Angus Abranson
Angus Abranson | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Game publisher |
Angus Abranson is a game publisher who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Career
Angus Abranson started playing AD&D in 1984, and by the age of 14 he was working for Leisure Games - one of the top game retailers in London.[1]: 427 In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Abranson was also writing for Adventurer (1986-1987) and other British RPG magazines and was one of the forces behind the foundation of the magazine Valkyrie in 1994 and regularly reported news for Valkyrie afterward.[1]: 427
By 2003 Abranson was the flatmate of Dave Allsop, and they decided to form a new role-playing company called Cubicle 7.[1]: 427 Their first priority was Allsop's SLA Industries, so Abranson announced a publishing schedule of five SLA Industries books for 2004, and by the start of the year he had the first two in layout.[1]: 427 Abranson and Dominic McDowall-Thomas were friends who regularly gamed and clubbed together, and he agreed to help edit the SLA Industries books for Abranson.[1]: 427 In late 2006, Abranson and McDowall-Thomas properly formed Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited, with the two of them as partners.[1]: 427 Abranson and McDowall-Thomas handed the creation of Victoriana to Ian Sturrock and Andrew Peregrine, as they remained focus on the business side of things.[1]: 428 Abranson recruited Chris Birch to write Starblazer Adventures.[1]: 428 After acquiring the Doctor Who license, Abranson and McDowall-Thomas needed investment by the end of 2008, and went to Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing who introduced them to the Rebellion Group.[1]: 429 Abranson and McDowall-Thomas were then able to go full-time for the first time in March 2009, and as a result Abranson left Leisure Games.[1]: 429 Cubicle 7 began partnering with other companies, many of the over 20 companies thanks to Abranson's long-time connections within the industry.[1]: 430
The Cubicle 7 print partnerships were not as successful as hoped, reportedly having a "disastrous effect on the company's cashflow",[2]: 355 and in November 2011 Abranson left Cubicle 7 to form Chronicle City.[3] He continued the print partnership model at Chronicle City, while Cubicle 7 largely abandoned it,[2]: 356 Cubicle 7 recovered after Abranson's departure, CEO Dominic McDowall-Thomas going on to reportedly turn over a million dollars, two years after Abranson had departed.[2]: 357
Abranson went on to partner with long time associate James Desborough, who was appointed creative director at Chronicle City in 2013.[4]
In 2016 Abranson was appointed business director at EN Publishing.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702- 58-7.
- ^ a b c Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons The 00s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-087-8.
- ^ http://www.geeknative.com/25598/the-angus-abranson-interview-a-look-inside-chronicle-city/
- ^ http://www.geeknative.com/37754/chronicle-city-appoints-grim-james-desborough/
- ^ http://newscentral.exsees.com/item/e9fa28cd4bd34d13d54392ffe1b822c8-f43f09c32ae6c23f5f1687667b7edd9a