Interview with Ben McFarland (Part 2)

And we are back for Part II of our interview with the ENnie award winning desginer Ben McFarland (Kobold Quarterly, Tales of Zobeck), as we talk with him about his newest projectThe Breakingof Fostor Nagar, City of Grinding Ice You can find Part IHERE

11. Living and breathing the Rituals of Choice adventure path, I know how close one gets to one’s work, how do you handle input for something like as Breaking of Fostor Nagar? How do you plan to handle patron criticism?

Criticism is an essential part of the process-- having contributed to five different patron projects, I know that you absolutely must have criticism to refine a project. I would say I have a tough time with unsupported, unexplained criticism. Don't just tell me you don't like something. Tell me why you don't like something, tell me what about that aspect rubs you the wrong way, and what you think you'd like better or what you'd want to see changed. Just saying, "Eh, I don't like it" helps out no one. I want that criticism, I want to know what works and what doesn't work, what evokes emotion, what is entertaining to explore and play, what keeps you eagerly wanting the next session. If we're trying out new design ideas or playing with various game mechanics and something falls short or strikes the wrong note, I *need* to know so that I can fix it. I joke regularly with my wife-- I failed Telepathy class in school, so you need to tell me things in order for me to improve. :D

12. Describe your best moment so far working on Breaking of Fostor Nagar?

I think when I discussed the kind of arc I had in mind, this race through a dying city fraught with tough choices, that was great. So much just sprang to mind with that discussion.

13. What do you feel was the most ingenious part of Breaking of Fostor Nagar that you have devised so far?

I'd like to think it was setting the city in a glacier, carved from the glacier. The ice is far more mutable than earth, and it allows for a lot more exciting options with less concern about how to justify those options.

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

I'm very pleased this project is going forward with the Pathfinder ruleset. There are a lot of options out there when one wants to tell a fantasy story, but I love the verisimilitude offered by the OGL roots of Pathfinder.

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

For me, the hardest part is always the environment. Environment is the one enemy that the party cannot truly escape and cannot truly defeat. Sure, there are exceptions, there are always exceptions. For most of your adventures, environment helps set the tone, or creates a countdown effect, actively harms your adventurers or even aids them. When you choose the environment for an adventure, you make a big choice about the conditions that will influence the characters' decisions throughout the story.

16. What have you learned about design and especially designing for patronage projects so far?

Get to know the patrons. Listen to them, talk to them and brainstorm with them. It's the best investment you can make.

17. Do you have any intial thoughts on new races, creature, or other new mechanics?

I think it might be a lot of fun to play with the magic of the Hungering Legion--gruesome and utilitarian all at once. Maybe spin up some specialized Ice magics of the defenders.

18. What are the initial obstacles that Breaking of Fostor Nagar must overcome? How do you plan to surmount them?

The toughest part will be setting the primary objective and then adjusting the stories to it. Depending on what we decide the characters need to accomplish, that can redefine our needs across the project.

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

That's a tough question. I think you've got to keep an eye on current game materials and pop culture, as well as current events. The key is finding the ideas that are relevant, fresh and interesting and then putting them in the proper setting. I won't lie, I think there's a lot of alchemy to that process-- more intuition than science, and it's tough to do.

20. Are you happy with the progress of Breaking of Fostor Nagar so far?

Heck yeah! We've got a good concept of the setting, of the scope of the story, and we've got a great creative group together to hammer the ideas into something sharp and beautiful. When you add the fact that we're over 60% on commission, I say, "I like this plan, I'm proud to be a part of it!"

More next time as we continue our disscussion with Ben McFarland about the Breaking of Fostor Nagar, below is a sneak peak at our artwork!

Interview with Ben McFarland part 1

Illustration by Jonathan Roberts

Welcome to the first part of our interview with the ENnie award winning game designer Ben Mcfarland as we discuss his latest project Breaking of Fostor Nagar.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself

What would you like to know? I'm a long term gamer, I started back with basic D&D and the Erol Otis covers, when I probably shouldn't have been playing or really even knowing I was doing more than playing make-believe. But it stuck, and I've been going ever since. I love to read through systems and source material, I can't get enough. I was in the military for a while. I lived on a desert island for a while. I fence, brew beer, and cook Chinese food-- although I do none of those things as much as I would like anymore. I'm a busy father of two and I do boring boring computer work for a day gig.

2. What attracted you as a designer to Breaking of Fostor Nagar?

What wouldn't attract you to this kind of project? I love razor's edge adventures, where there's a time element combined with difficult choices and bloodthirsty combat. I think that when characters need to consider the moral and tactical consequences, when you've got that kind of opportunity to evoke emotion, you don't turn it down.

3. Why do you think patronage projects are expanding?

Patron projects are expanding because they provide several things. A patron project means a regular source of new content to read and enjoy over the project life. It means a chance to contribute and see your ideas forged into something a wider audience will play and enjoy. It means the opportunity to improve your design skills with nearly immediate feedback from a large group of people who are familiar with the game. All of those things are gold, in my opinion.

4. Could you please sum up "Breaking of Fostor Nagar" in a sentence or three?

A high tension race through a collapsing ice-carved city filled with ravenous cannibals, desperate refugees, and panicked defenders. Full of hard choices, hard fought battles, and gorgeous views that would probably be a lot more enjoyable if people weren't trying to kill your characters or thwart your mission.

5. Could you please sum up your design philosophy for this project ?

Dedication. Discussion. Feedback. I love feedback, but I do realize you can't please everyone. I have an image for the arc in my head, but it's not etched in stone. I want to tap into that fantastic creativity that comes with a patronage project and make that mental image spring to inspirational life.

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

Totally flattered and really excited! It's really fantastic to find out that someone's ready to jump into this with me and rock this out!

7. Could you list some of your major influences in your initial thoughts on Breaking of Fostor Nagar?

Wow... Hmmm, well, there's old school movie _Fire and Ice_ tinged with _Return of the King_, there's _Tears of the Sun_ and a few episodes of _Band of Brothers_. There's a lot of looking at architecture in ancient India, and a recent return to reading _Beowulf_.

8. What are the strengths of BoFN being compatible with the Pathfinder RolePlaying Game ?

By being Pathfinder compatible, you've got access to OGL tables, you've got the whole range of folks new to gaming through Pathfinder Society, and the folks that have been working on it since Alpha. I like the system and I think the robust nature of the system is going to let us create a lot of entertaining locations to interact with and explore.

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

Rite Publishing has been great to work with on this project as we started brainstorming and considering options. This is the first time I've gotten to work on a project from the first glimmer of an idea to its post for patronage, and so I don't have a lot of basis to draw from. The communication has been frequent and straightforward, and as a writer, I couldn't ask for better than that!

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the maps created by Jonathan Roberts, for this project?

Jealous? :D They're gorgeous, they're obsessively beautifully detailed, they put me on my toes and tell me, "You damn well better write your ass off because we're not meant for anything less!"

More next time as we continue our disscussion with Ben McFarland about the Breaking of Fostor Nagar!

Interview with Jonathan Roberts (Part IV)

Check out our newest screen shot HERE

Welcome to part IV of our interview with Jonathan Roberts

27. What makes a good Pathfinder product? Virtual Table Top product?

I think what makes a good Pathfinder product is the same as what makes a good rpg product for any system. It has to be clear how the product can fit into an ongoing campaign and has to provide something that GMs wouldn't have created themselves. Most people are running campaigns that will go on over years with established groups. As much as everyone enjoys the odd one-shot adventure, it's better if an adventure can be incorporated into an ongoing campaign. It's also great if these adventures can bring something totally new to the table. With the Breaking of Forstor Nagar we're not only bringing a unique fantasy location to the table, we're also bringing a new table!

A good virtual tabletop product has to to work in the GMs favour. If it takes more time to learn, and sort out bugs or niggles than it saves during play then a virtual tabletop project has failed. We'll be creating a solid e-adventure first with a minimal implementation of the automatic bells and whistles first. Once we have the core of the product rock solid we'll add layers of automation onto that base with the end result of a product that's not only a great time saver, but also easy to pick up and use without a huge learning curve for those that are new to virtual tabletops.

Finally, all products, in whatever form need great production values. We'll be focusing on making sure that this product looks amazing.

28. What is your favorite Pathfinder product?

Oh come on - it has to be the core rulebook. This is what fantasy rulebooks should look like. It oozes style and atmosphere, and the bookmarked pdf is a joy. That was an amazing base from which to launch a new game system and Paizo knocked it out of the park.

29. What is your favorite Fantastic Maps product and why?

I love the Ice Temple. It was a fun take on a standard fantasy trope - the temple. I decided to think outside the box and challenge myself to make a truly fantastic location. The result - a temple inside a frozen waterfall that trapped an ancient dragon - was a great success. I'd certainly do some things differently now but I learnt a lot doing it. There may be products that are more widely useful - I mean who doesn't need a forest map for wilderness encounters - but I love locations that fire up the imagination.

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

My favourite has to be the Rituals of Choice adventure path. The scope of the project with the direct involvement of the patrons at every stage is creating an adenture of epic scope. It allows seeds to be sown early that will pay off far down the road - which fits with the flavour of the Arcana Evolved setting. I was also impressed with the level of care that goes into considering alternative solutions to encounters than the standard 'I kill it and take its stuff' approach. When a GM has this kind of preparation in front of them they tend to run the games differently, almost with the expectation that the players will solve encounters intelligently. I find players respond well to that. The Rituals of Choice adventures do an excellent job of including this degree of depth within a fixed pagecount.

I can't resist mentioning Colosseum Morpheon as well. Any adventure that promises dimension hopping chase scenes and fights that span a solar system has my vote!

31. What has been your best moment playing with an Virtual Table Top?

The best moments are still the standard ones - when they heard that the Lantern Man of Ylraphon was back (in a sequel to Richard Pett's The Styes). When they killed their first dragon. The virtual tabletop games have all the same great moments as your normal games. However there are some great moments that come from the unique advantages that a virtual tabletop provides. I'll never forget my players' first encounter with a gargantuan spider. Now that's a creature with some reach which, combined with it's own enormous size, meant that their torches couldn't see most of it when it was atttacking. The first they knew of the spider was when I revealed what they coud see in the cavern. They saw some pale strands and some large dark spiky lines. They didn't twig, until I rotated it just slightly. One guy said - "guys, did that just move. I don't think those are just set dressing - there's something really big in here". Of course as a good GM that was the perfect time to call for initiative.

32. What has been your most memorable fan response to Breaking of Fostor Nagar?

Awesome and gorgeous have come up a few times. People have really been liking the downloadable ship that I've made available and our first senior patron was very happy with the three masted square rigger that he got as a thank you for signing up. All patrons will get that and other assets as soon as the project hits goal. We've got an interesting selection of patrons so far - some new to VTTs, some old hands, some new to Pathfinder and some who've been playing it through the beta. I'm looking forward to getting the wide varieties of inputs as we put this together.

33. What role do you think Breaking of Fostor Nagar will play in the Pathfinder Rpg gaming community?

I think Breaking of Forstor Nagar will be a major event for Pathfinder. This will be the first adventure created within Pathfinder specifically for use with a virtual tabletop. In the process of creating the adventure we will be developing a framework for the Pathfinder rules that speeds up play for the GMs, and that framework will be available for all people to use in their home games. The existence of a commercially developed Pathfinder framework should be a major boon for the Pathfinder community, and the fact that Paizo have allowed us to create it speaks volumes about their commitment to support 3rd party publishing in all its forms. I think VTTs are likely to become more and more a part of mainstream gaming and I'd love Breaking of Forstor Nagar to be a landmark in that process.

We will also be porting Breaking of Forstor Nagar over into other VTTs - including Fantasy Grounds and TTopRPG. We aim for this to be an adventure that really showcases the capabilities of virtual tabletops.

34. Any plans on personally running a Breaking of Fostor Nagar?

I certainly will be! I have two groups that I regularly GM for and they will certainly be playtesting this. They have an --- inventive approach to tactics so they should give the adventure a pretty thorough run through.

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

The biggest difference is in making sure that all the angles are covered. I know my groups, and though they can go off on some weird tangents I do know their standard tactics. If they're faced with a new city there are specific people they'll go off and talk to, certain locations that they'll want to know about. This lets me focus my time on those aspects of the game. When you're designing for a commercial product its important to consider every GMs group - and try to out guess all the players. Now that's clearly not possible so the trick is giving the GM enough of a safety net so that if the players go off in an unexpected direction the GM will have notes to hand that can cover it. All VTTs have the capability to really help with this through hyperlinks and text tied to locations so there should never be a moment where the GM is leafing through an adventure looking for the name of an NPC.

36. Why do you think this type of project has not been done before?

I think it's because a lot of things have come together now that make this possible. 4th edition does not have an OGL license that allows for the creation of computer adventures, so we couldn't do this kind of venture for 4th edition. In contrast Paizo have explicitly allowed us to create an e-adventure, and we've been developing this at full steam ahead since we got the okay from them. So yes, legally we couldn't have started any earlier!

The wonderful thing is that this comes at a time when Maptool is about to release a new stable version - 1.3. This version has an impressive feature list: initiative tracking, dynamic line of sight, light and vision, macros that allow the players and the GM to automate attacks, apply damage and healing, clickable room descriptions.... the list is extensive and opens up a wealth of options for lightening the GM's load. With this build going into a stable release it's the perfect time to create a commercial Pathfinder adventure.

We will be posting part V of this five part inteview on Friday. Your welcome to sign up as a patron today!

Interview with Steven D. Russell (Small Press Week)

The fine folks over at the Rpg Bloogers Network decided to interview Steven D. Russell, Lord Protector of Rite Publishing as part of thier small press week fiind out more HERE.