Profile: Magpie Codex author Paul Jessup

Paul Jessup is a critically acclaimed writer of weird, strange and slippery fiction. He’s been published in many magazines, both offline and on, with two books coming out in 2009. He is currently under representation by Colleen Lindsay of Fine Print Literary Management and is a member of the SFWA. He's the author of the recently released The Magpie Codex, a Fantasy Role Playing Game that is fast, fun and filled with wonder. We streamlined the rules to make the game easy to pick up and play, yet detailed enough to set your imagination soaring. It only takes a few minutes to create a character, but offers a life time of adventure.

You can read a review of The Magpie Codex at UncleBear.com.

Berin: I'll start with the obligatory questions: how did you start roleplaying, and what game did you start with?

Paul: I started with a choose your own adventure type book I got from the library- one of the ones where you roll up a character and use dice during the book like you would an RPG. I can't remember the name of it- this was about 20 years ago. I do remember it hitting me like lightning, and the next day I had me and my friend make up characters and then I wrote my own pick a path and walked them through it.

A month later my uncle saw what I was doing and showed me a copy of Tunnels and Trolls (written by Phoenix's own Ken St. Andre). He showed me how to make map and run and adventure. He wouldn't let me borrow it (my parents thought it was all Evil at the time) so I had to make up my own rules by memory when I got home. I ended up making it a mixture of T&T, the pick a path game and my favorite nintendo games, Zelda and Ultima: Exodus. I ran my friends through my dungeon, and we all took turns running games.

At that time all the characters were fighters. We all did d6 damage, and we could learn special moves (ala Zelda 2) by training in town. We didn't have levels or levelling up, heh.

Later on I bought T&T and ran it properly. But that first hodge podge crazy game still holds a place in my heart. The Magpie Codex details how you got into writing and publishing the game, so I'll direct readers to pick up a copy to learn that. I'll instead ask a question that several people have asked me:

Berin: Why is it titled “The Magpie Codex”? What does that mean?

Paul: When I first started the game I wanted to take all the shiny bits from every game that I liked and throw it into one big stew. I jokingly said I should call the game Magpie, since that's what magpie's do. I drew up some quick rules and a character sheet and posted them to my website and called the game simply "Magpie" and then promised a longer version called the "Magpie Codex". Really, I was just pulling it all out of my ass at the time.

I took the shiny stuff from games like Talislanta, D&D, AD&D and Tunnels and Trolls and threw them together. A lot of the stuff people find "weird" are the influences from non-D&D games...but since my first game wasn't D&D, it felt natural to just throw it all togehter like that.

Berin: Magpie has been referred to as a retro-clone and an “Old School” game. Is it really either of those? How do you define it?

Paul: I don't know. When I first set out I was influenced by some of the retro clones, for sure. But to me they kept all the broken stuff that I didn't like about retro games. And again, I didn't start with D&D, so old school D&D never carried that same nostaglgia for me. I wouldn't say it's a clone- since it doesn't replicate any specific old school game. I have all the old games still, so to me if I wanted to play them I would pull them out and play them.

I guess some people take the dice rolling for attributes as old school, or the theater of the mind approach as old school, or the focus on narrative as old school. Which always makes me feel old, since I can remember when the theater of the mind or a narrative approach was considered revolutionary and new school. Strange how things are cyclic.

Berin: What's in the future for the Magpie Codex?

Paul: I'm currently thinking about this right now. I'd like to make a second printing with more art and better art, as well as some rules tweaks and errata fixes I've gotten from people who bought it. I also really want to encourage the community, and give them more tools to express themselves and create fun and intereting things for the game.

I've currently got a Pathfinder-esque campaign called the Doom Sword that I'm realising bi-weekly. It's short (only 6 episodes), but it's a lot of fun writing and playing and the world is interesting and unique (the World Of Annwynyn). One of the authors I had help me with some of the monster stuff is working on a Beastiary we're hoping to release in the next three months.

Other than that I really want to keep pushing the community, helping expand it.

Berin: What do you do when you're not writing RPGs?

Paul: Playing them! I'm also a novelist and a short story writer, and I've had some success with that as well.

Berin: Last question: Tell me about your favorite RPG character.

Paul: My favorite? That's a tough one. I'd have to say a 12 year old girl named Alice that I played in my friends Marvel X-Men game. She could transport things into a hidden dimension by touching them. It was a blast to play that game, and the character was a challenge for me, albiet a very fun one.