The answer isnt a simple one; it requires three answers. So, lets get started.

Orkworld

Well, Orkworld is done. For better or for worse. Written, edited, re-written, re-edited, re-re-written and re-re-edited. Three separate sets of eyes went on this thing (not counting my own): Jennifer Brandes, Chris Hepler and The Wife. We spent all weekend and some of a week getting it done.

For those of you keeping score at home, yes, the book didnt go out on the 19th. However, those of us who have done this before give ourselves a bit of a pillow, just in case things go wrong. They did, and we had the pillow. The book isnt late. Its on schedule. I just wanted it done a little sooner.

In the end, Orkworld came out to 304 pages. It includes fully illustrated borders (a different one for each chapter) along with over 40 illustrations (full page and otherwise) by Thomas Denmark. Each header is unique, matching its accompanying page. The game system went through another playtest wringer, this time providing us with what I think is our strongest set of rules yet.

In short, the basic system remains the same: Virtue + Skill vs. Target Number; keep one die; each multiple adds one to your roll. However, combat runs a little different.

Step One: Determine Initiative

Initiative is now determined by rolling your orks Courage Virtue. You get one action per Round, but thraka get a number of actions equal to their Zhoosha.

Step Two: Roll to Hit

Both combatants roll their Prowess + Spear & Shield. If the attacker rolls higher than the defender, he does a number of Wounds equal to his Weapon Value + the difference between the rolls.

For example, Altoona attacks Boola. Altoona gets a 7 and Boola gets a 5. The difference between the rolls is 2. Because a spear has a Weapon Value of 2, the total Wounds is 4 (2 Difference + 2 Damage Value).

Step Three: Resist Wounds

Now, the attacker and defender roll one more time. The attacker rolls Strength + Weapon Value. The defender rolls Zhoosha + Endurance (henceforth referred to as Wound Dice). If the defender rolls higher, he takes a single Wound. If the attacker rolls higher, the defender takes full Wounds. Every Wound point takes away a Wound Die for you to roll the next time you get hurt. If you cant roll any Wound Dice, youre dead.

For example, Altoona and Boola continue their combat. The total Wounds at stake are 4 (see above example). Altoona rolls his Strength + Weapon Value (3 Str + 2 WV) and Boola rolls his Wound Dice (Zhoosha + Endurance). Altoona rolls a 5 and Boola rolls a 6. Because Boola rolled higher, he only takes one Wound. If he didnt roll higher, hed take 4 Wounds, reducing him down to zero Wound Dice.

However, Boola isn’t out of the fight yet. Hes only dead when he cant roll Wound Dice. This gives him a chance to retreat before Altoona gets another shot at him.

Thats how the system works. Heres some details:

Weapon Dice

When you roll to wound your opponent, keep track of which dice are your Weapon Dice (make them a separate color, roll them separately). The reason? The numbers your Weapon Dice roll are numbers your opponent cant use when you roll to Wound.

For example, Altoona rolls a 4 and 5 on his two Weapon Dice. That means Boola cant use any 4s or 5s when hes adding up his own dice.

Armor Dice

Every point of armor gives you an Armor Die. Armor dice are immune to the effects of Weapon Dice when determining Wounds.

For example, when Boola figures up his Wound Check, he cant use 4s or 5s (see above example). However, one of his Armor Dice rolled a 5. He can use that die, because Armor Dice are immune to the canceling effects of Weapon Dice.

Ties

A nice little mechanic we stumbled across involved the resolution of ties. Whenever two opposing players roll the same Success Value, the next highest die they rolled breaks the tie.

For example, Altoona and Boola are at it again. This time, theyve both rolled a 5 Success Value. Altoona looks at his dice and sees his next highest roll is a 3. Boolas next highest roll is a 4. That means Boola (with the 4) wins the action.

This makes Doubling a very powerful tool. If you roll double 5s, for example, that gives you a Success Value of 6 (5 + 1 for the Double 5). One of your 5s counts as a 6, which means your other 5 counts as your next highest roll.

Of course, Game Masters can always ask Who has the highest Trouble? to resolve ties&

Working Together

We also came up with some nifty working together rules that make ork tribes ganging up on one troll or dwarf really kick serious ass. On the other hand, a legion of men ganging up on one ork &

Dowmga & Equipment

The equipment list is now broken down by Dowmga Zhoosha. In other words, the bigger your mommy, the more toys you get. Dowmga make everything for the tribe  weapons, clothes, armor, etc.  and the better your goodies get.

Lots of last minute stuff we had to playtest all weekend. The systems better for it. Im happier for it. But then I take a look at what I spent to get this thing done, and I hope The Wifes looking the other direction.

Counterattacks

In a nutshell, if you make a defensive roll thats higher than your opponents attack roll (and you have an action for this round), you have the opportunity to make a Counterattack. Your attack automatically hits, but does no extra Wounds. That means, if you make a Counterattack with a Spear, you do 3 Wounds despite the difference in rolls.

Final Costs (for the moment)

So, when its all said and done, Orkworld cost The Wife and me more than ten thousand dollars. Heres how it breaks down:

(These numbers are off the top of my head. I may have forgotten some things, but Im tired and you guys have 5,000 words coming to you, so this is what you get for now.)

I came out lucky on this one: the printer Im using doesnt require the book on CD. Otherwise, Id have to blow another hundred or so bucks on a CD burner. I might just do that anyway.

Finally, I have some extra plans for Gen-Con. Im spending $500 for a table at the Wizards Attic booth. On that table, I should have a bunch of extra goodies for those who are interested:

1. Color prints of the cover
   
2. Fully illustrated character sheets by Thomas Denmark
   
3. “The Orkworld Companion”, a spill-over pack that includes:
   
   • Ork Runes
     
   • a set of those character sheets
     
   • A Beginning Adventure
     
   • The Simple Orkworld Game System
     
   • The Even Simpler (Diceless) Orkworld Game System
     
   • Ork recipes from the kitchen of Dowmga Wick
   
   
4. The Game Designers Journal: a Chapbook (thats Kinkos bound, folks) Companion for Orkworld that includes:
   
   • A new introduction by The Author
     
   • All the episodes
     
   • The original Shadis article that inspired the book
     
   • An Orkworld Bibliography
   
   
5. Ork jewelry, designed by the lovely and talented Dowmgaday Wick

Like I said, I should have all that stuff for the booth. Well see what I can get away with in two weeks.

I wanted to have ork stew at the booth, but Id have to get about ten different kinds of licenses. The same goes for the ork BBQ sauce I planned on mixing up and the ork sooeeta. Spuh.

And for those of you thinking, Well, Wicks dropped the book off at the printer, so that means its all done&.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

I still have blue lines to check. But well talk about those next week. Lets talk about something else&

Origins

Let me start by saying I spent the week prior to Origins getting Orkworld out the door. All the while, The Wife is packing, packing, packing.

(Not for Origins. Youll find out more later.)

On Wednesday night, I drive down to Kinkos with 304 pages of inkjet printed Orkworld pages. Its 10:00 PM. I need 6 copies of the book to give to specific people at Origins.

The guy behind the booth tells me he cant do it because his color printers down. Is there another Kinkos in the area? Yes. I drive down to that one. Its 10:20 PM now.

The guy behind the booth tells me he cant do it. He already has three projects lined up. Is there another Kinkos in the area? Yes. I drive down to that one. Its 10:45 PM now.

At around 11:20 PM, I find the place. I roll in, walk up to the desk and ask the folks if they can make six copies of my book.

Yes, says the woman with the blue vest on. For $28 a piece.

Gulp.

Thats one hundred and sixty-eight bucks. Ive got a budget of around fifty.

How about two copies? I ask penitently.

Fifty-six dollars, she tells me. Theyll be ready in the morning.

I nod and fork over the cash, realizing that a Kinkos bound book with inkjet printed pages and a plastic cover is gonna cost me more than itll cost a customer to buy the actual book.

Can you smell The Sucking?

I go back home. The Wife is still packing. I tell her to go to sleep. She says shes not done yet and the movers will be in on Friday.

(Wait for it&)

All right. Im taking a nap. Wake me up when you need help.

The next thing I know, the alarm goes off. The Wife is still packing. I look at the clock and theres just enough time to take a shower, pack up for the show and drive down to the airport. I grumble about how stubborn women can be and take my shower.

When I get dressed, I find the clothes already packed up and ready to go. I thought I said I was going to do that? I ask her.

You were asleep, so I did it, she tells me.

I grumble something about how women ask you to do something, then when you havent got it done by the next time they think about it, they do it for you, just so you feel like the heel you really are, and I wonder if Machiavelli was really right when he said that women secretly rule the world with the amazing power of Shame&

(I just read that part out-loud for The Wife. Her answer? Maybe. This is accompanied with the He Knows Too Much look she does so well. Then, she hands me a homemade hamburger&)

Soon enough, all the stuff we own is in boxes. We have a lot of stuff. We hop into my moms car and begin our drive down to the airport.

Thats when I remember the photocopies that I paid $28 a piece for.

We make a mad dash to the Kinkos, hoping the books are done. They are. I grab the box and run out with the sound of someone saying, Dont you want to check them out? ringing behind me.

We make the flight. Barely. The Wife forgot her cellphone at the house. Mom has to run over and pick it up for us, drive back and hand it over as we run (enough of the running!) to the gate.

Once on the plane, I can relax. Were sitting next to an older black woman who sleeps the whole way. I think, What a great way to spend a flight. But, Im too anxious. Ive got two copies of Orkworld in my bag, all ready for people to see for the very first time. I open up my bag, open up the box and thumb through the pages.

The first thing I notice is the World Chapter. I notice it because its not there.

The second thing I notice are all the Error pages where Thomas beautiful full-page illustrations should be. The third thing I notice is the pixilated borders.

Spuh.

I turn to show The Wife. Shes fast asleep.

Shes so cute when shes asleep.

I put the book back in my bag and do my best to sleep through the flight. It takes me about half a heartbeat.

We arrive on Thursday night. Were with Wizards Attic, which means we have a room as long as we work for Eric Rowes brilliant contribution to the game industry. We catch up with Eric, talk about business stuff, then retire to the room for a good nights sleep before Friday morning.

Friday morning rolls around and Jenny and me are all set. The con doors open and a bunch of happy (and not-so-happy) gamers rush into the room. Sooner than you can say Bashthraka killed them!, the booth fills up with Pendragon fans, Glorantha fans, Cthulhu fans, and other folks out to get their favorite small press publishers latest book.

A few of them are even there to say Hi! and take a look at Orkworld.

Nearly everyone who stops by the booth wants to play. I tell them Im not prepared for that, but theyre more than welcome to thumb through the book, read an entire chapter if they like, and ask any questions they might have.

Theyve got a lot of questions. I answer them as best I can.

More than a few of them look at the front page of the book and then look up at the booth next to mine. They look back at the front page, then look back at the booth next to mine.

They smile.

One guy said, Thats class, man. A lot of class.

I shake my head. No. Its honest.

Soon enough, I figure Ive got to show him. Itd be best if I showed it to him. So, when I get a break and were both not doing a whole helluva lot, I snatch up a copy of the book and walk over to the Issaries, Inc. booth where Greg Stafford sits, looking over a chapbook of his own.

Greetings, Great and Mighty Stafford, I tell him.

He nods and his wide grin finds his face. John, why cant you convince the rest of the gaming industry to greet me in the proper way?

Its my life-long ambition, I tell him.

Is that a copy of Orkworld? he asks me.

Yep, I say, handing it over to him. If I didnt show you this, someone else would. And I wanted to be the one to do it.

He opens the book and finds the first page.

Right there, in big forty-eight point letters, it says:

Dedicated to Greg Stafford

This ones for you, Gray Crane.

A pause.

Another pause.

He looks up from the words and his tattooed arms reach out and wrap around me. He holds me with the kind of strength a father holds his son.

Thank you, he says. His voice is soft and solemn.

And at that moment, it doesnt matter if I make one dime on the book. It doesnt matter if reviewers rip the book into a thousand tiny little shreds. It doesnt matter what anyone thinks about what I wrote.

At that moment, Greg Stafford knows exactly how much his work has meant to me. How much his words have inspired me, not only as a game designer, but as a storyteller.

At that moment, its all worth it.

Bring me the head of John Wick! the voice says from the edge of the booth. And there he stands, right on the precipice, as if he cant enter unless hes been invited.

(Let me tell you something about Graveyard Greg. The man never  and The Wick means never  frowns. His smile is tattooed to his face as sure as The Great and Mighty Stafford has Glorantha runes tattooed to his arm. I can always tell the Deadman is on his way because you can see the gleam of his teeth.)

(Or maybe thats the gleam of his bald head. Hm&)

Greg looks at the book. Tells me how cool it looks. Warns me about his Top Secret Graveyard Greg Project, gives me some hints about what its gonna be about (it sounds really cool) and then, before I can say a single word, hes gone off to someone elses booth, his smile leaving spots in my eyes.

My, my, my. That boy sure moves fast.

A few minutes later, the rest of the Good Ol G.O. crew show up. Ed Healy is about as deadpan as Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie. We chat about Orkworld, they ask me when the next GDJ column is coming and I tell them, Soon. I explain why I havent had time to write anything for a while, and they congratulate me. I thank em all and tell them we should get together for lunch.

And thats when I bump into John Kovalic.

There are so many people to see at a con, and you just never have time for them all. However, there are some people you make time for. One of those people is John Kovalic.

(By the way, did I mention John is about as tall and goofy looking as youd expect him to be?)

We all go out to lunch. John suggests we go across the street and eat at North Market. Once there, I get to gobble up Indian food. Ive never had it before, and John makes recommendations. Its delicious and I dont eat anything else the whole con.

Then, Ed Healy asks about Warhamster: 3E.

John and I groan.

Itd be going faster, I reply, If that damn J. Jery Jax guy didnt keep making an awful stink about it all.

Yeah, says Kovalic. The guys a real jerk.

Ed looks at us like were crazy. Who?

J. Jery Jax, John answers. The guy who owns the rights to first edition Warhamster.

He has to approve everything I do, I explain. And hes a real pain in my ass.

Oh, says Mr. Healy. He quickly changes the subject.

We all head back to the convention hall, stuffed and sleepy. I spent the rest of the day showing off Orkworld and chatting with The Great and Mighty Stafford. We talk about personal mythology, monsters, the game industry, the fickleness of fans and pitch each others RPGs.

It was a fun Friday. And that night, I got the surprise of the year.

And the Best RPG of 1999 is&

The guy next to me has been whispering 7th Sea, 7th Sea, 7th Sea all night long. Whenever the game was up for an award, he made his little mantra. We already won Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game and Best CCG. Now, it was Best RPG.

In the short moment it took to open that envelope, my mind raced over the other nominees.

First, there was Dragonfist. Its amazing what Chris Pramas did with that clunky monster they call Dungeons and Dragons. Its amazing what Chris did with Ancient China. Ive always said theres no need to do a game in a genre thats already been done right.

Youll never see me do a game set in Ancient China.

(By the way, I forgot to mention Ork! The Roleplaying Game. Its hilarious. Go get it Right The Hell Now. Its a shame Chris and I didnt get a picture of us beating each other up with our books. Maybe at Gen-Con.)

rip, rip, rip

Next, theres Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Great. It doesnt matter how brilliant or dull the design is, its Star Trek. Nobody should ever have to compete with Trek. And to make matters worse, its a well-written, well-designed game. Great.

the card slips out of the envelope

Mechwarrior. Put this in the same category as Star Trek. Battletech 4th Edition beat Clan War for Best Miniatures Game last year. I believe in parallels. I believe events echo down the halls of history. And besides, theres a helluva lot of Battletech fans out there.

the card is in hand; ready to be read

The Pokémon Adventure Game. Never saw it. Never played it. I have a policy: if I havent played every game in a category I dont vote on it. Thats why I didnt vote for Best RPG this year. And sitting in that chair, Im beginning to wonder about that kharma stuff my sister believes in&

And the winner is&

And then theres Unknown Armies. First, theres all the John Tynes fans (Im one of them). Then, theres the fact its unlike any other RPG on the market. Its mean and dirty and unflinching. When youre done reading it, you want to take a bath in Listerine. The design is brilliant, production values are great and the voice of the book is easy to read and friendly. Just the kind of game Id want to design& but a bit less icky. When the name comes up, half the audience nearly jumps out of their chairs. This is the game Ill be clapping for in a moment. I bow my head and remind myself of that moment I shared with the Great and Mig 

7th Sea!

My head pops up. My lips move without my command.

Wow, I say to The Wife.

She hugs me and whispers, Congratulations.

I hug her back and say, Lets go get our award.

There were so many good games this year. Sengoku was one of them. Brave New World was another.

And every time I get to win one, I wish the other folks who put just as much effort into their games as I did could stand up on that stage and accept the award with me. They worked hard, they suffered, they put their dreams in ink and put them in front of the world. They deserve the award as much as we did.

And that aint no work. Its a shoot. I wish everyone could win Best RPG every year. In a way, it isnt Best, its Favorite. Its the Peoples Choice Awards.

But that doesnt make me any less proud to accept it.

Of course, next year, Orkworld will have even stiffer competition.

D&D: 3E.

Jonathan Tweet and D&D. Great.

Dune.

I get to compete with Frank Herbert. Wonderful.

Star Wars.

I get to compete with Herbert and Lucas. Can you hear me cheering?

Hero Wars.

And I get to compete with The Great and Mighty Stafford. Woo-hoo!

(The Wife says, You want some cheese with that wine? Yeah. And grapes, too. Sour ones.)

Saturday is a blur. Its the busiest day of the con. I get more pre-orders for Orkworld and a bunch of Scorpion Clan players come by the booth. They ask me if Im going to play in the Open Tournament with my Designer Wins card.

(For those of you who dont know, the rarest card in the L5R set is one called Designer Wins. Its a picture of the design team with the text: If your face appears on this card, you win the game. Suck it up, fanboy!)

See, Scorpion has a hard time winning tournaments. Im a card carrying member of the Scorpion Clan. In fact, in a weird kind of way, Im the honorary Champion.

I tell them I cant compete, but I can do something else. I offer up a reward of two cards from my collection to anyone who loses to a Scorpion. Also, I offer my Designer Wins card to any Scorpion who wins the Tournament.

A Scorpion comes in third. My plan didnt work. I have a better one for Gen-Con.

Saturday night, I do a dramatic reading of How Bashthraka Lost His Spear. I blow my voice out. Thats okay. Sunday is short because our plane leaves at 5:00 PM. Besides, Sunday is Swagday. Unfortunately, I dont have anything to trade for.

John Kovalic gives me a full run of Dork Tower for Warhamster research. And John, let me tell you, The Wife read those on the flight home and spit up her drink twice.

Unsolicited Opinion Alert: Dork Tower is the funniest, smartest and most charming comic on the market today. If you arent reading it, theres something wrong with you.

I go over to the Atlas booth where the SJG stuff rests. Ive got my credit for writing Play Dirty over at Pyramid and Im eager to spend it. I pick up a copy of GURPS: Space and GURPS: Traveller. I debate on picking up GURPS: In Nomine but remember that GURPS: Castle Falkenstein will be out soon and keep the rest of my credit.

As I get ready to go, two guys step up to me and ask, Hey? Are you the John Wick?

The one and only, I say.

They tell me how much they like reading my stuff (theyre both wearing Scorpion pins, which means theyre Old School Wick Fans) and wanted to thank me for being so cool.

I never know exactly how to reply to that, so I thank them for keeping my books on the shelf.

Then, I remember my moment with The Great and Mighty Stafford.

I felt my face and my voice change.

Thanks, I tell them.

Say, one of them asks, whats The Flux going to be about?

The other one sees the Gurps books. I catch his eye. He smiles a secret smile.

I wink at him as I say to his partner, Well, youll have to wait a couple more weeks to find out.

All right, he says.

I wish them well, tell them I hope to see em at Gen-Con. Well be there! they say. I go back to my booth, thinking about circles all the way.

A little later, I get to meet Marc Miller. He and his wife congratulate Jenny and I on winning the Origins Award. We both say thanks and I pay cash dollars for his Traveller books.

You know, theres more than a little Marc Miller in John Wick games, I tell him. Thanks for everything.

Thank you, he says and shakes my hand.

We walk away and The Wife says, They were nice. She picks up the books and starts looking through them. Can we play this next? she asks.

And I realize just how lucky I am to be married to her.

At the airport. Its me, The Wife and the Amazing Hepler and Brandes. Chris and Jennifer (respectively) wrote a whole heavin shitload of stuff for FASA and The Second Book of the Shadowlands for AEG. They also made Orkworld a better game with a week and a half of editing and suggestions. Were hanging out in the airport because we probably wont see each other again for a long time, and over the very short time weve known each other, weve become rather good friends.

After the luggage is packed, we head over to a deli to get a burger and who do we see there but The Great and Mighty One. We all sit together, talking about religion, game design and other nonsensical stuff. Then, its time for his flight, we wish him good luck on his journey and were all together for another hour.

When the plane arrives, we give them a big hug goodbye. As I watch them leave, I realize just how precious friends are. When they first read through Orkworld, they told me, Its brilliant, John. But its not the most brilliant f**king thing to ever hit the shelves. They pushed me harder than anyones ever pushed me, and Orkworld is a better book for it.

I watch them leave and Im already missing them.

Whats wrong? The Wife asks.

I say nothing and give her the biggest hug Ive given her in a long time. She understands.

Sometimes, words just ruin everything.

A Little Place Called Petaluma

We got home on Sunday night around midnight. Eight hours later, we were on the freeway, headed for the City on the Bay.

About two weeks ago, I won a job at a place called Totally Games. Theyre the folks who made those super cool X-Wing and Tie Fighter games. Theyre bringing me on as a story guy, to assist in writing storylines for games, create characters and design missions that fit those stories.

Jenny and I are currently living in a small town called Petaluma. Its about twenty miles north of San Rafael where my job rests. I got the job because Thomas works there and let me know when the position opened. I submitted a resume, they interviewed me, and I got the job.

Orkworld. Origins. Totally Games. Packing. Driving. All of this in the span of two weeks.

And thats what I did on my summer vacation.

Im tired now, and The Wife is unpacking. If I dont help out, Ill get in Trouble. So, Id better head off. See you all in a week.

Unless there was something in that hamburger&