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by M. J. Young

In re:  C. J. Henderson:  The Things That Are Not There

December 6, 2009 in Reviews

My wife recently commented upon seeing me with yet another of C. J. Henderson’s Teddy London books that they all have really good titles.  I, who have always struggled with titles, had to admit that she was right.  This is an excellent example.  The first of the Teddy London novels is called The Things That Are Not There, and not only is that a really intriguing title in itself, it is an excellent title for this particular story.

Henderson writes in many genres, but prior to the Teddy London stories he was best known for his hard-boiled detective Jack Hagee, the kind of guy we expect Humphrey Bogart to play.  Theodore “Teddy” London might have been a Hagee clone, but that his life took a sharp left turn one day when his office was completely destroyed by a freak storm and sweet young Lisa Hutchinson came into the midst of the soggy mess looking for someone who might help her.  She believed that she was being followed, but she was not certain whether she could answer the question of who was following her, because of that awkward pronoun who.  As London is trying to piece together what this twenty-something runaway from the Canadian border hiding in Manhattan is trying to tell him, suddenly something falls through the temporary plastic sheets loosely taped over the open smashed window frame of the office, and London is in a fight for his life against something that should not even exist, let alone be stalking outside the thirteenth floor window of an office in New York City.

After emptying his gun and losing his knife in the flesh of this monster, he is out of options when the building maintenance supervisor Paul Morcey comes to his rescue wielding a fire axe.  Once cut in two, the winged reptilian humanoid finally stops fighting, and London agrees to take the case, if only to find out what is really happening here.

What is really happening is that a Cthulu-like monster from another dimension has tricked Lisa’s father into sacrificing his daughter to open a path for this fake god to bring about the end of the world.  In the bargain, some of the man’s followers have been transformed into these potent creatures.  But London has to use some detective skills to get that far, finding people who know about supernatural mysteries such as Professor Goward of Columbia University and psychometrist Lai Wan.  Together with a few others London knows they work to stop the end of the all things.

Henderson has said that he tried writing Cthulu horror, but every time he did his characters surprised him by fighting back against the madness and the monsters.  That’s what London and his company do, using everything they have to save the universe.  It is hardly giving away much to say that they succeed–I have, after all, already posted a review of The Sleep that Rescues, so it’s obvious that both Teddy and the universe survive.  That survival is at great cost, as the world takes casualties in the battle, some of them close to London’s heart.

This is the book that hooked me on the London stories.  To my mind, it is still the best of those I have read.  Its hero is human, stumbling into a struggle that draws him into a supernatural world of dream planes and distant dimensions, human monsters and alien forces, all clawing at his sanity.  Its action reaches near apocalyptic levels at the climax.  It is the sort of adventure I’m itching to run in one of my games, but know we could never do it justice.  Henderson has quite a book here.

There is some vulgarity, although considerably less than in the hard-boiled detective genre generally.  Christianity takes some hard knocks.  The chief human villain is a deluded country preacher expecting the second coming of Christ, and the Roman Catholic cleric to whom London goes for help falls apart when faced with the notion that secrets he read in dark books might be happening.  The truth behind the universe turns out to be a New Age hash of multiple dimension physics and psionic abilities.  Professor Goward regards Christianity and Judaism as faiths that misunderstand the stories in their own scriptures, seeing Solomon as one of several past deliverers who used powers available to them to prevent this same invasion millennia before.  That does not detract from the power of the storytelling nor the feeling that the supernatural is real, even if the explanations and impressions of that supernatural owe more to Lovecraft than to history or reality.  It is worth reading, particularly if like me you find Lovecraft a bit dull and implausible and enjoy a good action film.

The older London books were originally published under the nom de plume Robert Morgan, because the original publisher thought readers would be confused by the strong differences between the Hagee stories and the London stories.  They are now being re-released under Henderson’s name, and are available through his web site.

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by M. J. Young

In Re:  The Sleep That Rescues

October 28, 2009 in Reviews

I have over the past year or so reviewed a couple of C. J. Henderson’s books, mentioning that I know him through sharing panels at Ubercon.  I have also mentioned my fondness for the Teddy London stories.  The Things That Are Not There is still the best answer to Lovecraft I have encountered.  The sequel, The Stench of Fresh Air, was also excellent, with an innovative take on the concept of vampirism and a significant development of the characters, and particularly the hero.  Knowing that there were additional books in the series which had gone out of print but were slated to be republished, I occasionally nagged him about when the next would become available.

Whether for my nagging, or for my complimentary reviews of Lai Wan:  Tales of the Dreamwalker and To Battle Beyond, I have been rewarded.  Henderson has penned a new London story under the title The Sleep that Rescues to insert between The Stench of Fresh Air and whatever was the original third tale in the series, and while his publisher struggled to bring the book to print he favored me with a preview, an opportunity to read in draft form that for which his fans are eagerly waiting.  I promised in turn to have this review ready by the time the book went to print, which was an easy enough promise to keep, as the book is another page-turner which kept calling me back to learn what would happen next.  Not only did I finish reading the draft and writing this review in plenty of time, I also had time to go back and re-read the two previous entries in the series, and to drop him a note about this review, and to wait for him to greenlight the posting.

Drafts being drafts, they usually have errors in them; that’s the point of sending drafts to editors, and although that was not the point of sending a copy to me I did drop him a note with the few problems I would have corrected.  I say few, and indeed, these were surprisingly few.  I have read published books which were less well edited than this draft, and I expect whoever is doing the real editing will have caught the same few typos as I.  Even if not, the craft in Henderson’s art is quite good.

I also feel compelled to mention that some of my readers might be disturbed particularly by the opening chapters here.  It took me a while to find exactly the right word to describe what is not only several key scenes but also an undercurrent through several others.  That word is erotic.  It is not pornographic, and indeed there is no literal sex in this book (there was such an encounter in the early sections of The Stench of Fresh Air)–hugs and kisses the limit in the real world.  However, the events that connect to an out-of-control emotional relationship spill into the dream plain, and although again there is no sex, the combination of nudity and intimacy would gain the story an R rating were it rendered to a movie screen.  For those who find such eroticism discomforting, I should say first that once it reaches its early peak it remains subdued thereafter, even mostly evaporating as the story unfolds, and second that it becomes a necessary aspect of the story, not only for its impact on London’s relationship with the ever-faithful and supportive Lisa Hutchinson but also for the ultimate resolution of the primary story.

The antagonist is another Lovecraftian horror from another dimension, a monster trying to fight its way into our world to enslave and devour the entire universe starting with humanity, this time via the dream plane.  Yet Henderson again surprises.  It is not cultists who are unlocking the doors to admit the horror, but a scientist, an engineering researcher in a video game development company who thinks he has taken the next step in total immersion gaming but whose test subjects keep dying.  The police are baffled, but being made aware of London’s involvement in fighting the inexplicable, they involve him in finding the cause of death of a large number of mostly young men whose comas baffle the medical establishment.

Those familiar with London will be pleased to see the usual cast of characters.  In addition to unconsummated love interest Lisa Hutchinson (whom he rescued from the horror from another dimension for which her father intended her as sacrifice), we have the faithful sidekick Paul Morcey (former maintenance man who saved London in his first encounter with the inconceivable); psychometrist Lai Wan (whose very tense relationship with London balances her realizations that he usually causes her and everyone else a great deal of trouble against that he does it incidental to saving the universe); Professor Goward (expert in ancient beliefs about the supernatural); and Pa’sha (powerful Jamaican mercenary whose team of Murder Dogs are always ready to destroy anything that needs destroying).  New characters also find important roles here, including the Pirate Queen, Joan de Molina, an international cat burglar who gets entangled quite by accident but stays to complicate London’s life.  Captain Cantalupo also debuts in this book, although he has appeared in connection with Lai Wan in previously-published later stories.

The hero’s abilities are expanding.  This at first unsettled me.  In the beginning of the series, London was very much an ordinary private investigator sucked into an extraordinary case, and he was forced to rely on mostly ordinary people to assist him.  However, his brushes with the supernatural have impacted him, giving him power and helping him realize how to use it.  This began in The Things That Are Not There with the discovery that having been attacked on the dream plane he could track his enemy there.  It continued in The Stench of Fresh Air, as he realized he could sense and know things he could not before, and that the millions who were now dead at his hand (collateral damage in the salvation of the universe in the first book) could speak to him.  He does not hear them now, but he has begun learning how to control his use of the dream plane, similarly to but not the same as Lai Wan.  His efforts create trouble for him more than once, as he is still a novice, but gradually he improves.  It should not surprise that someone who brushes against the supernatural as frequently as he does will start to understand it and even to integrate his own efforts into it.  In this connection, he also introduces Paul Morcey to the use of the dream plane, so we might see more supernatural accomplishments from him in the future.

It is not just that this is a great adventure, though.  Henderson crafts his words well.  Quite a few times I was taken by a particular turn of a phrase, a way of saying something that was both clever and clear.  I was tempted to steal some of these; better, then, that you should encounter them in the text itself, and enjoy them for yourself.  The only thing worse than a movie trailer which gives away the best parts is one that gives away the story; let this review not do so, but instead alert you to the fact that there are some excellent lines you may wish to steal yourself, tucked into a story well worth reading if you enjoy stories of Lovecraftian horrors being resisted and repelled by human efforts.

What will be most interesting for me to see as a writer will be how well this story integrates in this space before the next one.  Morcey is just one example of people and things changing in significant ways.  The relationships London has Lai Wan and Lisa Hutchinson have advanced.  Henderson has here written a piece that should fit between two existing pieces; to know how well he has accomplished that, I will have to await a copy of the next story.

On the other hand, he has again written an excellent adventure, in which unimaginable horrors meet determined humans, and the humans manage to pull through as the winners.  If for some reason you have not had the pleasure of reading The Things That Are Not There and The Stench of Fresh Air, this book stands well on its own, adequately providing the pieces needed to understand the histories of its characters.  I continue to enjoy this series, and to look forward to future entries.

Henderson’s work can be found wherever he manages to make an appearance; I hope to pick up a copy of the now published version of the story when I see him at Ubercon XII.  For those unable to catch him in person, The London Agency Official Home Page is his web site, complete with a store in which to find all the books mentioned here.

    At the time this went to publication, the book was not yet listed on the web site store.  Henderson is limiting his attendance at Ubercon this year to Friday night, November 6, 2009; other appearances are usually announced on his web site.

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by M. J. Young

Article Aflame

April 13, 2009 in Blogs

I mentioned a few days back having written an article about creating horror scenarios.  I said I would have to locate the site that had asked me for something.  It proved not to be that difficult–I had flagged the e-mail and kept it in my inbox, from back in August when I received it.  The site, Flames Rising, was apparently pleased to receive it, and got my contribution on the site within hours of my sending of it to them, under the title Multiverser Horror.  The article covers some of the principles I used in developing such scenarios as The Web, Post-Sympathetic Man, and the three worlds in Multiverser Triple Play:  Horror.  There is a system for posting comments there, but of course I’m always willing to discuss my articles from anywhere on the forum here at Gaming Outpost.

Things are still incredibly hectic to the level of insane here, but I’m doing my best to manage them.

–M. J. Young

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by M. J. Young

Incentivized Shift

September 4, 2008 in Blogs

I have just been chastized by someone who is either a complete stranger or a new identity for a recurring “anonymous friend”.  The criticism is that my most recent Blogless Lepolt post has nothing whatever to do with Multiverser, and of course he is correct.  I may have again to rethink what I post here.

Fortunately, my inspiration for posting today is related to Multiverser.  Some of you will recall that as part of my work on the novels, I was creating character sheets based on the primary characters therein.  Judging from the blog posts, it has been entirely too long that those efforts have been sidetracked.  However, recently in the forums I launched one of my players in one of the worlds from the second novel, one which I am preparing for use in the next Multiverser Triple Play–that is, next after the horror one that is currently in the hands of the art director, the space-based worlds.  I was going to run it mostly by the seat of my pants and the notes and writing I’ve done on the world description–but as often happens in Multiverser games, the player’s character did something that changed things significantly.  He prayed another character into his scenario, and that prompted me to shift the plans to involve the story of that other character.  It also meant that I needed detailed information concerning the particular character from the story, including skills and equipment, so that I could put together events well.

Thus I returned my attention to the novels, and particularly to the character sheets.  In so doing, I found I had nearly finished all the data gathering from the first, and was almost ready to start the second.  I pushed forward into the beginning of the second novel, and the first bits of information about the character already involved in play, and hoping that this will facilitate both the ongoing game and the work on the novels.

I should apologize for my absence yesterday, but an explanation would involve details of family matters not at all related to Multiverser, and would thus raise the ire of people on all sides.

–M. J. Young

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by M. J. Young

A Limited Continuation

June 18, 2008 in Blogs

I have been pressured by several people who want to know when the blog will return.  I have wondered that myself.  Can’t you, they ask, write the blog without talking about the people who don’t want their lives made public?  No, I can’t, really, because the blog makes my life public, and they are part of my life.  There’s not much I can do about that.

Well, there is, really–I can stop talking about “my life”.  The point of the Blogless Lepolt, ultimately, is to let you, the Valdron/Multiverser fanbase, know what is happening with forthcoming product.  It is incidentally to let what might be called the Mark Joseph Young fanbase know about my other creative work being produced outside the Valdron/Multiverser stable.  In all this time, it has also been a place for talking about what has been in the way of producing such work, and thus the events and distractions of my personal life.  Part of that was because I was writing this every day, and I wasn’t getting anything done every day (or sometimes even every week), so I had to say something, and I felt I had to explain why there wasn’t any time to get something done every day.  One of the comments noted that this was something of value to him, to have some understanding of the conflicts that prevented me from writing so much.  That, though, is the part that gets personal–and thus the part that has to go.  Similarly, since I’m not going to be explaining why things have not been done, I will no longer be writing the blog daily–there will be posts when there is something to post; it won’t always be much, and it won’t always be very informative, but at least it won’t be about the progress I did not make.

It will also move that last blog post off its prominent position on the front page of this site, which will make me feel a bit better.

All of this suggests that I have something to tell–and indeed I do.  As I have been typing, I have realized that there is more than one thing to tell.

The impetus for resuming is that there is a new page in the Bible Studies section of M. J. Young Net, On Sabbath.  The brief story behind it is pretty much stated on the page as an introduction.  For those curious as to how someone who has always “regarded all days the same” justifies being part of a Seventh Day Baptist church which very clearly “regards one day above another”, there’s some insight into that there.

As I was typing, though, it occurred to me that I did not mention having made progress on the Multiverser Triple Play:  Horror.  I did what I am hoping will be the last text edits (and neither Jim nor John have commented on them, so I’m feeling fairly secure in that hope).  That puts the ball in the court of our art director.  He, however, takes an extended visit to family overseas every summer, so he might not get to the artwork as soon as he would like.

There was a third thing that came to mind while I was typing, and that is that Collision, the band, now has its own MySpace site.  There’s nothing there yet–not even a picture of the band, and no music–but it’s a start.  I had been thinking it was a necessary step, but that I did not have the time to do it and we weren’t really ready for it, when Baxter asked me about it.  He and Brittany have been overseeing it (I’ve not yet even had the chance to log in to the editing page–but I’m not particularly good at maintaining MySpace sites), and it’s progressing.  What do you think–should our lyrics be posted there somewhere, somehow?

Anyway, that’s the situation.  I will post again when I have something to tell.

–M. J. Young

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by M. J. Young

What Have I Done?

April 18, 2008 in Blogs

Sometimes it feels to me as if I have not accomplished much–particularly when I wind up collapsing early, then going on late-night errands, then sleeping well into the next afternoon only to commit to long errands on behalf of others.  However, review of the facts suggests otherwise.

At some time within the last twenty-four hours I finished reading a book I have promised to review.  It was an allegorical science fantasy illustrated novel by a writer I know somewhat personally (never met but have corresponded), whose work I have reviewed before.  I’m not certain when I’ll get to the review, as I’ve a lot on my plate at the moment, but I will get to it.

I also returned my attention to the Multiverser Triple Play:  Horror supplement.  What I did was copy all the notes from the development forum to a document on my hard drive.  I was fighting a headache yesterday which is attributable to the fact that the disruptions of the day prevented me ever from getting a cup of coffee, and so I did not feel up to making all the checks as to what still had to be done with those notes.  However, it’s a step in the right direction, and as things appear now sometime after Ubercon I may be able to make progress on it.

I also provided an extensive response to questions about a developing temporal anomalies analysis of The Last Mimzy, which took probably an hour or so from today’s precious time but will mean a new page on the Temporal Anomalies site which might garner some traffic and interest in turn in the Multiverser books.

I’ve agreed to pick up the girlfriend of one of my sons tonight; he has agreed to help keep the dishes under control all weekend.  If he hasn’t got them under control before nine I guess I’m not going, and I’ll have more time to work, but I am hoping that he is sufficiently motivated by the desire to have her visit that he will get to them in time.

I’m also committed to a Collision concert tomorrow night, sans drums or major amplifiers, at the church coffeehouse.  They do this once or twice a year.  Brittany has a school assignment that requires her to be at another location fairly early, so we’re going to have to ask to be at the beginning of the night, but I think they’ll accommodate us.  Last night’s rehearsal went quite well, thank you, and I’m comfortable with our ability to do these two songs at a performance quality level.

I’m not as confident in my ability to finish everything else that must be done, however, so I’d better get to it.

–M. J. Young

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by M. J. Young

Prime Advances

December 18, 2007 in Blogs

Moments ago I was again reading the draft of Do You Trust Me? and I again spotted a needed correction; in making an edit just before printing, I had deleted one too many words in a string, leaving no sense in the sentence. It was simple enough to replace the missing word, which has been done.

Not yet done is taking a son back to his brother; he went with his mother on a middle-of-the-night shopping trip which short-changed her significantly on sleep (I had told her that I would take the boy shopping today, if necessary, but she felt that he wanted her with him, so that’s what was done). This trip is the more complicated, because one of our houseguests has some furniture that needs to be removed from a previous address, and the brother needs some of that furniture (and actually, we could use some chairs ourselves), so we’ll be organizing this as a truck delivery. This is in turn complicated, because the brakes on the pickup decided to go from leaking slowly to leaking rapidly over the weekend, so I’m going to be taking it into a shop tonight and will be renting a vehicle once again for the effort–Enterprise is even now on its way to get me. But you do what you must.

Finding myself alone last night, I turned my attention back to the temporal anomalies in Primer. I did more writing, in which I resolved a few more of the problems and reached some critical conclusions, but then being too tired to continue I retired to the bedroom, started the movie, and fell asleep in the first ten minutes. I awoke a few hours later, still alone, with the movie playing the menu screen, and restarted it. This time I was asleep before the opening dialogue, and I slept through to the alarm. I can’t say it helped my analysis, but that’s coming along pretty well.

There’s also been some discussion on the first of the Multiverser Triple Play collections, the horror group. My title Slasher Summer Camp is supposed to be a multiple-murder scenario in which no one knows who the killer is until it’s solved; but my crew tell me that if I call it “Slasher” it’s going to require that my villain wear a mask when he kills–and this is problematic, because part of the point is that even when you see the killer and the last victim together, you don’t know which is who unless you solve the mystery. A mask just ruins the whole thing. Of course, I’m thinking of this along the lines of Ten Little Indians, and not being a horror movie fan I’ve never really paid attention to all those nightmares on Halloween. I like the ring of Slasher Summer Camp, but do I really have to change the title to Seven Little Campers or something?

We’re working on resolving it. I’ll let you know if we change the title.

–M. J. Young

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by M. J. Young

The Horror Of It

December 13, 2007 in Blogs

Having collected the input of some of the Valdron staff, I went back into the three worlds of the first Multiverser Triple Play–the horror one–and did a bit of tweaking and expanding to each of the worlds. I don’t know if they’re finished, but they’re a lot closer now. The tweaks have already been posted to the development forum, and so I’m awaiting comment there.

Fortunately Thursdays are usually light. I am expecting Brittany to appear late this afternoon, and I need to bring Baxter before that, so we can have our Collision rehearsal; but I have this nagging feeling my wife has already agreed that we will meet someone or be somewhere very early this evening, so the day has been squeezed. I’m not certain whether she remembers, but the person with whom she had the discussion has already left a message for her to call, so I think it’s on, whatever it is.

I had better keep moving.

–M. J. Young

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by Lost to the Ages

Interview: George Vasilakos

January 19, 2000 in Articles


Graveyard Greg: Who are you?

Unknown Zombie: I’m George Vasilakos, head Zombie Lord over at Eden Studios —
Artist/Designer/Dad.

GG: How did you get into the Gaming Industry?

GV: I started a gaming store after I finished art school. When a few of my
customers and friends formed a gaming company to make the Battlelords CCG,
they needed a graphic designer and art director (and some money). So I jumped
feet first into a small gaming company with big dreams called New Millennium
Entertainment.

The company didn’t do to well with Battlelords, but its second game
Conspiracy X did nicely. When NME went under, I aquired the rights to
Conspiracy X, found some investors, closed my store and started Eden Studios.

GG: I remember Battlelords…and speaking of gaming credits…

Give us your Gaming Industry credits–past and present!

GV: I co-authored D&D with Gary Gygax . . . before I came along it was called
Dungeons and Gophers . . . I set the bonehead straight and the rest is
history.

GG: Tell me you’re kidding.

GV: Just kidding . . . aside from running Eden Studios, I’ve done all the graphic
design and art direction on the Conspiracy X line, the layout and covers for
the WitchCraft line, and some freelance art for Pinnacle’s Hell On Earth RPG.
I also designed the Abduction non-collectible card game.

GG: Are you the Pumpkin King?

GV: No. I’m a mild mannered game designer/artist.

GG: Right now everyone is slavering for the newest RPG coming soon from Eden
Studios–ALL FLESH MUST BE EATEN. Sounds gross! Mind telling the uninformed
about the concept behind this creepy game?

GV: Unlike most traditional RPGs out there, ALL FLESH MUST BE EATEN doesn’t have
one set campign setting or world background. You are presented with numerous
“Deadworlds,” each with a unigue setting and reason why the dead are walking
about. This style of presentation allows gamers to play in any genre,
background, theme or manner they wish. Play a serious survival game, a campy
comedy horror game, a heavy supernatural game, a lighter, more “real” world
game — it’s up to you.

To me, the core of this game is the idea of being trapped and having to deal
with mindless smelly zombies and their insatiable hunger. It’s a game about
survival horror . . . did I mention I used to run a game store?

GG: How did the title come to exist?

GV: Well Christopher Shy, cover artist and co-concept creator of ALL FLESH MUST
BE EATEN, gets the credit for the final title. I was dying when he suddenly
spewed out the name. A game with a name like that is a guaranteed sell, I
thought to myself.

GG: I…see.

Were there other titles in consideration? If so, name a few!

GV:

  • ERNEST vs THE ZOMBIES
  • EAT THIS FANBOY
  • CORPSE: THE ROTTING
  • ZOMBIE: THE SLAVERING
  • SOCK MONKEYS MARCH ON BROADWAY

As you can see, they just didn’t seem to have the same impact as ALL FLESH
MUST BE EATEN.

GG: You got that right!

Favorite Zombie music?

GV: Brittany Spears. Nine Inch Nails comes a close second.

GG: Did you do all of the writing for All Flesh?

GV: Heck no. I came up with most of the concepts and found people who are good at
writing to “flesh” it out. Richard Dakan gets first credit as he worked up my
admittedly sketchy descriptions for the various “Deadworlds” and zombie
creation. The game mechanics credits go to CJ Carella since we are using his
Unisystem, the same rules used for WitchCraft and Armageddon. The flavor text
and short stories get attributed to Albert Bruno III, a very talented horror
writer and old buddy of mine. The book also has a nice Forward by Shane
(Deadlands) Hensley about Zombies. Finally, there’s Alex Jurkat, my partner
in crime over here at Eden. As head editor at Eden, he cleans up everyones
writing, fills in the gaps and transitions, and organizes it all into a
polished product. That said, ALL FLESH MUST BE EATEN does contain my first
attempt at writing. I wrote the introduction chapter.

GG: Favorite Zombie food?

GV: Brittany Spears. Mexican food . . . behold the power of cheese and the All
Flesh Must Be Eaten Chocolate Bar. Yum.

GG: How did you come up with this crazy game, anyway?

GV: That’s a funny story actually . . . see I was on a “date” with a transexual
Vietnamese escort when I happened to spot Tom Hanks across the alley from me.
I said to my companion, “Hey that’s Tom Hanks!” Thing is he/she didn’t
understand a word of English and when he/she tried to speak with her mouth
full, it sounded like “Zombie games are the next big thing.” Who was I to
argue!

But seriously . . . I think AFMBE been something every gamer has wanted. I
know I’ve wanted a game like this since the first time I saw DAWN OF THE
DEAD. Once Resident Evil came out and brought those damn zombies back into
the light, it was only a matter of time before we saw a paper and pencil
roleplaying game based on zombie survival horror. I remember sitting in front
of my TV playing Resident Evil 2 coming up with initial designs for the game.
Someone had to do it and take the blame. So blame me.

GG: What is the best zombie movie you’ve ever seen?

GV: Titanic.

GG: Oooooooookay.

Worst zombie movie you’ve ever seen?

GV: The Brittany Spears Story.

GG: …

In your opinion, what makes zombies so scary?

GV: They look human but they’re not . . .
They cannot be reasoned with . . .
They have no jobs, no desires, no hopes . . .
They smell bad . . .
They are ruled by their undying hunger for more . . . more . . . more.

(Did I mention I used to run a game store that sold collectible card games?)

GG: Yes, you did.

The dead have risen from their graves! It’s time for CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH!

Waiting at the 3rd tombstone is John Kovalic, creator of DORK TOWER. His
opponent is none other than JOLLY BLACKBURN, creator of KNIGHTS OF THE
DINNER TABLE. Both are famous for making people drop dead with laughter, but
the one who loses tonight will be fresh meat for the undead! Who wins, and
how do they achieve victory? (NOTE: Be as creative and funny as possible.
You want to add some cameos, go right ahead!)

GV: Well, first John “draws” a large black marker, and pens a Muskrat Pokemon
called Dorkachew. Then, Jolly dives behind a conveniently placed dinner table
and whips out a John Wick Gaming Voard. “No fair!” cries John. Suddenly a
battle beyond description ensues between the John Wick Voard and the
Dorkachew.

Awed by the spectacle, no one hears the shambling of a hoarde of zombies as
they enter the arena. Flesh is ripped from the bone as John and Jolly try to
escape. Stabbing at the undead with art tools, but to no avail, they cannot
stop them. It gets ugly really quick and no one is laughing.

When the dust settles and the blood dries, the only thing left “alive” are
the zombies.

GG: Shameless plug time! You can find your very own Gaming Voard at http://voard.tripod.com/Voard.htm

What kind of supplements can we expect for All Flesh Must Be Eaten?

GV: Pending any Y2K complications here at Eden, we hope to release Enter the
Zombie shortly after the mainbook’s release. This book strives to open whole
new vistas for your zombies-gaming enjoyment. It includes everything
necessary to bring together the thrills of Hong Kong action films and good
old fashioned flesh-eating excitement. This book will have detailed rules on
how to play martial arts zombies. It also introduces four new campaign
settings inspired by John Woo movies, Big Trouble in Little China and Mortal
Kombat. It should be a nice little book.

We are also working on Zombie Master Screen with a 48-page insert that will
come with new archtypes, equipment and an intro adventure. Finally, we have a
a pulp setting campaign sourcebook for AFMBE, currently entitled Pulp Zombie.
This book will introduce various magics and settings set in the 30s and 40s.

GG: Any last words before we send you back to your grave?

GV: Yes, I keep seeing posts and groanings that the gaming industry’s salad days
are behind us. That paper and pencil and dice are going to be replaced by the
modem, the internet and the graphics card.

I don’t believe that. I believe that the gaming industry is headed for a
shining new Renaissance, and new age of creative freedom.

And I believe that the gaming Voard (http://voard.tripod.com/Voard.htm) will
be the bridge that brings us to this new Golden Age.

Remember . . . all flesh must be eaten.

GG: …sometimes I wonder where I dig up these interviewees…

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Avatar of Lost to the Ages

by Lost to the Ages

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

November 14, 1999 in Reviews

Halloween has just passed, so I thought I’d drop a line into the good people at Eden Studios and see if I could find out more about their upcoming game All Flesh Must Be Eaten. The first thing I found out is that Flesh will likely be in your local gaming store by the end of November. Originally, the release was set for October 31, but Murphy’s Law took effect right on queue in the form of artist troubles. Translation – a short delay until the new artist can produce.

Going into this, I really only had a few basic questions. Like anyone else, they generally centered around wanting to know what Flesh was about, and why I, as a gamer, should be interested. All I knew was that it is a game about Zombies. Well, that’s a no-brainer, right? In the words of Alex Jurkat, Eden’s editor-in-chief:

“…the game can be whatever you want it to be. There are eleven possible story backgrounds (rationales for the zombies and the world) and several ways to approach each of them. That’s essentially what the last quarter of the book is all about. There are three general themes to a zombie story… .

The first is learning about the rise of the zombies, fighting them, surviving them, and learning something about them (mostly the best way to stop them — say, shoot them in the head). That’s heavy hack and slash, fight-fest usually.

The second is discovering how the zombies came about, and how to defeat them. That’s more investigative and sneaky. It may include combat elements, but you have to avoid some of that. There’s just too many to fight them all. When zombies go down, there are always more. When the protagonists go down, they are just one less (and the zombies may be one more).

These two may be sufficient for most stories. The third part complicates the other two – intraparty conflict. That’s where the stress of fighting zombies causes people to crack and turn on each other. Obviously, this is the best way for the zombies to win, or at least significantly winnow the party. We put in a short discussion of this aspect of zombie stories, with plenty of warnings about how dangerous it was for party survival. Some may see that as the best way to tell a zombie story, however. So, if the group is mature enough to handle it without hard feelings (this is supposed to be fun gaming session, right) — go for it.

…(A)nyone who is a zombie fanatic (and there seem to be a great deal of them) should play this game. They can play out all their favorite zombie stories, and do things as they would like to have seen the characters do. It breaks ground by placing zombies at the forefront of the game. Lots of games have zombies, but few focus on them. The game is different than most these days because we do not try to present one specific, detailed uberplotline. Gamers need not worry about fitting their sessions into an overarching storyline where certain events are set in stone. We provide suggestions, … but the games are really for the GMs (we call them Zombie Masters) and players to script.”

There is a lot of info in there. All I could picture now was the Night of the Living Dead movies. BRAINS!!! As it turns out, these movies, and others like them are at the core of the inspiration behind Flesh. I like that, but is it enough to make this game stand out from the rest? When I thought of it, I couldn’t think of any other true zombie games. The only thing that comes close is GURPS Undead, and it’s a supplement, not a stand-alone game. So who’s idea was this anyway? When I was Eden’s webmaster a few years ago, I remember that Flesh was already an idea being bandied about. In George’s words, this is how it all happened:

“Well, I was playing Resident Evil 2 last October and I said to myself this would make a nice Conspiracy X adventure if you changed the bad guys and story around a little. I called Christopher Shy late that night and we talked about the game. As we talked about Resident Evil and Con X, the conversation slowly turned into a conversation about zombie RPGs and why the industry really doesn’t have one that just deals with the zombie genre. So at first we discussed doing it as a Conspiracy X alternate world setting but as the night went on it took on a life of its own. I remember Chris jokingly saying “why don’t we make a separate game and call it All Flesh Must Be Eaten”. I laughed for like 10 minutes. The name was great. Over the next few days, we fleshed out some concepts while watching all 3 of the Romero Dead movies for inspiration. That’s when I decided the game can’t be like most traditional RPGs and have a set storyline and history. There was just too many cool zombie genres I would want players to be able to play in. If we gave it one storyline, we would have to ignore too much cool stuff — and we would be imposing our concept of zombies stories on the players. So the game took on a life of having multiple “deadworld” campaign settings to choose from. Then over the following months I contacted Richard Dakan and told him our vision of the game and he began writing the various world backgrounds.”

George Vasilakos and Christopher Shy did the original creative work, defining the scope, direction, feel and focus of the project. George also put together the intro text on the zombie/survival horror genre. The core charters, which include such things as how to create a zombie and the eleven world backgrounds were written by Richard “Ricko” Dakan. Ricko has worked on many previous Eden projects, including many of books in the Conspiracy X RPG line – as well as done work on Deadlands, Star Trek, Dune, Kult and Mutant Chronicles. Al Bruno, an inspiring horror writer and long-time friend of George, wrote the fiction and archetype personalities. Lastly, Shane “Deadlands” Hensley graced All Flesh with an excellent forward about Zombies. Alex Jurkat did the editing, proofing, some game design, writing where needed, and a bunch of other development work. He pulled all the work of all the various authors together and smoothed it all out. Alex has been Creative Director for Eden since the beginning and has overseen the text side of things for all of Eden’s product.

On the art side, the cover art is done by Christopher Shy, who has graced Eden with his gorgeous covers in the past. Christopher also did a fair chunk of the interior art as well. He has done work for White Wolf, Propaganda Publishing, Gold Rush Games and The Apophis Consortium. Mike Osadciw of Battlelords RPG fame has been working with Eden for a few books now and added some gorgeous art as well to the project. A newcomer to Eden is Brad Quigley, whom George met at GenCon and says his portfolio “blew me away. So I put him on Flesh as a test and now he’s working on the Flesh supplement and various WitchCraft projects. A very nice style.” George did the layout, graphic design and a bunch of illustrations as well, not to mention a bit of writing which is a first for him.

I wanted to know more though, so it’s on to the system. From visiting the official website [ http://www.allflesh.com/ ] I did find out that Flesh will be using the Unisystem, developed by CJ Carella, who has written for Steve Jackson Games as well as a ton of material for Palladium. For anyone who has played the WitchCraft or Armageddon RPGs, this means that you won’t have to learn something new in order to enjoy Flesh. That’s a nice plus. When asked if he could say anything more about the game mechanics, Alex replied:

“The Unisystem is pretty straight-forward. CJ’s design philosophy for game mechanics is to be as unintrusive as possible. After the first couple of sessions, the mechanics should become second nature and fade into the background. He likes the focus to be on the story, not the rules. As for content, the most innovative thing to me is the Anatomy of a Zombie chapter. It allows Zombie Masters to pick and choose zombie powers and create their own unique nasties to through at players. Ricko ran through many aspects of a zombie, from its weak spot to its strength to its diet to its sense, etc. I then went through and added in game stats and a power level, so different features could be compared. In the end, you add up all the power levels and you get an idea of how serious a threat the zombie is. It’s a way for Zombie Master to keep their players on their toes. We then used that zombie creation system when running through the stats of the zombies in each world background. It came out very nicely.”

Something I didn’t find out on the site was whether Flesh will be supported beyond the main rulebook or whether it is a ‘one-shot’ sourcebook. Fortunately for all you zombie lovers out there, it is the former. There will be supplements. The first is Enter the Zombie, combining high action martial arts and the walking dead. The second under consideration is a magic supplement, focusing on zombies and different magic traditions, from ancient world to dark future. Another under consideration addresses Nazis, 1930-40s pulp and the undead, following up and expanding on the Mien Zombie background presented in the main book.

One more nifty thing – anyone who orders their copy direct from Eden will receive an All Flesh Must Be Eaten chocolate bar. Where’d they come up with that one?

“George was surfing websites for merchandising stuff (and) found a candy bar maker… All of a sudden it came to us – All Flesh Must Be Eaten candy bar. We were laughing about fleshy chocolate with a crunch all day after that. We did some pricing and talked to some distributors and everyone agreed it was a great idea. We were so psyched we didn’t even realize that the (then) planned Halloween release fit perfectly with the candy bar until one of our distributors mentioned it. That basically cemented the promotion.”

So, there you have it. That about wraps it up. For anyone interested, Flesh will be released as a 232 page, hardback, in a 7.5″ x 9.5″ format – the same size as Eden’s other Unisystem books, but with the added feature of hard cover.

One last note. I have not seen the manuscript for Flesh, and by extension have not played it. Hopefully, that will change soon. As soon as the game is released, look for a review right here on GO.

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