In which we make souper soup.

I've been trying to find new ways to incorporate vegetables into my way of eating. I love salads, but when the weather turns cold, they're less appealing. I've started adding almost equal parts chopped/minced celery and onion mixture to my tuna or surimi salads, and I like that very well, so that's one way. I put lots of onions, celery, peppers, tomatoes in my chicken chili, so that's another. Sometimes I'll steam/nuke a side of broccoli or the like for myself. Pat's not a big fan of cooked veggies (but will eat plain ol' lettuce salad every day, twice a day, so I've always got that as a fall back for him.)

I've discovered roasting root vegetables, which is just awesome. I didn't know I liked sweet potatoes, but I do. Ditto with rutabaga, although they're apparently high GI, so more of an occasional treat than a veggie. I'm still unclear on the whole turnip/rutabaga, yam/sweet potato thing, but I'm doing research to sort it all out. Chard was a big bomb at our house, we're not big cooked spinach people either.

And, today, in the name of trying to find a way to eat squash/zucchini that doesn't make me gag, I bought a small one of each and made minestrone soup.

oh... so good.

( South Beach Minestrone ala Jess )

In which we don't know what to think...

I need help. ("Well, yes," I hear you all thinking... "But we aren't really trained psychiatric professionals...")

I've created and submitted a board game concept to a major RPG company. It is, of course, based in their world, but the same mechanics could be theme-stripped and dressed for another setting if they don't end up going for it, so I'm in a better place than I would be with a novel submission or the like.

I kind of expected to get a "no thanks" right away (Yeah, I'm an eternal optimist, but not when it comes to work...)

However, I heard back today and they believe the game has "some potential". They're still in the "asking questions about the mechanics" stage, but I want to do everything I can to educate myself about "what might come next."

I've haunted game-design sites, but much like the "rules" for the publishing industry ("Get an agent as soon as you get an offer", etc.) don't necessarily hold sway in the RPG industry, I'm afraid most of them may not apply here either. I can't find anything about how to handle things when the license holder and the potential publisher/manufacturer are the same, for example. No information on royalty rates, advances, what to look for in a contract, what to avoid, etc... If it gets that far, I don't want to get screwed over.

I know there are other RPG board games out there, but don't have any connections to those who've created them, worked on them, heard rumors of how the process works... I'm really in the dark with little but a neat idea (I think) and a potential foot in the door.

Anyone got anything they wouldn't mind sharing? Web sites, contacts, personal experience, warnings, guidelines... I got nuthin' at this point, I'll take anything...

Thanks!