
If nothing else this convinced Steve and I that superheroes could work as a written - as well as comic book - medium, cementing our plans to push ahead with HeroPress as a (global) play-by-snail mail game.
We were certainly won over, in part, by the Wild Cards series when we found out that "many of the original authors were also inspired by a long-running Albuquerque, New Mexico campaign of the role-playing game Superworld gamemastered by George R. R. Martin, and many modeled their characters on their in-game persona."
Now, almost 25 years later, HeroPress still exists and although the name at the top of this blog has changed to "I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters" - to emphasise the move away from spandex towards swords, sorcery and slaying - it is still very much "HeroPress Presents: I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters", as I've always seen HeroPress as a publisher rather than a single publication.

This series has been adapted to television, by HBO, as Game Of Thrones (after the name of the first novel in the sequence) and has proved to be one of the great television shows of the year - if not the decade.
I rather wished I'd picked up on these books when they first came out - as I did with the Wild Cards - as then I wouldn't be so far behind (currently about halfway through A Game Of Thrones), and constantly having to dodge spoilers.
They also present a perfect setting for a human-centric, low magic roleplaying game which is ultimately the style of Dungeons & Dragons I like to play and run (despite the hypnotic siren call of gonzo Arduin-style gaming) and present, I believe, the best opportunity for a long-running campaign.
I'm certainly not saying that my plans to revamp Tekralh for 2012 are a slavish aping of Martin's Westeros, but that's a very good place to start when it comes to atmospheric inspiration.
So, there you have it. As I've said before the old magazine format of HeroPress is dead, and replaced with a more focussed blog, which officially opens its doors for business tomorrow at 9am (GMT).
Be there early to beat the rush, and don't forget to pick up a goody bag on the way out (please note, there are no goody bags... and there is no way out).