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The document discusses the importance of non-gaming books, particularly 'An Encyclopedia of Occultism', in inspiring ideas for roleplaying games. It highlights various topics covered in the encyclopedia that can enhance gaming experiences, such as obsession and historical supernatural events. Additionally, it mentions upcoming gaming products and resources for roleplaying games, including new campaign settings and sourcebooks.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
226 views60 pagesPolyhedron 155
The document discusses the importance of non-gaming books, particularly 'An Encyclopedia of Occultism', in inspiring ideas for roleplaying games. It highlights various topics covered in the encyclopedia that can enhance gaming experiences, such as obsession and historical supernatural events. Additionally, it mentions upcoming gaming products and resources for roleplaying games, including new campaign settings and sourcebooks.
Uploaded by
darcydettmannCopyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
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A Gamer’s Bookshelf
f you're anything like me, you've got at east one bookshelf
filed to bursting with roleplaying games, sourcebooks, and
adventures. Ever since the birth of the do moverent, my
game shelves have actually overflowed into several pile
Colonies that threaten to engulf nearby filing cabinet and
hhouseplant, But even with all those books designed specifically
tonhelp me play or tun a better roleplaying game, | still find
that | get my best ideas for characters, adventures, and cam-
;paigns from books that have nothing at all to do with gaming.
fall the gaming and nongaming sourcebooks | own,
undoubtedly the most indispensible is An Encyclopedia of
‘Occultism,a collection of more than 2500 entries and articles,
about “occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science,
‘magic, demonology, spiritualism, mysticism, and metaphysics”
The unfortunate majority of‘ccult” or“new age” books on
‘the market take an almost embarrassingly credulous view of
rmatters supernatural, presenting their subjects not with the
eye of a historian but rather from the point of view of an out-
and-out paranormal partisan. The Encyclopedia’ original editor,
Lewis Spence, and other contributors take an objective (but
decidedly noncritical) account of magical practices and super-
natural beliefs spanning the world and Is rich history, covering
such game-televant topics as hundreds of *historical” demons,
the ancient Scottish belief in elves who left “changelings” in
exchange for kidnapped babies, and the social and religious
history of exorcism. The result is a book with idea-starters that
‘you can use to improve the background of your campaign
world literally on every single page.
‘sa random sample, | flipped the Encyclopedia to page 305,
a page | had never previously read. That page was the seventh
‘of eight focused on the topic of obsession, According to
Spence, obsession isthe opposite of possession (who knew!)
Bolt and Quiver
unr ocoens GeveenceY
ouLy’ cone out Hen A
MicOEN FAIR'S AROUND, Alc]
Whereas possession covers control by an evil spirit from within,
‘obsession concerns itself with insanity brought on by persist-
‘ent spiritual attack by an evil spirit from without. Id never even
heard of obsession before, but after reading the article | had all
sorts of ideas about using the phenomenon in a fantasy role-
playing game. How does the PC cleric react when summoned
tothe bed of a man who shows all signs of possession but
‘Who has resisted al attempts at exorcism? What if the man's
‘torments come not from within, but from outside influence,
perhaps by a mischievous imp? How does the cleric protect his,
charge from the mental assault of an unseen foe?
According to the same page, chronicler ofthe unknown
related the story of a possessed ploughman who often threw
tp broken glass, nailsand hair. Applying that to D&D, it doesn't
take much to imagine a possessed adversary with a breath
‘weapon of sharpened metal, broken glass, and stickpins.
Page 337,again chosen at random, reveals the story ofthe
Rochester Rappings, spirit knockings heard ina house in
Hydesulle, New Yorkin 1848 that served as the basis of the
modern Spiritualist movernent. Imagine that same old house
75yea"s later in a205-era Cal of Cthulhu campaign. What
secrets might it hold fora team of investigators, who might
protect those secrets, and why, ike anything worth knowing in
Call of Cthulhu, do those secrets need to be protected?
‘What nongaming sourcebooks do you use as idea starters?
Drop me a line at the address below and share the contents of,
your gamers bookshelf withthe rest ofthe world.
ARIK.
Erik Mona
Polyhedron®[Link]
[eet ito ea ALE FR
LOOK: U
FEATS OF FANTASY
In May, Wizards of the Coast will release Unaaw Arcana, the
first fullservice campaign setting for the new d20 Moose role-
playing game. The setting debuted as one of three campaign
models in the d20 MoDERN core rulebook, but the forthcoming
320-page hardcover release will expand upon that information,
Providing Gamemasters with everything they need to run fan:
‘asy-themed adventures in the modern day.
This month, veteran designer Jeff Grubb shows off some of
Urean ARcANA'S new feats, many of which have to do with fan-
tastic ancestors lurking in the branches of your character's fam-
ily tree.
Divine Heairacc [INITIAL]
You have divine spel abilities in your background, such asa saint
in your family tree, or have had a divine experience, revelation, or
epiphany which has eft you with modest divine ables.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 0.
Benefit: Choose three o-level divine spells (“orlsons") You
may cast each of these spells once per day. You are treated as an
Acolyte of your divine spelicasting level (minimurn of 1) for
determining the range at which these spells can be cast.
Special: You may only take ths feat as a rstlevel character.
Macicat Heritace [Iniiat]
‘You have magical ability in your background, such as a sorcerer
in your bloodline or discovering an ancient tome in the attic as
a child. As a result, you mastered some basic spellcasting at a
very low level
Prerequisites Intelligence 10
Benefit: Choose three o-level arcane spell (‘cantrips"). You
may cast each of these spells once per day. You are treated as a
‘Mage for purposes of arcane spell failure chance when you are
wearing armor, and treated as a Mage of your arcane spelleast-
level (minimum of) for determining the range at which
these spells can be cast.
Special: You may only take this feat asa wstlevel character.
SHaDow HerirAce [IniT1At]
You have a creature of Shadow in your distant ancestry The exact
nature of that being is immaterial (though it may be a source of
adventure), as the overpowering genetic tide of humanity has
reduced its special abilities to afew salient features
Benefit: You gain a-+1 bonus on two different saving throws of |
your choice. You aso gain low-light vision and see twice a5 far as
‘anormal human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and
‘Fixtures of URBaw Ancawa: Maddie Webber the drow
Spelisinger and Kurt Mason the dwarven Shapeshifter similar conditions of poor illumina
tion, You retain the ability to distin-
Buish color and detail under these
conditions.
Special: You may only take this
feat as arst-level character. You
cannot take both Shadow Heritage
and Shadowkind.
SHaDowxino [Inriat]
You are a native from beyond
shadow.
Benet You may choose one of
the vatieties of Shadowkind from
those provided under Shadowkind,
below and gain all benefits and
weakresses ofthe Shadowkind you
choose.
In addition, you have the follow:
ing effets. You have no occupation
Your Weaith bonus is +0. You gain
skill if your Intelligence was 2
points lower (you effectively have
fone les sill point each time you
gain a level). You have an additional weakness 36a result
{of your passing through Shadow.
Special: You may only take this feat asa st-levelcharac-
‘ter You cannot take both Shadow Heritage and Shadowkind.
‘Types OF SHADOWKIND
‘The final Ueean Aecana campaign setting will Include
detailed rules regarding races of Shadow and the various
rules associated with playing Shadowkind characters.
You'll have the chance to choose from any of the following
creatures, each of which comes with its own set of advan
tages and weaknesses.
Elves: The familiar D&D elf suffers a toxic reaction to
the pollutants in the air of the modern world, resulting in
-1penalty to all Fortitude saves.
d20 Modern Map Corner
Cae TL)
Gnomes: Long saddled with the limits of steam tech
nology in standad fantasy campaigns, the gnomes of
URsan AgcaNA adore modern tech, sometimes to their
detriment.
Goblins: Thickheaded in the extreme, most goblins can-
not choose modern sil including Profession!)
Shakeblooded Human: Folks ike you and me with
reptilian heritage awakened by the onset of Shadow,
weak-willed snakeblooded humans are vassals of the
‘yuan-ti from the realm of Shadow, suffering a x penalty
con all Will saves,
in addition to these options, Ureaw ArcANA includes
rules and tips for playing dwarves, orcs half-ors,halflings,
{gnols, drow, draconic humans, ogres, and more. ®
Digtal Honunclk These ceepy cavalier hab he won
ea dace Release Roundup
It's 2003.D0 you have the year’s first
d2o products, yet? The following
goodies are set to hit store shelves in
January and February.
Bastion Press
While the d2o System hardly suffers
for a lack of information about assas-
sins, tracking down the best poison to
Use as a weapon or plot point can
sometimes get a litte tricky. Bastion
Press comes to the rescue in January
with Pale Designs: A Polsoner’s
Handbook.
Pale Designs, written by Steven
Creech and Kevin Ruesch, covers a
wide array of magical and mundane
poisons usable by characters and
10 January 2003
Gamemasters. The 96-page full-color
book also includes prestige classes,
new equipment, and poison-based
magic tems. t costs $24.95.
Goodman Games
Anyone running an urban fantasy
campaign will have reason to antici-
pate the Complete Guide to Wererats,
which puts a political spin on every-
one’s favorite sewer denizens. Author
Keith Baker presents wererats as an
iindidious secret society whose mem-
bers infiltrate key posts in the govern-
‘ment, military and guilds, ensuring
politcal protection from their ene-
‘mies. When fighting can't be avoided,
the mystic Council ofthe Flesh
Unleashes its horrific crossbred
‘monsters or spreads filth and dis-
ease to eliminate entire cities
without lifting a finger. The
layabouts.
‘The 32-page $1.00 product
contains the usual array of pres-
tige classes, skills, and feats, but an
innovative, quirky approach that
has defined Goodman Games as a
‘company to watch makes this
sourcebook well worth the hunt.
Green Ronin Publishing
Green Ronin added scores of
fiends to the d2o multiverse with
Legions of Hell and Armies ofthe
Abyss ln February, the publisher
teams with Deacon Magazine edi-
tor Jesse Decker to give players
and GMs new allies in the fight
against darkness: celestials.
Decker's The Avatar's Handbook,
the latest in Green Ronin’s Master
Class series, presents the avatar,
new class that can summon celestials,
to ald them in their struggle against
‘cosmic evil Avatars can even trans-
form into celestials in combat, chan-
reeling divine energy directly from the
Heavenly Host,
And since the avatar needs allies
‘to summon, Decker has helpfully
included more than 25 new celestials.
In exchange for $16.95, your paladins
and good clerics need never wet
themselves at the sight of coven
hooves again.
Malhavoc Press
DUNGEON Masren’s Guide author
‘Monte Cook is hard at work on a vari-
ant Player’s Handbook (see Monte's
Haul, p.16), but his fans won't have to
wait long for the Book of Eldritch
‘Might il: The Nexus, which hits store
shelves in January. The 96-page
sourcebook details several magical
locales, ranging from the mysterious
City in the Storm to the primeval
fortress where dragons first taught
‘magic to mankind. Explore the sites’
potential with a host of new spell,
‘creatures, magical items, and feats
‘The book retails for $12.95,
‘Oind Sth hunidarnnnonwon BOOK OF
H MIGHT II
Mongoose Publishing
England's Mongoose Publishing continues two popular
series in January with the release of the Quintessential
Paladin, a sourcebook offering dozens of options forright-
ous characters, and the Slayer’ Guide to Undead. That
month also sees the release of the Ultimate Equipment
Guide, a collection of equipment from a collection of d20
|) publishers, and Cities of Fantasy: Arcania, a complete
metropolis for use in d20 fantasy games.
}) Mystic Eye Games
‘Admit. You've gota deck of tarot cards, whether lovingly
vwrapped in cloth or tucked away forgotten in some
|) drawer of old game junk, With Mystic Eye's Arcane
Mysteries Tarot Magic, you'l finally be able to get some
} good use for the cards. The book won't tel you how to
divine the future or ask if*there are any spirits in the
J room,” but it wll give you tips on using tarot decks in your
d20 games to cast spells or predict a character’ future.
‘Mystic Eye's press on the book promises that will’blur
J the line between what it fantasy and what is real” Spooky.
} The 128-page book wil set you back Sto.98
Bolt and Quiver
Your Mission:
Living Spycraft
Alderac Entertainment Group has partnered with
the RPGA to launch Livina Spycraft, a global
Cer aes tere ines ns
Seer nents
Based on AEG's immensely popular Spycraft d20
espionage roleplaying game, Livina Spycraft
Pore ren ter areata)
Agencies in the United States and the UK
Eventually, Livin Spycraft will grow to include
Branches of play all around the world (similar to
icesn Crete tae)
eae
Cee a ne oe ee
Dee My eee eee
real affect international plotlines far
eae ae ee es
(here called “serials”) should be available by
download from the RPGA website (ww
SEO Ru rt
rer CaN Od CU ESe as
Cone eee sien ty
Pe eae
awn Carman, an adventure described as an
eee ae)
wrong.” Don't forget to pack your laser cufflinks!
Pec raee ons eee eee kee
Eon ee srs
eerie
Necromancer Games
Like em or not, taverns are an important part of most fan-
tasy campaigns. What better way to fight a cliché than to
embrace it? Summon some old school excitement and delve
into the Book of Taverns, meaty sourcebook from the com-
pany that brought you the Tome of Horrors. The [Link]
tains 10 complete taverns designed for easy insertion into
your campaign with plenty of maps and adventure hooks.
(Product price unavailable at press time.)
eee,
ok ceWe® Sune (xo
Bits oN Wed AR 00
GAY HET F HEARD,
JAN ING ABOUT HER BEFORE?
Z FEARED. NT
ONO QUVER. lt.
Magu STEAL Heh
Bua FROM HE: JSRPeGA
News from the Top
By Overwhelming Popular Request.
We have started to update and change the RPGA website
again! We have engaged someone to help us achieve this
ina timely manner since so mary members have said that
they wanted us to address the matter urgently. t'snowa
‘op priority and will ather speed as we move forward and
into 2003. That said, wel stil use PolvHeDRON as our flag-
ship for information [Link] we have to recognize that not
‘every member has regular Internet access.
D&D Player Rewards
This is a huge new RPGA-exclusive program that is avail
able for signup right now on the RPGA website, though
participants won't start qualifying until January rst 2003
forts benefits. state this right up front, though. When
proven successful and all the kinks are driven out we will
‘consider looking to expand this to other game systems
such as Star Wars.| recommend signing up sooner rather
than later, as we expect a huge take-up and we don't want
to delay the processing of your application
Some Facts: You can join this program for free at the
EGA website. Players earn points for playing in reported
RPGA-sanctioned D&D games. For every 20 points they
earn under this program, they receive benefits malled to
‘them automatically three times a year. These benefits will
include “Campaign Cards," special character creation and
in-game effect cards usable in specified campaigns. These
Campaign Cards will all be unique to the program and will
be specially produced with ful-color art. As the program
gathers speed we will lok to add more and more rewards.
This means that as of January 1st, 2003, when the
new program goes lve, we will be stopping the old
player points and ranking system. We have to recognize
‘that those players have earned considerable points
advancing in the old program, albeit in a program where
Bolt and Quiver
12 January 2003,
‘those points were of little or no value to the individual
Under the new program, those points physically mean
something, and you are rewarded for that participation
Also as part of that recognition, we will be transferring,
those player points into the new program. These means
that existing members will qualify for more Campaign
Cards over the first couple of mailings based on their
rankings in both Classic and Campaign play as of the
rst of December, 2002.
‘The rest ofthe hows, whys,and wherefores are on the
website for you all to read. We will be talking in more
depth about the program in upcoming issues of
Potvweoron and at WINTER FANTASY 2003,
lan Richards
Worldwide RPGA Director
ianr@[Link] Gen Con 2002: A Look Back
So Long, Milwaukee.
This year marked the last in which Gen Con,
the game industry's largest and most exciting
convention, will be held in Miwaukee, its home
since the 1980s. The RPGA kicked off the event
with style, decorating the Spartan arena in
which Network games are held with a variety of
posters and attractive signs.
Despite the usual last-minute squabble for
meeting room space that this year resulted in
the unfortunate cancellation of the annual
member's meeting, RPGA honchos lan Richards
and Stephen Radney-MacFarland managed to
hold a make-up seminar on Thursday. There,
Stephen revealed that he thought the base level
RPGA membership “will be free forever.”
Richards and Radney-MacFarland laid out the
plans for the organization over the next year,
including a move to give Livin GrevHawe's
Circle of Six volunteer campaign coordinators
more autonomy in decision making and cam-
paign managment.
Highlights of the show's games offerings
included the ever popular Livine Cry, Livine
Force, and Livine Death interactives, a preview
of the then-yet-to-be-published City of the
Spider Queen ForcoTren Reaims adventure, and
‘the D&D Open, the longest-running competitive
roleplaying event in history.
Nexy year, Gen Con US moves to Indianapolis,
Indiana and promises to offer a thrilling slate of
RPGA activities and meetings.
Visit [Link]/rpga to sign up early.
Tell ‘em Powy sent you
The RPGA distributed six “bonus buttons” at
this year's Gen Con, Because the buttons
Penn terete et
characters in RPGA campaign play, a number
ere rege
reer nr ecael ns
straight skinny.
14 January 2003
Nobody Does it Better: Cynthia and August Hahn (lft) hold down
Network HQ under the watchful eye of Cheryl Frech, who has managed
HO for more than a decade. 2002 was her last year. Thanks, Cheryl
: Members puzzle out a Livine City encounter.
Tank You, Mistress: Gail Reese marshals players to VIN GRevHAWX.
tables with a booming voice and great authority ‘Tasty Treat: Russ Morrisey and Eric Noah show off their stuff before the
Ennie award ceremony.
Three Amigos: RPGA members get into costume and adventure at the
Luvine Crv interactive,
Victory: 240 open champions patos ege Stylo May Seni Mak
The Ennies: d2o’s Best
Before the release ofthe Third Edition D&D rules,
before anyone had even mentioned the words “20
System,” Eric Noah built himself a website. More
than two years later, that site has a new
webmaster, Russ Morrisey, and a new name: EN
Wiorld ([Link]). Fans of the d2o System
know EN World as the best information resource
on the internet, with updates on new products and
messageboards filled with the chatter of gamers
and industry professionals.
This year, Morisey took his site to Gen Con with
a live award ceremony for the Ennies, EN World's
annual nod to the best products the d2o System
hha to offer. Sponsored by Gen Con owner Peter
‘Adkison and hosted by d2o pioneer Ryan Dancey,
‘the award ceremony recognized the best
achievements in d2o according to the opinions of a
specially selected nominating committee made up
Cf EN World luminaries and a final popular vote by
Visitors to the site. As you can see, both the
committee and the voters have excellent taste
when it comes to the Best Aid or Accessory
category.
2002 Ennie Award Winners
Best D20 Game: Call of Cthulhu
(Wizards of the Coast)
Best Adventure: if Thoughts Could Kill
(Malhavoc Press)
Best Campaign Setting: Oriental Adventures
(Wizards of the Coast)
Best Setting Supplement: Freeport: City of
‘Adventure (Green Ronin Publishing)
Best Rules Supplement: Manual of the Planes
(Wieards of the Coast)
Best Aid or Accessory: DUNGEON/POWHEORON
‘Magazine (Wizards of the Coast)
Best Cartography: Freeport: City of Adventure
(Green Ronin Publishing)
Best Art (Interior): Deities & Demigods
(Wizards of the Coast)
Best Art (Cover): Lord of the ran Fortress
(Wizards of the Coast)
Best Graphic Design and Layout: Call of Cthulhu
(Wizards of the Coast)
Best Monster Supplement: Creature Collection I:
Dark Menagerie [Scarred Lands]
(Sword & Sorcery Studios)
Best Free Product or Web Enhancement: Portable
Hole Full of Beer (Ambient)
Best Official Website: Wizards of the Coast
([Link])
Best Fan Resource Site: SWPGNetwork
([Link])
Best Fan Campaign site: Conan d20
([Link]/adilbrand/[Link])
Best Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
‘Special Award for Contribution to Open Gaming:
Ryan Dancey He runs two weekly DSD cam-
paigns, wrote the Third
Edition Duecon Master's Guide,
owns the influential Malhavoc
Press, and is a fixture of the
d20/Open Gaming movement.
And he’s currently writing
his own Player's Handbook.
PoLyHEoRON recently had a
chance to talk with Monte
Gook about his game, his
company, and his exciting
new project.
MOMUE'S HU nn
Pssst
with a d20 Genuis
The ptolus campaign
You run two different weekly campaigns. Why did you
decide to do such a crazy thing?
Part of the advantage is that it allows me to play two games a
week but only do about 150% ofthe work (rather than 200%).
Because it's the same setting, all the characters are inthe samme
places, all the background events and the NPCs that they run
into are very frequent the same. When one group goes to the
guy who identifies magic items, ts the same guy that the other
gr0Up goes to. Not oly does that make it easier, but its fun for
re, because it makes for avery dyramic kind of setting. fone
group is doing something off in one part of town, they might
hear something thatthe other group doesnt hear about, and if
they communicate back and forth, one group is leaning stuff
about the town from the other group. It makes it all seem much
‘more eal and seem like the settings more alive.
What is Ptolus?
Ptolusis an entirely urban campaign. Well, urban/dungeon in
‘that there are alot of underground areas underneath this big
fantasy city. i's a pretty typical large D&D city with the excep
tion that there are remnants of sort of a Renaissance-level
technology left over. There are some firearms and things of
that nature, but they're more leftovers than a developing
things Ptolus is a world in decline as opposed toa world that’s
_getting better (although the player characters are trying to do
something about that)
How has running Ptolus for the last few years impacted.
your game design?
Ina lot of very direct ways in that a lot of adventures that
have been part of the Ptolus campaign have become pub-
lished game adventures, such as Queen of Les, from Fiety
Dragon, some of the stuff that I've done for the Wizards of the
Coast website, The Banewarrens, from Malhavoc Press, and
Beyond the Veil, from Atlas Games.
‘That's the very obvious and direct way, but in other ways, as
Ive played the game for these many years, now, I've noticed
places where | would say to myself"I wish there was a spell that
did that.” or“tm going to make up a cool new magic item foran
NPC that does this,” and it seems pretty logical that if see a need
for something lke that in my campaign other people are going
to see a need for that kindof thing in their [Link] the
same is true for optional rules and things like that, so that sort of
material finds its way into the products | write all the time.
Beyond the adventures, have you ever considered doing a
mote specifically “Ptolus” product?
I get asked for such a product quite often. | post alot of Ptolus
information on my website and have heard anecdotally, partic~
ularly with the release of The Banewarrens, which does have 5
(of 6 pages of Ptolus information in it, that there are people
out there running Ptolus campaigns just based off that and
the stuff that was on my website.
Is that weird?
That's kind of weird. But cool. These people come to my mes-
sage boards or email and ask me questions about NPCs or
locations in Ptolus because they're running 2 Ptolus campaign.
So there clearly are people who would be interested if such a
product and so | would never want to say no, but! know our
schedule through 2003 and I'm not planning on doing any-
‘thing like that. wizards of the coasb
‘What did it feel like to get to be the guy wrote the DMG for
‘Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons? Did you ask for that?
| know that that's really what | wanted, When they selected
‘the people to work on Third Edition it was not clear at that
‘ime that it was going to be “one guy writes the PH, one guy
‘writes the DMG, one guy writes the MM." Those decisions
Weren't even made, yet, People talk about Monte Cook and
the DMG, Jonathan Tweet and the Player’ Handbook and Skip
Williams and the Monster Manual, but the truth is that for the
first two years ofthe game's development, that wasn’t really
the way it was at all. it wasn’t until pretty late in the process
that it became "you have that book, | have this book.”
But to answer the question yes, wanted to write the OMG
because playing the game is fun, but I've always been the DM. |
Jove being the DM. When | went to go buy DED to start up my
‘own game it was 1979, | guess, and | asked them for Dunctons &
‘Deacons at my local B. Dalton and they didn't have that, because
of course it wasn't out anymore, but | didnt know. The only
thing they had was the brand new Duncsow Masts Guide. That
was the very first product that | bought, so | stil have just
incredibly fond memories of the DMG.
‘twas this amazing fll cle when we sent the Third
Edition stuff off to Gary Gygax and Gary came back and said
“Oh, Third Edition seems really coo,” but then he kind of raved
about the OMG a little bit, and that was @ realy cool full-crcle
ind of moment because his Dunccow Maste’s Gude was so
influential tome.
How has it felt to see the fan reaction to Third Edition?
It's great that response has been so positive, We weren't at all,
sure that it was going to be. We were given the mandate by.
‘the powers that be to make the game the game that it
became. Not specifically, but [than-Wizards of the Coast
President] Peter Adkison said:“make this a good game. Make
this the best game we can make i,” so that's what we tried to
do. We thought "boy, we sure might be alienating some of the
‘existing fanbase,” but it turns out for the most part that was.
not the case, and that Second Edition [Link] right on
board and were with us, and that's really cool
Having gone through that éntire process, what words of
advice do you have to the people who will be designing
Fourth Edition some time down the line?
‘The big huge thing that we learned was that D&D players
want a really good game and are willing to change and accept.
change more than we even thought. If there are things | could
go back and redo in Third Edition a lot of them probably are
‘the way they are because we were aftaid to make too big a
‘change. We called them “sacred cows,” things that made D&D
D&D and we couldn't change thern.| think that Fourth Edition
‘can probably take that idea and go even farther with it.
‘The differences between First Edition and Second Edition
were not very big, and | think that came from g level of con-
servatism, and maybe at that time that was the right choice to
make. I don’t know. | think my advice to a Fourth Edition
designer is “do what will make a good game”
malhavoc press
So you've got a job that most gamers would kill for—to be
one of the senor designers of Wizards of the Coast, to help
‘guide the future of the game, to have written the Dunorow
‘Masrie’s Guide=and right at the height ofall the hoopla
you back out and decide to do your own thing with
Malhavoe. Why?
The short answer | guessis that while working at Wizards of
‘the Coast is cool, there's a level of creative control that an indi-
Vidual game designer, even a senior game designer, does not
have, and that’s the kind of control | wanted. Not necessarily
because I'ma big control freak, but becauseit cam be frustrat-
ing sometimes to want to do something but be forced in dif»
ferent direction because someone else who has a diferent or
higher position in the company wants to goa different way.
‘There are also advantages to being a small publisher as
‘opposed to the big guy. Wizards ofthe Coast has to be more
conservative in their game products—and by conservative rm
talking about in the rules—than a small publisher does.
Wizards has to make sure very carefully that they're not intro-
ducing anything that’s overpowered and not balanced, and to
some extent they've done that, Overall think they've done a
00d job.
But as a small publisher, not producing the core that every-
thing else is based on, Ican bea little more free to experiment
‘and do something wacky and see how that works and see if
people like it.
Do you have an example of the type of thing that you've
boen able to do at Malhavoc that you wouldn'thave been
able todo at Wizards?
ve got a type of feat that runs through the Eldritch Might
books called eldrtch feats. Eldritch feats are sort of ike meta-
magic feats but they'don't modify the level of the spel.
Instead, they have alot of requirements at the front end in
‘order for you to pick up the feat: high stats; high level, that
kind of things It’s just a really minor example, but that kind of
thing probably wouldn't find its way into a D&D book because
Wizards has an idea of what is good and what isn’t as far as,
Third Edition design [Link] | helped develop that, but at
the same time didn’t agree with everything that came out of
it.| guess 'd have to label myself as. little more radical a
game designer than Wizards of the Coast, and having my own
design studio allows me to exercise little of that freedom.
‘Who was Malhavoc?
‘Malhavoc is the character that | played when | was14 years,
Old, playing in my friend's D&D game. He was an elf wizard.
7
rirary ‘Now be honest: How many 18s did he have?
[Guilty laughter] Like four. He was totally this high-level
munchkin asskicker
Were you proud of him nonetheless?
‘Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
‘What was the coolest thing Malhavoc ever did?
‘Well, he was actually an evil character, and he once tricked all
the other characters to sell themselves into slavery to an
tenemy city so that | could... it's a long story, but anyway, | sold
‘the other player characters into slavery.
Sonaturally when you came to choose a name for your
company, you fell upon this backstabbing slaver.
Well, mostly it’s just because it’s a cool name. And little did |
know that there's some Canadian rock band named Malhavoc,
‘which we recently found out. And apparently there was some
Superfriends villain named Malhavoc.
‘Well, two different people invented calculus, so you shouldn’t
feel too bad,
[laughs]
‘What were your creative and personal goals with Malhavoc
‘the minute you stepped out the Wizards door?
Not at all what happened. fully intended to make my way as
a freelance designer working for other companies. Malhavoc
‘would be just sort ofthis thing | did on the side. Make afew
‘extra bucks here and there. I didn't expect it to take off. It
‘would just be sort of an outlet for me to do the sort of ‘weird
idea” game design that I've been talking about.
Lo and behold, it really took off and it quickly became clear
that both creatively and financially the smart thing to do was.
to pay attention to Malhavoc and not work freelance for other
‘game companies. That's kind of what its done. So now my
{oals have really changed. Its no longer just kind ofa lark.
Now my goals with Malhavoc are to focus more on quality
than on quantity. We don't put out as many books as alot of
