C2E2 2014 - Instant Classic Con Report

High light: This was the first year where I felt like I made some good connections at c2e2. The previous years I got a lot of people telling me I needed an artist to draw pages to put into people hands. This year, by wandering around Artist's Alley, I got a lot of cards from potential collaborators. 

Low light: The lines for the big names I wanted to meet were huge. So I must continue to merely chat them up on Twitter.

Best experience: Driving down with Ben and Brad and getting some good conversation with best friends both days.

Worst experience: A damned sinus cold that sent me back home before seeing Thrilling Adventure Hour.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): The first three Punisher Essentials for the price of one.

Best Freebie: The Jonah Hex sketch that Jimmy Palmiotti did on the trade he signed for me. He drew something in two minutes that looks better than anything I could do in a year. 

Most welcome surprise: Running into the Ms. Marvel cosplayer whose picture I showed to Ms. Marvel's author and passing on well wishes.

Most unwelcome surprise: I as all set to spend a ton of money at the WeLoveFine booth, but they had a very limited selection. I always get compliments on my stark Industries polo and they didn't have any other polo shirts on site.

Best costume: A spot-on Chewbacca, complete with the slightly loping walk.

Best costume try: My friend Suzanne made a good Scully but everything really clicked when she got an ID badge from a nearby booth.

Most amusing costume: The guy dressed as weapon X in little more than boxer briefs and a helmet. Glad to see some beefcake on the floor.

Coolest booth and why: One of the 50% comic shops where the owner told an amusing story about how wearing a LexCorp Security polo let him help a little boy find his lost parents.

Strangest moment: Realizing an artist in Artist Alley did commissioned character sketches for my first ever Shadowrun characters some twenty odd years ago. His reaction? "Burn them. Burn them immediately."

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: There were a ton of 50% off trades booths, which always make the trip worthwhile.

Stuff bought:
Cat lady art
Jonah Hex trades
Rat Queens
Punisher Essentials
Wonder Woman

Stuff got for free:
Signatures
Iron Man mask

Stuff that was wanted that was unavailable:
Atomic Robo Vol. 8
Atomic Robo Real Science Adventures 2

Hawkeye trades

Best Quote:
"If it's a flock of seagulls, what do you call a group of Castiels?"
"A confusion."

Save Game - The Boss Monsters

Here are the descriptions of the bad guys in the campaign included in the game. Each generation is a different island, so we're focusing on the 8-bit island in this project. The biggest heroes have already fallen to the Glitch. They call themselves the Zeroes, and they look to destroy the final free city on the isles. Presstarton is your home and if you fall, it falls, and the Arcadian Isles will be overrun with the Glitch.


I'm sure you'll see the inspirations for the Zeroes, but I hope you get a kick out of the twists, too. They were heroes once, just...like...you...

Firefly RPG - Core Book PDF

Is it U-Day? No, it's PDF day! The electronic version of the Firefly RPG is out at DriveThru RPG.

The book comes with a great Episode, What's Yours Is Mine, but surely you want more Episodes after that?

Wedding Planners: The Crew escorts a young ingenue to her wedding to a wealthy arms manufacturer - whether she likes it or not.
Shooting Fish: The Crew comes to the aid of a Shepherd by entering a no-holds-barred boat race run by an overbearing mayor.
Friends in Low Places: The Crew gets caught between a corrupt Guild trader and the Alliance officer looking to bring him down.
Freedom Flyer: The Crew helps an old friend outrun bounty hunters to put the pieces in place for a new life.

If you want to try before you buy, Serenity Crew offers write ups for the main Crew and 12 original archetypes. Add an Echoes of War Episode for a few nights of adventure!

Clock Blockers - Actual Play

The crew over at Cthulhu on Parade played Clock Blockers and recorded the whole Fiasco.

Firefly RPG - Core Book Cover

Save Game - The Outline

I submitted my outline for Save Game to Evil Hat. How much of the outline survives to the end is pretty flexible, especially once words start pouring out and mechanics are solidified. My goal is to keep Save Game split evenly between mechanics, setting and adventure, but once I carve out the text we'll see how well that split maintains.

The outline I submitted is a bit more detailed with bits of text, but this should provide a good tease for where I'm going. Full outline after the jump!

Save Game - The Ingredients

With the release of Venture City Stories this week, the Fate Patreon experiment begins to bear fruit. My project, Save Game, is moving forward, so I thought another series of development blogs would be in order.

What's going into the pot this time?

Tron: The grandaddy of pop-culture inside the computer fantasy. It's a bit of a mixed bag between the original, the sequel/reboot (requel?) and the animated series, but it's got a lot of great ideas that still resonate today. 

Wreck It-Ralph: This love letter to video games put the idea of video game heroes coming together into the public consciousness. It also mashed up video game genres in fun ways. I want the heroes to deal with problems they aren't used to in the safety of their own game. they also did a lot of clever references and Easter eggs, which should be evident as setting details come out.

ICONS: This excellent supers game has a fun random power generation engine that compels the player to come up with a reason to link the randomly rolled powers. When I saw some combinations, I immediately thought of classic video game heroes that had really odd collections of abilities. You've got a surfboard and you're a ninja? Makes sense. You are an angry hockey player with a laser guitar? Obviously. You're a plumber who can shapeshift, jump really high and hurl fireballs? Welcome aboard! Sounds like a group of players to me!

Lord of the Rings: When I originally  envisioned the setting, I was thinking of it in superhero terms. But reframing it as an epic quest not only fit the video game paradigm, but also let me focus on the Glitch, the main bad guy. Rather than a battle against other characters, it became protecting home from the invaders. It also explained why the most well-known characters aren't fighting this battle - they blew it.

NES: I needed to pick a specific timeframe of video games because that's a pretty broad category to cover in 15,000 words. The 8-bit era was when I remember characters having personality on a regular basis rather than only the breakout stars. I'd love to see the artwork done in 8-bit style for a unique visual look. In theory, there are other islands on the Sea of Information for 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit versions. I don't think I'll be able to go into much detail, but I do know that the same character's different versions are distinct - and they squabble like family.


Mystery Men: The odd combinations of powers and the lack of famous video game characters reminds me this is a story of unlikely heroes. There are hundreds of characters that were made. This is their chance to shine, as the last defenders of their home, with everyone else unwilling or unable to do anything. I think a lot of groups will have fun playing knock-off versions of popular characters, heroes who think they are more popular than they really are or has-beens who never thought they'd get a chance to save the world.

That's what's currently bubbling in the pot. Thanks for taking the time to read this first entry. If there's anything you'd like to see in one of these entries, feel free to comment or Tweet me at @robowieland.