12
FREE Vol 3 Issue 1 Jan 09 * Gaming Articles, Monthly Editorials & Remarkable Stories Celebrating Over 1 Year in Publication This month we bring you the sec- ond installment of our ongoing chronicle of the trials and tribula- tions of an independent game devel- oper. Their work can be seen and p u r c h a s e d a t www.metalmagicandlore.com. They are imminently qualified for the task at hand. How many of us have, over the years, said to one another . . . “Hey man, we should totally make our own game!” Well put down the cheetos and mountain dew and read on friends, it takes not only a lot of work, crea- tivity and patience, but an ability to juggle a thousand things at once. Andrew and Vito know what they're talking about, and hopefully we can all learn something, gaming related or otherwise from their experience. It was February 2006. There we were, 5 th Epoch Publishing. We were only partly dressed, but with plenty of places to go yet. We had engaged in some heavy work to make Metal, Magic and Lore® more fun to play and easier to use, and the fact remained - we had a great game system that was innovative, and played and well designed. We had an enthusiastic and growing staff: 2 co-authors, 4 designers, 5 creative staff, and a host of consult- ants. We were fortunate enough to have some very talented people involved with the project. Our con- sultants included medieval re- creationists versed in armored com- bat, a professional armorer whose work can be seen at Neiman Marcus and a renowned structural engineer who was consulted in the aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent World Trade Center collapse, a specialist in precious metals, among others. We had accumulated play test groups numbering some 50 people, from ages 13 to 40, male and female. We had accumulated a library of well over 100 books for research and reference. What we did not have yet, was a cohesive rulebook. We did have the various sections of the book written in varying degrees of development, and we knew what we wanted the final product to look like. We still did not know many other things, like how much money would be re- quired to bring the game to market, or how the project would be funded. Suddenly, there were a series of competing questions being asked that were seemingly interdependent. How much funding was needed? How would we seek out investors? What would their stake be and how would they get paid back? Was it even possible to pay them back? (Continued on page 3) By Andrew Kozak A Host of Challenges - Confessions of and Indie RPG Publisher. Part 2 Mild Reboot and Statement of Purpose Over this last year, we here at G.A.M.E.R.S. have done the best we can to bring you, the reader, the best in nerdy news. We’ve conducted interviews with many industry insid- ers and game designers, reprinted relevant clips from multiple different sources and reviewed many games, books and conventions so that you could remain a well informed mem- ber of the geek community. With the new year come many new challenges, promises and opportuni- ties. Over the coming months our newsletter will be undergoing a pe- riod of growth. We’ve several new writers coming on board, with our first of them being Ms. Victoria Ve- sey who this month provides us with a review of the classic and recently revitalized Watchmen graphic novel. Several others are on the way, and our search for additional writers, editors and graphic artists continues. Our goal is to provide readers with as much original, relevant content as can be produced. So please, continue to enjoy this publication and as the year moves forward, feel free to provide us with any feedback you may have. We thrive and depend upon your input. This newsletter is here for your enjoyment, and we are deeply inter- ested in what you want to see. Any input, feedback, interest in working with us, advertising requests or hate mail, may all be directed to [email protected]. We look forward to continuing to provide you with high-quality nerd – related news and fiction, and are excited about what this year will bring. We hope you’ll remain with us to see it all. Ben Chronister OGO Publications Editor Neovention Reborn moved to 2010! A decision has been made that in the interest of making sure we bring back Neovention in the best way possible, that we will postpone Neovention for 1 year. Nothing currently arranged is planned to change. Just to make sure that there are no rumor mongering as to the reasons for this decision, we wanted to make sure the real story is out there ahead of time. This decision was made by every- body on staff, the board of direc- tors, and even the sponsors. The fact is we have all put a lot of work and money into organizing a great convention for everybody, however while looking over what we have planned, We decided that with the addition of some new opportunities that have presented themselves to the OGO & OGO Publications, that we can & will be able to pull off an even better con- vention by putting those opportuni- ties to work for us now instead of later. The new tentative dates are March 26th - 28th, 2010. We will still be at the same hotel with the same great discount on rooms as 2009 was planned. The simple fact is that we are reviv- ing a 20-ish year old convention, that many people cared for and loved, so we want to make sure that even it’s first year back is not done small. So, now is the time to submit any great ideas you may have had for events or suggestions! See You in 2010! Jack R Stewart OGO Publications

2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

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various sections of the book written in varying degrees of development, and we knew what we wanted the final product to look like. We still did not know many other things, like how much money would be re- quired to bring the game to market, or how the project would be funded. Jan 09 By Andrew Kozak What we did not have yet, was a cohesive rulebook. We did have the Celebrating Over 1 Year in Publication See You in 2010! OGO Publications OGO Publications Editor (Continued on page 3)

Citation preview

Page 1: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

FREE Vol 3

Issue 1

Jan 09 * Gaming Articles, Monthly Editorials & Remarkable Stories

Celebrating Over 1 Year in Publication

This month we bring you the sec-

ond installment of our ongoing

chronicle of the trials and tribula-

tions of an independent game devel-

oper. Their work can be seen and

p u r c h a s e d a t

www.metalmagicandlore.com. They

are imminently qualified for the task

at hand. How many of us have, over

the years, said to one another . . .

“Hey man, we should totally make

our own game!”

Well put down the cheetos and

mountain dew and read on friends,

it takes not only a lot of work, crea-

tivity and patience, but an ability to

juggle a thousand things at once.

Andrew and Vito know what they're

talking about, and hopefully we can

all learn something, gaming related

or otherwise from their experience.

It was February 2006. There we

were, 5th Epoch Publishing. We

were only partly dressed, but with

plenty of places to go yet. We had

engaged in some heavy work to

make Metal, Magic and Lore® more

fun to play and easier to use, and

the fact remained - we had a great

game system that was innovative,

and played and well designed. We

had an enthusiastic and growing

staff: 2 co-authors, 4 designers, 5

creative staff, and a host of consult-

ants. We were fortunate enough to

have some very talented people

involved with the project. Our con-

sultants included medieval re-

creationists versed in armored com-

bat, a professional armorer whose

work can be seen at Neiman Marcus

and a renowned structural engineer

who was consulted in the aftermath

of 9/11 and the subsequent World

Trade Center collapse, a specialist in

precious metals, among others. We

had accumulated play test groups

numbering some 50 people, from

ages 13 to 40, male and female. We

had accumulated a library of well

over 100 books for research and

reference.

What we did not have yet, was a

cohesive rulebook. We did have the

various sections of the book written

in varying degrees of development,

and we knew what we wanted the

final product to look like. We still

did not know many other things, like

how much money would be re-

quired to bring the game to market,

or how the project would be

funded.

Suddenly, there were a series of

competing questions being asked

that were seemingly interdependent.

How much funding was needed?

How would we seek out investors?

What would their stake be and how

would they get paid back? Was it

even possible to pay them back?

(Continued on page 3)

By Andrew Kozak

A Host of Challenges - Confessions of and Indie RPG Publisher. Part 2

Mild Reboot and Statement of Purpose

Over this last year, we here at

G.A.M.E.R.S. have done the best we

can to bring you, the reader, the best

in nerdy news. We’ve conducted

interviews with many industry insid-

ers and game designers, reprinted

relevant clips from multiple different

sources and reviewed many games,

books and conventions so that you

could remain a well informed mem-

ber of the geek community.

With the new year come many new

challenges, promises and opportuni-

ties. Over the coming months our

newsletter will be undergoing a pe-

riod of growth. We’ve several new

writers coming on board, with our

first of them being Ms. Victoria Ve-

sey who this month provides us with

a review of the classic and recently

revitalized Watchmen graphic novel.

Several others are on the way, and

our search for additional writers,

editors and graphic artists continues.

Our goal is to provide readers with

as much original, relevant content as

can be produced.

So please, continue to enjoy this

publication and as the year moves

forward, feel free to provide us with

any feedback you may have. We

thrive and depend upon your input.

This newsletter is here for your

enjoyment, and we are deeply inter-

ested in what you want to see.

Any input, feedback, interest in

working with us, advertising requests

or hate mail, may all be directed to

[email protected].

We look forward to continuing to

provide you with high-quality nerd –

related news and fiction, and are

excited about what this year will

bring. We hope you’ll remain with us

to see it all.

Ben Chronister OGO Publications Editor

Neovention Reborn moved to 2010!

A decision has been made that in

the interest of making sure we bring

back Neovention in the best way

possible, that we will postpone

Neovention for 1 year. Nothing

currently arranged is planned to

change.

Just to make sure that there are no

rumor mongering as to the reasons

for this decision, we wanted to

make sure the real story is out

there ahead of time.

This decision was made by every-

body on staff, the board of direc-

tors, and even the sponsors.

The fact is we have all put a lot of

work and money into organizing a

great convention for everybody,

however while looking over what

we have planned, We decided that

with the addition of some new

opportunities that have presented

themselves to the OGO & OGO

Publications, that we can & will be

able to pull off an even better con-

vention by putting those opportuni-

ties to work for us now instead of

later.

The new tentative dates are March

26th - 28th, 2010. We will still be at

the same hotel with the same great

discount on rooms as 2009 was

planned.

The simple fact is that we are reviv-

ing a 20-ish year old convention,

that many people cared for and

loved, so we want to make sure

that even it’s first year back is not

done small.

So, now is the time to submit any

great ideas you may have had for

events or suggestions!

See You in 2010!

Jack R Stewart OGO Publications

Page 2: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

2 G.A.M.E.R.S.

Editor in Chief:

Jack R Stewart - [email protected]

Copy Editor:

Ben Chronister - [email protected]

Photography staff:

Mike Henthorn - [email protected]

Writers:

Matt Ferrell - [email protected]

Mr. Stephen - [email protected]

OGO Publications

P.O. Box 2224

Columbus, Ohio 43216

1-877-OGO-0010

http://www.ogopublications.com

Contribution Support:

The Soldiery –See Ad in Back

www.icv2.com - Industry News!

www.gamerscircle.net - Industry News

www.prweb.com - Press Release Newswire

www.ign.com - IGN

Gamingreport.com

Submissions & Advertising Services/Info:

[email protected]

Printers:

Capitol Square Printing

59 East Gay St

Columbus, OH 43215

(614) 221-2850

Legal Department

Edward F. Peterson Co., LPA

85 E. Gay St., Suite 404 Columbus, OH 43215 [email protected] (614) 224-3737

Fax: (614) 224-3740

G.A.M.E.R.S. Newspaper is published Monthly, 12 times per year by OGO Pub l i c a t i o n s , PO Box 2 2 24 Co l umbu s , OH 4 3216 . For More information or Copyright concerns, please contact

[email protected].

Looking for a good time? Join more than 900 gaming fans for a weekend packed with video games, miniatures,

pen and paper role-playing, Eurogames, card games, board games, and much more!

BASHCon XXIV will be the weekend of February 20th

-22nd

, 2009, at The University of Toledo Main Cam-

pus Student Union in Toledo, Ohio.

For more information, please visit:

www.bashcon.com

or e-mail us at [email protected]

UT-BASH is partially funded by Student General Fees.

BASHCon is sponsored by UT-BASH, the gaming club at the University of Toledo. For more information on us, please visit our website at http://

www.ut-bash.com/

Now Renting Video Games!!!

Page 3: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

3 G.A.M.E.R.S.

Last August, Stardock and Gas Pow-

ered Games came together to make

a bold proposition. That we, as

gamers, have our own set of inali-

able rights. The idea is one we’ve all

surely talked about when faced with

the many frustrations of any number

of recently produced electronic

games. Unyielding DRM (anti-piracy)

software, system crashing bugs,

unplayable levels, poor support and

any number of other similarly daunt-

ing issues. All of these come coupled

with steadily rising price-tags and

the stolid march toward monopoly

as larger companies like Electronic

Arts eat up smaller companies at an

astounding rate leaving us with

fewer and fewer places to turn for

our electronic recreational needs.

This Gamers’ Bill of Rights has

raised a bit of a stir, as GPG and

Stardock have attempted to involve

as many other companies as possible

in their efforts to provide gamers

with more and better alternatives to

these common issues. Still unheard

from as to their adherence to this

proposal are several larger compa-

nies including Valve Software and

Electronic Arts.

The inevitable question here is, are

these rules reasonable? Is it possible

for companies to adopt these rules

or is this merely wishful thinking?

Are we as consumers asking too

much or, as this is a free market,

does the responsibility fall on the

shoulders of the game makers to

meet our demands?

Below is the proposed Bill of Rights.

We the Gamers of the world, in

order to ensure a more enjoy-

able experience, establish

equality between players and

publishers, and promote the

general welfare of our industry

hereby call for the following:

Gamers shall have the right to

return games that don't work

with their computers for a full

refund.

Gamers shall have the right to

demand that games be released

in a finished state.

Gamers shall have the right to

expect meaningful updates after

a game's release.

Gamers shall have the right to

demand that download managers

and updaters not force them-

selves to run or be forced to load

in order to play a game.

Gamers shall have the right to

expect that the minimum require-

ments for a game will mean that

the game will adequately play on

that computer.

Gamers shall have the right to

expect that games won't install

hidden drivers or other poten-

tially harmful software without

their express consent.

Gamers shall have the right to re-

download the latest versions of

the games they own at any time.

Gamers shall have the right to

not be treated as potential crimi-

nals by developers or publishers.

Gamers shall have the right to

demand that a single-player

game not force them to be con-

nected to the Internet every time

they wish to play.

Gamers shall have the right that

games which are installed to the

hard drive shall not require a CD/

DVD to remain in the drive to

play.

Does this hold water? We certainly

hope it does. Stardock and GPG

hope that eventually all the game

publishers will unite under these

rules. Unfortunately, there seems to

be little to entice them. Despite any

number of studies showing the utter

ineffectiveness of DRM , and that

continued support of a game can

vastly improve its replay value and

long-term sales, game companies

seem intent to continue along their

current path. Is it hubris, or should

we as mere consumers stop trying

to play amateur economists and

captain’s of business? Whose court

is the ball in really? As well, how

would we enforce this proposal?

In the end, the hope is that this

proposal will gain some sort of

speed. Even if the larger companies

don’t necessarily pick up on the idea

as it stands, perhaps by the very fact

that these ideas be been deemed

necessary to propose will cause

them to realize that we, the people,

deserve better.

We The Gamers

What was the market doing? How

many copies might we sell in our

first year? …in the following years?

What were the tax implications?

How would we, as the authors, get

paid? What were our liabilities?

What do we do about a presence

on the Internet? We needed to

answer these questions and many

others if we were to continue.

Again, when faced with all these

questions at once, the idea of dis-

continuing the project had at times

become as appealing as starting it

had been. We had day jobs to tend

to and families to take care of. We

were willing to turn a labor of love

into a professional endeavor, but

the fact that we had already worked

very hard at that was one that no

one could argue. But now, the pro-

ject had somehow taken on a life of

it’s own. The people around us

were asking about it as if it were

already a product. In a sense, the

project had developed its own his-

tory! Its inception was as far back as

1988, and even during periods of

inactivity, it provoked thoughts and

conversations of reminiscence.

When it was revived in 2002, the

project changed form and evolved

into a wholly new effort. The team

who were involved had become

excited to help, and proud of their

efforts. They were painstakingly

questioning every aspect of the

game system to get it to work prop-

erly. As partners and co-authors, we

had logged an average of 22-25

hours per week each over an ex-

tended period of time, and at times

as much as 40 hours in a given

week! As we had done this, the

ability to see Metal, Magic and Lore

through to the market became

more and more important to us. So

at this juncture we felt a certain

degree of pressure, albeit largely self

-induced, but pressure nevertheless.

We were now in a race with our-

selves, and the sheer challenge of it

was not only daunting, but in some

strange way what made it so appeal-

ing.

At this point, we feel it is important

to mention that all partnerships, but

especially ones in creative endeav-

ors, are tested as the project moves

through its various stages. We re-

lied on our years of friendship and

our deep commitment to the pro-

ject to get us through. When work-

ing on a creative project, its not

easy to tell someone who has

worked for several weeks that one

idea or another should be scrapped

in favor of something new. It took a

lot of time to develop our partner-

ship to where we had a level of

trust and confidence to express the

myriad of thoughts and concerns

that arose as our work continued.

Andrew is a mechanical engineer

with both a creative and analytical

mind; he gets paid to design systems

from scratch under a competing

series of environmental, physical and

fiscal demands. Vito is a systems

consultant who also has both a

creative and analytical mind; he gets

paid to help companies find their

ways out of dilemmas by analyzing

and developing creative approaches

to challenges. The seemingly endless

series of toils involved in the project

tested professional abilities, our

resolve and commitment to com-

(Continued from page 1)

(Continued on page 10)

Confessions—Cont.

Page 4: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

4 G.A.M.E.R.S.

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I don’t read comic books. Call me pretentious, but I’m a fan of full-bodied novels, thick bindings and page after page of words and only words to spark my imagination and sink my whole being into a new world. So, when I was asked to do a monthly book review for G.A.M.E.R.S., I was thrilled at the opportunity. Now I would have more reason to discover all the newest and best fantasy books on the market, and even be able to give my opinion on them, relieving my poor friends of the duty of listening. But when I was asked to read “Watchmen” as my first as-signment, I was a little disap-pointed and it took me a while to even force myself to start it. Give me the classics, fantasy, poetry, biographies and anything else, but comic books had never made it onto my radar as worthwhile read-ing material. Though I frequently perused Heavy Metal and I love the morbid classic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, I had a hard time finding comics that held my interest. Now I realize I had simply been looking

through the wrong comics.

With a level of ease that startled me, I was able to immerse myself into the “Watchmen” in just a few

pages. Being unused to the comic book set-up, I had a little difficulty with the flow of the story. The story starts out with the death of the Comedian, a founding member of the league of superheroes of the prior generation. Then for the first half or so of the book, the focus jumps back and forth between characters finding out about his death, and their individual back stories leading up to the event. However, with the fill-in provided by the memoirs of “Hollis Mason” and various other articles and additions in between chapters and a little perseverance, the story started to fill in the gaps. It took less than a chapter before I was hooked and I had made it through two chapters before looking up to realize that I hadn’t noticed a thing going on around me for over an

hour.

The story turned out more intelli-gent and motivating than I ex-pected. I loved that the illustra-tions helped me to imagine the story more fully and the details of the pictures surprised me. I had also been under the mistaken idea that comics had very simplistic story lines and characters, but reading this has definitely changed that idea. The plot is complicated, with many layers and twists, the characters are given intricate psy-chological developments, and it has

a dry wit that kept me laughing and prevented the story from becom-ing overly gruesome. Detailed plot lines combine to show the devel-opment of the various superhero characters and the difficult situa-tions they had to deal with that lead them to where they are at the death of the Comedian and then beyond to the resolution of the comic (not to give away the ending

to those who haven’t read it).

My favorite character was Dr. Manhattan, because of the im-mense struggles he dealt with due to his condition. The sci-fi ob-sessed will love the science behind the power of a radioactive man, both mental and physical. The complications of his story bring up many different ethical and moral dilemmas such as the responsibili-ties of someone blessed with such immense power, personal rights regarding how the government controls him and Laurie (his girl-friend and one of the other super-heroes), how to deal with knowing the future, and the hero’s struggle against himself. Beyond everything else, it is interesting to see his complete connection to Laurie, despite the fact he seems to be beyond any form of real human

emotion.

In contrast, the back story of the Comedian, showing that he was as bad, if not worse than the villains

themselves; brought into play the idea of what to do when a “hero” does awful deeds in the name of government and the common good. This theme continues into the end of the story, when the true actions of several other char-acters are brought to light, with the presentation of the madness and excess that can occur when individuals go too far in thinking they can play god and change the world in the continual problem of the end justifying the means. These limitless philosophical questions and unique presentation in the story kept me intrigued and con-

templative until the very end.

Another aspect of this particular story that I enjoyed was the poetic style of the narrator in the flashbacks to the war and scenes such as Rorschach’s (a character somewhat analogous to Batman) conversation with the psycholo-gist. It was a beautiful twist on a morbid subject, which might have come off simply as blood, guts and gore otherwise. Overall, I found “Watchmen” to be creative, com-pelling, philosophically complex and highly entertaining. I am happy to say I have discovered a new genre of interest and look forward to my next foray into the exciting and intricate world of comics. Recommendations will be appreci-

ated.

Watchmen—My Big Surprise

Victoria Vesey Staff Writer

Page 5: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

5 G.A.M.E.R.S.

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6 G.A.M.E.R.S.

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7 G.A.M.E.R.S.

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8 G.A.M.E.R.S.

OH SNAP! How else can you

describe the first episode of this,

the final stretch of one of the best

television shows to grace the

airwaves in the last decade? I have

to admit; in the beginning I was

skeptical of Battlestar Galactica. I

had seen a few episodes of the

original series and, unlike many an

old-school geek, thought it was a

crappy imitation of Star Wars,

with a stupid robotic dog. And

BSG 1980? Gag me, seriously. So,

when the new series was an-

nounced and launched with a 3

hour mini-series I avoided it like

the plague. However, after much

cajoling I was duct taped in front

of the television and forced to

watch the mini. And ever since, I

have been hooked.

Ronald D. Moore and David Eick

have created a storytelling master-

piece. Touching on modern

themes and cutting out all the

schmaltz of the classic sci-fi yarn,

they have woven a personal narra-

tive of loss, life and the tough

choices a people under siege must

make to ensure their survival.

While impressive, the technical

feats of the show take a sideline

to the story; a journey of survival

and faith for a society adrift. A

story not unlike our own coun-

try’s last eight years. And what a

journey it has been.

Two Emmy’s, a Hugo, a Peabody

and 9 other awards later we are

now staring down the end of the

journey. BSG has earned its props

and is set to go out with a bang.

And this year’s first episode did

not disappoint. Now, I’ve gone

back and forth on whether or not

I should spoil any of the surprises

of the first episode for those of

you not yet fortunate enough to

see it. And well, if you haven’t

seen the episode, go no further. I

think it would be impossible to

review this episode without giving

something away. However, I’m

going to take a different tack than

your average review, I’m going to

look at three characters and their

course through the episode in-

stead of doing the standard linear

review.

So here goes the run down:

Earth sucks! And everyone is

starting to realize it. Apparently

our BSG earthlings are about as

good at keeping the peace as

George W. on a drunken hunting

trip. Thus, our heroes have landed

on an Earth devoid of life, from a

giant nuclear holocaust, from like

2000 years ago. And, by the way,

what did we learn from the bones

of the fabled 13th tribe of human-

ity? They’re cylons. Man, that had

to be crappy for Roslin.

Duala seems to be the worst

affected by the whole mess and

does quite a bit of crying.

Allow me to take a moment out

here and tell you about how much

I hate Duala. She is a ho, and I

directly attribute her dumping

Billy way back in season 2 to his

untimely death. (Yes, I know he

moved on to other shows, but the

story made me hate her) And

she’s never redeemed herself

since. So, when the depression

finally takes over and she puts a

bullet through her brain I literally

screamed like a little girl,

“AWESOME!”. Yes, I was

shocked, yes I was a little sad and

yes I understand that she did it

because she just couldn’t take it

anymore. She couldn’t take the

battles, the loss and the disap-

pointment. So, after a last good

night with Apollo she shuffles off.

But seriously folks. What exactly

was her journey? Her time clearly

wasn’t as hard as say, Starbuck or

Adama or Rosslin. She sat in CIC

and told people where to fly. And

when she wasn’t doing that she

was playing home wrecker to

both the dearly departed Billy and

destroying all of my Apollo/

Starbuck fantas ies . Home

wrecker…

The final four get an excellent

sort of brain exploding series of

flash backs.

The four of them, along with the

fifth, were apparently all denizens

of this long forgotten nuclear

wasteland at the time it was

nuked. Tyrol finds his shadow on

a wall… all that was left of him

after the bomb. Anders finds a

guitar that was his, and was appar-

ently friends with both Tyrol and

Tory. All Tory gets is a flashback

of hanging out with the two of

them.

Now, Tigh’s side of things is far

more interesting. Yes, he gets a

flashback. But, smartly, the BSG

team decides to save it until the

end of the episode. Where in we

find that the fifth Cylon is (drum

roll please….) HIS WIFE. Yes,

that’s right. His wife, who was

sleeping with Cavil on New Ca-

prica and handing secrets over to

the Cylons to get Tigh out of jail.

The very woman who Tigh himself

killed for being a spy (in one of

the best moments of the entire

series, by the way). Tigh, in one

of the tensest moments of the

show, also gets the chance to off

Adama, and part of me thought

he, or Adama himself might actu-

ally go through with it. But Tigh

smartly puts the gun away and lets

the increasingly despondent and

worn out CO of the Galatica.

I must say, figuring out how they

got to this point in time and what

their real purpose is better be one

of the driving forces of the show

from here on out. I like these

four characters, especially Tigh

and Tyrol, and their path to this

point was one of my favorite parts

of the show. I’m just worried that

now that we’ve figured out where

they’re from the show will begin

to focus on other matters and

leave this story line behind.

Starbuck/Leobin get the biggest

head trip of all (except of course

for the distance Duala’s brains

traveled after she shot them out).

She’s dead. Or at least a version

of her is. Apparently, she did

make it to Earth after being

sucked into that giant vortex. But

while there, she crashed and died.

Making the moment when the

Starbuck we know stumbles upon

the dead Starbuck with Leobin

decidedly awkward for all three of

them.

Leobin’s journey to this point and

his reaction to it really made me

like him even more. Finding out

that he was entirely wrong about

Starbuck and that his whole world

view had been shattered will leave

his final steps in the show some of

the more interesting ones to fol-

low. But back to Starbuck.

Really, how screwed up must she

now be? She’s married to a Cylon,

found herself dead, and then

burned her dead self on a pyre.

Admittedly, she’s been one of my

favorite characters. But I must say,

that she didn’t kill herself after this

little episode only proves how

weak Duala actually was… err… I

mean, how strong a character

Starbuck really is.

The Final Verdict: I think the

scene where Roslin burns the

prophecies and decides to go off

of her cancer meds says it all. The

entire crew is adrift, with more

questions than ever and no where

to call home. Simply, this episode

was a game changer. The Galactica

will soon find itself in what could

be a run and gun battle for sur-

vival with Cavil’s army of crazy

Cylons. Starbuck isn’t Starbuck…

or is she? And no one, literally no

one, now knows where they’re

headed. Of course, this leaves me

a little worried about the way the

rest of the show will play out.

They’ve got nine episodes to wrap

this all up and have promised us

one of the greatest space battles

in history at the end of it. But

what this show is really all about,

and where I hope it keeps its fo-

cus, is on the people taking the

journey. Stick to this, forget about

the crappy one shot episodes

we’ve seen in the past and get to

telling the story you know how to

tell. If you do this, we fans of BSG

will not be disappointed.

An In-Depth Analysis of Battle Star Galactica’s Kick-off to the End

The Unknown Writer Staff Writer

Page 9: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

9 G.A.M.E.R.S.

Page 10: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

10 G.A.M.E.R.S.

Confessions—Cont.

pleting the project.

The fiscal side of the project was a

challenge all of its own. In order for

this fledgling game company to

come into existence we the authors

were forced to create an investment

structure that had to stand out in

New York City where many such

opportunities are born each day.

The amount of money to be raised

was a complex issue and its details

are still a bit sensitive, but suffice to

say that it was the subject of a num-

ber of very long meetings and the

cause of many sleepless nights. Once

the deal was set and we had gained

the trust of investors enough to

raise the minimum capital necessary,

we then had to file a small mountain

of legal paperwork. The advantage

of having an excellent lawyer who

really looks out for you can not be

understated.

It is safe to say that the project no

longer felt fun. In spite of that fact,

we stuck to our guns and set forth

to accomplish a number of things in

parallel with each other. We had to

create a sample rulebook that rep-

resented the direction of what we

desired in look, style and feel of

Metal, Magic and Lore. As well, we

needed to determine how much

funding would be required to pro-

duce the rulebook and manufacture

units to bring to market. As if that

weren't enough we also had to

determine an appropriate transac-

tional structure that would satisfy

our needs and those of our inves-

tors while continuing to refine our

game system with the team at hand.

And so we endeavored, continuing

to give thought to these subjects as

they loomed in the background, the

rest of the time being spent consult-

ing with professionals. We met with

legal counsel, several accountants,

an investment banker, a number of

entrepreneurs, as well as several

potential investors. We had spent

money from our own pockets, to

pay the appropriate counsel as well

as artists to develop the sample

rulebook. The project was not only

time-intensive, but expensive as

well. We began asking for favors

when we could, just to keep costs

down. Favors, however, come with

a price and that is quality. In the

end, if you want something done

well and right, you have to pay for

it! People are always willing to be

helpful, but asking them to take on

workloads as a favor falls to the

bottom of their lists. They're human

too, and they have their pressing

matters to attend to. To ask favors

of a certain magnitude is not only

risking a lack of quality, it is in some

sense foolish. So, we paid money

wherever and whenever possible,

and bartered things in exchange

where needed. In the end, every-

thing was paid for in one way, shape

or form, and nothing was free. This

is a great lesson for any endeavor.

So how did this turn out? Well, it

took several months to prepare a

sample rulebook and print limited

copies, which were intended for

investor circulation only. The invest-

ment deal required approximately 9

months to develop soundly, which

included all the legal filings as well as

the appropriate financial forecasts

and a presentable investor package.

Raising the money took almost

exactly 120 days to meet the mini-

mum required to start production.

The project required many thou-

sands of dollars of cash and other

resources to execute and launch.

And the work started to become

more difficult to manage as our

deadline approached. We had been

targeting a launch at the Origins

Game Fair in July 2007. This meant

that the printer needed to have

finals (post revisions) by late May

2007. And this meant that we

needed to finish production of the

book in approximately 5 months.

The wheels were set in motion. We

had the investor’s money, and we

needed to make good on the invest-

ment. And time was of the essence.

We were up against a classic busi-

ness model conflict – quality vs.

speed.

(Part Three comes next month)

(Continued from page 3)

Calendar Of Events

Bashcon (Gaming) - bashcon.com Toledo - Feb 20 - 22

A&G Ohio (Anime & Gaming) - aandgohio.com Cincinnati - March 13 -15

Neovention Reborn (Gaming and More) - Neovention.org Akron - March 27-29

Anime Punch (Anime) - animepunch.org Columbus - April 10-12

Morphicon - (Anthro/Artists) -morphicon.org Columbus - May 15-17

Marcon - (Sci Fi) - macron.org Columbus - May 22-24

Origins (Game Fair) - originsgamefair.com Columbus - June 24-28

Gencon Indy (Gaming) - gencon.com Indianapolis - August 13-16

Mid Ohio Con (Comic Books) - midohiocon.com Columbus - October 3-4

Page 11: 2009/Jan - GAMERS Newspaper

11 G.A.M.E.R.S.

Classifieds Section

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For advertising in our classifieds section,

send questions/ads to

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Hours: Mon closed, Tue - Thu 3 pm - 9 pm, Fri 3 pm - 1 am, Sat 1 pm - 11 pm, Sun 1 pm - 7 pm

Buy, Sell, Trade used gaming items and distressed store inventories!

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Ohio Gamers Organization, a Non Profit Organization, is l o o k i n g t o f i l l t h e following positions:

Public Relations Volunteer Coordinator Programs Manager

These Jobs do receive a weekly gas stipend for working 3-4 days a week, when travel is necessary, and are first in line to get paid upon our 502c3 grants that we are cur-rently filing for. We also have a small number of other volun-teer jobs!

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