Last month, autostraddle.com posted this really great article focusing on Pamela Colman Smith, the under-appreciated artist behind the classic tarot deck imagery most-frequently referred to simply as The Rider Tarot Deck
In 1897, H. G. Wells serialized a new science-fiction story in which extraterrestrials from Mars arrive near London, and immediately begin an invasion which catches the local populace unaware. In the 100+ years since its original publication, The War of the Worlds has been the subject of countless printings
The First Folio:
1. The Eve of the War
5. The Heat Ray
10. In the Storm
16. The Exodus from London
19. What We Saw from the Ruined House
25. Dead London
Available now as a DRM-Free pdf for $.99+ from Gumroad.com.
Printed folios can be purchased from Storenvy.com!
Patreon supporters have access to new pages and process sketches before they are posted here at lunarbistro.com!
So, last year I did some extensive work in designing and playtesting a tabletop game called StarSpeed 17. I even got to the point of developing a bunch of art for it before I ultimately scrapped the project. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew the game wasn’t as much fun as I wanted it to be.
StarSpeed 17 was basically an evolution from Mille Bornes, a vintage auto-racing card game from France. The basic mechanics were simple but problematic – it was always too easy to disrupt your opponents and too much of a challenge to make progress toward the goal. When I was developing StarSpeed 17, I came up with some pretty good fixes for the mechanical problems, but I don’t really think they made the game any more fun. It was challenging for the players, for sure, but there just wasn’t the sort of nail-biting excitement I was looking for.
I put the game aside for a while, but it’s always been in the back of my head to keep working on it, and I’m starting to feel like it’s time to give it another look. I’ve come up with a near-complete revamp of the movement mechanic, getting away from the card-based movement and moving toward a dice-based system reminiscent of another vintage racing game, Formula D. I’m also planning on adding in system stats for each ship, to add more variety and strategy for the players to work with. I’m still going to keep the modular board system, though I’m revising that as well so that the board sections are larger than before. This will make the track configurations less flexible, but easier to set up.
With any luck I’ll be able to set up a play test for the new rules in a few weeks, and will post the results here. Keep a lookout!
I am truly excited to announce the kickoff of a project long in the planning stages, a series of illustrations based on The War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells! I’ve been wanting to do this one for a good long while, and now that I’m at a good spot to get started I’m just champing at the bit. I finished the logo this week and am just bristling to get started on the first full piece.
War of the Worlds will be a series of illustrations based on selected scenes from the classic sci-fi novel of the same name, one from each chapter. When completed, the first six illustrations will be collected into a 5.5×8.5” black and white folio edition. A second and third folio of six additional illustrations each are also planned, depending on interest.
The six chapters selected to be included in the First Folio are:
Thanks to the LunarBistro Patreon Progress feed, supporters can follow the creation of these six full-page illustrations from sketches and studies on through pencilling and all the way to completion. Patrons will also be able to pre-order digital and printed versions of the folio at higher pledge levels.
I’m really looking forward to the challenge of creating illustrations worthy of one of the all-time great classic sci-fi novels, and I hope you enjoy following along.
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