Interview: Scott Haring

Unknown Stranger: My name is Scott Haring. I'm the editor of Pyramid Magazine, columnist and reporter for Comics Retailer Magazine, a former staff writer/editor/developer at Steve Jackson Games and TSR, former owner/editor of The Gamer, and former and current freelancer for lots of folks.

GG: Nice to meet you, Scott. Name some of your writing credits

Scott: Deluxe Car Wars and tons of other Car Wars supplements; Empires of the Sands for the Forgotten Realms; Republic of Darokin for the D&D Gazetteer line; GURPS Horror; co-author on GURPS Autoduel. Editor of Autoduel Quarterly, The Gamer, and Pyramid.

GG: What the heck is that huge pile of papers on your desks? Looks like submissions?

Scott: Tell me about it. We have a lot of outstanding writers who seem to like contributing to Pyramid, and the articles tend to come in faster than I can look them over and use them. The backlog is pretty severe right now, though I hope to use the calm, tranquil holiday season to get caught up. Or maybe I'm just dreaming.

GG: What do you do for Steve Jackson Games besides being the editor for PYRAMID?

Scott: I'm strictly a freelancer these days, and most of what I do is run Pyramid. I also contribute to the occasional SJ Games project; I recently edited GURPS Japan, and wrote one chapter of GURPS Y2K.

GG: Which do you like better: POKEMON or DIGIMON?

Scott: Pokemon. There's that one character on Digimon with the really annoying high voice; I hate that.

GG: Seems like all of them have annoying high voices--it's part of their charm!

How did you become the Editor for Pyramid Magazine?

Scott: Pyramid was started in 1993 by Derek Pearcy, a very talented guy I felt lucky to work with. I had worked for Steve Jackson Games in the '80s, editing Autoduel Quarterly and working on both Space Gamer and Fantasy Gamer in addition to my other game design duties, so Steve knew my work. I was underemployed and struggling in Los Angeles in the Fall of '93, and Steve offered me a job. I took over the magazine with issue #4, saw it through to #30, shepherded the transition to an online magazine, and have been editing it pretty much ever since (with a small break in the Fall of '98). The rest is history.

GG: Is it true that Steve Jackson is really the Secret Ruler of the Illuminati? If so, what does that make Bill Gates?

Scott: If Steve is the Secret Ruler, he hasn't told *me*. But it wouldn't surprise me. Gates, of course, runs The Network.

GG: What do you see as the "Next Big Trend" for gaming?

Scott: It will be something that nobody saw coming. And if I could tell you what it will be, then that wouldn't be it, y'know?

GG: Speaking of trends, will POKEMON have any staying power, or is it destined to fade away?

Scott: Of course it's destined to fade away, like Power Rangers before it and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before them. But not yet. And not before making a lot more money for the folks who are in a position to exploit it. If I had to guess, I figure it's got about another year, and then something else will be the hot thing for Christmas 2000. But I could be wrong.

GG: Which is better, Everquest, or Ultima Online?

Scott: Couldn't tell you. I don't have the computing power or the time to be involved with either one.

GG: Speaking of which, everyone is talking about how online gaming is going to kill the pencil and paper gaming. You remember those--You have a bunch of dice and stuff, get together with some friends, and have someone run an adventure? What is your opinion?

Scott: Not a chance. We're not done exploring ways the net can facilitate pen-and-paper type gaming, either over the net or as a resource for face-to-face. But the flexibility of the game master to take the story where the players' actions send it is what makes face-to-face still the vastly superior experience -- and no computer can do that, not yet. And not for quite a while, I suspect. And I'm also a big believer in the value of human contact. No matter how rich the simulation, how vivid the virtual reality, I believe there's always something in the back of a human's mind that knows it's not real, and knows it's not an adequate substitute for real life. But that's just me.

GG: I can't argue with that!

If you could come back as any animal, what would you reincarnate into?

Scott: One of my wife's cats. They are the most pampered, beloved animals on the planet. I could do worse.

GG: What's in the future for PYRAMID Magazine?

Scott: I think we've got a winning formula, and we're going to keep riding it. Our subscription base is growing slowly but steadily (we add 10-20 new subscribers every week), so I figure we're doing something right. Of course, we're always looking for ways to add to the value, and we've kicked around a number of ideas that I don't want to go into detail on, mostly because there's no guarantee that any of them will actually happen. We probably discuss a dozen ideas for every one we try to actually implement.

GG: Shameless plug time! What is the URL for those not in the know?

Scott: http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid

GG: Scott, it is now time for the honored tradition of CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH! In the red corner, we have the honorable Bill Slavicsek (of ALTERNITY fame) fighting the awesome power of Sandy Antunes of RPG.Net! And yet, lurking in the corner ready to strike is none other than Richard Dakan, freelance writer of many gaming supplements! Who would win, and how?

Scott: I've got to think that Bill Slaviczek's combination of guile, experience, and treacery -- a natural outgrowth of his advanced age -- will win the day. Don't forget how good he is at bending reality to his whims; he *is* the guy who came up with Torg, isn't he?

GG: I guess so!

Thanks for your time, Scott! Any advice to those who are going to start submitting to you?

Scott: Read our Writer's Guidelines, and embrace them like a lover. Oh, yeah, and do what they say, too. You make the job easier for the editor, and the editor tends to smile on your work and send you big whopping checks for your trouble. "Big, whopping" being a relative term, of course.