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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9305628" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 96/155: Jan/Feb 2003part 7/10Monte's Haul: Monte Cook is our interview subject this time. After nearly a decade working with TSR and being the primary developer on the new DMG, he quit to form his own company, since the creation of the OGL means he can still bring all his system expertise to bear, but also have more creative freedom and keep all the profits that way. No hard feelings though, otherwise he wouldn’t be appearing in here or still doing freelance gigs like the Book of Vile Darkness. In fact, he still runs twice-weekly games with many of the WotC and Paizo staff so he obviously hasn’t gone anywhere physically. You might wonder where he finds the time to do this on top of the full-time job, but the irony is that playing hard makes it easier to work hard as well, as you’re writing stuff based on what’s actually needed for the game and making sure it’s properly tested. (unlike certain writers producing railroaded stories that obviously never faced the pokings of players before publication. ) Even the company name itself is a reference to in-game events, as Malhavoc was originally an evil elf wizard who betrayed the rest of his party and sold them into slavery, which sets the tone for his sardonic asides and personal creations in the books. Much of this info is repeated from other times they’ve talked about him and his books over the years, but that just goes to show what a long-running and influential writer he is in the world of RPG’s, still producing interesting new stuff even now. I very much doubt this is the last we’ll hear from him in here, particularly when the full release of Ptolus approaches. Genetech: We heard about genetech a few months ago, when it was supposed to be one of the example settings in the D20 Modern corebook. We still don’t get any explanation about why it was cut from there and is now appearing in here instead, going straight to the introductory fiction. You play animal hybrids (moreaus) and otherwise enhanced humans (franks) thrust into a world where they’re tools in the machinations of governments and big corporations, either carrying out missions or escaping and trying to forge their own path. As with their other settings, they’re skipping the angst of their modern day rivals and aiming straight at the action movie end of the spectrum rather than realistically looking at the existential and legal questions genetically engineered human/animal hybrids would pose. You can still roleplay that stuff if you want, but both the cited influences and the rules are firmly focussed on the action-adventure genre rather than having some kind of humanity or genetic degradation meter that incentivises certain behaviours and punishes others. Load those guns, cue up the awesome early 2000’s movie soundtrack on your ipod and don’t spend too long building your character, because the campaign probably won’t last that long anyway unless you add some other sources to the allowed options.</blockquote>

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