All I knew was that I was excited for the then unknown film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I really wanted a "Spelljammer OSR" game, and that the Flash Gordon soundtrack by Queen was amazing. So, I started writing. Between Freddy Mercury's cries of "Flash! Aaaahhhh!" and the glam metal guitars from the soundtrack of 1986's Transformers: The Movie I just had fun. I thought, "What would be cool and how do I keep it simple?"
In the end, the White Star came in at just over 30,000 words in a first draft that had been written in four weeks. More than I had expected, but still a small game. I talked to a few friends, and showed them some early concepts. I remember conversations with +Adam Muszkiewicz, +Pete Spahn, +Wayne Humfleet, and +Erik Tenkar. I showed them the early cover I'd mocked up and talked basic concepts. I was keeping it low key, like my other White Box releases. To my surprise, all of them were really enthusiastic about this generic pulp sci-fi OSR game with a bad cover.
Original Cover Designs |
White Star exploded like super nova. I woke up the morning after it's late night release to find it at #1 on RPGNow, where it sat for about 3 months straight. I couldn't believe when it went Silver in a day and Gold in less than a month. Seriously, this all is weird for me. It all piled on fast.
White Star changed Barrel Rider Games. Suddenly, I got noticed. It's intimidating, to be honest. I just tried to go back to what I preferred doing: writing. I started work on the White Star Companion and a few other larger projects - some BRG and some freelance. I've tried to release a few smaller products between the White Star core book and forthcoming Companion - little $1 products to let folks know I hadn't forgotten or fallen out of love with the little game. I promise, there's a lot more to come for White Star - both from Barrel Rider Games, and from third party publishers I suspect.
So yesterday I released one of those $1 products: the Combat Medic class. I was shocked to see today that the little book shot up to #1 on Hottest Small Press lists on RPGNow and #2 Hottest Title. Now what left me flabbergasted was the fact that the White Star core rulebook followed in its wake, clocking in at #2 Hottest Small Press and #3 Hottest title. Add to this the fact that White Star has remained in the top 10 Hottest Titles since its release and the whole thing is personally mind boggling.
I never thought my little sci-fi love letter to OD&D and pulp sci-fi would be so successful. What are the odds, ya know? I'm not not sure why the game has succeeded the way it has, but I've just come to appreciate the affection shown for White Star and how the OSR community has, by and large, embraced the game. Every time a third party product gets released, I get downright giddy. It's just so damned cool that people want to play with the toys I made.
I guess this long, rambling blog post is just to say that it's been a long, strange, wonderful journey so far and I suspect it's just getting started.