Reference Vox Popoli II - Return of the Interview - Now featuring LordTroepfchen

First of all my congratulations for the Award. I could not think of anyone deserving it more this year.

I got to say I was looking forward to you getting interviewed eventually, but isn't this a nice reason for it?

@galactic-vagabond422

So, I got a question that personally interests me. And as you are on the hot seat: How is it playing the same character (Jane) under four different GMs? @Mitth_Fisto and @DarkLordoftheFins, you might have an opinion about it, too? Would really interest me.

 

It's interesting each game brought out something different. The Crossing Jane started out just as cold and sociopathic as the next killer, though with a heavy dose of hate added to her, yet by the end she had joined the hunted, mostly out of her own self interest. In The Reckoning she was already a demon on the side of the angels, so it allowed her a bit of depth, sure she was doing horrible things but for the right reasons, for once. And now in the Seeking, she's jumped straight into being the hunted, and we'll see where things go from there.

All in all it varies, I found myself being more an active participant in Reckoning given that it's tone was much more action thriller like, where as I was more cautious in The Crossing and The Seeking, given that it was stated from the outset that decisions could have deadly consequences. Not that there's anything wrong with either approach it's just that I love this character and I don't want to see her killed. So The Crossing brought out the survivor in her, the woman that will do anything to see the next sunrise, that will bite the hand that feeds her if it means getting out alive. The Reckoning I feel let her be the dangerous freelancer that she was, the woman that will teleport behind you and shoot you in the back of your head. The Seeking it is yet to be determined.

 

Very interesting, thanks!

Another note:
I also feel that Uncle Owen would be good in his own game. I actually played with the idea to play this Antville operation in New York where he met young Adrian Simmons once. Maybe one day? Crossingverse stories before 2004 would have no Gifted in them.

 

Are you planning to pick up even more games or do you feel saturated?

 

I really shouldn't join anymore games, I have issues keeping up and with work hitting peak stress I don't have the time to add another. But, I have been known to let my heart get away from me. So never say never but, for now I think I'm good for games.

 

How does role playing relax you?

Is a hotdog a sandwich?

You touched on this but, what are your feelings on the community since you arrived here? Are we generally more/less welcoming?

As with any large group of people, there’s some sorting that takes place, but you seem to remain fluid through everyone’s games. Do you think that is because we like to play with certain people and read their work or is it a legitimate interest differences?

Being involved in so many games(I can relate), is there a certain GM style that pairs well with your role playing style? For instance, it seems like you and Grey have seamless chemistry and synergy and it makes the posts flow nicely.

Lastly... surely you have no plans to quit the galactic wrestling tournament?!? We’re just getting started, papi!

 

When I don't have a deadline to meet or an update warning hanging over my head. It lets me get the ideas out of my head. There is something nice about taking ideas and outlines and making them whole. Taking bones and putting connective tissue and muscles on them, fleshing them out and giving them form. Being a creator, getting to make something is enjoyable, I can't draw, I can't code, I don't have the patience for wood working, writing is largely my only creative outlet.

Hotdog is a Taco, as the bread covers three sides of the filling, in this manner a sub is also a taco.

I believe we are welcoming or try our best to be so, I don't believe anyone here would actively try and drive people away. I think sometimes it's a little difficult for some of the newer players to know which game to join when most of the top games have a dozen pages and just as many players. It can be overwhelming. Sure we have a few perennial games always looking for new canon fodder (I'm looking at you Black Sheep), but a new player looking at it would likely just back away slowly. Though from most of my interactions with the people here we are by and large welcoming and do our best to educate and mentor. I've always felt it's more of an issue of getting people through the door than keeping them.

I think there's some of I know and like this person so I will join a game they're in. I can think of a few circles of people that are like that. Though it's more than likely a mix of both. They group up in the beginning because of a shared interest in a certain style and stick together afterwards after seeing how well they work together.

Generally I work best with GMs that really give my character some meat to tear into scenery to chew or deeply emotional decisions to make. Grey often gives Blue and Casey just that, though it is very easy to get that with Blue "I can't walk away" Line and Casey. GMs that just leave it up to me to make the story often lose me, I'm not the best making my own story. I can do it but, GMs that look at me and expect me to give my character a story arc, I find myself shrugging. I'm a more reactive player than a proactive player. I don't have a grand arc for my characters that often happens as the GM presents me with more and more challenges.

 

Everything you said I can agree with but...

A hotdog is MOST CERTAINLY not a taco. Smh. And I voted you for best role player. If only I had known.

 

*chuckles at @The Jedi in the Pumas*

Ok, @galactic-vagabond422. So, you're in the hot seat. So I have three questions...and a couple of comments to make. Questions first.

1) As a player, which one game throughout your entire time in the RPF left the greatest impact on you?

2) What type of character have you not tried yet, but are interested in doing so?

3) What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

And now for my comments:

About the Fantasy game. I got your back, my friend.

About being full on games at the moment however....Apologies in advance...just incase.

About newer players having a hard time joining ongoing games...You just gave me an idea.

 

Maybe over PM, old friend. Think the discussion got over that point.


Speaking of which, I add some questions secretly to Elu‘s roster . . .

Everybody seems obsessed with GMs and their relations to players nowadays. I personally feel your co-players are more important. Actually what about other players? Are there any you especially like to play with? I recognized you and Mitth_Fisto having a fantastic chemistry in The Reckoning, but I hardly can oversee this symphony of characters you created there.

How about genres? What I find most impressing about your portfolio is you seamlessly jump from Marvel to Original, to Star Wars (and secretly carving fantasy obviously), which I feel is amazing. Nevertheless, any genre you truly feel you are most at home in?


That being said, I think I had no chance to congratulate you yet. Very pleased to see you win, certainly deserved it!

 

I have to say ELL, it has done more to let me flex my writing muscles than any other game. It has let me experiment with writing a film script (293 Season), write a detective novel (284 Season) and even a pseudo war story (283 Season) it is like my playground, lets me play with my style, try out things and see what clicks and what doesn't. It is also the first game I joined when I came back so it has a special place in my heart.

A quiet menace, the kind of character that will smile at you while planning your demise, and has the power to enact their plan. The perfect example of what I want is Lucile Eris from Legend of Legendary Heroes (Reset the clock). He has such a calm pleasant tone and exterior but underneath his is a remorseless killer and likely one of the most power people in the world, but not evil, they don't wish to sow chaos in fact they want to preserve it.. A quote I love of his is while he is interviewing Sion Estal, the prospective future King.

"If you give an answer I do not like. I will end you, but don't worry, it will be quick, you'll scarcely feel your head leaving the cradle of your shoulders." And his delivery is in this light cheery tone but with a cold edge to it. I don't think I could ever pull it off but it would be fun to try.

African or European?

I think the players have an equal effect to the GM, the GM may make the world but the Players make it real, a world without players is dead. So yeah the people working with you are important. Myself and Mitth_Fisto are a good example of players making the world. Another would be the quick back and forth of Ameteth and me in Marvel Heroes. We just click and know our characters so well. And on the opposite side when you have a player that you just don't get on with (either through difference in style or other reasons) it shows in the writing and can drag things down.

There's not necessarily a genre of game I feel home in, not to say I don't feel comfortable in them, it's just I don't know if I can pin down one type of game and say yes this is my favorite. Though if you twist my arm, I'd probably say small ensemble cast swashbuckling adventures. Where the focus is on one crew of four or five and their adventures through the world. Basically a Table top campaign without all the mess of working out schedules and systems. There's just something fun about having the opportunity to just sit and chat as characters, rather than be shuffled along by the GM from plot point to plot point, or interacting only with NPCs. Again you have to really get on with the other players if you want to do something like that and you need to make sure that everyone is comfortable and getting along, but those games always turn my head when I see them.

 

Soooo anyone can ask questions huh. . .Hmmmmmmm

So Vaga the 422nd of the Bond Clan in the Land of Galactic.

How many games ARE you in/Run?. . .I want a list!

Do you have any tricks to keep up with the above workload?

With such a host of games, (cause I know you're in a few) Who is your fave character and why? (past or present)

What is something you would reallllllllly love to do or write?
Like your at your "limit" now but if someone slid into your PM's and said "hey, you wanna?" what would it? what couldn't you resist?

What is your favourite food? now that I know a hot dog is a taco (This means cereal is a soup! but an argument could be made for it being a salad)

As an artist (of the literary variety) What do you do for writer's block? how do you keep going if the story is uninspiring? What is something a player or GM can do to help you if you ever got stuck?

What do you do in your free time? if you have any? Hobbies outside of the boards in the real world?

Do you enjoy doing stories outside of RPGs? Do you ever have like little story ideas about your (and maybe other) characters and ever just wanna write a short little something with them that's extra or outside of the RPG just cause it sounds like something fun to do?

Congrats on your win!

 

ELL
10ABY
Marvel Heroes
Black Sheep
Kain's Heroes
Twilight of the Force
Resurrection
Last Stand
The Seeking
Paradoxical Echoes
Genesis Gate
Things We Lost in the Fire
You should see me in a CROWN (Currently on hiatus)
Elite Galactic Wrestling (Which I run)
Darkness Rising (A D&D 5e Game I run on the Sufficient Velocity forums)
The Thunder of Coins (A Dieselpunk game I play in on SV)
Contact on Treads (A tank game I play in on the Space Battles Forum)

Find time when ever you can to write, and sometimes you have to triage and decide which ones are the most important now, and worry about the others later. Though if I feel inspired to write a certain thing, write it, that muse is speaking and it will not shut up until you give it what it wants.

Don't make me choose between my children. But if I had to say one character that is my favorite It would have to be Blueline and Casey. They are the characters that have been with me the longest and I just love showing them off, showing what they can do.

Like I said above, a small cast adventure, can be in a fantasy world (Which I would love) or in star wars or wherever else. If you promise me good roll playing, and players I can really work with I am there.

Pulled pork barbecue with a vinegar based sauce, Eastern Carolina or Lexington style preferably.

For writer's block I often just stop trying to force something out and just let it sit for a while. Eventually something comes to me, or something I can work with. Though there are times you just have to sit down and get an post out because the update is coming and you don't want to be left behind. If a work is uninspiring I generally just keep my head down and plow through. It won't be my best writing but it will be something, keep me in the game until something inspiring comes along. And players and GMs can help by giving me something to play off of, like I said I'm a reactive player not a proactive player so if someone can give me something or someone to work with that's the best.

Free time what is this free time you speak of...Outside of my writing for RPGs I play in two TTRPGs (one D&D 5e and the other FFG Edge of the Empire) and run one FFG Age of Rebellion game. And beyond that I often find myself watching youtube to unwind, often let's plays or wrestling videos.

While I don't have the time to truly write outside of RPGs I do on occasion write little stories about other characters, things that don't quite fit around here or scenes that I can't find a place from them in my myriad of games. I used to post a little in the Fan Fic forums but RPF is my first love.

 

Eastern Carolina......

First of all, clearly G_V has good taste because the BEST BARBECUE IS MADE IN NORTH CAKALAKY.

Lexington...

These words... do we have another Carolina native here?

 

I lived in the Carolinas for a bit there, but I consider myself Virginian, (Despite being born in South Dakota, lived in VA since I was young.). I just have two barbecue places in the area, one, right by my workplace, offers Eastern Carolina sauce the other, right by my house, has Lexington. I did first encounter vinegar based sauces in North Carolina. There was a place that my family visited often on trips south, they had the best barbecue I'd ever tasted. Unfortunately it closed down about a decade ago, but ever since then I've preferred vinegar based sauces.

 

Tomorrow the BEST GM interview comes up, so last chance to bug our winner for best GM with questions!

 

Vox Popoli Special - Winner of the Summer RPF Awards 2020 for Best GM LordTroepfchen


Congratulations for winning the award as Best GM in the Summer 2020 RPF Awards. How does it feel?

Thanks. Always feels good to win something. I am very honored and actually very proud of the award for Best Game, which probably goes more to my players than me.


Originally you did not wanted to give me an interview, despite being requested a lot. So we had to give you an award to convince you?

Yeah. You kinda got me there. I just feel like I have given two of those already, why would anybody want a third one?

An Award is a nice reason, I‘d say.

Yes it is.

Anyway, let me take this chance to say, that I believe all three final nominees and probably many others deserved the award as much as I do if not more. I think @greyjedi125 is doing an amazing job with Marvel: A New Breed, a game I have occasionally been lurking. His accomplishments around here are uncounted and he keeps to amaze me. @Trieste? Ten years of GMing Elite League Limmie? I wanna use the words from someone I talked to recently. That is a legendary feat! Unequaled in the RPF‘s history. Consistently running a game for such a long time, he certainly would have deserved this award too. I think there are many more GMs who are doing an amazing job right now! Too many to hand out enough awards, probably!

Let me not even talk about all those great GMs who have NOT made it to nomination.
So I consider myself lucky to have won, but seriously I feel the other two guys deserved it just as much as I do if not even more!


Well, you have been GMing Villain, The Fall of Elyseum and Episode X - The End of Harmony this year and are famous for the creation of Crossingverse, tell me which of the games you think was it that got you the award?

Villain. I just failed so spectacularly with it, people felt sorry for me!

Seriously: Considering the win in Best Games I guess the Fall of Elyseum and Episode X probably did the trick. Winning Awards is a numbers game. You need votes, therefore more votes than anybody else. I had a lot of players this year, playing in my two games. So I guess that gave me an advantage, just having been exposed with my GMing to more players. It is the same as in any voting competition. Majorities are hard to get and if half the board does not even know your intimate three people game, how can they vote for you? Does not mean your small game is not brilliant, it just means it is not very likely to convince a majority to vote for it.

Also my players seem to like my games and do amazing stuff there. All my players have been spectacular and creative. I feel blessed with those guys. So a great thanks to . . . God I hope I do not forget anyone now . . . @Kalio_Dynkos, @Mitth_Fisto, @MASTER Vo‘Un‘Var, @The Jedi in the Pumas, @HanSolo29, @RachelTyrell, @SirakRomar, @DarkLordoftheFins, @Sir_Draco, @Lawbreaker, @Ktala, @galactic-vagabond422, @Mintbase, @Iteration, @Jerjerrod-Lennox, @Sinrebirth, @greyjedi125

Did I get them all? Hope so.


What brings you joy as a GM? Why are you GMing?

Not to win awards or be praised by people on the internet, haha.

Actually I was thinking about this a year ago. I could not pinpoint it completely. Actually someone in the GM Group said post-by-post gaming is a medium and like every medium it has restrictions. That is true, but like any medium you get familiar with it, too. I feel at home when I GM a game.

I think what makes me tick is seeing the games come together. I have an idea what I want to do when I start the game and when I feel it happening, I am feeling very very satisfied and rewarded.


Which aspect as of GMing do you like most?

Reading player updates. I always get a kick out of it. Seeing what they do, how they think, what decisions they make! Doesn't matter if they are good or evil, I love characters for the depth they bring to their world, not their morality.


Okay, let us talk about the games then. How did you come up with The Fall of Elyseum?

Oh, we go so deep? I thought this more of a superficial THANK YOU interview!


You were often requested for an interview because people wanted to know about your games and now I got you here, so you are gonna endure at least a few short questions about your creative process. The Fall of Elyseum. How did it come about?

Okay, a quick one. Well, if you read the last interview I gave for @darthkronos I already mentioned there I wanted to do a game based on a Jedi Academy. So I had this idea for a while. It was called Praxeum. You can find it in posts ten years ago. When Corona hit this planet and I felt like I need to do a game to get my head out of whirling around and give people something to enjoy, I immediately had this game in my head. I already had decided I wanted to try Episode X at that point, so I decided to make it a full prequel and introduction to the world. See how people liked it. Hit a nerve there, also with myself.


How hard was it to update daily?

I was let go of my job, so I had unlimited time at my hands practically and a very dark and stressful start into the global crisis. So . . .
In the beginning it not hard at all. I must say daily postings are very rewarding. You write and get an immediate reaction. I know it is not easily done, but hell I checked the board every two hours to read and usually the update was right there in my head. I had a firm plan when it came to pacing, scenes I wanted to have (almost all got replaced by better scenes created by my players, except Master Kran‘s execution) and twists. Players added additional depth. Proxy, the droid from an unknown benefactor introduced by @greyjedi125 made me rewrite everything, but hell he was so good! I enjoyed the whole GMing greatly.

By the end I was beginning to feel GM exhaustion a bit, but the finale was just wonderful. I think I could not have kept it up another week though. Anyway, I advise any GM to try this at some time. Really amazing experience to have such a direct interaction with players. Limit it to thirty days, probably.


How much did the Corvid-19 situation influence you as a GM there?

It was the core of the game. All I wanted was to have a game to get through this and to give others a game, too. A little joy perhaps. An escape. For me it was an escape. I must say I tried not to make it too lighthearted to avoid making it a cheap reality denial, but I hope some people just had a little bit of a better day because of the game.

That is why I did a Star Wars game, actually. It is a dark time, also for me. What is Star Wars about if not fighting darkness against impossible odds?


Episode X - The End of Harmony was a full blown game following Fall, so how did this come about?

It was really born from a series of moments. Been around in my head for a decade. My disappointment with what Disney does with the franchise took over played a role. I had for a long time the idea of having a blank slate movie-like game. Many moments from the Crossing, tabletop, reading books always gave me ideas for this game. At some point I just wanted to make the game and I then after The Fall of Elyseum I also felt I kinda owed it to the players who had invested so greatly into my game. I just did it.


Actually this is a common theme in all your interviews, I think that is the fourth now. You spend years on planning these games, do you? Why so long?

Not on planning them, no. I got ideas and some of those ideas just develop and stay with me. I had an idea for a time-travel thriller years before The Crossing. Also had the idea of a game where one team hunted the other, which then fused. Episode X has been around since before Episode VII went to screens, I believe. But my original idea was very different. I did not really plan to do it. I consider my head a box. I throw ideas into that box and see what survives and gets stronger. I always did it like this. My only games I designed for immediate use instantly failed, so I kinda trust this selection process in my head. I think I need the depth of this process to actually make it work.


You also created the Crossingverse, which was later expanded and continued with your blessing by @HanSolo29, @DarkLordoftheFins and now me. How does it feel? Having other GMs continue in the world you created?

That is a unique and amazing experience. Seriously, I think it was great by @HanSolo29 and @DarkLordoftheFins to pick this up and continue. Your game is also very impressive so far. I feel it is amazing how everybody hit the right tone and it all feels like one world, also we have these many different approaches to it. @HanSolo29 went down the blockbuster road. @DarkLordoftheFins made it more an intimate tale of the apocalypse. You turned it into a high stakes Euro-Thriller. I enjoy it greatly. Truth is, I had no sequel inside of me. The Crossing was also growing for years, I would have needed another decade to come up with a follow up, so people who had an idea how to continue picked up and made this a franchise. This is pretty cool. I feel not at all possessive about this world, so I can enjoy it as a player.


What do you think of the Awards in general? What did you think of this season especially?

This Season was crazy. We got crazy times in the RPF. The amount of amazing games is astounding. Nobody can join all of them anymore. I think in all categories I felt like we could have easily six, seven candidates nominated. We got a guy winning for two characters who was not even nominated for best player, for example. My favorite three game I have seen around here where not nominated! Shows we got a lot of quality content right now. I feel we got games around which would have so owned the Awards this year, which were not even getting to final stage, because we have so many of those.

The awards in general are a beloved tradition by now.

I like the chance the community is given to appreciate the hard work of members and I must say I feel the new categories presented by @DarkLordoftheFins were very good at that. Thanks to Fins for hosting, by the way. I think he did a smooth and admirable collected job there. Outstanding.

I do not like the drama sometimes surrounding the awards.


Wish to elaborate on the last part?

Not really. No.


Okay. What is your greatest challenge as a GM? What do you feel you can become even better at?

Player managing. I got more players in a game than ever before. More players than in my last two games together, to be precise. I also have committed to two updates a week. It leaves me less room for Combined Posts and individual players as I am used to. I try my best, but I admire guys like @Sinrebirth for managing such huge crowds of players.


Will the award have any effect on you as a GM?

I don‘t think so.


So what is the secret of your GMing? What is the special ingredient?

Players. I think good games are good players, doing good playing. I seem to have attracted a bunch of very good players. I think that is my secret. Just get them and then give them something to work with. The rest the players do!


You have won awards before, how do you feel the Awards have changed over the years?

Oh the boards have kinda grown up a bit. So have the awards. My first award was handed to me as Best GM before I ever truly GMed. I did a three update holiday replacement job for @Sinrebirth and got an award for it. I mean, thanks, but it was a bit silly and only happened because Sinrebirth was not eligible. I feel these kind of things do not happen anymore and I think that is an improvement. Also having them more rarely gives them a more special feeling. Also some games become forgotten, regrettably.


You have been especially praised for your cinematic style in the nominations. How do you accomplish this?

I am a wanna-be movie director, I think. I really want to shoot a movie and instead I do a game. This is just me pathetically trying to emulate the feeling of a movie into a game to balance my inner demon to pick up a camera.
I was actually a semi-professional screenwriter once, so I know all the techniques of doing it. I think that is still the template I use to create scenes and plotlines.


You have been around for ten years now, played in many games. Who was the greatest influence on you as a GM?

Before I came here I played for over half a decade under the user we knew here as SonofZeus. He showed me what GMing is probably. I miss him a lot.

Well, I think my early roles in big games had a certain influence on me. 128 ABY - The Sith-Imperial War by @Sinrebirth is a classic for me and it showed me everything about how games are done around here. As Father As Son by @BobaMatt was probably a great influence on Episode X, as I wanted to have this movie feeling BobaMatt created there.

The greatest influence on me was certainly @DarkLordoftheFins whose The Sins of the Saints Quadrology I was Co-GMing. His influence cannot be overstated. I learned a lot from him. He is semi-retired nowadays, but I still feel like standing in his shadow. He pushed the limits of what GMs can do with the medium.


So what comes next? Any immediate plans for your next games should the current ones conclude or end?

Nope. I got asked a lot about Episode XI lately, but it is too early to think about that one. I think Episode X will run for a while, if players keep being so invested in the game. I am not gonna start any further games as long as it does. If it ever concludes I will see what comes next and if there is an appetite for a sequel and if I got one in me. But plans? Plans are there to make Gods laugh.


Are there more games brewing up for a decade in your head?

Oh yes, I got a few of those. But spelling them out kills the process. So not a word. If any of those ideas ever become full blown games we will see. Most are original works and I kinda burned my hands with Villain on those.


Now many other candidates look at you with admiration and probably a bit jealousy, do you have any advise for them? How does the Winner of the Best GM award thinks you become a better GM?

Practice. My first games were total crap. I hope I got better with every one though.


Okay, last question. What would you as a GM like to see in the future of the RPF?

All I would like to see is that some of the amazing level of activity and incredible influx of games we got right now keeps up. This is a Golden Summer for all of us here in the GM, also it is a dark one for everybody out there.

Well, also I do a Star Wars game myself right now, my love for non-Star Wars games is well known. So I hope this tradition develops. I love how original worlds are back! I love it when GMs do that! Games like @Lawbreaker‘s in all my dreams i DROWN, @Reynar_Tedros Wasteland, @TheAdmiral‘s The Calm Before the Storm, @Shadowson‘s The Coldest War and Master Vo‘Un‘Var‘s The Visitor make me so very, very happy. I sometimes regret my own commitments leave me no room to join these games. I really, really want to join all of them.

Thank you LordT!

Thank you Claire. I wanna say i was especially happy for you winning the award, as you do an amazing job here and I know it is a bit of work. Great you actually got appreciated by the community.


So the floor is yours for the next four days.
Next up? The Winner of the Summer Games hosted by @The Jedi in the Pumas!

 

Love the interview!

 

Lovely interview! Will have some additional questions for sure, but let me say first . . . You never stood and will never stand in my shadow. If I would be half the GM you are, I would be happy.

 

Wonderful interview, I love it.
Some questions I got.

1. How deep is your planning of your games? How defined is the plot? It all seems very natural how these plotpoints merge into each other.
2. How do you feel the RPF compares to other sites? How do you feel post-by-poster compares to other models like joint-writing or chat based games? I know you have experience with them.
3. You mentioned your ex-career as a screenwriter influences your style. it kinda shows. What do you take from screenwriting and translate into GMing?
4. Any character you would die to play?
5. What were you favorite three characters to ever play around here?

 

My questions:

1. You also won the first ever Most Impressive NPC Award for Canos Zoren, so how did you come up with him?
2. You are a senior Table Top GM, having been running games for what now? 20 years? How does Table Top GMing translate into GMing post-by-post?
3. What made you come back to Star Wars as a GM?
4. Any chance you will pick up a Crossingverse game ever again?
5. You are also a player around here, portraying Sherlock Holmes (congrats on this award), Luke Skywalker, Robert Landau, Thomas Pfeiffer, Teros Kron and President Matthew Andrews. What attracts you to games?
6. What is your favorite game that did not get nominated? I could guess, but please tell us

 

@DarkLordoftheFins

You also won the first ever Most Impressive NPC Award for Canos Zoren, so how did you come up with him?

Like every Star Wars game my game needed a villain. I felt like I wanted to return to the roots. I created sort of a West End Games Star Wars villain. He started with the idea of a fallen Obi-Wan Kenobi. I knew early on I did not wanted the Sith as main villains, so I had to create my own nemesis for the players. From there I developed Canos Zoren. Do not wanna spoil too much about him, as he still has some secrets to reveal.

You are a senior Table Top GM, having been running games for what now? 20 years? How does Table Top GMing translate into GMing post-by-post?

GMing tabletop since 1993. How does it translate? Not as much as one thinks. On the table you get this instant reaction and you can use it. Here you get posts. I feel my early games tried much too hard to emulate table top here.

What made you come back to Star Wars as a GM?

It was just the game I wanted to play. No specific reason. I felt my take on Star Wars had to get out of the system.

Any chance you will pick up a Crossingverse game ever again?

I feel it is in perfectly capable hands where it is. So never say never, but actually no.

You are also a player around here, portraying Sherlock Holmes (congrats on this award), Luke Skywalker, Robert Landau, Thomas Pfeiffer and President Matthew Andrews. What attracts you to games?

Original games are hard to resist, also I usually watch certain GMs and if I like what I see I wanna play with them. If a character comes up to my mind right after reading the OP that is a good sign. Nowadays I struggle to keep up, so no more games for me right now.

What is your favorite game that did not get nominated? I could guess, but tell us.

It is in all my dreams i DROWN by @Lawbreaker. A damned masterpiece, of you ask me.



@Lawbreaker

How deep is your planning of your games? How defined is the plot? It all seems very natural how these plotpoints merge into each other.

I plan and adjust. All the time my players take their own path, but if you know the world and your NPCs there is usually a natural reaction to it. Everyone wants the same, so I feel improvising is incredibly easy when you know your game, players, characters and world.

The galaxy keeps on turning of course and there are some events players cannot do anything about. To some of those I can easily predict reactions, so there is a certain planning that usually does not need any adjustment, only execution.

How do you feel the RPF compares to other sites? How do you feel post-by-poster compares to other models like joint-writing or chat based games? I know you have experience with them.

I love post-by-post. It is slower than other forms and less literary than joint-writing games. But you can accept any player and know he will be fine. Also you got no limits in size. You can take ten players. Twenty. Thirty. Most other games cannot do this.

Player wise post-by-post needs a special kind of player. A writer who also focuses on character and leaves story to GM to a certain extend. It feel different then „closer“ systems I tell my players a story and in return, they tell me one. I like that a lot.

Other systems are attractive, too. Especially in joint-writing I had great experiences. Chats are hit and miss with loads of miss.

You mentioned your ex-career as a screenwriter influences your style. it kinda shows. What do you take from screenwriting and translate into GMing?

Puh. Good question. I‘d say a lot. Heroes Journey. Eight sequence model. Three Acts. Point-of-attack, hooks, blends, plot vs. story are all principles I got in my head when writing a game.

Any character you would die to play?

Max Payne. James Bond. Indiana Jones. I got an appetite for canon characters outside Star Wars.

What were you favorite three characters to ever play around here?

Palpatine in As Father as Son, Karl in The Sins of the Saints, Robert Landau in you should see me in a CROWN and Darth Zorn in Twilight of the Force. I know it has been four, but what do you wanna do? Sue me?

 

Just a couple from my side . . .

You invent a lot of stuff for your game. While most GMs around here use movie material and EU to death, you seem set to invent a Star Wars world of your own. Why is that and what is the reasoning behind it?

Your game is quite innovative take on Star Wars. So what are your main inspirations behind it?

What was your favorite moment of post-by-post RPing ever? Only one. Okay, one where you participated and one where you did not! But only those two!

Who do you miss around here?

Any GM you never played with you wanna play with in the future?

What is the GM you will most likely join when their next game comes up?

What is your favorite player character (none of yours)?

What is your favorite world you ever played in?

What game do you want to see a sequel to?

Finally, to the master of villains, what kind of villain would you feel like you wanna play and haven‘t?


So, that would be it from my side . . .

 

You invent a lot of stuff for your game. While most GMs around here use movie material and EU to death, you seem set to invent a Star Wars world of your own. Why is that and what is the reasoning behind it?

I wanted to make something of my own Star Wars movie, not emulate the experience of the old ones or the EU. What do all Star Wars movies do? What did the prequels do? What did the OT do? They introduce new designs to every film. Designs we have never seen before. They invent new planets. I also like some of the EU stuff so much I use it, but mostly I try to innovate as much as possible, just like Lucas did. Some designs are familiar, some are not. I like that stuff. I have thousands of pictures ready to go up once my characters arrive at the right setting or scene. It is part of the fun of faking my own Star Wars movie. Episode X is a love-letter to my youth and how I perceived Star Wars.Being 100 years in the future also makes it necessary. I would not want to be lazy and behave as if no time has passed.

You game is quite inventive. So what are your main inspirations behind it? What inspires LordT for games?

Oh, who knows that truly? What I can identify.

Dune Novels, Meta Baron Comics, Christophe Bec, Monomyth theory by Joseph Campbell and Vogler variant, artwork, Game of Thrones, Wing Commander games, West End Games Adventure Journals, Legacy Comics and the works of Philip K. Dick, Atrium Caceri music, Lucas King alternate Star Wars themes. Among many other things.

What was your favorite moment of post-by-post RPing ever? Only one. Okay, one where you participated and one where you did not! But only those two!

Man, that is almost impossible. Whatever I say, might feel different about it tomorrow. Impossible to answer, sorry.
Wait, I remember shouting FINALLY when Rufus Jameson slept with Lilith in The Sins of the Saints. The chemistry between those two is simply disturbing. So happy they are temporary reunited.


Who do you miss around here?

Too many to name. Really, everyone from SotS who left. Many more. LordDarthUmbrus, sprintABM, DarthXan, Saintheart, WingedJedi, The GoodImperial. Spycoder. RepublicAnvil. Too many. I could go on like this for hours . . .

Any GM you never played with you wanna play with in the future?

I plan to join Greyjedi125‘s Marvel game in some capacity when time allows. I also plan to join TheAdmiral‘s The Calm Before the Storm or any sequel, again when time allows.


What is the GM you will most likely join when their next game comes up?

See above, also @Lawbreaker and if Fins ever does something again I will be on board.

What is your favorite player character (none of yours)?

Vashti Schick by @swbeauty.


What is your favorite world you ever played in?

The Sins of the Saints.


What game do you want to see a sequel to?

Puh. Candlewood maybe. in all my dreams i DROWN. Asylum (ha, who remembers that one?). A Bad Day in L.A.. None of it is gonna happen I suppose.


Finally, to the master of villains, what kind of villain would you feel like you wanna play and haven‘t?

An evil Superman.