Dark Eras Kickstarter Update: 1,000 Backers and Hunter Stretch Goals

World of Darkness Dark Eras

Popping in briefly to mention that we’ve reached a new milestone on the Dark Eras Kickstarter–over 1,000 backers! We’re now enhancing this World of Darkness supplement with expanded content that fans can vote on.

Hunter: the Vigil is featured in the next two stretch goals, with a “Doubting Souls” chapter expansion written by yours truly as the second one. Matt, my developer, and I have been talking about careful ways to enhance our chapter to incorporate relevant tribes from the period and surrounding areas should fans vote for that option.

Up next, you can vote on one of three options for our $77,500 stretch goal:

Hunter: the Vigil – The Book of Judges (the Middle East, ~11th century BCE)
Werewolf: the Forsaken – Forsaken by Rome (the Roman Frontier, 1st century CE)
Demon: the Descent – After the Fall of Constantinople (1453 CE)

After that, at $82,500, is your chance to decide on expansion for one of three existing chapters. Requiem for Regina adds new monsters, while Into the Cold and Doubting Souls add new peoples. These additions will be 10k each, slightly under half as long as the chapter they extend.

Vampire: the Requiem – Requiem for Regina: The Changeling Courts of London
Demon: the Descent – Into the Cold: America’s stigmatic spies
Hunter: the Vigil – Doubting Souls: Native American hunters

Thanks for your support!

February 7, 2015
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A Return to Blogging (Or Why I Miss LiveJournal)

So, here we are. It’s Fall of 2011. 100 Days of Social Media Blackout behind me. Speak Out with your Geek Out is behind (and in some respects) in front of me.

And I realized I’ve been missing something basic, something real. Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus don’t replace what I loved about being inside a blog network. As an author who enjoys sharing, learning, and contributing to a community — it’s difficult to “tag” people on my own website and share updates that don’t sound trivial. Of course, some may argue that that’s what Twitter is for. Only… Twitter is so fleeting. It’s hard to encapsulate people’s personalities in a single Tweet, but a series of them? Sure. Still, I have to be online twenty-four seven to do that. *shakes head* And I’m not.

So, I shall return to blogging after I return from NYCC. There will be other website changes to accommodate this, too, but I have to mull those over. There’s pictures to share, messy artwork to offer you, and more readers to engage. None of what I want to do will change the other posts; this is simply a natural evolution to fit where I’m headed with my work.

October 12, 2011
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My Free Halloween Story at FlamesRising.com

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to pop in and mention I have a free flash fiction piece up at FlamesRising.com today for Halloween. Entitled A Different Kind of Treat it’s a Halloween take on an old fairy tale.

Here’s a preview of the story:

Blood-red shafts of sunlight filter through a dirty cabin window, kissing a row of colorful glass bottles. One by one the bottles shine with anticipation as they reveal their grisly contents. Three eyes spin in a green flask; a pair of wings beats urgently in another.

“What’s that, Momma?” A child’s finger points to a jar of wrinkled entrails sitting high on a kitchen shelf. The boy, who stands about three feet tall, is covered in dust and flour. His skin is marred with muddy blisters.

“Oh nothing special, Alwin,” Belinda replies airily as she pulls a frilly apron over her head. “Just something I cook with now and again. You hungry?”

“Want candy.” Alwin rubs his bloated stomach. “Chocolate, ’specially.”

She flashes him a crooked grin and picks a small book off the burnished wood counter. Has it really been a year since she last used her recipe book? Lately, it seems like all of her time has been devoted to nursing Alwin. No matter what she gives him — cinnamon, tincture of licorice or willow bark roots — nothing seems to help him get any better.

To finish reading the story, go to my free Halloween flash fiction at FlamesRising.com.

Hope you’re enjoying your holiday!

October 31, 2010
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Post-GenCon Sale! Tales of the Seven Dogs Society Fiction

Just wanted to share that we have some copies of Tales of the Seven Dogs Society leftover from GenCon: Indy that we will be selling for the publisher. The price retails for $12.95 and I will be more than happy to sign the book for you.

For more information about this collection of novellas, feel free to visit the Flames Rising post describing how to order Tales of the Seven Dogs Society. Also, be sure to read my novella design notes based on the game Aletheia.

These copies are pre-release editions offered well before the official release date in November.

August 21, 2008
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Writing Notes for Tales of the Seven Dogs Novella

I’m happy to report that Flames Rising featured a preview of Tales of the Seven Dogs Society, my soon-to-be-released novella that I’ll be selling in less than two weeks at GenCon: Indy.

In 1969, Jericho Usher disappeared without a trace, never explaining the otherworldly nature of the annex. Jericho Usher spent his lifetime investigating anomalous phenomena, and it was his intention that others take up his work once he was gone. To facilitate this, Jericho left behind very detailed instructions for assembling a society of investigators. Terrance honored his friend’s intent, overseeing the creation of the Seven Dogs Society, recruiting those who fit the exacting instructions left behind by Jericho Usher.

You may remember that I had written a series of posts about writing game fiction; this post focuses on a behind-the-scenes look at my novella.

Design Notes

One of the advantages to writing fiction for the Aletheia setting, is that I had written for the game. Since I was already familiar with the role of the characters, it was a lot easier to imagine what kind of a story I was going to write. Instead of writing an action/adventure tale, I chose to write a story that alluded to the game’s metaplot.
Read More…

August 2, 2008
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