AMA with Shanna Germain (author, editor, co-owner of Monte Cook Games, lead designer of No Thank You, Evil!)

[Shanna Germain]

Hi Shanna,

Lots of questions, but feel free to answer as many as you can/like:

How did you get into RPGs? Writing? Game design? What were the major breakthroughs you had into the industry? How did you come to be a part of MCG?

And what social media marketing advice do you have for indie game developers?

You're one of the more visible woman game developers in the industry right now, so thank you for being a role model for more of us to make our own games and be active in the games community!

-I got into playing RPGs when my babysitter introduced me to Bunnies & Burrows (I was about 6, I think?). I didn’t grasp the rules so much, except that I got to be a bunny and thump my feet on the floor a lot. Which was pretty awesome for me at that age. I started playing D&D in high school, and it’s been a part of my life in some way ever sense.

My first foray into game writing was actually articles. I started writing about computer games for the World of Warcraft Official Magazine, Curve magazine and some other places. When Monte first started talking about making this new game called Numenera, I started getting really excited because it sounded amazing. I came on as the editor pretty early on. Once we did the Kickstarter, we realized that we needed more than just the two of us, so we started Monte Cook Games.

-My brand of social media is mostly just to be myself—talk about the things that I love, support other writers and creative people as much as I can, and try not to be boring. The more that people see you as a real person, the more likely they are to engage with you and be excited about what you’re working on.

-Thank you so much for saying that! I feel so lucky to work in an industry that I love making games that I’m passionate about. I hope that everyone who wants to be part of the gaming community in any way feels like it’s a good place for them.

 

[Shanna Germain]

Go ahead and tell us; we can keep secrets!

Does Monte Cook Games have any plans to get any of their games involved in something like the D&D Adventurers League? Maybe you could do that with your new kids game....

Thank you for being part of a great, creative force in our community. Best wishes for continued success.

I wish I could! Keeping secrets about stuff that I'm excited about is actually really hard for me!

We've definitely talked about doing organized play. It's so much fun, and a great way to get players involved. We don't have the resources for it quite yet, because we're such a small company, but it's on our list of things we'd like to jump into as we move forward.

Thank you so much

 

[Shanna Germain]

oh, very cool! How can I find it? Is it a pdf, a book, or what? Does it have a name yet?

We'll be updating The Strange corebook PDF with a short version of the recursion, including the art.

And a longer version of it will also be available to everyone as a free PDF.

The writers named it "Ohunkakan," which they derived from Ohúŋkakaŋ, a Lakota word meaning “myth” or “story of the remote past.”

 

[Shanna Germain]

I was wondering if there were any thoughts or the potential of getting a licence for a setting from a 3rd party, say a book series, or movie etc...

I'm not sure if you're asking about someone else getting a license from us for those things (if so, the answer is yes, as we've licensed a computer game, two board games, and a short film so far).

If you're asking whether MCG will license someone else's property to make a game out of the answer to that is probably not. The members of the creative team (Monte, Bruce, and me) really love creating worlds and settings, and I think it's one of our passions and strengths. So unless there was a really unusual and amazing reason to use someone else's setting, I think we're a company that will probably continue to create our own IPs instead.

 

[Shanna Germain]

Hi Shanna,

thank you for doing this AMA, cool stuff.

I've always felt that "the RP crowd" in general is not overly sexist / chauvinist. Most of the time, the people I play or work with don't care about the gender of the rest of the group. Is that something you can confirm, both as a player and a creator of games?

Thank you!

That has been my experience as well. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by players and industry professionals who treat each other as individuals, and not as their gender (or race or sexual orientation, etc.). The other part of that experience for me is that in the event that someone does or says something uncool, someone else will step up and mention why it’s uncool and try to educate that person. Which, to me, is part two of really creating an inclusive and safe culture.

That being said, I know that other players and industry professionals have had really different experiences than I have, and I don’t want to discount those in any way. If I had to guess, I’d say there are pockets where you’re more likely to encounter sexism and other negative elements within the game culture. Hopefully those will continue to dissipate as our industry moves forward.

 

[Shanna Germain]

Hi Shanna,

What are some things that fans probably dont know in terms of working in the rpg/gaming industry?
What would be one of the hardest/most difficult aspects of being a game designer?
What kinds of things bring you joy that might not be obvious?
Can we count on more MCG Kickstarters down the road?

Matching:
Monte ____
Shanna ____
Bruce ____

A. Rock
B. Paper
C. Scissors

Thanks!

~Desh (Hint: Owner of a Numenera Shelf-Talker!)

-That’s a really interesting question. I would say that they might not know how far ahead companies are thinking and working. For example, we were researching kids’ games and working on the concepts for No Thank You, Evil! for about a year before we announced it. We’re currently working on ideas for 2016 and 2017. So by the time fans see the very first mention of a game, we’ve already put a lot of thought into everything about it.

-I think the hardest part for me is really wanting to create things that honor our players’ time. Everyone’s so busy, and there are so many great games out there, so if someone sits down to play one of our games, I want them to leave the table feeling like they just spent their time in a really worthy, fun way.

-Joy for me comes in the form of fantastic writing, unexpected laughter, leveling up in games, baking fantastic cupcakes, going on unplanned road trips, and spending time with the people and animals that I love. I guess those are pretty obvious, huh? I love things that make me laugh, think, or see the world in a new way.

-Kickstarters have been great to us—they’re such a good way to see what fans are interested in, and to give the players that support us all kinds of extra goodies. So I think, yes, you can expect more crowfunding from us!

-This one is funny and hard. (I bet the others will have different answers!)
Monte: Paper (He’s so creative that he can start with empty space and build the most amazing, innovative things)
Shanna: Scissors (I’ve got a sarcastic, sharp edge to me, and I like to cut things apart and put them back together in new ways)
Bruce: Rock (He seems strong and unflappable, and if you crack him open, he’s hiding these amazing creative gems inside him)

 

[Shanna Germain]

Hello Shanna,

Congratulations to you and all at MCG on the fantastic games you have been putting out, we are on session 15 of our Numenera campaign and everyone at the table loves it!

You mentioned playing borderlands before, are you a big video gamer? What is your gaming platform of choice and some of your favourite titles? Have any particular games inspired you?

Thank you so much!

I love video games so very much. ALMOST as much as tabletop games

I play different games on different platforms. Right now, I'm playing Elder Scrolls Online on my PC (it's hooked to my treadmill desk, so I can play while I work out). I like Borderlands and Fallout on the XBox 360. And I like to play quick games of Words with Friends and various tower defense games on the iPad. Other games I love are Dragon Age, Skyrim, Bioshock, and Don't Starve.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Shanna,

What would you say the upsides and downsides are of being a "gaming celebrity"?
How do you (including what you see from Monte + Bruce) balance many fans wanting to be your friend/get to know you further or spend time with you with needs for privacy?

Any good/awkward/enough-time-has-passed-that-now-its-funny stories about being recognized somewhere you didnt expect it?

~Desh

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Another question:
If we could say that No Thank You, Evil! embraces the Light side of your personality: (light-hearted, family friendly, embracing the joys of youth, etc,)..if you embraced your Dark/Shadow side to come out and write a game, what would that look like, and what might it be called?

 

[Riley37]

-This one is funny and hard. (I bet the others will have different answers!)
Monte: Paper (He’s so creative that he can start with empty space and build the most amazing, innovative things)
Shanna: Scissors (I’ve got a sarcastic, sharp edge to me, and I like to cut things apart and put them back together in new ways)
Bruce: Rock (He seems strong and unflappable, and if you crack him open, he’s hiding these amazing creative gems inside him)

You took a bare-bones prompt, as an opportunity to say personalized and positive things about individuals.
Well played! Perhaps that's an example of your writing/gaming style.

Also, thanks for your answer on sexism: holding up the positive and your own experience, without denying the negative and the experiences of others! Pockets, indeed. "What have I got in my pockets?", Bilbo asked...