The Staff
Just a brief moment of
your time if you please to see who writes, edits, draws and designs what on
the Lightsabre website. Jonathan Hicks
Writer, roleplay editor, artist, games
master
Jonathan has been
writing and drawing Star Wars since 1984 when he and Mark Newbold began
Newbold Hicks Productions (NHP), a venture that continued until 1990. By this time Jonathan
was already an experienced games master, running regular games for Mark,
Paul, Jason, Andy Curtis (the creator of Luschia Arkensaw, the Euphoria
Station and other characters) Darren Houghton (creator of Colonel Cazinski,
Kamira and…Coca-cola Man) Louis, Nick Gilmore, Paul Gilbert, Robin Oult, Dave
Shields and Phil Thompson (AKA Peach Squadron!). This continuing experience with GM-ing became good groundwork
for his later role as the editor and main contributor to the Roleplay
section. As well as this,
Jonathan is also Lightsabre’s main fiction writer, coming up with many of the
major stories and plot points and overseeing his numerous creations which
include naming the Setnin Sector, Glann Cipple, Amagad, Carlonian Feese and
most prolifically Goah Galletti. He
also contributes images both computer assisted and hand-drawn to the
galleries and the Setnin Selects, writes articles for the various and humour
sections, continues to games master for Mark, Paul and Andy on a Monday night
(a great testing ground for new stories, ideas and characters) and is the
administrator of Cantina Talk, Lightsabre’s very own forum. Mark Newbold
Webmaster, writer, editor,
guides compiler
Mark wrote Quest for
Freedom, his first Star Wars story back in 1982 and had already completed a
trilogy of stories by the time he and Jonathan Hicks began NHP in 1984. Continuing with his main pursuit of
writing while Jonathan concentrated on games mastering and building up the
Setnin Sector through scenarios, Mark worked on detailed plans of Chancai and
the back history of Jan Lomona (also his roleplay character) as well as other
creations which include A-desando, Duze Jostenn, the Berone Sunrise and
Cantarr bi-Romou, and began the early work on what has become the Lightsabre
Guides section. Mark began work on the
Guide to the Setnin Sector back in 1996, which swelled into what is currently
on the site today. In 1998 he wrote
Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad, the first major Lightsabre story and
today is webmaster (having taken over from Louis in June 2000), editor and
oversees the Setnin Select programme.
Mark drew together seventeen years of history and timelines taken from
the NHP audio days, roleplay timelines (three in total), fiction timelines
and others to make up what is now the official Setnin Sector chronology. He compiles all the Guides sections,
cross-references each and every story into the various guides sections,
chooses the Setnin Select images, oversees the links sections, writes
articles for the Roleplay, Humour and Various sections, sets the questions
for the Interviews section, writes the weekly Chancai Express Newsletter and
continues to add to the Chronology sections and write for the site. Paul Squire
Writer
Paul Squire wrote
Frayed at the Edge, his first Star Wars story back in 1988. Already a lifelong friend of Mark, Paul
then regularly role-played with Jonathan and Mark, doing many one-on-one
games with Jonathan, developing the Ryath Centaur character and well and
truly integrating his creations into the fabric of Setnin. As well as playing a character, Paul was
the groups second most prolific games master, running many campaigns in a
style totally different to Jonathans and adding a hard, tough edge to Setnin
that helped define the sector and the famed Setnin Way. Along with more short
stories, Paul continued to develop his own batch of characters which revolved
around the ex-Imperial Centaur, and by 1999 and the launch of Lightsabre was
a regular contributor to the fiction section, adding many flourishes to the
Chronology with his great memory of roleplay games from days past. Louis Turfrey
Writer, artist, designer
Louis Turfrey befriended
Paul, Jonathan and Mark in 1992 when he joined the roleplay group that
Jonathan was running at the time.
Along with Darren Houghton and Nick Gilmore, Louis put in many hours
playing a wide and varied range of characters, and from here came the birth
of Tarr Ranth, Nias Derril and Daemon Garr, all now important characters in
his current stories. In 1994 he and Mark
launched Fanta War, a short-lived publication that saw copies distributed at
the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (UKCAC) `94. Later ventures included a Fanta War
website, which was where Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad (a title thought
up by Louis) first saw the light of day.
Operating as the initial webmaster, Louis named and launched
Lightsabre in July 1999, setting its initial design and layout as he has ever
since, and proceeded to operate the site until June 2000 when Mark took over
duties. An occasional games
master, Louis is the sites main artistic contributor and delivers 80% of the
Setnin Select images. An expert with
computers and a columnist in 3 publications, Louis is the sites technical
adviser. After Jonathan, Louis
contributes the largest amount of stories to the site, concentrating on his
favoured group of characters, the Jedi, as well as occasional entries in the
Various section. And our honorary website
member Jason Brown
Artist
Jason
Brown has been a friend of Jonathan and Mark since the early 1980’s, when he
was already a noted artist. Many of
the various designs of Lightsabre have come from Jason’s hand, including the
original and revised versions of the Berone Sunrise, the layouts for Chancai
and the design of the Imperial base from the 1986 What Lies Within
story. In 1986 Jason began a comic
serialisation of Quest for Freedom and over the years as games master drew
quick sketches that illuminated his stories (many set outside the Setnin
Sector) beautifully. |