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!

Jesper Myrfors

Jesper is an artist, and a damn fine one at that. He is best known for his artwork on various trading card games.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

Well, I was born in Stockholm Sweden to Swedish parents. We moved to the northwest after my father was hired by boeing straight out of his navy career. Grew up in a neighborhood full of kids, we played “neighborhood” games whatever chance we got, hide and seek, kick the can, tag etc…We also got together and would draw, all of us would. Actually Tom Wanerstrand was part of that group of kids and he's in the industry as well. I always loved art and games but I didn't know making games was something a person could do so I followed my passion for art and got a BFA in illustration from Cornish College of the Arts. My first real art gig in the industry was for The Unspeakable Oath from Pagan Publishing, followed by work for White Wolf's Vampire and them Wizards of the Coast, wait, reverse those last two.

I'm married, have kids and still live in the Northwest. I spend a lot of time doing art, making games, writing, making music and biking. I like cats. I believe G.W. Bush and R. Cheney should be in prison. I think the banks should be taken down for their criminal activity and those who destroyed the economy due to sociopathic behavior should spend the rest of their lives making big rocks into small rocks.

I have never and will never try Jenkem.

These days I have teamed up with Brian Snoddy and we make games as a team. He is a fantastic guy, talented and creative. Deadfellas is or latest.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

Well I always loved board games as a kid, but as for hobby gaming:I noticed the ads for Microgames in the back of Anolog magazine for years. My mom and dad read it every month. That was Steve Jackson's first company I think. I always wondered what they were. Then a friend told me about Dungeons and Dragons, a local teacher offered a summer class in D&D and I signed up. This was just after the Monster Manual and right before Dungeon Master's Guide. I was hooked. I found a store in Seattle that migrated to several locations over the years, it was called American Eagles. Those in Seattle will remember it if they are old enough. And in Bellevue…The Triple Alliance opened. They stocked not only AD&D but every other RPG game out at the time as well as Microgames and miniatures. I finally got to buy those games I saw in the magazines as well as Task Force Games, SSI, Dwarfstar and many others. I knew it's what I wanted to do and started making my own games. I actually called Task Force games and they were interested, but when I found out it was a $400 flat fee for all rights I decided against entering the industry just yet. My friends and I made games for each other and had a blast doing it. I should really throw in a shout out to Jennell Jaquays who's work really influenced me back then. Her work for Judges Guild was a real inspiration.

But to answer your real question, while I was in school they asked “What do you want to do in art?” I said make games and they gave me a dog in the headlights stare and replied “There is no such job” I decided to show them and swore I would be published before I graduated. I was and now the “no such job” is a multibillion dollar industry.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

The ability to create worlds and situations beyond what we experience is the driving force. It's about making dreams and nightmares come true in a relatively safe environment. It's about making the worlds one to live in, or at least vacation in.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

There are two answers to this. My first is everyone who has ever come up to me and said “Thank you, your work helped me through a difficult time.” How do I even respond to this? I make games because it's my love, I never thought I would actually really help people. What an amazing thing to find out.

As for my favorite in game moment it was Red Alert 2 on the PC. My friend had crushed me. I mean I lost everything but 1 infantry unit. We had crates turned on and it was a pretty big map. My friend decided to do some building while I ran and found a crate that had a construction base unit (total luck!). I quickly and quietly rebuilt while he searched for me. Turns out it was next to a huge tiberium deposit and I managed to build a defense force large enough to take out his first wave of searchers and launch a sneak attack at his rear. By the time he knew I was a threat again, I overran his base and won. Most people would have given up, that's the reason I don't. You don't get the legendary wins if you give up at the first sign of defeat.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

Deadfellas, Wow (again after a year off), Skyrim, Dead Island (best zombie game in my opinion) Dungeon Defenders, Majesty 2, MineCraft, Legend of Grimrock…I loved Dungeon Master on the Atari ST, Royal Envoy 2, Plants VS Zombies (for the Third time), Mostly PC games at this point. Though I love making physical games and Brian and I are working on a several card and board games so we play those a lot.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Ad&d 2^nd edition, Awful Green Things From Outer Space, Old MTG, Deus Ex, Doom 2, Wow, Gothic 3 (After the patches), Dead Island, Cryptomaina (coming out from Fun to 11 next year), Pinochle, Talisman, Action Quake 2 (I made a lot of maps for that one), Fallout 3, Skyrim, System Shock 2, Final Fantasy 7, Ogre, Max Paine 2, The Fantasy Quest (For the solo play), Age of Heroes (a miniatures system my friends and I made up and played for years, unreleased to the public) Balderdash, Trivial Pursuit, F.E.A.R. 1 & 2, Farcry 1, Crysis, Mario Party (most of them), Age of Empires 2, I know I'm leaving some out…

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

World of Warcraft, just before this interview. They did a fantastic job on that game and look, 8 years later it still holds up. I admire Blizzard and the people there.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

This is a hard question in a good way. I have worked on so many games that I don't remember them all. There used to be a really good complete summery on Wikipedia, but some ass hat had it taken down for reasons I will never understand. To name a few Magic: The Gathering, Vampire: The Masquerade…(already I'm working with more colons than a proctologist) Rage, the card game, The Hills Rise Wild, Clout: Fantasy, Call of Cthulhu through Pagan Publishing, Deadfellas, Talislanta (A truly amazing RPG), Shadow Fist (My second Favorite CCG and still in Print, if you haven't tried it…do, Zev is a great guy and deserves support.) Those are the highlights.

A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD KNOW YOUR WORK FROM MAGIC: THE GATHERING. CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU CAME TO DO ART FOT IT, AND WHAT THE PROCESS WAS LIKE?

As I mentioned earlier, I swore I would get published before graduating. I was a fan of Talislanta at the time and had checked a local game store (Games and Gizmos) about the status of the game. They told me that a new publisher was working on it, a small company called Wizards of the Coast, and they gave me the companies contact information. I put it in my wallet and forgot about it, mostly. Then when I was trying to get published I remembered them and called their office. I spoke with Lisa Stevens and sent in a portfolio, most of my work was horror oriented and Lisa said she liked my work but it was wrong for the brand. She did however recommend me to Richard Thomas, the art Director at White Wolf. Anyway, I was a pest and wouldn’t leave them alone, I said I would do one illustration on spec, if they didn’t like it I would leave them alone. Lisa agreed and gave me 1 week to do the painting, I did two over the next two days. Lisa liked them, Steve Sechi, the creator of Talislanta liked them and I got the gig. They also said if I wanted to be more involved all I had to do was hang out and attend their meetings, which I did. Soon I was art director (and I rejected the art I did for Talislanta as not being quite right for the brand) I started hiring other artists, meeting some heroes and having fun. It was a lot of work for no pay but I got published.

Around this time the rest of WotC was having secret meetings I was not invited to, not until they trusted me. Those meeting were about Magic: The Gathering. When I finally got to play the game I told them to put all my pay towards stock because I knew this game would change everything.

Initially the their plan had been to buy second or third rights to already published artwork, book covers etc…I thought we could do better and get our own look so I made a deal where the company would pay $50 in cash, $50 in stock and a very small royalty.

The first art ever done for the game was Iron Root Treefolk as I was trying to get the dimensions right for the cards and needed a test piece.

I would call artists and make the offer, 99% said yes I would give them a name and as little description as I could. I believed that the more freedom the artist had the more diversity we would get in building this new world. This was really before the web or e-mail being popular so most of it was done on phone and the original art was mailed to me. I would scan it and color correct it and place it in the borders I had designed. It took a very long time but was one of the most exciting times of my life, watching something I believed in come together.

One of the reasons I had so many pieces in the early game was not because of the pay but because I had to pick up the ball if another artist dropped it. So I ended up doing a bunch of rushed last minute illustrations that I’m not very proud of. That was the down side. That’s eventually what burned me out on illustration for many years. Still, what a ride.

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

That's all I work on. Deadfellas just came out from Exile Games, Cryptomania is about to hit and I have 3 other games that I developed with the multitalented Brian Snoddy. Check my face book page for updates. I also do freelance work and consulting so there are other projects in development but I can't talk about them…noncompetes… they get my soul if I say anything.

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

I'm on face book under my name and I have a blog that I update whenever I feel like it at http://stumptales.blogspot.com/ It's mostly for my creative writing endeavors. Or as some say, advertising my insanity.

Oh and you can see our animated shorts on YouTube at DeadfellasTAS. (TAS is Short for The Animated Shorts)

This was a pretty hasty overview, I will be happy to answer more specific questions on my face book page if anyone has them.

Curtis Lyon

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

Hi… I'm Curtis Lyon. I'm a freelance writer and editor, and currently one of the line developers for Savage Mojo's Savage Suzerain. I've been a gamer since the late '70s, but I only jumped into writing for the RPG community a few years ago, in late 2009. For that leap I can give equal measure of thanks and blame to my wife, Sarah, who also partners with me on writing projects. We live in the United States (California, in particular). In addition to the roleplaying, I'm pursuing a career in writing fiction – keep an eye out.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

It was my brother. He had a friend in school who's father was in the Navy and would come home on leave. My brother came home after visiting his friend on one of those occasions and began telling me about this amazing game they'd played – he regaled me with stories of trying to pick pockets and running from the guards and fighting in an arena… and something about a quest for some big treasure in a dungeon somewhere. I'd just finished reading The Lord of the Rings and was an avid wargamer, so I was naturally fascinated and wanted to know what sort of board they'd used. What? No board? Just maps? I got my brother to drag me along to the next game, and I was hooked. Fortunately we had several hobby stores in the region (amazing for 1977), and parents who were willing to indulge us in this strange new hobby. I've been a roleplayer ever since.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

I'd have to say there are several aspects to it, depending on if I approach it as a player or a game master. I've always loved the interactiveness of RPGs – one doesn't tune out the rest of the world like one must with a book, nor does one simply sit back and be entertained like one does with a television. You have to think, and act, and communicate. I'm also something of an actor, so taking on the roles – especially as a GM – can be quite entertaining. Ultimately, as a player I enjoy the raw escapism, while as a GM I enjoy creating a living and vibrant story to entertain the other players.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

Wow… There have been so many. But I think the one that stands out revolves around an old Cyberpunk game I ran, and centered around a character named Sonora. She was a biker – a ganger – who was picked up off the street and sold to a corporation for the purpose of testing some experimental cyberware. While there was a great scene when she woke up from the surgery and the head honcho told her what was going on (She looked him square in the eye and told him she didn't work for anyone, capiche?  He looked her square in the eye, showed her a remote control, and explained that the little button would blow her head off if she didn't cooperate, capiche?), the best moment was at the climax of the story. Suffice it to say it was a brutal firefight, but the heroes won the day, the villain was killed and justice was served. The adrenaline and emotion had been running so high that the entire group of players got up from the table, walked into the living room, and literally collapsed on the sofa and chairs in exhaustion to begin happily comparing notes and revisiting the conclusion. I felt I'd succeeded in my role as GM.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I don't get to play much right now – I'm usually either writing or running games for playtests and demos. When I do get to play, it's usually Savage Worlds, although Sarah has been running one of the Pathfinder adventure paths on occasion, using the QUERP rules to keep it light and simple.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Sure: almost everything Savage Worlds – although I'm particularly fond of 50 Fathoms and Suzerain. I'm also a big fan of the 2^nd edition BESM rules, QUERP, anything using the Barbarians of Lemuria engine… and I'm developing a love affair with Castles & Crusades.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

Um… I suppose it would be Interface Zero (Savage Worlds). We've got a demo game going on at a local game store that alternates between IZ and a Savage Worlds Fallout homebrew, and we've been trying to get some of the players to take the reins and begin running the games. I still have to give a certain amount of support to the new GM, but at least I can sit back and get some play time in.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

Most of our writing has been for Savage Mojo (Suzerain) or Gun Metal Games (Interface Zero)… Sarah and I tend to work as a team.

For the first, we've done Noir Knights, Shanghai Vampocalypse (which won an ENnie last year), Caladon Falls, and we put out an Adventure Deck for Suzerain that's similar to the Savage Worlds Adventure Deck. We also did some work on the Pocket Universe edition of Suzerain.

For the second, we've done Zeeks: Psionics in 2088, Boston: Broken Cradle of Liberty, and San Francisco: Ruins by the Bay. We've also got a little bit in the Hacking 2.0 update.

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

Absolutely. In fact, we're up to our ears in projects. Some of them I'm not at liberty to discuss (other than to say we've got several projects going for Savage Mojo and Gun Metal Games), but I think I can safely mention Millennium Knights (a sequel/prequel to Noir Knights) for Savage Mojo which should begin release soon(ish), and Machine Nation (an android and robot soucebook for Interface Zero) for Gun Metal Games. We're also helping out on the IZ 2.0 release. Additionally, we plan to have some content in the next premium release of Savage Insider (Mystical Throne Entertainment) – as well as the next regular SI installment – and I've begun working with Basic Action Games to put together an adventure for their recently-released Honor + Intrigue.

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

We have a fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/curtisandsarahlyon.

Darva Shriver

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I'm Darva Shriver. I'm a librarian by trade, specializing in children's literature. Originally from Poughkeepsie, New York, I've spent most of my life in and around Naples, Florida, though a move out west to California or Arizona is in the works. I'm an avid role player and reader, and sometimes enjoy watching history or fantasy genre movies with my pet ferrets, Bilbo and Samwise.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

I actually came into the hobby fairly late. While still attending college in 2004, I  was at a local Harry Potter release party, though I don't remember now if it was one of the books or one of the films, where I met some guys and gals that had a D&D game going. After kind of badgering them to let me come check it out, I soon joined the game, an old school Basic D&D campaign set in the Greyhawk campaign world. That whole group doesn't get together much anymore, but I've been hooked ever since, and taken to getting some of my D&D fix through my blog.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

I most enjoy the social aspect of getting together with good friends and spending a few hours having fun, but I also really enjoy the immersion into a fantasy world. I've been a huge fan of fairy tales and fantasy stories since I was a little girl, and the chance now to play out stories of my own with friends is cool to pass up on. In a similar way, I really like introducing some of the kids I work with to role playing, encouraging them to exercise their imaginations and create stories of their own based on whatever stories, movies or shows they enjoy.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

My absolute best memory comes from playing through the classic adventure Keep on the Borderlands, for Basic D&D. Our DM can be pretty tough and strict at times, and for a number of sessions, we'd had trouble with the owl bear and minotaur encounters in the Caves of Chaos. Close to 20 dead PCs by the end of it all! When we finally defeated them, it was my poor first level thief left as the only PC still standing and with a last valiant roll of the d20, I managed to hit and finally kill that pain in the butt. The tension and smack talking that built up to it and the payback of finally being the one player out of six who was able to bring down a challenge that had vexed us for weeks is something I'll never forget. It's even better now when we happen to visit the keep as higher level PCs, or as a different party of younger PCs altogether and get to hear the local bard and minstrel types sing praises of our old exploits.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

Between my impending move, and the recent loss of one of our fellow players to cancer, actual play is scarce right now, but it's given me time to work on material to catch up on posting on my blog.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Hands down, my game of choice is Basic D&D, Frank Mentzer's BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, Immortals) edition. I pick and choose options and add-ins from tons of other games, with old school Runequest and Arduin being favorites. I'm also a big supporter of the OSR “clone” games, notably Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

Until very recently, I was running a low level Basic D&D campaign set in the Mystara campaign world.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

Nothing beyond my blog, and the forums at Dragonsfoot.org, ThePiazza.org.uk and Canonfire.com

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

Just my blog, Stocking the Dungeon. My current ongoing project is an adaptation of characters, locales, magic and monsters from the old D&D Animated Series cartoon show to the Basic D&D game.

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

My blog, Stocking the Dungeon, is at http://stockingthedungeon.blogspot.com . I'm also active on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/dungeonstocking) and Google + (+darva.shriver)

"The Warden"

The Warden (not his real name) is an author and publisher who is best known (at least, so far) for his tenure at Emerald Press.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I am the Warden!! While it's obviously not my real name (I'd either have very cool parents or grew up in a disturbing household), it's the one in which I ply my trade as a publisher and game designer.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

I grew up in a small town and my friends and I had a tendency to avoid social trends, like drinking and getting girls pregnant. (We saved that for our adult years.) After a trip to a nearby city, one of the guys came home with the Hero Quest board game and we tore into the sucker for months. After a while, we stopped playing it like a board game and started treating it more like a roleplaying game, though we had never played one at that time. Shortly afterwards, a comic book store opened up in town and they had a couple of shelves for RPG material, mainly AD&D and Vampire (which had just been released). By one year's time, we were dipping our fingers into every setting TSR had to offer and gaming on a nightly basis. Weekends were reserved for all-night games.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

It's the storytelling. There's a passage in the introduction to the original Vampire game discussing ancient societies gathering around campfire telling stories to each other as their entertainment and how roleplaying games are an extension of that. It's the shared storytelling experience, where even the person pulling the strings behind the curtain will never tell how the events will unfold, who will live, and who will die. Mind you, it's taken me years and years and practice, patience, and learning to get to this mindset, but it's why I'm bored with novels and video games most of the time. I want to leap into the fray and tweak it with my own decisions; every other format is too limiting. For me, only roleplaying games gives me the opportunity to truly become part of the story.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

We have to go back to high school for that one. It was Dark Sun and I can't remember exactly which character I was playing (likely a druid, but it doesn't matter because I never had much luck with characters when I was young), but we were getting our asses handed to us by a lone woman with incredible AC. None of us were doing any damage to her and we were generally afraid for our characters' lives. That's when I had my character toss his weapon down and pulled out the 50' hemp rope, the savior of every PC's backpack.

I told the DM I wanted to run up behind her and tie this damn rope around her neck then throw her off the ledge we were standing on. Basically, hang her from her precious temple. It was the first time any of us had tried anything beyond weapon or spell attacks and the DM wasn't sure it could be done, but we gave it a shot. After going through some initial troubles with non-weapon proficiencies and establishing my PC didn't know how to tie a proper knot, we found a way, picked her up, and her neck snapped as she dropped 40' off the ledge. That was magic and a major eye opening experience I think about often in my work: sometimes the rules are wrong.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I was playing a slew of RPGs for a while, one of the few benefits to recovering from a serious accident. I have a regular Sunday rotation of D&D 4e and Pathfinder, as well as the occasional playtest for another game designer here in town, Fraser Ronald from Sword's Edge Publishing. At the moment, we're getting ready for a Savage Worlds fantasy campaign.

I'm also going to use this question to pimp my game because I've been playing it like a mad dog. A lot of my playing time has been spent on Killshot and we're about ready to wrap up playtesting this month before it's release in August.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

I don't know if I have a favorite game, one I would jump on time and time again. It's the same answer I have for my favorite musician or band: I prefer their individual albums, but there are few I'd follow to Hell and back. For me, it's more about having a favorite group who sees eye-to-eye with you on playing experience and rules and storytelling. In that case, I'd say it's the guys I ran my old Shadoworld campaign with because they were always willing to stretch the material to its furthest levels and trust me to take them places few would be willing to go.

There are two games I have a soft spot for: Earthdawn by FASA (and now published by Redbrick) and the Planescape setting. Those games opened my mind to new possibilities in both setting and game design that while I've rarely played them, they feature prominently on my shelf as a reminder of this genre's potential.

However, I'm a nut for RPG mechanics. D&D 3rd edition fits that bill; it was a magnificent design with so much room for flexibility, it didn't start to crack until we piled the equivalent of a dozen 18-wheelers on a piece of string. And I've just finished reading the new Marvel RPG published by Margaret Weis Productions and that's a fried piece of gold right there.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

Killshot. I did a crossover with two different Teams and brought them together at an isolated house where their client mysteriously asked to meet with them, then I ambushed them with over 20 gang bangers and some other assassins hired to eliminate the players. (They had already killed the client, by the way.) The house used in the scene was inspired by my in-laws' property and two of the players were my fiancee's cousins who lived up there, so they knew the property well. The golden moment was when one of the PCs called up the player on the phone and told him to drive up the road with his truck to block off the escaping assassin. When the scene ended, one player was playing his assassin and himself in the same scene - it was surreal.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

The first article I've ever had published was on divine antagonists in Dragon #287 (back when they were sold in print) and it's hanging above my desk. Give me a moment while I look at it fondly. After that, my break came from a PDF publishing company called Emerald Press (you may have heard of it) started up by a Shane Garvey (no relation, right?) to publish my first complete supplement, Campaign Options: Mazes. By the time that one hit virtual shelves, I was running Emerald Press and did so for about 8 years producing D&D supplements. We were even nominated for an ENnie award for Combat Advantage #15 a couple of years ago.


WHAT WAS IT LIKE RUNNING YOUR OWN PUBLISHING COMPANY FOR 8 YEARS?


It was an incredible experience for numerous reasons. When I made the decision to give that up, it wasn't made lightly and much of what I'm working on now is in response to those 8 years. I think everyone who wants to tackle designing their own system should work on developing and publishing material within an existing license first because it teaches you to work within certain confines and forces you to learn how the mechanics of a game works. Like anything else, it's based on hit-and-miss efforts and if you can learn from your misses, you'll get better. This was especially true designing material for D&D - especially 4e - because it was so finely balanced there was hardly any room for error. Sure, you can pop out any wild idea and put it to paper or PDF, but if it breaks the game as soon as a player reads it, then it's pointless. It's a major factor you have to understand when you design your own system. The question right now is whether or not I've learned my lesson and only the players will be able to answer that question.

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

You know it. For the past year-and-a-half, I've been working on my own mechanics known as the Optional System and will be releasing my first RPG under it called Killshot. The players are modern day assassins taking on jobs to collect money and experience, but don't let the simplicity of the description fool you. The focus of the game is planning the jobs; players are free to strategize their assassinations however they like and must use their training to study their mark and devise the best assault without getting caught. Think of it as a twisted detective story combined with heavy action.

The main mechanical function of the game are "options," the specific actions you take on your turn. When you successfully perform an option using dice, you gain a bonus option to use immediately for yourself or pass to a Teammate, a concept which works incredibly well in both detection and violence. As I mentioned before, it'll be on sale in August 2012.

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

Yeah, there may be a couple. I'm a Twitter junkie, so you'll find a lot more posted there (@Warden_Op) and I have two blogs on the go: I Am The Warden!! (http://iamthewarden.blogspot.com) and Broken Ruler Games (http://brokenrulergames.blogspot.com). I'm also on Facebook and G+, but you'll have to find out what my real name is for those ones and I'm not telling. ;)