Tie-in Tuesday: Doctor Who The Eternity Clock launch trailer

JG at the UK Games Expo 2012

So this weekend I went to the UK Games Expo (again), this time as a guest of Tin Man Games. Neil Rennison (the Tin Man himself) and I were there to promote Gamebook Adventures but also to bask in the reflected glory of Tin Man having gained the licence to produce Fighting Fantasy gamebook apps.

Having battled the traffic (an hour and a half to get to Birmingham, half an hour to get into Birmingham!) I arrived just in time to miss the RPG designers' panel (featuring Sarah Newton and Ben Counter) but that was the only negative of the whole weekend.

Saturday saw a lot of traffic coming by the Gamebook Adventures stand, where the two games being demoed were Temple of the Spider God and Judge Dredd: Countdown Sector 106. Some people were curious about what we were (or rather weren't selling), some were Twitter followers making themselves known and there was a ton of Fighting Fantasy fans, excited that the premier 80s gamebook system was coming to digital platforms later this year. We were also opposite the Cubicle 7 table where Nick Robinson, author of the soon-to-be-released Judge Dredd Gamebook Adventure was helping out while Dom McDowell* showed off his latest Doctor Who games.

 The Gamebook Adventures stand in all its glory.

Other visitors to the stand included Eve Weaver and her husband Steve Cotterill (steampunk friends of mine and gamebook fans to boot), Andrew Kenrick of White Dwarf fame (who chatted to me about Path to Victory gamebooks), and Dean of the Ready Up gaming website.

However, the most pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming moment of the whole weekend was when Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone stopped by the stand to say hello, at the same time as Tony Hough, my collaborator on such FF classics as Knights of Doom and Bloodbones**.

Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Adventures unite!

Tony Hough (artist) and Jonathan Green (writer), the creative team behind Knights of Doom and Bloodbones.

Tony and I then went along to Steve and Ian's talk about their Top Ten Games, which was as packed out and as entertaining as you would expect. I know the pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming moment of the whole weekend as far as Neil was concerned was when Ian announced to the crowd that Tin Man were going to be producing gamebook apps and bigged up Gamebook Adventures in general.

The talk was followed by a signing at the Arion Games stand where Graham Bottley was promoting the Crown of Kings expansion for AFF Second Edition. I seized my chance and made sure that Steve, Ian, Tony and myself all signed a copy of Bloodbones (another first!) leaving space of Martin McKenna to leave his mark some time in the future.

Gaming legends Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson sign Fighting Fantasy gamebooks for the fans at the Arion Games stand.

One of a kind!

The rest of the day passed in an excited blur and come the evening Neil and I retired to the Garden House for real ales and boar burgers, where we were joined by Nick and Dom. During the evening Dom and I talked about... Actually, I'm going to have to leave it at that for now, but you won't believe which well-loved property he would love to make a game of. ;-) (And I won't tell you what we all heard Angus Abranson announce to the world as we moved to the Strathallan bar after chucking out time at the Garden House.)

Nick Robinson and Dom McDowell test out the potential hit of the UK Games Expo 2013 as Neil Rennison looks out in wonder.

Sunday morning, bright and early, Neil and I were back on the GA stand where we met Vicki Paull, digital games artist, as well as Olivier Gavrois of Blue Flame Publishing, while I (apparently) slipped back into teacher mode when presented Gamebook Adventures to games fans of more tender years. Oh, and I think I sold another gamebook idea. ;-)

Can you tell which one's the boss?

The very pleasant surprise of Sunday was bumping into Jake Thornton, writer and games designer, who stopped by the Mantic Games stand (just across from the GA booth). In case you don't know, Jake commissioned my first work for White Dwarf magazine back in the day***. It was great to catch up with him again, and I think Neil and I succeeded in persuading him to have a crack at writing a gamebook.

The rest of the day was a mixture of bacon baps, Diet Coke, signing FF books for slightly anxious-looking mothers and their more excited children, and being interviewed by G*M*S Magazine (who interviewed Neil and I at Dragonmeet last year).

Before you knew it we were deconstructing the set and deconstructing the weekend, and discussing plans for what be launched by Tin Man Games at UK Games Expo 2013. So hopefully I might see some of you there.

And lastly, farewell to the Clarendon Suites. It's been fun, but the expo has steadily grown over the last few years so next year's it's going to be hello the Hilton Metropole!

* Congrats to Dom and Cubicle 7 for winning the award for best RPG for Airship Pirates!

** Soon to be released in French!

*** i.e. the mid-late 90s.

Thought for the Day

"Slowly, a bit at a time, a book is coming into being. It’s fun to watch and at the same time frustrating, because writing always happens slower than you want it to. I have all these exciting scenes in my mind. I want them written down. NOW! I want the story rolling along. I want to see how it all works out. And yet it is arriving in the only way stories do, one phrase at a time, over a period of minutes and hours and days and months."

~ William King

Pure poetry, that tells you exactly how it is.

Punak the Destroyer awaits!

Short Story Saturday: Resurrection Engines

So this week I finished my short story for the soon-to-be-published short story collection Resurrection Engines, and sent it off to the anthology's editor Scott Harrison.

What makes Resurrection Engines different from other short story collections is the fact that each story within is a steampunk 're-telling' of a classic tale.

I say 're-telling' with parentheses in place because you can be sure they're not going to be simple re-tellings of the stories with just a few cogs and top hats added. Oh no.

You can find out more about the tales being told in the book here, including which classic tale I'm taking on.

Gamebook Friday Part 3: Some rather big news from Tin Man Games

Surely this has to be the biggest gamebook-related news item of the day.

Tin Man Games and Fighting Fantasy!

Tin Man Games and Fighting Fantasy are sure to be the talk of the town* this weekend in Birmingham at the UK Games Expo where both will be in attendance. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone will be there, talking about their favourite boardgames, and Neil Rennison - the Tin Man himself - will be manning a stand in the dealers' room too, along with Nick Robinson, author of the Judge Dredd Gamebook Adventure Countdown Sector 106, and Yours Truly.

So if you happen to be in Edgbaston this weekend, do stop by the Tin Man Games stand and say "Hi!"

Maybe I'll see you there...

And talking of Tin Man Games, to celebrate their BIG NEWS and ahead of the UK Games Expo, they've got a sale on!



* If that expression doesn't sound too dated!

Gamebook Friday Part 2: Beneath the City of the White Wolf

Gamebook-related news is clearly like London buses. You wait ages for any at all, and then several items turn up at once (or something like that).

This is what arrived in the post this morning.

Can't wait to read it, but for the time being I need to get back to the world of Warhammer myself and crack on with my Vampire Counts Path to Victory book Shadows over Sylvania...