Reading the Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, I find myself diverted to the Brit-like version of Viking history. At the same time the Ken Harl lectures on the Vikings have caused me to sketch out another game, about the Rus (Vikings in Russia), not at all Brit-like, more a cross between Germania and Seas of Gold. When I'll get to making a map is another question. I won't have any time this weekend for anything other than the Caledonia PBEM test.

I've been working on the Franks map some more, while listening to Ken Harl's Viking tapes. Otherwise, I'm doing little bits on lots of different games, unfortunately don't seem to be interested in writing rules.

I've assigned initiative values to the Event Cards in Seas of Gold, so that they can be played "simultaneously", just as the Action Cards.

I looked into "Ed2Go" today to consider doing an online "How to Design Games" course. They are happy to tell you that it will require 120 single-spaced pages, and 10 hours a week, but NOT how much you'll be paid (depending muchly on how many people are in the course, I'm sure).

Recnetly I've written some of the rules for "Law & Chaos" (tm), and printed bigger maps for "Franks & Vikes". Thanks to a suggestion from Rick Heli that I try a diplomatic game, I've come up with something (for now titled "Furst Bismarck") that shows the diplomatic conflict in the years before World War I, and dug up a map for it. The game ends when war begins, with points determining the winner. Much of it is based on "control of neutrals" rules from old Diplomacy variants I've designed, melded with some kind of Action Card system as in "Seas of Gold" (tm) and so forth.

I've been reading a lot on Consimworld and Boardgamegeek, looking at ways to find playtesters and to publicize Sweep of History Games Magazine and the second edition of Brit.

But I still feel as though I'm not PLAYING anything.

I've been trying to get in touch with designers of Brit-like and "Sweep of history" games in connection with the magazine, a task that Rick Heli has been very helpful in. Haven't had much luck getting playtesters at the college to play these days, though we did get in one game of "Law & Chaos" (or whatever I'm going to call it). I'm not sure how the game will work out in the end, but it certainly is different.

I do feel as though I haven't played anything lately, certainly not solo (but for one game of Law & Chaos). Next week is fall break, maybe something will happen then.

I've been spending the little free time I have on "Sweep of History" magazine, hearing from Andreas Stedding (Hispania) and Randy Moorehead (Rus). It is always difficult to persuade people to contribute, we'll see what happens.

Otherwise I have only worked on the elecontronic version of the "Franks & Fury" board. Also received today the Teaching Company's tapes on The Vikings by Ken Harl, which shoudl be interesting (and, as I have four Viking games going, should be useful as well).

I have revised Caledonia slightly and am now looking for PBEM playtesters.

Britannia is listed on FFG's Web site for December release, $39.95.

As I'm a Robert Jordan fan, games will take a back seeat to the new Wheel of Time book for a while...

I'm going to experiment with using this blog for what blogs originally were--Web diaries (web log).

The past few days I've finished the electronic version of the Welsh game map (following a grease-pencil version I worked out), and started on the electronic version for the Frankia block game. Revised Caledonia slightly in light of "Before Scotland" book. Revised several other games slightly.

And yesterday I came up, out of nowhere, with an interesting if abstract game (originally to use glass beads, which are so attractive as pieces) that also uses cards, which I'll call Law & Chaos (or Order & Chaos) for now. I think it must be the first time I started a game and played it the same day. I believe it will accommodate up to four players, only tried it with two.

I'm not much of a blogger, as I haven't updated this one in months.

I try to come up with a new game about every month. In August it was a Scottish version of Britannia, Caledonia (TM), which I've played five times solo. It feels a lot like Brit, though smaller. I don't seem to have many prospects of getting it playtested FTF hereabouts, so I may try to get a game or two going by e-mail.

In September it was... a Welsh version of Brit. I'm much less advanced on this, don't have an electronic version of the board. I am reading John Davies' History of Wales to get more information. My present dilemma is whether to include "west Wales" (Cornwall and Devon) or not. I do seem to have a good set of sides, if I include west Wales.

This month it is a "block game" version of the Viking attacks on Frankia. But without dice, using the Germania battle card system instead. As with most other games of this type, it is for two players only, not my habit nowadays. Making a map is the next step.

Britannia Second Edition has "gone to the printers". As the printers are in China, AFAIK, it will be at least two months before the games get to the US.

I was at Origins in Columbus last week. Germania is with an interested publisher (we played a game at the convention). The next step, by his reckoning, is written negotiations. It is still the case that any comments about the clarity of the rules are welcome. The publisher also may want to change some of the names (Granada to Lusitania, for example), and in a game like this that is always a matter of taste, whether you use Roman, Dark Age, or later Middle Ages names. I have revised the rules for clarity (not in substance) since I sent them to several of you.

I talked at length with another publisher about Seas of Gold, which is not quite ready for "blind" playtesting. Nothing going with Gangsters: the small company I'd talked to last year wasn't at the con (not unusual), and I haven't got a peep out of Steve Jackson games. This business is always very slow. Publishers plan issues well ahead--FFG is already booked up through 2006, for example.

The main Fantasy Flight guys were not at Origins. I understand they're about to deal in earnest with Brit 2, which makes the publication date sometime in the late fall. They also have Dragon Rage, a game originally published in 1982, but have not had time to look at it (and I don't know when they will--they're very busy, and hiring new people).

Here are some figures that may interest you about the business side of boardgaming. Print runs are, usually, much less than in days of old. The print run of Britannia in UK was 10,000 in 1986, and I suspect (don't know) twice that in the US, maybe more. Dragon Rage's original print run in 1982 was 10,000. If Brit 2 sees 5,000 this year, that will be exceptionally high for a wargame. Wacht Am Rein, a successful "big" hex wargame, had a print run of 1,500 (and will be reprinted). I've read (don't know) that Columbia does 2,000 of each of their popular "block games". Strategy & Tactics magazine's circulation (with the game) is about 3,200; Against the Odds magazine is 2,500. S&T also does some 7,000 without the game through Barnes and Noble.

In other words, there's not much market for any individual wargame. I suspect that's because there are so many games that the market is diluted, but also because younger people have found other things to do than play board wargames.

Euro-style games can have quite small print runs to start with (but larger than wargames), and are perhaps more likely to be reprinted. One that wins the German Game of the Year award can go to half a MILLION in reprint, however.

Even among collectible card games, there's great dilution. One game collector has more than five hundred CCG in his collection. One of the main halls was devoted to CCG, with the national Yu-Gi-Oh tournament handing out significant prizes (expenses-paid trip to world championship in Tokyo and a DVD-equipped laptop for first and second place; the trip for third and fourth place).

The "cult of the new" was very obvious at Origins. Manufacturers of collectible card and related games (there's one that uses a poker chip format!, as well as all the miniatures versions) employ people to teach convention attendees how to play the latest games in hopes of hooking them "on the spot". The boardgame tournaments are much smaller than at WBC (where the focus is on playing great games), even though the overall attendance is 15 times higher.

BTW, Origins attendance was 11,000 unique individuals after two days, so they expected to go over their record of 15,000. WBC attendance is about a thousand. GenCon claims 50,000, but that's person-days, not unique individuals, so it would appear to be the same size as Origins.

It's been said that Euro games are very pacific because Germans don't like wargames. I'm told, however, that computer wargames sell very well in Germany. So the consumers don't mind wargames. It's the owners of the shops (family game shops) who feel they shouldn't have conflict games on the shelves.

This should have been posted a couple weeks ago...

I used to correspond with Roberto di Meglio (owner of Nexus, co-designer of War of the Rings). But in January he went silent on me, even though we were working on a business proposition. I got so concerned that I finally asked someone who worked with Nexus how Roberto was doing, and was told he's fine. But I still cannot get a word out of him. Very puzzling.

Brit 2 (again), Seas of Gold (tm), and Enchanted Labyrinth: The Card Game (tm) have most occupied my gaming time lately. Along with Stars of Gold (tm), which leaped into being recently. It is somewhat like Seas of Gold(tm), not surprisingly, and similar in that after I played it three times I have a full set of playable rules, most unusual for me, but about the same thing that happened with Seas.

I have been thinking about writing a book about game design. I realized that some of the articles I have written, or that I'm writing now, are excellent material for such a book, and when I checked word counts I found that a reasonably-sized book isn't all that time-consuming (80-90K words is a shortish novel). Now who would publish such a thing is another matter. I would aim for it to be the same size as Game Inventors Guidebook (I may have the title twisted) by Brian Tinsman. I'm working on an outline.

I'll be at Origins and WBC, but none of the other big conventions. More local game meetings are better places for playtesters.

Last June, while on Jersey Island off the coast of France, I set myself the task of designing a card game, just to say I could do it. (I don't play card games, generally.) Gangsters: Taking Care of Business (TM) was one result, and a bird-watching game that I haven't yet developed.

Since the I've come up with a couple more ideas, but nothing beyond that.

Recently I decided to try designing "Britannia: The Card Game" (tm), and found that it worked so well (and came together so quickly) that I went on to design several more based on my boardgames Germania, Enchanted Labyrinth, and Seas of Gold (all tm). It's amazing how quickly the game comes together when you already have much of it designed via the boardgame. Of course, there are more limitations with a card game (and I try to design games that only use cards, nothing else); but limitations can actually help make a design better, not worse, as you concentrate on what's important.

The end of a not-very-good semester has kept me very busy, but I have had time to play "MegaBrit" twice, and am about to play a new game, "Viking Gold" (tm), which is a Viking version of Seas of Gold, more or less. I seem to be a phase of fascination with the Vikings, and have started designing a Brit-like Viking game, as well, 793-1093 or thereabouts, covering Britain, Ireland, and northern France and Germany (as does Viking Gold).

I did get to have Germania, Gangsters, and Seas of Gold (all (tm)) at Game Day in late April at NCState. I think Seas of Gold is about 95% done, the others 99%.

I have not heard a word from FFG since sending them the Brit 2 rules more than a month ago. They're hiring four new people and are evidently very busy with expansion.

I intend to go to Origins and World Boardgaming Championships this summer.

My Web site and pulsipher.net email have been down since Saturday, when the server failed; I was told it would be restored in 4-6 hours. My host (Lunarpages) voice support says the server is back up but for some MySQL problems, but that they won't talk with people who used the server I'm on because all they can do is write trouble tickets. I finally got logged in sufficiently to see that my site seems to be lost (not restored). Quite frustrating.

Last weekend I played a game of Megabrit from beginning to end. It seems to work fairly well, when playing as independent nations. I'm not sure how well it will work with four (or five) sides, as there are so many nations on the board at once, and many are not very large or robust but can score a lot of points.

I've recevied the signed contract from FFG and will be sending the game Monday or Tuesday.

I have been playing with Mega-Brit lately, and may play teh game soon. Another game brought out of fallow-land is The Two World Wars (tm).

On EN World people have been talking about their favorite articles from Dragons long ago, and four of mine have been cited. I may have to post some on my site.

I posted Why has the Gaming Hobby Changed? on my Web site in January. This article has generated a strong response. I received several e-mails from people I don't know telling me how accurate it seemed to be. And some bloggers vituperatively trashed it, though they did not have the courtesy to let me know they were doing so--I have just stumbled onto some of this. Where I come from, if you want to arrive at the truth, you discuss something with the source of your disagreement; shooting your mouth off where the target won't even know about it is a form of cowardice.

They must not have read "Are Video Games Turning Us into a Nation of Losers". Then they'd really hit the ceiling!

I have the signed contract from FFG for Brit II, and will be sending the rules off any day now.

I've been spending more time on "Mega-Brit" than I should, and may even play a game fairly soon. Anotehr game to be pulled out of the "fallow" pile recently is The Two World Wars. I've also found a way to put a flagstone background on the Enchanted Labyrinth map, very neat. Thank you CorelDraw.

I stumbled across some blog comments on Why has the Gaming Hobby Changed? , which is posted on my web site. This article has generated a strong response. I received several e-mails telling me how accurate it seemed to be. On the other hand, the bloggers vituperatively trashed it, though they did not have the courtesy to let me know they were doing so. Where I come from, if you want to arrive at the truth, you discuss something with the source of your disagreement; shooting your mouth off where the target won't even know about it is a form of cowardice. I have learned that the contents of blogs varies greatly in quality, so I'm not purusing the matter. The article will be revised, and then I'll submit it to a magazine.

I don't think the bloggers read Are Video Games Turning Us Into a Nation of Losers. They'd really hit the ceiling . . .

Lew

FFG has announced via press release (which I haven't seen) and at GAMA that they're publishing Britannia Second Edition. I'm *still* tweaking rules, but I should think any day now I'll get word to send it in.

I have just sent out Germania for blind playtesting. Enchanted Labyrinth will be next.

I was gearing up to do a "Sweep of History" e-zine, but the original volunteer editor-publisher has reappeared. Now that my graduate class has finished, I may have time to write some things for it.

My next submission task is to find a publisher for reprinting Dragon Rage.

Not going to PrezCon was a good decision, because we playtested a 3-player version of Brit II, and because I got a streaming cold.

I should get the signed contracts back for Brit II next week.

On the way home from the NC Computer Instructor's Association meeting in Lenoir (where I gave a talk about teaching game design and programming), I had more ideas for the European colonization version of Seas of Gold (tm).

I am almost "out from under" the burden of the graduate class I teach: I still need to grade the finals and research papers. Then I'll have a bit more time for games.

I am so busy, and need to work directly on Brit II, that I've decided not to go to PrezCon next weekend (which also saves quite a bit of money). I could not have made it until late Friday because of classes, and as the tournament will be old Brit, it would be of limited use to me.

I need to use people closer to home (Triangle, Chapel Hill) for playtesting on a more regular basis.

I've found that my Web traffic went up greatly in January, evidently owing to a link to my article about changes in gaming; it's gone back down some in February.

One of my old (but revised) articles has appeared in The Games Journal for Feb.

We are working on the contract for Brit Second edition now. And I am still working on the revisions to the game, though I am at the point that my main worry is play balance.

I have not actually played many games this yar, nor devised new ones. Between Brit, school, and less than 100% health, I sometimes feel that I'm not getting very far.

My Web stats show over 500 hits per day, average, on my Web site now, and I find that hard to believe unless many of the hits are "bots" of one sort or another.

Having been somewhat under the weather for the past week, I haven't been making great progress. I did get a new historical atlas that is helping with History of Central Asia. Also today, for some reason, I dug out "Currents of Space", an old chess-like game that was one of my "favorite four" 25 years ago (Britannia, Crashing Suns, and Enchanted Labyrinth were the others). I should say it is chess-like but bears absolutely no resemblance to chess in its mechanics. I sent a copy off to my nephew, who is an excellent playtester, and I'll getit to the playtest listserv in a while.

Britannia II is where I need to spend time, but haven't been getting there.

Lew