Mike Mearls interview on Ninja vs. Pirates podcast

You can find it here.

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This is a bit of old news (the podcast dropped November 3rd) but it’s worth a listen.  I got to play Penny last weekend for the first time and thought it was an awesome time.

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The second half of the Pirate vs. Ninja podcast’s interview with Vincent Baker is now up.  Get it here.

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The latest episode of the Ninja vs. Pirate podcast features the first of a two-part interview with Vincent Baker, the designer of Dogs in the Vineyard , Kill Puppies for Satan, and In a Wicked Age.  Baker is definitely one of the most innovative RPG designers around (DitV is one of my favorite games of all time) so it’s definitely worth checking out.  Check out Episode 2×03 here.

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I had the opportunity last week to interview Dave Bernazzani, one of the main administrators and masterminds behind RPG Geek, the new roleplaying community/portal on Geekdo.com.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out the site, it’s based on the very popular and successful Board Game Geek model where the community maintains a huge database of game information, reviews, and session logs.  The site also lets you track your collection as well as discuss RPG with like minded people.  Without further ado, on to the interview.

Thanks again for agreeing to the interview.  Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Born, raised and still live here in eastern Massachusetts, I’ve been an avid gamer all my life. Our family held informal game nights (usually Friday nights with pizza to start us off) and we would play all sorts of card games and board games like Risk or Trivial Pursuit. As I grew up I dabbled in many different games – though primarily traditional card games (e.g., Cribbage, Gin Rummy) and common boardgames like Risk, Scrabble, & Electronic Thief – I still have a working electronic crime scanner!

As time marched on, I split my time between card games, board games and RPGs depending on who was around in my life. I’m the author of STRIKE FORCE – a science fiction RPG which was born in 1982 and was played pretty heavily over the course of about 20 years. I’m also a co-founder of Unity Games, a loose coalition that brings together various gaming group and individual board gamers in the Eastern MA region. We hold full days of board gaming which sees attendance approaching 400 now and it’s something I really look forward to each year. I’m fortunate that my wonderful wife Jenn enjoys board games and card games – though RPGs are sill a bit outside her zone of interest. There is always hope, however!

RPGs, Board Games, or other – what’s your first love?

All of the above, and card games too. I’m a gamer – it’s not so much what I play but who I play with that makes the experience for me. But assuming I was with the right crowd, I’d always opt to play a roleplaying game first and foremost.

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I recently had the opportunity to interview Jason Morningstar, the creative force behind Bully Pulpit Games, about his background in gaming and his design process, as well as some of the things that influence what I would consider to be some of the most original designs currently out there. Whether it’s the weirdness of Shab-al Hiri Roach, the tragedy of Grey Ranks, or the unpredictability of the soon-to-be-released Fiasco, Jason’s got a knack for creating really cool, innovative RPGs.

Let me start the questions by saying thanks once again for agreeing to the interview. I’ve been a fan of Bully Pulpit Games since picking up the Shab-al Hiri Roach after hearing about it on Have Games, Will Travel. I’ve also found the videos you’ve posted on Youtube, especially the “One cool thing I saw at…” series to be interesting, particularly since they put faces to a lot of names I recognize from the indie game community. I also was a fan of the Durham 3 podcast so I guess I’ve managed to experience your internet presence from three different angles.

First off, I’m curious about how you got started in roleplaying games. What got you started and what was your first RPG?

My dad and uncle were pretty serious SPI-style wargamers in the mid-seventies.  My uncle picked up white box D&D and couldn’t make heads or tails of it.  My brother and I grabbed it and the rest is history.  That must have been in 1977.  My first character was a magic user named Bulldrag.

It seems like most people who got started in the hobby in the 70′s and 80′s either began with some variation of D&D. What other games have you played in the past?

I’ve played lots of games, but my general “game arc” would go D&D – AD&D – Traveller – Small press games designed in Detroit including The Morrow Project and Fringeworthy – GURPS – FUDGE – homebrews – small press/indie games.

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