HellcowKeith

Not at the moment. While a lawyer from the EFF has assured me that it's really "Fair Use Gloom," it still feels weird to me to share something so heavily based on other peoples' work. For those who've never seen it, Copyright Infringement Gloom is a sci-fi version of Gloom that uses characters and situations from Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, BSG and many more settings.

I am still tempted to make A Gloom Of Thrones, though. After all, GoT is basically the story of a bunch of families that suffer miserably until they finally die!

Technically, I'm part of a number of different industries (Computer game designer, RPG/card game designer, fantasy author). At presented, there are a number of schools that offer game design programs, but that wasn't an option when I got started. I studied English and Creative Writing at Bates College, with an interest in history.

For world designers, one of the most important things you can do is to study our world: history, folklore, geography. Learning what shapes our world and cultures is a great way to create new worlds that feel plausible, even if they are alien.

For game designers, a critical thing is to PLAY LOTS OF GAMES. Tinker with games - change rules and see what happens. It's like taking a watch apart and putting it back together... find things you enjoy and then figure out what makes them work that way.

Anyhow, I could go on at more length about ways to get started, but is there a particular subset of the field you're curious about (Computer, card, RPG)?

Tough question! A while ago I would have said Planescape: Torment, but Mass Effect II is definitely competition for favorite CRPG. And I still have a sentimental spot for Archon, going way back to my childhood - I usually love games that follow that model.

Having worked in MMORPGs, CRPGs, and pen and paper RPGs, ongoing development and evolution of games is definitely something that interests me. There's a lot of games at the moment that change the basic structure of a tabletop RPG. FIASCO cuts out both the bulk of the rules and the GM and just focuses on creating a collaborative story. MICROSCOPE is about creating an entire world. APOCALYPSE WORLD and its variations changes the role of the GM and the nature of player actions. All of these are interesting in their own ways.

With PHOENIX: DAWN COMMAND I'm staying closer to the traditional format in many ways - there is a GM that holds the secrets of the stories and guides the players through it, and each player has a persistent character. However, the reason I'm using card-based resolution is because it really changes the experience and gives players a greater sense of control over the narrative. Phoenix also takes death - something that is usually either trivialized (by resurrection magic/respawning) or avoided at all costs and making it a critical aspect that really defines your story. I didn't set out to create a new RPG system, because there's so many good ones out there - but Phoenix excels at telling a certain kind of story that just doesn't work in most systems.

I don't know what the NEXT new thing will be - but I do feel that there's a lot of great designers (to call out a few of my favorites, Jason Morningstar, Robin Laws, John Harper, Will Hindmarch, and many many more) pushing the form and trying new things. I look froward to seeing what comes next!

Also, I'd love to hear more about your work in Thailand & Chile - I did some traveling back in 2009, but didn't get to Asia or South America. Drop me a line at Keith (at) Twogetherstudios.com!

<<How do you get players unfamiliar to the setting oriented to it?>>

This is something I often face when I'd doing one-shots at conventions or charity events. First off, I usually use pre-generated characters; we'll be providing pre-gens people can use for their first session of Phoenix if they want. This allows me to create a group of characters that have concrete ties to one another and the world as opposed to asking players to come up with character ideas for a world they know nothing about. I make sure the characters have basic concepts that players can connect to... and then I ask them to fill in the details. For example, in one Eberron game I establish that the PCs were all in a PoW camp together during the war. But I ask each player to describe the worst thing that happened to them in the camp, the person they left behind, etc. So they don't know anything about the Last War coming in - but by the time they're done, they know about the war, they know the Karrnathi used undead, and they hate those %&$* Karrns. And that's usually enough to get them start thinking about their own unique stories.

I did a few posts on my blog about the Phoenix pregens - here's one. http://keith-baker.com/creating-a-phoenix-elegy/