Skirmisher Publishing LLC publisher and editor-in-chief Michael O. Varhola gave the first presentation on his latest book, Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State, at the Comicpalooza fan convention in Houston, Texas, over Memorial Day weekend. During the talk, Varhola revealed some of the most interesting things he discovered while researching and writing the book and took a wide variety of questions from attendees.

Varhola also gave Comicpalooza’s first-ever presentation on the paranormal, “America’s Haunted Road Trip.” This talk tied took its name from series of books by Clerisy Press dedicated to haunted sites people can visit of which Varhola’s Ghosthunting Maryland and Ghosthunting Virginia are a part. The interactive presentation was very well attended and included lots of questions and comments from attendees, prompting convention organizers to begin looking at ways to include an expanded paranormal track at Comicalooza 2012.

Some 10,000 people decided to spend a big part of their Memorial Day weekend at Comicpalooza, a relatively new fantasy, sci-fi, and comic book convention in Houston that has quickly become the biggest and hottest event of its kind in Texas. The fourth-annual event was held May 27-29 at the George R. Brown Convention Center and was attended by many people from the San Antonio area, who made the relatively short road trip down IH 10 to the Lone Star State’s biggest city.

“It’s really been amazing,” said John Simons, the “guilty party,” as he puts it, behind the organization of Comicpalooza. “We’ve had a lot of great events, a lot of them you don’t see at other cons. Edward James Olmos, for example, playing laser tag against some storm troopers.” (For the less nerdy who might be reading this, Olmos battled the robotic Cylons in his role as Admiral Adama in the popular Battlestar Galactica series, while storm troopers are from Star Wars, making for amusing cross- franchise interaction.)

Olmos was only one of the popular guests at the convention, and others included Sam Trammell (True Blood), Tony Todd (Candyman), and Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation).

Simons also said that the convention was used as a venue for making several significant industry announcements.

“Bob Layton wrote a screenplay and Olmos Productions is going to film the movie,” Simons said. “There’s a new feature-length animated movie that’s going to be based on Tad Williams’ fan-favorite book Tailchaser’s Song and that was announced here. Steve Jackson Games, the largest game manufacturer in Texas, made some announcements here. We had a lot of that sort of thing going on.”

Other features of Comicpalooza included a sci-fi/horror/adventure film festival running across all three days of the convention, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, demonstrations, a huge dealers room with hundreds of exhibitors, and dozens of artists showing off their work.

“We had a lot of things you don’t see at other cons, like indoor Quidditch matches (ala Harry Potter), roller derby, professional wrestling matches. Crazy stuff!” Simons said. “It was a fantastic con.”

Comics, as suggested by the name of the convention, were also a theme of the event, and a number of significant comic creators and artists were in attendance, including Larry Elmore, Athur Suydm, Brian Denham, and many more. Gaming, the spiritual cousin of comics, was also represented with industry guests that included legend Steve Jackson, Chris Perkins, Hyrum Savage, and Chris Syms.

Comicpalooza was first held July 19, 2008, in the lobby of the Alamo Drafthouse Theater in Katy, Texas, as a simple signing event set to coincide with the release of “The Dark Knight.” Comicpalooza was conceived as a means of helping local comic creators reach the media and the public. It was fun for all dozen-or-so comic creators who showed up.

Comicpalooza 2009 was re-imagined as a two-day comic book festival set in a local mall, again with a strong emphasis on promoting creators, connecting with the media, and fostering new growth in the fanbase. It featured guests like David Mack, Terry Moore, Steve Scott, Tom Hodges, Mat Johnson, Andy Kuhn, Dirk Strangely and others, and added events like special screenings, Q&A sessions, and the charity live art benefit. It drew more fans than any other Houston comic convention in 15 years.

Comicpalooza was re-invented again in 2010 as a multi-format convention celebrating not just comics, but also sci-fi and fantasy, horror, steampunk, new media, movies, film, and gaming of all types.

According to its organizers, Comicpalooza's mission is to provide the best and biggest annual multi-format pop culture convention in the southwest region of the United States, serving not only the fans of comics, science fiction, fantasy, video and table top gaming, anime, music and film, but also as a trade show and showcase for the studios, publishers, and manufacturers in those industries. And in 2011, it certainly hit all of those marks.

“Two years ago, this was the largest sci-fi and comics convention in Houston in the last 20 years,” Simons said. “Our lowest growth since then has been 83 percent, so we’re growing really fast. The area we now have for all our functions and activities is almost 300,000 square feet. So, Comicpalooza is now by far the biggest convention of its kind in Texas.”

Skirmisher Publishing LLC has just released the PDF edition of "d-Infinity" Volume #2: Lost Treasure ($4.99; 72 pages; SKP E 1101; ISBN: 978-1-935050-11-7). It is available through several online sales venues, including DriveThruRPG and the Skirmisher Game Store.

Highlights of this edition of d-Infinity include the "lost interview" with D&D creator Gary Gygax, a complete self-standing card game, and more than a dozen other great items!

"d-Infinity" is a multi-platform gaming supplement that covers a wide variety of rules systems and includes content that can be universally applied to many different sorts of table-top, live-action, and role-playing games. It is jointly published by Armorcast, Dagon Industries Inc., Dark Threads, Flying Buffalo Inc., Mindgame Productions, OffWorld Designs Inc., Skirmisher Publishing LLC, Sonic Legends, and the United States Marine Space Corps.

Features of each volume include a self-standing game; new rules, stats, and bonus content tying in with several different game systems new rules; free paper miniatures; interviews with the luminaries of the gaming industry; and more! Rules systems supported include but are not limited to 4th Edition D&D, Pathfinder, OGL v.3.5, "Basic" system, Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, and Cthulhu Live.

Volume #2 Contents
Editorial: Lost Treasure
Compost Heap (Self-Standing Card Game )
Interview: D&D Creator and Gamer Gary Gygax
Digital Dice: Character Generators
The Prop Room: Treasure on the Cheap
Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition: Magic of the Old West
City Builder/The City and Island of Kos: The Byzantine Bank
Character Caricatures: Twelve Treasure Hunters
Basic System: Materials of Ancient Empires
Basic System: New Golems of the Labyrinth
Basic System: Six Alchemist Spells
OGL System: Cooper's Corrected Summon Monster IV
Reader Survey
Pathfinder System: "Steampunk Archaeologist" Prestige Class
Pathfinder System: Finders of Fortune (Three Treasure-Seeking Prestige Classes)
4th Edition D&D: Mysterious Relics
Publishing Licenses
Pass in Review
Cardstock CharactersTM

We believe that the most enjoyable gaming periodicals are not just devoted to single games or even the products of a single company, but also include content that makes a reader interested in other games, material that can be applied to all or many sorts of games, and items that are self-standing and which can be played on their own. For that reason, this publication includes many voices and exclusive material compatible with many rules systems and the products of many different companies.

To subscribe to the print edition of "d-Infinity," go to http://skirmisher.cerizmo.com/items/6320--d-infinity-subscription. For information about advertising or co-publishing, email sales@skirmisher.com.

Skirmisher Publishing LLC has participated in the release of d∞ (“d-Infinity”), a new multi-platform gaming supplement that covers a wide variety of rules systems and includes content that can be universally applied to many different sorts of table-top, live-action, and role-playing games. It is jointly published by Armorcast, Dark Threads, 5th Epoch, Flying Buffalo Inc., Mindgame Productions, OffWorld Designs Inc., Skirmisher Publishing LLC, Sonic Legends, and the United States Marine Space Corps.

The most enjoyable gaming periodicals are not just devoted to single games or even the products of a single company, but also include content that makes a reader interested in other games, material that can be applied to all or many sorts of games, and items that are self-standing and which can be played on their own. For that reason, this publication includes many voices and exclusive material compatible with many rules systems and the products of many different companies.

Features of each volume include a self-standing game; new rules, stats, and bonus content tying in with several different game systems new rules; free paper miniatures; interviews with the luminaries of the gaming industry; and more! Rules systems supported include but are not limited to 4th Edition D&D, Pathfinder, OGL v.3.5, “Basic” system, Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, and Cthulhu Live.

Downloadable copies of d-Infinity are available on a number of online sites, including Drive Thru RPG. Subscriptions to the print edition of the publication are available through the Skirmisher Game Store.

Volume #1 Contents
Editorial: The Adventure Begins
PowerLunch: The Collectible Trading Business Card Game (CTBCG)
AirSoft: Battle for the Wasteland
Interview: GAMA Executive Director John Ward
Digital Dice: Electronic Game Boards (with bonus MP3 file!)
City Builder: The Smugglers Tunnel
The Prop Room: How to Properly Age a Document
Multimedia: Setting the Mood of the Game with Music
Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition: The Return of Cyris Crane
Basic System: Spontaneous Generation Monsters
Basic System: Six Kobold Spells
OGL System: Coopers Corrected Summon Monster I
Pathfinder System: Adventures in Wonderland: Talking Flowers
Pathfinder System: Hedgehog and Porcupine PCs in The Noble Wild
4th Edition D&D: Races of Bakegoku: The Kitsune
Pass In Review
Publishing Licenses
Reader Survey
Cardstock CharactersTM

Skirmisher Publishing LLC will be exhibiting at Gen Con, August 5-8, at the downtown convention center in Indianapolis, Indiana! Come see us at Booth 511 to check out our latest print publications, learn about the new d∞ ("d-Infinity") multi-platform game supplement, and get a copy of a special freebie we have created just for this convention.

New releases being displayed for the first time at any convention include print editions of City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities, The Noble Wild: An Animal Player's Handbook for Fantasy Role-Playing Games, Muerte al Chupacabras!, a script for Cthulhu Live, and Volume #1 of the d∞ ("d-Infinity") multi-platform game supplement (for more information about this great new publication, go to http://skirmisher.cerizmo.com/items/6320--d-infinity-subscription#).

We are sharing with model and miniature manufacturer Armorcast and with LARP/AirSoft outfitter Dark Threads, which will be exhibiting a full range of gear, "Zombie Hunter" patches, and more.


Skirmisher is also participating in Flying Buffalo's "Poker Game" and is the Three of Clubs in its 2010 Poker Deck!

Skirmisher Publishing LLC will be exhibiting at the Origins Game Fair, June 23-27, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio! Come see us at Booth 332 to check out our latest print publications, learn about the new d∞ ("d-Infinity") multi-platform game magazine, and get a copy of a special freebie we have created just for this convention.


New releases being displayed for the first time at any convention include print editions of City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities, The Noble Wild: An Animal Player's Handbook for Fantasy Role-Playing Games, Muerte al Chupacabras!, a script for Cthulhu Live, and the Volume #0 preview issue of d∞ ("d-Infinity").

We are sharing with LARP/airsoft outfitter Dark Threads, which will be exhibiting a full range of gear, "Zombie Hunter" patches, and more.

Skirmisher is also participating in Flying Buffalo's "Poker Game" and is the Three of Clubs in its 2010 Poker Deck!

Skirmisher Publishing LLC now has an official page on Facebook! To check it out and become a fan, either search against "Skirmisher Publishing LLC" on Facebook or go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skirmisher-Publishing-LLC/124697687559095.

Skirmisher is now also on Twitter! To follow what Skirmisher is doing, go to http://twitter.com/skirmisherllc.

These are two great new ways to stay up-to-date with what Skirmisher is doing and get exclusive benefits available only to members.

Following on a tradition it started in 2008, Flying Buffalo Inc. has announced the imminent release of its third-annual "Poker Deck" promotion.

"Each year I honor four famous game designers by making them a 'king' in my poker deck," said Flying Buffalo's Rick Loomis. "The other 48 cards are advertisements from various game companies, game stores, game artists, and game conventions."

The company will be producing 6,000 of these decks and using them as part of an associated game it will be running in conjunction with the various advertisers in the deck.

Skirmisher Publishing LLC will appear as the 3 of Clubs in the deck and will be participating in the "Poker Deck" games at both Origins and Gen Con. Skirmisher will also have a special freebie for anyone with one of the Poker Decks who comes by its booth as part of the promotional game.

To see samples of cards from this and previous years and all the companies participating this year, go to http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/pokerdeck.htm. For more information or to comment on this announcement, go to to page associated with it on the Skirmisher Forum.