Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Tag Archives: Savage Worlds


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Hope & Glory: Glass Houses

I’m very proud to announce that Glass Houses, the first novella set in the Hope & Glory game setting, is finally available via Amazon, RPGNow and DriveThruRPG, in a variety of digital formats.

It’s been a long road, and it is good to finally see this first title out. And I owe a big Thank You! and a colossal, collective slap on the back to all the people that worked on this project.
More books will follow.

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Glass Houses is a steampulp tale set in an India that never was – it is plain old fashioned science-fictional intrigue, and was designed as a stand-alone story for everyone, gamers and non-gamers.

To learn more about Hope & Glory … Continue reading →


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Ten Thousand Daggers

I’m hard at work on a short scenario for Savage World, that will be published in Italian in the forthcoming Almanacco dei Mondi Selvaggi 2017, a special book filled with Savage Worlds gaming goodness, prepares especially for the Modena Play gaming fair.

My Savage Tale will be a pulp number, and will be called The Ten Thousand Daggers of Madame Yen Sin.
It was outlining the thing that I realized I have a real hard time writing in Italian – I think the text in English.
I’m getting too old for this thing.

Setting up the scenario was also a great occasion to go and re-watch Josef von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture, as the main-villainess and dragon lady in the story is based on the character of Madame Gin Sling, as portrayed by Ona Munson.

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In case you are curious, I covered the movie in an old post.

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Now I only have to figure out what Madame Yen Sin is going to do with her ten thousand items of cutlery, and then hit the editor with the finished product.


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Hope & Glory

And so the long wait is finally over.
Or something.
I am proud to announce that Hope & Glory my original steampulp setting for the Savage Worlds roleplaying game is out of development, and a few titles will soon be in production and available for purchase.

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Illustration by Alberto Bontempi

In the meantime, you can check here for news, behind the scenes and product announcements. Social media, Facebook pages and all the usual bells and whistles will come in due time.


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An Aculeo & Amunet Spin-off?

One never knows.

bobhoskinsI was putting the finishing touches on one of the Aculeo & Amunet stories that will be collected in the next A&A ebook (coming in september, barring accidents), and I noticed that a number of throwaway characters had proved to be tougher and much more fun to write about than expected.

Centurion Nennius Britannicus is a short, balding man that looks somewhat like Bob Hoskins in my mind’s eye – a second-tier officer with a tendency to get on his commander’s nerves.
When we meet him in The Hand of Isfet (the immediate sequel to Bride of the Swamp God), he’s on patrol duty in the streets of Alexandria.
He’s not exactly enjoying the ride. Continue reading →


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A community to back my heroes

I’m doing some work on a forthcoming sourcebook for a roleplaying game.
Savage Worlds being the engine, the rules are not a problem.
As long as I do not re-invent the wheel, I’ve ample margin for trying new stuff.

Now, in most “heroic” stories – no matter if we’re talking fantasy, science fiction, historical, western – one of the key elements is, the hero speaks for a group, for a clan or tribe or culture.
It’s a simple mechanism, it has lots of anthropological implications (the hero as everyman, etc.) but it also has a very good, simple  effect on storytelling: the hero (or heroes) have somebody they care abut, and that cares about them.
Maybe non even in a personal, one-on-one way, but community is important.
Think about the way in which Spiderman is an expression of New York and its people… Continue reading →


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Translating the (Savage) Worlds

Some great news.
As of today, I’m one of the translators for the Italian Edition of the Savage Worlds roleplaying game system.
As a long-time fan and player of Savage Worlds, I’m proud and excited about the job ahead – and a bit scared, as times are tight, and the work to be done is huge.
But the fun of the project more than compensates the hardships to come.

And I will be translating the main rulesbook!

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In the next thirty days, I will be eating, drinking and breathing this book.
But considering I already did it, as a game keeper, and for many years, it will not be such a hard thing to do.

And there’s some more exciting, Savage Worlds-related stuff coming.
It will be great.

My other projects will have to fall back on spare time and stolen moments.
Who needs to sleep anyway?