Outland Arts Insider News letter issue
36
March 28th 2020
And, we're
back...
First off, thanks to all of you who have
asked about my recent eye surgery and
well-wishing. To steal something my
friend Thaddeus said about his own
recent and very serious wounds, he had a
Walking Dead moment when he recovered
from injuries and walked out into the
world to find it has all gone to hell.
To be honest, I've been somewhat
quarantined since mid-September when my
first retinal tear happened, and then some
weeks later, the full detachment and loss of
vision in my right eye. I can tell you that
your world gets pretty small when you can't
drive anymore, or go to the local Starbucks
with your laptop and pick away at a certain
ongoing expansion book.
In short, this fourth procedure was an
ordeal, but not as rough as the previous one
and the recovery much smoother. At the
followup appointment the next morning, the
ophthalmologist said he felt optimistic
about the surgery.
That was a month ago now and while the
retinal tear has not returned, neither has
my vision to anything close to what it was
before. It's a bit cloudy and blurry and I
am hoping new contact lenses or glasses will
fix that. Today I've stopped taking the eye
drops and I'm hoping some of the blur was
caused by those.
Thank goodness I have my left eye and
have been able to do some freelance
illustration for Goodman Games and some TME
art and edits. I am only now feeling ready
to tackle the Expansion Rules project again,
and perhaps get back to that oil painting
that is to be the cover art for the upcoming
book. Here it is, folks, but keep in mind
this is a work in progress. I might decide
to redo it in acrylics and mixed media or go
back to digital art like with most of the
previous covers.
So what have I been doing
besides some client work? Well, I've updated the
Expansion Rules Art gallery at our site
which now includes 14 galleries. Feel free to
post these to your Pinterest board or blog or
send to friends to help promote The Mutant
Epoch.
Secondly, and a task I have found places
almost no strain on my eye, is editing
the Mutant Epoch Novels, first draft.
Now, for some of you, this might be the
first you've heard of this project. Let me
begin by saying that The Mutant Epoch RPG is
based on an earlier version of this novel I
wrote many years ago, but deiced to publish
the RPG then go back to the novels. Well,
for the last three or four years I have
spent half my work time on the novels, which
is a 17 book series that covers a single
overarching epic adventure. More on all that
at another time.
These novels take place few years ahead of
the official game time of 2364 AD, and in
the territory just north of the Crossroads
Region called the Shallow Sea Region. The
following snapshot shows the hand-sculpted
3D map of the region (in progress and
measures 22 x 22"), and yes, there will be a
Gazetteer book for this area just beyond
Pitford.
This second image is of a mutorg
(mutant-cyborg hybrid character type to appear
in the expansion rules) character from the book.
It will have a working electric cybernetic eye
in that empty socket, as well as be all painted
and the bust will be in costume.
What's this for, you ask?
Well, many of the same characters appear
throughout the book series so we need to get
accurate and consistent photo reference on the
models. With sculptures, we can light them
differently and shoot from any angle. I'll show
some more sculpts later, but keep in mind they
are just for reference and I've never sculpted
heads before so this is all new to me, and done
with one operational eye – although I kinda wish
I had an implant like Maxwell here:
One last word on the fiction, I'll be
using a pen name, at least for the last
name... something people can pronounce that
also separates me from my art and game
design. I'll announce that when the new web
site and mailing list is established.
As for the Expansion Rules, I've got some
new pencils to ink, and a heap of new
sketchbooks and pens and aim to get back to
posting regular image updates on
Instagram,
Facebook,
Twitter,
MeWe,
Deviant Art,
Art Wanted,
Tumblr, and our website, although we
will save all this art to promote the new
book when posting on
Enworld.org,
RPG.net and
therpgsite.com.
Stop by your favorite social media venue or
forum and say hello!
In closing I just want to thank Dennis and
Melissa Pipes of Texas for this fantastic
and thoughtful care package! Now I can fly
the Texas flag in the Outland Arts studio!
This great couple actually run The Mutant
Epoch at
North Texas RPG Con, so make sure you
sign up for a game if you're attending -
whenever things get back to normal, that is.
Thanks so much! The Ice Pirates is tonight's
family movie!
I'm sure like the rest of you, so much of my
attention in recent weeks has been taken up
by the Covid-19 Pandemic. I'm hearing all
sorts of different time lines for when
things will get back to normal, but I
imagine it might be more like months rather
than weeks. I will try and get something out
there for you Epochians to help entertain
you, so stay tuned.
In closing, I just want to again thank
everybody for your kind words of support
during my retinal detachment horror show,
and to apologize for taking so damn long
getting the Expansion Rules out. Right
behind it is lots of new RPG content
including the full-length adventures of Nuke
Tower and Blood Road, plus one day digs
(Wizard of the Wastes) and other overdue
content that just needs a final edit and
art. The novels will absolutely take longer,
but I'll keep you updated on the progress as
we go, including a call for first readers,
street team troopers, and the like.
All the best to you all in this strange and
challenging time, and here's to good health,
quick recoveries, and a little escape from
it all now and then. Please feel free to
drop me a line, with email being the
paramount way of reaching me.
William McAusland
Creator
The Mutant Epoch
Outland Arts /
The Mutant Epoch RPG /
Fantasy Clip Inks /
Handcrafted Dungeons
Amazon.com Storefront (TME print books)
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Mutant+Epoch&ref=nb_sb_noss
Buy Direct from us at our Gumroad Storefront
(TME PDFs where we earn 95%)
https://gumroad.com/outlandarts
Drivethrurpg.com storefront
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=The%20Mutant%20Epoch
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mutantepoch/
Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.ca/wmcausland/
MeWe.com (replaces G+)
https://mewe.com/i-front/williammcausland
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TheMutantEpoch
Mutant Epoch Public Forum:
http://mutantepochforum.boards.net/
Mutant Epoch Creator's Blog
http://themutantepoch.blogspot.com/
Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/mutantlord
Zazzle Merch Store:
https://www.zazzle.com/store/outlandarts/products
YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMutantEpoch
email:
info@outlandarts.com
