Webcomics

I love webcomics. I admire those artists who can consistently post funny, creative content on anything like a regular basis.

One of my favorites was the Irregular Webcomic, which I’m delighted to see is active again. I contributed 2 gags to the original run. I’m still rather proud of this one.

Like many gamers, I’m also a big fan of Dork Tower. I’m very glad to list the creative genius behind it, John Kovalic, as a friend. He and I met through our mutual association with Renegade Game Studios.

Recently, I took a rather unconventional approach to applying for a position; I created a webcomic, called simply “The Interview“, to present my case. I used Witty Comics, an online service for making and publishing very simple webcomics. It’s a very restrictive site, which allows only its own clipart characters and backgrounds. I made do with what was there.

I had fun making about 20 strips before it became clear that I was not destined to get the position. I keep thinking that I need to wind up the strip, just to mentally close that chapter. I’ll try to come up with one or two more strips.

I’m also thinking about starting up a new strip, but this time using a more flexible medium. I thought about using Lego (like Irregular Webcomic does), but we donated our truckload of Lego to Bricks for a Cure several years ago. It’s a great service. I highly recommend them. I might use the Lego Digital Designer tool to accomplish the same thing. Seemed like a good idea, but the vast array of available bricks seems like it might make it tedious to use.

Well, that, and I’d have to come up with something to say…

What’s wrong with a strictly 3-player game?

I designed a 3-player card game. It’s gone by a number of names, including Five Deadly Venoms, Ternion, Lucky, and the current, 2v1. The game does not require a theme, so the name is not important to me. That might be a misstep. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

Strictly 3 players. <INSERT REF holyHandGrenade>

Why that number? Because to me, the odd-person-out dynamic is interesting. As is asymmetrical play. The current name refers to two versus one. In the game, one player always faces off against the other two. Each round, players have the chance to bid to become the lone player for that round, so you never know whether you’ll be competing against both the other players, or teaming up with one.

But back to the larger point; the player count. Nearly every time I mention the player count, pundits and publishers suck their teeth and say something like, “Hmmm. That’ll be a hard sell.” But why? I’ve heard similar complaints when pitching 2-player games, but not as, what’s the word… doubtful?

Must every game allow for multiple player counts? Sure, it’s an advantage from a marketing perspective, but couldn’t a game designed specifically to exploit the 3-player dynamic offer something unique?

Modular towers featured in Tabletop Gaming magazine

I had fun talking with Josher Lumpkin (@JosherLumpkin on Twitter) back in 2018 about the modular dice towers I designed in collaboration with The Broken Token. I’m afraid most of the article is behind a pay wall at https://pocketmags.com/us/tabletop-gaming-magazine/june-2018-19/articles/373795/corey-young-dice-towers, but if you’re a subscriber, it was the first time that I was able to really explain why anyone might want such an absurdly tall dice tower.

Paraphrasing myself, these huge towers were never intended for every roll. Sure, each design could work individually as a dice tower. If you like using a dice tower, then these were as good as most and better than many. And they are pretty nice for the price.

But it was never my intention to just make a bunch of individual, standard dice towers. To me, the magic was that they could be combined. And when they’re combined, they make the roll take longer. And that’s the magic. It builds dramatic tension. It’s a vertical drumroll. You have to wait for the result.

My thought was that some DMs would want a big tower in their game room. It doesn’t get used often, but for the really important rolls, you’d take the dice to the tower. You’d have to ask yourself, “Is this roll tower-worthy?”

The towers still sell well enough, but they didn’t take off as well as we would’ve liked. It’s a pity; I had some pretty funky designs in mind for the next series.

Unrelated, the picture of me that accompanies the article (visible at the link) is my official “BEFORE” shot. I’ve lost more than 40 pounds since that was taken.

Pitching to publishers at conventions

Back in 2012, Grant Rodiek asked me to write a guest blog post for his Hyperbole site. He and I had chatted about how I approached publishers. He asked me to summarize my thoughts. The article is available here. http://hyperbolegames.com/node/16

Some of it aged well, and some of it… wellll… not so much. For starters, none of the other “deals” mentioned in the article ever went through. They all seemed solid at the time, but that’s the nature of dealing with publishers.

The rest of the content still seems relevant. I didn’t mention sell sheets, but those hadn’t really emerged yet.

What do you think? Does the article hold up? Anything you’d add? Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Why?

Why do this?

• Because sometimes I want to share some content that takes more than a tweet to convey.
• Because it could lead to interesting conversations or collaborations.
• Because I’ve owned the domain for almost 20 years and only ever used it for email.
• Because I like to create, and sometimes that means writing.

What do you need to know about me? Absolutely nothing.