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Teaser and the Method of Delivery

By the lovely Filamena.

Here’s a taste for you, by the lovely Filamena Young. She’ll be doing a smattering of work, all over the book. She also came up with the concepts for most of the player character organizations. If you’re not familiar with Maschine Zeit yet (IE: You don’t follow my Twitter feed or mad ramblings,) Maschine Zeit is a game about ghost stories on space stations. People are in places they should not be, confronted by things they cannot understand. Cynthia here is one of those things they cannot understand.

Next, delivery methods!

For all your portable RPG needs.

Here is a 1gb flash drive, emblazoned with the Maschine Zeit logo. Very soon, you’ll be able to get your hands on one of these babies. You see, Maschine Zeit’s primary delivery method will be PDF. Sure, I’ll have dead tree versions and all that. But PDF is the way to go. I’m releasing Maschine Zeit under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license, which is to say I won’t go around sending cease and desist letters to people for sharing my products, or demanding you log on to the internet to use a product you paid hard cash for. In order to provide you with the best possible value out of the product, though, I felt I should make it just a little cooler to tell you thanks for purchasing.

Hence: Flash drive. It’ll include the PDF version, along with the text from the book for your remixing pleasure, and some art for designating as your desktop background or printing and putting on your Maschine Zeit altar. I intend to include a free adventure. Also, I have all intention of including at least one promotional video that can be used in-game as a prop.

How hard does that rock?

(I’ll wait while you think about that.)

Very! That’s correct.

That said, the flash drive won’t be the exclusive form of this. If you’re buying online, I’ll offer a pretty zip package with all those exclusives, in addition to the barebones edition. If you buy the dead tree, I will make those things available to you.

Also, while we’re in the planning stages, are there any types of things you’d like to see included in the package?

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Maschine Zeit: The Crew and Purchasing Pants

As I’ve mentioned previously, this game is occurring April 31, 2010. It’s going to rock. You want to buy it.

I also mentioned getting a great collection of talent for it. That’s completely and utterly a fact. Who are we looking at? (And, mind you, this isn’t even 100% comprehensive, I have a few more in the works.)

Writers

Filamena YoungStew Wilson, John KennedyJennifer Brozek, Eddy Webb, Chuck Wendig, Christopher Simmons and Duane O’Brien

Artists

George Cotronis, Ruth Lampi, David Russell, Emel Akiah

Editor

Jennifer Brozek

Layout

Mark Reed

Damned solid crew, we’ve got. Lots of varied experience, lots of talent and all sorts of versatile brainpower. You should definitely buy a new set of pants, in preparation for the ones that we will rock off.

Conventions

PAX: I’m going to be speaking at PAX East. Twice. It’s mostly sold out, but if you can, get in.

Philadelphia Haunter’s Convention: Very little Maschine Zeit, mostly doing LARP and RPG design panel. But if you’re in the area, stop by.

Origins Game Fair: I’ll be previewing Maschine Zeit. Depending on circumstances, I might actually have copies for sale. Let’s see. I’ll be doing RPG design panels as well.

Gen Con: Officially, this is where the world sees Maschine Zeit without possibility, it will be there. I’ll have hard copies, USB flash drives and maybe a few other options. We’ll see. I’m rocking panels, demos and other stuffs. Be there or be square.

Posted in Maschine Zeit.

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My Ten Rules for Fiction

AKA: Why I Don’t Give A Shit

If you look around the interwebs for writing type stuff, in the way I do, you might come across this. It’s a list of writers, many of which are intimidatingly big names, offering their “ten rules for writing fiction.” You’ve got some heavies like Neil Gaiman in there, and it’s just all full of interesting food for thought. My homeboy Chuck Wendig did a similar list. Then my other homeboy Josh did one. A friend of mine bitched that I don’t blog enough. So I figured now is a great time to do some proverbial bandwagon jumping.

My Ten Rules

1: Purpose. Holyshitpurpose. If you’re writing fiction, your fictional elements must have purpose. Sure, the sky is purple, and that’s awesome. But why? I don’t give a shit that it’s purple, I give a shit what that means to the story.

2: What’s the old saying? You can’t assume without putting your readers up your ass? Or something like that. Assuming anything beyond a reader’s basic grasp of the language is typically jerky. While I’m not ignorant, sometimes I don’t pick up on the subtle nuances of a story without a little goading. Subtle, implied nuance has its place. That place is not in the essential elements of your story.

3: I approach your work from a mindset of not caring. Change that. If I don’t care about your characters and story within twenty pages, you and your fiction can fuck off. I am a busy person, and I’m reading fiction to be entertained and invested in a story. If you can’t do at least one of those two things very quickly, I’ll move on to an author that can.

4: The wheel has already been invented. If you’re going to reinvent it, at least do me the dignity of doing something new with it. This is both literal and figurative. Your story has already been told. Give me something cool. The wheel has literally already been invented. Giving me a ‘hover wheel!’ is just going to bore the shit out of me.

5: It’s great that you love your reader insert character. I probably won’t. Why? Because I’m inserting myself, and while my mom thinks I’m cool, your fiction world probably thinks I’m a boring-assed guy that writes nerd books for a living. So give me something else. Give me examples, in the form of characters, of why your setting deserves attention. Reader inserts have their place, but I need more than that.

6: I must be able to connect with your conflict. If your conflict only makes sense to someone that’s deeply invested in your speculative world, I probably won’t like it. If you need to give me an extended preface about the nature of two cultures and why their conflict only makes sense if you understand them, you have a shitty conflict. Sorry.

7: I’m a big boy. I promise. Adult characters swear. Adult characters have sex. Editing for the sake of audience is almost always evident when I read fiction. While sure, the sex might not be a part of the direct plot, but if you want to use that defense, be prepared for my pointing out the dozens of things you chose to include. Fucking is great. It makes us human. Saying fuck is also great. It makes us human. When I’m running for my life, I’m not going to say “gosh.” I don’t say “gosh” when I’m volunteering at a retirement home, why would I when I’m in danger?

8: Any time you do something final, ask yourself, “Could I do this differently, and still get the same if not a better effect?” Joss Whedon: I’m talking to you. You don’t need to arbitrarily kill characters. Yes, Bob Smith can walk across the street and get hit by a bus. Yes, if Sally Smith undercooks chicken, she might die of salmonella. You know what? I don’t give a shit. If I wanted to read about Sally Smith’s undercooked chicken, I’d, well, probably lock myself up for being terminally boring or I’d read FDA guidelines off the chicken packaging, (or both?) Making gamechanging events for no reason draws me away from the narrative and bugs the hell out of me. It’s not dissimilar from my purple sky. I assume the sky is blue. I assume your characters are alive. If you change that without purpose, I’m not going to like it.

9: You are not Shakespeare. You are not Dickens. You’re a writer, just like me. Just write your book, and let me read it. You don’t need to convince me that you’re smart. I’ll decide that without your help, thank you. Don’t talk over me. The fact is, if you need a lengthly, out-of-narrative explanation of your fictional element, you might consider dropping your fictional element. If you can’t express your thoughts without a ton of footnotes and appendices, maybe it’s because you just need to be more expressive and definitive up front.

10: Preludes are of the devil. Not the cool devil that does drugs and rock and roll, the devil that sucks. I want shit to happen. In fact, I want it to happen now. I’m used to watching television and films. I’m used to Bruce Campbell shooting deadites within minutes of show start. I’m used to David Duchovny getting head from a nun in the intro sequences. If you cannot one-up David Duchovny getting head from a nun in your first chapter, what’s my incentive to read on?

There you go. I expect to see a manuscript on my desk in the morning, and it had better include something that tops nun fellatio.

What? Chuck Wendig did eleven rules? Damn. Then let me give you some value-added content:

11: I don’t give a shit what your character is thinking. I don’t give a shit what your character is planning to do. I don’t give a shit what your character is considering. I care what your character is doing. Do, do, or it’s doodoo. (Obligatory poop joke.) Believe me, I’m a pretty intelligent cookie. As long as you’re writing your character well, and giving thought to her motivations, I will probably understand her motivations. Do me a favor: Remove all such instances to what the character plans, thinks, or otherwise passively approaches or considers doing. Then, hand your manuscript off to someone else. Have them read it. If your reader says, “Why did she slap Gene?” then you need to reconsider the way you’ve presented the character. You don’t need to internalize her and explain it. Give me less explanation, give me more character.

Also: Maschine Zeit. Maschine Zeit is slated for April 31. I’m still trying to get someone for layout (if you know anyone, point them my way.) I’ve brought on a number of badass writers to help. I’ve got a badass editor on board. The cover art is fucking phenomenal. I have custom 1gb USB Flash Drives that’ll serve as a primary form of packaging. You’ll get more information soon. I promise.

Posted in General Blog.

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Maschine Zeit Preview

You would love a Maschine Zeit preview now, wouldn’t you?

You’re in luck. Welcome to Previewland. Population: You.

Posted in Maschine Zeit.

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I Want So Much More

Here, you can download a free SAS adventure for Hunter the Vigil. I wrote it. The layout and art are by Roma Naim.

For more on SAS, visit White Wolf.

Posted in Free Stuff.


I’m N Ur Anthologies, Editin’ Ur Stuff

So, David Rozansky’s over at Flying Pen Press has signed me up to edit on an upcoming anthology.

It’s altogether quite cool. The gimmick is, we’re building the world collaboratively via Twitter. So far, we’re looking at a setting of the moons surrounding a gas giant, somewhere out in space. The people have wandered out there after discovering a way to manipulate biology on a cellular level.

We’re doing it. Those that want to get interested can follow the #SciFiChat hashtag on Twitter. Those involved will be invited for the anthology, we’ll hammer out the details soon. It’s interesting, using Twitter to establish the basis for an anthology like this. It could be marketing gold, as far as small press anthologies go.

The one thing that’s kind of weird for me is, this will be the first time I will likely have to reject people I know. Although, I think most of those people are sufficiently adult to understand that it’s not personal. It’s still something new for me. But submit. If you’re interested in getting your name in an anthology, participate. I’d love to see your contributions.

Posted in General Blog.

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Material! Free Game Stuff! (And playing with search engines)

Sorry I haven’t updated recently.

If you weren’t aware, my wife had a baby. So things have been a bit busy. I’m still trying to get editing done on the Space Vampires game, it’s gone slow though because of the baby and remarkably heavy deadlines on my part.

That having been said, I have something free and interesting for World of Darkness players (specifically Hunter the Vigil players.) It’s a short scene of activity called I Want So Much More. It’s a nice little sample of writing, and a piece of game material for your reading/playing pleasure. Go check it out. Download it. Play it. Let me know what you think.

If you’re interested in the things I’ve been working on, check out Battle Bunker Games. On their front page is a teaser for an upcoming zombie miniature game. That teaser is a sample of my fiction for the book. It’s looking to be a doozy.

So, until next time!

Oh, and for posterity’s sake, I wanted to talk a little about Abby from NCIS. I’m experimenting with something that fellow writer and friend Chuck Wendig said. He said that upon mentioning Abby, played by Pauley Perrette, attracted a ton of hits to his site. He got a number of very weird search terms drawing attention. I’m wildly curious, so humor me.

Posted in General Blog.

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Space Zombies! Outline

Here’s the Space Vampires Outline.

There’s room for a bunch of writing assignments. If anything sounds cool, toss me an email and I’ll give you the assignment. I’d like to see requests for contributions by Sunday November 1. Then we’ll go until November 15th for first drafts. I’ll return your edits by December 1. Final drafts due by December 15th. I’ll put down the final product by January 1.

If you want to contribute art, also toss me a line, I’ll give you an assignment. Again, toss me a portfolio if you can.

Let me know if you have any questions. Pitch me titles if you want.

Updates:
1) I have a writer for the Organizations chapter, he’s also pitched for Character Creation if nobody else takes it.

2) I have a writer for Making a Character, and the flash fiction section for it.

3) I have a writer for History.

4) I have a writer for Telling Stories.

5) I have a writer for Zombies.

For Organizations, here’s the rough idea we’ve gotten from our writer:

1) Rapport: Water: Manipulators. Want to use their power for personal
gain, but the world’s at a tipping point where hiding is no longer
possible without direct intervention.
2) Acumen: Air: Prophets. See a war with humans as both inevitable and
fatal for everyone if they don’t act, but torn about what to do.
3) Prowess: Fire: Hunters. Other vampires are competition, and too
many of them are fucking it all up. Time to put a stop to that.
4) Identity: Ether: Diplomats. Vampires have no innate identity, by
working with humans (on the small scale) they could discover one–and
learn to live alongside other species.
5) Defense: Earth: Lords. Zombies are excellent servants. Don’t care
for humans, but do care that vampires will soon destroy only source of
food/slaves and that’s bad for business.

Posted in Design an RPG in an Hour.


GameX: Design an RPG – SPACE VAMPIRES!

For those of you that attended last night’s panel, I will be writing up the outline for our space vampire game very soon (maybe later today, depending on a handful of factors.)

Here’s the situation: You want to write a bit for it? Toss me an email at davidahilljr@machineageproductions.com. I’ll give you a short assignment, I’ll give you edits, and I’ll put it in the final draft. Important: If you’re looking to write for the project, you need to email me by November 15th. Deadlines are important to publishing work, this is no exception. Also, talk to me about names. But either way, if you want your name in the piece as a contributor, even if you’re not interested in contributing some fiction, let me know since I didn’t have an attendance list.

Also, if you do art and are willing to contribute a piece, toss me a line. If you’d like, I can give you an assignment. I’d particularly like it if you sent me a link to your online portfolio, or a few samples. That way I can cater the assignment to your particular strengths.

Once the final product is done, I’ll put it up for free download under a Creative Commons, Share-Alike Noncommercial license. Basically, that means people can download it all they want, but they cannot sell it. It’s free, built by the RPG community, for the RPG community.

Posted in Conventions, Design an RPG in an Hour.


A Little Deal

Here’s a deal.

I have this friend, Duane, who is responsible for the amazing effort to commission Terminus Est. He’s writing this game called Shambles. It’s a zombie RPG. Awesome, right?

Awesomer still, he’s prereleasing it today, for an amazing 6$. The proceeds of which will go to making it and other awesome games. I want you to buy it. Why? Well, I want Duane to make it and other awesome games.

If you buy it today at the amazing deal price of 6$, I will give you 4$ off the release of Maschine Zeit, which will occur in the second quarter of 2010. Effectively, if you buy Duane’s awesome game now, you’re getting it for 2$.

All you have to do is comment here to say that you bought it. This is honor system. Although, I’ll be greatly disappointed if I get more comments than Duane gets sales.

Capice?

So go here. Give Duane six bucks. Then let me know you gave him six bucks. You get a nice discount off of Maschine Zeit, so next May, your face will be rocked the fuck off for four dollars fewer.

I expect to see some comments.

Posted in Uncategorized.