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
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.
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