Darren Watts

Re: Lucha Hero Quote Of The Day "It isn’t easy to find a really good French-Maoist analysis of professional wrestling, but we’re fairly certain that Roland Barthes’ essay “The World of Wrestling” is the very best of the lot." dw (from the Appendices)

"In many Lucha Hero campaigns, it's entirely appropriate for evil geniuses to take the Science Skill: Mad Science along with whatever their other specialties might be. This skill covers areas of expertise in instantaneous cloning, torture-powered artificial organs, time travel or any other field that caused fools to laugh at you back at the academy." dw

Hey all! Check out this video from New York Comic Con '09, where Bill Roper, John Layman and I natter on for 40 minutes about the awesomeness that will be Champs Online! http://tentonhammer.com/node/63995

Re: CBR NYCC CO Coverage He was an actor hired by Cryptic, and he was adorable. Played with kids, took pictures with everybody else in costume as "team-ups," and withstood being fondled by older ladies with a good-natured smile. dw

Re: CBR NYCC CO Coverage Thanks Sketch! I was just coming to post that link myself. We had a great turnout at NYCC- that panel alone packed about 400 people in, and we talked to plenty more people at the Cryptic booth (which featured live appearances by Defender himself, getting his picture taken with various costumed superheroes and other fans while we gave away t-shirts, bumper stickers and the last few skateboards.) dw

Re: Urban Fantasy Hero now in the online store It is a continuing source of great pride to me that people continue to think there must be more Hero employees than there actually are. dw

Re: the fabulous five Amazing Man II doesn't wear powered armor. Like his dad, he has matter transmutation powers- basically like Element Lad in the Legion. His wife, Electron, *does* wear powered armor, so maybe that's where that came from? dw

Re: the fabulous five Well, there's a bit more. Renton, the original Amazing Man, and Siren are the parents of the current Amazing Man, former leader of the Sentinels and now retired to private industry after getting married in "Villainy Amok." Siren is now very involved with the United Nations and UNTIL (as seen in that book.) Diamond is still active with the Sentinels as of "Champs Universe: NOTW." There will be lots more on the F5 when I get around to writing Silver Age Champions- they're one of the leading hero teams of the 60s and 70s in the CU and continue to influence it today. dw

Came across this today while still working to wrap up Lucha Hero. Consider this a sort of "teaser reel" for the book. dw

Re: Champions Universe History and Continuity This shouldn't be much of a surprise- Jack and co. are fans of the game, and wouldn't have bought it if they didn't like most of it. And hey, they've hired a new QA guy last week who has some solid 5th Ed street cred- Mighty Dan Reiley created Dr. Twilight in the original DOJ campaign and is therefore also responsible for his descendant Dr. Ka from Vibora Bay, as well as having playtested about a zillion of our books. dw

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Arrives Jan. 12!

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Arrives Jan. 12! Fair cop. Steve usually writes about whatever he's thinking about and working on, and this is a rare product that Steve had absolutely nothing to do with, so it slipped his mind to even mention it. I should have poked him about it myself, and will try to remember to do so this week. dw

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Is On Sale Now!

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Is On Sale Now! That is a fairly big question that needs some paring down. Is one a publisher onesself looking to get a license? Or is one considering self-publishing but hasn't started yet? Is one trying to submit something to us? These are very different circumstances... dw

Hey guys! Adventures Into Darkness, by Ken Hite with a little help from yours truly, is now on sale in the e-store as a PDF for $11.95! Please don't miss this outstanding alternate-history Golden Age setting, the world of superhero comics as created by H. P. Lovecraft. Give it a try- you won't be disappointed! dw

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Arrives Jan. 12! Hey guys! OK, we've had this on sale for a week now, and not a single purchase. What's going on? I can't think of a single reason *not* to buy this- it's cheap ($11.95), it's written by Ken Hite, the setting is awesome, the book looks great. Fill me in- what have we missed? dw

Nice little talk, a few more screen shots... http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19564 dw

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Arrives Jan. 12! Heh. Well, assuming they're there at all (offer not guaranteed, but we're trying real hard), the dealer room doesn't open until Saturday morning, so you should be fine. dw

Re: Adventures Into Darkness Arrives Jan. 12! Well, I've been talking about it personally forever, but since we weren't actually doing it, we didn't have a date until Hal called and told us it was done earlier this week. dw

What's that, you say? Well, Ken Hite and Hal Mangold say it best... http://atomicovermind.com/blog/?page_id=350 That's right- a complete Hero Golden Age/Lovecraftian Horror setting book, created by Ken Hite and adapted to Hero by Darren Watts. Available as a PDF in our very own store starting next Monday. Unsubstantiated rumors persist we may have some print-on-demand hardcopies in time for Dundracon as well. Trust me, gang, this book is a hoot and a half. If you're at all a fan of either Golden Age comics or H.P. Lovecraft, do not miss it. dw

What's that, you say? Well, Ken Hite and Hal Mangold say it best... http://atomicovermind.com/blog/?page_id=350 That's right- a complete Hero Golden Age/Lovecraftian Horror setting book, created by Ken Hite and adapted to Hero by Darren Watts. Available as a PDF in our very own store starting next Monday. Unsubstantiated rumors persist we may have some print-on-demand hardcopies in time for Dundracon as well. Trust me, gang, this book is a hoot and a half. If you're at all a fan of either Golden Age comics or H.P. Lovecraft, do not miss it. dw

Re: urban fantasy hero posts UF is in fact off to the printers as of today. dw

"I will set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's no laboring i' the winter..." - The Fool, King Lear Or at least for the next five days. The warehouse and office are closed, the dishes are done, and we're all outta here. It's Snap The Wonder Dog's turn on emergency monitor duty, so if you have any problems call his cell phone. Until then, in the immortal words of Herschel Krustovsky, "Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukah, a Ka-raaazzy Kwanzaa, a Tip-top Tet, and a solemn and dignified Ramadan." dw

Hi gang! I'm pleased as punch to announce that our very own bunny, Mr. Bill Keyes, has agreed to take on the Art Director responsibilities for the forthcoming Lucha Libre Hero title being finished up now by Jason Walters and Yours Truly! With Bill on board and the title in the stretch drive of editing, we look forward to getting this book out the door and into the hands of tecnicos and rudos everywhere in the first quarter of '09. Mad congrats all around! dw

Re: lucha libra HERO COVER There are piles of sample characters in LL, from high-flying acrobats to nasty rudos to wily mat technicians, as well as mad scientists, mobsters and monsters (what Jason calls "Lucha's Three M's") for them to battle. The power level scales from the pulpish noir masked detective to the near-godly superhero saving the good people of Mexico City from the likes of VIPER and DEMON while simultaneously defending the local championship belt. And I imagine Lucha discussion will largely be here in "Other Genres," unless the book sells so well or generates so much discussion that supplements are needed. (Hint, hint.) Obviously, a slight kink in our release schedule was caused by recent tragedies, but I'm happy to say that we've hired a new art director for the book, who's name will not be unknown to you when it's revealed shortly. We look forward to getting the book back on track and out the door early in 2009. dw