Milwaukee Record - UberDork Cafe

My latest work for the Milwaukee Record is an interview with the owner of UberDork Cafe, a lovely little startup out in Menomonee Falls, where they can use a little more geekiness.

Classic Con Report - Fantasticon

High light: Seeing a lot of nerdy families at the show. Loved seeing mom as Black Widow, dad as Captain America, and the kid in a Bat-Stroller.

Low light: The RPG area was a ghost town. I had some people show up for Firefly, but there were some awesome D&D and Pathfinder GMs who were stuck waiting around with their hands in their pockets.

Best experience: Playing board games Sunday morning with some Board Game Barrister staff and an adorable little girl in a TARDIS costume.

Worst experience: The con was spread out over two hotels that shared a common parking lot. Luckily, the weather was gorgeous this past weekend, but it would have sucked if it was a typical Wisconsin. 


Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): The Milwaukee/Star Wars mashup magnet I got is pretty cool.


Best Freebie: The organizers gave me a free badge, which is always a hard freebie to beat.

Most welcome surprise: I found a dice game that Lindsay likes. Chupacabra plays fast and fun, with a cryptid theme that she loves. 

Most unwelcome surprise: My quest to get my Firefly RPG book signed by all the cast members was foiled again as Adam Baldwin backed out of the show a few months ago.

Best game: I enjoyed my run through Rise of the Runelords. It's not quite an RPG, but streamlines a lot of things about Pathfinder while still keeping the stuff players love.

Most interesting game concept: Sushi Go is a set matching game that has some of the most adorable chibi artwork ever.

Sleeper game: Roll for It is a dice worker placement game that looks like it would be a big hit for civilians.

Coolest booth: The Indiana Jones Fan Club booth had some great artifact replicas.

Strangest moment: Walking past a guy with a really realistic looking python around his neck and then realizing it was, in fact, a real snake.

Played: 
Geek Out
Sushi Go
Roll For It
Chupacabra
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Rise of the Runelords

Purchased:
Chupacabra
Bay View Star Wars magnet

Swag:
Free pass
Business cards

Things to pick up after the con:
Roll For it
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Save Game - Press Start

The day is here. Create retro video game heroes to battle a vicious computer virus in Save Game, powered by Fate Core.

Save Game is available here. Like all the Worlds of Adventure funded through the Evil Hat Patreon, it's Pay What You Want. You can download it for free if you like and then dip back to pay for it later. Or sign up for the Patreon and fund other totally awesome worlds coming up and get a chance to look at them early.

Thanks to Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue for giving me another chance to wear the Evil Hat. Their company is one of the best in the biz. Joshua Yearsley and Lenny Balsera whipped the manuscript into shape.

Thanks to the patrons of Patreon for investing in this experiment. I want you all to tell me about your characters.

Thanks to Aaron Lyle, Brad Davies and Ryan Smith as my official playtesters and to the gamers at Nexus Game Fair who played in my public playtest.

Thanks to Brian Patterson, who did all the amazing art for the book. His webcomic is awesome.

Cosmos in Milwaukee

I've finally gotten around to checking out the new Cosmos and it's made me very excited that Neil DeGrasse Tyson will be visiting the city in December to give a pair of lectures at the Riverside Theater. I'm not sure I've I'm covering these for Milwaukee Record, but I hope so.

December 10th features "This just in: Latest Discoveries In The Universe"

December 11th is "Science as a Way of Knowing."

Tyson has a good way of explaining ideas to non-science folks like me. And Cosmos is a great source of ideas for any games involving science, like Atomic Robo or Numenera.

Milwaukee Record: Fantasticon

Special thanks to Michael Bollow for talking to me about Fantasticon this weekend!

Firefly RPG - Play It With Me

Folks in Southeastern Wisconsin have a couple of opportunities to play Firefly RPG with one of the members of the Firefly RPG staff!

MKE RPG (Milwaukee RPG Group) is hosting a Space Cowboy-themed game day on Saturday, October 11th from 1-5 PM. I'll be hosting a Firefly RPG game and be on hand to answer any questions about the RPG. The event takes place at 42 Lounge, Milwaukee's elite geek bar.

Fantasticon Milwaukee will have demos during the show.

I'll be running:
Saturday at 2 PM
Sunday at 10 AM

Kickstarter - CHILL

Today marks the launch of the CHILL 3rd Edition Kickstarter. Matt McFarland asked me to join the project along with several other very talented writers. CHILL is a modern horror RPG where you play a member of SAVE, a secretive organization dedicated to fighting monsters all over the world. CHILL is beloved by gamers throughout the world and I'm excited to be contributing to its legacy.

Matt McFarland, the evil mastermind behind the CHILL Kickstarter, opened up a new set of reward levels to celebrate the Kickstarter hitting the 50% mark. Back at the Site Surveyor level and we'll work together to select a site for one of the SAVE offices mentioned in the corebook. Want your hometown to play a pivotal role in the battle against the darkness? Think your ex's new city should be riddled with supernatural evil? Back as a Site Surveyor and make it happen.

If you want more information, the Kickstarter is here. Always remember: SAVE Is On Your Side.