Organized Play People: Talking to the Admins about GMs

When I started this whole thinking process few weeks ago, I had an idea and I wanted to see whether my master plan could be applied to all products. However, as the conversation evolved and more input was added to it, what I came to realize was that with the variety of organized play campaigns out there, nearly every play style was catered to and the variety of systems and campaign goals was pretty wide.

Now, different campaigns mean different strokes for different folks, and the can only benefit the community in the end. By making a comparative presentation, it is my hope that you, my readers, can find and promote locally the OP campaign that you prefer. We talked about Organized Play in a manner that was system-less, focusing on game play and what GMs were allowed, not allowed and methods of empowering them to allow them to shine.

This conversation took place between the following people appearing in alphabetical order. Many of whom you will recognize from previous chats on this blog, and a few new faces. They are all known faces and names in the field of Organized Play campaigns.

Teos Abadia (Ashes of Athas) Interview

Jay Babcock (Living Divine) Interview Part 2

Kitty Curtis (Legends of Arcanis) Interview Part 2

Cory Mills (Legend of the Five Rings) Interview Part 2

Steven "Bull" Ratkovich (Shadowrun Missions)

Pieter Sleijpen (Living Forgotten Realms) Interview (with Dave Kay, former campaign admin)

James Stepanek (Serial Pulp) Interview

When I started this whole thinking process about two weeks ago, I had an idea and I wanted to see whether my masterplan could be applied to all products. However, As the conversation evolved and more input was added to it, what I came to realize was that with the variety of organized play campaigns out there, nearly every play style was catered to and the variety of systems and campaign goals was pretty wide.

Now, different campaigns mean different strokes for different folks, and the can only benefit the community in the end. By making a comparative presentation, it is my hope that you, my readers, can find and promote locally the OP campaign that you prefer. We talked about Organized Play in a manner that was system-less, focusing on game play and what GMs were allowed, not allowed and methods of empowering them to allow them to shine.

This conversation took place between the following people appearing in alphabetical order. Many of whom you will recognize from previous chats on this blog, and a few new faces. They are all known faces and names in the field of Organized Play campaigns.

Overall

Although in different ways, everyone agreed that the goal of this is to provide a fun experience for everyone involved. The how varies, but that is the obvious end goal. Talking with these guys really bring out their passion and really makes for a dynamic conversation to say the least.

Everyone strives to make their campaign unique and successful. This is where I see a lot of variety and really opens makes it so that we - the players - get to pick and choose campaigns we like best.

One thing that came up multiple times was the "GM who ignores whatever is written" and run his own version, completely ignoring the adventure. This subject was heavily debated without a solution that really satisfied everyone. Although this happens in every campaign, I believe that this is the minority, that most GMs do a good job or running and keeps changes to a minimum and keep closely to the written script.

The Two Parts

Two elements really popped that I think we should separate that in their own word, every campaign administrator separated.

First, the Fluff, or the story itself has almost everyone agreeing that all major story points should be kept unchanged, or altered as little as possible. These points, in campaigns that focus heavily on a bigger story (I'm thinking of Living Divine and Arcanis), can really hurt the campaign (and the player's involvement) if the PCs fail to learn or experience a critical event.

Second, the Crunch, the crunch or system-specific numbers (things like hit points, armor, number of monsters) see more versatility and GM freedom. Some campaigns prefer to keep it simple: run as is; others give GMs near total freedom while a third group provide the GM with guidelines on how to adjust (either in the adventure or in their campaign documentation).

But don't take my word for it. Here is what THEY had to say about it.

Steven "Bull" Ratkovich

The general position is: "In the Gamemaster we trust". We have to put our faith in our GMs to do what is best for the adventure and for the players sitting down at the table. And if that means changing things up to handle whatever the players bring to teh table, so be it. At the end of the day we want to provide a challenge to the players, but we also want them to have fun. And if it's not fun, then we (both the Gamemaster and the Missions development team) have failed.

Our guidelines are simple.

1. GMs should hit all the major plot points in the adventure, even if they go "off book" a bit. Seasonal Missions are designed to be complete adventures by themselves, but they serve as part of a larger storyarc as well. So we encourage GMs to play out all the major events, so that players don't miss out on anything.

2. Players get a Debriefing Log at the end of each adventure that the Gamemaster should sign. on this Log the GM should note anything major that happens "off book", so that later GMs can see it and incorporate it (or at least know that the GM really DID let them steal an attack helicopter).

Teos Abadia

We ask DMs to stick to the adventure's plot and to not rewrite the adventure (don't put in new encounters, don't change the monsters, etc.) but you can play with how many monsters you use, etc. In AOA the text of the adventures really allows for whatever is fun - that's the real goal. If it isn't pleasing your table, don't do it. We expect home play DMs, for example, to often hack up the adventure and do different things, and that's ok. We see pretty wide improvisation at cons, which is cool. Because in AOA rewards are specifically tied to the adventures and chapters (you level every chapter, you only earn what is specifically granted) anything else they do is just for fun.

With Ashes of Athas we took DME a bit further (than LFR) by more formally writing it into the player and DM guidance documents, plus making it clear in each encounter that the DM can make alterations for fun. We do this by first stating the intended challenge level of the encounter, then suggesting various things DMs can do, including several suggestions to scale the difficulty. It becomes really clear that it is up to the DM to create fun play. We're very happy with how it has gone and continually increase this aspect. We have recently had adventures where there is mapless combat and the DM is encouraged to play around with the particulars, for example. So yes, our DME policy has absolutely been something that influences our design and that of our authors.

Kitty Curtis

Arcanis has judge empowerment and common sense. Stat-wise, do whatever is going to be the most fun for the players. If the players are going to completely wipe out an encounter which is clearly supposed to be a challenge, and the group really enjoys combat, the judge should ramp it up. If it was supposed to be a routine encounter, but due to mustering they are having a hard time with it, the judge should bring it down. This is stated explicitly in the core rulebook, the Bestiary, and our Campaign Guide.

Plot is where we are sticklers, especially in our core story line. The core story line has a *lot* of foreshadowing, but some of it is pretty subtle, so a judge who hasn't read the entire story arc isn't necessarily able to tell what can be swapped out.

Jay Babcock

Living Divine is particularly niche, and all of our content is heavily vetted to make it uniform with where we want to be. When a player sits down at one of our tables, they have a reasonable expectation of what they are getting. I find it makes our crowd of 'customers' smaller, but happier overall.

A judge at any given table doesn't know all of our intentions, our symbolism, the history and content of every scenario. It's just not possible. If they start improvising a whole new scenario, they're likely to break some of that. To this end, our Gamemaster Guide lays out what we expect: If it's in the scenario, play it as is. However, there are section of the scenario that are left intentionally skeletal (for instance, you're at point A... get to point B, then point C). Those are for you to improvise. Just don't mention mimes and clowns, or energy drinks, as their appearance is tied tightly into our symbolism.

One of the big things with LD is color. Color *never* appears in an LD scenario, unless it is meaningful, and only in the context of living immortals. If the text mentions two NPCs having a staredown, one dressed in all white and the other in all black, there is special significance there. Now, traditionally, that would be a good guy and a bad guy squaring off... but, in our world, white signifies control, and black the unknown... so, that's more likely the current ruler being challenged by an unfamiliar opponent.

Now, if a judge starts adlibbing, and adds in all sorts of color references, that breaks down. It implies meaning that isn't supposed to be there.

Combats: the biggest problem is again, a lack of knowledge about our intent. A judge may see a combat against a squad of stormtroopers as life-threatening, and may softball it, so the PCs don't risk death. But what if the point of that combat was to convince them to run when they later run into a larger group of them?

Pieter Sleijpen

For me, the biggest argument not to meddle too much with actual fights is that sometimes players like to brag a bit/feel rewarded for their choices (especially when they are niche choices) and modifying fights on the fly to get the proper challenge does invalidate the choice of players somewhat. Hence I pay close attention to why something is making something particular easy or hard and how much influence players have over those factors. It is one thing to keep things as is when the players lack burst attacks with a home group that always play together, but another when you are running that same adventure during a convention for a last minute table where two people joined so that 3 people with a ticket can actually play. Making such judgment calls at a convention is hard though, and in that regards, I seldom make them since chances are that indeed the designers/developers did a good job at their intended challenge level ;) Still, each time I hear a DM tell he dazed the same PC over and over because he kept rolling that 5 or 6 on the recharge dice and that PC was known to be the most effective to the monsters I cringe.

Now that I gave my personal opinion. The official opinion for LFR is not too different, but there are rules in regards to what can and cannot be changed (you can find those on-line btw). You can add/remove existing monsters, you can definitely play around with tactics. You cannot redesign monsters, or add new monsters (whether as an addition or replacement).

It should be noted that even though GMs abusing DME are relatively rare, it is apparently common and extreme enough for two major organized campaigns (LFR and Pathfinder) to change their rules and take a stricter stance. In LFR the reason was definitely that a few people did some very extreme things at large public conventions that forced us to change the rules.

Cory Mills

I know that basically every GM runs their adventures/modules/encounters/everything differently from every other GM, and while the official modules for the campaign are written fairly specifically in terms of mechanics and interaction, I honestly think that it only matters in the context of the campaign as a whole. Essentially, if a GM completely changes an NPC in a module to fit their table better (or because they have a creative idea, or they don’t get the intention of the NPC, or for whatever reason), it only really matters in as much as that NPC may appear in future modules. It is highly recommended that the GMs make clear to the players after the module any changes that they made, so that the players understand what the rest of the campaign is dealing with, but I don’t think it’s possible to police every single table. And, as much as I would love to, I cannot run every single table personally, so it is absolutely imperative that I trust the GMs to run the mods for their groups.

Ultimately, if the players have fun, the game is a success.

James Stepanek

Serial Pulp, being rather small has some luxuries that other campaigns don’t have. Our pool of GMs is selected by me, and I know them well. They are all very good, and are capable of dealing with things on the fly. Also the fact that it is a focused RP campaign, with a general sentiment that killing PCs is highly discouraged sets a different tone. All of this means I trust my GMs to ramp things up if necessary but still keep it in line. The modules are generally written with this assumption in mind. Combats are generally written in such a way as to be adapted to party size and composition. Encounters do not have hard scripting.

Given how people build characters (often almost completely combat ineffective), it’s necessary to grant that kind of flexibility to the GMs to adapt on the spot. Were the campaign to be a lot larger, and with a pool of GMs that I would not all know, I can’t imagine it would work. In some ways it’s pretty hard on GMs, but we’re lucky enough to have the people to pull it off. I think part of that luxury comes from how Doyce set the tone when he started the campaign, and as long as someone is familiar with the campaign, they will likely be capable of running it and keeping that tone (given as certain level of GM quality).

A conclusion?

When I started this I thought that we could wrap something up, all agree on something, but the more the conversation went on, the less I believed this could happen. That what works for one campaign may not work for all of them. There is not even big vs small cohesion, D&D vs. Non-D&D settings.

And thinking back on it, that's a good thing!

It means that when you play one campaign, you submit in to a certain paradigm that may or may not apply in another. It gives options. It gives variety. It makes it so new ideas always come into the pool. Organized play campaigns are not one-size-fits all, they are tailored to the personality, likes and goals of their administrators - and their players. While you may or not like something about one campaign, you may find something else to your taste. For example I've been bitching about Arcanis' D12 initiative on which I am starting to come around (but don't tell the PCI people). Similarly I'd like to see Pathfinder Society have a more involved storyline, like Arcanis. But at the same time, it makes me miss those elements and bring me back to them when I play other things.

And that really gives our hobby - and its organized play culture in particular - a unique vitality, a dynamism that is unique in its uniqueness.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion, let's keep the lines of communication open. I found the discussion extremely interesting.

I am very grateful that everyone in these campaign works so hard to bring ME a lot of options to play and participate.

You really didn't think I was that altruistic, did you?

JP

Organized Play People: Asking the Players!

There has been a lot of talk these past few weeks about GMs changing adventures willynelly. This goes from minor cases: making bigger rooms, adding extra hit points, changing better spells, adding more of the same monsters; to the weird and wacky: changing dragon size/color, changing the setting of a final fight or completely re-skinning an adventure.

I never made it a secret that I tweak and change adventures all the time. Yes, I do.

How can I find a solution that could be applied to all adventures, to all campaigns, to all systems and still be valid? Something that would protect the campaign leaders from backlash, mark unreasonable GMs as such and allow players a chance to experience the adventure in a positive manner without worry that they are playing something completely off-track?

Rather than giving only my own opinion on the subject, I thought I'd reach out to the community for your stories and opinions on the subject. Of course, I have a conclusion in mind, but I would like to pick the brain of the community first. So I have a short questionnaire for you. Feel free to post in the comment of email me directly with your answers.

    Do you have a horror story of a GM who changed an adventure and thing went from bad to worse? (explain)

    One that made a bad adventure into a great one? (explain)

    How far is "too far" when a GM takes and modifies an adventure? (better or worse)

    What elements do you think a GM CANNOT change and must run as written? (if anything)

    What elements do you think a GM can freely change without changing the adventure itself? (I know it sound contradictory)

Looking forward to reading your thoughts...

JP

[Organized Play People] Teos Abadia and Chad Brown [Ashes of Athas, 4e, 5e, Pathfinder 2]

When Teos, Chad and I had this talk, the news that smashed through the internet about 5e. The 5e news, prevented me from posting this... Still, the rest of this interview is fun and vastly informative.

JP: Why do you think a complete newcomer to organized play should join Ashes of Athas?

TA/CB: Our campaign allows you to create one PC and then have your experience be a single story. We provide periodic level bumps so you won't fall behind if you play casually. Each adventure has a different Death Certificate that helps you rejoin the campaign if your PC dies without feeling like you lost everything you had previously learned and earned. Limited PC options mean it isn't so hard to create a character. Limited magic and the style of play means the game doesn't revolve around extremely optimized PCs.

JP: Why should an old grumpy player - yes... think of me as that grumpy old troll - what is the biggest strength of Ashes of Athas?

TA: The Dark Sun setting is really fun and we try to highlight what Athas is about in ways that are fun for players new or accustomed to OP. AoA story awards are full of flavor and shape future play. There is a ton of story and RP.

JP: How did you become a campaign administrator? Why?

TA: I swore I would never be an admin, but I do really love organized play. I wanted to do my part to contribute the same way so many others have done. It is a job with far too few "thank you"s and incredible amounts of free work, but I could not say "no" to helping other people love Dark Sun.

CB: I served as an LG Triad member happily until I moved away from my region, so I perhaps had some better idea of what I was getting myself into. As I mentioned before, I had explored the idea of trying to start a `Campaigns'-style Dark Sun campaign on my own, which is probably how I got hooked into AoA. At the time, I was looking for a way to spread the truly great experiences that 4e D&D and LFR could offer to a group - judge and players - that was willing and able to play the adventure, rather than complete the module.

If we stopped AoA right now, I'd be happy with what we've done, just in showing people that the same great D&D I played since 2nd Edition still works great in 4e (and now it's doesn't have to kill the DM!).

JP: What are you main duties as part of the campaign?

TA/CB: We all work together to create the story. We then identify authors and each admin works with one to assist them with the authoring process. We edit and develop the adventures. We promote the campaign and work to keep in touch with fans on the forums.

JP: In an average week, roughly how much time do you devote to campaign-related duties?

TA: It varies greatly from just a couple of hours in a week to more than 20/week during crunch time. We work really hard on adventure quality.

JP: A difficult one: I give you a magic wand and you can only use it to make your campaign better... What do you do?

TA: I make myself more efficient and smarter at design. I would like to do a better job of providing information to DMs and players on the setting. I would like to see more Wizards of the Coast employees playing the campaign so they understand OP well (several played at D&DXP). I would like to find ways to have the campaign revolve around players even more (coming up with new ideas and refining them takes time).

CB: If Teos is smarter and more efficient, that gives us even more time and ability to break down the boundaries that so often lead to the typical "organized play as lowest common denominator D&D" experience. If you can't tell, I think this is actually our biggest contribution to organized play (just ahead of `give people a chance to play Dark Sun').

The most nagging lack I typically see in the version of AoA without the magic wand is "How do we give the PCs important choices, and make them matter?".

JP: Play, GM or write? Which do you enjoy best?

TA: I love to contribute in whatever form is needed. If I play, I hope my play helps other players have a great time. If I DM, I hope I really bring them a great experience. If I write, I hope what I do furthers the cause of crafting good adventures and honors those from whom I stole.

CB: I really like, want, and need all three, so I try to adjust things so that all three are satisfied. In practice, GMing for me is usually mostly part of Playing or Writing (this is probably the main thing I like about 4e - DMing can be more about playing, even above 12th level).

JP: Any known people associated with the campaign?

TA: Having Chris Sims as an admin is great. He has a really amazing understanding of RPGs, story, and editing. Chad has great living campaign experience and is an excellent author. We are of common mind on many things. Derek has great ideas and tremendous experience in other types of RPGs and games. Shawn Merwin is a mentor to me and I often come to him with questions about organized play, editing, etc. I also have to thank the people that have volunteered, authored, and playtested. We have a Yahoo list where people can volunteer and I hope they know how vital they have been to the campaign. Small things are really big when you are short on time. Death Certificates and Story Awards are the types of things that happened because volunteers gave us enough time to create them back in Chapter One. One guy making a map for us can have a really big effect.

JP: Do you have any links to websites where people might learn more about the campaign?

The guys provided me with three links:

• Main Campaign Web site
• Campaign Downloads where you can get the Campaign Guidelines, pregens, and more
• Campaign Forums

JP: Can we hope to see an "Ashes Of Athas" published book, either by WotC or by a 3PP under license?

TA: Unlikely. WotC prefers to really have organized play be special and not available in other means. I don't really disagree with that.

JP: When I first read about AoA, it was to be a "big con only" event, something that would run at DDXP, Gencon and Origins. This changed pretty quickly after the campaign’s kickoff. Why did you do so?

TA: I think it had to do with Dave Christ hearing many people desiring to have a home play option coupled with Wizards being open to the idea of a limited window when each chapter could be requested and played.

CB: We're still mostly a "big con event" campaign, but no longer exclusive. That's been driven by player demand and Wizard's willingness, both of which are gratifying.

JP: How many adventures does the campaign produce per year?

TA/CB: 9 (three chapters per year, with each chapter having three adventures. Chapters are released at D&DXP, Origins, and Gen Con). We periodically consider other opportunities that could extend the play experience.

JP: Are you looking for authors?

TA: Always! They should contact us and provide their level of experience with writing, their knowledge of Dark Sun, their expertise with 4E, and any organized play experience. You don't need all or any of those necessarily, but we do want to understand that you can create a quality adventure and understand the commitment involved. There is no pay, but you reach thousands, tell your story, and get to improve organized play! My own AoA work has opened doors to writing articles for both Dragon and Dungeon.

JP: What is the campaign’s link to WotC and/or the RPGA? Did you have talks with them about using their IP?

TA: Baldman Games is contracted to provide content at the three large D&D conventions. Ashes of Athas is part of the content that Baldman Games provides and thus can use official IP (using OGL would mean we could not use the Dark Sun setting, as setting is part of their non-open IP). We are careful around distribution (adventures can only be distributed through the web site in a controlled fashion during a limited window). None of this has been a negative for us. Wizards has been great to work with and we continue to have an open dialogue around how best to coordinate and support organized play. The legal side of things can be confusing for those that don't understand these issues, but we feel really good about what this all means for us creatively and for gamers in general.

CB: On the content side, we haven't been asked to avoid or include anything; we've basically been given free rein.

JP: When writing an adventure or plotting a storyline, how do you go about doing it?

TA: I'm really story driven. I tend to envision a story and then begin hanging fun bits on that story. Whether a combat or a skill scene, I want encounters to feel like part of the narrative. Any part of an adventure, when summarized to one paragraph, should be a cool tale and stimulate the imagination.

JP: Why 4e instead of a 3.5 or Pathfinder adaptation?

TA: Because Pathfinder fans are a bunch of... ha, ha! Totally kidding. I truly despise the edition wars. We are all gamers and we all love RPGs. Fighting x edition is really destructive to our hobby's growth. Pathfinder is really good. I love what Paizo does and I admire much of what the company does. At the same time, I played 3E for a long time and I'm worn out on it. I play a hybrid 4E/3E home game called Enlightened Grognard (www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/299297-introducing-enlightened-grognard.html) and while I love the system, I still find the "attack it with my axe again" to be a step back and a bit boring (EG works to mitigate that with a cool token system). Ashes of Athas uses 4E because Wizards wants content that is based in 4E for their conventions (no surprise there!). I have run AoA for players that have played only 1E, only 3E, only Pathfinder, and others who are sworn off of 4E... and they all had a fantastic time. Edition wars shackle the gaming community, as does any form of hatred.

CB: I have a pet theory about the RPG community, based on 20+ years of observation, which I'll summarize by saying: The RPG Community needs to have at least two games at any one time. Because so much of our efforts and discussion are driven by comparing and creating differences (i.e. Game Alpha is Game Beta, but with X and Y and without Z). The `Edition Wars' are still `hot' because the two games that exist right now are Dungeons and Dragons and... Dungeons and Dragons.

There are certainly games that will be easier, and likely better, in one system or the other, but those differences in the game are, in my experience, far less meaningful than the differences that we fabricate, just to create the sense of contrast we require.

JP: What will happen to AoA when 5e came out?

TA: There are no plans here. It would really depend on what Baldman Games wanted to do, what the differences in the edition would be, what Wizards would prefer, what OP would look like, what we wanted to do, how the campaign was being received... too many variables for any of us to worry.

JP: At the risk of starting another edition war thread... Do you think Essentials is a 4.5 edition?

TA: It clearly isn't the same as 3.5 was to 3.0. Those editions changed many fundamental aspects that really forced you to "upgrade". Can you count the number of people that kept using their PHB 3.0 once they had the 3.5 version? For a while I had no idea when I was judging a player with an Essentials PC or a "classic" one. That doesn't sound like a new version of the game. The numbers of people still using content from the 4E PH are countless! That said, I do think all of 4E has suffered from poor marketing communications. Essentials is some of the best work WotC has done writing-wise (great flavor!) and products like Monster Vault and Neverwinter Campaign Setting (which could easily have been bloat) are amongst the best D&D has _ever_ seen. I've heard many say that the reception to Essentials would have been better if it had actually been the initial offering for 4E, because it is a bit closer in design to 3E. I can see that, even while liking the original 4E design.

CB: The term `4.5' really has two possible meanings: either it's an analogy to 3.0/3.5 - in which case the answer is "nope" - or it's a reference to software versions, - in which case the answer is "kinda, although 4.4 is more accurate". Even the term `Essentials' is far from well understood at this point, having been smeared well beyond its original "These specific 10 products".

Monster Manual 3 kicked off a clear change in design ethos for the game, aimed primarily at diminishing the `boring grind' that could - and did! - happen. This design change continued through several products (including the Dark Sun Campaign Setting and Dark Sun Creature Catalog), but really hit home with the players in the two `Heroes of the...' books. In terms of changing the game, though? Essentials is less of a change than 3.5 was to 3rd edition. It's less of a change than the Complete foo Handbooks were to 2e AD&D, and *waaay* less of a change than the "Player's Option" series.

JP: I made predictions of doom about 5e at Gencon 2012 (5e or "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons). Do you have any insight on that? Any thoughts? Any secret knowledge you can share?

CB: I don't expect 5e to come out in 2012, but I would love to see it announced there, if not sooner. I think that WotC took several large risks in 4e, and have learned a tremendous amount since the launch, and I'd love to see a new edition.

TA: (To be clear, all of my answers are my own, not secret, and not those of any other person or organization.) I have also in the past told my friends I thought it could be 2012, though I wasn't sure if it would be announced or released at Gen Con. That was before Essentials was released, though, which could extend the time frame. What makes prediction so hard is that we don't know the financials. Encounters seem to be doing really well. RPGA play at Gen Con and at PAX was huge in 2011. DDI memberships seem likely to be really lucrative. While there has been some exhaustion of the design space (the guessable sourcebooks have been released), the latest offerings are great... Gardmore Abbey is a fantastic super-adventure with lots of innovation. There is a mix of those that want to see 5E and those that want to see 4E go longer. My bottom line is that I really like what WotC has been doing in 2011. I suspect I will really like 5E whenever it comes out. If I had to make a prediction, it would be that the game will allow players to consume content differently so that more players are buying things more often. I know players criticize things like Fortune Cards, but it is important to understand that there is no clearly profitable RPG company in the history of our hobby. Some of the ones that were heralded for fiscal intelligence (like FASA) have fallen by the wayside. No one has truly conquered the problem of one DM that owns lots of stuff and most players not owning more than one book. Compare what most players pay for WoW to what they spend on D&D. Paizo's subscriptions and WotC's DDI are a step in that direction. We will surely see more. What I love is that both Paizo and WotC clearly love the game. They aren't willing to sell out the game we all love for profit.

TA: Let me turn the tables on you, JP. What is next for Pathfinder? It has been a few years and they show good growth, but third edition is 11 years old. While Paizo made some revisions, can they continue to retain the old guard that has played such a similar game for so long? Can they continue to bring in enough new players? With some of the released material looking like the basic story of Golarion is told and obvious sourcebooks already written, will Paizo need to consider something along the lines of a new edition? How can that be done under the current license?

JP: Turn the tables! Preposterous!

But fair enough... That is a valid question! I cannot speak for Paizo any more than you guy speak for WotC. One element that Paizo has done very well so far is to release fewer core elements, and really focus on their adventure line through their adventure paths and their modules series. So while there are a LOT of products for Pathfinder, most of it is adventure, and we all know, there are never enough adventures.

About their setting, yes, I believe they may reach a point where everything has been said and done, and at that point, they will either come up with a new completely new setting, OR bring out Pathfinder 2e. But the way they have their release set up I don’t expect this until a number of years down the road... Yes folk, I did say Pathfinder 2e. But it’s like 5e, you know it’ll come. Though I expect PF2 MUCH later than 5e (or dare I say it, 6e?)

But Paizo has different lines: core rules, adventure paths, modules, Pathfinder Society people and fiction. Each has different people running them and they are pretty good at what they do. This creates a MUCH larger pool of people working and thinking for the same game world. The way Golarion is set, I’d be surprised to see them running out of ideas.

When I started working on NeoExodus with LPJ Design, that was one of the big issues: how to make it different from Golarion? (I have a big blog post series on it) Erik Mona has stated publicly that Golarion is pretty much "frozen in time" that it will not get a "five years later" update. Which has a lot of good things going for it, but as you say, does limit certain things.

To answer the question, this year, we will see the coming of the Tian Xia, their Asian setting come out. I can see a book on the planes (Ultimate Planes), more monster books, a "north American" continent (like Maztica) being discovered (or re-discovered), with supporting adventure path and sourcebooks. With their current release schedule... That could last them quite a few years. And with the PRD behind them, Third-Party Publishers can continue to produce material for the game (adventures, settings) that will keep their core line in business for a while.

That a fair answer?

TA: A big wish for me: What if for 5E Paizo and WotC could combine forces once more? It may sound nuts to fans, but the designers for each game are all in each other's home campaigns...

JP thinks about it a while...

JP: I doubt that will happen, but it is a nice idea... I would love to see Pathfinder adaptation of some of WotC’s OP (Dark Sun comes to mind), though that’s little more than a pipe dream... Home game maybe?

JP dreams for a second...

JP: Talking Dark Sun... what do you think makes 4e a good choice for that campaign setting?

TA: Dark Sun is filled with larger-than life Conan and Barsoom-style combat. This works really well in 4E. You don't just hit things with your axe. You break it on their head, pick up their weapon, then call to the elements before charging the next guy with a special power. I'm immensely happy with how Dark Sun plays in 4E. As a deep fan of the old material, this is better. Come play some Ashes of Athas with us!

(Please let your friend know he can't legally do that unless for personal use. You can't distribute setting under the OGL!

CB: I'll add that the role structure in 4e has proved to be even better than 2e for Dark Sun in a bunch of ways. The addition of several healers that aren't divine is awesome! There's no more need for the wonky `elemental vortexes'! The psionics system is usable without being hand-hacked by every individual DM! We don't need a 50-page Open/Closed/Banned list! 4e is great for Dark Sun. As Teos says, come give it a try!

JP: That was great! Thanks for taking the time to do this... I learned more and am quite intrigued by the product...

PS: For the first time, Ashes of Athas is going to be on the program at Genghis Con

Organized Play People: Kitty Curtis, Part 2 [Arcanis]

I know, I know, I've been slacking and you have all been wanting to get part 2 of my chat with Kitty Curtis. It's been well over a month since I posted part 1. Well, here is the continuation of the discussion!

JP: What is your official title in the campaign?

KC: Short and sweet - just Campaign Director for Legends of Arcanis.

JP: What draws you to the Arcanis RPG? What particularly attracts you to that game?

KC: First and foremost it's the world. I was intrigued when I found out that even in D20, the gods didn't have alignments, only their followers. You could be any alignment and follow any god; you would just have a different focus. This sent shivers down my spine as I was playing a Lawful Good cleric of Wee Jas at the time, and constantly having to explain that she was just a poor lost little goth girl. ("It's not about vampires, it's about magick, and the goddess, and why does everyone run away screaming?")

The original world book, the Codex Arcanis (free download) devoted a chapter to each country, written from the point of view of someone raised in that culture, and they contradicted each other. There were no definitive right and wrong answers about histories, only each nation's individual version.

The Elorii are elemental beings based on the 5 elements of earth, air, fire, water, and life. The Dwarves are celestial giants cursed for their hubris, and driven to create the perfect item as atonement in order to restore their people. The Val are humans with celestial heritage, which gives them a tiny spark of power. The Dark Kin are humans with infernal heritage, which gives them powers, *and* an obvious physical mark. Gnomes are the twisted cursed wretches that come from a human-dwarf pairing, despised more than the DarkKin. And all of these races co-exist in a world where most major historical empires from ancient Egypt to feudal Germany are all present *simultaneously*.

It doesn't seem like it would work, but it does.

JP: Yes… Yes it does work! That’s the awesome thing about it. What about the mechanics?

KC: And now to the mechanics of the game - I love the initiative clock. I know we disagree here, but I love it. The base initiative mechanic is that you try to roll a low initiative, and that's when you first act. Whoever goes on ‘1’ acts first, then whoever goes on 2, etc. When it's your turn, you choose an action, and different actions have different speeds. If I act on tick 1, I can cast a spell with a speed of 4 and act again on tick 5, or I can ready a shield (speed of 2) and act again on tick 3. And whenever you go past 12, it wraps back around again, hence the "clock".

It really cuts down on the "but if I move 10 feet, I lose 3 attacks, so I delay instead". Instead of having to pull your head out of the game and debate the abstraction of the rules, you can just act, knowing that if you did something complicated you'll have longer until you act again and if you do something quick and simple your action will be up again soon. I know you don't like having the chart of action speeds, but we all had to use the move/action chart for d20 at first - it becomes habit over time. Actions don't clump up the way you'd think they would, and it really keeps everyone in the action – no one gets up and wanders off every turn because "it'll be forever before I get to act again".

Then there's the skill system - Any skill can be used with any attribute. The base mechanic is that you roll 2d10 (Action Dice), add the die that's linked to the attribute, and add your skill bonus before comparing to your Target Number. You could roll Athletics with your Might die to win a contest of strength, with your Prowess die to compete in an Archery contest, with your Dexterity die to navigate an obstacle course, with your Insight die to deduce an opponent's strategy and a play to counter it, etc. It's all up to your imagination to make the link. And did I mention that your combat rolls are skill-based?

JP: The dice rolling system is not so much an issue with me. I’m fine with it. But let’s get to something that’s more complex… And frequently more interesting: MAGIC! What about it? How does it work?

KC: There are no slots! (The thing that most infuriated me about d20) There are no "spells per day" either. If you know how to cast a spell, you know how to cast it, period. So long as you can rest, you can re-cast spells as many times as you want to.

Additionally, there is now a bigger difference between divine and arcane magic. In the world of Arcanis, all magic echoes from the creation of the world. Divine magic is pre-set; each spell is cast exactly the same way each time, as you are using the literal words of the gods. In mechanics terms, each spell can be cast in specific ways, and anyone who learns the spell knows those variations and only those variations.

Arcane casters are instead tapping into the inherent magic of the world and forcing their will upon it, so they can alter their spells in more ways, but their spells are also more difficult to cast (both in terms of having a higher Target Number and the damage the caster would have to endure for pushing past their limits).

JP: What else is new and cool?

KC: Oh, and Fate Points! Points earned for good RP (or otherwise making the table more enjoyable) which can be redeemed for in-game benefits are a part of the base rules of the game. PCs get them at character creation and occasionally during advancement, but they are primarily earned by players.

JP: What is your favorite RPG game of all times? Your favorite supplement/ adventure?

KC: I have 2 favorite systems at the moment, both for their commonalities and their differences: Hero and the new Arcanis RPG. I love Hero because it can be bent and twisted to any genre, and it has the flexibility to handle it all. A teeny tiny book holds the majority of the rules, and all of those builder books are primarily lists of ways to use those rules to make characters with the math done for you. I love the Shattered Empires rules system because it is so linked to the setting and they show each other off nicely. Both systems load the majority of the rules knowledge into character creation, so a new player can learn the basics of the system in 5-10 minutes and handle 90% of what will come up in game if they have a pre-built character.

In both games the primary complaint I hear from new players is that they can't make a character because there are too many options to choose from. That's an awesome problem to have, and again both systems cover that by providing sample characters. (Yes, I know I sound a little partial being the Campaign Director of one of them, but I honestly am really pleased with how it turned out. As I told everyone locally, I would have continued with the campaign even if the new system sucked, but I would have said "The system sucks, but the story is awesome." I am fortunate that the system has really blossomed over its year of open playtest into something I can be proud to introduce new players to.

JP: What are the high points of a home game you run? What elements do you particularly enjoy in a campaign?

KC: Definitely my NPCs - the players tend to remember them better than I do, especially my "throwaways". No character is truly superfluous - if a PC takes an interest in them, they now have something interesting to contribute. I'll steal blatantly from a PC's background to pull that RP moment out of them and make it stick in their memory. And that's my favorite part of a home campaign - those little signs that show that our characters *matter* and are not inter-changeable cogs.

Even in a mass Organized Play campaign, there's a lot a GM can do to recognize the impact of the PCs. I still get jaws that drop when I sit at a new OP table and ask people to tell me about their PC, they give me their class/archetype, and I ask "But what's their personality like? Why are they taking this mission?". If the adventure isn't going to be tailored to the PCs, why are we playing with live GMs instead of a computer?

That's it for now. I'll post the next and final part next week!

On an unrelated matter, well not really, I am currently set up to play my first game of Legends of Arcanis here in the Springs this Sunday.

JP

Organized Play People: Kitty Curtis [Arcanis, Living Arcanis]

The person who, at the time was really the face of Arcanis in the Denver area was Kitty Curtis. I met Kitty at my first Bencon where she wore those kitty ears – which I always thought funny. At the time, she was the RPG Coordinator.

Then LG was killed and I started to look for something else (Pathfinder was still a long way away) and so I showed up at one of the Thursday nights in Arcanis on a dark November evening. Yadda yadda yadda; I was hooked! Kitty and her crew (Gregg, Ryan, Calvin and many others) kept feeding me my monthly dose of 3.5… We kept playing until we finally called it quits this past September. A number of reasons are involved (which is not the goal of this post).

JP: Hi Kitty and thank you again for participating in this interview.

KC: You're welcome JP! Always glad to do an interview that doesn't involve me on camera.

JP: I had a long chat with Peter from PCI about the new Arcanis system [link]. I wanted to do this interview with you is to focus on the organized play aspect of the new Arcanis system, not so much the system (cursed be ye d12).

KC: Just a note - I personally don't like using a d12 to track what tick you act on next. A decent d12 doesn't have the numbers next to each other, which makes it really awkward. Pen and paper works great for me, and there are a few different versions of the Action Dial running around, although my favorite is to use one of those little clocks that teach grade school kids how to tell time. (The hour hand can even be used to track strain/recovery.) I'm loving the GM Master Clock I have - I'll show you next game.

JP: If you allow me, can we talk a little about the old Living Arcanis (LA)?

KC: Sure!

JP: Can you give us a history of LA?

KC: The old Living Arcanis had a couple of different phases. We started with the 3.0 OGL, and the main difference between Living Arcanis (LA) and Living Greyhawk (LG) was that there were no regions. Sure, there were different geographical areas that events took place in, but every adventure was available to every player without having to travel in the real world.

Then Wizards of the Coast (WotC) upgraded to 3.5 LA held on to 3.0 for quite a while - Paradigm Concepts Inc (PCI) had put out new crunch products and wanted to continue to let players use them without having to pay for an "upgrade". The existing Campaign Staff started to get a little bogged down, and sought to share the wealth, so they introduced the Invisible Kings program. Groups of players and writers were invited to apply. We were to choose a region or secret society and flesh it out, and provide 1-2 years’ worth of outlines for adventures. To take the load off of campaign staff, each group of 3 or more also edited and play-tested our own adventures before sending them to another group for review, and then to campaign staff. In addition, as the campaign ramped up towards its grand finale of high-level play, the Invisible Kings were tasked with continuing to provide adventures for low-level play so that new players would still have adventures available to them, as well as having more localized plot lines for new players to wrap their heads around while learning about this amazing setting.

JP: Then 4e came along…

KC: Then WotC officially announced that 4e was forthcoming. The new 3.5 supplements were once again made obsolete, and it was clear that PCI needed their own rules set if they wanted to be in control of their campaign. Now, I was initially in the camp of not wanting to learn *another* rules system, but I have to tell you, once I started experimenting with the new system, I saw just how much of the old rules system was dedicated to squeezing Arcanis into d20 rules. (At the end of the last arc, our rules document was 79 pages. 79 pages! In the new campaign, we argued for a week whether we *really* wanted to move from 7 pages to 8 pages, including the cover page.)

JP: What other elements did Living Arcanis introduce that were unique to it? I assume those are still in “Chronicles”…

KC: There are two things that I first saw in LA (and haven't seen in any other campaigns, but then again, I don't play them all). One was separating adventures into what we call Hard Points and Soft Points. Hard Points are essentially the core storyline of each arc, and we recommend they be played in order if at all possible. Soft Points are adventures that take place around the central storyline, and we try to label whether the events in that adventure take place after any other adventures. The first story line was a 6-year arc (which stretched across 10 years of real time), so it was really important for players to be able to see whether a particular adventure would make a good "pick-up" game, or whether they would be lost without back story.

JP: [Interrupting] I really like the Hard/Soft point system. So much so that we are introducing something similar in NeoExodus, a campaign setting I am working on… But continue.

KC: The second was the introduction of secret societies – organizations that characters could be a member of - and they might have additional information or goals that the rest of the party didn't have. Sometimes this was just to give the society an item that ended up in party treasure at the end, sometimes it would be a side mission, and occasionally it would put one or more characters in conflict with the rest of the group, which led to some really rich role-playing. They were a "love them or hate them" element, but those that loved them were devoted, and the campaign really played to that. A fair number of players joined a particular legion in the campaign, so they started to get more and more mention at the major events (Roleplaying Interactives and Battle Interactives). There's a large contingent that still has the very snazzy shirts they had made. (Hat tip to Legio Lex!)

JP: Can you give us your RPG-Pedigree?

KC: Well, I don't know that anyone really needs to care who I am, but if you want my gamer history: There are plenty out there that will always see me as a baby gamer. I was kept out of the boys' D&D games in high school, no matter how much I wanted in. Shortly after high school (1999-ish), a friend heard I was interested in playing and put me in touch with a group. We started with AD&D, (darned "rouge" skills!).

After a year or two of playing, when we started to lose players to attrition (in our case, marriage to non-gamers), a friend mentioned Living Greyhawk. A way to get more D&D time AND a way for shy awkward me to actually meet people I had something in common with? Score! I stayed up and read the 3.0 rulebook from page 1 through to spells and attended my first public game day (October Rebellion, in Valhalla's back room, where I met many of my close friends.)

Two weeks later I coordinated my first game day and two months after that I judged my first game. I picked a doozy Fright at Tristor, for those that know it. I was hooked. Over the next two years I judged 2-4 adventures a week, and when I worked the night shift, ran some midnight madness games to get more gaming in. I was furious when they got rid of the points system for GMs less than a week before my Paragon status would have kicked in. I started editing for LG (local, then core and ADPs), and considered Triad, but just couldn't fit it into my life. I started helping at conventions and running more game days.

Meanwhile a friend had been trying to pitch a new setting at me: Arcanis. I kicked and screamed and fought. I didn't have time to learn a new setting, I was too busy coordinating. Then he hit me where it hurt - he told me he needed me to fill a seat at a slot 0 (allowing judges to play an adventure before they run it), or the table wouldn't go off. So I put together a dummy character and decided I would just warm the seat outside of combats. That's where I made my fatal mistake – I listened to the plot, and it was all downhill from there. He loaned me his rule book and I devoured it that night. I judged Arcanis at the first convention in Denver during the first year of the campaign, then coordinated gamedays and the local mailing list, eventually became an Invisible King (or Queen, as the case may be), then Assistant Campaign Director, and now Campaign Director.

JP: Yep… The setting in Arcanis is why we play it… What other games have you played?

KC: As far as my laundry list of games I've played, there's AD&D, d20 3.0 (variety of genres), 3.5 (variety of genres), a little 4.0, ShadowRun, Tales from the Floating Vagabond, The Window, Big Eyes Small Mouth, Vampire, GURPS, Primetime Adventures, Deadlands, Spycraft, a little RoleMaster and of course a couple of complete homebrews from when our groups got cocky and decided we'd make our own from scratch. I'll play just about anything so long as I have a pre-generated character and time, although I particularly want to try out Dread, Grimm, A Faery's Tale, Monsters and Other Childish Things, Savage Worlds, Veggie Patch, Pathfinder, Dogs in the Vineyard, Changeling and Spirit of the Century. I know I left some off of both lists. If I haven't tried, it, I'm game, once I have the free time. :D Oh, and board games, and video games when I had the time. But no CCGs or battle miniatures-I don't have the cash, much less the time.

More with Kitty next week.

Organized Play People: Cory Mills, part 2 [L5R, 4e]

Here is the final part of my interview with Cory of Heroes of Rokugan.

JP: What is the story of the Campaign, how did it go from Living Rokugan to Heroes of Rokugan?

CM: I am actually not the best person to tell that story. I took over the campaign from Rob Hobart, who formed Living Rokugan and ran it through the change to “Heroes of Rokugan”, so I feel a bit uncomfortable trying to explain what I know of the campaign’s history. I have heard stories, but I actually only joined the campaign five years ago (it’s been going on for ten), so most of what I could say would not be direct knowledge anyway.

JP: What game system is it? Last year I saw the promos for L5R 4e (and it was recommended by the above-named friends) what are the obvious differences between 3e and 4e (in Rokugan terms…) ?

CM: Heroes of Rokugan 3 uses the Fourth Edition. 4E is a lot more like 1E mechanically in a lot of ways. As far as setting is concerned, the rulebook makes a great deal of effort to ensure that a GM can run in whatever era of the game they wish. It is possible to run a campaign concurrently with the canon storyline, but it is by no means required, and there is a lot that can be done without paying any more attention to the meta-plot than the GM wishes.

HoR3, for example, is set in an alternate timeline precisely so that the players can have a chance to have major impact on the setting as the campaign continues. L5R can be a challenging system to run because a lot of the burden has been placed on the GM, but that allows them to use the rules to run the game that they want.

JP: What would you tell those out there about your campaign? Why is your campaign the best there is?

CM: Heroes of Rokugan is designed to give the players a chance to feel like heroes. As the campaign progresses, players have a chance to effect changes on the setting, and possibly the opportunity to rise through the ranks to positions of prominence in the Empire.

JP: Why do you think a complete newcomer to organize play should join your OP?

CM: Heroes of Rokugan has a community of players that share a love of Rokugan and the game, and are very welcoming of anyone who has an interest in L5R. Even casual players of the game can find a great rapport with our player base, and we have some of the most welcoming, generous players I’ve encountered anywhere.

JP: Why should an old grumpy player – yes… think of me as that grumpy old troll – what is the biggest strength of the OP?

CM: This campaign spends a great deal of effort on ensuring that player actions are taken into account for the development of the plot. Each module has a reporting window that allows home-run games to have an impact on the campaign as a whole, so that players don’t have to be at every major convention. While we do run exclusive interactives at some of our larger events, we are making a point of developing interactives that can be run by local groups as well.

JP: How did you become a campaign administrator?

CM: I was a fairly regular volunteer for the last campaign, and I had a decent working relationship with Rob. When he stepped down, I put together a team, wrote a proposal, and worked with him to coordinate with AEG. Maintaining a good relationship with the company that produces the game and the previous players of the campaign is one of my priorities, and their support has been invaluable.

JP: … And why did you become a campaign administrator? The glory?

As far as the “why” is concerned, I just found that I couldn’t let the community that I had become a part of during the previous campaign stop being a part of my life. I’ve made a lot of friends through Heroes of Rokugan, and when Rob indicated that he would be willing to help me step up, I could not resist the chance to keep the game going.

JP: What are you main duties as part of the campaign?

CM: I’m the one that makes the ultimate decisions. I have a support staff that helps me deal with day-to-day stuff and that coordinates specific things (like event staffing and mod writing), but the final responsibility is mine. I determine the course of the overall plot of the campaign and make the decisions about what rules we use, I decide what events we’re going to have a presence at, and every module that we produce passes through my hands.

JP: Do you have any links of websites where people might learn more about the campaign?

CM: http://heroes-of-rokugan.com/. Still being worked on; there’s a lot of stuff we’re getting up there as soon as a few technical issues get hammered out and as time allows.

JP: Thanks Cory… very informative.

Organized Play People: Cory Mills, Part 1 [Heroes of Rokugan, L5R]]

I first came into contact with AEG’s Legend of the Five Rings in 1997 or 1998 when I was still in college (at Sherbrooke University). The guys from Le Griffon recommended the game and I gave it a go. I was quite enamored with the setting: the idea of an empire that did not change (at least officially). The setting I like. What I didn’t like was when they used to push the storyline forward with the card game. L5R allowed me to meet close friends like Darryl and Tammy, Christophe, Oliver, Marie and Kristian. The most international gaming group ever (not one of us was from the same country!). Came 2003, my gaming time moved to Living Greyhawk and I focused on that for the most part. So my L5R time stopped.

Still, I wanted to play some, and looked at Living Rokugan which was active at the time. Finding no one, I focused on LG. I saw them play a few events at CavalierCon/ Weekend in Dyvers in the days and was curious but again saw no games in Denver.

JP: Who are you? How long have you been involved with L5R?

CM: I’ve been role-playing for very nearly thirty years now, having started with the old D&D Blue Book and a group of older friends at school. I’ve played a large number of games, like a lot of other players, and have become something of a collector – I’m at that odd place now where I own more games than I get a chance to play!

I’ve been playing the L5R roleplaying game since it first came out, having played the CCG a few times; I got hooked principally by the fact that there were multiple ways to explore the setting, and eventually gravitated more and more toward the RPG. I was fortunate enough to be a play-tester for the third edition, and I did start out on the playtest team for fourth edition, though the living campaign has taken up my attention of late and I have bowed out [of play-testing].

I also was a GM on an online L5R game for a few years, so having a few hundred players is something I have a bit of experience with.

JP: What is your official title in the campaign?

CM: Head Campaign Admin. I write the overall plot, approve rulings, edit and prepare the modules, and coordinate the efforts of the rest of the campaign staff.

JP: What draws you to L5R? What particularly attracts you to that game?

CM: Legend of the Five Rings is inspired by tales of the samurai of ancient Japan, with a healthy infusion of fantasy and a number of other Eastern cultures. While it does not attempt to match all historical or cultural details, it is a fun game that gives the players a chance to explore some of the aspects of living within (or flouting) the constraints of a strict code of honor. The setting has a complex culture and rich history that a GM can use to develop their campaign, and the rules for the fourth edition are generally presented more as options they can use to customize their game.

JP: What is your favorite RPG game of all times?

CM: I have played a lot of different RPGs over the years, and picking just one “favorite” is very difficult. L5R is good for intense roleplaying in a complex culture with a lethal combat system. Exalted and Scion are fun for over-the-top action with little regard for the laws of physics. Overall, Mutants and Masterminds is probably my favorite core system, as it allows me to do a lot of different styles of game with minimal modifications to the rules.

JP: What is your favorite supplement/ adventure, all games and genre together?

As far as supplements go, I think the old City of Lies boxed set from the first edition of L5R is my favorite. The production quality was very impressive. I really liked the fact that the player books were all written from an in-character perspective, and the maps were really well-done. I’ve run more than one group through adventures or campaigns based off that boxed set through the years, and pretty much have always had a blast with it.

JP shudders sat the simple mention of City of Lies. JP’s personal preference for supplement is The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep. ‘City’ is not far behind. It could very well be the most intricate and one might say impossible to ‘succeed’, unless leaving with one’s head is considered a success.

JP: What are the high points of a home game you run? What elements do you particularly enjoy in a campaign?

CM: My home games tend toward relatively personal plots, but that’s a luxury I have when I’m writing material for players and characters I know fairly well. Most of my games involve moderately complex intrigues, and I have a great fondness for antagonists that have multiple conflicts, including amongst themselves. I like to spring surprises on my players, and they generally enjoy the situations they find themselves in. Especially the challenging ones (though I suppose that is more of a commentary on how fortunate I am in my playgroup…).

JP: What would you say are elements that define your writing style? What elements would I expect to find in one of your adventures?

CM: I tend to emphasize character decisions over character capabilities when I write; the things that the players choose to have their characters do are often more important than their stats or powers. Getting a chance to use their skills is important to the enjoyment of the game, but I usually prefer to utilize those to get the characters to the point where they have to make decisions that are not represented by mechanics.

Also, I’ve been a fan of L5R for a very long time, so I tend to pepper my works with obscure or minor references to things from early editions. Old canon characters, places, or strange concepts (like the Tsu fish) that aren’t really in the game much anymore pop up regularly when I’m putting things together.

JP: In an average week, roughly how much time do you devote to campaign-related duties?

CM: Lately, it’s been about thirty, but that’s the press of preparations for GenCon (our biggest event of the year). On average, it’s closer to fifteen or twenty, between writing, playtesting, and editing. I have a full-time (plus) job, and this is the biggest hurdle I have to face on a regular basis.

[Note: I conducted part of this interview shortly before GenCon when Cory and a number of others were busy with their preparations.]

JP: A difficult one: I give you a magic wand and you can only use it to make your campaign better… What do you do?

CM: I would publish a campaign sourcebook with all the relevant information in it that the players would have access to, and possibly another one for the GMs. And since we’re talking magic, it would be free! I’d also like to have more time to devote to the game; writing mods is fairly time-consuming for me, and I’d like more opportunity to communicate with the players.

JP: Play, GM or write? Which do you enjoy best?

CM: GM. Pretty much hands down. I love to play, though I don’t get many chances. Writing allows me to get more ideas out of my head than just running does, though it more closely resembles work. But GMing is what I’m best at; improvising reactions from the world based on the actions of the player characters, giving NPCs their own voices, engaging the players on whatever level works best for the individual player, and giving the players challenges while still letting them shine… It’s my favorite role at the table because it’s the one that lets me be the most creative in a lot of ways.

Next week, part 2.

Not down with OPP today

Well it happens sometimes... As you can all guess, by now I won't be posting an Organized Play Person post today.

Why you ask? The biggest issue is that I am waiting on responses and approval from no less than three people. You see when I approach the people I interview, one of the promise I make them is that I will not publish anything without their consent So, sticking to my principles I prefer to wait than to have a bunch of people angry at me.

Now, that is not to say that there is anything in those interviews that could be considered offensive or that might anger them (or you), no. I am just being pedantic and a stickler to my own formula. It has yielded a number of good and interesting interviews (the number of views corroborates this), and I seek to make sure that the same level of interview persists and that the people whom I interview see the gain and want to participate in these interviews.

So, for the nay-sayers out there, I still have 4 interviews in various stages of completions. So this series will continue.

I have also been thinking about doing interviews with other industry people. Go beyond the "usual" suspects and the big names. I mean talk to some of the 3PP people: publishers, writers, developers and even con organizers. That series will reach beyond Organized Play, and should hopefully give you, the readers a glimpse into the glamorous life of people in the RPG industry. A life full of riches and admiration by the masses.

Ahhh to dream...

JP

Organized Play People: Jay Babcock, part 2 (4e, Living Divine, NDA)

When last we left Jay, he was telling us that he was writing all 11 rounds of adventure for the first year of Living Divine. Without any further introduction, let’s go back to Jay.

JP: When you say campaign year… Is it real-time year or Gencon-to-Gencon?

JB: Real-time year.

JP: In an average week, roughly how much time do you devote to campaign-related duties?

JB: At least 40 hours, or so. It's easily a second career.

JP: A difficult one: I give you a magic wand and you can only use it to make your campaign better. What do you do?

JB: I'd save it for a rainy day. It may sound cheesy, but we are exactly where I want us to be, at this point. Wherever I've seen changes I've wanted to make, I've been able to just make them. It's a great benefit of being completely autonomous.

JP: Play, GM or write? Which do you enjoy best?

JB: Writing. You may as well ask a fish why he swims. It's just what I do, and what I've always done.

Over the years, I've had hundreds of folks come up to me and say 'I'm buying you a beer, I had so much fun'. There is no greater feeling than that... knowing that you were able to hit the mark, that solidly. And while I'll never knock GMing, your audience is, at most, a half-dozen folks at a time. But take pen to paper, and that table becomes a room of tables, and a schedule of conventions. It's utterly amazing!

And hey, free beer!

JP: Do you have any links of websites where people might learn more about the campaign?

JB:Our site is http://www.viceandvillainy.org/LivingDivine/

At the moment, we're transitioning the site from a sneak-preview version to the full campaign version.

Also of note is the Living Divine Facebook page which has a LOT of good stuff. (https://www.facebook.com/LivingDivine) Among which is some art like the one at the beginning of this article (used here with permission), I found both disturbing and interesting at the same time. These are taken from flash animations that should come out with the finalized campaign website. I'm quite intrigued I must say.

JP: How do you plan on distributing the adventures? Will you sell them or simply make them available for download?

JB: We will be selling them - and already are. All the details will be on our new, finalized website..

JP: Why did you choose 4e? Wouldn't it make more sense to go with a growing system like Pathfinder?

JB: I'm not interested in having an edition debate with you. I don't share your obvious prejudice.

That said, we have extended an open invitation to anyone who wants to come in, and translate our materials to the Pathfinder (or any other) system. So far, those that have considered it have talked big but never stepped up to the plate.

JP: Translating stuff from one game to the other doesn’t work well IMO. There will always be a lame duck. Since game rules are part of the adventure and encounter design, you can’t just translate from one to the other. Skill Challenges are a good example: something very unique to 4e that kinda works in Pathfinder. Encounters that mix traps with combats generally mesh better in 4e. Is that mix of encounter something that pushed you to 4e or just a personal choice?

JB: We weren't pushed to 4e. My games will always stay with the latest D&D rule set, as long as I am still as deeply involved with the RPGA/BMG community as I am. It wouldn't be possible to do both, otherwise.

JP: You really think the 4e community is growing? REALLY? Locally it’s being kept alive by a few highly dedicated volunteers and re-players. Any insight?

JB: I'm privy to numbers on the national level. In that context, they are growing rather dramatically.

That said, I know there is a decent contingent of folks that like 4e, but have grown tired of Living Forgotten Realms. That crowd is making LD and AoA flourish, rather nicely. We've been managing to pull some of them back to the game.

AoA is Ashes of Athas, another organized play campaign. Teos and Chad who run the campaign will be interviewed in a later installment of this series.

JP: I went on the record saying that 5e is coming at Gencon 2012 (announcement). What are your thoughts about that?

JB: Folks said that last year, too. Eventually, they'll surely be right.

JP: When do you expect 5e to come out? Any secret info?

JB: If I had such info, I would be under NDA, and thus unable to say anything. So it's a pointless question.

JP: AH There it is again! The NDA MONSTER… you have NO Idea how often it sneaks up on me.

JB: Believe me, I do. I've been on both sides of them, more times than I care to count.

JP: What impact do you foresee a future edition having on the Campaign? Is that something you considered?

JB: Sure, we've considered it on a high level. We'll probably go with whatever is the current edition is... it's the audience we want to cater to. No different than if a campaign chose the Pathfinder system - they'd likely want to stick with the latest edition.

JP: Thanks Jay! Frank discussion… I expected nothing less. It was very fun. I’m a bit sad that there isn’t a Pathfinder version (yet) of Living Divine, because I really liked your Bissel stuff. I can keep praying (just like I pray for a Pathfinder version of Heroes of Arcanis)…

JB: Praying won't make it happen. We don't have any die-hard, skilled Pathfinder folks on our staff... so we won't attempt a translation on our own. We'd only do it if we thought it'd be done right.

JP: I can’t say I’ll try it myself (4e is something I gave up long ago and have no interest in picking up again, and I’m too much of a do-what-you-say kinda guy to lie). I leave the final word to you.

JB: Spork!

Organized Play People: Jay Babcock, Part 1 (4e, Living Divine, JP gets stumped)

I spoke to Jay many times before I got to meet him face to face. As we were both Triads, we frequently talked. Like me, Jay was chosen to be an admin for Living Forgotten Realms. He quit long before I did. Still, he and I kept in touch.

Unlike myself, Jay took a liking to 4e. Me on the other had… Yeah…

Then the other day as I began thinking about this series, my good friend Lenny (shout-out) comes out and tells me that “some guy” was setting up a new campaign called Living Divine. So I did a quick Google search a who shows up? That’s right Jay’s name! I got on instant messenger and immediately contacted him and arranged to have him in my series of interviews.

Turns out his campaign kicked off at Gencon this year! Now I want to know more…

JP: Hi Jay! Glad you agreed to do this interview. Can you tell us a bit more about who you are? What about your RPG history?

JB: Well, let's see... I started playing RPGs when I was 8 and started running at gaming conventions when I was 11... In fact, I've judged or staffed that particular convention for every year of its existence, since then: some twenty-odd years.

I was part of the founding of my first organized gaming group in 1994. That group - now known as the Vice & Villainy Gaming Guild - still meets and games every week.

I was an Ancient Seer in Ultima Online's interest program for three years, running a team that created storylines and put on quests for that game world.

I helped put together the Aurora program in Eve Online - also tasked with creating quests and game content - participated for six months, and then took over and ran the program for two more years.

I was an active player and author for the Living City campaign.

I served as Triad for the Bissel region (New England) for five years, right up to the end of the campaign. My primary position was convention support, and at peak, I was staffing 16 conventions per year.

I work for Baldman Games, the company that runs D&D Experience and the RPGA events at Origins and GenCon. I serve as head marshal for those three major conventions.

The biggest line item on my resume, I suppose, is my writing. I have been the primary author or co-author on 242 rounds of RPGA and Living Divine scenarios. It's been speculated that I am the most prolific author in the history of the RPGA, but I'm not really interested in titles... just in keeping people entertained.

So... you might say I'm a gamer.

JP: You mentioned Baldman Games (BMG)… Is that Dave Christ’s organization?

JB: It is his company.

JP: I saw that BMG branched into some OP stuff with Ashes of Athas

JB: It is an excellent campaign, that I consider the spiritual sister to LD: I think we've got a lot of the same 'right' ideas in mind, and it's been marvelous to see how we've handled various issues that affect both campaigns.

I would recommend 4e to anyone and everyone. It's really a great body of work.

JP: Is Living Divine linked to BMG at all?

JB: Sure. We run under the Baldman banner at the three big cons, and I work closely with Dave Christ to make that all happen.

JP: What is your official title in the campaign?

JB: I am the owner of the Living Divine Campaign, and also one of the three Council of Elders members (our top-level, global administrators).

JP: What draws you to 4e in question? What particularly attracts you to that game?

JB: I'd say I'm less drawn to the particular game system, and more drawn to the community. I've been working with some of these folks for two decades. They could switch to Chutes and Ladders, and I'd stick with them. (I wouldn't recommend it, though... the level progression is HORRIBLY unbalanced).

That said, I've found that 4e is fine for our needs. Sure, it has pros and cons, just like every other system. It's no better or worse than any other system, at large. And, knowing that it was our target platform, we designed our campaign to work with it. If we were intent on using, say, Pathfinder, we would have worked things together differently, to accentuate some of its strengths.

JP: What is your favorite RPG game of all times?

JB: Spycraft, 1st edition. It is just a fantastic game that can be a ton of fun with the right group. And unlike many of its cousins, no one player-character can really be the star. You have to work together as a team, or you are sunk. Combine that with a fun, fast-paced action-adventure setting, and it's just dynamite.

JP: Your favorite supplement/ adventure?

JB: I don't think, in all fairness, that I could name one as my favorite... or even five, for that matter. I've enjoyed quite a few adventures, settings, and supplements over the years, all with their own bits to love.

JP: Okay then… can you name one that you REALLY did *NOT* like?

JB: One that comes to mind is a now-former OP campaign. I will leave it unnamed, as while the campaign is gone, the folks behind it are still around, and I would not like to start any bad blood.

I was introduced to this campaign by a few folks that were really into it. I lovingly crafted a rich, vibrant character, and sat down to play. I soon realized that to really do anything in the game, you had to take Character Option A or B, or know about in-game events X, Y, and Z, or be a part of Organization Q. My own character really didn't matter. As a new player to the campaign, I was all but useless - and worse, I was bored.

I was not easily deterred. I tried a few scenarios, with different groups. And got the exact same results. I decided that it just wasn't for me.

Years later, I've heard the exact same story from others. Apparently, the campaign was massively popular... if you got involved early on, and stuck with it. If you tried to get in, in the middle, you had no chance.

What I will say is that the experience helped flavor everything I've put together, since.

JP: What are the high points of a home game you run?

JB: I love it when my players are very truly and obviously invested in what's going on, when they can't wait for the next play-session, the next installment. When the compulsive i-phone gamer puts his phone away, when the guy that never pays attention is glued to the table, when the casual gamer whines that he has to wait until next week to learn who shot JR, and whether the bloody glove will fit.

That is a great moment.

JP: What elements do you particularly enjoy in a campaign?

JB: I think my favorite aspect is originality. Don't give me Tolkien elves and dwarves... it's been done, and done to death. Tell me that the elves are the local organized crime. Tell me that the dwarves are the local trade union, striking until their demands are met.

JP: You really need to check out NeoExodus from LPJ Design, then… those are some of the premises I put on myself… Yeah, yeah, I know. This is a shameless plug. I do share your view on that. “Traditional elements” of fantasy need to be revisited.

JB: I promise to check it out, as soon as I have free time. =)

JP: How does Living Divine address the traditional fantasy? Any new races? New spins of existing ones?

JB: Everything in our world is custom tailored to our needs... from the setting and the roles of our PCs, to our monsters. Nothing is cookie cutter.

JP: What would you say are elements that define your writing style? What elements would I expect to find in one of your adventures?

JB: I tend to use a lot of dark humor, often making light of situations that really shouldn't be funny.

I tend to favor the mundane over the fantastical. I hate when fantastic elements become mundane... it ruins the experience for me. When you meet a dragon in my world, I want you to go 'Oh wow, a dragon! Be careful, guys!'... Not 'Oh, yawn... another dragon'.

I tend to use a lot of symbolism and thematic tropes. For instance, in the Bissel days, the weather would generally turn foul while the PCs were heading off on a doomed quest. The worst the weather, the worse things were going to turn out.

JP: That is a great idea… I might steal that for my own stuff!

JB: If you do, then you are doing it wrong. Come up with your own, and institute it from the ground up. You need to really 'make it your own' for it to really work.

JP looks slightly annoyed at this.

JP: Please, continue your thoughts on a “Jay-style” adventure?

JB:Finally, I favor difficult adventures. Not 'kill your character, there is no hope' difficult... rather, I want you to have to work for your successes. I want you to walk out of the climax of my scenarios saying 'Oh, wow... that was tough! I can't believe we survived!' To me, that is the Holy Grail.

JP: I totally agree with you here… I love telling my players that “once you reach the top of Mount Doom, are barely breathing from damage and the environment and are about to throw the Ring into the fire…” That’s when the helpful NPC turns on you and forces you into a major fight.

JB: *nods*

JP: What would you tell those out there about your campaign?

In the world of Living Divine, there are no 'real gods' in the heavens. Rather, every once in a while, a creature is born among mortals with the divine spark. You, the player characters, are among these living immortals, walking the earth, attracting followers, raising armies and empires, fighting for power and survival.

Living Divine is more story-oriented and character-centric, and less focused on combat, than most organized play campaigns.

JP: How does that divine spark manifests? Is it just the fact that they are PCs? Or is there something more?

JB: There is much, much more. A small part of it is that the only real classed characters are gods (mortals just don't have that sort of ability), but it goes well beyond that. In fact, a major theme of the campaign is coming to terms with just what that divinity means.

JP: Why is your campaign the best there is?

JB: It's not. It's simply the one I want to run.

However, some of our players think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread; the prevailing opinion seems to be because we put the focus back on storytelling - whether it's us telling our story, or you telling that of your character.

JP: Why do you think a complete newcomer to organized play should join your OP?

JB: I don't. I would actively discourage it. From the beginning, I've billed LD as 'for mature gamers', and I mean it.

For instance, our campaign uses permadeath: a much harsher penalty than any other OP campaign I'm aware of. An inexperienced gamer is going to have to spend a lot more effort on the rules, just to survive... which means the story and roleplaying end of things will suffer. If they lose their focus, and drift too far towards the roleplaying end of the spectrum, survival will be that much harder.

But, of course, your mileage may vary.

JP: Permadeath… That is when your character is permanently removed from play? Can you expand a little on that? The term is very cool, and definitely grabs my attention.

JB: That is correct. When you die in Living Divine, you are dead for good. There is no 'raise dead' for immortals in the campaign. You weigh risks differently when there is really something on the line.

It also means there is no temptation to have reoccurring dead-again-live-again NPCs. They play by all the same rules.

JP: Why should an old grumpy player - yes. think of me as that grumpy old troll - what is the biggest strength of the campaign?

JB: It's a unique setting... a unique story. It's a different, fresh take on a game that's been around forever, that's been part of our lives, of our cultural fabric.

JP: How did you become a campaign administrator? Why?

JB: *chuckle*

I simply made it happen. LD has been my baby, from the ground up. I just decided 'this is what I'm going to do', and made it happen. That said, my original intention was to create something much smaller... and this beast is MUCH bigger than that. Somewhere along the way I caught the attention and interest of a few other folks... and here we are.

JP: What are you main duties as part of the campaign?

JB: I'm writing all 11 rounds of scenarios for the first year of the campaign. I've created the vast majority of our rules set. I'm recruiting, vetting, and training regional admins for the future years of the campaign. Every document that goes out crosses my desk for editing. And then there are all the details... financials, convention coordination, publishing, advertising, licensing.

JP: Wow! That is a lot… Eleven rounds, you sir, are a beast…

JB: I try. =)

And we've actually been ahead of schedule. Our first three scenarios were available for sneak previews, early in the year. The next three are premiering at GenCon (and are 88% sold out, as I type this!). The final three and the two-round year-end special will be out for the end of the year.

Our conversation goes on for quite a while, so I split this interview into two parts. Since next Monday is Labor Day Weekend, the next part of the series will come out on Sept 12, with the conclusion of my interview with Jay.

JP

Organized Play People: James Stepanek (Serial Pulp, 3.5, punching Hitler)

If you have ever played RPGs in the Denver area, the name of James Stepanek is known to you. James has been a pillar in the Denver-area con scene since before I showed up in the region. He wrote one of the nastiest Living Greyhawk adventure ever, URC5-05 Miner Mishap – which I can assure you was not minor at all. My first introduction to James was through his medusa archer backed by an invisible cleric with a rod of silent spell and the troll monk. Yes I did say nasty.

When I started this series, I thought of James as one of the people I would like to interview for this. His campaign, now called Serial Pulp has something of a cult following at local cons. Every echo I heard from it was positive with some very funny bits. Interesting characters, funny villains and best of all, interactives, and overall something that is unique.

On to the actual interview with James Stepanek of the Serial Pulp campaign.

JP: Welcome James, thanks for agreeing to do the interview!

JS: Sure thing

JP: Can you give us your RPG-Pedigree?

JS: I’m an old school gamer geek. I’ve been playing RPGs since about 1978, starting with AD&D (or a mishmash of AD&D and Basic D&D). I’ve tried quite a few systems over that time, including Traveller, Gamma World, DC Heroes, Marvel Superheroes, Villains and Vigilantes, Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, and others.

I’m an engineer by education, so I do tend to get into the mechanics of systems, and like to understand the math behind a lot of it. This means I tend to be critical of systems which don’t understand the math they are using, and what results from that. Poor probability mechanics are a peeve of mine. I like a table with good role play, and don’t end up too impressed with a bunch of people who just toss dice at each other.

It should be noted that people who focus on optimization do not exclude role playing, and I’ve seen many people who are top notch at both. I started with living campaigns back in around 1999 with Living Jungle. That was a really fun campaign which was focused on the role playing. If there was any competitiveness it was who could act the most like a moronic savage for laughs. I learned a lot from playing and running Living Jungle, and even wrote a module for RPGA for the campaign once upon a time (they even paid me!).

JP: What draws you to the pulp genre in question? What elements do you think lend themselves best to roleplaying?

JS: I can remember when the original d20 Pulp rules came out in Polyhedron and saying to myself “that would be a cool campaign setting”. Then at the next local con (can’t recall which one, it was around 2002) Doyce Testerman started the Living Pulp campaign. I eagerly signed on since I enjoy works from that genre. I’ve read plenty of books and followed movies from the era, and am a bit of a history buff.

Pulp is a grand adventure sort of thing. Everyone knows the Indiana Jones series, Flash Gordon, Tarzan, or the Shadow. There’s so many areas covered in the genre of Pulp that you have a huge amount of flexibility in adventure creation. We’ve had stories in the campaign venturing from were-Polar bears guarding fake ice bergs, to fighting Mayan Jaguar God Avatars in the Yucatan, to the Radium Beasts of Venus. There’s a wealth of ideas to explore, and the well-known history of the era also gives you a wonderful starting point to anchor everything on to.

I mean who doesn’t love delivering a knuckle sandwich to a Nazi goon?

JP: True… Those goons seem MADE to get punched in the face… Speaking of goons… Who would you say is the greatest/ best villain in Serial Pulp? Why should we want to beat him up?

JS: We have a few major villains who recur in the series. There’s Dr Malefaktus, a Nazi affiliated mad scientist who specializes in robots, St. John Smyth, a former PC who went bad and betrayed the PC organization to increase his own power, and Alan Peterson, an illegitimate son of British nobility seeking tear down the world order so he can set himself up to dominate the wreckage. All of these have appeared in multiple adventures, and story arcs. I’d probably guess that Malefaktus takes the cake for the biggest and baddest since he’s both stark raving mad, has extremely dangerous super scientific toys, and is a Nazi.

JP: What game system do you use? What are the changes to the game system?

JS: The system is a variant of 1st edition Spycraft d20, with some modifications from other systems such as Pathfinder present. The character classes are all customized to suit the genre.

JP: What particularly attracts you to Spycraft?

JS: I ended up using the Spycraft rules as a basis for the Serial Pulp campaign for a couple of reasons. The first was that the original rules used for Living Pulp (which, by the way, couldn’t be the name anymore as RPGA owns the term ‘Living’) were not open content and protected by the OGL. Hence we couldn’t hand out the rules to people, and finding that issue of Polyhedron wasn’t a trivial matter.

As the Pulp genre really lends itself to cinematic game mechanics, I felt that Spycraft was a perfect fit rules wise. Many of the mechanics lend themselves to how things work in movies more than in real life (out of ammo? Spend a hero point and you’re full- see you can have a 12 shot revolver). As the Spycraft rules are both OGL and cinematic in style, they fit well to the type of stories we like to tell.

Using the Spycraft OGL rules as a basis, we could modify them to suit our needs, and still give it all out for free to players. Recently we’ve updated the rules some with ideas brought into from the Pathfinder system, since we liked the streamlining of the rules.

JP: What is your favorite RPG game of all times? Your favorite supplement/ adventure?

JS: That’s a tricky question really. The best times I had roleplaying was likely a campaign I ran with friends back in AD&D 2nd edition, but by no means would I claim to care much for the system. I always really liked the mechanics of the Mayfair DC Heroes game (system is known as MEGS- Mayfair Exponential Game System). It was very elegant in its simplicity, yet capable of describing all manner of actions over a huge range of power levels.

As for an individual adventure, hmm that’s really tricky. I’m looking at 30 years of stuff. Much of the good stuff was custom work by a top notch GM. Actually I’ll name a DC Heroes Module- Don’t Ask (yes, that was the name). It was a joke module written about a joke character (Ambush Bug). I never had the chance to play it, but it was damned funny reading.

JP: What are the high points of a home game you run? What elements do you particularly enjoy or look for in a campaign?

JS: Oddly enough, I’m not running a home game right now. I’m playing, which is a relatively odd situation, since I’ve mostly run my home game since D&D 3.0 came out in 2000. There have been periods of other DMs, but mostly it was me.

The game I am playing in is a Gestalt Pathfinder game which means power levels are really high (on both sides, the GM doesn’t pull punches). As to what I like, well I’m pretty flexible. As long as I like the game system, and the people at the table, I’m ok with whatever. Most of the games I’ve been in tend to be of the ‘Beer and Pretzels’ mold, so I suppose I could claim that is what I find most comfortable. I like combats, and I like roleplay, though I suppose as it’s mostly a beer and pretzels group I’ve been in we do more of the former than the latter.

JP: What would you say are elements that define your writing style? What elements would I expect to find in one of your adventures?

JS: I look to put interesting twists into adventures that I write. I like there to be something different that people will not expect, and should elicit a grin at least.

For example, the Living Jungle adventure I wrote back in the day was called Engine of Destruction. It was a quest to claim a dangerous ancient relic before the big bad guys of the setting got it first. In the end it turned out to be a Cuisinart which was good for making berry smoothies, but wasn’t much of a weapon. I like to find a way to balance in puzzle elements with roleplay, and then make sure there’s enough rough and tumble stuff to keep the combat junkies from getting bored.

On Pulp modules, I tend to spend a fair amount of time on historical research to put in my quirky angles. I like people to learn an interesting historical tidbit from my Pulp modules.

JP: What is the story of SP? How did it come about, why? Who started this? How did you become a campaign administrator?

JS: Living Pulp was the original campaign name, and as I mentioned above, it was started by Doyce Testerman back in 2002. His first module, Tear of Ra, was a great romp with a strong Indiana Jones feel, featuring mystic artifacts, mysterious bad guys in the background, and treacherous NPCs. The feel and scope were very cinematic, and he went to a good deal of trouble to research his setting (Estes Park Colorado) and era. Other authors got involved, and I was one of the early ones (I started with a collaborative effort with Doyce called Sixguns at Chapparal). Eventually Doyce got tired of running the campaign and moved on, so I took it over. I’ve got a good stable of authors and other helpers who have made keeping the campaign alive a pleasure.

JP: What is your official title in the campaign?

JS: Umm, bossman? Il Duce? Generalissimo? We have titles?

JP: What are you main duties as part of the campaign?

JS: I am pretty much where the buck stops. I cajole authors into writing. I organize playtests. I arrange game slots with the con coordinators, and provide judges for those slots. I approve rules suggestions. Pulp is really run by the people who play and write for it, but someone has to give the editorial direction, and that’s me.

Oh yeah, and I write a lot of adventures (and run them).

JP: What would you tell those out there about your campaign?

JS: It’s a d20 based campaign set in the 1930s (we’re in 1938 now, war is on the doorstep) based on the pulp novels, serials, comic books, and other fiction of the time. It is also based on more current retellings of that genre such as Indiana Jones, The Shadow, The Phantom, Rocketeer, etc. We’ve had players in the campaign in various cities (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Long Island-yeah, not a city), but most of the action is in the Denver area at the local gaming cons.

JP: Okay… I have to ask here. I am a history-phile and anything historical is close to my own heart. I love games and campaigns that are set in historical times. How do you handle the mix between “real” history and game history?

JS: I guess there is some juggling involved there. We pick out real, or imagined historical tidbits, run with them as a story, and then generally ignore any potential effect they would have on the broader timeline. Generally we try to keep a low enough profile in the adventures that the repercussions of our acts would not have a large effect on the greater world scene. This is generally accomplished by setting things in remote locations which would otherwise be too flashy.

JP: What is the part of Serial Pulp that is reserved to history? If I know a lot or very little about it, how difficult is to get into it? How do you ensure this balance?

JS: We try to pretty much stick to the real timeline that occurred. There is in game history familiar to the people who have played from the start, but you won’t be lost in the world without it if you come in late.

JP: Earlier we spoke of villains… How historical are those villains if any? I would really want to introduce ol’Adolf to my five brothers…

JS: Traditionally we’ve used fictional villains. They are associated with Pulp type villains, so are generally over the top and a real model wouldn’t really fit the bill. However a new module coming out will actually feature a real person as an adversary for the first time. People who know WW II should recognize the name.

JP: One of the possible themes with events in the 30s is racism and stereotypes. The rise of fascism, and segregation in the US, how do you approach these sensitive themes, if at all? While it’s easy to “punch Hitler in the face”, what about some other figures who approved of the movement – such as Gerald Ford? Say I wanted to play a Jew in an adventure set in Germany? Or a black man in South Africa?

JS: I try to tell it like it was. I don’t pull punches, and I don’t try to modernize with Hollywood sensibilities. Discrimination will occur in a game (to PCs, not players of course), because it did occur in the world. I don’t intend to whitewash ugly pieces of history. As for people who approved of the Nazis, I think you mean Joseph Kennedy, Ford wasn’t really known for that he was just a law student at the time (though an isolationist). He did join the navy after Pearl Harbor. Joseph Kennedy was a big time appeaser and was against Lend Lease (while he was ambassador to the UK).

JP: DOHP! I mean Henry Ford! But continue… good catch. Sorry Gerald, didn’t mean to implicate you in anything…

JS: As for playing a PC in the wrong situation, well I admit I’m not really going to accommodate something the world wouldn’t accommodate. I make allowances certainly to cater to character concepts but will not stretch things too far. For example, in one interactive, the PCs have to save a Chinese village during the Japanese invasion. One character was a crazy Japanese explosives nut. They were shunned by the villagers because by this time the extent of Japanese atrocities was well known in China. I can’t have people ignoring something like that. The adventure description was explicit about it addressing the Japanese invasion, so the player could have made a different character to play. They didn’t like how it turned out since they didn’t want to fight their countrymen, and didn’t much like being shunned. While I prefer all players to have fun in an adventure, I can’t excuse them from choices they have made.

If you wanted to play a black in South Africa, you wouldn’t be treated well at home. Heck, it’s the 1930s, you’re likely not going to be treated all too well anywhere (except as part of the PC network, which is a bit more modern in sensibilities of course). Mind you, unless you wanted to play a faceman type character, it would be worked around without real deleterious game effect and such interactions would be minor and mostly for flavor of the setting.

Of course I’d like to be clear, I’m obviously not trying to promote discrimination here, I want to merely make sure we don’t forget history as it was. Painting a rosy picture does everyone a disservice.

JP: Why is Serial Pulp the best campaign there is?

JS: The people involved are why the campaign is great (yeah, I know that sounds cheesy). I can give an example. A while back myself, and another judge are running a module in the same room at a con. I can hear what he’s doing and he can hear me. We are running the exact same adventure, but both of them go off the rails in completely different directions. Both of us GMs just take it in stride and manage to keep up with the imaginations of the players as they take the story in new directions on their own. We have many moments when play comes to a brutal halt because we’re laughing so hard. Not because someone told an off topic joke, but because someone role played their character so well, and it was so damned funny.

JP: Why do you think a complete newcomer to organize play join SP?

JS: If the genre suits them, I suspect they will enjoy the experience. I’ve rarely had someone walk away from a Pulp table looking like they didn’t enjoy it.

JP: Why should an old grumpy player – yes… think of me as that grumpy old troll – what is the biggest strength of SP?

JS: It’s flexible in that you can pretty much play what you want, and act it out as much as you want. It’s also easy enough to pick up as it is d20 based, and few enough don’t know that system by now. The campaign tries very hard to accentuate that everything is about having fun. I don’t mean we want to break our own rules, but if you need to tell the story better, and encourage cinematic actions by the players, go to town. This is a bit hard on GMs, since you have to be able to ad lib at times, but we’ve been lucky to have good ones, and it’s always worked out.

JP: In an average week, roughly how much time do you devote to campaign-related duties?

JS: It depends on when it is and if I’m writing. Pulp runs almost exclusively at cons these days (though I’m always willing to run a game day if people are interested). Around the cons it can get fairly busy as I tend to always be writing something.

For example, this con while I’m not writing an adventure, I am writing the interactive as well as editing another module. Honestly I can’t really say a number figure in hours. Between cons I do very little Pulp work. Near cons I put in a fair number of hours. It’s too variable for a simple answer.

JP: Interactives… Another of my sweet spot… What do you do in Serial Pulp interactives? What is the difference between an interactive and regular adventure? Any sneak peek?

JS: Interactives are an opportunity to play out your character in a more epic and chaotic setting. Generally it’s a big event in the world/campaign that occurs and a large group of PCs have to team up to deal with the threat. We’re on our fifth one of the campaign this Tacticon. It looks to be pretty big, and starts to get deeper into the issues of the Holocaust as it will drop the PCs into the middle of Kristallnacht. Of course there will be a twist, since while just fighting Nazis is cool, it can be a touch predictable. Let’s just say, they won’t expect who they will end up fighting.

JP: A difficult one: I give you a magic wand and you can only use it to make your campaign better… What do you do?

JS: If I could have everyone who ever said “I have a great idea for a Pulp module” actually write up the idea, it would be great.

JP: Play, GM or write? Which do you enjoy best?

JS: Hard to say really. I like them all. I admit that I do miss playing at the cons, since I used to like the interaction caused by the random selection of people. There’s also some interesting people and characters I’d like to share a table with. However I have a good playtest crew, so when I get to play in those it’s all good. I enjoy GMing since one rule I have learned at Pulp tables is that no adventure is really written till a few tables have played it and all the crazy possibilities are explored (ones the author never thought of). I also enjoy the writing to see how I can make a story out of a nifty twist.

JP: Who are the other people involved in SP?

JS: David Geissinger is kind of my second in command, as he carries a lot of my judging slack and does a lot of writing. Anthony Chiesi did an amazing amount of work on the current rules revision, and Calvin Curtis, put in much of the slog work for the initial transition to Spycraft rules. We wouldn’t have a rules document to hand out without those two people. Michelle Norton maintains the web site, and has started writing modules. We’ve got a good stable of authors in Dave Geissinger (mentioned), Joe Carlson, (Mad) Matt Parker, and Andy Dammit Matthews. Authors from the past include Doyce Testerman, Rey Hererra, David Stroh, and Chris Simpson. There’s also the players and GMs, but I can’t list everyone.

JP: Yes, a solid stable of people! Dave was my fellow CoU triad in the last days of Living Greyhawk, a solid contributor. Most of the others I recognize as well. Looks like you’ve got a good team there… You did mention writing a lot throughout this interview. What do you consider a good plot for Serial Pulp? Are there pitfalls and things you do not want to see?

JS: The one thing I dislike most in a module is a railroad. While I understand a four hour time constraint does tempt authors to do that, I prefer the players to have the freedom to take the story where they want to. Better to just prod them in the correct direction from time to time rather than trying to follow your script as an author. It’s also very important to cater to as many play styles as possible. Some people have twinked up facemen (or cat burglars, or whatnot) instead of twinked up gunbunnies. They should get their time in the sun as well.

JP: I have heard a lot of good things about Serial Pulp and tend to send my “excess players” at cons to you, and getting great comments back. Have you ever thought of getting the Serial Pulp content published? With the many methods of self-publishing today or through an established RPG publisher, is that something you have considered?

JS: Not really. I’m happy to just let the people have the content to enjoy the game themselves. Anything of that sort would require a fair amount more polish as I do admit our rules document still has some rough edges. Also, I like to be able to adjust the rules as we go along to incorporate new RPG ideas. The inclusion of Pathfinder rules is a good example of this.

JP: Do you have any links or websites where people might learn more about the campaign?

JS: We have a web site at SPAdventures.org, while most of the organization, rules, and stuff is to be found on the yahoo group SPAdventures.

JP: Was your campaign ever linked to the RPGA?

JS: Nope, the campaign started up right around the time that RPGA stopped accepting new Living Campaign suggestions. After watching Living Jungle get killed off by the RPGA for little enough reason, I had no desire for there to be any association.

JP: Any plans to move the game to Pathfinder?

JS: We already use some of the Pathfinder rules. The skill system was lifted almost straight out of Pathfinder, and the rest is D20 (we might also go to the CMB/CMD system soon, since I’m now familiar enough with it to like it). An experienced Pathfinder player wouldn’t have any issues sitting down at a table and playing without studying the rules. A five minute intro from the GM would have you up to speed.

JP: Thanks for your time James, I really appreciate this interview and will try to get in on some Serial Pulp if I can. That said, I leave the final word to you.

JS: Thanks for the opportunity to give the campaign a bit more exposure, and it’s been a pleasure chatting.