Wednesday, April 29, 2015

April A to Z - Y is for Yet more stuff from Graham Bottley - Advanced Fighting Fantasy

Hello all! Today, we have Graham Bottley, writer of many games and also star of Gogglebox. He has been a busy boy and we talk Advanced Fighting Fantasy, Maelstrom and more...

How is the Salamonis book going?

The Salamonis book is being written, and is mostly planned.  I will be really cracking on with this over the next month or two.  Steve Luxton has already been producing some fantastic maps, and the successful Trolltooth Wars graphic novel kickstarter will also help as they have already produced some images of Salamonis!



Steve Luxton is making some awesome maps for Fighting Fantasy. What do you intend to do with them?

Steve has indeed been creating some cracking stuff.  One idea we did have was a glossy map book with maps and various commentaries.  Maybe even a pack of colour maps in a poster tube?  All What are your future plans for Advanced Fighting Fantasy?suggestions gratefully accepted!





 What are your future plans for Advanced Fighting Fantasy?


There are two more AFF books half written (one gamebook adventure conversion and one supplement) but at the moment I can't say much more unfortunately..




You have managed to run several successful crowdfunding campaigns. Do you have any tips for being successful at crowdfunding?

Kickstarter is great.  It provides some funding up front, proves that there is some demand for the game and also provides a core of invested fans who are keen to proofread and otherwise help produce and promote the game.  My biggest bit of advice would be to be very modest in your initial goal.  Set the target amount as low as possible and aim for a basic product.  If there is loads of interest and the total rockets up, add content/colour/images as stretch goals.





What are your plans for future books?

I have lots and lots of books planned, both for existing lines and new ones!

 You came up with a game for children called Witch. Where did your inspiration come from?

"Tales of the Village", a game about a newly qualified witch, was heavily inspired by the Tiffany Aching books by the late, great Terry Pratchett.  My daughter loved the books (Crivens!) and so I wrote the game to play with her.  I was very happy with it, got some incredible art done, and published it.
I have another one half written focussing on a young Knight, and a few more planned.  The idea will be that they can all be used together.

 Sorcerers of Ur Turuk will be out soon. What was your inspiration for it?

Sorcerers arose from my desire to play Ars Magica (in a S&S setting) but knowing that the chances of getting my group to play such an involved game are close to zero.  I know and love the D6 system, which seemed a good fit for a S&S game, so sat down to write.  The KS hit the final stretch goal, and so the setting book will be written next and the pdf sent free to all of the KS backers.  Hopefully there will be more after that.

You have extended the original Maelstrom, created Maelstrom Fantasy and also Maelstrom Domesday. Do you have other plans for Maelstrom? Do you plan on releasing it in another time/genre?

I was at Conpulsion last weekend in Edinburgh, and when I wasn't guest starring on a panel (!) I was discussing Maelstrom Space with the main author.  It will be a fairly gritty hard scifi, but all tied into the phenomena of the Maelstrom.  We bandied ideas around for a Roman or WWII version!


Do you have any other plans?

Lots and lots of plans.  Probably far too many for me to actually write though!

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