Crawlers – A New Short Story

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 28, 2017

My short story “Crawlers” is now up at Electric Spec. The long-overdue earthquake hits the Wasatch Fault. In the midst of the devastation in the hub of Utah, things long hibernating underground are forced to the surface… and they are hungry. My editor used the phrase “creepy as hell” in his feedback to me, which […]

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Crunch Mode, Torment, and Too Much of a Good Thing.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 27, 2017

Well, it was good while it lasted. The day job has me back in crunch. Of course I say “the day job,” but we’re small enough and I’m senior enough that I can’t pretend it’s someone high up the chain kicking my butt. It’s just the way projects come in. They gotta get done. When the […]

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RPG Design: Letting the Bots Fill In the Details

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 24, 2017

Procedural content generation (PCG) is what will save computer role-playing games, if it doesn’t kill it first. What I mean is this: RPGs are really, really content-heavy. Exploration is a major element in classic RPGs (although, as Guido Henkel recently pointed out, the dice-and-paper tradition they are based on is more oriented on problem-solving). This means the […]

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Final Hours for Cirsova Pre-Orders, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Campaign

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 22, 2017

Now’s your chance. Two volumes of pulp-style heroic fantasy, available cheap. Ridiculously cheap if you are going for the purely digital versions. And yeah, the editor has said that with the goal passed, he’s really interested more in expanding readership. So… while I’m going for paper copies myself, enjoy the digital! Many of the stories in […]

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Life, the Universe, and Everything 2017 Report

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 21, 2017

One of these days, I’m going to take some vacation time where I actually, you know, REST and vacation. Instead, I spent 12+ hours per day at a conference. Still, it was totally worth it! The Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium was a lot of fun this year, and I learned a lot. I […]

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Guido Henkel on a New / Old Way To Design RPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 20, 2017

Guido Henkel, designer of the original Realms of Arkania CRPG series and producer of the critically acclaimed cult favorite Planescape: Torment, has put together a list of things modern RPGs are getting wrong… and how they ought to be able to get things right. The thing is… not a whole lot of what he’s saying […]

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Book Impressions: Scavengers, by David J West

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 16, 2017

If you are a fan of the history and mythology of the American West, you probably have heard of Porter Rockwell. Nicknamed “The Destroying Angel of Mormondom,” Rockwell was a deputy marshal, an enforcer, bodyguard, and gunfighter. Like other famous gunfighters of the “wild west,” an awful lot of his story is more based on […]

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LTUE 2017 or Bust

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 15, 2017

It’s time for Life, the Universe, and Everything. I’m excited. Last year was the first time I’d been in years, and it was even better than I remembered it. It’s a symposium of all things science fiction and fantasy media related… principally games, literature, art, and film… with an emphasis on those who create or […]

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Back in Business with the New Computer

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 13, 2017

I talked about computer woes a few weeks ago. Since October I have been dealing with a computer that has grown slower and less stable almost by the day. I spent tons of time and not a trivial amount of money over three unproductive months fighting the inexorable crawl of failure. Any sort of development […]

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Cirsova reaches funding goal, says: “I Want You to Read Me.”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 10, 2017

Yes, I’m old, and I think using modified versions of ancient Cheap Trick lyrics is cool. Ah, well. Anyway – Cirsova Magazine! I’m a fan. I’m a writer. Besides promoting the story I wrote for issue #6 in a cool prehistoric Lovecraft shared world (“Queen of Shadows”), I do want to encourage folks who are at […]

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We Need To Go Deeper now on Early Access

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 9, 2017

I don’t normally promote Early Access games, but in this case it’s a game by a personal friend and a significant contributor to Frayed Knights 2. We Need To Go Deeper is a wild steampunk cooperative roguelike-esque game for 2-4 players. You and your friends explore the depths of a mysterious and dangerous undersea trench, and […]

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The Now-Future

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 8, 2017

Sometimes, I feel pretty close to my inner-13-year-old. I hope I never lose the opportunity to see through his eyes. And in spite of all the problems and turmoil in the world (which was still around in different forms when I was 13, but I was oblivious to most of it), it’s cool to see […]

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Impressions: Windows Into Hell

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 6, 2017

Windows Into Hell is an anthology of “religious horror” by several best-selling and award-winning authors.  D J Butler, Michaelbrent Collings, Mette Ivie Harrison, Michael R. Collings, and many more offer glimpses into personal, customized, and unusual slices of the afterlife for the characters. Warning – it’s hell (even if it resembles the heaven the characters […]

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Chargen Ahead

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 3, 2017

There’s something about character generation in an unfamiliar computer RPG. Even if you technically know how the rules work and you know how the options will affect things, you have no idea how they will play out in the adventure that lies before you. A powerful situational ability may never have its situation occur, or […]

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Old Pulp, New Pulp, and Judging a Book by its Cover

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 1, 2017

I unwittingly became hooked on pulp stories goes when I was a kid, even before I discovered Dungeons & Dragons. I read stories in anthologies and magazines that I had no idea were reprints of stories from the old pulp magazines. After getting hooked on D&D, I read tons of fantasy. While others really got into […]

Filed Under: Books - Comments: 2 Comments to Read



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