The thing that turns this from simply a small business into something much greater are my customers and fans. Knowing that people across the world (including those reading the French and Japanese translations) are reading and enjoying my books, running games based on what I have written and created, makes it all worthwhile.
An interview with Graham Bottley of Arion Games about publishing, Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Edition, Maelstrom and other games. Continuing the creator interviews.
Disclaimer. Rand Roll is an affiliate of Drive Thru RPG.
Chat with Graham Bottley of Arion Games and Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2E
Graham Bottley is the creative behind Arion Games, publishers of Advanced Fighting Fantasy, Maelstrom and other games. Graham has written Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Edition and Maelstrom Domesday among others.
We have the Graham's gaming background, origins of Arion Games, on Advanced Fighting Fantasy, publishing Maelstrom, AFF: Dark Dungeons board game, favourite Fighting Fantasy Book plus other bits.
What's your gaming background?
I started gaming in 1983 when my father bought me a copy of Forest of Doom. From there I progressed to running FF (Fighting Fantasy) as an RPG, red box D&D and then AD&D. From there we moved on to a whole range of games, including a very long Rolemaster campaign.
I still play at least once a week (online) and still have pretty much the same gaming group!
How did Arion Games come to be?
I can remember the exact moment! I had been using Poser (a 3D art programme) to make paper miniatures for my own games back in the June of 2005, and I was sat waiting for an NCT meeting with my pregnant wife to start.
It suddenly occurred to me that I could make commercial sets and sell them on the fairly new RPGnow website! So I did. I made about £20 the first month, and was really chuffed!! The rest is history.
How did you come to write and publish Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2e?
I was at a convention on the south coast of England in 2010 and had a stand next to Jamie Wallis of Greywood Publishing, who had produced some D20 conversions of the FF books as part of Myriador.
I mentioned to him that I would love to do a re-release of AFF, and he passed me Steve Jackson’s email address. A few emails and phone calls later and I had the license!
What was the process of writing Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2e?
I started by taking my copies of Dungeoneer, Blacksand and Allansia, extracting the core rules from all three and composing them into a single rough document.
I then went through forums, comments and reviews of the originals, and noted anything that people really didn't like or really did like to make sure that elements were excluded or kept.
From there I created the new sections such as Armour, Talents, Priests and Sorcery, and then started the playtesting and tweaking which took rather a long time! From there it was just getting the manuscript complete.
What is the story behind Maelstrom Domesday and are there any plans for a new Maelstrom edition?
So I was a huge fan of Maelstrom when it was first released. I have always been a huge history nut in addition to everything else, and loved the attention to detail as well as the innovative system. So a couple of years after starting Arion Games, I decided to contact Puffin Books about the possibility of republishing it.
They were in the process of handing the rights back to Alex Scott, so I got in touch with him and he agreed. However, the one proviso was that if I ever wrote a new edition, it would not be in the Tudor setting. I had always wanted to write an alt-historical game set just after the Norman Conquest, and so this seemed like a great opportunity! (to write Maelstrom Domesday)
As far as new editions, there are two I want to write to complete the arc. One is a “modern” game. This will be quite X Files-ish, but will start in 1973 and go through until 2023 as a fifty year campaign. The other will be a near-future scifi where the Maelstrom is used to power space flight.
What makes Dark Dungeons different from other dungeon crawler board games?
There are a few USP’s. (Unique Selling Points)
The obvious one is that it is based on Fighting Fantasy and so not only will the rules be familiar, but the design ethos is very classic B&W.
Another key element is replayability. Because the dungeon itself, adventure cards, heroes, spells, abilities and even dungeon condition are random, every game will be completely different.
It also has solo, collaborative and competitive mode, so can be played in a lot of different ways.
(The Advanced Fighting Fantasy - Dark Dungeons Kickstarter runs until 31st Oct 2024)
Which is your favourite Fighting Fantasy gamebook?
This is a difficult one. It is between Forest of Doom, Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Shamutanti Hills.
The first was my first gamebook, the second is the archetypal book and the third, with the Sorcery rules and ongoing story really inspired me.
What are the highs and lows of running a games company?
The best part is that playing and reading RPG’s is “work”. Painting miniatures, writing adventures, designing settings and playtesting is also work.
The lows are probably the uncertainty.
You can do a Kickstarter that struggles to fund, or it funds 500%. You just don’t know until you do it.
Do you get to play any games not made by Arion Games?
I do. I try and play and run non-Arion Games RPG’s regularly as I find that it keeps my creative focus.
I tend to have a short gamer attention span, and if I am not careful, I can get a bit bored of an ongoing campaign or writing project.
What are your next big projects that you can talk about?
There is a lot on!
The AFF Priests Book is being prepared, and I am also working on the Pangaria setting book for AFF, based on the Crystal of Storms gamebook by Rhianna Pratchett.
Next spring we intend doing a “basic AFF” starter box set.
I am also working on the third and final book in the Savage Worlds Fantasy Skirmish line (the Setting Codex) and various other bits and bobs. But this month they are all taking a back seat to the boardgame!
Where can people find you online?
I have the website (arion-games.com) but am also found on Twitter (@ariongames) and Facebook (@Graham Bottley). I also have a YouTube channel where I post previews and discussions of various products (@ariongames8822).
Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
The thing that turns this from simply a small business into something much greater are my customers and fans.
Knowing that people across the world (including those reading the French and Japanese translations) are reading and enjoying my books, running games based on what I have written and created, makes it all worthwhile. I am privileged to have the support of such great people, some of whom have been loyal customers for 19 years!!
Finishing Up
Take a look at some of the games by Graham and published by Arion Games! My current solo actual play uses Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2e.
There are many more articles on Rand Roll. Plus a Rand Roll Discord and instagram of Random Tables. I also create Generators at Chaos Gen and have a monthly random tools Newsletter.
