Graveyard Greg: Who are you?

Unknown Stranger 1: I… uh…Oh. Chris Adams, of YAMARA and ALCOTT SQUAD fame. And now CONTINUUM.

Unknown Stranger 2: Barbara Manui of all of the above. And I help the planet resolve itself. If you’re an extraterrestrial, talk to me, I’ll get you to the right place.

Unknown Stranger 3: Dave Fooden, Illustrator, Designer, Game Designer, Lizard King, and Lover of 1001 women

Barbara: You are not the Lizard King.

David: Blasphemer!

Barbara: Blaspheme your own self.

Chris: Wait. That’s Sean’s game.

GG: Now now now! No crossovers with other interviews yet!

Gaming Industry Credits please!

David: White Wolf, lotsa illustrations, Vampire cards, 5 Rings, Doomtown, Mythos, Cyberpunk 2020, lots of others, Continuum, of course.

Chris: As above, other comics in clude HOB in d8, GUNNAR THORSON in Dragon, WARCHIEF: THE ALUMNUS in SHADIS, and a couple scenarios for Call of Cthulhu.

Barbara: I ditto with Chris on most things, plus I did a pridebook for Precedence’s Immortal game that was never published

GG: What is AETHERCO?

Barbara: Aetherco (http://www.aetherco.com) is my S corporation that’s been in business for 13 years. Main purpose is to give us aegis for our creative products. It’s also useful to have an extra persona about.

GG: Forgive the ignorance, but what’s an “S Corporation”?

Barbara: It’s a pretty standard legal structure. It simplifies taxation and legal business for companies with limited management.

GG: I get it now.

Let’s talk about the current project CONTINUUM. What is it, for those who haven’t encountered it?

David: The game of genuine time travel and the game I’ve wanted SOMEBODY to put out so I’d have a good time travel rpg to play

Barbara: It’s a time travel game which is attempting to address the theme of time travel as logically and as practically as possible.

Chris: It’s something even hardcore SF fans have not seen before…SciFi Channel called us “Unusual”. If it’s unusual to SciFi, it’s new. It would never have happened without Dave’s ardent desire… and that bet.

GG: Whoa! I smell a story…what bet?

David: I bet we COULD do a time travel rpg, that dealt with all the aspects of the genre

GG: Seems like you won that bet, eh?

Chris: Frankly, we hear from a lot of fans that couldn’t believe it could be done.

GG: But you did, apparently…

Let’s hear some details about CONTINUUM…what is the Yet?

Chris: Well, Greg, you and I non-time-travellers just have our Past, Present and Future, but chronies in CONTINUUM span time at will, and so these categories become less relevant (and more relative)

The Yet is the things a spanner discovers he must do, but hasn’t… yet. Sometimes called the “required Future”, but it may not actully happen farther Up in time, so the term “The Yet” is more effective.

GG: Holy Foreshadowing! But what happens if he never does these things?

Chris: Well, if he doesn’t get around to it at the right moment of his Age, he starts to feel Frag…Which is the whipping-stick of spacetime, essentially. The carrot, of course is the enormous power of teleporting space and time at will from the get-go, as often as you like.

GG: So, you can go anywhere anytime?

Chris: Ultimately, yes. You start with the power of going up to a year’s worth of time before resting a night. Then you get it back. If you earn your way, this can be increased exponentially.

David: Within the limits of your Span

GG: What is Span, for our readers who have no idea what we’re talking about?

Chris: Span (Spanning) the power to travel time at will. How it works is delineated in the book, but it’s in the GM’s section, so we won’t say it aloud online.

GG: I understand

If you were trapped on a desert island, and could only bring with you three games, what would they be and why?

Chris: Hm. Cthulhu, Chess and CONTINUUM.

Barbara: Call of Cthulhu. That’s a good one. And old-time-religion D&D, because nobody plays it straight anyway. Maybe some good randomizing game so we can decide who gets eaten first

David: that game is who can stay awake the longest and I’m good at it, so watch out… mmmm.. yummy

Barbara: No, I’ve got it. some internet-based game so we’re guaranteed a connection so we can contact the Coast Guard

Chris: Actually, Greg. We’re game designers. We’ll invent them there.

Barbara: Maybe the Trobrianders will bring their own game.

GG: Heh…

What inspired you to have that unique way to increase your skills?

Chris: Life.

Barbara: We take notes.

David: Experience points are… silly. Well, not silly, unrealistic. You learn by doing or studying, more by doing

Barbara: I would Call of Cthulhu a little credit. It is a beautifully elegant system and it impressed us strongly when we were young.

GG: Call of Cthulhu rocks.

Chris, YAMARA–what is the concept behind the comic strip?

Chris: RPG characters actually having to live in a world with stupid rules, but eventually demandinmg dignity.

Barbara: There’s a point were daffiness becomes histrionic, and eventually finds its way into a kind of poetic glory. I miss YAMARA, we came up with some great stuff…

GG: Shameless plug time! Where can readers find all of the online strips?

Chris: Why at www.yamara.com, where else? (Mad Ave grin)

GG: Just what inspired you to do YAMARA?

Barbara: Well. We really wanted to sell a strip.

Chris: RPGs are great, but there’s always a laugh lurking in even the most serious game.

Barbara: And eventually it became a real challenge to lampoon D&D in its house organ

GG: Let’s not ignore Dave–hey, Dave! What’s the best story concerning your art career?

David: I got to deface the illustration in the latest Castlevania print ad recently…well, I was called in to correct it. The best stories are in my Yet.

GG: Heh heh

How did you guys get together, anyway?

David: We met at Dexcon I think

Chris: No, we met… at Kinko’s.

David: Oh yeah! Twice in the same day. I was copying some reference shots I took (of Mike Kaluta actually) and Chris was doing the strip for D8.

Chris: Bar and I met in college, though we’re coauthors, not a couple.

Barbara: I ran into David at Dexcon, and I knew he’d already run into Chris.

David: We were both guests of the con, and had tables near each other.

GG: And the rest was history?

Next question: What’s coming up for CONTINUUM?

Chris: The first supplement FURTHER INFORMATION will be out now that we’ve settled on a printer and other stuff…

David: Well, Narcisissit 0.5 is out already

GG: That’s the RPG dealing with the bad Time Travelers, right?

Barbara: Question of perspective. Baaaaaad with six a’s, maybe.

Chris: Actually, Narcissist is written from the point of view of those who oppose the Continuum. In CONTINUUM the universe can’t be changed. If you to try to change something that’s known, well, you’re messing with somebody else’s existence, and maybe even your own. The natural reaction people have to threat is to put a stop to it. But the narcissists, who call themselves crashers, believe the Continuum is keeping the truth about other universes a secret, and fight to crash free of this universe.

GG: What is Dreamcatcher Multimedia, and how did they get involved with CONTINUUM?

David: Dreamcatcher is my company to deal with some publishing projects I have in mind, Continuum is the first one to see light. Also, its a design and idea house.

GG: So, can any Joe Average come up to Dreamcatcher Multimedia and shoot off some concepts?

David: Sure, if you wanted, say a book designed (layed out, art directed, etc) or something?

GG: I have heard of the NY Syndicate. Give us the dirt on them!

Chris: “It’s all terribly mysterious”…It’s like the Mystery Men at the moment. But we are doing GAMA and GenCon together this year…

David: They are an illuminati like cabal who control the game industry with an iron fist in a velvet glove

Chris: Yeah… and that….We’re Aetherco, Clockworks, Dreamcatcher, Synister and TaleSpinner, in no particular order, albeit alphabetical.

GG: DING DING DING!

Ladies and gentlemen, in the New Jersey corner–the man with the Blasphemous plan, SEAN JAFFE! His opponent–the man with a Dream in his side…CAIAS BRIAN WARD! Both have written for the CONTINUUM game, but now it’s every man for himself! Who would win, and how?

Chris: Okay, Sean comes out of his corner nekkid except for his flourescent flashing crucifix

David: Caias is simultaneously blinded and disgusted

Barbara: Caias begins with some peace-making gestures. The phrase “I don’t want to hit you” is used. Sean makes some comment about having sex. Caias, being definitely heterosexual, is offended, and first punch flies.

Chris: It lands, it’s a doozy!

David: Sean goes Flying, into Hala, who gets in the ring along with the Synister crew.

Chris: Sean is down and crumpled like a crack whore on a Tuesday. Caias cleans off his hand on a moist towellette.

David: The Synisters glower mencagly and advance on Caias, encircling him. The Synisters start arguing amongst themselves over how to do Caias in. But no one gets around to it, Caias gets bored

Chris: Caias sighs, and takes up his cane. Now, they are in for it.

David: Hala tries taking a couple swings, but Caias, being a gentleman, sidesteps them and sez “stop that”

Chris: Eventually, the Synister crew decide to rename their company and the title of their product, and Caias goes off to enjoy an evening with a lovely mate.

GG: Do you people have any advice for those game designers out there? You know, the ones who are hiding from the Celebrity Deathmatch questions?

Barbara: My advice is: Do something new. Do something that’s never been seen before. You know the phrase, “Nothing new under the sun”?

David: Get a mac and get a real job. Self publishing has become easier than ever, especially with the web

Chris: Absolutely. Or get friends with jobs.

David: Or spouses.

Chris: What spouses?

David: If anyone out there wants to apply for the position of my Sugar Momma, let me know.

Chris: As for advice, follow your dream. There’s no guarantees, but if you don’t try, you _will_ lose.

GG: Words to live by. Thanks for your time, and good luck to ya’ll!