I’ve loved every minute of writing for Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition, but writing the backer stories will be one of the highlights for me.

A quick bit of background: I’ve been a gamer for over 30 years now and I bought the original edition of Mutant Chronicles on the day of release and fell in love with it then. I consumed every sourcebook I could get my hands on and also played the Doomtrooper card game more times that I can remember. I loved the world and especially loved the short pieces of fiction in the game. They were evocative and painted a rich picture of the Mutant Chronicles world. I was really sad when the game vanished. Meantime I made computer games (as designer, writer, producer and eventually studio head) for 14 years and then became an author three years ago, but the world of MC never left me – Luna City did much to influence my depiction of sci-fi London.

So when I heard Chris was bringing Mutant Chronicles back I badgered him day and night to be part of that, and I was really excited to become line manager and lead writer on all the background. I loved watching the Kickstarter unfolding and learning that I was not alone in my love of Mutant Chronicles. Your enthusiasm is infectious!

Since then I’ve written a good portion of the core book (just under half, I reckon), the Imperial Guidebook, a series of adventures (Straffar Gatan and the upcoming von Hölle series), and I’m working on the Luna/Freelancers/Luna PD Guidebook – all in all I’ve written over 150,000 words for Mutant Chronicles.

I have loved every minute of it.

On the Backer Stories

So my current task has been to write the NPC descriptions, short fiction vignettes, art briefs and miniatures briefs for those who backed the relevant pledge levels.

It has been a fantastic and challenging task for a professional writer. There are very few times when you get asked to create 81 different characters and come up with stories and art briefs for about half of those and then also write briefs for miniatures for a handful. It is both creatively challenging and satisfying for a number of reasons:

• Your enthusiasm and ideas: It really makes this job a joy for me
• Giving something back: I want you all to open the books up and go “Wow! That is me!” and get thrill from seeing yourself on the printed page.
• Developing cool characters: Your characters are helping populate and flesh out the world and that makes the game better for everyone.
• Amazing practice for an author: This is the kind of task I think every newish author should have a go at.

But it has one drawback:

• It is hard to leave each character behind as I have to switch gear once each vignette is written and move onto the next. I get really attached to each and every one of your characters.

I could have handed these stories out to our wonderful team of writers but I believe that your enthusiasm and support demanded a level of personal attention to detail and consistency, so I volunteered to write them all myself.

The entire task is roughly equivalent to writing an entire additional faction guidebook! There is an additional limit which is that of quality. When I feel my creative process drying up I have to stop for the day because I don’t want to produce pieces I am not happy with. That has meant I’ve written 4-5 per day, every day. It has been like an intensive gym session for my writing, and I have no doubt it has made me a better writer.

My first task before even sitting down to write was to go through all your entries from Backerkit, emails, photos and everything else you have sent us and get it all collated, indexed, filed, stamped, numbered, process and fed to the Praetorian Stalker in my basement. Well, maybe not that last step…

When you see your stories you might not notice it on first read through but I’ve been subtly building as many as I can into various Mutant Chronicles metaplots, so that when you read the stories you get a sense of the large events beyond the simple vignette that your character is part of.

So where am I at?

I’ve written 70 of the stories so far and hope to have the remaining ones written over the next week or so. After than they will go to Chris and Paradox for approval and then off to editing. We will double check key details with you – correct spellings and factions primarily – before they go to print.

Thank you once again for your support and enthusiasm – it is because of you that I get to write on one of my all-time favourite games and I hope that passion shows through with the end books.

PS. If you’ve not heard from me, it is because the information you gave me on Backerkit was complete! I will get in touch if I have any questions.

If you have heard from me, please do reply!

Stay classy Luna City!

Gunnar Roxen, Oxford, August 2014

Hi, I’m really excited to be going to Shamrokon in just less than a fortnight!

Shamrokon is this year’s Eurocon, a fandom convention happening in Dublin, Ireland.

I’ve got a trader’s table for my Gunnar Roxen books – I’ll be there on Saturday and Sunday, so please come along and say hi!

I’m also taking part in a couple of panels on Sunday, which I’m really looking forward to:

• Sunday 10am – 11am: Who Owns A Myth?
  D. Ulster
• Sunday 4pm – 5pm: Using Computer Games To Tell Stories
  E. Room 1/2

By the way, I know I’ve been quiet on this blog for a while, with a combination of good and bad stuff.

The good stuff has been working on The Firestorm Conspiracy and writing lots for the Mutant Chronicles game from Modiphius Entertainment, and also opening some exciting new doors for my writing. I have been loving the writing work and hopefully will be bringing my writing to a whole new set of readers which in turn will help me grow as a writer!

The bad news is that my health has been awful recently – nothing I want to go into, but much of the time it has been an uphill struggle physically.

I hope to see you at Shamrokon!

Reading @ Rick’s Cafe – 7pm 21st Nov 2013

I just finished making my first video showing the Echo Wheel in action for the Broken Shield Roleplaying Game. Enjoy:

Shortlink: http://youtu.be/AG58Oho1EaE

Dead Angels

RPG Now: Dead Angels

Broken Shield Roleplaying Game Front Cover

Broken Shield the new roleplaying game based on the world of my Agency Case File novels is available from Chronicle City and DriveThruRPG!

Broken Shield Roleplaying Game

Fast Paced Superhuman Sci-Fi Noir Roleplaying!

The Broken Shield Roleplaying Game is an exciting game of espionage and investigation set in London – the faded heart of the vast and ancient Steel Alliance. The Broken Shield Roleplaying game is based on the thrilling world of the Agency Case File novels by Gunnar Roxen.

With this 300-page core book you can:

• Play Echoes like John Aries, superhumans whose power is only limited by how fast you want to burn up their life… or play Slivers like Lovelace, genetically-enhanced to be faster, stronger and deadlier!
• Create a hard-boiled Investigations Agent, engage in high-tech espionage as a Covert Operative or bring justice as a steely Agency Marshal!
• Explore the palatial highs and depraved lows of sci-fi London, crux of the vast interstellar Steel Alliance!
• Worship your chosen Disciple – god-like beings who left their indelible mark on humanity and then disappeared!
• Stick to what you know as a stock human, or bring out the alien in you with a new sub-species: the iconic Pures, tough Hulks, or supremacist Gethans!
• Generate unique and memorable characters with a powerful character history and plot path system!
• Use the Echo Wheel, a revolutionary fast paced and powerful system to reshape reality!
• Powered by the Broken Shield Engine, a unique system tailor-made for the universe!

The Broken Shield Roleplaying Game is your gateway to an exciting new world of adventure!

Where to buy:

Ask for Broken Shield at your friendly local game store! Broken Shield is also available from the following locations:

Hardback / Softback:

• Hardback edition (Direct only): Only £33.99 / $49.99
• Paperback edition: Only £29.99 / $44.99

Both versions available to pre-order from Chronicle City. Complimentary PDF edition with every copy.

PDF:

• PDF edition: Only £13.99 / $19.99

Available now from DriveThruRPG

I’ve put up a page with useful downloads as a hub here:
gunnarroxen.com/broken-shield

Broken Shield Roleplaying Game Front Cover

I wanted to share with you the cover of the upcoming Broken Shield Roleplaying Game – a superhuman sci-fi noir detective roleplaying game based in the world of my Agency Case File novels. Broken Shield is being published by Chronicle City and will be available to pre-order and in softback and hardback editions from: http://shop.chroniclecity.co.uk/.

The cover art was by the wonderful Sam Manley.

From the back cover:

Fast Paced Superhuman Sci-Fi Noir Roleplaying!
The Broken Shield Roleplaying Game is an exciting game of espionage and investigation set in London – the faded heart of the vast and ancient Steel Alliance. The Broken Shield Roleplaying game is based on the thrilling world of the Agency Case File novels by Gunnar Roxen.

With this core book you can:

• Play Echoes like John Aries, superhumans whose power is only limited by how fast you want to burn up their life… or play Slivers like Lovelace, genetically-enhanced to be faster, stronger and deadlier!
• Create a hard-boiled Investigations Agent, engage in high-tech espionage as a Covert Operative or bring justice as a steely Agency Marshal!
• Explore the palatial highs and depraved lows of sci-fi London, crux of the vast interstellar Steel Alliance!
• Worship your chosen Disciple – god-like beings who left their indelible mark on humanity and then disappeared!
• Stick to what you know as a stock human, or bring out the alien in you with a new sub-species: the iconic Pures, tough Hulks, or supremacist Gethans!
• Generate unique and memorable characters with a powerful character history and plot path system!
• Use the Echo Wheel, a revolutionary fast paced and powerful system to reshape reality!
• Powered by the Broken Shield Engine, a unique system tailor-made for the universe!

The Broken Shield Roleplaying Game is your gateway to an exciting new world of adventure!
Visit www.brokenshield.net for free adventures and more!

Broken Shield Roleplaying Game cover

Geek Apocalypse

Check it out: http://www.geekapocalypse.com/shows/

As Steven says:

Fantastic Podcast this week as Steven chats to Sci fi writer Gunnar Roxen (right of me in picture), author of the brilliant Agency case files series ‘The Wyld Hunt’ and ‘Dead Angels’ which I have read twice and is awesome! We talk about Gunnar growing up in Sweden,self publishing, his relationship with delta 14, his writing process, recieving death threats while working in the video game industry for 15 years and his upcoming projects such as an audio book version and a roleplaying game on the series! And of course his books! you can follow Gunnar on twitter @gunnarroxen and if you’d like to find out more about him and his books please checkout his site at http://gunnarroxen.com/! You wont be disappointed as he is a talented guy and his books are great!
And if that wasnt all we have a competition! in the UK and want to be in with a chance of winning some of gunnar’s books? then all you have to do is follow @Geek_Apocalypse by the 20th july to be in with a chance of winning! its really that simple!

“I really enjoyed The Wyld Hunt. It’s a bit of a challenge to find a genre that satisfies; cyberpunk meets noir? That’s close but there’s almost Dune like sci-fi in the background and elements of horror, even Lovecraft inspired horror, just lurking in the background.

Agent John Aries works in a far future London in an organisation that’s above the police. He’s called into to investigate the apparent suicide of a high ranking business official. This is a super-rich man with such expensive and exclusive implanted technology and medical monitoring systems that death would have been a challenge and reported instantly. So why was his body found, with no alerts sounded, at all? This is a man who is an Echo – someone with the ability to reach into the Wyld, use its energy to fuel a supernatural-like power.

The case quickly spirals out of control and Aries and his partner Lovelace soon find themselves caught in politics, corruption and worse.”

Read the full review at: http://www.geeknative.com/38182/the-wyld-hunt-agency-case-files-review/