Graveyard Greg: Who are you people?

First Unknown Stranger: That one’s yours, babe.

Second Unknown Stranger: I’m Sean Jaffe. I’m a freelance writer….We’re a bunch of writers, gamers, musician, and artists who needed work.

First Unknown Stranger: I suppose that’s one way of putting it…

Second Unknown Stranger: We decided to team up and create a crew here in the tri-state area to inject some style into a hurtin’ industry, and maybe wake a few people up in the process..

First Unknown Stranger: One could also say we’re the followers of a madman with a vision. I’m Hala Winter, writer and assistant creative director.

Third Unknown Stranger: Joshua Brain Jaffe.

Graveyard Greg: Gaming credits please–past and present!

Sean: I’ve worked for Inquest, Pyramid, White Wolf…Aetherco/Dreamcatcher,and the Apophis Consortium.

Josh: My creds in the “industry” are that page on the alpha release of Messiah.

Hala: As for me, my experience in the gaming industry is mainly collaboration with Sean.

GG: How did you guys get into the crazy Gaming Industry?

Sean: Well, the way I see it, this is the last great undiscovered art form. So I majored in it at a liberal-arts college. Of course, I got screwed, because no one understood what I was talking about. So, upon leaving I had to put my money where my mouth was. I knew close friend at Inquest. he got me some work…

Josh: I’ve been gaming 14 years now, reaching 15. It seems that through every family tragedy Me and Sean endured,it became apparent we needed to do something. Well, we started forming this concept for a game. I’ve always been the mac nut, so of course, I ended up designing it. And lots of drawing symbols in the edges of my psych notes turned into the symbols you saw on the webpage (www.lastexodus.com). That page in general was a 12 hour epiphany

Sean: Yeah- stay tuned- those sigils do something really cool in the game.

Hala: Well, I’ve been gaming for thirteen years…Roleplaying games have always appealed to me as an actress and writer. Although I never really thought I would go into the gaming “industry”. But one of things we’re trying to do with Sean is bring gaming back to the “Entertainment” industry, which it’s going to have to find a niche in if it’s going to survive.

GG: Some would say that’s already happened, Hala–thanks to MAGIC: The Gathering

Josh: uuuh…..

Sean: Nah, that’s not the same.

Hala: Magic…and CCgs…are something separate to what I think we’re talking about here.

Sean: We’re talking RPG’s - Interactive story arc. This is about BEING. Magic’s well done, but it’s a different animal.

GG: What is this “Messiah: The Last Exodus” all about?

Sean: Who wants this one? Should I take it?

Hala: Well, I believe Sean used the term “Epic Blasphemy”…Sean, take this.

Josh: Sean starts, me next

Hala: I’ll finish.

GG: Ball’s in your court, Sean…

Sean: Alright. The basic premise, without giving away too much, is that the second coming of Christ is hundreds, maybe thousands of people. The players.

Hala: Don’t forget the antichrist…

Sean: Well, yes, there are an equal number of Antichrists.

Josh: Basically, everybody wants to save the world. Question is, who should do it, and who do you save? Sometimes sh!t happens, and who ya gonna call?

Hala: Each of the individuals deatiled on the site represent a different group with a different ideology on how to save the world.

Josh: Which path do YOU choose to save humanity? Which path do you block?

GG: This just in–Nate from Oaklahoma asks: “How serious are you about the religion in the game? I mean - how are you going to make the game appear to non-Christian players - or is the game going to be more All Faith?”

Josh: Every and all faiths

Sean: We blaspheme everybody.

Josh: Hell, I’m Ba’hai, I beleive in all religions.

Sean: No one gets out of here safe.

Josh: religion =/= christianity

Sean: We’re pretty much all deists, no- It utlizes Christ, but he’s not entirley focal.

Hala: I think Messiah is all about breaking that mold…The capital-R Religions in Messiah are all new.

Sean: It’s really a game about creating religion. Faith is a major theme.

Josh: Your Religion will affect your status, power, politics, sexlife and more.

Sean: We’re not afraid to offend people, rest assured. We’re respectful, but not reverent. We don’t just diss religion for the sake of it.

Hala: Sean and I both have studied a number of religions, both for Messiah and our own interests.

Sean: Josh is also heavy into sprituality.

GG: Here’s an easy question: Favorite Snack at midnight?

Josh: MCDONALDS. WE GOT A 24 HOUR MCDONALDS

Sean: Mc’D!

Hala: I’d have to say…Sean.

Sean: Nootch!

Josh: *doh*

Hala: Okay, so he’s a little more than a snack…

Josh: *my eyes are MELTING!!*

GG: So are mine! Next question! We hear the phrase too many times in game books - “This chapter details combat, though combat should not be the main percent of the game.” or blah blah.. then the chapter turns out to be 100 pages long and the book is only 186 pages or something… so are you guys going to like downplay combat - up-play it? Try to write more options than combat for the resolution of every adventure?

Sean: Combat is a focal point for most games because it’s a focal point for conflict- like in movies.

Hala: Can I answer that question? Please? From a chick-gamer perspective? Combat can help up the intensity of a roleplaying experience…but it can’t BE the roleplaying experience.

Sean: Hala pretty much nailed it.

Josh: I want combat to be quick and easy. So it can be as important or not, as a director wishes.

GG: What are your influences for this Messiah…let’s call it PROJECT, not a game, shall we?

Josh: My influences are certainly White Wolf before they got lazy and still had to fight for something, the modern techno-hiphop culture look, the family tragedies mentioned earlier, and the Wu-Tang Clan.

Sean: I took influence from the Old Testament, Star Wars, Busta Rhymes, Dream Theater, the Thrill Kill Kult, PREACHER, Hustler, Caligula, Hype Williams, Scot MAcCloud’s Zot (BIG ONE). and Savatages’ Dead Winter Dead

Hala: Hmmm…Neil Gaiman, definitely. William Gibson, Demonology, Hunter Thompson, and World of Darkness. My ideas for what makes good conflict in RPGs tend to be drawn more from The Iliad than from Starship troopers (although i LOVED that movie).

GG: OK, now it’s time for a surprise GAMER’S QUIZ! This will test your knowledge of gaming. Hala, pick your category!

Hala: Changeling!

GG: The question then: They are your teacher, banker, grocer, accountant: anyone who brings dullness and tedium to the world. Their very existence eats away Glamour. Who are they?

Hala: That would be the Autumn People for a thousand, Alex. Everyone knows that one, but thanks for the easy one.

GG: Yer welcome!

Josh: I’m gonna get banged up on this I know it.

GG: Then I’m saving you for last, Josh. Sean, pick your game!

Hala: Pick Werewolf, Sean. Star Wars is too easy for you.

Sean: Gimme Star Wars, I guess… Second Edition.

GG: Werewolf it is, then! Let’s see…Which of the following tribes went through a name change–Bone Gnawers, Red Talons, White Howlers, Silent Striders, or Glass Walkers?

Sean: The white howlers became Black Spiral Dancers and the Glass walkers were Iron Riders, and warders before that.

GG: Very Good! Josh, it is your turn!

Josh: TMNT!

GG: Teenage Mutant Turtles it is! Name the TMNT supplement that might be the foundation for RIFTS?

Josh: After the Bomb.

GG: Good! Next question!

On the website, it mentions “Deiforms”–What is a Deiform? I assume it deals with gods and stuff.

Sean: Um… It’s a soul. We really can’t reveal much else…Yet. Keep checking the website, tho..

GG: That’s what is called a “teaser”, folks!

Tell us about the other individuals involved with MESSIAH.

Sean: Well, Lets’ see. First, there’s Hala’s tentatively titled “Winter Arcane Press”

Hala: That’s the name for my company, a small press comic book company that may be branching out into other print media. We’re doing the Messiah: The Last exodus comic, among other things.

Sean: Peter Johnson (who is aware of the phallic nature of his name) is in his second year at SVA. Pat Helme is another artist, he does our computer stuff. Corinne, Hala’s artist, hopefully will be working with us, as well as some bigger names like Dave Fooden.

Josh: Charlie is a lab-pit-akita vampire lesbian dog with a donut attached to her rear. Bootsy (the cat) is our security force.

GG: Nice. Next question!

Favorite game of all time? Besides Messiah, that is…

Josh: Strip Poker

Hala: “Big Eyes, Small Mouth” and the Sailor Moon RPG or Cyberpunk, definitely.

Josh: Mage

Sean: I’d say Star wars or The Collective WoD…

Josh: Strip Mage–”Hahaha, you gain 2 more points of paradox, so take off that bra!”

GG: Hmmmmm…the World of Stripping? And now it’s time for CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH!

Sean, MARK*REIN HAGEN of the World of Darkness versus Gareth-Michael Skarka of HONG KONG THEATRE! The winner will get to face Round 2! Who would win, and how??

Sean: Damn, dude. I’ve seen Gareth. I’ve hung out with Gareth. I’ve kissed Gareth. He’d beat the piss out of hulk hogan.

Josh: Hala, you see the stiff competition you got?

Hala: Sean’s not ditching his redhaired queen anytime soon, I’m not worried.

Sean: Well, okay. Round one. Mark comes out and says “A gaming celebrity I am, lest a gaming celebrity I become.” Then Gareth comes out, and he’s got this flask of austrian vodka. He’s lookin for a fight–he lets out a mighty celtic bellow, and the fight is on. He beats Mark to death with a copy of 5th edition ars magica, then complains about distributors for a while. End of match.

GG: Ouch!

Josh, Gaerth has defeated Mark*Rein Hagen, but he now must contend with KEVIN SIEMBIEDA of Palladium fame! Who wins, and how?

Josh: Gareth, still blind from the drunken rage, is taken TOTALLY by surprise by Kevin and ALL four of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Splinter. They get all ninja and leave Gareth a puddle of goo–but the ref disqualifies it because the TMNT weren’t really in the game.

GG: Hmmmm…seeing as how Gareth can’t move, I still will declare Kevin the victor by a technicality!

Any final words for the gaming fans out there?

Sean: I have some, yes. Prepare to be challenged. The teen white male stereotype will fall…We’re blacks, we’re hispanics, we’re women, we’re gays, and we’re coming to the industry. Make room..

Hala: The “diversity” things seems a good note to end it on, but I suppose I’d like to add that Messiah is bringing gaming out of the basement and into the world, into clubs, into music. Gaming needs to come out of hiding.

Josh: It’s time RPG’s put down the dice and donuts, got laid and let us run the show for a while. We are all gamers, yet we get laid, listen to music recorded since 1988, and can dance. It’s time that the gaming industry broadened it’s audience, and we intend to do that.

Sean: Naga noooootch!

GG: I think “Naga noooootch!” sums it up. Thanks!

In a time when I find myself disenchanted with many of the directions
that tabletop RPGs have been taking in terms of production values, I
have found the White Wolf Updates for both Trinity and Aberrant a
breath of fresh air. The idea is simple: small, pamphlet-sized books
made on the cheap that detail areas of a game universe that otherwise
wouldn’t get any play. With Exposé: ABERRANTS we see the very best
and worst of this production style.

Aberrants are novas (the ABERRANT version of a supernormal) who are
part of a conspiracy against Project Utopia, a seemingly civic-minded
group claiming to be dedicated to improving life for all humans.
Things are not as they seem, of course, and Exposé: ABERRANT wades
hip-deep into the central mystery of the entire ABERRANT metaplot.

So we have a 24-page book, of which the first 11 pages are flavor text.
Now, we all like flavor text on occasion…hell, some of us may have
even smoked the stuff in college. But nearly 45% of this book is
flavor text, which lends it the quality of an advertisement or news
magazine in the “Entertainment Tonight” style. I’d be incensed if
this was a $25 hardback, but in a $5 pamphlet it fits–except that
this critically injures efforts to describe who the Aberrants are as
an organization.

Greg Stolze has an impossible task, and he does a reasonably good job
at it. The place he shines are the NPCs who populate the book–a man
with no subconscious, an ancient torch singer turned young again by her
eruption–but we never really get much of a feeling for the
organization. There simply isn’t time in this thin book to cover the
topic assigned, and it certainly doesn’t show how the Aberrants should
relate to other organizations in a day-to-day fashion.

White Wolf scored a hit with the Trinity pamphlet supplements, which
focused on psionic law, Oceania and other tertiary areas that could
use development. By shifting their focus in ABERRANT to doing Exposés
on major plot points and organizations, these pamphlets become a
must-have source of information that their small size can’t fulfill.

Finally, a quibble: there are two pictures of Novas who are obviously
overweight (Renaissance Man and The Living Wreck) which the main
Aberrant rulebook goes to great pains to explain is impossible, as
Novas burn all their calories. I always thought this was a dumb idea,
but lets have some consistency, people–one or the other, please.

The Verdict

A fun read, but so light you can skim it at your local game
store and have done with it. This is material that should have seen
light as part of a larger sourcebook on conspiracies in ABERRANT.

The first brainchild of Over the Edge’s Jonathan “I make the cool
games” Tweet and Vampire: The Masquerade’s Mark “I got a stupid dot in
my name” Rein*Hagen was Ars Magica, a brilliant role playing game of
Mythic Europe that they unveiled in 1987. It revolutionized game
playing with troupe-style playing, sensible character types, the use
of real medieval history as a setting and what is still the most
richly detailed and well-designed magic system in an RPG today.

Twelve years later the game is still miraculously alive. A lot of
this is due to a dedicated and intelligent fan-base: if Ars Magica has
a flaw, its people’s mistaken belief that you need to know Latin to
play. Well, that’s just not true -but it is one of the few games that
attracts historians, philosophers and non-hacknslashers out of the
woodwork in droves.

Ars Magica has seen four different publishers - Lion Rampant,
White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast and now Atlas Games, who ironically
used to be most of Lion Rampant. Now that the battle-weary game has
come home after a couple of near-cancellations, occasional lows and
White Wolf’s obsession with making the game a precursor to their World
of Darkness, new fans can discover Mythic Europe for themselves. It
has been worth the wait.

“The Dragon and The Bear” describes the Novgorod Tribunal, which is
13th century Poland and Russia. Unlike most RPGs, Ars Magica
researchers know their subjects - Simeon Shoul has done a fantastic job
of covering the area, complete with beautiful maps, a complete lineage
for the royalty of Poland and Russia and a comprehensive index.

For those who think ‘real’ history is lame, they have another thing
coming: the Mongols. Yes, the basis for so many faceless photocopied
barbarians in so many bad RPG worlds are here in stunning, vivid
bloody glory, and it is the eminent arrival of these ghastly hordes
which gives this supplement its real punch. Past tribunal books have
posited plots and historical events, but never with such breadth and
depth. No matter where your saga takes place, the Mongols will
affect them, and now all the details are in one place.

Also featured are full rules for Volkhv characters, including the
entirely new system of magic used by pagan characters that resurrects
the old shaman rules from the 3rd edition and makes them shine. I was
especially fascinated by the treatment of faerie in the game, which
receives an exhaustive treatment - the differing natures of Slavic
faeries are discussed, as are Arcadia and the Pagan Gods that live
there.

The Verdict

Atlas Games has really scored with their first tribunal book. They
have expertly woven Slavic myth and reality together into an excellent
sourcebook that will delight any Ars Magica player. “The Dragon and
The Bear” is a true cut above the standard locale books in the RPG
industry, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in medieval Eastern
Europe. If you have never tried Ars Magica before, now is a perfect
time - Atlas has a wide range of great materials ready for you to use,
and you simply won’t find a better medieval roleplaying game.

Graveyard Greg: Who are you?

Unknown Stranger: I’m Stephen J Herron, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, born in 1970, a man who thought that Lidsville was a deeply buried
childhood trauma until I found the
theme tune on the internet recently. I also have an English degree I keep forgetting about.

GG: One must never forget the degrees!

What’s your claim to fame in the Gaming Industry?

Herron: Creator / Publisher of The Nearside Project, wrote the Belfast / Northern
Ireland material that appears in Court of All Kings by White Wolf- the
creator of the official WoD setting for Northern Ireland and my home town.
Oh, and the Belfast Child novel that I wrote and which appears online at
http://www.moonlit-trod.com/

GG: Favorite drink?

Herron: Vanilla Milk Shakes.

GG: Quick, name your gaming credits–past and present!

Additional Material, Court of All Kings, Creator, Writer, Editor of The
Nearside Project, and all the other stuff sitting on my hard disk waiting to
escape.

GG: When do Irish Eyes smile?

Herron: When they’re watching South Park.

GG: When did you know you were in the Gaming Industry?

Herron: When I got an email from Ian Lemke at White Wolf and Nicky Rea and Jackie
Cassada saying that yes, I could provide my material for Court of All Kings.

GG: As of this moment, you are going to be publishing a 2nd edition of “The Nearside Project”. For those who haven’t read the intro (and shame on you
if you haven’t!), would you mind telling us about this game?

Herron: It’s about this world and 12 other variations of it that co-exist, called
the Nearside. Only some people with a particular ‘problem’ called Hind Brain
disorder can travel between these worlds. All the others came into existance
at the same point in time, just after 1pm on August 13th 1989. On one world,
an asteroid smashed into the Sahara, on another aliens invaded, and on
another magic suddenly came into existance. There’s a reason behind all of
this, which is what the Nearsiders, those who can travel, will discover.

GG: How did “The Nearside Project” come to be?

Herron: I had written 90% of an RPG based on X-COM, a PC game from 1994 written by
Mythos Games in England. I phoned them up one day and asked them if I could
do an RPG based on their game. They said sure, but I got distracted. The
Nearside itself is based upon some concepts for a series of short stories
that I came up with in 1991 or 1992. I’d been (and still do) use Nearside as
a handle on the net, especially when playing Half Life : Counterstrike.

I came up initially with only about a half dozen world concepts… in the
first edition, I left some empty for gamers to make up their own. Then a guy
called Barry Gibson persuaded me to develop the game further, and to deepen
the ideas behind the Big Picture. This was happening at the same time as I
was converting the original percentage system of Nearside 1 into a d10
system for what I was calling The Fantasy Engine (a fantasy system) so it
all came together.

Second Edition (in a basic photocopied book form) was actually released (I
did about a dozen copies !) at Q-Con in Belfast in 1998, but I consider that
to have been a preview release. The game has been refined further since
then, and if I do release it on the net, I’ll be able to put a ton of extra
stuff in, because I won’t have to worry about the physical size of the thing!

I have to mention Colin Sinclair, the main co-writer of the Project. He
provided a couple of the Variations, and is the other part of Nearside
Games. But I do most of the work, and he’d be the first to admit that.

GG: You are trapped on a tropical island, and you could only bring THREE games with you (we assume you have people there too–gotta have someone to play with!). What games would you take, and why?

Herron: 1) The Pokemon card game: it’s fun and simple.
2) The Nearside Project: Well, I’d have plenty of time to play-test it.
3) SLA Industries: I could look at the art for hours, and the game is so
well written, and is the best kept secret in gamedom.

GG: I didn’t expect POKEMON–gotta catch them all!

What will be in the future for Nearside Games?

Herron: I hope to publish the game online for free, or as shareware or something.
I’d like to support it more, and with my possible relocation to the US (due
to marriage, I hope !) then I’d try and get into the market here. But in the
end, it’s not for money, it’s a love thing.

GG: Word association time! I’m going to say a word, and you say the first thing that pops into your mind: Tyrant

Herron: Eye ? As in Eye Tyrant ? My AD&D past revealed…

GG: Spooky!

Speaking of which, it’s time for CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH! Your opponents are GARY GYGAX of D&D Fame! Waiting to battle him is DAVE ARNESON of D&D Fame! There can be only one, so who emerges victorious, and how?

Herron: Dave Arneson grabs Gary Gygax hard behind the ears, and smashes his head
repeated into a corner post screaming: “Cyborg Commando !!! Cyborg Commando !!!”

Gary knows he’s done a bad thing and doesn’t resist.

Repeat til fade.

In the end, Dave Arneson relents, but his mercy just gives Gary Gygax time
to commit another horror: Dangerous Journeys II.

GG: With all due respect to Gygax–NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

“I want to write for Nearside Games”–what would your company’s reply be to that statement?

Herron: Bemused silence, followed by a big grin. Maybe a scary one.

GG: Spooky!

Any final words for our readers?

Herron: Support any and all RPG companies, big and small. Without players, it’s meaningless.

GG: Wise words from the Irish–you read it here first!