This is the third 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. The interview starts HERE
25. What has been your best moment playing with an AE product?
My favorite moments have been the AE games at Gen Con with all of the guys I only get to see once a year.
26. What has been your most memorable fan response to Akashic Nodes?
I did have one customer say that he thought it was as good as Monte’s stuff. That’s pretty high praise indeed.
27. What role do you think Akashic Nodes plays in the AE gaming community?
Heck, I don’t know. I’m hopeful it has launched more than a few memorable adventures, and I’m sure anyone who was playing an akashic was thrilled.
28. To Your knowledge has the Fading of All things ever been played with using Fantasy Grounds?
I don’t know one way or the other.
29. Could you tell us a little about the difference between professional game design and designing for play?
Great question. There are two big differences: clarity and balance. When you’re writing a rule for your home game, you only need to make sure that two people understand it, and if there are any questions, you can talk it out face to face. When you’re writing a rule for publication it has to be perfectly clear in its operation. Similarly, if you design for your home game and something turns out to be unbalanced, you can modify it. You don’t get that second chance with published design.
30. Why do you think the "Obvious Books" (racial and class books) for AE have never been done?
Monte never showed much interest in it. There weren’t a lot of third-party publishers for AE, and I’m guessing they, like me, took their lead from Monte. You should ask him that question.
31. What is your feeling about Lands of the Jade Oath?
It’s an incredibly neat setting. I don’t know if you are aware, but I was briefly in line to publish the setting, but things didn’t work out. I’m a big fan. I’ll be interested to see what the timing of the release means for its reception. Not only has Monte stopped publishing AE support, but 4th Edition is out now too. It will be a good metric for seeing who is still playing AE.
32. What is (was) your home AE game like? (describe it in a paragraph)
I’ll do it in one word: N/A. That’s right, I never had an AE game. We’ve run D&D and used some material from AE, but I’ve never run or played in any kind of extended AE campaign (much to my chagrin). Most of my AE gaming has been one-shots.
33. What is the AE product you want to buy?
I’m planning on signing up as a patron for Lands of the Jade Oath. I’m interested in the patronage angle too and, more specifically, to see if someone outside of Wolfgang can make it work.
34. Can you name for us a totem type, champion type and a witch type that would be cool but you have never seen from the fans?
Are there any left? Okay, I’ll play. Here’s what I want to see: elephant totem, champion of the poor, and salt witch. Has anyone done those?
35. What kind of player experience did you hope to create with your game? Did your goals change during the design process? Do you feel that you met them?
You’re talking about Akashic Nodes again? We wanted to give people something fresh and different in the same spirit that Mote approached AE in the first place. I think we met our goals pretty well.
36. What does AE need more of?
High-level adventures. But that’s my answer for anything—not just AE.
The interview concludes HERE.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment