[Q&A] Darrin & Jack Anderson (Dalreth: Haven in the Ice)

7:34 PM +Darrin: Hi everyone, my name is Darrin Anderson. I have one son, Jack, who is 12 years old. His name is Jack and is my co-author on this project. We are taking a campaign that I ran for over 20 years and publishing it into 5th Edition D&D. We have already released a weave of pewter miniatures for the setting and have several more in the pipeline. The

7:34 PM +Darrin: setting is called Dalreth – Ice Haven.

7:37 PM +Darrin: Dalreth is set in a south polar region of a fantasy setting where a cataclysm occurred in the distant, unrecorded past. A cult of evil Elves summoned a fire demon from the sky and it crashed into the land and the ash and soot cover the sky for ,months. The entire land shifted and began freezing. Now the continent, many untold years later, is

7:37 PM +Darrin: covered in a mile high glacier with pockets of life where there are hot spots and geysers near volcanos.

7:39 PM +Darrin: It is a harsh land where vile white wyrms circle the skies looking for food and Dwarves tunnel into the ice to survive. The city of Dalreth is the center of power for the survivors and there are a dozen factions each vying for power. The setting is much like a political mystery and survival with untold horrors buried in the ice.

[Q&A] Adam Collins (The Hike That Binds Us)

7:36 PM +Adam_Collins: Hey everyone! I am 29 years old, husband, and father of one 3 year old. My friend and business partner (Chad) and I started THA Games a few years ago after having spent a few years before that making games for ourselves. We had so many games and ideas that we just felt we had to start putting them out there!

7:38 PM +Adam_Collins: We are both relatively new to the world of RPGs, having really only played a few of them with our gaming group but fell in love with them. Our first and only RPG to date that we have created is ‘The Hike That Binds Us’ which is almost finished up on Kickstarter. We made it because of our love for the outdoors and RPGs.

7:39 PM +Adam_Collins: The Hike That Binds Us (THTBU) is a realistic-style RPG that deals with survival, companionship, and outdoor adventures. The comradery felt when hiking in the outdoors is real, and we attempted to recreate that feeling in this game. We think we’ve achieved it

[Q&A] Morgan Lean & Matt Corrin (Beyond the Black Sea)

7:32 PM +morganlean: Ok, so good to see you all today, I am Morgan Lean Author and Creator of Beyond the Black Sea. I have been making role playing games and computer games for about 15 or more years.

7:33 PM +morganlean: Beyond the Black Sea is a Role Playing Game set in a world of around 10,000 BC or more in the past. Its a world with large amounts of wilderness. Giant animals and different groups of humans.

7:34 PM +morganlean: This world is part of the Faeries Wear Boots Universe, which is a Dark Stars Game.

7:35 PM +morganlean: Dark Stars is a role playing rules set. It has its own Science Fiction setting, but the rule set could do more than that. Beyond The Black Sea, takes it Sword and Sorcery Role playing.

Calum Kitching (Superlatives)

1:31 PM +Calum: So I’m Calum Kitching from Scotland. Unlike some of Dan’s guests Superlatives is my first published work.

1:31 PM +Calum: Superlatives is a superhero roleplaying game designed to emulate the experience of superhero comics.

1:31 PM +Calum: The system was built around its process of ongoing character creation. Virtually every roll you make (excluding only opposed and damage rolls) adds something to your character sheet. For example if your character encounters a steel door and wants to break it down you would first try and explain why your character can break down a steel door (an

1:31 PM +Calum: easy step for people with superhuman strength or martial arts but a much more interesting step for people with mind control or chalk manipulation). If you can produce a suitable explanation (I usually set the bar for the reasonableness of the explanation round about silver age levels but you can adjust to taste) you can make a check against the

1:31 PM +Calum: attribute you are trying to use. If you succeed, not only do you break down the door, but you also establish this is a thing you can do. Therefore if you latter try to break through a steel box or wooden door you can point to this precedent to say you can definitely do this without even rolling.

1:32 PM +Calum: One particularly well received element of the system was the concept of “prior issues.” These are adventures which occur “off screen” in your character’s own comic before and between the issues of the team comic the campaign is assumed to represent. These allow you to add extra precedents before they come up in play, providing some insulation

1:32 PM +Calum: against silly effects like the guy with laser beam eyes getting the precedent that they cannot fire lasers out of their eyes. This also helps reinforce the idea that these are comics with the convoluted webs of continuity that tends to come with major characters in this

1:32 PM +Calum: medium.

1:32 PM +Calum: The rules ended up being only something like 20 pages which I felt wasn’t a lot to ask folk to pay for so the core book also includes about 110 heroes, villains and supporting cast, ranging from cosmic beings like Zeus and the Dream Dragon down to interns and petty crooks.

1:32 PM +Calum: There’s also a range of settings, most of which are still only available to backers but one of which is out on Drive Thru. This setting covers a silver age desert base along the lines of classic Hulk or Hal Jordan’s early career and various alien powers and human dictatorships they compete against.

[Q&A] T. David Silva (The Burning Earth: Arena)

7:35 PM +HDP_Dave: Hello, I’m T Dave Silva, game designer and owner of House Dok Productions, creators of Fractured Kingdom, Metahumans Rising, and most recently, The Burning Earth Arena, and Otherworlds expansion for Metahumans Rising.

7:36 PM +HDP_Dave: The Burning Earth uses the core rules from Metahumans Rising, but introduces a new post-apocalyptic setting.

7:37 PM +HDP_Dave: The setting also provides a new life path character creation method that helps to hook you into the setting.

7:39 PM +HDP_Dave: That’s the mile high view, but I can dive in anywhere you think is interesting.

[Q&A] WJ MacGuffin (Sea of Thieves)

 

7:30 PM +WJ_MacGuffin: Hi folks! First, lemme thank Dan for organizing this and all y’all for being here!

7:30 PM ~Dan: Glad to have you here! 🙂

7:31 PM +WJ_MacGuffin: I’m WJ MacGuffin, a freelance game designer based out of Chicago, IL, USA. I’ve worked on Paranoia, Unknown Armies, and created the Sea of Thieves RPG. I technically wrote a Paranoia novel, I’m addicted to Buffalo wings, and I’m an American that actually lived overseas. 🙂

7:31 PM +archon_ascendant: Oh, no, Dan it’s WJ’s day! I’ll shush now.

7:32 PM +WJ_MacGuffin: It’s my day? Like a birthday? WHERE IS MY CAKE

7:32 PM +archon_ascendant: Overseas? Like is that where Mexico is? Or do you mean like Hawaii?

7:32 PM +archon_ascendant: O.o

7:33 PM +WJ_MacGuffin: Sea of Thieves is based on the video game of the same name. In fact, it was designed to emulate the video game ’round the table. It’s very free form, rules light, big on narration, and easy to play.

7:33 PM +WJ_MacGuffin: I lived in Saipan for 3 years, a summer in the UK (Cambridge, and yes I’m arrogant about it), and four weird months in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

[Q&A] Malcolm Harris (Modern Mythology)

8:21 PM +Mac: Hello everyone, I’m Malcolm, I’m a long time Table top RPG designer , Novelist  and artist. I’m here to talk to you about Our upcoming Superhero RPG, Modern Mythology.

8:22 PM +Mac: Modern Mythology is designed for new and old players and  leans on a easy to learn system.

8:23 PM +Mac: You can play a hero or a villain or something in between.

8:23 PM +Mac: While our system is good and fast the focus is the world.

8:24 PM +Mac: That’s the intro. 🙂

[Q&A] Je Shields (Modern Mythos and Machine)

7:32 PM +Jeshields: Hey everybody! My name is James Shields and I am a freelance artist for the tabletop RPG industry where I do business as Jeshields. I’ve been illustrating for indie creators for over 7 years. My main focus has been to give independent publishers with limited budgets the opportunity to still afford quality illustrations to bring their projects to

7:32 PM +Jeshields: life.

7:34 PM +Jeshields: My first crowd-funding venture doing so was a Patreon where I offered those who joined the opportunity to submit ideas and vote on what I illustrate for them each month. I still run that Patreon and this practice has set the precedence for all my crowd-funded projects.

7:39 PM +Jeshields: Beyond Patreon, I stepped into my first Kickstarter with a collection of fantasy characters in 2017. I am not in fourth project which started with conversations with those in the industry asking them what subjects, themes, etc that they felt was missing from available stock art. The result of that discussion formed my current project, Modern Mythos

7:39 PM +Jeshields: and Machine. It is a collection of 75 to 100 illustrations for Modern, Sci-Fi, and Lovecraft themes. As usual, backers get to submit and vote on ideas. This artwork will be broken into several categories: Cover art, vehicles, characters, scenes, items, and more.

7:40 PM +Jeshields: It is currently over 100% funded with only 67 backers and hopefully moving toward its stretch goals.

[Q&A] Ethan Hudgens (Garden of the Giants)

8:07 PM +Ethan: Hi, I’m Ethan Hudgens and I make tabletop games! Some of my past works have been things like Gobs of Gobs (a cypher system suppliment), One Last Fight (a card-based adventure game), and Sleuths (a two-player mystery solving game).

8:08 PM +Ethan: But I’m here today to talk about my next game Garden of the Giants! You take on the roles of mice in a magical and abundant garden abandoned by its original inhabitants. Animals have gained sentience and culture in their stead, and lead ordinary lives within the isolated stone walls.

8:09 PM +Ethan: Its meant to capture the feelings of children’s literature, like Wizard of Oz, Chronicles of Narnia, or Alice in Wonderland.

[Q&A] Ramon Balcells (Super High School)

3:30 PM +RamonBalcells: AmbulatoryCortex there is a debate there…

3:31 PM +RamonBalcells: Well, my name is Ramon Balcells, I am from Catalonia and work as a Social Integrator (not worker)

3:32 PM +RamonBalcells: knowing my geek background, I was approached by Hiruoka publishing house to write a game about teen superheroes

3:32 PM +RamonBalcells: they asked me if I wanted to write an RPG for teens

3:33 PM +RamonBalcells: and I was given complete freedom on how to write it and the system to use

3:33 PM +RamonBalcells: the only condition I put was that I wanted a game with some life-teaching aspect, I guess because of my job…

3:34 PM +RamonBalcells: so, the game enhances the fact that all actions have their consequences and it’s important for the players to acknowledge, absorb and act accordingly

3:36 PM +RamonBalcells: So, in Super High School players perform beings with powers, but they would lose Popularity Points (Experience Points) if they put their ego or willing to kill the villan before making civilians safe

3:36 PM +RamonBalcells: The system is very easy to roll

3:37 PM +RamonBalcells: Atribute + Talent + 1d6 vs Difficulty level

3:38 PM +RamonBalcells: The players tell what they want to do and, if they get a good dice roll, they explain their action in as much detail as they want

3:38 PM +RamonBalcells: if they fail the roll, it’s a partial success

3:39 PM +RamonBalcells: and they have to explain in what went wrong

3:40 PM +RamonBalcells: We launched Kickstarter on 4th of July and now there are 20 days left