Courtesy Cubicle 7 Entertainment
I recently chatted with Angus Abranson of Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited, about Starblazer Adventures' ENnie nominations for Best Rules, Best Game, and Product of the Year.
MT: Tell us a little about your company.
AA: Cubicle 7 Entertainment is a British based publisher, IP creator, and events company. Founded in 2006, Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited was set up by Dominic McDowall-Thomas and I. Since then, we have published role playing games from a growing list of properties including Victoriana, SLA Industries, Starblazer Adventures (based on DC Thomson’s 80’s Starblazer comic series), 7th Circle’s ENnies Award-winning Chinese fantasy Qin: The Warring States and will be releasing Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, under licensed from the BBC, in October . In June 2009 Cubicle 7 announced it had joined the Rebellion Group. We primarily publish RPGs at present - both homegrown ones as well as licensed games. We also, in partnership, publish and distribute a number of games for other companies to help them reach a wider audience.
MT: Starblazer Adventures has quite a few nominations. What's it all about?
AA: Starblazer Adventures is based on the classic British comic series, Starblazer, from the 1970’s and 80’s. Each of Starblazer's 281 issues explored a whole adventure set within the vast galactic empires of the far future, giving the massive 632 page Starblazer Adventures game a wide variety of settings to explore. From low-fi space exploration to galaxy-busting wars to space fantasy epics at the end of time, there is plenty for everyone.
MT: So Starblazer actually had its start as a comic.
AA: Published by British publisher D.C.Thompson, the original Starblazer comic was the home to some of the best British science fiction space opera of the 1970's and 80's. Featuring stunning art and classic space opera stories, comic creators such as Grant Morrison and John Smith, artists Enrique Alcatena, Mike McMahon, Cam Kennedy, John Ridgeway, Alan Rogers, Jaime Oritz, Ian Kennedy, Colin MacNeil and Casanovas Junior helped bring the fantastic 'spacefiction adventure in pictures' to life. Over 400 pieces of Starblazer art from these heroes of sci-fi art have been used throughout the book to bring the world of Starblazer Adventures to life.
MT: What rules system does the game use?
AA: Starblazer Adventures is powered by the critically acclaimed FATE rules system. FATE was recently seen in action with Evil Hat Productions' popular Spirit of the Century RPG and has been tweaked to give Starblazer players the full intergalactic meal deal. FATE lets you leave the maths behind and really focus on exciting stories. There are many options to let you skip the more detailed rules and keep it lite and fast or play starships, star monsters and even whole empires just like characters. For those familiar with FATE we added new FATE rules for alien powers, robots, vehicles, starships, giant war machines, empires, equipment, careers and more. Whilst Starblazer Adventures is a large book at 632 pages, the FATE rules are actually elegantly simple - the book just adds everything and more that a gamer could need for literally endless adventures.
MT: What's in the core book?
AA: The core book includes three detailed settings based on the very best stories from Starblazer. It detail recurring characters, organisations, empires and aliens such as the Fi-Sci (the Fighting Scientists of Galac Squad), The Star Patrol, The Suicide Squad, The Planet Tamer, Cinnibar the barbarian warrior of Babalon and galactic cop Frank Carter to name just a few. Starblazer Adventures is not reliant on people knowing or owning the original Starblazer comics but draws on the vast amount of artwork and stories to bring the settings in the game to life. Choose from 8 alien races or play whole star empires! There’s over 100 worlds, 70 heroes, alien races, monsters & starships. There’s an introductory adventure & tons of support for Story Tellers including adventure seeds, several plot & planet generators. The approach to playing throughout the book also strongly encourages a healthy disregard for the rules to the benefit of story-telling and fun with friends.
MT: How is Starblazer Adventures different from other role-playing games?
AA: Starblazer Adventures is partly the fruits of lead writer Chris Birch’s deep love for space opera adventures as well reaction to the number of roleplaying games that forced gamers to buy endless supplements just to have a complete game. As such, Starblazer Adventures was designed to be a truly self contained role-playing game, the one Chris always hoped he’d find in a gaming store and never did.
MT: What type of gamer will be attracted to Starblazer Adventures?
AA: The game is designed to appeal to a wide gaming audience. Certainly fans of science fiction and space opera, graphic novels and classic sci-fi art would love this and those who love epic adventures across vast Terran empires, fighting giant war machines, exploring massive star relics and vying for supremacy with insidious alien races. The game is designed to appeal to those who love games focusing on story, whilst having enough crunch for those players that like to be able to fine tune their characters.
Ian Livingstone, Creative Director Of Eidos said of Starblazer Adventures “Enough galactic conspiracies, star creatures, space fleets, swashbuckling scientists and alien war worlds to keep you and your friends busy for years"
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