Interview with Soren Kies Thustrup (The Living Airship Part III)

My conversation with Soren Keis Thustrup continues as we talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview will appear in 4 parts over the next few days .
1. What is your opinion of the Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project?


I think it will be amazing to finally see Frank Carr's magnum opus get off the ground. And it is a testimony to the faith the fans have in HotJO - and in Rite Publishing, that we have managed to get the required number of patrons without a massive marketing effort.

22. What role do you think Patronage Products will play in the future of the gaming community (such as those by Open Design, Rite Publishing, and Chatty Studio)?

I think it can certainly be a good way for small-scale publishers to survive - here I'm not talking OD who has a much wider readership (I think) - but I would prefer it if quality products were available to the masses rather than the few.

23. What is your favorite Non-Soren, 3.X/OGL product and why?

Ptolus, hands down, tied with AE. AE showed what d20 could really do, and Ptolus is simply the benchmark against which all future city projects must be mentioned.

24. What is your favorite Soren Keis Thustrup product (other than The Living Airship) and why?

Circle of Rites from Fiery Dragon. I don't care, you always love your first-born more.

25. What is your favorite Rite Publishing Product?

I really like how Veiled Denizens pushed the envelope in quite a few directions, so I'm going to go with that.

26. What has been your most memorable fan response to The Living Airship so far?

There hasn't been any, really, because I believe that at this time of writing, it's still in the pre-order stage.

27. What is your favorite 3.X/OGL product that you use in design?

Since I write AE modules, it's Arcana Evolved.

28. What are you design plans for the next year?

Due to real-life factors, I'm not that good at thinking ahead right now, but I plan to tackle one part of our adventure arc.

29. Could you tell us a little about how you went from fan to game designer?

I started off making some NPC level progression tables for diamondthrone.com. Fiery Dragon then asked if they could use them and then said that they would publish anything I wrote, so I had a go at it. Then we (the Council of Magisters) also designed the runes of revival trilogy of adventures, so that was also quite a leap. And finally, in November 2007 (I think), Monte asked if I wanted to co-author Vault of the Iron Overlord, and that was really when I felt that I could say that I, to a small degree, was a game designer.

30. What gaming products are you looking forward too?

I am looking very much forward to the products Rite Publishing is putting out. Partly because I know that, they will be good in their own right, but also because I look forward to seeing their effect on the fan base.

Continue to part IV