Tabula Rasa lj

Jason Vey, my co-writer on All Tomorrow's Zombies, has just released his latest project: a Doctor Who netbook for Unisystem (the rpg engine for Buffy, All Flesh Must be Eaten and similar games). It's huge, and contains lots of information on the program (through all ten Doctors) with background and game stats, plus a suggested campaign with new characters.

He asked me to write a story to introduce the book, so that's included as well. As befits the nature of the beast, it's basically an excuse to get multiple Doctors and companions together, and maybe spark ideas for a different type of campaign.

All this is to be found on Jason's Doctor Who RPG page.

(I was particularly interested in reading through the summary of all the New Adventure books. Although peripherally involved at the time, I lost track of the big picture so I liked this succinct coverage.)

I've found a quick review of some of my fiction in All Tomorrow's Zombies, from lastshortstory:

"Rose Tea," David Carroll, All Tomorrow's Zombies - a really nicely crafted flash fic which does everything the form needs to do - hints at a world in tiny strokes of detail, establishes character and tells a story with brevity and restraint. the description of matches lighting at the very beginning of this story was just lovely.
[hah! first flash fiction I have recced this year, I think]

A review of All Tomorrow's Zombies has appeared... on YouTube. It's the future, baby.

(It also comes as a real book, but we didn't manage to get a copy to him.)

We've just seen Primer. Freaky, man.

But I'm suspicious. It is the tenth anniversary of google being registered (more or less). A couple of guys in a garage take over the world... Did they really use a search engine?

Also, I read the chapter on time travel in The Science of Stephen King today. Mere coincidence, of course. But in any sane world, would I have wandered into a video shop this week to see Steve's wacky time travel romp, The Langoliers, being played?

I think not.

If nothing else, somebody should go back in time and tell the editor to make it half the length, and perhaps make a decent movie. (The Langoliers. I don't think cutting Primer in half would help.)

The Science of Stephen King isn't much good, alas. It manages to improve after the first disastrous chapter (on ESP), but still doesn't provide a particular coherent look at either science or Steve's work. A shame because, now I think about it, there could be potential in such an odd idea.

It did manage to equate two branes colliding with a certain Buick, which was a good trick. Made me regret yet again I couldn't get any brane-eaters in All Tomorrow's Zombies.

I should natter about All Tomorrow's Zombies at some point. I guess I'm waiting for my CCs to appear, but in the meantime it is in the shops and nice comments are accruing: its reception thus far has been really good.

We even received a sliver of hope about some of our other Eden projects this week, but I can't go into detail about that.

Game Mastering is somewhat like writing. It's not easy or fun, but once it is done, it can be damn fine. Tonight was like that.

(I could probably draw all sorts of other parallels as well, but to keep this short and chipper, I shall refrain.)

After much technical trouble, the new D&D site is up -- and apparently you need to register to even look at most of the info. Great.

But you can view the teaser video and -- it's insane. Mostly in a bad way, but the attempt to grapple was the funniest thing I've seen on YouTube for quite some time.

(Insert usual disclaimer about being a humourless bastard who doesn't trawl YouTube for funny bits.)

It has been a strange day or two for local genre news. Here's a round-up (we'll wait till the Black Sheep fiasco resolves itself, though the fact we won tickets to the movie is presumably unrelated).

Christian Read (the_christian) has just had his supplement for the Call of Cthulhu game published: Mythos Magic. Here's his note about it. The cover is by toniaw. Looks excellent.

We got an email from some nice person telling us about their comic: The List (a tale of primal rage, insanity, and violence). I don't know much more about it than that, as yet, but it looks interesting.

On similar subject and medium, I found this recently: The Canberra Heresy: The Arcane Legacy of Walter Burley Griffin. I haven't put it up in the gallery yet, because that's #2, and I'm trying to contact the author about #1. From what I've seen, it hasn't got the most coherent of narratives, but at least the title is catchy.

People in southern Sydney may be interested to know the Dymocks Miranda is setting itself up as a SF/Fantasy/comics specialist. They are taking proactive steps in that direction anyway, including reaching out to locals, imports, and no less than two MySpace pages. We must go visit and see how it stacks up.

Finally, if there's anyone in Perth or Melbourne who wants a signed Prismatic, book plates with all three signatures (quite a rarity, actually) are now available from Fantastic Planet and the Angus & Robertsons, Frankston.

It's been very retro of late. In D&D the characters have been rocking round Castle Ravenloft, mere days after General Strahd was slain for killing his brother. I've also just been put in mind of The Navigator, a fabulous time travel movie -- though I'm not sure I'd pay the US$130-$200 being asked on Amazon for it (and not even widescreen).

In our quest for 80s horror, we finally managed to catch the real thing: Cronenberg's The Fly. It still has it.

(It may mean Jeff Goldblum naked, but it has been determined this is not a good reason to watch the movie.)

Also finished Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box and started Scott Nicholson's They Hunger, which seem retro, if only because, well, they are good. Scary but true.

This is the strangest email I've got today:

The Alliance Française de Sydney, a not for profit association dedicated to promoting French language and multiculturalism, is one of the cultural links between Australia and France.

During the month of October 2007, The Alliance Française de Sydney is organising an annual French literature festival, "Lire en fête", and we think that this event would be a wonderful opportunity for you to present your new book "All Tomorrow's Zombies".

So far, anyway.

Despite the icon, there was no Ravenloft tonight. With two missing people, we played Vampire: Prince of the City instead, which confirmed its status as a game of nasty manoeuvring and backstabbing. Good stuff.

We also sort of had a discussion about trying to make the roleplaying flow better. It has been my experience that Meaningful Discussion always ends badly but, only halfway through the story of my life, we shall see.

Otherwise I've been, well, cataloguing. Eek.

Roleplaying.

Why?

If I told you about the review I wrote today, for Rocky Wood's Stephen King: The Non-Fiction, would that be meta-meta-meta-non-fiction?

It's been a more or less productive weekend: more than usual, less than actually productive. Our Ravenloft game was scuttled by a combination of a medieval fair and food poisoning -- not experienced by the same person -- so we played Vampire: Prince of the City. Kyla's winning streak is becoming lengthy.

I've been updating the website for the new book (we have hit Copper status on rpgdrivethru, putting us in the top 7.5% of products, which seems good for a coupla days), and various comics, including the funky CAB: Collaborative Auto-Biography. My date for wrestling with myspace draws ever closer. First I might have to wrestle for the right not to be subjected to Nova FM at the office.

ETA: cashews! I have eaten my first nuts in 15 years. So far so good...

My book All Tomorrow's Zombies is now available on-line. This is the PDF version. The physical book is being shipped to distributors in the next few days.

It's good.

All Tomorrow's Zombies, by David Carroll and Jason Vey. 184 pages.

The scifi sourcebook for All Flesh Must Be Eaten, All Tomorrow's Zombies, will be heading to retail stores soon. The PDF is now available from DriveThruRPG.com and rpgnow.com.

What is All Tomorrow's Zombies? In a brief description, it's zombies in space. The newest genre sourcebook for the award-winning survival horror RPG All Flesh Must Be Eaten. All Tomorrow's Zombies is a supplement for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten roleplaying game, adding the undead to various styles of science fiction, and featuring the most dangerous zombies ever!

In it, you'll find:

Guidelines for creating alien races

New skills, tailored for sci-fi play

Rules for cybernetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and robotics

New Zombie Aspects

Streamlined psionics rules

New equipment and weapons, from energy swords, blasters and pulse rifles to motion trackers and environmental suits

Complete starship rules, including building ships and expanded vehicle combat rules

Rules for cyberjacking and net running

Environmental rules

Complete guidelines for structuring a sci-fi campaign

Seven complete Deadworlds, demonstrating the combination of survival horror with science fiction, all ready to play or for use as examples in your own work.

All Tomorrow's Zombies should arrive in store in June. You can preorder your hardcopy directly from us or go to your local retailer to reserve your copy. Tell them it's coming and to be ready.

It has been a week for big boxes.

A while ago I ordered a book from another publisher through Cemetery Dance. They weren't able to supply it (apparently the first time an external arrangement fell through), so in recompense they gave me twice the value in credit. With that I ordered a grab bag, in this case 5 random books plus a magazine. It arrived today, and by chance or design, I got almost exactly what I would have ordered -- three books I was already considering buying (Development Hell, Prodigal Blues and The Long Last Call), plus Sinister Purposes, which looks interesting. Also yet another copy of The Road to the Dark Tower, but hey. All very nice.

Yesterday my order from MilSims arrived. Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (maybe by the time I get through Ravenloft, I'll have some idea how to run combat), and Vampire: Prince of the City (maybe this will stop the self-destructive urges to play the RPG. All those Kindred of the East books... shudder).

ETA: re Prince of the City. I was just about to sweep the city with my beneficent rule, when a Nosferatu came along and thumped me at precisely the wrong moment. Bugger.

ETFA: I guess I should add last week's booty as well. I entered a competition because of vague interest in the Spiderman 3 soundtrack, and ended up with the CD, a t-shirt and a cap... Since Spiderman 1 turned me off subsequent superhero movies (Batman Begins being an mostly honourable exception), this seems somewhat odd.

The things you find... a review of All Flesh Must be Eaten on YouTube.

It even includes a sort-of reference to my book which is coming out... sometime.

Have just finished our fortnightly Ravenloft session, as the characters headed back to face the creature that sent them running last time. An epic battle, but first they had to sooth a shattered populace, attend to a cremation, and act as intermediary in negotiations between a battle mage and Count Strahd von Zarovich.

It was intense, and I haven't quite come down as yet.

I don't suppose anyone here would have a Tarokka deck they would like to part with, on terms to be specified? Or have any suggestions to where I could hunt one down.

The King boys grew up riffing on each other's fantasies; in what they called the Writing Game, a literary version of tag, one brother would write for a few minutes and pass the story to the other. "We used to play Call of Cthulhu," Owen told me, referring to the role-playing game based on the H. P. Lovecraft story. "Joe was always dungeon master. You had sanity points, and it was like, if you encountered Yog-Sothoth one too many times, you were crazy. You could only have so many adventures, and then you had to have a new character, and I thought that was brilliant."
—Prince of Darkness (rego probably reqd)

That is an article in the NY Times about Joe Hill, and growing up with Stephen King. Nice.

It reminds me I have a pre-order for Heart-Shaped Box, which has mysteriously disappeared.

It also reminds me I had another Ravenloft session on the weekend, and probably owe you a session report. Would 'Barely adequate' suffice?

More Ravenloft last night.

( A few of the gory details, and filmic inspiration )