AMA: Richard Baker, author of lots of stuff!

[zedturtle]

Agreed Lost Mine of Phandelver was great. I loved Birthright... do you think that WotC will ever open it up for the DM's Guild?

 

[Rich Baker]

Hi Rich

I will be the first to say what a great honor it is for you to be here.

Question: GW 4E--did they make you put in that collectible card component, or did you see that as intrinsic to the game?

Hi, TerraDave, congrats on being the first in!

Short answer: Yes, the business team required us to include a collectible element aimed at players in the Gamma World game. It was pretty challenging because Bruce Cordell and I were told that a) it had to be aimed at players; b) players shouldn't need it but they ought to want it a lot; and c) players who chose not to purchase shouldn't be significantly disadvantaged when compared to players who spent the money to load up their characters with the collectible element. Those are pretty contradictory goals, but we did the best we could. Hopefully the cards were at least a little fun!


Rich

 

[TerraDave]

Hi, TerraDave, congrats on being the first in!

Short answer: Yes, the business team required us to include a collectible element aimed at players in the Gamma World game. It was pretty challenging because Bruce Cordell and I were told that a) it had to be aimed at players; b) players shouldn't need it but they ought to want it a lot; and c) players who chose not to purchase shouldn't be significantly disadvantaged when compared to players who spent the money to load up their characters with the collectible element. Those are pretty contradictory goals, but we did the best we could. Hopefully the cards were at least a little fun!


Rich

Much thanks for the honest reply!

The game was very fun, and the characters where simple enough that the cards where...fine. I used a few of them when I sent my 4E D&D characters to gamma world. Of course, you could have just stuck to tables and text, but its a good game in any case.

 

[Rich Baker]

Good Morning. I loved Alternity, but thought it may have been a bit ahead of its time. Can you talk a little about how the idea came about and if there are any plans for Alternity moving forward?

The original Alternity pitch at TSR came from Bill Slavicsek and Lester Smith. They worked out the basic "die-step" mechanic and pushed management for a sci-fi RPG. However, Lester left TSR shortly afterwards, and I was brought in to be Bill's co-designer. My big contribution to the core mechanic was to add the idea of "favorable" steps -- I realized that the bell curve of d20+d4 and d20+d20 just did not yield a sufficient difference in results to make really easy and really hard tasks more or less likely to succeed, not when compared to the influence of the control die. Bill also had the basic elements of the Star*Drive setting in place, which the whole team then expanded out into the setting that was published.

As for Alternity plans . . . well, funny you should ask. I was talking with Bill just a couple of weeks ago. I have nothing specific to report -- let me just say that we're keeping an open mind on the subject.


Rich

 

[Rich Baker]

Looking forward to Ultimate Scheme. Can we expect some D&D or Gamma World Easter eggs in the game? Maybe it would break the flavor of the game, but there are certainly some fantasy ultimate-scheme tropes one could have a lot of fun with.

Ultimate Scheme definitely includes some nods to fandom -- for example, there is an Action card called "Minion-Con," a scheme called "Ruin a Beloved Movie Property," and a faction of eco-terrorists who cosplay as Legolas and run around with rocket launchers. But I didn't add any schemes like Build a Black Ray Pistol or Find a Vorpal Sword, I was thinking more along the lines of Bond spoof plots and geek culture -- a missed opportunity on my part!

And, as a general note: Hey, folks, please share my Kickstarter link and help me spread the word about this great game! If you're not into boardgames yourself, I bet you know gamers who are. Here it is again: http://kck.st/1UeR8nu


Rich

 

[Rich Baker]

Good Morning,

I really love Primeval Thule (5e)... are you guys planning any follow-up product to this campaign setting?
Thanks,
Bill W.

Yes, we are! We're planning on a Kickstarter early this summer based around a short adventure arc (a mini-adventure path, if you will) and a 5e player sourcebook to explore some character options that would tie in well and frankly be useful in any 5e campaign.


Rich

 

[Rich Baker]

Why in the Forgotten Realms are there no Human Empire builders (Like a Barbarossa or a Napoléon Bonaparte) as part of cannon? I understand that it makes the fantasy setting pretty clear cut Good vs Evil, when Orcs, Undead, and Shades try to do it

Hi, mykesfree -- You know, I'm not sure that there aren't. Off the top of my head I can think of Gondegal (sp?) the so-called "Lost King of Cormyr", Aencar the Mantled King in the Dalelands, the huge spread of the Zhentarim in the 1350 to 1380 era (not a classic Bonaparte type conquest but noteworthy nonetheless), or the Tuigan Horde story arc from 2nd Edition. Or are you looking for a situation in which the empire-builders are non-evil/ambiguous as opposed to being the bad guys of the story? I suppose my answer would be that there are a limited number of opportunities for RSEs (Realms Shaking Events) so you go with the best, most spectacular ones you can.


Rich

 

[Rich Baker]

Love Birthright, still my fav setting even though no support since years.

Question 1: Is Game of Thrones inspired by Birthright?
Anduiras symbol is Golden Lion on a Red Field (Lannister)
Iron Throne (Iron Throne)
Ed Stark (Ned Stark!)

Question 2: How would you handle Bloodlines, Blood Abilities etc in 5e, without using feats?

I suppose you'd have to ask George R.R. Martin that question! I've noticed some of the coincidental resemblances, but in all honesty, something like "the Iron Throne" is fairly generic fantasy--I'm pretty sure he could have thought that up on his own.

RE: Bloodlines and blood abilities . . . if you don't use a feat system for it, I think the cleanest mechanical approach would be to create a new character race called "Royal Scion" or some such thing. (Yeah, that's tricky for nonhuman regents, but maybe the setting doesn't have to have those.) We did something a little like this with the Atlantean character race in Primeval Thule. They're "human" for game effects, but they have a unique set of stat mods and some minor flavor in their racial abilities. So, the Royal Scion race doesn't get a bonus feat like a standard human would, but instead gets to play with the bloodline abilities. Which, I suppose, is another way of making it cost a feat, so I don't know if that helps or not!


Rich

 

[Rich Baker]

Did you ever develop plans for the lands at the edge of the Cerilian map, in case the BR product line continued?

Yes, we did. We developed a little bit of information about Aduria. I think some of that appeared in some old articles (you might find them over on birthright.net). There was also a wacky plan from Lorraine Williams--one day she came in after reading a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and she informed us that we would now add Aquitaine to the Birthright setting. That was pretty surprising, since in my time at TSR I never saw her try to exercise creative direction over anything that wasn't artwork or super-big-picture stuff. We threw out what we had in mind for Aduria and penciled in Aquitaine, but as it turns out that plan never got implemented (probably for the best).


Rich

 

[Rich Baker]

Hi, and thanks for being here!

1) Are you and Vincent "Apocalypse World" Baker relatives?

2) (Totally shameless) Do you like my DMsGuild products set in FR? http://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?x=0&y=0&author=Davide Quatrini

No relation to Vincent Baker. Nor to Keith Baker, for that matter.

I'm afraid I haven't seen your DMs Guild material. (I am no longer actively writing in the Realms, and I am not part of the WotC effort to elevate good DMs Guild offerings to canon status.)


Rich