Interview: Robin Laws

Unknown Stranger: Quick, look behind you, it's a flying monkey!

GG: A monkey? Where?!

(pause)

Hey, wait a minute, I recognize that trick! It was used by Robin Laws, who is you! You're the writer of many games and gaming supplements. In fact, let's have a list of past, present, and future credits!

Robin Laws: Roleplaying Games

• HERO WARS, Issaries Inc., release TBA
• FENG SHUI, Daedalus Entertainment, 1996
• OVER THE EDGE (additional material), Atlas Games, 1992
• NEXUS: THE INFINITE CITY (additional material) Daedalus Games, 1994
• PANDEMONIUM (additional material) MIB Productions, 1993

Collectible Card Games

• SHADOWFIST (co-designer), Daedalus Entertainment, 1995

Novels

• Pierced Heart, Over the Edge novel, Atlas Games, 1996

Collectible Card Game Expansions

• THE CUT-UPS PROJECT, On the Edge, Atlas Games, 1995
• NETHERWORLD (design team member), Daedalus Entertainment, 1995
• FLASHPOINT (continuity), Daedalus Entertainment, 1996

Collectible Card Game Supplements

• Surviving On the Edge (contributor), Atlas Games, 1995
• Shadowfist Player's Guide (contributor), Daedalus Entertainment, 1996

Computer Games

• King of Dragon Pass (writing/design), release TBA; see http://a-sharp.com/opal/
• Magic: The Gathering Battlemage (additional dialogue) Acclaim Entertainment, Spring 1997

Roleplaying Sourcebooks and Supplements

• The Weather the Cuckoo Likes, Over the Edge, Atlas Games, 1994
• Infected, Earthdawn, FASA, 1994
• Parlainth: The Forgotten City, Earthdawn, FASA, 1994
• Nexus Life, Nexus: The Infinite City, Daedalus Games, 1995
• Throal: the Dwarf Kingdom, Earthdawn, FASA, 1996
• Ways and Means, Underground, Mayfair Games, 1995
• GURPS Fantasy II, GURPS, Steve Jackson Games, 1992
• Unauthorized Broadcast, Over the Edge, Atlas, 1993
• Sub-Men Rising, Talislanta, Wizards of the Coast, 1995
• Stranger Than Truth (developer, contributor), Pandemonium, Atlas Games, 1994
• Wildest Dreams (development, contributor), Over the Edge, Atlas Games, 1993
• "Dead Man's Hand", in Parlainth Adventures, Earthdawn, FASA, 1994
• "Revelations on the True Nature of Orks" in Denizens of Earthdawn Vol. 2,
• Earthdawn, FASA, 1994
• Friend or Foe (contributor), Over the Edge, Atlas Games, 1994
• Adept's Way (contributor), Earthdawn, FASA, 1995
• Horrors (contributor), Earthdawn, FASA, 1995
• Blades (contributor), Earthdawn, FASA, 1995
• "Bliss of Death" and "Doppleganger Plague" in Myth of Self, Over the Edge, Atlas Games, 1996
• Prelude to War (contributor), Earthdawn, FASA, 1996
• The Theran Empire, Earthdawn, FASA, 1997
• The Great Maze, Deadlands, Pinnacle Entertainment, 1997
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game (contributor), Last Unicorn Games, 1998
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Roleplaying Game (contributor), Last Unicorn Games, coming soon
• Star Trek Roleplaying Game (contributor), Last Unicorn Games, coming soon
• Player's Companion (contributor), ST:TNG, Last Unicorn Games, coming soon
• Pirates, Renegades and Rogues (contributor), ST:DS9, Last Unicorn Games, coming soon
• Iron and Ash: Cardassian Boxed Set (contributor), ST:DS9, Last Unicorn Games, coming soon
• Through A Glass Darkly: The Mirror Universe Sourcebook,(contributor), Star Trek, Last Unicorn Games, coming soon
• Doomstones 5: Wars and Death (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay), Hogshead Publishing, coming soon
• "Escape to Level M" in End Time: Glimpses, Pagan Publishing, release TBA

Laws: If you mean novel, _The Red and the Black_ by Stendhal. If you mean anything ever published in book form, it'd be Shakespeare's Hamlet.

GG: How about a favorite book INSIDE of gaming?

Laws: The only piece of gaming fiction I've ever read all the way through is my own novel, Pierced Heart.

GG: What's your favorite RPG?

Laws: HERO WARS, the upcoming Glorantha game I designed for Issaries, Inc. Followed by everything else I've ever worked on, in the reverse order in which I worked on it.

My favorite game that I've never worked on would be CALL OF CTHULHU.

GG: How did you get into the gaming business?

Laws: I got involved with an APA called Alarums and Excursions, and wrote about the games I was running as well as various and sundry other RPG topics. Among the A&E contributors I started corresponding with was Jonathan Tweet, at that time just launching the Ars Magica game with co-creator Mark Rein*Hagen.

A few years later, Jonathan, inspired by an A&E article I wrote on adapting William S. Burroughs to roleplaying, sent me notes on a campaign he was running. I sent him background material to use if he wanted. The campaign became OVER THE EDGE, and stuff I sent him appeared in that game close to verbatim.

Meanwhile, Steve Jackson invited me to write a GURPS book based on the weird-fantasy game I was writing. And before I knew it I was getting lots of offers and working full-time.

(Check out http://www.starport.com/xeno/aande.html if you're not sure what an APA is.)

GG: I had the pleasure of meeting you last year at one of the gaming conventions--I think it was GenCon--and I noticed two things: You are a humble guy, and you wore a Hawaiian shirt. I hear you wear them a lot. Is this true? :)

Laws: I do like to wear colorful shirts -- though only a couple of them are Hawaiian, strictly speaking. Though now they're really hip and I may have to come up with a new distinguishing sartorial feature.

GG: Tell our readers the origin story of the soon to be re-released FENG SHUI--one of the best cinematic RPGs hands down. How did you create such an interesting game?

Laws: I've been a fan of Hong Kong action movies since seeing A BETTER TOMORROW at the 1987 Toronto International Film Festival. By 1993, as I got more involved in the game industry, the genre seemed a natural for translation into an RPG. At the same time, mainstream interest in HK movies was beginning to bubble up. Now we have Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Chow-Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh all appearing in Hollywood movies, with John Woo and others directing mega-blockbusters. So I guess my timing was right.

Anyhow, I pitched the idea for the RPG to Jose Garcia of Daedalus Games, then preparing its NEXUS: THE INFINITE CITY game. Jose agreed to publish the game and later decided to base a collectible card game, SHADOWFIST, based on the same setting. The card game came out before the RPG, even though the roleplaying game was the original treatment of the idea.

GG: And then there was a dark moment in Feng Shui's "life". But thanks to Atlas Games, we have a new beginning! What can we expect in the future for Feng Shui?

Laws: The new book is back from the printers and seems to be getting really good initial orders. It should ship on Monday and be ready for GenCon, knock wood.

Greg Stolze is acting as line developer for the game. The first Atlas supplement is his SEEDS OF THE NEW FLESH, the Architects sourcebook. It's due out in the fall.

Nothing else has been announced yet.

GG: Favorite snack food at 12 am?

Laws: Bits and Bites.

GG: What do you think of the gaming industry right now? If you had the power, would there be anything you would change?

Laws: The industry is on an upswing after suffering severe damage to the distributor and retailer tiers due to the boom-bust cycle of the CCG craze. Let's hope we don't get nailed by a similar boom-bust on Pokemon.

If I could change something, I'd make the audience bigger. That's the only way to improve the industry's many systemic problems. WotC will actually succeed in doing this if it successfully rolls out a credible, national retail chain.

GG: OK, it's Celebrity Deathmatch Time! We've got Steve Jackson, Matt Forbeck, and Steve Long are fighting for control of the Feng Shui site! Who would win, and how do they pull it off?

Laws: I am sure they would all work together to capture the Feng Shui site in the name of truth, justice, and hamburgers with the works. They would use their special fu powers against the Architects of the Flesh currently infesting the site. Steve J. would employ The Walk of a Thousand Exclamation Points; Matt would whip out his Cloud of Gentlemanly Poise, while Steve "Writes" Long would dazzle them with his Path of the Astounding Word Count.

GG: Hm. That sure does sound like them, all right. Here's a question from a Feng Shui fan. Shane Mitrovic of St.. Catharines, Ontario asks: "Feng Shui is said to be a ground breaking game. What was the one thing driving its creation for you?"

Laws: I wanted to recreate the wild and woolly feel of the source material, while also creating a fun, distinctive world that could be spun off into other media.

GG: Sounds sweet, but I'm sure the ladies out there would like to know this one: Boxers or Briefs?

Laws: Boxers.

GG: Finally, what advice would you give to our gaming youth who wish to make it in the gaming industry?

Laws: Read widely -- not just game stuff, or fantasy/SF, or even fiction. Write anything you get the chance to write -- articles for the school newspaper, ad copy for local businesses, anything. Learn self-discipline. Learn the basic principles of professionalism. Go to conventions; politely ask people like me for advice. Understand that you'll start out by working on supplements for existing games, not publishing the AD&D variant rules you and your friends have been polishing for the last decade. Make contacts. Adjust your lifestyle to the low pay rate of the creative professional. If you want to make a lot of money, become a computer programmer or lawyer instead of a professional in the hobby games industry. (I do this full time, but I'm one of a very small number of freelancers who have done so successfully for any significant period of time.)

Once you start getting gigs: make deadlines, meet the specifications your clients give you, be talented, be pleasant to work with, and continue to network.

GG: Thanks for your time, Robin, and good luck with FENG SHUI!

Laws: Take care!