Every year, hundreds of adventurers die horrible deaths, all competing for treasure, glory and points to move on to the next round. This isn’t a weird reality TV series, it’s the DCC tourney at Gencon.   Adrian Pommier is the man in charge of this year’s Dungeon Crawl Classic Tournament. He’s also the co-author of the mega module Castle Whiterock and several other dungeon crawls. In this interview, we talk about how the DCC module is designed, the creation of Castle Whiterock and Palace of the Wastes, (stories from the module are here) what the dungeon crawl really is and the differences between 3E and 4E.

Ethan Haas was right, at least according to David Carter, Earl Fischl and Tom McLaughlin, the team behind Alpha Omega the new post apocalyptic science fantasy RPG from Mind Storm Labs. In the future, the world is ravaged by war and disasters while alien races wage war. Of course, dumb old humanity mistook these aliens for angels and demons thousands of years ago. Plus, there are robots. What more could you want in a game? Magic? There’s that. Mutants? But of course. Ninjas? The ninjas are so sneaky in this game, they aren’t even mentioned. But they’re there. And they will kill you in the night if you doubt their existence. That’s how bad ass they are.

In the interview, we discuss how Alpha Omega was created, the Ethan Haas Alternate Reality Game viral marketing campaign and its connection to Cloverfield, upcoming products for the game, the art of Alpha Omega, game design and more. Be sure to check out the New World Science and Engineering Commission site, mentioned in the interview.

Tarn Adams
Interviewer: Ross Payton

Synopsis: Dwarf Fortress is a one of a kind computer game. Part roguelike, part RTS, part fantasy world simulator, this game has to be played to be believed. With no graphics (everything is represented by ASCII symbols), the player is charged with building a mighty fortress with only seven dwarves and a wagon load of supplies. Murderous monsters and animals, temperamental workers and countless other challenges stand in your way. And you will lose. But that’s okay, because losing is fun.  I talk with DF’s programmer and creator, Tarn Adams about his experience with role playing games, game design philosophy, beards on dwarves and other pertinent topics.