The Mirror Labyrinth. Haven't finished it yet.
2. When was the last time you GMed?
This week, last monday, in person.
3. When was the last time you played?
Online: Last G+ game. Uhh. Last two weeks? Not sure.
In Person: Mid-December, there's a holiday hiatus.
4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
Umm. Hmm. A quiet sobbing comes from just the other side the bathroom door…
5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
Goad them into discussing options. Describe environment more. Remind them of previous options. Reiterate situation.
6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
As a player: whatever I've brought.
As a GM: whatever the group cooks.
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?
My PC? Um. I tried to assassinate a guy. A whole bunch of guys. Didn't quite work.
9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
Some do, others don't. I've found the seriousness is a direct correlation with how 'into' it they are.
10. What do you do with goblins?
What can't you do with goblins?
11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
The Golden Venture.
12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
It wasn't 'laugh-out-loud-funny,' but I'm still pretty amused that it took three sessions for people to get bored of the kitchen.
13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
Delta Green. Running a Delta Green game. Need more
14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
Guy Davis. I should probably make some sort of statement of artistic purpose or discussion of the functions of RPG text to evoke setting elements or themes in parallel with the text or just to communicate information in a non-linear way as a diagram or mapping of semi-abstracted elements, but I've got to go draw stuff.
15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
They seemed a bit creeped with the seance. It was the players who suggested turning off the lights, too.
16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
I've only ever finished two, so I can't really point to one as better or best or standout or whatever.
17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
• Minimalist conference room with a big table, big enough I could stand up and gesture, enough space for players to spread out maps, handouts, etc.
• Light control.
• Sound system I could play music on without needed a whole laptop.
18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
• Wraith: the Oblivion 2nd ed.
• Encounter Critical
19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
The X-Files and Day of the… no… The Mothman Pro… well… Law and Or… wait, Belzer was in the X-Files, and… Homicide? Homicide and The X-Files?
If it's not the same well, it's definitely the same CIA-spiked municipal water system.
20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Proactive. Kind of a dick to NPCs. Sarcastic. Guy who pokes stuff. Basically, I write adventures for me.
21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
Most of how I design locations in D&D comes from what I remember of real-life forts and recreationist longhouses, etc. I like setting horror stories in East Coast-area suburbs, just because it's really easy for everyone to picture it.
22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
The Dark Age of Byzantium, a guide to playing noir investigations in just-pre-Comnenian Constantinople. (Solution: I'm writing it.)
23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
There used to be. Now they play RPGs.
