drivingblind

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Before

After

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Is it Q3 already? Let’s look back on Q2, then. Summary: it’s all about watching the long tail taper. A few early numbers in for Do, though, getting a very strong debut thanks to its Kickstarter. Booyah, Daniel!

As always, you can find our titles at the Evil Hat webstore and at other fine game vendors around the net and the planet.

Here’s the more detailed breakdown:

Read the rest of this entry »

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

The ENnie Awards Voting Booth is live, and will be  for over a week. That said, please don’t delay in making sure your voice is heard in one of the RPG industry’s biggest awards!

http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/

The Dresden Files RPG has received an outstanding six nominations this year, and Happy Birthday Robot received four as well. We certainly hope you agree with us that these are some of the best games this year and worth your votes, but even if you don’t agree, please do vote. The ENnies deserve the love!

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

I’m lucky to work with several talented editors. Editorial folk aren’t someone you go shopping for often: you find a few good ones and you give them as much work as they can handle.

The trick, then, is what to do when other publishers come around and ask me who I’d recommend for editing their stuff. I know who, for sure — but they’re mine! You can’t have them! More seriously, work is a gas, and so it expands to fill the available editorial space. If I pointed you at Amanda or Ryan or Matt or Chad, there’s a decent chance their dance card’s full.

So I’m looking for editorial I could recommend to others (and maybe grab for Evil Hat work if the current roster of worthies is unavailable).

Comments here will be under special rules — all moderated. Comments shouldn’t be made unless they’re someone stepping up and saying “I’m an editor and I’m looking for work.”

I’ll approve comments of editors who address all of the following requirements:

• Provide links/details of your prior editorial experience; references from those jobs a plus.
• Are you a copy editor, content editor, or both? (If you don’t know the difference, you probably shouldn’t be answering.)
• What’s your editorial philosophy?
• How you can be contacted for more details or to offer work?

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Xander (Alexander Kenvan Hicks) was born at 12:43am on July 10th, 2011.

20.5″ long, 8 pounds on the nose, and poised to join forces with his sister to conquer the world.

(Figured I’d collect my yfrog.com tweeted images in one place!)

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Evil Hat garnered ten (ten!) ENnies nominations this year. That’s one more than Paizo’s count (not counting honorable mentions). We beat Paizo’s count? Guh.

So, so thrilled about the Dresden Files RPG’s six, but man! Check out Happy Birthday Robot’s four! And Cubicle 7′s Fate based and Fate inspired material had a strong showing as well. Also pleased to see several familiar faces among the blog nominations and more. What a great year.

Repeating the list from http://www.ennie-awards.com/blog/?page_id=2156 …

Best Adventure

• Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity (Arc Dream Publishing/Pagan Publishing)
• Monsters and Other Childish Things: Road Trip (Cubicle 7/Arc Dream Publishing)
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #43: The Haunting of Harrowstone (Paizo Publishing)
• Perils of the Surface World: Miracle Stone of the Amazon (Exile Game Studio)
• Saturday Night Delves #1: Revenge of the Iron Lich (Save Versus Death)
• Honorable Mention: The Dance in the Blood (Pelgrane Press/Graham Walmsley)

Best Aid/Accessory

• D&D Essentials: Dungeon Tiles Master Set – The Dungeon (Wizards of the Coast)
• Eclipse Phase Gamemaster Pack (Posthuman Studios)
• Gaming Paper Adventure Maps (Gaming Paper)
• Hero Lab (Lone Wolf Development)
• The Unspeakable Oath (Arc Dream Publishing)
• Honorable Mention: Vornheim: The Complete City Kit (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)

Best Art, Cover

• A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide (Green Ronin Publishing)
• Eoris Essence (Visions of Essence LLC)
• Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
• Shadowrun: Attitude (Catalyst Game Labs)
• The Laundry (Cubicle 7)
• Honorable Mention: The Danse Macabre (White Wolf Publishing)

Best Art, Interior

• Dark Sun Campaign Setting (Wizards of the Coast)
• DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
• Eoris Essence (Visions of Essence LLC)
• Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition (Alderac Entertainment Group)
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide (Paizo Publishing)

Best Blog

• At-Will
• Critical Hits
• Gnome Stew
• Sarah Darkmagic
• Thistle Games

Best Cartography

• Bookhounds of London (Pelgrane Press)
• Deep Vistas Map Set I – III (Maps of Mastery)
• Gaming Paper Adventure Maps (Gaming Paper)
• Heavenring Village – Virtual Boxed Set (0One Games)
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Poster Map Folio (Paizo Publishing)
• Honorable Mention: Shadowrun: Sixth World Almanac (Catalyst Game Labs)

Best Electronic Book

• Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting (Alluria Publishing)
• Continuity (Posthuman Studios)
• Shanghai Vampocalypse (Savage Mojo)
• Temporal Probability Agency: To Predict and Serve (Apathy Games)
• The Running Death (Terminal Studios)

Best Free Product

• A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG Quick-Start Rules (Catalyst Game Labs)
• Hell for Leather – Free Edition (Cobweb Games)
• Old School Hack – Basic Game (Kirin Robinson)
• Saturday Night Delves #1: Revenge of the Iron Lich (Save Versus Death)
• The Running Death (Terminal Studios)
• Honorable Mention: Ultimate Combat Playtesting PDF (Paizo Publishing)

Best Game

• Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
• Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7)
• Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7)
• Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
• The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
• Honorable Mention: The Laundry (Cubicle 7)

Best Miniatures Product

• BattleTech 25th Anniversary Introductory Boxed Set (Catalyst Game Labs)
• Deep Vistas Map Set I – III (Maps of Mastery)
• Mousling Heroes (Reaper Miniatures)
• USCR – Commissar (MERCS Miniatures)
• WARMACHINE Khador Gun Carriage (Privateer Press)
• Honorable Mention: Gaming Paper Adventure Maps (Gaming Paper)

Best Monster/Adversary

• Doctor Who: Aliens & Creatures (Cubicle 7)
• Fey Folio: Clans of the Fey (Alluria Publishing)
• Monster Vault (Wizards of the Coast)
• Mythic Menagerie: The Kingdom of Graves (Super Genius Games)
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 (Paizo Publishing)

Best New Game (published for the first time ever)

• A Taste for Murder (Graham Walmsley)
• Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
• Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7)
• The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
• The Laundry (Cubicle 7)
• Honorable Mention: Stars Without Number (Sine Nominee Publishing)

Best Podcast

• Atomic Array
• Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast
• Flagons and Dragons
• The Dungeon Master Guys Podcast
• Yog-Sothoth
• Honorable Mention: Kicked In The DiceBags

Best Production Values

• Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios)
• Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
• Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition (Alderac Entertainment Group)
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 (Paizo Publishing)
• The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )

Best RPG Related Product

• BattleTech 25th Anniversary Introductory Boxed Set (Catalyst Game Labs)
• Castle Ravenloft Boardgame (Wizards of the Coast)
• Hamlet’s Hit Points (Gamplaywright Press)
• Tall Pencil Strap Dragon Chow Dice Bag (Dragon Chow Dice Bags)
• The Bones – Us and Our Dice (Gameplaywright Press/Atomic Overmind Press)

Best Rules

• D&D Rules Compendium (Wizards of the Coast)
• Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7)
• Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7)
• Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
• The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
• Honorable Mention: D&D Gamma World Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Setting

• A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide (Green Ronin Publishing)
• Dark Sun Campaign Setting (Wizards of the Coast)
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide (Paizo Publishing)
• Progenitor (Arc Dream Publishing)
• Space 1889: Red Sands (Savage Worlds) (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
• Honorable Mention: Bookhounds of London (Pelgrane Press)

Best Supplement

• Block by Bloody Block (Print Version) (White Wolf Publishing)
• Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios)
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide (Paizo Publishing)
• Shadowrun: Attitude (Catalyst Game Labs)
• Space 1889: Red Sands (Savage Worlds) (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
• Honorable Mention: The Danse Macabre (White Wolf Publishing)

Best Website

• d20pfsrd.com
• Obsidian Portal
• RPG Geek
• The Escapist
• UK Role Players

Best Writing

• The Danse Macabre (White Wolf Publishing)
• Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity (Arc Dream Publishing/Pagan Publishing)
• Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios)
• The Dance in the Blood (Pelgrane Press/Graham Walmsley)
• The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )

Product of the Year

• A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide (Green Ronin Publishing)
• DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
• D&D Gamma World Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast)
• Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios)
• Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
• Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition (Alderac Entertainment Group)
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide (Paizo Publishing)
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide (Paizo Publishing)
• The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
• The Stork (DreamPunk Productions)
• Honorable Mention:Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7)

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

You only wish your experts were this awesome.

When it came time to figure out what the right name for Race to Adventure! should be, we knew we were going to be way off track if we tried to figure it out ourselves.

What we needed was an expert at playing games, but also had a perspective on what would appeal to kids and families, since we see Race as a way to introduce younger family members to the role selection genre of board games. We knew we had a leg up with basing the game in the Spirit of the Century universe — talking gorillas, jetpacks, and lightning guns all have plenty of kid appeal. Still, we needed that expert in what kids like and what they like to play.

So we went to the source.

Eight-year-old Ian Hanrahan is an amazing kid. He’s Chris Hanrahan’s younger son. He might not be your typical sample – he plays Ravenloft, D&D, Ticket to Ride, Qwirkle, and so forth. But we’re betting he’s not alone amongst the children of gamer families everywhere.

The thing is, I knew all this, and knew he’d be a great kid to check in with. What I hadn’t quite grasped was HOW great. So great, I think I owe this kid a consulting fee or something. So I invite you to listen in as this expert weighs in on the play of the game and, later, on our efforts to brand the game correctly with the right name:

Ian’s Playtest Comments (MP4)

Ian’s Brand Analysis (MP4)

Magnificent.

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Evil Hat Productions Announces ‘Race to Adventure’ Board Game
Double 2011 Origins Award Winner Moves Beyond RPGs with Family Adventure Game

SILVER SPRING, Maryland — June 29, 2011 — Building on the momentum of its two 2011 Origins Awards, Evil Hat Productions, LLC, today announced an agreement to produce, publish and distribute a tabletop board game that will expand the company’s reach beyond the roleplaying genre. Race to Adventure: The Spirit of the Century Exploration Game, designed by Evan Denbaum, E.K. Lytle and Christopher Ruggiero, is an easy-to-learn pulp adventure game based in the Spirit of the Century universe. The richly themed “action-selection” game can be played in as few as 20 minutes, and its variable setup and levels of depth allow for infinite replayability.

“We wanted our first foray into board games to be highly accessible and fun, while taking advantage of the intellectual property Evil Hat has cultivated during the past few years,” said Evil Hat Co-President Fred Hicks. “What I love about Race to Adventure is it can serve as an entry point for younger and casual gamers into the ‘action-selection’ genre while also having ample strategy to appeal to a wide range of players.”

Race to Adventure: The Spirit of the Century Exploration Game is scheduled for a late 2011/early 2012 release. It will be a heroic companion-piece to the much-anticipated Zeppelin Armada combat card game by veteran game designer Jeff Tidball, targeting a similar release timeframe. Like Race to Adventure, Zeppelin Armada will also feature characters from the Spirit of the Century universe.

“This is just the start of what you can expect to see from Evil Hat in the months to come,” said Hicks. “The time is right to move into board and card games, and we’ll be leveraging our roleplaying game catalog as complementary tie-ins to those games. Together, they’ll create a gaming experience greater than the sum of its parts. Our motto is ‘passion makes the best games’ and you’re going to feel that passion poured into our upcoming offerings.”

For more information about Evil Hat Productions, visit www.evilhat.com/.

About Race to Adventure: The Spirit of the Century Exploration Game

Each year, a worldwide scavenger hunt brings together daring adventurers from all parts of the globe—members of the famed Century Club. Their journey is filled with danger, excitement and wonder as players race to be the first to complete every mission, stamp their passport as proof in every location and cross the Empire State Building finish line first. Snatch a golden eagle egg from a Himalayan mountain peak, escape the Mummy King, rescue a prisoner from Atlantis and much more in this family adventure game playable in as few as 20 minutes!

About Evil Hat Productions

Evil Hat Productions believes that passion makes the best games. It is this passion for gaming that raised Evil Hat to its acclaimed position in the RPG community. Our games can be used to build the best kinds of role-playing experiences—full of laughter, storytelling and memorable moments. Today we don’t just run games, we don’t just make them, we work with you to make your play the best it can be—the kind that upholds and gives birth to passions of your own. That’s the Evil Hat mission, and we’re happy to have you along on it.

Since its inception, Evil Hat has won accolades ranging from the Indie RPG Awards, the Golden Geeks, the ENnies and the Origins Awards, most recently claiming the Origins Awards for both Best Roleplaying Game (The Dresden Files RPG: Your Story) and Best Roleplaying Game Supplement (The Dresden Files: Our World).

Press contact:
Fred Hicks
Email: feedback@evilhat.com
Website: http://www.evilhat.com

###

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Two quick items for today:

Rock the Vote

The Origins Awards are nominated by retailers, but they’re decided by the attendees at the Origins Game Fair. If you’re attending, and you think that the Dresden Files RPG deserves it, please do vote. Hell, vote if you think one of the other worthy nominees deserves it, too. Participation, enthusiasm, and word of mouth is what makes a game live or die in today’s market, and events like this are a nice way to rally and show the publishers your appreciation.

Plus, Origins is the bomb. Hope to see you there.

I Run Off At The Mouth

I sat down recently with the Rho Pi Gamma podcast. It was a fun, if slightly rambly, interview (but what interviews aren’t)? There’ll be a dose of familiar material for folks who’ve heard me interview before, but I think it’s been a while since the last, so hopefully you find it fresh. If you like it, please let the hosts know in the comments over at the podcast itself! (Though I wouldn’t mind hearing it too.)

Originally published at Deadly Fredly. Please leave any comments there.

Come Tuesday, I will be bound for Origins 2011. I’m trying something radically new there this year.

I’m not going as a publisher.

That’s not strictly true, of course. I’m going to check out the Origins Awards and hope for (but not expect) a win, and that’s an undeniably publisherish thing for me to do. I’ll meet a few people for business purposes, and I’ll be carrying around my Zeppelin Armada prototype deck for playtesting (if you see me and I’m available, feel free to ask to play).

But when it comes down to it, in the last 5 years of gaming conventions — which is most of the span of time I’ve done gaming conventions outside of AmberCon Northwest — I’ve rarely gone just as a “civilian”. This will definitely be my first Big Convention without a booth concern. (You’ll find Evil Hat’s stuff represented at the Indie Press Revolution booth.)

I’d say I’ll hardly know what to do with myself, but that’s a lie. I intend to:

• Eat at the many fine eateries of Columbus, Ohio
• Try to restrain myself from eating my body weight in Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
• Talk with all those lovely people I haven’t seen in ages, and even some of those who I have: Rob Donoghue, Chris Hanrahan, Leonard Balsera, Amanda & Clark Valentine, Matt Gandy, Jeremy Keller, Cam Banks, and more (if I leave you off the list, it is for brevity, not lack of desire!)
• Drink while doing so
• Spend some serious time in the Board Room
• Hit up the Games on Demand area (though at 5 tables only in Delaware A, that may get crowded!)

I’m approaching all this in a vigorously ad hoc fashion, but I also don’t want to get to the end of it with an “aw, damn, I really meant to talk to…” feeling. So please track me down, or holler in the comments here if you’re looking for a slice of my time!