Daniel Solis

You can tell when I've had a busy month when I don't post so much, so here's a bunch of news in one big roundup! (Photo by Ashley Humphries ) Gen Con 2014 Report Reports from DriveThruCards booth say there was a LOT of activity this year. Though they decided not to do any retail sales this year, there were still plenty of walk-ups who had heard about my games and grabbing discount code coupons. DTC has been generous enough to extend the discount code for everyone to use: SP2014GC for 25% off all my games ! Light Rail to be Published in Brazil FunBox Jogos has just agreed to publish Light Rail in Portuguese! You may recognize FunBox as the Brazilian publishers of the most striking edition of COUP on the market. Really lovely sense of design and art direction on that team, so I look forward to seeing what they can do for Light Rail. Solar Senate Cover Reveal Because this month has been so busy, Solar Senate may be about a week late to launch, but for n...

If you're going to Gen Con this week, visit the good folks from DriveThruRPG / DriveThruCards in booth 1103. There you can grab one of these cards with an exclusive discount code. That code is applicable to all Smart Play Games and many more products on DriveThruCards.com . It expires September 1st, so use it while you can! Don't forget, LIGHT RAIL still has an early bird discount so you can get an even steeper deal on my latest game! P.S. I won't be at the show, so please share pics and tweet @danielsolis if you spot any of my games being played in the big room. Thanks!

Good news! Koi Pond sold crazy well at Gen Con last weekend. Bad news: It sold out on day 2! Well, there is some hope if you missed out on the promo cards from the show. FOUR WINDS and FOUR WALLS are now available on DriveThruCards . Each costs just a buck, but with shipping it would be advantageous to order another full game along with these card. Might I recommend KOI POND ?

Chris Kirkman from Dice Hate Me Games was at Gen Con 2013 this weekend and he brought along this preview box for Belle of the Ball. Fortunately he also had the game inside! And boy, did it get played a LOT during the con. I was following the twitter feed from home and wow, so many people were playing the game and having fun. Let's see! Had such a blast playing @DanielSolis 's Belle of the Ball with @OrangePeeler #GenCon pic.twitter.com/tS9OCEJQY0 — Annisa Jones (@Tangerini) August 16, 2013 P.S. Belle of the Ball was my favorite game played! #GenCon @DanielSolis @dicehateme — Jason Kotarski (@jasonkotarski) August 17, 2013 More mirth, mischief and mayhem in Belle of the Ball - with @Tangerini ! #GenCon2013 pic.twitter.com/OPkhsdyvpB — Chris K. (@dicehateme) August 16, 2013 Belle of the Ball at #GenCon (cc: @DanielSolis ) pic.twitter.com/aTVq6dp0fg — sizzlemoth (@Sizzlemoth) August 18, 2013 I feel like a pretty princess! @DanielSolis @di...

While I'm at home, my Twitter feed is presently 100% Gen Con all the time, but the best moments are when people say they're playing my games! This is the first year I've had a card game for sale and it's been quite lovely to see the response. Here are tweets from the first day of the con! Played @DanielSolis 's #BelleoftheBall ...a ton of fun!! — The Cardboard Jungle (@CBJPodcast) August 16, 2013 Open gaming - our #GenCon2013 home away from home. pic.twitter.com/YVCH6NwBj2 — Chris K. (@dicehateme) August 16, 2013 Announcing Pantspantspants Patchpaw! #BelleoftheBall #GenCon2013 pic.twitter.com/tjoZCapo1Y — Chris K. (@dicehateme) August 16, 2013 Just won @DanielSolis ' Belle of the Ball, coming to @kickstarter next week from @dicehateme . Really, really good! #GenCon — Jason Kotarski (@jasonkotarski) August 16, 2013 A game that looks good but was too complicated to both learn and play during dinner. #GenCon @DanielSolis pic.t...

If you're going to Gen Con, you can find my card game KOI POND for sale at Booth 1201, where DriveThruRPG, White Wolf and Minion Games are sharing a space this year. Here's a map! If you can make it there early, you can grab a free promo card made just for the occasion: FOUR WINDS. This is the first in a series of one-card promo expansions that didn't quite make the cut into the basic game. I hear sometimes that Cats, Cranes and Turtles feel more valuable than koi, mainly because they're worth 1:1 for each koi, whereas building up your own koi collections require careful balance and planning, only to get 1 point for every two matched koi. With FOUR WINDS, you get the full value of each of your koi, but only in one specific suit. Do you pursue the bonus, making your strategy obvious, or do you play it coy? Visit the booth at Gen Con to pick up your card and find out!

The No-Nos of Game Design by Daniel A Solis Thanks to Jason Pitre of Genesis of Legend Publishing, we have a recording of another GenCon 2011 seminar: The No-No's of Game Design. I had no idea what to expect with this panel, but it was a blast. A great smattering of little tips here and there for aspiring game designers. This panel includes Stan!, Jeff Neil Bellinger, Matt Forbeck and yours truly. » Via Genesis of Legend Publishing

Patronage and Kickstarter: How to Get Paid Up Front by Daniel A Solis Thanks to Kobold Quarterly and Neostrider, here's the recording of the Kickstarter and Patronage panel from GenCon 2011. Listen to the monsters of game-related Kickstarter projects answer audience questions about crowdfunding, public design, and the new trust-economy. The participants are Wolfgang Baur, Greg Stolze, Gary M. Sarli, and yours truly. » Via Kobold Quarterly 's Wolfgang Baur

Happy Birthday, Robot! was up for several awards at GenCon 2011. First up, HBR didn't win any of the categories in which it was nominated – but an awesome thing happened instead. Every time HBR was nominated, the presenters would each make a complimentary comment about the game. Heck, even the winner of Best Game took the time in his speech to talk about how much he wanted HBR to win. I also got some personal compliments from the host, so that was even more awesome. HBR had a very strong showing at the Indie RPG Awards, winning second-place in a number of categories. Here is the placement and judges' commentary from each category. Indie Game of the Year: First Runner Up with 21 points "Zagging when everything else zigs. I love that I'm seeing games aimed as intro games--and for youngins--that are less crunchy and more Narrativist. I've long wondered what the RPG world would look like if the jumping off point had been, say, fanfic rather than wargames....

Expeditious Interview - Daniel Solis from Obsidian Portal on Vimeo . Right after a seminar, the dudes from Obsidian Portal did an expeditious video interview. Why did I choose to do the interview under harsh convention lighting instead of moving over to the giant bay window just a few feet away? Ah well. Watch as I decide who would win in a fight between Harry Potter and Optimus Prime.

I'm prepping notes for my seminars at GenCon . I'm speaking about cover design in RPGs on Saturday and about the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge on Sunday. If you have any questions on either subject, I'd love to work them into my presentations.

I'm happy to be an Industry Insider Guest of Honor at GenCon 2011. This means I'll speak on a variety of panels and seminars with topics ranging from cover design to crowdfunding to game design. Here's my schedule. The No-No's of Game Design - SEM1128758 Matt Forbeck, Jonathan Tweet, Jeff Neil Bellinger, Stan!, Daniel Solis Designing games is as much about what NOT to do, as it is what you should do. Our Industry Insider panelist Stan!, Jeff Neil Bellinger, Matt Forbeck, Daniel Solis and Jonathan Tweet will review different mistakes new (and experienced) game designers make. Thur 12pm - 1 Hr - ICC 212 Patronage & Kickstarter: How to Get Paid Up Front - SEM1128827 Gary M. Sarli, Wolfgang Baur, Daniel Solis, Greg Stolze Insights from Industry Insider Guests of Honor Wolfgang Baur, Gary M. Sarli, Daniel Solis and Greg Stolze on how they funded projects by convincing patrons to donate early in exchange for exclusive access, rewards, and even input into the pro...

Apparently, word didn't spread far enough at GenCon that I can spew forth ad nauseum. Rob Justice of the Bear Swarm podcast also interviewed me during that magical weekend. You can listen to the interview here . During this interview, I mention a sign language fluency game called Where Are Your Keys? Jen Dixon of the Walking Eye recorded our session of WAYK , facilitated by James Brown. I'll post a link to the video as soon as it goes up and talk a little more about it then.

So Brennan Taylor's like "Hey, wanna talk on Voice of the Revolution?" And I'm like, "Whaa? You wanna listen to me gabber on about hozzawatzitz?" And he's like... "Yeh." "A'ight." You can listen to my gibbering nonsense on episode 45 starting 18:03.

There was one HBR game I personally facilitated afterhours at the Embassy Suites. The players were Jay, Maggie, Gregor and Jen. Like many of the other sessions at the Embassy, we kind of pulled people in randomly to get a full group. That always makes for a fun session and plays to HBR's strengths as low-prep icebreaker for a new group. Everyone had fun contributions and made the story you see below. By the way, that Jen is the very same Jen from The Walking Eye podcast. Check it out, it's cool stuff.

Marc ran Happy Birthday, Robot! for Games On-Demand at GenCon 2010. Games On-Demand is a great space if you're looking for a GM to run an indie game you're thinking about buying (or just playing your favorite game with a new group). Many thanks to Marc for running HBR and to Scott Acker for organizing Games On-Demand.

I was very lucky to have two great volunteers running Happy Birthday, Robot! at GenCon 2010. Kristin and Marc actually played HBR shortly after I released the first draft as a Google Doc last year, so they were quite experienced with the game already. Anyhoo, Kristin ran HBR at the Embassy Suites for a trio of players we gathered up from the lobby. This is the story they created together. Thanks, Kristin!

I'm happy to report (if you haven't already seen from the many tweets) that Happy Birthday, Robot! sold out at GenCon. If you missed your chance to get it at the con, you can order it from Evil Hat or from your friendly local game store. There is some other big news about HBR coming down the pike, but it'll have to wait a few weeks for details. In the meantime, I'll post stories from GenCon throughout the week.

Ordered more blank dice and printed up more stickers to make these customized dice for Happy Birthday, Robot! These are well-made plastic dice from Koplow Games with weather-proof vinyl stickers. I'd like to sell these at GenCon, but I don't know how much I ought to charge. When you factor in the cost of materials per die, it comes out to about a dollar and some change. (Kinda scary, now that I do the math.) I'd like to sell these as sets of three, but I doubt even hardcore GenCon buyers would pay $4 or $5 for three hand-made dice. After some discussion, looks like I'll first be offering the dice for about $4 for a set of 3, with the purchase of the book being even $30. If no one bites, I'll lower the price, possibly down to free as a promotional item. I'll also be bringing sheets of stickers for $1 for the DIY crowd.