News — FASA

Why do I love artist Janet Aulisio? There are really too many reasons to count, but it is safe to say her artwork has been a driving inspiration for me since I first saw it in 1990. Now granted, Janet’s work in the genre of fantasy and science fiction goes back well before that to novels and work on periodicals like Asimov’s, but to me it was her work on Shadowrun that captured my heart. Having had the opportunity to work with Janet over the years has always been a blessing, and she’s never disappointed in the way she takes...

Today I’m taking a look at FASA’s Earthdawn Companion. Earlier in the summer I showed some of the art of the Earthdawn core book, and this 162 page supplement, produced in 1994, is just one of a dozen truly inspired books for this game.I remember I used it extensively when I ran a campaign I called ‘Mother’ during the last stages of my college career. The campaign took place during weekend visits with my friends from high school, and in fact the first ever ‘The Week’ of gaming was run almost exclusively with Earthdawn during my last spring break.My girlfriend...

There is only one time in my life when I can recall actually be scared when it came to a game supplement coming out.  I’m not sure if this was just about that particular time of my life, the fact that I was obsessed with the game in question, or that it struck some primal cord, but for whatever reason, the rise of insect spirits in Shadowrun truly freaked me out, from Queen Euphoria, to The Universal Brotherhood, and at last to Bug City. Today, I’m taking a look at the art from the latter, Bug City, which was produced...

I’ve spoken on other forums about my feeling concerning the Battletech House supplements and how they might be the best historical fiction works I’ve ever read [Only the ‘Way’ books for L5R 1E could be better] Today I take a look at one of those incredible tomes of inner sphere knowledge, with House Liao and the Capellan Confederation.  When I played the game, House Liao was always my least favorite House as I was raised in the cornfields and Indiana and had almost nothing to reference China in my mind other than it seemed distant and old.  That was certainly...

In the beginning, there was Shadowrun… and it was good.  Then, in 1993, FASA created Earthdawn as the semi-precursor to their breakout cyberpunk hit.  Much like the world of Conan reflects an age of Earth long forgotten, Earthdawn filled this same pre-history, which I have to say was infinitely cool considering the story from which Shadowrun was born.  However, somewhere along the line FASA took a turn that would unfortunately doom the game to a moderate hit that fell quickly into mediocrity.  To me, FASA had no concept of its own OGL, and thus failed to realize that the game...