Ken Newquist Martin Rayla and the gang at Gnome Stew offer their impressions of D&D 4E. Martin starts off with his thoughts on the new edition from the game master’s perspective, and then offers D&D 4e: Answers to Gnome Stew Readers’ Questions where he runs through specific questions from readers.
D&D 4E is upon us … and I’ve created my first character for the game. If I’ve learned one thing about the game in doing this, it’s that the 4E’s mechanics don’t fit easily into the old fantasy molds. To that end, I’ve been building out my own 4E campaign setting called Planetorn (detailed in … Read more
I remember when LOST jumped the shark. It was the episode dedicated to the mystery of Jack’s tattoo. It was an inane episode, one that existed entirely to buy time for the writers, while simultaneously keeping a popular character on screen for the majority of an episode. The episode could have been good – after … Read more
It’s all Balticon, all the time as I recap my trip to the science fiction convention, talk about the panels I attended, and catch up with some old friends (and find some new ones). I also talk about the new audio and video podcasts — such as Mur Lafferty and Jason Adams’ new podcast ZombInc … Read more
It’s like a scene out of a horror movie: an unsuspecting woman pumps gas into her car, only to be summoned inside by a gas attendant who informs her that — horrors! — a knife wielding lunatic is lurking in the backseat. In truth, it is a scene from a horror movie — the horror … Read more
I’m back in the real world, having left Balticon in my rear view mirror far sooner than I would have wished. Here are somme random thoughts I jotted down about the con, which easily ranks up there with GenCon in terms of overall coolness. Expect much geeking out about it in the next Radio Active. … Read more
3 p.m.: How the internet helps small presses publish books / Derby / Scott Edelman(M), Mike Walsh, Elaine Corvidae, M.T. Reiten Scott Edelman: Is it helpful? It’s actually damaged one aspect of small press magazine publishing because it’s replaced the zine niche. Mike Walsh: A book that was refused by the big sale chains; SCIFI … Read more
“Why Writing Can’t Be Taught And How To Teach It”: Jim Kelly(M), Mur Lafferty, David Moldawer, Lee C. Hillman What can’t you teach? David Moldawer: A writer’s “voice” isn’t something that can be taught, it can only be built up like a callous. Lee C. Hillman: Can’t teach how to listen, how to hear, to … Read more
10 p.m.: Crowd Sourcing / Belmont /Mur Lafferty(M), JC Hutchins, Chris Lester Turning Fans into Minions! JC Hutchins, 7th Son Trilogy, got two book deals from St. Martins Press for 2009 releaase. Chris Lester, Metamorph City. Mur of … Murverse (Playing for Keeps, Geek Fu, Heaven, etc). They can’t do it all, so they need … Read more
2 p.m.: Video Podcasting 101 / Belmont / Working with the basics: Earl Newton(M), Brand Gambin, Tee Morris, Chris Condayan, Jason Adams, Jon Stallard Video Podcasting 101 featured Earl Newton (Video Podcasting for Dummies) as the moderator (strangerthings.tv), Chris Condayan, (MicroWorld.org), Brand Gambin (CallsForCthulhu.com, Tee Morris (teemorris.com/), Jason Adams (Jason Adams, Jon Stallard (geekradiodaily.com). Tee … Read more