A few days ago, Greg Rucka posted the proof of concept video clip I created while working with him, Rick and Eric on the clockwork world atlas for the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether kickstarter graphic novel. The video is below. It was originally shared as a backer only post to the kickstarter backers. Greg's tumblr post can be found here.
GenCon Game Fair was a great time once again this year. As usual, new games, new releases, news, previews and more filled the Indianapolis convention center and surrounding hotels. GenCon reported today that there were nearly 50,000 unique attendees, up 20% from last year. So it's big and only getting bigger. Every type of tabletop game seemed to be represented, and there were a lot of board games this year. Clothing booths seemed to expand over past versions, usually with some sort of fantasy or steampunk focus, if not T-Shirts. At least two booths featured quality looking fezzes with logos or art on them, most likely thanks to Dr. Who. Several former kickstarter projects and games also appeared on the show floor.
And, of course, there was the Star Wars gaming news and releases...
My Star Wars Edge of the Empire adventure Beyond the Rim released at GenCon on Thursday...and sold out sometime Friday afternoon!
FFG announced at the InFlight Report that it should reach stores in 3-4 weeks.
The new beta for the next core book, Age of Rebellion was also released. I worked on that as well, but most of my contribution isn't in the beta.
More on all of this coming in this week's Star Wars Wednesday blog post.
My latest History Check article, Martek and the Desert of Desolation was released in Dragon 424 today on D&D Insider. Subscribers can find it here. Desert of Desolation was my favorite AD&D campaign. It was big, and combined three of the I-series adventures (Pharoah, Oasis of the White Palm, and the Lost Tomb of Martek) into one massive campaign with additional elements, hand outs and puzzles. For any of my old players subscribe and read, at a memorable scene or two makes an appearance...
One cool thing about writing this article is that for the first time in years (I think....) there is new art of to the campaign! It's a good scene from the adventure's lengthy backstory. I don't think it's been depicted before.
Anyway, dndclassics.com has the first adventure, Pharoah, available. Eventually, all of those adventures and the campaign itself should be added to the site (no timetable as to when, though).
Announced today! Edge of the Empire's first full length adventure, Beyond the Rim, due to be released in 3rd Quarter of this year.
I had a great time writing this adventure. It's packed with locations , creatures and more that fans and players should have a lot of fun playing with.
"When new rumors add credence to old smugglers’ tales of the long-lost Separatist treasure ship, the Sa Nalaor, it’s time for a handful of intrepid explorers, scrappy smugglers, and adventuresome academics to fire up their hyperdrive and embark upon a fantastic journey to the farthest regions of the Star Wars galaxy!"
Head on over to the FFG Beyond the Rim page for a great rundown of what to expect, and check out the truly awesome art!
Earlier today, the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether kickstarter funded successfully. While the final, late and ambitious stretch goal for expanding the deckplans into a big poster map wasn't achieved, the campaign was a huge success for Greg, Rick and Eric. Now it's on with the maps! Thanks to everyone who participated.
So, the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether broke though the $100,000 mark, and the Cartographer's Craft stretch goal. That means the maps are a go!
But that's not all. Now the details for the Deck Plans goal have been revealed. There are 7 days to go, and if they break $120,000, I'll be drawing a really cool ship.
HMS Pegasus Deck Plans - If we achieve this Stretch Goal, Sterling Hershey will bring to life Her Ladyship's conveyance with a set of deck plans of Pegasus. Working with Rick and Greg, this will be a minimum of four sheets, detailing each deck of the ship, and potentially as many as eight, showing detail, cut-aways, and close-ups. These will be printed on high-quality paper, in a "blueprint" style, and designed to replicate the ship plans of the era. A complete set of these deck plans will be included with every copy of the book (Cloth Covers, The Style to Which She is Accustomed, and the Rare & Royal editions) as well as be included in the All Digital, All the Time package.
So, there is still time to join in. You can check out the Kickstarter here, and the comic itself here (from the beginning).
Just announced today, if the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether kickstarter reaches the Cartographer's Craft stretch goal, I'll get the opportunity to create a number of maps for the book! There are 13 days to go, and a little over $9,000 to that stretch goal. Take a look and see if you'd like to join in. The kickstarter description is below:
At this level, Sterling Hershey will be commissioned to create the Map of the Known Sphere as of IV.E.890 (this is our dating convention in the series). This will be large, "flattened" map of the Lady Sabre world as it had been explored thus far. This map will be included in the Vol. I trade. Additionally, Sterling will revisit the maps seen in the series thus far (the Tanitin Frontier and the Coming Storm), giving them professional treatment that will also be reflected in the trade.
Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is a comic written by Greg Rucka (Batman, Detective Comics, Gotham Central, Queen & Country, Whiteout, and many more) and drawn by Rick Burchett (Batman, Superman, The Justice League, The Batman and Robin Adventures and many more). Both are Eisner award winners. Eric Newsome runs the website.
What is it about? You can go read entire series so far at Ineffableaether.com, and there is a bit about the comic in their own words below.
Swords are cool. People fighting with swords are cool. Airships are cool. Cowboys are cool. Pirates are cool. Clockwork men are cool. Smart, savvy, witty women are very cool. Laconic gunslingers? Totally cool. Steampunk? Frosty.
That’s what Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is, that’s what it’s about. The adventures of the Lady Seneca Sabre and those she meets along the way as she travels the Sphere. Who she fights, who she foils, who she befriends. It’s about adventure and romance and excitement and, to paraphrase the great Zaphod Beeblebrox, “really wild things.”
And most of all, what it’s supposed to be? It’s supposed to be fun.
Some of you might remember that I also contributed and help design the map in Greg Rucka's Alpha novel. You can read my blog post about that map and process here.
I've produced maps for roleplaying game products such as DugeonADay.com, the Nebulon-B for the Star Wars RPG years ago, Super Genius Games and a non-gaming map for starwars.com. Click here for my online cartography portfolio. I'm also an architect and freelance writer and game designer.