I started up a new project, because I just don’t have enough or something. This is going to be a distillation of the better parts of this blog, with revised and expanded versions of some of the better blog posts, plus a couple of my better mini-RPGs, adaptations of certain podcast episodes, and a fair amount of new material. At present it’s going to have chapters on:
- Thoughts on RPGs
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Geekdom
- Anime and RPGs
- Games and Pieces of Games
It’s ended up involving quite a bit more original writing than I’d originally intended, and the final product is probably going to be in the realm of 150 to 200 pages. It’s kind of striking how different writing for a book (which is supposed to have some amount of permanence) is compared to writing for a blog (which is a lot more in the moment, at least the way I do it). Once I finish writing the book and get some editing done, it’s going up on Lulu and some other e-publishing venues, which will hopefully teach me how to do that sort of thing so I’ll be ready for more serious, less niche projects. What you see to the right is my rough concept sketch for the cover, though I definitely didn’t capture the “it’s the last day of the con leave me alone I want to go home shut up” feeling I’m going for. It’s probably not going to have too many pictures, though I’ll fit a few in where I can.
One interesting thing that’s emerging from working on the book is that it’s in part a memoir of my life as an RPG guy. The Walking Eye just posted up a fascinating two-part podcast episode with Ron Edwards (of Forge fame) and Victor Raymond (an OSR guy), and I was really struck by Ron’s statement that the history of RPGs is hard to chart, and there are a lot of very personal narratives to capture. Although I never played with (or even met) Gary Gygax or Dave Arneson, I have my own distinct set of experiences, and my own slice of RPG history that’s not quite like anyone else’s (including stuff like putting out the first Japanese TRPG released in English).
With all of that said, I have a question to pose to the people reading this: What would you like to see in the book? Are there any blog posts you think I especially need to include, or other topics I ought to write new material about?
Yaruki Zero Games 
This sounds interesting – will it be available on DriveThruRPG?
I’m planning to put it on pretty much every major e-book and POD site I can find, and yeah, that includes DriveThruRPG.
Good to hear, will be looking forward to it.
One thing I personally would be interested to read about is the design philosophy of the games you’ve written (and the evolution of it). Also, thoughts about improving one’s skills as a gamemaster are always interesting to read, if you’re considering to include that kind of material in the book.
I had touched on those things a little bit here and there, but it hadn’t occurred to me to try to put together dedicated sections on them. Having spent the last hour getting a good start on essays on GMing and game design, I’m really liking what’s resulting. So thanks for the suggestions! :3