Owen K.C. Stephens
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
owen_stephens' LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | | 8:43 pm |
Dragonrider!
This is my first official announcement as the Pathfinder RPG Development Manager for Super Genius Games! We have a new pdf product for sale, the Genius Guide to the Dragonrider. Currently available at Paizo: http://paizo.com/store/downloads/otherWorldCreations/v5748btpy8biaThe dragonrider is a 20-level core class, built around allowing a fighter with some arcane ability to ride a loyal dragon companioon. | | Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | | 6:27 pm |
Break In!
From time to time, fans ask me how you break in to RPG writing. I always tell them to look for contests, query magazines, answer open calls, and be prolific in your writing even when you don't know where you're going to sell it. One of those contests just started, and it's a great opportunity to show the world your creativity. It's the King of the Monsters contest, and its with Kobold Quarterly. KQ is the spiritual successor to the print fantasy rpg magazines that I got my start in, and it's great stuff run by good folks. If you've ever wanted to dabble in RPG writing, this is a great place to start. And if you want cool material for your d20 games, be they 3.0, Pathfinder or 4e, I heartily recommend you pick up the magazine anyway. Details on the contest at: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article2647.php | | Monday, November 16th, 2009 | | 10:29 am |
Big Announcement
People following my Facebook account have known an announcement has been coming, but I wasn't able to tell anyone what it was, or when it would be. Now, it's here. | | Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | | 2:49 pm |
Figures on figures
I love rpg miniatures. I own thousands of them. Most are dull grey lumps of metal I don't have time to primer or paint (though I have scores of figures I have painted). In recent years, as my urge to buy figures has grown and my free time to paint them has shrunk, I have bought a lot of pre-painted figures. Hero Clix, Dreamblade, WoW and of course D&D and Star Wars all have great selection and I own a bunch of them all. Of course, they are also sold randomly. Enter the reseller, which I talk about more after the ( cut )So, there is my public service to mini-loving gamers everywhere. (Heck, at those prices I might buy it even if the character I wanted to represent was actually an orangutang, or just to carve the gyropack free and mount to a modified Lobster Johnson figure to create Mr. Rotors) | | Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 | | 2:24 pm |
i, droid
Today, I was explaining to an rpg fan why no one but Lucasfilm could use the term "droid" to describe something robot-like. The fan believed that since the words Android and Mandroid were free to use, their discrete parts, including Droid, had to be free. My assurances theta Droid was a Lucasfilm trademark that Lucasfilm would defend fell on deaf ears. Then the fan leapt upon the Motorola Droid, which, he assures me, proved Lucasfilm is unable to argue anything but R2-D2 and C-3PO clones are protected by their trademark. So, obviously I am an idiot, and my claim to be unable to do a droids book on my own is either stupidity or laziness on my part. At this point, I explained I was disinclined to engage in further debate on the point since A: I had no real buy-in to wasting more time convincing a random person I was right about this and B: it had degenerated to suffering personal insults. Tha lead to a few more insults before I found the ignore key. Of course, Motorola ran a droid add last night during a show I watch. In small print, at the bottom of the screen at the end of the add, it mentions Lucasfilm’s trademark, and states they use the term under license. Turns out every once in a while, I know what I am talking about. | | Monday, November 9th, 2009 | | 12:23 pm |
Writer Wisdom
If you wait long enough by the riverbank, you will watch the bodies of your enemies float by. But if you want to produce wordcount, you don’t have time to picnic by a waterway looking for corpses! No Municipal Monday this week. It’ll return next week. :D | | Sunday, November 1st, 2009 | | 11:48 pm |
Municipal Monday!
Petals comes close to a wrap-up today, as we cover a minor house, a collective, a successor, and a patron. I had originally thought to throw in a few unrelated bits of color, but now I've decided to hold onto those ideas for later. So without further delay, the rest of the examples of movers and shakers in the Petals District. ( More )As always, you can find all these posts listed at the index. | | Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 | | 1:24 pm |
The Clock Starts...
I've had a sense of dissatisfaction recently, but have been unable to pin down exactly what's behind it. Today it became clear to me. I am not where I want to be when I turn 40. Thankfully though today is my birthday, I'm only turning 39. That means I have a year to get where I want to be, or at least be clearly progressing toward where I want to be. And that's great! I have a goal, a time frame, and a plan. So ad of today, my clock is ticking. | | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 12:25 pm |
Top Ten Tuesday!
In honor of Halloween, we present: Top Ten Signs It's Time to Hang Up Your Mythos Investigator's Coat.10. You just don't get the same thrill anymore from being driven past the brink of sanity and picking up a new psychosis. 9. At this point, next time you break into a catacomb and run into a monstrosity with an unspeakable treasure, you think you're just going to kill it and take its stuff. 8. You've tired of making your hillside thickets the darkest. They're pretty darn dark, and that's good enough for you. 7. You get letters from Dr. Herbet West expressing his concern you may be losing perspective. 6. That balloon payment for your condo in Unknown Kadath looks a bit hefty considering what you also have to spend in ghoul-repellent to use it. 5. When confronted with Ubbo-Sathla you're unimpressed by The Unbegotten Source. After all, it's created by Clark Ashton Smith, not Lovecraft, and only August Derleth's actions make it a Mythos threat at all. You strike Ubbo-Sathla from your personal cannon. 4. [This sign is illegible, but seems to be scrawled in dried blood on some strange, supple leather] 3. You get an invitation to join Delta Green, with agents Molly and Scolder. 2. You've cataloged 687 forms of Nyarlathotep, and discovered most of them are neko cat-girls. 1. After you play cards with Cthulhu, take a bubble bath in Yog-Sothoth, and watch opera with Azathoth, what's left to do? Best bake the dog, set fire to the neighbors, plant gardenias in your entrails and call it a night. | | Monday, October 26th, 2009 | | 5:52 pm |
| | 10:42 am |
Municipal Monday!
The Petal DistrictThe request hopper is full again, so after we wrap up Petals it will be on to Dawnfoot, Copperwood and Westerhold, and then Azlanti Keep. But first, having covered what gets done in Petals last week, we need to look at some examples of who is doing it. Given Petals is one of the largest districts in Absalom (in terms of size, population, wealth and power), any treatment of it is going to be sparse at best. This week we shine a light at the most powerful groups in Petals, outlining House Morilla and then sketching a few more examples of major Houses. Next week, we'll look at every other social class in the Petal District and (major houses always grab the spotlight!), finally, a few sideliners are thrown in for good measure: the people in Petals who aren't players in the vast game of influence and reputation (but are all-too-often treated like pieces of the game by those who are playing). ( More ) As always, you can find all the posts in this series listed at the index. | | Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | | 4:27 pm |
Today's Typo
"famous for going from expressionless clam to slavering bloodrage in a heartbeat" | | Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | | 10:52 am |
Top Ten "Tuesday"
Though we don't normally go into sports issues much here at owen_stephens blog, the fact is our headquarters is in Norman, Oklahoma. As a result, local sports stories can impact our blogging cycle, and occasionally is fitting for coverage next to new RPG rules and descriptions of imaginary places. With the OU college football team's loss to Texas 13-16 this weekend, our staff here found itself pondering... Top Ten College Bowl games OU Still Qualifies For 10. The Carl's Junior Big Star With Extra Cheese BowlLook, there really are the Chic-Fil-A Bowl, Outback Bowl, Little Ceasar's Pizza Bowl, and PapJohn's.Com Bowl. For actual college football teams. So to parody the system, we have to START pretty far out. 9. The Barry Switzer Self-Storage BowlNot a lot of prestige, except to Oklahomans. And at this point, who else cares if OU gets into a bowl game? 8. At Least You Don't Have to Talk to Your Family Over the Holidays BowlMore a public service for socially awkward fans than a sports event. 7. AIG's Sucrolose BowlAlso known as the "It could be worse... but not much" Bowl.. 6. The Amazing Norman, OK Home Game BowlIt's a cost-saving measure for the program. 5. Mercy Hospital's Physical Therapy BowlSponsored by the team itself (… and the Sam Bradford family). 4. The NCAA Minimum Payout BowlBeggars can't be choosers. 3. DHL Green BowlSynonymous with "also-ran." 2. The Cheetos' Leftover Orange Dust on Your Fingers Bowl.It's the only "orange" bowl left that'll have OU this year. 1. ESPN 8's Dodge BowlBecause some people will watch anything on THE OCHO! | | Monday, October 19th, 2009 | | 1:12 pm |
Municipal Monday!
The Petal DistrictFilling the last request currently on file from a reader, this week we take our first look at the Petal District (often called just "Petals" by locals) with an overview of the region and how (and why) it functions as a non-stop high society catfight. Next week we'll illustrate some specific examples of the region's movers and shapers, but without an understanding of the shark tank they live in, there can be no understanding of the characters who rule Petals with festivals, intimate dinners, huge gatherings, private sponsorships, and constant gross displays of wealth. ( More ) As always, you can find all the posts in this series listed at the index. | | Monday, October 12th, 2009 | | 6:18 pm |
Blog Features Schedule Change
Multiclass Monday is going on hiatus, largely until I have a few projects cleared off my desk. My "Foreign Quarter Friday" posts will move to be "Municipal Monday" starting next Monday and until further notice. Top Ten Tuesday is just fun to write, so it's not stopping or changing. | | Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | | 9:11 am |
Top Ten Tuesday
WATCHMEN taught us that in a world full of superheroes, comics would be about pirates. Which is fine as far as it goes, but what about television? To answer that burning, critical question we now present: Top Ten Marvel Universe Television Shows (2009)
( cut ) | | Friday, October 2nd, 2009 | | 5:17 pm |
"Foreign Quarter" Friday
The Point Fort Tempest sits on Western Point, a raised area that was once outside the walls of Absalom proper, but was militarized after a besieging army used it to fling rocks into the center of Absalom. The Fort has never been the most respected post in Absalom, and little has been done to support it either militarily (it has no dock, no exterior gate, shorter-than-usual supporting towers, few siege weapons, and only one major road in from the Absalom-side) or commercially. Those few soldiers posted in Tempest who have families must convince the keep commander to put them up inside the keep, risk housing them in Puddles, or put them so far away that only weekend visits become realistic options. ( cut )As always, you can find all the posts in this series listed at the index. | | 4:11 pm |
Grabbing the Third Rail
So, I consistently hear two debates on the meta-discussion about the reactions of the world to the Roman Polanski arrest. One is that he has significant support from Holliwood, and the other is the argument ton wether of not it is essentially a political left argument that he should be released and not punished for his crimes. ( cut ) | | Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | | 5:26 pm |
Top Ten Thursday
I am oft assaulted with cries about the unrealism of RPG "dungeons," when conversing with less chthonic game fans. Even ignoring the cognitive dissonance of claiming fireballs are fine but geographically isolated regions of high-danger that include mushrooms that can sustain an ecosystem are not, I think dungeons have gotten a bad rap because so many are run as nothing more than endless mazes of unconnected threats. I prefer short, focused delves downward and thematically linked quarantine sites that happen to be underground to monolithic puzzles of mega-corridors, but I think limited-access, PC-channeling adventure sites have a lot going for them and can be part of a strong, logical narrative. While they are not "dungeons" in the penal sense, I believe lots of good stories use sites any good Dungeon Master can recognize as a place for wandering monsters, 10-foot poles and trap checks. Since moving pictures are worth 1,000 blog posts, to support the case for dungeons in stories (and offer a little inspiration) we now present: Top Ten Movie Dungeons ( cut ) | | Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | | 5:37 pm |
Hohn Jancock
A fan we know tracked down my wife today, to ask if I was the sort of person who would sign a Star Wars RPG book for him. "Are you kidding?" she replied. "He LOVES stuff like that. Want it made out in your name?" Then, apparently, there was a slightly embarrassed query if I would be willing to make it out to "Captain Savage." With a gleeful smile, my wife scooped up the proffered book. "Absolutely, In fact, that's even better!" It's a happy time when the same event reminds me both how much I love my job, and how much I love my wife. Oh, and Captain Savage? It's a trap! |
[ << Previous 20 ]
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
owen_stephens's journal