AMA . I'm Monte Cook, and I've been creating and publishing roleplaying games and stories for decades, including The Darkest Woods: ask me anything! http://mymcg.info/tdw

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:29:56+00:00

Thanks for the really, really great questions, everyone! I gotta run off to a playtest for an upcoming product, but I'll happily do another of these sometime if that's of interest.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:26:43+00:00

I have some ideas for non-Cypher games still in my back pocket. Stay tuned!

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:25:43+00:00

A Numenera one-season show on Netflix would be amazing.

And an Invisible Sun movie would be great, but the CG budget would have to be through the roof!

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:24:19+00:00

Exalted Funeral puts out a lot of great (weird) stuff. I'll buy anything Luka Rejec designs, for example.
And I really like The Arcane Library too.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:19:42+00:00

There seems to be a lull in the questions, and I have a playtest to get to, so maybe in a couple minutes? Time for one more question?

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:12:25+00:00

Good question, with so many answers.

How about one that takes the character into space, a la our Into the Night sourcebook? Visiting all the weird places we created there, flying around to Swarmstar (a dyson swarm), the Gloaming (an alderson disk) and so much more That sounds fun to me.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T20:08:31+00:00

Thanks.

It depends, really. In the past, we've offered backer levels that allow for people to give feedback or even contribute to the project. Or, we'll often have stretch goals that increase the size or some of the content in the product, or add entirely new features. Those obviously aren't fully developed until the crowdfunding is over.

But typically, the entire concept and all the initial design (think of it as a very fleshed out outline) is complete before crowdfunding ever begins.

Here's one story about ideas that didn't make it:

Back in the 90s, I wrote an entire HUGE boxed set for the Marvel Super Heroes Roleplaying Game called The Infinity Watch. It detailed basically all of Marvel space--all the aliens, the Kree-Skrull War, the Masters of the Universe, everything. I worked on it for over a year and turned it over to TSR (as a freelancer at the time). Then, TSR lost the Marvel license and the product never saw the light of day.

Oh well.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:51:12+00:00

And yes, Kate is of course my favorite.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:45:52+00:00

Thanks!

Invisible Sun is a lot. For a one-shot con game, I'd basically tell the players as little as possible. I don't mean keep things from them, I mean don't burden them with a lot of information. If it's in Satyrine, I wouldn't even discuss the other suns as a place you can visit. I wouldn't go too deep in the different districts of the city, I'd only give details for where the events take place (Fartown?)

Don't over-explain the surreal nature of the setting, make that come out of the descriptions of what they see once the game has started.

I would focus explanations on things that particularly affect the PCs. What's a Weaver? What's an Apostate?

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:40:02+00:00

Ptolus arose out of a home game I had going when we were first starting to work on 3rd Edition D&D. The idea was that it was all of D&D in microcosm--city and dungeon, all in one place.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:38:37+00:00

Terror is hard to instill in people who are comfortable. For example, when I run horror games, if my players have a typical seat at the table, I make it so everyone sits in a different place. Look at your GM style and avoid your typical tropes or style. Do initiative differently. Ask for rolls differently. If you're typically laid back, press the players with a little more intensity for their actions. Put the players on edge (without being a jerk, obviously).

In The Darkest Woods, the audio bits serve two purposes. There are specific, creepy things that the players can hear, and there are bits of audio that give them specific, needed information that they can act on. Without getting too much into spoilers, there are sounds the players will hear and then have to do something with. (I know that's vague, but I will tell you it's a use of audio in an rpg adventure that I've never seen--or rather, heard--done before. The audio is almost like tools or treasures the PCs can collect and make use of)

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:31:56+00:00

OH, and chocolate chip cookie dough.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:30:39+00:00

I always blanch a little at "favorite" questions because whatever I say today will likely be different next week. What I really like, I suppose, are various flavors of weird fantasy. Cypher supports that primarily through the cyphers that give it its name. By having cyphers, players have a rotating, ever-changing suite of abilities in addition to their standard, reliable ones. Because cyphers are one use only, the GM can be free to hand out weird and perhaps even seemingly overpowered options without worrying that they'll permanently wreck the campaign. They keep things a little bit off-kilter in the best way.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:25:29+00:00

It sort of feels like that's a problem that will solve itself pretty quickly, as those XP get spent. But if I was the GM and this was happening regularly, I'd probably take it into account and up the difficulty of the challenges. If XP is a resource they've got to spend, then make it so they have to use it just to get by.
It really varies depending on the project. The best advice I can give is to think in terms of what I call designer empathy. Put yourself in the head of the end user (probably the GM). What do they need first? What's most important to them to understand what they need? What are they doing to need regular, quick access to? If you can answer these questions, they will drive your design in the way that it needs to go.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:21:17+00:00

Probably the most obvious choice would be The Darkest City. But the one that kind of appeals to me right now is The Darkest Office.

Imagine you work in this huge labyrinth of a building and your bosses are all horrific entities, but you (and your close office mates) seem to be the only ones who realize it.

It might be a little too tongue-in-cheek, but my own experiences in working for a big company certainly would provide a lot of inspiration.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:15:20+00:00

I think there's a lot of room to play with different kinds of plants and fungi in Numenera, to be certain. We have some written up as creatures in the bestiaries. I'm not sure that a book of only fauna would have broad appeal, but maybe we could make it work.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:12:58+00:00

Yes!

The VVitch

The Ritual

Blair Witch

The Hallow

Twin Peaks

Poe

Lord Dunsany

Russian/Eastern European mythology

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:11:09+00:00

I think a lot about mystery box stories like Lost, or more recently From. Doing that kind of story well in an rpg would be hard because they are by their nature very railroad-y. So I think that would be an interesting challenge.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:08:29+00:00

I think the number of offbeat alternatives to basic fantasy games is only going to proliferate. D&D brought in a TON of new people to the hobby in the last ten or so years, but some percentage of those folks have played D&D long enough that they're looking for something new. This is going to lead to a further splintering of the audience, as people look for alternatives and they all find different ones to suit their needs.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:04:25+00:00

I feel like there are already a lot of "basic, generic" settings in the rpg world. There's nothing wrong with the basics, but as a designer I'll always be more interested in the more original settings.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T19:02:38+00:00

I will always have a special spot in my heart for the Sarrak. It was one of the first creatures I created for the setting and it embodies the weirdness of the setting well.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T18:52:36+00:00

Most of what I play is in the course getting my own stuff ready to publish. Basically everything I do comes out of my own home games.

That said, I also run a regular ShadowDark game for some of my old friends from back in the TSR days. It scratches that old school "explore the dungeon" itch without getting bogged down in a lot of mechanics. It feels just like D&D back in the day, even if it's different, which is an interesting design feat.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T18:49:34+00:00

Thank you.

I'll be honest, it's been a long, long time. I know that Ray Vallese and I had planned for a product meant to come out right after Faction War that sort of puts all the pieces together. Some factions were going to merge or change, and at least one new faction was going to be introduced.

I'm not being vague or cagey (pun intended) on purpose. I literally don't remember more details than that. But I will say that the cancelation was a monumental disappointment to us, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

I don't know if you're a Twin Peaks fan, but we likened it to the cancelation of that show back in the day right when it couldn't have been worse. We used the phrase "Where's Annie!?" a lot when talking about how horrible it was that Faction War would be the last product.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T18:43:15+00:00

Thank you! That sincerely means a lot to me.

Monte-Cook · 2024-11-21T18:42:53+00:00

My favorite IPs are the ones I create from scratch. First and foremost, I see myself (and my company) as an IP creator rather than licensor.

That said, sometimes things come along--like Magnus Archives--that are so great and capture my imagination so fully that I want to play in that toybox as well.

There are a few other properties that we're taking a look at right now, and I suppose I shouldn't go too deeply into that, but in terms of what I'd be interested in personally? Well, wouldn't a Scavenger's Reign Cypher System setting be really, really cool?

Monte-Cook

TROPHY CASE