Random Fun Release

In between Otherverse America releases, I like to work on random fun projects. Apolitical, mass-market, goofy stuff. Fantasy, less serious sci-fi.... anime girls being violated by hentai tentacles. Whatever, you know?

I just put the finishing touches on Galaxy Command- a 90 pager minisourcebook about 70s style cheesy sci-fi TV. It was a project I was smiling the whole way through. Part of the reason I got it out so fast is the fact I decided to look at it artistically from the point of view of a lame 70s TV producer. They reused props, built things on the cheep, did whatever it took to put the TV shows out quickly and cheaply, and I thought I'd do the same. So instead of writing first, and than finding stock art that sorta fits, I decided to pick my stock art first and write around that. The cover peice from LPJ's Image Portfolio: Mixed Genre, a badass Tron-esque android made of glowing red light became the setting's central villian. I found a great Ronin Arts sci-fi clip art pack, which I'd been first introduced to a few years back through the purchase of another sci fi project. This stuff is fucking incredible. It looks just like old Dave Cockrum stuff, and is perfect for what I'm going for.

Here, let me show you some of the art.....

These pretty mofos come from the Ronin Art's stock pack, and as you can probally guess from my previous work are another Legion of Superheros riff- they're the "Dawnstar" type race. Low tech, Amerindian-flavored, winged humanoids. The sheer quality of the art I found let me really get into this project. As cheesy as it is, and as cheesy as I wrote everything, all the injokes and oddities, I really had fun with Galaxy Command.

I mean, this is pure old-school Cockrum here!

I'm still a little giddy about that. Anyway, I wrote it with the original Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica in mind, not to mention 70s era Legion and Cockrum's X-Men... and the Omega Men, and Alien Legion, and the Futurians and a whole load of comics even more obscure and niche than that. Hopefully, if you like old space-opera type sci-fi, you'll get a kick out of this book.

Laying out Galaxy Command was pretty fun. I kept the layout as clean and simple as I could, in the spirit of old 70s RPGS. I was considering doing the book entirely in black and white with spot color, like the original DC RPG, but that would of looked far too ugly, even for retro-kitcsh. Still, I enjoyed it, the red, white and blue pageborders, which really look 70s were almost a direct lift from the box of the DVD collection of old 70s shows which inspired this sourcebook!

One thing that I noticed I was doing about half way through coloring the art was making everyone either Caucasian or alien-colored. It's a pretty white-boy future in Galaxy Command, but once I realized I was doing it, I actually decided to keep it up. It's not the most inclusive thing out there, but for this project, based on media from a specific time period, it felt right. Anyway, it's an odd thing to admit, especially as racially integrated as most of my Othervere Stuff is. Not a big personal revalation, or some major contraversy, I hope, just something odd I noticed about the art. Speaking of art....

That's a few Sade stock images right there, cropped together and backed with some PD images from NASA. Looks frickin' amazing. I really love her stuff. I wish she'd do more males and monstrous figures, but her T&A heroines are amazing.

Along with Galaxy Command, expect a Free20 product that gives you another player race for the setting. they'll be releasing simultaniously. Let me just tell you the title: Free20: Threeway. That should get your lavicious minds working over time.....

Okay, let me stop you before you all get too out of hand. For a few years now, ever since Guide to the Known Galaxy, I've been trying and trying to find a way to create a Carrgite-inspired race for D20 Future. Carrgites are the species of Triad of the Legion- a perky little brunette ninja who's power is that she can split into 3 perky little brunette ninjas. Anyway, as a D20 power, her ability is unbelievably BROKEN, but I finally figured out a way to do her justice... as a +0 ECL player species! Anyway, pick 'em both up (especially the free stuff!) and let me know what you think.

Anyway, after a day or two of vacaton, I'm going to start seriously working on Outcast America. It will probally be the darkest thing I've ever written. More on that later.

CHRIS