Author: Wil

Author, actor, producer. On a good day, I am charming as fuck.

there is said to be a demi-lich who still wards his final haunt

Posted on By Wil

Edits on Memories of the Future are coming along quite nicely. It’s always a good sign when I’m having fun and enjoying myself, instead of gnashing my teeth and pacing around my office listing all the reasons I suck and should never pick up a pen again in my life. (It happens more frequently than I’d like.) I’m under a lot of pressure to get this and another incredibly overdue essay finished, but it’s a good pressure that feels more like excitement than dread.

Anyway, before I dive back into those projects, I wanted to share something I came across on Reddit earlier this week: The classic D&D module The Tomb of Horrors, updated to 3.5.

If you don’t instantly know what the Tomb of Horrors is, this probably won’t mean anything to you, but I’m going to try: it’s one of the hardest, most devilish, brutal, evil, nasty, deadly, TPK delivering modules ever designed.

It’s also a hell of a lot of fun.

A very brief history of the Tomb of Horrors, from Wikipedia:

Tomb of Horrors is a 1978 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, written by Gary Gygax. It was originally written for and used at the 1975 Origins 1 convention. Numbered “S1,” the module was the first in the “S” (for “special series”) series of modules.

The module’s plot revolves around the tomb of the demi-lich Acererak. The players’ characters must battle their way past a variety of monsters and traps, with the ultimate goal of destroying Acererak. Tomb of Horrors is considered one of the greatest Dungeons & Dragons modules of all time, as well as one of the most difficult.

I wouldn’t read beyond that if you’re planning to play it, because there are spoilers. Oh, and if you are planning on playing it, I’d suggest having a nice long talk with your character, making sure that you guys are okay with each other, and that there isn’t anything left unsaid or unresolved, because there’s a very good chance you won’t be seeing each other again.

This is probably old news to a lot of you, because it was released in 2005, but it’s new to me, and I thought I’d share with one final caveat. Someone jokingly suggested that I use Tomb of Horrors to introduce a new player to D&D, and I responded with something like: “Ha. Ha. Ha. The idea is to leave him wanting to play D&D again. Starting a new player out with Tomb of Horrors is like introducing someone to Rock Band with Green Grass and High Tides.”

Also: Have I ever linked to the incredible Top 10 D&D Modules I Found in Storage This Weekend at Geekdad? Well, if I haven’t, I just did. (There are several posts in that series. You can find them all right here.)

“Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.”

Posted on By Wil

Prepare to be awed:

"We are so tiny. Come on people, let's make Earth a better place, even if Earth doesn't give a damn about us and will survive happily with us extinct, thank you very much. Recycle. Don't waste stuff. Give us a kiss." –Gizmodo.

Prepare to be humbled:

Pale_Blue_Dot

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

[…]

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
– Carl Sagan.

Now take good care of our planet, okay?

screw you, q. coffee is for closers.

Posted on By Wil

I'm editing Memories of the Future, and … well, this bit from Hide & Q made me laugh:

Riker explains that, even though he's pretty much a golden god, he's still the same old lovable Riker they've known for ten episodes, and to show them how totally awesome he is, he's going to give some gifts to his friends.

He starts with Wesley (who he claims to know best of all, because of their friendship and long talks, and that one time Wesley brought his friend Dudley into Riker's bike shop.) Riker gives Wesley his greatest wish: the gift of being ten years older, turning him into a barrel-chested, blond-haired, blue-eyed dreamboat (coincidentally, having a barrel-chested, blond-haired, blue-eyed dreamboat to play with was the costume designer's greatest wish, as well.) Riker then turns to Data, but before he can turn Data into a real boy (a barrel-chested, blond-haired, blue-eyed dreamboat, no doubt) Data tells him that it would just be an illusion, and declines. Undeterred, Riker gives Geordi his sight, takes the banana clip off his face, and tells him that he doesn't have to answer to "Toby" any more . . . but Geordi also declines, so Riker turns his attention to Worf, giving him a Klingon whore who snarls and bares her teeth, which is apparently sexy by Klingon standards. Worf doesn't want the K'lap, so he gives his gift back too, followed by Wesley, then Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion.

It was so silly, Jonathan Frakes referenced this scene constantly. He cracked me up every single time I'd walk into a scene and he'd say to some unsuspecting guest star, "Ah, it's my good friend Wesley, who I know so well from all of our long talks, screenings of gladiator films, and visits to Turkish prisons."

Working on this book reminds me of how ridiculous most of the first season was, but it also reminds me how fun it was, and how much I love those guys.

clearly, my plan to kill it with beer isn’t working

Posted on By Wil

Me: Hey, I have to get up at 6am to be on TV.

My Brain: Yeah, I saw that.

Me: So it’d be awesome if you’d, uh …

My Brain: If I’d what?

Me: If you’d, you know, just be quiet for seven hours or so. Just stop cranking out story ideas and stuff and let me get some sleep. We can get back to writing all these awesome things tomorrow when we get back from the studio.

My Brain: Well … I’ll think about it.

Me: Yeah, you see, that’s kind of the problem…

i’m getting as sick of announcements as you are, so here’s some more announcements

Posted on By Wil

I’m not thrilled that my blog has recently been filled with announcements instead of original content, but that’s sort of the way things are shaking out in my life right now. It’s not bad, because I’m incredibly busy and working on awesome crazy ideas, but I feel like I’m kind of neglecting something that’s important to me. I’ve never intended for my blog to be a purely promotional outlet, but these things I’ve been mentioning are important to me, so there you go.

Anyway, to celebrate this, have some more announcements:

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be on the KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles to talk about the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend. I’ll be on between 7 and 8 in the morning, if you’re local and want to tune in.

Friday night, I’m performing at the LA Weekly’s LA Weekend. I’m doing a reading and a book signing at 7:30pm at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood. Here’s the best part: admission is entirely FREE, so everyone who is local can come out and see me perform a couple of my favorite stories. FOR FREE. Also: Henry Rollins, one of the guys who inspired me to become a writer, will be there. Oh. Em. Gee.

Saturday, I’m appearing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I’m on a panel about social media in Franz 1178 at 10:30am that I understand is already sold out, but I’ll be doing a book signing as soon as it’s over. Seriously, folks, if you’re in town, you should really come out to UCLA this weekend, because it’s just sensational. Also: Charlie Huston will be there. Oh. Em. Gee.