 January 7, 2016 - 10:19pm | Recently I wrapped up work on my first go at a 3 part series comic book (unrelated to SF) and found myself pondering what new project I should undertake. I've toyed with some Star Frontiers storylines in the past but I've yet to really fall in love with any of them. Obviously using the Star Frontiers IP means there would never be any commercial value. It would purely be a project to continue refining my skills and have fun building a story out of one of my favorite, classic RPGs. That said brings me to the point of this post: Does anyone have any story ideas they feel like sharing? I typically avoid using adventures as stories since I've discovered they require probably more work sewing together into a good tale as coming up with one from scratch. But, some adventures might have a core plotline that might be useful being fleshed out into something entertaining. Either way, I was curious if anyone had any burning story ideas that they thought might be fun being made into a comic book. Realize I would prefer to keep the story short and not a Walking Dead never ending tale. I would probably consider one or two comic books and then would like to wrap it up (that could take up to a year to complete! I'm lucky to get two pages done in a week.). I'm not promising anything, but thought I'd toss out here to see what the hard core fans had to say. I'm still not completely sold on the idea but thought I'd entertain the thought while I consider my next project. Some of you might have seen my work in some of the SF magazines. Check below for my Deviant Art page: http://lucifiend.deviantart.com/ |
 January 7, 2016 - 10:46pm | Would you be interested in my Jurak Hangna stories or stuff from Alex Stone? Or if you like I could write a new short story. -iggy |
 January 8, 2016 - 7:58am | Couple of thoughts: Terl Obar holds the 2 fan licenses under which the Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer publish. These might be ideal for you to publish under. FE already runs serialized comics but if you wanted to compile a book and publish it as a document it could probably be done under the SFman license as Star Frontiersman Presents: ___________. Actually, there may be no reason that it couldnt go under the FE license. It's be nice to see a comic up on drive thru RPG with a print on demand option. I'd get one in hard copy. I have a partially written adventure that was conceived as a prequel to the Volturnus series called, "The Bounty on Death" I was totally over thinking the ending and not liking it but had a "duh" moment recently and figured out what to do with it. What would need to be developed would be the characters. It might be an interesting exercise to simultaneously publish a module and a comic at the same time. I also have a few other story ideas kicking around would be happy to be a sounding board and converse by email. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 8, 2016 - 5:54pm | I think it would be a great idea as well and as jedion357 said, I can definitely publish it as a "free" product under either the FE or SFMan logos without any issue. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
January 8, 2016 - 10:57pm | Iggy - I did a little perusing about Alex and Jurak and only found a few references to journal entries in the magazines. Was there anything specific you were thinking of? I don't have any of the magazines loaded on this computer so it would be nice to narrow down to anything you would think would lend itself to comic-ing (I'm not sure what the actual term for comic-book-afying is...adaption?) Jedion - I kind of like the fact you don't have any establishd characters for your Bounty idea. I actually have a partially written story (ok, 2 stories--but I don't count the one based on our adventures because it was garbage) lying around on my computer as well. The character part is normally the easiest for me, it's finding a story that's fitting the part I struggle with. I get about half way through and decide I'm just not feeling it. As for making this a FE product, I hadn't thought of that. My previous comic I was using a free comic hosting site and had assumed I would be dumping it there as I worked. This way folks can follow along while I built it. It's a good motivator when you have subscribers anticipating that next page. I wouldn't have a problem with the final product being hosted under the FE label. I'm vain enough to like to see a printed version of my work. I normally consider Ka-blam for comic printing, though. They will do a full color comic for about $3. I think I would be attracted to a story that is fun over dark or serious. Just because it's more fun to draw. As much as I like Blade Runner, I'd probably have trouble getting into a seroius story line. So what does that translate into? Adventure over intrigue? I'd want it as fun to draw as it is to read. |
January 8, 2016 - 11:50pm | Jurak shows up in each of the Frontier Explorer issues from issue 2 on. He introduces a creature and tells and experience about himslef and his friends with the creature. Alex Stone started in Starfrontiersman but got sporadic inclusion in the magazine. I wanted to keep him in as a Starfrontiersman feature but have succumbed to bringing him over to the Fronter Explorer. He appears in SFman 15, 17, and 19 and then FE 8 and 9. He is returning to the FE very soon and I am channeling him very well now. Alex articles are more serious, Jurak articles aim to have a bit of humor. -iggy |
 January 9, 2016 - 1:06am | Check out some of my Tales from the Falcon write ups from the Basically Speaking game I used to host here, I don't recall which issues they were in but the SFman has some of them (I want to say starting around issue 10-12 or thereabouts). In a nutshell they're post-Warriors of White Light adventures from the viewpoint of crew members serving aboard the CMS Falcon, the last one being rendevous with the SS Gullwind as Garlus was escaping the Malthar and heading toward Theseus (where his all dralasite crew would eventually meet their demise, thus setting up the Dramune Run adventure). |
January 10, 2016 - 9:29pm | It'll take me a while to browse through all the articles. I'm not 100% sure what I've looking for but I hope I'll know if I see it. I had a story idea I've been mulling over but I think it might be a little too complex for me to draw right now. There would be some complicated scenes that I don't think I'm quite ready for along with a ton of concept art to develop. |
January 13, 2016 - 5:33pm | If anyone cares, here is the link to my previous comic book series. It has nothing to with SF though the bad guys outfits might looks soft of Frontiers-ish. The comic is supposed to look like my daily comic strip I use to work on many decades ago, so it's intended to look cartoonish. The style is also intended to be rough. My justification is that I wanted to draw something that was easy to sketch and not overly complicated. I figured if I drew faster, then I'd be more likely to finish it. http://shadybrook.thecomicseries.com/comics/2 The art improves greatly after I got my Cintiq Companion: http://shadybrook.thecomicseries.com/comics/58/ No longer was I penciling, inking, scanning and then lettering on PC. It was all in one place. I was also drawing at a much smaller resolution of 8 x 10 back then which hindered the detail as well. I could make much more subtle shading. I think the 3rd chapter looks like its from a whole different comic because of the tech change. This was intended as a example rather than a plug for the comic. I'm not decided how a SF comic would look quite yet. Part of me would love to see it looking like 1980 4-color comic. Sort of like the original Elmore comic in the handbook. |
January 13, 2016 - 7:09pm | Fun stuff! The bottom one is what I would have picked too.  |
January 13, 2016 - 9:17pm | I've ridden in a few humvee convoys in my time, which probably inspired that page. I'm never jealous of the gunner in the last vehicle! And I really have no idea how to draw a motorcycle so hopefully I don't offend any fanatics. I just googled and made stuff up as I went. |
January 13, 2016 - 9:24pm | I read you comic. The art and story were really good. Do you have any examples of your drawings of vrusk, yazirrians, and dralasites? -iggy |
January 14, 2016 - 7:29am | And I really have no idea how to draw a motorcycle so hopefully I don't offend any fanatics. Don't feel bad...back in the day Marvel Comics artists were actually given Harley Davidson models in order to draw Ghost Rider and Captain America motorcycles accurately and they still FUBARed it. The dirt bike would have a shorter wheelbase and more ground clearance, but otherwise they are rather accurate as far as cartoons go. |
January 14, 2016 - 6:22pm | Most of the Frontiers work I've done has already been posted in the various SF magazines. Generally, unless I had a recent request, most of my drawings are rather old. I generated the most SF imagery when I was working on my SF based Smugglers' Blue video game so many years ago (My favorite was used for the cover of Star Frontiersman #22--it was meant to be a load screen graphic). I tend to focus on making original art vs. making fan art because I own the copyright and can do whatever I want with it. |
January 18, 2016 - 3:24pm | Concept art for a SF comic book story. I had already half finished a short story about this little fella and wanted to see what kind of designs I could gestate. |
January 18, 2016 - 9:01pm | Slick track-mobile. |
January 20, 2016 - 8:00am | Very cool. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
January 21, 2016 - 7:02pm | Rather than slopping a bunch of images on a forum thread, I've started a concept art web page at comic fury demonstrating all my concept art I'm developing for the SF comic. Plus, you never know, might get some folks interested that aren't already SF nerds. http://CrusherConcepts.webcomic.ws/ The Crusher title is just a place holder. I'll come up with a name once I stumble across it. I'd prefer something a little more poignant to the actual story rather than a reference to a made up warbot model. |
January 22, 2016 - 4:32pm | That is looking good so far. I can't wait to see what else you come up with. I'm fresh out of story ideas at the moment. At least ones that would work in comic book format. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
January 22, 2016 - 11:01pm | Well the short story I was working on outlines something like this: A warbot rampages through a scrapper colony on a terraforming planet. A merc crew gets popped out of cryo because they are passing near a space station near the terraplanet while being shipped to a different mission. I don't know if you should call them cyro passengers. The seem more like luggage. The merc team is quite unhappy about the diversion mission, especially since they aren't getting paid for it. Some legal loophole that ropes them into service of Star Law in Star Law's absence. Because the mercs are in transit and their gear is stowed in a cargo bin continuing on to their final destination, they must outfit themselves with what bits and pieces they can find on the station. Mercs travel to planet to protect the colonist while waiting about a week for Star Law to come in and clean things up. Of course, the mercs have a lot of questions about events on the planet: The colonist are keeping secrets and seem to be put out by the arrival of the mercs. The origin of the rampaging warbot is unclear. Even where the warbot disappeared to is a mystery. To add to their problems, the merc team seems to have animosity/distrust towards each other. I only wrote about half the story so I really don't know much about how events unfold shortly after they hit the planet. I know the main plot points, but I'm not sure how it all plays out. I'm thinking the best thing for me to do is sit down and finish up the story. I've fiddled with it randomly over the past year or so but haven't had any real motivation to move forward with it. |
January 24, 2016 - 4:38pm | I've started posting the original short story for Crusher on my Elfwood account. I didn't even know I still had an Elfwood account. Go figure. http://www.elfwood.com/u/lucifiend/story/73be8c90-c2f2-11e5-91b6-f3c17eba32d7/crusher-1 |
January 24, 2016 - 8:08pm | Bad dark-on-dark contrast on that page, is there any chance of changing either the text color or background color? |
January 24, 2016 - 10:23pm | As far as I can tell that's the way they have it setup. I checked some other peoples pages and they had the same deal. It use to be white back in the day. Not sure why they changed it like that. It was bugging me too. |
 January 25, 2016 - 1:44am | I've started posting the original short story for Crusher on my Elfwood account. I didn't even know I still had an Elfwood account. Go figure. http://www.elfwood.com/u/lucifiend/story/73be8c90-c2f2-11e5-91b6-f3c17eba32d7/crusher-1 |
