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Need suggestions for the Steve Perrin interview...
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:39 am 
 

Lucca Games is just two days away and I'm busy preparing the interview with Steve Perrin. Has anybody comments and suggestions for questions to this great game designer? Here is what I worked up so far...

Tell us something about you: age, education, hobbies (besides gaming I guess):

When and how did you discover role playing games?

How did you enter in contact with Chaosium?

How was RuneQuest born?

You career at Chaosium, judging from your web site, lasted from 1981 to 1985. There you worked on various RPGs besides RuneQuest: Stormbringer, Elfquest, Worlds of Wonder... how was the creative environment at Chaosium at the time?

Why did you leave Chaosium?

After leaving Chaosium, you were a freelancer. What are the biggest projects were you involved with? I'd guess the TSR ones...

Tell us something about the aborted Ghostbusters II adventure, Haunted House... It's not the most popular RPG ever, but it has a loyal following of collectors. What kind of adventure was? What was the plot?

From 1989 you were employed full time by a videogame company, Spectrum Holobyte, following many other game designers that switched from adventure games to computer games.  What was the biggest difference you noticed between adventure game companies and computer game companies?

Are you still involved in the adventure games and computer games industries? What is your occupation at the moment?

  


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Post Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:32 am 
 

Ask him about the development of the "Perrin Conventions" for OD&D:

http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/d-rules ... tions.html

"Before he created RuneQuest, legendary RPG designer Steve Perrin designed The Perrin Conventions, a set of modifications to 70s-era D&D."

http://knka.org/wiki/index.php?title=Th ... onventions

"The Perrin Conventions are a set of combat house rules for Original Dungeons & Dragons written by Steve Perrin and debuted at DUNDRACON I in March 1976. These rules were reportedly widely used in San Francisco bay area D&D campaigns and were also discussed and refined in the pages of Alarums & Excursions. A revised and expanded version of the Conventions was published by Chaosium in volume II of All the World's Monsters in 1977 (this is the version reproduced below)."

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Post Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:43 pm 
 

Was there any difficulties involved in developing the Thieves' World game considering the number of authors and game developers involved in the project.


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Post Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:44 pm 
 

I wonder if you could ask him for his opinion about recent trends and the future of adventure and computer game design.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 5:00 am 
 

Great ideas! I'll add all of them!  8)

New version  :D

Tell us something about you: age, education, hobbies (besides gaming I guess):

When and how did you discover role playing games?

We read that in March 1976 you wrote The Perrin Conventions for Original Dungeons & Dragons. How and why did you develop them? Where they successful?

How did you enter in contact with Chaosium?

How was RuneQuest born?

You career at Chaosium, judging from your web site, lasted from 1981 to 1985. There you worked on various RPGs besides RuneQuest: Stormbringer, Elfquest, Worlds of Wonder... how was the creative environment at Chaosium at the time?

Thieves World was a very ambitious product, especially for the time. Were there any difficulties involved in developing it considering the number of authors and game developers involved in the project?  

Why did you leave Chaosium?

After leaving Chaosium, you were a freelancer. What are the biggest projects were you involved with? I'd guess the TSR ones...

Tell us something about the aborted Ghostbusters II adventure, Haunted House... It's not the most popular RPG ever, but it has a loyal following of collectors. What kind of adventure was? What was the plot?

From 1989 you were employed full time by a videogame company, Spectrum Holobyte, following many other game designers that switched from adventure games to computer games.  What was the biggest difference you noticed between adventure game companies and computer game companies?

Are you still involved in the adventure games and computer games industries? What is your occupation at the moment?

What are your opinions about recent trends and the future of adventure and computer game design?

  

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Post Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 12:55 pm 
 

I want to know about his contributions to the All the Worlds' Monsters books.

Were there some that Perrin considered classic...or at least his favorites?

Also, Perrin's overall relationship with/to Chaosium Games and Greg Stafford.  What was that like?

What RPG modules does Perrin consider to have been the all-time best?

Another detail that would be interesting to know....who did Perrin game with back-in-the-day?  Who were the players in his own campaign and what campaigns did he run/join/play in that influenced his own work?


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Post Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 3:54 pm 
 

I met Steve Perrin today at the convention. He seems like all Americans I met: a very friendly and easygoing person  8)  Albeit the interview is scheduled on Monday, I already got autographs on ElfQuest and RuneQuest. Asked if he wanted to see the questions in advance, he said: "feel free to surprise me!" :D  Tomorrow morning I'll sit in a game wth him gamemastering using the SPQR rules  8)

  


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Post Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 3:38 pm 
 

IIRC Steve is full-owner or co-owner of DunDraCon, how has he seen the conventions scene changing over the past 30 years?  

I'm also interested in how he sees old-school RPGing in general doing---whether old-school D&D or RQ or whatever.


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