Once upon a time in the west of Europe, Fabled Lands LLP planned a co-publishing venture with Osprey Books to release a series of gamebooks. We were scheduled to kick off with the Virtual Reality series, and it was decided that including one new title would give the series a boost. Jamie Thomson agreed to write The Good, the Bad and the Undead.
Well, the best-laid plans... Jamie never got around to writing the book, but that worked out fine in the end because the Osprey deal clutched its heart and died. The VR books got reincarnated as Critical IF, but it looked as if our prospective gunslinging gamebook was destined for six feet on Boot Hill.
But then riding to the rescue came Ashton Saylor. Taking Jamie's notes - well, more like mescal-fuelled mumblings, to be honest - Ashton put together a blistering Wild West tale of heat, greed, lust, and death, where the only thing separating the good guys from the bad guys is whether their burning thirst is for sweet water or salt blood.
All that's needed for The Good, the Bad and the Undead to rise from its shallow grave is your help. Ashton will be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the book. That starts July 30th. So why am I mentioning it now? Because the Facebook page is already live and in the weeks ahead Ashton and Jamie will be unveiling the secrets of their world, telling us more about the characters and the game mechanics, and revealing some of the extras and stretch goals for the campaign.
I've read the first few chapters and the whole story outline and I can tell you that it's shaping up to be something revolutionary in gamebooks: a compelling mix of nail-biting gameplay and blazing action that comes alive as you read like a blockbuster movie. If you're a fan of gamebooks you will not want to miss this.
And to get yourself in the mood, why not download Per Jorner's Windhammer Prize-winning gamebook "The Bone Dogs"? It's not so much A Fistful of Dollars, more The Dirty Dozen rewritten by Hunter S Thompson, but hey, six guns!
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| The Outlaw by "kingzog" - used under Creative Commons licence BY-NC-ND 3.0 |
Sounds great! And in addition to the fantastic "Bone Dogs", might I humbly suggest my own wild-west adventure, "Six-Gun Friday", available for free in issue 13 of Fighting Fantazine. It's more of a traditional tale (no zombies) but provides some good clean shoot-em-up fun.
ReplyDelete---Gaetano Abbondanza----
Sounds right up my street, Gaetano. I shall check it out right now!
DeleteI'll check it out Gaetano! I might find some inspiration for the Good, Bad and Undead there ;)
DeleteIf you guys really want some research material, just tell me how much of my old Deadlands stuff you want.
ReplyDeleteIf it were me, I'd avoid looking at other RPGs but I would immerse myself in a bunch of classic westerns. Ashton, Jamie - are there any sources that you've used for inspiration?
ReplyDeleteI actually have picked up some of the other RPG books... both Deadlands and, on Jamie's recommendation, the old GURPS Wild West book, which turned out to be a spectacular resource. Unlike later GURPS books, the original Wild West setting book has relatively little by way of rules, but is heavy on atmosphere, historical fact and fiction, and just cool details about the times. It's an excellent reference book even just for the history.
DeleteOther than that, I binge watched a bunch of westerns, especially ones that have some supernatural element. And of course, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" especially ;) In fact, there are a few nods to the Clint Eastwood originals written in.
An enjoyable genre bending Western film I enjoyed as it was enjoyable was "The Beast of Hollow Mountain". Not with undead though :)
ReplyDeleteI might have even seen that. Or maybe I'm thinking of the rather enjoyable Valley of Gwangi.
DeleteI think that they are broadly similar in theme. Beast is from 1956 and doesn't have Ray "Harry" Harryhausen doing the effects, Gwangi is from 1969. Both are a good way to while away a rainy afternoon :)
DeleteI'll have to check these out! Dinosaurs are unlikely(?) to feature in GBU, but genre-bending Western is what I'm all about.
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