04-29-2008, 01:39 PM
1. We're here, today, with Blue Devil Games to interview none other than Justin Jacobson, the original Blue Devil, himself. Welcome to the interview hotseat, Justin - Or should I say, Mr. Devil?
“Hotseat?” Pshaw! You should see my throne in the Azure Citadel. And “Justin” is fine.
2. Blue Devil Games touts its games as being "fiendishly clever." That's catchy sounding, all right, but since you're a devil, how do our readers know that you're telling the truth about that?
They don’t. That’s really the point. To paraphrase Verbal Kint: The greatest trick the Blue Devil ever pulled was convincing gamers that he publishes kick-ass gaming material.
3. I understand that you've written your first novel. What's the name of it, and can you tell us a little bit about what it's about?
I co-wrote it with my long-time friend, Dave. It’s called The Blinking Isle, and it’s intended to be the first in a series. What it’s about isn’t so important as what it does. If I’m being pompous about it, it’s a post-postmodern fantasy novel. In recent years we’ve seen a lot of fantasy novelists try to turn the fantasy genre on its head. Dave and I endeavored to make a fantasy novel that reads superficially like a classic, almost-cliché example of the genre. But there is strong subtext that twists all of the clichés in really interesting ways. The example I like to give is that the protagonist is long-haired, burly, greatsword-wielding warrior ... who eschews alcohol because his father was an abusive drunk.
4. It's rumored that you are a former emperor of DRAGO. Pardon the pun, Mr. Blue Devil, but just exactly what in the Hell is that, and how did being emperor of that organization impact you as a game designer?
No, no. That was my co-founder, Mike Ruiz. I believe DRAGO stands for the Duke Role-playing and Gaming Organization. As for Mike, he turned out fairly normal.
5. Who did the artwork for the Blue Devil Games logo, and who came up with the concept?
The concept was all me, baby. As for the artwork, it’s Bradley McDevitt (http://www.bradleykmcdevitt.net/), one of the best logo artists around in my opinion.
6. Do you find it to be pretty easy to design games from scratch? Or do you have a devil of a time designing something new?
Designing games is relatively easy for me. I seem to have a real intuitive knack for mechanics. I say with no braggadocio that virtually all of my mechanics require virtually no re-working after play testing. Now, fluff, setting material, that stuff – that always gives me a bear of a time.
7. Why wasn't Blue Devil Games' product, "Tell it to my axe," ready in time for GenCon, and did anybody catch Hell for it not being ready in time?
Honestly, I don’t remember. But I’m sure someone did catch hell for it – maybe me.
8. What, exactly, is "Tell it to my axe," anyway, Justin?
I say this with all humility: One of the most under appreciated RPG supplements of all time. That thing is a gem. Essentially, it is a supplement for Dungeons & Dragons generally and Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved specifically. It covers everything you need to play or run a knightly order, including honor rules, mounted combat advice, and a mini-adventure.
9. Can you briefly tell us about several of your company's products that come to mind, right off the top of your head?
Passages (http://www.bluedevilgames.com/passages.htm) is basically League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the serial numbers filed off. Dawning Star (http://www.dawningstar.com) is the only full-scale sci-fi setting based on d20 Modern and powered by d20 Future, including Helios Rising, which is the largest sci-fi setting book ever published. (I keep making these claims until someone demonstrates I’m wrong.)
10. Of all of the games or game products that Blue Devil Games has created over time, which was your personal favorite, and why?
Interestingly, one of my favorites is Golem (http://www.bluedevilgames.com/passages.htm), which is not a role-playing game at all. It’s a strategy game, for which I won the 2004 About.com game design competition. It’s a blast to play and uses a pretty unique mechanical set-up, so I’m both proud of the design effort and also simply enjoy playing it. Plus, you can play on-line for free at Super Duper Games (http://superdupergames.org/).
11. Where is Blue Devil Games headquartered at, and why there, of all places?
Sunny South Florida, where the summers sometimes feel like Hell on earth. Why here? Short version: I was born and raised here.
12. How did you manage to land the license to do a role-playing game based on the John Rain novels by Barry Eisler, and what exactly is the name of that game?
To use an apt metaphor, it was a shot in the dark. I was a big fan of Barry Eisler’s bestselling novels. John Rain is one of the most fascinating characters in modern fiction. I contacted him, and to his credit he was immediately open to the idea and, ultimately, very realistic and supportive of getting it done. I owe it all to Barry’s foresight. For the title, I decided on Tokyo Rain (http://www.johnraingame.com) after much consideration from the mundane (“The John Rain Role-Playing Game”) to the overwrought (“Rain and Shadow”).
13. How difficult do you find it to be to "get the word out" to gamers about Blue Devil Games' various product releases?
Good question. Sometimes, it can be maddeningly difficult. The media channels for our little hobby are very fractured. In particular, I’ve had a dickens of a time getting people turned on to Passages. (Pun fully intended.) In fact, that’s one of the reasons I hired Fred Hicks of Evil Hat Productions (http://www.evilhat.com/home/) to serve as a marketing consultant for Tokyo Rain. He’s a master at it.
14. Does your company ever encounter any controversy about being called Blue Devil Games? Or is it pretty much a non-issue?
Non-issue. I thought it would be an issue at some point, but I can’t remember a single person even alluding to it. I imagine if I had started up in the 80’s it would have been a far different reception.
15. What makes a blue devil different than, say, a red devil, other than just the color of the devils?
Bluedevils (http://www.goduke.com/) have won three national championships in basketball. Red devils? Hmmm, let’s see, a punk band, a UK parachute regiment, and a city in Alaska (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_devil).
16. Looking forward, what do you think that the future holds for Blue Devil Games?
Looking down the road, obviously there is Tokyo Rain (and potentially a couple of supplements for that). Dawning Star is headed for interesting times, with the advent of 4th Edition and, specifically, the hinting at a generic license for the rule set. Bullseye (http://www.bluedevilgames.com/bullseye.htm) is going strong with a slew of interesting settings available. And, if I can keep my fingers crossed that long, there is another licensed game I just might get my blue talons dug into.
17. What does your wife think about being married to a devil, and does she handle any of your company related stuff? Who wins most of the dinner table arguments?
Well, she’s a blue devil herself, so she’s down with it. My wife is the archetypal anti-gamer. The last game I played with her was Scrabble, when we had no power for a week after Hurricane Wilma a few years ago. So, no, she has nothing to do with the company. As for your last question, clearly you are not married – my wife wins all of the arguments. I kid. My wife is awesome for putting up with my gaming.
18. What kind of play testing does Blue Devil Games do, when it develops games or game products?
This is another area I’m hoping Fred will help me improve. For Dawning Star, we built up a lot of interest and got a great core of voluntary play testers very quickly. Generally speaking, though, I’m not as organized as I should be. If you take a look at what Fred did with the Dresden Files RPG (http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/), that’s what I’m striving for.
19. I tried to click on the link on the Blue Devil Games website (http://www.bluedevilgames.com/) to read your interview with Bradford Ferguson of Silven Crossroads, but it was a dead link. What happened to it, and can you repost it, or is it gone for good? Is it true that when people die, they take a link on the Internet with them?
Eek! I hope no one died. Though, I think Silven Crossroads did. Looks like that interview is lost to the aether. Which is a shame, because, in it, I revealed the secret formula for Coke, calculated pi to the millionth digit, and gave directions to the Lost City of El Dorado.
20. What tips or advice can you offer to someone who is thinking about designing their own game, or perhaps interested in starting their own game company?
Start small. You will make mistakes along the way. If you start small, the mistakes will be small and won’t hit you hard in the wallet. Start with publishing a short pdf, and get it up on RPG Now (http://www.rpgnow.com/). Do what interests you, personally. It’s a lot of work; it might as well be fun. Ask for help. The game design biz is among the friendliest and most helpful communities around. If you’re stuck or have a question, drop a game designer a line; he or she will almost always try to help.
21. What distinguishes Blue Devil Games' products from other game products on the market?
I always paid top-dollar to top artists for my artwork. I wanted to set the quality bar high from the start to build a reputation in that regard. Obviously, this cut into my bottom-line, but I think it paid off many times over.
22. Of the various sites that sell Blue Devil Games' products, which one tends to move the most product for your company?
RPG Now (http://www.rpgnow.com/) is my biggest seller for pdfs by a wide margin. I sell ten times as many pdfs there as I do everywhere else, combined. For print books, on-line Indie Press Revolution [http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/home.php] is my biggest seller, but I sell a lot of books through distribution, too. If you want one of my books, you can almost always get your FLGS to order a copy from their preferred distributor.
23. Hey, Justin, what is a cantrip, anyway? On the Blue Devil Games website, there's a section called "Cantrips." That's not like catnip for demons, is it?
A small little thing. Back in the day, when I was working exclusively on d20 material, these were free downloads for little bits of rules crunch, such as a new feat or a new spell. As I’ve drifted away from just doing d20, I stopped doing these regularly. Now, I just release one when something fun strikes my fancy, like alignment Sudoku (http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/home.php). And, yes, cantrips are like catnip for demons – but is just coincidental.
24. Other than games produced by Blue Devil Games, what are some of your personal favorite games to play, and why are they favorites of yours?
I’ve been in a regular Dungeons & Dragons game most of my life. I’m very much looking forward to 4th Edition. I really enjoy playing many of the indie games coming out these days, such as Spirit of the Century (http://www.evilhat.com/home/?page_id=103), Agon (http://www.agon-rpg.com/]) and Cold City (http://www.contestedground.co.uk/coldprev.html). I also like to play boardgames; I love Ricochet Robot (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/51).
25. On Halloween, what do you dress up as?
Usually, a mild-mannered attorney. A few years ago, I went as Neo. More importantly, my wife went as Trinity.
26. Apparently, you rule the Hell that is Blue Devil Games, but just who is this Matt fellow, who also apparently works for Blue Devil Games? Is he just a tormented old soul? Or is he actually a part of your company's staff, somebody who actually does something?
He is my webmaster (and an aspiring computer design guru). He is also a good friend, which is why I can pay him in Playstation 3's, in lieu of cold, hard cash.
27. Are there any memorable mistakes that come to mind, thinking back on your company's past game design efforts?
I’m sure there are mistakes, but nothing memorable, as in I can’t think of any off the top of my head. Our errata for Helios Rising was laughably small, given that it’s a 540-page book (and it has all been incorporated into the current printing).
28. What kind of appetite does a Blue Devil such as yourself have, Justin? What are some of your favorite foods and beverages? Do you have an all-consuming appetite? Is it hard to get waited on, when you eat out? Or do people even know that you're a Blue Devil, when they see you in person?
I’m a bit of gourmand. I love cooking – the more challenging, the better. When I eat out, I check my cloak and trident at the door, so I get the same service everyone else does.
29. Of all of the game products that Blue Devil Games has produced, thus far, which was the most challenging to pull off and get right, and why?
Helios Rising, without doubt. It was originally intended to be 208 pages, but the material just mushroomed – amazingly so – into 540 pages. We brainstormed a ton of different ways to re-purpose the material, but in the end, I decided to just do one ginormous book. Naturally, with such a large book, the layout and illustration becomes that much harder. The index is seven pages! I did that myself; it took me a week. We didn’t realize, until after the manuscript was complete, just how big the book had gotten. Then, we faced a whole new set of obstacles when it came to printing. In the end, though, I couldn’t be more proud of that book. (When I say “we” here, I’m talking about the amazing Helios Rising team of: Lee Hammock, Danilo Moretti, Chad Barr, Brandes Stoddard, R. J. Grady, and myself.)
30. When gamers die, where do they go?
Into the ground, I hope. Though I could see an eccentric gamer requesting, in his will, that his body be encased in a giant, Lucite d20. Hmmm....