Fridays & Functions: Interview with Frank Carr (Part 3) [

Welcome to Fridays & Functions; a series of a posts that will always deal with what goes on behind the scenes, including design diaries, interviews, technical commentary, etc. First up is a 5 part interview with Frank Carr Author of Heroes of the Jade Oath you can find

Part 1 Here and Part 2 Here

Illustration by Jason Rainville

21. What makes a good Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved product?

A good AE product makes you think about the games you want to run in a new way. They give you ideas for characters and stories that you may not have done before. Monte Cook did this when Arcana Unearthed first came out with the idea of being able to play a large-sized giant or a tiny-sized spryte or this new character concept called an akashic or by actually creating a magic system that was actually about as flexible as what you might find in many of the fantasy novels on the shelves.

22. What is your favorite Arcana Evolved product (besides yours and the core book)?

I am assuming you mean out of those produced by Monte. That is tough for me because I like them all with my top three having to be Legacy of the Dragons, Ruins of Intrigue, and Mystic Secrets. If I have to pick a favorite, I would have to say Mystic Secrets is it, but not just because I had a hand in play-testing it; it introduced some neat spells, expanded on runes and rune children, and introduced some magical locations and new magic items. But most of all, I really like the idea of the rituals of power and ceremonies that it introduced to the game. It really expanded on the concept behind ceremonial feats and showed how magic was available in everyday life for non-spellcasters and NPCs in a mystical setting. I thought that was very flavorful and thought provoking.

23. What is your favorite Non-Monte AE (besides yours) product and why?

Again, this is a difficult choice you are asking me. Choosing favorites is always difficult for me because it could be something different a week from now. Right now, I would have to say Akashic Nodes because the concept behind the whole project was so fresh and original. It took the idea behind something flavorful in the main book, ran with it, and really expanded on it. It was something that had not really been done before and it did it well.

Editor's note: this product is no longer available you will have to ask Fiery Dragon about that ;)

24. What is your favorite Rite Publishing product and why?

I don't know if that is a fair question for me to answer because I haven't had much opportunity to read any products lately (for pretty much the last two years or so). Of those I own from Rite Publishing (Items Evolved: Rituals, Veiled Denizens, and Mythic Monstrosities) I would have to go with Mythic Monstrosities because I like the monsters in that book and I think Arcana Evolved needs more original monsters. I like the others, too, but I haven't had the time to give Items Evolved a fair reading. If I had the chance to read up on all the products by Rite Publishing, I suspect that the Living Airship might become my new favorite. I love original concepts like that. Okay, maybe not love, but rather “like-like” in that special way kids talk. However, I have also been eyeing that adventure path, A Witch's Choice, after playing it for a couple hours at GenCon; I think it has a lot of potential.

25. What has been your best moment playing with an AE product?

I have had a lot of good moments, but you know how it is – you always remember your first. I was playing a large-sized giant champion in the first AE tournament in 2003, when I was targeted by a spell from the main villain to learn my truename so she could use a magical command on me. It was pretty sweet when I was able to tell the DM that I was Unbound and that the villainous spellcaster had just wasted her spell on me for nothing and I didn't even have to roll a saving throw. My character then proceeded to pound on the villain and hold the line against a bunch of undead coming down the stairs. They couldn't get past him because of his reach and attacks of opportunity.

Later that same day, I was playing in a game that Tom Lommel (AKA Thrommel) was running. There was a prize to be given out in this game, though, and it was a complete set of the new Arcana Unearthed miniatures; the first ones made for AU/AE. Everyone had great moments in that game and Tom couldn't decide who should get them, so we had a “d20 roll off”. I despaired. My rolls all night had been under 10. I was shocked to discover that I ended up actually tied with “Mr. Lucky” across the table from me who had been rolling great most of the night. It was a very tension-filled moment when we then had a tie breaking roll-off. And then... I won!

26. What has been your most memorable fan response to Lands of the Jade Oath?

I can't really say that there is a single thing, but rather it has been that everyone has been so supportive of this project from the beginning where folks encouraged me to get the license and then to keep at it over the years. It has been a great project with a lot invested in it for me, but there are a lot of fans out there that have stayed on me with lots of great encouragement and curiosity about the project. It has been fun and very fulfilling just seeing people rally behind my ideas. I never really expected that and it is very nice to see that happening. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far it has been great.

27. What role do you think Heroes of the Jade Oath plays in the AE gaming community?

I like to think of it as the white elephant, the underdog, and the little engine that could all rolled into one. You might hear about it here or there, while never really seeing it, and you know the odds are against it, but it just keeps on chugging along and it is almost over that giant hill now. Folks like underdogs and I think they want to see it succeed. In a way it is also like something for AE-ophiles to rally behind. I think it is the first third-party AE project to be over a hundred pages since Tell It To My Axe and until Rite Publishing picked up the banner, AE went through an extremely long dry spell. I think AE fans are ready for another AE product that they can sink their teeth into. Even better than that though is that I think it is attracting fans of oriental game settings and for many of them Heroes of the Jade Oath might inspire them to take a look at AE, which is even better for the AE community.

28. Any plans on running a Lands of the Jade Oath game using Fantasy Grounds or Maptool?

Is that an online gaming tool program? Sorry, but as much as I would like to, I don't do any online or LAN gaming. My game groups just don't have the infrastructure that would require. Many of them are not computer users, or at least not into that sort of “gaming table”.

29. Could you tell us a little about the difference between professional game design and designing for play?

Professional game design requires much more thought and creativity. When designing for the home game, you can feel free to borrow whatever you want from any of your books and if you, as DM, are comfortable with any shifts in game balance that might or might not cause, then that is cool as long as everyone has fun. When designing professionally, you have to consider where you are getting your inspiration from. You can't just take something someone else wrote and use it. For example, when I first started the project, I was going to use the races and classes from Oriental Adventures until I learned that they were not open content. This challenged me to be original; which, in the end, was the best thing that could have happened for Lands of the Jade Oath.

30. Why do you think the "Obvious Books" (racial and class books) for AE have never been done?

The community that has grown around Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved is what I consider a sort of d20 RPG counterculture. Another comparison might be something like Mac vs. PC. Most of us wanted to play something different; something that was D&D, but not D&D – not our daddy's D&D so to speak. Monte gave us that. He gave us a game that many of us consider to be better than core 3rd edition D&D. AU/AE became the cutting edge of d20 design for a while, even though it was not popular with everyone. But for a third party publisher, it left a pretty big mark on the gaming community; a lasting mark.

Tuesdays & Tasks: The Stone of Insanity (by Bill Colllins)

Tuesdays & Tasks: The Stone of Insanity (by Bill Colllins) [ edit | delete ]

By Rite Publishing | January 12, 2010 at 12:56 AM EST | No Comments (0 new)

Illustration by Joe Calkins

The Stone of Insanity

By Bill Collins

A variable-level encounter for D&D or Pathfinder RPG.


Thunder blasts and lightning flashes and sparks. Those dark clouds weren’t there a moment ago, nor were those torrents of rain driving down. In the center of a crowd of screaming villagers towers a black monolith, with spiky protrusions. Its fearful name drops from the lips of a stunned old man: “The Stone of Insanity”.

The stone is a magic item that teleports once a day, displaying a symbol of insanity upon it when it reappears. The symbol disappears after an hour. No one knows the origin of the stone, but they know it is trouble. It moves about the landscape, spreading fear and terror.

This encounter pits PCs against innocent NPCs, driven to insanity (as per the spell, which is equal to permanent confusion). The Stone appears, riles up the locals, and vanishes. The PCs may ignore it of course, or they can step up.

Implementation

Use the Stone at any level. See the table below.

Low-level – the Stone vanishes within a minute of appearing. 1d8+1 confused villagers (Commoner 1-3) begin acting up, causing trouble for the PCs and everyone nearby.

Mid-level – the Stone lingers and can be destroyed physically. It has 10 Hardness and 900 hp. After it appears, 1d8+1 confusedvillagers per round begin to go crazy.

High-level – the Stone is sentient. Treat it as an ice devil with character levels as desired with a 1/day limited wish. Go wild. Mess with your players.

Fridays & Functions: Interview with Frank Carr (Part 2)

Welcome to Fridays & Functions; a series of a posts that will always deal with what goes on behind the scenes, including design diaries, interviews, technical commentary, etc. First up is a 5 part interview with Frank Carr Author of Heroes of the Jade Oath you can find Part 1 Here

Illustration by Hugo Solis

11. Living and breathing the Rituals of Choice adventure path I know how hard it is to watch an editor take a red pen to a beloved work, how do you handle that with a work as close to you as Lands of the Jade Oath? How do you plan to handle patron criticism.?

With a very big stick! Seriously, I don't mind criticism as long as it is making a valid and relevant point. I am the sort of person who would rather be told up front and in my face if you have a problem with me or what I do. I can deal with that on nearly all levels and I can respect people more for being that way with me. But, I don't like it when people talk behind my back or otherwise behave like a hypocrite.

That said, I have been dealing with Bill Collins (the editor on this book) on and off for a few years now and he and I have a great rapport. I would discuss the occasional idea I had for the books with him and he was a great sounding board for what would and would not be a good idea. But then, he never really told me that I had a bad idea. He always seems to enable me by telling me that I could take that so-so idea and make it better by taking approaches x, y, or z. This relationship is what makes him working on this book so great. He and I can take the sour things that crop up and make a whiskey sour out of them instead of tossing them out completely and going back to scratch on something.

As to dealing with patron criticism, I don't think there will be much of anything that will bother me as long as folks on both sides of the creative process are open-minded, honest, and willing to hear each other out.

12. Describe your best moment working on Lands of the Jade Oath?

That would have to be when I finally got to see the final, complete cover painting image by Wayne Reynolds.

13. What do you feel was the most ingenious part of Lands of the Jade Oath that you devised?

That is hard for me to say because there are a few things that I really liked about what I have written so far. I guess it would be a tossup between the shenxue race and the enlightened scholar class. The shenxue race, because they are my answer to having both a hengeyokai and a half-breed race descended from spirits all rolled into one. I like how a shenxue player can choose almost any race in the setting and then add a spiritual aspect like fox, mountain, or some other thing to create a unique racial choice that endables player creativity while still making good sense in the setting. The Enlightened Scholar class, because the concept is one that hasn't really been addressed before now as a character class for the adventuring scholar, alchemist, antiquarian, physician, or hedge mage. The class was ispired by characters from fiction and film such as Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures, Foo Shen from Big Trouble in Little China, Alec Guiness' rendition of Obi Wan Kenobi, Indiana Jones, Wong Fei Hong, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and many others. I know that there are a couple out there now that Wizards of the Coast came up with just before they came out with 4th edition, but I originally wrote this class up in its first draft back in early 2004. Because I know I came up with it before I knew of other efforts along these lines makes me rather proud of it.

14. What specific design choice are you most happy with, and why?

I guess that might be either the path classes or the ch'i magic system. Both are very flexible and makes game options available to more types of characters than just magic-users or warrior-types. In the case of ch'i that would because written up as feats they become available to any who can qualify. In the case of paths, they are martial arts or castes and backgrounds that make a character more unique and enjoyable within the setting, while sacrificing as little as possible from one's class.

15. Which design element was the hardest to figure out, and why?

That was probably the shenxue racial traits. I knew what I wanted to accomplish with them, but getting to that point was very difficult. Trying to balance what I wanted them to be with the reality of game mechanics was very difficult for me to do when I was first trying to design that race. At first, being shenxue was just going to be a template you could add to your character, but that wouldn't work for many reasons.

16. What did you learn about design and especially designing for eastern-style settings?

A lot, it is a very open-ended question because there is just so much to learn. I will mention a couple of them, though. One that I would have to mention is that everyone has a different idea about what an oriental game setting should incorporate, though there are also a lot of common denominators folks would like to see, such as martial arts and cultures that can serve as fantasy analogues to Asian cultures. I also learned that it is possible to introduce fun and balanced changes to an existing game system without having to redo the whole game system. Also, the best and most popular design decisions involve making or modifying a mechanical rule that enhances a story element. While balance between all the rules in the game is important, balance between the rules and the story are just as important, if not more so.

17. What have you learned about Land of the Jade Oath in play-testing?

I have learned that nothing is as good as what you think it is until you get not only a second opinion, but get it field tested as well as a second and third opinion. I have also learned that sometimes you have to go with what you think is best despite what someone else says, especially when a couple of someones aren't agreeing with each other or you, and they don't know the overall vision of the project as well as you do. Stay true to the vision and it will work out, no matter how many bumps are in the road.

What did you change as a result?

After showing the draft write-up of my shenxue to my players, a couple of them came back to me with a critique about how a couple of the shenxue spiritual aspects had abilities that were too similar. After brainstorming for a bit with them and later by myself, we managed to come up with better abilities that were unique to each spiritual aspect.

18. Did you make any other mistakes or miscalculations in the design process? How did you fix them?

Yes, I have made several mistakes and miscalculations along the way, but I have always been able to get them under control and make things even better than the original concept was before as a result of recognizing those mistakes. I would do this by simply going back to the drawing board, so to speak. I would ask myself, “What am I trying to accomplish with this idea and is it necessary?” If the answer was yes to that, then I would try and see if there was a better way to approach what I was trying to do than what I had tried already. This process forced me to come up with better ideas, both setting and story -wise and rules mechanic -wise. Despite having stated all this, though, I think my biggest mistake is that I cannot stop creating stuff. I have too many ideas I want to throw out there that I cannot stop myself from either improving on them or creating more. For example, as the manuscript stands right now there are 6 new totems (horse, centipede, monkey, praying mantis, tiger, and elephant), 4 new witch types (jade, ghost, five element, and dragon), and 12 spiritual aspects for the shenxue (hare, mountain, river, fire, fox, sword, crane, bamboo, cloud, dog, snow, and panda). I wanted to create more and even started doing so, before I was able to force myself to trim them down to the more reasonable numbers I just mentioned. Even now I am burning to write up a Star Witch and Monkey spiritual aspect and have nearly complete or partially completed drafts of the badger, cat, carp, city, frog, desert, graveyard, moon, rat, and snake shenxue spiritual aspects and spider totem.

19. We have a long history of a Japanese focus in the RPG industry how do you decided what has become cliché and what is a valuable trope to explore?

A good indicator if it is cliché is if it is something that is made fun of in popular tv or anime. However, if it is something that you just can't perceive an Asian or oriental setting being without a certain element or trope, then that element or trope is a “must-have” for the setting; even if it is cliche. Some folks actually like having something cliché in their settings. For me, must-haves from Japanese culture includes things like samurai, katanas, fox spirits, sohei, paper magic, and yes – even ninjas (though, I decided to approach them with a more antiquated Japanese term for them that roughly means - “shadow scout”: Kusa). I think that if you approach the cliché stuff with a “dialed-down” approach, then you can make them work for you without getting all the negative baggage that normally comes with those things.

I spent a great deal of my adolescence in the eighties and some of my earliest exposure to Asian cinema were the ninja movies of that period. So, they are a cliché and a “must-have” to me; however, I refuse to let them dominate the setting, while at the same time letting them be available for any DM who wants to use them or any player who wants to be one. After all, the game is about having fun and playing something you enjoy. I know of plenty of DM that would like to have hidden ninjas “flip out” and attack PCs. I know there are a lot of folks who dislike ninjas, but there are at least just as many who like the idea of their oriental settings having them around. To me, something being cliché is about how it is perceived and often that is all about the tone or volume. If ninjas were all into wearing wearing red, white, or black ninja costumes with abilities that rivaled the superpowers of the costumed vigilantes in comics, then that would definitely be too much, but ninjas who seldom, if ever, wear costumes like that (often going undercover on missions) and have abilities on par with other characters - only specialized in what they do – then that is not cliché to me. That is something that the military forces, law enforcement, spies, and assassins of the real world really do, so it makes sense that the preeminent assassins, spies, and saboteurs of a fantasy world full of magic would do it also, but with just a touch of some magical abilities of their own as a countermeasure and weapon against the possible magisters and witches they might encounter, not to mention just plain giving themselves a leg up on their enemies.

20. Are you happy with where Lands of the Jade Oath is today?

Yes, but there is always room for improvement. I can't stop myself from constantly trying to come up with new ways to make it better.

Fridays & Functions: Interview with Frank Carr (Part 1)

Welcome to Fridays & Functions; a series of a posts that will always deal with what goes on behind the scenes, including design diaries, interviews, technical commentary, etc. First up is a 5 part interview with Frank Carr Author of Heroes of the Jade Oath

Frank Carr is the Jade Mandarin of Lands of the Jade Oath. He is also a criminal and military intelligence analyst who worked with both the U.S. Army and the ATF, serving in the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. He play-tested for Monte Cook and Mutants and Mastermind's Algernon Files along with several others. He has been gaming since 1982, enjoying every version of D&D, L5R, Earthdawn, Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, Rifts, Mutants & Masterminds, Fireborn, World of Darkness, and many others.

We are doing a 5 part interview with him, that we will be releasing every Friday, in anticipation of the retail release of Heroes of the Jade Oath BETA on February 1^st, 2010.

1. Please provide a brief bio about yourself, you gaming habits, and your professional work.

I grew up on traveling on the carnival circuit with my folks until I was about 11 when we settled in our long time summer home in Florida where I spent my teen years until I joined the military. I have been an intelligence analyst ever since with the occasional odd job for a year or two simultaneous being an analyst and going to college. I have visited a few different countries and even met my wife in South Korea. I currently live in the midwest with my wife and two sons, when not working overseas.

I like to play fantasy rpgs, but also enjoy the occasional board game like Operation Tannhauser, Heroscape, and Shogun. I like most rpg genres - mainly fantasy, but I find that you really need a DM with the wherewithall to run a game if the genre is a little unusual for your group. Given the right DM, I enjoy steampunk, wild west, supers, sci-fi, and horror, but most of all I enjoy the Asian/oriental fantasy genre. I think I am a decent DM given enough time between games to prepare, but often find that a weekly game will burn me out pretty quick as I too often do not have the necessary time to prepare for my games due to work and/or family, which always has priority. I like to use props for my adventures and unique mannerisms for my NPCs, but I find that I can let my introverted nature get the best of me sometimes and end up holding back when I should cut loose with characterization. I often do the same thing when I am a player, too. Occasionally, I cut loose and channel a stern martial arts master, a southern waitress, a cowardly maniac, or whatever strikes me as the correct persona at the time. Those are always the best encounters for my players, but I usually need a sugar and caffeine high before I can channel those characters.

You can see from the bio above what I do for a living, but I would rather not delve into that too much if it is okay. In my line of work, you run into a lot of people who dislike you for what you do.

2. Ok I have to ask why a 334 page book? Why did you not start small, like a introductory adventure to the setting with standard characters. A “Strangers in a Strange Land” type of choice? (I have always wondered this because it would have generated more support from 90% of your audience “the players”).

It started as a proposal for a single 256 page book to Monte Cook, but ended up as a three part PDF project with the first PDF being around 250 some-odd pages and the second and third PDFs planned on being around 60 to 90 pages each. It all boils down to not knowing what I was getting into and the idea behind teaching a man to fish.

I wanted a book that would allow a game group to run as many adventures as they like in an oriental campaign rather than the one I lay out for them. So, to do this you have to provide a game setting with lots of angles for them to use for adventures. So, I wanted to do a setting book, but it turned out that I had too many ideas that I wanted to incorporate into the book, so the size of it all got away from me.

3. Did you ever think about each section as individual PDFs instead of one large PDF? Or doing something like Monte Cook’s Way of the Sword or Way of the Staff?

Yeah, see above. That idea was pitched to me in a manner similar to your question that I should do this and it would allow me to get something out sooner. I liked the idea and went to Monte with it and he approved of it.

4. Could you please sum up "Lands of the Jade Oath" in a paragraph?

Long ago the dramojh rose up to threaten the world, but ancient defenders, with the backing of divine power, beat them back and banished them from this realm of existence. However, their banishment took a toll - access to the celestial courts of the gods was cut off in the final backlash of a powerful curse by the dramojh, though mystical access to the lands of the dead and the ten thousand hells was not. Since that time, those who protect these lands against the depredations of the infernal allies of the dramojh that have been sealed away do so with the mystical power of ch'i, the enlightened might of sutra magic, sagacious martial arts, and the magical power of ceremonial spells and oaths - but, most of all with their stamina, wits, and the will of the Jade Oath. In these lands, the magic is potent - but, potent magic always has its curse to bear.

5. How did you first become interested in creating a book about Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved rather than standard d20 product like Jade and Steel?

Products like Jade and Steel, while good and different (i.e. not Japan-centric) from most oriental game supplements out there, they just didn't have the right spark to hold my interest for long. They were just nothing like Kara Tur or Chris Pramas' Jade Empire. So, when I saw what Monte had done with his rules, I saw a lot of similarities to what I knew could be a powerful part of any strong, Chinese fantasy rpg. It had truenames, quasi-magical ceremonies, a flexible magic system with template and spell weaving, it meant something to not have a truename, rune magic, racial levels, classes like the mage blade and the witch, and it was a breath of fresh air for a lot of D&D game tables. Others were doing Asian-themed material for D&D, but not Arcana Evolved (AE), then called Arcana Unearthed, and even then most were Japanese-themed with almost nothing to do with the other cultures of Asia. I wanted to have a grand setting that covered multiple Asian culture for AE the way Kara Tur did it for Advanced D&D.

6. How did you feel, when you discovered someone has signed up for the Patronage Project?

Flabbergassed. I couldn't believe somebody actually paid money for things from out of my imagination. I thought, "This crazy patronage thing might work after all!" Really, it was awesome and very humbling at the same time.

7. Could you list some of your major influences in the creation of Lands of the Jade Oath?

There are so many, but here are a few: Journey to the West (literature), Romance of the Three Kingdoms (literature), The Water Margin (literature), A Chinese Ghost Story (film), Big Trouble in Little China (film), The Bride with White Hair (film), Musa (film), Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (film), Swordsman 2 (film), Princess Minonoke (animated film), Daughter of the Empire (fiction), Spirited Away (animated film), Avatar (television cartoon series), Inu Yasha (anime), Hero (film), Ninja Scroll (anime), Way of the Rat (comic), The Path (comic), and Jade Empire (video game).

8. What are the strengths of Lands of the Jade Oath over other Eastern settings like L5R or Oriental Adventures?

It has Arcana Evolved for its rules base. That's all it needs right? If it isn't, then I should mention that it is not Japan-centric the way those other books are. It is focused on a variety of Asian cultures, much like Kara Tur was, though many of those cultures are strongly influenced by the Chinese-like empire at the center of the map. It has new races like the mandragorans, the shenxue, bakemono, and others. It has 4 new base classes: the demon hunter, the kensai, the kusa, and the enlightened scholar. It has a feat-based magic system any character can learn to use to represent the power of ch'i. It has sutra magic, new totems, new causes to champion, new witcheries, oaths of power, evolved totems, alternate classes, new spell templates, paths to bring the power of martial arts and caste backgrounds to your characters, conversion notes for using material from the core rules, and new feats, including Unbound feats to represent those who are learning to break away from the karmic cycle of rebirth towards ultimate enlightenment and oneness with the universe. It has a lot of weapons from the far east that those books never discussed, including the guan dao, the monk's spade, hooked swords, the three section staff, and many others along with new weapon templates, new alchemical items from the exotic orient and many other items. It has wu lin factions, secret societies, immortals, religious cults and sects, government bureaucracies and cover-ups, powerful spirits, imperial courts, exotic locations, demons bound to the very land itself, and ancient mysteries. Is that cool enough?

9. Can you tell me about your experience so far of working with Rite Publishing Vs. Other publishers you have worked with?

I don't really have much experience dealing with other publishers as we never got far into the process for one reason or another. However, what I have experienced with Rite Publishing has been pretty cool so far. I couldn't have picked a better group of folks to work on my project.

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the cover art by Wayne Anthony Reynolds?

Ecstatic. Awed. Blown Away. It was absolutely mind-blowing to see him take that image in my head and turn it into something even better than anything I could have ever dreamed up. Of course, I got to see it bit by bit as he worked on it, but even after that seeing that final product just knocked me over with a feather. The detail is amazing. It is sitting on my dining room wall right now and I still can't believe it all.