Eduardo Mazzitelli and Enrique Alcatena's classic science-fantasy comic series is being translated into English and translated into the TROIKA! role-playing game system. Two translations, two books, one campaign.
- Our book says that there were once entire regions filled with people; these were called countries. This means that all the land belonged to someone, and there were no places left to discover nor territories to conquer. That there were cities inhabited by millions, and thus food and wealth were not enough for everyone. When wars were fought, they were waged with armies, sending countless people to their deaths. Presidents existed, hence the capricious whims of commoners dictated who ruled and shaped our fate. Too many books and too many wise men were needed to contain all the world’s knowledge, so everyone remained ignorant. This is what our book says about how things once were… That means they are now much better.
- Are they really better, great-grandfather?
- Are they really better, you ask? Nations now own only the land that surrounds their walls, or the ground they tread upon if they are nomads. There is a scarcity of people, which implies there is an abundance of everything else! Each kingdom has its own unique champion, far less expensive to feed than whole armies! And only he who imposes his leadership through the strength of his spirit or the edge of his sword has the right to rule. And there is only one book, this one… and only one wise man, me. No more sterile discussions with tedious philosophers debating reality in order to uncover what is already evident.
We are translating the legendary Argentinian comic, Liquid Steel, into English for the first time ever, and also producing a tabletop roleplaying game based on and compatible with the popular TROIKA! game rules and setting. Two books, one campaign!
A pair of matching A4 hardback books
One translated comic containing the complete Liquid Steel along with a special introduction
One original tabletop roleplaying game setting book compatible with the TROIKA! roleplaying system
Books available individually or together at a special price
All art is being produced from the originals by Enrique Alcatena
We are making a definitive 288 page trade hardback of Liquid Steel. It will be A4 sized with a sewn binding for extra durability.
Enrique Alcatena & Eduardo Mazzitelli
Art by Enrique "Quique" Alcatena, who has worked on Judge Dredd, Heavy Metal, Starblazer, X-Men, Toxic!, Superman, Batman, and many more!
Written by Eduardo Mazzitelli, known for Shakar, Windward, The Ziggurat, Imperator, Journey through the Labyrinth and many, many more.
Translated by Gavriel Quiroga creator of Hellworld Earth, Hell Night, The Black Rainbow Society, Neurocity and Warpland.
Liquid Steel is being translated into English for the first time ever and will be presented in a separate, high quality trade hardback containing the complete series. All art is being recreated from the originals held by Enrique Alcatena, who is directly involved in the whole process of bringing this work to the anglophone world.
Both books are being published by the Melsonian Arts Council, who, for over 10 years, have published some of the most unusual tabletop roleplaying game books the medium has to offer. The majority of their books are created in-house by their small team of full-time writers and artists with the common goal of capturing baroque and uncanny fantasy worlds.
The worlds of Enrique Alcatena and Eduardo Mazzitelli are so full of psychedelic myth and energy that the page can barely contain them. So we're setting them free! Enrique Alcatena, Gavriel Quiroga, and the Melsonian Arts Council are teaming up to bring the world of Liquid Steel to your tabletop games.
11 Laws of the Realm. To be recited only by those whose minds can bend without breaking.
All things are alive. Thus, everything has a face whether you see it or not. Beware, many of them wear masks.
All stereotypes have died and all recurring tropes are thwarted. The knight in shining armor will be slain by the damsel in distress.
Madness and absurdity are the true natural states of the world. If it makes sense, it is seldom true.
Repetition is death. Echoes are the language of ghosts.
Dreams are real. Thus, something can acquire two contradictory states of being at the same time.
Nightmares are real too. Be careful what you dream about.
Realism and objectivity were obliterated by weapons of mass destruction during The Fourth World War. They have effectively ceased to be.
The world is either a spinning coin on the horn of a great devil or an orb floating within an unfathomable void. Its probably both but this fact is unimportant.
All rules must be challenged at least once.
Repetition is death incarnate.
Sensuality and violence rule over all courts. Mischief is the bane of kings and shall be rewarded.
The roleplaying game book is an A4, hardback with 80+ pages of gaming material. Matching the comic, it will be a sewn binding for extra durability to stand up to many years of table use.
Designed to be wondrous to play and simple to run. Its automated character creation allows anyone to dive right into the game with no prior knowledge of the setting, system or campaign, making it easy to get started. With a few easy steps you and your players will have a grasp of the world of Liquid Steel and it will grow from there into something entirely your own.
This book will contain everything you need to run games of TROIKA! set in the wild world of Liquid Steel, including:
A complete new set of 36 new backgrounds
New spells
New enemies
LORE!
Plus two Liquid Steel adventures written by Daniel Sell
Nothing can prepare you for Liquid Steel, but we should try nonetheless. Behold! These titillating translations of the chapter titles!
Chapter titles:
Scorched Earth Circle
Memory
The Warrior's Helmet
The Foolish King Has Gone Mad
The Golden City
A Walk Through Hell
The infinity trackers
The Land of No Return
Three unjust men
Dead Steel
The Nothingness Destroyed
Sibylline
Beloved Misfortune
Warning of Things to Come
The Flight of the Lizard
The Great Protector of Helpless Souls
Successive States of Matter
The Equinox of the Madramanes
The Heroes Who Die In The Darkness
Postnecrosia
Example translated comic pages:
Note! This mock-up is not the final image quality or typesetting, and is here to demonstrate the translation underway. Final version will be done by a professional layout artist on high-quality originals.
Please Note: Shipping fees collected post-campaign in Pledge Manager
The Complete Liquid Steel (£60)
Get everything being made in this campaign, including the translated comic and the roleplaying game book in matching A4 hardcovers and digital copies of both. Includes free pocket edition of the TROIKA! ruleset used in Liquid Steel and an A2 folded poster of Enrique Alcatana's art.
The Comic (£35)
Get the full Liquid Steel comic in English without the roleplaying game. Includes digital editions.
The Tabletop Roleplaying Game (£30)
Get the Liquid Steel tabletop roleplaying game book without the comic. Includes digital editions.
Complete Digital Liquid Steel (£15)
Get digital copies of both the comic and the tabletop roleplaying game book.
Digital Comic (£10)
Get digital copies of the Liquid Steel comic.
Digital Tabletop Roleplaying Game (£10)
Get digital copies of the Liquid Steel tabletop roleplaying game book.
Add-ons
Also available are the following extras
Troika! Roleplaying Game Rules The full rules to TROIKA!, the tabletop roleplaying game which the Liquid Steel setting is designed for Screen-printed Liquid Steel Shirt These are hand printed by our long-term shirt buddies. We make them every campaign and people are always shocked at how nice they are!
A2 Liquid Steel Poster
A HUGE poster to decorate your home or workplace (other places are also possible).
This isn't just an elaborate pre-order for a book, it's an effort to bring legitimate legendsof the comic world into English with the help of a comic and tabletop roleplaying game fan alliance! With your help we can bring this incredible wealth (and potential back-catalog) of psychedelic comic history to the English speaking and roleplay-gaming world with a BANG. If we do well here we can make plans for more even before this one has hit the streets; while the Melsonian Arts Council does publishing and distribution Gavriel and Enrique can get to work on the next one!
It should be a crime that there is no Alcatena/Mazzitelli to read in English ahead of this campaign. So until the legal system catches up and we're all put in jail for this oversight, please enjoy this playlist of inspirational music.
If you are one of our US fans then you likely have worries about the ongoing tariffs. Don't worry! We have plans:
Manufacturing:
This project will be manufactured in Europe, like all our books. This means low taxes on you, our American friends.
Timeline impact: Things are wild out there, but we've seen worse! We've set an overly cautious timeline on this project, giving us time to react to any economic changes or senior moments on the part of world leaders. We will also be sitting on as much of the proceeds from this project as possible in order to provide a buffer in case of who-knows-what happening.
Backers outside of the US: You're ok! Books are weird in that they can be pretty much made entirely in one place with local materials, so no odd taxes for crossing boarders all willy-nilly. Plus, most countries charge 0% import tax on books regardless of whatever else they're doing, so that's nice right?
Shipping estimates: It's impossible to say! However we're eternally optimistic and will share what the prices would be if we sent them today.
UK: £6.45 EU: £14.99 USA: £18.49
Please Note: Shipping fees collected post-campaign in Pledge Manager
There is plenty to be done! We need to assemble the art, translate it, typeset it, edit the roleplaying game, and then send it off to the printer. All this will ideally be done by August, at which point it will go to our print partners. From there it may take until September to arrive at our warehouse and then up until the beginning of October to send them all to your doors.
