Forgotten Futures News

Real soon now...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:19:10 GMT

A brief update - due to various factors beyond my control Forgotten Futures X is running a little late, but I hope to have it finished in the next few days, and sent out to registered users as soon as I have final approval from Jo Walton and can finish assembling the contents of the distribution CD. This is later than I'd hoped, but I think that when it eventually happens people will think it was worth the wait. Many thanks to everyone for their patience.

I'm pleased to say that there will be a new paperback edition of Tooth and Claw in January next year, and that the distribution disk will include the first few chapters of an unfinished sequel, Those Who Favor Fire

Shareware License and Distribution of Modified Rules

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:58:56 GMT

I've had to expand and clarify the terms of use for the Forgotten Futures RPG material, and add a little legalese. This shouldn't affect anyone who is doing anything remotely normal with the game, and hopefully will clear up any areas of confusion.

Shareware License and Distribution of Modified Rules

Some confusion has recently arisen over permitted use of the Forgotten Futures rules, and in particular of edited versions adapted by others for their own purposes. Briefly, Forgotten Futures is covered by all national and international copyright laws. To protect its copyright and avoid unnecessary confusion there must be certain restrictions on its use.

In everything that follows the terms “publish” and “distribute” include putting files onto web sites, posting material to newsgroups, bulletin boards, communities, or publication in print or on disk etc., regardless of whether this is done free of charge or for profit.

Shareware license terms: you may copy the files as they were originally released and distribute them as you like, provided that no charge is made and that all information needed to register the game etc. is included. If possible link back to my sites, rather than moving this material to your own site, in case it becomes necessary for me to make corrections after I have put this material on line.

In legal terms, these documents are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works License, with the following exceptions:

If for any reason you want edit the files for your own purposes (e.g. to add house rules, change rules mechanisms you dislike, or use them with a completely different game system) you may do so for your own personal use, provided that the changes are not put on line or distributed generally. This means, for example, that you may edit a version of the rules for the purposes of a game you run for your own friends, and give them copies of the revised rules, but may not distribute the modified files to the general public. In an on-line context any revised versions of the rules and background material etc. must be distributed by email rather than kept on a web site, or otherwise made inaccessible to non-participants. You must make it clear that the files are not as originally published, acknowledge the author’s copyright, and include links back to the “official” versions.
If you want to publish articles about the rules or settings, or describing variant rules etc. for wider distribution, you may do so; however, such articles should be limited to a description of your own work and the changes you have made. Write up a summary of your modifications only; do not publish modified versions of the entire rules set, or any sizeable part of them.
The printed versions of the rules and other gaming material formerly published by Heliograph Inc. were not released as shareware, differ in some respects from the versions published on line, and are not covered by these terms; you may not copy them.

For details of the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works License see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode

FF X approaching

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:32:22 GMT

I haven't quite completed Forgotten Futures X, but I think it's probably a matter of a couple of weeks until I finish the writing, and maybe 2-3 weeks after that for final proofreading, approval from Jo Walton (who wrote Tooth and Claw, on which FF X is based), and putting together a distribution disk and revised FF CD-ROM.

Hopefully this means that the distribution disks will be sent out in early May, and the new FF CD-ROM will be available from then onwards, with the files going on line in June. But I can't give precise dates.

As of today, if you order the FF CD-ROM or register I will contact you before processing the order and suggest holding off until the new release is available. If you want the current version anyway please make a note when you register, via PayPal or in your letter.

If you have moved since registering please make sure that I have an up-to-date address!

An Unusual Use for the Forgotten Futures CD-ROM, and Addresses

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:32:44 GMT

It's nice to know that the material on the Forgotten Futures CDs is useful, but here's a use I never anticipated, from an email I received a couple of days ago:

I thought you might like to know that I'm making good use of some of the artwork on the FF disk. I'm a forensic scientist by trade & on Saturday am delivering a training session on DNA & blood stain pattern analysis to a bunch of barristers. I was on the look-out for some not-too-nasty pictures of people thumping each other & decided upon some of the public domain pics from your disk. I also couldn't resist finishing off with a few pictures from the "Self Defence With A Bicycle" article. (I haven't yet had a case involving someone assaulted with a bicycle, but if any of those barristers ever do have such a case, they'll know who to contact!)

Now I have a mental image of someone from CSI looking at these pictures and trying to work out where the blood spatter would go...

In other news, development of Forgotten Futures X is coming along very fast and I hope to be able to send out disks early next year. If anyone has changed their address since registering, or is planning to do so in the next 2-3 months, it would be a VERY good idea to let me know the details as soon as possible.

Dragonmeet Scenarios

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:28:22 GMT

Here are the scenarios I'll be running at Dragonmeet.

Forgotten Futures X: The Tooth and Claw Role Playing Game
First preview of the new Forgotten Futures setting!
The Crimson Claw Assurance Company

When Yarge pirates start to target merchant ships flying Tiamath's flag of convenience things show signs of going a little pear-shaped for the country's oldest insurance company. Fortunately the Management knows just the right people to handle the problem...

2-3 hours, 3-6 players, the adventurers are dragons.

Forgotten Futures X: The Tooth and Claw Role Playing Game
First preview of the new Forgotten Futures setting!
Masters of the Mutoscope

While on their Grand Tour in foreign parts a group of bored young dragons are approached by a Yarge (human) with an odd proposition; starring roles in an exciting new form of entertainment. It will only take a few days, and the money seems quite good. What could possibly go wrong?

2-3 hours, 3-6 players, the adventurers are dragons.

Forgotten Futures X

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:36:29 GMT

About a year ago I said that Forgotten Futures X would be called Curious Clubs, and would be based on the adventures of Victorian clubland heroes. And then, unfortunately, I found that try as I might I wasn't able to work up much enthusiasm for the project, and accomplished very little. A few weeks ago I looked through what I'd written and decided that I was wasting my time - it just wasn't working. So I've put it on indefinite hold and have been looking for another subject.

Fortunately I mentioned this to exactly the right person - World Fantasy Award winning novelist Jo Walton - who suggested that I might possibly like to convert her award-winning novel to an RPG. Step forward FF X: The Tooth and Claw RPG, which I hope to have ready early next year. It's a novel about life, love, manners, inheritance, and lawsuits in a world where the war between humans and dragons ended in a draw, and dragons now live in something a lot like Victorian society (apart from the odd bit of slavery and cannibalism). I won't be able to include the novel, but while it isn't currently in print it's readily available and a wonderful read. There should be a paperback publication some time soon.

So far I'm still writing up the world, but the main things I expect to include are

A rewrite of the game rules for dragon player characters. BODY and combat damage will be going WAY off the usual scales for this one...
Lots of dragon-specific skills appropriate to the setting and the character's age, sex, etc. (e.g., since most male dragons have huge claws females are generally the only ones who can write, huge males are generally the most likely to have flame, etc.)
A lot of stuff on dragon society and religious and social heirarchies.
Appropriate character traits (e.g. "Secret - ate his brother as a hatchling"; "Scarlet woman" [female dragons turn red after their first sexual arousal; if this does not lead to marriage there's a lot of social stigma], "Insanely litigeous," and so forth).
Dragon technology, arts, etc.

Also the usual adventures and adventure outlines etc.

If all goes well I hope to release it simultaneously in HTML and PDF versions early next year, and will release the next version of the FF CD-ROM at the same time.

The first chapter of the novel (and some other material about the book) are on line here:
http://www.zorinth.net/bluejo/books/dragon/dindex.htm

Apologies for anyone who was really looking forward to the club book - it just wasn't working, and I don't think it would have been very good if I'd persevered. I'm feeling a LOT more enthusiasm for the dragons, and I think the RPG will be worth the wait.

Forgottenfutures.com down

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:38:19 GMT

Forgottenfutures.com, which hosts most of my files, has been down for the last couple of days, cause unknown but believed to be a server problem since hosting fees and domain registration are up to date. Annoyingly it's hanging rather than giving an error message. Many of the files accessed from forgottenfutures.co.uk are actually housed on forgottenfutures.com, so until this is fixed I can only apologise profusely.

Later I've received an explanation; apparently a spammer has somehow used my site to send emails, so many that the account was temporarily suspended. I have no idea how this happened, but hopefully the hosting company will be able to stop it.

I hope that nobody reading this has been affected, apologies if they have.

Summer Convention Schedule and Praise for Forgotten Futures

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:30:37 GMT

I will be at the following British games conventions over the summer holiday:

Recombination, a university games con (also filk con and SF convention) in Cambridge over the weekend of 10th-12th August. New Hall conventions are always fun and the food and accomodation at the site have improved immensely over the last few years. This one looks like it'll be pretty good.

Gencon UK which is now at Reading University 30th August - 2nd September. Unfortunately I can't make the first two days of the con, I'm working, but I'll be there from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon.

I'll be running Forgotten Futures, Flatland, and Dianaverse games, not sure what at the moment. It doesn't seem likely that I'll be launching anything new at these cons, but I ought to have disks and other material on sale for charity if the organisers don't object.

In other news I got a very nice message a couple of weeks ago, from someone who found the George Griffith books on my site. Comments like the following (quoted with permission, and behind the link because it's long) do a lot to make this project feel worthwhile:

I first read Angel of the Revolution as a 12 year old after buying the book at a boy scout's jumble sale for a penny in 1961. I remember it was a thick book, with wondeful drawings in it and published in 1894. I was quite fascinated by the story. I loaned it to a teacher at school in 1962 who was promptly never seen again! So I lost the book

I have always kept an eye out for the book and have never been successful in coming across a copy, or learning anything about the author except for brief mentions in histories of science fiction.

A few years ago I looked in Alibris and discovered a chap in the USA who had a copy of the book for $7.50 and promptly bought it. I was a bit disappointed at the slim volume, reprinted in 1907 and without illustrations but fascinated to reread the story some 45 years after I had first read it.

Recently I Googled the author and his book to discover that the book and its sequel and other stories had been put on the web to read. And also a great deal of information on the author too.

I have enjoyed reading the stories and the information immensely.

I thank you for this

Mistaken identity

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:50:43 GMT

I've just received an email congratulating me for my work on "Hot Fuzz" - yet another triumph for Marcus Rowland, production director of Shaun of the Dead, Spaced, etc., who is alas not me.

Not the first time this has happened - I got an odd call once inviting me to do lunch, and didn't realise until months later (when I'd lost the address) what it was about - I hope that he didn't lose work as a result. But for the record, I don't have anything to do with the film industry, and as far as I know he isn't involved in the RPG hobby.

Forgotten Futures & Flatland Charity Update

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:44:51 GMT

I've donated another £100 to Cancer Research UK today, taking the total raised from Forgotten Futures and associated projects to £1778. This is as usual a Gift Aid donation, which means that the government adds another 20% or so to the amount donated.

A few days ago I donated another £50, the latest royalties I've received for The Original Flatland Role Playing Game, to Doctors Without Borders. This takes the total donated so far to £100, again supplemented by Gift Aid.

As usual, many thanks to everyone who has bought games, registered, etc. and helped to support these charities - it's greatly appreciated.

UK Site Archived

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:48:10 GMT

The forgottenfutures.co.uk web site is now archived by the UK Web Archive Consortium, run by the British Library and some other major institutions - basically, they are archiving a "snapshot" of the site every so often, most recently on December 1st 2006, for the benefit of... well, it's archived as art and literature, so presumably people interested in the Victorian and Edwardian material on the site. A direct link to the archive is here, but at the moment the only difference from the current page is that the news section isn't up to date.

D'Ordel's Pantechnicon

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:05:09 GMT

I've added another Edwardian book to the site: D'Ordel's Pantechnicon is a wonderful satire on the Victorian and Edwardian magazines used as a source for Forgotten Futures - it includes rules for creating your own, a sample magazine, and more, and explains a LOT about illustrated magazines of the period.

Christmas Card On-Line

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:06:30 GMT

This Christmas I've decided to go with a classic theme expressing the true sentiment of the season...

You probably need to open the link in a separate tab or window to see the full sized image.

Dragonmeet - December 2nd 2006

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 14:04:49 GMT

Here are details of the games I'll be running at Dragonmeet at the weekend - I hope I'll see some of you there.

SCENARIO TITLE: Charlie's Angles
System: Forgotten Futures AND The Original Flatland Role Playing Game
Time: 10.30-1.30 approx.
Genre: Victorian weirdness
GM: Marcus L. Rowland
Players: 3-6
Venue: Lobby
Description: When eminent mathematicians start to disappear, the League of Extraordinary Geometers calls for the help of a few adventurers with unusual talents, for a mission into another universe with strange properties. But can anything really prepare anyone for an encounter with the chaos of the third dimension? Ready-made characters, 2-3 hours.

SCENARIO TITLE: How I Spent My Summer Vacation
System: Diana, Warrior Princess
Time: 2.30-5pm approx
Genre: Humour
GM: Marcus Rowland
Players: 3-6
Venue: Lobby
Description: Even adventurers need time off occasionally, but it's odd that so many seem to have chosen to take a break in the same resort. Coincidence? A vast conspiracy? Coincidence AND a vast conspiracy? Or just a travel agent without much imagination? Whatever the reason, there's trouble ahead... Ready-made characters, 2-3 hours.

First Flatland Donation

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 15:23:19 GMT

I got a royalties cheque from e23 yesterday which included my first payments for The Original Flatland Role Playing Game - I can't pay it in for a few days, but it seemed time to make my first donation to Doctors Without Borders. As near as I can figure it out my take so far is about 48 pounds, give or take a pound, so I've given the charity fifty pounds which with tax benefits will come out at about sixty going to the charity. Of course I'd like it to be more next time...

So if you haven't bought it yet, please take a look - and if you have, please give it a rating!

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=ROW003

Forgotten Futures Rules PDF

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 20:29:17 GMT

I've been working on a PDF version of the expanded Forgotten Futures rulebook that went on line last year. It's 110 pages and will be a free download as always.

I hope that it's now complete, but I'd be grateful if as many people as possible could take a look and let me know if there are any problems. The address is

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/rules/ffutures.pdf

File size is 2.25 mb.

Update 26th August: a few minor changes have been made, and it's now also available from
http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=ROW004
and
http://www.lovecraftiana.com/product_info.php?products_id=147
Free on all of these sites, of course.

Forgotten Futures X Update

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 11:46:37 GMT

Due to continued problems with the estate of the late Thorne Smith, which have caused extensive delays without any signs of reaching an agreement, I have decided to postpone my plans to write a game based on his comic fantasies. The books (which are out of copyright in the UK and Europe) will remain on line here.

Instead Forgotten Futures X will be Curious Clubs: Adventures in the World of Victorian and Edwardian Clubland Heroes. Source material so far includes The Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson, The House-Boat on the Styx and The Pursuit of the House-Boat by John Kendrick Bangs, and The Club of Queer Trades and Tales of the Long Bow by G. K. Chesterton. I hope to add more.

Because Chesterton's UK copyright expires at the end of this year the earliest date for release will be January 2007 - my guess is that an Easter launch is more likely.

My apologies to all registered users; I hope that when I finally launch FF X you will think it was worth the wait.

The Original Flatland Role Playing Game

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 20:52:21 GMT

The Original Flatland Role Playing Game is now available as a PDF from e23

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=ROW003

Price $6.99

Imagine a world of two dimensions and plane geometry, in which the very idea of height is considered insanity and the darkest heresy. Where the only thing that matters is the straightness of your sides and the regularity of your angles. Where the slightest deviation from the norm can lead to arrest, imprisonment, execution (and consumption by your peers) or a lingering death by starvation.

Welcome to Flatland. Enjoy your stay . . .

The Original Flatland Role Playing Game includes complete rules for a setting where characters are supposed to be two dimensional, with three adventures and four adventure outlines, a Flatland wargame by Matthew Hartley (Tusk, Aeronef, etc.), full-colour cut out character figures, extensive background material, and much more. Best of all, by buying it you're supporting charity: All of the author's income from this game will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)!

Elvis: The Legendary Tours

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:29:21 GMT

I'm very pleased to announce that Elvis: The Legendary Tours, the first Diana: Warrior Princess supplement, is now available as a download from e23. It's a 55-page PDF (a 2.5 MB download) priced at $3.99, there's a preview download (about 450k) on the same page.

Meanwhile The Original Flatland Role Playing Game, the expanded RPG based on Edwin Abbott's classic book, is coming along very well - it's going to include three adventures and four adventure outlines, colour illustrations on nearly every page, 1:4 scale cutout figures (well, yes, they're flat, but since it's a 2D world they're supposed to be two-dimensional), a simple wargame by Matthew Hartley (Tusk etc.), and the full text and illustrations of the original book. I hope to have it finished by the end of the month and launch it some time in July, with all of my proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. More on this when it's available.

The Original Flatland Role Playing Game

Sat, 20 May 2006 23:17:34 GMT

While Elvis: The Legendary Tours is being checked I've been working on another project.

Shortly after the 2004 Xmas tsunami game writers were asked to contribute to a scenario anthology, which was to be sold in aid of tsunami charities. My contribution to this project was a short generic adventure based on the Flatland RPG that has been part of the Forgotten Futures CD-ROM for the last few years.

For various reasons the anthology never appeared. Since I still wanted to do something for these charities I decided to rewrite the Flatland RPG, adding the new scenario, some scenario outlines, new articles, extensive colour artwork (including three pages of cutout flat figures), an appendix covering the science of the setting, etc. It's coming along VERY well - I'm currently working on the last section of the book - and will end up as a 30 or so page PDF, which will probably be sold via Steve Jackson Games' E23 electronic publishing operation, and possibly directly from me on CD-ROM. All of my income from this game will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), a charity that is usually in the front lines of most international aid operations, and will undoubtedly spearhead rescue work in any future disaster of this type.

Because I want to encourage people to buy the PDF and support charity I won't be putting the new material on line or adding it to the version of the Flatland RPG on the Forgotten Futures CD-ROM.

Here are some examples of the artwork for the new release:
Natives of Flatland
Soldiers Lieutenant Sharp and Sergeant S'Harper and their faithful native servant Gunga Thin
Crime boss 'Scarside' Al Gebra
All of these are work in progress and I can't guarantee that they will appear exactly as shown.

More on this, on Elvis, and on the next Forgotten Futures release as things develop.

Charity Update

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 23:57:50 GMT

I've today donated another £110.00 to Cancer Research UK, representing donations from purchasers of Forgotten Futures CDs, of various books at games cons, and some additional money I'm paying in lieu of artists fees for Elvis: The Legendary Tours, the forthcoming Diana: Warrior Princess supplement.

Since this was paid as a Gift Aid donation of money which has already been taxed it'll actually give the charity considerably more - I think about £143 if I understand the system properly.

This takes the total raised and passed on to the charity and its predecessors to £1678, excluding Gift Aid, with £0.25 remaining in the kitty - I'll make the next donation when I've another hundred pounds or so in hand.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped by buying from me, and to the organisers of Dragonmeet and other cons for letting me raise money this way.

Season's Greetings!

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 21:57:20 GMT

My online Xmas card this year is a genuine 1900 ad, just edited a little...
Merry whatever!

Guesses at Futurity

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 16:31:50 GMT

Since the last release of the FF CD-ROM I've found two more of the "Guesses at Futurity" illustrations that were published in the Pall Mall Magazine. They're the last two (I think) of the series; the first is by Fred T. Jane like the others, the second by Francis Masey, who seems to be rather more obscure but I suspect is a South African architectural artist active around the right period.

These are 150 DPI scans reduced to 75 DPI, about 300k each, so watch out if you're using a slow connection! If you're reading this as the framed feed on my web page you're strongly advised to open it in a new page.

They'll be included at full size on the next release of the FF CD-ROM, of course.

I'm still missing pictures 4-6 and only have a poor copy of 7; all of these would have been in volume 5 of the Pall Mall Magazine, January-April 1895, so if anyone sees this on sale anywhere please let me know.

Curse of the Conqueror

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 01:11:13 GMT

My old Dr. Who adventure "Curse of The Conqueror", for Virgin's Time Lord RPG, used to be on line somewhere but has now vanished. Since people still seem to like playing Dr. Who characters I've put it onto my own site:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/forgottenfutures/album/conqueror.htm

Warning - this was written in 1992 and a lot has changed in the Dr. Who universe since then. I'm not going to try to revise it.

Daily Illuminator, payment methods.

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:22:32 GMT

Steve Jackson Games' Daily Illuminator feed recently mentioned Forgotten Futures, which prompted me to check both sites for problems. One thing I've noticed is that some of the links for registering the game point to postal registration forms, which ask for pound or dollar cheques. In fact the preferred method for everyone outside the UK is now on-line registration via PayPal. If you're in the UK I still prefer payment by cheque, since I make more money that way, but I won't complain if you use PayPal.

I hope to get this aspect of the sites updated eventually, but it may have to wait a while - I'd prefer to leave it until I can spare the time for a major re-design of the site, which won't be soon.