I met Andrew J Lucas through discussions about Kirsty Garbe’s Endless Realms, a project he was freelancing on. I interviewed him at the Tessera Guild (here) and have followed his projects with interest. When he announced a new superhero setting for Savage Worlds and the Endless Realms systems, I knew I wanted to talk to him about his work including the game, what’s coming, and if it’ll lead to comic books.
UPDATED 2020-11-13: Unfortunately, the first iteration of this campaign did not reach its goal. However, that’s not the end of Andrew J Lucas’ New Bristol as he’s relaunched the campaign using a lowered initial funding goal. This interview holds up and offers information for that campaign. As such, I’ve updated the links to the new campaign in the hopes it will help Andrew reach his goal.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Andrew, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. You have a Kickstarter going, what is New Bristol [updated link] about?
ANDREW J LUCAS (ANDREW): New Bristol [updated link] is a campaign setting and adventure, which revolves around an American city in Michigan which has a long and storied history. In 1951, this history comes to an end as the city is thrown out of this reality and is erased from history. The contributions of the city remain but the minds and memories of the entire world have been adjusted to attribute these contributions to others. Now the city returns along with the world’s memory of New Bristol. What sacrifices has the city made to survive as it travelled though uncountable realities. Why has it returned now?
We expect the book will be about 120 pages in length and filled with characters, rules, and setting locations for any player or gamemaster to use.
EGG: There are different eras/types of superhero comic book settings from pulp to grim and gritty to decompressed and so many more. How would you describe the style of New Bristol?
ANDREW: This is actually a harder question to answer than it appears at first blush. The city starts as a typical 50’s era city with a bevy of typical golden age heroes and villains fighting in and over it. It then disappears and reappears decades later. Within the city there are eight districts each with a distinct flavor, ranging from high tech to jungle like.
The closest analogy would be a mash up between DC’s Metropolis of the 90’s (with Brainiac’s high tech) and Astro City. The tech level is high in some areas of the city and almost Mad Max like in others. This is due to the effects of the void the city travels through and its effects on the outer, less buffered districts.
EGG: Interesting. New Bristol is the campaign setting and a city. It has a number of districts and an original history. Can you share how some of those districts and history influence the types of adventures this game offers?
ANDREW: I’m very fond of cities that have areas that have very distinct flavours to them. My home city of Vancouver has areas that are rundown urban (perfect for a street level hero campaign) and cultural areas like Steveston which has a historical and active fishing wharf. There is also an active working harbor and extensive suburbs. Most cities are like this to some extent or other and I wanted to capture this in New Bristol.
Each of the districts has a flavor and culture, which extends to the character of the heroes and occupants of that area. For instance, the French Quarter has a historical background that extends into the founding of the US and Canada and this is felt within the people living there. It is also the area where magicians good and bad live. A magician such as Doctor Strange would fit in well here.
Another district houses the Future Spire which sports futuristic high tech such as you would find in a Jack Kirby Fantastic Four story.
There will be plenty of locations that would fit any style of player or campaign focus. Heck there is even a portal to the Jurassic period if you want to hunt dinosaurs (or be hunted by them).
EGG: This is a superhero RPG using a pair of licensed systems, what inspired you to make this game?
ANDREW: I have always loved the superhero genre but as a comic collector, writer, and a gamer. Over the decades (god, decades) I’ve had the opportunity to write for a number of RPGs and played in a few of them. The second game system I purchased was the first edition Villains and Vigilantes.
The kernel that became the New Bristol book started with a write for hire project for Eden Studios’ City of Heroes RPG. The project was never published but, in essence, it took a handful of established RPG talents and assigned them a district and faction to write. The idea stuck with me over 15 years and now that I have the opportunity to publish it, I’m doing so.
EGG: What makes Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWAdE) right for this RPG?
ANDREW: Two reasons really:
First, SWAdE is a robust game system that can work with any genre and has books supporting any genre. This gives it the versatility to adjust to the flavor of each district, there is also an extensive back catalog of source material for Gamemasters that really want to deep dive into a genre.
SWAdE is also the newest version of the Savage Worlds system which has relatively few books using it so it seemed the best time to use it for this book.
Secondly, I’ve been using this system (Savage Worlds) for the Dark Hold line of Goblin Adventures books. The writing team that we used on those books have come forward on this book. They are battle hardened and I trust their quality and they have never missed a deadline. Additionally, Sarah Lyons, or Three Sages, is our system editor and has been instrumental in getting us licensed product status.
If it ain’t broke…
EGG: For those that aren’t familiar with the other system this game runs on, Endless Realms, what is it?
ANDREW: Endless Realms from Lunar Games is the brainchild of Kirsty Garbe, and is a very neat combination of RPG system and world building that appeals to me. I learnt of the system and game through a poster in a local game store, ran through a demo game and loved it. It’s a nice class based system that uses tactical elements with a unique spirit based magic system. I like to think of it as a mash up of Talislanta and the best parts of D&D. Of course, it’s neither. It is own thing.
Endless Realms has a core cosmology that speaks to multiple realities and traveling between them.
EGG: Why use the Endless Realms system for New Bristol?
ANDREW: Again, this a multiparty answer. First, Endless Realms has a cosmology that speaks to traveling through alien and unique dimensions. This plays a large part in the history of New Bristol and fits nicely into the expansion plans of Lunar Games to increase the types of product and genres their game system encompasses.
I’ve been doing a lot of writing for Lunar Games and developed a fondness for the team. No surprise that I consider Kirsty a friend and, as she’s writing for New Bristol and Lunar Games, she saw an opportunity to convert the core book to the Endless Realms system. I think it’s a nice fit and New Bristol would be the third city I’ve written for her, Brimstone Point and Dedburn being the other two.
It’s nice having things come together this nicely.
EGG: Andrew, for those that don’t know your work, where have fans seen your writing?
ANDREW: Easy answer is everywhere and nowhere. I’ve been contributing to RPGs since the 80s; odds are I have something published by one of your favourite publishers. Sections in the Jovian Chronicles and Heavy Gear from Dream Pod 9 are written by me and you’ll see me in the credits but you would have a hard time knowing what exactly I wrote. I do have a handful of solo books that I wrote with a byline, like the Streetfighters Player’s Guide for White Wolf or Northwest Passage for Atlas Games and, of course, the books from Rebel Minis.
I even manufactured and sold a line of miniatures carrying cases for Games Workshop – still have some of these in my basement.
My most recent work has been for Dragon Turtle Games and their 5E compatible Carbon 2185 cyberpunk game. I wrote some of the history section and a full adventure for them. I’ve also had a few short stories published recently and am especially fond of the dinosaur story I wrote for Apex: World of Dinosaurs Anthology from Outland Entertainment and a story for the upcoming Tales from the Space Force anthology coming from B-Cubed press.
I’m also writing a fan film for Star Wars that is going to be amazing.
EGG: You have a list of creators working on this. Who is working on each system?
ANDREW: Here’s the thing with my creators, aside from Dave and Kirsty for Endless Realms and Sara Lyon with SWAdE, I don’t expect my writers to have 100% system knowledge. I learned early on that having a designated system editor (who might also be a content provider) allows the writer to focus on their work and not the niggling details of the system. That knowledge develops as you write, but my editors are the ones we depend upon to ensure the system requirements are met, and to tell us when an encounter or rule doesn’t make sense or is overpowered.
It works quite well.
I should also like to shout out to my kid whose art features prominently in the kickstarter and the book itself. She’s just starting college this year and man has her art improved.
EGG: Nice! Are you planning any comic book or prose adaptations of this setting?
ANDREW: Interestingly, I do have plans of this type if the kickstarter really takes off. I have a short story describing the origin of a superhero set in this city that would be perfect in an anthology of stories. As to comics, I have a number of scripts in the works with Cornerstone Creative Studios that are very exciting. There is no reason that if the book really takes off that we couldn’t start an ongoing series or graphic novel with the talent there. I am one of the founders so it would be an easy sell.
Ideally, I see the book developing into a series of campaign and adventures branching out from the core setting. It would also from the core of an ongoing Supers line for Endless Realms.
Aside from that, well just waiting for Netflix to call.
EGG: Beyond this project, what else are you working on?
ANDREW: Oh man, it is rare for me to have less than 6-8 projects on the go and an equal amount sitting with various publishers. I am revising two short stories for two different publishers, and this week I have a scene to add in my Star Wars fan film (really excited by this). This year, I have three short stories that should be published.
On the kickstarter front, New Bristol [updated link] is the first of my personal kickstarters and I have two others waiting on this one to fund. The next one is an anthology style comic book called Coyote Sisters that should be great fun pulling together some new and established writers. Next up, well, probably it will be a horror comic called Mother of Frogs and this will be all mine!
EGG: Thanks for talking with me. For fans that want to learn more about your work, where can they follow you?
ANDREW: I’m not much on the social media side of the house, but I do have a new publisher account with DriveThruRPG and Facebook under Andrew J Lucas [and New Bristol (updated link)].
New Bristol: A Campaign Setting for your Supers TTRPG SWADE from Charon Productions
End Date: Thu, September 24 2020 11:25 PM EDT.
“A complete city for your Superhero campaign. Complete with a full adventure for Savage Worlds TTRPG.”
New Bristol: A campaign setting for your Supers RPG from Charon Productions
End Date: Thu, November 26 2020 3:45 PM EST.
“New Bristol a campaign setting and adventure for your Superheroes RPG. Compatible with Savage Worlds and Endless Realms.”
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