(no subject)

[winneganfake]

Well, the_tall_man went and did it- The Cog Wars: Zero Edition is now available for paid download.

What can I say about it? Here's some basic facts:

It is 102 pages of pure distilled genius in a can PDF form.

It can cure your warts, re-grow your hair, and make you feel downright pretty.

It's got a great inventive system- this isn't your typical "D&D plus one new stat homebrew" as far as rules go.

The setting is sheer fucking genius, and the author is deserving of an Ennie, a Pulitzer, and possibly a Nobel for his work. (No guessing which part I was writing for, all right?)

It's a Zero edition. Which means act now, and get the basics while the games dirt cheap. If you love it, you can then get the later editions and help keep supporting me in my old age. (If not, hell, you're out five bucks. I know most of you have spent a LOT more than that on a single 100-page splatbook before this, and this is a full-on corebook, not a supplement.)

The lot of you should go pick up a copy- or at least check out the 11-pages of preview directly viewable on Lulu.com


and synabetic? Go bug Levi about a press kit- this one definitely should get covered.

Comments

[synabetic.livejournal.com]

That looks REALLY damned cool. I'll have to bug Levi, yesss...

Though, to be honest, I dunno how much coverage I could give him, seeing as I'm really busy with me own shtuff. Speaking of which, did you read that new Secret Cross short? 'Love to hear your thoughts on it and the background stuff I added.

Also, are you good at creating old maps?

[winneganfake.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes you will.

Ok, ok, I've been bad on keeping up on reading stuff for Secret Cross. That said, I just went and read the short. And promptly added the LJ feed.

My initial thoughts? This looks god. Oh, yes. It does. I'm drooling for a print copy. I think your background's good material, but a bit too much to just introduce the short. Just needs more language tightening than anything else (my own biggest crime).


Maps. Hm. Depends on what you're needing. Physical prop, or digital work?

[synabetic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, like I said, it's a taste and it will have more weight once the grand debut short is done (12 pages, a great intro to the setting).

I'm looking for a cool map for SALVUS and of even Secret Cross WWI Western Europe, maybe... having very gothic, dark feel... artsy... right up your alley.

[winneganfake.livejournal.com]

Kinda like the book plates, huh? Yeah, think I can. Just need to find the right reference map images to start with. Europe during what time period and where specifically. and any additional markers you need added. Just email me details- dmitri (at) tormentedartifacts.com

[jl-williams.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see my artwork out there again. :) Though I have every intention of illustrating the whole darn book over again, as that's a lot of really old art at awful resolution.

[the-tall-man.livejournal.com]

Says the man who dismisses anything of his more than a couple weeks out of date.

It prints real purty.

[jl-williams.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's just not true. You slander me.

(Okay, it's true. But since acquiring the tablet, every piece of art I've done is not something I completely hate. The cover of this book is something I *adore*, and once I have a fully functional computer again, the first edition will be GORGEOUS.)

[winneganfake.livejournal.com]

All right the both of you- this humility thing? Bollocks. Rubbish. Shite. Stick it in a can and set fire to it. Why?

BECAUSE LEVI JUST RELEASED THE DAMN BOOK.

Screw humility- we're allowed some pride right now. Now is the time to walk around like a Big Damn Hero (TM). At least, until the reviewers start howling for our blood.

[jl-williams.livejournal.com]

HA! I dare the reviewers to come up with something that is quite so absurd and stable at the same time.

YOU HEAR ME YOU BASTARDS I FRIGGIN DARE YOU

[the-tall-man.livejournal.com]

Piffle!

The game is good. It is patently, simply good. Worth the price of admission, without a question.

But if we can't piss and moan about how much better this could be or that could be, JL and I will simply implode.

On the day that we save the world from alien invasion, we will finish off the shift at superheroes, inc, by talking about how we'd like to give that just one more go.

[winneganfake.livejournal.com]

This, again, is absolute evidence for why neither of you guys write the "fluffy" parts of the rpgs.

[jl-williams.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Putting aside the fact that pissing and moaning is my GOD GIVEN RIGHT as a moose-riding, bacon-chewing...

...let me start over. :P

Bitching is just our process. We bicker and fuss over details, and it's all very boring.

What's MORE interesting is the fundamental chicken/egg relationship between the art and the game. For the life of me I can't remember who said "hey lookit" first -- but what I see when I look at it (just because I've seen all of this artwork a hundred zillion times) is a really good book, with mediocre interior art. My ambition is to bring as much to the look of the thing as everyone else did with its feel.

I don't feel like they're equal yet -- but I will.

(Jesus, I've edited this post twice now for typos. I fucking hate MacBook keyboards.)

[the-tall-man.livejournal.com]

For the life of me I can't remember who said "hey lookit" first

It went something like this...

Levi:
"I have this idea for a card game. It's cool. The cards bounce around, you pick 'em up and put 'em down and... It's like a little fighting game that's a machine. You could do art!"

JL:
"Only if it's about robots."

Levi:
"WHAT?"

JL:
"Yeah, robots. You deaf? Robots. Hang on, let me get a pen."

And then, moments later, there was garfunkle. The cast-iron chicken-robot of depression.

[jl-williams.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA awesome. Circa-1996.

I think someone in the background caught a whiff of what was going to happen and put on a pot of coffee, too.

[jl-williams.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ; I just realized we've been harassing each other for seventeen years.