Gav Thorpe's Blog, page 6

Interview with WargamerOnline – May 2017

Watch my interview with WargamerOnline, a relatively new website “dedicated to the Miniature Wargaming hobby”. We talk about Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence, Warbeast, and my new game Big Stompy Robots, as well as how I started working for Games Workshop, and my move to being a freelancer.

Make sure you check out the WargamerOnline website – there are already hours of content to catch up on, including tutorials, battle reports, interviews, unboxings and much more. They are also building a great community – brilliant for those who don’t have the opportunity to get to gaming clubs in person.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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Interview with Masters of the Forge – May 2017

“At Masters of the Forge, it is our goal to blow your mind with the lore of Warhammer 40.000, by helping you forge its stories into extraordinary narratives and breathing life into your games, workbenches, and imaginations.”

Here you can listen to my interview with Masters of the Forge, where we discuss in-depth my two Phoenix Lords novels, Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan, and Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence.

Listen To The Interview

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Eldar Q&A – Part Two

To celebrate the release of my new Phoenix Lords novel, Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence, I asked people to post their (non rules-related) eldar questions over on my Facebook Page.

There were so many questions I’ve had to split them over two blogs – in case you missed it, you can read part one here.

For other Q&As from the past, have a look at those I did for the Dark Elves and Dark Angels.

Douglas asked: How do you hold people’s interest when writing such a severely ascetic race?

There always has to be a balance when writing non-human characters. Though the characters themselves are alien the stories must still resonate. Jain Zar’s quest to control her anger is extreme because of her eldar nature, but in the extremity it serves as a tale that most of us can still relate to when we’re frustrated or fearful. We might not experience in quite the same way, but hopefully the story itself still resonates.

Jesse asked: Saim Hann special character?

Back in 3rd edition I created Nuadhu Fireheart. Let’s just say at some point I want to write an aeldari novel called ‘Wild Rider’ and leave it at that.

Devon asked: How do the Phoenix lords feel about this whole Ynnead thing? Including Drazahr, as he’s totally one.

It varies from Phoenix Lord to Phoenix Lord. As a banshee, Jain Zar feels quite an affinity with Ynnead and Yvraine’s cause. As you will see in the novel, she has a different relationship with Khaine. With the others, I suspect that most of them are ambivalent. They remember the aeldari as they were, and still see their people in those terms, so the idea of unifying their species once again probably has some appeal. On the other hand, the resurrection of Ynnead is in contravention of the foretelling of the Rhana Dandra, the final battle in which the eldar die but defeat Slaanesh in doing so. They are also very wary of anything that Eldrad Ulthran pokes his fingers into…

Shawn asked: Why is Jain Zar so enthralled with Ynnead does she really think it is the way? Why Harlequins I mean isn’t going against the god they already worship (Cegorach) or is he okay with it… I mean he may laugh at it as he is the laughing god.

Jain Zar is death’s messenger, and once you’ve read the novel you’ll see how she could quite easily lend her support to a cause that seeks to bring the peace of oblivion. For her the struggle against excess, the threat of the eldar sliding back into the grip of She Who Thirsts is a continuing battle. Her own background means she believes wholeheartedly in the concept of Rebirth and so why not apply that to an entire species? We also shouldn’t overlook the sense of sisterhood and familiarity she shares with Yvraine, both of them having fought in the arenas and then been lifted to a different life by the intervention of a higher power.

The Harlequins, like any other sect of the aeldari, each have their own reasons. We cannot think of them as a united faction any more than the craftworlds or kabals. Each masque, each harlequin, has their own reasons for opposing, joining or ignoring the rise of the Ynnari. This is something I explore a bit more in a forthcoming novel, so I’m not going to say too much here except that the old aeldari were pantheistic – following one god does not preclude following another as well.

Berengere asked: Are there sometimes exodites that move up to craftworld or craftworlders that decide to become exodites? Or do both live separate lives except for some trade? As for trade, I suppose craftworlds mostly buy food from exodites, but what do exodites need from the craftworlds in return?

I think it is possible for exodites to join the craftworlds, but highly unlikely that the craftworlders could move the other way. The Path is a system that they adhere to from the earliest age, but can be learnt later in life, but the harsh strictures of Exodite existence that coral their excess comes from being part of the society from birth. As with most matters in 40K, the answer is that someone somewhere across the galaxy has done it at some point in the last ten thousand years.

As for trade, I think we need to step away from how we see such a thing in our modern world. Craftworlds are self-sufficient even after the Fall, so they don’t need anything as such. But eldar do like the esoteric and exotic, and they must also deal with greed and obsessive consumption as part of the extreme nature inherent in their psychology. In that regard, the Path of the Merchant serves as a means of cultivating and controlling that acquisitive urge, the addiction of making deals. Conversely, most artisans live for the creation of their artefacts and give them away, so any marketplace is very different from what we see on our world.

On the flipside the Exodites deliberately exist at a state of near-destitution, so offloading excess goods is a way of retaining their puritanical lifestyle. If they start having a surplus of something they fear it will lead once more to decadence. In return they probably prize spirit stones above anything, as they lack the means of retrieving them directly.

Justin asked: Assuming that the introduction of the Ynnari has changed things, what was your original idea for the Harlequins’ plan to save the Eldar? Why do the Eldar believe Ynnead stands a chance against Slaanesh given that Ynnead was created off a far smaller (albeit more psychically powerful) population base than Slaanesh, who has had 10 millennia of feeding off the galaxy?

It changes nothing, and in many ways has some startling similarities. Both are considered to starve Slaanesh of future souls, one through the intervention of the Laughing God, the other through the power of Ynnead.

Regarding the Whispering God’s power, one had to consider if the aeldari souls trapped within Slaanesh have been wholly subsumed or not. If not, could a powerful enough entity draw them forth again? And frankly, most of the Ynnari are at the point that they feel they have nothing left to lose by trying! Damned if you don’t, maybe not damned if you do…

Thank you to everyone who took the time to post a question. If you missed the call for questions, don’t worry, leave a comment below and I’ll answer it as part of my normal monthly Q&A.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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Advice on becoming a writer in Video Games

Andy before he started looking… err… distinguished.

Today I have something a little different, a guest post from Andy Hall. Andy currently works as a writer for Creative Assembly, the studio behind the brilliant Total War series, as well as freelancing gigs (you might have seen his recent Blood Bowl work for Black Library). Before then he worked on White Dwarf magazine, and as writer and editor in the ‘Fanatic’ department of Games Workshop bringing the Specialist Games to the masses.

As I like to point out to him at least once a year, my first contact with Andy was back in the days when I was on the team putting together the Citadel Journal. I received a letter that included some new Blood Bowl rules, entitled ‘He Plays Like a Daemon!’. The article was good, so we published it. That letter came from Andy, so I like to think that I gave him his big break in writing and he owes all subsequent success to me… (Perhaps his hard work and motivation had something to do with it too, but blahblablah.)

So, here is Andy Hall’s advice on how to become a writer in the video games industry.

A few times a year I get asked through LinkedIn or Twitter about how to become a writer in video games. More often than not, I don’t have time to give a comprehensive answer but a couple of months back a friendly chap by the name of Kyle approached me and for once I obliged. After writing the answers to his questions I thought they might make a good blog for other budding video game writers and so, lacking a website of my own, asked Gav if he’d like to publish it on his corner of the internet… and here we are. So enough preamble, let’s get stuck in.

So, You Wanna be a Writer, eh?

First things first, are you sure you want to write for video games? Which may sound like a terse question but it’s worth informing you what a video game writer actually does, especially in a more junior position.

In 80% of cases it’s not writing an epic story.

It certainly isn’t starting with a blank piece of paper or empty screen and writing a sci-fi masterpiece, a grand fantasy or any kind of genre tale and then expecting a team a hundred-plus-strong to turn your words into a triple-A computer game. That isn’t going to happen unless you’re Ken Levine.

If that is what you’re after, then you’re better off writing in another medium, perhaps as a novelist or screenwriter. A junior games writer is probably going to be writing tooltips, lots and lots of tooltips. If you’re not sure what a tooltip is they’re the short instructions that often pop-up when you hover a curser over an item or symbol in-game. As well as tooltips there will be tutorial pages to write, in game guides or encyclopaedias to fill out with descriptions for hundreds of items. “We need a two hundred word description for a chicken coop” Why two hundred? Because that’s the format! More experienced writers may get a chance at dialogue and other voice over areas, and even full-on script writing.

Powerful stuff, huh?

Know Your Role

I think at this point it’s worth pointing out the very subtle distinction between a writer and a narrative designer. The latter will get to shape the overall story of the game, writing quests and missions and maybe even outlining the grand narrative the game director needs to hang his whole game on. In some studios the writer and narrative designer are one and the same. In others, the two may well be very separate roles. Of course, not all studios have game writers. Many work freelance, and most developers will use the same proven writers over and over, so it’s always difficult for fresh blood to get a look in.

Anyway, I’m already getting sidetracked; let’s get back to Kyle’s questions…

What three tips would you give to new writers wanting to break into the industry?

Writing is a craft, and like any skill you need to put the hours in to temper your expertise. I think it was Ray Bradbury that said you need to write a million words to get competency, and I agree with that. I was lucky, in that I had a modicum of talent and then spent five years in a Design studio and another six on White Dwarf magazine, honing that skill and writing my way to well over a million words. So, write loads. Write every day. A good area to practice for video games is screenwriting – learn how people chat, how conversations typically work and then realise that’s not how they talk in movies and TV; it’s an abstraction of what a real conversation is… (Probably another subject for a different day, but interesting nonetheless.)

[See my Realism is Fake blog post for starters – Gav]

Write to brief. Simple one, but when freelancing – as most writers are – especially in the video game industry, you need to make sure your work follows the strict guidelines requested by the client. In games development this is particularly true where memory budgets, word counts, paid actors’ sessions are always a factor.

Be succinct (ironically, unlike this article). In video games writing concision is key. As annoying as it is for a writer, the fact is, if you throw a massive amount of text on the screen the vast majority of players are going to skip right past it… and this from the guy that wrote the quests in Total War: Warhammer and Warhammer Quest. Yes, some players love lore and story and will stick around, but for the good chunk that won’t, your message needs to be economical – whether that’s narrative based, a tooltip or cut-scene movie script. All your sentences have to work extremely hard! Look on at prose authors with envy at their 80,000 word counts and descriptive paragraphs; you need to tell a story in ten words not ten thousand (admittedly we might have some very pretty visuals to help us).

So there are a few tips. Admittedly, they are more to do with how to be a good video games writer rather than how to actually break in to the industry. The theory being if you are good at the craft you may well find clients, which will lead to other clients as your name gets passed around as one who is good and reliable. It worked for me.

How did you get your start as an industry professional?

There was no magic formula, just a mixture of luck, fate and perseverance. I worked in the Games Workshop design studio for over a decade, which was (and probably still is) one of the most creative places on Earth; this gave me a good grounding. And when I left, I managed to leverage that skill and experience in the video games industry… which pays better.

As to how that helps you, it probably doesn’t! My tip is to get published – doesn’t matter where, in a short story anthology, a fiction blog, magazine. A published writer has much more cache than someone that isn’t, and so game studios will be more interested.

Some in-house writers come up through QA. So you could get a job on the lowest rung in the industry and then make it known that you’re a writer, you may get a shot should a role become available. It’s a sad fact that for a studio it will be much cheaper to recruit a QA person internally, so that is obviously appealing to management. Another possible direction is games journalism. A few writers in the industry used to be game journalists who developed contacts and then got jobs at a favourite studio that way.

You’ll need to forge your own path, and it won’t be easy. Narrative design/video games writing is still in its infancy and so there are not many vacancies for it – although more and more studios are cottoning on that narrative and lore are important factors for any IP. Even so, there are a lot of people that want to get paid to write about goblins and interstellar warriors for a living, so competition is fierce.

Good luck

– Andy

A little addendum from me, based on my experience and building on what Andy said at the outset – in video games writers are usually quite far down the pecking order and priority. Mechanically and culturally the video games process is not kind to wordsmiths. For most studios, and in most projects, they are literally the guys and gals brought in to write the words around a game that has already been created. You are the provider of word fodder to supplement the design vision, nothing more.

Narrative design jobs offer a little more scope for creativity, but it’s important to remember the distinctions between narrative design and games design. The first is always subordinate to the second. Words can be changed with relative ease, but a whole build or level design cannot.

But there are studios and publishers out there cottoning on to the idea that good stories sell games; that strong narrative is as important as visuals and gameplay to the modern audience. Not to mention the financial benefits of a solid IP to exploit in other media like cinema and books.

-Gav

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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Echoes of Revelation & L’Œil de Terra

Echoes of Revelation

The Horus Heresy audio anthology – Echoes of Revelation – is available to download today as MP3, and CDs will be in stores next week. It contains my short story Valerius, along with Perpetual by Dan Abnett, and The Soul, Severed by Chris Wraight.

“These three tales continue storylines from the Horus Heresy novels, taking characters to unexpected places and exploring themes of faith and treachery that are vital to the larger narrative.”

The running time is approximately 75 minutes, and it’s performed by Gareth Armstrong, John Banks, Ian Brooker, Cliff Chapman, Steve Conlin, Penelope Rawlins, Saul Reichlin,Toby Longworth and Luis Soto. You can listen to an extract over on the Black Library website.

Buy Echoes of Revelation

L’Œil de Terra

“L’Œil de terra est une anthologie de nouvelles écrites par les meilleurs auteurs de Black Library. A une époque, le titre de Maître de Guerre était synonyme d’honneur, de loyauté, et de la fierté et la puissance des légions space marines. Peut-être qu’en remontant les fils du destin entremêlés autour des primarchs et de leurs fils, il sera possible de commencer à comprendre à quel l’amertume peut venir à bout de même les esprits les plus inébranlables.”

L’Œil de terra contains my short story Inheritor, and the prose version of my audio story Master Of The First.

Buy L’Œil de Terra

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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Eldar Q&A – Part One

It’s become customary when I have a new book out for me to blog my thoughts on putting the story together or writing on a particular subject. For the release of Jain Zar I decided to take a slightly different approach and hand over the mic (as it were) to readers across the world.

I asked people to post their (non rules-related) eldar questions over on my Facebook Page. It proved quite popular, so I’ll probably have to answer them over two blogs posts. If you missed the call for questions, don’t worry, leave a comment below and I’ll answer it as part of my normal monthly Q&A (although you might want to wait until part two has been published in case it has already been asked).

For other Q&As from the past, have a look at those I did for the Dark Elves and Dark Angels (it’s a relief that this wasn’t for Dark Eldar!).

Samantha asked: Call me crazy, but I could have sworn that back in the late 90’s when they first did the fall of Cadia, that Eldrad Ulthuan died… Did he actually have his backstory retconned to not die during that event?

During the closing events of the Eye of Terror campaign, when the 13th Black crusade of Abaddon was first introduced, Eldrad did indeed ‘die’. Or rather, his spirit stone fused with a Black Fortress and he was deemed lost. That version of events was allowed to slip into memory and the 13th Black Crusade as depicted in the Gathering Storm narrative is now the One and True Account. So, Eldrad not dead, (partially) resurrected a God of the Dead instead!

Dmitry asked: Given what we’ve seen from Yvrainne in terms of her ability to restore the dead….and given one loyalist Primarch cannot hope to hold back the tide of Angron Mortarion Fulgrim Lorgar….and the Lord of Iron Perturabo, what are the chances that the high priestess of Ynnead would venture to the Gorgons tomb……realistically it makes as much sense as anything else, and let’s be honest if one has returned so can the others.

It’s potentially possible. Nowhere near my pay grade to make that decision. In favour of it is the fact that Guilliman himself rated Ferrus Manus as one of the best allies he could have… If he wanted one of his brothers back (assuming that Sanguinius is absolutely gone, which I do) then he might bend his will to making that happen.

I can only imagine the crowing from neglected Iron Hands players if they got their Primarch back before, say, Russ or the Lion

Interview with Beasts of War – April 2017

I attended Salute 2017 with Carl Brown of Second Thunder, running demo games of Open Combat. Beasts of War were live-blogging the day, and here you can watch the video where I talk about Open Combat, and my latest games design work on Big Stompy Robots and Strontium Dog.

Watch The Interview

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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Interview With The Mighty Jes Goodwin

My recent blog about White Dwarf 127 has obviously stirred fond memories for many people. To add a bit more background to the… err… background, I asked esteemed miniatures designer and all-round 40K demigod Jes Goodwin to answer a few questions about the eldar for me.

Here’s what he had to say:

Ok, I’ll do my best with the caveat that it was a long time ago and my account may vary from others

Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence – Out Now

Less than half of the Limited Edition still available.

Today I imagine that Jain Zar’s banshee wail would sound something like “squeeeeeeeeeee!”, as she excitedly opens her Limited Edition copy of Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence . Something like that anyway.

The book is available as Limited Edition, general release hardback, eBook, and MP3. It’s great to see Black Library issuing all these formats as once, so people don’t have to wait until their preferred format is published.

I recently came across this old Jain Zar conversion from a Lelith Hesperax mini, on the Spikey Bits website [warning – you can spend hours clicking through their Painted Figure Showcase, crying at your lack of painting ability]. It was inspired by Ali Sharifi, and painted by Golden Demon winner Tom Schadle. Clearly great minds think alike – this conversion for an alternative Jain Zar is pretty close to what I had in mind when I wrote my description of her in the opening chapter of the novel:

Brilliant conversion by Tom Schadle

“Faraethil raised her weapons in salute to the Master. In her right hand a three-handed throwing triskele, in her left a long-bladed polearm. She was naked but for a slatted kilt, the sheath of plated armour down her left arm and a helm through the top of which flowed her mane of white and black like a crest. Her pale flesh was marked with scars, slender lines of darker pink. Before the cataclysm it would have been easy to have such marks removed, but she had refused. The blemishes were her keepsake, each stroke a reminder of an attack she had failed to stop, a mistake made, a brush with death.”

Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence

“The eldar are an ancient race whose mode of war blends spirituality with a unique mastery of technology. In times of need, their entire race will rouse to war – led by terrifying, almost mythological figures – the phoenix lords, immortal beings embody the warrior nature of the eldar. A swift and deadly fighter, Jain Zar can harness the rage of her scream to slaughter any who dare oppose her.

When a burgeoning ork empire starts to pose a threat to the eldar peoples, Jain Zar travels to the craftworld Ulthwé to warn them of the danger. However, she finds her plans to divert disaster are opposed by one of the craftworld’s own seers, Eldrad. With so many futures possible, which path should the eldar walk to avert destruction of their craftworlds and put an end to the greenskin menace?”

Buy Jain Zar

Will you be buying Jain Zar?

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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White Dwarf 127

My new Phoenix Lords novel – Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence – is released on Saturday. Those who have managed to get their hands on a copy already, may have noticed my dedication:

“To Jes, Andy and Rick, for WD127.”

For those of you who weren’t reading White Dwarf 27 years ago (gulp!), issue 127 contained 41 pages of Eldar goodness, drawn from the minds of Jes Goodwin, Andy Chambers and Rick Priestley. It’s what caused my 14-year old self to fall in love with the Eldar, and has inspired every Eldar story I’ve written since.

If you are unlucky enough to have never seen White Dwarf 127, you can see the entire Eldar section below. Many thanks to @Bishmeister who came to my rescue and scanned in the pages – my copy of WD127 is currently stashed away in storage while we have some building work done. Incidentally, @Bishmeister is definitely worth following on Twitter for his #Warhammerflashbackfriday posts, as well as general hobby-related stuff.

Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence will be available as eBook, MP3, hardback, and a very beautiful Limited Edition.

“The eldar are an ancient race whose mode of war blends spirituality with a unique mastery of technology. In times of need, their entire race will rouse to war – led by terrifying, almost mythological figures – the phoenix lords, immortal beings embody the warrior nature of the eldar. A swift and deadly fighter, Jain Zar can harness the rage of her scream to slaughter any who dare oppose her.

When a burgeoning ork empire starts to pose a threat to the eldar peoples, Jain Zar travels to the craftworld Ulthwé to warn them of the danger. However, she finds her plans to divert disaster are opposed by one of the craftworld’s own seers, Eldrad. With so many futures possible, which path should the eldar walk to avert destruction of their craftworlds and put an end to the greenskin menace?”

Buy Jain Zar

White Dwarf 127

Do you have fond memories of White Dwarf 127? Let me know in the comments!

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

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