A Role Playing Games Blog
Interview
Life and times of a RPG industry freelancer
2February 28, 2011
The week I spent at Gen Con 2010 was one of the most exciting weeks in my life. These few days were much like a roller coaster ride for me. It was my first Gen Con, my first time in the US even. For me walking through the Indianapolis Convention Center among all those gamers was a feeling I can hardly put into words. But what made this week even more memorable were the people I met there. In just a few days I made a lot of friends.
One of these friends is Jason Marker. Jason is a freelance writer/game designer who I met at Zachary Houghton’s house. He was staying with us for two nights and I took the opportunity to chat with him about his experiences in the industry. He has worked on several Robotech and Rifts products and more recently contributed to Fantasy Flight Games’ Rogue Trader and Deathwatch lines. Alas we didn’t have the opportunity for a proper interview, so I asked him if he was willing to answer a few questions about the life of a RPG industry freelancer via email later. He agreed. So here are the questions and answers – enjoy!
Interview with the authors of RAG
6February 2, 2011
Resolute, Adventurer & Genius is a brand-new and exciting pulp roleplaying game powered by my own Wyrm System. Like WR&M it’s available for free on DriveThruRPG. The 36-paged PDF contains all the rules you need in order to play adventures set into an exciting world right out of the pulp magazines of the early 20th century. Last week I had the opportunity to ask the two designers, Andrew Modro and Jason Cabral, a couple of questions about their game.
Stargazer’s World:
We already know you, Andrew, from the blog and your last interview, but who is Jason? Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Jason:
I’m a 30 year old Mainer, who dabbles in science fiction literature, and gaming. Primarily a wargamer of the historical stripe, and ore of a player then developer, I’ve been encouraged to expand my horizons by my friend of ten years, Andrew Modro.
Andrew:
Jason is a long-time friend of mine that I met over IRC about ten years ago. We’ve always had a lot of similar interests, and he’s been wanting to try his hand and working with games, though he’s more of a wargamer.
From the Kobold’s Lair
5January 24, 2011
by Stargazer
in D&D4e, Dragon Age, Feature, Game Design, Interview, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, RPG
Recently I have posted about Open Design’s latest patronage project: Midgard! And while pondering if I should become patron myself, the plan to do an interview with the three designers formed in my head. Alas Brandon Hodge and Jeff Grubb couldn’t make it because of some difficult deadlines, but Wolfgang Baur made some time for answering a few questions for us. Thanks again, Wolfgang! I also want to send my best regards to Jeff and Brandon – rest assured you won’t escape me next time! 
Without further ado, here are the questions and answers:
Stargazer’s World:
Thanks again for answering a couple of questions for us. Although I think most of our readers already know you and some of your products, but perhaps you could start by telling a bit about yourself. What do you do when you don’t design worlds? How long have you been working in the RPG industry?
Wolfgang Baur:
I spend my RPG time working at a game company on video games. I worked full-time in the RPG industry from 1991 to 1998; since then, I’ve been a freelancer and a publisher.
Interview: Chris Perrin
2September 7, 2010
I met Chris Perrin at this year’s Gen Con Media Meet & Greet event. Alas the location was far to dark and too loud for my tastes. I felt tired and exhausted and the location didn’t really improve things. So there I was chatting to some bloggers and podcasters when Chris came in. And of course I didn’t even recognize him, even though we have been in contact over the internet for some time. Eventually we had a short chat, but as I mentioned before, the location was not really the perfect place for long conversations.
So when I returned home from Gen Con I apologized and asked him for an interview. Since he’s a very nice guy, he didn’t use his creepy looking kitchen knives on me, but agreed to answer a few questions for me.
Stargazer
Thanks for answering a few questions for us. Can you please start by telling a bit about yourself? What do you do for a living? How long are you part of the RPG industry? What has been the first roleplaying game you ever played?
Chris
Of course! Let’s see for a living, I am a Solutions Architect for a Marketing Database company. I design and implement technology to run marketing campaigns and I work a lot with databases: Oracle, SQL Server, etc. I am also a food writer with several credits to my name. It’s hard for me to say when I became part of the industry, because that can mean different things to different people. I tend to say I started in the industry when I made my podcasting debut on the Diana Jones Award nominated podcast, The Canon Puncture Show that was basically four years ago. The first RPG I ever played was, I think, Marvel Superheroes when I was in the third grade. If it was Marvel, it was Palladium Book’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Basically, there were four games that I played all about the same time, Marvel, TMNT, Robotech and BattleTech, but I think Marvel came first.
Kickin’ it old-school with the crew from RPG Circus
0
For quite some time the crew of RPG Circus and me tried to figure out how to get me on their show. Alas because of the different time zones this has been more problematic than we anticipated. But when I decided to attend Gen Con this year, we planned to record something in Indianapolis.
So on one of the “Four Best Days In Gaming”, Mark, Jeff and I (Zach was running a game at this time) sat down at the Champions restaurant in the Marriott hotel, had some great food and talked a bit about Gen Con.
This little talk made it into the latest episode of RPG Circus, which is finally available! I also want to use the opportunity to thank Jeff, Mark and Zachary for having me on the show. They are the nicest people and I can’t wait to meet them at Gen Con 2011 again!
Interview with the AntiPaladins: Mini Six Bare Bones Edition
0August 18, 2010
Ray Nolan and Phil Morris of AntiPaladin Games recently released a drastically revised and expanded version of their Open d6-based microlite, Mini Six. This new "Bare Bones Edition" comes in a beautiful, easy-to-use 38 page PDF that weighs in at only 6.95 megabytes. Not only does the document include the Mini Six rules, it also offers variant rules for playing Mini Six closer to "base" Open d6 (as presented in the now-free d6 Adventure, Fantasy and Space books) and includes multiple setting seeds, all of which include background and crunchy bits tailored to the settings.
Phil and Ray graciously accepted my request to interview them about this fantastic new edition. As with my previous interview with them, both men took the time to respond to my questions. You can read the full interview on Polyhedral Dreams, my personal games blog.
Gen Con: My WR&M interview
0On the first day of Gen Con, Tristan Zimmerman from the Dragonlance Canticle interviewed me about Warrior, Rogue & Mage. Please check out the interview here.
Thanks again to Tristan for having me on the show. It was an honor and a pleasure!
You have a question about an existing or upcoming Stargazer Games product? Ask away! You want to know what we think about a recent development in the RPG industry? Send in your questions. You always wanted to know what we think about game X? Send us an email.
