You never have to wait for breakfast

The Thomson-Smith series everybody talks about is The Way of the Tiger. Fair enough. Mixing Japanese martial arts with Dungeons and Dragons doesn't do it for me - and the ninjutsu and bushido stuff was never part of Mark Smith's original conception of the world of Orb either. But in the '80s it was all black pyjamas and nunchuks. Even Daredevil seemed to be wall-to-wall ninja back then. Way of the Tiger rode that wave, and you can't blame them.

Another '80s fixture was British comic 2000AD. Of course Judge Dredd wasn't my favourite. I preferred Nemesis the Warlock (which felt a bit Moorcockian), Ace Trucking Company (definite shades of Keith Laumer), and the resolutely downbeat Strontium Dog, whose demise (later retconned as "legend") surely inspired Avenger's apparently sticky and sudden end.

More of the spirit of Johnny Alpha was evident in the Falcon gamebooks. Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson wrote these books around the same time as Way of the Tiger, but that series has always overshadowed them. It's a shame. Falcon's time-travel concept allows for a diversity of setting and tone that WotT could never achieve. There's a dry humour as well as a dark bite to Falcon's adventures, and with multiple timelines as the theme sudden death is no longer quite such a metafictional minefield. Put it this way: Falcon could make a respectable movie or TV show, whereas in the case of WotT you could hardly help asking why an Occidental-looking guy kept using Japanese words and was trying to drop-kick that shoggoth with an orc on its back.

Well, no need to pick sides. You can have your kēki and eat it, because Fabled Lands Publishing is bringing back the Falcon series, starting this month with The Renegade Lord. It's 3033 AD, you're an agent of the Temporal Executive, and you have to stop the time traveller who is trying to change history before he, she, or it deletes the present. The wrinkle in the time stream is that the miscreant you're after seems to be one of your own superior officers.

We had this book ready for release at the end of last year, but we didn't know what to do about a cover. Then Jamie happened to get in touch with Peter Andrew Jones, the near-legendary artist responsible for some of the great gamebook covers of the '80s and '90s. Mr Jones kindly offered to remaster the cover for the new edition. So that's a point in favour of Facebook, in case you're still missing your hoverboard.

Just a matter of T.I.M.E.

Anybody want to hazard a guess at what's going on here? Hint: I said what, not WOTT. If you can't guess from all the clues, pop back tomorrow when all will be revealed.

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Actually, while you're waiting, here's a complete role-playing system for the world of Tekumel. And here's the character sheet template to go with it. And here's an entry-level scenario. And here's a set of adventures to continue that into a full campaign. And the city (with map) to set it all in.

Not sure what Tekumel is or why it's the richest and most meticulously detailed fantasy setting ever created? Then start off by reading Patrick Brady's quick-start introduction to the world. The world maps will help too.

That's nothing to do with tomorrow's news. It's just some freebies I thought the roleplayers among you might like.

A crate of souls and a ship's spine breaking

Take the helm of your steamship and set sail for the unknown! Sunless Sea is a game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death, set in the award-winning Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London.

In case you hadn't heard,the complete Sunless Sea goes on sale from 09:30 PST on Friday. I'm telling you now because we have big gamebooky news coming up on the blog then - don't miss, or all of history might be irrevocably altered.

Martian britches

Some other examples of science fantasy novels are shown here. Don't let my juvenile scribblings in the genre put you off. And incidentally not all science fantasy series garb their characters in loincloths. The inhabitants of Krishna get to wear long trousers and jackets at times.

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“The World of Krishna” part 8: “The End of the Dasht”

Suddenly the Dasht found himself held from behind. Acer’s companions had come to their senses just in time.

With the strength of a madman, which is what he was, the Dasht broke away.

“You’ll never take me alive!” screamed the Dasht. He rushed over to a bank of switches and clicked them all into the on position. The Dasht rushed over to one of the disks and jumped on. In his haste, the Dasht stepped onto the receiving disk instead of the transmitting disk.

The computer that operated the disk now had to bring an object to the control room that was already there.

There was a blood-curdling scream and a terrible explosion. When the smoke had cleared, all that was left on the disk was a pulsating blob of protoplasm.

The Dasht’s guards were, of course, Earthmen and were sent back to Earth to serve a prison sentence.

As for Acer, he was very thirsty. He didn’t have to tell his aya where to go. It knew by habit.

How's this for racial stereotyping?

Scooby-Doo wasn't around when I wrote this science fantasy story aged 10, so I must have invented the "if not for you" cliché. Only one more instalment to go, you patient souls.

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“The World of Krishna” part 7: “The Unmasking”

Just then the Dasht walked into the room. He was about six and a half marts* tall.

Acer noticed that the Dasht’s cheekbones were wider than a normal Krishnan’s, more like an Earthman’s.

Acer took a flying leap into the room. As soon as he alighted he ran toward the Dasht. Before Acer could reach the evil Larock, three guards ran to him.

“Let me go, you fools,” shouted Acer. With a superhuman effort, the angry Krishnan wrenched free and flung himself at the Dasht.

Acer took hold of Dasht Larock’s antennae and, to everyone’s amazement, pulled them off! “You see, he’s an Earthman,” yelled Acer.

“Why you blasted Krishnan primitive,” screamed the Dasht. “If not for you, I’d have been the ruler of the planet Krishna! You’ll die for this, you’ll DIE!”

The hysterical Earthman levelled a gun at Acer’s head as his finger tightened on the trigger.

(*Mart: a Krishnan foot.)

To be continued.

Witchcraft

The very essence of science fantasy is that it's set on worlds where technology has become indistinguishable from magic. No doubt Professor M A R Barker, creator of Tekumel, was raised on Planet Stories and he too may have been a fan of L Sprague de Camp's Krishna books. Little did I know as I teased out this wee yarn in primary school English lessons that ten years later I would have my heart and at least half my psyche in Jakalla.

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“The World of Krishna” part 6: “Escape”

Acer slugged the turnkey and opened the cell doors. The prisoners flocked out. Acer led his fellow Krishnans to the Dasht’s room. They gasped when they saw inside the chamber. On the floor of the room was a glowing disk. A group of the Dasht’s soldiers stepped onto the disk and vanished. A few feet away, a soldier was materializing on a similar disk.

“So that’s how they got us here,” thought Acer. “Witchcraft.”

It wasn’t really magic but Krishnans are very superstitious.

To be continued.

If you want to get ahead...

With the fifth instalment of his Krishna story, my young self has introduced an element of mystery. I'm still astonished to think of the poor teacher having to follow thirty different kids' stories in such tiny weekly chunks.

I see that I had latched onto the technique of implying events and letting the reader fill in the gaps. After decades of movie-going, it's a little harder to write that way now.

That's L Sprague de Camp there, quaffing cragot.

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“The World of Krishna” part 5: “The Dasht” 

Within moments Acer had completely vanished. He reappeared in an old stone dungeon. Around him were a few of the missing people.

Acer asked one where he was. “In the castle of Dasht* Larock,” was the reply. “He’s caught us to be his slaves.”

About an hour later, one of the Dasht’s guards brought a tray full of food for the prisoners. Two minutes later, Acer left the cell in the guard’s clothes. Meanwhile the prisoners dragged the guard into the corner of the cell. He was out cold.

(*A dasht is a Krishnan baron.)

To be continued.