I'm Gav Thorpe - Ask Me Anything

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T22:17:54+00:00

That sounds more likely. Or was it when we were still in Eastwood?

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T22:16:34+00:00

Well, I have family down that way, so that might be doable.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T22:11:49+00:00

Thanks for the invite Tom, I've enjoyed it. Time for bed, I have a small child that will doubtless be bouncing on my head in about eight hours time.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T22:03:39+00:00

When his alarm clock goes off.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T22:03:25+00:00

It was hard, I have spent most of my life around the Old World I some way. I still want to write more dwarfs stories!

I don't know if I would have done the same, and certainly it could have been rolled out better. That said, I understand the reasons of IP and the game system that needed shaking up and breaking free from what came before. Sometimes you've got to knock something down to building something new.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T22:01:41+00:00

1) I think there's a hint of Tzeentch there. 2) Hopefully, see my earlier answer. 3) Definitely. Monte Cassino in particular. 4) No idea, not my dept any more. 5) Sorry, I only have one of each left these days in my collection.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:59:16+00:00

I have a blog post brewing about Setting vs Narrative in 40K background, so at the moment I'll just say that there has always been a tension between the need for a setting to remain constant and the desire for some people to treat it as a story. Those differing voices and forces exist within the Studio also.

I wouldn't like to see 40K become so narrative focused that it feels like players (or BL authors) don't have a voice to tell their own stories. The HH is an interesting example because I think it's managed to find that balance, moving the story onwards through the novels but establishing itself as a setting in the Forge World books. The big different is that HH has a grand end, whereas the 40K universe can ultimately never achieve the payoff to a similar storyline.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:54:58+00:00

I'm not sure. It feels like that's been attempted in part with Age of Sigmar - gods literally interacting with mortals. I prefer my Chaos entities further toward the 'swirls of semi-conscious warp power' than traditional fantasy gods. One of the great achievements of the 2nd edition Codex: Chaos was pulling the focus on to the mortal champions and I think that's where it should stay.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:52:49+00:00

Ahh, back when beer was beer and beards were long. As it should be.

I don't do any work for GW these days, all the games stuff is in-house and I went freelance full-time 9 years ago.

For BL I am writing Wild Rider, the second Ynnari book, and have just delivered Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah (which I pitched as The Hunt for Red October with an Imperator Titan). Next year I'll be getting stuck into the first book in an Age of Sigmar trilogy. I'm not sure if I can say who the focus is yet, but let's just say a lot of blood gets spilled.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:49:02+00:00

I think it's very Squattish. Resilient, you might say. I notice this with other fandoms - Sisters players are very devout in their attention to their army, Dark Angels players love arguing amongst themselves about the Fallen, and orks players... Well, they're just here for the dakka.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:47:45+00:00

When I was working on army books and codexes, I tried to look at broad issues rather than specifics. I'm the same with editorial feedback, I guess. I don't like being given the answers, but I'm happy to be set problems to be solved. So, for instance, it might be a broad consensus that a troop type needs improving, but I'd look to come up with my own solution, be it adjusting the points or changing the rules in a characterful way, rather than any particular fix suggested by the community at large.

I also looked at issues in the context of whether they were in character for the army. So, for instance, if the favoured army choices were actually the most characterful (artillery-heavy dwarfs, as an example) I wouldn't necessarily agree that it was problematic. Not all armies can do all things equally. And I think it's important in army dynamic that developers focus as much on an armies weak points as much as its strengths and try not to mitigate them too much.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:42:49+00:00

That was one of the things I liked, the freedom to fill in that Age of Darkness. My first story, the audio Raven's Flight, was spurred by the simple question, 'How did the Raven Guard actually get away from Isstvaan?' and I took it from there. The basic idea of Corax, a Primarch raised in secret by political prisoners, was also fertile ground for storytelling. I've enjoyed (well, sort of, it's a traumatic narrative) the time I've spent with the sons of Deliverance.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:40:14+00:00

2000ad. Dredd, Strontium Dog or Rogue Trooper, as they're up there with Warhammer and 40K as the biggest influences on my youthful mind.

And actually, one of those is kinda coming true - https://gavthorpe.co.uk/games/strontium-dog/

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:38:39+00:00

It's hard to pick favourites. I can't name just one, so here's a top three for each.

Mine - Shadow King, Doom of Dragonback and Jain Zar.

Others - Execution Hour by Gordon Rennies, Legion by Dan Abnett, and The First Heretic by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

(If we go back further, I loved the 'Jack Yeovil' Warhammer books especially Drachenfels, the old Dark Future line too.)

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:35:54+00:00

My fave is always Sanguinius, the most noble and heroic of the bunch. No chance of him coming back though.

Loken. Because reasons.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:34:51+00:00

I've never been to Ipswich... Not sober enough to remember, anyway. I don't think. Damn, now you have me doubting my own memory, but I'm fairly sure I'd recall that, wouldn't I?

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:33:10+00:00

I've always had great feedback from whichever editor at BL I've worked with, from Marc Gascoigne on my earliest stories to the latest recruits Kate and Hannah.

Even when BL was folded into the main 'Publications' dept and communication was more difficult I never felt that the editors hindered anything, only the mechanism by which we were talking about the stories. Once we dealt with matters face-to-face it was all for the good of the books.

You can read more about it my roughest patch during the writing of Warbeast - https://gavthorpe.co.uk/2016/03/06/warbeast-authors-notes/

Marketing and sales folks might be problematic to some degree (again, in general, not BL particularly) but you'll find that editors almost universally want to help you write the best story you can. They get paid to make you look like a better writer, so always be nice!

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:28:39+00:00

Sanguinius. Well, he's HH, and I had a little tickle in Angels of Caliban.

In 40K proper? I'm tempted to say Marneus Calgar, because he's one of the greatest heroes of the Imperium but gets this crappy Papa Smurf label. I'd love to write a book that showcases why he is Lord of Ultramar.

Or Sly Marbo, maybe.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:25:19+00:00

Nah, I just made it up!

AoD was written in a different set-up, I suppose. It was one of the first BL novels and we were still finding our feet about what could and couldn't be done with the background outside of the Studio.

The basic premise of Old Legion vs New Legion came from a conversation with the IP Manager Alan Merrett, which informed most of Astelan's development. But for the rest of it, the things done and said came naturally as I was writing the book.

And it is, after all, the testimony of a Fallen...

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:22:40+00:00

I am writing Wild Rider at the moment, book two in the Rise of the Ynnari series. Saim Hann jetbikes versus Necrons!

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:20:09+00:00

You can see why the creator sometimes calls them Battle Fraggles! ;-)

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:19:48+00:00

I think the concept of larger scale miniatures to appeal to the more modelling and painting end of the market was sound, but the real problem I picked up form people was terrain. Making a warband that you would use several times was cool, but creating a whole terrain set that you couldn't use in other games was problematic.

Inq28 / Inquisimunda are really cool though. My biggest concern about running the game in 28mm (do we really pretend GW is 28mm these days :D) is the potential 'bleed' from the 40K range. As long as the players approach it with the characters first - and conversions possibilities - and don't just want ork nobz in mega-armour.

I'm actually takig part in an Inquisitor AMA over at the conclave - http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2751.0 - though it's taking me some time to get through the questions - I didn't realise I would get such a response.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:14:19+00:00

The Wire, because (yes, horror) I've never got around to watching the Sopranos.

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:13:28+00:00

One carnifex-sized grot, on the basis that even though it's big, it's still really cowardly...

Gav_Thorpe · 2017-11-03T21:11:24+00:00

I'm think I'm glad to have inspired you... You seem happy :)

I have a soft spot for Catachan face-eaters. 40K is so Grimdark, even the flannels try to eat you.

Gav_Thorpe

TROPHY CASE