Summer Board Game Update and More

Daxeon, Vengor Angel-Chessmen

It's hard to keep a blog up to date when you have so much to do in development, writing and art. I'm going to touch on all three of these today and more.

GZ New York only needs it's box design and rule book in order to be finished. Then I have to order a set from TheGameCrafter.com  and make sure it all looks right. If you've been following along, you know this expansion has more components than I've ever put in a game. That is all thanks to suggestions from you, my awesome readers. I know blogger makes it difficult to post comments directly and that may make for some changes in the future. But you've let me know what you thought. I know the box can be one of the most critical designs of all so I'm brainstorming hard on how to put it together to be better than anything I've done.

At this point the game cost looks to be around 80 dollars retail and that's not gaining a lot for myself. But then, I don't think I'm quite known or selling enough to raise prices. If I can get known and move my brand to a full on publisher, the cost may just go down. Who can say. But I know people are willing to pay that much and more for games by going out and talking with people. From what I've gathered. GZ New York may just take over the game representation for my brand. So much to decide and none of it easy.

My writing has been interrupted via genre. A non-fiction project has jumped to front burner and I'm nearly done with it. I'm not saying too much about it here because it needs its own special reveal and launch past this blog posting. Still, my next book of short stories is halfway done and I'll be starting a new novel soon as well. I already started it, its just hard to write so many projects at the same time. My brain loves to try. The book series has been hard to get out to people and I've been trying out Facebook ads. For a free book, it went pretty well. About 40% of people who clicked on the book, took one. No one has come back and given any reviews yet, but 40% is a pretty good number. I just hope doing a non-fiction project helps get my brand noticed a bit more.

Ah, the artwork. Art is such a fickle thing and is the most criticized of any factor in game or book cover development. Because I am still at such a grass roots level, I'm still doing over 90% of the art myself. Because my hands have gotten worse, I've had to learn new digital techniques with mixed media and layering to make it work better. Some have said it's the best work I've put out to date. I have my critics though. I've been told plenty of times that I'm not good enough. Some of this criticism came with a dollar amount. If I don't pay someone over a thousand dollars for artwork, it will be unacceptable. That's fine and all, but I've seen plenty of work that someone paid out the nose for, that people still hated. With my art, I aim for engaging, colorful, and fun. I aim for a comic bookish style that relates to the type of characters I create. And I constantly look to learn new things as best I can.

I do wish I had a team and a company to put this out because I know its good. I know it can be a great success. I just need to keep on trying. So the fight goes on. Now I have a couple of questions for you my readers. I do hope I get some feedback from this.

First of all, how do you like the new layout of the blog? I  have had some input that white letters on black are faux p aux and not liked that much. Darker letters on lighter color, they said. So here is a try at that. Please let me know what you think. I tried to get black lettering, but I would have to lose the cosmic backdrop for that to work.

Second, I started up a mailing list and have been working on getting readers to sign up. I've only done four newsletters and the percentage of people opening them has been pretty dismal. When I compare it to the views I get right on this blog, it's an enormous gap. Over 100 readers click on this blog. Out of 30 subscribers to the email news letter, less than 10% open the email. What do you think? Should I keep putting time into the newsletter? Or should I just stick with the blog and keep asking people to subscribe? Let me know. I value your input.

Till next time!

Updates March! New covers and game art!

Greetings heroes! Today I have things to share and the first is a brand new cover for Chessmen: Opening Moves designed by Scarlett Rugers of the Book Design House. If you are even a budding author looking to take serious steps, you should consider her services. She is an award winning designer and a published author herself. So check out the link and visit her page. I just love what she did for Chessmen's first book as you can see here.

As if that weren't cool enough, for now you can get the kindle of the first book of the series for just 99 cents. Far out! Just hit the book links up on the right or HERE and grab it!

I recently finished the last image for game cards for the next installment of the board game series for Galaxy Zento. This game will come with a brand new board with more interactive spaces covering an entire map of New York City. It will have Cursed Artifacts and we are going to look at some of those right here!

This edition of the board game will be directly attached to the novel, Chaos Rising (you saw the new cover for that in my last entry).

The Hearse: The Hearse is a living artifact and a being filled with hate and murder. It's indestructible and will go around the board ramming into players and dealing some damage. If you're lucky and your dice rolls are hot, you can wind up controlling the Hearse which can lead toward victory. No spoilers for the novel so I won't tell you just how nasty Hearse is to deal with by the heroes.

Hourglass of Time: If you get a cursed artifact in the game, you cannot simply rid yourself of it and it limits what other objects or artifacts you can use. And you can't always avoid using them either. The hourglass forces you to use it every time you have a turn. When you do, you get to increase or decrease counters on other players cards by one. This could risk them winning the game, if you want to increase damage that they have taken. OR, it could keep them from winning by reducing their goal tokens. Either way, you risk carrying a bullseye as players come after you for this artifact.

Skull of Sphidra: This macabre helm make of giant spider skull will give you psychic abilities but turn you into a monster in 3 rounds. It will change your character card into the card for Sphidra herself. It will change you from good to evil. The only way to change this, will be for other players to destroy you. And they will have little choice since you can attack all of them at once regardless of board position.


This will be the biggest event deck to draw from yet and playable with other sets. And as always, you don't have to read the lore to enjoy the game, but it helps.

Soon I'll be drafting up the very first edition of the newsletter with even more content that you won't see anywhere else. So be sure to SIGN UP for the mailing list so you don't miss one awesome thing! That includes downloadable printable black and white color sheets for the kids (or yourself). Character spotlight origins! And even flash fiction stories just for readers who sign up!  On top of that, you get Chessmen Opening Moves free just for signing up. Awesome!

Till next time, heroes!

Woo Hoo! Summer Update!

I haven't posted here in a while but boy do I have stuff to talk about! I'm working on cards for the next step in the board game series on GZ and it's coming out awesome! So today I'm going to tell you about some of the new character cards that are going to be in this game. There's going to be more action than in a ring full of wrestlers on hyper steroids.

If you want to find out more about this and other GZ products, be sure to hit the links to the right!

This edition is going to become the new core edition of the game and it's setting is good ol New York City. It will be based on the characters from then main novel series for GZ that starts with Chaos Rising. That means the heroes of PAC will be there along with villains of all sorts. The power levels will be off the charts. Here are some examples.

Sandstorm: Good Character: 
Raw Power: If Sandstorm's first attack against you is a natural 17-20, he wins the combat.

So watch out if you play evil against this character. He may just blow you away before you can do anything. But check out what you get as a bonus if you are good and recruit him!

When another player attacks you, roll 1d20 with no modifiers. On a 17-20 move that player up to 6 spaces away in any direction and end their turn.

He also gives you protection from elements so no fire, wind, ice, lightning, or other elemental cards or spells can affect you while he's your ally.

Electrode: Good Character
Fast Combat: Every time you miss Electrode he gets +1 to attack for the rest of the combat.

And he starts out with a +8 attack value so you better be having a good dice day or he will catch up with you FAST. But, he gives allies a nice bonus as well.

If you roll a 6 for movement, you may move to any location on the board.

Having trouble catching up to another player? Even if that isn't perfect he still gives you +3 to your movement.

Blacktide: Good Character:
Disintegration Aura: When you hit Blacktide in combat, you take 1 damage.

Fighting this guy is a thorny concept. If you are playing a goal on taking damage, great, you have a way to win. If not, this is going to be worth 3 damage just to beat him. Be ready to heal. But as an ally, he gives you this:

Other players cannot challenge you to combat or stop adjacent to you.

They can still ranged attack you, but full on combat is out of the question. This is a very useful protection to have since a lot of nasty tricks involve adjacency. But what if you are the one who moves adjacent, right? No problem. Nothing happens. You can move adjacent to or challenge to combat if you want. Other players just can't return the favor.

Nyhtwulf: Good Character: (I'm still working on what makes him dangerous to fight, but check out his bonus:)

When a player moves away from being adjacent to you, you may immediately move adjacent to them after they move.

This depicts the character's ability of neuro tracking from the book. Once he's met you, there is no escaping him. But what if it's Blacktide versus Nyhtwulf? What if a player with Blacktide moved adjacent to a player with Nyhtwulf and on their next turn moved away? Could Nyhtwulf follow? The answer is NO. Because Blacktide's power prevents other players from stopping adjacent to that player.

I know some language may need to be sorted out, but this is the hash out phase if you know what I mean.

New Year 2017 Update!

It's high time for a new update and what better way to kick off the new year? While planning stories for GZ Tales Volume 3, I've also dug into revisions for the GZ role playing game. This will be an official publication, likely available on Amazon! If you enjoy role playing games that give you lots of freedom and creativity, this will be for you.

GZ RPG will be a percentile and D10 based system. It is a game in a preset universe of characters, monsters, alien races, magics, and more. The old quote of 'everything but the kitchen sink' certainly applies.

It's a game where you get to choose how to build your character by use of Karma points you earn for your side of the balance of good and evil. And yet, you don't have to just good or evil. You can serve Chaos if you prefer and make your life goal the destruction of the balance. It's up to you!

It is a game of magic and super powers so there are lots of cool ways to power up your character creation. At today's count there are over 386 powers and you can roll for your powers on a new character totally at random. For that matter, you can roll your entire character at random if you so desire.

That's not to say there isn't an intelligent side or academic side to the game. There are over 200 possible occupations/academics for characters that give modifiers to dice rolls. Since it's set in a modern day setting, your character could be a person with any kind of actual job before their life turns upside down on adventures.

Still, you can be anything you want with a broad number of alien races also in the mix. You can see prime examples of all this with a visit to the Galaxy Zento Facebook page or even by perusing these blog entries.

I don't have a release date at this time because I'm just jumping in on the revisions now. But there will be updates.

Project work also continues for the board game and it's expansions and accessories. If you haven't jumped into the GZ universe yet, there's no time like the present. The current accessory pack will bring the gods of GZ to the board game. More posts on those completed cards will be coming soon. Currently, I'm halfway through the artwork (and there's been lots of positive feedback!).

That's pretty much it for the current update, but it's a major desk full for me!

Here's hoping you all had a wonderful holiday season and face a new year of all new excitement and adventure.

Fall Update: Guess what's here!

This week has been loaded with surprises and now you can catch up on all of them at once. The first image you are seeing with today's post is the cover art for the box and yeah, it's the expansion set! I'll be getting my first copy from Thegamecrafter.com sometime in the next week. After I check it over, so long as all looks good, it will be launched. How much is it going to be? Just 24.99.

Now, with holiday shopping already starting, it's as good a time as ever to plug the board game and you get get your copy HERE for 44.99. It's new and improved to match the new layout of cards in the expansion. But then there's the lore of it all and there's something new to that too.

The newest novel and the second book in the Chessmen series is now available via Amazon and Kindle right HERE.  Be sure to use the "look inside" function for a quick sampling of the story as it begins. If you haven't read the first Chessmen story you can find it at the link in the upper right regarding the books. Here is where I have to address something more serious.

There is one thing the new book is  not going to be, aside from filled with action and adventure. It will not be FREE. For every book prior to this, I have done a free giveaway and put a lot of free books into people's hands. Unfortunately, it's time to admit that this has not been good for my own bottom line. I strive to be low cost in a tough age and I hope my readers will understand. The idea behind the free giveaway marketing is that it brings in sales of the other books and, in the last five years, this has simply not happened. That's not to say I'll never give anything away for free again, you can bet I will. Just not at that magnitude anymore. Just can't do it.

Okay, enough seriousness. I have been asked to clarify the order the books go in for people who want to catch up. Where to start? The exact order of the books is as follows:

Chessmen: Opening Moves
GZ Tales Vol 1
Chaos Rising
GZ Tales Vol 2
Chessmen: The Queens Gambit

Now, in the first three books, you could start with any of them. There is a character connection, however from Chaos Rising to the second Chessmen book. I won't tell you what those are of course, you'll just have to read for yourself.  So what will this have me working on now?

Crazy Harry

More artwork of course and more stories. My next bookwork will be GZ Tales Vol 3 and that is going to have some awesome stories in it. I can tell you that the adventures are only going to escalate from here. After that, I will dive into chapter work for the book that comes after Chaos Rising, tentatively called Wicked Ways. And for my in between time when I'm not writing I'll be working on the game expansion for New York City and the GZ combat system card game as well. Sound like enough for me to do?

Outside of Galaxy Zento, I want to point out that my family/party game Marshmallow Fight now has two glowing reviews (reviews are not easy to get) and you can check those out at the following links by author:

PaladinElliott
FatherGeek

And you can get this game HERE also at theGameCrafter.  If you are considering developing your own game, I highly suggest looking into theGameCrafter. Not only can you put together a playable and nice looking prototype; you can continue developing with their step by step process and even sell your game on site (print on demand). Excellent quality, shuffleable cards, and bright colorful rendering. I have loved making my games through them so far. Customer service also gets an A+ from me. So check it out. And if you are looking for games further off the beaten track and want to support some true indy designers, you will be in the right place.

Seems like I have enough to keep me busy during the school year. The only thing I haven't been doing is conventions. Well, that will change around Spring, so stay tuned! Much more to come!

This board game just got a makeover!

My adventure board game, Galaxy Zento (based on the characters of the epic universe by same name) just got a huge makeover. There is a lot that's really cool about this and I'm going to spell it all out right here.

First, why the makeover? Because of the new layout being used in the expansion set. At this point in the planned sets I have for this customizable game (two sets include new boards) it just seemed like a good time to make sure there's a uniformity in the cards. Even a couple of my harsher critics really liked the new layout. The open art at the top of the card gives the artistic feel I was aiming for. The framed text gives the look that players wanted. Yay, compromise! But wait, I hear another question brewing.

But dang it, Dave, what about all the copies of GZ that people have already? Excellent question! Glad you asked! Because here's the truth of it. Not that many people have a copy of GZ yet. So here is what I'm doing. Everyone who has a copy so far is getting a whole replacement set of cards absolutely FREE. That's just my way of thanking them for their support.

But are you going to change the layout again? What then? No. I will not be changing the layout from this point on. New cards will have the same layout. The only way that may change is if GZ gets picked up by an publishing company with new agreements and whatnot, even then, not much should be changed.

So, you see, this really was the best time to do this. Right now, I'm waiting on the first set of new cards so I can check them over. Once I've done that, barring any corrections, I'll relaunch the board game and the expansion should happen very soon after that. Finishing touches are going into the expansion artwork now. If you would like to check out all the new art and card effects for the board game, you can do that HERE.

Check out the expansion set (what's done so far) HERE.

So what's next? That's easy! Next will be my fifth book and second novel in the Chessmen series: The Queen's Gambit.  It's a novel that will be jam packed with even more action than the first. After that will be GZ Tales volume 3 with work starting on the New York expansion of the game. That doesn't even include the juicy surprises I'm working on!  So keep those dice a rolling and we'll see you next time for a new and wonderful update.

UPDATE: New card layout!

People are liking it and its official! You get to see it first right here! It's the new card layout for the Galaxy Zento Adventure game. And it's happening right in the first expansion set. All the symbols are the same and definitions are unchanged. Only arrangement of information is different. As you can see, the borderless art stands out even more and information is all in one simply location. I'm working feverishly on getting these done right now.

Click on images for a better look. If you are playing "good", finding this artifact could mean finding a new ally! That would be non other than the top hero of GZ himself!

Fighting him won't be easy and recruiting him isn't a snap either. If you do get him for an ally, the only drawback is that you can no longer evade your enemies. That's because KF never runs from a fight. If you want him as an ally, neither will you.

Let's look at a beast next. In this case, you may find yourself dragged under mid fight! If he rolls a natural 20 against you, your next attack is stuck being and escape roll. Meanwhile, it keeps using its turns to attack you further. Good thing evading it isn't too hard (unless your just having horrid dice rolls that day).

Traps will have the same zing as always. This one is one example of how expensive they can be. Who keep setting these traps anyway?

There are only a few new events in this set, but I guarantee they will shake up the whole table. This one will probably be considered the most drastic. These are adventures where reality itself can take a turn on a dime.

Don't forget powers. The handful of new powers in this set will redefine game play in cool ways. Now you can mess with your opponents or just give yourself a better chance on the draw.

Special art cards. A few, and only a few, will have this special arrangement of art and information. These cards will have action and bright color for added fun. Obviously I couldn't do this with all card art because it just wouldn't work for some of them. I hope the few that are there will give you pause for their special appearance.


I'm really excited about the new look and there are even more surprises still ahead. So stay tuned for the next update. It's not far away!

How Galaxy Zento got started

Galaxy Zento has been a long running project for me and the stories have been in my head for decades. Today I'm going to tell you how it all got started. It started as my "do it yourself" role playing game that I developed characters for. But it goes even deeper than that.

In my Junior High years art was my great escape and the one thing that actually made the bullies give me a break. It was the one thing I could do well that impressed others. I was also something of a cartoonist. Crazy Harry was my first character and he was a parody of Dirty Harry from the  movies. CH never used a gun, and he really is quite nuts. I gave him a superhero kind of vibe and made him a private detective. It used to be, when he went crazy, his hair would stand straight up on end, and that was how the bad guys knew it was all over for them.

Harry did things I wanted to do to get even with the world for my bullying. Harry was my outlet and no one ever realized it.

Years go by and as some people know, I ran away from home to escape abuse from my step mother. I really had no safe haven except for times when I was neither at home or school. While I nearly got myself killed, my running finally took root and I didn't have to go back. But then I had new problems that aren't for this entry. Eventually it all let to me going to Job Corps in Clearfield, Utah. Job Corps is a place for young people (mostly troubled) to learn a workable skill and grow up for lack of better terms. It wasn't a very nice place, but I did make friends. It was there, in 1987 that Galaxy Zento was born. I created a crew of heroes called PAC and started drawing mini comics of them.

There was a lot of DnD playing going on at the time and it was still in a controversial stage. I couldn't afford the books for DnD so I followed my Godfather's old advice from when I was a kid.

An OLD pic

"Make your own games."  And so I did. I started making a role playing game of my characters and the stories in my head. It wasn't called Galaxy Zento back then, though. It was called Galaxy Wars.

The immediate problem I had with the name was that everyone associated it with Star Wars. I didn't want that. I wanted my universe to stand on its own. Even though I had no idea what directions I would be going with it at just 17 years old. But there it was and I had some friends playing it with me regularly. Eventually I renamed it Galaxy Zento based on the Japanese word for "journey".

My friends enjoyed it enough that they wanted to play it quite often. There isn't a lot of exciting stuff to do during down time in Job Corps and it made for more colorful time spending. And it grew.

I really had no idea how to make a role playing game and my beginning stats were quite laughable. I actually made life points depend on what you had for weaponry in the very very beginning. That's not the case now, I assure you.

That's basically it, how the idea got started and eventually became the books and games it has now. There is more to the history of GZ and I'll be sharing more of those stories soon.

Another awesome game preview!

Today I'm going to answer a question that a few have been guessing at and show you some more of what is coming to the expansion set for Galaxy Zento the board game. First, lets start with that question.

Folks have tried to guess what the art meant for this goal and now you can see for yourself. That's right, the goal is to get your character killed twice. That means collecting five damage (or getting assassinated) twice in a row. You see, getting killed in GZ doesn't mean you're out of the game (unless you opt out). It only means you have to start all over again. With all other goals, dying removes all your progress, but not with this one. Playing out this goal will allow you to be the craziest player on the board, bar none.

With the addition of monsters, there are some new effects that may help that goal along! Take the Acid Slime for example. Normal combats only deal one damage to you at the end of combat. Not so with this monster. You get a damage token every time it hits you and then get one for losing the combat (if you lose). It's possible to rack up 4 damage facing this creature and that could kill most players. A definite threat.

The Wraith isn't as thorny a foe as the Acid Slime, but losing a combat with it can still be costly. Powers and artifacts are some of the best character support in the game. Taking an additional damage from combat if you can't pay up with one of them may be expensive.

The instant kill possibilities don't end there when you can play as the Assassin. If your first attack in any combat is a natural 20, you win. If it's against a player, you just killed them. Watch out if you get into a combat with the person playing Glutton for Punishment though. You might inadvertently help them win the game!

With 16 new player character cards there will be lots of possibilities for cool character play. I'll be back with more info soon. Till then, keep up the good fight and game on!

Alternative play for the adventure game

Today I want to go over a couple of updates for my adventure board game, Galaxy Zento. These are legal ways to play and one will definitely speed things up for large group play (6 players). So let's get right to it!

SOLO PLAY: Yep, play by yourself. It's really very simple. Choose or random draw your goal and player character (being able to choose is the main change for this scale of play) and go to it will all other set up exactly the same. If you get your goal before you gain 5 damage (and die) you win! Naturally, you have to roll for both sides of combat, but that's not a difficult thing to do. I plan to put together a video of a full play through soon on solo play. All other rules are exactly the same in their application. Alignment is still important so play as good or evil.

COOPERATIVE PLAY: Now here's a mode that will speed up group game play. It's best for 4 or 6 players. What you do split into two even teams (or for 6 you could do three teams of 2). Everyone gets their random player character and a random goal. Each team will look over their goals and pick just one that the whole team will be trying to complete. The rest of the goals are discarded. Alignment is still important, so each team must be either good or evil and should be opposed to each other for the best results out of the deck. All other rules and effects play as normal. Everyone still gets their own turn. Try it out!

CUSTOMIZING YOUR DECK: Another important point of alternative play is customizing the main deck for your game. Right from the first set, you don't have to use all the cards that come with the game. You can set your deck any way you want so long has you have cards that support the goals. With the expansion set (in the works now) you will have 3 new goals that you can play at random. You must have at least 6 goals in play in your game. You can put any others back in the box. The expansion will also have 18 new player characters. You must have at least 6 active for players to play. That brings us to the main deck. You should have no less than 8 cards in relation to the goals you are playing in the deck. Anything else can be as many or as few as you like.

These are considered official and will be added on rule inserts in upcoming expansions. Soon I'll spill the beans on what you're going to get in the big expansion set coming up. It's big, bad and somewhat broken.

If you want to know more about Galaxy Zento, check out the BGG page HERE! If you want to grab it for yourself, see the links in the upper right of this page.

Awesome Gamer Podcasts and More

Today I'm going to talk about some talents that I support in the gaming and creative genres. If you love any form of the talents I'm talking about today, you need to check these guys out! I can't tell you how important independent talent really is. There is so much to see outside of the main media that you really are missing out if you don't check them out. So let us get down to it right away.

Jason L Elliott (PaladinElliott): This man is an up and coming reviewer recently recognized by Board Game Geek's official website. He runs a podcast called Ready to Game (Link will take you to his second posting of the podcast). In that he talks about games he's tried, gaming opinion, how to play, what's coming up and all sorts of gaming related goodness. Catch him at his brand new blogspot HERE.   He did a review of my game, Marshmallow Fight (link takes you to the Boardgame Geek page where you can find the review). Watch this guy because he's going places.

Jason Pierce (Gorebad): He runs the acclaimed Twitch channel, Howreroll. It's amazingly entertaining with decorum and innovative gaming style. You can catch his blog HERE. What to say about this guy? Shoot, when you click on Howreroll, scroll down to Gorebad's intro. He's been gaming since 1979 in DnD and other paper and pencil games. He had his own shop in the UK, ran games at Gencon in Europe. Now he raises funds for St Judes Children's Research Hospital. What's really cool about that is that he's local to me. I can get in my car and go talk to him. If you want to see an innovative way to present DnD to an internet audience you have to see his channel!

Tortured Earth: Speaking of DnD (but this isn't) here's a new class of role playing game created by K.B Kidder and Artice Dowdey. Check out the official web page HERE. These amazing creators are also local to me, but that's not the reason they get to have word here. Their game, a class-less and level-less role player set in an apocolyptic future promises a seamless transition for integrated characters of unique scale. Genres include fantasy, horror and science fiction. It's style shows right away that this is not just another "everything but the kitchen sink" role player. It has it's own established style and form that is bound to put it on the map. As an RPG designer myself, I'm telling you not to miss out on this experience.

J Morgan: A romantic fantasy author with Desert Breeze Publishing with over 20 books under his belt. The link will take you straight to his books. If you want to see a new take on vampires, he's your guy. I particularly like the Scrolls of Eternity series. He has a new age young adult flair that's hard to miss.

Kingdom Death: A recent gaming experience I had showed me that planning to play some games, may mean watching them. I've never died so fast in my life, especially on the first play of a game. That's not to knock the game though. I found the game to be amazing if not incredibly complicated in its build. So what happened? Well, we played as a crew of villagers headed out on a dangerous hunt for a white lion creature. In going on the hunt there are a series of event cards you turn over. The very first card revealed a giant worm creature that sprang from the ground. The card said, anyone carrying an item marked as "noisy" was dead. Well, I had a harp and it was marked as "noisy" so my character's immediate mission for the remainder of the game was indigestion. The other players felt terrible as it was my first time even gaming with them. I laughed it off and told them not to worry about it. I wasn't concerned. I watched the game play out and next time I'm sure I'll last an event or two longer. HERE is the game's website. Be prepared to make a substantial monetary investment for this game.

That's about it for this weeks journey. Don't forget to visit the Facebook page and get in on the free drawing that's going on! The clock is ticking!

Our experience at Southern Geekfest!

Photo by John Ethridge

We made it! Not only that but I have to say that I had the best convention experience I have ever had.

The con was arranged by the awesome people of Southern Geek, spearheaded by Rafe White and Tim Nicholas. With an awesome crew of volunteers they did a wonderful job of making this convention run very well. I know there were many times it didn't feel that way to Rafe as he was on the run non-stop.

The convention had everything you could hope for! A huge list of celebrities for autographs, amazing cosplayers from casual to pro, astounding artists, talented authors, a board gaming section, and vendors of geek paraphernalia. TEAAM for autism was there with their amazing Doctor Who Dalek laser game and a couple of cool TARDIS boxes for photos. ECTO1 from Ghostbusters was there as well as the awesome car from Supernaturnal.

Hangin with Discount Dark Knight and Capn Murica

Amazing people. That's what made this convention so special. I met people that I had only known online up to this point. Yes, that's something that I've done before, but this was the best meetup I had ever known by far. Southern Geek is a truly fantastic group of people. Everyone was friendly and glad to be there. Someone was always stopping by just to see how we were doing. The camaraderie was at factor 11. That doesn't even include the great people who came to see my board game or books. I had some wonderful discussions with people about my brand and everything in it. I'm still stoked today after this incredible weekend.

I was also on a panel for autism at conventions and it was such an honor to be involved. We discussed autism friendly environments, how to help someone who is being overwhelmed, and creativity in autism. Everyone on the panel had very educational information. Just one more great experience to add to the weekend.

Since this was a first time for me running a table (for my wife as well), I was a bit nervous. It went so smoothly, that I don't think I could have had a better first time experience if I tried.

For us, our convention fuse is lit. Now to figure out what we will do next!

Cards of the Boardgame: The PC's

I've tried doing a video series called Card Talk, to show how the cards work in Galaxy Zento the board game. Sadly, I just don't have good lighting or a location conducive to making the videos right. So it's time to go the blogspot way.

PC means Player Character. During game setup, each player is dealt a PC at random. Each PC has specific strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately, you can build on the weaknesses if you're even slightly lucky. The game has 6 PC's (but more are on the way) so let's go over them. First a quick explanation of the symbols/stats:

Star: This is the PC's attack modifier. When ever a d20 is rolled for an attack, this number is added to the result in order to reach the target's defense.

Shield: This is a PC's defense. The number that has to be reached on a d20 roll for a hit.

Speech Bubble: This is the recruitment ability. Possible allies have to be recruited with a d20 roll. This modifier is added to the result to reach the recruitment number on an ally's card (shown in the same symbol).

Arrow: This is the modifier for evading enemies. Basically sneaking away from conflicts instead of fighting. This is also done with a d20 roll compared to the requirement on a character or creature card in the same symbol.

Not all abilities have symbols. There are modifiers for Spells (if the PC can use them at any time), Traps (to escape them) and Obtain for grabbing mystical artifacts (which are not the same as items). As a note, I will tell you that there are powerful items coming that will require an obtain roll.

So on to the 6 PC's that you can play in GZ. (Click on images for better view)

WIZARD: Why not start with possibly the coolest of the bunch? As you can see, the Wizard is not a hand to hand combatant. He gets no modifier for combat. His defense is low, so you'll want to get him an ally as soon as you can or items if you can find them. Where he becomes a super power is that he is the only one of the six who starts out able to use spells. Spells come from their own deck and get drawn at the beginning of your turn. You don't have to reveal them until they are put into play. The Wizard's modifier for spell use is a 10, making any combat he uses spells in, much better. If he attacks a PC with a spell, there's a good chance he'll hit. And he can be at a comfortable range to do it. As an added bonus, unlike anyone else who gains magic use, he can draw 2 spell cards for his turn instead of 1. When he wins combats with spells, he gets an extra achievement token (used as wild card modifiers where ever you want).

PSYCHIC: The Psychic has decent numbers because, well, being psychic has it's advantages. She's excellent at recruiting allies or avoiding trouble with enemies. She's average at dealing with traps too because she can "see" her way around them. Where she's really great is her special ability. Once per turn you may look at the top card of any deck. You may put that card on the bottom of the deck. You can use this ability to give yourself a chance at a better draw for for your turn, or to prevent the person after you from getting a cool card that happens to be on the top of the deck. If you gain spell use, you can use this ability on the spell deck for yourself. But, you can also use it to mess up spell draw for someone who can draw them. You can only use this trick on your turn though, so use it wisely.

STRONGMAN: The brute of the game. He's good in combat, and that's really about it. He gets a great modifier against beasts and monsters along with gaining an extra achievement token for winning combats with beasts and monsters. Don't be too quick to dismiss him. With his head start in combat (which is extremely important) he only gets better from there as you find things to build him up with. Thanks to his bonus, he's also one of the best PC's to have against a beast called The Monstrosity. We'll get to those later though.

SOLDIER: Extra good at combat, average at recruit and evade, but makes up for it as soon as you give him a weapon item. Modifiers from weapon items give him an extra +2.  His defensive power of +2 attack and defense if attacked by another PC makes him a thorny target. The bigger he gets, the meaner that becomes.

SPEEDSTER: Arguably, the most awesome stats of the game. Super speed is super cool. She gets awesome attack and defense stats and her evade is monumental. A +3 to movement doesn't hurt either. She can either keep far away from PC's that would attack her OR stay close to those she wants to target.  Check out her "disarm" special ability. Once per turn, during movement, you may make an attack roll on an adjacent opponent. If successful, steal 1 item from that player. Continue your movement. So, basically, you're running along, pause next to someone, snag something from them, and run away. How annoying can you be with that?




INVENTOR: Another PC who really doesn't start out as a combatant. He's good at recruiting help and is a master with traps. Giving him items is also awesome. With him, the +4 from a laser rifle becomes +8. Then his attack shoots up to a +10. His tinker ability is also very handy. During your turn, you may discard an item to take any item (not artifact) from the discard and put it into play for yourself. You also don't roll to obtain items (which will be more useful with upcoming expansions).

I'm happy to report that the first expansion for GZ will have 18 new PC's to really spice up your gameplay possibilities. I'll do a report on them later on, when closer to release.

To see more of what this board game is about: go HERE.  To catch the books that the game follows, click on my Author's page link in the upper right.

Board Game Quandry: Reader's Advice?

Yes, I'm asking you, the gaming reader, for your advice. Consider that what you post here may become the advice sought out by other game creators like me.

Points to consider:

-I'm not just a game creator, but also an author and I'm trying to make GZ it's own standing universe. It has a long way to go with hopes for apps, graphic novels, and maybe even video games. I'm not just looking to take GZ one direction, but many.

-No matter what is available, everything will get future improvements. New editions with improved art and function are always in consideration. For that matter, I'm collaborating with an exceptional artist and the image is his drawing and my coloring. People are already digging it.

-If I do this, it will put games in players' hands. Players will also be able to rate my game on site.

My board game is fully playable. I'm working on a tweak here and there, but essentially it's ready and I'll have those improvements done first.

What I'm thinking of doing is going ahead and making my game available to order on The Game Crafter website for 45 dollars a copy. A few of you wonderful people were willing to back it on Kickstarter at 50.

Not only will this put my game out there for you and other players, but it will provide me with a modest business income that I can grow with.

So what do you gaming folk think of this idea? If you want to look over the information on my game you can do so at this LINK.

I value your input and appreciate it. Rock on gamers! Keep those dice a rolling!

Tabletop, Wil Wheaton, and Internet Judgment

(Language warning)

Incidents with Wil Wheaton's blog last week created an uproar on the net of tidal proportions. Who doesn't know that Wil Wheaton runs the coolest game demoing show on the net? If you haven't watched Tabletop, you are missing out. Alas, his third season has had some problems that he comes out to explain in the following of his blog posts:

TABLETOP, KINGDOM BUILDER AND SCREWING UP THE RULES

CRITICAL FAILURE

Before I get too far, I'm going to quote Wil on that second blog post where he says something that hits remarkably close to home for me and my project.

Note that first sentence. It's of incredible importance. It's a solemn reminder that we are human. Something that people seem to want to cast aside when it comes to the internet. You aren't allowed to be human on the internet. The entirety of both those blog posts show that Wil is just that, human. It shows that he deals with all the same bull that someone new to the industry can deal with.

It's also an important lesson in dealing with people who aren't going to like what you do. It's a lesson I learned, but I wasn't prepared for the level of gross "shitting on" I was going to receive. It honestly took me by surprise. As Wil said in his second blog post, he may not have responded to the issues in the best way he could. Same goes for me. But there are points for everyone when the needling just hits that nerve one too many times.

You're supposed to always be positive and always wear a happy face. But that's not the human thing to do when people are taking that gratuitous dump on your work.

When my art work was attacked; hold on, let me explain that. It felt like being attacked because the feedback consisted of unhelpful negative remarks given in force of numbers. When 8-15 people line up in one comment thread to say things like:

"Your work looks like a five year old did it."
"It looks purposely bad."
"It's abysmal."
"My kid could do better on MS Paint."
"Hire someone else to do it."

It's only natural to feel  outnumbered and it shook me up. Then I had people ask me questions that they clearly didn't want the answers to. When they got the answer they said I was full of excuses. But you know what all that really means? Two things.

-I'll never impress those people with anything. No, Nothing. Accept it.
-Those are the absolute wrong people for me to show my work to.

My artwork is my achievement. Do I expect it to be the permanent face of my project. No I don't. But it's still my achievement. These people have no idea how  hard it was for me to do what I did, and frankly, they don't give two shits.

So I have to get this going in my mind. When someone lines up to shit on my work, I need to dismiss them. I have too much to do to worry about their woes. If they have a constructive idea to toss my way, I'm all cool with that. If they just don't like my games or stories. That's fine too.

But even in the practice of that, I'm human. Has being human alienated me? Probably to some degree. I feel bad about that, but I just have to dust myself off and keep working.

I think Wil Wheaton is going to bounce back from this and keep doing amazing things. I'm sure I can follow that example.

I have to stick with the facts that matter too. People who have played my game have enjoyed it. I have published two books. I have actually fully developed and designed a prototype in solid cardboard. These are my achievements. Let no amount of elitist shit ever tarnish them.

New board game prototype: It's a GO!

I just got this in the mail today. As prototypes go, it's definitely good enough for demos.

Let me say something up front for my critics and anyone else who wants to know: this is not the final look of my game. This is a prototype. Prototypes don't have to look perfect, they have to be playable. And this is.

I've gotten some great tips on rule tweaks, many of which have already been added. The cards are crisp, clear and readable. They shuffle well. It all performs like a pro made game. The Game Crafter does a pretty good job with their stuff.

The board. I am very happy with it and I must say it's exactly how I want it to represent the worlds depicted in my novel. It's a little weird with the theme of the cards, but once related to the story, I think it's forgivable. I have other boards planned for expansions that will definitely help out.

The cards, when I get them, I do have to go through and sort the cards based on what deck they are supposed to be in. Since the backs of the cards are clearly marked, this is a minor issue. I love the little ziploc baggies they send. They really help with game storage and to keep decks separate.

Everyone has really loved the little plastic meeples. There are several types to choose from, but these fit the board very well.

Artwork depicts very clearly, maybe too much so for some nuances. However, it's not a final product. One day I will have extra help (not that such isn't in consideration right now: hint hint).

This also serves as proof my game exists.

Some people out there are wondering what my future plans are for GZ. How do I intend to become a company? Well, as I've said before: everyone has to start somewhere. It's as simple as that. Right now, anyone who jumps in, needs to be aware that I'm asking them to take some risks with me. I need a graphic artist for one and likely a team of like minded people for another. But here's the thing, I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing until I find one. I'm building something here and I'm going to keep building until the day comes that I'm totally incapable of doing so. I refuse to just sit and stare at the wall just because I don't have the funds to hire someone. Great business minds have done the exact same thing and wound up with their own empires. Need and example?

The owner of Papa John's started in a broom closet at a bar. People laughed at him. They criticized him. They said a business like that isn't "worthy" because it's in  broom closet. And who's laughing or mocking now? He kept right on going and focused on those who were willing to try his pizza and look past the fact that he was operating out of broom closet. Sure, there are still people who hate his pizza today. Good thing he doesn't need them. Those who tried it, came back for more.

Those who have tried my game, have liked it. I don't expect everyone to love love love it. That's scientifically impossible. But for those who are going to tell me just can't do this, expect the brush off from now on. I'm sorry, but being told to go hire someone else isn't constructive or helpful and is already in my docket of plans. I will just no longer respond to anyone who can't do any more than bash my work, tell me I'm full of excuses, or any other negativity that I just don't need. For those who continue, I tell you what, live someone's life before you sneer at it. If you fail at this, fate may just lend a hand one day.

So, for those who are patient and willing to work with a person on a timetable, I have playtesting opportunities coming up. I have print and play available and I'm ordering one (sometimes 2) prototypes to send out to people per month. It's what I can do. If that's too much to bear, have a nice day, week, life.

As many of you know, the artwork for my game has been under a lot of scrutiny and ridicule. My skin is getting thicker, but recently I asked for input on my gaming page as it sits on Boardgame Geek's website.  LINK.

I can handle the fact that artwork is up to the person viewing. For everyone who says they hate my work, I have someone who says they like it. But recently someone went too far with their dislike of my work. And I'm pretty sure they've never even played it. They can't have, so what I'm about to show you is an example of a pretty rotten  thing to do.

Take a look at the image and allow me to explain. There are option on games listed on BGG that allow you, the player, to vote on your recommendations for how a game should be played. The red arrows indicate the answers someone came and lodged on the page.

First Arrow: This points to someone's opinion that my game is "not best with any number of players".

Second Arrow: This points to someone's opinion that may game is "not recommended with any number of players".

Third Arrow: This points to someone's opinion that the age range on my game should be from "6 to 8" years of age.

Now I've had some mean things said to me about my work followed with nothing helpful whatsoever. I've also had very helpful people give me tips on how to move forward. But this isn't about the helpful people (who seem to be rare these days). This is about the infantile children that play cutthroat and sabotage on people's hard work. This is about the long line of people I've had to line up whenever they see me to take a ferocious dump on anything I do.

They want me to give up and disappear for reasons I can't fathom. They will fail.

Online bullies only steel my resolve.

I'm actually quite disappointed with the behavior I've seen from some gamers. We tout that we are such an understanding geek community and then someone does things like this.

So, you don't like my artwork. You say I should hire someone. I'd love to, but I can't. I'm starting from very humble beginnings since I'm disabled (they probably hate disabled people) and have a family to take care of.  So maybe you don't realize it, but everyone has to start from somewhere. So I'm lucky I can still do any artwork as it is.

You don't like what I stand for? Good for you. You don't have to sabotage me for it.

Maybe I should be flattered that some are so threatened by my presence that they have to pull hate games like this.

I refuse to be destroyed by the likes of online bullies who think they need to control what people get to play or build.

Gearing up for Print and Play! And a bit more.

It seems there is some decent demand for games in the Print and Play society. One notable is Cards Against Humanity. There are others too. I'm putting together a print and play version of Galaxy Zento and hope to get it into players hands, for guess how much?

NOTHING.

That's right, pretty simple right? I'm not totally sure how I will make it available. I will likely give it out via email to certain folks who enjoy print and play games or who want to give it a go.

Lining up the pages hasn't been easy. You can see what I've done in Photoshop. The idea is that you print it all out and put the decks together. You can play on any board with a sufficient amount of spaces OR draw your own board with a big ol piece of cardboard, ruler and marker. That doesn't mean I won't have the board available though. Depends on how tech savvy you are when it comes to images and printing. I'm not.

It seems weird to give away my game like that, but the reports I get back is that people who enjoy my game are more likely to order the hard copy. The hard copy isn't available yet as I'm still waiting for a new copy of my game to get to me so I can check the new designs I added. The same designs you see right here.

As for local friends who want to score a copy, I may have a way for them to do so if they wish. I'm still working on that. What I'm considering will require patience however, because I have to have it printed and sent to me before sending to others. But that means a signed copy so you have that to look forward to, if that's a direction I take. I will probably do so at something of a discount from the aimed price of 45 dollars. Maybe 40 plus the 12 dollars shipping.

One thing is for certain, there is a lot more to putting together a game than I even thought of. And I thought of quite a bit.

So, if you would be interested in a print and play copy of my game, hit me up at my Email: Galaxyzento@gmail.com. First come first serve.

Warning: it is a big file and in color, but you can always set your printer to black and white.

Updates and decisions

I know I had a story going for a few, but I haven't been able to keep up with it because of other workings. I want to make my game available for general purchase soon for those who are ready to get themselves a copy. While doing that, I'm going to order a copy myself each month that will go out to someone for playing or consideration of publishing further.

I really want to get to the convention circuit, but we have to have starting capital to get that going. Right now, we just don't have it. I was considering trying Kickstarter again, but it seems like that's frowned on somehow in the kickstarter community. So I'm really not sure what to do about that other than starting to sell proto-types. Or at least passing them out a few places.

If picked up for publishing, the company that does that will redo all the artwork as is. So I don't think I'm going to be redoing a ton of artwork right now. I will be making some special things for people anyhow and pressing on with current development. After all, I do have another book to release and more of my own artwork.

That being said, I'm working on learning new tricks for my graphic art skills. Regardless of what I'm still capable of doing, I can still try to improve. A new trick here or there may be all I really need.

I may get back to the choose your own adventure story. Unfortunately, just not enough people were involved (though the folks who were, did awesome). But game development and stories for publication are pretty time demanding. I know I need to get more audience for it.

As for my books, I keep having people tell me they don't have a kindle device. The cool thing is that you don't need one. You can get the Kindle APP for any device for free. Then my books are only 99 cents. Hey, cheap reads! I'm going to keep my prices nice and easy like that for as long as I can, so take advantage while you can!

That be our update for now! More to come as I get work done.

Open Challenge to Graphic Artists or...

In the past week, I've been hit with enough unhelpful negativity to dig ten graves. Allow me to explain while simultaneously issuing a serious challenge.

I've been trying to follow the advice of the gurus and blogs by going to certain web pages (Facebook and elsewhere) to get feedback and more advice on moving forward with making Galaxy Zento the Boardgame. What I got, I was in no way prepared for. On two pages that I will not name, I was immediately told that my work:

"will fail"
"looks like a child did it"
"is awful"
"sucks"

And several more fine gems of pure "your work is so bad you should get someone else do it".  Should I? Well, here's a little clue for you. If you are going to talk to me like that, it won't be you.

Yes, I've admitted I can't pay anyone, but you didn't know that before my explanation. For all you know, I could be up for a small business loan tomorrow. I'm looking for people who can uplift, not put down.

I was told to go to these pages for advice. I didn't get that. No one tried to suggest formats I could learn. No one tried to explain WHY a layout didn't work. Only that it's awful. Sorry, that's not helpful by any means. It also does not fit my situation. I was talked to like I should already know all about graphic art. But if that were true, why would I be there asking advice in the first place? Try to figure that one out.

NOW> If you can read through all that, check your ego at the door and still give me two cents of your time, this is what I actually need and what my actual situation is.

Important note: I do not expect to be the sole artist of  my project. I'm losing my abilities to Multiple Sclerosis. As painful as that is, I know I can't be the one and only and I know it hurts my artwork. I don't need reminders of it.

But I have a universe of serious opportunity for the right person or team. I have a cast of amazing characters and I'm about to release my second novel (third book total). I have plans for a series of customizable and interlinked board games. Play testing has been overwhelmingly successful at three venues. There are plans here for more than even just that.

I need someone or a team to take up the job with me, hand in hand to take GZ to the next level. If you think you can do that, then we need to talk. But first, go to my page and get to know my universe. I'll send you my books OR you can get them for kindle for just 99 cents. We can skype or talk on the phone and get to know each other.

Now there's one more thing. I want GZ to help kids. I want to inspire kids with disabilities like autism to never give up. Think you can get on board with that?

By the way, my awesome wife is my business manager and we are a geek gamer family. I'm actually easy to work with and willing to take all your design ideas into consideration. I'm not a tyrant. I want your talent to shine with GZ. You lift me and I'll lift you.

You need to be serious and ready to roll up your sleeves. You need to be ready to be a part of the grand design. Think  you can handle it?

Other places to go with GZ: Card games, graphic novels, and apps. I have the idea building blocks for them all.

If I can't find anyone I have no choice but to go forward myself, win, lose, or fall. I'm not getting any younger. So if you don't want to be on board, but still want to lend your advice, fine, but I don't need to hear how I'm going to fail. So save the negativity if you please.