News — FASA

Ok, just for anyone who doesn’t know, I love the art of Jeff Laubenstein, so any review I do with his artwork is going to be skewed in the direction of the positive.  Having established, of the pre-1990 FASA Battletech supplements, this has to be one of the finest out there. I once ran a full mercenary company in the game and this book was an incredibly valuable resource, having information so detailed that there is even a contract that can be copied and signed for each mission your crew intends to take on.  In fact, using this book, I...

I was one of those semi-crazed FASA fans, and certainly a devoted player of Shadowrun, so when the company announced it would be taking the plunge into the fantasy market with Earthdawn, I was right there with money in hand. Now, I’ll not address the Earthdawn gaming mechanics here, as that is never what these posts are about, but instead focus on the subject at hand which is the Earthdawn Adventure: Mists of Betrayal. Art Directed by my very close friend Jeff Laubenstein back in 1993, it was also project managed by Joel Biske.  Together, these two guys really, truly,...

Back in 1986 FASA produced the an incredibly cool supplement for its new Battletech line featuring nothing but advanced statistics and images for their mechs, aerospace fighters, vehicles, and dropships.  Thus, the line of Battletech Technical Readouts was born. I well remember purchasing this book and pouring over the pages as finally, in lovely tech drawing detail, I could see exactly what comprised the big machines I’d had so much fun playing on the tabletop.  Artist/Art Director Dana Knutson actually did a very impressive painting of my personal favorite mech, the Marauder, on the front cover.  I can honestly say...

In 1990 author Stephan Wieck was charged by FASA to create a Shadowrun adventure featuring something completely new and horrible to the setting.  His answer to the call; Queen Euphoria. I once asked artist Jeff Laubenstein, who worked in many roles at FASA, how they got Dave Dorman to do the cover, but I think a better question would be why did the company screw up the artistic credits on the inside so badly? FASA, and senior editor Donna Ippolito, credits the cover to artist John Zeleznik.  This, however, was not the case, as Dave Dorman was artist for this...