Interview with Bill Collins (Tell It To My Axe).

This week I am doing a long interview with Bill Collins, as we talk about Tell It To My Axe (his choice).

1. Please provide a brief bio about yourself, your gaming habits, and your professional work.
Sure. I live in the Land of Insurance*, where I'm an Akashic. Whoops. Adjuster. Meaning I get to put a price on pain and suffering and property damage. There's a great lady I'm married to named Audrey, and we have two kids, a dog and a mortgage. That and we're trying to sell our house. I've played D&D since 1981 or so, with some big gaps in there for a homebrew system of a friend, GURPS and Champions. *Sometimes confused with places near Hartford, Connecticut, USA

2. Ok I have to ask why "Tell it to my Axe" instead of say "Order of the Axe" or "The Axe Evolved" I have to assume there were other working titles, how did you settle on that name, I really don't understand the branding decision here I don't think you would ever call a Realms product "Well Met"?
This was pretty cool. Justin Jacobson, the publisher and co-author, came to us all and said "Here's the title." It sounded very appropriate for the subject matter.

3. To me The order of the Axe is about Rebellion and the branding of the name did not convey that very well, any thoughts on that?
That's a fair point. I think the T-shirt looks very cool by the way. The book didn't sell as well as Akashic Nodes, but we chalked it up to overall decreasing d20 sales. The book was supposed to be about the Order of the Axe, and I think the back cover makes that clear, but once you create something it takes on meaning of its own.

4. Ok name rant done, could you please sum up "Tell it to my Axe" in a sentence or three?
Cool rules and Diamond Throne setting material for your Arcana Evolved game, particularly if you like humans or underdog organizations.

5. How did you first become interested in creating a book about an organization/prestige class/rebellion rather than one of the more "obvious books"?
I didn't. Justin said, "I'm doing another book. Want to write a chapter?" It was easy.

6. How do you feel, what do you think, when a reviewer describes your book as "a book about a group of knights that specialize in the axe"?
That they may have summarized the back cover blurb? I think it misses the cool stuff for players and for DMs though.

7. Could you list some of your major influences in the creation of Tell It To My Axe?
There were three. The first was that a lot of board discussions at that time kept mentioning the lack of good mounted combat rules. So I volunteered for that chapter. The second was that I love the mounted knight – always have – and D&D seems to lack a role for them. I figured playtesting was the best way to work out how to give them rules in Arcana Evolved and the Diamond Throne setting. The third influence was in the Rebellion chapter. I've always been a fan of Heinlein's novels Sixth Column and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In the back of my head, that's a strong inspiration for this sort of stuff.

8. What are the strengths of Tell It To My Axe are over other organization/prestige class books?
The obvious strength is that we offer lots of options, like a set of mini-sourcebooks. You can use one chapter or all of them. The subtle strength is that there are a lot of crunchy bits for players and DMs that work.

9. Can you tell me about the monster template that appears in the order of the axe, and how it made its way into the book?
The Artifactbound? I wish I could. I didn't write it, and I never saw it before press.

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the cover art by Jeremy Mohler?
My first thought was, "Whoa. Comic book." My second thought was "Damn! That's cool." I have the T-shirt. Did I mention that? I love that cover.

11. How much imput did you have on sections that were not written by you?
As much as all my co-authors. We had a private writers forum and we brainstormed ideas together, critiqued writing, and offered comments on finished chapters. It was a real cool brain trust and collective working with Justin, Phil, Michael, Jay, Derek and Robert.

12. Describe your best moment working on Tell It To My Axe?
Getting asked to do an extra chapter because Justin thought I could deliver. And I did.

Continue to Part II HERE