I’ve just realized that this December will mark the 10th anniversary of my very first RPG freelance writing contract.

This should feel like an accomplishment, but somehow, it’s just making me feel horrifyingly old.

Got a new ENWorld column up, in which I ramble–without ever coming to any real conclusions–about the peculiar “dual-layered audience” nature of RPGs as a hobby.

If you’re not a fan of the Dark Sun D&D setting, this won’t mean much to you.

I’ve seen several people on various forums complaining about the removal of the in-depth backstory from the 4E incarnation of Dark Sun. These people felt that the complex and funky history is what made the setting work for them.

Well, okay. They’re welcome to feel that way, but me? I feel that ditching every last iota of that history was the best decision WotC could have made.

But not because I didn’t like it. I did like it. I just didn’t like it here.

Dark Sun, as created, was a setting for good, old-fashioned, harsh-and-violent sword-and-sandal fantasy roleplaying. Barsoom meets Dune meets D&D for a hot and sweaty three-way. And that was, and is, a great setting to have.

You know what ruins a setting like that?

1) Answers that remove all the mystery.

2) The sudden introduction of details that change the entire tenor of the world.

I don’t want to be reading a Conan story and suddenly have Robert Howard tell me that the world used to be a high-tech, cyberpunk-like society. I don’t want to be reading Lovecraft and suddenly have him explain that Cthulhu is actually a human being in a giant suit, who only wants to rule the world so that he can find love.

And damn it, I didn’t want to find out that Athas was a lush, green world which the halflings ruled via sci-fi level organic technology until a very specific and very detailed set of circumstances led to it becoming what it is.

A setting like Dark Sun should–no, must–leave its past mysterious. It needs to never give concrete answers about what happened, or the way things used to be. And it certainly never needs to suddenly become science-fiction. There are perfectly good places to mix sci-fi and fantasy, but an already established world–that people like for what it is–isn’t the place. It transforms a property that is X into one that is Y.

There’s nothing wrong with Y. Heck, I’d love to see a brand new setting predicated on all the specifics of old 2E Athas history. But it’s not what Athas was created to be, and it’s not conducive to the mood, the feel, and the stories that can best be told with Athas as X.

And suddenly, I’m desperately feeling the urge to run a D&D campaign where the PCs are all performers in a small traveling circus (acrobats = rogues, strongmen = fighters or barbarians, animal tamer = druid or beastmaster ranger, magician = wizard, etc.), who make a habit of not only entertaining the people in the villages they pass through, but also eliminating their monster troubles.

This could be the exhaustion talking…

I’m sad to report that Colleen Lindsay is leaving FinePrint, and will no longer be my agent after this Friday. I’ll miss her, and I wish her all the luck in the world at her new position. Hopefully, we’ll still be able to remain in contact as friends.

But on the plus side, I’m remaining with FinePrint, and am now represented by the equally incomparable (those two words really don’t belong together, do they?) Janet Reid. I don’t know Janet that well, yet, but I’ve enjoyed speaking with her so far, and I’ve heard nothing but good things. I’m looking forward to a long, fun, and prosperous relationship.

(Emphasis on “long,” since she’ll be my third agent in less than a year. )

I’d really like for my next contest to be “Use your favorite RPG system to stat up your favorite character from either The Conqueror’s Shadow or Agents of Artifice.” But my contests so far haven’t had huge numbers of entrants, so I’m not sure that there would be enough interest in something so esoteric–or (believe it or not) that there’s enough overlap between fans of my fiction and RPG gamers.

What do you folks think? Any interest?

Got my Advanced Reader Copies of The Warlord’s Legacy today. These are uncorrected proofs, meaning they haven’t undergone the last round of copyediting, but are otherwise final.

I am still early enough in my novel-writing career that this is somewhat exciting.

WotC’s just posted a Q&A session with me and Scott Fitzgerald Gray, in which we discuss our theories, ideas, goals, and inspirations regarding the new Tomb of Horrors 4E.

Interested in hearing what people think–and whether you feel we succeeded in what we set out to do.

Despite the fact that I’d seen it months ago, and even posted it on this site some time back, I am oddly thrilled to see that Amazon now has the cover art for The Warlord’s Legacy.

It’s a writer thing. Either you get it, or you don’t.

Writer and editor par excellence Jennifer Brozek has posted both a review of The Conqueror’s Shadow, and a brief interview with me, at the Apex Book Company site. Take a look and see what you think.

I know that Jennifer’s a pretty discerning reader–she’d have to be, given the number of anthologies and periodicals she edits–so I’m absolutely thrilled that she reviewed the book as positively as she did. The interview itself goes into some of my thoughts/motivations when writing TCS, but also touches on some of my upcoming projects.