Interviews
A Chat with Rick Hershey of Empty Room Studios
Empty Room Studios does more than just role-playing. While they are the guys behind PIG's Steampunk Musha (an alternate setting for Iron Gauntlets), they're also a full service art studio, with over 17 members. We talked with Rick Hershey about what they're up to and what's on the horizon.
A Chat with Chris Hill of Old Kingdom Games
Their name is Old Kingdom, but they're a relative newcomer to the gaming industry. Gamegrene took some time out to talk with Chris Hill of Old Kingdom Games about their past, present and future, and learned a little bit about The Nightmare War, their first major release, due out on December 3.
Ninja Burger 2nd Edition Q&A Session
A while ago, I asked Ninja Burger's fans to ask me some questions about Ninja Burger and the new 2nd Edition of the Ninja Burger Role-Playing Game. Following are some of those questions, and my answers to them. Gamegrene seemed a good place to post this exclusive Q&A session, so please, enjoy, and feel free to reply with your own followup questions and comments.
A Chat With John Nephew of Atlas Games
Atlas Games is probably best known to gamers as the first to have a non-WOTC d20 product available for sale (John Tynes' Three Days To Kill). But there's much more to their story, from their humble beginnings in 1990 to their recent success with Ars Magica. We talked with John Nephew, the man behind the myth, about the past, the present, the future and a little bit more.
Cyberpunk 203X: A Chat With Mike Pondsmith
One of the most hotly anticipated games of the new millennium has been R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk 203X, the third incarnation of the definitive Cyberpunk RPG. After some rethinking, restructuring and much grumbling by fans (myself included), it appears that there's finally a neon light on the horizon.
Exploring Elfwood With Thomas Abrahamsson & Eliza Leahy
On May 1, 1996, Elfwood was opened by Thomas Abrahamsson. Orginally, the "Lothlorien" project only focused on high fantasy art done by amateurs, featuring the art of only three artists (Thomas being one of them). Gradually expanding to include more artists, in August of 1997 the Extranet was opened; before this point, all new art was emailed to Thomas who put it up by hand. But now, users could at last manage their own accounts. And that's when things took off.
Yes, That Monte
On the ever-vigilant quest for the greatest gaming experience, we pilgrims spend much of our gold on tomes of wisdom, only to be deceived by the wicked spell of marketing. Oh, the sorrow of owning a book that isn't worth its binding. Hear my words, for such acts of sorcery will not go unpunished. Rise up, my people; let our voices echo into the heavens. Let us cry out in the name of our precious hobby, as we call forth a hero to cast his sword into the sea and part the good from the evil. May he write the greatest of gaming material and bless us with his work. For this is the legend of Monte Cook.
Visions In Putty
Around a year ago, I did an article on Dominic Heutelbeck's Visions in Color show, or ViC, wherein participants all select the same miniature and convert and paint it as desired. The success of this show inspired Harry Colquhoun to start a similar show on the 1listsculpting Yahoo group.
Diamond In The Rough? An Interview With Ben McClure
New computer game companies are appearing and disappearing faster than ever before. I personally have to clean out my browser "favourites" at least once a month, to eliminate useless links. Even well respected sites are often riddled with lost URLs. I have heard many complicated theories to explain the chaos of the business. Marketers speculate a move into the maturity phase of the product life cycle, and Economists figure substitutions have made the demand curve too elastic. Experts can blame oligopolies or equilibrium till the cows come home, there is always an exception to the rule.
Visions in Color
The Visions in Color show (ViC) is an online show originated by Dominic Heutelbeck (a German miniatures painter of no small talent) and hosted on his painting website. I recently interviewed Bob Lippman, a long-time participant, Jason Moses, who's only been able to join in once, and Dominic via email to see what they had to say about this unique show.
d20 Questions with Eden Studios
Part 3 of our (ever-increasingly unlikely to be) 10-part series has arrived at long last. Amidst rumors of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast shakeups that could affect the future of the d20 movement, we found the time to chat with Alex Jurkat, CEO/Editor in Chief of Eden Studios, a 4-year-old company that's heavily involved in d20 publishing.
d20 Questions with Maggie Vining
In part 2 of our (hopefully) 10-part series, we interviewed a relative newcomer to the world of d20 publishing. We gave 20 questions to Margaret "Maggie" Vining of Better World Roleplaying, Inc., and she gave us her impression of the current state of the d20 system, and her part in the larger picture. Take a look inside Maggie's mind...
The ABC's of Game Design With Jeff Dee
Jeff Dee is perhaps best known to fans of Villains & Vigilantes, oft recognized as one of the best Supers RPGs ever to come along. But he's much more than that; in his secret identity as a freelance designer and artist, he's also developed several other game systems, worked for TSR, and started UniGames with fellow artist and designer 'Manda. He was kind enough to lend us 30 minutes of his time.
d20 Questions With Avalanche Press
We're interviewing 10 people involved in the creation of d20 products, from renowned game designers and publishers to the freelance writers and artists who make it all happen. We give them 20 questions. They give us a piece of their mind. Take a look inside and see what Mike Bennighof of Avalanche Press had to say.
Interview With a 9th Level Kobold
While we get our Interview section in order, we figured we'd give you a taste of things to come via an exclusive interview with 9th Level Games, the guys behind Kobolds Ate My Baby and the forthcoming Ninja Burger role-playing game. So what do kobolds taste like? Chicken, of course.
