[Roll Your Own Life] The Movies That Made Me (Part 23)

INCEPTION (2010)

Very nearly at the end of the list - I thought I'd stop at twenty-four. So we're getting a lot more recent.

In the build up to Inception's release, no one knew what it was about. There was a cryptic trailer with lots of strange scenes (including the weird corridor fight scene) and the tagline "Your Mind is the Scene of the Crime" before it was eventually changed to the tagline "The Dream is Real". But I loved Christopher Nolan's previous movies, and that corridor fight scene from the trailer looked like it was a bit Matrix-y so I had to go and see it...

I remember staggering home in a state of shock, and my mind immediately went to "why haven't they made an RPG of this?" I went to see the movie again a week or so later to really take it in, and immediately put it at the top of my "favourite movies of all time" list. I was just mesmerised by how cool it was, the way it played with time speeds depending upon the level of dreaming, how the technology had evolved, and I wanted to know more.

I did become a little obsessed with it. I immediately bought the bluray when it came out, and I think that Christmas I bought family copies of it on DVD (which I don't think they appreciated). I scoured Ebay and managed to get a copy of the promotional booklet that was a heavily redacted instruction manual for the PASIV device and its original uses.

When our local Odeon upgraded one of the screens to IMAX, they brought back some of the big IMAX movies for screenings that could really show off the capabilities of the big screen and big sound. Of course, Inception was one of these, and we had to experience the cool new screen. So big... and so loud. The Hans Zimmer soundtrack made your chest vibrate, and you could see the fabric of your own clothes move with the sound. It was awesome.

Still I wanted more. The bluray included a prequel (The Cobol Job) - a 15min motion-comic that sets up the beginning of Inception, but it wasn't enough. I wanted to know more about the world in which Inception was set. Who built the devices? Why? What else could they be used for?

And so I started writing WILD. An RPG of dreamshare technology that I've been chipping away at for nearly ten years. I've spent so many years on it, developing the background, changing the rules over and over again, and I think finally a smaller starter version of it may actually come out in the near future (once I get my writing commitments out of the way).

It's just an awesome film in my books. There are very few deaths, so it became a comfort movie when I was feeling down due to the real world kicking me in the nuts. I may have over analysed it as now I can't unsee the way that "the kicks" work is wrong at the end of the movie, but it's going to be a tough thing to sell any other way.

My excitement about Christopher Nolan's new movie TENET is very high, but I really want him to delay the release until it is safe to go and see it. It just looks to be the ultimate follow-up to Inception - it could even be in the same world - but if it means I have to wait for it for my own health and others, I'm willing to wait.

If you've never seen Inception, you really should remedy that. It's amazing, and will leave you questioning your reality.

*For those paying attention, my current top 3 movies are:
1) The Matrix
2) Inception
3) Fight Club

Nightmares and Dreamscapes

I thought, with it being Halloween week, I'd write about a movie that I've always thought was the biggest influence on my writing for the WILD RPG. No, not Inception, though that's the one that really got me writing the game itself...

No, I thought I'd write about a scary movie that completely opened my eyes to dreams as a game device - Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The UK Movie Poster, which was also the cover of the VHS I bought back in the 80s (I still have that somewhere)...

The only problem is, I started to look into Elm St... It was a long, long time ago, and I noticed that it came out the same year as another movie that was a huge influence on me as well... Dreamscape.

And now I can't remember which one I saw first.

So I'll credit them both with being the biggest influences on WILD.

There's a good chance I saw Dreamscape first as I was a massive Indiana Jones fan (Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first VHS tape I bought as it was one of the first VHS movies to come out at a retail level immediately - and I ended up buying Temple of Doom as a new Rental VHS which cost a fortune... saving, paying for it in advance instalments at my local video rental store... yes, I was that big an Indy nerd). Anyway, I was a big fan of Indiana Jones, and there was this movie coming out that had Kate Capshaw in it - the underrated Willie Scott from Temple of Doom. You could tell someone in the movie's marketing thought "you know, that actor from Indiana Jones is in this movie, let's market it like one of those films..."

Jump on that Indiana Jones bandwagon why don't you?
The amazing Drew Struzan again. I miss movie posters like this...

Original UK VHS Cover

Dreamscape is far from being an Indiana Jones movie. Dennis Quaid plays Alex Gardner, a psychic who is brought into a research project to project himself into the dreams of others to try to help them overcome night terrors. He stumbles upon a plot by Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer), a government agent using his psychic agents to implant dreams of nuclear terror into the mind of the President, and aiming to assassinate him in his dreams. Gardner sets out to stop the plot, save the President, and aid the nuclear peace process.

Sure the special effects have dated a bit, but the plot's great. It was a revelation at the time for me, and I found the idea of going into other people's dreams fascinating.

If you haven't seen it, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Then, a matter of months later, the TV channels in the UK started running ads for A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The ads were really creepy, and had a lot of the iconic imagery that you expect from Elm St now - Johnny Depp getting swallowed by the bed, Amanda Wyss spinning around in the air, Freddy walking through the cell bars... I was very intrigued. I managed to rent the VHS the day it was released. I have a weird memory of watching it around at one of the game group's house, Milo's I think.

I was mesmerised. Genuinely scary, but when the line between dreaming and reality blurred - when Nancy falls asleep in class but class continues as a weird dreamscape... And the concept of grabbing something in the dream and waking, pulling it into the waking world... I loved it.

I mentioned before on this blog that I attempted to run A Nightmare on Elm Street as a Call of Cthulhu game for my unsuspecting players, but I don't know if it worked. I seem to remember it not going so well, once characters started dying...

Thirty-plus years later, and I'm still fascinated by dreams, and, along with Inception, these movies continue to be an inspiration for my game writing.

#RPGaDAY 2019 - DAY 16: DREAM

There could only be one choice of figure to go on the DREAM space -
Dream, or rather in this case, Daniel, of the Endless.
Custom Autocratik Dice thanks to www.chimericdesigns.co.uk

Day Sixteen of #RPGaDAY 2019 and the word is one that resonates closely with me - DREAM. After all, I've spent my spare time off and on for the last eight+ years working on an RPG of Dreamshare technology - WILD.

I've always been fascinated by dreams, and tried early on to incorporate them into my games. I distinctly remember trying to re-play the entire of A Nightmare on Elm St as a Call of Cthulhu adventure... And when I was trying to get into game writing, I was eagerly writing Ghostbusters scenarios and sending manuscripts to West End Games. After Spooky Science (Weird Science with yogurt gods) and Back to Transylvania (time travelling with vampires) I started mashing up John Landis' "Into the Night" with Elm St, but didn't get very far before WEG decided to move on to different game lines. Into the Nightmare was going to be a scenario with the Ghostbusters venturing physically into the dream realms to face dream demons and night terrors.

Hopefully, in the future, I'll be able to continue my desire to game in the many worlds of dreams...

Dreamfall

Back in 2010, there was a moment when I walked out of the cinema after seeing Inception, and I thought - "That would make a great roleplaying game." Seven years later, I'm still working on that game - WILD. An RPG of "dreamsharing". I've always been fascinated by dreams, ever since having the crap scared out of me with the first Nightmare on Elm St, so that moment when I decided to stop dreaming about a dreamshare game and actually write one, I started devouring everything that would help to inspire, entertain and inform.

Readers here on my blog have followed the development of WILD (short for Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming), how I've been writing the game, working on the game system, and changing and developing it over the years. Hell, you just have to click the WILD RPG button at the top of the blog and you'll get all the posts filtered for you. Even when I've been working on other things, it's been burning away at the back of my mind.

So much so, that when I thought foolishly that I'd join my wife's yearly crusade for NaNoWriMo, I wrote a novel in November 2012 - tentatively titled "Into the WILD". The novel served as a work of fiction aimed at teens, that could be read alone (it was the first of a trilogy) or as the backstory and background to the roleplaying game - explaining why and how the dreamsharing technology came into existence.

It followed a tech developer's teenage daughter who slips into a coma. We follow the story mostly from her point of view, trapped in her dreams, while her father develops the dreamshare tech hoping to go into her dreamscape and help guide her out and to wakefulness.

It was okay, but needed a hell of a lot of work doing to it. But I finished something (for once) and the following NaNoWriMo I decided I'd either work on the sequel, or the rewrite.

[Don't worry, I'll get to the point soon...]

Time passed, but I always kept an eye open for movies, series and books about dreams to keep my mind in the right place while was working on the game.

Cover of Dreamfall - Amy Plum
(Though this doesn't capture the rather lovely spot-gloss waves of distortion)

Earlier this year, I discovered a book called "Dreamfall" by Amy Plum. It had been released in the States to great acclaim, and had already been optioned for a TV series by the people behind the Scream TV series (which is really good!). I read the description of the book and I was a bit worried...

Seven teenagers who suffer from debilitating insomnia agree to take part in an experimental new procedure to cure it because they think it can’t get any worse. But they couldn’t be more wrong. When the lab equipment malfunctions, the patients are plunged into a terrifying dreamworld where their worst nightmares have come to life—and they have no memory of how they got there. Hunted by monsters from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they’d rather keep buried, these seven strangers will be forced to band together to face their biggest fears. And if they can’t find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up.
-text from Amazon

Crikey! Sounds a bit like what I'd been working on.

Getting to the point, the book came out in the UK a couple of weeks ago and I picked up a copy from my local bookstore to see what it was like.

First of all, it's nothing like what I've been working on, so that was a relief. Secondly, it's actually really good!

As the Amazon blurb says the story revolves around seven teenagers who are hooked up to a machine in a research lab for an experimental cure for their insomnia/night terrors. After a freak accident, they're trapped in a cycle where they are trapped in one of the seven kids' most horrific nightmares, and if they survive they can recover and rest (and their wounds are healed if they've survived) in a "void" like loading space, before being thrust into the next nightmare.

The nightmares are horrifically familiar, playing on everyone's worst fears and making them even more harrowing. I must admit, for a teen title I wasn't expecting to feel quite so palm-sweatingly tense while reading it. I mean, I'm in my late forties. I shouldn't be wigged out (for want of a better term) while mentally egging the characters on to escape.

Another confession is that I normally don't like books in present tense. Maybe it's just old-fashioned of me, but I can find it a little off-putting. And, this is told in first person from three different perspectives - Cata and Fergus (two of the teens trapped in the "dreamfall" as they call it), and Jaime (a med student sitting in on the experimental procedure, often noticing details the doctors behind this process are missing in their panic). Thankfully, the writing is excellent and you can tell the characters apart - their voices feel different - and the present tense gives the nightmare sequences a real sense of urgency.

There are some excellent plot-twists - one of which I saw coming, but it distracted me from the other couple of twists so well that I was genuinely surprised.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I've had real trouble concentrating at the moment. Stress being the major factor, I've found it really difficult to finish books, or sit through any movie that's less that utterly gripping.

Dreamfall, I read in its entirety in three days, which is a great testament.

-

In summary, it's great. Loved it. A fast paced, gripping read with some seriously scary moments. Thankfully it is very different from what I had been working on, so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

My only complaint? It really finishes with a bit of a cliffhanger, and we have to wait until May 2018 for Neverwake to finish the story. I don't know if I can wait that long!

You can find more info about Amy Plum on her website here.

And you can find Dreamfall in bookshops (preferable) or on Amazon or Waterstones.

-

Maybe I should get back to that novel for this year's NaNoWriMo?

Dream Inspiration

I had a dream.

I was in a large, old building in London. The sort of building you see in the movies, that are owned by the rich, or possibly even a gentleman's club. I remember going through to the kitchen, and someone I recognised offered me a piece of chocolate cake. It was a huge chocolate cake, with white icing, but it was balanced on a breadboard on top of the washing up. As I turned to rescue it, it sank into the washing up water, and I ended up scooping it up in my hands and throwing it into the bin.

Poster for Peter Dinklage's movie,
REMEMORY
(available now on Google Play)

I returned to the main sitting room of the "club" and Peter Dinklage and Al Pacino were there, discussing their film work. I sat at the table wanting to join in with the conversation, when a tall, skinny guy came up to me and asked who I was. He kept asking me strange questions, but I was frustrated because he didn't listen to any of my answers - he was just waiting for a space to talk to me about his project.

However, his project was a book. He handed me a copy and told me to have a look. It was large, like a phone book, and I started trying to read it. It was full of pretentious language and made little sense, but the further through the book I got, the more illustrations appeared. It became almost half graphic novel, half book, with individual words in different colours. Some of the images moved, parts we orientated differently.

I asked if he'd been influenced by "House of Leaves", and I closed the book. He pretentiously called it a Bible, but I recognised the cover from one of the advance catalogues I'd used at work.

I woke inspired.

--

But what to do with this information?

This is obviously my subconscious trying to tell me that I like the idea I'd already had for how I want the book to look. But who was the person telling me about his book in my dream? I seem to remember him looking a lot like Tony Hale from Arrested Development, but I haven't watched that in many years.

And why were Al Pacino and Peter Dinklage there? Maybe it's a subconscious thing again, knowing that Dinklage is in a movie I'm about to watch ("Rememory") that uses a headset device to access the memories of people... a sort of murder mystery type thing. Al Pacino? Maybe that's from Insomnia, and the video documentary I was watching about Christopher Nolan films?

They say you never dream of a face you haven't seen.

What should I do with this new knowledge? Go with it? Know that I'm on the right track?

Dreams can be quite an inspiration. There's always the legend of various scientists and artists waking from their dreams with ideas for formulas, works of art or songs, perfectly formed and them leaping to desperately note their ideas before they vanish.

Hell, going back to David Lynch (see previous post), one of the great inspirations for my creative life for many years. He uses dreams to inspire and even "catches the big fish" - that is, finds the inspiration and the ideas by swimming the great lake of the collective unconscious through transcendental meditation.

If my dreams are telling me that I'm on the right track, I just hope they give me ideas that I can use.

We Live Inside a Dream

I mentioned in a post a while back that I was a huge fan of Twin Peaks (and David Lynch in general). I really wanted to write a post on here about the finale of the third season of Twin Peaks, or Twin Peaks: The Return as it's often called. But where to begin?

I LOVE the unexpected. Anything that avoids that moment when you go "Ah, I can see what's going to happen" is great in my book. I love to be surprised by TV and movies, to not see the same old plots and tropes. Twin Peaks is far from predictable. Where the first couple of series were a soap opera / murder mystery with some paranormal elements, the third / return series has been full-on David Lynch.

My old post was just after watching the first two episodes and I was already hooked and thrilled. It did everything I wanted - it introduced new characters, a new murder mystery, addressed some of the Cooper elements with the Black Lodge and the doppelgänger, and had some stand out weird elements.

But nothing prepared me for the now legendary Episode 8 (aka "Gotta Light?") where, after a brief period of relatively normal narrative, we are treated to a live performance by my favourite band ever (Nine Inch Nails), then 45mins of strange black and white sequences with the nuclear explosion at Trinity, the birth of BOB from the "Mother", the Fireman sending a golden orb of Laura Palmer into the desert, strange frog-legged bugs crawling into the mouth of a young girl as she sleeps, and various woodsmen breaking into our reality and killing people.

The birth of BOB in Episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return

That was the moment I had an epiphany. Twin Peaks had a message for me.

"Do whatever you like. Don't try to please everyone, just create."

Do you think David Lynch, when he was coming up with that episode, thought "I really shouldn't do this, people won't get it." I know Mark Frost co-wrote this series, but there's so much Lynch in this episode - so much Eraserhead and his wacky b/w art-movie feel - that I don't think Frost got much of an input on this one.

But it really did make me think that I should stop worrying about what I'm writing, and just get it out there. Not everyone is going to like it, but someone will. Maybe just one person who's as nuts as me.

Then came Episode 14, aka "We are like the Dreamer". Like Lynch, I'm fascinated by dreams. I wish I could do the transcendental meditation where he catches his big fish. But if you've followed my game writing, especially for WILD and what I've been trying to do for the last six years with it, you'll understand. When Episode 14 started and Gordon Cole (played by David Lynch) says that he had "another Monica Bellucci dream" and we see the strangeness that unlocks a memory of his encounter with Philip Jeffries (the late, great David Bowie) back in the movie Fire Walk With Me - you'll know I was squirming and giggling with delight.

The ever amazing Monica Bellucci - subject of Gordon Cole's dreams...

"We are like the dreamer, who dreams, and then lives inside the dream. But who is the dreamer?"

The finale was shown as two episodes (17 & 18). Everything was perfectly wrapped up in Episode 17 pretty early on - evil Cooper doppelgänger (Mr. C) had been dispatched, the BOB inside was punched into oblivion, and then it all gets REALLY weird. With a close up of Cooper's face superimposed over a lot of the scene, Cooper foreshadows what he intends to do - "There are some things that will change. The past dictates the future." But the superimposed face of Cooper reminds us - "We live inside a dream."

While Cooper travels back to the night Laura Palmer died, he tries to intervene and stop her murder. We see scenes from the first ever episode, as if Laura was never found "wrapped in plastic". But she vanishes when Cooper tries to lead her home and Cooper leaves the Lodge to be greeted by Diane. They set off to travel into another reality to save Laura. It all gets even weirder as the final eighteenth episode progresses with changes of personality, of name, of reality. All culminating in a final scene that will resonate in TV history and spark even more debate than "How's Annie?" ever did twenty six years ago...

"What year is it?"

Twenty six years ago I was just as obsessed with Twin Peaks. As I mentioned in my previous post, I recorded them all off of BBC2, and analysed them as much as my younger brain could. When I had to present a project for my graphic design course (the project was to explain something to someone) I foolishly picked Twin Peaks.

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a photo I took of the project, trying to make a relationship map with all of the characters from the original two series.

Photo of my Twin Peaks relationship map project from 1992

It's not very good, and I didn't have the internet to check all of the relationships, but it does show how completely and utterly obsessed I was with the series back then. I hope it raises a smile at least!

Now, with the finale out of the way, it still inspires me. There are huge elements that tie in with what I've been writing - dreamlike narratives, the strange seeping into reality, tulpas, etc. I'm looking forward to a rewatch of all 18 hours (though it may be a bit mindblowing to do it in one sitting).

All I can really say at the end of all of this is a huge thank you to Mark Frost and David Lynch. For letting us into their world, and telling us that it's okay to be inspired by our dreams. And thank you to everyone involved with the series. For challenging what a TV series can be and getting everyone talking and thinking.

Please don't leave us wanting for another twenty five years!

Dreams and Reality

This week I watched the first episodes of a couple of TV series that have had me thinking about WILD again - Falling Water and Westworld.

Burton (David Ajala) in Falling Water

Falling Water is a weird one. It has kinda crept out of nowhere, emerging from the shadows like a dream itself. The USANetwork behind it is hoping this is their next Mr Robot (which wouldn't be a bad thing) and with Gale Anne Hurd behind it, it has the credentials to be amazing. But as many people have pointed out, like Fight Club was the inspiration for Mr Robot, Inception is definitely the inspiration behind Falling Water.

The extra-length pilot is glacially slow. Moody, atmospheric and dreamlike, but still taking its time none the less. At its core, we're introduced to three characters with no apparent connection. Burton (above, played by David Ajala) is the head of in-house security at The Firm. He fixes problems, gets the rich brokers out of trouble, and is looking for his girlfriend (a very Matrix woman in a red dress). Tess (Lizzie Brocheré) is a trend spotter who doesn't like talking to people, but is having dreams of a son that she never had. And Taka (Will Yun Lee) is a cop whose mother has been in a catatonic state for the last seven years.

We follow their lives, never entirely sure of whether they are awake or not in some scenes, and gradually elements from each other's dreams start encroaching into both the dreams and the waking worlds of the others.

Tess (Lizzie Brocheré) in Falling Water

Lurking in the background and bound to unite them is Bill (Zak Orth) who is convinced that we can move from our isolated dreamworld and into each others. No technology seems to be needed - so no Inception-like PASIV devices here. But there's something else going on. A presence that wants out.

As I said, it's VERY slow. I get the feeling that if it doesn't up its pace in the next couple of episodes, it's going to get cancelled very quickly, which would be a shame. I don't want it to become the next Awake (a brilliant series with Jason Isaacs that only lasted one season and isn't available on DVD).

The most interesting thing about it is thinking about Burton's girlfriend - the nameless woman in red. He bumps into her, they go to their favourite restaurant, and in the night he dreams that she is abducted. When he wakes, she's not there and no one has any idea who he's talking about. Was she ever there? Was she purely in his dream, and was all the meeting and restaurant a dream? Or, was she really there, but abducted in the dream and now no longer exists in the real world, existing purely in the dreamrealms?

It's certainly going to be one I watch more of, I just hope it can gain the audience.

Falling Water's pilot episode is available to watch online, and premieres on Oct 13th in the States. Not sure which UK channel is going to pick it up (if any - it may end up on Amazon Prime like Mr. Robot).

Westworld

Also, this week, I checked out the first episode of HBO's new drama Westworld. Based on the 70's movie written and directed by Michael Crichton, it has the basics of the same plot as its original - there's a themepark out in the middle of nowhere, where guests pay a small fortune to enter a cinematic version of the old west, complete with horses, whores and gunslingers. The guests are "entertained" by Hosts - incredibly lifelike robots programmed to act and feel like real people, but without all those pesky moral implications when you sleep with a dozen of them, or murder two dozen in a massive gunfight.

And that's possibly where the series shines. There's a lot below the surface here. Not just with the shady dealings in the real world with the company that is building the robots (there are unsubtle hints that there is a deeper purpose) but it makes us look at the moral implications of it all. These robots have memories that seem to survive the wipes, and those years of being abused, beaten, and murdered over and over again is going to have some repercussions. There's a reckoning coming. It also holds a mirror up to humanity. A humanity that gets its kicks out of sex and violence. Giving people a way to "safely" vent these desires, is that just encouraging them to give into them more often?

Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) in Westworld

It's gripping and mesmerising stuff that plays with your expectations and turns them on their heads in the first ten minutes. The hosts (the robots) show more humanity than any of the *human* characters in the series.

In the original movie the robots malfunction and turn on their guests (and their creators) in Crichton-esque theme-park-goes-wrong style. In this version, it's coming, but that may not be a bad thing. But it also raises additional questions. If the robots did take over, would they continue their repetitive Groundhog Day-style lives, or would they continue to live in an old west world? What if one escaped into our world? Are there robots already in our world?

--

Of course, both of these series have been swimming around my head all week, feeding the fuel for the WILD RPG with it. In Falling Water, Bill says that everyone's dreams are in their own little worlds that rub up against each other, and what if you could move from one dream into someone else's. That's the core of the WILD RPG, only the technology allows you to share one dream with a handful of people. It also implies that there's something sinister in the dream realms that is lurking. Is there a primordial force or is it a projection of our own subconscious fears? And then, with Westworld, it's getting into the Total Recall territory. Dreams as vacations, memories of events that never happened, sharing that dream vacation with the rest of the family or friends. Dreams pre-programmed and prepared by a dream broker - a travel agent of the mind.

There's more to dreaming than you think.

The Call of the WILD

I've been a bit quiet and cagey about what I've been up to over the last few months, and I'm sorry I'm going to continue that caginess for now. But I've been busy, with a combination of work, writing, more work, not sleeping, stress and more. However, in amongst all that, when I'm actually trying to wind down, usually trying to get some sleep, my mind is drawn back by the call of the WILD. The WILD RPG I've been talking about and working on for the last three years...

Last night was no exception. There I was, trying to sleep after a long-assed day at the shop, and my mind started down a road. No. Not a road. A freaking rollercoaster.

It started with thinking about a Kickstarter. A friend of mine in games writing emailed me last week to see if I'd "be a stretch goal" - write just a few hundred words, only really a page, to contribute to his Kickstarter. I immediately said yes, not only because I thought the project sounded cool, but also because I've always liked this writer's work.

That got me thinking. I know a lot of people in the games industry. I could do the same thing! Offer to pay them (which would be fine if I Kickstarted the game) a little to write a few hundred words (if that) - maybe detailing a dream they'd had, and imagine how it would work as a scene or scenario that could inspired GMs to use it in their WILD game.

Then I started thinking, if the game did that well, I could package them all up in their own supplement at a certain stretch level.

So there's a supplement sorted. Though I'd always hoped if the game did well from a potential Kickstarter, that I'd split the section of the rules that dealt with card interpretation off into their own book, so it'd be easier to access for reference. So, that's two books after the core.

Cool.

And then there's the fiction. I don't know if it's any good, but the three books of fiction I had planned serves as a backstory to the game setting. Why and how the dreamshare technology exists in the real world. What's going on with the company that created it while the MD is "lost in the WILD". What happens to the real world once the technology becomes available.

So there's that.

And a Kickstarter would pay for some cool illustrations. Though part of me is such a control freak I'd want to to it all myself, but I'm just not gifted in the art department. And cool artists, like Eric Canete or David Despau, cost money. Lots of money because they are filled with so much talent!

But then, a cool and eye catching cover would sell the Kickstarter...

It's a never ending circle that one.

And I had ideas of making videos. A video a bit like the opening of the fiction, explaining where the tech came from and the nightmarish visions our heroine is trying to escape. And I had the urge to make a video that looked like a corporate instructional video from Apple or something, showing you how to use the dreamshare technology - how to put on the headset and program the machine, etc.

Then I started thinking about the graphic design for the books, and wanting it to have creative and interesting layout like 2nd Edition Kult or House of Leaves, but then I realised that I needed a better layout program than Pages on the Mac. Hell, I can't even do facing pages in that any more...

Then, of course, by the time I've gone through this cycle, I'm in a restless sleep, ready to start another day back to reality.

I'll find time to continue WILD somehow. It keeps calling me...

#RPGaDAY2015 - Day 5: Most Recent RPG Purchase

Yeah, I know... it's another "what have you bought" topic. Last year's one was criticised for being very purchase heavy - but then I thought it was interesting to find out how people started in RPGs... what was the first game they bought, etc.

Maybe it's just criticism from people who don't actually buy RPGs..? That'd be weird.

Maybe it's just that not only do I play and write RPGs, I'm a bit of a bibliophile too. I love the feel of a new book, that print smell, the layout and design of the page...

Sorry... getting a little distracted. Where was I?

Oh yes. Day Five is "Most Recent RPG Purchase".

As I mentioned before, I haven't really bought an awful lot recently. Times are tough, and I just don't have the cash to spend, or the time to play the games. However, when I was told about Of Dreams and Magic, I thought I'd better check it out.

Of Dreams and Magic certainly has a really cool feel, almost like the original Mage game, with characters who can manipulate reality through the power of their dreams. And it's very pretty too...

You can find out about Of Dreams and Magic at ODAM Publishing's site, here.

"Dream a little bigger, darling..."

I've been spoiled.

Something amazing happened to me in the past - we did the impossible and came out shiny, but it has spoiled me and set my expectations way too high.

The amazing thing was Doctor Who.

It was impossible. A crazy, impossible dream that started as a chat over the internet between like-minded individuals, that escalated into just saying "let's go for it"... never expecting it would get anywhere.

It started with a quick chat with Chris Birch, possibly one of the nicest people you could meet in the RPG scene, and now the man with his own company - Modiphius. He'd just bought Conspiracy X 2.0, and got in touch. We chatted about the RPG world in general, and about trying to get new gamers into the hobby, and chatted about licenses that would get kids playing.

Cover of the original pitch to the BBC for the game

Within weeks we'd been talking to Angus Abranson, and Dominic McDowall-Thomas at the recently formed Cubicle 7 Entertainment, who Chris and I knew from past dealings, and we talked, and brought in Fred Hicks - the legend over at Evil Hat - to do some layout design for us, and we put together a proposal to the BBC for a roleplaying game based upon Doctor Who. All of them legends in the RPG world, I was way out of my league.

Never thought anything would come of it.

Even when we all went to BBC Worldwide Licensing in London, to talk about our idea, did we ever think we'd get anywhere. But the BBC liked what they saw, and we'd done the impossible.

(L-R) Me, Dominic Mc-Dowall Thomas, Chris Birch, Angus
Abranson, and Fred Hicks at the official announcement for the
Doctor Who RPG at Dragonmeet 2007

But I'm not posting about Doctor Who. I'm posting about doing impossible things before breakfast. To me, and to everyone around me, getting to write the Doctor Who RPG was an impossible task. I mean, we knew people had tried before to do the game (not just the ones that got published like the FASA one, and Virgin's "Time Lord").

In my head this set a new standard.

To dream a little bigger.

This week I went to see Ruby Wax live. She was doing part of her "Sane New World" tour where she did a live thing on stage that was part recap of her new book and part stand-up. I must admit, I had this moment a few years ago at a Dylan Moran gig where I had a moment of clarity and realised that I didn't like stand-up comedy. Luckily, Ruby Wax's tour wasn't really comedy, so to speak. More a presentation about how our brains work, and how we're screwing ourselves over. Done in an amusing way.

A couple of parts of the show really rang true. The first was how stress can affect your memory, and one of the earliest signs of being stressed is forgetting things. This was a bit of a wake up call, having noticed recently that I'm having difficulty remembering names...

The other is about how we're driven by that dopamine hit, that constant drive for more. You eat the donut, and you're already looking for the next one. It's not the actual donut that's giving you pleasure, it's the thrill of the chase, of the capture of the donut, and midway through eating the donut the brain is already preparing you to look and hunt for the next donut out there in the wilds of the donut plains...

And my writing has been like that.

But I was part of something impossible. And while I kinda burned out on Doctor Who (there was a period when my dayjob and my writing were pretty much non-stop Doctor Who for about a year or two), that dopamine hit is calling and I've spent months, if not longer, desiring the next one.

Part of my brain is screaming at me, saying...

"You did Doctor Who! You can do anything! Why don't we do Star Trek next? Or James Bond? Or Harry Potter!"

And another part of me is shouting...

"You were lucky to get that one, just give it up and know it'll never happen again..."

I know it's impossible. I'm just a little freelancer. I don't have the clout of a massive publishers, or a track record of my own publications. Hell, I've been working on WILD for nearly three years now and it doesn't seem to be getting any bigger.

But I have to dream.

I had the same problem just this morning, thinking about #RPGaDAY2015. I'm going to film a video for it in the next week or two, and the image for the questions for August's RPG-love-fest is coming, but part of me... that annoying "dream too big" part of my brain kicked in again today and started suggesting stupid things like...

"What if I did the video, and I could get loads of game designers and people like that to submit a little video of themselves saying RPGaDAY2015..."

"What if I could get people like Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton to do it? To take part in the month of talking in a positive way about tabletop RPGs?"

Stupid brain.

Anyway, next post will be about #RPGaDAY2015. I don't know if the video will be ready, but I'll try. In the meantime, I'll be over in the corner, dreaming too big for my own good, and eating donuts.

Until next time, dream bigger darlings, and stay multi-classy.

Pleasant Dreams and WILD cards

Sorry it's been very quiet on here for a while, but this year has not been brilliant so far.

Things being the way they are, this is possibly my last video for a while. I promised I'd look at the awesome Kickstarted card game Pleasant Dreams by Aerjen Games. It's a beautifully produced little game where players try to remain happily asleep and fight off the horrific nastiness that can plague a good night's sleep.

You can purchase the game direct from their website.

On the subject of cards, I've been tinkering with using the Tarot as the main mechanic rather than using dice. The second half of the video looks at some of the ways the cards may work. They're still roughs, and I'm still not sure if they work (or if they're anywhere near as quick as using dice), but I'm pondering.

Well, that's it. Next blog post will probably be more text than not, but in the meantime be good to each other, and stay multiclassy.

Autocratik Broadcast 3 - WILD Down Under

The second half of the videos about my time in Australia looks a little at Dreamtime, and incorporating it into the WILD RPG, as well as some cute footage of koalas and kangaroos. Awwww...

What the Hell am I doing?

I'm having one of those months where I'm questioning everything I'm doing. Whether this is my writing, drawing, or even the day-job, I just keep coming back to wondering if I'm doing the right thing.

For the last month, the day-job has taken up 90% of my waking time (as usual), with my lunch hours being spent hiding in the public library or coffee shops working on the second draft of the WILD novel that I completed as part of NaNoWriMo a couple of Novembers ago.

I'd been reading novels before going to sleep, books that had dreams as subject, and I've been mostly frustrated that they're not what I've been looking for. First up was Dream London by Tony Ballantyne. It was certainly cool, well written and very dreamlike. There were some particularly cool moments involving people strangely queuing up to look at the bottom of a hole like some tourist attraction. Looking through the strange manhole size hole at the bottom of this pit the viewer can see another landscape far below, as if looking through a gap in the clouds, a hole in reality to another world below. All in all, very smart, but I just didn't like the lead character - he was an archaic "Flashman-esque" womanising scoundrel, and not what I'd want from a lead character.

The next on my reading list was the "Wake" series by Lisa McMann - (Wake / Fade / Gone). Sure, it's a teen fiction title, but never let that put you off of a good book! This one featured a teenage girl, Janie, who is pulled into other people's dreams if they fall asleep in close proximity. This makes things tricky when you're in high school and people keep falling asleep in class. She learns to use her ability to help people overcome their recurring nightmares, and starts working for the police department, going into the dreams of suspects to see if they're guilty of crimes.

The first of the trilogy was good (Wake), the second okay (Fade) which focussed on the unsavoury topic of trying to expose a sexual predator in school, whereas the third (Gone) is quite depressing as Janie discovers the side effects of her ability and must make a choice between using it, or living a shortened life in seclusion.

I've heard that they've optioned the Wake series as a movie, starring Miley Cyrus, which sounds like an awful choice - Wake would work pretty well as a supernatural police procedural TV series, maybe not as a movie, but I wait to be proven wrong.

But neither of these filled the desire for Inception. I guess that's all I really wanted from a book as Inception part 2. Maybe I should just try reading Paprika again. That's kinda why I wanted to write the novel (sorry, novels) that form WILD's backstory. I wanted to explore the reasons why Carter created the dreamshare device, and the emotional progression as he learns to communicate with his comatose daughter, and puts family before the billion-dollar tech company he spent his life building.

Just creating the plot, and the backstory has helped form the universe of the game, and has inspired the images on the WILD Tarot that has become an integral part of the game system.

However, the more I think about the book, and the second draft, the more I question my abilities in writing fiction - I mean, I've dabbled in fiction before but I'm a game designer. I write like bloomin' stereo instructions.

The other options would be to take the story (which I have mostly plotted out in my head) and script it as a comic (which would be okay if only I could actually draw worth a damn) or as a script for TV (who would even look at it, it's not like I can show off my screenwriting skills, especially no one can see my previous screenwriting work).

Maybe I should just get back to the game?

I thought about what needs to be done for it, and it's not horrific, but it's still a long way off. It really is a labour of love. I guess what I need to do is go through everything I've done and start working out what needs changing and writing.

Part of the roughs of the cover image for WILD. (c) Autocratik 2014

I even thought about getting the cover sorted - paying for it to be done. This way I'd have to get the game finished, otherwise I'd have wasted my money paying a professional artist to produce a cover. I have a very definite idea of what I want the cover to look like, so it'll probably be rubbish. I wanted it to be a flip cover for front and back, with the images merging in the middle at the spine - dreamers joined in a shared world. I tried to draw a version of the idea myself, but then I remembered I can't draw... Maybe soon...

So there you have it, that's my current state - so many ideas, no time to actually do it.

Let's break it down -

Things I want to do with WILD:

• Finish writing the game
• Pretty artwork - David Despau meets Windsor McCay
• Cool layout - if House of Leaves was an RPG book, that'd be it... Like 2nd Ed KULT.
• Build a prop version of the ALICE headset and the Dreamshare Device.
• Make a video trailer for the game, fake company infomercials for the product as well.
• Finish the novels, all three of them. 
• Graphic novels?

If only I had the time... And that's before I even think about the ideas I've had for how a Harry Potter RPG would work...

A Dream of Magic

I’ve had a long standing dream for many, many years now. An impossible dream, but one I still hold on to and may never let go, and I thought I’d share it with you. Before I get to the details, I should offer a little background first. My love of Harry Potter.

Me, at the Warner Bros Studio Tour
outside Gringotts, on Diagon Alley.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Harry Potter

Harry Potter has been an integral part of my life for a long time now. Debs and I first heard of the books when we lived on the south coast, Debs working in graphic design and I was working in the Odeon cinema. We’d heard of the success of the first couple of books, but the hype was building in anticipation of the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Debs loved the idea of the stories, and we bought the first couple of books which Debs devoured in a matter of days. She was instantly hooked.

I was a little more skeptical, but when we moved back across the country and I started working in a bookstore, I started to see first-hand the effect the books had on the public. Kids were reading, they were enthusiastic about reading, and it was a fantastic phenomenon. The midnight book launches were some of the most exciting, tiring, and rewarding experiences I’ve had in my day jobs, with hundreds of kids all dressed in Hogwarts uniforms swarming around the shop, desperate to read. Not to play a video game, or sit on their iPhones - to READ. Amazing.

We went to the cinema to see the movies, usually on their opening nights, and my years of dismissing the story as Star Wars retold, or just The Worst Witch again, were quelled in my growing love for Harry Potter’s universe. I gave in and read the books, and loved every moment, revelling in the scenes and details that didn’t make it into the movies. As the Star Wars prequels crushed my childhood love of the original Star Wars, I realised that the Wizarding World was starting to feel more and more like home to me.

While I love Star Wars, and I have fond memories of seeing it for the first time with my parents, and dressing up for the town carnival as Star Wars characters with my dad, Harry’s world has a depth, and a level of detail, that won me over. We bought the first couple of books for my mum and she got to the point where she would read very little else. Other similar books I’d bought her for Christmas and birthdays would always be compared to Harry with a dismissive, “It was okay, but it wasn’t Harry Potter was it?”

The Potter movies have become comfort films for us, the standard go-to when we need cheering up. The novels are reread frequently, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour has almost become a second home, and it was recently pointed out to us that our living room is gradually becoming more and more like the Gryffindor common room with every passing year.

Strength of Character, Strength of Fandom

It’s not just us who have been welcomed into Harry’s world. The fandom is just as strong now as it ever has been. While I no longer work in book retail, my current dayjob gives me a great insight into fandoms, and the enthusiasm and love for Harry Potter has not faded. We’ve been to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour three times now in the two years the attraction has been open, most recently just last week, and it’s amazing to see how absolutely packed it is with enthusiastic fans - kids and adults dressed in Hogwarts robes, carrying wands, gasping at the sets and props. 

Looking online, you can see fans expressing their love for Harry’s world in art, stories and amazing fan-films like An Auror’s Tale and The Greater Good. 

You can dress in the uniforms, wear the robes, buy the wands, play the video games, build the Lego, play the old trading card game, and play some of the old boardgames while you reread the books or rewatch the movies. 

But the one thing I’d love to be able to do, is to play a roleplaying game in Harry’s world.

Not so much Holy Grail, more a Goblet of Fire

Sure, there are homebrew Harry Potter RPGs online, and games that can be used to play in an unofficial version of Harry’s world, but that’s not really what I’m talking about here. While it’s great for us existing gamers to create our own games, it’s not spreading the benefits of the hobby to a new generation of kids.

So what’s stopping an official Harry Potter roleplaying game? I wish I knew. There have been tales of companies getting so far, but as the years have gone by it’s become less and less likely that an official Potterverse game would ever happen. Which is a pity because the Wizarding world has a lot to offer gamers and kids alike.

Last year at GenCon, a little game that I worked hard on called Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space won an ENnie Award for Best Family Game. It surprised everybody I think, as “family games” have traditionally been board or card games. I was absolutely stunned to think that our Doctor Who game had become a family game - it meant that kids were being introduced to roleplaying games, probably through their parents who were already gamers, or introduced to the hobby thanks to their interest in Doctor Who.

My favourite illustration at the Studio Tour
- Harry and a Dementor. Simply beautiful
black and white line work.

It meant that families were getting together to play a game that was social (and everyone was at the same place, looking each other in the eyes rather than talking over the internet or shouting down a microphone). A game that got them problem solving, thinking of non-violent solutions to dangerous situations (because that’s what the Doctor would do) and inspired their imaginations.

The world of Harry Potter has sparked the imaginations of millions of children across the world, and you can bet every single one of them has dreamed of discovering they were a witch or wizard, of going to Diagon Alley to buy their wand, and to go to Hogwarts.

Just as the books got kids reading again, a roleplaying game set in Harry’s universe could inspire a new generation of gamers - kids using their imaginations, creating new stories, new characters, and learning how to interact with each other in a positive way.

But it may be that creating “new stories” is one of the things that’s holding back such a game from existing in the first place.

Sacred Texts and an Unalterable History

The first thing that would need to be stated, for such a game to even exist, is to define when your game would be set. It has been thought that one of the reasons that a Harry Potter RPG is impossible is that J K Rowling doesn’t want anyone else doing anything with her characters. 

And you know what? I completely agree. Harry, Ron and Hermione, and the events of the seven books are the stuff of legend. Having a game that changes those events would be ridiculous. It’d be like having a Star Wars game where you played Luke, Han and Leia during the rebellion. If I was J K Rowling, not only would I be a far better writer than I am now (and wouldn’t be writing this blogpost) but I’d also be incredibly protective of my creation. 

Harry’s world is huge and detailed, and the events of the seven years that lead up to the Battle of Hogwarts is the sort of thing that would be recorded in Hogwarts: A History (a revised edition of Bathilda Bagshot’s essential tome). 

Instead, Rowling has given the gaming world the perfect window of opportunity. At least fifteen years between the Battle of Hogwarts, and Harry’s eldest son, James’ first year at Hogwarts. A setting where the school is rebuilding after the battle, Death Eaters have fled and are in hiding, and the wizarding world is trying to get back to normality. This avoids playing during the events of the book, and also avoids conflicting with any events that may happen should sequels ever happen (we can hope).

But if that’s too close to the events of the books, and Rowling’s characters, how about creating a new school? We know of the Durmstrang Institute and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, but what of magical schools in other countries? Rowling is adding new information to Pottermore to expand the wizarding world, wouldn’t it be great if she’d supply new details exclusively for a game? (After all, Joss Whedon did for the Buffy RPG!)

Wouldn't rulebooks for a game look amazing
if they looked even remotely like this?

Dreaming the Dream, Not Living the Dream

I have it all planned. The game system, the rulebooks designed like actual textbooks from Hogwarts, a companion game for Wizard Duelling, a companion game for Quidditch. It’d be a dream writing job. Hell, I’d do it for free. I’d donate profits to J K Rowling’s charity, Lumos. Just the opportunity to be part of that world. To create a positive, fun and exciting game that the whole family could enjoy.

With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hitting cinema screens in the coming years, we can only hope that Harry’s world grows even larger, and that someday, somehow, my impossible dream could come closer to a reality. Like others before me I've tried to make this dream come true, only to fail at the last hurdle. 

I just hope that somewhere out there, J K Rowling and the people at Warner Bros. read this and see that such an enterprise would be not only positive and profitable for them, but it could be done with the utmost respect and regard for its source material. Until then, I think I'll pop one of the movies on again, maybe reread one of the books, and plan my next trip to the Studio Tour. 

Nox.

Me and Debs in the Great Hall at Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays.

RPGnet Chat with Dan Davenport

Last night I did a late night Q&A on the RPGnet Chat with Dan Davenport and others in the chatroom, discussing all things Conspiracy X, Doctor Who and WILD. Below is an edited and formatted transcript of the chat. Enjoy! (You can read the full unedited transcript over at Dan's site - gmshoe.blogspot.com)

--

Dan Davenport: Alright! Dave, when you're ready, please introduce yourself and your games. The floor is yours!

Dave Chapman: Hi, I'm Dave Chapman. I've worked on lots of games for Eden Studios, including Buffy, AFMBE, Ghosts of Albion, Terra Primate and most notably I'm line developer for Conspiracy X 2.0. I was also system designer and lead writer on Cubicle 7's Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space and now I'm working on my own project called WILD for my little publishing name Autocratik.

Dan: Any questions so far, or shall I get things rolling?

nick3: Well  I guess I should ask if more Conspiracy X 2.0 stuff is coming out

Dave: Yes, there's the Paranormal Sourcebook (thanks to Kickstarter) which is hitting shops this week, the Conspiracies Sourcebook which is in layout at the moment, and Extinction (the future of Conspiracy X) is in the works at the moment too... There's been talk of another sourcebook (The Operations Sourcebook) as well, and there are other books on my harddrive from the classic game that never saw print, so there's plenty of scope for the future.

nick3: The Conspiracies Sourcebook? Mind giving us a bit of information about it .

Dave: Sure. Like the other books, it takes existing classic ConX stuff and updates it (in this case, Sub Rosa, Aegis and Hand Unseen) but it also includes a lot of unseen material from the fabled Area 51 sourcebook... There's also some new stuff in there that builds to the future of the line (Extinction) and takes the game in a new direction. It's been Kickstarted, busted through its goals, and should be finished in the next couple of months. It's all written, it just needs layout, proofing and printing. 

Dan: And do I recall correctly that the Paranormal Sourcebook includes info from the 1st edition magic, psychic, and cryptid supplements?

Dave: Oh yes, only updated and converted to Unisystem. Kickstarter backers could get Zener cards with it, they'll be available to retail soon as well hopefully.

nick3: Are you guys going to aid some more stuff about CAPS?  That was a curious omission in the Paranormal Sourcebook

Dan: CAPS?

nick3: Dan, they are Aegis agency that studies the directly supernatural elements of the Conspiracy X world.

Dan: Ah, thanks.

Dave: CAPS is Center for Advanced Phenomenological Studies. Try saying that with a mouthful of marbles as my dad would say... As they're part of Aegis, I do believe they're covered in more detail in the Conspiracies Sourcebook's Aegis section. I'll check... I did write it five years ago, but I have been doing some additional updates recently.

Dan: Without giving too much away, the supernatural has a unified explanation in the ConX universe... How (or do) the cryptids fit in?

Dave: No problem. The book gives multiple explanations for each cryptozoological phenomena. Maybe it's seepage, maybe it's Atlantean constructs, it's up to the GM to decide what fits the campaign best.

Dan: Ah, I see.

Le_Squide: So, is seepage no longer the assumed truth behind all the weirdness?

Dave: Seepage is the cause of 99% of it, but weird things like the Loch Ness Monster, or Yeti, have very different origins... just to keep agents on their toes...

Dan: I spoke a bit about this to George regarding Extinction, but how do you plan on keeping it interesting and not just a matter of "Oh, great, more lizard guys"?

Dave: It all sounds a bit epic, but CJ Carella (creator of Unisystem) wrote Extinction before he became a recluse and vanished (hoping to avoid government agents I think). It's a huge game, but I see it like TV's "Falling Skies" meets "Halo", on a near future Earth. The Greys and the Atlanteans are about, but have very different parts to play in the battle against the Saurians. Lots of cyberware, nano tech, body modification, and magic has become recognised and public. It's gonna be interesting.

Dan: Really? I didn't realize it was that far in the future. Or is the high-tech stuff a result of interaction with the aliens?

Dave: Not too far, but with the way technology is developing at the moment, and with the Atlanteans predicting the return of the Saurian fleet they're stepping up the game and encouraging technological advances.

Dan: Aha. Gotcha. Are there any supernatural aspects to the enemy, or is that a purely human thing?

Dave: It's more of a human thing. Saurians are (*spoilers*) assumed to be Voids (except for the Dreamspeakers), so they haven't really gone into magic... but the idea of a corrupted Gna-Tall is a scary thought...

Dan: As I mentioned earlier, we discussed Doctor Who quite a bit with Nathaniel a while back, but I would just like to say that the system is awesome... and bears a more than passing resemblance to Cinematic Unisystem. Any thoughts on the subject? (Nat ran a demo game for me. He's local.)

Dave: Cinematic Unisystem was a great influence, one of the first games I'd played that really balanced a powerful lead (Slayer) and a group of White Hats (Scoobies).  When approaching Doctor Who, you had the same problem with The Doctor, and Companions, though in the more recent series, the companions have just as much to offer the story as The Doctor most of the time. Ensuring the poor player lumbered with K-9 has just as much to do and is just as capable in their own way during an adventure is tricky, but hopefully the game balances that.

Dan: How robust do you see the system as being? Obviously, it's been adapted to a more action-oriented setting in Primeval... Can you see it getting as much use as CineUni in various games? (And just because my regulars will be surprised if I don't ask this... could you see it handling pulp?)

Dave: I know the adaptation to Primeval was certainly more combat orientated, and it seems to work really well. I know it's also being used for a number of upcoming games that Cubicle 7 have coming out, but I don't know if I'm allowed to discuss what they are. As River Song would say... "Spoilers!"

Dan: Really? Cool. :)

Dave: I know one of the up coming games is certainly "Pulp-y" so hopefully that'll please your regulars!

Dan: DWPearce mentioned that it's a bit on the deadly side, Story Points aside.  What's your take?

Dave: It can be dangerous. It was a problem that initially came from Doctor Who - most of the weapons in the series are one-shot-kills. Hopefully, the Story Points keep people alive, and if you're running out of them, you're not doing enough dramatic and cool stuff to get them back!! Do something exciting!! There's also systems in play to exchange Story Points with other characters, and to keep you alive and healthy, but the best way to tackle combat in any game is to plan ahead, avoid conflict if possible, and take cover!

Dan: I saw that damage tops out at 1.5x in Doctor Who... Does that stay the same in Primeval? I tend to like rewarding sharpshooters/swashbucklers.

Dave: AFAIK, though you'd have to ask Gareth R-H about that, I haven't seen the final printed copy yet. Keep meaning to buy it!

Dan: Ah, understood. He's currently negotiating with the wife for a Q&A of his own. 

Dave: Yeah, must admit, he's the go-to guy for info on Primeval and Who at the moment, I had to take a step back from it all for a bit this year.

Dan: Okay, so can you tell us about WILD?

Dave: Ah, WILD... well, it stands for Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming. It's an RPG that takes place in various levels of consciousness - from the waking world to many levels of dreaming. I like to think of it like Inception meets SuckerPunch.

Dan: What's the system like, and how does it handle what would have to be a wildly crossgenre setting?

Dave: It's even looser than anything I've worked on before. It's a new system, I've called "Rapid Die Movement". It's very fast and easy, and should handle anything. There's also an element of Tarot cards, and mandalas... Jung would be proud. 

Dan: How does the system work?

Dave: I can't give too much away, it's early days. There's only four stats, and five "skills", fairly simple dice pool. The depth comes from how dreams work, who's in control of the dream, how much you can alter them, and what happens when you lose control. In the real world there's a technology that allows dreamshare, built for medical and psychotherapy use but, then the military gets hold of it, there's black market copies for underground fight-clubs, dream recording, weirdness like that. Hopefully it should be good. And it may help with your real world problems and induce Lucidity too!

Dan: Are dreams potentially dangerous in the setting?

Dave: Dan, yes... think Nightmare on Elm St. And there's always an element that the dreams may escape. Just watch Paprika! 

Dan: (Oh, that's right... I do need to watch that. I bought it a while back...)

Snake_Eyes: Hello DaveChapman! what is your favorite Dungeons and Dragons module?

Dan: (Snake loves that question. :) )

Dave: Snake! Haven't played D&D since 1st Edition! Demonweb pits is the one that sticks in my mind. Dangerous!!!

Snake_Eyes: Awesome!!!

Dan: Yeah, I love that one. Even had a steampunk spider before steampunk was cool. :)

Dave: Oh, I may have played a 3.5 demo of Eberron about 3 years ago... Looking forward to seeing where 5th Ed goes though!

Snake_Eyes: What would you say is the best advice to give to an aspiring RPG writer?

Dave: Know the system, email the company, and WRITE! Write for free! Prove you can do it! My blog covers my attempts at getting into game writing since 1986, but I think the supplement I wrote for AFMBE is what convinced Eden to give me work. I wrote it on-spec, and it's never been used, but proved I could write for them... I became developer for Terra Primate from it, and the rest is history.

Snake_Eyes: :) Cool, nice to know.

Dan: Terra Primate is awesome, by the way. But you know that, because I reviewed it. ;)

Dave: Many thanks for that, dude. I didn't do much, just plugged the system into existing text, but it's a very underrated game.

Snake_Eyes: What is your favorite personal design you have created for rpgs, as a in rule mechanism?

Dave: Hmmm - I think the Initiative system for Doctor Who. That seems to go down well... allowing the Doctor to talk people out of a fight... I'm hoping the new system for WILD will surprise people too.

Dan: Would you mind saying a bit more about the initiative system, Dave? I've read and played it, but I'm not sure if Snake (or everyone reading the log of this chat) is familiar with it.

Snake_Eyes: Oh, yes I am a little familiar with the system, it allows the protagonist that wishes to engage in diplomacy a chance to act before violence begins?

Dave: Yes... basically, it breaks down into 4 phases. Talkers, Movers, Doers and Fighters. In that order. Gives people chance to talk their way out of a fight, to run away, to do something cool like open a door or trigger an alarm... anything rather than fight. You can fight, especially if you're in a UNIT style game. But in Doctor Who, the Doctor usually slides into a fight and gets them to lower their weapons - giving everyone a chance before the blasting and exterminating starts. I think it's that order... (it's been a while)

Dan: I'm told that there will be an alternate system for the UNIT supplement?

Dave: There's certainly mass combat rules in UNIT for when the troops are called in to fight armies of Cybermen, etc.

Dan: How would you describe the work of a line developer as it relates to the authors of individual game books?

Dave: It's not too different from just being an author, except when there's a line of books coming out, you're not expected to do them all yourself. So you call upon the people you know and ask them to help. Then you take their cool text, merge it into the format you need, and ensure the books have the same "voice"...

Snake_Eyes: What RPG books are you enjoying reading atm?

Dave: Just reading Nobilis (3rd) at the mo, as I loved (2nd) and wanted to see the difference. Leverage is amazing and highly underrated, and I'm looking forward to the Star Wars Beta making it to the UK... Speaking of being in the UK, it's 2:10am here and I've a dull day job tomorrow, I'll need to sleep soon!

Snake_Eyes: cool :)

Dan: So as line developer, is it your decision what comes out, and when?

Dave: Not really, it's usually when it's done, it's ready! Most of that's down to the publisher and the line developer's boss. They set the deadlines (if any)!

Snake_Eyes: well thank you very much DaveChapman, I hope you have pleasant dreams!!

Dan: No problem, Dave! We can call it a night if you need to hit the sack.

Dave: Thank you! I consider all dreams research - I'm cataloging some of them here for the game - http://wilddreaming.blogspot.com

Dan: Cool. :)

Dave: Thanks guys, it's been a blast. Anytime!

Dan: Thanks very much for staying up late to talk to us!