Category Archives: Events

Comicpalooza Houston (and Twilight Company in Paperback)

Just a brief update this time around–life and work have been busy, and while I’ve got a few new game writing articles in various stages of production it may be a while before I have a chance to polish any up.

If you want to nag me in person about game writing or anything else, however, I’ll be attending Comicpalooza in Houston June 17th and 18th. (The convention is Friday through Sunday, but I’m departing Sunday morning.) I’ll be participating in a number of panels, as follows (full details, including locations and other panelists, at the official schedule):

Friday, June 17th

8:00pm: Monster Design 101. No roleplaying game is complete without some monsters. Find out what makes a truly effective monstrosity, and work with our panelists to brainstorm ideas for a cool original RPG monster.

Saturday, June 18th

12:00pm: Player Agency and Designer Authorship. In video games, especially when you’ve got a designer-authored experience rather than a purely emergent or procedural one, you’ve got to give the player a reasonable sense of agency over their experience and the feeling that the bad things that happen to them are fair and consistent–no one likes shooting through a room full of baddies only to be disarmed by one guy with a pistol in a cutscene, for instance.

2:00pm: What Makes a Good Villain? This panel takes a look at the characteristics of a good villain for your RPG campaign. Whether a tragic figure or a relentless force of nature, a memorable and compelling villain can add depth and vitality to any game. Come find out some tricks you can use to enhance your bad guys!

6:00pm: Cutscenes Within Video Games. Lots of people have strong feelings about them! What makes a cutscene good or bad? How can they be used well?

The rest of the time I’ll very likely be wandering around the con, so feel free to say “hi.” I’ll almost certainly show up at at least one of the roller derby exhibition bouts going on! If you can’t catch me at a panel but still want to chat, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter during the day and see if I’m in shouting distance.


On an unrelated note, the paperback edition of my novel Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company will be out June 28th. It’s the same as ever, but the paperback includes Janine K. Spendlove‘s short story “Inbrief” (previously published in Star Wars Magazine insider, starring Twilight Company’s resident bounty hunter Brand) as well. Bonus!

I won’t reiterate my pitch for the book here, but there’s more on the Bibliography page as well as a lengthy excerpt, synopsis, and blurbs over at the official Penguin Random House site.

New York Comic Con (and Twilight Company preview)

Back to self-promotion for a spell. It’s been a busy few months and I haven’t had a lot of time to add new game writing articles, but I’ve got a few in various stages of completion. More soon, perhaps.

Meanwhile, I’ll be attending New York Comic Con this week! I’ll primarily be doing promotion for my novel Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company, which comes out November 3rd, but I’m happy to chat about writing, games, past projects, roller derby, or whatever else. Come by and say “hello!”

My schedule is as follows, though (of course) subject to change:

Friday, October 9th

11:00am – 12:00pm: Star Wars: A Galaxy of Fandom panel (Room 1A24)

2:00pm: Signing at Del Rey booth (#2205); free giveaway of Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company posters

Saturday, October 10th

11:00am: Signing at Del Rey booth (#2205); free giveaway of Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company posters

Sunday, October 11th

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Lucasfilm Presents: Star Wars: A Galactic Reader’s Theatre panel (Room 1A21)

2:00pm: Signing at Del Rey booth (#2205); free giveaway of Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company posters

Other Information

I may pop in briefly to the Star Wars: The Old Republic community event (and cosplay contest!) to say hello to old friends and colleagues, but I won’t be there in any official capacity or representing BioWare. Nonetheless, feel free to say “hi” if you spot me.

Twilight Company patches

In addition to the poster giveaways, the Del Rey team will be giving away nifty Twilight Company patches to anyone who swings by the booth and shows a pre-order confirmation for the book (just show an e-mail confirmation on your phone). You can get the patches at any time, not just during the signings.

I’ll sign anything I’ve worked on–if you want to bring one of the Dragon Age comics or whatever else, feel free.

Twilight Company Excerpt

Finally, there’s now a 70-page preview of Twilight Company up at the official site. If you’re interested but not completely sold or just want an early peek, go take a look.

Designing Stories for Nonlinear Game Segments (or “Civic Planning for Side Quest City”)

It’s been a busy few months–I’ve been juggling multiple projects across multiple media and haven’t had the opportunity to blog much. I’ll be at the Game Developer’s Conference next week and hope to see some of y’all there. In the meantime, here’s a quick and dirty examination of an important subject: designing stories for nonlinear game segments. In other words, side quests.

Continue reading

A Small Update

It’s been ages since my last post, and it’s going to be a while more before my next “real” update–life and work have been busy, and I’m going to be traveling with intermittent Internet for the next several weeks.

Hoping to get back to a semi-regular schedule upon my return. In the meantime, a few bits and pieces:

I’ll be attending New York Comic Con from October 10th through 13th. Not currently planning any signings or events, but feel free to say “hi” if you see me on the show floor or ping me via e-mail or Twitter if you’d like to meet up.

Game Update 2.4, “The Dread War” is coming out soon for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Quite a lot of the writing for the planet Oricon is my work–my first (though not last) work for BioWare as a freelancer instead of as an in-house employee. It’s short and focused (and leads into the update’s Operations), but I think fans of story-based content will enjoy it.

My third Dragon Age comic book miniseries, Dragon Age: Until We Sleep is out in a lovely hardcover edition. The trilogy is now complete and bookshelf-appropriate! My latest Star Wars comics (the two-issue miniseries Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist) have also been collected in Star Wars: Purge–a trade paperback that also includes stories by John Ostrander and Haden Blackman.

That’s it for now. Once again, forgive my sporadic posts, and I’ll try to get some new content up after NYCC!

Forthcoming Project Roundup and Convention Appearances (February 2013)

A few folks have asked what I’m working on currently. Unfortunately, non-disclosure agreements prevent me from saying much–I’m actively doing more video game writing and having a grand time of it, but I can’t go into details yet. Non-video game projects (some creator-owned, some not) are in a similar boat or still in the exploratory phase, and I’d rather not announce anything without a firm publisher commitment.

But I’ve still got some items in the pipeline. Here’s a handy list of things that will be out shortly: Continue reading