Spotlight Interview: John Rogers on the Manual of the Planes

[jonrog1]

Wow, nice feedback. And you'll note, on the day when we get the ratings for my new TV show, I'm hanging out in the EN World forums. My geek cred will not be doubted.

If you have any process questions or non-spoiler-y stuff, feel free to ask, I'll see what I can say. Oh, and be assured -- the Fey are very creepy. The whole vibe of most trips to the Feywild is not "YAY! Forest adventures!" but "Don't agree to anything, don't accept gifts, stay together and if we're lucky, half of us will make it home alive ..."

 

[justanobody]

So Fey = tricksters/pranksters?

Might not be fantasy but it sure sounds pretty typical RPG to me.

@Leverage:

It resembled Nikita and Viper a bit.

 

[Shroomy]

If you have any process questions or non-spoiler-y stuff, feel free to ask, I'll see what I can say. Oh, and be assured -- the Fey are very creepy. The whole vibe of most trips to the Feywild is not "YAY! Forest adventures!" but "Don't agree to anything, don't accept gifts, stay together and if we're lucky, half of us will make it home alive ..."

As it should be....

 

[jonrog1]

Tricksters and Pranskters? Hmm, no, not so much. Think "alien", if you can strip the sci fi baggage away. I'm not sure if it's still in there, but I made a point of noting Queen Tiandra's sense of humor: "There are some jokes that are only funny to a sense of humor that's developed over four centuries." There's a lot of complicated stuff going on in a place where the players in the strategic game are nigh-immortal and the land is soaked in magic. The idea was to make sure the players knew they are far, far away from home, regardless of how familiar the trees may look.

As for Leverage -- we were going more for Rockford Files and It Takes a Thief. The kids today, no sense of history ...

 

[M.L. Martin]

Jon--Did you draw any inspiration from the old Ravenloft adventure The Shadow Rift and the shadow fey presented therein?

And for those of you still arguing about a cartoon writer doing game design, I submit the following: Larry DiTillio. Award-winning game designer and scriptwriter on "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"--and I believe it was at the same time.

(The award-winner? A little something called The Masks of Nyarlathotep. )

 

[justanobody]

Well I started to say it was a knock-off of Mission Impossible, but figure most here would only remember Peter Graves from the Airplane movies. This "kid" particularly grew up watching Archie Bunker, Good Times, What's Happening, etc.

It in no way resembles Rockford Files any more than it resembles Mattlock.

@Fey:

That is where the old tricksters comes from that the beings have lived so long to get bored, so they entertain themselves with other beings that may cross onto their lands. That was the sense I got from the Pan's Labyrinth reference...

 

[Scribble]

This "kid" particularly grew up watching Archie Bunker, Good Times, What's Happening, etc.

no rodger no re-run no rent.

 

[jonrog1]

Jon--Did you draw any inspiration from the old Ravenloft adventure The Shadow Rift and the shadow fey presented therein?

Nope. I loved that adventure, but there's not really a parallel. Ravenloft is so specific, too, I'm not sure what you can bring out and have fit in other milieus.

 

[WhatGravitas]

So Fey = tricksters/pranksters?

From the excerpt and knowing Jim Butcher, who jonrog refers to, it's not really like tricksters or pranksters.

It sounds more like enigmatic hedonists who play their own games among each other. They don't play tricks on mortals, they ensnare them into their own view of funny - as tools, pawns and playthings.

To them, they derive pleasure from these games, but it's not funny like a trick or joke - that's too... innocent and random. The fey instead are pleasured and they want to enjoy their vision of "stimulating" and "engaging". Like you play with a dog or a cat and try to teach it to fetch a stick. Just... a bit more alien (we understand why we train pets because we are human - the dog just plays along) to human sensibilities.

I think it shows that I've read "Summer Knight" recently...

Cheers, LT.

 

[justanobody]

no rodger no re-run no rent.

The day the world changed forever. First toilet flushed on public television!