How long have you been
playing?
8 years, this Black & White.
How has the game
changed since you've been playing?
Bedlam is gone, after completely
dominating the first six years I was here. Other than that, other plots have
come and gone, though some quiet ones remain, and there have obviously been
innumerable tweaks to the rules. Major new nations have appeared or cemented
their positions, and some people who I saw as leaders have stepped back while
others have taken their places. In general, it’s easy to say that little has
changed, and it is the same game, but at the same time it has hugely changed,
in the form of thousands of personal moments being created one after another.
Who have you learned
the most from?
That’s really hard to say. I’ve learned
a lot from Aaron/Rel, Janna/Iawen, Matt/Cecil, Rhiannon/Tria, Fuz/Atticus,
Jeremy/Laurante, plus countless others. I probably learned the most from Aaron,
if I have to choose.
What was your best
moment IC?
Heh, define “best.” The biggest relief
came at the end of All Good Things… when Ged opened Rosetta’s prison and the
two were reunited as one being, at terrible cost.
The most intensely emotional moment was
probably marching out of the tavern with the rest of the Fae Courts on their
last exit, to Danann. It was strong enough to make me doubt my plans to come
back. The ending was so powerful on that note.
And going way back, the proudest moment
was, I think, founding Clan Rua Thar Cinn, alongside Rel and Janus.
What was your best
moment as a NPC/EH/Player?
All of Beyond the Hag and Hungry
Goblin. So many things came together so well for that event, and it really showed
what the Book of Moons team would be able to do.
What would you like to
see changed or developed more in game?
Those who know me well know that is a
dangerous question to ask, because I tweak games by nature, and have
innumerable changes and new developments I would like to see in the Realms.
I’ll constraint myself to just two, which both boil down to helping PCs have
more agency.
On the rules system side, I would like
to see PCs be able to suggest which ways the story will go, through their in-game
actions. This means skills for fighters (or better ways for EHs to incorporate
existing fighters’ real life skills into quests), and more freeform magic for
spellcasters who are willing to take on the risks that entails.
On the EHing side, I would like to see
events that allow more choices from PCs. Fewer rails, but enough leads that the
PCs don’t have to guess everything the EH was thinking when they wrote the
event. I’m starting to see more of this from events, and I hope for that trend
to continue.
What advice would you
give new players?
Add your own flavor to the Realms, but
observe the flavor that the Realms places before you. It is easy to come in as
a completely blank slate, but then you are entirely reliant on the game to
develop your character into someone interesting, which can take a while. But at
the same time, it is easy to come in with a veritable novel of backstory,
having invented multiple cultures and a complicated system of magic and
religion simmering just beneath your character’s surface, probably with a large
helping of angst to go with it. Resist that urge. Come in with enough to have
something to roleplay with, but little enough that you can find out what the
game is like and where you fit in. We have over 25 years of backstory now, and
that’s not counting the in-game history stretching back thousands of years!
What do you love most
about the game?
I love that it is a safe and fun place
to try things out. With the backdrop of the events of questing in a fantasy
world, you can overcome stage fright, learn to cook for one hundred people, and
develop empathy. Right now, I think I would like to learn more about teaching,
and just jumping into teaching in the real world would carry considerable costs
of failure. But, educating a small crowd of students in the ways of Rosetta’s
magic, and teaching a Squire once I have one, can all just be “part of the
game” while helping both me and them learn new skills.
Who would you like to
see the next interviews be with?
Jacob Bouvier
Anything else you'd
like to take the opportunity to put into print?
This game is unique in its openness to
anybody changing it, or a part of it. That is its greatest strength, but also
its greatest weakness. “We should all be doing this to have fun,” and if you
are not, look for what changes you can make. Don’t forget that often the only
way to see something you want is to make it yourself.