Meet Fool & Jackal: Behind the Scenes of Fool's Play

I wanted to do a more fun behind-the-scenes introduction of Fool's Play, and the series it's kicking off, System Apocalypse: Kismet so here's a feature on the characters, the art, my new co-author and more!

Fool (left) and Jackal (right) are the stars of the book. The System Apocalypse was an opportunity for them to start again, to rise up and be who they were meant to be. Their adventures take them, and readers, throughout the mysterious and beautiful province of British Columbia, Canada, as part of a secret organization helping humanity survive the System.

In their missions, Fool and Jackal explore the smaller, lesser known areas of the province which is packed full of interesting landscapes - mountain ranges, deserts, rainforests, rolling steppes, endless deep fjords and more - who knows where these two might end up.

The book is currently live on Kickstarter, so if you want to be among the first to follow their adventures, make sure to back the project now!

Meet the Main Characters

Who is Fool?

Fool lives up to his namesake, not the Jester, but the Tarot card. He's the kind of person who's always willing to try something new, and trusts in his luck. Sometimes blindly. His background of living with a serious untreated mental illness has also given him a strong sense of compassion and a critical eye towards others. All of this makes him a capable, unpredictable tactician.

At heart, he's a person who was broken by his experiences. The System gave him a chance to reshape himself into something new. He's fortunate to have a partner that recognizes his fragility, and supports his growing into the person he's destined to be.

Who is Jackal?

Jackal is Fool's partner. Growing up, Jackal dreamed of becoming a classic action hero...John Wick, Tom Cody, Conan, Batman. He adored the strong, silent types and when the System gave him the chance to transform his body into that ideal? He leapt into it.

Outwardly, Jackal is a giant—towering over most humans—and a near-ideal warrior. Inwardly, he's another stereotype. A poet and holder of multiple PhD's in sciences. Jackal was a young prodigy. He still pursues knowledge, but he now finds his poetry in the joy of combat.

Oh and they have a seemingly eldritch cat - what's that about???

About the Art

To prepare for the Kickstarter, my team worked with artist Dracokiro to commission the adorable chibis greeting you in the first half of this post. They were a cute, more unique way to depict the characters and show their personalities. It's also a bit of a tradition to get chibi figures for System Apocalypse Universe books. Plus, they make great stickers!

As for the hand drawn dust jacket cover art (in progress image above), I found the artist, Talon Dunning, at Dragon Con one year. I loved his art style and how it evoked the old school sci-fi and fantasy that I, and co-author David R. Packer, grew up reading and loving. So when we decided to do a Kickstarter for Fool's Play, I knew we just had to commission him to do the exclusive art!

The fight scene depicted appears in chapter 6 when Fool and Jackal must face an Orcabear monster. Fun fact, the Orcabear is a mix of an orca whale and tardigrade, that's why it has six legs!

Meet David R. Packer

The man behind the book, co-author David R. Packer, answered a few questions about himself and Fool's Play for my team, interview style.

See what he had to say below:

Tell us a bit about yourself. What inspired you to be a writer

Stories are my life. I came from a family of readers, and we moved a lot. Over twenty times before I left high school. That was rough, and my refuge was in reading. All my friends were people I met as a result of speculative fiction reading, comics, or tabletop RPGs.

The thing about being a mostly lonely kid who reads a lot? You build a deep and intense desire to share the stories you are reading. You want people to get that same joy, that same WOW you got from an amazing book. It sucks to be the only person to feel that.

Writing is my way to make that kid in me feel less lonely, by sharing those awesome memories and how they made me feel.

What was your favorite thing about writing the book?

Tapping into the old school heroic stories I grew up with. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Elric and Moonglum...Arioch! Taking my memories of those characters, combining them into a modern setting with System Skills? Just dropping them into the plot I'd worked out, and letting them play and see what happened? Glorious.

Huge parts of these books were closer to reading than writing. The characters just leapt out and told me how things would go, and all I could do was sit back and enjoy. And occasionally step in to figure out exactly how Fool managed whatever it was he just pulled off...

Anything else you'd like to share with readers?

Fool got his name from me, in a roundabout way. Patricia A Mckillip wrote a very forgotten book called "Fool's Run" which I loved. In my 20s, I was in the local 2600 group, and into hacking. So Fool**** became my hacker handle. Much of Fool's backstory and memories are sourced from this time in my life, and people I knew at the time.

Back the Kickstarter now!

About Fool's Play

Not everyone falls during an apocalypse. Some rise to the occasion.

For Fool and Jackal, the System Apocalypse was a chance to start again. A chance to rise, and be who they were meant to be.

Now, they're trying to offer others the same opportunities as part of a secret organization helping humanity survive the System.

Today's mission? Nothing big, just your typical save-the-princess quest.

But when you're the Acolyte of a Trickster god, typical is the last thing you should expect.

Just ask Fool's cat.