Classic Con Report - Nexus Game Fair

High light:  An excellent first year con. My handler, Stephanie, was on point the entire convention, keeping the hydration flowing and arriving just in the nick of time with more food vouchers. If I get asked back next year, I definitely want her helping me again. 

Low light: I still have yet to play Artemis, despite it being right there for free at this show, with Ben playing hours and hours and hours of it..

Best experience: an excellent 8-player game of Firefly on Saturday afternoon. One person away from unlocking the Full Boat Firefly GM Achievement.

Worst experience: The construction around the hotel was pretty intense. It normally should take about 10 minutes to get there from Stately O'Wieland Manor, but detours and dodge turns almost made me late for a couple of events.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): The free party cup offered soda for a buck anywhere in the hotel.

Best Freebie: Nexus treated me well as a Guest of Honor with free passes, food vouchers, a free shirt and party cup.

Most welcome surprise: The food at the hotel restaurant was surprisingly good.

Most unwelcome surprise: Many of the seminars and panels were sparsely attended. Everyone was too busy playing games, I guess.

Games played: 
Firefly
Camelot Trigger
Save Game
Doomtown Reloaded
Police Precinct

Coolest booth and why: I arranged an excellent trade with the guys at Chimera Games which provided the loots pictured above.

Strangest moment: Al Snow, professional wrestler, randomly showed up as a guest on Saturday.

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: There were a lot o old-school game sellers there, including a run of Gangbusters adventures which I have already.

Stuff bought:
Deadlands Reloaded: Last Sons
Deadlands Reloaded: Smith and Robards
Edge of the Empire: Suns of Fortune
Edge of the Empire: Beyond the Rim
Smash Up: Science Fiction Double Feature
Smash Up: Obligatory Cthulhu Set
X-Wing: TIE Fighter
X-Wing: HWK
X-Wing: B-Wing

Stuff got for free:
Guest of Honor experience
Nexus T-shirt
Nexus plastic cup

Stuff that was wanted that was unavailable:
Looks like I may have to invest in the AEG Big Box for Smash-Up at Gen Con now.

Things to buy after Nexus:
Doomtown, though that's coming at Gen Con.

Best Quote:
"You're like a magical robot!"

Podcast - The Signal

My Benevolent Overlordtess Monica Valentinelli and I went on The Signal to talk about our love of Firefly and our work on the RPG.

Save Game - Nexus Game Fair Preview

Friday marks the first public playtest of Save Game at Nexus Game Fair. There are tickets still available if you'll be in the Milwaukee area. The manuscript is currently at edit stage, so I thought a sneak peek at the characters I'll be using would be a fun little tease. These characters only have their High Concept and Trouble aspects, since we'll be generating Inventory Aspects at the table. Check them out after the jump!

Milwaukee Record - Nexus Interview

For the past few years, I wrote for Onion AV Club in Milwaukee. AV Club got out of the local newspaper business (RIP), but my old editor started up a website that features the same mix of local pride and gentle sarcasm as the old publication. He's asked me to contribute from time to time and my first article is up today. I interview Chris Hoffner, one of the founders of Nexus Game Fair.

Nexus Game Fair Schedule

I'm a guest of honor at the Nexus Game Fair here in Milwaukee, WI from June 19th - June 22nd. There are a lot of excellent people at the show, but, for some reason, if you want to come and see me instead, here's where I'll be. The demos are all sold out, but there are plenty of tickets available for the Firefly seminar.

Thursday, June 19th:

6 PM: Camelot Trigger Demo

Friday, June 20th:

4 PM: Firefly RPG seminar

7 PM: Save Game public playtest

Saturday, June 21st:

Noon - Firefly Demo "Bucking the Tiger"
6 PM - Firefly Demo "Bucking the Tiger"

In addition, my friends at Plot Points podcast will be doing a live show at 8PM on Friday.

Hello, My Name Is

+J.R. Blackwell 's blog post today inspired me to write one of my own. It seemed a little weird to introduce myself back when this blog began. But now I have links, I have works, I have, as Niska might say, reputation. So it's time to introduce myself. Though, like so many other entries in this blog, it will double as a sign post and probably make me laugh when I come across is in a few year's time.

My name is Rob Wieland. I write. My clever response to anyone who asks me "Oh, what do you write?" is "Whatever pays." I split my time between a corporate copywriting job that pays my mortgage and freelance assignments that let me write what I want. Walking the middle path is hard. There are times when I'm envious of my colleagues who can freelance full-time and of those who have full-time jobs writing the stuff I do on nights and weekends.

I struggled with calling myself a writer for a long time.  I'm not Stephen King, J.K. Rowling or anyone like that. I knew far too many people in writing programs who were already writing their poet laureate acceptance speeches. Or who spent years working on novels that only they could see and hear. That was not my path. Writing is a career like any other. You start out at the bottom and work your way up. I was afraid to call myself a writer for a long time, throwing words like "freelance" and "aspiring" in front of it. Even now, a part of me thinks I'm jinxing myself by putting these words out there.

My first paid gig was a short story for a fiction anthology related to an RPG. I was never paid and the anthology was never released. My second paid gig was winning an open submission contest for my favorite RPG company. The line developer left shortly after the contest and I never got a chance to write for that line. Heartbreaking developments, but they taught me important lessons about professional writing. 

I'm best known for my work in tabletop RPGs. My hobby which became my passion which became my workspace. I'm best known for my work on licensed RPGs. Shadowrun, which was a game I grew up playing. Star Wars Saga Edition, which got me a Wookiepedia page. Firefly, which let me work with some people I grew up reading. Playing in these sandboxes is an honor and I love doing it. 

I've also contributed to some big world anthologies over the past few years for games like Hillfolk and Fate Core. Camelot Trigger has been an amazing experience. Save Game is shaping up to be the same. Mafia Century allowed me to address one of the big holes in tabletop RPGs. Encore was a shout out to my days as a theater kid.

Right now, I'm looking to expand my horizons. I'm in a good place but I want to be in a better one. I want to write comics. I want to write TV shows. I want to write articles for magazines. The days where writers define themselves by categories are over. I still feel like the sky is the limit even after doing this for over a decade.

Now you know who I am. I'd like to know who you are. Please introduce yourself in the comments.

Why We Write

Today is Memorial Day in America. Social media feeds will be full of flag pictures and tributes to veterans. As you can see by the picture, I'm no different. That handsome gent is Louis Wieland, Jr. He is the namesake of my gaming library. He was my grandfather and he served. But, most importantly, he knew how to tell a goddamn story and he passed that love down to me.

He didn't have heroic war stories. He talked about the mundane stuff that happened where he was stationed. He understood that people are the important part of stories. You get the people right, you get the story right. It was my first, most important lesson as a storyteller. I'm as grateful for that as I am grateful for his time as a soldier. All of this is his fault.

So, if you have the opportunity, listen to a war story from a veteran today. They want to tell one and you'll want to hear one. That's the best way we can honor their service and remember their sacrifice.