Stuart Lloyd

Stuart Lloyd is a well-known blogger who mainly talks about Tunnels and Trolls and gamebooks. His blog, Lloyd of Gamebooks, is probably the best-known blog on the internet related to interactive fiction.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

My name is Stuart Lloyd.  By day I teach Science and by night I obsess about gamebooks.  I also enjoy spending time with my wonderful wife, listening to podcasts on all subjects, playing with cats and trying to park my car in less than 10 minutes.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

The first game I played was chess which I played at primary school.  I got my first gamebook – Talisman of Death from a school jumble sale when I was 7 and that was the beginning of my gamebook journey.  After that, I bought lots and lots of fighting Fantasy gamebooks and a few Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks before expanding into Lone Wolf in my teens.  As a teenager, I played chess, Heroquest and Magic the Gathering with my friends whilst looking wistfully on at the expensive Warhammer miniatures.  

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

I enjoy the scenarios that it sets up and then applying myself to finding a solution (or at the very least, a more interesting situation).  I see games as an intellectual challenge and get great pleasure by coming up with some creative or far-fetched strategy.  I find making creative solutions more satisfying than winning.  Even if my idea blows up in my face, I am still pleased with my idea and take its failure as a learning experience which I can analyse later – providing another fun intellectual challenge.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

It’s 2004 and everyone who plays Magic the Gathering is playing Ravager Affinity decks with four Skulclamps.  Except me.  I’m using the affinity mechanic to cast a lot of cheap and free spells, draw cards off Vedalken Archmage and then finish off my opponents with Brain Freeze, which no one remembered at that point because it was a blue card from the Onslaught block (the Onlsaught block had blue cards?  Yes it did – you probably used them as proxies).  I lost a lot but when I won, I won big (making one opponent put 72 cards from his library into his graveyard for example) prompting reactions such as ‘That’s impressive.’ And ‘I hate random decks.’

More recently, I was playing Last Night on Earth with my friends.  One of the characters was on death’s door and surrounded by zombies.  He managed to kill two zombies with his bare hands then ignite a fuel canister in the square next to him, taking out three more zombies and he survived the explosion.  I was the zombie player, but I didn’t mind losing to that.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

I’m currently reading the Avenger! gamebook series with the aim of reviewing the first book.  However, it was so epic that I got the other five books.  

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Card games:  Magic the Gathering.  It’s the daddy.

RPGS:  Tunnels and Trolls.  Simple yet flexible, humourous and has a friendly fanbase.  

Boardgames:  As a child of the 80s, my favourite boardgame has to be Heroquest.  And what’s better, it has tons of fan material.  

Computer games:  Civilisation IV.  Although I can never get through the game without turning on cheat mode, giving all the players tons of military units (usually pre firearms units) and having a huge war.

MMORPGS:  Battlemaster.  It’s a low fantasy very social RPG where you can take part in all aspects of running a country.

Gamebooks:  Heart of Ice by Dave Morris.  A post apocalyptic character driven scenario with no one best ending.  You can get it for free!

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

I played Last Night on Earth as the humans.  My wife was the zombies.  I won that one, though by not doing anything special – I just shot a lot of zombies.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

Most of my works are free and on Scribd and Ffproject.  I have had articles and an Advanced Fighting Fantasy scenario published in Fighting Fantazine and I have entered four gamebooks to the Windhammer competition.  I have also published some solos for Tunnels and Trolls on RPGNow.

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

I am writing gamebook sections for the android app Pirates and Traders which is a great game.  I have also written a Windhammer entry for this year.  I plan on producing some more Tunnels and Trolls solos and I may have some other irons in the fire but I can’t talk about them right now.

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

My main blog, Lloyd of Gamebooks can be found at http://virtualfantasies.blogspot.co.uk/.  I contribute to a gamebook review blog to be found at http://lonetigerreviews.blogspot.co.uk/.

My Twitter account can be found at https://twitter.com/#!/slloyd14 and my RPGNow store is at

http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3777 where you can buy my Tunnels and Trolls solos.

LLOYD OF GAMEBOOKS IS PROBABLY THE BEST-KNOWN GAMEBOOKS BLOG ON THE INTERNET. WHAT IS IT YOU LIKE ABOUT GAMEBOOKS?

I love gamebooks because they are stories where you can be the hero and perform your own mighty deeds.  I can go on my own hero's journey.  I can also get the thrill of rolling the dice to see if I live or die and I also have a great puzzle to crack.  They are also more convenient to obtain and play than computer games or RPGs - you can play one at any time or place.  From a technical point of view, they also have a huge versatility in terms of their game system and inclusion of riddles and other puzzles.  They can also be educational or demonstrate to a GM how an RPG system works.  Digital media is maximising their potential even more.  You can buy most paper gamebooks or digital gamebooks for less than £5 and start playing them in less than 5 minutes.  Nothing else can provide so much to so many for so little.

Darren Pearce

Today's interview is with Darren Pearce, who is a prolific author for Dark Quest Games, Mongoose Publishing and Cubicle 7. I am personally a big fan of his work on the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

Hello, I’m Darren W. Pearce. A writer/author/game designer and roleplayer that’s been involved in the hobby for 33 years so far. I’ve worked in the hobby since around the year 2000. I live in the United Kingdom with my wife Gill and our four cats. I am also into video games and I love to write, I’ve got several sort stories published in various anthologies and there’s more on the way!

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

This is a question that I get asked a lot. Along with the question regarding how I got into the game industry in the first place. Gaming though, now that takes me back to my formative school years when I was just around 9 and playing a ton of wargames (Axis and Allies etc) in my local wargaming club. One of my teachers brought in this red box game with the words Dungeons and Dragons on it and explained that we were going to try something a little different. From that first session I was hooked, I was always into the fantasy side of things thanks to my dad reading the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to me from a very early age. My mom and dad picked up the red box for my 10^th Birthday and I spent nearly a year with it, looking it over and so on. I started GM’ing the following year and never looked back.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?

I think for me it’s the social aspect, and the chance to tell these amazing stories in a medium that’s so much more like drama (I was always into drama at school). I love telling stories and I think I would have been that guy sat around the camp fire telling everyone about the dragon and the maiden in the past. I tend to be pretty fond of accents/voices in RPGs so I do a lot of those kinds of things for my games. Then there’s the actual world building side of gaming that I thoroughly enjoy, making a whole place from scratch and letting your imagination run wild is another appealing factor.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US

I think most recently one of my all-time favourite moments had to be in the Savage Worlds: Fantasy game that I’m running in a homebrew world. The world is very feudal in a way and one of my players is the bastard son of the local lord. Unknown to the player though, his father was at the centre of the whole mess the party had found themselves in. So when the player returned to his dad’s castle to seek help, he discovered the truth and the look on the guy’s face out of character was priceless. He bounced back though and in the final confrontation pulled a master stroke when he outbid his father’s offer to an NPC assassin...thus ending his father’s reign of tyranny without having to lift his own sword.

I had a big smile on my face from that one.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR HOMEBREW WORLD.

Rather than tell you about the previously mentioned homebrew world, which is going through some severe reconstruction. I would rather describe my Hestonia setting that is a vehicle for my short stories, novels and even a webcomic.

http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Chronicles_of_Wyrden/

One caveat I always mention is that the comic is mature and can be a little unsafe for work. 

"The Chronicles of Wyrden is set upon the world of Hestonia, a sphere that vaguely resembles Earth in the Renaissance period, yet is vastly different. The power of technology combined with magic allows for incredible feats of engineering, floating cities and powerful warships that tear across the sky, crewed by diverse peoples from all corners of the globe. The world is Dark Industrial Fantasy Renaissance, where bold air-ship captains evade ruthless sky-pirates, where the courts of the nobles are rife with political intrigue and manoeuvring.

Swashbuckling is a way of life, dashing heroes abound and lock swords with a ruthless church, defending the weak and innocent from tyranny, sweeping fine ladies off their feet as they steal a kiss from their lips, before crashing off into another misadventure. Expect to see magical cannon fire sweep across the sky, steam-mecha horses riding through the streets and dangerous beauties that can command whole armies with a sweep of their lace covered hand.

The mighty fortress cities of the Church of Progression, held aloft by science and magic are your playground to adventure, where you will face enemies of all kinds, some of them built by the Renaissance science of inventors such as Vincent Daroni, steam warriors, walking spider-like battle tanks and more. There are treasures ripe for the picking hidden away in the near-impregnable stronghold of the Imper Vatica, secrets that would fetch a pretty penny if they were unearthed, legions of the Cardinal’s finest stand between you and your goal...the Inquisition, the Justicars and the rumour of Fate’s Hand himself – the right hand of the Cardinal.

You have allies, the folk of the three-tiered City of Wyrden, your friends and confidants in ports such as Mistvale and Sullavale, your connections built through parlay, trade, romance and much more. "

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?

At the moment since I don’t play much anymore. I am running a Savage Worlds campaign set in my own homebrew world. It’s based on a world that I created when I needed something to run my D&D games in when I was 11...but this version is a lot darker and more Witcher-esque than anything.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?

Savage Worlds ranks up there high on my list. West End Games D6: Star Wars, 4^th Edition D&D using Eberron and Dark Sun. Warhammer Fantasy RPG (Green Ronin edition). Star Wars Saga Edition (Legacy Era), Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, Traveller, Lone Wolf MPGB series, Pathfinder, Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?

4^th Edition Eberron as run by Keith Baker, a good friend of ours. Keith’s Eberron convinced us to buy it for 4^th Edition and we haven’t actually looked back since. In fact there’s a few Eberron games running at the moment for various people.

WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?

I’ve worked for quite a while since 2000 and most of it has been for Dark Quest Games. I’ve been in all sorts of books for them, but most recently I’ve been working on the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook series for Mongoose Publishing and I wrote Sommerlund and the Bestiary for that. As well as two bonus adventures for the Lone Wolf books themselves, book 8 and 17. I’ve also been working on the Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG for Cubicle 7. If you want a list of some of the things I’ve done, there’s my Amazon author page for anyone who wants to know more!

US: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004GHB750

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B004GHB750

I put both in because there’s some stuff that differs between the two pages.

Non-gaming related materials are also there, but they are usually fantasy and science fiction, perhaps sometimes horror short stories, so they tie in at least some to gaming in general.

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

I have quite a few projects in the works at the moment. I’m not allowed to talk about a lot of them though, there’s some work ongoing for my Savage Worlds, Savage Suzerain Campaign book as well as my own City of Shadeside project that will also be coming out via Savage Mojo once we tie down some more details. Then there’s Doctor Who related work on the RPG where I am putting together a couple of crazy adventures for Adventures in Time and Space.

Needless to say I have a pretty amazing work calendar and as one project ends, I usually scout out for another. I work pretty quickly though and as a freelancer, I am always looking to fill my coffers with coins!

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

I don’t have a webpage per-se but I have my Facebook page and Google+ accounts that people are welcome to add me on. I post quite a lot and it’s a good place to keep up with what I’m up to. If I have fans that is, I think I do...I’m never quite sure!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Darren.W.Pearce

Google+: https://plus.google.com/110462144052261990997/

Shane Garvey

To kick things off, I have an interview with myself. This is just to show you what to expect.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF
My name is Shane Garvey, I am 31, married with two kids and live in south-eastern Australia.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAMING?

A friend of mine showed my the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks back when I was in primary school. From there, I discovered both Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons.

WHAT IS IT YOU FIND SO APPEALING ABOUT GAMING?
It's mostly the social aspect, the chance to catch up with friends over a few beers and have a chat while playing. I met most of my best friends through gaming.

SHARE A FAVOURITE GAMING MOMENT WITH US
There are quite a few! One was beating the current state champion at a Magic: the Gathering tournament around ten years ago, another was the case of an exploding toilet in an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition campaign, and another would be the game of Warhammer against an arch-rival of mine when I was a teenager, where the entire outcome of the game rested on the final roll of a d6. I needed a 6 to win and that was exactly what I rolled!

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?
I don't get a lot of time to play at the moment, but when I do it is usually Warhammer and the occasional game of Talisman.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE GAMES ARE?
I enjoy quite a broad range of games, but my favourites are mostly mainstream. Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons (3rd edition mainly, but I really enjoy the True20 system), Talisman, Warhammer: Invasion and Magic: the Gathering.

WHAT WAS THE LAST GAME YOU PLAYED?
That would be Warhammer, against my good friend Paul. I won too!


WHICH PRODUCTS HAVE YOU HAD YOUR WORK PUBLISHED IN?
Well, I wrote the QUERP role-playing game and co-wrote the Fabled Lands RPG for Greywood Publishing. I have also written the Chronicles of Arax solo RPG and Battlemage miniatures game for Crystal Star Games.


ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY GAMING-RELATED PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?
I have just released Battlemage, a miniatures wargame, and am working on some expansions to that. I am also writing an entry for the Windhammer gamebook competition. In fact, the entry for that is part of a larger gamebook.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WEBPAGES OR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNTS WHERE FANS CAN FIND YOU?
Sure do! I can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shanegarveyauthor, as well as on Twitter (@CrymsonKnight)

Meet the Gamers is a blog that will bring you interviews from members of the gaming community. Authors, artists, publishers, bloggers and more will all be featured; get to know the people who make your games!