Chaos Theory

Preview of Total Chaos chapter art (Williamson).

In late 3067, the Word of Blake unleashed its Jihad, fanning the flames of violence and spreading it across the Inner Sphere. Three mercenary commands struggled to find their footing and profit from the all-encompassing warfare. As they navigated their way through the conflicts erupting on hundreds of worlds, these mercenaries grew in power, prestige, and character. Facing adversity, victory, defeat, and enemies within and without, they were typical of many commands touched—for ill or for good—by the Jihad.

As the Jihad unfolded through the Jihad Hot Spots plotbooks, players were introduced to the Chaos Campaign, a new game play system that gave players the opportunity to craft their own games around specific battles and events of the Jihad. Now that campaign, spanning fourteen years of conflict, has been collected and updated. Presented here are all of the Chaos Campaign tracks from the Hot Spots plotbooks and interwoven with select tracks from the Jihad Turning Points e-publication series and several all-new tracks and mini-campaigns.

This volume also includes detailed reports on nearly forty planetary campaigns, providing context and details previously clouded by interstellar media, local reports, and personal journals. With an updated and streamlined core ruleset for the Chaos Campaign and new Jihad-era Random Availability Tables for the Word of Blake, Mercenaries, and Militias, this book has everything players and gamemasters need to recreate the pivotal campaigns of the Jihad and lead their forces to victory.

 So. Total Chaos. What’s it all about?

Supplemental (War) Stories

That will learn me from making product promises…

Fans of BattleTech and those of my most recent book in particular, have been aware that there’s a companion piece “in the works” for a while. Initially, I’d planned on having this e-book done (titled Wars of Reaving: Supplemental) and on the market no later than Thanksgiving of last year.

*checks today’s date*

Um. Yeah.

I’m cautiously optimistic it’ll actually be released sometime in April of this year. Why “cautiously optimistic?” Because as of today, I finally finished all of the writing for it. The material is undergoing a quick review by our crack fact check team and will then go to Ray for his layout genius. How long that takes is highly dependent on how much time Ray can put towards it, considering there are other, larger print projects also on his desk.

Because it took so long is not saying there’s a ton of it in this supplemental publication. Far from it. Most of the page count is record sheets and tables, after all. But there are some gems hidden within, guaranteed.

So why did it take so long?

It’s an Honor Just Being Nominated…

Earlier this week, the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design announced their nominees for the 38th Annual Origins Awards. The nominees were voted by the retailer attendees of the 2012 GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV back in February. And I’m proud to say that Catalyst Game Labs’ Wars of Reaving, a BattleTech plot book written last year by yours truly, was one of the six nominees in the Best Miniatures Rules or Expansion category!

While I’ve been a writer on a few other CGL projects that have grabbed various awards, I’ve never been the primary author. This particular news is very special to me, as the book was done in the span of only a couple of months and required a Herculean effort on the part of myself, Jason Schmetzer (the editor), Ray Arrastia (layout genius), and of course, Herb Beas (BT Line Developer). And of course, there was no small part played by my understanding and supportive wife. (The full scope of the project can be found in more detail elsewhere.)

I’m hopeful that the book will be named the winner during Origins this year, but even if not, I’m still humbled by the nomination. In this line of work, accolades are difficult to find outside of the various fanbases. To be recognized for all of the sweat, stress, and near-endless revisions is pretty epic, in all honesty.

Now, if you’re going to Origins, make sure you vote for my book! Origins attendees will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite game, accessory, or book in each category. Each attendee is limited to one voting ballot. The Academy Chair and Secretary will tally votes at the end of each day and will show the leaders on the Origins Award Leader Board. Voting will end at noon on Saturday, June 2, with the winners announced that evening at the Origins Award ceremony.

 

 

Reaving Raving – Ask the Author

So the book’s been “out” for a week now and I know many have already devoured it from cover to cover. (When I say “out” I mean that the PDF is available for public sale; the print copy’s GenCon run was 240, of which only 28 survived the GenCon hordes. The book hits store shelves sometime after Labor Day – but don’t hold me to that. CGL reserves the right to override my pathetic attempts at guessing street dates.)

I’d like to give the chance to those who’ve read the book (or who can’t wait and instead consume spoilers) to ask me questions. You can be as pointed or as specific as you’d like; I’ll answer to the best that I can *without* breaking NDA. I normally don’t do this, but I had a lot of guys come up to me at the convention wanting to ask questions but I couldn’t really discuss the book due to the crazy-busyness that surrounded the booth. There’s a lot of answers I can now give about the story process that won’t “spoil” anything, and I’d like to share. But I need you, dear reader, to initiate the discussion.

And So It Begins…

Go forth and enjoy.

See you at GenCon or, failing that, on the battlefield of the future.