For years there have been people who had circulated the rumor that whichever BattleTech® novel had come out most recently from me would be my last. These rumors have not been true in the past, but now, like a broken clock which is right twice a day, they are correct. The rumormongers should not pat themselves on the back, however, because until 19 May 2000 they were wrong, and there was no indication prior to that date that would have allowed them to make their conclusions. They were guessing and finally got it right.

This essay is meant to explain what happened just so any stories about it will be accurate. There is no one simple reason why I stopped writing Btech novels. What follows are the key points.

How Writers Are Paid

There are some basics about the business of writing that you need to know, and I apologize if this is tedious material. Authors, by and large, get royalties for their work. A royalty is usually calculated as a percentage of the cover price of the book. For example, with Prince of Havoc, my contract calls for me to make 4% of the cover price for each copy sold. It’s a $6 book in the US, so I make 24¢ per copy of the book. Royalties will run the gamut from 1% to as much as 15%, with the high end figure going to writers of Stephen King’s stature. Most writers get 6-10% royalties for their novels, with books written in someone else’s universe, like Btech or Star Wars®, generating a lower royalty since the property owner (FASA or Lucasfilm) also gets a royalty.

When an author is offered a contract for a book, he gets an advance against royalties. The publisher, or property owner (depending upon how the deal is done), will pay the author money up front so he can write the book, and then as royalties are earned by the sale of the book, that advance will be paid off, and surplus royalties will paid to the author twice yearly. When royalties exceed the advances, a book is said to have earned out.

Monies from foreign editions for books are similarly split up, with the translator also often getting a royalty on the book. Those who have read my BattleTech® novels in German, for example, have been reading the excellent work of Reinhold Mai. For his hard work he certainly deserves a royalty.

In the case of Btech, FASA provides the editorial work on the books, so the monies the publishers pay to publish the books are sent to FASA, who subsequently splits them between themselves and the authors. These royalties are not bonuses, they are literally the money the author has earned for his work. They are held by FASA in trust, to be paid to us.

A Truncated History With FASA and Royalties

I first started working with FASA on Btech novels in the summer of 1987, writing on the Warrior trilogy. FASA is a game company, and “game company” is pretty much synonymous with a company that is chronically underfunded and always in a tight cashflow situation. FASA has always been slow to pay and throughout my history with them has owed me money. When I needed money, I’d call and see what they could send. Back in the early days, when I had no health insurance, no house, no car payments, no IRA; getting $300 or $500 here and there was what I needed to get by.

This is not to say that FASA did not, at other times, get me some money and, for a long time, were diligent in getting me the advance money for books (without which they would not have gotten the books). In 1994, however, this situation changed because my circumstances changed. In 1994 I got my first Star Wars® contract and that provided enough of a cushion that I wasn’t having the cash shortages that made money from FASA a necessity for survival.

To FASA’s credit, it must be noted, they did offer to pay me advances for the reprints of the Kerensky books, and the new novels I’d done for them, despite their having cash flow problems. I happened to know, however, that there were other writers in their stable to whom they owed money, and that these guys had families and kids. Since I didn’t need the money, I repeatedly directed FASA to pay it to these other folks.

In 1996, when I needed money for the down-payment on a house, FASA did come up with $6300 very quickly for me, but aside from that payment, I got nothing from them between 1994 and 1999. By January of 1999, FASA’s own incomplete accounting of what they owed me totaled just shy $90,000.00. In fact, this total did not take into account foreign royalty payments that would have put the total over $100,000.00. With the sale of FASA Interactive to Microsoft, FASA did get a huge influx of cash and did wipe out the $90,000.00 debt they owed me.

By the summer of 1999, no royalties had been paid for book sales in the latter half of 1998. At that time I asked and was sent an accounting that showed FASA owed me about $6,000.00. I was told a check request had been sent in to accounting for payment. None was forthcoming; nor was there any word of explanation. Since FASA and Decypher were negotiating a buy-out I assumed payment was waiting for the deal to go through.

That deal collapsed. Still no payment, and no new royalty statements to reflect sales in the first half of 1999.

In early 2000 I got royalty statements from FASA that, because of a computer glitch, indicated that none of my books had sold a single copy in the whole of 2000. I pointed out to FASA that I refused to believe this. At the same time I pointed out that the royalty statements also did not cover foreign editions of books – copies of which I had sitting on my shelves.

FASA did an internal audit of accounts and uncovered a lot of foreign payments that had never been accounted to me, and presented a statement sheet showing that they now owed me $18,200.00; though that accounting omitted royalties for three books. Subsequent discussions with FASA about the royalty accounting program they use revealed that I’d actually been being underpaid on novels because of a change in the deal between FASA and ROC concerning how much FASA was being paid.

To my best estimate, FASA currently owes me in excess of $20,000.00. Not only is this a significant amount of money, but it’s my money. I appreciate the fact that it’s being used to cover payroll of folks I consider friends, but my payroll needs to be covered, too.

The Contract for Tide of Tyrants

Tide of Tyrants was the working title for the next book I was supposed to write for FASA. The Prince of Havoc contract offered me a 4% royalty and a $7500.00 advance. The Tide contract offered me a 3% royalty and an advance of $5500.00. This disturbed me for two reasons. First, I was very directly being told that despite having had five novels hit the New York Times Bestseller list, my work was some how worth less to FASA now than it had been before.

Second, the pay rate on the contract has to be looked at in context of what I get for work set in my own worlds. In my last original contract I had an 8% royalty, with a $30,000.00 advance for each of three books. Even at 4% and $7500.00 FASA was getting me at a bargain rate. The reduction of rates and payments was insulting and really rather silly, in light of the fact that they weren’t paying me anyway.

FASA’s editor and I did discuss and negotiate some alternative contract adjustments that would allow me to continue working on Btech, but these had to be taken to her bosses. Despite email sent to FASA subsequent to these negotiations to get a response, I heard nothing. Without a contract I wasn’t going do the work.

The lack of payment and an unsatisfactory contract, neither of these things was insurmountable. I’d worked that way with FASA for years. It did worry me that the slow-pay cycle had started again, while I saw no white-knight Microsoft deal looming to bring my accounts to balance. Even so, this too could have been worked around, but in combination with other factors, just made it apparent to me that it was time to cut my losses.

The ROC connection

The FASA book lines at ROC are in a tough position. They were acquired under one editor, who subsequently left. His assistant was promoted to take his place, and he left. His assistant was promoted to take his place and she left. A new editor was hired and handed a publishing schedule that included these novels.

I’m not going to impart motives to ROC’s editors, but orphaned projects – and FASA novels have clearly been through a series of foster editors there – are often resented by new editors. Editors like to craft their line, have the work they publish reflect their taste. When they have only 3 titles or 5 titles a month in which to make available science fiction and fantasy, having one of those titles eaten up by game related fiction – no matter how good – just doesn’t sit well.

I think a study of the covers of BattleTech® novels clearly shows how little ROC cares about these books. We started with great covers. I have two Boris covers, for heaven sake, then we have very cartoony covers for the Kerensky reprints and the cover of Malicious Intent is enough to gag a maggot. On Grave Covenant, in the catalog ROC used to solicit stores to buy they book, the cover they have shown there even misspells my name.

Perhaps you might have wondered why the Warrior Trilogy reprints are $7 books, when everything else is a $6 book? Funny you should ask that question. A courtesy call from ROC’s editor explained to me that they had a problem with the reprint books. ROC’s contract with FASA called for books of a specific length – at that time it must have been 100,000 words or so. She told me that Riposte was fine, but that both En Garde and Coupé were too long and needed to be cut.

I explained to her that if Riposte was okay, then En Garde was fine, because En Garde was 5,000 words shorter than Riposte. She made a note to send that one back for retypesetting that would bring it down into the requisite number of pages (though, looking at a final copy, this was clearly never done). She still noted that Coupé was too long, which was probably right, since it came in around 110,000, as I recall.

I told her that I didn’t write to be cut and that other than a paragraph in the book that I didn’t write, there wasn’t anything to cut. She said that they’d run any cuts by me. I said, “And what if I am disinclined to allow cuts?” She said the contract with FASA called for books of a certain length, and I said it sounded as if, to me, the problem was between FASA and ROC, not with me.

Then I noted that she knew as well as I did that if they cut a single word, folks on the net would post the cuts to newsgroups. I pointed out to her that I’d just sold, for charity, a mint set of the original Warrior books through an Internet auction, and that it had brought in $275.00. I said, “Look, why don’t you just put a splash on the cover that notes these books are the 10th anniversary editions and charge a buck more for them? People want the books enough that they will pay.” (Yes, I was being a bit cavalier with your money there, but I figured a buck more for the full book was better than some frankenstein thing you got more cheaply.)

Take a look at your Warrior books: there’s a splash on the cover and a buck more on the price. And I happen to have in my files copies of the solicitation cover ROC used, without a splash and with a $5.99 price tag.

The reason I brought up this bit about the Warrior books was to point out that they had a word limit. In subsequent contracts, that word limit got dropped to 80,000 words. The only novel I’ve written even close to that limit was Prince of Havoc, and it still came in over the limit. In discussions about Tide of Tyrants, in which I asked FASA to ask ROC for a dispensation on that limit for me, all I got in response was having the book pushed later into the schedule so I’d be able to bring it in at 80,000 words.

Why is this a problem?

An artificial constraint like that will make me turn out a bad book. I’ve never brought a book in at the word limit. I, Jedi was supposed to be 125,000 words, but I turned in a 166,000 word manuscript. When my editor told my agent he’d find stuff to cut, I shot him an email saying, “Use a smaller typeface.” Once a Hero was supposed to be 120,000 thousand words. In the middle of it, when I’d hit 80,000 words and wasn’t quite halfway through my outline, I called my editor and asked, “Was that 120 a hard limit, or an advisory?” That puppy came in at 177,000 words. All of my Btech novels have run long, and some of them significantly like Assumption of Risk and Bred For War.

Why do these books run long? Because the story demands it. There are characters and themes that need to be explored. A good book takes on a life of its own, it has energy that has to flow, and you have to let it do that. I’m lucky enough that I don’t put in extraneous material. Why? Because I tie it all back in, making it very tight. I make the stuff relevant, so it’s not there to be cut. That’s my job, and I do it proudly. I even think I’m good at it.

I don’t want to be writing a book where I decide, “Gosh, I could use a Victor and Omi scene right here,” then realize that I can’t do it because it will take me over the word count. I refuse to work that way because I know it will turn out a bad book.

Given a choice between doing no books and bad books, I’ll do no books.

ROC’s Availability of Books

I find it rather shortsighted of ROC to reprint the Warrior books, and the Kerensky books, then to let Natural Selection, Assumption of Risk, and Bred for War go out of print. My novels are the spine novels. They are the core history novels. They are the structure upon which all the other books hang. Letting them go out of print is just stupid, especially when my Star Wars® novels are bringing readers over into the BattleTech® line. It makes no sense what so ever.

Unless you want a line to die.

The Loyalty Issue

I have never been stinting in expressing my gratitude to FASA for having given me my start. In working with them I have learned a great deal. Literally, without them I’d not be here in the position I am. Not only did they help train me to be a good writer, but Assumption of Risk was one of the novels sent for Lucasfilm to read as I was being considered for the X-wing® novels. Without FASA and BattleTech®, whatever my career might have been would have been very different.

I have long maintained that I would do a book a year for FASA for as long as they wanted me to. I felt I owed them that. They have been very good to me. I consider the folks there good friends, not only people with whom I work, but people with whom I socialize as well. To disengage from them is not easy at all.

And BattleTech®, boy, I’ve been working in that universe since 1987, and helping to shape the history and direction since that point. I introduced and characterized virtually all of the main characters who now exist there – many of them are wholly my creations. I’ve made some of them grow up and I’ve killed many others. All of these characters I know better than I know my friends. In some ways I guess I now have an inkling of what Adam must have felt like being driven from the Garden of Eden. I’ve poured a lot of brainsweat and creativity and personal energy into that universe, coming up with the twists and turns that have kept readers on the edges of their seats for over a decade.

I have well over a million words in those novels.

Loyalty doesn’t just run one way, however; and it isn’t just something between FASA and me. Do I think a failure to keep accounting up is a sign of disrespect? Do I think that a failure to attend to contract negotiations in a timely manner is a sign of disrespect? Do I think that not paying me money owed to me is a sign of disrespect? How can I not think these things?

Yes, they are signs of disrespect, but not malicious. They’re the by-product of some serious disorganization.

As I noted above, the loyalty thing isn’t just FASA/Stackpole. I have to be loyal to my readers. I know there are a number of folks who will feel betrayed by my leaving the line. They might even feel deeply hurt. I don’t like that idea. It pains me to think about it.

The simple fact of the matter is, however, that whatever violence I’m doing to their psyches by quitting; greater still would be the violence I would be doing to them by turning out bad books. I don’t ever want to write bad books. I would hate like all getout to have my worst novel be a BattleTech® novel.

Another factor in the loyalty equation is loyalty to myself. For some Btech is an escape, for others it’s a hobby and for still others it’s a religion. For me it’s a little bit of all of those things; but it’s also a business. I’m not at a point in my life where I can afford to work for free, or for a promise of payment in the future. I also can’t work with artificial constraints that concern packaging and the price of paper and the number of books you can jam in a box and ship to book stores. Books may be inventory items, but stories are not. I tell stories, not churn out SKUs.

At the same time these marketing and business considerations do have their impact on what I do. The publishing industry is notoriously volatile, and technology and the Internet are changing it more quickly than tradition publishers can possibly grasp. For a child born today, the very idea of going to a bookstore and browsing the stacks will be nothing more than one of those quaint stories dad tells about the olden days.

After I’d composed my letter to FASA resigning from the line, I got an insight that was chilling in its clarity: my future was not in BattleTech®. I’d known this for years, but hadn’t grasped it. With the way publishing is changing, it would take bigger projects than Btech to get me into a position where I would survive. Projects like The DragonCrown War or a mystery novel I’m working on; these would be the things that put me into a position where I could continue to grow as a writer, continue to be a storyteller, and actually prosper while I was doing it.

Please be aware that while I know my future is not in BattleTech®, that does not mean BattleTech® may not be in my future. One learns, pretty early on, that you never say never in this business. Walking away from Btech doesn’t mean I hate it or FASA. I’m not repudiating this part of my life; it’s just not a thread I’m continuing with right now.

Please do not take this essay as a call for letters or email to FASA. I don’t want that. I don’t want email or letters to ROC. I don’t want a firestorm in chatrooms or newsgroups. That’s not why I sat down to write this essay. I know that if I’d called for such things, the response would have been staggering and, for that, I thank you.

And I thank those who have already written. Your letters were most kind.

I have to hope that those of you are who are angry or sad will forgive me. I hope those who are willing to read more than just BattleTech® will continue to follow my other work. And I hope that maybe, out there, some of you will feel inspired enough to sit down, work on your own stories, and become authors so good that folks will forget I ever wrote BattleTech® stories.

I’d like to thank you all for having been along on this ride. It’s been great fun, and might well be fun again. For now, though, it’s over, and time for me, however reluctantly, to move on.

I do understand there are a several points that need clarification. Folks have been expressing concern about part of the storyline, and have been extrapolating material, sometimes unwisely, from what was written in the story. One big caveat is vital when viewing any BattleTech fiction and source material: because it is written from the point of view of someone in the Universe, it could be wrong. In this case, you have a farmer telling her son about the grand doings in the universe. Not quite the same as getting a ComStar news flash or reading a historian’s treatment of the Stone era.

In other words, here’s your grain of salt.

The first point of concern is a biggie and really comes in at two angles:

1) How could Word of Blake gotten rid of the Houses, Clans and Mercenaries? How could all this happen so fast?

Let’s break this down into its parts. More on the collapse of the Houses, Clans and Mercs below. How could Word of Blake have done what they did? First, based on the story, you have only the most sketchy of evidence about what they did. It would seem that they caused everything to collapse–as was always their intention–but equally evident, they failed in doing that. In fact, Jeremy’s grandmother helped defeat them, and clearly did it inside the seventeen years she fought with Devlin Stone. Moreover, since Stone began his reforms in that time, the Word of Blake threat must have gone down much more easily than most folks fear. So, when someone points out that they couldn’t have brought everything down, mainly because they were undermanned for the operation, and the story contains ample evidence that they failed in their attempt, doesn’t the question carry with it its own answer?

As for the question of speed, we’re talking a gap of sixty-five years since the end of the Davion civil war. That’s nearly three generations. In the last three generations on this planet we’ve gone from being locked in a world war pitting racists against the forces of freedom, through a cold war, to a world where freedom has spread. In the latter half of the 20th century we saw sweeping changes in the social structure of our world–changes unprecedented in the history of Mankind. That changes could sweep over the BattleTech universe in so long a period is no surprise, especially if you compare that rate of change with what you’ve seen since 3025 to 3067 in the Inner Sphere. The seeds for everything that is the foundation of the new era are there in the current storylines.

A subcurrent of comments running along with these questions does strike me rather hard and deeply: some folks have suggested the above storyline is ridiculous and this has caused them, in the words of one, “to lose all faith in Michael A. Stackpole.” I think, before anyone goes that far, we need to look at the simple facts of what we’re dealing with here.

A) Based on a couple of paragraphs in a 3000 word story, paragraphs that constitute’s a farmer’s understanding of events that took place when her parents were children, people are supposing that a whole unseen structure of events could not have taken place. Well, based on a shipyard worker saying that the Titanic had a strong hull, we could likewise decry the ship’s ability to be sunk by an iceberg. The nightmares some folks are visualizing are based on zero fact.

B) Let’s not forget two things: I have a degree in history and if you want to take a look at my reading list, you can see that in the non-fiction area there’s plenty of history being read there. I keep current, I keep expanding my knowledge of how things work in history, so I’ve got a fair shot at getting things right and making them work. More importantly, I’m not the only person working on this project. Jordan, Randall, Loren, Janna and lot of other folks are there to keep me honest, to make sure things work, and are in keeping with the traditions, history and flavor of BattleTech.

C) We get back to the same point I made in my first essay: the architects of the universe have been moving the BattleTech universe forward for years. We know what we’re doing. Despite that, we always have folks who resist change. We always have folks who decide we’ve lost our minds. We always have folks who stand up and say, “If you do this, I’m never buying another product again, and neither will my friends, and I’ll work at a store and I won’t stock it, and I won’t recommend it.” That is your right, both to protest, and to decide to walk away from BattleTech, or to continue to play classic BattleTech and have nothing to do with the new stuff.

What you don’t have the right to do, however, is to distort and misquote to make your points. Hysterical reactions and hyperbole do not add to the discussion and tend to mask your true concerns. Quite frankly, the level of reaction we’ve seen here is all fear based because very little material has been released so far–and far too little to support or justify this Chicken Little attitude about the destruction of the BattleTech universe.

2) The Clans and Mercenaries: Because the story does not mention the Clans or mercenaries, there has been an immediate reaction among folks who fear the Clans and their favorite mercs are no more. Nope, not true. (Look, the story was only 3000 words long, I couldn’t fit EVERYTHING in there.)

Do the Clans still exist? You betcha.

Do mercs still exist? You betcha.

Are both going to be exactly the same as you remember them? No, but they haven’t changed all that much and are still a vital part of the universe. (Like I’m going to get rid of the Kell Hounds and the Wolves.)

3) The Houses: The story mentions, in passing, that during the reforms, some ruling families were deposed. This has been taken to mean that the entire old order has been swept aside. Um, everyone should remember that EVERY planet in the BattleTech universe has a ruling family or two, and we’ve deposed rulers all the time. Reading the above as an indication that everything we knew and loved is gone is just silly.

Do the Houses still exist? You betcha.

Have they changed? You betcha.

You’re not losing factions, you’ll be gaining some.

4) Why are fusion engines so rare? My thanks to Randall Bills for this answer. Demand for fusion engines decreased as the need for them decreased–they’re damned expensive and when the military isn’t buying tons, the means of production were retooled to grind out other things (hello the aerospace industry in the USA). As a result, when the new era opens up, while the know-how to produce them has not been lost, the factories that are in a position to do so are few. (As Randall has pointed out, this is the same position we’re in with Saturn V rockets, the ones that took man to the moon. We know how to make them, we just don’t have the infrastructure to do so at the moment.) From a story standpoint, the rarity means, once again, the BattleMech is the unrivaled master of the battlefield, which is what we all want.

5) Why did you abandon the previous timeline? Okay, this is a purely emotional question, and it presumes facts not at all in evidence. The previous timeline has not been abandoned, any more than what happened in the 4th Succession War was abandoned when we took the 20 year jump to bring in the Clans. We were looking for a place where we could reenter the BattleTech saga at a point of maximum impact, a point that would allow us to continue telling stories for decades to come. As I have noted before, we’d really written ourselves into a corner where we were just going to be retreading old stories and you’d have hated that. Heck, we would have hated that, so the whole game would suffer.

We have jumped things sixty-five years in the future to give us this new canvas. As the story unfolds, you’ll see how it all flows together. And, please, do bear in mind that the average lifespan of someone in this universe is 100 years. If you were thinking that everyone you once knew and loved was dead and gone, well, once again, you’re extrapolating from things not in evidence.

6) Apparently one paragraph in the previous essay has been read to indicate that I am an egotist of the highest order. For the sake of simplicity, I’ve quoted it here:

4) Don’t write me telling me your ideas of how the universe could be done better. First off, if you approach things logically and build on what’s been laid out in the novels, your ideas for what should happen in the future are likely my ideas, since I’m the one who has been layering in the foreshadowing and hints upon which you’ll build your future. Second, I do this for a living. If everyone could do what I do, I’d be selling bacon-cheeseburger heart attacks at some fast food joint. It’s not that your ideas won’t be good, its that they won’t be good enough to make the universe sing and scream. Third, and very important, you don’t know enough of the other things going on to be able to provide suggestions that will work to shape the universe into what we need it to be. Lastly, you’re not paying me, so I can’t listen to your input anyway. (emphasis added)

The main objection came with the phrasing “your ideas…are likely my ideas….” The simple fact of the matter is this: over the dozen years since I’ve had BattleTech novels out, there have been numerous letters suggesting we do X or Y with the universe–all of which were things that had long been planned and were already in effect. At FASA, these sorts of letters were known as “instant requests,” because they had already been fulfilled without any extra work.

(One of the best letters concerning the novels that I ever got, in this vein, was one to FASA in which the writer requested that FASA tell me to tell him what was coming up in the future, because my latest book had forced him to totally revise and change the novel he was writing. He’d been picking up on all the clues and was writing his book, and there I had the temerity of doing exactly what he was doing.)

One of the things folks like so much about the BattleTech universe is the fact that we DO build off the past. There is tons of foreshadowing layered into what goes on there. Astute readers, and there are legions of you out there, are very good at picking up on the little clues and projecting out what the future is likely to be. Quite frankly, you make the job of every writer in the universe very tough, because we constantly have to come up with new ways to surprise you and entertain you.

And we work very hard to do that.

Pursuant to which, I just returned from Seattle and the WizKids offices, where we had a BattleTech summit. Jordan Weisman, Randall Bills, Loren Coleman and I joined Janna Silverstein and others to pound out details about the universe, ironing out problems, projecting directions for the next several years, shaping how various projects will be presented and generally doing exactly the same sort of stuff we’ve done for years to make the universe scream. It was a fairly intense day of discussions, one that leaves you drained, but also really jazzed. I cannot emphasize enough how enthused I am about the future.

I’d like to thank the folks who have sent me notes to let me know that they trust what we’re all doing. That sort of confidence is very heartwarming. It’s the sort of thing that makes enduring the stinging abuse of the ignorant and angry very possible.

It has to be noted here that everyone connected with the project is well aware of the fears our audience has, and we are doing our best to make sure that these concerns are dealt with. I did find, very telling, a question I was asked in one note: “Can you tell me that we will have a game with the complexity of the previous game?”

My answer? “Yes. You have the previous game. The old BattleTech–Classic BattleTech–isn’t going away. The game system still works, you can still generate ‘Mechs and scenarios. FanPro will bring out material to support Classic BattleTech. It’s not going away, and the simple fact of the matter is this: it never would have gone away. Had FASA just dropped off the face of the planet, folks would continue to play BattleTech for years and years to come, building their own future history, just as all the classic players can do now.

No one is being forced to convert. Face it, we know that there are already folks out there who have seen the first images of things like the Forestry ‘mech (aka the “weedwhacker” to witty detractors) who have gone to the rules for same in Maximum Tech, and have created record sheets for these things. If you choose to take things from the new game and apply them to Classic BattleTech, GREAT. This is the sort of spirit that is the reason our hobby lives.

It cannot be overemphasized, however, that there is a need to bring new players into our hobby. I’ve been part of the hobby since 1972 as a player, and I’ve been working in it since 1977. I’ve watched it wax and wane through several cycles, and the only thing that has ever pulled us out of a gaming recession has been a portal game that opened the hobby up to more people. D&D did it in the late 70s and early 80s, DragonLance and the rise of gaming novels did it in the mid to late 80s, then Magic: the Gathering did it in the mid 90s.

MageKnight is that new portal game, the first of the 21st Century, and it’s going to be what keeps our hobby alive until we find that next portal game. Every time we expand our reach, by finding new players and inviting in younger players, we guarantee that we will have more gamers for longer, which means you have gaming for a longer period.

And the new BattleTech means, for a lot of folks, that gaming is equated with BattleTech. BattleTech, as a property, has lasted sixteen years, which puts it ahead of a lot of things, from Masters of the Universe, to Power Rangers and even those Mutant Ninja Turtles. The New BattleTech means it’s likely going to be able to push on into the realm of Star Wars and Star Trek, which is fairly rarified territory.

This is very good, and all of us should be pleased to be part of it. I know I am.

To the folks who are dissatisfied or worried, a couple of quick points:

1) Investment: Some of you have invested a lot of money in figures and books, not to mention the amount of time you’ve spent painting and playing, reading and enjoying. Knowing that there is something new on the horizon is annoying because it would seem that this entire investment is now worthless. But it’s not.

No one can take away from you the fun you’ve had all these years. No one IS taking away from you the potential for lots more years of enjoyment, playing with the material you already have. You own all this stuff, and can continue to play it. (And if I had a nickel for every gamer who has told me over the years, “Well, I read the novels, but those events aren’t true in my world,” I’d not be worrying about back royalties.) The simple fact of the matter is that your gaming world need not and really isn’t affected by the events of the new game.

2) Ignorance: A lot of the anxiety going on is based on ignorance. As I noted above, it was just Monday (8/20) when we got together and nailed down definative facts and directions for the universe, making it tighter, making all the plans we have work better. The creation of a universe, its modifications, the changes to the storyline and the game, this is all a process. We know how important the game is to you–which is as important as the game is to us–so we are working hard to make it the best it can be.

As we know things, as we lock things down, as we do more fiction, as we have updates, you’ll get them. Right now we’ve announced that there would be changes and, as noted above with the first questions I dealt with, folks are projecting their own worst case scenarios–scenarios that really too silly for words. A lot of energy is being wasted by folks boxing at shadows.

In short, be patient and your patience will be rewarded.

3) Munchkinization: A lot of folks are worried that the game will be dumbed down so a bunch of eight year olds can play. They fear that any sort of streamlining or simplification of the game will sully the classic version. Folks are reacting as if anything but the Classic version of BattleTech is blasphemy.

Yes, I said blasphemy, and used the word very deliberately.

We all know that gaming is most often taught by someone who has knowledge to those in a group who do not have it. This is how gaming has always spread and there are some folks who jealously guard their specialized knowledge of the game because they like being in charge. They like being the leader. They like folks treating them as an authority figure.

That’s all well and good, but neither gaming nor BattleTech is a religion, and hosting a gaming group is not like having a congregation. Holding forth on rules questions and interpretations isn’t giving a homily, and house rules are not commandments. Gaming is entertainment, and BattleTech is a commercial entertainment property, and both are well beyond the control of those who might set themselves up as a priesthood (and my choice of religious terminology here is not a shot at either the Church of BattleTech or the Ministry of BattleTech).

BattleTech is a game. It has rules that are subject to revsion for whatever reasons, and the owner of the game is the sole authority that can change the game. Because BattleTech is part of a commericial enterprise, changes are made to expand an audience and maximize profit potential. These are the stark facts of the situation. While I don’t think we’ll be seen a marshmellow MadCat in boxes of Lucky Charms cereal, I think if an offer were made to do just that, some serious consideration would be paid to it. (And if collecting five proof of purchase certificates could be redeemed for a special BattleTech figure, we know a lot of cereal would move in a lot of circles pretty quickly.)

So, what is my point here? Several, actually. The first is that some folks who are angry over the news that there will be changes are the same folks who have always protested change because it upsets their sense of complacency. They liked things fine before. They understood it, they had control over it and, look, FASA/WizKids went and messed it up. It means they have to go and work some more to remain the authority.

And, you know what, it’s fine to say, “Oh, gosh, I don’t want to have to learn all this new stuff.” Nope, you don’t, the old game will serve you fine and well for ages to come. But, saying the above is worlds away from the nonsense going on now of, “Change is evil. You are evil for making change. Die, die, DIE!!!!”

Second, as I noted in the first essay, we need to expand our audience so we can keep BattleTech going. A modified MageKnight system works to let us do that. It makes the game more accessible to new players, younger players. You might have to think of the characters in the new era as the grandchildren of your current characters, but now you have a game that you can introduce to your own children or grandchildren and enjoy with them, and continue to enjoy with your friends.

Third, while the game system itself might become easier to use, quicker and faster, this does not mean we are going to dumb down the universe or the events in it. In the discussions we had in Seattle this was never suggested, never even hinted at and would have been the subject of heated discussion had it been brought up. On the fiction side, in terms of presentation, tone and tenor, you can continue to expect the same level of quality, or better, than you’ve had in the past.

There will be some folks who choose to dismiss anything I write here as being stuff I have to say because I’m a paid shill for WizKids, etc.. While I think I’ve earned a bit better treatment than that over the years, let me respond to such ad hominem attacks this way: Choose your words carefully because, a year from now, when the new material starts rolling out, you’ll be eating those words. Pick only the ones that will go down well.

The Cool Stuff

Most of you know that the new figures will be produced in “N” scale. That’s fairly small in terms of model railroads (but think of all the prefab buildings and terrain now available), but for ‘Mechs, it’s very cool. At the meeting we had one representation of what a new ‘mech will look like on the table top. If you took a deck of cards, set it up on the narrow side, well, a new ‘mech still couldn’t hide behind it.

Just seeing that I was instantly jealous. Had I had the new BattleTech when I was getting into the hobby, the ping-pong table in our basement would have been constantly dominated by terrain and battles. The new ‘Mechs will be utterly and completely cool to play with, and I suspect a lot will get bought up by Classicists who use them for larger scale battles. (I can’t wait to see that at conventions.)

The discussion of plans for the book line were equally impressive. While details are still fluid as a publishing deal is being finalized, the plans are for a presentation of BattleTech unlike anything you’ve seen before. I am very enthused about what we’ll be able to do, the minimum book lengths that will be put into the contracts, the treatments of same, and the list of authors Janna has already assembled to slot into the line along with your favorites. The program will be aggressive, and the loyalty you’ve all showed down through the years will be greatly rewarded.

After this summit meeting, I’m even more jazzed than I was before about the future of BattleTech. It will be frighteningly cool. Start preparing now, because this will be one ride you do not want to miss.

And so it goes until I get an email letter like this: “You are stupid. You have totally screwed up BattleTech. I hate you. Die, die, DIE!!!!!!!!!!!”

Okay, the letter above is an abstraction. Most were longer, not spelled as well, but came to that point. Most also included “facts” gleaned from the seminar. I qualify facts because they’re all wrong and I ought to know, since I’m the one generating them. Anyway, these letters, and the various campaigns of hatred for what we’re doing need answering. This essay will attempt to deal with them.

At the start I’d like to apologize for being a bit blunt in what follows. I have the luxury of being blunt because I’m only a contractor for WizKids. I have no stake in the company. Their success with MageKnight, for example, makes me very happy because the owners and employees are friends, but I profit not from their success, save for what I get paid doing contract jobs for them. So, basically, I don’t have to cover my butt here, and can say some things that need being said.

First and foremost, let’s get down to bottom-line reality: FASA owns BattleTech and WizKids has picked it up from them. They own it. It is their property. It belongs to them, not you, not me. That is a fact I’ve lived with since 1987. Despite the incredible freedom I’ve had working in BattleTech, and the great latitude I’ve had in creating, I’ve always had to ask permission before I could warp things. I’ve been very lucky that my vision and that of FASA and Jordan have run in the same direction, but ultimately it is their decision to make as to where the universe goes.

The only choice you and I have in this matter is to participate with them or not. I’ve chosen to participate, for reasons that will become apparent below.

As you all know, from reading another essay on this page, I left BattleTech a year and a half ago because of a variety of creative differences with how the property is being handled, and because of money. Despite that, when Jordan called me and said, “Looks like I’ll be getting BattleTech back, do you want to play?” I immediately leaped at the chance. Not only was it an honor to be asked, but it always has been a privilege and joy to work with Jordan.

The second point that needs to be addressed here is a rather simple one, and one that all of you are aware of on one level or another: a creative property needs to expand or it will die. Now you can all say that you were doing your part, buying everything FASA put out, but we all know that wasn’t enough. If it were, would FASA have died? If it were enough, would ROC have been able to dictate the page size of books?

The simple fact of the matter is that BattleTech had reached a point of equilibrium. Those who were coming in matched those who were leaving. Sales were steady, but growth was stalling. ROC dictated book length because they wanted to limit pages to maximize profit in a stagnant market. Moreover, they could put wretched covers on the books because they knew they’d not sell to anyone but the faithful. They didn’t believe it could expand and grow, which annoyed the heck out of me, given that the sales of my Btech novels jumped significantly post Star Wars, showing we did have an avenue for finding new readers.

How do you expand a product? You have to provide new portals to entry. You have to give the uninitiated a way to get in with no penalty and yet, at the same time, you have to reward the faithfulness of those who have stuck with it through thick and thin. (More on this latter point later.) We have undertaken to provide this portal for new players, and this is the source of much of the controversy about the new BattleTech.

Some of you are saying that’s not necessary, but really it is. Think about it for a second: how many novels would you say are core texts and must-reads for folks just getting in? A dozen? Two dozen? Somewhere in the middle? Let’s assume it’s fifteen novels, just for the sake of argument. This means you’re telling someone they need to read $90 worth of novels, well over a million words, just to come up to speed with the fictional universe. Then there are all the tech manuals, the situation reports, the field reports, and then the games themselves.

Face it, guys, you can get into a religion that promises eternal salvation for less money and less reading, and get your soul saved in the process.

How do we create this portal? We provide a point in history were someone can come in, grasp what has been going on rather quickly, and get them caught up in the immediate story. We are not dismissing the previous history, not at all, but we want them to be able to slip in and get up to speed quickly, at which point they will learn of what has gone before, and will be able to invest themselves in it. I mean, heck, these books will still exist, will still be available for sale, and to generate royalties, so why would we want to cut the future off from our past? If we were as stupid as some folks assert, we would do that, but I’ve got over 1.2 million words in BattleTech fiction sitting out there presumably earning money for me. I’m not divorcing myself or the universe from that.

Moreover, I put a lot of brainsweat and hard work into those books and into that history. I have no desire nor intent to abandon it. You don’t work on a property like BattleTech, you don’t create characters like Kai or Victor or Phelan or Morgan Kell or Katrina/Katherine and Vlad without investing a good part of your soul in them. I couldn’t have done what I did without loving these characters, and having walked away from them once, there is no way I want to do that again.

I also know it is vital to reward you all for having stuck with us for so long. When you read the new material, I want you to hear echoes of the old. While all references to the past will be self-explanatory, you will know in more depth and detail the implications of what is written. You will know the hidden meanings. You will see layers and textures that the newcomers will not. They will see a world that has sprouted full-blown, but you will know where the seeds came from, how they were tended and cared for. Everything we do in this future is rooted so firmly in the past that you’ll all be nodding in concert, just watching the flow of the history.

Why are we taking such a far future jump? Some folks have suggested that five or ten years, fifteen, maybe twenty would have been enough to push things forward. After all, that was sufficient before, wasn’t it? The previous twenty year jump was sufficient because the main drive behind it was to allow us to bring in new game technology and push the game forward. That this move also pushed the universe forward and kicked the stories into high gear was something we never expected in the way it unfolded.

However, we learned well from that experience. Because we had not planned for how things would twist and move into the future, we had brought the Inner Sphere to a place where we were just going to be retreading old story lines. We were in a stagnant loop. The civil war. The Word of Blake revolt, which is really a civil war, when you think about it. Another Clan invasion after that, perhaps? Been done. An alien invasion? No, a thousand times, no.

We wanted to do something that had never been done before. We wanted a chance to explore some themes we’d not seen before. We wanted a chance to present you with old hatreds in a new era, new alliances, new enemies, new adventures and a chance to explore and discover how this universe had changed. This last point cannot be stressed enough because, since the advent of the Clans, we’d really not tickled the discovery-bug. Sure, we went out to explore the Clan homeworlds in detail, but we’d seen them as far back as Blood Legacy. And the return to the Inner Sphere exposed us to some change, but the exploration of it was brief and could be summed up as “Katrina playing tricks again.”

Why is this sense of discovery so important? Quite simply, in psychological terms, it make you learn, it makes you invest yourself in studying more closely what you’re reading. It draws you in more deeply and once you’ve been drawn in, you want to come back again and again. Those of you who are already into the universe know how well it works, and we need to pull new readers in so they will become as loyal as you are. It will be their enthusiasm and their support that will provide us the sufficient resources to be able to continue the franchise, and to address their needs, we’ve moved the universe out of a spiral of stagnation that would have swallowed it.

From a personal standpoint, I’m finding the criticism of what we’re doing with the future of BattleTech a bit disappointing. Jordan Weisman’s contribution to BattleTech cannot be overestimated, and has gone woefully underreported through the years. He created the universe and the game, setting up the situations I have so ruthlessly exploited and warped. Most of you don’t realize, however, that in all the meetings and summits concerning Btech, Jordan was there. He continued as an architect of the universe even after moving to FASA Interactive.

As for my contributions to the universe, well, if you didn’t like them or find them significant, you’d not be reading this page right now. Suffice it to say, since 1987 I have been a major influence in the universe, writing the arc of history, consulting with other authors, turning out pivotal novels. I dare say that on any list of the dozen most vital novels to read, I’d have half the list, if not more, and some lists would be 100% made up of my work. I have created some of the best loved, most hated and most enduring characters in the universe.

Now, some of you are likening our return to BattleTech as if we’re Napoleon returning from Elba. (We’re both taller and don’t wear hats sideways.) It’s really more like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux returning to hockey and playing on the same team. This isn’t at all to denigrate the work Randall Bills, Bryan Nystul and Loren Coleman have been doing at all–not only are they great and talented in their own rights, but they’ve contributed to the summits and other meetings, as well as have consulted and guided throughout their involvement with the property. Their continued participation in this whole process has been, is and will continue to be absolutely required.

The reason for Jordan’s return are obvious: he created BattleTech, he owns WizKids and invented the MageKnight system. It would be easier to keep snow off Everest than it would be to keep him out of BattleTech. And BattleTech is much better for his participation than any of you know.

Why did I return? Before I answer, let me note a few things. First, according to accounting handed to me at Gencon, and in spite of money paid to me in 2000-01, FASA still owes me in excess of $21,000.00. While WizKids is paying me very generously for the development work I’m doing for them, the time I’m spending doing that is pretty much costing me $30,000.00 (or, at least, deferring my collecting it into the future). And if I do the first new novel for them, even if they offer me the most generous contract their book deal will allow them to offer me, I’ll still surrender $20,000.00 in what I could be making in doing another fantasy novel. So, depending upon how you want to do the accounting, I’m investing $20,000 to $71,000 in the new BattleTech.

So, why am I coming back?

First and foremost, I love the universe and working in it. I love the cultures, the history, the characters, the conflicts and the incredible potential this new situations provides for new tales of heroism, strategy, treachery and evil. This is a universe where the stories are going to be killer, the chances to entertain are going to be superior, and the dynamic energy is just going to be off the charts.

Second, I very much love working with the folks at WizKids. Jordan and I have been good friends for a decade and a half, and have collaborated successfully on a variety of projects. Loren Coleman and Randall Bills are also great to work with, combining enthusiasm and a knowledge of the universe to challenge me to work harder and make things grind together in a way that strikes sparks and surprises the readers. Janna Silverstein was my first editor at Bantam. She is responsible for my fantasy career as well as my having written in Star Wars. She is, without a doubt, one of the best editors it has been my honor to work with. Her addition to the team means both an influx of new and good writers, as well as the rest of us being made to toe a line that will guarantee a level of quality to the books you’ve not seen before.

Third, I really like entertaining all of you. Look, it’s been blatantly obvious to me, as I look at book sales and talk to folks at conventions, that you have supported me as I moved from BattleTech into fantasy and Star Wars. I recall, when it was first announced that I was doing Star Wars novels, that a bunch of SW fans posted on a news group messages to the effect of, “Who is this Stackpole guy and why should we care?” The message that came back from a BattleTech fan was simple, “You’re lucky you’re getting him. Our loss is your gain.”

So, being as how I’m not a stupid guy, and one who acknowledges his debts, I am crafting a world, a universe, a future that is full of opportunities to tell the stories you all have told me you want. I am asking you to take it on faith when I tell you that our story universe was going to stagnate. I know I was feeling cramped and constrained, and this new era is presenting broad vistas again. Believe me, this is all to the good. And, in addition to providing a portal for new readers, it makes it easier for new writers to come in and explore, telling cool stories and exciting tales.

Given the nature of the letters I’ve seen, and the suggestions of venom dripping from websites I don’t want to visit, many another writer would toss his hands up and walk away. I would, too, but years of “The future of BattleTech” talks as Gencon has gotten me used to hearing someone say, “Well, I’ve liked everything you’ve done so far, but I’m afraid you’re going to screw it up now.” Such a lack of faith in our creative abilities and sensibilities would be disturbing except that it’s natural for fans to fear change, so we understand this trepidation, as annoying as it can be.

The first piece of fiction written in this new era can be accessed here. It’s a short piece, roughly a chapter in length, that lays out some of what has gone on in the past. It’s not the first chapter of a novel per se–at least, it’s not the first chapter of the novel I want to write, but I think it is a great first chapter for this new venture we’re off exploring.

To those who want to act like Chicken Little and get all Katrina about the changes we’re making, let me offer a few bits of advice:

1) Don’t believe the rumors or tales about what someone might have heard or not heard at a convention, or in a chat or something like that. Don’t react to reactions. Find the source material, then check it against the official material.

2) Please don’t write me and ask me to tell you inside information to quell your fears. Since you’re not paying me to generate this material, you’ve got no right to it, and I’ve got no right to share it with you. What I can share, as I have above, is my sense of complete confidence in what we are doing here. You’ll just have to take it on trust that we’re not stupid, and that we’ve not gone crazy. (Okay, maybe Jordan and I are crazy. Like foxes.)

3) Patience will go a long way right now. Think about it: my having to write this essay has eaten up half a day that I could have spent getting more work done on BattleTech.

4) Don’t write me telling me your ideas of how the universe could be done better. First off, if you approach things logically and build on what’s been laid out in the novels, your ideas for what should happen in the future are likely my ideas, since I’m the one who has been layering in the foreshadowing and hints upon which you’ll build your future. Second, I do this for a living. If everyone could do what I do, I’d be selling bacon-cheeseburger heart attacks at some fast food joint. It’s not that your ideas won’t be good, its that they won’t be good enough to make the universe sing and scream. Third, and very important, you don’t know enough of the other things going on to be able to provide suggestions that will work to shape the universe into what we need it to be. Lastly, you’re not paying me, so I can’t listen to your input anyway.

Here’s the long and short of it: Jordan is back. I’m back. The rest of the creative team is back. Once we have you back, everything will be in place to make BattleTech better than ever before, and take it places we could only dream about. We’re going there, and I hope you’ll all come along for the ride.

(*New* the follow-up essay written in response to feedback concerning this one. Just click here.)