Interview

[andrewducker]

The way this works is: I answer the interview questions I asked for elsewhere.

Then if you want, you can ask me to interview you.

These questions are courtesy of the ever-delicious BirdOfParadox.

1) becksifer talks to me about the stunning landscape in your area: what's your favorite part of Edinburgh?

That would be Arthur's Seat

Nothing to do with King Arthur, the name comes from Ard Tor, the derivation of which escapes me. There's a picture of me (with brother and father ) up it here.

2) What's your favorite RPG system and why?

I'm very fond of Amber. And Nobilis. Both bring nice mechanics to diceless gaming. FUDGE is nice and simple mechanic. Theatrix is delightful. Nohing beats rolling a bucket of D6 in Shadowrun.
But my favourite system of roleplaying is to get a bunch of smart, cool people around a table and pretend to be things. Systems never work right for me, and I have a distinct tendency to forget to ask people to roll things and to just get on with the lets-pretend. I like the system nice and simple, and so long as I don't notice it too often, it's fine by me.

3) Completely throw out all restrictions: you have a few days' vacation... Your budget is only limited by your imagination. Where do you go, and what do you do?

Hire a castle. Get as many friends as can face it together for the weekend. Lay on 'entertainment'. My idea of a good time is hanging out with a few friends and having fun. There's nowhere I'd rather visit than somewhere my friends are. Of course, visiting new places with my friends is also cool. But a castle, where we wouldn't be disturbed and could lay on alcohol, drugs, computers, bouncy castles and marching bands would definitely be good.

4) If you could pick up and change your profession overnight, what would you do?

I'd write. Programs. Short Stories. Comics. Poetry. Instruction Manuals. I just like producing things in text.

5) Tell me a childhood story, please?
One December the 26th. I was woken by my mother, who insisted that I and Michael (my younger brother) get dressed immediately. We were then ushered downstairs, along with her, into an ambulance, which drove through the streets of Leicester. I sat in the back and fired my torch-gun out of the window, illuminating my own reflection in various shades as I changed the filter from red to green to yellow. When we arrived at the hospital, they found the two of us a bed and we collapsed back into sleep (although not before I could inform a lady dressed in white that she couldn't possibly be a doctor, because she was a woman). Later that day, my youngest brother Hugh appeared into the world. And that's both the earliest story from my childhood that I remember, and the start of his.

Right, who wants to be interviewed?

Comments

[rainstorm.livejournal.com]

mee, i want to be interviewed, me me!

i also like Arthur's seat, but think i prefer the little windy bits of edinburgh i never have seen until one day when i decide to go left rather than right and suddenly i'm in a whole new place that i can never find again.

i love this city..

[arkhamrefugee.livejournal.com]

Yo. Interview me.

[tisme.livejournal.com]

You know I want it, baby...

[sarcaustik.livejournal.com]

Go on then, any excuse to talk about me ;-)

[aberbotimue.livejournal.com]

puppy... interview puppy

[kpollock.livejournal.com]

Yup, sign me up.

[allorin.livejournal.com]

Please!

And regarding roleplaying - one of the reasons I love roleplaying is different GMing styles. Some people ask for die rolls for everything, making it often tense and luck based and more of a 'game' if you like. I, like you, tend to have to remind myself that the dice are there to be used, otherwise I just let the gamers and my own imagination run away with the story. I love the subtle diferences GMs bring though, it opens up so many different ways to enjoy a game.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

2) What's your favorite RPG system and why?

I'm very fond of Amber.

I've never liked that system, but in large part this reaction is because I met the designer a year or two before it came out and I (and in fact my entire gaming group) utterly loathed him.

And Nobilis. Both bring nice mechanics to diceless gaming. FUDGE is nice and simple mechanic. Theatrix is delightful. Nothing beats rolling a bucket of D6 in Shadowrun.

I dislike diceless gaming (or more specifically non-random gaming, Everway is quite interesting), but Nobilis is definitely fascinating and wonderful. I'm far from certain I could run it or even play effectively in it, but it fascinates me. The author is also one of the most fascinating people I've ever met.

But my favourite system of roleplaying is to get a bunch of smart, cool people around a table and pretend to be things. Systems never work right for me, and I have a distinct tendency to forget to ask people to roll things and to just get on with the lets- pretend. I like the system nice and simple, and so long as I don't notice it too often, it's fine by me.

That's exceptionally true. I alway like some sort of dice system to provide surprise (otherwise I find that gaming tends to become more of a deliberated created story, instead of one that evolves naturally), but in many cases this merely involves rolling two dice and deciding that high is good and low is bad.

Currently, my favorite published systems are revised storyteller (Exalted, Trinity, Aberrant and Adventure!), Conspiracy X, and Big Eyes Small Mouth. However, I've only played the first set in a dozen or so sessions and have never played the other two. Both imester and Aaron use a relatively simple and fairly cinematic house system Aaron and I created back in '85 and have tinkered with since.