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| The man, the myth, the legend that is, David Bowie |
[No, that wasn't a typo. I'm paraphrasing one of the Bowie's song titles.]
I watch a lot of Youtube. I don't know if it's because I've a terribly short attention-span at the moment, but I do enjoy watching those talented crafters like Studson, Nerdforge, Bill Making Stuff and Dan Does. My wife watches all the videos about painting and art, and frequently I get videos appear in my recommendations about creativity. Inevitable I guess.
One appeared on my feed recently by someone called Creative Codex, and it was about pursuing ambitious projects. The thumbnail used an image of that great combo of Davids - David Bowie and David Lynch. Of course, I had to watch...
"If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting."
- David Bowie
And there was also the rest the video, where it discusses ambitious projects and some creators immersing themselves in a passion project that takes years to complete. It really got me thinking about these passion projects (hence the name of the post) and those times when I got completely and utterly absorbed in a project. When you'd need to keep a notebook close to the bed for those thoughts that surface just as you're falling asleep, or in your pocket for long journeys and your mind wanders and reveals a solution to one of your creative roadblocks.
It got me thinking of times when I was completely immersed in a project that it completely took over everything I was doing.
Drowning in Darkness
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| Cover for second printing of Drowning in Darkness |
Many years ago, we're talking mid-late 80's here, I wanted to write and draw comics. A friend of mine, Pete, decided to start publishing comics under the "Swampland" name, and my first comic, Drowning in Darkness completely consumed my life. It was a small, 32-page A4, comic. Sold a few copies. One comic review magazine called me the "Goth Hergé" which I was really chuffed with. It was a pretty basic story of an ex-government agent turned vigilante taking on vampires. Madness, I know, but I enjoyed it.
Pete wrote a massive sequel called Mirrors of Darkness that I started drawing and inking, but it kinda fizzled out about page 80-something. I also did the usual thing that creatives do, which was to go back and start re-making Drowning in Darkness with new art and an extended storyline. Never finished that one... I still have it all somewhere, though it's probably an embarrassing read.
Ghostbusters: 'Spooky Science' and 'Back to Transylvania'
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| Very old illustration I did of me typing Ghostbusters adventures. |
My two great passions in the late 80s were comics and roleplaying games, and after discovering the Ghostbusters Roleplaying Game by West End Games, I really wanted to write RPGs. More than that, I really wanted to write for the Ghostbusters RPG. This is back before the internet, so this involved writing a letter to West End Games (including 'international reply coupons' to cover return postage from the States to the UK), and waiting months.
First it was a letter to see if they'd look at some stuff, and get the Release Form which allowed them to look at it without any legal problems (in case they were working on something similar already), and their writers guidelines. Then, days upon days sat over an electric typewriter drafting an adventure for Ghostbusters.
They weren't great, and their movie-parody style was a little too close to some other major franchises, but the encouraging letter I got back from West End Games gave me the drive to keep going. I spent every spare moment writing those adventures, even doing stupid illustrations for them that they'd never be able to use.
Missing
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| Covers for Issues 1, 4, and 2 of Missing |
After going off to art school (sorry, University), my desire to write and draw comics was bubbling to the surface. Inspired by Twin Peaks, I became totally immersed in the world of Missing. Planned as a multi arc story over around 90 issues, it featured a wide cast of weird characters thrown together at a hotel on the border between Scotland and England, after England had become a US State, and after global warming had raised the water levels.
There were multiple plots crossing over, featuring the kidnapping of the President's daughter, a bunch of 'Neuromatics' - surfing highwaymen who were holding up traffic heading for the border. There was murder, betrayal, intrigue, scandal, and more. It was even funded by the Prince's Youth Business Trust. My mind was filled with plot lines, characters, and plans for the future... but after I lost distribution after four issues due to low orders, I shelved the whole thing and haven't gone back to it. I have one complete set, but looking at it now I feel myself cringe a bit. Definitely a product of its time.
Conspiracy X 2.0
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| Promotional image for Conspiracy X 2.0 |
After Missing went... well... missing... I was at a bit of a loss. I started thinking about my next big comic venture which was a post-apocalyptic comic of religion and divine-like alien beings influencing a strange cathedral... but it never went anywhere. I just kept reworking it over and over again.
However, I'd continued roleplaying, and got talking to the lovely folk at Eden Studios (initially about a potential Conspiracy X comic) after a friend of mine told me I needed to read the Conspiracy X RPG, knowing I was a massive fan of The X-Files. I ended up helping with a number of their games like Terra Primate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Conspiracy X was amazing, but it frustrated me that it wasn't the same game system as the other games produced by Eden that I'd worked on.
I put together a pitch and met with George while he was in the UK at one of the last UK GenCon conventions to convince him to let me convert Conspiracy X to a new edition using Unisystem.
The week after I signed the contract for four books which would adapt and convert most of the existing content into new concise volumes, my father died. I did the slightly unhealthy thing where I squirrelled myself away into our tiny office room, and buried myself deep in the world of Conspiracy X. I contacted American government agencies to ensure everything was up to date after the restructuring with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Pulling in previously unpublished material, I was left to just get on with it and piece together a brand new edition of the game. With the amazing editorial skills of Alex Jurkat, the core rulebook finally came out... and many years later, the remaining three books were released after successful Kickstarter campaigns.
I may have gone a bit deep on that one, but not only did it produce a game I still love, but it helped during a particularly tough time. Unfortunately, one of the stretch goals for the fourth book (the Conspiracies Sourcebook) was to ensure development of the 'sequel' game called Extinction. Set after the Saurian aliens had returned to Earth and decimated the population, it was announced just as I'd lost my mother - rather depressing bookends for my Conspiracy X career - and I just wasn't in the headspace to work on a title that involved so much death and destruction. I'd hoped that someone would take over on Extinction, but I think the Conspiracies Sourcebook was the final Eden Studios release for the time being.
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
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| Cover of the first edition of Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG |
After Conspiracy X 2.0 was handed in (before the Kickstarters for the remaining books), I started talking to Chris Birch, Angus Abranson, and Dominic McDowall about how a good license could bring in a new generation of gamers. One thing lead to another, and we were pitching to the BBC for Doctor Who. Thanks to my day-job working in a bookstore with a Dalek, I'd been excited to see the series return in 2005, and by that two-part finale I knew that a Doctor Who RPG would be amazing.
Once we had the license secured, I was in the strange position where I was kinda left to it. I recruited a few other writers I knew to help with adventures and some of the sections, but once again I immersed myself in the world(s) and trying to get the game to echo the feel of the series as much as possible. It was kinda weird... a few rounds of massive playtests, feedback incorporated, and then the text went off to Dom and Angus... and then it miraculously appeared in my inbox. A cool boxed set, multiple books, dice, cards. It felt amazing to see something go from pitch to product and hit the shelves.
WILD: Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming
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| Cover for WILD |
With Doctor Who handed in, I worked on a few of the supplements before it became too big a beast (and an award winning beast at that) and Cubicle 7 grew to accommodate it. I was still working in my little retail job, but came out of the cinema after seeing Inception that opening weekend and my mind was buzzing with ideas. It was like someone had hooked up my brain to a Christopher Nolan's creative drive, and I just had to do something. And thus, WILD was born - Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming, an RPG of dreamshare technology. That was 2010. Ten years later, Stoo told me to stop messing about and to actually get something finished for WILD, so that he could run a Kickstarter for it.
Stoo was a legend, sorting the printing, commissioning the awesome cover art (above) by Qissus, and the Tarot art by Gareth Sleightholme who I've known longer than I'd like to admit to. Stoo ran the Kickstarter, fulfilled the shipments - let's face it, without Stoo chivvying me and getting the publishing side organised, WILD would never exist.
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You know what all of these projects had in common (besides me), was that they were a cool challenge, and maybe a little over my head. But I had the love for the story or property that I wanted to see it through.
At the moment, I'm just feeling burned out and unmotivated. I want to feel that drive, that passion (beep beep), that desire to completely immerse myself in something that it infiltrates my idle mind, sparking ideas. I miss that. Right now, my mind is like it's tuned to a dead channel and the white noise is drowning everything else out.
Soon, though... soon.
I'll finish with another of Bowie's quotes from that interview:
"Never play to the gallery… Always remember that the reason that you initially started working is that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you coexist with the rest of society. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations — they generally produce their worst work when they do that."
- David Bowie
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