Saturday, December 1, 2012

Cover Art For Mars Needs Steam



You may recall I mentioned earlier that we'd contracted for a cover for Mars Needs Steam from Talon Dunning. The first version wasn't really to any of our liking (including Talon's) and so we went back to the drawing board and I'm glad we did. This time Talon nailed it! This really captures the feel of the game and will be a great cover. Now all I have to do is finish the final rewrite of the rules and we're on the way to publication.

I just returned from running a big game up in the Illinois-Wisconsin border area for Anderson's Irregulars, a great bunch of gamers honchoed by Mark Anderson and which includes my old pal Duke Seifried. Duke's approach to "adventure games" informs a lot of the encounter rules in the Mars Needs Steam game as well as generally moving it past a simple soldier game, so seeing him have a good time was fun. His Germans were all but destroyed by the French and Americans, but not before gutting both of those contingents so thoroughly that when the Japanese switched sides they were able to forge on to victory.

I'm very happy with how the game plays now, after dozens of playings with who knows how many players -- most of them first-timers. The rewrite I'm working on is just to smooth out any remaining rule ambiguities and add a few more exotic weapons to the design system.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, great Artwork!Is there any possibility to get a high-resoution picture to print some poster for my room?

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    1. Not sure how to get it to you, Jonathan, but we have a high res version.

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    2. Can you send it to me by email or upload it? I would be very thankful. My eMal is orok@raum1889.de

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  2. GREAT ARTWORK !
    When can we expect to buy the rules?
    -Galdarbjelke

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    1. Glad you like it. I do too.

      Given the lead times for production, I'd say summer for the rules. There is a very, very outside chance of spring, but summer is safer.

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    2. Okay! Nice to hear that!
      I had hoped that I could have run a game of ”Mars Need Steam”, on a Game Convention (in Sweden), in the beginning of May-2013. If that would be possible, it would be amazing. I could maybe buy the rules in a PDF-version? jwasterfors@hotmail.com
      -Galdarbjelke

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    3. Hi frank, I'm a map artist who has a client who has been trying to contact you regarding Space1889. With your permission, if you could contact me at:
      steff(at)stygianfox.com
      So I could put you in touch, I'd be grateful.

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