Requiem for a Game Designer

Okay, not really. I don't quite need a Requiem. I am pretty tired, though. I think it's Gen Con's fault.

See, because we have to plan out our releases well ahead of time (mainly so that distributors can know that a product is coming and order it in advance), my life is full of deadlines. Deadlines sort of shape my life. I know when Requiem for a God has to go off to the printer, when I need to turn over the art order to the artist (Kieran Yanner) for Book of Eldritch Might III, and when I have to be done writing The Book of Hallowed Might. Throw in deadlines for things like "Dungeoncraft" for Dragon, the fiction pieces I do for Game Trade Magazine, and the adventure I promised to do for the Wizards of the Coast website about a year ago (no, it's not a year late -- I made the promise a year ago; it's just finally coming due) and that's a lot of deadlines. And truth be told, I'm not even telling you about all of them, because that would be boring. But you get the idea. I look at my calendar/planner and it's a strict, regimented schedule.

Then something like Gen Con comes along and takes up almost a week. Plus Sue and I took some time off afterward. Now, we knew for months that we were going to that, of course. So I planned and scheduled around it. What you don't plan, however, are all the little things. When we got back from Gen Con, it wasn't so much that there was a lot of work to do, but there was a lot of little life things to do. My good friend Sean Reynolds, for example, was moving away, so I wanted to spend time with him. There were tons of little errands to run. You know. Life.

So suddenly the last couple weeks of this month became extremely hectic, and we really hadn't seen it coming at all. We struggled mainly to get Requiem for a God finished, which included an all-nighter (practically) in which Sue and I put the finishing touches on things Sunday night so the book could go on sale Monday.

But Requiem is out there as a PDF, and it's off to the printer (it comes out in printed in November). So far, the reaction has been overwhelming positive -- probably more decidedly positive than anything I've done through Malhavoc so far. And that really makes it worth it, to tell the truth. I'm as pleased as I can be that so many people have enjoyed it and have found it to be useful in generating ideas and making plans for their campaign. That's what the whole "event book" concept is really all about.

Event books are something we plan on continuing. In fact, the next one is already in the planning stages. To be honest, we don't plan to put them out rapid-fire, though. I mean, how many big, major events do you need at once? The next one probably will cover a natural disaster. Other ideas we have include wars/invasions, an ancient prophecy coming true, a plague, an advancement in technology, and more.

This is going to be a fun series. We'll most likely put out a new installment every 6 to 12 months.

Well, back to the grind. (Actually, that's a fib. It's really "back to working on Book of Eldritch Might III," and it's really fun. I mean c'mon. I write games for a living. How much of a "grind" can that really be?)