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

Part II of the interview with Soren Keis Thustrup 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 .

11.     How did you feel when you first saw the cartography by Jonathan Roberts?

It completely blew me away. The Vallorians' three spires are not the easiest setting, and the maps really, really help. The sense of depth is certain to help all the DMs who'll be running this.

12.     Describe your best moment working on The Living Airship?

When I thought up the flesh golem with the attack from within spell inside. What can I say; I'm a rat bastard DM, sometimes.

13.     What do you feel was the most ingenious part of The Living Airship that you devised?

That's really for others to say. I hope people will agree I made some good choices with regards to the Vallorians, their equipment and their tactics. But other than that, I doubt it's that ingenious a module.

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

Well, part is answered above, but I'm also particularly fond of the scree slope, which puts all non-flying PCs at a distinct disadvantage. Anything that forces PCs to waste resources on just getting from A to B is nifty in my book.

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

Well, there was a spot of bother figuring out heights etc. on the pillars, but otherwise things went pretty smoothly.

16.     What did you learn about design while working on The Living Airship?

Not that much. Although, because it started off as a thing in my own game, re-writing it into a (hopefully) complete adventure was a challenge and quite educational.

17.     What did you learn from playtesting The Living Airship?  What did you change as a result?

Nothing, really. The "playtest" consisted of me running the adventure through, and my crew of 5 8th-level PCs proved up to the task, so that was nice enough.

18.     Did you make any other mistakes or miscalculations in the early stages of The Living Airship? How did you fix them?

None, really. I'm a bit worried that a bunch of 10th-level will just fly up the pillars. I might include some metal nets to keep flyer in their place.

19.     When I look at a setting and an adventure I always think of the Tropes of that setting. What Arcana Evolved tropes does The Living Airship take advantage of?

None that I can think of! This adventure is as action-filled adventure as you could wish for. But of course, with choice and free will being so prevalent in Arcana Evolved, there's nothing that prevents the PCs from taking over the living airship. 

20.     Are you happy with where The Living Airship is today?

As long as it's out where it belongs, with DMs who want to run it, I'm happy.

Continue to Part III

 

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

I finally got a chance to sit down with Soren Keis Thustrup and talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview appears in 4 parts.

1. Please, provide a brief bio about yourself, you gaming habits, and your professional work.
I live in Copenhagen, Denmark, where I work as a copywriter. I run an AE/Ptolus game once every three weeks, and once a month I play in a high-level GURPS game (300 CP for those of you who swing more ways than d20). In my copywriting job, I have done as varied things as designing a marketing campaign that involved Lego bricks, designed a role-playing game, and done a bit of voice-over work for a regional TV ad campaign.

2. This year one of the books you worked on Vault of the Iron Overlord earned an ENnie nomination how did that feel?
Well, naturally, I was exceedingly proud. Unfortunately (although fortunately for the industry), we were up against some very good competitors.

3. Beyond Creation came out this year; do your three AE adventure (Circle of Rites, Beyond Creation, and The Living Airship) constitute an Arc story?
As a matter of fact, they do. Or they did in my own campaign. Basically, Beyond Creation dealt with my PCs being told where their missing airship was, The Living Airship was the adventure where they got it back, and Circle of Rites was the adventure they had in Thayn when they went back to settle the question of ownership. Beyond Creation also dealt with the PCs wanting to destroy the Ebonring (from Mystic Eye Games' Siege on Ebonring Keep)

But they aren't related in their present form.

4. Could you please sum up The Living Airship in a sentence or three?
The Living Airship gives the PCs a chance to obtain an actual airship, but they will have to fight for it, and even if they win, the prize may not be all it's cracked up to be.

5. How did you first become interested in creating the The Living Airship as an action/adventure story rather than a murder mystery like Circle of Rites?
I had a lot less time to think up the original Living Airship, and besides, it was originally designed as a tie-in with Mike Mearls' Siege of Durgam's Folly. And because that adventure was so action-packed, it just made more sense to keep Living Airship the same.

6. How did it feel, to work with a start up publisher like Rite Publishing? What were your initial misgivings? Did any of those prove True/False?
Well, with regards to my adventure, I've only encountered strong commitment and complete professionalism. I didn't have any misgivings - especially since I got to pick my editors!

7. Could you list some of your major influences in the creation of The Living Airship?
Airwolf, for one. And Monte's advice of always looking to make combat more interesting. And some of the Vallorians described in Poisoncraft from Blue Devil Games.

8. What are the strengths of The Living Airship over other adventures? Over other Arcana Evolved Adventure? Over your earlier work?
I wouldn't presume to say that the adventure has anything on other adventures. Compared to other Arcana Evolved adventures, it may be simpler. It's definitely something that can be played over one marathon session, or maybe two regular ones. And compared to my earlier work, well, it was actually written at approximately the same time as Circle of Rites and Beyond Creation, so I'd expect it to be pretty similar.


9. Can you tell me about your experience working for Rite Publishing as opposed to Malhavoc press (Ruins of Revivl) Goodman Games (Vault of the Iron Overlord), Fiery Dragon Productions (Beyond Creation)?
Well, because of my stronger involvement with RP, I felt a more direct connection to the entire process. My work on Ruins of Revival was more in the line of overall design and specific character design. Vault of the Iron Overlord was a two-week masterclass where I got to work with one of the best designers there is and just learn from him. Beyond Creation was quite a finished product when I handed it over to FDP.

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the cover art for The Living Airship by Kurt A. Taylor?
Pride. Simple, utter pride. I was privileged enough to see it grow from concept sketch to final work of art, and the end result is nothing short of amazing.

CONTINUE TO PART II OF THE INTERVIEW.

Vaporware vs. vaporware (The Living Airship has arrived)

The Living Airship is no longer Vaporware! (Wait it's an airship, so it is vaporware, but not Vaporware, whatever you know what I mean!)

My Coauthor on The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path and ENnie nominated designer Soren Keis Thustrup has a new adventure that uses a monster race that I greatly favor the Vallorians (Legacy of the Dragon). The adventure is called The Living Airship and it is now availabel at 30% off cover price, direct from out website you can find it HERE.

A new preview has been released for the Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project

Rite Publishing is proud to present a new player race for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, compatible with the 3.5 version of the world's most popular roleplaying game. Mandragorans are an exotic plantlike humanoid species known for their unique, tapered, head-vines called "nahmaun gorah". Mandragorans consider signed contracts as binding and unbreakable no their part. Paper is sacred and the written word is just as sacred as the paper it is written on. The spoken word is another matter altogether

Design Diary: Rituals of Choice (The Chosen Change)

“Nothing’s the same anymore” –Jeffery Sinclair, Babylon 5 “Chrysalis” by J. M. Straczynski

Well I made a decision

I cannot complete The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path by myself in a timely fashion, this has more to do with the work I am doing running Rite Publishing than anything else. Therefore, I am happy to announce that Soren Keis Thustrup (Circle of Rites, Vault of the Iron Overlord) is now looking over the outline to adventure #6.

I made a major design change to adventure #4 Ceremonies of Sacrifice today shifting to a more open location based encounters (along with event encounters). I also brought back a NPC that died in a previous adventure.

I wanted to show the true power of choice in this game. There is no alignment so undead can choose to act as they will they are not compelled to acts of evil, simply by being undead. In this way the NPC becomes a helpful spirit, but I made him more of a poltergeist so that he is not used as a DM’s mouthpiece. It also let itself to the idea that when you die you might stick around because of unfinished business, which this NPC will have because he got the whole ball rolling that could end all existence and knows that the PCs are the best chance of causing this to happen and preventing it based on their choices.

I just realized this NPC changes he does not stay as one thing throughout the course of the adventure he was A and death has caused him to evolve in to B, I think the next time he will change one more time and that will strike at the AE them of Evolution.

Thus "The Chosen Change".

Steve “Quillion” Russell
Rite Publsihing

Wayne Reynold's cover for Heroes of the Jade Oath is now online

The Time of Waiting is Over!
The Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project!
It arrives before Chinesse Democracy.



Rite Publishing is happy to release the cover for Heroes of the Jade Oath, with artwork by Wayne Reynolds, layout by Corey Graham. The Project currently only needs 11 more patrons to meet thier production goal for this fan-favorite project of Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, the Sign-up deadline for the production goal is Oct 22nd

My newest work: Items Evolved Rituals

Rite Publishing has released Items Evolved: Rituals for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved and the 3.5 version of the world's most popular roleplaying game. This supplement offers 10 new theme specific magic items in a simple reference format that includes read-aloud text descriptions, object loresight, and Lore DCs for each specific item.