AMA Russ Morrissey (Morrus) (EN World, EN Publishing, ENnies, WOIN)
I'm in two groups. Assuming all goes according to plan, both have one season each week (though things rarely work as scheduled!) The D&D group tends to be a few hours on Saturday afternoons, while the Pathfinder group is 2-3 hours on a Thursday night.
You have done this for a long time and through going to conventions, running the ENnies, and in general being around people in the industry you must have some real good memories of time spent gaming or talking games with a few giants in the industry, can you tell us about a couple of those times?
I know Gary Gygax was a poster here and did a couple AMA type things, did you ever get to just hang out with him?
I know Gary Gygax was a poster here and did a couple AMA type things, did you ever get to just hang out with him?
I can tell you about the time I FAILED to game with Gary Gygax! A few years back, Gary ran a game for the EN World moderators. It was on Wednesday night at Gen Con. As has happened every single year I've ever been, flight delays and immigration made me completely miss what was happening on Wednesday night (that's included a WotC D&D press dinner when 4E was announced, an event with Trapdoor Tech last year, and, og course, a friggin' game with Gary Gygax!)
All I have to remind me of it are the gloating jeers of the likes of [MENTION=2]Piratecat[/MENTION], [MENTION=158]Henry[/MENTION], [MENTION=99]Rel[/MENTION], etc. Damn them. But no, I never got to actually game with him.
tgmoore
Explorer
Sci-Fi RPGs have always been poor cousin to the traditional and original fantasy rpgs. Could you elaborate on why you think sci-fi rpgs are ascending in popularity? Any specific ones to check out?
neobolts
Explorer
(Some burning questions about this site's history...I've been around since the pre-3e launch days, but didn't follow the inner workings as closely.)
1)When Eric decided to step back, how did the transition work? What was the switch like from the old Eric Noah website?
2)Have you been running the site since then, or did you come on board later?
3)Does it ever feel weird that you ended up at the helm of website, award show, and publishing company with a naming scheme based on someone else's initials?
4)How did you (or others) come up with the plan to drop the full name but keep the initials?
1)When Eric decided to step back, how did the transition work? What was the switch like from the old Eric Noah website?
2)Have you been running the site since then, or did you come on board later?
3)Does it ever feel weird that you ended up at the helm of website, award show, and publishing company with a naming scheme based on someone else's initials?
4)How did you (or others) come up with the plan to drop the full name but keep the initials?
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
Are you currently playing in any of the ENWorld PbP threads?
If not, have you ever?
If yes to any of the above, what was your favorite PbP thread that you were ever a part?
If you ever had time to run a PbP game, which setting would you DM and what scenario would you create?
If not, have you ever?
If yes to any of the above, what was your favorite PbP thread that you were ever a part?
If you ever had time to run a PbP game, which setting would you DM and what scenario would you create?
Honestly, I don't know why. Maybe it's just as simple as that the first and biggest name in RPGs happened to be fantasy? The two biggest RPGs in the world are both flavours of D&D, although one doesn't use that name.
There's a lot of great sci-fi games in the tier below those two. And licensed stuff, too, like FFG's Star Wars. Warhammer 40K and its cousins are big. I wonder if Traveller had come first, whether the situation would be different?
Or, in short, I don't know! Sci-fi popularity comes in waves in movies too -- it's ascending right now. Interestingly, sci-fi has traditionally done better in the movies/TV than fantasy, although LotR, GoT, etc. took a sledgehammer to that!
Donny Rhye
First Post
1st I'd like to say Maybe you should fly to Gen Con on Tuesdays. What would you like the website doing in the next 10 years? Have you played any memorable Forgotten Realms Adventures? What are the top 3 things you are watching on British television at the moment?
It was very easy. It took a couple of days, and involved a database move for the forums, IIRC, but it didn't break. Eric simply left a message on his old site directing people to the new location.
I don't know that we could do that so easily now. Back then we were talking a database a fraction of the size it is now. 16 years is a lot of growth!
Yeah, I created EN World myself when Eric's site still existed.
Not weird, because I'm so used to it. I wonder if it's ever weird for Eric.
The etymology makes sense in a way -- it was for a hosted shared setting (the first of oh so many....) made by some members of Eric's forum. That setting eventually got a name (Daemonforge) but in the meantime the site needed a name. "The E.N. World" was supposed to be a placeholder.
The only thing about it that's not ideal is that it's not great for search engines and the like. It doesn't have "RPG News" in the URL or anything. You don't hear it and know immediately what it does. It's not an optimised name, but it's hard to imagine it being called anything else now.
