- Flying Mice LLC
Flying Mice LLC is a company owned and operated by
Clash Bowley based inBoston ,United States , in the business of creatingroleplaying game s. Its flagship product isStarcluster , a hard space opera science-fiction setting in a cluster of 117 systems after the Earth's sun had gonesupernova .Products
Flying Mice's first product was
StarCluster . StarCluster was released atRPGNow onJune 19 ,2002 . Excluding alternate settings, Starcluster has had over a dozen supplements, which regularly placed Flying Mice in the top 50 publishers and for years held a spot among the top 100 products of all time, and a 2nd edition was released in 2004.The StarCluster System (which is used in most of its other products) was heavily influenced by
BRP , and uses 'lifepath'-based character generation and percentile skill resolution, with all resolution being based on trading points between Chance of Success, Quality of Success, and Initiative.Sweet Chariot was released onMarch 4 ,2003 . It details a Starcluster world with a thick, high-pressure atmosphere with a large amount ofargon in it; in fact, below 2000 meters in altitude, the air is toxic. Human settlements are on mountaintops and plateaus, and travel between them is made with steam-powered zeppelins, sailing between nations like old sailing ships above poisonous 'seas' of argon. Although released to critical acclaim, and the author has described it as his favorite game, the game has met only slow and steady sales.Blood Games was added almost a year later, onApril 3 ,2004 . It is a horror roleplaying game, set in the real world; however, unlike most recent horror roleplaying games, which seek to humanize or justify the monsters, the supernatural beings in Blood Games are just that: monsters. Blood Games is also unusual in that it makes religion a prime role, which is almost ataboo subject for other companies.F20 was added to the Flying Mice lineup onMarch 7 ,2004 . It is the company's first foray into OGL games, with the proceeds of the core rulebook going to theAmerican Cancer Society . When Flying Mice LLC joined with several other game companies in theBetter Mousetrap Games consortium, publishing rights to F20 were given to fellow memberChine Games .On
October 19 ,2004 ,Tribes Of Mother Night was added to the catalog of games. Tribes Of Mother Night (or just "Tribes") is a darkfantasy game revolving around the presence ofshapeshifter blood in normal characters. Tribes was somewhat inspired by the juxtaposition of heroic fantasy and paranoid fear seen inRavenloft . Tribes uses the F20 system, and now is part of the Chine Games lineup.The
Book Of Jalan game was released onDecember 24 ,2004 , although it is not the first game to have this name. Jalan is a standalone Starcluster setting that is also Clash Bowley's take on 'traditional' fantasy roleplaying games, in that in a system designed for classic hard sci-fi, one also finds 'magic'.Just days later (
December 30 ,2004 , Flying Mice LLC releasedAquavita . Aquavita is game set on an aquaticDyson sphere 1 AU in diameter, inspired by movies set in the 1980s and pulp fiction written in the 1930s. The original tagline for Aquavita was "One Billion Earths", a reference to the sphere's surface area (rounded off). Aquavita uses the F20 system, and now is part of theChine Games lineup.Cold Space was released onSeptember 13 ,2005 and is aspace opera game set in an alternatecold war -era after antigravity and FTL spacetravel change the world. Several supplements are planned including aSoviet sourcebook. Cold Space is the company's best-selling product, outside the Starcluster line.FTL Now was released onApril 29 ,2006 , and is the sequel game toCold Space , set between 1990 and 2006.It focuses on the Interstellar War on Terrorism, ignited when terrorists re-directed a massive Mars-terraforming comet to slam into New York City on September 11, 2001, incinerating Megalopolis - the area between Maine and northern Virginia, triggering massive tsunamis and earthquakes, and setting off the Pacific's Ring of Fire. This plunged the Earth into a 'nuclear winter' of five years duration. All told, some four billion Earth humans were killed. The colonies were left to fend for themselves.was released on
August 1 ,2006 . As the subtitle states, the game is specifically designed for roleplaying in thenapoleonic naval wars of the early 19th century. It uses the baseStarCluster system, but has several additional genre-specific game mechanics overlain. It's emphasis is on emulating the feel of the 20th and 21st centurygenre novels byPatrick O'Brian ,C. S. Forester ,Dewey Lambdin , and many others.was released on
March 29 ,2007 . The game is specifically designed for roleplaying fighter pilots inWorld War I . It uses the baseStarCluster system, but has several additional genre-specific game mechanics overlain. It's emphasis is on emulating the feel of the many novels and films about WWI fighter pilots, likeThe Blue Max ,Dawn Patrol ,Ace of Aces , and others.Blood Games II was released onJune 26 ,2007 . This game is a complete rework of the earlierBlood Games , with a new dice pool task resolution system, refined magic systems, new Paths, and all new illustrations by the game's authors.Forward... to Adventure! was released onJuly 29 ,2007 . This game is an old-fashioned fantasy romp with several new-style twists, and much random table action.was released on
December 7 ,2007 . This game is specifically designed for roleplaying fighter pilots inWorld War II . It uses the baseStarCluster system, but has several additional genre-specific game mechanics overlain. It's emphasis is on emulating the feel of the many novels and films about WWII fighter pilots, likeThe Flying Tigers , Baa Baa Black Sheep,Midway , and others. It is an updating of for the more powerful planes and different nations involved inWorld War II .Sweet Chariot 2 was released onJanuary 1 ,2008 . This game is a complete rework of 2003'sSweet Chariot , with a new dice pool task resolution system, and all new illustrations.was released on
March 31 ,2008 . This game is specifically designed for roleplaying modern mercenary characters. It uses the baseStarCluster system, but has several additional genre-specific game mechanics overlain. It's emphasis is on emulating the feel of the many novels and films about mercenaries. Wild Blue covers jet fighter and strike aircraft, helicopters and gunships, special forces, infantry, armored, and littoral naval combat.Upcoming roleplaying games by Flying Mice LLC include Glorianna, an ultra-tech neo-Elizabethan planet for StarCluster 2; In Harm's Way:The Scum of the Earth, which looks at Napoleonic land warfare, and In Harm's Way: Pigboat, which examines WWII submarine warfare.
Flying Mice Writers
*
Clash Bowley (owner, designer, writer, artist; Aquavita, StarCluster, Sweet Chariot, Blood Games, StarCluster 2, Cold Space, FTL Now, Tribes of Mother Night, In Harm's Way: A Napoleonic Naval Roleplaying Game, In Harm's Way: Aces In Spades, Blood Games II, In Harm's Way: Aces And Angels, Sweet Chariot 2, In Harm's Way:Wild Blue)
*Klaxon Bowley -Awesome- (Sweet Chariot, Book of Jalan)
*Albert Bailey (StarCluster, Sweet Chariot, Book Of Jalan, Cold Space, FTL Now, Sweet Chariot 2)
*Wesley Fornero (Blood Games, Blood Games II)
*Tim Kirk (Tribes Of Mother Night)
*Jason Ludwig (Blood Games)
*Ryan A. Span (Book Of Jalan, Cold Space, FTL Now)
*El Zambo -Awesome- (Blood Games, In Harm's Way: A Napoleonic Naval Roleplaying Game, Blood Games II)
*Shanya Almafeta (Aquavita, F20)
*John Snead (FTL Now)
*Daniel Potter (Far Shore for StarCluster 2)
*The RPG Pundit (Forward... to Adventure!)
* Michael Scott (In Harm's Way:Wild Blue]External links
* [http://jalan.flyingmice.com Official Flying Mice LLC Website]
* [http://www.rpgnow.com/default.php?manufacturers_id=339 Flying Mice LLC's Page On RPGNow]
* [http://forums.rpghost.com/forumdisplay.php?f=154 Flying Mice LLC's Forums]
* [http://www.rpgnow.com/ezine.php?issue=jun04&page=4 An Interview With Clash Bowley]
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