Jeff Grubb

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

My name is Jeff Grubb, and I design worlds for a living. It’s a sweet gig, provided you can keep all the plates in the air at once.

I’ve written 15 novels, over 30 short stories, and more gaming product than you could shake a kobold at.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

When I was a kid I played Risk and the American Heritage board games (Battle-Cry, Dogfight, and Hit the Beach), and got into historical wargames in high school (Avalon Hill and SPI). My first week of college (in 1975), I attended the Purdue Wargamer Club meeting, and there was a group of people at a table without a board or miniatures. I walked up to find out what they were playing, and one of them handed me three six-sided dice and said “We need a cleric”. From there on it was all downhill.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

I like the social aspect in particular, the excuse the gather together. Most of the games I favor take a couple hours, so it is the chance to sit around and chat during the game. Even my online experiences tend to be with people I know IRL as opposed to purely virtual.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

Here’s a story from my early D&D campaign – I confronted our group’s Paladin with a powerful devil, who had declared that he been everywhere and done everything, and dared the paladin to give him a task he could not complete. The paladin burned a wish spell to ask his gods for vision on how to defeat the devil. An angel appeared and told him to get lost.

Ever see a paladin have a heart attack? The player blamed himself for daring to insult the gods with his request, but another player at the table showed that he had gotten the right information – the one task that someone who has been everywhere could not do was get lost. The paladin won the wager.

Note that this gaming moment involved no rolling of dice, only a puzzle and a resolution.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I have a regular Call of Cthulhu gang with a rotating GM, a semi-regular D&D group, and a lot of European board games. Plus, I have increasingly become addicted to my iPad.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

D&D, of course, and I see strengths in all the various editions. Call of Cthulhu. It is an open secret that I still love the original Empire of the Petal Throne. In board games, Ticket to Ride and Citadels. On the iPad, Ascension and Carcasonne, which are both ports from real-time games.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

Last night I played Call of Cthulhu. Our gang is running through Horror’s Heart, an old adventure set in Montreal in the 1920s.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

I have a long and checkered past, a large chunk of it at TSR in the 80s and 90s. I’ve created or helped create Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Marvel Super Heroes, Spelljammer, Al Qadim, Star Wars d20 and D20 Modern, and have worked in a wide variety of shared worlds.

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?

I’ve completed work on the upcoming Midgard campaign setting for Open Design. I also help out Wolf with his most excellent magazine, Kobold Quarterly.

My day job is running continuity and lore for the upcoming Guild Wars 2 project from ArenaNet.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?

I can be found on Facebook and Google+ under my name, and have a small private blog at grubbstreet.blogspot.com, where I talk about games, plays, writing, collectable quarters, and whatever else comes into my fool head.

Todd Lockwood

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I was born and grew up in Boulder, Colorado. I had the Rocky Mountains in my backyard, and I got to see the “summer of love” through the eyes of an eleven year old in a college town. I watched Lost in Space in the third grade, when G.I. Joe was new, and Star Trek after that. Ray Harryhausen’s movies were favorites. Needless to say, Science Fiction and Fantasy consumed my childhood. Later, in my teens, I discovered Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and Dungeons and Dragons not long after. I’ve been Role-Playing for 25+ years! As an adult I became fascinated with Mythology, particularly transformative mythology and the hidden meanings of Myth. Joseph Campbell is a hero of mine for his thoughtful and thorough exploration of the World’s Myths.

I have been drawing since before I can remember, literally since I was old enough to hold a pencil. Growing up, it was my main recreation. I taught myself to draw by making my own comic books on typing paper; it was great practice, drawing the same characters, objects, and settings in sequential multiples. It honed my story telling skills at the same time; story telling was really what was on my mind. The themes were almost always sci-fi or fantasy. That evolved later into Dungeons and Dragons play: I loved DMing for my friends.


ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS YOU WOULD CREDIT AS AN INSPIRATION TO A YOUNG TODD LOCKWOOD?

Absolutely: Disney, NC Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Frazetta, Michael Whelan, Braldt Bralds (not sure I'm spelling that right), Jeff Jones, Tedema, Rembrandt, Wally Wood... there are more, but I could never think of all of them. There are the big hitters, though.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

One summer a friend came home from a tour of duty in Germany and brought a game with him he'd been playing on base. It was a little white box containing pamphlets of rules. Dungeons & Dragons.! I liked playing make-believe when I was a kid -- I got abuse from the other kids because my friends and I would grab up the baseball bats at recess time and use them as rifle or bazookas, when they wanted to play baseball. But here suddenly was this game that allowed a context for creative play amongst friends. It was like someone had kicked down a wall I didn't know was there. I could keep being a kid with my buds right on into adulthood. Amazing.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

I think I just answered that, actually: creative play, cooperative story-telling, mind-expanding recreation. Perfect.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US
What... Pick one? That will be hard.

My first ever character was rolled up using three six-sided die, one roll per stat, no adjustments. I rolled 18s for Strength and Constitution. Obviously, a fighter. I believe his Charisma was 8, so there ya go. He was the only survivor in that first session of an inter-player brouhaha. It was a wild and exhilarating introduction to the game! 

There's the time that every character in our group was killed by a gang of monks until just my Wizard/illusionist remained, squared off against the last monk. We killed each other with our last actions. But we had one character whose Constitution was so high that he regenerated back to life, gathered us all up, and found a way to get everyone raised. Closest call ever.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

Currently nothing. I left my old gaming group behind in Colorado when I moved to take the job at TSR, and have settled in the Pacific Northwest with my family. I did some gaming at Wizards when 3rd Edition was new, but honestly, I get my fantasy fix every day now. I do miss it sometimes, but I have so many other opportunities for creative play now...

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

D&D will always have a special place in my heart, but Shadowrun was also loads of fun, and then Earthdawn turned out to be a well-designed game system with a fascinating world. I played an Obsidiman who might possibly be my favorite of all the characters I've played, which is saying something.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

With my old Colorado group it was Earthdawn, and then a spacefaring game that one of the other DMs in my old group created. I only made a cameo in that game, however, on a visit to Colorado a few years back. I did play a little 3rd Edition D&D at Wizards.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

Oy... lemme think. Dungeons & Dragons, of course, from Dragonlance to Ravenloft to the Forgotten Realms to core rules; I did one Battletech cover; Magic the Gathering; Worlds of Warcraft; a Warhammer painting that I can never show; various video game illustrations; various d20 licensed games from Green Ronin and Paradigm Concepts; various covers for White Wolf vampire games... I'm probably missing something.


A WARHAMMER PAINTING YOU CAN NEVER SHOW?

Yeah, but I can't explain, either. I'm contractually bound to silence.


IF YOU COULD NOMINATE ONE OF YOUR WORKS AS YOUR BEST, WHICH WOULD IT BE?

That's tough. That's like asking me which of my children I like best. Some turned out great, others not so great. There are some still hanging around the house and some I wish I hadn't sold. The same is true of my artwork.

That's a joke, see. Don't make me explain it while you read it again... ;o)

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?

Actually no. Right now I'm not.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?

My website:

http://www.toddlockwood.com/

My blog:

http://www.tolo.biz/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/artoftoddlockwood

Gav Thorpe

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

I was always into toy soldiers – Airfix and such – and used to make up my
own games with my friends, as well as using Donald Featherstone books
from the local library. My older cousin introduced me to fantasy gaming with
Warhammer and Tunnels and Trolls, and my grandparents bought a copy of
D&D for my brother and me one Christmas. All of these things sort of came
together. At secondary school I met my regular gaming buddy of my teens,
Dan, and we started out with Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine, quickly
moving on to all of the other GW games. I coillected lots of RPGs, though
played only a few, and for the last twenty years or so have got into the board
games and eurogames side of things.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

Different games hit different buttons. Some are about the imagination and
creativity, some are the intellectual challenge; most are a combination of the
two. I love the flow of good game mechanics, the way you can tell a story
through a game, even if somewhat in abstraction. And the social element is
high up there too, of course.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

Hmm, lots to choose from. Most are from roleplaying games and occur from
general incompetence and cack-handedness on the part of the players
and/ or characters. From a wargaming perspective, I remember a game of
Warhammer in the first staff tournament at GW, during which a lone squig
hopper in my opponent’s army landed on a very tough and expensive tooled-
up Daemonslayer and killed him in one go... Looking back, as an image it’s
just too funny not to laugh, though I was less amused at the time.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I am in a regular roleplaying group, and we’ve been playing for a few years
now, mostly using Call of Cthulu rules for our own Victorian horror adventures.

My character is a paranormal investigator, who has a streak of Dirk gently
about him, always poking things to see what happens. He is also a bit of a
pyromaniac it seems, and is currently being haunted by an old woman in
black. I recently picked up Command & Colours: Napoleonic and have had my
first game of that which was fun, despite suffering a 5-0 drubbing.

Miniatures-wise I’ve not been playing all that much lately. Been working on
some games with a friend that will see the light of day sometime soon, as well
as some WWII rules, and we’re just starting to mess about with some 15mm
sci-fi. That’s a ‘genre’ that seems to be growing quickly at the moment and we
picked up a mix of GZG and Critical Mass minis to mess about with. Mostly
going for a narrative angle rather than any particular ruleset out there.

I also play Xbox, sneaking and shooting my way through Skyrim at the
moment.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

It varies over time, but ones I can always go back to and enjoy any time
include Blood Bowl, Columbia Games’ Hammer of the Scots, Space Hulk,
Hera and Zeus, Adeptus Titanicus and the later editions of Epic. As you can
probably tell, my miniatures gaming has fallen by the wayside a bit of late, due
to time constraints.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

Literally, it was Catan on the Xbox. With someone else, it was Command and
Colours: Napoleonics last week.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

I was a games developer with GW for fourteen years, the list is far
too long to put here! You can find an almost-up-to-date list here http://
mechanicalhamster.wordpress.com/list-of-works/

Recently I designed the Open Fire! starter set for Flames of War and Pirates!
for Black Scorpion. There should be some more gaming stuff coming out
soon, but I can’t reveal that yet.

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE
MOMENT?

Yes, some for my personal amusement, some that may be made
commercially available but haven’t yet been announced so I can’t say
anything more.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS
WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?

Everywhere! I have a fanpage on Facebook as Gav Thorpe, my Twitter
account is @DennisHamster and my blog is www.gavthorpe.co.uk (which will
be updated shortly, I promise!)

Thanks for having me.
Happy Gaming!

Alessio Cavatore

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I was born in Turin, Italy, forty years ago. My highschool was classic-oriented (Greek, Latin, history and philosophy...). The I changed to science, getting a degree in biology, which I finished in the UK with the Open University, after moving to Nottingham in 1996 to work for Games Workshop as a translator. After a year or so, my job at GW changed to games designer. Fifteen years later, in 2010, I went self-employed, making my own company to create my own games and sell my sword out as a mercenary games designer to other companies that make wargames. I'm married and I have a four-years old daughter.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

I started writing rules when I was about eight, to play games with plastic HO-scale toy soldiers on the chequred wooden floor of my bedroom. And the house cat normnally won those games, crushing entire armies with his gigantic paws.

Then, at fifteen or so, I discovered D&D in a club in ton and role-played for quite a few years, and then, a few years later I saw these people playing a game of something that looked awesome: Warhammer! I started a Skaven army, won the Italian tournament (it was still very small...), and that shaped my future career.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

Like all geeks, I have a vivid imagination, and when I play something, it's easy for me to identify with whatever characters/armies I am in control of, from my Elf in Lord of the Rings Online, to the Captain commanding my platoon in Bolt Action.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

Oh, dear, there are so many! Maybe that all-encompassing experience of playing a single game of "Empires in arms" that lasted months and months. The banter and some of the betrayals that happened during that campaign still have repercussions today. People still attack other players to avenge events that happened now ten years ago!

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I'm playing lots of war games (Kings of War, Warpath, Bolt Action, Fanticide, Deus Vult, and some more that I cannot name yet), but this is playtesting more than playing for fun, which counts as work!

I'm playing a lot of Shuuro, Wrath of the Elements on facebook – that's a free, online, fantasy version of my game Shuuro that allows you to play your friends and players all over the world. We have recently added a campaign mode, where you conquer the world of Loka by defeating opponents in game of Shuuro. But I guess you could say that it also counts as work.

So, to relax I play computer games (like LOTRO) and board games (Galactica, Small World). One day I'll find the time to resume role-play!

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Excluding any game I wrote or co-wrote (that would seem weird):

War games: Warhammer 5th edition. Blackpowder.

Role Play games: Serenity/Firefly

Board Games: Empires in arms, Fortress America, Axis & Allies Pacific, Smallworld, Battlestar Galactica, Condottiere

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

Shuuro, Wrath of the elements, just a few minutes ago... it's just too addictive!

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

The list is quite long. It's easier to check my portfolio here:

http://www.slideshare.net/cavatore

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?

Oh yes! River Horse is engaged in making eight different game systems for five different companies around the world. Exciting times ahead. Sadly, I cannot disclose more about quite a few of these upcoming games, and if I did, then I'd have to kill ya.     ;-)

TELL US A BIT ABOUT SHUURO AND HOW IT CAME TO BE.

One day, many years ago, I remembered that when they teach you to play chess, they tell you that a bishop or a knight is worth three pawns, and a rook is worth five pawns, while a queen is worth nine pawns... (it's called realtive value of chess pieces, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_piece_relative_value ). As a wargame designers, it occurred to me that it is just a simple points values system, where a pawn is worth 1, a bishop/knight is worth 3, a rook 5 and queen 9. The next question was of course: if you could exchane chess pieces for points and use the points to buy different chess pieces, what would you do? Or indeed, if you had different amount of points on different size boards, what would you buy? 

There and then, Shuuro was conceived. The plinths were an early attempt to balance out the decreased value of Knights on the big 12x12 board, but soon it was clear that they were nothing more than pieces of terrain (a bit like fortified positions). So, it made more and more sense to develop an 'abstract wargame' system, that uses chess as the rules and chess pieces as playing pieces, making the game easily accessible to people (most people know the rules of chess), but sets the games in different size battlefields (i.e. boards), with variable terrain on!

After a few years of experience, I realise now that some people are a bit afraid of chess, as they think "I'm not good at chess", and they won't give Shuuro a go because of this 'chess phobia'. The ones that do soon realise that Shuuro is a lot more chaotic than chess and enjoy it. However, to appease those fears, I think I'll move Shuuro one step closer to wargame in its next expansion, making the combat not as straightforward as chess ('the piece that attacks, wins'), but rather resolved by an opposed dice roll, modified by the value of the pieces and the support of other pieces... stay tuned for those rules to be released soon!

 

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING AT GAMES WORKSHOP, AND WHICH PRODUCTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF WORKING ON DURING YOUR TIME THERE?

It was a great experience, which taught all I know about writing games and working in this business. I worked alongside and learnt from some of the finest games designers in the world, men that I am proud of calling my friends and mentors. I am thinking in particular of Rick Priestley and Jervis Johnson. 

As far as products, I am most proud of 40K fifth edition and The Lord of the Rings strategy battle game, both of which have a lot of me in them.    

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?

Absolutely! I'm on facebook and on LinkedIn, and of course here: http://www.riverhorse.eu/about.htm

Jonathan Green

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I am a freelance writer and novelist, best known for my contributions to the Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks, numerous publications for the Black Library, and the Pax Britannia series of steampunk novels.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

With the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982. I became an avid collector of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (and other associated publications) which led to me playing Dungeons & Dragons with my school friends.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

The immersion in an alternate reality and the ability to tell a story that is influenced by your interactions and those of others, and which is unique every time you play.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

Discovering the Fable series with Fable II and very soon getting distracted from the main mission, causing trouble in Bowerstone dressed head-to-toe in black. That's a very anti-social one I know. Also, I suppose, the publication of my first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Spellbreaker. That's a gaming moment, right? Or the time I discovered somebody had created a whole Games Day battle board based on a chapter from my Warhammer 40,000 novel Iron Hands.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

Various games on my Xbox, when I can find the time, including Space Marine, the Fable series and anything with LEGO in the title.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Favourite Gamebooks - Deathtrap Dungeon, Dead of Night, Legend of the Shadow Warriors. Favourite RPG - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Favourite video games - Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Fable II. (I've yet to play Skyrim!)

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

What, not including Angry Birds? That would have to be Batman: Arkham City.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

The Fighting Fantasy series, various Army books and Codexes published by Games Workshop, Epic 40,000 for them as well, Realms of Sorcery for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I've recently had a digital gamebook published by Tin Man Games as part of their Gamebook Adventures range. I've also written gamebooks based on various IPs including Doctor Who, Star Wars The Clone Wars and Sonic the Hedgehog.

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?

Yes, a new Warhammer gamebook (or Path to Victory book, as the Black Library are calling them) entitled Shadows over Sylvania. I also have a Warhammer 40,000 gamebook coming out this summer called Herald of Oblivion.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?

Yes. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter @jonathangreen, or you can check out my blog (which I try to update daily) at www.JonathanGreenAuthor.com.

August Hahn

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I love open-ended questions like that; they always leave me searching for someplace to actually begin.  In fact, that specific question reminds me of the Vorlon Inquisitor in Babylon 5 asking Delenn over and over again - “Who are you?” - and never being satisfied with an answer.

That's how I tend to feel when I have to talk about myself.  No matter how long I think about it or how much I write, I am never content with the answer I give.  I mean, I can give you a few facts as reference on me.  That will have to suffice, I suppose, until I finally figure out a better way to express who I am.

I was born in Saudi Arabia on a US Air Force compound and spent the first ten years of my life overseas.  We travelled a great deal, my father's job putting us in dozens of different countries for months at a time.  I've seen Paris, London, Cairo, Tokyo, Berlin (both sides of the now non-existent Wall) and more, though I was too young to appreciate what a great blessing that was.

The year we permanently returned to the United States was the same year I discovered roleplaying.  It was this small white box in a clearance bin at Hobby Lobby, ignored and forgotten.  I sympathized with it, also being lost and having no real friends yet, so I bought it and took it home.  The three little books pretty much set the course for the rest of my life.

Flash forward to now and I am still living on the path set by that simple cardbox box with the words Dungeons and Dragons on the front.  I write constantly, often typing up page after page of things no one will ever read, and when I'm not abusing my keyboard I am roleplaying.

So maybe that is the simple answer.  Like the other fine, talented people on this blog, perhaps I really am what I do and what I love.

I'm a gamer.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

After I found that D&D box, I consumed it utterly. I took the booklets to school, reading them over and over whenever I had the chance.  With no real friends I was forced to game alone for a long time.  Some of the stories I still tell today come from those quiet hours in my room, using a TI calculator to roll random numbers.

Eventually I branched out, finding a few like-minded friends, a few places to play (thank you, public libraries!) and actual dice.  I built up a collection of books, graduating to Advanced Dungeon and Dragons and even branching into Top Secret and Star Frontiers.

From there it has been one group after another until landing in Louisville, Kentucky with the gang I have now.  My favorites include them, of course, my first real group in Oklahoma City, the ultimately dysfunctional but always entertaining folks in the Campbell household on Tinker AFB and my short-lived but intense Star Wars quartet in Crossville, Tennesee. 

Ah, good times…

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

This one is easy to answer.  I have always considered roleplaying to be a powerful form of expression.  Gaming allows us to leave ourselves and our world behind for a few hours and just BE someone else. That's a gift, it can be very enlightening and, as a special bonus?  It's a Hell of a lot of fun.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

Picking just one isn't easy.  So many moments stand out, so many incidents and accidents, that a single favorite is hard to choose. I'll just go with the first one that comes to mind.

I was running Dragons of Despair, the very first module for Dragonlance, the same month it was released.  We were in the school library, back in the media room where no one ever came, and my friends were all choosing their characters.  I was re-reading the introduction and the instructions to new DMs because they still didn't make any sense.

The moment I remember the clearest is that instant when it all clicked for me.  It's that split second when, looking at my friends and reading the text, I got what the module was trying to explain - script immunity, vibrant NPCs that were more than just stats, a magic staff that was so much MORE than just a healing stick… all of it.

I really think that's the moment I stopped just running games and started telling stories.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I have four campaigns going at the moment with others that phase in and out, one I run and three I enjoy as a player.  My campaign is science fiction, based on a setting and rules set I've written in house.  It's been going for more than a year now and is just now reaching the third and final chapter of its overall plot.

The other three are Shadowrun, a Rogue Trader game and a Victoriana Steampunk setting with magic and mecha.  Even though two of those only run once every other week, the total makes for a lot of gaming.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Given my past, I don't think anything will ever supplant D&D as my favorite game.  It is just too near and dear to my heart.  That said, I have a lot of appreciation for the World of Darkness, White Wolf's original over-all game system.  I have logged many memorable hours both tabletopping and LARPS in that setting.

I also want to give some credit to Marvel Super Heroes.  The MSHRP saw me through several years of school and showed me just how flexible character creation and combat could be when the system is simple and the story is imagination-driven. 

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

That would be my science fiction game, Living End. Every session lets me get a little more work done on its basic rule set, something we call the Endgame Engine. My players enjoy it and they aren't afraid to tell me when things don't work.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

Just to offer a quick list: Star Wars, Lone Wolf, AD&D, D&D 3^rd Edition, D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, Babylon 5, Conan, Paranoia, Judge Dredd, Traveller, Starship Troopers, multiple scenarios for the RPGA and some undisclosed Bioware work that should publish soon.

How did you come to work in the RPG industry?

It actually comes back around to Mongoose, really.  I had done a few things, small submissions for Dragon Magazine and the RPGA, but I'd never written anything for mainstream publication.  After hearing that Mongoose Publishing was looking for a few freelancers, I submitted an idea for a book about Enchantment magic.  They accepted, gave me an assignment and I wrote the book for them.  A couple more freelance assignments from them and they took me on as a staff writer.  The going wasn't always easy but I learned a lot during that job and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  That got me into the industry and now I really cannot imagine myself doing anything else.

You wrote one of my favourite d20 system games (Lone Wolf) for Mongoose. How did that come about?

Lone Wolf is a personal favorite of mine too.  As I mentioned before, I moved around a lot and lived in a lot of different countries.  I was actually introduced to the world of Magnamund (Lone Wolf's setting)  through a copy of Fire in the Water I picked up in a depot gift shoppe.  I must have carried that book around for weeks, refusing to read it after I discovered it was the second one in a series.  Once I got Flight From The Dark, it was game on and I was hooked.

Once again we flash forwards many years and I am in England working on a source book for Babylon 5.  We all went out to eat at a local spot in Swindon and Joe Dever, the creator of Lone Wolf, accompanies us.  That's where we met and it was a real pleasure.  He is a great guy just on a personal level and brilliant to talk to about just about anything.  We chatted politics and business and the art of roleplaying way past dessert.  It wasn't until after I'd written the d20 adaptation of Lone Wolf that they told me Joe had specifically requested me for the job.  That was a real honor.

Of course, the biggest honor was getting to work with Joe and his personal notes about Magnamund.  Some of the files and pictures I got are things that no one has ever seen outside of Joe and a handful of his friends.  That was a real experience, I can tell you!

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?

I am currently writing rules, scenarios and promotional materials for Wreck-Age, a post-apocalypse hybrid game for both roleplaying and miniatures skirmishes.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?

Indeed I do.  I am on Facebook as myself (August Hahn, none of that silly 'special game designer page' nonsense), Twitter as Mherduwynn (because my name was already taken, sadly) and my homepage is www.augusthahn.com for anyone who wishes to drop in.

Michael J Ward

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m a thirty-something writer, games-player and geek. And I drink a lot of coffee.

How did you get into gaming?

It’s tricky to pinpoint one thing. When I was around 8-9 I was starting to read a lot of fantasy. In
particular, Alan Garner and CS Lewis. I was also writing my own short stories too and found it
immensely empowering to be able to invent your own worlds and people them with fantastical
places and creatures. At the same time, a couple of my friends had older brothers who were
dabbling with a game known as ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. I didn’t know too much about it, save that it
involved some very odd-looking dice and some very cool-looking miniatures. Yet, they were enough
to arouse my ‘burgeoning-geek’ curiosity.

Then I saw the film ET: The Extra Terrestrial, which has a key scene at the start of the movie where
Eliot’s brother and his mates are playing a D&D scenario. When I saw that scene, I was just blown
away by the concept. All thoughts of little grey aliens went right out of my head after that! I left the
cinema determined to get a copy. So I did – and Dungeons & Dragons got me hooked into the whole
world of rpgs. Of course, there were also the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks too. It felt like a great time
for gaming – like there was this cool ‘geek revolution’ going on. It was fun to be a part of.

I’ve been a computer games player since the start really, from the Atari 2600 console (God bless
Pitfall Harry) through the ZX-Spectrum and Commodore 64 days, Atari ST, Amiga, Megadrive… ok,
you get the idea. ;)

What is it you find so appealing about gaming?

I think it taps into that desire in all of us to be someone else – someone a little braver, stronger
and more heroic (or more devious and evil, depending on the game!). For me, there is also the
competition. Not only pitting yourself against the challenges and obstacles that the game-designer
has set for you, but also your fellow players. I have an obsessive compulsive personality, so if I get
hold of a game that I love, then I’m driven to beat it and get the absolute best loot/rewards that are
going. What I love about gaming, and MMOs and co-operatives in particular, is playing them until
your eyes bleed and believing you are the best, then coming up against (or alongside) someone
who just makes you stop in your tracks – someone who has honed their skills/character to absolute
perfection. As I’m getting older I’m finding that happening a lot more often I have to say! Guess it’ll
be the Zimmer frame next…

Share a favourite gaming moment with us

For some reason, when I read that question, I had a flashback to a naked gnome race in World
of Warcraft. But for that anecdote to work, you really had to be there – and consumed a series
amount of beer. Actually, talking of beer, I did do my very first Molten Core 40-man raid completely
smashed! It was sort of an unfortunate accident really – I’d just joined one of the top raiding guilds
on my server and it was kind of my debut (you know, proving yourself to your fellow guildies). The

raid got delayed so, as I increasingly made my way through my stash of beers (to settle my nerves, of
course), the screen got a little fuzzier and a little fuzzier….

So yeah, my performance was rather horrible (imagine doing Baron Geddon for the first time while
messaging your in-game mate and saying ‘Oh God, I can’t see, I can’t see… I’m gonna hurl’.) Anyway,
somehow I managed to get through it without too many embarrassing deaths, but I did do a lot of
apologising to my rogue group leader (a guy called Nyms, sound familiar to any DQ readers?) the
next day. From then on, tee-total for raiding. (*)

(*) Believe that, you’ll believe anything ;-)

What are you currently playing?

To be honest, because I’ve been so busy doing final changes and game-testing for my second book
(The Heart of Fire) there hasn’t been too much time for game playing (much to my distress!), so I’ve
steered clear of any heavy rpgs. A friend of mine recently brought Grimrock to my attention (http:/
/www.grimrock.net/) knowing that I am an old-school Dungeon Master fan. Grimrock is a modern
update of that eighties classic and so far it hasn’t disappointed. Its been good for a quick blast in
between everything else I am juggling at the moment!

What was the last game you played?

Now, if I said Travel Scrabble while on holiday that would sound incredibly uncool wouldn’t it?
Yep, okay. Well, after a recent house move, I stumbled across my old copy of Talisman board
game (one of my favourites of all time), so I’ve introduced that game to a few friends. It’s still as
fun and addictive now as it ever was. I keep meaning to check out the new version that is now
available. Computer-wise, it was Kingdoms of Amalur (I wrote a review of it on the Gollancz website
if anyone’s interested: http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2012/02/dabbling-with-destiny/). I was intrigued
by this game because it has a lot in common with DestinyQuest. Sadly, the further into the game
you get, the more it becomes clear that the game didn’t receive enough testing and balancing prior
to release. Even on Hard setting it didn’t really provide much of a challenge. But it has charm – and
some of the best combat, outside of a pure action-consoler I’ve seen since Dragon Age 2.

Can you tell us what your favourite games are?

Recent games or all-time favourites? For the latter, it has to be World of Warcraft. It changed the
way I perceived gaming. I know its quite trendy to knock Warcraft now a days (actually, with Mists of
Panderia it’s probably well-justified!), but when it was released it was, quite simply, a revolution in
gaming. It made online gaming mainstream and it also provided one of the most appealing gaming
worlds I have ever come across. It’s a shame that some of that magic has been tarnished over recent
years with each successive update, but whatever the direction the developers take with the game,

they’ll never diminish the game’s fantastic achievements. It’s still the MMO to beat in my opinion.

Another all-time favourite that often goes under the radar is Thief: Deadly Shadows. This game got
a fair bit of criticism on its release for being console-centric, failing to offer a truly ‘open-world’
environment that I think reviewers had been promised. That aside, the level design and atmosphere
are utterly superb – the infamous Shalebridge Cradle level has now become something of a legend
amongst gamers; one of those things that I think you should get a T-Shirt for afterwards saying ‘I
survived the Cradle’. Jordan Thomas is one of my favourite level-designers (he also worked on
BioShock). When I see his name attached to anything it’s an automatic purchase.

Recent games, well I have to champion Dragon Age 2. Again, it was a game that had a mixed
reception on its release. I almost didn’t buy it when I read the reviews (shame on me), but thankfully
I did and I thought it was fantastic. To my mind, they improved on the gameplay of the first title in
just about every way imaginable, while keeping the elements that already worked so well (namely
the deep and involving character interactions). I actually liked the idea that the setting was a single
city and we experience and influence a chain of events, which have profound repercussions to the
characters and environment you have grown to love over the course of the game. Was there room
for improvement? Of course, but I think its flaws are minor compared to the colossal achievement
of creating such a complex story-telling experience. I highly recommend it to those who might have
missed it – and the DLC content is excellent too.

There’s so many great games really. Darksiders was good fun and can’t wait for the sequel. I also
enjoyed Dark Souls and Skyrim. Not classics, but they brought some interesting elements to the
table.

Tell us how you came up with the concept for DestinyQuest

I really wanted to capture the feel of playing an open-world rpg. At the time, I was a serious MMO
gamer, spending around 50 hours a week on games like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. I
realised, as I was playing these games, that no-one had really tried to capture that feel in a print
format. I wanted to create something that gave you all the customisation options that rpg players
are familiar with, alongside an exciting combat system and epic story. The CYO format was the
obvious means of achieving this, by giving players control over their character and the decisions that
they make as they explore the world.

How did you approach the writing process for DestinyQuest?

For each book I pin down the over-arching story first and then devise the main ‘game zones’ that
serve for each act of the story. From there it’s really a matter of working out what the separate
quests will be and then writing these individually, before compiling it all together.

Don’t ask me how, but I do manage to keep the decision trees and branching paths mostly in my
head. Of course, I have scribbled notes and the occasional diagram, but I tend to find that once I
start writing plans have a habit of going out of the window. I think that surprised my editor who,
when he came to reading through The Heart of Fire for the first time, was shocked that I didn’t have
any maps or flow charts to help him make sense of it all. It’s in here I’m afraid <taps forehead> but I
think for my editor’s sanity I’ll need to start doing those in future!

In terms of writing style, I wanted to mimic that MMO feel. I didn’t want it to read as a
traditional ‘stuffy’ fantasy. I wanted to have fun with it and play around with ideas and themes.
There are lots of popular culture references in there, as well as dialogue and events that harken
back to its MMO roots. But at the end of the day, its about giving readers an engrossing story and
meaningful decisions to make a long the way. I’m not sure that I 100% nailed it with the first book
– like everything in life, you look back and wish you could change certain aspects. But writing (and
certainly gamebook writing) is a craft that you’re constantly improving and refining. With DQ2, The
Heart of Fire, I feel incredibly confident that I’ve got close to that ‘perfect’ gamebook. But I guess I’m
obviously going to be a ‘little’ biased there!

What products have you had your work published in?

My previous work has been in the education sector, so a spattering of articles, teachers’ books,
and games and resources for the classroom. Most recently I’ve been working with the International
Primary Curriculum, updating their themed units for use in schools around the world.

DestinyQuest is the first of my novels to be published – and I hope it will open a few more doors in
the future in terms of writing opportunities. I always wanted to be a writer for computer games,
but getting into the industry as a writer is incredibly hard. I think times are changing. Before, game
scripts were often written by their designers or someone embedded in its production. Now, I think
developers are seeing the value in having specific writers come in and focus solely on story. I’m
always hopeful, one day it might be me but I guess DestinyQuest is the next best thing to keep me
occupied in the meantime!

Oh, just remembered – I did once have some tips published in CRASH magazine (a UK mag for the ZX
Spectrum, published in the eighties). I won a free game too. Result!

Are you working on any gaming-related projects at the moment?

I’m actually ‘between’ books at the moment, so am currently doing some education freelancing (it
helps to pay the bills!). I’m also writing a few extra bits for the gaming app of The Legion of Shadow,
which is due to be released later in the year.

A gaming app? Can you tell us more about this?

It’s a conversion of The Legion of Shadow for interactive devices (such as Android, iPhone, iPad etc.).
There’s more info here about its various features: http://www.destiny-quest.com/news/digital-
destinyquest-ya-dig-it/ There’s no release date as yet, but I believe a free playable demo should be
available soon.

Do you have any webpages or social network accounts where fans can find you?

For information and the latest news on DestinyQuest, then I’d suggest people point their browsers
to www.destiny-quest.com I also have a dedicated DQ facebook page and twitter account. The links
can be found on the ‘buy page’ of my main site. Please follow and help support! ;)

And last but not least, when is the new book out?

A ‘special edition’ version of The Legion of Shadow is published on 17 May in hardback and large
trade paperback format. It’s the version of the book that I self-published last year, but with new
cover artwork, extra quests and an expanded colour section.

DQ2, The Heart of Fire, is available in hardback and large trade paperback from 15 November. And I
promise you, it’s going to be something special!

Angus Abranson

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF
Hi. I’m Angus Abranson. Over the years I’ve done a variety of roles related
to games and gaming, from working as a Saturday boy at a local games
store (which I later went on to manage), magazine contributor and assistant
editor, writer/designer of RPGs and Miniature skirmish games, a long stint (10
years) in The Camarilla (White Wolf’s global fan club – I started off running
the London branch in the UK and ended up heading their International
Development program which was great fun and also allowed me to travel to
places such as Brazil to meet and help the affiliate branch there), part owner
of Nightfall Games (the company behind SLA Industries) and founder of
Cubicle 7 Entertainment (whom I left after 8 years last December) and now
Chronicle City, my new baby
Apart from being an avid gamer I’m also a massive music fan (both live and
recorded), love films, comics, books and seem to have a wardrobe full of black
(or shades of black) t-shirts.


HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?
I’d been boardgaming, and making up my own little games, ever since I can
remember but got into Roleplaying in 1984 when I spent some time living in
the States. I’d previously played some of the Fighting Fantasy books written
by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (the UK version :p) and really enjoyed
those and then on the second day I was in the States my cousins introduced
me to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and I was hooked. I very shortly
afterwards played Top Secret, was given my own AD&D Players Handbook
and Dungeon Masters Guide for Christmas, moved back to the UK, found a
store in central London, brought MERP and got involved in a school group.
The rest is, as they say, history.


WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?
It’s a combination of both the stories that unfold and develop as well as the
social aspect of hanging out and playing with friends. I love playing in long
running campaigns where you can really see the characters and group evolve,
the in-jokes develop, certain situations go down in the annals of the gaming
group ‘lore’ to be recounted years later as well as shorter campaigns, and
one-offs, which have a definitive start, middle and end upon which the story is
complete (whether the characters survive or not). At the end of the day it’s the
great imagination and fun you can have.


SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US
There’s been loads over the years but one that stands out was an impromptu
no rules game that we ended up playing at an old flat I lived in. There ended
up being five of us and we just started running a systemless game with two
players and three GMs. There was no communication between the GMs and
the two characters started off in completely separate places. Each GM took it
in turn running a scene for alternate players. So GM1 ran a scene for Player
1, GM2 then ran Player 2s scene, GM3 then took over from where GM1 left
off with Player 1, GM1 for Player 2 and so forth – rotating through as the
twin stories developed. It could have gone horribly wrong but it was fantastic
seeing the stories develop, the characters slowly collecting clues to the overall
picture and discovering answers to questions that the other player characters
dilemmas. In the end both characters ended up in the same location (The
Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco) to solve the puzzle – but a hundred
years apart. Between them they managed to defeat the supernatural ‘Big Bad’
but only because of the actions of both characters in their own timelines – and
never realising that they were only half of the overall tale.
We only ever did that the once but it was a truly memorable evening. Improv
can be great.


WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?
I’m not actually involved in any RPG at present. We’re looking at starting up
a game at the house (with my housemates and my girlfriend) but haven’t
decided on what to actually play yet. It will probably be one of the new games
that Chronicle City is publishing though – although I’d also really like to play
Dresden Files or a more ‘Supernatural’ inspired game.


CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?
I have loads of favourites for a whole variety of reasons. My top ten is
probably fairly fluid beyond the Top 5, and even then they can chop and
change. My all time favourite is probably Call of Cthulhu, but games such
as Marvel Superheroes (TSR’s Advanced Set), TORG, Kult, Deadlands,
Vampire: The Masquerade, Hunter: The Reckoning, Warhammer Fantasy
Roleplay, Victoriana, the Iron Kingdoms setting for D&D, 7th Sea, Traveller,
Amber and Cyberpunk 2020 all feature strongly. I’ve had loads of fun with
most of the games I’ve played over years – from classics such as Bunnies
& Burrows and Golden Heroes to newer games such as Dead of Night and


Clockwork & Chivalry.


WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?
Airship Pirates. When I was back in London for a few days I hooked up with
my old games group and joined in their game. It was also the first experience
of roleplaying for my girlfriend and was run by Andrew Peregrine (who has
written for loads of games and companies over the years) who actually
designed the Heresy Engine (for Victoriana) which Airship Pirates uses. The
game I had played before that was also Airship Pirates actually, I really enjoy
the setting.


WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?
The first game (outside of magazine work) that I had material published in
was a cyberpunk skirmish game/RPG called Dark Winter that was released
in 1992/93 (I think) by a company I was co-owner of called Network X. It was
pretty much a low budget student project but we got the Virgin Megastore
chain (whom used to have a large games section at the time herein the UK)
to stock it, promoted it around various conventions and sold a couple of
thousand copies of it over the course of a couple of years or so.
A lot of the 90’s was actually spent doing magazine work and playtesting for
other companies (mainly White Wolf and Steve Jackson Games) as a lot of
my time was taking up either actually playing/running games, running Leisure
Games (the retail store I was working at) and also helping run The Camarilla.
When I left The Camarilla in 2003 it was mainly so I could dedicate myself to
starting up Cubicle 7 and actually finally start publishing games. Unfortunately
running a games company generally means I was doing a lot of the business
type affairs rather than the fun writing bit – although it did mean that I could
decide what we should be releasing and write up project outlines and hire
writers to then take the outline and ideas and mold them in to an actual game/
book.


ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE
MOMENT?
I’ve recently just started a new publishing company called Chronicle City.
There has been lots of ‘behind the scenes’ business setup and foundation
building going on so I’ve not had much time to put pen to paper (or finger to


keyboard in a creative manner). I’m working with over twenty other companies
and designers helping them bring their games to print through our print
partnership scheme but we also have a number of games we are looking at
creating ourselves (as well as possibly some older games we’re looking at
rebooting and/or licensing) which I’ll be having a more direct involvement with.
That’s Phase 2 of the plan, but it’s already started moving so hopefully I’ll
actually be able to do some more writing again.


DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS
WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?
Chronicle City has a website that should be up soon (www.chroniclecity.com)
as well as a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/chroniclecity) and a
Twitter account (@Chronicle_City).
I also have a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/angus.abranson) and
a Twitter account (@Angus_A). I tend to be a pretty frequent Facebook poster
on my own account though, so be warned!