Once upon a time I wrote an article for an online magazine. It went over pretty well. The relationship I described therein has blossomed, and my wife and I work together on quite a few occasions to best the challenges of a particular game. I thought that might be worth writing about. And then, along… Continue reading Abandon All Hope
Tag: Escapist
Be A Pitch Machine
This is going to be yet another one of those “advice I should follow myself before I dispense it” posts. I, like many other authors, have been rejected far more often than I’ve been accepted. From big publishing houses to small press folks, I’ve heard the word NO at least a dozen times before hearing… Continue reading Be A Pitch Machine
Inception vs. Ocean's Eleven
Once again a discussion on the Escapist has caused me to pit two films against one another in my metaphorical cage. Considering both are capers with teams of experts, I’ve had to weld extra grates onto the cage to contain all of the action. However, as I was hosing down the alien bits stuck to… Continue reading Inception vs. Ocean's Eleven
Avatar vs. District 9
This is an interesting position for me to be in. It seems that last week’s review of Avatar had some people wondering what movie I’d actually seen, since I didn’t instantly fall in love with Pandora, nor did I gas myself into oblivion to be reincarnated as a Na’vi. …Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but still,… Continue reading Avatar vs. District 9
Ribs Without A Spine
I’ve been inspired to write the following due to Alex Macris’ latest Check for Traps feature on the Escapist. You can read it here. The Cliff’s Notes is basically that a GM in a tabletop RPG should be less of a directive storyteller, and more of an emergent one. That’s a great concept in theory,… Continue reading Ribs Without A Spine
Concerning Dr. Freeman
March Mayhem over at the Escapist is in its final round. For most of the competition I’ve been rooting for BioWare. However, last round Valve was up against Zynga, and after a tense period of back and forth, Valve emerged the victor. Now, it’s up against BioWare. It’s a very close competition, and since I’ve… Continue reading Concerning Dr. Freeman
Survival's Requiem
This week’s Escapist, “Bump In The Night,” is all about survival horror. Here is the article I pitched them for the issue, all about one of the best games of the genre I never played until I got married. I think there are certain elements of true horror in games that, like in the film… Continue reading Survival's Requiem
Failure Fantasy, Part 2
Behold, Failure Fantasy Part 2! Also, cruise over to Epixaricacy for more details on one of the games I’m about to discuss. So I’ve taken some time to talk about bad protagonists in Final Fantasy games. What, you might ask, are examples of good ones? I’m glad you asked me that, conjectural reader. Zidane Tribal… Continue reading Failure Fantasy, Part 2
Failure Fantasy, Part 1
Issue 239 of the Escapist is now available, entitled “Anti/Hero.” Below is the article I pitched for the issue. NOTE: Due to circumstances mostly beyond my control, this article has been divided into two parts. Below is part the first. Final Fantasy is arguably the most popular series of role-playing games from Square/Enix, and one… Continue reading Failure Fantasy, Part 1
Roads Ahead
Whoo, boy. Trying to sort out exactly where I am at the moment and what’s coming next is proving to be difficult. The dayjob is ramping up along with everything else so time during the day to get a plan of action together is difficult to come by, since I have settled on a long-term… Continue reading Roads Ahead
