Noah Stevens: Game Writer, Player, Blogger.

Noah Stevens, 2nd from left. about to give the unsuspecting Mike Evans, a "wet willy"
with Brian Mullins, and Phil Spitzer at WayneCon 2016.

I first became aware of Noah Stevens from his DCC RPG solo adventure, The Hounds of Halthrag Keep. I hadn't yet played DCC but was eager to get started so I bought a copy of the pdf figuring I could familiarize myself with the system by playing solo...but I hate pdfs so, honestly, I only played a little of the adventure. I've gotta buy the soft cover so I can get back to it and play. Noah has also contributed to Narcosa and the 2015 edition of Gongfarmer's Almanac. Over at RPGNow he publishes under the name The Hapless Henchman and, besides Hounds of Hathrag Keep, has 2 other adventures available, Bad Dreams, Bad Grades and Green Smoke, and Vacation at the Shore. I absolutely love Vacation at the Shore. It's written in that loose Monty Python like surreal-ish style that Noah's G+ posts are often written in, probably best described as mirthful irreverence which occasionally drifts into psychedelic chaos. It's a crazy fun pleasure to read and has been selected as Tridentcon 2017's Best Free Product! So, I'm looking forward to more releases from The Hapless Henchman and hope to play some online sessions with Noah this year.

Favorite Toys of Childhood

Remember your TOP FAVORITE TOYS of all time. What is it about any of these toys that you most identified with? What made this so special? How did you play with these toys? Shared or Solo play?

Noah Stevens: It was the COBRA F.A.N.G. which I think I probably saw in a K-Mart flyer shortly after it was introduced to the market in 1983.  I lusted after that thing in the way that I don’t think I have cared about a toy before or since. Up until that time, my Joes/Bad Guys had been moving around by putting out their arms and cocking their left or right legs at a right angle and zipping around the sky that way.  Owing to a theft of almost all my action figs by a neighbor kid (an inbred fuckhead named Johnny, may he rot in hell forever) - in my Darth Vader carrying case, no less!!! - I was something in a bad way in regards to figs and toys at that time.  Of course, I had the cool ones my folks could find (a lot of Empire Strikes Back-era Star Wars toys, the ATAT walker, the Snowspeeder, the Tauntaun). But I think after the painful loss of my other stuff the FANG represented a new era of relief; I think it was probably just before my Atari 2600 hit the household and the Intellivision came a little later and I think I was lost to figs and standard toys from then on.  I distinctly recall the diminishing collection as I tried to trade back my least favorites to get my own stolen figures back - I tell you Johnny really left a mark on me that I have not considered until you asked me these awful questions! Fucking Johnny! That was a weird period in my life, and my family’s life.  Pretty Chaotic.  Just then around age 8 or 9 my dad picked me up a Fiend Folio after my older brother introduced me to D&D once fateful summer night and it was downhill ever since.

The Transformer known in the U.S. as Jetfire. But it was really a Robotech Veritech Valkyrie Fighter.  I broke his arm off during the very first successful transformation on Christmas morning, and I hid that fact from everyone until just this moment.

The D&D Castle of Snake-Heads (whatever it was) was pretty cool, I guess.  And Crystar, I had Crystar himself.  A lot of the D&D figs (the half orc assassin, and Warduke of course!) I think that I often played by myself.  I wasn’t a very social player and even then my imaginary playground was probably more in my comfort zone (I note with some insight it may have been Johnny’s FUCKING BETRAYAL that turned me around the corner on introvert vs. extrovert! That motherfucker)

Favorite Films or TV

What were your favorite movies and television shows of your youth? How old were you when you loved these shows? Why did you identify with these shows and do you think these movies and programs had an influence on the adult you?

Noah Stevens: Maybe in a rough order, probably not according to their release date:

Empire Strikes Back (without comment)

I will watch WarGames without fail

Night of the Creeps - maybe the most perfect horror movie ever made; I kid I kid

Return of the Living Dead - I had to explain to my wife the other night that Linnea Quigley was maybe the first full frontal nudity I ever experienced in my life, and it’s also in the context of the Tar Man zombie which I mean, it explains my weird fetishes now.  Just kidding.  Maybe.

Weird Science

Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield (and the corollary Easy Money)

The Beastmaster (I mean, everything about it and Tanya Robert’s boobies, maybe after my latent mind woke up about it)

Ghostbusters - I have remarked to my wife that my persona is something like an amalgam of Peter Venkman and Han Solo and Bill and Ted, and of course this is not probably very healthy.

The Goonies - I cannot recall if this hit me right around the time I was hip-deep into the Fiend Folio, or what.  I think every kid my age dreamed of adventure, and this was a perfect one; no parents.  All the adults laughably incompetent.  Very empowering, for a kid. I saw it at my grandparents’ house the summer of release, and I spent most of that summer making mazes on graph paper, poring over the FF, and hoping/dreaming to see an anime that I didn’t know the name of on TV some afternoon ; I think it turned out to be Mazinger or Tranzor Z

Ferris Buehler’s Day Off (I think at that time me and my dad were having some trouble and I identified pretty closely with Cameron)

Favorite TV of that era: GI Joe, Voltron, Transformers, The D&D Cartoon, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, Thundercats, the space Thundercats spinoff. I recall being entranced by Robotech, series one, two and three.  It appeared on Channel 33 every school day, and I always had to leave with 10 minutes left in each episode, so I never was fully apprised of what was going on. Pinwheel (the Canadian kid’s cartoon variety show) was a quiet favorite of mine, which is maybe weird.  Somewhat later, Ren & Stimpy and Pete and Pete.  Max Headroom (mid 80’s I guess) - there were a few series I recall with different actors etc. but the guy Matt Frewer was the center of it. There was this one saturday morning thing, it didn’t last long - The Mighty Orbots.  Man.  GOOOO MIGHTY ORBOTS

Looking back, maybe the rugged heroism and individualism and implicit anti-authoritarianism in all of it.  That idea that clever people get ahead, maybe a certain kind of meritocracy and thumbing your nose at people in charge when they are clearly obnoxious squelchers of good ideas.  To be pretty frank, my movie preferences have opened me up to a world of professional hurt and rotten choices.  Thanks, Venkman!

Creating Games

Think About Playtime:  Did you create games or imaginary worlds as a child? Please give a description of an important original game or play world that you enjoyed.

Hounds of Halthrag Keep, Noah's solo
adventure for DCC RPG

Noah Stevens: I’m not very creative, but I’m good at fresh and unexpected (to me) combinations.  I don’t recall particular settings or ideas that I cooked up, except that summer I spent doodling mazes pretty obsessively on graph paper the thing was influenced by Atari’s Adventure and this series of books called Circle of Light. The covers of those two things, together, spun off into an intricate and probably derivative world of very symbolic and nebulous characters.  The Circle of Light series (pretty awful in retrospect) had Dwarf, Bear, and Otter as primary characters and that has struck me pretty deeply.  The mazes I drew had keys and chests and dragons and pirate ships.  Probably no plots or concrete names that I can recall.  Pretty likely it was “fetch the key -> grab the treasure -> exit the maze”.  Influenced by Encyclopedia Brown, You Can Be an Interplanetary Spy, and Choose Your Own Adventure Books.  There was one CYOA book that involved going into the center of the earth and that one still influences me, even after I encountered Pellucidar and HG Wells and all the stuff it was spun off from.  I am intrigued now on reflection that I don’t particularly hold on to imagined worlds and that they are fairly mutable and impermanent.  I don’t even like codified fluff in the games I do play in these days. I resent the imposition of an official narrative like the Games Workshop guys are doing these days for example...

Play Community

As a child how did you feel about how you fit in with the rest of the world or community or friends? Like, were you very social or did you prefer spending time alone? Your environment, was it rural or urban? Were siblings a big part of your playtime? Did adults interact with you in game play, and if so was it structured play (sports, scouting, clubs, etc.) or free form?

Noah: I grew up in a couple of crummy trailer parks in Miami.  I do not believe that they were great places, and my folks were always stressed out and in conflict.  I had a couple of close friends that I clung to who lived - to my young mind - very far away.  My very-nearby buddy Doug and I engaged in juvenile cinematography in Junior High but before that I was wrapped up in one or two friends at a time, very clingy, probably too clingy. I was teased a great deal in school because at that time Miami was primarily Hispanic and me and these two other kids were maybe the only Caucasian types in the school, and I always felt like an outsider; this is a feeling that continues to this day.  We played some D&D at the library in middle school, and in Elementary it was frowned on, and in High School it was a magnet program and RPGs seemed like really well-accepted but by then I was too gangly and shy to take part in anything for very long.  My mom forced me to stay in track despite my own resentment of it and all the, uh, effort. Me and my brother played a lot of Nintendo together but he was never interested in D&D; my best friends never seemed interested, either. I didn’t even particularly fit well with the guys who did like D&D/RPGs, for some reason. I feel immensely, truly, relatively comfortable with the people on Google Plus who I game with, but I think I am always going to feel apart from people in most ways.  Thanks again, Venkman!

Childhood Playtime's Impact On Adult Gaming

Do you have any thoughts about aspects of your childhood play time that influenced your passion for RPGs? Have you ever intentionally incorporated memories of childhood playtime into game work you have created/written as an adult?

Noah: Well, my sinking into RPGs coincided with the arrival of the Commodore 64.  I had AD&D1e and the Moldvay set, along with 1e Gamma World, Star Frontiers, and then my second wave was maybe WFRP 1e and Paranoia and AD&D2e with Oriental Adventures.  I think I had given up trying to convince friends to play RPGs with me, and turned that into tinkering with Basic programs and Apple IIe programs and genre smashing, even then.  I think I didn’t much like ‘official’ settings except maybe the implied frameworks - I think Greyhawk is dull and Dragonlance is awful and Forgotten Realms is bleh, for example… I think of RPGs maybe as a fundamentally imaginary and maybe even lonely undertaking, but of course when you can get that thing in your head across to others it’s a big win.  I don’t stick with settings or campaigns or games very long, mostly one shots, and I don’t like official or organized play at all.  I buy splat books for 40k mostly so i don’t look like a cheapskate asshole when I hang with my 40k friends… On reflection it seems like my underlying thing is always sort of DIY and imminently disposable if it’s not fun.  I guess my RPG philosophy treats RPGs like a bag of chips or something: try it, if it’s fun then eat a little more and if it’s not then throw it away and forget about it.

Lost in Space Media Cache

You are adrift aboard an intergalactic cruiser. You are the last surviving member of your crew. You no longer remember you're mission or destination. Your ship sent out a distress signal, but you lost contact with your home planet months ago. Your chances of being rescued are nil. The ship is well stocked with everything necessary for your physical survival. You have no fear of starvation and there are no security threats. On board with you are two AI bots programmed for average human intelligence. You were allowed 10 items of any type of entertainment of your choosing (movies, recordings, books, videos, games, comics). The ship is capable of playing everything you brought, regardless of format. What choices do you hope you packed away so that you avoid dying of boredom?

Noah: FUCK.  This is horrifying. I dig loneliness and DIY but this is an existential nightmare…

Okay.

1. Ghostbusters.  Not 2 - it’s not worth it.
2. Robocop 1 and 2.  Not the others.
3. The Rogue Trader 1e book, hardcover.
4. The 1e DMG
5. The 1e Player’s Handbook
6. The Cramp’s - Bad Music for Bad People
7. The Ramones - Ramones
8. The Harmy’s Despecialized version of Star Wars
9. Robotech - Macross Saga (still have not finished it… boring as fuck in the middle but one day I hope to press through to the end)
10. The Forest of Doom (Fighting Fantasy gamebook)

Links to Noah's work:

The Hapless Henchman products on RPGNow:  
http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/5686/The-Hapless-Henchman

Narcosa - Neoplastic Press: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/137248/Narcosa

The Worm Cult of Laserskull Mountain - Gongfarmer's Almanac Vol. 3, 2015: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/192673/2015-Gongfarmers-Almanac-Volume-3?src=hottest_filtered&affiliate_id=17484

Hapless Henchman - Noah's RPG Blog: http://noahms456.blogspot.com/?zx=1d7e80d9d0fdf3a0

Lasrifle and Crow Quill - Noah's Warhammer 40K Blog:

http://lasrifleandcrowquill.blogspot.com/

Holiday Update And Netflix New Series: The Toys That Made Us

Just a quick note to let you know that starting in January 2018 Appendix N Happy Meal will begin posting again. I have several interviews ready and I'm looking forward to getting this blog back up and running. I know I've announced our return months ago, but it looks like all systems are go now!

I'm also excited to discover that Netflix is airing a new program called, The Toys That Made Us. I've only seen a few clips so far but I'm a gazzillion percent certain that this program was custom designed for the fans Appendix N Happy Meal. Check out the link below for more info and let us know what you think about the show. And if you have some favorite gaming people you'd like to see featured in Appendix N Happy Meal, please mention it in the comments section.

Happy Holidays from Appendix N Happy Meal!

Netflix: The Toys That Made Us

The Toys That Made Us Facebook Page

Zzarchov Kowolski - Adventure Author, Game Designer, Publisher, Blogger

Zzarchov Kowolski...Zzarchov Kowolski...Zzarchov....a name full of mystery and intrigue.

Zzarchov Kowolski is one of my favorite adventure writers, if not THEE favorite. His stuff always has that twist, that edge, that resonance, that flavor, THAT STUFF that I want my work to be filled with. But, I guess I try too hard and wind up clumsily waving my ideas around like a lumbering giant with a tree trunk club, you see can see me coming from a mile away. While Zzarchov, sneaky, subtle, adventure twisting, crafty word smithy ninja Zzarchov, he seems to do it so effortlessly and delicately. You don't hear his work bounding towards you like mine, instead his leaves you with a creepy feeling that something is sneaking up behind you that makes the hairs on the back of your neck bristle...but, no, there's nothing there, except you do catch a whiff of something inhuman in the air, but where did it come from? Wait, was that a shadow of a goat on it's hind legs that just sped past the periphery of your vision? Ummm, OH BLOODY HELL! WHAT IS THIS THING!?!? WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!? WHHHHhhhhyyyyy....

Yeah, that's how reading his work makes me feel. I guess you can say I kinda idolize his stuff. But, I have good reason to, I mean after all, he writes the bloody stuff I want to write. I don't mean that I want to emulate his subject matter or style, it's more like he's mining from the same idea mine that I do, except he's hit a much richer vein than I've found so far. Time and time again I come up with scenario ideas and game mechanic ideas which I feverishly begin to explore, taking notes and writing...only to eventually discover...DAMMIT! Zzarchov's already done it and what he's done blows me away more than my idea does...now. Using cards to randomly create a setting...Oh yeah, Zzarchov's already done it. Weird trans-temporal impact from the past on setting dynamics...Oh, yeah, Zzarchov's already done it. That Gnome thing...Oh yeah, Zzarchov's already done it. This guy's a genius.

The weird thing is, I know nothing about him. NOTHING. I don't even know what he looks like despite being connected with him on G+ for a few years. I begged him to let me in on his online games, a request to which he has obliged by keeping me on his invite list, but so far my stupid chaotic life has prevented me from playing a single session with him. Eventually I'll work it out and I can finally make time to sit at his virtual table and get a feel for how his creative mind spins, whirs, and ticks. 

Until then I have Scenic Dunnsmouth, Thulian Echoes, Pale Lady, A Thousand Dead Babies (my all time favorite adventure title), Gnomes of Levnec, and his own game rules system, Neoclassical Geek Revival (green hardcover 4th? edition) to pour over once again and breathe in that beautiful fragrance of pure ingenuity and unbridled creative vision.

Zzarchov submitted this picture as a representation of himself as a child.

Favorite Toys of Childhood

Remember your TOP FAVORITE TOYS of all time. What is it about any of these toys that you most identified with? What made this so special? How did you play with these toy? Shared or Solo play?.

Zzarchov Kowolski: When I was in First Grade I received a Boglin which I thought was rad as all hell, it was a rubbery monster.  I thought monsters were cool.  It didn't long supplant LEGO's (along with a handful of random MicroMachines) as my favourite toy, allowing me to play out a sort of proto-sim game.  Building a town and having the inevitable destruction and war befall it. Ideally this was solo play, if it was shared play it was because an outside force would be about to wreak havoc upon this town without my approval.

 When I was 8 I got a steel hatchet,  which while technically a tool, it allowed me to do all kinds of new fun things.  Living in the middle of nowhere in a forest is boring,  but with a hatchet I could build all sorts of stuff.  I usually defaulted to dams, fences, and unnecessary shelters.

When I was 10 (nearing 11) I got a copy of the board game HeroQuest. This was full of possibilities and I loved the whole concept of adventure games, and being able to make your own maps.  I didn't play it all that much mind you, far more time was spent thinking about playing it.

It was when I was 12 (the top end of this timescale) that I got access to a 286 and a horde of completely legitimate floppies that contained a score of games. The games were fun,  but what was more fun was learning to tinker with them and change them.  Usually they just broke because this was before easy access to manuals and guides. It was all blind modding. I accomplished little but it ate up hours dealing with the possibilities.

Favorite Films and TV

Favorite Films or TV of Your Youth:  At what age did you enjoy each favorite? What did you identify with about the shows? Do you think these shows had an influence on the adult you? 

Zzarchov: As with all people from my generation I had the usual obsession with cartoons designed to sell toys that I absorbed with frantic glee.  Those probably had a very similar impact on me as they did on everyone else so I won't rehash that old gem.  Instead I'll go over the outliers that are a more likely source of variance.

Pink Panther   (age 4-5)
 When I was a little kid I used to be enthralled with the Pink Panther and watched it religiously.  Why?  Couldn't really say, I was young and it was a cartoon with a cat.  But I would say it did have an impact.  The Pink Panther only ever spoke once in any episode that I saw and I can still hear the voice.  If you want people to remember when you say things,  keep your mouth shut most of the time. 

Godzilla   (age 8)      
You what is cool to an 8 year old and has ridiculously large backlog of movies? A radiation spewing dragon that is there to kick ass and then kick more ass. Any chance I to scour a video store I would look to see what Godzilla movies they have and beg and plead to rent one.  Oddly enough I still haven't seen the original Godzilla movie. But I saw a lot of random Godzilla movies where he fights other monsters. I guess the largest impact it had on me was that it lead me to appreciate movies with special effects that don't hold up,  even ones with terrible dialog and weird plots.  That fed a lot into my love of MST3K.

Harryhausen  Movies (Age 10)
When I was about 10 my obsession with Godzilla switched to Harryhausen movies.  The visuals and adventure arcs meshed well with the literature I was into. Even today when I visualize monsters, I often think of how they would look in Dynamation. Fantastic movies.

Road Warrior (Age 12)
Road warrior has medieval combat atop hot-rods in a post-apocalyptic hellscape. That is pretty obvious in its appeal to a kid on the cusp of being a teenager.  I think Conan may have edged this out as my favourite movie over the years,  but if so only by a hair.

Creating Games

Think About Playtime:  Did you create games or imaginary worlds as a child? Please give a description of an important original game or play world that you enjoyed. 

Zzarchov: I was big into reading as a kid, so its hard to know at which point a world was mine, versus a mash of other fantasy worlds, versus an alternate reality or alternate history  ("What if the Vikings never left Canada!").  Questions about if the One Ring tapped into the Dark Side were ever present in my brain.

Play Community

As a child how did you feel about how you fit in with the rest of the world or community or friends? Like, were you very social or did you prefer spending time alone? Your environment, was it rural or urban? Were siblings a big part of your playtime? Did adults interact with you in game play, and if so was it structured play (sports, scouting, clubs, etc.) or free form?

Zzarchov: I was a scrawny dirt poor kid from the backwoods with obvious speech differences from my peers and an aptitude for books. I did not fit in well. Both preferences and the necessities of being smack dab in the middle of nowhere lead me to spend quite a bit of time alone as a young child.  I did have siblings,  but we all tried to stay as far away from each other as possible with a sort of paranoid disdain that only squabbling siblings and extreme libertarians can muster. As children were not supposed to be underfoot unless they were working, this meant almost all play was self-directed and alone (unless you count the dogs).

Despite how much this is beginning to make me sound like either the unibomber or Wilbur Whatley, I assure you I barely remember anything from Chemistry class and own a dog.

Childhood Playtime's Impact On Adult Gaming

Do you have any thoughts about aspects of your childhood play time that influenced your passion for RPGs? Have you ever intentionally incorporated memories of childhood playtime into game work you have created/written as an adult?

Zzarchov: The most common feature is that my "default wilderness" is the forest and hills I grew up in.  The default forests are cedar strewn with massive boulders and exposed bedrock is not uncommon. The hills are covered in juniper bushes and burrs.  But the isolation and the risks of simply being when alone in the middle of nowhere also factor in. Rather than hand waive away the irritants of wilderness travel to focus on the "real" adventure I focus on them.   How one jury-rigs solutions to those irritants and troubles often helps set the stage for the main adventure. 

Lost in Space Media Cache

You are adrift aboard an intergalactic cruiser. You are the last surviving member of your crew. You no longer remember you're mission or destination. Your ship sent out a distress signal, but you lost contact with your home planet months ago. Your chances of being rescued are nil. The ship is well stocked with everything necessary for your physical survival. You have no fear of starvation and there are no security threats. On board with you are two AI bots programmed for average human intelligence. You were allowed 10 items of any type of entertainment of your choosing (movies, recordings, books, videos, games, comics). The ship is capable of playing everything you brought, regardless of format. What choices do you hope you packed away so that you avoid dying of boredom?

Zzarchov: A deck of cards.  Give me that and I can build endless games.

I was curious about what Zzarchov might look like today, so I used age progression filters on the
picture he sent (see above) and came up with the above representation of him as an adult.

Links to Mr. Kowolski's work and blog:
Kowolski's NGR Publishing available on RPGNow: 
http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/4140/Zzarchov-Kowolski
Zzarchov's Blog - Unofficial Games: http://zzarchov.blogspot.com/
Zzarchov's work published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess available here: 
http://www.lotfp.com/store/
And you can find other interviews and tons of reviews of his work online!

Mike Evans - DIY RPG Publisher, Blogger, Game Writer and Designer

Between this blog, my long overdue zine, SkullF*#K, and a few outstanding projects, I've been carrying around an embarrassing and weighty sack of unfulfilled promises. Well, I've emptied that sack, I've rooted through it and I'm starting to tackle it all starting with this blog. Sooo...Welcome to Season 2 of Appendix N Happy Meal!

I think the first time I communicated with Mike Evans was just prior to an outdoor weekend game event that I wound up missing anyhow. I was following along with posts and comments about preparations for the event when I ran across an item that sounded interesting. I had never heard of the thing Mike mentioned in his post, but I thought I knew what it was. So since I didn't have access to a tent, I wound up asking Mike if he had an extra one of those banana hammocks so that I could sleep in one...We kinda bonded a bit after that. Honestly, how could you not bond with a guy after asking if you could hang his thong in a tree so you could curl up in it for the night?

Evans is a super familiar face within the G+ OSR and DCC RPG communities. Besides being one of the friendliest guys I know online, the DIY RPG guy is also one of the most prolific. Check out his blog, Wrath of Zombies. You'll find boatloads of material about his various projects including Death is the New Pink, Barbarians of the Ruined Earth, the upcoming High Noon: A Gritty Whitebox Western, and his mammoth and successful Hubris project among others. He's also editing Gathox Vertical Slum by David Lewis Johnson. Mike and I communicate a couple times a week and I'm always blown away over Mike's relentless diligence in plugging away on his projects.

Mike's work is original as hell, flavored with a bucket of brutal and topped off with a thick, fat glaze of 'in your face'. So go grab a plate and the biggest spoon you can find and dig in!

Death Is The New Peacock. Young Mike moments before getting his eyes pecked out.

Favorite Toys of Childhood

Remember your TOP FAVORITE TOYS of all time. What is it about any of these toys that you most identified with? What made this so special? How did you play with these toy? Shared or Solo play?

Mike Evans: I always had a weird mish-mash of toys when I played.  I combined GI Joe’s, Thundercats, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, He-Man, Rocklords (yeah because rock people are so interesting), Battle Beasts, Army Ants, you name it. They all had sides they were on and there were all out wars.  If I had to choose one that was the most prevalent, it’d be GI Joe’s for the win.

My friends and I would play with toys at the same time, but we’d play separately.  I was never a huge fan of playing together during toy time.  I saw way too many fights with between friends who did it to enjoy it…  The whole, “No!  Skeletor TOTALLY beats Optimus Prime” argument always frustrated me- then watching the friends fight, argue and cry.  No thanks.

Favorite Films or TV

What were your favorite movies and television shows of your youth? How old were you when you loved these shows? Why did you identify with these shows and do you think these movies and programs had an influence on the adult you?

Mike Evans: Star Wars trilogy had a profound impact on my life.  Next would be Ghostbusters.  Finally I would say Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

            

Influence? Absolutely.  Star Wars is so near and dear to my heart, it’s crazy.  I get choked up just hearing the music from when Han is being lowered down into the Carbonite machine.  Ghostbusters was just so cool!  These dudes with lightning packs blasting away at ghosts!  And also there was just something so awesome about Bill Murray in that movie.  Even as a kid, I wanted to be like Peter Vankmen!  I think Bill Murray’s humor in that movie oozed into my consciousness.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was really magical for me.  I was 8 when it came out and I watched it eight times in theaters.  I drove my parents nuts with that one.  I remember thinking how amazing it would be to live in a world where cartoons and humans coexisted; hell, I still do!  Cartoons like the old Disney shorts and Looney Tunes were very influential in my early childhood, and this movie solidified that.  I often am cartoony/animated human being, much to my wife’s dismay.

Creating Games

Think About Playtime:  Did you create games or imaginary worlds as a child? Please give a description of an important original game or play world that you enjoyed.

Mike: I usually created my own games and worlds.  One of my favorites was the Forgotten Forest- and the FEW times I did shared toy play, I’d piss my friends off because they couldn’t figure out how to beat the powers of the forest, which was you forget everything that happened when you leave place.  That actually went on to inspire The Weeping Forest of Forgotten Memories in my Hubris setting.  

Play Community

As a child how did you feel about how you fit in with the rest of the world or community or friends? Like, were you very social or did you prefer spending time alone? Your environment, was it rural or urban? Were siblings a big part of your playtime? Did adults interact with you in game play, and if so was it structured play (sports, scouting, clubs, etc.) or free form?

Mike: I grew up in cities most of my life, until 15- then I moved to Whitefish, MT and had to grow accustomed to a more lowkey-style of living.  It wasn’t until MT that I started playing tabletop games, so that’s a major boon there.  

I’m an only child and grew up pretty fucking spoiled, to be honest.  I was really bossy and in charge when I was a kid.  When I was 10 years old we were playing guns (we make-believing we were in Aliens) and a new kid started playing with us.  He was about 14 and a “cool kid.”  I started my normal bossy spoiled brat shit, and he called me out on it, saying that he didn’t like playing with me because I was bossy.  That really had an impact on me.  No one had ever really called me out on that before and I made a choice from that point on, to be nicer, not bossy, and actually listen to people.  

When I was a teenager I did track and field.  I liked running, but I hate competitive anything… just not my jam.  I did theater for a couple of years until I grew bored with the drama that came along with working with actors.

Childhood Playtime's Impact On Adult Gaming

Do you have any thoughts about aspects of your childhood play time that influenced your passion for RPGs? Have you ever intentionally incorporated memories of childhood playtime into game work you have created/written as an adult?

Mike: Oh absolutely.  I touched on that a bit with the Weeping Forest of Forgotten Memories in Hubris.  I grew up loving Star Trek, Star Wars, and all the gonzo weird fantasy cartoons (i.e., Thundercats, He-man, Thundarr, Pirates of Dark Water, etc.) and always played make-believe in those worlds.  All that seems to, at some point, bleed back into my interests with RPGs and what I want to run and write.  

Lost in Space Media Cache

You are adrift aboard an intergalactic cruiser. You are the last surviving member of your crew. You no longer remember you're mission or destination. Your ship sent out a distress signal, but you lost contact with your home planet months ago. Your chances of being rescued are nil. The ship is well stocked with everything necessary for your physical survival. You have no fear of starvation and there are no security threats. On board with you are two AI bots programmed for average human intelligence. You were allowed 10 items of any type of entertainment of your choosing (movies, recordings, books, videos, games, comics). The ship is capable of playing everything you brought, regardless of format. What choices do you hope you packed away so that you avoid dying of boredom?

Mike:

The Original Star Wars trilogy

Thundarr the Complete Series

Complete Big Bang Theory Seasons 1-10

Complete works of Robert E. Howard

Complete Harry Potter Collection

The Black Hack Rules

Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure (hate to plug myself, but I wrote the book for how I want to run things)

Dungeon Crawl Classics ruleset

Louis Armstrong Complete boxset

The Complete Nirvana Boxset

Links:

Mike's blog, Wrathofzombie's Blog: https://wrathofzombie.wordpress.com/

Hubris Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1070557469/a-world-of-visceral-adventure

DIY RPG Items on RPGNow: http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?x=0&y=0&author=Mike%20Evans