So by some bizarre twist of..err..FATE.. ;-) we've been nominated for not one but three awards at the ENnies, if you haven't voted yet I'd really appreciate your support...

http://www.ennie-awards.com/voting/ballot.asp

Tags: starblazer adventures

Sorry i've been somewhat vacant from this here lot, what with facebook, twitter, myspace...sigh.

Anyway the good news as Charlie Brown said, is that Starblazer Adventures is now in shops in the UK, has been delivered to UK pre-order customers, is winging it's way to overseas pre-order customers and is due in US shops in July. 

Of course once the galactic scale monster is born it needs constant feeding, hence my creative juices are currently directed towards the forthcoming Chronicles of Anglerre - the fantasy issues of Starblazer help illustrate a fantasy sequel to Starblazer - FATE with a big bad ass +10 battleaxe guitar for some truly rockin' swords and sworcey adventures.

Sarah Newton is currently finishing the massive Starblazer Adventures setting, Mindjammer - press release coming early next week but for those what want a sneak peak check out www.mindjammer.com

We've also got a number of small pdf projects on the go - one which is in layout now - a complete free adventure and standalone rules intro to Starblazer which is also the first adventure in the Star Kings campaign supplement out later this year.

Work has been totally crazy - we're totally snowed under at Joystick Junkies - not just with our brand but we've been producing Sonic X kidswear designs for NEXT (a big UK high street retailer) - and it's become so succesful the designs have appeared on kids tees, hoodies, bedding, bags, underwear, pyjamas, lunch boxes..the list goes on.

Finally Holdup Heroines has been cast - my other project, which is a legend based on four girls from the 18th century - kind of the four musketeers meets charlies angels. We've been doing these crazy masked period costume parties for the last five years and now have found four real girls to be photographed for a coffee table book in period costumes, designer lingerie, props and photoshopped in to hand drawn backgrounds which will finally tell the true story behind the legend. We've got a fashion show with them at London's Polo In The Park after party this weekend and then have a ball for 700 people to organise in September.

And this afternoon I'm off to join Angus Abranson and the rest of the Cubicle 7 guys at the UK Games Expo to help run the stand and play some games!

Tags: starblazer
Current Mood: bouncy

I know I know way too long, it can get to be a full time occupation just keeping up with facebook, twitter, livejournal, your own websites, the actual 3D real world and interests....I would actually be updating more frequently if I actually could sort out the mobile posting but sadly it seems to be refusing all approaches from my mobile!

We're close to going to print with Starblazer, there's a big free stand alone adventure in layout which will go out soon - should provide everyone with something to tinker with and I'm working on various other Starblazer projects for release through the year. There's a lot in the works and I'm continually swamped by the sheer volume of artwork we have - so much so in the next supplement we limited ourselves to only looking at the first 50 issues with a certain style of setting in mind.

Work has become very busy - also contributing to my lack of input here (though I've kept my nose in over at rpg.net where possible). We're about to design the summer 2010 collection and trying to get creative about something that won't see the light of day for a year in something so fast moving as streetwear is difficult at the best of times.

I'm currently working on a coffee table book project with the Holdup Heroines - it's a series of masked parties I've been organising for a couple of years based on the legend of four girls from the 18th century that became the first Highwaywomen - quite an awesome legend which we've embellished and pretty soon four real girls will step out in designer outfits to help us re-create the legend for a very cool photographic book which will also be an exhibition somewhere in london later in the year.

Tonight I'm on Starblazer though, I have the first of the Starblazer Legends releases to compile featuring full colour covers from ten issues along with gaming plots and info plus extra setting materials and example empires, characters and ships.

Flames of War the WW2 miniatures wargame has become a passion over the last months too - sales of a ton of Ebay stuff funded a largish collection and it turned out two friends were really in to it as well - a fashion photographer and male model i know! He's currently on the catwalk in london fashion week before heading home to paint his panzergrenadiers! I used to play a lot as a kid but rarely managed to find people to do games with so it's been great spending some time on this.

This weekend i'm off to a college re-union on saturday - most people i haven't seen in 20 years but i suspect everyone will seem the same. Way too long but one of them is an old game design friend so it will be great to re-connect and hopefully enroll him in some of my new projects.

Right back to work!

Tags: starblazer
Current Location: London
Current Mood: calm

 Sigh, so the joy of Gen Con is over and the relaxed holiday in Ibiza afterwards is now a memory and my laptop has been swamped with 800 emails - mostly viagara or 'hey come to this club we're going to have [insert meaningless reality celebrity] there!'

Gen Con was a blast - it's great meeting so many people who were excited to pick up Starblazer and particularly some industry luminaries willing to part with hard $$$'s for it - very cool! I'm now looking forward to the first reviews - both good and bad to see what people really think and i'm starting to think about what to work on next - a whole bunch of notes is currently awaiting sorting for the first supplement plus we've got some adventures and new previews to put out.

Now back in the UK i find out i'm due at another trade show - Who's Next in Paris for four days next week - this time a fashion show for Joystick Junkies (my day job). I really was looking forward to a few weekends relaxation and working on new ideas plus corrections to the final hard copy of Starblazer, plus i'd like to play some of the games I picked up at Gen Con....i'm sure many of you share that feeling. 

We're also starting work on the new range soon and i'm in the middle of sorting out a big promotion - we've designed some clothes that are appearing in the new Saints Row 2 video game and they'll also feature in our new range - I've got to organise a shoot at late notice with samples of the pieces featuring in the game on tuesday next week so it's all a bit crazy

better get back to work then!

 

 
Finally!! The print pre-order for Starblazer is here!

we're finally on sale with Starblazer Adventures - pdf just went up on RPGNow and is already selling at $30! The print pre-order should kick in on the Cubicle 7 site soon so if you're after a print copy hang on cos you'll get the pdf free of charge while you wait!


http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=56969


i can't tell you how it feels, but it will be even better when i've got a printed copy!

We just posted the character sheet and an example sheet based on a long running favourite character of mine called Brandon Carter, he started life as my first D&D character age 9, who promptly fell down the pit trap in B1 In To The Unknown, looking back i wondered why the dungeon master gave me a suit of plate mail at level 1....hmm conspiracies aside you'll see a few hints at new stunts and equipment on Brandon's character sheet and we're going to post the star empire character sheet and starship sheets soon

Wow! Well finally the pdf preview is up, we'll be posting stuff up every week - over the next few weeks you'll get the character sheet, the starship sheet, the organisation or star empire character sheet, some filled in examples, and other bits i'm working on.

Don't forget to come and chat about the preview and other stuff in the Starblazer Adventures forum here...

Well that's it! Yep Starblazer Adventures is done and dusted. That's over a year's work , granted in between the vaguaries of a full time job but a massive undertaking that I never dreamed would grow to be such a monster. The only reason it's got anywhere near sniffing distance of a printer is because of the utmost devotion to the cause from a certain Fred Hicks who's been handling the painful job of layout. 

It's a strange feeling finally being able to sit back from it all. For so long i've always had this nagging 'must finish chapter x', 'must do comments on chapter z' etc etc. Saying that it's never really over, even though we're off to print now, there's freebies to sort out, a preview pdf - what pages will be in it? The website, the community, promotion, and pr for the book. 

Basically it never ends, if you think you've got time for a break don't work on a project like this, if I want that book to sell i can't rely on publishers, agents, people who run shops, customers who 'might' stumble on it in the shop....a large portion of why a book is successful is down to the writer working it - again Fred is a great example of someone who's totally committed to the promotion of his work and successfully so. I've already been on the pr case and we've seen great coverage so far in Britain's 2000AD Megazine, SFX and Deathray magazines, they'e both said they'll run reviews. Ohhhhh....yep review time, here's where i find out if people think all that work sucks or was worth it. You really have to step back at the point - there are always going to be people who don't like what you write, and to be frank, anyone talking about it is good pr, you just have to be prepared to answer questions whenever you can, be around and slowly work your magic. 

The great thing with places like rpg.net and other sites is that they give writers the ability to connect with the audience, be present and talk about their work and with so many potential customers hanging around, the hard workers quickly build up followings. Now if only i could get 1% of what Fred's got going I might have a chance ;-)