Friday, April 20, 2012

Brink of Battle turns 6!!! and I turn 42

Yep, it was late in the evening of my 36th birthday when I put pen to paper and began writing what would eventually become Brink of Battle. It has been a fascinating journey to say the least. When I reflect on what has transpired in my life over that period, I am deeply moved.

In that time I fell in love, finished my degree, got my professional licenses, moved out of state, made some great new friends to add to my great old friends, bought a house, got married to my amazing Wife, got promoted, , and experienced a level of joy in my life that I had never known before.

Writing this game has been a part time job through all of those years. I must say, seeing it not only in print, but being so strongly embraced by players has really been a surprisingly humbling experience. It's a piece me being offered to everyone. That thought had never occurred to me before because I was so engrossed in the writing. But when you see the response of those who have purchased and read the book, and they are so friendly, and supportive, and creative, it reminds me how wonderful complete strangers can be. And then some of them begin to really catch the vision of what I've been trying to create, and that is powerful. Yeah, I'm an old man getting misty eyed...

The game has been on the market for one month and the response has been fantastic. And we've barely scratched the surface of potential readership. I am going to be adding the book to Wargames Vault, take out an advertising run in Wargames Illustrated, and send off a copy to the guys at Wargames Soldiers & Strategy for a review in their magazine. Hopefully, that will reach many more people who will then open as Anatoli put it in his review, "A toolbox for the imagination". Well said my friend.

What's Next

Today we posted the first play test document for EPIC HEROES, our Fantasy supplement. EH will let you do several things as you like. You can create your own Fantasy setting, re-create someone else's Fantasy setting, or use the template for my own Fantasy setting. I don't know of another game that gives players that much flexibility in one product. You can download the first release which covers racial traits, which I call Inborn Traits, representing abilities that are inherent to the model organically, rather than as a result of supernatural powers or elite training. In a couple of days we'll add the Play Test feedback form to let you all contribute to what may end up in the final version of the rules.

Well, enough ruminating for now. I'm going to dig out my paintball gun and see if it still works.

Noch Weiter!

Bob

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Saturday, April 7, 2012

FAQ and Force Building Tutorial!


Well, we've had a few weeks of street time with Brink of Battle's release on Lulu.com. Now that many of you have rulebooks, a few consistent questions are coming in.



I'm going to have an updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to post in our Other Adventures Forum Official Thread on the Lead Adventure Forum.



I'll also have Alan post it on the website at http://www.brinkofbattle.com/



Since there are no pre-packaged Profiles for your models in this game, many of you have requested a tutorial on how to go about purchasing the Ratings, Traits, and Gear that makes up your model's Profile, and then doing that for the whole Force.



It is a bit different from what most gamers are used to, and that is really the whole point. : ) So this tutorial will help you see a Force built from scratch.



You may notice the hulking badass in the picture above. That's Gath of Baal, also known as the Death Dealer created by Frank Frazetta. And yes, its a nod to the current development of Epic Heroes, our first supplement for Brink of Battle that will allow players to add a Fantasy filter to their BoB games. It will allow you to build your own group driven Fantasy background, or use a few of our own that will be detailed in the book. You will also be able to add Magic and Monsters to the non-Medieval settings like Weird Wild West or Weird War 2!



In a few weeks I'll be posting some Inborn Traits that you can play test with. Inborn Traits are what some would call Racial Abilities. They allow you to build models that are more than Human.



Noch Weiter!



Bob