Adepticon livestreams

[Lorcan Nagle]

An honest to God question I'd like to ask, is all new novels going to be ilClan and forward? Or is there still room for novels and stories to be written in the pre-3070's eras? I know there's already so much main story stuff there, but it would be interesting if there was room to actually still write novels within those eras.

Last night's Tuesday Newsday stream would have been a good time to ask that, as John Helfers was the guest. 

Personally, I would assume there'll always be some level of fiction in prior eras.  In terms of full novels since the fiction line's full relaunch we've had Forever Faithful, Rock and a Hard Place, Embers of War, Jaguar's Leap and the Founding of the Clans Trilogy, all of which are set in older timeframes.  On top of that we've had reprints of serials like Betrayal of Ideals, The Mercenary Life and Kell Hounds Ascendant, and a mix of original and reprint short fiction like the BattleCorps anthologies, Legacy, Battle of Tukayyid, No Greater Honour, and Proliferation Cycle.  And that's on top of Shrapnel which covers every era to some degree.

But I don't think it'll ever be the focus of the line.

[Lorcan Nagle]

Art Discussion: Brent Evans and Alex Iglesias

-When asked can we put side windows in on the Marauder, Brent said that this is a back and forth between him and Ray, who prefers they be armour
-Redesigned DropShips and WarShips?  There's some work on that front but no timeline on when it'll be made public. It won't be an active project until they have a plan for AeroTech
-Is there any type of art for the setting they'd like to do but haven't yet?  Alex: Weapon diagrams/cutaways, Brent: RPG art, like costumes and personal equipment.  They both really like the civilian stuff, like TRO: Vehicle Annex (a personal favourite book here too!). Brent brought up the prototype Destiny-scale minis here too.
-Favourite moments in the fiction?  Alex: Joanna killing Anastasia Natasha Kerensky, and a short story about a bunch of mercs helping the Dragoons, were being harassed through a jungle and the main character clotheslines a Blakist scout mech that had been calling artillery on them for days at the end. He also called out the Camacho's Caballeros novels but he hasn't read them in ages, and the scene in Grave Covenant where the Elementals involved in the ill-fated counterattack are taken out by civilians. Brent: The scene in the Task Force Serpent novels where the Nekekami accidentally encounter the Nekekami and their leader just draws his sword to buy time for his team, and when Vlad killed one of the Falcon Khans with his bear hands.
-Favourite design/redesign? Alex's favourite ’Mechs are the Crab and King Crab, so he loved getting to redo them. His favourite original design is the Corsair (meaning the mech from MWO rather than the Aerospace fighter)
-When doing a redesign are they thinking in colour or black and white?  Black and White.  Brent tries to think of rookie painters and making the minis easier to paint, to find shapes and patterns that help them define the ’Mechs
-Hardest art to do?  The ones with complex composition, especially before the 3D model library. The cover of Wars of the Republic was a notable example.
-What design was hardest to put pen to paper for?  The Quads, trying to figure out how they'd go on a base before settling on the clear plastic post
-Favourite unit colours?  Brent: House Hirutsu and Robinson Rangers.  Alex: Hsein's Hotheads
-Mech you'd most like to redesign?  Brent just had Anthony redesign the Dola and he was very excited about that
-Favourite interaction of the con?  Alex ran into the people who were beside him on the plane, they'd entered Golden Demon.  Brent got to hang with the Wolfnet guys and loved catching up with Nic from VWE and see people playing in the pods.

[Empyrus]

I would assume Alex meant Joanna killing Natasha Kerensky, not Anastasia. Though a storyline of Joanna traveling to future to kill Anastasia Kerensky too would be funny.

[Lorcan Nagle]

That was my fingers typing and not paying attention to my ears

[ColBosch]

I would assume Alex meant Joanna killing Natasha Kerensky, not Anastasia. Though a storyline of Joanna traveling to future to kill Anastasia Kerensky too would be funny.

Joanna just...Will. Not. Die.

[Empyrus]

Joanna just...Will. Not. Die.

Reminds me of a Crusader Kings II bug where characters just don't die (overflow error in calculations apparently).
Year 3250, Joanna is still killing Kerenskys.

[Lorcan Nagle]

John Helfers interviewing Randall Bills

-the success of the first two Kickstarters was so great that CGL don't need them to maintain and expand the plastic minis any more.  They will likely still do Kickstarters in the future as they're the best marketing pushes the gaming industry has, but the minis line will continue without them.
-Force Manual: Davion is in the warehouse, Force Manual: Kurita is at the printers
-When will Randall's next novel be out?  He's still working on it, the outline is 70% but he needs to adjust it. He's got a couple of short stories on the docket first, and it planning to work on them in the mornings during his tour to get back into the swing of writing.
-When will Mike Stackpole's Red Corsair novel be out?  They're hashing out a deal with his agent at the moment.
-If Randall were to write an alternate history, what would it be?  Randall kinda got to do that already with the Genecaste.  He also noted the Genecaste were somewhat influenced by the Hyperion Cantos (presumably the Ousters)
-They're working on reducing the Shrapnel queue response time
-Will there be additional asset cards for vehicles on the MUL?  Absolutely, they're working on getting all record sheets and BSP cards added.
-The audiobook of Close Quarters will be released to Kickstarter backers soon
-Could CGL do audio dramas a la Big Finish? That's a different rights category to audiobooks.  John had a quick discussion with a company who does them at DragonCon so contact CGL if you want them.
-More early Clan fiction?  Randall is still working on a series of short stories about Jennifer Winston.  The first story is very dark and is set when she's 14, so he's working hard to make sure it's not exploitative and his wife and daughter are doing sensitivty reading
-Any update on getting The Sword and the Dagger back?  John hasn't spoken with Ardath Meyhar's estate in a while, he'll try again soon.
-More Fox patrol merch?  Randall was unaware of how popular they'd become, he's on-board with getting more stuff about them out.
-Will we see the Filtvelt/Tortuga war "on-screen?" More a Ray question but they're open to Shrapnel submissions
-Any update on a replacement for German distribution? Nothing on the game localisation side, but they are very close to making a deal for fiction, ebooks and audiobooks with a German company.
-Crescent Hawks pack with a Phoenix Hawk LAM?  Maybe, the 40th anniversary of the compuer game is coming up in a couple of years. (Ray said in chat: No, no LAMs)
-Will CGL show photos of the veiled resin art now they're complete?  Not a bad idea, they might put a blogpost together
-Forcepacks based on the old company sceanario packs?  Great idea but it might not be practical
-People brought up reissuing the Dragoons and Kell Hounds books in PDF, they talked a bit about trying to get the rest of the back catalogue online and also into PoD

Fiction roundtable with John Helfers, Phil Less, Russell Zimmerman, and Mike Ciaravella
-In the Shadow of the Dragon should be the next novel out, then Without Question then Trial of Bloodright and Letter of the Law in that order
-Any experiments like Blood Avatar in the works?  Voidbreaker probably fits the bill of being different, it's a spy thriller
-Crossover fiction when?  It's highly unlikely
-Favourite issue of Shrapnel? John can't narrow it down to one issue, but 15 stands out - then he went back and said 1 because they were so happy with getting it done and getting the magazine into existence.  Phil was very happy with issue 7 because it marked an expansion of the art program.  They started with two pieces in 6, then 4 in 7 and now most stories have original art. Mike really enjoyed issue 2. Russell talked about how he and Stackpole were signing books earlier in the con, someone came up to him with issue 15 and said "hey, didn't you write the Kell Hounds story in here?" He replied "I wrote a Kell Hounds story in there"...
-John mentioned the translating of German novels to English and the new German fiction partner again
-Favourite Merc units? John: Isengrim, ELH and Death Kangaroos. Phil: McCarron's Armoured Cav and 21st Centauri Lancer.  Russell: Wilson's Hussars. Mike: Seychelle's Stonehearts and Knights of St. Cameron.
-New Author only Shrapnel?  Phil liked the idea
-Any thoughts of doing another anthology like Legacy?  Maybe a Warship?  They liked this idea
-Would Mason Dunne come back?  He'll be in Trial of Brithright
-Any thoughts on bringing the One-Eyed Jacks back?  They liked the idea
-On a scale of 1 to 10, how much have they enjoyed putting the Isle of Skye onto maps and not explaining anything?  They have an idea for a story that's been floating around for a year
-Favourite ’Mech? Russell: Thunderbolt. Phil: Stormcrow. John: BattleMaster. Mike: Devastator
When is Russell getting a full-length novel?  He's turned in a short novel, has a serial novel coming up in Shrapnel and he's got a few other things on the way.
-Favourite sourcebook?  Phil: Operation Klondike, Russell: Mercs Handbook 3055. Mike: jihad Conspiracies and StarCorps Dossiers.  John: Tales of the Black Widow Company.

[spotH3D]

Did somebody seriously ask about cross over fiction with another IP?  How utterly lame.  I hope that was a joke.

Regardless, super appreciative of the transcriptions.

[Empyrus]

-Would Mason Dunne come back?  He'll be in Trial of Brithright

lol, this guy be slacking off for some 20 years.

On serious note, i think Dunne was noted in some thing years ago but honestly weirdly for a character from first MWDA novel he never made any appearances afterwards. But better 20 years later than never maybe? Amusingly it is about as long in-universe.

[Weirdo]

His most recent mention was in a recent Shrapnel. He's in Seychelle's Stonehearts, though apparently he's been in a funk since there's been no word on Lakewood since her capture by the Wolves.

[Empyrus]

Oh. Must've missed that, unless it was in the latest Shrapnel, haven't even gotten that yet.

[Weirdo]

A couple issues back, though I forget exactly which one.

It was a very tiny mention, I'm not surprised a lot of folks missed it.

[Lorcan Nagle]

It was unit Digest: Seychelle's Stonhearts in issue 4

[Spirit Cat Refugee]

lol, this guy be slacking off for some 20 years.

On serious note, i think Dunne was noted in some thing years ago but honestly weirdly for a character from first MWDA novel he never made any appearances afterwards. But better 20 years later than never maybe? Amusingly it is about as long in-universe.

Mason Dunne DID appear in a Wizkids INN journal entry, around 2005/2006ish. He was doing Ghost Knight stuff hunting down dissidents.

Interestingly enough, Dark Age started in 2002 under Wizkids and technically ended in 2021 under CGL with 'Hour of the Wolf. That's a 19 year gap. In universe years, it was 3132-3151, a... 19 year gap.

Psyched to hear Mason Dunne will be back.

[Weirdo]

Given that he's a Ghost Knight, I think us not hearing about him for twenty years is an indication he was very good at his job. :)

[Mostro Joe]

-Will there be additional asset cards for vehicles on the MUL?  Absolutely, they're working on getting all record sheets and BSP cards added.


What are the assets cards?

[ColBosch]

-Will there be additional asset cards for vehicles on the MUL?  Absolutely, they're working on getting all record sheets and BSP cards added.


What are the assets cards?

They mean the Battlefield Support cards.

[Mostro Joe]

Thanks. I didn t knew you could find support cards on MUL

[ColBosch]

Thanks. I didn t knew you could find support cards on MUL

You can't...yet. But from what I understand (from this interview and a couple other places), the Master Unit List will eventually include full BattleTech record sheets and those BSP cards along with Alpha Strike cards. If they can pull it off, it'd make the MUL an even better resource.

[Empyrus]

Probably best not to expect the RS on MUL soon. Just "someday but before end of the world".
Figure it'll take a couple of years at least.

[Pat Payne]

-People brought up reissuing the Dragoons and Kell Hounds books in PDF, they talked a bit about trying to get the rest of the back catalogue online and also into PoD

Were they talking about the original sourcebooks (such as the Wolf's Dragoons phonebook)?

[Mendrugo]

Yes - those exactly.  The old FASA stuff that never made it onto the BattleShop (or stuff that made it, but was scanned when the tech for doing so was somewhat less refined).  (Try copy/pasting text out of the FedCom Civil War sourcebook, and you'll see a raft of OCR errors that make keyword searching in it a minefield.)

[Mostro Joe]

the Master Unit List will eventually include full BattleTech record sheets and those BSP cards along with Alpha Strike cards. I.

It would be really cool!

[ColBosch]

It would be really cool!

You cut off an important part of that statement: "From what I understand, the Master Unit List will eventually include full BattleTech record sheets and those BSP cards along with Alpha Strike cards." It would be cool, but until it is officially announced, don't get too excited. It's going to take a lot of work and I expect missing records for a while, if it happens at all.

[Pat Payne]

You cut off an important part of that statement: "From what I understand, the Master Unit List will eventually include full BattleTech record sheets and those BSP cards along with Alpha Strike cards." It would be cool, but until it is officially announced, don't get too excited. It's going to take a lot of work and I expect missing records for a while, if it happens at all.

Not to mention with sheets, wouldn't that cut into sales for the record sheet PDFs? I'd love it if they could do it, though!

Yes - those exactly.  The old FASA stuff that never made it onto the BattleShop (or stuff that made it, but was scanned when the tech for doing so was somewhat less refined).  (Try copy/pasting text out of the FedCom Civil War sourcebook, and you'll see a raft of OCR errors that make keyword searching in it a minefield.)

I'd love to be able to have a crack at buying those on PDF or even PoD (since those were '85 or so, I was still playing with my Transformers and Robotech toys and had no idea Battletech existed and trying to get them on Amazon? ouch), but I understand if they'd be low on the priority list for those exact reasons, as well as having to strip out Unseen art that they can't/don't want to use.

[ColBosch]

Not to mention with sheets, wouldn't that cut into sales for the record sheet PDFs? I'd love it if they could do it, though!

Record sheet books have rarely sold well. As BattleTech moves more into the mass market, record sheet books are the kind of boring product that retailers don't want to have to stock. No seller wants to get saddled with something that's going to hog valuable shelf space and ultimately go unsold. If the hints are true, moving away from the paid record sheet model would be an enormous boon to the player community. While I've been vocal that BattleTech should never require players to go online or use an app, this is the sort of online resource that I would be 100% behind.

[Empyrus]

Not to mention with sheets, wouldn't that cut into sales for the record sheet PDFs? I'd love it if they could do it, though!

When everyone uses MML, Flechs or such to print sheets anyway?
Selling record sheets is kind of outdated. As it is, non-print PDF products have been including RS, undoubtedly partially for this  reason for a while now.

[Mostro Joe]

Flechs or such to print sheets anyway?

I didn't knew what Flechs was. Amazing!

[GRUD]

Yes - those exactly.  The old FASA stuff that never made it onto the BattleShop (or stuff that made it, but was scanned when the tech for doing so was somewhat less refined).  (Try copy/pasting text out of the FedCom Civil War sourcebook, and you'll see a raft of OCR errors that make keyword searching in it a minefield.)

Seems like I've read somewhere in the last couple of weeks, they had to destroy 3 or 4 of the 1st Ed. Shadowrun rulebooks in order to create it in PDF, and to re-release it in hardback.   

[Ghaz]

Seems like I've read somewhere in the last couple of weeks, they had to destroy 3 or 4 of the 1st Ed. Shadowrun rulebooks in order to create it in PDF, and to re-release it in hardback.   

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=84448.msg1998973#msg1998973

At about the middle of the From the Directors' Q&A