We've talked about them a few times in the past and in truth, I think that our Men: the Wandering cards, in a strange way, set the stage for Untold. Way back in the day, the guys from Wandering Men Studios (even before there *WAS* a Wandering Men Studios, in fact) were going to conventions selling our first fantasy novel, Skein of Shadows, published by Dark Quest Games and we wanted a way to give back to the Con-goer, something that they would like and yet would make an impact for our product.
We came up with the idea of making con-specific cards that we would give away (NEVER SELL) and on each card, we'd tie that back to our novel in some way. Of course, being the joke-sters that we were, we decided to poke fun of a certain well-known card game and thus the "Men: the Wandering" card line was born! It was after we saw the popularity of those cards that we often lamented - wow, it sure would be nice to be able to sell these puppies, but of course, not wanting to be sued into oblivion, we chose not to do so...
However, the fact that we knew that we COULD make these cards, I think, prepared the soil for the seeds of Untold to grow and flourish. So maybe, in a way, we all owe Untold the game to these silly little cards! Stranger things have happened, suren... ;)
A little known fact about our first batch of cards - they were made completely by hand! It took a TON of time and if we had not discovered a way of doing it faster, cheaper and easier, we probably would never have made another set! This first set, with art by Wandering Man Brannon Hall, featured all of the protagonists from our novel, Skein of Shadows! This was brand new art as well, as by this point, our fans had only seen the characters on the novella covers. Each one of the stories that made up Skein was originally released as a separate novella and the novel brought them all together. Neat, huh?
By the time we made it to Chattacon, we'd gotten much better at creating cards and we had a cool idea about getting a guest artists to do the character art for us. Order of the Stick was really hot when we went to Chattacon, so we got OOTS versions of each one of the characters. Sadly, we were not able to get Rich to draw them for us, but we found an awesome OOTS-ish artists on the Order of the Stick forums to do the art for us! Good things come from those who troll! ;) A little known fact about these cards - we, being the nerdz that we are, came up with a whole story for how our characters had suddenly become "two-dimensional!"
For Omegacon (a one-time attempt at a convention in Birmingham, Alabama that did not go so well - for the convention), we teamed up with an artist pal, Chris Fason. Chris has a comic series called Hero Happy Hour, which is all about what superheroes do when they're not fighting crime. It's good stuff and we decided to work that into the cards. So we came up with each of the character's favorite "fantasy drink" and created a drink recipe on each card! We had fun with it and Chris enjoyed the synergy! Interesting related note - we also worked with Chris on an ashcan comic for this convention called Stirring Shadows - it was a Prequel to our novel, Skein of Shadows, and it was a huge hit! We're also still working with Chris - he's done some Untold art for us - check out some of his work below!
Our first trip to Mobicon found us working with another old friend - Tom Babbey! Tom's a phenomenal artists whose done work for many of the biggest names in games and cards - and lil' ol' Ashy gave him his start, believe it or not! Tom graciously agreed to do our "Ookan" (Japanese for "Crown") series of our characters, which really blew us away! Tom's vibrant re-imaginings of the heroes from Skein really caught the eye of many a con-goer and we had folks begging us for a full set of the cards - what a rush! A little teaser here - we've just signed Tom on for a whole buncha Untold cards too, so expect to see some of his work on some cards soon!!! A little known fact about the cards below - the El'laa card is NOT Tom's work! It is the stunning work of our own Brannon Hall, who wanted to try and mimic Tom's awesome style; I think he nailed it - what about you?
Of course, as time went on and Untold was nearing release, we decided to feature Untold and its broad array of cool new races and critters on the cards. Folks loved 'em - so much so that a Roller - a race unique to Untold has now become the Official Mascot of Imagicon - Birmingham, Alabama's premier Sci-fi/Fantasy convention! What's even cooler - they're going to keep on using the character design!!! The Wandering Men's very own Hall was asked to design the convention's first logo - which we incorporated into the backs of our Men: the Wandering cards! SPIFFY!
If you've not already read about our now legendary trip to KWAKCON, you need to do so now! First, we sponsored KWAKCON, then we designed their logo, and finally, it changed Wandering Men Studios forever! It was an awesome trip and we're looking forward to heading back next year - it truly changed the face of Untold! Little know fact: KWAKCON was also where we hooked up with the AWESOME guys from True Dungeon!
On our return trip to Mobicon (2009), our focus was Untold, and that was reflected in our cards. We again featured some artwork from Chris Fason, highlighting some of the awesomely cool new races and creatures from our upcoming game! Folks loved the cards, so much so that many of them became our willing servants! (just joshin')...
Our most recent convention was this past weekend - Babelcon in Baton Rogue, Louisiana! It was a blast and we met a ton of new cool folks! We were again focusing on Skein of Shadows at this convention, and that was reflected in the cards...
So what do you think of all this insanity and craziness? Too much? Too over the top? Not enough? Do you like our Men: the Wandering cards or think they're just plain silly? Post a comment below and let us know, or sound off in our forum and let us know - we really do want to know what you think! If you want to get a preview of new cards we're making for upcoming conventions, be sure and subscribe to our newsletter! We'll be previewing some cool new designs that we're working on for Gen Con and Dragoncon!