If you'll be at the Con, can run a fast and furious game, and want the cost of your badge covered, follow the link and give the big man in Chicago a heads up.

Maybe you'll end up running one of my modules! Hah!


Let the Frenzy Begin
…please excuse the exclamation points
Though it might not be apparent, I’ve worked hard to keep my enthusiasm for this year’s GenCon Indy to a mild roar. With Goodman Games' open call for GMs, my convention season officially begins. The kid gloves come off, I start filing the corners of my dice, packing my rule books, and counting down to the big Con.

This year my dear friend and longtime mentor, Alex Anderegg will be running a few games. With his encouragement, I’ve agreed to run an adventure for 0-level characters (the same adventure that will also be released at GenCon).

“But Harley,” you might note, “there aren’t rules for 0-level characters in 3.5 ed.”

To this protest I need only remind you that any game is your game, and if there aren’t rules, then damn well make them up . . . or at least fudge it.

Baring that, you could always shell out some hard earned dollars and buy something I wrote. But why not come up with the rules yourself?

I’ll also be doing some signings, witnessing the release of one huge project and a few small but sweet ones (perhaps including a hardback release), doing some skating at the local skatepark, and generally smiling until my face hurts.

To refresh your memory, here are some highlights of the 2005 Con. In keeping with Harley’s working view of the world, some are bad, some are ugly, but all are fun.

-Meeting the Young Dragons of WoTC fame! Ed Gentry, Lara Gose, and Jaleigh “Jolly” Johnson all took pains to put up with me last year. Can’t wait to see them again!

-Hanging out with Dave “Blackmoor” Arneson. The look on Jaleigh’s face was priceless.

-My run in with the mysterious El Presidente. Will he return again? We can only hope not.

-I discovered that a bandanna was a viable (or not) option as a woman’s primary article of clothing.

-Riding in the back of Alex’s pickup truck through downtown Indy, as Alex gallantly escorted the ladies from the 5 Wits back to their hotel.

Highlights from this coming year:
-Game designers Jeff LaSala and Mike Ferguson will be releasing the largest Goodman Games product to date. Be there!

-Elaine Cunningham and Paul S. Kemp will be in attendance! Smile nicely and keep the fanboy hysteria to a minimum!

-Reunion and signing with the Young Dragons, including celebrity drake Eric Scott deBie! Also, Ed Gentry and Jaleigh Johnson both have Realms books in the coming lineup, so make friends with them now and they’ll sign books for your children down the road.

-The return of the Five Wits! Look for them at a gaming table near you. Oh, and there are three of them. I think.

Whew.

If you’re a gamer, and if you’ve ever dreamed of attending, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Bring some dice, a tablet of paper, some pencils. Leave with ten thousand new friends and renewed appreciation for the power of the imagination.

Papa was a rolling stone.
Starting tonight, I'm a one-project man. Since last August there hasn’t been a time when I haven’t been working on 2 to 3 different projects at once.

The chance to focus on writing one, just one, is a relief. It’s akin to what I imagine an adulterer must feel. Sure there are benefits to having 2 mistresses and a wife on hand, but after the glow wears off it is nice to quit the late night antics, settle down and get to know the one you love.

That’s how I feel right now. Committed, focused, devoted.

Of course, Harley’s still got a cheating heart, at least when it comes to writing projects.

See, there’s this hot, little new RPG that’s all the buzz. I nearly sent away for the rulebook today, with the plan of learning the rules and then submitting material. Had to cancel my PayPal order not once, but twice.

May 31st. Just need to make it to the end of the book and then I can start dating around again. ;)

Edit:*Laugh* I just remembered that I committed to writing up some rooms for a GenCon tournament special. But those are all due no later than the 6th.

Honestly. After that I'm done. >:)

200,000 d20
Like a tramp liner full of swedish bilge rats, she's in. Came in a little over count (only 20,000 words or so ;) ) causing a bit of a panic last night, but after reviewing my notes and math I realized we were in the clear.

Whew.

Exercising Developer Privilege, I wrote the Afterword last night and now I'm ready to sleep for a week.

Thanks for all the encouragement the last couple days. You guys and gals are the best.

32 Hours
By tomorrow night I'll have turned in the 180,000+ word d20 project I've been heading up for the last 9 months. Ink will hit paper in time for a GenCon release and you're all invited to the party.

I compiled a timeline of the world last night. It was around midnight that I realized the project had achieved critical mass and gone nuclear sometime in the last month. If I had another 6 months my writers could fill another 100k words, easy.

This is both exciting and a little sad. My instinct is to grind the project into perfection. But like a good punk song, a d20 work should end just as it is getting good. The best works are jumping off points for the players’ imaginations, not the last word on a subject.

If I’m excited about the next hundred thousand words, there’s a good chance the players will be excited too.

I bet Greenwood felt this way when he was turning in the final draft of the Realms. I know Wallace and the McCoys did. Must be par for the course. :)

In other news...
War of the Witch Queen was released at Dundracon in sunny California. I'm hoping my copies of the module show up in the mail today. I wrote in some player handouts in the form of full-sized playing cards, and I'm dying to see how the artist depicted the cards.

Free Stuff: Seed of Evil, the sequel to DCC #5: Aerie of the Crow God, is now available for free download here.

[Begin Pimping]

So I did a froogle search for my adventure modules today, trying to see how cheap I could get them. To my delight, at two different sites each was the best seller of its category.* But that’s not point of this post.

One of the stores was in the UK. For some reason (maybe because the original Fiend Folio was printed in the UK) this was overwhelming. Suddenly I realized that this is real. I’m getting to write, and it I'm being published by people who make sure I don’t look like an idiot. The modules are being played at conventions as demos, some are being converted to 1st Edition AD&D (?!), and some are being used as tournament modules.

That’s huge to me. Even though what I write won’t save the world, even though what I write isn’t even considered fiction, it is the thing I’ve been dreaming about doing since the age of 7.

This isn’t intended to be some sort of self-congratulatory post. (“Harley is so great. Look what he has accomplished.”) Instead, it is intended to convey the amazement and gratitude I feel, towards you all, and towards anyone who has ever bought or played something I wrote.

Emotionally, it feels like watching a sunset. I’m not the one responsible, but I am taking part in something amazing. GenCon is rapidly approaching. I hope you drop by to see us, if only so that I can give you a big hug.

And, as always, a special Deathy thanks is due to the McCoy family, and everyone else who has been gracious enough to playtest one of my works. You guys are half the reason these modules ever see print.

*This is not the point of the post. At much larger sites, my work doesn’t even show up until #67 or so. And “Best Seller” is a moot point since I don’t know how they run their calculations. “Of all the crap sent to us by Harley Stroh, this stuff at least sells.”

Again, this is not the point. But if you want to see for yourself, Legacy of the Savage Kings rocks the UK. (Where it is currently sold out! Boggle.)

While the Iron Crypt is enjoying a run at Paizo.

Is there no end to his ego?

Just stumbled across this last night. In Episode 20 they do an interview of Joseph Goodman, in which he talks up some of his writers. Fun to hear. :)
[/Mercifully ends pimping]

An aside:
“Stroh Harley, meet Harley Stroh”
Long story that needs to be told some day, but for now I'll keep it short. It began the afternoon a friend and I discovered the world of dial-up BBS. We stayed up all night, high on the flood of information, telecom communication cripples.

Anyhow, since then, the 'net has come a long way. But it warms my heart that even today, with profiles and the diligent work of Big Brother, we can still get mysterious correspondences out of the ether at 3:56 in the morning.

Such as:

At 3:56 AM, Anonymous said...
I stumbled upon this at the odd hour of now. And I only now realized that my name is the inverse of yours; hope this means something.

At 12:25 PM, Grimbones said...
Anon.,

Funny, that. Is this SH? Because yeah, I'm HS. I noticed that too. But yours is changing soon, neh?


So it goes. Love this life. Absolutely love it.

And, by the way, if you haven't paid attention to Josh Wentz's work yet, you should. More on that later. I’m off to the skatepark.

Finally settling into the rhythm of writing the vampire novel. The d20 work continues, but baring the mutiny of my pirate crew, all that’s left is editing. Editing seems to engage different muscles than actual writing, so it shouldn’t infringe on the novel work.

Again, it’s still a long shot to sell the book, but that won’t keep me from writing a story that I’d love to read. If it sells, great. If not --- well you and I both know that I needed the practice.

One of the chief differences from my last novel writing adventure, is working from an outline. Each scene (I hope) is driving towards the book’s final goal. This is an elementary process, something I assume most professional writers do by force of habit, but it is new to me. The greatest payoff thus far, is that it makes it noticeably easier to write. My word count is up, I don’t spend a ton of time going over previous scenes, and my writing meanders less.

Again, elementary stuff, but if we’re going to talk about this process, I might as well be honest to my naivety. Then maybe you can avoid my missteps.

Prior to this experience, I mistakenly believed that constructing and adhering to an outline would limit the creative high I get from writing. This is how I write adventure modules, drawing the maps and writing the encounters without really having an idea of where I’m going. But modules are only 23k long or so, and they aren’t held to the same scrutiny as a novel, or even a short story.

But my experience freelancing with Wizards changed all that. The story I sold was set in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy world, that some argue, has been recorded in more detail than some small, real world nations. Given the strictures of the assignment, and the previous work done by literally hundreds of other writers, I found myself in a very tight box.

To my delight and surprise this actually made it easier to be creative. Like a vine creeping and crawling its way through, beneath and over a wall, the story adhered to the world and, I hope, made it just a little more colorful in the process.

An outline can serve the same purpose. White Wolf’s new shared world, the “World of Darkness” setting, has less than a dozen sourcebooks so far. That’s like rewinding the Forgotten Realms setting back to 1992. As shared worlds go, the box is wide open, which can actually make it more difficult to write. With everywhere to go, you end up wandering in circles, which is fine for your personal writing (like this blog), but lousy if you’re trying to create a novel that will hold a reader’s attention.

That’s where an outline shines. Rather than being handed strictures from on high, you are creating your own. Your writing is no less creative for the walls and obstacles you impose upon yourself, and --- in my case --- better for the intellectual terrain it has to overcome.

When I worked up at the Pingree mountain camp (see my last post), we had to clear forest that had been burnt in a fire. Wandering through the skeletal woods, I discovered that the trees that grew tallest and straightest, were the ones that had grown in dense groves. Without competition a pine is content to stay short. But the ones surrounded by other trees --- strictures and boundaries --- had to go big.

(I almost wrote “reach for the sky,” but that much schmatlz is toxic.)

Anyway. Thanks for reading. Hope you all are doing well and keeping creative.

In other news:
Spray painted my snowboard this weekend. If you see an old dude on the slopes of Aspen Highlands or Snowmass, riding on a matte gray board with skulls, skulls, skull, push him over or hit him with a snowball.

"Piracy is not a Crime"
Or, Context is Everything
EC,

No fear. It's an in-joke going back about 5 years. But you deserve an explanation.

Teknobi and I were working in a mountain camp with about thirty people, who --- for one reason or another --- found it necessary to work for minimum wage in the middle of the Rocky Mountains for 3 months. One of the truly amazing things about being isolated with that few people is that assumptions about identity break down, and very quickly you are forced to realize that nearly all people are very good at heart.

At least, when they’re in the wilderness. Anyhow.

To entertain myself I began leaving pirate maps and treasures for the children of my labor crew boss. But as the summer progressed and the maps became increasingly more elaborate, it became clear that the kids wanted to know who the Pirate King was. So come the end of the summer we had a pirate party to unmask the Pirate King.

Teknobi, Heather (not yet my wife), and some others filled the upstairs lab with skulls, portholes, nets and a host of other pirate/nautical themed decorations. We had this massive, kid-friendly party, culminating in the children locking the Pirate King (Harley) in manacles, and marching him off a gangplank into a creek, where he floated downstream and out of sight.

One of our fellow workers was a great kid we called "S.A.," (short for "Skinny Aaron," not the racial slur). SA made a shirt for the party playing off Harley’s two loves: skateboarding and pirates (the “arrrrrrr” type, not the download type).

Riffing off of the Skateboarding is Not a Crime slogan (debatable, but that’s another conversation), SA made a t-shirt with markers that read:

Piracy is Not a Crime.

The juxtaposition of the two thought streams, along with the image of Blackbeard wearing that shirt as he boarded sinking galleons, burned the slogan into our collective memory. SA, already indeared, was canonized.

So there’s the context. Who is "they?" Jonathan and I. :)

You know you've made the big time ...
When they start to pirate your work.
Well, maybe not big time. But it is oddly and unexpectedly warming to know that someone took the time to cut out all the pages of a module, scan them, and upload them to a pirate RPG site.

Thanks to El Mono de la Revolución for the heads up.

Where the heck is the Harleybot? That tin can hasn't shown up for work in weeks!

W00T!
The McCoy family rocks. When that d20 setting hits stores this summer, that will be the end of it. Fame, money, geek status. They'll only take calls through their secretaries.

Ah well. Until then, know that if any of your players enjoy any of my modules, some loyal Knights of the Patio probably died there, kicking and screaming on their way down. :)

War of the Witch Queen!

Which actually has nothing to do with the esteemed Mr. Salvatore's book. Unfortunate timing, there.

But it has a lot to do with slimy monsters, spectral fortunetellers, and a lot of witchy goodness.

The module will have a limited print run, but if you won’t be attending Dundracon the adventure should be available for online for a while.

Also, the Goodman Games crew will be running 3 sessions of Iron Crypt of the Heretics. Wish I could be there to see those played. :)

And in other news …
I’m a…l…m…o…s…t done with this last module. I finally hit the groove last night, and all the pieces fell into place. A few more thousand words and then it should be ready for playtesting. I need to harass the McCoy family to see if their schedule has cleared up. Funny how I depend so much on folks I've yet to meet.

This post will be syndicated to livejournal when the lazy, good for nothing Harleybot gets around to it.

Name the mountain,
and I will move it.
No matter how old I get, it is still fun to write love letters.

Especially ones chock full of silly, boastful, impossible promises.

Ah, hyperbole. Wherever would I be without you?

Heh. That deserves an ode. An ode to hyperbole.

Meanwhile, back at the hacienda. Renewing my love affair with d20 work with the invitation to do a hardback collection of modules. Heh. Hard to believe someone might actually pay good money for that. Something to consider, at least, after May 31, which is now only 4 months away.

Chop, chop.

Ghost, vampires and blood rites. I love my night job. Hope you do too.

Dundracon
If you'll be attending Dundracon in San Ramon, CA, look for the Goodman Games booth and the special adventure I wrote just for this con. It's got a whole host of goodies inside, not least of which are a partial deck of magical cards and a potion miscibility table. (If you remember where either of these ideas first saw light in the world of TSR, you should probably be writing modules for Wizards right now.)

For those of you keeping track, this module was a rush job. Written in December, tested extensively in January, and printed in February --- in time for a Feb. 18 convention. There were moments when I didn’t believe it would happen, so it is a delight and relief to know that it made the cut.

Anyhow, sorry I’ve been so absent. The book is coming along well, roughly 1/5 of the way finished, which is a relief. I’m planning to spend February polishing up the world project, and then it’s vampires, vampires, vampires. More on that soon.

I hope the first month of the New Year has been wonderful to everyone, and I hope all your writing projects are coming along great. It’s a great time to be alive (or undead) and I can’t think of any bunch of writers I’d rather share it with.

Casualty of the Bite
Doh! Had to turn down a freelance gig this morning. I'm still so green that every opportunity feels like it might be the last. It was hard to say "no."

Still, May is going to be here before I know it, and I need to have a novel to show for it. That and I have about 20k to write this month before I can start focusing on Vampire during the weekdays. :)

[joke]Who knows, maybe Game Company X will push back their deadlines to court the coveted Harley Stroh. [/joke] ;)

This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the apologetic and contrite Harleybot.

Get your Slime On
As if you needed any other reasons to write d20 material, I give you reason #492:

Art to text ratio.

Sure I'm a hack. But right now there is an artist somewhere trying to translate my nightmares into ink and oils.

Love it. :)

This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the haunted and paranoid Harleybot.

They're Baaaaack

"We are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine.
And intellectual love gods in our spare time.

We make records, sometimes.
We play concerts, sometimes.

You're here anyway."

BTW ...
Everything, and I mean everything, I am today - be it husband, writer, skater, whatever - I owe to the people around me.

I'm writing stories because of what Matt taught me about art. I'm writing on a computer that Saurus bought for me. I'm writing modules to music from Jonathan, out of rule books from Alex, inspired by novels from Willy, and edited by Chris and Jeff. And we won't even touch on the emotional gifts from past lovers.

I am dirt. If you see any flowers, they were planted by someone else.

Not that any of this is a bad thing. But if we are going to have any understanding, if we are going to get anywhere, we have got to get that much clear.

//End Rant

Kicking Down …
So it wasn’t so long ago that a very kind and thoughtful writer made a point of passing along writing opportunities to folks like Gentry* and myself. It’s nice to complete that circle (albeit in a minor way) by helping point other folks along.

I’m hesitant to say “the next generation,” because I’m just a blip on the horizon myself. It’s easy to remember what it was like to be small when you are small. :)

When I was in college I used to organize “No-Pro Road Shows.” We’d toss our decks in the back of Rob’s car (since he was the only one who had a car) and strike out for new places to skate. We were never any good, which explains the “No-Pro(fessional)” part, but we always had a great time. (Even when we blew out a tire in a blizzard on top of Donnor Pass.)

I wonder if it is worth having a No-Pro Show for GenCon. Get all us nobodies together for some carousing. Of course, all the Names are welcome too, if they’re looking to do some slumming. ;)



*BTW, how cool is it to have a name meaning “the social class ranking just below the aristocracy; consisting of families who are not of noble birth but are entitled to have a coat of arms.”

What’s your coat of arms, Ed?

This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the sullen and retiring Harleybot.

Placing Headstones
More and more I've been trying to write my d20 modules with a cinematic flair. Any computer game can slog PCs through encounters, but the human element of PCs interacting with a GM makes pulp drama possible. This is where table-top games win out over computer games, and to not make use of it is to miss a crucial strength of the medium.

Anyhow. Cinematic flair. There's a module coming out for Dundracon that is in the last stages of playtesting, and I'm pretty proud of its pulp sensibilities. Or rather, I was proud, until I got back the playtest report.

See, there's this bridge. Only it doesn't look like a bridge at first. It looks like your regular dungeon crawl hallway. But then it splits across the middle, breaking into two halves that dump into a steaming lake. PCs make their saving throws, and suceed in clinging to the walls of the hall-turned-chimney.

Perfect. Right out of a cliffhanger serial.

Then something awful and unnamed comes up out of the lake. I think the sorcerer went first, plucked off the bridge like a little black robed hors d’oeuvre.

One bite and the Thing moves on to the main course.

So much for pulp action.

Now, clearly, finding out where an encounter is over (or under) powered is what a play test is for. I just always feel awful when a group of players is forced to go through a lousy encounter because of my poor design skills.

A big Deathy thanks is owed to the Moore family and their players, and their big Deathy death. :( I hope the module isn't a total wash.

Edit: Hey, Silverfyre. I never feel bad about beating up on you guys. When are the Knights of the Dinner Table back in action? >:)

This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the soiled and grim Harleybot.

A Deathy New Year to you, and you, and you!
I hope everyone made it through the holidays safely (although it sounds like Mike and Silverfyre might be suffering some liver damage).

2006. Let’s geek out quick, and get it over with.

When I was a little kid, cutting my teeth on the Dragonlance Chronicles, I used to daydream about Raistlin and his fellow students of magic. And like any nerdy 11-year old, I’d daydream what it would be like to study magic. But “magic” was really just shorthand for something of worth. Outside of Harley’s adolescent fantasy life, the question still had merit:

Given the chance to accomplish something important, how would I behave?

Would I pour myself into the work, forsaking all else in the pursuit of that one goal? Or would I elect not to try at all, rather than attempt a long shot and risk failure?

Fast forward to the present. I haven’t read any of the Dragonlance books in over a decade, but they’re still at my bedside. The covers are worn yet beautiful. I can roll over at night and see Elmore’s depiction of Raistlin, his robes shading from red to black.

And now I have something to fight for, that long shot. Five short months to impress the Masters of High Sorcery.

Time to buckle down, light the candles and blow the dust off a musty tome. Time to see if Harley, given the chance, can write something of worth. A book worthy of a reader’s finite hours.

Heh. Three decades and I’m still envisioning my life through the lens of fantasy. Fun.

Thanks for sticking around for the ride. As the song goes, “You could be anywhere in the world, tonight, but you’re here with me. I appreciate that.”


Harley Stroh for Caffeine Powered Super-Robot
Every year the fine folks at Game Wyrd host their fan awards. Of all their awards, the one I covet is the “Most likely to be a caffeine powered robot.”

I don’t have enough 2005 products to make the cut, but if - by some stretch of the imagination - I get the World of Darkness gig, I’m throwing my hat in the ring for 2006. Because if I get that book, it will have been because I was a caffeine powered super-robot.

That’s still a long way from being a reality, so consider this a preliminary stump speech. ;)


Whew. For the first post of the year, that reads like so much gibberish. If you'd care to read something of substance, might I suggest reading this?

This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the polite and well-mannered Harleybot.

On the road again
Heather’s father died last year and this will be the first Christmas without him, so it goes without saying that she needs to be home on the East Coast for the holidays. While the filthy lucre of publishing might be flowing like sweet wine, it wasn’t flowing that sweet, so a second plane flight was out of the question. Instead I’ll be driving up to Wyoming to spend the holidays with my brother and parents. I’m the evil son that never writes, calls or visits, so it will be good to see my family.

Which puts me on the road.

I had vague plans to hook up with friends last night, but I ended up at a punk bar instead. I did more people watching than drinking, taking notes for the vampire book and relishing the frantic, desperate way we humans throw ourselves at each other. The girl working the bar looked like she was counting the days to her fourteenth birthday, had two purple pigtails and wore the same yellow, ducky galoshes you might seen on Paul Kemp’s kids.

By the time I had had my fill, I had missed my window for finding my friends, along with a warm place to crash for the night. I drove back onto campus, unstuffed the sleeping bag and slept in the car.*

Woke up to frost on the inside of the windshield. Fitting punishment for getting distracted with people watching and forgetting my prior commitments, tentative though they may have been.

Tonight I arrive in Wyoming and settle into seven days of hardcore writing. Vampires staff my dreams. I’ll be away from the internet, but if you need to reach me, both Ashlock and Gentry have my number. :)

Happy holidays, everyone. Be safe, and I’ll see you in the new year!



* There are millions of people out in the world that aren’t so lucky to have the choice of sleeping in their car; Harley “playing homeless” is an insult to all those people. And yet, some small part of me delights in the charade.

Something else to go to hell for.




This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the nubile and flexible Harleybot.

I don’t write for the money …
But I love it when the check comes in.
Ask anyone working in the publishing business and they will tell you that making the jump from part to full-time freelancer is not a decision to be made lightly. When even those with regular novel gigs keep their day jobs, you get a sense of how great the gap is. Still, I suspect that each one of us, in our secret (or not so secret) heart of hearts still yearns for title of full-time freelancer.

In case you were worried, Harley isn’t making the jump any time soon.

The upside to being unknown, broke and ugly, is that every sale – and I mean every – feels like a giant step forward. It’s like the first time you kissed the girl. Archangels trumpet from on high, the stoplights all turn green, the cop lets you off with a warning for skateboarding.

The soft cover edition of Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign setting isn’t due out for a few months, but that didn’t stop the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons from paying Harley’s rent for the month of December. (And remember, I live within avalanche distance of Aspen.)

Part-time or full-time, that’s pretty fun.

And in other news …
I spent last night doing setting work (inking and coloring a 2 ft. by 3 ft. map for a campaign setting that is due for release at the next GenCon) and I realized the reason that I love doing d20 work: the opportunity to draw.

Silly, but there it is. I’m not professional grade by any standard, but the mere act of preparing maps of professional cartographers is a joy, and something that’s lost when I write straight fiction.

You may recall that before the setting gig came along I expressed a desire to step away from d20 work and get back to writing more. That’s still the case, but I hope I have the opportunity to the occasional d20 job on the side. I spent my childhood doodling on graph paper and I'd hate to give it up now. :)


This post has been syndicated to livejournal by the devoted and unflagging Harleybot.

Blogger Meets Live Journal
Won't work unless I pay $19.95 to upgrade to a paid account. Or I get so popular that LJ syndicates as a public service. ;)

Ed and Marce have solved this challenge by posting a link to their blogs from their LJ accounts, but they could also do solve the problem by cutting and pasting blogger posts to LJ accounts.

Viva La Vie Boheme
I’m sure there must be missing accents on that title, but that’s what I get for copying and pasting from Google.

The weekend is here! All day Board retreat on Saturday (that’s one 5 ft. step, so that we don’t incur attacks of opportunity*), and then let the writing commence! All day Sunday to drink coffee and spill thoughts out onto a keyboard. And we get paid for this? We are the luckiest people ever.

A big, Deathy welcome is due to Paul Kemp for taking time from his busy schedule to stop by. You should all stop by his blog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/paulskemp/ , if only for pictures of his children.

Also, a big thank you is due to everyone that offered words of encouragement during the last weeks of the White Wolf contest. I’m still a far cry from the worthies that have published/ are in the process of publishing novels, so it is generous of them to suffer my company.

Okay. So maybe that last bit was little over the top. But it’s true to Harley’s emotions. I’m thankful for everyone that hangs around. :)

What else? The setting work really starting to take form. It’s akin to a heating a pot of water: for a long time it seems like little is getting done, then you cross that critical threshold and the water erupts into a rolling boil. Last week the waters were placid, but this week it’s boiling – maps being handed off to the cartographer, manuscripts are being cross-referenced and the cover art has been commissioned. That, and I still have a 24k adventure to write for the setting. And a book about vampires. And encounters for the GenCon tournament. And an adventure for February’s DragonCon.

Have I mentioned I love my night job?

Let’s all hear it for a two-week winter break. Which brings us back to the title of this quickly written, sloppily edited post:

Viva La Vie Boheme! I love you guys. Write hard, fall down on concrete for me, and I'll see you all on Monday!


*Stupid gaming joke. Sorry.

I want you!
...to playtest my modules. >:)

Chris and Chrissy are hard at work on the Spellburn setting, so I'm short my usual suspects. Anyone else interested in playtesting a module, lvls 7-9?

Post ‘Em If You’ve Got ‘Em
What a fantastic time to be alive. Good friends, good work, and writing as far as the eye can see. Thanks for being around for the show.

H and I went to see “Walk the Line” –the Johnny Cash biography– last night. For those of us who like to consider ourselves artists, it hits pretty close to home. Namely, I almost didn’t go to the movie with my wife because I had so much writing to do.

Given my melodramatic bent I probably took more from the movie than intended. Regardless, it served as both a warning and inspiration.

Still waiting to hear back from my new friends at White Wolf. This is actually just fine since I’m still trying to clear my writing load for the new year. My plan is to finish 2 modules and the remaining setting work by the end of December, freeing me up for the final leg of the White Wolf contest. It’s important to complete my contract obligations before I begin chasing contest dreams. It’s never too early to begin behaving like a professional --- even if I still dress like a coffee shop refugee.

Still, I find myself daydreaming about the World of Darkness, which is my way of doing foundation work to the actual writing. Armed with a bomb-proof outline, I’ll begin hammering away in the last weeks of December. If you have any outline suggestions or advice, feel free to post them.

BTW, anyone know if Indianapolis has a skatepark? A little physical exertion would be just the thing to take the edge off GenCon.

In other Con news, the fine folks who published stories in Realms of the Dragons II will be hosting a group signing sometime during the Con. This is a great chance to get meet 10+ authors in one fell swoop, and since many of them are currently writing other novels set in the Realms, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that they are the next generation of Realms Novelists. They have been generous enough to invite me along for the ride, but I’d feel like a bit of a pretender. Thankfully, the opportunity to hang out with these fantastic writers far outweighs any lingering self-esteem issues. I hope many of you can make it.

And finally, a rousing, Deathy shout-out to Ash and Marce. Fingers and toes crossed, kids.

BTW ...
Courtesy of Kam --- Elaine's blog is back up! Was I the only one in the dark? http://ecwritingjournal.blogspot.com/

Copied from White-Wolf.com:

World of Darkness Novel Contest: Five Winners of Round Two Announced

November 28, 2005 - From an initial field of over a thousand entries, the World of Darkness Novel Contest enters the Final Round with these five winners of Round Two:

Cody Bye
Joshua Alan Doetsch
David Nurenberg
Harley Stroh
Brayton Tompkins

These authors wins prizes of $1000 and the opportunity to complete their World of Darkness novels. The winning novel will be published by White Wolf Inc., though all of the other completed novels will be considered for publication as well.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to the other winners of Round One, especially the five authors who finished in places 6th-10th (alphabetically): Christopher Frye, Max Gladstone, Andrew Peregrine, Mary Pletsch and Chad Welch.

Winners entering the Final Round will be contacted directly by contest judge Stewart Wieck, co-founder of White Wolf and co-creator of the World of Darkness.

Thanks for all your thoughts, guys. It’s enough to make an old skull smile.

There was a saying that used to circulate amongst my friends back in college. I only said it once, but if you ascribe to the idea of memes, you know how ideas can have a life of their own. Anyhow, this one has remarkable staying power and still comes back to haunt me on occasion. This is one of those occasions.

It went a little something like this:“Life is too short not to be a hypocrite.”

The idea I was trying to convey was that, in a finite life, standing on principle for principle’s sake can get you into trouble. As far as I know I have one shot at this life. There are good reasons to cling to principles, but just “because” isn’t one of them.

When the world changes, adjust.

Given my current schedule, do I have time to write a novel? Absolutely not. Work is eating up 60+ hours per week, and I’m booked on gaming material through the summer.

So what does one do? Start by waking up at 4 in the morning. Make coffee and write for two hours before going to work. Throw myself into this with all the hungry, desperate passion I can muster. Lean on my friends for editing; skate until I cry. Try not to be this melodramatic in the actual novel. :)

As far as I know this might be my one and only chance to publish a book. I have to crunch words like my life depends on it, because –in a very real sense– my “life” as an author does depend on this.

To be clear, I’m still a ways from selling any book. There are four fantastic writers who are doing their best as well, and only one of us gets the sale. All I can count on is the opportunity to write and to be read.

What a blessing.

One chance. Marks, set, go. Time to write a book.

Yipes. Things just got real busy.

I'm scared and excited, all at once. This deserves more airtime but through all the shock I'm left with just one thought:

I am so damn blessed (!) to have you guys (and gals) as friends.

Hey! A Question!
"So, Harley, I gotta ask, do you ever question whether some of these module ideas would have made a good short story? I think that's one reason why I've held off on jumping into the d20 game design market--every idea I have I would rather explore as a story."

Nah. Remember, I'm only writing dungeon crawls. The reason the modules are so much fun (and easy) is because I can just write really fun scenes (dramatic environs, crazy bad guys, really weird magic) and let the players do the rest. It's candy store writing: show up, drop exciting ideas, get paid, and get out. :)

Anything important that I might have to explore wouldn't really fit into 20,000 words (less stat blocks). All right. Gotta run. See you guys tomorrow!

Just as you were beginning to think I was a chronic liar:
UPCOMING MODULES!

A sale in hand is worth two contests in the bush, neh, choomba?


The sequel to the classic DCC #1: Idylls of the Rat King (written by the brilliant Jeff Quinn). This dungeon was goblin tested and GM approved by game designers Chris and Christine McCoy, and their Knights of the Dinner Table, so if you have a total party kill, it’s their fault. ;)



A Rosolf cover. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He painted the cover to a module writen by some guy named Gygax. The module was entitled “Keep on the Borderlands,” more commonly known as The Caves of Chaos.

Yow.

This is a longer adventure, with some fun, overarching puzzles, goblins on giant bats, a dwarven moonshine still, stolen heirlooms, and a tribute to Gygax’s original. What more could a 1st lvl character ask for?

For the record, I'm one of the luckiest bastards alive. :)


And in other news ...
I hope you all had a safe holiday. Nothing like trying to drive home on a belly full of tofurky.

Heh. Anyhow, I'm in the midst a self-imposed crash deadline. A week and a half to finish a module, start to finish. The good news is I've fallen in love with the idea and theme, making it easier to write than sleep at 1 in the morning. The bad news is I've fallen in love with the idea and need to pull it off a big finish in the next 3k.

Could be a pinch. :)

And in other, OTHER news ...
Spoke with Jeff last night. I should start paying him for therapy. I’ve realized that the WoD is a win/win situation. I have more than enough work to last me from now through August, but I’d hate to turn down the chance to sell a novel.

I did a little calendar magic and blocked out the time to write a book …. BUT, if I get the big bounce, I’ll have more time to work on the upcoming projects and skateboard.

Win/Win.

We’ll see tomorrow. Could be the first time I’m happy to get a rejection. Sleep tight. >:)

Harley: The Eternal Struggle
So yeah. Way to go Stroh. Knock the contest, and then make round 2.5. Round three will be announced Nov 28.

You can find the post here:
http://www.white-wolf.com/fiction/wod.php?line=news&articleid=332

Edit: Out of self-preservation, I'm going to put in some plotting work over Thanksgiving. Just in case.

H Versus the WoD
As of Friday, 7:30 a.m., no word yet on the novel contest. I should be anxious and frustrated, but as I wrote to Jeff in an email, something has changed in me. I’m still eager for the chance to write the book, of course, but it’s different now. Less edge to the emotion, perhaps. Less panicked drive.

I think it has something to do with prior commitments. I have a campaign setting that needs my attention. The words are all there, but – and forgive me for bringing this up – there is a spiritual component as well, a force of will that needs constant exertion lest the project fall to the wayside. If I start to focus on another mammoth project before the first is truly finished, I’ll have failed in my task as a writer.

I’m looking at the last paragraph and it reads like goobly-gook. Out of context, which I don’t have time to provide right now, it doesn’t make much sense. You’ll have to trust me on this one, at least until I can free up the hours to explain it.

Suffice it to say that Harley is a greedy, greedy writer. He wants every project, every spare word he can get. But he also believes, perhaps mistakenly, that everything he works on is imbued with a living spirit of sorts. And if that spirit is neglected, the work suffers for it.

It’s not a matter of getting a project it up to word count. I can do that blindfolded. It’s a matter of investing enough time and energy to ensure that a work is full-bodied, developed, and healthy.

If you’ve read some of my writing, you know that I fail at this on a pretty regular basis. But that’s due to a lack of skill, not for wont of passion, effort or time. Right now I have enough work to take me through to Summer, 2006. I’d jump at the chance for a 1st novel, but baring a major change in lifestyle, it would be negligent and irresponsible to take on a 90k project due in April.

When the rejection comes down I’ll be bummed, for certain, but I’ll also be writing.

PS. To Lara, Jaleigh, and everyone who has clicked over to the WW forums, or checked in on Choose Death because they were thinking about me. You guys are better friends than I deserve.

For me, that’s the real lesson. Thank you. I won’t forget it.

"Ease back,
ease back,
ease back,
'cause he's back..."

Whew. Fastmail is restored, and I think I have all my back mail. But if you sent me a warning about an impending attempt on my life, feel free to resend it.

//H

Martinmas

Tonight our school is celebrating the Feast of Saint Martin, or Martinmas. The Nursery-Kindergarteners, first and second graders have spent all week making lanterns in preparation for their walk tonight.

The school is about 5 miles out of town, so when I flip all the breakers this evening, the grounds will be very, very dark. The children will be led through the woods, their lanterns held high. At the end of their walk they will encounter a roman soldier atop a white stallion, and a beggar, pleading for the soldier’s cloak. The solider slashes his cloak, giving one half to the beggar.

Guess who gets to be the beggar? ;)

It’s a Christian tale, but the story could just as easily be Hindu, Muslim, or any of the other world traditions. What is important is the example of selfless giving, and the experience of following your personal “light.” Even in the dark times of the soul, or so we would like to believe, every human has an inner guide lighting the way. Too often I choose to ignore mine, but it’s there, whether I look for it or not. A candle in the darkness, an innate sense of justice.

So, if you’re in the Colorado Rockies tonight and you come across a beggar on the roadside, think of me as you’re passing by. ;)

Fastmail server #4 ...
is down for emergency service. The new mail is being queued so I'll get your messages by the end of the weekend, but if you need to get in touch with me right away, use the old bagboy address.

//H

Dragons Landing Inn Review


Chuck and Lonnie are two great fellows that run a regular gaming podcast. In episode 17 they were gracious enough to review and recommend both Legacy of the Savage Kings and Iron Crypt of the Heretics. Fun stuff.

If you are a designer/writer, I'd encourage you to drop by the website and send the pair an email. It's a great opportunity to get your products reviewed or to host an interview. In case that I was too subtle, that was a wink, wink, nudge, nudge to Kam, Eric, Jaleigh and Ed --- pimp that WotC ride!

And tell 'em Harley sent you. ;)

In other news ...

A Deathy Shout-Out to the Superfan!

Ben "Superfan" Waxman has completed a series of battlemaps for my DCC modules. These are scaled maps in jpg and pdf format that GMs can use for their games. Print them out at full size for your miniatures, or project them onto a whiteboard, and -tada- instant maps for your game. For those of you that have the Dundjinni program, this is an example of battlemapping at its finest. You can find his awesome work here:

DCC #12.5

DCC #17

Thank you, Superfan! Superfan was also the cat that turned me on to Dragons Landing ... many, many thanks, indeed!

Keith Parkinson, 1958-2005

Be a writer ... or just look like one.
It seemed appropriate that this Halloween have a writing theme. A few minutes with the shaver to accentuate my impending baldness and Harley was Hunter.

Hunter went dancing at the local Thai restaurant, so you all know how that went. If any pictures surface I'll post them for your amusement.

And in other news ...
Despite the lingering disappointment about the WoD, today was not a complete wash. I was hired to write another module for Goodman Games. The trick is that it needs to be done in time for a February convention --- it’s a crunch, but I think it can be done.

So far two of my adventures have been published. That leaves another seven somewhere in production, either being edited or on their way to the printer. My career is sort of the iceberg of d20 publishing.

Heh. Anyhow, Happy Halloween, Choosey Deathers! Thanks for being such great friends to a skull in need.

WoD News

"We were going to announce the five winners of Round Two of the World of Darkness Fiction Contest on Halloween, but the competition is so fierce and the winners so difficult to determine that this announcement has been postponed until November 15th.

(Ok, actually it's just taking the judge a long time to read through the 100 sample chapters from winners of Round One, but those winners don't want the judge to rush, do they?!)

Mark your calendars, because on November 15th we'll begin to share some of the sample chapters we received. See if you agree with the judge's selections."

The original post can be found here.

Have a wonderful Halloween!

~Your friend Grimmy

I know it isn’t about the money ...
...but it's still nice to get that check in the mail. :)

And if any of my other publishers happen to be reading this, I wholeheartedly encourage you to jump on the bandwagon and send Harley his money. Rent is due soon and it is hard to meet deadlines when I can't pay the electricity bill. ;)

Sensei Sez ...

"Dragons hoard everything they can get... Young Dragons even more so."

Laugh. Ain't that the truth.

Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

In my life, I'm trying to find that balance between clawing and screaming my way towards a novel, and a full-hearted gratitude towards you, my publishers, any readers, and the world in general. J.L. got it right when he wrote that one doesn't interfere with the other.

Perhaps equally important, I don’t want anyone to EVER suppose that Harley is better than unpublished writer X, because that simply isn’t true. If there is any discrepancy, it rests solely on the fact that I’ve been clawing at this door since I was twelve. Give me 15 years of your life, and I will make you a published author.

So where am I left? With control of one variable: time. If I miss these 3 chances, I can hang around another 15 years and try again.

But here’s a little secret just between you, me, and the internet. I want ‘em. Bad. Real bad. And if I get just one of these books, I’m buying you all drinks ….

… even if it’s just to kill off a few thousand of your brain cells to lessen the competition in the future. ;)

Not to put too fine a point on it ...
Quick post. Sorry for the brevity.

In five days and some odd hours I should be getting an answer from WW, either a rejection or a go ahead asking for an entire book. There are also the trailing streamers of a Wizards closed call (“We’ll keep you informed.”), and another d20 publisher who asked for a novel proposal. Three shots at a first novel, likely resolved in the next three months.

So.

You might say I’m a little excited and anxious. My wife is sick of seeing me raise my fists to the sky in silent protest. I've left my blood on the skate park, trying to work off steam. I check my email 20 times a day, then forget my password in my anxiety.

Enough, Stroh. If I die walking home today, the tally would read in my favor. I have been fortunate enough to do and write more than I deserve. If I don’t publish another word for as long as I live, I would still need to give thanks for all the words I have published.

I am a fortunate, fortunate man.

So what I really have here is an opportunity to behave like an upright human being. It doesn’t do any good if I preach after getting a book. I have to say it, and live up to it, now. So here is my chance. Let’s see if Harley is enough of a human to meet the task at hand, step up to the edge of the battlements and not crumble before the coming darkness.

I want these books --- badly. I should want to be a good person even more.

From the Desk of Ed Gentry:

Did you know that WW has released the WoD CS, the entire CS in PDF for free?

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_134&products_id=1124
-Ed

Wow! Great find.

To clarify, this isn't the campaign setting, but the rules book. WoD has several interwoven settings (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage) for which a single rule system applies. But to actually roll up a Vampire character you will need to buy the Vampire book.

This doesn't make the rules book any less of a find. (I just downloaded it myself.) When I decided to enter the WW fiction contest, money was tight. After much painful deliberation, I bought the Vampire books and passed up the rules book. (For a novel I needed the fluff more than the rules system.) But now, thanks to Ed and Drive Thru RPG, I have both. :)

Making it to round two was worth $50, pretty much what I spent on the books, so at this point I've broken even with White Wolf. That's pretty much all a gambler – or writer – can hope for. :)

Not that you need any more distractions ….
Steve Jackson Games has an online store they call "Warehouse 23." You can buy my work there, along with a ton of other great gaming material.

But the warehouse is really just a cover. The warehouse has a basement.

This is a facility built to house forces and artifacts humankind was never meant to understand. Unholy artifacts. Alien technology. Weird tomes of lost lore. You get the idea.

The best part is, readers can add to the list.

Now, as writers, you and I are in the business of sellling the nightmares in our own mental basements. So entering them, sans copyright, into an online database is akin to giving pennies away to SJ Games. But there is an allure to this as well, contributing to something that will never come back to "Harley A. Stroh." Essentially, ideas for the sake of ideas.

That, and it’s fun.

So ... What is in the basement?

Countdown to Jeff and Marisa's Anniversary!
...aka Halloween!

...and the White Wolf announcement. ;)

Even if I get the big bounce, I'm excited to see what comes of the novel open call. The World of Darkness is an exciting one these days.

NaNoWriMo;
Or “No Time for Love, Doctor Jones!”

Yep. It's that time of year again. If you haven't heard of the organization/event, the folks at NaNo bill themselves as such:

"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

The point is to drop any inhibitions and simply write. Good, bad, or ugly, you too can be a novelist by the end of next month. Check out http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for support and information.

I've known about these guys ever since Marce turned me on to the event, but I've yet to participate. Something in my gut has always regarded any personal involvement as counterproductive; for better or worse, rich or for poor, I’m here for the long haul. Harley’s Personal Writing needs MORE self-editing, not less.

However, if you’re among the thousands of writers that just need a little kick start, this might be the event for you. For my part, NaNo is certainly something I'd like to do before I die, simply for the experience.

One last note. NaNo is a great organization, but you don't need them to help you write a novel in a month. Any month can be your own personal "XXXXX words or bust!" event. Just a friendly reminder --- it starts and ends with you.

Death From Above!
Or... That Ninja is About to Lose His Pants!

A rousing, Deathy Shout Out to Alex Anderegg, professional game designer/author! His first professional d20 work should be out by GenCon 2006 --- which means the line for his signature starts behind me. ;)

As long as I've known him, Alex has been a better writer, gamer, and human being than I could ever hope to be. He's rescued me from coffee shop dates gone horribly awry, fought me off during violent sleepwalking episodes, indulged my narcissistic skate videos, led the construction of a trebuchet, hung from my climbing belt while I clung to a wall dressed as a ninja --- you get the idea.

Alex and I did some design work for fun a few years ago, never expecting that either of us could get paid for playing games. Seeing a friend be published is as good, if not better, then getting published yourself. Congrats, Alex! It’s been a long time coming and I can’t wait to do the playtesting.

And if you're reading this, Alex, I haven't given up:

Crash helmet. Ring of fire. Shopping cart.

Email Down
It sounds like Comcast took a serious hit in Denver; I'm offline until that changes.

//H

Goals for the Weekend
Maybe Thursday, noon, is too early to be thinking about the weekend, or maybe it reflects the tone of this work week. Regardless:

1. Finalize two module proposals for the Project. That's 44k due by January-ish, but earlier would be better.

2. Give thanks for the fact that I'm living the life that Harley, the child, never would have imagined. I'm getting paid to write modules?!

3. Re-sketch the maps for Mike’s campaign setting.

4. Attend a ska/punk show down in town.

5. Forget that I'm still waiting to hear back about the book. (See EC's Guide to Success in Publishing, rule #2012.)

6. Forget that the White Wolf novel announcement is just around the corner.

7. Fall down on concrete with friends until I accomplish #s 5 & 6.

8. Rethink the purpose of Choose Death. Nobody needs to hear about Harley's weekend plans --- write about something that matters, damnit!

If I don’t have time to post, have a wonderful weekend! Be safe, know that you are loved, and take a fall for me. If you should see an old man sitting on the street corner with some graph paper and a skateboard, you know who he is!

Barbeque on the Half Pipe!
This weekend I had the chance to help out with a local skate jam. I showed up early to sweep the park, then hung out to skate with the kids. We old men gave lessons, parents barbequed veggie burgers and hotdogs, and a good time was had by all. I’ve got a bit of a limp from trying to land a gap between two half pipes, but that’s what you get for showing off for photographers.

It is always good to be reminded of how much I take walking for granted. Seriously.

Harley: Danger Mouse

A couple of years ago, my friends and I found a recipe for Hollywood stunt glass. You can find the recipe in issue #4 of TIN, a zine I used to help out with.

But I digress ... stunt glass.

Being boys, we needed to put this knowledge to use. We destroyed a countertop in the process but after an afternoon of cooking we had a small, 2 foot by 2 foot pane.

We had the glass. All we needed was a reason to break it.

Unable to craft a stunt glass windshield, we quickly realized that skateboarding through the glass was the obvious next best option.

The glass project became the impetus behind an amateur skate video. Emphasis on amateur. This isn’t going to get anyone sponsored, and that was never the intent. The video was made for fun, between friends, and by that standard it was successful several times over.

Plus, it has Harley falling through a pane of glass.

Here is a brief excerpt of our movie: Old Men Falling Down. (Give her a minute or two to load. You might even want to save it to your hard drive so you can enlarge the picture)

Be warned: there is profanity in the last 5 seconds, and there is a lot of Harley falling down without a helmet. My skating has improved dramatically since we shot this footage, but the most dramatic change is that now I always wear a helmet.

Always.

If I’m going to try to make a living as a writer, my brain is my biggest asset.

(Funny how my biggest asset has such a knack of getting me into trouble.)

Regardless: Don’t be dumb like Harley. Protect that noggin’ kids!

This movie is in QuickTime format. Click here if you need the QuickTime plugin.


Special Thanks to: Spackle, Phlegm and Noise for patiently filming the movie, and for their help in the digital conversion. Couldn't have done it without them!

Calling All Freelance Designers!
This info is from Kam's Blog, which means you've probably already read it since everyone who reads Choose Death reads Pens and Swords. (Of course, the reverse is NOT true.)

Regardless, Wizards is hosting a rolling open call for short d20 adventures. No deadline + short word count = great chance to get published by the big guys.

I'm overbooked at the present, but I heartily encourage anyone with a little spare time to design a quick adventure. You could do it this weekend and submit it on Monday.

The original posting is here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20050930b

Start the Presses!

The campaign setting formerly known as the Frontier Fantasy Setting has been submitted for publication. This is a big deal because, had you been hanging out on Wizards boards back when MoP was still up for grabs, you would have seen a wild-eyed Canadian dreaming up his own setting.

Of course, you would have seen about one hundred other writers trying to do the same thing.

But one of them stuck with it. And found some friends to help him out. And wrote waaaaay too much, was rejected, then accepted, then black balled from the internet, came back under an alias, was deported from the country, and forced to move to a small, dung-hut, in a third world neighborhood in a first world country, and ...

If you recognize the above writing style, then you know I'm talking about the one and only Mike Wallace. Love him or hate him, the underdog is on top, and his work is headed to print.

So, once and for all:

A Big Deathy Shout out to Mike, Chris and Chrissy!

500 Words and Climbing
One of the nice things about having a BIG project is that it forces me to write every day, no exceptions. I began with a goal of 500 words per night, triple that on the weekdays.

No big accomplishment there. If you’ve ever held yourself to a writing schedule, you know that this isn’t all that ambitious. Most the pros you know crank out a thousand plus in a sitting, and before this post is finished it will be near 300 words. But with workdays consistently stretching to 12+ hours (did a 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. stretch on Tuesday), and filial responsibilities at home, getting in a few hours to write can be a major accomplishment.

Surprisingly – and this is a testament to my ignorance of that wonderful machine, the human being – it has become really easy to break 500 words. What used to take 2 hours, fell to an hour and a half, and then an hour. On a good evening I can kiss H good night and then get another thousand words done before crashing.

Caveat: some nights are better than others. Last night I fell asleep sitting upright at the computer.

Anyhow, the real benefit of this process has been discipline. All through college I considered myself a writer, but I was lucky to write just on the weekends. By contrast, averaging 6ish thousand a week puts me at 15 weeks or 4 months to complete a rough draft of a 90k word project.

The fun part is, anyone can do it. A-n-y-o-n-e. Sit down for a couple hours every night, do it for 5 months and viola, you’ve written a novel!

I’m still trying to reconcile the math in my own mind, but the every morning there's the proof: another 700 words. Let’s hope some of them are good ones.


P.S. I'm interested in hearing how the pros do it. Ed, Erik, Jaleigh, Kam, E.C.? Any anecdotes to share?

P.P.S. *laugh* I forgot the original intent of my post. This weekend H is going rafting with the girls from work. For me that equates to 48 straight hours of eating meat, falling down on concrete and writing! Woot!

Son of Flame, Son of Hak

The short story Son of Flame, Son of Hak*, will be included in the Blackmoor softcover corebook. The first half of the story was released as a free download on the Zeitgeist Games website ; this will be the first time that the entire story is available in print.

It's also the first time my fiction has appeared in a book with an Elmore cover. Milestone, that one.


Next!
I'm expecting a rejection to come down the pike this week or the next. It was a closed call for a novel, so it will hurt a little more than the generic rejections I get all the time.

Whatever. Rejections build character. They're part of the unwritten contract we all agreed to when we decided to be writers.

The important part is to dispell any notion that Harley is a made man. It's easy for me to post a bunch of covers and pretend like the rejections don't keep coming, but that would be a disservice to the community. The fewer illusions the better.

For the record: I'm still a peon, I'm still a hack, I'm still crunching away, just like you.

And I'm loving it. :)



*This is officially my best title yet. I'm ping-bombing anyone who mentions ***** Chrome. >:)

Okay. So you all know about Kameron Franklin, celebrated author of Maiden of Pain.

But have you checked out Jaliegh Johnson, Ed Gentry, and Erik Scott de Bie?

All three are working on new Wizards novels, books that will deepen and broaden the scope of the Forgotten Realms. A good sleuth could pick up quite a bit hanging out around their sites.

The Cavalry Arrives
A big, Deathy Thanks is due once again to the Knights of the Patio: Chris, Chrissy and Co. They just finished play testing another module, completing it in record time. I realized yesterday that – aside from seeing the actual work in print – reading their comments and getting feedback on the adventure is my favorite part of the process.

EC brought up the importance of community many moons ago, and my own experience has born out her thesis. I’m flat out bad about keeping up with friends. That needs to change. We’ll see.

But enough of the mopey melancholy. Thank you, Chris, Chrissy and Co. for a job well done! See you at GenCon, 2006!

White Wolf Update
The second round winners of the White Wolf Novel Contest will be announced on October 31. Fitting and fun. As an added bonus, Halloween has always been a favorite holiday, especially since Jeff and Marissa's wedding. :)

The contest schedule has been backed up a bit, and allows six months for the completion of the book. Since I'm drowning in work and fighting to find time for my own writing, this is great news. If --- on a long shot --- I made the second cut, it would be a bummer to have to pass. As it stands things are pretty tight until March, but I'm sure that, given the chance, I could squeeze a book in there.

I mean, you would, wouldn't you?

To be clear, I'm a long shot. But that is what this industry is about. We're all long shots. The plan is to keep shooting until something eventually dies...

More on this later. I hope you are all doing well, writing well, and taking the time to fall down on concrete (or an appropriately inappropriate activity). Till then!

Six String Samurai Headmaster

Little time to post, but let it be known that after a lightning strike to the school, a teacher and a bus driver quitting over the summer, malfunctioning fire alarms triggered by a second lightning strike …

The Six String Samurai looks like I feel.

If you haven’t checked out the movie, do so!

Thank goodness for writing weekends!

Harley’s Guide to Celebrity Stalking
or … Mr. Little meets Mr. Big

Photo courtesy of Jeff LaSalla


GenCon Log: 4:30, Saturday afternoon.

I’m sitting at my booth like a good writing-monkey, happily making small talk with the folks passing by the Goodman Games booth. Like promised here, no lines.

Enter Dave “the Man” Arneson. Tired from a late night of live action gaming and from signing autographs on the floor, he was looking for a place to rest his feet, and the Blackmoor booth (home to Dave’s campaign setting, the longest running D&D campaign world) was as good as any other.

So, in an instant it changes from a quiet signing, to sitting with one of the pioneers of the genre. I had my old Blackmoor pamphlet book and the newer Blackmoor setting book in my bag, ready for signatures, just like any proper fanboy should. But in that split second I saw that Dave was literally exhausted, so – like any good Legend of the Five Rings geek – I made my decision in seven breaths.

I left my Blackmoor gaming material in the bag, and treated Dave with the respect due any other human being, albeit a very tired human being. Instead of hitting him with a thousand and one questions, we sat quietly and had a chat. Jaleigh Johnson stopped by, Alex Anderegg checked in, and we all had a cordial, very amusing conversation with the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons.

A signature versus a human relationship. Easy choice, really.

Before you start to worry about Harley turning in his fanboy club card, it should be noted that the minute my signing was finished and I was released from the table, I sprinted over to Jeff to see if he got a picture.

It’s good to keep everything in perspective. :)

By the way, if you are looking for the quintessential GenCon photo, go no further than Jeff’s splash page.

I should preface this by noting that I’ve never been to GenCon before. Boarding the plane and flying out from Denver, I was a little worried that I had become too jaded of an adult to enjoy a convention; that by having not attended as a child, I had squandered the real magic of the event. I drank my coffee, marveled at a thunderstorm outside the plane window, and wondered if the awestruck child in Harley could ever be recaptured.

Foolish, foolish, boy.

This year Wizards/Hasbro is pushing the latest edition of Axis and Allies. The first thing you see when you walk into the showroom was a battlefield complete with tanks, jeeps, an army bunker and the ruins of a three-story bombed out church, smack in the center of the arena.

Impressed with the replicas, I reached beneath one jeep and … peeled off some rust.

It wasn’t a diorama. Wizards had brought in actual tanks and jeeps and bunkers to the city center of Indianapolis.

For a game.

It only got bigger from there.

Entire ballrooms dedicated to war gaming. 24-hour anime rooms. Easley, Elmore and all the new 3.5 artists chatting with fans and selling original artwork. Shaking hands with Phil Athans at the Salvatore signing (and Phil sneaking us out some freebies!). Sitting with Dave Arneson at my signing (photos coming). And seeing the hundreds of cutting-edge games being demo’d on every side.

I’d love to say that I walked in and owned the place. After all, I'm a "published" game designer right? I was the one doing the signing.

The naked truth was that I walked in and was awed into a gibbering idiot. In Northern America it just doesn’t get any bigger than this.

Ignore all the hype. GenCon is bigger than any hype.

If you ever plan on coming, come for weekend. Even if you are only an incidental gamer, there is too much to see to do it all in a day. Otherwise, you just won’t sleep. (Maybe you won’t sleep either way, but it is worth giving yourself the chance.) I spent 16+ hours in the con, didn't see a single seminar, barely hung out with Ed, Lara, Jeff or Marisa, and still didn't have the time to see everything.

Personal Highlights
-Meeting Jaleigh Johnson, up and coming Wizards novelist, at my “signing.” (I still owe you one. Just when you least expect it …)

-Seeing people actually buying something I’ve written. Boggle.

-Seeing Ed spend the first bit of his Wizards advance on his fiancé.

-Spending time with the Goodman Games crew. They treated me (and my friends) like VIPs even though we were nobodies. That’s pretty darn impressive.

-Chatting with Dave “I co-authored Dungeons and Dragons” Arneson.

-The mysterious El Presidente.

-Seeing the reprint of my Zeitgeist Games fiction!

-Riding through downtown Indianapolis hidden in the bed of a home-brewed pickup truck.

-Cheering every time Goodman Games was mentioned during the The Gamers: Dorkness Rising preview.

-Hanging out with Ruth and Jess from the Rich Burlew (a.k.a. Order of the Stick) booth.

Big Deathy shoutouts are due to whole casts of folks, but the music is already playing, so I’ll try to keep it short. Big Deaths to Goodman Games & Zeitgeist Games, Ed, Lara, Jeff, Marisa, Phil, Dave, Jaleigh, and anyone who bought a module or source book. Thank you!

The biggest, Deathiest shoutout goes to Alex Anderegg, who acted as my personal guide, chauffer, bodyguard and all around “Did you just see that?!” man. He also was extremely tolerant of the mysterious El Presidente. You can’t ask much more of a friend.

Alex dropped me off at the airport on Sunday, but my plane had been overbooked. Like a castle falling from the sky, my weekend was about to get real ugly.

I dashed down to the gate only to find I had been bumped up to first class. As we jetted out of Indy, I toasted the city's skyline with my free wine and marveled at the magic of this life.

Was it worth dropping writing for a 36 hour, no sleep, geek frenzy weekend?

I'm already booking my flight for next year, and I hope to see you there.

Wizards Cabal

On a much, much lesser note, Zeitgeist Games released some of my fiction in their first source book. You’ve probably read it already, but it is always nice to see it in print.

GEN CON INDY

I'll be doing a signing at the Goodman Games booth on Saturday, from 4:00 p.m. to whenever. If you're there, drop on in --- I'd love to put faces to all the names. :)

Unprofessional Aside
Prior to my signing will be Dave Arneson.

Maybe you’ve heard of him.

Let’s examine this, because it is just plain silly:
1. Harley gets to go to Gen Con?!
2. Harley gets to do a signing?!
3. Harley gets to sit in the same seat as Dave Arneson?!

Just plain silly.

Good thing I’m going on several hours after Dave --- it could get a little painful to watch the stream of his dedicated fans trickle down to just my friends hanging out around the booth. Have no fear, I fully understand my place in the food chain.

So ... bring some coffee and come to hang out! I promise there won’t be a line. :)

Iron Crypt of the Heretics

Thanks to Jeff to pointing this one out! You'd think the writer would know when his own product is being previewed. Sheesh. (Those are Mordenkainen's Hip Boots of Warming, by the way. ;) )

A big playtesting thank you is owed to both Alex and Lara, and their respective gaming troupes. The Iron Crypt went through several development cycles and owes much of its polish to their playtesting critiques. Worse, Lara's group found certain portions extremely frustrating --- thank you for your patience, Ms. Gose!

...and meanwhile
I was just sent the cover image for Into the Wilds, painted by one of the classic TSR artists.

Man, I love my night job.

The Howling Delve!
... an upcoming Realms novel by up-and-coming WotC novelist, Jaleigh Johnson! Many well deserved congrats!

Make nice now, and maybe she'll sign our copies a few years from now. ;)

The Other Living Boy in New York
As an aside, I had the chance to spend some time with Jeff a couple of weeks ago, and he is a fantastic human being. Once again I find myself blessed with the company of friends that force me to rise to a higher standard.

Only Living Boy in New York ...
Leaves.
Internet dead-zone for the next 5 days. See you all in Colorado!

Newsflash: Neversfall!
...the upcoming novel by Ed Gentry!

Hurrah!

Get all the dirt at edgentry.com!

Yay, Ed!

Busy
Busy, busy, busy.

An additional 25k was added to the Campaign Setting, so I shanghaied a couple drunken sailors into my merry pirate band.

Week 3 in New York. It’s good to be closer to the ley line between Cunningham and Salvatore, but I’m starting to really miss my family. Heather, brother, parents and friends. And to demonstrate the principle of melancholy’s love for melodrama, I’ve been playing “Only Living Boy in New York” on repeat.

Heh. What a geek. The thought makes me smile.

It is good to have work.
It is good to have family to miss.

Miss you, love you, see you soon!

//H

Midnight ...
...again?

More than coffee to keep them awake, writers need something that will let them sleep.

New England Magic
I’m not one for humidity, but it is hard not to fall in love with murky bogs and fireflies hovering amid ancient trees. Life is simply more dense here, and makes for a critical mass that allows magic to seem much more plausible. Life, piled upon life, accreting like layers of soil. Even the darkness seems thicker than in the West, a thing alive.

Faeries?

Absolutely.

Trolls?

Down by the swamp, atop the log with the toadstool.

Mind the children. ;)

“But when the Night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot, as upon all,
And the mystic wind went by
Murmuring in melody-
Then–ah then I would awake
To the terror of the lone lake."

An excerpt from
THE LAKE. TO --
by Edgar Allan Poe,
1827

Sneak in a quick 30
I was offered the great chance to write a sequel to a classic module, so I’m sneaking in an extra 30,000 words over the next 2 months. I’m finally starting to feel confident with the genre; that’s a nice feeling. It’s also pretty darn fun to type a title with the full knowledge that the work is headed to print. So long as White Wolf doesn’t show up looking for a book about vampires, I shouldn’t have too much trouble turning the projects in ahead of deadline.

In the same vein, Iron Crypt of the Heretics is due out next month, at Gen Con. After seeing the art and production of Legacy, I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing the art to IC. I love seeing what the artists come up with. :)

For Sale, Sold
A pair of authors I know recently had their works altered by their publishers. Nothing terribly damning in either case, but both serve as a good reminder of the foundation of our business. Namely, we are selling our works; as soon as the check hits the bank, the publisher is free to do as he or she will with the work. (There are legal intricacies that I’m ignoring, but you get the idea.)

This reinforces the importance of selling your work to folks you trust. A good relationship won’t prevent every bad experience, but it can go a long way to preventing hard feelings. There is the temptation to sell our writing to anyone willing to scrap together some cash (I still fall into this category), but a little discernment can go a long way.

What’s the Latin for “Let the Seller beware” ?

What Are You Doing?
A Blog for Kelly
If given the choice between publicly declaring that I’m a writer, or running naked down a busy interstate, you can be sure that I would come back with a sunburn on my bum. Acknowledging that I’m a writer, that I’m actively trying to take up your finite hours with these stories, is tough for me.

For better or worse, I’m currently studying in program that focuses on personal development, with the idea being that if you can understand yourself better, it will be much easier to manage the staff working beneath you.

Fine. No problem there.

The trouble comes in when you spend 18+ hours/day with your fellow students. Writing is a big piece of my life, and it would undermine the process not to acknowledge that piece.

And of course, it doesn’t help that I sit down right after dinner in the group dining room, flip open the lap top and “go to work” every evening. Eventually these highly intelligent people are going to put one and two together and pop the big question.

So, yes, for anyone reading that isn’t familiar with my work, I write fantasy stories and setting material for a couple different role-playing games.

Why this is such a big hurdle me, I’m not sure. In fact, as any of my old friends can attest, it is more of a wall than a hurdle. A sheet wall with loops of razor wire and glass shards sprinkled on the top.

Get over it, already, Harley, you obnoxious, whiny, brat. You get paid to write escapist fiction and love every minute of it. Be done with this piece and move on.

There, see? Was that so hard? Personal development happening right before your eyes.

Whence the Elven Bard?
It looks like ECs blog is down again. As a dedicated reader but occasional poster, I'm going to leave the link up for a bit, just in case.

Shrink Wrap
My earliest memories of being able to buy my own gaming material was in fourth grade, back when Toys-R-Us still carried the TSR lines. I would save up for weeks to buy modules, and then savor opening the shrink wapped plastic. The sound and smell of crinkly plastic came to signify everything I loved about fantasy worlds --- that brief moment after opening, when the contents of the package (unread) were still perfect in my mind.

Today is my birthday. I picked up mail from the small mountain town post office and found a package from Goodman Games. A check and author copies of Legacy.

And damn if it wasn't shrink wrapped.

Deadline: July 8
Every birthday I make plans to send all my friends presents thanking them for all that they've given me over the years. Every year it gets a little too busy and I miss my deadline/run out of materials/can't find enough clay skulls.

I've managed to miss it again, so please forgive a public thank you. You people are the best.

Maybe next year ...

SK Etttera


I'm flogging a dead horse at this point, but let me point out one last time how incredible it is to see Jim Holloway spending finite hours of his life illustrating something I wrote.

I mean, this is the guy that illustrated Rose Estes' Mountain of Mirrors!

There. I've finally burned off any lingering illusions of professional dignity. >:)

Perhaps best of all, this module was as a lark, written as a gift for my dear friend Alex. I didn't have a gaming group at the time, and was living vicariously through his group. (How's that for passivity? Listening to stories about other people pretending to do stuff.) It was written for fun, with no hope of ever being sold.

I'd love to sign off with the moral "Do what you love and eventually it will work out," but that’s more than a little intellectually irresponsible. The truth is I got lucky; many folks (with much more talent than I’ll ever have) suffer their entire lives without being recognized.

But have no fear, gentle reader! Grimbones won’t let you down. Even if I can’t fall back on our culture’s happy-go-lucky cliché, I can promise this much:

If we try, we'll probably fail.

If we don’t try, we will certainly fail.

Me, I’ll try my luck. Choose Death. >:)

Art from the Legacy of the Savage Kings!


The name "Jim Holloway" may not mean much to most of the world, but those of us that played WAY too much AD&D (or Paranoia, or Oriental Adventures...) all know his name. It is an honor to have a Holloway illustration gracing a module I wrote.

*boggle* This is the best gig a geek could have.

I understand if you don't get it --- if it looks old and cludgey to you. That's cool. You just had to be there.

But for those of you who have been around, you know that Old School never felt so good. I am not worthy.

Fan Love
Kameron's Maiden of Pain is the focus of this month's book club over at Worlds of D&D. I haven't had a chance to keep up on all of the topics, but a quick scan turned up a few criticisms noting that the novel wasn’t dark enough. Fans want dark fantasy, the posters reasoned, so why won’t authors and editors answer the market demand?

I can understand the complaint, but for better or worse, our Realms novels are all PG-13. Unless you are a parent, you might forget just how young 13 is. (And unless you are 13, you have probably forgotten just how savvy 13-year olds can be, but that is a topic for another post.)

Assaulting the novel because it isn’t dark fantasy is like complaining that it doesn’t have enough Jedi or Ewoks. That’s not the book Kam was hired to write.

I understand that this sort of criticism comes with the territory. When you accept that royalty check you are also accepting a role as a public figure. And I know dozens of writers that would sell pounds of flesh for the chance to write a book and be faulted on-line. Still, it’s hard to see it happen to a friend.

On the Road Again
H is back on the East Coast helping out her family, so I'm on the road for a long weekend of writing and skating. This lifestyle has become something of an addiction: no phone, no obligations, just friends to see, worlds to write and concrete to fall down on. I can't tell you where I'm sleeping, but with a pickup truck and a tent, I'm not too worried about it.

If any of you ever catch me complaining about my life, slap me.*



*As I'm typing this, I'm wondering if that last sentence came off a little too “My life is so cool that you must hate yours.” Just in case my meaning might be misconstrued, let me clarify by simply noting that I’m thankful for all I’ve been given. I’m no more talented or brilliant than the next writer (and my spelling is worse than most). If my finite career is a tribute to anything, it’s a testament to dogged, single-minded persistence. So go forth and write.

I love my life and I hope yours is just as fantastic.


From the "My Life Is Cool ...
Just found out who will be painting the cover to "Into the Wilds." There are handful of TSR artists I idolized as a child. Having one illustrate a work of mine is just plain silly.

....and Yours is Too, Damnit" file
Erik got the green light on this second Realms novel! Cheers!

Now if there rest of us would just hear if we've been bumped. Erin? Collins? Jaliegh? <--- Never mind, good money says she got one. >:)

Why I Think You’re a Rock Star
Our culture makes it really easy to be passive. This isn’t entirely bad --- for instance, it makes it possible for chumps like to me sell to writing --- but it can’t be denied that given the choice between sitting down a watching a movie, or sitting down and writing a screen play, most of us are going to choose to be passive.

Again, this isn’t all bad. It’s not like I’ve recorded any songs for my ipod recently. But it does highlight why you are a rock star: in a culture where passivity is encouraged, the mere act of creation is worthy of praise.

You had the choice and decided to take the difficult route. You’ve chose to risk failure and ridicule. You chose to create.*

The result may not have been a work of genius, but it is yours. And if you keep writing (composing, painting, coding, whatever) eventually you will get good. It’s part of our contract --- despite the universes’ insatiable drive for entropy, humans get better at the things they practice. We build things up.

So despite the universe, our culture, and that Xbox in the living room, you stepped up to the plate and made something happen. That’s pretty impressive.

Now, if you’ll forgive me, I’ve been stalling for too long. Time to write.




*Endnote that I found amusing. I’ve been talking about constructive criticism and the power of creation. Now imagine the sort of complaints God gets (he/she/it, depending on your belief system, or lack thereof). That guy must be so fed up. ;)