*
Ah, Autumn—November
4, 2004
"I
was, I guess, one of those weird kids who liked school
-- at least, I liked grade school...."
*
One Last Trip—October
21, 2004
"That's
right, another Line of Sight column about traveling...."
*
Not So Lost in Translation—October
14, 2004
"Sue
and I stumbled into the Copenhagen airport at, like,
negative nine-thirty, half past thirty-four o'clock,
or some other time that doesn't really exist...."
*
Getting Ready for Denmark—September
30, 2004
"I'm
thrilled to be going to Viking-Con near Copenhagen....."
*
Look What I Found—September
23, 2004
"Every
once in a while I take the time out to recommend something
here that some of you might never have heard of. Today
I thought I'd take just a minute to mention Found
magazine...."
*
You Asked For It—September
9, 2004
"Magic
is the backbone of fantasy. It is the genre's chief
identifier...."
*
Crater Lake—September
3, 2004
"The
drive from our house to Crater Lake National Park was
about seven and a half hours. On the way..."
*
My Gen Con Picks of 2004—August
26,
2004
"The
con was great. We met lots of great people, and as I've
said before, it means a lot to me when people take the
time during their busy Gen Con to come up to me, shake
my hand..."
*
Comics Today—August
12, 2004
"I
just put down the latest issue of Warren Ellis' Planetary
comic, a series that both dissects comics and yet tells
a really interesting story...."
*
Planescapin' II—July
22, 2004
"I
have a lot of great memories about working at TSR back
in Wisconsin, and so many of them revolve around the
Planescape team...."
*
Shhhh!—July
15, 2004
"Among
a small group of my friends, I have a notorious reputation.
If I go to a movie, I will invariably sit next to the
worst people in the theater...."
*
And Now, a Rant—June
24, 2004
"I
know, I know. I said that I wasn't going to do rants
anymore..."
*
Dad's Lawn—June
17, 2004
"I
have a tiny little lawn at my house. Really, I have
two lawns. A patch in the front and a patch in the back.
Sue does a nice job with the plants in the yard..."
*
Marley—June
10, 2004
"Marley
is a Welsh Corgi, and to say that she's a handful would
be to make a grievous understatement...."
*
Do You Want Fries With That?—June
10, 2004
"Today
we're announcing a new business deal regarding the sale
of our electronic products. Starting today, our PDFs
will be distributed exclusively through a site called
DriveThruRPG.com...."
*
Three Years in the Middle of All This—June
7, 2004
"Malhavoc
Press celebrated its three-year anniversary on Tuesday.
It reminds me that, from time to time, I like to look
back and see how things have been...."
*
No Good Deed—May
27, 2004
"If
trouble comes in threes, I guess I'm done. But if water-related
trouble has a different set of rules, I'd better look
out. If that's the case, maybe I'll keep out of the
deep end of the pool for a while...."
*
Cool Words—May
6, 2004
"As
a writer, words are my tools. I really enjoy words and
actively seek out additions to my vocabulary..."
*
Geek Week—April
29, 2004
"Last
week I had a particularly interesting few days that
catered to my utter geekitude...."
*
Bud Finkle: 1918–2004—April
22, 2004
"Many
of you may not realize that we recently lost a great
creative mind recently. His name was Robert "Bud"
Finkle, and he was a marketing genius..."
*
The Soundtrack of My Life—April
8, 2004
"For
much of my life, when someone would ask what kind of
music I liked, I'd be more likely to tell them what
I figured they wanted to hear (usually what they would
think was "cool") than the truth...."
*
Social Inertia and the Game of Conversation—March
19, 2004
"So
there you are, standing next to the car in which you've
managed to lock the keys. You've just spent the last
half-hour trying to open the door with a wire coat hanger...."
*
Covering Ourselves—March
11, 2004
"There's
a disturbing trend in roleplaying game books of the
last few years that shows little sign of abating. And
I'm sure that, at least in a small way, I'm partially
to blame..."
*
Taking Time and Effort out of the Equation—February
12, 2004
"Things
have been a little crazy around here the last few weeks...."
*
Eldritch Origins—January
29, 2004
"I
love magic. I love wizards and spells and magic items...."
*
Less of Me—January
22, 2004
"One
thing I didn't mention in my review of 2003 was that
I drastically changed a significant part of my lifestyle...."
*
The Ups and Downs of 2003—January
8, 2004
"Everyone
else does it, why not me? 2003 was an interesting year
with some of my greatest and worst moments to date.
Here's 2003 from my perspective -- professionally and
personally...."
*
Planescape Memories—December
29, 2003
"I've
written before about the joys of working on the Planescape
D&D line. It amazes me that it's already been five
or so years since this product line ended...."
*
The Temple of Elemental Evil and Me—December
18, 2003
"A
while back, I got a copy of the Temple of Elemental
Evil computer game. For many reasons, this whole
thing has been an interesting experience for me...."
*
Rufus (and Floyd)—December
11, 2003
"At
the risk of seeming like one of those people who does
nothing but ramble on about their pets... I'm going
to ramble on about my pet...."
*
Internet Message Board Wandering Monster Table—December
4, 2003
"If
you're a veteran of any Internet message boards, bulletin
boards, mailing lists, or Usenet, you've almost certainly
run across a common wandering monster that frequents
the Net: the troll...."
*
Orc and Pie Appendix: New Feats—November
20, 2003
"To
supplement the FREE adventure, The Orc and the Pie,
we've added this appendix of fully compatible v. 3.5
feats...."
*
A Few Kind Words—November
14, 2003
"My
friend Bruce and I were talking a while back about human
nature and praise. We both agreed that it seemed like
most people were reluctant to give praise to their peers...."
*
Introducing Rufus!
—
November
7, 2003
"As
you may already know, I like animals. I mean, I'm not
one of those people with five cats, a dog, three birds
and a monkey..."
*
Getcher Free Stuff Right Here!—October
30, 2003
"I
was looking over the website the other day and realized
that, over the last couple of years, we've collected
a massive resource of free material...."
*
Still Life With Computer
—
October
23, 2003
"I'm
not a complete computer neophyte. I first started using
a computer regularly in college, and for me that's 1987.
I had a Vector computer. Never heard of it? Don't worry...."
*
Living With a Writer—October
16, 2003
"Writers
are high maintenance. Just ask someone that's got to
live with one....."
*
Reverence
—
October
9, 2003
"We
just got back from a two-week vacation. We toured the
Western/Southwestern United States -- our big goal was
the Grand Canyon..."
*
Movies You Wouldn't Expect Me to Recommend, Part 2—September
25, 2003
"I
love good movies. While I love Star Wars, Raiders
of the Lost Ark, and Lord of the Rings, there's
much more to my favorite movies than what you might
expect...."
*
Movies You Wouldn't Expect Me to Recommend, Part 1—September
18, 2003
"You
might assume from reading this website that I only watch
science fiction movies. Actually, nothing could be further
from the truth...."
*
Stargazin'—September
11, 2003
"So
this week, Sue and I climbed into the car and drove
someplace where the streetlights didn't obscure the
night sky so we could look at Mars...."
*
It's Still Hard to Be a Geek—August
28, 2003
"Despite
the prevalence of science fiction and fantasy in popular
culture, the media still fundamentally misunderstand
us...."
*
Gen Con Journal
-- August
21, 2003
"Sue
and I arrived in Indianapolis late in the evening. We
tried to get on an earlier flight, but it was full.
After arrival, we got our room settled, got our badges,
and checked out the booth...."
*
Where's the D&D Mass Combat System?
-- July
31, 2003
"I
get asked a lot, 'Why doesn't the DMG have a mass combat
system?' Good question...."
*
Funnybooks!
-- July
21, 2003
"When
I was young I lived near a golf course. We'd collect
all the stray golf balls that would end up in the yard
or the ditch in the evenings...."
*
Arcana Unearthed in Sight!
-- July
17, 2003
"This
week, we got the Arcana Unearthed proofs back
from the printer. Proofs are what the printer sends
you to show that everything's all set up, and they're
ready to start printing...."
*
Wilbur: 1990-2003
-- July
3, 2003
"I
didn't even want a pet. But a friend told us about this
rabbit, the runt of his litter, who never sold. In a
couple of days, he was going to be given to the owner
of a python for a meal...."
*
Introducing the Council of Magisters
-- June
19, 2003
"I
found myself overwhelmed. Arcana Unearthed was
garnering far more attention than I had ever expected,
from both gamers and publishers...."
*
The Art of Arcana Unearthed
-- June
12, 2003
"We
were very fortunate to assemble a great team of talented
artists to illustrate the interior of Monte Cook's
Arcana Unearthed. We asked the artists to tell us
which of their contributions they were most pleased
with...."
*
MarCon, oh MarCon!
-- June
5, 2003
"Sue
and I just flew back from Marcon in Columbus, Ohio,
during Memorial Day weekend, and boy are our arms tired!..."
*
Two Years
-- May
29, 2003
"Ever
get to the point where you've been doing something for
a while and then when you think about how long it's
been, that span of time seems both too short and too
long to be real?..."
*
Monte Goes Shopping
-- May
23, 2003
"So
I call up my friend Stan! and ask if he wants to go
to a nearby game store with me...."
*
Monte, What's Up?
-- May
15, 2003
"This
website isn't a 'blog,' but sometimes I do just write
about stuff that I've been up to. This is one of those
times...."
*
Monte Cook, Hollywood Mogul
-- May
1, 2003
"Okay,
maybe not Hollywood. And maybe not mogul. But I kinda
sorta got involved with a movie last week...."
*
I-Con
-- April
17, 2003
"Last
weekend we went to I-Con in Long Island (that's in New
York, and it's pronounced Lawn-Giland, in case you were
wondering)...."
*
Some Cool Stuff
-- April
3, 2003
"As
many of you who are frequent readers of this site know,
sometimes I like to use this platform to just talk about
things I think are cool....."
*
How Well Do You Know Your Beasts?
-- March 21, 2003
"Because
you all seemed to like our little psionics vocabulary
quiz last month, we thought we'd offer you a new one
in honor of the debut of Mindscapes: Beasts of the
Id...."
*
Charles and Crocodile
-- March 13, 2003
"So
I said to Sue yesterday, 'I've just got to tell
the "Charles and the Crocodile" story in the
Line of Sight this week. It needs to be told.' And here
it is...."
*
Gamer Diplomacy
-- March
6, 2003
"I
recently got back from a great trip to Mexico. While
there, Sue and I had lots of good experiences with many,
many kind and friendly people. However..."
*
Test Your Psionics Vocabulary
-- February 27,
2003
"In
honor of the debut of Mindscapes: A Psion's Guide,
we invite you to test your knowledge of psionic lore...."
*
A Place for Eldritch Might to Live
-- February 13,
2003
"After
Book of Eldritch Might II: Songs and Souls of Power
came out and was so well received, I wondered whether
I should do another one...."
*
Old Made New
-- February 6,
2003
"Our
recent patch for The Book of Eldritch Might was
very well received.... So
we've decided to do the same thing with our second-best-selling
product, Book of Eldritch Might II: Songs and Souls
of Power...."
*
Problems and Solutions
-- January 31,
2003
"Sometimes,
in the course of my Ptolus campaign, some of my players
would seem incredulous that certain bad things could
exist in that fictional world and the people there would
tolerate it...."
*
So, Where Are We Now?
-- January 23,
2003
"Well,
it's the start of a new calendar year, so let's take
a look at where we stand now..."
*
Happy New Year and Such
-- January 17,
2003
"So,
I've been pretty busy lately. That might be clear from
the lack of an update last week. It sort of feels like
I haven't written one of these columns in a long time...."
*
The Real D&D Movie
-- January 10,
2003
"Yesterday
I saw a really cool movie. No, it wasn't a sneak preview
of The Two Towers or anything like that. It was
a movie called The Gamers...."
*
What on Earth Are You up to Now?
-- December 12,
2002
"As
you perhaps saw from our announcement late last week,
we're coming out with a new book next summer called
Arcana Unearthed: The Malhavoc Handbook...."
*
Putting it All Together
-- November 27,
2002
"In
Book of Eldritch Might III: The Nexus, we provide
seven new settings that you can add to your campaign.
I thought it would be fun to think about how to use
those locales with our previous products...."
*
Getting Started
-- November 21,
2002
"Virtually
every day I get email from people who want to get published
in the game industry. They want to know the secret in
breaking in, and I can't blame them...."
*
Quality Is Worth the Wait...
-- November 14,
2002
"I
recently got the new Peter Gabriel album, Up.
I like it very much. It's classic Peter Gabriel..."
*
Immortal, at Least for a While...--
November 7, 2002
"Requiem
for a God offers a lot of advice about working a
deity's death into your game. However, if you'd like
to do some additional reading as you prepare for this
fascinating but strange undertaking..."
*
Comics Lunch
-- November 2,
2002
"It
all started right after we moved to Washington. See,
when Wizards of the Coast bought TSR..."
*
The Great Con Game
-- October 24,
2002
"I've
been to a lot of cons. For those of you who haven't,
I'm talking about conventions. No, not those things
where businessmen get drunk and do silly things once
a year...."
*
All These Many Treks
-- October 17,
2002
"So
I was watching Enterprise last night, and it
was a pretty good episode. Without spoiling too much
(okay, actually I'm spoiling the whole thing)..."
*
Make Monte Laugh
-- October 10,
2002
"Man,
did I get a lot of funny stuff. There were just a couple
entries short of 300 in the Make Monte Laugh Contest...."
*
Where Do These People Come From?
-- September 27,
2002 (by Sean K Reynolds)
"Skreyn's
Register: The Bonds of Magic
is a book of characters. Making interesting and believable
characters is one of the hardest parts of being a gamer...."
*
Game Industry Etiquette (Or, "How to Avoid Looking
Like a Pathetic Jerk")
-- September 19,
2002
"As
someone who's looked like a pathetic jerk plenty of
times in his life, I thought I'd pass along a few things
I've learned in the last 14 years to other game industry
professionals.... "
*
Requiem for a Game Designer
-- September 5,
2002
"Okay,
not really. I don't quite need a Requiem. I am a pretty
tired, though. I think it's Gen Con's fault. "
*
Gen Con Treasure
-- August 30,
2002
"I
talked last week about some great memories from the
convention, but I thought it worthwhile to actually
point out some of the products at Gen Con that seemed
great...."
*
The Ten Best Things About Gen Con 2002
-- August 22,
2002
"Gen
Con is over. We
survived. In
fact, it was great...."
*
Gen Con-erific!
-- August 12,
2002
"Wow,
Gen Con is almost upon us! The big thing Malhavoc Press
has going on at the convention this year is the release
of the print version of The Banewarrens...."
*
Monte Cook's Desk
-- August
1, 2002
"Upon
examining the subject's desk, I found it to be in great
disarray. Papers everywhere..."
*
A Dime a Dozen is Cheap!
-- July 25, 2002
"I've
written in the past about where I get my ideas and about
the notion that ideas are a dime a dozen. You've heard
it all before: 'Genius is 1 percent inspiration and
99 percent perspiration.' ..."
*
Gilligan's Island: A Descent Into Madness
-- July 20, 2002
"This
is a term paper I would like to have written in college.
It comes from a conversation I had with my really smart
and really funny friend, Jeff Quick...."
*
DMs Rejoice!
-- July 12, 2002
"A
new toolbox is on the way. Ever read an adventure that
involved some epic event you wanted to use, but it would
be too difficult to figure out how to put it in your
campaign?..."
*
More Wacky Wizards Hijinks
-- July 3, 2002
"Okay,
let me start by saying that those of you tired of my
armchair quarterbacking Wizards of the Coast should
probably click on another link on the left, because
I'm doing it again...."
*
Rocks in the Rain
-- June 27, 2002
"It
was pouring rain. The road seemed to get narrower and
narrower as we approached the site in our rental car...."
*
The Littlest Fish
-- June 21, 2002
"People
in the game industry talk all the time about the 'mass
market.' They are disappointed that hobby games are
a small niche rather than something that could potentially
attract everyone...."
*
All Right, I've Got a Few Things to Say
-- June 8, 2002
"Recently
I did a live interview with someone, not so much about
D&D or anything, but just about 'geek culture' in
general...."
*
Attack of the Clones
-- May 27, 2002
"Well,
everyone else is talking about it, so I will too. I
should tell you that I was a huge Star Wars fan,
starting when the first movie came out...."
*
HeroClix
-- May 17, 2002
"Last
April, right after I left Wizards of the Coast, Jordan
Weisman of WizKids Games told me he wanted to create
a superhero game using the Mage Knight rules...."
*
A Whole Year
-- May 9, 2002
"Well,
it's been a year since we've started montecook.com.
More than a year since I left Wizards of the Coast,
and almost a year since we started Malhavoc Press...."
*
D&Disms
-- May 3, 2002
"I
thought for a moment to call this column 'The Genius
of D&D' but I was afraid that people would think
I was blowing my own horn...."
*
The Art (and More) of The Banewarrens
-- April 27, 2002
"Sue
and I have started taking a more direct hand in the
acquisition of art for Malhavoc Press products. I'm
excited about getting to work directly with more artists...."
*
Our Big Announcement(s)
-- April 12, 2002
"Well,
I said we'd have two big announcements for you this
week. The fact that I'm sitting here with Sean Reynolds
and Bruce Cordell gives you a pretty good hint..."
*
The Quest for Art
-- April 4, 2002
"Up
until now, Malhavoc Press has handled all the game design
and editing of our print products, while the Sword &
Sorcery art team has taken care of the layout and art/map
acquisition...."
*
GAMArific Musings
-- March 29, 2002
"You
couldn't toss a twenty-sider without hitting a game
industry professional at the GAMA Trade Show (GTS) this
past week...."
*
What's Going on Here?
-- March 25, 2002
"So,
as many of you have already heard, Wizards of the Coast
had yet another round of layoffs on Thursday...."
*
10 Rules for Being an X-Files Character
-- March 15, 2002
"I
still think that seasons one and two of The X-Files
were quite good, and seasons three to five were great.
However..."
*
Planescapin'
-- March 8, 2002
"Last
week I posted a column about Dave Hargrave's Arduin
books. I got a lot of responses from people saying,
'I'm so glad you still revere the "old school"
of gaming, Monte.'..."
*
Paying Homage
-- March 1, 2002
"Back
when I first started gaming, I didn't live in a town
with a game store. In fact, the only place I could get
RPG products was the local B. Dalton's...."
*
Eldritch Musings
-- February 21,
2002
"It
started with soul magic. I knew I wanted to take this
concept that I'd been using in my game and put it into
a product. It wasn't quite enough to hang a whole product
on, though...."
*
Playtest Feedback: Part 2
-- February 14,
2002
"Last
week I offered some guidelines on playtest feedback
after soliciting for feedback on some spells. I chose
one of the reports to use as an example to demonstrate
some of the points I made last week...."
*
Playtest Feedback: Part 1
-- February 8,
2002
"Last
week, I posted a number of spells in The Stuff. I was
looking for playtest feedback on them. I've gotten a
lot of good reports, and I really appreciate it...."
*
Looking Forward
-- February 2,
2002
"Now
that we are well into 2002, I'd like to tell you what
sorts of things Malhavoc Press has in the works...."
*
Monte Recommends
-- January 24,
2002
"A
lot of things have popped up lately that have made me
think, 'You know, I should mention that on the site.'
So here, all cobbled together, is a bunch of stuff that
I recommend...."
*
A Second Edition Joke
-- January 16,
2002
"The
high-level thief, standing in the underground cave,
says to his wizard companion, 'I'm going to climb up
to that ledge and see what's up there.'..."
*
Might as Well Face it, You're Addicted to Lead
-- January 11,
2002
"I
love miniatures. I have for years and years, but much
of the time that I loved them (back in college, for
example), I couldn't really afford them...."
*
Top 10 of 2001
-- December 31,
2001
"Well,
it's the end of the year, and for some reason that makes
people think about making lists. So why not a list of
the top d20 products of the past year...?"
*
Monte's Christmas List
-- December 24,
2001
"With
Christmas fast approaching, I'm thinking about what
I'd like Jolly Old Saint Nick to put in my stocking...."
*
A Vested Interest
-- December 22,
2001
"There's
a quote from one of my favorite screenwriters, David
Mamet, that goes, 'Accept criticism only from those
with a vested interest in your success.' Insightful
words...."
*
The Character You Know Best
-- December 8,
2001
"When
I was in high school, my friends and I always played
in my friend Bret's room. We'd set up some card tables
and pull chairs in..."
*
The Dreams Stuff Is Made Of
-- November 27,
2001
"I
get asked a lot, 'Where do you get your ideas?' I hate
being asked that. Not because it's a bad question --
it isn't, it's quite valid..."
*
Monte and Bruce: Psionics and "Formative Gaming"
-- November
16, 2001
"When Monte got together with his longtime friend
and Psionics Handbook designer Bruce Cordell
to talk about Bruce's new Malhavoc Press adventure
If Thoughts Could Kill, a lot of stuff crept
into the conversation that had nothing to do with
psionics...."
*
So Now You're a Company
-- November
8, 2001
"Months
ago, I wrote a column about how I wasn't really starting
my own d20 company. Now I've got outside writers,
ads, and so on. So I must have changed my mind, right...?"
*
Anti-Anti-Everything
-- November
2, 2001
"It
reached its height in the 90s. It got so bad, you
couldn't have a conversation without thinking about
it. It became second nature to us -- we didn't know
how to communicate without it...."
*
Secret Origins
-- October 24,
2001
"I
thought that talking about how I got started working
on D&D 3rd Edition, or how I got hired at TSR,
would cover it. Still, I get asked how I actually
got started in the game industry...."
*
Let's Review--
October 18,
2001
"In
April, I launched this website and started doing this
weekly column. I wanted the site to be a place where
I could post updates to what I'm doing and display
game material I came up with...."
*
Actions Have Consequences
-- October 8,
2001
"I
suppose I could have saved this for a rant, but I'm
going to write about it here, because it's on my mind
this week...."
*
Chill Out
-- September
27, 2001
"Well,
if you're reading this, it stands to reason that you
like gaming. You probably like it a lot. That's cool
-- obviously, so do I...."
*
Frivolous? Exactly
-- September
21, 2001
"Most
of you reading this are from the United States. But
no matter where you are from, you've heard about the
terrible things that have happened here...."
*
And I Want to Be a Paperback Writer (Part 1)
-- August 24,
2001
"At
Gen Con this year, I gave a series of workshops on
writing fiction -- specifically fantasy fiction. These
were well attended and a lot of fun. The topics included..."
*
Mr. Cook Goes to Gen Con
-- August 17,
2001
"Where
was everybody? Now, I don't mean fans and players. Because
there were lots of you guys there, and it was great
to meet and talk...."
*
Gen Con, Oh Gen Con
-- August 10,
2001
"I
have a love/hate relationship with Gen Con. Mostly love,
though. Gen Con 2001 will be my 11th Gen Con, a huge
annual game convention held in August in Wisconsin...."
*
The World's Shortest (Yet Tecnically Complete) Adventure:
A Parody
-- July 27, 2001
"'The
Orc and the Pie' -- Adventure Background: An orc has
a pie...."
*
It's a Kind of Magic
-- July 20, 2001
"When
I was in junior high, my friends and I loved AD&D.
We played all the time. We'd play as we walked home
from school together, just talking about things..."
*
Whatsamatter? Scared?
-- July 6, 2001
"When
former D&D Brand Manager Keith Strohm came to work
at TSR in Lake Geneva, he was really looking to get
into a D&D game. Then I was getting ready to run
a Call of Cthulhu game...."
*
Hackers vs. the D&D Community
-- June 29, 2001
"Those
of you who read these columns can probably start to
predict what I'm going to write about before I even
write about it. You're not at all surprised to learn
that I'm writing about computer hackers this week...."
*
(Non-Game-Related) Stuff I Like (At the Moment)
-- June 22, 2001
"People
have told me, 'I love your website. It doesn't ramble
on and on about whatever stuff you like, you actually
put content up....'"
*
So, You've Decided to Start Your Own Game Company
-- June 15, 2001
"Let
me be really clear, right off. No, I haven't started
my own game company. Not in the traditional sense, anyway...."
*
