Two months into 2018 though it’s been near six months without a post. Work. Work. Work.
In September of 2017 I participated in “Grand Con” (as in to “con”) with Mythopoeia Games Publications and a host of other wonderful people from We Hate Bards, Thunderhead Gaming, and Imagining Games. We shared what was proposed to be a premiere table at the entrance to Grand Con but in reality became a series of lies and overstatements by the management of Grand Con (who I won’t name here). We ended up buried in the wasteland of the exhibit hall, among other things. Not the greatest experience from your home town con and I certainly have no intention to return. Just as the great comic conventions have been overrun by “cos-play”, the same faux fandom has beset conventions for role-playing games.
Also participated in U-Con in Ann Arbor once again, where RPG’s are still celebrated over Marvel Comics movies and Star Wars zombies. My nod to Clark Ashton Smith via the Call of Cthulhu Classic Trail of Tsathoggua was sold out to the maximum — far better than my own Great Mutant Escape — but I am no Keith Herber.
2017 also saw the release of my Realms of Adventure (available at The Gamers Wharf) with artwork by Brook Anderson, David Castro, Naomi Lili Nirmala, Tim A. Odland, and Stephane Sabourin; edited by Jonathon D. Hallberg.
The remainder of 2017 was spent facilitating an avalanche of We Hate Bards podcasts for my Realms of Fantasy RPG written for Mythopoeia, signing the extended option of Bullets For Breakfast (co-written with Matthew L. Schaffer), and researching a slew of projects (devouring many volumes from Hippocampus Press) that will reveal themselves this year, among which sorting and editing the archives of past writing and making them available here. One of my personal highlights was a brief but rewarding correspondence with S. T. Joshi. Academically, the finish of my 10th year in the Ivory tower is approaching.
Plenty of announcements in the making. Regretfully, I will not be able to attend Marmlade Dog Con this year due to professional commitments. For now, here are the many podcasts (5 – 11) mixing the Realms of Fantasy RPG with Frog God Games‘ Rappan Athuk.
Enjoy (or cringe).
Episode 11: http://www.wehatebardspodcasts.com/?name=2017-11-02_rappan_athuk_7_28_17_spectre_fightn.mp3
Episode 10: http://www.wehatebardspodcasts.com/?name=2017-10-19_rappan_athuk_7_14_17_battle_in_the_lava_pit.mp3
Episode 9: http://www.wehatebardspodcasts.com/?name=2017-10-19_rappan_athuk_6_30_17_fumblefest.mp3
Episode 8: http://www.wehatebardspodcasts.com/?name=2017-09-01_rappan_athuk_6_23_17_skull_crackin.mp3
Episode 5: http://www.wehatebardspodcasts.com/?name=2017-06-01_rappan_athuck_giant_worm_4_5_17.mp3
For episode 1 -4 see: http://www.wehatebardspodcasts.com/
Michael D Miller 