Mindjammer Press – A New Home for Mindjammer

As some of you might know, this year has been pretty seismic for me on the writing front. In addition to writing fiction for The Lion and the Aardvaark (Stone Skin Press), Have Blaster, Will Travel (Bulldogs!), and World War Cthulhu (Cubicle 7 Fiction), and the Zero Point campaign for Achtung! Cthulhu by Modiphius, I’ve also embarked on a series of Victorian adventure scenarios for the new Leagues of Adventure RPG from Triple Ace Games, and signed a new novel with Chaosium (The Worm Within) for the Chronicles of Future Earth, and a complete new and weighty Player’s Guide for the far future science-fantasy RPG setting, to be released next year. And now – at last! – I can announce an awesome bit of news we’ve been sitting on for several months: the formation of a new imprint, Mindjammer Press, as the new home for all things Mindjammer!

Since the Mindjammer setting sourcebook for the Starblazer Adventures RPG won its ENnie Judges Spotlight Award at the 2010 ENnies, we’ve been working on a second edition for the game. Unfortunately this meant rescheduling a number of releases which were ready to go in August 2010 as we redrafted the core book to incorporate new content and artwork for the second edition. That rescheduling snowballed into production delays, and finally this year we took the step to bring all of the Mindjammer products in-house to ensure a frequent and timely release schedule – so here goes!

The first Mindjammer Press release is happening right now, with the re-launch of the “Mindjammer” novel – check it out at the Mindjammer website and at Amazon.com (trade paperback / ebook) and Amazon.co.uk (trade paperback / ebook). We’ve reduced the ebook price to bring it more in line with what we want to do with the fiction line, and made it available in both Kindle and trade paperback versions, with PDF to follow. You can buy the trade paperback online from Amazon, but also through your local hobby and bookstore – if you don’t see it on the shelves, please ask for it, as it’s available for stores to order! We’ve also put multiple sample chapters up online at Amazon (and shortly DriveThru) for you to test the water – so please try it out!

Mindjammer is the first of three novels in the series, the second of which, Transcendence, is being written now and will release in 2013. The series will be followed by two short story anthologies – The Songs of Old Earth and Tales of the New Commonality. More on those to come!

Before the release of the second Mindjammer novel, however, we’ll be launching our first big RPG product – Mindjammer: The Expeditionary Era. This is the second edition of the Mindjammer RPG setting which has been mooted since the 2010 ENnies, featuring gorgeous cover art by Paul Bourne and all new interior artwork fitting the Mindjammer setting. It’ll be a big book – we’re anticipating somewhere between 300 and 400 pages – and, most importantly, it will be written for the new FATE 3 Core RPG system currently being developed by Evil Hat Productions.

The timing was perfect on this one, and we’ve been discussing the release with Evil Hat for several months, but the intention is to make the new Mindjammer completely compatible with FATE 3, while preserving all the cool stuff you love about the Mindjammer setting – the Mindscape, technopsi, sentient starship characters, hyper-advanced genurgic enhancements, cultural conflict, cool planets, and heaps more. Mindjammer: The Expansionary Era will contain complete rules for designing and playing worlds, star systems, starships, cultures, organisations, life forms, hypertech, and tons more. It’ll have a more realistic feel for things like ships, planets, and life forms – in particular we’re incorporating new discoveries in astrobiology, exoplanets, and astrophysics into the rules – but at the same time will continue with the action-packed space opera feel you’ve come to expect from the game. The transhuman element will be everywhere!

We’re currently deep in the writing phase of Mindjammer: The Expansionary Era, and plan to release the PDF during the first half of 2013, with hard copies hopefully available for UK Games Expo in May and GenCon in August. We’ll also be shortly setting up an online community for the setting, and providing regular updates. We’ll be providing a special price pre-order approximately a month before the print edition launches.

After the release of the Mindjammer core book, we have a steady release of 3-4 supplements and scenarios scheduled per year, the first of which are already written and ready to go. These will include Solenine, a campaign based upon the events of the first Mindjammer novel, and a completely revamped version of The Black Zone campaign, with extensive background information on the Venu. Regular releases are the lifeblood of any setting, and we’re committed to providing that to all the Mindjammer fans out there.

That’s it – exciting times! I’d like to personally thank all the fans of the Mindjammer setting for your support and encouragement, and your patience as we’ve battled with production delays. I hope you’ll continue to join us as we discover the far future destiny of the human race. Mindjammer: the transhuman adventure is just beginning!

Best,

Sarah Newton
Mindjammer Press
Normandy, August 10th, 2012