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Welcome to 2.0
I wasn’t happy with my website. Still not, truth be told, but I have to say that this is a significant improvement. Thanks to the mystical powers of WordPress, I can edit not only text, but the overall look and organization of the site without jamming my arms up to the elbows in HTML.* I’ll be adding and tweaking for weeks to come, so be sure to stop back and see what’s new. In the meantime, here’s a quick overview of what’s up with your humble narrator: * Not that I’m afraid of HTML. I’ve done my share, and could do it still if the traditional gun were to my head. But it’s 2007, not 1997. We might not have jet packs and rocket cars, but we do have templates and WYSIWYG editors, and I’m not opening my text-editor to do web page if don’t have to.
Posted by darrellh at Tuesday ~ March 03, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Runnin’ off to Vegas
I’ll be attending Games Expo this week. Specifically, I’m flying in Monday morning and out again Wednesday afternoon, but since for the first time in years I don’t have a booth, that’s probably all the time I’ll need. On Tuesday at 10:00, I’ll be on a panel with emissaries from TableStar and Paizo discussing “Game Designs and Prototypes.” I think Rob from TS has the “how to make a prototype” angle covered, so I’ll be describing the process from the side of the publisher. It should be a good time. If you’re at the show, stop by and say hi. I’ll be the tall guy with glasses, probably sporting my spiffy new “darrellhardy.com” sweater I scored for Christmas. On Tuesday, I may even be wearing a tie.
Posted by darrellh at Friday ~ March 03, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Viva Games Expo
I can’t speak for the dozens of lonely exhibitors who spent days gazing across vast plains of empty carpet in the exhibit hall, desperate for a retailer to talk to, but for me, Games Expo was a rousing success. The panel on game design and prototypting was well-attended: probably 30, maybe 40 folks showed up. Since we were figuring a dozen would be a good turn-out, it was a pleasant surprise. Thanks to the low publisher:buyer ratio, I was able to chat up pretty much everyone there. Depending on the publisher, I switched hats between Inner Workings Production Manager (”I’d like to quote a game for you”) and independent writer/game designer (”I’d like to make a game for you.”) It’s the trade show equivalent of door-to-door sales, but it worked. And it was cool to see a whole new batch of publishers in whose circles I don’t normally move.
Posted by darrellh at Monday ~ March 03, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Swamped!
Sorry for the lengthy silence. In order to maintain my rock-and-roll lifestyle (featuring both food and shelter), I’ve found it necessary to keep as many lines in the water as possible — you never know which one will get the bite. Well, as often happens, they all had bites, so I’ve been working the hooks, landing fish, and feverishly trying to get them cleaned and cooked before they go bad. So yeah, it’s been quiet on this end. I’ve been busy over-extending fishing metaphors. Today I put the finishing touches on my portion of New Gods of Mankind RPG, so that’s one less fish in my frying pan and one more cooling on the picnic table behind me. It’s a very cool, innovative new game, and I think even those who don’t like fish will like to take a bite when it comes out this summer. (Sorry. I’m getting carried away with the fish. I’ll knock it off.) Band Name of Day: Swamp Donkey.
Posted by darrellh at Tuesday ~ May 05, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Slight Improvement
Notice some changes around here? No? Well, they’re subtle. Nothing, really. After weeks of looking at it askance, I’ve finally updated the front page so it defaults straight to the blog. You can still push the button if you like, but it doesn’t do anything. I’ve also updated the links on the right. For some reason, WordPress insists on clumping them all under “Blogroll,” but they’re really links to clients and employers, none which have blogs, per se. And… that’s it. I’ve got some other plans lurking in the wings, but it’s too early to say anything about them now.
Posted by darrellh at Saturday ~ May 05, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Validation
I have, in a way, arrived. That way is my complementary subscription to Game Developer, the industry magazine for, as the title would suggest, video game developers. As an occasional developer of video games, you’d think I’d have a subscription already, but no. Apparently, I wasn’t ready. I applied, but they gave me a subscription to some IT management magazine instead. Close, but… well, boring. I guess I could have lied on the application. Said I was CEO of “SuperAdvertiserMoneySpender Games” or something, but that’s cheating. Last week, I got my first issue of Game Developer in the mail. It’s a small milestone, but I’ll take it. In unrelated, I’m-still-tweaking-the-website news, I’ve updated my e-mail address in the system, so it actually contacts me to verify comments, rather than hurling such requests down the black hole at the center of DarrellHardy.com. So if you’ve tried to comment in the past but it never showed up… sorry. And if you’ve been thinking, “I should reply to this post and see if the comments are working now,” please do so — and if you don’t see your reply in day or so, feel free to ping me at the e-mail address on the “Contact” page (link on the right).
Posted by darrellh at Wednesday ~ May 05, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Gamin’
Over the past couple weekends, I’ve had the pleasure of actually playing some board games. Not for playtest. Not for review. But just for fun. And yes, they were fun. Last week I finally broke out Mall of Horror, the “zombies in a mall” game from Asmodee. It’s a very European design, with minimal dice, lots of voting, and a straight “high score wins” resolution mechanic. It’s also dripping with buckets of theme, so it’s all good. We played with only three players, and it was still fun; I imagine it could only be better with more players. With all the voting and flesh-eating, the game could accurately be described as, “Like ‘Survivor,’ but with zombies.” (I’m voting you off the island and into the jaws of the undead.) To celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend, I played a couple games of BattleLore from Days of Wonder, using their new “Call to Arms” rules. The new rules add time and effort to the setup, but certainly ensure near-infinite replayability to the scenarios. As usual, my opponent completely crushed me in the first game, but he got unlucky the second game (any time you get goblins on your army, you’re unlucky) and I was able to squeak out a win. After our epic BattleLore games, it was nice to blow through a Heroscape scenario in 20 minutes or so. Small scenario map, lots of rahged units, and a steadily rising “cloud of poison gas” made for a lot of carnage. Brutal, plastic carnage.
Posted by darrellh at Tuesday ~ May 05, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Beware the Old Man!
One of the many lines I have in the water (to revive my annoying fishing analogy) is managing and editing the new line of PDF products for Skirmisher Publishing. My first contribution is The Old Man of Damascus, a new adventure for Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition. The adventure was written by the master of horror LARP, Robert McLaughlin, and his partner in darkness, Paul Janousek. I provided the editing, layout, and graphic design. (Fear my mad Photoshop skillz!) Check it out: The adventure is set during the Crusades, in a French castle besieged by the armies of Saladin. Tempers flare, deals are made, and unseen horrors lurk about. Good times, good times.
Posted by darrellh at Friday ~ June 06, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Skirmisher
I feel for the ants.
I spent vast swaths of Saturday ripping up my front yard in preparation for a minor landscaping project. With each shovelful of rock and topsoil I tore from the earth, I exposed hundreds of swarming, panicky ants. While they didn’t, as Simpsons would have us believe, run around screaming, “Protect the Queen!” they were clearly pretty freaked out. And who can blame them? You’re puttering around in the colony, maybe snacking on a micron of Cheeze-Puff waiting for the game to come on, and SUDDENLY THE ROOF IS GONE! Blinding, burning sunlight pours in. The tunnels are collapsing around you. And your life as you’ve known it is over. I finished the project on Sunday, replacing most of the dirt and rocks. I hope the ants are able to rebuild their colonies. But even if they do, you just know the survivors of my attack will suffer all kinds of post-traumatic stress. For the rest of their lives, their sleep will be interrupted with nightmares of giant pink fingers jabbing at them through the soil.
Posted by darrellh at Monday ~ June 06, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
It’s the sailor suits that really bring it home.
Outside of wargamer circles, not many people realize that H. G. Wells, author of War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, and other sci-fi classics, also wrote one of the first miniatures rules sets: Little Wars. As you can see by the link, my good friends at Skirmisher Publishing have released a new edition of that milestone work. And now they’re coating the whole thing in a savory glaze of fantasy sauce and releasing the new version as Little Orc Wars. This is the introductory quick-play version. I actually didn’t do any writing, editing or layout on this, but I did read it while uploading it, so I can assure you it’s a fun game with a simple, yet strategic system. And the image of the orc children in little sailor suits makes it worth looking at.
Posted by darrellh at Tuesday ~ June 06, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized, Skirmisher
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