen? We define those rules and parameters. We focus on those elements important to the game. Skiing doesn’t matter in Robot Army. I, imagine, however, rules for repair, the effects of weather, and breaking down will be mighty important though.

7.  Actualize: Once the rules are done. We go back to the particulars and wrap it around the mechanics like a suit of armor. We introduce flow and context and other good bits not done during the mechanization process.

8. Abandon: You let it go. It should be easy enough to do. If you’ve done your job well, you need a little time apart. Pass it on to your crew, if you’ve got one.

9.  Revise: You come back to it. It should be sanguine if delivered from the hands of another or, at the very least, it will be fresh. Give it a thorough going over. And repeat steps 8 and 9 until you are satisfied.

There are a few more steps, if you’re going for publication, but I don’t think those are salient for today’s discussion. This should give you enough to chew on. I’d love to hear what you think, and how you approach things.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Game designers are one part analyst, one part writer, and three parts crazy. We have to sort out design goals. We have to make certain things make sense. We have to make certain they are both crystal clear and entertaining. If you don’t read them, you won’t use them. And then, why then, it’s all total chaos, and you might as well be eating toads in a whole and listening to Garbage on the radio (if you can dust it off and tune in to the nineties).

What we do is write where the Muse takes us. Okay, not entirely. But we do jump around a lot (and that’s entirely true). As a creator, we create. We work on parts of things, yet needs dictate we think holistically, or, in simpler terms, how is Part A going to fit into Part B? Sometimes, there is One True Path. Other times, there are so many combinations, you can just jot down the possibilities, or you may clearly see, as you sort out Part A the right direction for Part B. You can be right in the middle of Part A when this happens. Some of you may think you’re cheating to jump ahead to Part B to work on it. That’s silliness and crazy talk and crazy silly talk. You have to get those ideas down. Don’t rely on your memory. You may have a great memory. Creative connections are not the same thing. Remember disparate parts as opposed to possible intention is not the same thing.

What I’m saying is you have to chase the dragon. You rapidly sketch out enough of Part A and you jump over to Part B and get that going. Heck, you may need both the parts to get to Part C. The part you really want to test out to see if it works right. This may or may not have anything or everything to do with character gen. It may be a killer subsystem. Get enough done to move on.

This is what I term proof-of-concept design. It’s better to sketch it out and, if it makes sense to you, let a few friendly eyes check it out to see if you’re really mad or you’ve got something. Sometimes, you’re going to find out you’ve got a mess and the mess may not lie with Part B. Part  B could be kicked back in the shade sipping a margarita waiting on you, while Part A is sweating in the sunlight. It’s good to know where you need to focus. Ideally, if you’ve been doing this for awhile, you can rely upon the combination of your experience and intuition to know you’ve nailed something. This happens for me more often than not. Competence breeds confidence and all that sort of thing.

For example, I’m working on something which I just put through these paces. I’ve done some rapid design work for proof-of-concept. This phase is working and I’ve laid out the structure, so it’s merely the process of filling in the blanks. When I say merely, please realize I say that with the sweet scent of sarcasm assailing your senses. Filling in the blanks can take some time. However, the path is clearly laid out. If I have to take a break to work on some other stuff, then I can and come back to where I am without missing a beat.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk a bit about how I break down a project these days, provided you’re interested.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

After nearly eight years of waving my arms, wailing for attention, and general huckstering, you are actually paying attention to me, and what the Blur puts out. I must admit, this makes me a bit nervous. But, more than anything, it makes me grateful.

Your outpouring and generosity and, yes, sometimes, even your criticisms, keep things moving. If you criticize, you see, I know you’re paying attention. And, there is no doubt in my mind you are.

In the past week, there have been three particular instances where there is no question in my mind that you are keeping up with the Blur. And expect nothing but the best from us (whether I like it or not).

On Saturday, I received a very scathing email from a customer who was not happy with Agents of Oblivion due, solely, to the font size and general layout. Interestingly enough, Agents of Oblivion is the work for which we’ve received the greatest praise, just from an aesthetic standpoint. I haven’t received letters in the past from anyone who liked the layout. This work did. It’s better than being in the zone of mediocrity. People polarized in their positions mean people talking. Woe unto he about whom no one speaks.

Next up, I innocuously announced a sale on RunePunk yesterday. You buy any of our print stuff, and you can get RunePunk for only five bucks. A friend of the Blur, Tim Hannon, shared the link on Facebook, and the next thing you know, a retailer is none too pleased with yours truly. The funny thing is I had long figured Reality Blurs was beneath notice of the retailers. I know we have a nice fan base, but who was I to think “those guys” were paying attention to me? I used to be a retailer and, even then, it was hard to keep up with everything. Now? My mind would be totally blown. As it was now. I reckon we’ve paid our dues enough and have continuously grown and built a solid reputation where you guys have been chattering in your retailers’ ears and, well, gee thanks.

Which brings me to the last point of today’s report, the best part in fact for one singular reason. We have sold through our first print run of Agents of Oblivion. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We’ve sold through runs before but NEVER before has anything flown out the door so rapidly. Rest assured, more books will be ordered!

The best way to keep a roof over our head and the machinery spinning is to throw dollars our way. It lets us know we’re doing something right. Well, I better get back at it, no time to rest on any (real or imagined) laurels, there’s work to be done.

Until next time, a huge thanks to all of you! I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

I thought it’d be poor form to panhandle, so I thought I’d offer up some of my work in fair trade. Let’s say, more than fair. RunePunk, has been around for some time, and is well regarded by folks. The thing is, we still are sitting on a number of copies, because some of you don’t have it. How about a chance to help my fair haired daughter and get a snazzy hardback book? It’s easy.

You buy ANY print book from our shop and you can get a physical copy of RunePunk for $5.00 more. We can’t say how long this deal is gonna last, but we can say you’ll be doing myself and my kid a proper by pitching in on this. Already have everything? What about snagging some presents for your friends? Don’t have the scratch? You can still help out by spreading the word around.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

The trick is not to fiddle too much. You can get so engrossed with picking every little loose strand on your jacket that you start creating loose threads and before you know it, you’ve unraveled everything and you’re standing their naked in your bedroom wondering how to put everything back together again. The trick is to focus on the necessities of the phase you’re in. If it sounds so very analytical, that’s because it is.

Once you’re in the final stages, you are largely past any creative decisions. Your vision should be clear and focused. You are wrapping things up. Not pulling loose strands. You need to move with a purpose. There are other projects awaiting you. Don’t linger too long on any one. Do not overstay your welcome. Let me underscore the fact that you should not rush things. Knowing when the right time to wrap up is as much an art as anything and it is something which comes with experience.

Let me here what you think. You’ve all been largely quiet of late. I read your words. Feed my brain!

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Today, Jeff Scifert swung by the Mad Lab and picked up his copy of Agents of Oblivion (though he did spot it in a shop in London when traveling abroad). We talked about some of my secret writing today. Some of the mechanics and ideas I have in store for this definitely new thing I’m very excited about. The break has been good, short though it may be.

I’ll most likely work on it in some odd bits of time and throw it out into some playtesting even as we move forward on our regularly scheduled progress. Now is the time I most miss a local game group where I can test some of these things out face-to-face. I am contemplating a remote playtest of things where I will get some of you folks involved. That’d be interesting in and of itself.

Hope you and yours have a terrific weekend! I hear there are some good movies floating around. Don’t tell me. I know and hope to catch one or two of them this weekend.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

I’ve been posting here religiously regularly over the last few years and a number of you cats follow along and, while most of you are quiet, I totally dig you taking a slice of your day to see where my headspace is and what I’m up to.

Despite casualness and trappings to the contrary, this is a business. However, I invite you all to join me in the lounge area and kick back, have a cocktail, and explore the creative space, talk shop, and enjoy the show. You don’t really always want to be backstage, in the kitchen, or hear the floor manager deal with the acts. Let me tell ya, not always a lot of fun.

All of us, however, like to explore other things. Scratch different creative itches. We have a good handle on Savage Worlds. (After eight years, I should, right?) I’ve got a solid crew put together. I do fiddle with things beyond Savage Worlds however. We all do. None of us just eat the same thing every day. Some days, you may want a PB&J and a glass of milk. Other days, a ribeye medium rare with a tall, frosty beverage.

I’m just trying to assure you, everything is under control. I spend the bulk of the day working on what we’ve got in the queue and what needs to get out into your hands. I do want to stretch out a bit creatively. As I’ve stated here and elsewhere, it’s necessary to an artist’s growth. To that end, I hope you realize any thing I offer up for consumption shall be coming from a personal passion as has most everything which we’ve brought to market.

A number of these settings I’ve been carrying around for years in my head and I’ve followed through on them as best I’m able. I’ve gotten some great help along the way. A number of these folks are holding down the Savage fort, affording me this luxury to not only fiddle with some new things, but the courage to let you guys know we’ve got some interesting times ahead, both with what’s in our catalogue and what’s in store.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!