On top of the table, all covered with dice...

So, many thanks to the folks out there who have given "A Malady of Magicks" a shot. It's pretty awesome to check in on my ACX dashboard and see actual sales. I sincerely hope you enjoy my take on the story and characters.

But I'm writing this post about something else near and dear to my heart: table-top gaming. One of the things that I remember fondly from my childhood is that, every so often, my parents and I would take a night to sit at our dining room table and actually play a game together: Monopoly, Sorry!, Scrabble (sorry, Mom, that one was never my favorite), even once in a great while, Risk. Growing up as an only child, and a shy, geeky one at that (remember, kids: this was before being "geeky" had any cultural cachet whatsoever), I didn't have a ton of friends I could do that with, so I enjoyed it for that reason--and I also think it helped me feel closer to my parents, too. Now, sure, I was never going to get them to play D&D, or Avalon Hill's Magic Realm, but I'm pretty sure I got them to play at least one round of the original Dungeon.

That formative experience led to a lot of hanging out in game stores in my teenage years, and to a little too much take-home pay being spent on employee discounts during my brief stint in retail (at a game chain whose name I can't recall now). It's also why I instantly fell in love with Wil Wheaton's web series "Tabletop", on the Geek and Sundry channel at YouTube. Wil gets guests together around a (gorgeous) game table, breaks out a different game each episode--some more "mainstream", some slightly geekier--and basically has a blast playing the game, tossing jokes around, and (unfortunately for him), generally losing. If you haven't seen the show, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is honestly one of the shows Alisha and I enjoy watching the most out of all the TV and web series we follow.

The show, along with the rest of Geek and Sundry (which was started by Felicia Day, of  The Guild fame), has been sponsored by Google up to now, as part of Google's efforts to encourage the creation of great YouTube content. Apparently, that sponsorship is ending, and Wil has taken to Indiegogo to fund development of Season Three of Tabletop.

I'm proud to be supporting that effort, and I hope at least some of you will consider doing the same.

Play more games!