Author J.M. Perkins on "To The Best of Our Knowledge"

I'm proud to announce that friend and colleague, action-horror author J.M. Perkins, recently won the "To the Best of Our Knowledge" 3-Minute Futures contest with his short story, "Social Scene Alert". "Social Scene Alert" was selected from 750 entries by sci-fi legend Kim Stanley Robinson and brought to auditory life by Gates McFadden and the Ensemble Studio of Los Angeles.

All of John's stories, including his recent novel CHEMO: How I Learned to Kill, are a demonstration of his inspired imagination. His writing makes me laugh, gives me chills and forces me to contemplate life in a way few others can, making him one of my favorite writers in the industry. "Social Scene Alert" is John at his best, managing to do all three in just 500 words.

Make sure to keep listening after the story for interviews with Kim Stanley Robinson and Gates McFadden, as well as the two runner-up stories also dramatized by the Ensemble Studio.

A Man Never Truly Dies...

Today is the anniversary of the death of my best friend and blood brother, Matt Welty. I've written a lot about how he affected my life, but I wasn't the only one. There were hundreds of people at his funeral and there would have been dozens of speakers if we'd had the time. Still, we heard a dozen poignant tales of how he helped turn people's lives around, encouraged them to pursue their passions and face their fears, and how he made the lives of so many of us better. It's quite telling that seven years later people still hear his laughter in the joy of others, tear up at a bit of geek culture he introduced them to, and reach out to the rest of us when, in a hard moment of life, he shows up in a song, a picture, or a memory to remind us that his spirit is still there.

For those of you who didn't know our dear friend, Matt, I'm sharing two things that I hope give you a tiny glimpse into who he was and what he meant to me. The first is a memorial video I did for him in 2010 after I found a recording of his voice. The second is the eulogy I read at his funeral. I hope other people choose to share their stories in the comments below.

Professional Geek Achievement Unlocked

It's official. My first professional game credit is out in the world--editor on Xaolings by Todd Stewart. Xaolings presents a fascinating race born from the chaos planes. Todd has an impressive ability to describe creatures who are notoriously averse to being described. His mechanics for racial archetypes, feats and magic items were particularly impressive.

So, if you're interested in a new race for your game or are just excited to have something with my name in it, link over and pick up the PDF at www.drivethrurpg.com.

Writer's Bio

I was recently asked to submit a 150 word writer's bio to be used for several of the freelance projects coming out this year. I've never had to summarize my writing career before. The word limit was particularly inspiring; I'm a believer in limitations inspiring/forcing creativity. Some of you aren't gamers, or at least not Pathfinder players, so I thought I'd post a copy here.

Huge thanks to everyone who has supported and encouraged me to make this a reality. You can read more about that first AD&D game here.

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Rich Howard's obsession with gaming started 35 years ago when his older brother finally let him invade his AD&D game. Since his first sleep spell, Rich has wandered the world of roleplaying, board and computer games as fascinated with their potential to teach and inspire as to entertain.

In 2006 he started the move to professional freelancer by refining his fledgling skills, attending conferences and finishing his first novel. After running into Paizo editor James Sutter at World Fantasy 2012 he realized that the skills he'd cultivated as a writer and his decades of gaming experience could be used to give back to the industry that had inspired his own imagination. In the past year he's contributed to projects from Misfit Studios, Rogue Genius Games and Christina Stiles Presents, as well as becoming both lead designer on Misfit's Ultimate Shaman and lead developer for the upcoming storytelling boardgame, LUCID.

In Memoriam: Aaron Allston (1960-2014)

UPDATE 2/4/2016: The Kickstarter honoring Aaron by bringing Strike Force to the 21st century has funded in just 4 days. Please go check out the project and help support this amazing memorial.

Aaron Allston's Strike Force Kickstarter

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It's been an benchmark year for me. Aside from getting a promotion at my day job and having the best little family on the planet, I'm getting a steady stream of freelance projects for my dream job as a game designer. This morning I finished my writer's bio for the first of a series of pieces hitting the shelves this year, but my excitement was dulled by the news that one of my industry heroes collapsed at a conference yesterday and didn't wake up.

2014: A Month in Review

So far this month I've:

• ...completed a two-year project at my hospital that streamlines our electronic medical record system.
• ...presented said project to our hospital council and earned a promotion.
• ...had two game developers contact me to review their games.
• ...been asked to assist on a new RPG development project.
• ...was recommended to a new video game company for help with their character development.
• ...been hired for and completed an editing/development project for Rogue Genius Games.
• ...picked up three new freelance RPG development projects.

I couldn't be happier.

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Addendum, 1/31/14: I just finished the first meeting about a new RPG and I must say the system impressed me. It's midway through development so I can't elaborate, but the mechanics are sound, unique, and potentially far reaching; making it a Gateway Game for RPGs. What gamer doesn't want that?!?

Happy Birthday Dungeons & Dragons

January 26th, 1974.

I've already written about some of my earliest experiences with the game that changed the world. I still run into people who don't even know that roleplaying games exist, much less understand how they could influence a life as passionately as they have mine. It's been 40 years since the hobby was invented, and 36 years since I experienced it for myself. There is little success I can't attribute to my time around the table. As I say on my About page:

"It teased my curiosity about the world, then pressured me to meet new people and share experiences with them. It fed my addiction to storytelling, compelled me to draw out people's emotions, gently manipulate them, then put them back in a way they would tell their friends about for years. It forced me to read about culture, and history, and mythology, and science, and religion, and forensics, and linguistics. It relentlessly bullied me into becoming a better writer and then pressured me to introduce it to other people. One game is even directly responsible for my ability to do math."

There will be scores of posts today about D&D and the positive influence it's had on the lives of those who've played. I'm honestly not sure I can add much more. RPGs are my life, personally and professionally. They form the foundation for my closest friendships and will be the tool I use to bond with and inspire my children and their friends (at least until they find their own outlets). If you want to know more about why I love games, and RPGs specifically, check out the Popular Posts on almost any of my blogs. I write about them all the time.

So all I can say today is, thank you Gary and Dave, for the incredible life I've lived. Happy Birthday, D&D.