Thursday, March 5, 2009

Interview

For those who can't get enough of me, there's an interview with yours truly at Ken Hite's "Out of the Box" column. I appreciate the fact that Ken gave me another space in which to spread the old school Gospel and that he asked such excellent questions. I don't expect I said much there that will be new to regular readers of this blog, but you never know. Check it out if you have the opportunity to do so.

12 comments:

  1. Great interview, was this the first mention of "Shadow, Sword & Spell", or have I missed that somewhere? This was news to me and I am excited about it - got any spoilers? :)

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  2. Mike,

    I think this is probably the first time I've mentioned it. It's my attempt to create a toolbox game that focuses much more specifically on the pulp fantasies that inspired D&D. I think that makes SS&S at once narrower and more open than D&D, if that makes any sense.

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  3. That is the first mention of Shadow, Sword & Spell. I've mentioned it in vague twitter postings, but this the official first time either of us have said anything in public.

    We got something else cooking as well, but SS&S is what is important. This is something James and I have been working on for close to 18-months. It has gone through many variations, but we had a break through on a major design issue last month.

    As for spoilers, I have a post about that coming that will go in more depth, but here is the big thing, it uses the same rules driving Colonial Gothic Revised, Thousand Suns, and all of our other games. If you know one, you will know this one. Magic chapter is done -- still needs more tweaking and the like -- I am working on Action (combat) chapter now.

    They key to SS&S is that it will be a toolbox. Everything you need will be in the book, and we are following the approach Thousand Suns set when it comes to the meta-setting.

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  4. You can add me to the chorus of people who liked the interview and are very interested in SS&S.

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  5. Thanks for the endorsement and good luck with SS&S.

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  6. It brings me little joy to see some of the very people responsible for making rpgs crappy over the last 25 (and especially the last 10-15) years suddenly sniffing around our pasture. "Recognition" is nice; co-opting, not so much.

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  7. Would you care to elaborate, Foster?

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  8. I don't want to start a fight, so I'll just leave it that neither Ken Hite's nor Monte Cook's influence on the direction of the "rpg hobby" has been welcome (IMVHO - I realize there are lots of people out there who very much like what both of them do, and I don't want to argue their merits with those people), and I don't think there's much to be gained, and potentially a lot to be lost, if either or both of them start horning in on and trying to co-opt the "old school" monicker for their own ends. Neither a subscription-model "old school megadungeon" nor a series of essays proving that "old-schoolers" and New Age storygamers are actually one and the same is what I want to see, or what I think serves the best interests of the so-called Old School Renaissance (but OTOH perhaps it's me who's out of step with the Old Schoo Renaissance, seeing as how I have zero desire to either buy or sell anything -- I just want to play the game and talk about it with like-minded enthusiasts).

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  9. I don't think there's much to be gained, and potentially a lot to be lost, if either or both of them start horning in on and trying to co-opt the "old school" monicker for their own ends

    One of the things I've noticed is that, for all the hullabaloo about how "old school" is a meaningless and useless term, quite a few people (and companies) have started to co-opt it as a marketing buzzword. That suggests to me that the old school renaissance is being noticed and seen as a source of potential revenue. Granted, to look at it this way is to completely misread what's happening in these parts of the hobby, but it's still heartening on some level to see "the big boys" taking notice of our little sandbox.

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  10. Add me to the list of peeps interested in SS&S.

    Would it be remiss of me to say that Spell, Sword & Shadow scans better than Shadow,Sword & Spell?

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  11. One of the things I've noticed is that, for all the hullabaloo about how "old school" is a meaningless and useless term, quite a few people (and companies) have started to co-opt it as a marketing buzzword.

    I see your point, but it can be a fine line between marketing buzzword and a word you think/hope accurately describes your product.

    Perhaps people (and companies) should not use that term to describe their own creations until such time as the the rest of the community (or the customers) uses that term to describe those creations. That's probably fair.

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  12. Would it be remiss of me to say that Spell, Sword & Shadow scans better than Shadow,Sword & Spell?

    I dunno, I'm liking the original myself :) And I have to say, given what a great job Thousand Suns did of distilling the essence of what I love about Traveller, while not shying away from worthy modern innovations like a solid social combat system, I'm very intrigued to see what SS&S is going to bring to the table. Especially being one of those New Agey Indy RPG Hippies who also likes some OSR love :)

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