Updates!

Readers may have noticed a distinct lack of updates on the blog, I thought it was due an explanation. So. What’s been going on?

As many mature gamers will know, Real Life has a tendency to take precedence over many of our hobbies, and this has pretty much been the case, however I can’t blame it entirely. Work has been busy as hell, taking up more and more of my free time, and as a result my various projects have had to be shelved for later times. Does this mean I’m not producing gaming products? No it does not. Does this mean there are delays on getting projects through to completion? Yes it does. Can you expect more products to become available for Ample and Hands of Fate? Yes you can!

One project that has been a major focus lately is my writing. Although I’m not going to use this platform to promote it (haha yes I am!) I will keep this site a focus on gaming, and discussions around that.

So what have I been doing? Glad you asked! Early November will see the release of my first novel in a series based in my science fiction universe that I began to construct in the Exile’s End rpg. While the roleplaying game focuses on a period shortly after galactic civilisation is beginning to recover, the novel is set during an earlier time – the Epoch of human civilisation. So why did I choose to write in this period? My local gaming group and I have been gaming like crazy in this period using the Ample Basic Rules. What started out as a campaign guide, exploded into a fully-fledged description of the entire section of the galaxy the party plays in.

Several months ago I planned to recreate this guide as a saleable product, an addition to the Ample range of products, however with the novel taking up a lot of my time I’ve had the chance to put it down and look at it again with fresh eyes. My new plan is to work on it some more, integrating into it a whole slew of changes to the Ample system that make it unique to the setting. The core of the system will remain the same, but I wanted to express the space opera feel of the ‘Votus-Eridani Network’ and give it the grand sweeping vista that it deserves.

When can we expect this to be ready? The honest answer is ‘Don’t Know”. It’s in the works. The more I play, the more I write, the more material and inspiration I can draw upon to flesh out the setting.  I want there to be a connection between the game and the book, something that readers of both can read and go ‘Ah! I know this part!’.

TL:DR – Still Writing, Galaxy’s End in production, Dreaming of Atmosphere (the novel) to be released on Amazon.com early November, stuff.