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Profile: Dave, Earl and Tom of Mind Storm Labs
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The designers of the Alpha Omega roleplaying game, David Carter and Earl Fischl, along with Mind Storm Labs publisher Tom McLaughlin, took the time to do a little Q&A for Examiner.com readers. You can read a full review of Alpha Omega at UncleBear.com.
BERIN: Let's start with the obvious questions: When did you start roleplaying, how did you get started, and what was the first game you played?
DAVE: I started role-playing with D&D and AD&D in the late 80s with a couple of friends. I had played some strategy board games before then, but I was impressed and excited by the endless possibilities for creating characters and adventurers that D&D introduced me to. I had been reading the Dragonlance Preludes series, without knowing the link between the two at the time, and I was happy to find a game that allowed me to play a character similar to those I had been reading about.
EARL: I started playing D&D with a friend whose uncle actually got us into it when we were in grade 6 or 7 by giving us this mountain of old books. Ravenloft was the clincher that got me hooked.
TOM : I played a lot of pc based RPG’s as a kid but I didn’t get into table top RPGs until Dave introduced me to D&D in university.
BERIN: How did you make the leap into publishing roleplaying games?
DAVE: Earl Fischl had the original idea for the framework of what grew into Alpha Omega. He and I had been playing RPGs with co-workers and we felt there were certain aspects that were missing in several of them. We wanted to create an RPG that was a framework for a host of different genres. We pitched the idea to Tom and he liked it. Earl and I tend to do the creative work, while Tom runs the day-to-day business, marketing and financing of the company, but we all bounce ideas off each other for whatever the needs of the day are.
EARL: Way back in about 1994 or '95 I started work on what would become Alpha Omega. I toiled away on it through university and dragged my notes with me when I moved across country where I met Dave. We were both gamers and fans of similar material; we hit it off and ended up working on AO together. Fortune smiled and Dave introduced me to Tom. The three of us ground away for the better part of a year and Mind Storm Labs and Alpha Omega were officially born.
TOM: I had always wanted to develop an intellectual property and one day Dave mentioned he worked with this guy named Earl who had a pretty cool concept for a world. We all met, I thought it sounded like a great idea so we raised some capital and got to work.
BERIN: For readers who might not be familiar with the game, tell us a little bit about Alpha Omega.
DAVE: Alpha Omega is a table-top RPG set in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Humanity has been decimated and has retreated into massive, vertical cities known as Arcologies. Nature has reclaimed the Earth and horrific monsters roam the Wilds between cities. Trade and communication are being re-established, but the New World remains incredibly dangerous. The Earth will also be the battleground for two warring alien races that have been misrepresented by history as being angels and demons. They will return to a planet that is now dramatically different from the one they last visited 10,000 years ago, with Terrans and their technology now able to affect the outcome of their next war. The game is a great framework for GMs to run campaigns of any sort including horror, pristine sci-fi, pulp action, etc. It has been written to be compatible with all visions of the near future such as Mad Max, Judge Dredd, Dawn of the Dead, Blade Runner, Equilibrium.
EARL: I think Dave hit it perfectly with his description.
TOM : Agreed.
BERIN: The Alpha Omega core book has incredible production values. It's practically a coffee table art book. The most striking and unusual thing about it is that it's printed in landscape format. What was behind that decision, and was it difficult to find a print who could do pull off the job?
DAVE: The decision had many factors. We wanted to be different from other games currently on the market and this was a very obvious way to set us apart. We also have many large, landscape illustrations in the book that are much better presented in the "widescreen" format. We wanted the weapon section to be visually stunning and allow players to compare statistics of many weapons simultaneously and the landscape makes this possible. The Rulebooks also take up less space in front of you if you are playing at a table which many players find to be a great feature.
EARL: As Dave mentions, the "widescreen" or landscape format is something we knew would really look good. It's a natural format for viewing artwork and that's a big part of AO.
TOM: In terms of the actual printing the landscape format was never a challenge for the printer. It’s a format commonly used for a lot of books.
BERIN: You've already released a couple of supplements for Alpha Omega. What big plans do you have for the future of the game.
DAVE: The Encountered: Volume 1 is the next big release for Alpha Omega. It is our "Creature Manual" and will contain 200 creatures, each with at least one fulll page for their illustration, description, behavior and game statistics. 20 of the more powerful creatures actually have a two-page spread allowing us to show them off with large illustrations, orthographic views and expanded written material. It is already available for pre-order from our website and the hardcover book will be shipping by mid-July. Our Equipment Manual is also currently being written and will contain over 400 new weapons, pieces of armor, biological and cybernetic augmentations, as well as genetic alterations.
EARL: We'll be releasing more modules as well as The Journal of Ethan Haas and there are rumors of a Divinus sourcebook underway.
TOM: We may also have some interesting news on future developments in the next couple of months.
BERIN: What do you do when you're not playing games?
DAVE : I don't understand the question....I'm always playing games! I do my best to spend time with my wife Yoko and my dog Emma in Vancouver, BC. We try to snowboard as much as we can in the mountains or find new restaurants to try downtown.
EARL: Wish I was.
TOM: The strange thing is it seems once you start working on games it doesn’t give you a lot time to play them. But in my free time I like to travel, run and scuba dive and of course long walks on the beach.
BERIN: The final question, which I ask everyone: Tell us about your favorite player character.
DAVE: I'm a big fan of the darker, more sinister characters in our world. At the moment, I'd have to go with Kullsarin. He's an ancient Lich and a powerful necromancer who is building an army of undead. He has sort of a Russian mafia/demigod thing going on that makes people nervous to say the least. Kal-Orn, the commander of the Ophanum vanguard that is arriving on Earth as the game begins is also a great character as he is an . Iintelligent leader and a powerful, demonic-looking warrior. Dalusien, a ruthless but beautiful female assassin is way up there in my books as well..there are just too many great characters in Alpha Omega to choose from!
EARL: I mostly GM these days so all my player's characters are favorites. I'm lucky to play with an awesome group of super creative players. We've got everything: maintenance AI turned adventurer, sociopathic doctor, Necrosi assassin, former corporate naval officer turned underworld operator... always fun.
TOM: I like playing the Nephilim or the Bio-Engineered but for me the social side of gaming is the most appealing so if I’m hanging out with some good friends having a good time playing, what I’m playing isn’t as important.
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