Hasbro 1st-quarter profit falls 47 percent

Hasbro Inc. said Monday that first-quarter profit fell 47 percent as retailers cut back on their inventory, but the toy maker said products tied into new movies like the upcoming Transformers film should boost future results.

The maker of board games such as Clue and Scrabble also said it instituted a salary freeze and is hiring only for critical positions in an effort to cut costs.

'We don't believe these results are a reflection of the underlying strength of our brands,' Chief Executive Brian Goldner said in a conference call. Instead, he said, they were a by-product of retailers cutting inventory levels in the poor economy.

Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78

More than any other, it was Ballard who showed me that SF could be more than just genre fiction. That his death happened without being screamed from the rooftops is a shame for both fans of SF and literature.

The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.

His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill 'for several years' and had died on Sunday morning.

Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead 'picturing the psychology of the future'.

His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China.

Cult of Done

Cult of Done, originally uploaded by spatulated.

Done.

PulpLite20

I had heard much about the Microlite20 rules (and I had even downloaded them at one point) but I never really looked at them that closely. Now that I have, I really like what I am seeing. Enough that I've started working on PulpLite20, my own beefed up take on the ruleset that is focused on pulp gaming (all sorts of pulp gaming I might add).

The core (which I am currently developing) will have all of the rules for play and then the two supplements for it that I've got in my head will cover Modern Occult and Science Fantasy genres. Eventually, there might even be more...depends on my mood and how things are received I guess.

My goals with creating PulpLite20 is to build a ruleset that handles cinematic action in a simple manner with a minimum of stat blocks. I've always like the underlying simplicity of the OGL Fantasy rules (and you know what I'm talking about) but not as much the layers of complexity that have been tacked onto it. Microlite has given me a foundation that I can build upon in the direction that I want.

This is going to be a heavier ruleset than the baseline Microlite but still much, much, much lighter than other OGL Fantasy/Modern alternatives out there. If you're familiar with my Open Core Quick rules, I would like to think that I am developing something similar (maybe a little lighter) to those rules on the heaviness spectrum.

Now, I know that gamers are an impatient lot. I want people to realize that just because I am starting this blog and talking about PulpLite20 that doesn't mean that it is ready to be released out to you. This is just how my thought processes work. This blog just gives a starting point for discussion.

DC Comics Present: Wednesday Comics

The brainchild of DC Comics Art Director Mark Chiarello, WEDNESDAY COMICS is a unique and groundbreaking storytelling method — 16 pages, printed on broadsheet-size newsprint, featuring weekly stories by the best and brightest creators out there. It’s gotta look great, right?

LotFP: RPG: Edition Wars

I've got other things going on for a week or two so posting will be light. But when something must be said...

This post here bemoans Tim Kask's editorial in the newly-released Knockspell. More specifically, it complains about Kask's antagonistic tone.

Readers can guess how much sympathy I have for that complaint.

Antagonism is a completely natural, and perhaps unavoidable, when it comes to the 'Old School Renaissance' (or as I like to think of it, 'The Age of the Return to Reason,' to continue the antagonism). For several reasons.

Thanks to the power of technology...

I can blog from my cell phone!

Edit: It doesn't give the post a title, but this is nice because it means that I can add micro-blogging directly to Dorkland!

Ron Edwards Too Good For Indie Press Revolution

Its a bit of old news, but it isn't something that I would have caught the first time around. Since distribution models in the RPG "biz" are of a selfish interest to me I read about these things when they pop up.

Is it going to make any sort of a difference in the grand scheme of things?

Ah, the RPG community. No difference is too small to be an excuse to fragment it further!

Edit: A couple of related threads here and here that might also be of further interest, from the same time period.

Dave Arneson R.I.P.

David Lance Arneson (Oct 1, 1947 - Apr 7, 2009) was a game player, game designer, and game entrepreneur. He was also a true gentleman and a dear friend. As one of the co-designers of the Dungeons and Dragons game, he started something that is much bigger than all of us. It was not only a new game, but a new KIND of game and it spawned an entire industry. Without Dave, it never would have happened. He taught, lectured, designed games, and started at least three companies. He won several awards, including the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame (Origins) in 1984. In 1984 he married Frankie Ann Morneau and they had one daughter, Malia. In addition to Dungeons & Dragons, games or scenarios he wrote or co-authored include Don't Give Up The Ship, Blackmoor, Dungeon Master's Index, First Fantasy Campaign, Adventures in Fantasy, Robert Aspirin's Thieves World, Citybook II, DNA/DOA, Case of the Pacific Clipper, and more. We are all much better off for his time on earth, but the world is less than it was, with him gone. I never knew him to be rude to a fan, or turn down a friend in need. In fact, I believe his last words to me were 'Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.' I wish there was something I could do for you, my friend. Good bye, and may God bless you. -- Rick Loomis

Here are some further obituaries from more mainstream media:

LA Times
Pioneer Press
New York Times

From the Pioneer Press piece:

Dave Arneson was a master dreamer.

His daughter thought every girl grew up with dragons and fairies.

His father couldn't figure out why the college kids in his St. Paul basement weren't raiding the liquor cabinet.

But Arneson — who in 1974 co-created Dungeons & Dragons, the best-known and best-selling role-playing game of all time — molded fantasy in such a way that many lament him as the "unsung hero" of the gaming industry.

iHero Entertainment

Superheroes predate comic books by decades. They existed on radio, in pulp novels, in movie serials, and they were not originally intended for children. Our award-winning magazine, Cyber Age Adventures, took a giant leap forward in that fine tradition and gave you the most ground-breaking, thought-provoking fiction you’ve ever read in a superhero setting. Because the single most important thing you need to realize about superheroes is that they’re not a 'genre.' They’re a setting, like deep space, or underwater. As long as you obey the rules of that setting you can tell any kind of story you want. Action, adventure, mystery, romance, tragedy, comedy… anything.

Wizards of the Coast Sues Eight

Yes, because it is the fault of the sites selling PDFs that people repost them to torrents. Why not go after the stores that sell people books that are scanned and then redistributed through torrents? By that logic those stores are just as culpable as the online PDF stores. Congratulations, Wizards of the Coast, for slowly stepping backwards out of the 21st century.

So, how have those RIAA lawsuits against these sites being doing for getting illegal material off of the internet anyway?

Wizards of the Coast has filed three lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against eight defendants located in the United States, Poland and the Philippines alleging copyright infringement of its recently released Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook 2. The lawsuit contends that the defendants illegally distributed the Player’s Handbook 2 via free file-sharing Websites, and that these uploads resulted in a substantial number of lost sales and revenue for Wizards of the Coast.

WotC President Greg Leeds commented: “Violations of our copyrights and piracy of our products hurt not only Wizards of the Coast’s financial health but also the health of whole gaming community including retailers and players. We have brought these suits to stop the illegal activities of these defendants, and to deter future unauthorized and unlawful file-sharing.

Author and Designer Aaron Allston in the Hospital

We just heard word today that Del Rey Outcast author Aaron Allston underwent bypass surgery yesterday, and is currently in recovery in the hospital.

Aaron’s family has set up a blood donation sponsorship. If anyone in the Dallas area would like to donate blood, you can go to the National Blood Exchange or Carter BloodCare. Say that you are donating blood for Aaron Allston, patient of Carter Blood Care in Bedford, TX, and give his sponsor number: SPON 047786.

Kore Dice 5 - Interview with Seraphim Guard’s Creative Director, Chris Helton

Perhaps a little self-aggrandizing to post this, but the podcast featuring my interview by Walt Snider went live (and I wasn't paying attention either). Hear the secrets of Seraphim Guard, upcoming products and my ideas on game design.

Just don't comment on my voice.

Fundraising Conference Takes on a 'Second Life'

Grizzard Communications Group recently held a conference, Winning Strategies in Challenging Times, focusing on effective and efficient ways of communicating to donors during difficult economic times. The conference was held February 24th - 26th and featured a live panel discussion presented in the online virtual world of Second Life. Major George Hood, National Community Relations Secretary of The Salvation Army, along with other IT communications associates from Alexandria, VA and Reston, PA participated in a panel discussion as animated 'Avatars.'

Cully Hamner Signs DC Exclusive & Talks The Question

As DC Comics’ June solicitations served as the de facto announcement, one of the new co-features coming in June will appear in Detective Comics beginning in June, and starring The Question. Written by Greg Rucka (who’s also writing the rest of Detective, which stars Batwoman), The Question co-feature will be illustrated by Cully Hamner, who’s also recently signed an exclusive contract with DC.

Egypt tries to hang up on killer SMS rumours

Because, once again, real life shows that it is stranger than fiction AND that what people find hokey in their entertainment is believable in real life...

The Egyptian government has sought to dispel rumours that a mobile phone text message 'from unknown foreign quarters' is spreading around the country and killing those who receive it.

The Hero Initiative

Because everyone deserves a Golden Age.

Marvel Studios Revised Release Schedule

Paving the way for the production and release of its multi-character superhero film, THE AVENGERS, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL), announced today an adjusted release pipeline for its self-produced feature film properties that reflects the first time individual Super Hero characters and story arcs will be inter-woven and culminate in a multi-character motion picture. Separately, Marvel Studios confirmed today that Sony Pictures Entertainment will release SPIDER-MAN 4 on May 6, 2011. Additionally, Marvel Studios has revised the release dates for THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA as part of its release strategy for an uninterrupted road to THE AVENGERS, now debuting May 4, 2012.

A Marvel character-based film will now launch the summer box office season for three years in a row, from 2010 through 2012.

“This new schedule strongly sequences Marvel’s movie debut dates, big screen character introductions and momentum. It maximizes the visibility of our single character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multi-character THE AVENGERS film in 2012,” said David Maisel, Chairman, Marvel Studios.

Sony Pictures’ and Marvel Studios’ SPIDER-MAN 4 is slated for May 6, 2011. To date, all three motion pictures in the phenomenally successful SPIDER-MAN franchise have generated nearly $2.5 billion worldwide theatrically.

Below is Marvel Studios’ 2010-2012 updated release schedule for its slate of self-produced and financed feature films:

Marvel Studios Feature Film Pipeline
Film/Character - Prior Release Date - Current Release Date
IRON MAN 2 - May 7, 2010 - May 7, 2010
THOR - July 16, 2010 - June 17, 2011
THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA - May 6, 2011 - July 22, 2011
THE AVENGERS - July 15, 2011 - May 4, 2012

The release date for IRON MAN 2 remains unchanged. IRON MAN 2 is the sequel to the blockbuster film, IRON MAN, which has grossed nearly $600 million worldwide.

After Watchmen

I know that I said I was going to take some down time, but I saw this in my browsing and wanted to spread it along.

'We recognize that the success of WATCHMEN opens doors to new readers, and we’re more than happy to use this opportunity to bring new readers into our world,' says Steve Rotterdam, DC's Senior VP — Sales & Marketing.

If you're new to comics or super-heroes because of the Watchmen movie, this website introduces you to some books that you might like for a number of reasons. New Looks At Super-Heroics. New Directions In Comic Books. Bold New Storytelling. Etc. All those marketing buzzwords that are used to try to sell you stuff.

Regardless of the enlightened self-interest on the part of DC Comics with this website, there are some good suggestions to be found on this site and there are some book that even die-hard comic geeks might not have tried yet. Dip your toe in the waters of comics and see what is out there. Be sure to check out the stuff by Warren Ellis.

Comics haven't been just for kids for a while now.

Downtime

Dorkland will be closed for updates for a brief time. Talk among yourselves while I'm gone and I will look for some interesting things to share with you.

Stay dorky, internet.

Game Geeks #91 D&D 4E Part 1

Enjoy...

Game Geeks #92 D&D 4E Part 2

Enjoy...

Second Life Horror Fest

Last year, Emz Mazie (author Emerian Rich) and Bearon Schoonhoven (author Mark Eller) sponsored the first Horror Fest, and this year Bookstacks is picking up the reins. We have several co-sponsors offering events as well: The Guild of UK Writers; West of Ireland Library; authors Mark Eller, Emerian Rich, and Michael A. Stackpole; and Age & Country Hotel.

In addition to author readings and storytelling, we have are holding a monster/creature avatar meets fashion show titled “Beauty and the Beast.” We have also included some social time as well. First up is a murder mystery event at Age & Country Hotel — expect a few spooks to participate in that one. On Sunday the band Born Again Pagans will perform in the afternoon, and we will hold a Horror Costume Party as our closing event. Start planning your outfit now!

For more information, contact Simeon Beresford (simeonberesford@gmail.com) or Kghia Gherardi (kghia.gherardi@gmail.com).

Ombudsmen

As seen at...PVPOnline

Atomic Rocket!

Your imagination has been captured by the roaring rockets from Heinlein's SPACE CADET or the Polaris from TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET. But are such rockets possible? How does one go about defining the performance of these atomic-powered cruisers?

This document gives some hints and equations that will allow back-of-the-envelope calculations on such matters. Though horribly simplistic, they are far better than just making up your figures.

This site was mainly intended for science fiction authors who wanted a little scientific accuracy. But anybody who is interested can play with the toys contained within, designing their own Planet Rangers Rocketships. It is assumed that the reader has enough knowledge to know the difference between a star and a planet, high school mathematics, and enough skill to use a pocket calculator. Computer spreadsheet and computer programming skills are a plus, spreadsheets in particular will make your life much easier.