The Battletech Kickstarter and Other Things.....

(Yes I know this is from MechWarrior on-line, but it's a good looking piece, isn't it? I wish I could do that.....)

Well, the Battletech Kickstarter was a smashing success -- smashing as in a company of Atlases smashing through an enemy's defensive line and stomping everything in sight. It hit every monetary and backer mission Harebrained Schemes put up, and even now, it's over $3 million raised.... Congrats, Harebrained on running an engaging and savvy campaign. You knew your audience and knew exactly what they wanted and you gave it to them.

As for me.... well, Battletech writing has taken a back seat to my original writing and NaWriNoMo. I need to make time, but I was bogged down with those things, and NaWriNoMo is winning that fight at the moment.

But all is not lost. One of my stories is in the pipeline -- I'm waiting for the Continuity Hooligans to work the story over and me to make changes. Also, I just pitched for another Battletech project, so if that goes my way, I can start working on that.

Well, that's all for now, just a brief update. More is on the horizon...

Later!

Craig

More Photos of My Battletech Collection

As promised (or threatened), and in keeping with the Harebrained's current Backer Mission weekly mission, I decided on taking another round of photos of my Battletech collection. I received good feedback with the first round and that wasn't all of my collection. So, I took a few more and here they are!

The picture above is the one I mentioned in my previous post -- my physical Battletech reference center. The bottom two shelves are almost Battletech or related to Battletech. The only rulebook I'm currently missing in physical form is Strategic Operations, which I hope to pick up someday. The blue and white binders on the bottom shelf hold the original House Davion handbook (Blue binder) and TRO:3026 (White binder). The  Black binder has some of my home-grown Battlemech designs. The top shelf has my TROs, while the one below that has the first four Battlecorps anthologies and the New Battletech Novel, Embers of War.

A few of the older books are only a few more readthroughs from being in binders themselves. So, this picture is going to be a lot different this time next year.....

Now, probably my most unusual piece of Battletech memorabilia. An actual, honest-to- goodness rejection letter for Battlecorps.

These days, all submissions are sent via email to a single Email address. But in the early days, submissions were actual sent via real mail. And rejections were also sent the same way. At the time, I was just starting out, mailing stories and hoping to be noticed.

This is before Jason Schmitzer assumed the role of Battlecorps editor -- the letter is from some guy named Loren Coleman (The one that doesn't hunt Bigfoots -- or is that Bigfeet?).  So, why hang onto it?

In part, pride --- there's a hand-written note from Loren (I'm assuming it's Loren's handwriting), explaining why the story I sent in was rejected and encouraging me to continue writing. I also keep it pinned to my corkboard as a reminder that I'm only as good as my last story. Twenty-plus Battlecorps stories later, it still reminds me that I'm not a perfect writer.

 I've been to a few conventions in my time, but this was one of the few tangible pieces evidence that I've played the game. The con was 20 years ago, and I don't remember much about it beyond having a great time.

I've been to two Origins, both times before it settled in Columbus, Ohio. I've never been to Gencon, but hope to do so one day. It's just a matter of having enough money that isn't earmarked for bills in the same place at the same time. Maybe one day....

I showed a photo of the BattleteMech blueprints in my previous post, so here's another one -- the poster that came with the Battltech ID stat cards. I still have the cards --- they're in a binder on a shelf, safe from harm. (I think....)

As a Battlecorps writer, I find that having Battletech memorabilia in sight of my writing space helps keep me in the Battletech mindset. My physical references are a couple of feet away, a rejection letter in view to remind me that I can still write bad stories, and the MechWarrior minis watching me as I write.

I do have an electronic database of Battletech products, and sometimes it's quicker to look it up in a pdf than in physical form. But sometimes, it's more useful to hold a sourcebook in my hands, or a MechWarrior mini. Brainstoring ideas is like that --- reading through a sourcebook, or holding a mini to generate ideas for stories or scenes.

I put it down to age and the fact I'm old-fashioned....

Here's another poster I have, rolled up in the closet, held open by my Battlecorps print anthologies. Yes, the Warhammer is unseen, but the poster is pre-unseen/reseen/newseen and was the cover of the original Fourth Successor War Atlas (vol. 1 -- and I do have both physical volumes)

While it looks like we're finally getting new images for the unseens, I will still call the Robotech models by their Battletech names. Chalk another thing up to old age....

Here is another shot from my "trophy hall" showing a couple of my other battlecorps story covers.

Why have a trophy hall? It's a reminder of what I've accomplished so far. Some might think it's an ego stroke (One of the reasons why I keep the rejection letter mentioned above tacked to my corkboard -- to counter the ego when it gets overblown.) It reminds me every time I go through the hall about what I've done so far.

I only have about half the Battlecorps story covers up, and nothing on the sourcebook projects, Space is a limiting factor, as it's a small hall and there's four doorways leaving to and from the hallway, limiting wall space.

I've finally have the process work out about how to do the formatting and how to display them, but the project at the moment is a low priority. It's going to take both time and money to really do it up right -- and there's a lot that can go up. If I ever get a chance and get it done, I'll take pictures and post there here.

And my last photo -- a shot of my gaming stuff in general. You can see the Battletech and Battleforce boxes, the Battlech boards  on the right, and there's a few more Battletech posters upper center-left.

There are a number of games there -- Star Fleet Battles, Renegade Legion, D&D (1st edition, I think), and Star Wars RPG. The white books are my collection of Ospray Military books (Mostly the Campaign series) and a small collection of Doc Savage and The Shadow novels. The binders have assorted stuff, some home-made, some not.

So, that's about it. I doubt there's much left that I haven't taken a picture of relating to Battletech, so this should be it. If you haven't taken photos of your stuff, do so, and tweet it, using the hashtag #myBTstuff.

Take care,

Craig

A few photos of my Battletech stuff

For the second weekly "Bonus Backer Missions" for the Battletech Kickstarter, Harebrain schemes wants BT fans to tweet photos of their Battletech collection (using the hashtag, #myBTstuff). As someone who is a writer and fan of the gaming universe, I have a large collection of Battletech stuff. So, I took a few photos and here is some of my collection.

The above picture is some of the smaller stuff I have, a few faction dice some pins I've collected at conventions, and three custom-made buttons I've had for.....maybe 20-25 years? A long time in any case.

Of course, I have my novel collection. It's almost complete, but I can't find a couple of them for some reason, ones I know I had at one time. There's another ten or so BT novels on the shelf above, but they're outnumbered by my Doc Savage and Doctor Who novels. I also have the first four Battlecorps anthologies and the new Battletech novel Embers of War on another shelf, one that is closer to me than these are.

I also have two shelves' worth of source and rule books shelved right next to the computer, but the pictures for them didn't turn out so great, so for now, I'll leave them out of the photo spread.

I have these hanging up in my room. The middle one is the original BattleMaster, with the Loki on the left and the Vulture on the right. At the extreme left, you can just see the Thor blueprint.

I should have them in frames, but we had a lamanator, and that was cheaper and the time. Wouldn't had done it  today, but this was a long, LONG time ago, when the game was maybe a third of it's age. I have the rest of the blueprints in my closet -- the lack of wall space is the only reason why they are not up.

This is my own "trophy hall", displaying the title pages of some of the stories I've done for Battlecorps, except for the one in the upper left-hand corner. That's one of my two issues of Battletechnology Issue #21, special to me because it contains mine and my late friend, Rob Madson's, first real contribution to the Battletech Universe (The SurbanMech design in Issue #18 was also ours, but it was only a design). The Rattlesnake 'Mech, the story Snakedance, and the scenario, Snake, Rattle and Roll.

I've never played MechWarrior ClickTech game, but I did collect the figures, and put the BattleMechs from the boosters I bought on display. I have about 40-50 of them on display.

The large Axman in the back there is the only thing I ever bought that's connected from the Battletech cartoon series. I still have everything except for one of the soft "missiles" for the left launcher. It still works, but it stays up there most of the time, keeping Grimlock there from chowing down on the other 'Mechs.... :)

The second part of my figures collection is on my computer table, just about the monitor I'm using right now. I really didn't know the stats for any of these until I saw them in the Dark-Age TROs. Every so often, when I'm writing, I take one of the pieces and play around with it , seeing if I can gleam something about it that I can put into a story.

I also have other things I have't taken photos of. Maybe if the mood strikes me, I'll haul out the camera again and take a few more pictures.  This isn't my entire collection of BT stuff. Sadly, most of the stuff I've gotten in the last few years has been PDF files and writer copies of products I've written for, and the last non-paper product I bought was the minis inside the older starter set several years ago. But while my collection is nowhere near Randall's or Jordan's, it's still a good collection.

So, if you have some BT stuff, take a picture of it and tweet it, using #myBTstuff and #Battletech. I plan to do the same thing when I finish this blog post -- I'll tweet it.

Well, back to work and keep funding the kickstarter, if you can!

Later!

Craig

Update on the Battletech Kickstarter and my writings

As I write this, the Battletech Kickstarter has passed $1.4 Million with over 20,000 backers with thirty-one days left to go. All I can say is will done Harebrain!

Personally, I'm surprised at the number of people who have already supported the kickstarter. Battletech has been around for over thirty years, and a lot of people think it's a dead game. Folks, it isn't and this kickstarter result is proof of that.

Another Battlecorps writer and myself were discussing this and, to be honest, we're a little disappointed that the only author involved in the kickstarter is Michael Stackpole. But then again, this is Michael Stackpole were talking about -- the author of the two most important Battletech trilogies in the Battletech Universe (Warrior and Children of Kerensky), and has written best-selling Star Wars novels! While I may have twenty-plus Batlecorps stories, I'm (very) small potatoes. Thanks to the "Backer Mission" system Harebrain has with the kick starter, Stackpole will write two original Battletech E-novellas If enough backer missions are completed, he could write as many as four, or if a certain level is reached, a full Battletech novel will replace the four novellas.

Which means I have to keep at it. My current Battlecorps projects are two stories I need to finish rewriting/revising. I also need to finish first draft of several other stories, and see what story ideas I can gleam for the latest round of Battletech products. And that doesn't include my other writing.

So, keep going Harebrain and I'll do the same!

Craig

The Battletech Kickstarter --- High and Low

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/description 

The last thirty hours have been both a high and a low for me. The Kickstarter for Battletech is underway and I am both happy and sad about it.

I've been watching Harebrain's kickstarter for their Battletech game with interest for about a month, then when it started at 1 p.m. yesterday, I was there. I watched it for most of the day as it reached the minimum of $250,000 in less than an hour, and $1,000,000 in less than twenty-five hours. As I write this, the total is nearly $1.1 million, with over 16,000 backers, and a number of "Backer Missions" already completed, enough to get two novellas from BT's best-known author, Michael Stackpole, play against the ELH in the now- reached solo campaign, and a Twitch sessions with the people behind the Kickstarter. It has already been a success, and there's still 34 days to go.

I can't wait for this game. The concept art looks fantastic and the people behind it are no strangers to the Battletech Universe --- in fact one of them, Jordan Weisman, created Battletech! I am glad enough people still love this game to put their own money into it --- two people actually pledged $10,000 to the project! I look at the perks and I see so much stuff I would like to have -- the $275 level would be the sweet spot for me. This will be a great game and I have been doing all I can to forward this kickstarter.

Everything except back it myself. And that's where the low comes in.

The reason is simple; my finances will not withstand the contribution. Not at the moment, at least. I still have 34 days to find some money and maybe contribute at a modest level, so it isn't impossible. I would need more than a few breaks to go my way though for that sweet spot I mentioned above. Note that this isn't an appeal for funds; this isn't something (as much as I hate saying this) that is necessary for life to continue. If I can get the funds together, I can contribute enough to get a copy of the game, and that will be enough. We'll see.

But for now, I will do everything that I can to make this kickstarter successful, and hopefully, the table top game will benefit from the computer game's coat-tails. Near the end, my fiances should be enough to kick in a few bucks, and hopefully, we'll have a good game in a year or so.

Later!

Craig

Quiet time....

It's been quiet here at Casa Reed the last week or so. The non-BT novel I was writing has been turned over to my co-author, and I'm waiting for him to finish up his part of the writing. I'm looking at an original novel, and a few other non-BT irons in the fire.

A few may have notice that my contribution to the HONOR BOUND anthology was published. A Warrior's Fear was actually easier to write than most of my stories. It happens sometimes that the plot, characters and action falls into place without the use of a hammer. Other times, I've resorted to a hammer. sledgehammer and more than once, high explosives, in order to get the story and characters into line. But A Warrior's Fear, once I had the time and place, fell into place with no problems.

I did get some good news though -- but until Jason announces it, I'm going to stay quiet. But it's about part of an ambition I've had for several years.

I'll add another question from the thread here: "Ask a Battletech Writer --- Round 2"   I'm always open to new questions!




The Question is in light blue, the answers are in orange;

Avarice wrote:
As a print reader, I'm wondering if you guys will keep publishing anthologies and hopefully larger arcs. Something about flipping pages never gets old; that analog feel is just... right? I feel detached reading from a screen, even on a TV, and I don't need a tablet in my life (smartphone suits me just fine).

As a teen, I dove into the novels and enjoyed the pulp feel that the setting had -and saw the writing mature along the way as more authors became involved and a changing of the guard transpired. Things became a little grim for me during Dark Age, and it felt like the Jihad arc was a puzzle I had to piece through but a novel in its own way -treating half the entries of the news/snippets as unreliable narrators in perspective.

Are there going to be novels that flesh out the Jihad and the Republic Period, especially the bit where Fortress Republic cracks open and Devlin Stone emerges on a Death Ride?

So much potential out there, from the ELH/Goliath Scorpion Exodus, how the Taurians reconciled, or the sundered FWL.

Loved how Reunification War, LoT, and Klondike were fleshed out and I guess the Succession Wars are on the table next, but a Historical on the Fall of the Republic would be awesome too if you guys had the rights to the Dark Age stuff(?) The NAIS Atlas volumes and Historical: Brush Wars were my favorite books till Total Chaos came about to give things a tactical feel and sum up the Jihad period.

P.S. Thanks for the memories. I was angry at a lot of the developments as I first read long (reader attachment), but accept that heroism cannot exist without equivalent or greater evil/challenges and that empires, good or bad, rise and fall. Can't be a good story without tragedy and setbacks.

My Answer:

Thank you for your words...

Most of what you mention above is above my level of involvement. I want novels and long-form fiction, but that has to be decided at the company level, where I have no knowledge or input. While I don't know any details, I think there are roadblocks to novels happening, but as to what those roadblocks are and how long to overcome them, I have no clue.

If it was up to me (and it isn't), I would publish a series of Jihad novels, a novel series covering the Amaris Civil War, and a few set during the the Successor wars. What happens after 3145 I have no idea, nor do I know how the fiction for that is going to run. As of right now, we can write up to 3145, but no farther.

Novellas are a possibility, but Jason Schmitzer will only chose the best. And as hard as he is with short stories, novellas have to be flawless for him to buy it. Still if a story is good enough, he will buy it, regardless of what era it is in.

Hope that helps,

Another Q and A session -- Part 1

I've been busy with a couple of non-BT projects, but they are done for now, so I though a brief post with some of the Questions that people have asked me in this thread here: "Ask a Battletech Writer --- Round 2"   I'm always open to new questions!