Welcome to the first Wildside Gaming newsletter, highlighting what’s going on in the world of Wildside Gaming and in the fantasy and SF writing of Leigh Grossman.

Hot off the presses!
The Wildside Book of Loot, loaded with 10,000 strange and wonderful pieces of magic, is now shipping. Until August 1, you can get the Book of Loot at Amazon.com for more than 30% off. (Amazon is also discounting the Wildside Gaming System until August 1.) Or you can get it at any book or comic store. (If they don’t have it in stock, they can order it through distributors Diamond or Ingram.) If you’ve played the game at a con and enjoyed it, feel free to post a review on Amazon.

Book launch party!
On September 19 at 6:30 p.m., the UConn Coop Bookstore will be celebrating the publication of Leigh Grossman’s fantasy novels The Green Lion and The Golden Thorns. Stop by and join in the fun.

Connecticon report.
Connecticon has always been good to us, and this year was no exception. They gave us plenty of room this year, and the tables were crowded, from Friday afternoon's "Destroyers" to Sunday's "Mimes Run Wild" adventure. In between, there were tables going all convention - with three games running at once during peak times. Joe T ran a fun Wildside game set in 1914 in Sarajevo, just before the start of WWI that I got to play in a bit, and other folks like Katelyn C, Joanna M, and Ashley S spent most of the weekend playing Wildside. And it was great to see a lot of Wildside players from previous conventions. Frank’s “Gang Griffin” adventure - which initially played out like a Marine recruiting ad - was a particular hit.

Friday afternoon we unveiled an advance copy of The Wildside Book of Loot, which the printer overnighted to us. We also got to talk with a number of gaming and comics stores that would like to offer Wildside demos in the near future, so keep an eye on the events page.

Thanks to Frank and Heather who were tireless volunteers - especially to Frank who ran games all weekend. (Because of a conflicting con the same weekend, we were missing some of our regular volunteers, so Frank put in especially long hours.) Thanks also to Matt Daigle (who made the whole thing possible) and to Max and Andy who did such a great job keeping the gaming rooms hopping.

Next year Connecticon will be back at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford on August 1-3, and we’ll be there. I especially recommend the Marriott Residence Inn about four blocks from the convention center - we had a surprisingly good hotel experience.

More books to come.
Wildside Press has committed to at least eight game-related books, beginning with The Wildside Book of Loot. Others to look for soon include Robert Altomare’s adventurous romp Koboldly Where Gnome Has Gone Before and historian R. Scott Peoples’s Crusade of Kings, based on the first three Crusades. Future gaming titles in the works include settings based in Rome and Byzantium, a book of martial arts, and a book of inns and taverns.

Webstuff.
Thanks to webmaster Rowena Sandoval, the Wildside Gaming System has a newly updated website as a hub for gaming activity. Recently added features include complete spell lists as free downloads, a searchable database of spells, an updated events page, and pages for all the new books. As always, feel free to drop by the forum to talk gaming or ask any questions.

New changes coming soon include expanded author pages, free excerpts from all the new books, and a page of “Wildside-friendly gaming stores” (be sure to drop us an email to get your favorite store on the list). Also keep an eye on the site for expanded rules, including new skills, spells, and more free downloads.

Speaking of events...
There are a number of Wildside demos coming up in August, such as the ones at Cave Comics in Newtown, Connecticut on August 5, at Pandemonium Books and Comics in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 13, at The Time Machine in Manchester, Connecticut on August 18, and at Sarge’s in New London, Connecticut on August 22. If you’d like to learn the game better, get your copy autographed by the author, or just drop by to say hello, feel free to come by. We’ll also be running games at CarnageCon in Vermont this November and Anonycon in Stamford, Connecticut this December. Leigh Grossman will be at CapClave in the Washington, D.C. area in October.

Demos are posted on the wildsidegame.com events page when they are scheduled. You can either check website or if you use Google Calender, search for “Wildside Game” to view or add our calendar of events.

If you’d like to volunteer to help run Wildside at a convention we’ll be attending, let us know. For that matter, let us know if you’ll be running Wildside at a convention we’re not attending, so we can list you on our events page.

Other demos and workshops.
We mostly run demos in the Northeast, but occasionally wander elsewhere as travel schedules permit. If you ’d like to see a Wildside demo at your local store, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do. We look for about 10 players - enough to run two games - at demos. And obviously the stores are happier if some of you show them some love by buying Wildside books. Occasionally we run full-day demos for specific groups that want to learn the game. (These demos are closed to the public and not listed on the events page.) Usually we do them here in northeast Connecticut. We’re looking at starting a series of all-day workshops for Wildside GMs, also here in Connecticut. If you’re interested in participating, drop us an email for more details.

Thanks for reading.
Feel free to pass this on, and we hope to see you at a signing, demo, convention, or other event soon.