1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
The bogpiggie. Which I still need to use.
2. When was the last time you GMed?
Last Sunday for eight hours. LotFP.
3. When was the last time you played?
Last Saturday, for eight hours. As Magneto and then as a number of Muppets.
4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven’t run but would like to.
The chase scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
I remove corpse miniatures, determining that they have become zombies and will come get them later. No one ever notices this.
6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
I chew gum like it’s going out of style.
7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
Yes.
8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
There was a magic mirror that would grant one inescapable wish. I wished that all magic throughout all universes and multiverses, arcane and divine, no longer worked or existed. All hell broke loose.
9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
Neither. But my players are at conventions mostly, so there’s no rule of thumb there.
10. What do you do with goblins?
Make them very smart. A cross between the goblins in Harry Potter and the two monkeys in Madagascar.
11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
I used this image as a sleeping giant last weekend in one of my sessions. It is from Adriaen Coenensz’ Vis booc (Fish Book), which is online here.
All the information is in Dutch, but the Google translating engine says that its actually a miscarriage, which was considered an ill omen from God.
I highly recommend this as a source of inspiration, even though most of it is about whales.
12. What’s the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
I’ll quote Barking Alien http://barkingalien.blogspot.com/2012/01/23-questions-with-barking-alien.html:
“This past Saturday, Sweetums opened his mouth to show that the Weapons Grade Grape Pop Rocks had turned his tongue purple…which resulted in him accidentally firing on all of the PCs and NPCs with what amounted to a gatling gun style release of candy coated shrapnel.”
13. What was the last game book you looked at–aside from things you referenced in a game–why were you looking at it?
I just got the prerelease pdf of PSI*RUN for preordering it. I wanted to see what these new kinds of RPGs are like and I had heard some great stuff about an X-Men-themed session run at NerdNYC’s Recess. Now I want to play and I also want to find a way to mash it up with Vornheim.
14. Who’s your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
At the moment, Adriaen Coenensz.
15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
I did freak some people with Call of Cthulhu years ago, but I had these advantages: a table on a stage with curtains down, lighting, a fog machine and the Cocteau Twins.
16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn’t write? (If ever)
I ran Death Frost Doom a few summers ago. That’s the only time I can remember running a pre-written module.
17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
Perhaps a table on a stage with curtains down, lighting, a fog machine and the Cocteau Twins.
18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
Tunnels and Trolls, LotFP
19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Grant Morrson’s run on The Doom Patrol and Evil Dead.
20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Willing. Enthusiastic. Open-minded.
21. What’s a real life experience you’ve translated into game terms?
Got nothing for this one, sorry.
22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn’t?
Something like Planescape, adapted for OSR, using less AD&D-specific cosmology. Big influences would be Neil Gaiman & Grant Morrison. Guess I better wrap up current projects and get on that.
23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn’t play? How do those conversations go?
I sometimes talk about ideas with my wife, who until Sunday had never played an RPG outside of video games…
Me: The first time I ran it, they ended up releasing Loki and triggering Ragnarok, but this time I.. blah blah blah
Her: Uhuh. Well that’s interesting.
But now that she’s played (LotFP, a Cleric) and wants to try again, I have no answer anymore.
23 Questions
1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
The bogpiggie. Which I still need to use.
2. When was the last time you GMed?
Last Sunday for eight hours. LotFP.
3. When was the last time you played?
Last Saturday, for eight hours. As Magneto and then as a number of Muppets.
4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven’t run but would like to.
The chase scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
I remove corpse miniatures, determining that they have become zombies and will come get them later. No one ever notices this.
6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
I chew gum like it’s going out of style.
7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
Yes.
8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
There was a magic mirror that would grant one inescapable wish. I wished that all magic throughout all universes and multiverses, arcane and divine, no longer worked or existed. All hell broke loose.
9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
Neither. But my players are at conventions mostly, so there’s no rule of thumb there.
10. What do you do with goblins?
Make them very smart. A cross between the goblins in Harry Potter and the two monkeys in Madagascar.
11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
I used this image as a sleeping giant last weekend in one of my sessions. It is from Adriaen Coenensz’ Vis booc (Fish Book), which is online here.
All the information is in Dutch, but the Google translating engine says that its actually a miscarriage, which was considered an ill omen from God.
I highly recommend this as a source of inspiration, even though most of it is about whales.
12. What’s the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
I’ll quote Barking Alien http://barkingalien.blogspot.com/2012/01/23-questions-with-barking-alien.html:
“This past Saturday, Sweetums opened his mouth to show that the Weapons Grade Grape Pop Rocks had turned his tongue purple…which resulted in him accidentally firing on all of the PCs and NPCs with what amounted to a gatling gun style release of candy coated shrapnel.”
13. What was the last game book you looked at–aside from things you referenced in a game–why were you looking at it?
I just got the prerelease pdf of PSI*RUN for preordering it. I wanted to see what these new kinds of RPGs are like and I had heard some great stuff about an X-Men-themed session run at NerdNYC’s Recess. Now I want to play and I also want to find a way to mash it up with Vornheim.
14. Who’s your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
At the moment, Adriaen Coenensz.
15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
I did freak some people with Call of Cthulhu years ago, but I had these advantages: a table on a stage with curtains down, lighting, a fog machine and the Cocteau Twins.
16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn’t write? (If ever)
I ran Death Frost Doom a few summers ago. That’s the only time I can remember running a pre-written module.
17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
Perhaps a table on a stage with curtains down, lighting, a fog machine and the Cocteau Twins.
18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
Tunnels and Trolls, LotFP
19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Grant Morrson’s run on The Doom Patrol and Evil Dead.
20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Willing. Enthusiastic. Open-minded.
21. What’s a real life experience you’ve translated into game terms?
Got nothing for this one, sorry.
22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn’t?
Something like Planescape, adapted for OSR, using less AD&D-specific cosmology. Big influences would be Neil Gaiman & Grant Morrison. Guess I better wrap up current projects and get on that.
23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn’t play? How do those conversations go?
I sometimes talk about ideas with my wife, who until Sunday had never played an RPG outside of video games…
Me: The first time I ran it, they ended up releasing Loki and triggering Ragnarok, but this time I.. blah blah blah
Her: Uhuh. Well that’s interesting.
But now that she’s played (LotFP, a Cleric) and wants to try again, I have no answer anymore.
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