Like Frodo, Tabletop Gaming Lives!

How's that title for a combination age giveaway and cred establisher? Seriously though, our friend David N. Scott of Pererro asks a question near and dear to my heart, "So... anyone out there still tabletop?" The underlying assumption to this question is that gaming has moved from the tabletop to the desktop, or to the console as the case may be. Let me say, that for me tabletop gaming is alive and well. I might spend weeknights playing Mass Effect (when I'm not doing the Geekerati podcast), but my Saturdays are filled with gaming goodness. Let me share with you the games I play regularly with my gaming group (Wes, Jo, Eric, Steven, and Joel) every Saturday in our marathon 10 sessions. Then I'll mention a couple of the other games I've played this year.

1. Dungeons and Dragons 3.5: The first, second, fourth, and possibly fifth Saturday of every month (holidays excepted), I run an Eberron campaign based in that campaign's city of Sharn. The basic theme of the campaign is CSI: Sharn and the characters solve murders, battle terrorists, and are currently beginning to scratch the surface of a possible continent wide conspiracy that will begin with an assassination (if the players don't do their job). The game begins Saturday at 1pm and usually ends around 6pm.



2. Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 (Backup Games): Did I mention earlier that we have marathon sessions on Saturday? Well, we do, but one of our group leaves at 6pm. I didn't want this player to feel left out of the regular campaign, which has been running for three years, so the group runs a couple of back up games after our 6pm break. Starting at 7pm and lasting until around 1am, we adventure in the world of Paizo's GameMastery world. We alternate two different campaigns in the Paizo-verse. In the first of our Paizo games, the players are running through Nicholas Logue's series of Falcon's Hollow adventures in the GameMastery Module line. They started with Hollow's Last Hope, continued with The Crown of the Kobold King, and will soon face The Carnival of Tears. Characters in the second Paizo game are attempting to finish the Rise of the Runelord's adventure path contained in the pages of Pathfinder magazine. They are about a third of the way through Burnt Offerings.


3. Star Wars Saga Edition: Every third Saturday (minus holidays as usual), Wes runs our Star Wars Saga Edition campaign where our struggling rag tag group of heroes attempts to thwart the plans of the Sith during the Clone Wars. So far we are having a great time, but my Jedi character (Resh Sal'Gana) is pretty sure that every Jedi, who isn't in his immediate group, is a Sith Lord. So far, we like the new rules set, but have some issues with the layout in the core rulebook (especially when it comes to GM advice).


4. Chill 1st Edition: Around Halloween, during our "backup" game period, we played a little 1st edition Chill and had a great time. I imagine that we'll be playing another session sooner rather than later. Pacesetter games was a company founded by former TSR employees who created a number of games that were criticized at the time, but which feature elements that are common now in horror RPGs. Chill may not be Call of Cthulhu, but then again, it never was meant to be.


5. d20 Modern: Yep...we've played this, and will again very soon, in our backup game time.


6. Marvel Superheroes: The players got a little taste of this game earlier this year, and we had a blast.

There's more RPG gaming that we've been doing this year, but needless to say we've been hitting the tabletop pretty hard. Speaking of tabletop gaming, here is a list of some of the board/card games I've played with this year.

1. Bohnanza: A wonderful card game (5 of 5 stars).


2. Bull in a China Shop: A very good card game (4 of 5 stars)


3. Cthulhu 500: A poor card game (2 of 5 stars).


4. Formula De: My favorite racing game (5 of 5).


5. Mr. Jack: An amazing two player deduction game (5 of 5)


6. Tannhäuser: A fun tactical miniatures/board game (4 of 5)


7. Descent: New classic dungeon crawl game (4 of 5)


8. Runebound: My favorite "adventure" board game (5 of 5)


9. Zooloretto: Great fun (5 of 5)

There are many more, but these are just a few of the highlights from the past month.

Gaming

So... anyone out there still tabletop?

We manage to maintain a group of 4-6 despite the tidal pressures of World of Warcraft and Real Life, but it can be hard.

We're playing RIFTS these days... good ol' RIFTS, basically unupdated since the glory days of gaming in the 80s.

I've been trying to get into Exalted, but I both love the game and am instantly knocked out of it by the seeming wonkiness of Charms and the mass of books out there.

I'd love to play Unknown Armies, if I could find a copy to thumb through at the FLGS.

Speaking of which, our last actually local game store has just gone under. The massive sale is nice, but the precedent it sets is very displeasing.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Pleasures of 2007

Yesterday, I posted my Science Fiction and Fantasy Pains of 2007. Now that is out of the way, I can write about the things that made me giddy this year. Tomorrow, I'll post about those things that I feel ambiguously about, but today is for happiness. Yesterday was doom and gloom, but today is joy and celebration. I encountered a lot of SF/F that I enjoyed this past year, in fact it has been a good year overall, and it has been hard to limit myself to just five pleasures from 2007. But rules are rules, and yesterday I wrote that I would provide five pleasures. So here goes. Be warned though, like the LA Times article that inspired me, some of the things that brought me pleasure this past year aren't exactly new (just new to me).

5) Mass Effect by Bioware: There are times when I begin to wonder whether a visual medium can convey the wonders I imagine when I read a good Science Fiction novel. Then there are the times that I am playing Mass Effect. Bioware amazed me with their groundbreaking Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic videogame RPGs. I never thought they'd be able to top those games, or that anyone could for that matter. With KotOR Bioware out Star Warsed (I know it looks awkward, but it sounds cool out loud) Georged Lucas. Then they released Jade Empire and I was stunned. Jade Empire took the excellent non-combat resolution system from KotOR and overlayed an exciting, yet intuitive, action combat element. I'm not the most "1337" (that's leet or elite) of game-players, especially in 3D interactive environments, but I was able to excel at Jade Empire. The same has been true of Mass Effect. I may get pwnt (that's owned or easily and readily defeated by elite gamers) when I play Halo 3, but when I am battling the enemy in Mass Effect I feel extraordinarily proficient. That is the elegance of the combat system. My only complaints are that real life days aren't long enough for me to play this as much as I want and that the protagonist comes off as a bit of a jerk no matter what dialogue choices I make. This would be rated higher if it had come out sooner and I were deeper into the game.

4) John Scalzi's Old Man's War Series: Imagine if you took the Forever War, Starship Troopers, and Gulliver's Travels and you put them all in a blender set to liquify. That's what the Old Man's War series is like. I may be baffled that Scalzi is willing to offer whole stories from this series to his fans for free, sure in audio format (though you can read the text version here), but they are so good that I am tempted to send John money just to make sure he will continue writing. Not necessarily the Old Man's War series, I am satisfied with it as it stands, but other things as well. Scalzi has a wonderful writing style and his ability to convey humor and humanity in often horrible circumstances is remarkable. I cannot recommend Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, or The Lost Colony high enough. It is rare to find accessible, yet crunchy, SF these days, but Scalzi has managed to do just that. He even manages to make political commentary without being preachy. Now that's hard.

3) The Detective Inspector Chen series by Liz Williams: If you took Blade Runner and Neuromancer, shredded the books, and pasted them into a novelization of Big Trouble in Little China with a dose of Bridge of Birds for good measure, you might just get something similar to the Detective Inspector Chen books. Maybe close, but not quite. The books take place in a society where both technology and magic exist, the protagonist has a demon wife, there's an underground trade in souls, and the internet equivalent has servers that are slightly disconcerting. The stories are as fun as the covers are stellar. If you like the Dresden Files and Hong Kong cinema, give this series a look.

2) The announcement of the 4th Edition of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game: I know this was on my list yesterday, but as I wrote then, this is a pretty big deal and I'm pretty excited about it. Yes, I lament the fact that a couple thousand dollars worth of books I own are now "obsolete," but I look forward to seeing what changes are coming with the new system. I have always thought that the game was fun, but that it lacked in certain ways as an abstraction of fantasy fiction in general. Many of the new rules seem to be aimed at fixing this small flaw and making the game a more seemless simulation.

1) The Geekerati Podcast I do with Eric Lytle, Bill Cunningham, and Shawna Benson: What does this have to do with SF/F? Everything. I decided to put the whole podcast down as a single Pleasure because otherwise I would have had nothing but Geekerati episodes listed in my top five. Starting with our interview with Susan Palwick about her excellent book Shelter, which was one of my favorite SF reads this year, the show has had a number of excellent segments. I recommend you stop by and listen to our Tim Minear (of Angel and Firefly fame) interview, our interview with Marc Bernardin (the Highwaymen comic), our interview with Win Eckert (of the Wold Newton Universe), or our discussion of Beowulf. In fact, hang out on the site for a while and download all our episodes. You won't be sorry.

SF/F Pains for 2007

Reading the Los Angeles Times article on their favorite "SciFi Books of 2007" got me thinking about adding a new annual column to this website. I think it is time that I share with you my top five Science Fiction and Fantasy Pleasures and Pains of the past year. Like most years, it has been a good year to be a SF/F fan, but it that doesn't mean that it hasn't had its pratfalls.

I am optimistic by nature, but I thought I'd get the bad news out of the way first. Tomorrow, I'll write about my SF/F pleasures. That way, you readers out there who decide not to share in my pain can leave and come back tomorrow to find that all is right with the world. I'll do these in a countdown format, from fifth most painful to most painful.

5. The Golden Compass Controversy: If you aren't familiar with the controversy, there is a good list of links over at scificatholic. Is it just me, or are you getting sick of every Fantasy film/book that is released becoming the target of criticism by certain overzealous religious individuals? Let me pause for a moment to preempt any assumptions you might have at this point. First, I am a devout and practicing Catholic. Second, there is no doubt in my mind (nor should there be in yours) that The Golden Compass is a book/movie that is critical of Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular. Third, I enjoyed the book series. Fourth, I think that anyone who describes Pullman's series as a "masterpiece" has low standards. Fifth, the cynical part of me believes the film was released at Christmas specifically to maximize the controversy. That said, some particularly zealous religious people need to take a breath and relax. If your faith is threatened by a film, you've got problems. If you can't respond to the "questions" your children ask you about faith after watching the film, you need to study tradition a little more. Besides, you've shouted about how everything else from Harry Potter to D&D is "heretical" and have lost credibility. You know, like the boy who cried wolf. So stop. Just stop with the cries of oppression. Watch the film and judge it by its spectacle, or lack thereof. Then come over to my house for a game of D&D.

4. Torchwood: The LA Times thought this show was a masterpiece. So, apparently, do a number of other people out there. It isn't. It is downright hard to watch. The "Cyberwoman" episode was laughable. Do you hear me? Laughable. This is the spin-off of the very good new Dr. Who series? Ugh.

3. Robin Hood: Have you seen the old 80s "Robin of Sherwood?" No? Go watch it, and avoid this new "sleaker" telling of the Robin Hood story. Let me tell you a couple of things about the Robin Hood mythos. First, he didn't "steal from the rich to give to the poor." He stole from the Prince John (and the Sheriff) to return unjustly acquired taxes. He was returning to the middle class what was rightfully theres. Second, if you want to do the post-Scott Ivanhoe-ish version of Robin Hood that's fine, but understand that Medieval England was a Catholic place. It is highly unlikely that Robin would think of the crusades as "the Pope's war." Sure, he might be critical of the crusades, possibly because he witnessed them first hand, but he should be a little more period than that. It's great to make topical commentary about today, but try to do it well. You see, the old "Robin of Sherwood" show did a great job of representing the class struggles of, then, modern England by having Robin the embodiment of Saxon justice against Norman tyranny. Now that works, particularly given the ending of the first half of the series. To be honest, you can actually stop watching at that point because it makes for a poignant and sad ending.

2. The announcement of the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons: There's nothing quite like an announcement that makes you look at your bookshelf and realize that it now holds $3-$5k worth of useless paper to bring you down. I'm excited about 4th edition, I even wrote a defense of the 4th edition. I am looking forward to it, but it was definitely painful news.

1. The New Flash Gordon television series: I don't even know what this show is. Can somebody tell me? Can somebody explain why I have been compelled, due to Flash Gordon obsession, to watch something that is patently not Flash Gordon. Dimensional portals? Huh. When did Flash Gordon become Sliders? Limited water supply? So this is Dune? Ming not an evil as $@!^ creep? Who is this guy and what is this show? Somebody please tell me? Where are the rockets? Where are the dinosaurs? Where is the fantastic? Make the pain stop, but also make them make some more Flash Gordon. Just make them make something that is actually Flash Gordon, and not just pain. This is Flash Gordon. This is also Flash Gordon. I don't know what this is.

Speed Racer Trailer

There are a couple of awkward moments in the trailer when Speed is seen talking while the voice over is from other characters, but this trailer displays Speed Racer (the film's) unique look. This is what Beatty intended with Dick Tracey. All I can say is, "Go Speed Go!"

Hat tip to SF Signal for the trailer.

Watchmen vs. V for Vendetta

Yesterday, I mentioned that the sales of Watchmen trade paperbacks for the year of 2007 was expected to be around 95,000 copies. Friend, and fellow host on Geekerati, Bill Cunningham wanted me to do a comparison between Watchmen trade sales and those of V for Vendetta. Both were comic originals that have sales affected by the reality/possibility of a theatrical adaptation. The original V collection was published in 1988 and Watchmen was published (in trade form) in 1987, so -- all things being equal -- the sales should be similar if the appeal is similar.

According to ICV2, the retailer news service, V sold approximately 75,000 copies of the book from the August prior to the film's release to the August when the film was released on DVD. That would be from August 2005 to August 2006. It should be noted that V was intended to be released in November of 2005 (Remember, Remember the Fifth of November)and had a significant marketing campaign from the summer of 2005 to the eventual release in March of 2006. This can be compared to the current expected sales of 95,000 that Watchmen has for the year of 2007. Except for one major point, Watchmen has yet to have a "major marketing campaign." It certainly has internet buzz and, given the importance of the book in most critic's minds, the upcoming film is being discussed with relative regularity (not to mention that Time selected Watchmen as one of the most important books of the 20th Century).

To continue the analysis. In October of 2005, about 5 months before the release of V, the V hardcover sold 3,700 copies and the trade sold 1,400 for a total of 5,100 for the month. I don't know if the 75,000 in sales was for a combination of the hardcover and the trade, but I imagine that it is because 12 times the October sales figures comes to about 60k for the year of 2005, 15k shy of 75k but also a snapshot from the buildup rather than the August to August timeframe that ICV2 used. Warner claimed in 2006, in the month of March when V was released, that there were "currently...more than 500,000 copies of the book in print." That would be 500k from the initial publication of the collection in 1988 and not 500k in that year alone.

Looking at that information, and in an effort to give a fair comparison to the two books, I could list all the sales of both books from January 2001 to present and include the number of units sold of the #1 comic book of that month as well. That way we could see how, and whether, the movie release affected the sales of V and how the market itself fluctuated, which might also be a contributing variable to V and Watchmen sales. The figures only represent "comic book stores" and we know that Watchmen sold a "total of 22,000 in 2001." It should also be noted that until recently, neither Watchmen nor V were in the Top 25 (or even top 50) of Trade Sales in the direct market which would make a deep representation time consuming but not impossible for Watchmen (actually impossible for V). This also means that the mass market sales of an older, or "classic," trade paperback are likely larger than the direct market sales. After all, Watchmen sold 22k in 2001 while never making it into the top 25 in direct sales and the sales #s of the 25th books weren't staggering.

I won't actually do the full analysis, but I will look at some key dates.

January 2001: #1 X-Men #110 -- 101,000. Watchmen -- not in the top 25 of Trade Paperback Sales thus < 1,349. V for Vendetta -- not in the top 25 of Trade Paperback Sales thus < 1,349.

June 2001: #1 New X-Men #115 -- 142,300. Watchmen -- < 1,900. V for Vendetta -- < 1,900.

November 2001 (the first date where TPB info is readily available and can be regressed): #1 ORIGIN #4 -- 156,959. Watchmen -- < 2,152. V for Vendetta -- < 2,152.

November 2002: #1 MASTERS O/T UNIVERSE #1 -- 104,971. Watchmen -- < 1,198. V for Vendetta -- ?? < 1,198.

November 2003: #1 JLA/AVENGERS #3 (OF 4) -- 148,196. Watchmen -- <1,984. V for Vendetta -- ?? < 1,984.

November 2004: #1 SUPERMAN BATMAN #13 -- 157,949. Watchmen -- < 1,346. V for Vendetta -- ?? < 1,346.

March 2006 INFINITE CRISIS #5 (Of 7) -- 201,855. Watchmen -- 1,857. V for Vendetta -- 7,127.

December 2006: #1 JUSTICE LEAGUE O/AMERICA #4 -- 136,709. Watchmen -- 1,832. V for Vendetta -- 1,316

October 2007: #1 NEW AVENGERS #35 -- 111,481. Watchmen TP -- 2,332. V for Vendetta -- ?? < 1,482.

What the above chart show us is that neither book sold in the top 25, or even top 50, for most of the early 2000s in the "direct market" (at comic shops), but that Vendetta saw a significant increase in sales around the time of its release, but so did Watchmen and Watchmen (unlike V) has continued to stay in the top 100 books sold. In this year's market, direct sales (those at comic shops) amount to approximately 25% of the sales of Watchmen, but we can't use that to induct past performance as in prior years they may have been only 10 percent. What we do know is that DC claimed to have 500,000 copies of V in print in August 2006, including every copy published since 1988, and that Watchmen is selling about 95k this year alone. It seems to me that this demonstrates that the "comic market" is only a portion of trade paperback sales, that the "comic market" is a cottage industry (not saying that is a bad thing, it is profitable after all), that film releases affect the sales of books positively both in the mass market and in the "direct market" as well. Oh, and that more people like Watchmen than V which isn't too surprising given that Watchmen has a more coherent political philosophy.

If Watchmen Sales are a Hint, Comic Buyers are Few.

What do the sales of the Watchmen trade paperback tell us about the size of the comic book marketplace and the general audience appeal of comic book properties?

Two things.

First, that not a lot of people buy comic books and that "general interest" in graphic novels, while growing, isn't that vast.

Second, "general interest" increases significantly when a movie is in production.

I know, I know, you think I'm full of it and am exaggerating how desperate times are in the world of comic book sales. Before I share the statistics on the sales of the Watchmen trade paperback, let's have a look at the sales numbers of the top ten comic books in October 2007. I'd show you November's numbers, but those won't be available for a few weeks. According the ICV2, who are a retailer news service, here's how many copies the best selling books in October fared.

1. NEW AVENGERS #35 sold 111,481 copies


2. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #24 sold 110,405 copies (you thought maybe I was going #10 to #1? No such luck.)


3. JUSTICE LEAGUE O/AMERICA #14 sold 101,763 copies


4. MIGHTY AVENGERS #5 sold 99,544 copies (yes, there is a difference between New and Mighty Avengers.)


5. JUSTICE SOCIETY O/AMERICA #10 sold 99,424 copies


6. X-MEN MESSIAH COMPLEX ONE SHOT sold 98,958 copies (which sold out the print run)


7. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #7 sold 94,144 copies


8. MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #1 (Of 5) sold 92,587 copies


9. UNCANNY X-MEN #491 sold 85,638 copies


10. WOLVERINE #58 sold 83,810 copies

"What, no BATMAN, you ask?" The best selling title featuring the Dark Knight, BATMAN #670, sold 76,890 and DETECTIVE COMICS #837 sold 51,363. Before you think I am continuing my ongoing "doom and gloom of the comic book industry" series and using these to show that comics won't be around for much longer, I am not. The numbers are actually surprisingly good, given the modern marketplace, much better than in prior years. I even find it a pleasant surprise that BUFFY is in the top 10 and selling so well. Why? Honestly, because I believe that a lot of those buying Joss Whedon's Buffy Season 8 series weren't existing comic customers. I believe he has brought new buyers into the medium. That makes me happy.

That doesn't mean that Zack Snyder's movie representation, in the upcoming Watchmen film, of a comic shop in the Watchmen movie isn't accurate.



Look at it, that's a pretty accurate image of your typical comic shop. Most of them don't look like the Secret Headquarters, but don't get me started on just how cottage and specialized your industry has to be to foster a store like Secret Headquarters. It looks like a Victorian Men's Club and caters to a similar clientèle.

That brings us back to the sales of the Watchmen trade paperback. Just how good were they in 2007? They were very good. According to ICV2 the book will have sold 95,000 copies, by year's end, during 2007. This is up from 22,000 copies in 2001, a significant increase indeed. Watchmen is one of the most acclaimed comic book miniseries (miniseries, not graphic novel dammit!) of all time. I may be one of the few who don't think it is the greatest series ever, don't get me wrong I think it is very good, but I agree that it is one of the most important series ever. TIME magazine praised the book, for goodness sake.

22k without a movie...95k with a movie in production. Do you see what I mean? To be fair 96k isn't exactly an awesome number, but that only makes my point regarding how niche comic sales are, but it is a significant one. Buying comics can see like a lonely hobby at times, and I'm not sure how long it will survive in the long run, but it is a hobby I have enjoyed for over twenty years.