While Kevin was over in Chicago to hang out with the Jank Cast he got a chance to sit down with Ron Edwards for an hour or three.  I’ve broken the interview down into two parts for ease of consumption. In this first part, we talk a bit about his inspirations for his new game S/Lay /w Me vis a vis early gaming history and the conservative crackdown on all things considered “obscene.” Then we move on to discuss how identity politics can interfere with system discussion, and then a bit about why and how he wrote Trollbabe. Stay tuned for part two!

Relevant Links

• Adept Press
• IPR
• Monte Cook
• Sorcerer
• Skype
• Code of Unaris
• The Forge
• Actor, Director, Writer stance
• Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser
• Henry Kuttner and CL Moore
• H.P. Lovecraft
• S/Lay W/ Me
• Rob Bohl
• Clyde Roher
• Forge Midwest
• Moral Majority
• Scopes Monkey Trial
• B.A.D.D. and The Pulling Report
• Comics Code Authority
• Zap Comics
• Robert Crumb
• S. Clay Wilson
• Gilbert Sheldon
• Meese Report
• Tipper Gore
• Frank Frazetta, Frazetta “Cat Woman” and Boris Vallejo, Vallejo Conan the Barbarian
• Elmore (Red Box)
• Elric of Melnibone
• The Riddle of Steel
• The Shadow of Yesterday
• Dave Arneson
• Blackmoor
• Nine Worlds
• GURPS
• Champions
• Heroes Unlimited
• Vampire: The Masquerade
• Over the Edge
• Prince Valiant
• Chivalry and Sorcery
• The Jank Cast
• The Infamous Five Threads
• Spirit of the Century
• Robert Jordan
• Vincent Baker
• Trollbabe
• Andrea Dworkin (who apparently denies attribution for the quote Ron used, see the 6th question here)
• Liz Danforth
• The Fantasy Trip
• Eastern Promises
• Anna Kreider
• Dragonlance
• XDM
• Jonathan Tweet

Crunchy Bits!

• The Walking Eye Interview 10: Ron Edwards Part 1: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
• Intro and Outro music provided by Oh Possum.

Due to some lucky circumstances, I managed to land an interview earlier this week with Ryan Macklin and Lenny Balsera. This was a serendipitous event, as Evil Hat had just released their official press release announcing the release date and info about the Dresden Files RPG. I sit down with these two and BS about the challenges of creating a game from the Dresden Files license, then we dive into some of the nitty gritty about how FATE was used to create the world of Harry Dresden.

Relevant Links

• Dresden Files RPG
• Evil Hat
• Lenny’s Blog
• Ryan’s Blog
• The Sunless Citadel
• Duke Nukem Forever
• Urban Fantasy
• Perdido Street Station
• Endgame Oakland
• Evil Hat Brick and Mortar Guarantee
• Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies
• Ptolus
• Chris Hanrahan’s Blog
• Scribd
• bittorrent
• GURPS
• Hero
• D20
• Starblazer Adventures
• Diaspora
• FATE mailing list
• Spirit of the Century
• Jared Sorenson’s 3 Questions
• The Wire
• Clark and Amanda Valentine
• Caine  (Kung Fu)
• Las Vegas: The Strip, Sumerlin, Henderson
• Steve Wynn
• Burning Empires
• The Bracelet Problem
• Mage (The Awakening and the older Ascension)
• In Nomine
• In Nomine Fate Fan Conversion
• Robert Bohl (and our interview with him)

Crunchy Bits!

• The Walking Eye Interview 9: Dresden Files RPG with Ryan Macklin and Leonard Balsera 1 Hour 26 Minutes
• Intro and Outro music provided by Oh Possum.

The gang spends a good 45 minutes ranting and raving about how awesome In A Wicked Age… is.

Relevant Links

• Lumpley Games
• In a Wicked Age…
• Sword And Sorcery
• Tanith Lee
• Jack Vance
• Robert E Howard
• Iron Age
• Marvel Comics Conan
• Lumpley Games Oracle Generator
• Misspent Youth
• Duel of Wits
• Emily Care Boss
• Mouse Guard
• Conflict Flow Chart
• The Dreaded D&D 3.5 Grapple Rules
• The Dreaded D&D 3.5 Attacks of Opportunity Rules
• Abulafia
• Silver Age Comics
• GURPS
• Grey Ranks
• Spirit of the Century

Crunchy Bits!

• Discussion Episode 15: In A Wicked Age… Review 50 minutes
• Intro and Outro Music from The Prince of Persia by Inon Zur and Stuart Chatwood published by Ubisoft.

Kevin sits down with CJ to regale him with tales of his exploits at GenCon. There are several games explained, and a fuzzy recollection of Kevin’s booze-soaked Saturday adventures at the Podcasters Meet and Greet.

Relevant Links

• Bear Swarm
• Podgecast
• Trapcast
• Brilliant Gamologists
• Action Castle
• Do You Worship Cthulhu / Mafia/Are you a Werewolf
• Rob Bohl
• Kevin’s twitpic
• Siggraph
• Michael Stackpole / The Pulling Report
• Mechwarrior PC game / intro cinematic / Battletech Classic / Battletech Pods
• Storn A. Cook / Sons of Kryos
• Indie Press Revolution
• Paul Tevis: Voice of the Revolution / Have Games Will Travel
• All Games Considered Podcast
• Penny for My Thoughts
• Sean Nittner / Narrative Control Podcast
• Paul Czege / My Life with Master
• Tony Lower-Basch: Capes and Misery Bubblegum
• Games on Demand Games: Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, In A Wicked Age, Houses of the Blooded, Spirit of the Century, Misspent Youth, Primetime Adventures, Escape from Tentacle City, Dogs in the Vineyard, Mouse Guard, Polaris, 3:16, Cold City, Hot War, Shock, Amber, Inspectres, Shab-Al-Hiri Roach, Carry, Shooting the Moon, Annalise, Penny for My Thoughts.
• Coma White (what Kevin actually meant was “Soma” from Brave New World. Oops)
• Burning Wheel / The Sword
• Christopher Moeller
• Games Workshop
• Heinlein’s Starship Troopers
• Forge Midwest
• Willow Palecek
• The Forge
• Ron Edwards / S/lay w/ Me / Spione
• Steve Long
• Theory from the Closet
• Ryan Macklin / Master Plan Podcast
• Pulp Gamer
• The Jank Cast
• Diagonally Through the Woods
• D&D “Moldvay Basic”
• Tony Dowler / How to Host a Dungeon
• Dungeon Keeper / Dwarf Fortress

Crunchy Bits!

• Discussion Episode 13: 1 Hour
• Intro and Outro music provided by Oh Possum.

Promos and Bumpers:

• This Modern Death
• Have Games, Will Travel
• Spooky Outhouse

After a few scheduling SNAFU’s, we finally get a chance to sit down with Gregor and discuss our experiences with his game 3:16: Carnage Amongst the Stars. The conversation hits a lot of topics, from his gaming history, to design decisions behind 3:16, to what to do with NFA, and finally, which of his games he would save from a drowning. Gregor was a real sport for taking the time out of his evening to talk to us, and we look forward to meeting him in person at GenCon this year!

Relevant Links

• Gregor Hutton’s Home Page - 3:16, Best Friends
• Ron Edwards – The Ronnies
• Traveller: 2300 AD
• 24 Hour RPG, Game Chef
• The Forge
• Malcom Craig – Hot War, Cold City, A|State
• Mayuran
• Pendragon
• Lord of the Rings BBC Radio Play
• Traveller
• Warhammer Fantasy
• RPG.net
• Andy Kitkowski
• Story-Games.com
• Open Roleplaying Community
• Left 4:16 Dead
• WWII 3:16 Hack (weapons) (character sheet and range map)
• IPR (Indie Press Revolution)
• Mouse Guard
• Spirit of the Century
• Houses of the Blooded
• Epidiah Ravachol – Dread
• Kevin Allen Jr.
• Nathan Pallota: Carry, a game about war, Annilise
• Shreyas Sampa – Mist Robed Gate
• Joe Prince – Contenders, Piledrivers & Powerbombs, Labrynths & Lycenthropes
• AT 43
• Fantasy Flight Games
• Vincent Baker -  Arrows, Boxes, Clouds, and Smiley Faces, Kill Puppies for Satan
• The Right To Dream
• John Harper – Lady Blackbird
• Go Play Northwest

Crunchy Bits

• Interview 6: Gregor Hutton 1 Hour
• Intro Music Provided by Mark Morgan from the soundtrack to Planescape: Torment
• Outro Music Provided by Doyle W. Donehoo (released by Games Workshop for free) from the soundtrack to Dawn of War II