Warpforged Games: We thought that it would be great if you learnt a little bit more about the people striving to bring you Mark of War. This is the first of several interviews from the team, starting with the legendary writer Gav Thorpe.
Who is Gav Thorpe?
I'm a freelance games designer and writer, and I am helping to create the new fantasy world for Mark of War. I have been working in the gaming industry for more than 20 years, including 14 years at Games Workshop. In that time my roles included heading up the Warhammer team as Loremaster, and a period as Lead Background Designer overseeing the development of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 worlds and histories.
What games have you worked on before?
In one way or another, pretty much every game Games Workshop release over that period, whether play-testing, providing additional material in the pages of White Dwarf magazine or as designer and developer. As well as Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 rule books and supplements I worked on Necromunda, Gorkamorka, the various Epic systems and Mordheim.
I was also the creator of Inquisitor. In more recent years I designed Cutlass!, a pirate skirmish wargame for Black Scorpion miniatures. I have also consulted for and worked on several video game titles, including the Mark of Chaos Warhammer licensed game, and an as-yet unannounced AAA title.
What else have you written?
A lot! I've had more than twenty novels published by Black Library, the imprint responsible for the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and a whole heap of short stories, audio books and novellas. My most well-known works are Raven's Flight and Deliverance Lost for the Horus Heresy series, The Sundering for Warhammer, and Angels of Darkness and The Path of the Eldar for Warhammer 40,000. I'm currently writing a series called the Legacy of Caliban concerning the Dark Angels space marines, and my next release is Doom of Dragonback, a Time of Legends novel featuring the dwarfs.
How did you get involved with Mark of War?
Mike McTyre, big cheese at Warpforged games, first contacted me through Facebook! He gave me a short pitch on what Mark of War was going to be and asked if I'd be interested in working on some background material for the game. I love the idea of a tabletop wargame played as a video game and said I'd be very happy to get involved. As we exchanged more emails and talked on Skype it became clear that this was a unique opportunity to create a fantasy world for a video game from the ground up. It's been fun and very rewarding, seeing this world grow from a few early notes to the history and mythos we have now.
What is you favourite part of Mark of War so far?
There're lots of ideas and images I've really enjoyed, and I could say the whole concept of the virtual tabletop wargame. As a long-time fan of all things dwarvish I'm very tempted to pick dwarves on bears, but the truth is I'm really happy with the idea of the Harmony. This is the telepathic link between all of the elves, a subconscious connection that binds them together. Elves in many worlds are disciplined, swift and well co-ordinated. Ours are the same, but even more so, literally able to know what the elf beside them is going to do next, fighting together almost as a single entity. I'm looking forward to seeing how that awesome capability is represented in the game.
But there's still lots more we can explore, I really hope gamers rally behind the Kickstarter so that we get the chance to keep going. Warpforged Games are the perfect match of video game experience and gamer geekdom, the ideal combination needed to deliver this ambitious and amazing project.
Thanks Gav, great to hear from you. We'll be talking to other members of the Mark of War team in the future. And a big thanks to everyone that has backed Mark of War so far. Let's get the word out to as many people as possible and make this game a reality.
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