AMA Russ Morrissey (Morrus) (EN World, EN Publishing, ENnies, WOIN)

[Morrus]

Have you ever considered setting up a pdf storefront to compete with rpgnow, etc.?

Sure. Did that! It was called the EN World GameStore. It was eventually sold to OBS.

If it were 2008 again, what would you do differently knowing everything you know now?

2008? What, specifically, about 2008?

Which animal is best?

Elephants, of course! Everyone knows that!

 

[dd.stevenson]

2008? What, specifically, about 2008?

I started with 2005, but then hit backspace and replaced with with 2008, which was a bit more of a watershed year. The wordier version of the question I want to ask is: "How would you have done things differently over the last ten years if you'd had a bit of foreknowledge of how the industry was going to change?"

 

[Zustiur]

What job did you do before EN world?

 

[Lanefan]

Russ, dream a little here: if somehow Hasbro were to decide one day to drop the entire D&D franchise into your lap for you to keep and develop as you saw fit, what would you do with it, and why?

 

[Lawngnome4hire]

Other than the occasional news story or forum post this site is pretty narrowly focussed on D&D of various editions, and PFRPG. Do you have any interest in the site expanding its focus to encompass all rpgs, or at least the more popular alternatives to D&D such as Savage Worlds, Fate Core, Numenera, World of Darkness to name a few?

And if so what do you think you can do to help foster this?

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

Question time ...

A) What is your favorite D&D setting?
B) What is your favorite non D&D setting?
C) What movie or novel or TV show would you love to see made into a game setting for WOIN?
D) What finally inspired you to design WOIN and with the game system you used... Err or why didn't you use the d20 system?
E) Have you seen the Daredevil TV show yet, and if so what did you think of it?
F) If you weren't doing this job managing EN World what would you do instead?

 

[DQDesign]

Hi Morrus,

why didn't You never cite my Istari 5th edition fan-made class (here on ENWorld on the download section) on the home page? Don't You like it?

 

[Morrus]

I started with 2005, but then hit backspace and replaced with with 2008, which was a bit more of a watershed year. The wordier version of the question I want to ask is: "How would you have done things differently over the last ten years if you'd had a bit of foreknowledge of how the industry was going to change?"

I think I'd have not ignored social networking for so long, and admitted, however reluctantly, that web presence requires it. I don't think I'd have embarked on such large adventure paths (publishing-wise) - while I love WotBS and ZEITGEIST, and honestly feel we put out some of the very best APs ever published, they are such a resource hog over such a long time. I certainly wouldn't have committed a long-term adventure path to 4E had I known 5E would come two-thirds of the way through it! I can't think of anything else specific I'd do different, and none of those things were particularly calamitous to EN World or anything (though social networking will be the challenge in the long term I suspect - competing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter is hard!)

 

[Morrus]

What job did you do before EN world?

I sold investement products. Before that I worked for a gas company. Just a couple of jobs out of college, to be honest -- neither was exactly a 'career'. Though quitting to do this full time was a hell of a risk.

 

[Morrus]

Russ, dream a little here: if somehow Hasbro were to decide one day to drop the entire D&D franchise into your lap for you to keep and develop as you saw fit, what would you do with it, and why?

Hah! Well, first a caveat - I do not think I'd manage D&D well at all. That would be a terrible thing to happen, and would be a disaster for the game's popularity. But you asked, so here goes:

I'd move away from the Forgotten Realms. I'd rather see new settings. I'd - to an extent - use EN Publishing own adventure path model, combined with the shorter length of Paizo's. So each AP would be set in its own world, it woud have a player's guide for that setting, a strong theme, and a great storyline. One AP might be gothic horor set in a Ravenloft-esque world, another might be a mystery set in a world akin to Victorian England, and so on. Some would be high fanatsy, others might be more historically-themed, some would be dark, some light, some gritty, etc. Each adventure path, with its accompanying world, would span about 6 levels, and then move on to the next one. Magazine-style content would then further supplement popular worlds for those who wanted to go beyond 6 levels (though the initial guides for each would have enough info for you to make your own stuff).

I would visit each of the classic settings, of course. You would get one AP and setting guide for each of the old worlds, but creating new stuff would be more important to me. For this, I would probably consider using the original creators of each, if they were willing.

I'd revisit the OGL. I'd do it slightly differently, but allow and - more importantly - encourage and support third party content. I believe that a game with lots of people making stuff for it is a thriving game.

I'd push for a Dragonlance Chronicles TV show. Not a movie; Game of Thrones would be the model. For a story like that, I don't feel a movie could do it well. TV allows for so much more storytelling.

I'd think along the lines of a living game rather than edition churn. I haven't fully thought this through, but errata and the like would be incorprated into electronic versions of the material. Getting around the "oh, I bought a hardback" issue is tough; like I said, I haven't fully thought it through.

I'd have DRAGON and DUNGEON back using my EN5ider as a model. Rules articles in that would have full official weight. This would be a primary crunch dispersal mechanism. Compilations would happen too, of course. (I'm very likely to do that with WOIN - articles rather than books, all official).

This may be unpopular, but I'd make the rulebook text slight dryer. That could just be nostalgia talking. I'd also have each sprayed with an old-book smell. Maybe not that last thing.

Phew. That's it for now, I think. I Like I said, I doubt the game would actually survive under my stewardship!