Interview with Justin Jacobson (Part I: Akashic Nodes)

This is the first post in a four part interview with Justin Jacobson of Blue Devil Games, co-author and original publisher of Akashic Nodes: Home of Memory a supplement for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved.


1. Please provide a brief bio about yourself, you gaming habits, and your professional work.
I’m 37, married with two young daugthers. I live in South Florida (born and raised). I am an attorney by day, specializing in debt collection. I work in a small firm my father started over 30 years ago. I love to play games every day, but between my home life and my work life, I only get to play around once a month. Mostly we’re playing D&D 4e, but I like playing all sorts of games, from indie-style rpgs to board games.

2. Ok I have to ask why Akashic Nodes? What made you choose to do that instead of say a class or racial splat book?
We wanted to do something different. I took the lead from Monte’s own work. His supplements always have a twist, from the event books, to BoEM3, which is keyed of specific locations. Akashic Nodes really is a splat book. It’s got tons of feats, spells, magic items, monsters, etc. It’s just presented through the lens of a specific focus.

3. Did you ever think about each section as individual PDFs instead of one large PDF, especially your adventure The Fading Of All things?
No. The material was too interconnected to release separately. There are references in Fading to concepts and mechanics presented elsewhere in the book. More generally, I’ve never really cottoned to the micro-pdf craze. Not for me creatively.

4. Could you please sum up "Akashic Nodes: Home of Memory" in a sentence or three?
Akashic Nodes starts with a fundamental question of what memory really is and uses that as a launching pad for a host of unusual mechanics and ideas to add to any fantasy setting.

5. How did you first become interested in creating a book about Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved rather than standard d20 product like poisioncraft?
I’ve had a good relationship with Monte since I first started with Poisoncraft. He seemed very accessible, and that proved to be the case. When I had questions about the publishing process, he was very helpful. (He is truly one of the nicest people in this industry, which is incidentally filled with extremely nice people.) This created something of a, hmmm, what’s the opposite of a vicious cycle? A symbiotic cycle? I bought all of Monte’s stuff. I did some playtesting for Monte. When I was deciding what to do next, Arcana Unearthed had a lot of real estate in my head.

6. How do you feel, when you discover someone still using a product like akashic nodes today?
I’m totally geeked, of course! My design goals have always been, in this order: (1) Don’t lose money; (2) give people stuff they can have a lot of fun with; (3) try to make some money. Number 2 only works when people actually use what I’ve put out there.

7. Could you list some of your major influences in the creation of Akashic Nodes?
Arcana Evolved (nee Arcana Unearthed) seems obvious, so I won’t mention it. When the Sky Falls, in particular was a big influence. As I mentioned, it really gave me the idea of using a more narrow theme as the skeleton for the material.

8. What are the strengths of Akashic Nodes over other source books?
It literally has material that you cannot find anywhere else. I think there is something for everyone in there.

9. Can you tell me about the adventure The Fading Of All Things that appears in Akashic Nodes and why you chose a political action adventure?
That’s an interesting lesson in design. I put off working on the adventure until the other material started coming in. I got to see how all the other writers were riffing off the concept. And really out of nowhere, I recalled the quote that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. That was the spark for the idea for the adventure. The Iraq War was a separate influence. The rest just fell into place.

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the cover art by The Carmona Brothers, Jesus y Javier Carmona?
That’s one of the real perks of publishing: working with amazing artists, telling them what you are looking for, and seeing how they run with it. That cover is perfect for that book.

11. How much input did you have on sections that were not written by you?
Theoretically, I had a lot of input. I could have dumped some of it or rewritten it all myself. It was my baby after all. As a practical matter, that was a great collection of writers I managed to pull together. So I didn’t really end up doing a lot. I did have the initial idea for the mechanical aspects of nodes and fleshed out some of that part.

12. Describe your best moment working on Akashic Nodes?
We set up a private message board for all the contributors. Some of the conversations on that board are just amazing. I should dump them into a pdf and sell it for a hundred bucks! They were great to work with.

Part II Continues HERE.