I recently had the opportunity to interview Lee Garvin, creator of Tales from the Floating Vagabond and contributing author to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, 7th Sea, and Deadlands role-playing games. His latest contribution is The Noble Wild, an ENnie nominated d20 supplement that greatly expands the role of animals in adventuring and even provides rules to play one. Lee shared his perspective on getting into the gaming industry, working on licensed products, and the possibility of a new edition of Tales from the Floating Vagabond.
 Courtesy DriveThruRPG |
MT: You’ve been writing role-playing games since the 1990s. What’s changed since then?
LG: Well, the dinosaur population has taken a severe decline since then. Seriously, though, the landscape is immensely different. Several things available to writers and publishers now have made things different. In 1990, a writer who wanted to get their game published would have to either find one of the few game companies that would take outside submissions, or else be doomed to the relative obscurity of self-publishing. Nowadays, with the proliferation of desktop publishing software and PDF publishing, anyone can self-publish and their products can have almost as much exposure as some of the smaller-tier publishers. This has led to an incredible explosion of creativity in the field. Unfortunately, it has also lowered the bar on the quality of material that gets out. The market is self-correcting though, and better games and supplements build a following that allows them to continue. This is a huge over-simplification, of course, but I never claimed to be a smart businessman.
MT: Any advice for aspiring game authors?
LG: If you have what you think is a good idea, work it to death. Take that initial idea and try to destroy it every way you can: whether this means looking for rules loopholes, plot holes, or even comparing it to what has been done before. Then, give it to someone else to destroy. This will hurt, but it's necessary; if you can go through all of that with your precious idea and still even want to share it with other people, you may have found something good. On the other hand, perhaps in the process you'll discover that idea was actually covering over something even better.
One other piece of advice: when it comes to researching material for your games, DON'T USE GAME BOOKS! By the time the information, flavor, facts, and concepts appear in a game book, they've already been through the filter of someone else's agenda and bias. Always go to the purest source-material you can find for your subject matter. For instance, don't read a game book about gladiators and arenas - read a history book about gladiators and arenas. Put that information through the filter of your own agenda and bias.
MT: Tales from the Floating Vagabond is a comedy classic. There are rumors of another version coming out. Can you comment on the status of another Tales?
LG: Thank you for saying so. It still amazes me that people think of it so fondly. As far as the rumors of another version go, a large portion of those were probably caused by me trying to find a publishing partner. Unfortunately, this has not yet happened. I am still working on the new edition of the rules, in between other projects, but it may be a little while before a new edition is seen. But it will happen.
MT: What was different about working a licensed property like Indiana Jones and Star Wars?
LG: When you write for an established property like Indiana Jones, one with a long tradition and so well-loved all over the world, it really inspires you to step up your game. I worked longer and harder on Magic & Mysticsm: The Dark Continent than on anything I had ever done before. There was also a certain level of trepidation that came with it. After West End's Fred Jandt had given it the once-over, it had to go through LucasFilm. I was on pins and needles waiting to hear whether or not they would approve it.
MT: You’ve got quite a few Deadlands credits to your name. What do you like about that special blend of western/horror that makes Deadlands so unique?
LG: I've always felt that the western and horror genres had a natural synergy. In fact, I had been trying to create a supernatural western game while I was still freelancing for Avalon Hill. None of my ideas ever quite gelled, though and the project never got past the scribbling stage. Then along comes Shane Hensley with Deadlands. It was perfect. Dark, gritty, funny, and wide-open, just like the best western movies. I HAD to be a part of it.
There's something about the uncertainty of life on the frontier that just lends itself to the supernatural. I mean, the old west as we think about it is so mythologized as to be partly supernatural already, so the addition of a few ghosts and vampires don't really upset the flavor.
The distinctly American vistas of the west make one think that anything is possible. Normally, that would be an inspiration for ambition, but if anything is possible, then that means the bad stuff too, right? And that is where the horror comes from. Add into the mix the clash of dozens of cultures who had never encountered each other, and misunderstandings lead to fear, fear leads to conflict, conflict leads to legend.
 Courtesy Skirmisher Publishing |
MT: The Noble Wild was recently nominated for an ENnie. Tell us more about that.
LG: After I got the news, I spent the rest of the day hovering about six inches off the ground. I was shocked and elated and immediately called or emailed everyone I've ever known (my mother first).
MT: I imagine playing an animal is both innovative and challenging. What made you decide to write a book about it?
LG: I've always had a soft spot for animals. I grew up with lots of pets: dogs, cats, hamsters, ferrets, horses, snakes, squirrels, fish, turtles, etc. Years ago, I did a fan supplement for the World of Darkness series of games called Pets: The Shedding. I wrote the entire thing as a lark in a single day (April Fool's Day) and posted it to a Usenet group. Years later I wrote the animal sidekick rules for Deadlands in the Rascals, Varmints, & Critters book. Some of the concepts I created in that fan book found their way into my professional work. Then I began to think about the tradition of the talking animal in fantasy fiction. They've been there since the very beginning, but there was never a good way to play them. I resolved to write a comprehensive animal player's handbook to fill that niche.
MT: How difficult was it to modify the rules to accommodate creatures without hands or even clothes?
LG: I had to make several adjustments to the rules. For one thing, animals are much less hung up on property than humans, so the traditional measure of a hero's success by comparing the treasures he's amassed just won’t work. To compensate for this, I created Deeds and Boons.
Deeds are special magical abilities that an animal character can earn by performing specific actions and then paying an experience point cost. They come in "trees" of five different abilities, each more powerful than the last. It's sort of like a prestige class your character can take without interrupting their progress in another class.
Boons are magical abilities and traits granted to an animal by another animal. Say your character, an otter, has just saved the life of a gazelle. Well, the gazelle was actually a wizard, and in gratitude he granted you his leaping ability. Now you are an otter who can leap over eight feet in the air! Or perhaps a mouse just befriended a wolf. The wolf (a cleric) grants the mouse his bite. So now, when the mouse bites someone, he does so with the force and power of a wolf!
MT: Do you have a favorite animal?
LG: That is a very tough question. I'm a dog person by nature, but I also love hamsters. On the other hand, I can't look at an eagle without sighing, and prairie dogs just make me laugh 'til I hurt.
MT: Noble Wild has rules on familiars. How can the book be used for players who don’t want to play an animal but want more rules for their familiars?
LG: The animals of The Noble Wild are Noble animals. That is, they are smarter, more magical than normal animals, yet still linked to the natural world. A noble animal as a familiar would be an incredible partner for a wizard or sorcerer. In fact, they can take the Greater Familiar character class. This gives them the same abilities as a normal familiar, as well as the ability to counter-spell. There are also several new animals that would be handy to have as familiars. Many of these rules were reprinted in Updated Animal Familiars, also from Skirmisher.
MT: There’s mention of modern scenarios. What modern content is in the book?
LG: The Modern appendix gives the gm an alternate explanation for why the animals are intelligent. Genetically engineered super-animals are the focus of this section. Mostly, you can use the rules in the rest of the book (except for the magical powers) as written. Psychic powers come into the foreground in these types of stories, and so you simply apply the FX rules from the modern core rules.
MT: Is there anything in Noble Wild for game masters (GMs)?
LG: There's lots of material for GMs. There are four different campaign models to give you some idea of the direction you can run, there's dozens of pre-built NPCs, and there's an appendix containing dozens of animals that had not been "statted" for D&D until now.
MT: Is it possible to run an all-animal campaign?
LG: Oh, absolutely! That's what most of the campaigns I've run have been. Noble Animals are the ruling class of each of their species, and their laws forbid them from preying upon each other. So you can have a party containing a mix of predatory and non-predatory creatures without difficulty (although the bickering can be entertaining).
MT: Anything else you’d like to share?
LG: Yes. I got into this business for the wealth, the fame, and the girls. I was told there'd be wealth, fame, and girls. It's possible I was lied to.
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