Alice Black: Blood Tribute – A Fate Solo Adventure Book

I’ve been busy, hence my lack of updates. Work on Vanagard has been going well, very soon it will be ready to be kickstarted. Dragon Trinity Crash is moving along, though Vanagard has taken priority. I’m also close to signing a contract for a small short story gig, I’ll post about it when it nears completion.

I have also released…

I’ve blogged about this before, and have even offered a free sample. It now finished and ready for purchase, just click here.

As for what it’s about:

You are Alice Black, feared feline space pirate and captain of the dreaded Manticore. For years you have plagued the spaceways trading slaughter for profit. You seek no approval from king or lord. Yet infamy has a price and your coffers are low. Without the necessary funds, your ship will fall into scrap, shadow ports will close their doors, you and your crew will be left helpless against the tender mercies of the Wolves. Your one chance at salvation lies in stealing tribute from a faded wolf house. However, your success will break a treaty and doom trillions to annihilation. Alice Black: Blood Tribute is a solo game and adventure in one book. All you need to play is this book, a pencil, some paper, and a few common dice.

Publishing it has been a dream come true for me. As a kid, I cut my teeth on Fighting Fantasy novels, I am very pleased to have my own adventure book. Evil Hat’s Fate RPG system is a godsend, I was able to tweak it to fit an RPG adventure book perfectly. Those who know Fate can start playing this novel right away. For those who don’t, the rules come with the book and are very easy to learn.

A big thanks to Xenotropos who did the art and layout, and Melanie Jacobs who edited the novel

So, if you like space pirates, adventure books, and other such shenanigans check this out.

I hope to write a sequel soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon Trinity Crash – Secret of NIMH – Knights Of The Hidden Sun – Update

So it turns out that the ADX kickstarter was a resounding success!

Thank you internet!

Dragon Trinity Crash will be part of the anthology as will a TON of other settings. Go the kickstarter to check them out.

Given all this I’ll be super busy. Here’s what I’ll be working on:

1. My first priority is to get DTC to David. No updates until that happens.
2. After DTC is submitted I’m going to add a whole mess of sample spells, sample characters, sample monsters and flash fiction to this blog. Why? Cause I’m that passionate about it. 😀
3. After this I’m going to publish my Fate Secret of NIMH rules here. I promised a player at Phantasm this and I will deliver.
4. After that Knights of the Hidden Sun will get my full attention until it goes to the editors.

Outside of this plan is Space Pirate Alice Black: Blood Tribute. That’s because I don’t need to work on it. Xenotropos is on art and layout. Once that’s done Blood Tribute will be ready for market without me doing anything.

And that’s my plan.

Expect DTC updates soon.

For Your Perusal – A Sample From Space Pirate Alice Black, Blood Tribute

I’ve done all I can for my first solo-adventure book, Space Pirate Alice Black, Blood Tribute. It’s gone through the editor, the Amazing Mel, and currently the Incomparable Xenotropos is finishing up the Art and Layout. I’d be lost without these ladies.

As it stands I am proud to present a sample of my book. This is just a snippet of what I will eventually sell on Lu Lu, Indi Press or wherever.

Note: This sample is not indicative of the final layout. Think of it as a slice of a rough draft. The final book will be much longer and more polished.

Note II: I’d consider this book mature due to violence and alcohol use. However, there’s nothing pornographic in it. PG 13 I suppose.

As for what’s involved, Blood Tribute is a story where you play a feline space pirate who chooses to steal a particular treasure, how you go about it will determine the fate of trillions. The adventure’s meant to be a dark, high-action, Space Opera where your choices will lead to failure or one of four victories. It’s not merely a ‘go to this page’ sort of solo-adventure, you also use dice for extra zing. Specifically you use Evil Hat’s  open game license Fate system. Go visit them, look at their Kick Starters, invest and buy their stuff, they’re awesome.

If you have feedback please comment, I’d love to hear from you.

Space Pirate Alice Black, Journey 1: Blood Tribute

While waiting on development for Knights of the Hidden Sun I found there was very little on my plate. For two years I ‘d been writing my game and now I had nothing to do. On a lark I looked up the old Fighting Fantasy Novels I used to read as a kid and discovered they are still being produced and going strong, check it out here.

Furthermore, Fighting Fantasy (aka Wizard Books) was doing something cool with its licence. They had kindly provided templates for fans to make their own Fighting Fantasy  fan books, they were even holding contests to see who could write the best FF fan book based on various themes.

I had to try and so wrote The Blackthorne Ogre  for their Valentine’s Day contest. I didn’t win but I had hella fun participating.

Being the vain sort I regularly Google myself and the things I write. As such I was lucky enough to stumble upon this, a glowing review, by Stelio on RPG Geek. This made me feel all kinds of awesome. So much so that I wanted to write another Book.

This time the book’s my own, a non-Fighting Fantasy space opera featuring my favorite open source rules set.

I plan to publish it very soon.

What It’s About

In Blood Tribute you play the part of space pirate captain who, out of desperation,  chooses a prize whose theft will result in the death of trillions. Over the course of the the game you decide how best to find, secure and flee with your plunder. Along the way you can choose to be dastardly or redeem yourself.

The story takes place in a galaxy where hominid Wolves rule as warrior lords over other Canines, Trolls and Hares. Your character is a feline captain who leads a crew of freed slaves to fight against the tyranny of the Wolf Houses.

Okay I admit, this was inspired from watching hours of  Talespin as a kid and I’m a rather shameless fan of Disney’s Treasure Planet. This book though has absolutely nothing to do with either of these properties.

While the setting can be seen as cartoonish the story’s rather dark. Your character is a villain as are the Wolves you prey upon. I found the real trick to writing this to be making the main character act like a plausible pirate while at the same time leaving room for plausible heroics. I believe  I’ve done an excellent job but ultimately it’ll be up to the reader to decide.

I’d rate this a mature for violence and alcohol; there is no pornography involved.

To add randomness  and gaming goodness I’m using a very simple version of Evil Hat’s Fate System. For those familiar expect the Skill Ladder and Aspects to feature prominently.

As for the book itself its 50 Sections/88 written pages. There are four different endings aside from the ones involved in losing a critical test or fight. I just finished the book’s second draft and am now sending it to an editor. Once that’s done it’ll be sent out for art and layout. After that I’ll look into where to publish it.

I hope this wets your appetite and thanks for checking in.