10 Questions by Graham of Folkestone

How long have you been playing?

Photo by Jesse Gifford

Since 1997. What Fools These Mortals Be. It's actually, I think at the same sight as modern-day Feast of Chimeron, the camp in Chesterfield. It occurred to me years later that I actually gone camping at that site as a Boy Scout, but only in the Winter, so I didn't really recognize it.

My memories of that day are a tiny bit scattershot at the least. I had terrible garb, a standard issue WPI terrible PVC 3'8". I rode down with Sean Veale who had a mixtape that had "Barbie Girl" on it. That is completely true, and I will not let that slip into the couch cushions of history. I borrowed a 4'6" from a man named Dunk, which I didn't realize was an OOC name until I was reintroduced to him at Sean Anderson's wedding.

It was scary, it was fun. It was confusing as all get out. There was a blackboard with a bunch of weapon combinations and names of Furies. I ran away a lot. I thought poison hitting your hand killed you, so I died perhaps more often than I should have. Only like ten years later did I kind of piece together what was going on. I remember poor Prospero getting jacked by Arch Healers. He could only be killed by 3fts, and whenever he approached the circle of healing they really took him out behind the woodshed.

How has the game changed since you've been playing?

There's a lot of things that are certainly vastly different. The first major thing is that north and south aren't really a thing anymore outside of North/South war. If you had said to me 15 years ago that I'd be in Folkestone, I'd say zero chance. I actually left Rhiassa so I wouldn't be allied with Folkestone back in the day. That wasn't the only reason, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in my top three. It wasn't specifically the North thing, but I didn't want to be associated with some of the evil characters that were in there (for entirely IC reasons).

Another thing that's different is that the world is a hell of a lot more pedestrian and a lot less in flux. A huge example of this is that the gods are now kind of static. When I started there were tons of gods, large and small, and there were different gods that watched over different lands and different situations. The Rantheon, once a fairly solid set of gods, but on the side and contained to themselves, has been pretty much cemented as the central set of Realms deities. Our push for consistency has had the odd side effect of removing a lot of the mystery in the game. We've also started having players "come in" with backstories tied to existing plots which has firmed those stories into the fabric of the game.

Previously it wasn't uncommon to see people make up entirely new things to come in with backstories about, and they told their stories on the game. For instance, Cecil came in as a worshipper of the Beast. That was sort of his "thing", and when he pushed it as a story, it then became part of the game. People used to be able to have a shtick or something that they would come in and play, and then involve other people, and then their story would end up a part of the world. Now we have a culture where we encourage, shame, or force people to take part in existing narratives that go along with the really firm world that we have. Looking back, I think that is what a lot of people fell in love with about the Saurabia kids. They came in and were like "we're dinosaurs." They stuck to their guns. Sure, it's weird and goofy, but it was the first thing to stick in a while.

Photo by Jesse Gifford

There's sort of this notion that floats around that says that people don't really roleplay much like they used to or as much as they used to because people don't care. I'd challenge that to be false; people do care. A lot of this roleplaying malaise is based upon the fact that we're all a part of a world and the people in it are consuming IC content, instead of producing IC content. It's the same shift where players come in a part of the world and don't add to the overall story by being there. In fact, even PVP is content, and we've pretty much clamped that down. Remember where there was large scale scheme-ing, nation on nation? Yeah, some people really hated that, but at it's core, wondering what other characters are doing and what they are up to is something IC to talk about.  Now that we're more newbie-friendly, more established and less free-form, we need to pick up the pace about keeping content moving in the world, and we need to find a way to bootstrap those interesting IC conversations that happen at Feasts again.

On the positive side, we've learned to run the game better. We're way better at the mechanics of throwing events, advertising, and the EH council is a process we've gotten more or less down. We are good about making people feel involved, training etc. Weapon materials are more accessible and we've figured out how to reduce the costs of being a fighter. Equipment gap used to be a pretty big factor; armor and good weapons were hard to come by and their secrets jealousy guarded. Event prices have only risen a little bit, so we're still accessible. We're super focused on people's ability to participate, and that's helped us keep newbies.


Who have you learned the most from?

A variety of people. On the EHing side, probably Dave Dolph and Dave Kapell who was my old writing partner. For fighting Seth Flagg, Mike Palumbo. My wife has helped me a lot to see thing from other people's perspective, which has been good as well on that path of trying to become a more whole person.

Photo by Angela Gray

What was your best moment IC?

I had a moment as Cain where I showed up late to a Folkestone questing and it was a sliders event. A bunch of the Darklore people were Aurorans in some alternate future. I had come late to the event, and so was walking in right in the middle of that scene. Elwick was saying something very nearly like "I don't care what Aurora would want here. Fuck Aurora". Just then I came up behind him, and said "Hi Elwick". He then said "How the fuck... you weren't here at all, and then I say one bad thing about Aurora, one time, and then instantly you show up. Great". "She just sent me."  Great timing.

I had another time as Timmins where I heard that some rogue Fae elements had sat in the King's Thone at Black and White at the QoH site. I confronted them about it, they didn't deny it, so I gunned down Thon and Elania. They had an unarmed companion with them, who after they died, started to run up the stairs to get away, so I gunned her down. A mass melee ensued, Vawn got involved. The King of Fae called me over and asked me why I killed an unarmed woman, to which I answered "innocent people don't run." Flawless logic, Timmins.  While I was awaiting what the politicians wanted to do with me, I hid out upstairs in Fae. Zeek happened to be walking through and I started talking to him "Gotta stay limber Zeek. You never know when today could be the day." To which he famously replied "You. You stay away from me."

What was your best moment as a NPC/EH/Player?

My favorite two events I've ever staffed were my own. In the first and second Shadow Ball events, I had spent literally weeks writing characters, backstories, and objectives for people to spend all day going after. People spent six hours completely in-character talking about their business and objectives. Everyone had something they needed to gain. I talked to every character I wrote, and that entire world came alive. I could tell an IC joke with an IC punchline and it made sense. It was the coolest and most IC experience I've ever had as a "player" in the game. That might mean I'd be a big fan of theater larps (since that's exactly what that is), but setting up the dominos and watching it fall over in exactly the right order was awesome.

At the last Shadowking event, there was a moment when Jonas went down to the beach after judgment and met his sister on the boat on the way to the afterlife. That was Dave's (hopefully not) last real moment in the game as a character, and the emotion contained in the moment was exactly what I had envisioned for that real character. I didn't have my thumb on the scale at all; the three options were a true choice, but it was the outcome I had wanted for the character. That moment felt really great after the massive amount of exhaustion I had built up over the last few days.

Amaden has been a fun character to play because it's entirely social positioning.

What would you like to see changed or developed more in game?

Photo by Jesse Gifford

I'd like there to be a spell system that's actually helps eventholders tell a story. We've ground it down into a set of mechanics that grease combat and provide some widgets to play with, but it doesn't actually give EHs any common structure. We have to build it every plot and every event.

We need to truly think about the resources that we give to Event Holders. Events are more expensive than ever to throw, and unless you are part of a major crew with a huge fundraiser event, we continue to throw money to uphold a community. It needs to be cheaper to entertain people, either through physical resources (a shared masks warehouse) or by putting together a permanent developable site that is usable.

Fighters need tools to be able to interact with the invisible world. Right now, they are out in the cold, and that is one of the major things that keeps people from getting involved in storylines. It's also what pushes people into spells, and away from that action full time.  We need a truly viable hybrid. Maybe a world where everybody is a hybrid is fun. We can't lose that pick up and play element that exists that makes fighters interesting, but we can certainly put a bit more in the shed and not unbalance combat or be burdensome.

I really think we need to get rid of or severely pare back Seer magic in the game. Seer magic is this Swiss Army knife of discovery, and we as EHs have to design in systems to prevent Seer magic from working too well. Having seer magic swings both ways; it means that to be good storytellers we need something out there to soak up Seer magic so that players who want to play that way are entertained, but it also means that you are putting something out there that is only accessible to a certain sliver of players. Now we get creative and thread the needle, but the types of mysteries you are able to tell in the game are super limited, or artificially machinated against seer magic. If your event is "WHO ASSASSINATED KING CECIL?", two minutes in, you'd hear the cry of "MAGIC MARSHALL!!!" and then your event would be over. It's a bit of an exaggeration, but a world without Seer magic remains an interesting thought experiment. If there wasn't a magical discovery mechanism built into our system, the system would encourage writers to find another way to expose certain plot points, or build in ways for players to unjam themselves mundanely.

Photo by Jesse Gifford

We need to continue to have a sober and non-emotional conversation about shot missing at the upper end of fighting. It happens more than anyone wants to talk about, and while we could break out the HFR cameras if anyone really wants to I've had a lot of conversations with the top OOTL people and we all acknowledge that it happens. We also need to have a serious conversation about the state of marshaling, especially during group tournaments. Our culture forbids us from actually talking about how bad either of these two problems can be when its bad, and they are part of the larger problems that plague tournaments. Fighters never think they miss shots, marshals never think they're doing a bad job.

What advice would you give new players?

Don't NPC for a while. It's good to get involved there, but the sheen can come off pretty quickly. Don't try to throw an event either. If you are interested in EHing, sign on with an existing crew and go from there. To get really good at events, you're going to have to throw some bad ones, and it's easier and cheaper to make your mistakes with a group who can help you develop.

What do you love most about the game?

The combat is visceral, and that viscerality is in the culture of the game. Our combat calls are simple and easy to handle in the moment. We are super action-oriented, which makes for real intensity at events. It's a uniqueness that is core to the system, and that core is solid gold to build upon.

There's also a great story about being a fighter. No matter how good you are, you are mortal. There's something so simply heroic about fighters, where all they have is their equipment and skill and bravery. If you are hit three times, you're dead. First event newbie, 100th event oldbie, it's the same three hits.

Who would you like to see the next interview be with?

Not sure.

Anything else you'd like to take the opportunity to put into print?

A lot of this interview might sound it is a distinctly negative opinion, and while some things I'm down on, I'm actually quite optimistic. Some things above are rants I've had for a long time, but in reality I'm positive on the ability of people to make something great with the fundamental building blocks of the game, and continue to put my efforts towards it where I can. My current project is "sharpening the pen", a View series where I talk about my theory of content creation and how to entertain players. It's not something that's going to resonate with people who are brand new to the game, but if you are looking to throw an event, I'm hoping that I can put you in the right frame of mind. I have currently about 100 questions to cover, so there's a lot of content there.

Thanks for reading.