Rant: Snooty Science Fiction

I recently discovered that the Sci-Fi Channel has a part of their web site devoted to written fiction (don't ask me why - I have no clue, but that's fodder for another post). Anyway, they pay well, so I thought I might give it a shot, since I love to write fiction anyway. Problem is, when I went through and tried to read the existing stories, I was bored out of my head.

There's all this talk on their BBS forum about "social meaning" and "philosphical subtexts," and the current concensus seems to be that you can't just write a rip-roaring yarn, you have to have something deep and meaningful to say.

Now I dunno about anyone else, but frankly, I don't turn to fiction to provide me with deep philosophical insights. If I want that, I'll read Richard Bach, James Allen, Deepak Chopra, or the Bible (all of which I have read, and continue to read). But fiction is fiction, and IMHO a good escapist piece of adventure fiction is every bit as good (better?) than the long, rambling, artsy, philosophical pieces that everyone seems to be ranting about.

[And while I'm on the subject, what is it with all the Present Tense stories, anyway? I tried to read a dozen short stories on the Sci-Fi channel website (none of which held my interest long enough to even get to page 2), and about 1/4 were written First Person, Present Tense. Geh. Maybe it's in vogue and nobody told me.]

Anyway, before I get bombarded with flaming email, I'm not anti-Sci-Fi (the literature or the channel), and I think editor Ellen Datlow is doing a great job there (she certainly knows her stuff, after many years in the biz). I guess it's just not my cup of tea. I'll take fun escapism over deep philosophical fiction any day.

Will I ever submit anything to the Sci-Fi Channel? I don't know. Maybe if I have a lot of time on my hands. (Shyeah, right. Like that's gonna happen any time soon . . . )

Will I ever write a deep, philosophical short story? Again, no telling. Some of my stories are deeper than others, but I can't imagine actually sitting down to do so from the start. Time will tell, I suppose.

In the meantime, if I want something deep and thought-provoking, I'll go to King Solomon: "As regards anything besides these, my son, take a warning: To the making of many books there is no end, and much devotion [to them] is wearisome to the flesh." - Ecclesiastes 12:12

Origins Awards

Congratulations to Steve Jackson Games on their Origins Awards!

Munchkin 2 - Unnatural Axe won for Best Card Game Supplement, Star Munchkin won for Best Traditional Card Game, and Chez Greek won for Best Graphic Design of a Card Game or Supplement.

Nice goin', guys, and a hearty congrats to all the Origins winners this year. :)

Incompetence

I collected this bit a few years ago, and forced it... I mean, shared it with everyone I could, but it's been a while (and I dug it up to post on an industry email list today). I think it's dead-on accurate, based on what I have known of incompetent people.

Anyway...

---
Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.

People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across four studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of patricipants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities.

It is one of the essential features of such imcompetence that the person so afflicted is incapable of knowing that he is incompetent. To have such knowledge would already be to remedy a good portion of the offense.

Justin Kruger and David Dunning, Cornell University. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999, vol 77, no 6, pp. 1121-1134.
---

Pretty sure I'm not incompetent, but then, if I was, would I know it? :)

I Feel Small

Go. Look. Be in awe.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Gah!

I've had an allergy headache for three days now!

*sigh*

¿Por qué es eso chistoso?

You ever read a foreign language comic strip (in this case, Condorito in the June 19th issue of El Mundo) and understand the humor on an intellectual level, but just not find it funny? What is it about different cultures that changes our sense of what's funny?

Frame 1 - Condor: "Tome asiento y cuenteme que le pasa." (Have a seat and tell me what's going on).
Frame 2 - Man: "ìDoctor, estoy desesperado!" (Doctor, I'm desperate!)
Frame 3 - Man: "ìMiento por cualquiera cosa! ìMiento, miento, y miento!" (I lie about everything! I lie, I lie, and I lie!)
Frame 4 - Condor: "¿Sabe...? ìNo lo creo!" (You know what? I don't believe you!)

Hmph. Not funny. Maybe it's just me.

Ooooh... Comic Books!

My artist pal andi jones fired off three graphic novels to me this week, to help me catch up on what's being done in the comic book industry these days. He sent me a copy of Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction, I, Paparazzi, and Thieves and Kings. All this cool stuff to read, and still a deadline for GURPS SWAT which becomes increasingly less interesting as I get more and more ideas for future projects.

No, it's not SWAT itself - this happens to every project. It gets old, it gets familiar, it gets frustrating; by the end of any given project - or, more accurately, by late-middle - I'm about ready to throw the thing out a closed window in a fit of exasperation.

And having cool books to read doesn't help. Thanks, andi. :)

Big, fat old manuscripts

You know, I've yet to hit a manuscript length 100% on the nose the first time. Both Cliffhangers and Return to Honor ended up short; Blitzkrieg went long... and as it turns out, so is SWAT.

See, it's supposed to be about 30,000 words, which it already is (and then some). And I'm getting all this cool additional info from my real-life SWAT contacts, which means something's gotta come out in order for something else to go in. It's quite annoying, really. It's not as if I need another 30,000 - in fact, it'd be hard to fill a full-sized 90,000 word book with just SWAT info (though I supposed detailing real world teams would fill up a chunk). Anyway, my point is, I need about 35,000, which is too big to fit in 48-pages, dang it.

So... my current quandary is how, exactly, to pare down the book to fit into it's own skin, without taking out too many vital organs. Wow, what a horrible metaphor. I should probably get some sleep...

But then again, what a great business!

Despite the occassional odd email (see yesterday's entry), sometimes I really love being a writer. Had breakfast with Officer Doug Monge today. Doug - "Taz" - is a former Dallas PD Special Gang Unit cop, that's been in Longview for several years, and works as one of the four negotiators for the TRT. He cleared up a lot of bits about negotiation, making SWAT even shinier (once I get his comments integrated). But once again, not only is he an excellent cop, but I think he's a great guy as well. He's got a serious determination to help out the community - to protect and serve - and isn't just out there trying to haul in a quota or something. The world needs more cops like him.

So anyway, he's hooking me up with the Longview TRT (Tactical Response Team) entry guys later this week, so I should be able to glean a few more bits and pieces, and perhaps even tag along on their next tactical training session or two. More to come as it happens.

As for the SWAT manuscript, it's coming along nicely. It's feeling a little ungainly and slippery at the moment, since it's going through so many revisions now. And it's already breaking the word count so I'm going to have to end up cutting something eventually. Just trying to 1) figure out what, and 2) trying to edit it down to size without reducing content. Hopefully it'll end up a very tight, informative book. Honestly, at this point, I'm pretty proud of it. We'll see what the reviewers say six months from now.

For now, I'm on my way out the door, laptop in hand, to update the Negotiation @B-Head. I wonder if I can negotiate a discount at Burgerville while I'm there...

What a Bizarre Business I'm In

Sometimes, just when you think Game Designers are all a bunch of whackos, one of them comes along and says something profound and wise. Or they go out of their way to do something kind and helpful. And you start to realize that not all people in the game community are strange or bizarre or socially inept.

Today was not one of those days.

I did, however, get an email from an editor and friend - who shall, for his own safety and reputation, remain anonymous - that made me realize what a bizarre bunch of strange people I work with. It said, in part:

Ah, Clarice, I mean Brian, how perceptive of you to ask. Are you still
having those dreams involving a keg of Bitburger, a latex codpiece,
and the entire Radcliffe junior varsity lacrosse team?

Admittedly, I sort of egged him into that comment when I asked: "What is it with you and cannibals?" (Which is, unto itself, a whole 'nother thing).

Moral of the story? It's a strange world out there.

Sara Finds a New Home

Well, the Sara Wagner story (Dansen op een Vulkaan) has been sent off to AEG for use on their website (maybe). Frankly, it was kinda sad to see her go. Between andi's artwork and my time spent on the character and story, I kind of hated to send her off and give up rights. (AEG gets all rights when you send stuff to their web site).

The piece is doubling as a submission for the site, as well as a "writing sample, either fiction or game mechanics, preferably both" as per Patrick Kapera's recent email. I'd asked about doing freelance work for them, so this is my attempted foot-in-the-door-no-really-I-can-write-for-you project. ;) We'll see what happens. :)

So now, it's back to shining up GURPS SWAT and looking forward toward the Guardians of Order Silver Age Sentinels fiction submission and the Epic comic proposal.

Somedays more than ever, somedays pass you by. I've been workin' here forever, at least until I die... - Huey Lewis and the News, Workin' for a Livin'

Breakfast at Tiffany's / Lunch at Elmer's... Same Difference

Just got back from a lengthy working lunch with Lt. Martin Rowley of the Portland Police Bureau. Lt. Rowley has more than two decades of police and SWAT experience, including four years as the assistant SERT (Special Emergency Reaction Team) Team Leader, six more as Team Leader, and now acts - among other things - as a SWAT trainer. He was not only very informative and helpful, but a darn nice guy to boot. His help will definitely lend an edge of realism to GURPS SWAT that would otherwise not have been there.

Not going to go into details here - probably not many people care to hear them anyway - but know that when you read the Tactics chapter in SWAT, a lot of the accuracy and polish will be thanks to Lt. Rowley. :)

Artist andi jones has Outdone Himself

http://www.angelwerks.com/sara/

Oh What a Beautiful Mor-ning...

Nope, not trying out for Oklahoma, but it was a gorgeous day today. Made a phone call to andi jones in New York to finalize the Sara Wagner story and took my cell phone outside, walked barefoot in the grass, soaked up the sun. Ahh... I'd forgotten what life Outside The Dungeon was like. :)

Anyway, Sara is about done and on her way to Alderac. SWAT is being polished. Got lunch with a Portland SERT team officer tomorrow to clear up stuff. Things are proceeding apace. :)

Going to my sister's tonight to play some music - we'll actually have four of the five band members there, so maybe we can actually get some practice in. Or we might just eat chocolate cake and visit. :) Truth is, I need to update the band website too - it's sorely in need of some samples and a bit of background. Too much to do lately, I think. Have to put it on my list though.

For now, I'm on my way to the lake to grab some exercise. This weather's perfect for it, and I could use some fresh air.

More rambling commentary tomorrow, I'm sure.

Just a Generic Update

Not a whole lot exciting and witty to say tonight. It's been a long day, and hot here, so I'm kinda dragging and brain dead. So ignore the typos. :)

Got the word from SJ Games this week. Looks like GURPS SWAT will be out in December instead of October. That's a little further from the movie's release date, but maybe it'll hit around DVD time. Also, thanks to the two-month extension on the production schedule, I got a one-month extension for finishing the first draft (now due July 13). That'll be good, cause I have a lot of polishing I need to do (it was a very short deadline originally). Along those lines, I'm having lunch Wednesday with a Portland SERT team sergeant, so I should be able to clarify some of the issues that have been plaguing me (like bullet penetration into windshields, room clearing techniques, etc).

Also in from SJ Games is the tentative release date for GURPS WWII: All the King's Men - November 2003.

I'm not sure how solid those dates are, but they're at least a good estimate. I'm looking forward to both hitting shelves. It's been almost nine months since I had a new book out; it'll be over a year by the time AtKM is released.

Wish I had something fun and witty to add, but unfortunately it's just one of those days. Check back tomorrow, I'm sure I'll be all smarmy again . . .

Yeeeeeah... I've really got to find something else to do when I'm tired...

http://www.brianunderhill.com/hellion.html

The Good, the Bad, the Not-So-Ugly

The Good: GURPS SWAT is almost done.

The Bad: GURPS Blitzkrieg is being revamped. I don't think the gory details are confidential any more, but I need to hold off a bit until I'm sure. More on this when I can type without pounding my keyboard to pieces and blowing steam out of my ears.

The Not-So-Ugly: Here's the story and art I'll be sending AEG's Spycraft. The story is mine, the art is andi jones'. Go, look, enjoy, email me comments. :)

Sara Wagner (the story).
Sara Wagner (the art). You can see more of andi's work, or contact him, at http://www.angelwerks.com/

The Deadline Cometh

Well, it's getting down to the wire for GURPS SWAT; two more days til it's gotta be en route. Working on the AEG bit for Spycraft slowed me about a week or so, so I'm playing a bit of catch up on some of the details. The whole room clearing discussion with the Hellions is resolved at least, and I think we've got auto window breaking figured out (thanks to some very helpful comments from a local fireman today).

So the question isn't so much "will it be done on time," as "will it be done on time and as good as I'd like." That's always the issue, though.

The Spycraft story is done, the art looks great. Next up will be some fiction for Guardians of Order's Silver Age Sentinels I think. Another update coming soon, once SWAT is put to bed. :)

Pow! Biff! Zowie!

Was talking to artist andi jones today, and he pointed me to Marvel Comics new Epic imprint (well, a resurrected old imprint). Anyway, they're looking for creative teams - writers, artist, inkers, letterers, the whole shebang - to do their own comics and then have Epic print, produce, and distribute them. Kinda cool.

I downloaded their pdfs, and amidst all the legal mumbo-jumbo it sounds doable. My only concern came when I read the "Technical Specifications" pdf. What a NIGHTMARE. It appears that I (or someone on my "creative team") would have to own Adobe Illustrator 9, Quark 4, and Adobe Photoshop 6, at the very least. Spendy stuff, that. Anyway, the whole technical layout thing was comlex. It's not like "turn in your script and we'll help you make a comic" - it's "turn in a fully laid out, inked, colorized, lettered comic, in our format as we demand it, and we'll sell it for you." Geh.

Lemme quote:

The EPIC creative team will be asked to provide the following digital files on CD:
Cover Files
1) QuarkXpress file containing the composited cover
2) 600 dpi file in .tif format for the black and white cover scan
3) 400 dpi CMYK color file in .tif format
4) Logo file in .eps (Illustrator) format or 400 dpi CMYK .psd (Photoshop) format
5) Illustrator files in .ai format for any cover lettering
6) Illustrator files in .eps format for any cover lettering
7) All font files used for cover lettering
Interior Files
8) QuarkXpress file containing all composited interior pages
9) 600 dpi files in .tif format for each interior black and white scan
10) 400 dpi CMYK color files in .tif format for each interior page
11) Illustrator files in .ai format for each page of interior lettering
12) Illustrator files in .eps format for each page of interior lettering
13) All font files used for lettering and sound effects

Good grief!

Maybe it won't seem as complicated by the light of day, but at 1:00 o'clock in the morning it seems daunting.

I wonder if Robin Laws jumps through these hoops when he writes Iron Man...

Today Wal-Mart, Tomorrow the World!

Curious little fact I discovered today. You can buy my books - one of them at least - at Wal-Mart online. They've got a whole selection of RPGs there, many at huge discounts (especially for pre-orders).

It's kinda weird. Wal-Mart. That's somehow oddly surreal.

This is why I don't draw...

http://www.brianunderhill.com/entry.jpg

Roleplaying vs. Game Mechanics

All this recent discussion about the game mechanics of room clearing has got me thinking. How many players want detailed mechanics for their games (like GURPS or HERO Fifth Edition) compared to a faster, less-rule-heavy system (epitomized by diceless roleplaying games)?

Personally, I always thought GURPS struck a good balance in that you could pick and choose how rules heavy you wanted to be. For anyone that's ever played in any game I've run, you'll probably attest to my relative lack of rulesiness. Admitedly, in a SWAT game I use a lot more modifiers and rules (Snap Shot, Range, etc), than in a Cliffhangers game, but even in the heat of SWAT CQB I prefer a faster game with less rules.

Is that the norm for gamers? Or do people really want to know every modifier and every dice roll needed to cover every situation? GURPS has been developing a reputation as a sort of rules-heavy, technogadget, gearhead game lately - a direction I'd rather not see it take - so maybe I just feel like I'm butting heads against the inevitable movement of the massive behemoth called GURPS.

Anyway, drop me an email and let me know your thoughts. Rules heavy or rules light? Realism or cinematic fun? Inquiring minds want to know...

PDF, IDF . . . whatever.

I've been reading too much SpecOps stuff lately. Every time I see PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format), I think to myself... Palestine Defense Force. I know there's no such thing, but if Israel has the IDF, why can't Palestine license the term PDF from Adobe?

The cross-promotion possibilities boggle the mind. Or maybe it's just me.

The Glories of Game Design

This morning, as usual, I cranked up my computer - which automatically connected to the 'net; go broadband! - and Outlook booted up as I grabbed a shower. When I got back to the 'puter, I had 48 emails waiting, most of which were from the Hellions email list - a group of GURPS gamers, gearheads, writers, editors, and playtesters, many of whom are combat veterans. The topic of the day? Room clearing techniques, and how to translate them into GURPS mechanics.

Folks approach me at conventions all the time, and tell me how great it is to be a freelance writer and how they'd love to have my job. But honestly, sometimes I just stare blankly at my computer and wonder if McDonald's is hiring. I just spent the last couple hours reading posts - excellent ones, mind you; I'm not complaining about the Hellions - and trying to figure out what, exactly, a SWAT officer has to do when it comes to rooting Bad Guys out of a room.

It's pretty much universally decided at this point (universally... heh... now I'm giving the Hellions a little more credit than they deserve!) that a Vision roll is in order to spot the perp, modified by smoke, darkness, cover, etc. But what follows is still in debate. How does the SWAT officer determine whether that taget is indeed, a Bad Guy, or a DEA agent with a gun in his hand? Or an innocent bystander reaching for his ID?

Does Tactics (CQB) come into play? Is there such a thing as Tactics (SWAT)? Do you use Tactics (Police)? What about Professional Skill (SWAT) or Professional Skill (Law Enforcement)? A simple IQ roll? Do you apply Vision modifiers to this second roll? Do vets get a bonus over rookies, and if so, why? Does the Body Language skill come into play, and if so how?

So this is the glorious life of a game designers. Oh sure, now and then I get to sit around in my swim trunks and drink Mai Tais while scantily-clad women feed me grapes and rub the tension out of my shoulders, but for the most part, hashing GURPS rule with a bunch of soldiers is more typical.

Still... I could use some grapes about now.

Spycraft d20 NPC and Short Fiction

After much heel-dragging and system bashing, I've finally decided to do some d20 work. It's not so much the system that makes me want to write a supplement, it's actually Alderac Entertainment Group's Spycraft game that's got me started.

AEG has been around a long while, and has done some great games in the past, including 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings. When I heard they had acquired the license to Stargate, I contacted Patrick Kapera at AEG. He suggested I submit a fiction sample and game sample, possibly for their new Stargate website (which is not up yet, as of this writing), but I had a hankering to write something for Spycraft instead.

So Sara Wagner, a freelance European wheelman was born. The short story is about 3000 words; the NPC writeup includes stats, campaign notes, background, and so forth. I'm pretty happy with the finished result, but even more so because freelance artist andi jones has agreed to do an illustration for the piece as well. I haven't talked to Patrick Kapera about including art, but I can't imagine he'd turn it down. The Spycraft site has an art gallery anyway - worst case, andi's art goes into the art gallery and my short story into another page.

So anyway, it felt good to be writing fiction again, and to be working on something besides GURPS. Don't get me wrong, I love GURPS and probably always will. And I still don't care for d20. For you Spycraft fans out there, one of my gripes is that you have to be trained in boating and piloting in order to be a Defensive Driver, because boating and piloting +1 are prereqs for Speed Demon, which is, itself, a prereq for Defensive Driving. *sigh* I created a house rule for Sara Wagner - we'll see if AEG balks.

I'd post the text of the article here, and andi's illustration, but I'm not sure AEG would take kindly to that. I know they'll end up with rights to it anyway, so when it's up and online - if it's up and online - I'll post some links to it from here. In the meantime, special thanks to andi jones for doing the work. Go check out his web site - he's got some great stuff there.

Geh...

Alright, I give up. It's late, I'm tired, and I have too many actual deadlines to sit here and worry about getting this blog working. Yes, I can at least edit the thing now - though I don't know why, nor why I couldn't before - but the commenting feature is still screwy. So for the time being, it's gone. Maybe someday, in the far, far distant future, it'll come back. But don't hold your breath.

No, really, it worked for me...

Looks like my nifty new blog isn't working. How great is that? I switched to blogger.com what, yesterday? Two days ago? And now, I can't even publish this post (which is kind of pointless to write, because if you're reading it, the problem's obviously solved). But at the moment, I get a publishing error related to FTP. Time to start troubleshooting. You'd think this site was run by Microsoft, the way it's acting up...

GURPS SWAT begins to take shape

Spent the evening finishing up the Tactics chapter for SWAT tonight, and it's coming together. The chapter landed at a whopping 11,000+ words - over a third of the book - but it is integral to the manuscript (and will sell the book, IMHO). Still, makes me wonder if I need to cut it, move some material to other chapters, or just suffer through it and cut elsewhere.

I sent off the chapter to Steve Jolly - he's got friends and family that are in law enforcement - and posted the first bit of it to The Hellions (an excellent GURPS gearhead email list that boasts many excellent GURPS writers and contributors). We'll see what everyone says - I predict 50+ email messages in my InBox tomorrow morning. Hope at least a few are positive. :)

Anyway, my original point was that GURPS SWAT is coming together nicely. It's not without it's problems - all projects have 'em. But when I get frustrated, I watch the SWAT Movie trailer or drool over some of the movie stills, and get all inspired again. If you ask me, Colin Farrel looks pretty impressive holding an M4A1, and Michelle Rodriguez can bust down my door anytime.

Warp Speed, Mister Sulu!

After being unable to get any kind of high-speed Internet access (due to living in a relatively small town), I'm now a happy Adelphia Cable Internet subscriber. According to DSL Reports I'm downloading at 600 kpbs+ (about 75 KB/sec download speed), but with my laptop (thanks to a much faster processor and Windows XP) I can get as high as 3500 kpbs. :) Time for a new home computer, I think.

This should seriously speed up my research time. No more waiting on slow-loading pages when I'm looking for some obscure fact or other.

In other news, the fate of GURPS WWII: Blitzkrieg is a bit up in the air, but I'm not really at liberty to elaborate yet. Suffice to say that SJ Games is happy with me and the project, but they're considering some options at the moment, unrelated to me personally or to Blitzkrieg. It's a little disheartening, after so much work on the project, but I could always try and pitch it elsewhere if SJ decides against it.

GURPS SWAT is continuing apace, and should be finished on time (June 15). I hope the whole issue with Blitz doesn't bleed over though. I'd hate to think I'm rushing to meet a short deadline for no reason.

Finally, I'm finishing up a short story and NPC writeup for Alderac's Spycraft and should be sending it off to them shortly. It's a freebie, designed for use on their website, but in talking to Patrick Kapera, he wanted to see a sample of my fiction and my d20 skills (which are, frankly, rusty). Still, they're coming back to me. Look for more details here soon.

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

Okay, folks... since I officially moved into the 21st Century last week (by getting Cable Internet - I'll post some news about it shortly - I decided (with some prompting from friends Justin Newton and Devin Ganger) to try a web log instead of a plain vanilla news page. Thanks guys - I think...

Anyway, bear with me while I figure out all the nuances of blogging. It's not like I've got a thousand other things to be working on, but you know how it is. Gotta stay busy.

Special thanks to the folks at Blogger for creating an easy-to-use web log system. Hopefully this will help speed up my updates. :)

More when I get the hang of this.