DiceCast Special Holiday Interview Episode

We close off 2010 and welcome in 2011 with an awesome selection of interviews, many of them with people who have never appeared on a podcast before.

Our first interview is with David Pulver, RPG freelance writer extraordinaire. Fans of GURPS® and Transhuman Space™ by Steve Jackson Games will know his work well. Pulver also revised Big Eyes, Small Mouth by Guardians Of Order for that game's second edition and also for that game's third edition, which was published by White Wolf. In this interview, Pulver talks about his background in games, writing, and about how he researches his technologically-oriented works. N.B. this interview was originally recorded for print and thus, little regard was made for sound quality; while we apologize for the poor sound quality, every step was taken to ensure Mr. Pulver's words were understandable and we are confident that what he had to say more than makes up for the audio.

Next up, we have a truly Foundational member of the roleplaying game pantheon, Marc Miller. As a founder and an original author for the celebrated Traveller roleplaying game and setting, Miller has left his mark on tens of thousands of worlds. In this interview, Miller discusses how Traveller was created and how he got started in game design. Marc Miller also expresses his heartfelt appreciation for his fans.

In the "blast from the past" department, we unearthed an old interview with Eric Gibson of the (now defunct) West End Games. Done back when Gibson had new plans to release the d6 System under the terms of the Open Gaming License, this interview offers a glimpse into what could have been for this much beloved roleplaying game. Gibson also speaks frankly about what happened with the Septimus RPG (now published by Precis Intermedia Games (PIG).

We include an interview with a volunteer from Geekfest Montreal, recorded at that convention's 2010 debut. This interview offers insight into what it takes to run a large, technology and game-themed multimedia event. N.B., a longer interview with the same person is available, in French, at our other podcast, Royale With Cheese.

This is followed by a brief interview with a volunteer from iMusee.org, a museum dedicated to the preservation of vintage personal computers. Their fascinating collection includes such specimens as an original NeXt computer and a "first edition" Apple Macintosh from 1984. This interview is also available in French on the Royale With Cheese podcast.

The last interview on this show is with Mitch Morris of the Ninjas vs. Pirates game company and the podcast by the same name. Morris talks about his theories of game design and his company's premier product, a card game called Shennanigans on the Eighth Sea.

We close the show with some thoughts on the events of 2010 and their implications for the hobby game industry and the professions of freelance writing and freelance art.

Links

David Pulver's home page. Transhuman Space.

Far Future Enterprises, Marc Miller's company for publishing his editions of Traveller. Mongoose Publishing Traveller page.

D6 System SRD. There is currently no official web site with the D6 System books available for sale or download or for the Septimus RPG.

Geekfest Montreal, and a longer interview in French.

iMusee.org, and a longer interview in French.

Ninjas vs. Pirates game company; purchase page for Shennanigans On The Eighth Sea. Ninjas vs. Pirates podcast.

Conjurations 2011

Other links

• Polymancer main site
• Polymancer corporate web site
• Polymancer on Twitter
• Polymancer on LiveJournal
• Polymancer on MySpace
• Polymancer on Facebook
• RSS feed for DiceCast
• Subscribe to DiceCast in iTunes
  

DiceCast Episode 12: Interview with Monica Gaudio

Monica Gaudio is a medievalist who recently became a reluctant Internet personality when she was embroiled in a controversy. Two of her medieval pie recipes were copied from a web site where she posted them for free by Cooks Source (sic), an advertiser-supported food magazine, without her permission. She protested to the magazine's publisher and the answer that she got was not what anyone would expect to get under those circumstances. She posted a part of the response to her blog and that was where things got interesting.

Neil Gaiman, Will Wheaton, John Scalzi, and thousands more people on the Internet took up the cause of protesting what happened, and the result of this massive outpouring of support was a victory for Monica Gaudio. Rather than discuss the issue and the fallout surrounding it ourselves, we decided to interview Monica Gaudio and get the story from her, in her own words. We caught her while she was on the road, so the sound quality is not perfect, but it is clear enough for you to hear what she has to say.

This is essential listening for anyone who writes, who is interested in writing, or who wants to know about the legal disposition of anything that they write that is posted online.

Notes on full disclosure

Monica Gaudio requested that we guard her privacy and we agreed to respect that. No information regarding where she lives, the kind of work that she does, or other associations that she keeps are part of this interview. We are not linking to the original recipes or to Cooks Source's web site, nor to Monica's blog. Our purpose is to inform our listeners, many of whom are writers, about an important issue related to their intellectual property rights that was made current by an interesting event; not to exacerbate an Internet phenomenon that has already taken on a life of its own.

As we say in the introduction to the podcast, we exhausted every available means to contact Cooks Source so that they could give us their side of the story, to no avail. Contacts by e-mail bounced or went unanswered; with at least one address returning an automated message that the account in question had been disabled. Attempts to contact them by phone were similarly unsuccessful, because the number for Cooks Source has been disconnected.

Links

Two points of law are mentioned in the cast. Links to the actual sections of the relevant statute are posted here for reference. We also include a link to Brad Templeton's famous list of myths about copyright.

• US Copyright Act. Section 102. Subject matter of copyright: In general.
• US Copyright Act. Section 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained

Although this incident took place in the United States, we post the relevant passages of the copyright laws of a few other countries where we have writers and listeners. Various international treaties signed by most countries in the world guarantee that the copyright laws of most countries have a similar scope and a similar range of exceptions.

• Canada: Works in which Copyright may Subsist, Fair Dealing.
• The United Kingdom: Copyright and copyright works, Acts Permitted in relation to Copyrighted Works
• Australia: Original works in which copyright subsists, Fair dealing for purpose of research or study

Other links

• Polymancer main site
• Polymancer corporate web site
• Polymancer on Twitter
• Polymancer on LiveJournal
• Polymancer on MySpace
• Polymancer on Facebook
• RSS feed for DiceCast
• Subscribe to DiceCast in iTunes

DiceCast Episode 11: Fan Expo 2010 and an interview with Robin D. Laws

This episode features more interviews from Fan Expo 2010, an annual sci fi, fantasy, horror, anime, and gaming convention held in Toronto. Most importantly, we interview noted writer and game designer Robin D. Laws. There is a bonus special "wordless" appearance by William Shatner.

We also interview Lee-Ann Farruga of Steampunk Canada, new Star Wars^® fan film "Saber Legend" director Cal Drew, Red Herring of Red Herring Products discusses her sci fi burlesque show "Babes In Space."

Links

• Fan Expo, held every year at the Metro Toronto Convention Center on the weekend before Labor Day.
• Robin D. Laws's LiveJournal. His bibliography is available at the Pen & Paper database and there is more information about him on Wikipedia. Robin's latest book is Hamlet's Hit Points; also referenced on the show is Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering.
• Hammercon, an all-gaming convention held every year in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (listen for the promo in the 'cast).
• Steampunk Canada, a resource and forum for Canadian steampunk enthusiasts.
• Saber Legend, a Star Wars fan film.
• Babes In Space and Red Herring productions has no official web site, but there is information about the show at Eventful.com.
• Polymancer Studios publication site and main corporate site.

Listen to the episode by clicking on this post's header, by using the player below, or subscribe to DiceCast™ on iTunes.

DiceCast Episode 10: Interview with Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood is the creator of the Forgotten Realms setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. We interviewed him at Fan Expo 2010 in Toronto. He is a friendly, approachable man who, in spite of being one of the living legends of the roleplaying world, is surprisingly humble. In this interview, Ed Greenwood talks about how he created the Realms, how he got into writing, the importance of being an active roleplayer for those who want to work in the industry, and much more.

Links

• Ed Greenwood Biography at Wizards.com
• Ed Greenwood at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Fan Expo

DiceCast Episode 9: Interview with Stu Levy

In this episode, we interview Tokyopop founder and CEO Stu Levy. He discusses the origins of Toykopop, the state of anime today, America's Greatest Otaku, and even offers a crash course in how to impress anime girls in Japanese. We interviewed him at Otakuthon 2010 in Montreal.

Polymancer Studios also invites anyone who is going to be in the Greater Toronto Area on the weekend of August 28 to August 30 to drop by our booths and demo tables at Fan Expo 2010. Stop to say hello, inquire about freelancing opportunities, take in a game demo, or even join in one of our RPG events. We look forward to seeing you there.

Links:

• Toykopop
• America's Greatest Otaku
• Otakuthon Montreal
• Polymancer Studios
• Fan Expo Canada

Polygraff™ Volume 1, issue #4 Trailer

This is a special video episode of DiceCast™.

In this video, we offer a preview of what you can find in the latest issue of Polygraff™. This is an anthology of short stories in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, pulp, and many other genres. It is available wherever magazines are sold.

Find out more at www.polymancerstudios.com
New writers and artists are welcome:
writer@polymancerstudios.com
art@polymancerstudios.com

DiceCast™ Special Episode: We must ban everything!

It has been recently reported that someone who was a member of a university RPG club many years ago, allegedly committed a murder. Reporting of this in the media reflected a shocking level of ignorance that serves to remind RPG enthusiasts that as far as we have come since the Dark Dungeons days of the 1980s, much work remains to be done. Many hobbies are misunderstood, but very few misunderstood hobbies are so frequently targeted by popular hysteria.

We posted this reaction for humor value, more than anything else. It almost need not be said that nobody at Polymancer^® Studios, Inc. actually believes anything being said here. Naturally, the invocation of the name of one infamous historical figure was not a violation of Godwin's Law, simply because, again, it was all meant in good fun.

Links

The classical music compositions that were used in this special episode can be downloaded from the following sites.

• Musopen.com, an excellent source of public domain classical music recordings, including many that have been recorded professionally, on modern digital equipment,
  
• Archive.org
  

The compositions, in the order of appearance, are:

1. Piano Sonata No, 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 by Frédéric Chopin, 3^rd movement, "Marche funèbre: Lento." Often popularly called "The Death March."
   
2. "Ride of the Valkyries" from the beginning of Act III of Der Walküre by Richard Wagner. This piece is frequently referred to as "The Flight of the Valkyries." Many people will be familiar with it from Apocalypse Now and Looney Toons.
   
3. Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 by Ludwig Von Beethoven, 4^th Movement: Allegro. Not as well known as the symphony's famous first movement, this is still one of the best musical expressions of triumph ever written, and a good way to end the show on a high note.
   

DiceCast™ Episode 8: Polygraff Volume 1 Issue #2, featuring an interview with John Norman

In this episode, we discuss the latest issue of Polygraff™ (Volume, 1 Issue #2), a quarterly adventure fiction anthology with short stories in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, pulp, and many other genres.

This issue contains more chapters in The Well at the World's End by William Morris, "The Road to Corinth" by Karen Gallant, "Visitors" by Anne Michaud, "Grounded" By Wes Weston, a chapter of Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith, and a review of Judge Dredd™ America.

This issue also features a very rare interview with science fiction author John Norman, famous for creating the Gor series of novels. It is one of the few interviews that Mr. Norman has conducted in the last 30 years.

In this podcast, we also include an interview with Anne Michaud, author of "Visitors," which appears in this issue of Polygraff. This is a relatively short interview but we will post a longer interview, in Ms. Michaud's native French language, to another podcast, available on another feed, in the near future.

Links

• Sample of Polygraff Volume 1 Issue #2 at Scribd.
  
• Sample of Polygraff Volume 1 Issue #2 at Issuu.
  
• World of Gor, an unofficial web site for John Norman's Gor series of novels.
  
• DiceCast is a member of RPGPodcasts.com
  
• Polymancer Studios is a proud sponsor of Conjurations 2010 (May 15 to May 16 in downtown Montreal).
  

Annonce pour Conjurations 2010 (version française)

NOTE: For the ENGLISH VERSION of this post and the audio, please see the preceding post dated February 12

Ceci est le message publicitaire official de Conjuration 2010, une convention de jeux qui aura lieu dans le centre-ville de Montréal au cours de la fin de semaine du 15 au 16 mai, 2010 (Samedi et Dimanche). Tous sont invités de placer cette annonce dans leur podcast autant de fois que vous le désirez et ceci jusqu’au jour de la convention!

SVP indiquer le site official de la convention http://www.ggconventions.com/home-fr.html dans les notes de votre émission.

Vous pouvez télécharger la version audio:

"http://www.archive.org/download/Conjurations2010Publicitfranais/Conjurations2010PubliciteFrancais.mp3"

Le code pour inclure la version audio player est "[embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="350" height="24" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.0.5.swf" w3c="true" flashvars='config={"key":"#$b6eb72a0f2f1e29f3d4","playlist":[{"url":"http://www.archive.org/download/Conjurations2010Publicitfranais/Conjurations2010PubliciteFrancais.mp3","autoPlay":false}],"clip":{"autoPlay":true},"canvas":{"backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"none"},"plugins":{"audio":{"url":"http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.audio-3.0.3-dev.swf"},"controls":{"playlist":false,"fullscreen":false,"gloss":"high","backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"medium","sliderColor":"0x777777","progressColor":"0x777777","timeColor":"0xeeeeee","durationColor":"0x01DAFF","buttonColor":"0x333333","buttonOverColor":"0x505050"}},"contextMenu":[{"Listen+to+Conjurations2010Publicitfranais+at+archive.org":"function()"},"-","Flowplayer 3.0.5"]}'>
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Conjurations 2010 Advertisement (English)

This is the first official advertisement for Conjurations 2010, a game convention to be held in downtown Montreal over the weekend of May 15 to May 16, 2010 (Saturday and Sunday). Everyone is permitted and encouraged to place this advertisement into their podcast feeds, or the ad itself into their podcasts as audio, as many times as they want, up to and including the date of the convention itself.

Please also put "http://www.ggconventions.com/home-en.html" into your show notes, as the convention's official web site.

The download link for the audio file is "http://www.archive.org/download/Conjurations2010Advertisementenglish/Conjurations2010Englishblurb.mp3"

The embed code for the audio player below is "[embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="350" height="24" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.0.5.swf" w3c="true" flashvars='config={"key":"#$b6eb72a0f2f1e29f3d4","playlist":[{"url":"http://www.archive.org/download/Conjurations2010Advertisementenglish/Conjurations2010Englishblurb.mp3","autoPlay":false}],"clip":{"autoPlay":true},"canvas":{"backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"none"},"plugins":{"audio":{"url":"http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.audio-3.0.3-dev.swf"},"controls":{"playlist":false,"fullscreen":false,"gloss":"high","backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"medium","sliderColor":"0x777777","progressColor":"0x777777","timeColor":"0xeeeeee","durationColor":"0x01DAFF","buttonColor":"0x333333","buttonOverColor":"0x505050"}},"contextMenu":[{"Listen+to+Conjurations2010Advertisementenglish+at+archive.org":"function()"},"-","Flowplayer 3.0.5"]}'> ]"

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DiceCast™ Special Episode: The Not-So-Great Comic Art Fraud

This episode is about a fraud that has been perpetrated upon comic book publishers, game publishers, and artists. We interview somebody who has been documenting the fraud closely, and suggest ways in which artists and publishers can protect themselves from it.

For some years now, word has been going around the 'net about an alleged art fraud being perpetrated by an individual known as Josh Hoopes. The details of the scam that have been reported are a nightmare for every publisher and every artist: someone is approaching publishers, purporting to be an artist with an amazing portfolio, and offers to work for cheap, provided that money is given up front. The same individual approaches artists – under the guise of being a publisher or an agent – and offers them work for substantial amounts of money. Subsequently, the individual pockets the money from the publisher, gives nothing to the artist, then disappears. Mr. Hoopes is believed to have used many aliases in this scheme.

Please note that no insinuation is being made that any individual named in this episode has committed a crime under any statute in any jurisdiction. That can only be established if and when somebody is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law; and any individual or alias named in this episode must be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

That having been said, this is a very real issue that affects comic publishers, game publishers, and anybody else who hires freelance artists as well as the artists themselves and dare we say, the fans. This episode is a "must-listen" for anyone who is interested in learning about the "business" side of publishing in the comic and game industries.



Links
Much has been discussed about Josh Hoopes online, particularly in forums. Links to some of these are below. We also include a YouTube video in which the man himself is heard attempting to perpetrate an action like the ones that are alleged here.

• http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/07/30/catching-josh-hoopes/


• http://www.tineye.com/


• http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/07/josh-hoopes-warning-raised-to-severe-ron-
  runstroms-the-name/


• http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/07/30/catching-josh-hoopes/


• http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/08/01/when-josh-hoopes-conned-comx/


• http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18852


• http://www.digitalwebbing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142190


• http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/06/12/josh-hoopes-scam-artist-returns-this-
  time-using-stephen-colbert/


• http://members7.boardhost.com/dfinchartist/msg/1205008604.html


• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Adams


• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KycO-OzKDJI