Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the final day to back the Mistborn: House War board game Kickstarter campaign. All stretch goals have been unlocked, including an expansion covering the time period of The Well of Ascension called Mistborn: The Siege of Luthadel, which is now available as a $30 add-on.

The fifth installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “The Box,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode, “World Building,” you can catch up on all the videos here. Enjoy!

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Elemental Thriller as a Subgenre, we look at the thriller element as part of a story whose principal driver is one of the other elemental genres. We consider some examples of blended-with-thrill stories, and then drill down a bit into how we can incorporate this in our own work.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, our friends began to cope with a changed world in the aftermath of the great clash. This week, in Chapter 88, secrets come creeping out: the Ghostbloods, the Sons of Honor, the Skybreakers, and Shallan’s past.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for July.

There will be two Mistborn: House War board game playtests at Worldcon in Kansas City, August 18th (Thursday) and 21st (Sunday), run by Brandon’s literary agent, Joshua Bilmes. He has three copies of the game, so there will be 15 slots available in each session. Please sign up ahead of time for the Thursday or Sunday sessions. It looks like there’s no cost to join the playtests, but you must be a registered attending member of Worldcon (preregistration is over, but you can register at the door) in order to take part.

The eighth installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “Magic Systems,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode, “Character,” you can catch up on all the videos here. Enjoy!

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, The Element of Humor, we ask, what is the driving force that gets readers to turn pages in a book that is primarily a work of humor? More importantly, how do we as writers get that driver into our books? We cover this, and provide some starting points for writers seeking to improve their humor writing, along with a bunch of neat techniques and a long example for deconstruction.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, a highprince met his fate and four Radiants gathered. This week, in Epilogue and What Comes Next, Wit expounds and [redacted] Elsecalls, as we conclude our discussions of this magnificent behemoth.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for July and August.

The fourth installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “World Building,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode, “The Illusionist Writer,” you can catch up on all the videos here. Enjoy!

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Impostor Syndrome, with Alyssa Wong, the Campbell Award nominee and Nebula Award winner joins us. Impostor Syndrome is the frame of mind that many successful writers suffer from, in which they worry that they’re not really good enough at writing to be enjoying their success. Worse, this mindset can prevent us from continuing to create. Many of us suffer from this, and we have some strategies to cope with it.

Update on the Mistborn: House War board game Kickstarter campaign: It’s now at 632% funded, and is working on the final listed stretch goal. Though I hear they have something up their sleeve for another stretch goal after that.

The third installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “The Illusionist Writer,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode, “Cook vs. Chef,” you can catch up on all the videos here. Enjoy!

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, The Elemental Thriller, we discuss the difference between the drivers in thrillers, horror stories, and mysteries, and use the elemental genre tools to assist in the differentiation. We also cover the tools we use to develop and maintain the tension that is so critical in a thriller.

Update on the Mistborn: House War board game Kickstarter campaign: It’s now at 530% funded, and is working on the 12th stretch goal.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Shallan evacuated the armies while Kaladin battled. This week, in Chapter 87, in the aftermath, they face rearrangement of the world as they knew it.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for June.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to post a deleted scene for Perfect State (which is nominated for the Hugo Award for best novella, and voting is now open for all 2016 Worldcon members), as well as annotations. My assistant Peter has finally gotten around to editing them for posting. The deleted scene is up now, and the annotations will follow this week.

In other news, as I’ve shared on Twitter and Facebook over the past few days, the Mistborn: House War kickstarter from Crafty Games has gone live, and it’s now already over 300% funded with six stretch goals under its belt.

I’m thrilled that Crafty Games has built this new board game with the same attention and care they’ve long given to the Mistborn Adventure Game. Playing through it, my team enjoyed battling each other for supremacy in Luthadel. Mistborn: House War (a title I cam up with myself, by the way) melds strategy and player interaction into a unique mix. A real house war could turn out a lot like this! I hope you’ll enjoy the game.

Here’s what Crafty says about the new board game:

Mistborn: House War puts you in command of the Final Empire’s great Houses during the cataclysmic events of Mistborn: The Final Empire.

Together, you must cooperate to solve myriad problems facing the empire, from environmental and social turmoil to political strife and outright rebellion. You’ll even have to stave off Kelsier, Vin, Sazed, and the other heroes of the novels to maintain the delicate balance held in place for the last thousand years.

Simultaneously, you’ll compete to become the most powerful House in the land by currying the favor of the almighty Lord Ruler. To win, you must build alliances, negotiate deals, and undermine both your enemies and your allies—all at just the right time. But be careful! Should the players’ stewardship fail, unrest will tear the Final Empire asunder and the House furthest from the top shall emerge the victor.

Mistborn: House War is created and developed by Crafty Games, publishers of the Mistborn Adventure Game, with cooperation from Brandon Sanderson and Dragonsteel Entertainment.

Designed by Kevin Wilson (Arkham Horror, The X-Files, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past), Mistborn: House War is the perfect addition to any gamer’s table, and every Sanderson fan’s collection. Whether you’re a cunning strategist or cautious diplomat, there’s plenty to love in this box.